Category: Inter-Korean Issues

Another UN sanctions exemption for little to nothing in return from North Korea:

The United Nations Security Council has granted a sanctions exemption that will allow North and South Korea to move forward with a joint railway project, according to a report.

Seoul had requested an exemption for the delivery of fuel and other material needed to conduct a survey in North Korea focused on reconnecting cross-border railways.

The request was approved Friday by the security council’s North Korea sanctions committee, a foreign ministry official said according to the Yonhap News Agency.

The decision comes days after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the South that it should not improve ties with the North without marked progress in nuclear talks.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

When in history has "the right side of history" denied overwhelming evidence of concentration camps that hold 80,000 to 120,000 men, women & children? Or defended, in the name of feminism, a state that gives impunity to its officials who rape? This profanes history and peace. https://t.co/2ig4hR5Rrm

— Joshua Stanton (@freekorea_us) November 15, 2018

Like I said when this story initially broke, next someone is going to point out that the Kim regime still has artillery pointed at Seoul like it is some big revelation:

South Korea’s presidential office on Tuesday played down a new report on North Korea’s “undisclosed” missile sites, saying the state intelligence communities of South Korea and the United States earlier acquired relevant information.

Cheong Wa Dae added that it’s going too far to call the North’s continued activity a “great deception” given that it has no specific agreement to dismantle or disclose the facilities mentioned in the report issued by Beyond Parallel, a group at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

The group said it has located 13 out of an estimated 20 missile operating bases undeclared by the secretive communist regime.

“The dispersed deployment of these bases and distinctive tactics employed by ballistic missile units are combined with decades of extensive camouflage, concealment and deception practices to maximize the survival of its missile units from pre-emptive strikes and during wartime operations,” the report said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more a the link, but the South Korean government has basically took a nothing to see here, this is just business as usual approach to the news.

Let’s not be cynical. Assemblyman Park Ji-Won, who, aftern having transferred $500M to Kim Jong Il in 2000 later said, “not a single dollar has been sent Kim,” said today “to raise suspicion is to deceive the public,” thus not categorically denying it. Maybe it was under $500M. https://t.co/FKLgeyh7Jl

— Sung-Yoon Lee (@SungYoonLee1) November 11, 2018

$1 million can fit in a grocery bag. $100 mil in std 48"×40". A C-130 can easily hold 48 std pallets worth or $4.8 billion, X 4 aircraft=$19.2 billion. X 4 flts ea/. Lots of room for oranges+cash+others to #NorthKorea & to bring back anybody/thing from NK.https://t.co/WA626Y26uA https://t.co/w2geHb28dQ

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) November 11, 2018

It looks like the United Nations Command is still upholding sanctions though the Moon administration doesn’t want them to:

The unification ministry set aside around 350 billion won ($315 million) to connect the rail and road networks of the two Koreas according to documents that were initially undisclosed.

The documents obtained by Rep. Choung Byoung-gug of the Bareunmirae Party from the ministry and National Assembly, stated that 352.6 billion won out of a 1.97 trillion won fund for inter-Korean affairs had been set aside to link transport networks with North Korea. The documents for the first time showed the government’s budget for the project.

Specifically, the ministry had set aside 134.1 billion won for rail connections and 54.8 billion won for roads. The ministry also reportedly drew up another 163.7 billion won for “establishing infrastructure for inter-Korean economic cooperation.”

The budget was drawn up at a time when the project has been put on hold as the Koreas have yet to conduct inspections on train tracks in the North. This is because the United Nations Command, which is in charge of approving personnel and equipment crossing the military demarcation line (MDL), has barred South Koreans from crossing to survey the North’s transport infrastructure.

This is due to the fact that a South Korean train carrying oil needs to cross the MDL. The United Nations Security Council sanctions on North Korea ban this. Resolution 2397 states “all member states shall prohibit the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer to North Korea, through their territories or by their nationals, or using their flag vessels, aircraft, pipelines, rail lines, or vehicles, of all refined petroleum products.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

#MoonJaein working hard for #KimJongun again. Said "I'd appreciate the National Assembly issuing a statement welcoming chairman Kim." Also want Kim to address the Natl Assembly. Meanwhile, he shirks his presidential duties, like meeting foreign leaders.https://t.co/VRrBKysJM0

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) November 6, 2018

What I would not be surprised to see happen is that Kim Jong-un cancels the visit to Seoul because sanctions are not dropped by the US:

President Moon Jae-in told parliamentary floor leaders Monday that it is unclear whether North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will visit Seoul within this year as promised because the visit is linked closely to a second summit between the North and the United States, officials said.

Moon also said during a meeting with the floor leaders of the ruling and opposition parties that the government is thinking about whether Kim’s visit should take place before or after the North-U.S. summit that has been postponed until early next year.

“For now, we’re making preparations on the assumption that it’s going to take place within this year,” Moon said during the meeting, according to participants from the parties.

Moon said he hopes Kim’s visit to Seoul will be realized so that it can serve as a dramatic turning point in relations between the two sides. Moon also said he hopes the National Assembly will release a statement welcoming Kim’s visit.  [Yonhap]

#NorthKorea's Ri Sun Kwon, the scolder-in-chief, also scolded #SouthKorean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon for not wearing a nice watch. Cho replied cordially "Yes (sir), I'll get a nice watch." It was not a joke. https://t.co/KtCga4hv6H

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) November 2, 2018

Apartheid South Africa was banned from the Olympics for their human rights abuses, but North Korea may get the opportunity to host them with a far worse human rights record?  I would hope the IOC would laugh this proposal out of the building, but considering the IOC’s history of corruption enough white envelopes may make this a reality:

South Korea and North Korea agreed on Friday to inform the International Olympic Committee (IOC) formally of their intention to co-host the 2032 Summer Games.

The two sides reached that agreement during their sports talks in the North’s border town of Kaesong.

Following their first sports talks in four months, the Koreas issued a joint communique, detailing other areas of cooperation.

The Koreas said they will try to field a joint team at next year’s men’s handball world championships.

The Koreas also agreed to form unified teams at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics and to work with the IOC and international federations of summer Olympic sports to make that happen.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but any bets on who will pay for all the new infrastructure, stadiums, hotels, etc. in North Korea to support hosting the Olympics?