Author: GIKorea

The National Interest has an interesting read about the rifle North Korea has outfitted some of its military members with:

One of the largest armies in the world has adopted one of the most unusual variants of the AK-series of assault rifles.

The North Korean People’s Army Type 88 rifle is similar to the Soviet-era AK-74 with one key difference: unusual helical magazines that carry up to five times as many rounds as conventional 30-round magazines. (…..)

The latest North Korean assault rifle is the Type 88. The Type 88 is a copy of the AK-74 assault rifle, whose primary advantage over the AK-47 was the adoption of the smaller, lighter 5.45-millimeter round. Exactly when the Type 88 was adopted is not clear, but the type designation, in this case, may indicate the year of adoption—1988. The rifle is now a staple of North Korean military parades and is frequently seen in the hands of North Korean special operations troops and leader Kim Jong Un’s bodyguards.

The National Interest

You can read more at the link.

The tit-for-tat between South Korea and Japan continues:

South Korea said Friday that it will remove Japan from its list of trusted trading partners in an escalating trade war between the two neighbors, in what could be its latest salvo against Tokyo’s expanded trade restriction.

“We will take the step of strengthening export controls by excluding Japan from the whitelist,” Hong Nam-ki, the minister of economy and finance, said in a joint news conference.

Currently, Japan and 28 other countries are on Seoul’s whitelist. South Korea said it will create a new category in its export controls and put Japan in that category.

Sung Yun-mo, minister of trade, industry and energy, declined to elaborate on how many items could be affected by South Korea’s removal of Japan from the list.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this is in response to Japan removing the ROK’s favored trading status due to the Moon administration trying to forcibly seize the assets of Japanese companies in South Korea.

Well it is now official that South Korea has been removed from Japan’s so called “white list” of favored trading nations:

 Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon on Saturday blasted Japan for its decision to remove South Korea from a whitelist of trusted trading partners, saying that it “crossed a line it should not have.” 

“(The decision) is the second retaliation after the country imposed export restrictions on key chip materials,” Lee said at a Cabinet meeting. 

He also said such moves could “jeopardize bilateral relations between South Korea and Japan, international free trade and interdependent economic cooperation regime, and cause a crack in the three-way security alliance with the United States.” 

“We cannot but sternly deal with the matter.” 

On Friday, Japan’s Cabinet passed a bill striking South Korea from its list of countries that require only minimal procedures to purchase sensitive materials that can be used for military use. 

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has denounced Japan’s move as a “very reckless decision”, warning that South Korea will take corresponding measures and Japan will bear full responsibility for the consequences.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but what I find most interesting is that the Moon administration has a more stern response to Japan over a trade spat the ROK government created in the first place, than North Korea shooting off missiles the Kim regime states are meant to destroy Seoul.

So when is the Korean government going to show this level of anger at North Korea for not complying with their military agreements with South Korea?

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

This is the only legally cultivated marijuana in #SouthKorea … A lemon haze hybrid with about ~10% thc. Grown with an R&D licence so it must be destroyed when mature. This could be just the start of exciting things here (hint)! pic.twitter.com/LxnznJMG5i

— Matt Lamers (@matt_lamers) July 31, 2019

South Korea has its own Jim Jones wannabe, just without the Kool-aid:

The leader of a South Korean doomsday cult who held 400 people captive in Fiji and subjected them to violent beatings has been sentenced to six years in jail.

Shin Ok-ju, founder of the Grace Road Church, convinced her followers to move to Fiji in 2014, which she said was the “promised land”, pointed to in the Bible, where they would survive coming apocalyptic events.

Once they arrived on the island their passports were confiscated. Those who left the group reported brutal rituals, called “threshing floors” in which people were beaten as punishment for sinful actions or to drive out evil spirits.

On Monday a South Korean court found Shin guilty on multiple criminal charges including violence, child abuse and fraud.

“The victims suffered helplessly from collective beatings and experienced not only physical torture but also severe fear and considerable mental shock,” said the Anyang sub-court of the Suwon district court.The leader of a South Korean doomsday cult who held 400 people captive in Fiji and subjected them to violent beatings has been sentenced to six years in jail.

Shin Ok-ju, founder of the Grace Road Church, convinced her followers to move to Fiji in 2014, which she said was the “promised land”, pointed to in the Bible, where they would survive coming apocalyptic events.

Once they arrived on the island their passports were confiscated. Those who left the group reported brutal rituals, called “threshing floors” in which people were beaten as punishment for sinful actions or to drive out evil spirits.

The Guardian

You can read the rest at the link, but I look forward to the day the greatest cult leader of them all located north of the DMZ is put in jail.

Anyone closely following North Korea knows they are not going to give up their nuclear weapons. The below article explains some of the reasons why:

“There seems to be a very subtle debate going on,” said Town, citing articles in North Korean press “that are really questioning the value of why are we giving away our nuclear deterrent, why are we working with these capitalists?” Other articles have pushed back, stressing “the value of diplomacy.”

Kim has expressed skepticism. In a speech in April, he said President Trump “continuously observes” that the two leaders are friendly. But Kim added that the U.S. is making one-sided demands and using the wrong “political calculations.”

Analysts say Kim’s own political calculations have made it hard to give up nuclear weapons.

Jean Lee, a former Associated Press correspondent who spent much time in Pyongyang, said North Korea’s propaganda described the nuclear program as “the one thing that he has told his people is protecting them from a foreign invasion.”

Giving up the nuclear program would undermine Kim’s legitimacy as a ruler, said Ken Gause, who studies the North Korean leadership for CNA, a research group based in Arlington, Va.

“I think he can dismantle parts of the program,” Gause said, but only in ways that are “not verifiable and not irreversible,” and “probably not near as much as we would want.”

To accept even a partial dismantling, Kim would need concessions from the United States, such as the lifting of economic sanctions against North Korea. “Kim is not moving an iota unless the U.S. put stuff on the table,” said Gause, “which means money going into the pockets of the elite because that’s the people he has to satisfy.”

NPR

You can read more at the link, but this is why North Korea wants a “freeze deal” in return for sanctions relief. With a freeze deal they give up nothing, they just suspend testing and get sanctions relief, probably the re-opening of the Kaesong Industrial Complex and Kumgang mountain tours. These were huge money makers for the regime before their closure.

If these projects are reopened, the North Koreans will behave for a while and cash up their regime and at a time of their choosing they will start another provocation cycle. However, every provocation cycle they feature better and better military capabilities due to the prior sanctions relief that has allowed them to pour money into weapons development.

President Trump appears to want to stop this cycle, but some in the administration appear to just want the problem to go away with a freeze deal and let someone down the road deal with the problem which has been the US policy for decades and that is what Kim Jong-un is counting on.

Kim Jong-un is making up for lost time testing his shorter range systems:

North Korea launched what appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs), Friday, in its third test in just over a week. 

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said two unidentified projectiles were launched ― one each at 2:59 a.m. and 3:23 a.m. ― from the Yonghung area in South Hamgyong Province into the East Sea.

The projectiles had a lower than usual altitude at 25 kilometers, and travelled 220 kilometers at a maximum speed of Mach 6.9.

The JCS did not specify whether the projectiles were SRBMs; but some officers said their flight characteristics were similar to that of two launched July 31.

Citing the South Korean and U.S. military intelligence, Cheong Wa Dae said the projectiles were likely newly developed SRBMs the North has been testing in recent weeks.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but President Trump did say that he had no problems with the tests since they did not violate the agreement him and Kim Jong-un made to not test ICBMs.