Author: GIKorea

Here is what came out of the general level talks with North Korea on the war remains issue:

The United States and North Korea have agreed to resume searching for the remains of thousands of American soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday.

The agreement came at a general-level meeting between the two sides earlier in the day, Pompeo said in a statement. On Monday the two countries will begin working-level talks to coordinate the repatriation of remains already found in the North, he added.

“This meeting was aimed at fulfilling one of the commitments made by Chairman Kim at the Singapore Summit,” Pompeo said in the statement, noting that it was the first general-level talks between the two countries since 2009. “Today’s talks were productive and cooperative and resulted in firm commitments.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but I wonder if this so called search for remains in North Korea will require cash payments to the Kim regime as they demanded in past searches?

It looks like the Moon administration has found another avenue to go after their political enemies with:

A special team of military prosecutors will launch an investigation Monday into revelations that the military’s intelligence unit reviewed the possibility of imposing martial law last year in response to protests calling for then President Park Geun-hye’s ousting.

President Moon Jae-in ordered the investigation after the disclosure of a Defense Security Command (DSC) document that showed the military considered imposing martial law and mobilizing forces to quell candlelight protests against Park.

The military has since formed a special investigation team comprising about 30 prosecutors and investigators from the Navy and the Air Force. The team will complete the necessary preparations on Sunday and launch an investigation on Monday, officials said.

“We’re going to conduct a fair and thorough investigation according to law and principle,” an official said.

Those subject to the investigation are expected to include the then DSC commander, Cho Hyun-chun, then-Defense Minister Han Min-koo and Kim Kwan-jin, chief of the presidential National Security Office at the time. Then-Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn and jailed former President Park Geun-hye could also face an investigation.

Incumbent Defense Minister Song Young-moon is also expected to face an investigation. Song has come under fire for doing nothing even after he was briefed about the DSC document in March this year. Some opposition lawmakers have called for his resignation.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but this issue is nothing new.  The Korean leftwing politicians disclosed planning for martial law if needed all the way back in 2016.  Now there is a document that shows that planning did occur.  South Korea has a long history of martial law during past military dictatorships which makes it a very politically sensitive issue, however it is not illegal:

Under the law, the President has the right to declare martial law when it is considered necessary to maintain public order and security. And the head of state is required immediately to inform the National Assembly of the decision with details, including concrete reasons, a scope of territory and what will be subject to the emergency law. The National Assembly has the right to ask the President to lift the law and, if the latter refuses, the Assembly can start an impeachment process.  [Korea Times]

Former President Park obviously made no decision to impose martial law so I don’t see what case the Moon administration can make that anyone in the Park administration broke the law.  They can however play this out to further discredit and embarrass political conservatives in South Korea.  It may also give them the excuse to clean house of top military leadership accusing them of plotting a coup in order to replace them with more ideologically friendly officers.  I guess we will see how this plays out.

It looks like the Kim regime has made good progress on getting the restaurant workers returned to North Korea:

A former North Korean restaurant manager who defected to South Korea in 2016 together with a dozen female workers claimed Sunday that Seoul’s spy agency had lured and blackmailed him into defecting.

Ho Kang-il’s claim, made in a phone interview with Yonhap News Agency, corroborates suspicions that the high-profile defection was not voluntary and the then-government of President Park Geun-hye orchestrated it behind the scenes.

During the interview, Ho claimed that the South’s National Intelligence Service had tried to persuade him to defect, saying it would help him open a restaurant in a Southeast Asian nation, but the spy agency didn’t make good on the promise.

“Originally, I was a cooperator of the NIS and brought information to them,” Ho said. “But they lured me, saying that if I come (to the South) with my employees, they would get us to obtain South Korean citizenship and then they would open a restaurant in Southeast Asia that could also be used as an NIS hideout. They told me to run the restaurant there with the employees.”

Ho claimed NIS agents blackmailed him when he hesitated.

“They threatened that unless I come to the South with the employees, they would divulge to the North Korean Embassy that I had cooperated with the NIS until then,” Ho said. “I had no choice but to do what they told me to.”

He also said that the restaurant employees had thought they would be going to a restaurant in Southeast Asia, and it was only after they got on board the flight that they learned they were headed to the South.

Questions about their defection first arose in May after a local cable broadcaster aired an interview with the restaurant manager. Pyongyang has demanded their return, saying they were abducted by South Korean intelligence, but the South Korean government has claimed that all of the North Koreans defected voluntarily.

