It looks like people are slowly catching on to what I said when Kim Jong-un’s nuclear test suspension remarks were hailed as some kind of major breakthrough when it isn’t:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, second from left at the podium, presides over a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea in Pyongyang on Friday. Kim declared the North will stop all nuclear and missile tests and close down its underground nuclear test site at the meeting. [RODONG SINMUN]North Korea’s announcement Friday that it will stop all nuclear and missile tests was welcomed by the South and the United States, but some critics say the statement didn’t actually indicate any interest in denuclearization from the recalcitrant state.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was quoted in a lengthy report released by the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency Saturday as saying that no such tests were necessary anymore, “given that the work for mounting nuclear warheads on ballistic rockets was finished as the whole processes of developing nuclear weapons were carried out in a scientific way and in regular sequence.”
Kim said North Korea, starting immediately, will never use nuclear weapons nor transfer nuclear weapons or nuclear technology under any circumstances unless the country faces a nuclear provocation or threat.
The North will also “facilitate close contact and active dialogue” with neighboring countries and international society in order to guarantee the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula and the world by creating an “international environment favorable for socialist economic construction,” Kim said. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but there has been nothing done so far by the Kim regime different from what they have done before. Everything they are doing is from their standard playbook and the Korean left and international media is largely playing along with it. I’ll start getting hopeful when international inspectors are allowed to go in and monitor their nuclear facilities and artillery and troops are withdrawn from the DMZ. Until concrete actions like this are taken this is just more of the same.
It must be a slow day for the Korean police to warrant raiding a blogger for rigging comments:
Police on Sunday raided a local publishing company run by an influential blogger as part of a probe into allegations that he ran a massive scheme to manipulate online comments in news articles about President Moon Jae-in.
Police sent investigators to search the premises in Paju, north of Seoul, and confiscate evidence, including digital files and surveillance footage, officials said.
Law enforcement authorities are investigating the suspected rigging of Internet news comments by the 48-year-old surnamed Kim, who’s now been charged along with two accomplices over the scandal. Kim, who goes by the nickname “Druking”, is alleged to have used a software program to jack up the number of clicks in support of the president.
The incident has sparked a fierce political dispute ahead of the June 13 local elections, as Rep. Kim Kyoung-soo of the ruling Democratic Party, a close aide to President Moon, is known to have been in contact with Druking for years.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on Friday said Kim had sent Druking messages that contained the web addresses of certain news articles related to the president. [Yonhap]
A country with active gulags is lecturing Israel on human rights abuses:
The son of Salam Rabaa, the Palestinian owner of Rabaa restaurant, gestures with his right hand imitating a poster of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at the gate of the venue premises in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza strip on December 17, 2017. The sign at the entrance of the restaurant reads in Arabic: “Special discounts reaching up to 80 percent for Korean patrons, in appraisal of the role of the Korean leader towards our Palestinian cause.” MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images
North Korea has condemned the U.S. and its alliance with Israel, which continued to experience deadly clashes between security forces and Palestinian protestors.
On Friday, the official Korean Central News Agency called the U.S. out for repeatedly defending Israel from criticism at the United Nations Human Rights Council, which U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley once called “a haven for dictators” and has threatened to pull the U.S. out of. Palestinians have threatened to lodge a complaint with the international body over rising casualties as Israeli forces reportedly opened fire on Palestinian demonstrators near the Gaza border, where dozens have been killed and thousands injured since violent protests erupted over Israel’s historic and ongoing seizure of land.
“Israel’s wild act of destroying Mid-east peace and mercilessly killing Palestinians is a hideous crime that deserves denunciations thousands of times,” the state-run agency said of a commentary by North Korean Cabinet paper Minju Joson. [Newsweek]
Kim Jong-un announcement of suspending nuclear tests is making big news internationally:
North Korea says its quest for nuclear weapons is “complete” and it “no longer needs” to test its weapons capability, a significant development ahead of diplomatic engagement with both South Korea and the United States.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Saturday that “under the proven condition of complete nuclear weapons, we no longer need any nuclear tests, mid-range and intercontinental ballistic rocket tests, and that the nuclear test site in northern area has also completed its mission,” as quoted by the state-run KCNA news agency.
The announcement appears to signify a remarkable change in policy for Kim, following a relentless pursuit of nuclear and ballistic weapons as a means to ensure his regime’s survival — although some analysts remain skeptical, pointing out that Kim hasn’t tested a missile since last November. [CNN]
You can read much more at the link, but remember we have been down this road before with Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. Both of them suspended nuclear programs for international aid and look where we are at today. Also notice the rhetoric Kim Jong-un is using, he is saying the testing is “complete” and no longer needed; not that he is doing this out of the goodness of his heart for North-South cooperation.
Oleg Shcheka takes a look at the risks involved with the civilian side of the #DPRK nuclear program, and whether sacrificing safety for construction speed may lead to unintended disasterhttps://t.co/xJTPom5tGq
South Korean and U.S. soldiers stand guard at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom, north of Seoul, on April 19, 2018, ahead of the historic inter-Korean summit talks at the village on April 27. (Yonhap)
Via a reader tip comes news that the ROK military may finally be the ones to end the ridiculous blockade of the THAAD site in Seongju:
South Korea’s defense ministry said Thursday it is mulling an alternative to dialogue with activists and residents near the U.S. military’s new missile defense base on the peninsula.
They have been blocking the transport of construction materials and equipment into the THAAD site in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, for months.
They are concerned that the military will expand helipads and other facilities associated with military operations in the compound.
The Ministry of National Defense stressed that it’s urgent to improve the living conditions of hundreds of American and South Korean troops there with no adequate amenities.
“In connection with the deployment of the THAAD system, we have tried to respect residents’ opinion as much as possible, abide by democratic procedures and maintain transparency,” the ministry’s spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo said at a press briefing.
However, it’s believed to be difficult to resolve the issue through dialogue, she said, adding that the military plans to seek a “necessary measure.”
The statement was a de facto ultimatum, although no deadline has been set publicly.
It heralds a police operation to disperse the protesters and clear the way for the delivery. A fierce physical clash is expected. [Yonhap]
