I am concerned that with the Biden administration’s falling approval ratings that they would agree to a Korean War Peace Treaty just to get an easy foreign policy victory. The temptation of a Nobel Peace Prize might be enough to get the them to agree to it. The below comments from the Unification Minister has me worried that the Moon administration has been successful in getting the Biden administration to agree to the peace treaty:
Discussions over an end-of-war declaration with North Korea will soon come to a close, a South Korean government official said.
The country’s Ministry of Unification chief, Lee In-young, made the remarks during an academic conference at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies’ campus in Seoul on Friday.
The Unification Minister said Seoul and Washington, D.C., “have been holding deep discussions very seriously” regarding a declaration to formally end the war, adding that it “is coming to a finish to some degree.”
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link, but a peace treaty is a bad idea for a variety of reasons I have explained before.
Instead of going the Chapter route to remove non-vaccinated Soldiers from the ranks, the Army has instead decided to flag them, deny them promotions, and bar reenlistments:
The Army won’t promote or reenlist troops who refuse the coronavirus vaccine and who haven’t requested an exemption, according to a memo from the service’s top civilian leader.
The new rules apply to active-duty, Reserve and National Guard troops, including those in at least one state where the governor doesn’t require the vaccine.
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth in a Nov. 16 memo lays out what will happen if soldiers refuse the vaccine and don’t have an exemption request pending. They will have their records flagged the day they make their final vaccine refusal, after a meeting with a medical professional and a second order to get vaccinated.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link, but an interesting stat in the article is that about 72% of the Army is completely vaccinated. With the end of the war in Afghanistan I would not be surprised if another drawdown is coming and the non-vaccinated is turning into a way for the Army to cut its numbers.
I doubt Korean voters even care much about he reunification issue any more to get worked up about Lee Jae-myung abandoning this principle in the ROK Constitution:
Ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung has created a controversy by stating “it is too late to pursue the unification” between the two Koreas, as this challenges South Korea’s Constitution as well as the DPK’s manifesto.
Korea Times
During a meeting with university students in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, Saturday, Lee made the statement, adding “there is no need to elevate hostility by denying each other’s system and arguing over which can be absorbed by which.”
Lee made the remarks in answering a question about what would distinguish his North Korea policies from that of previous administrations.
The DPK candidate noted that he prefers a “de-facto unification status,” saying, “There is the argument that we should refrain from being too political and rather focus on practical approaches.”
Lee’s comments brought on a backlash as they go against South Korea’s Constitution, Article 4 which stipulates: “The Republic of Korea shall seek unification and shall formulate and carry out a policy of peaceful unification based on a basic free and democratic order.”
You can read more at the link.
Next month Kim Jong-un will have ruled North Korea for 10 years. Yonhap has a look back at how he has increased his grip on power in North Korea:
One of the first things Kim did upon taking the throne was to restore the party system to keep the military — which had developed immense power under his father’s military-first policy — in check and give authority to the relatively young leader’s decision-making process.
In 2016, North Korea held a four-day party congress, the first of its kind in 36 years, and announced the “byongjin” policy of simultaneously pursuing nuclear weapons and economic development.
In January this year, the North held another party congress and endorsed Kim as the “general secretary,” a title previously held by his father.
Having secured a political system to back his reign, Kim had no hesitation in eliminating those who were considered obstacles to his absolute power.
One of the most high-profile incidents that contributed to Kim’s reputation on the global stage was the 2013 execution of his once-powerful uncle Jang Song-thaek on charges of treason.
In 2017, Kim’s estranged half brother, Kim Jong-nam, was poisoned to death at a Kuala Lumpur airport, an assassination also blamed on Pyongyang.
Despite the brutality, Kim used tightly-controlled state propaganda outlets to position himself as a leader devoted to improving the lives of ordinary people across the nation while seeking to makeover the North’s image into that of a “normal state.”
Kim has put his wife, Ri Sol-ju, in the public eye, unlike his father, and released images of him drinking beer and smoking with party officials.
On the diplomatic front, Kim held a historic first summit with then U.S. President Donald Trump and met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in three times in 2018.
Though the nuclear talks and inter-Korean exchanges are both at a standstill, such a meeting with a U.S. leader was touted as a major achievement of the young leader inside North Korea.
“After achieving a certain level of diplomatic accomplishments, Kim no longer had to depend on the shadows of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il to legitimize his leadership,” Cheong Seong-chang, the director of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute, said. “He made that clear in the 2019 constitution revision by redacting all phrases related to his father’s military-first policy.”
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but it is pretty clear that Kim Jong-un was able to increase his grip on power by neutering military leaders that could rival him and then killing anyone, even family members that could replace him.
General Abrams and Admiral Harris are both in line with what I have been saying for years about North Korea and the Moon administration’s attempts to push through a Korean War peace treaty:
The former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and the retired top commander for U.S. forces in the region said they are cautious about a formal declaration to end the Korean War, a plan championed by the South Korean president as his tenure nears its end.
Former ambassador Harry Harris, a retired admiral who once led U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and the Pacific Fleet, and retired Army Gen. Robert Abrams, the former commander of U.S. Forces Korea, delivered their remarks Wednesday at a panel discussion hosted by The Korea Society in New York.
Harris expressed skepticism over a formal end-of-war declaration and suggested the results may fall short. He urged listeners to ask themselves “what will change the day after that declaration is signed?” (………)
“We must not relax sanctions or reduce joint military exercises just to get North Korea to come to the negotiating table,” he said. “This is a tried and true road to failure.” (…………)
Abrams warned that an end-of-war declaration would be followed by calls to abolish the U.N. Command, the U.S.-led international body that defends South Korea. Such a move, he said, would prompt the dissolution of “the only internationally recognized legal instrument that has prevented the resumption of hostilities.”
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link, but Admiral Harris and General Abrams both understands that the North Koreans and the Korean left want this peace treaty in order to question the legitimacy of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. If there is peace why are U.S. troops and by extension the UN Command needed? If the Kim regimes wants a peace treaty they should agree to actions that actually makes it look like they want peace. For example removing all their artillery off of the DMZ would show the seriousness of their peace overtures. If they want peace why do they need artillery to target Seoul and other metropolitan areas?
Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