Last week, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, Tomas Ojea Quintana, called for a “thorough” and “independent” investigation after he met with some of the defectors.

“It is clear that there were some shortcomings in regards to how they were brought to South Korea,” Quintana told reporters. “From the information I received from some of them, they were taken to the Republic of Korea without knowing they were coming here.”  [Yonhap]

First of all the ROK intelligence service should be asking North Koreans if they want to defect, however I don’t believe they should not be blackmailing them.  With that said we don’t know if the blackmail claims from the restaurant manager are true.  Remember these allegations from the restaurant manager only came up after the Moon administration came to power.  Is the Moon administration putting him under intense pressure and allowing the North Koreans to contact him with threats against his family back in North Korea?

Remember these restaurant workers could have easily have made statements to the media that they were kidnapped before Moon became President or even over the first year of the Moon administration.  It was only this past May when JTBC, Pyongyang’s favorite South Korean news channel, was allowed to interview the restaurant manager did these claims come up.  It is going to be interesting to see if the Moon administration ups the pressure on the restaurant workers to voluntarily return to North Korea to keep the current peace process moving forward.

This makes a total of 3 NK refugees admitted to the US thus far in 2018. (There was 1 person in 2017.) https://t.co/6zAtSKshgY

— Sheena Greitens (@SheenaGreitens) July 13, 2018

Pedestrians walk past street artworks depicting fried eggs and melted rubber slippers in front of Hyundai Department Store in Daegu on July 13, 2018, fitting structures for the city some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul which often records some of the highest temperatures during summer. The mercury rose to 34 degrees C on the day but felt close to 38 degrees due to sun rays and humidity. (Yonhap)

The general level meeting between the US and North Korea over the return of Korean War remains did happen this weekend:

The United States and North Korea held general-level talks for the first time in more than nine years on Sunday to discuss the details of an agreement to repatriate the remains of American troops killed during the 1950-53 Korean War.

The meeting had originally been scheduled to take place Thursday, but the North called it off at the last minute, citing a lack of preparations. The North then suggested holding general-level talks with the U.S.-led U.N. Command (UNC) on Sunday, and the U.S. agreed.

Sunday’s talks began around 10 a.m. at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom. Maj. Gen. Michael Minihan, chief of staff for the UNC, led the U.S. side and the North’s delegation included a two-star general, sources said. Further details were not immediately available.

Earlier, three U.S. Forces Korea vehicles arrived at the Tongil Bridge near the border around 8:20 a.m. before putting U.N. flags on them and heading to Panmunjom. It was unclear whether the talks would conclude Sunday or be extended for another day.

Recovering and repatriating the remains of U.S. troops killed during the war was one of the agreements that U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reached during their historic summit in Singapore last month.

Sunday’s talks were expected to focus on such details as when and how the remains should be transferred. But the North could also demand something in exchange for the return or raise other issues related to the armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I think we all know North Korea is not going to hand over these remains out of the goodness of their heart.  When dealing with the Kim regime there is a price for everything.  These negotiations should determine what the price will be.

I don’t know if the timing of this ceremony is coincidence or not considering ongoing negotiations for the return of Korean War remains, but this ceremony does show the importance of the return of remains to the US military and surviving family members:

The United States and South Korea held a ceremony on Friday to return home the remains of two servicemen killed during the 1950-53 Korean War.

Seoul’s Defense Ministry said the remains of an unidentified allied soldier, presumably American, found in South Korea in 2016, will be sent to the United States. Meanwhile, the U.S. military has brought to Seoul the remains of a South Korean soldier found in North Korea in 2001 during a joint search between the United States and North Korea.

Friday’s ceremony in Seoul was attended by U.S. Forces Korea Commander Vincent Brooks, South Korea’s Defense Minister Song Young-moo and relatives of South Korean soldier Yun Gyeong-hyeok, who received his remains.  [Washington Post]

You can read more at the link.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

Ambassador Harris visited the @USEmbassySeoul and other booths at @sqcforg to support the #LGBTI community in Korea and promote human rights and tolerance. #SQCF2018 #Pride pic.twitter.com/ifp9NUZzP4

— U.S. Embassy Seoul (@USEmbassySeoul) July 14, 2018

The top finishers of the Miss Korea beauty pageant 2018 pose for a photo during a publicity event at a water park in Hongcheon, a town in South Korea’s northeast province of Gangwon, on July 13, 2018. (Yonhap)