A Belize-flagged ship, the Jin Long, is docked at a port in Pohang, on South Korea’s east coast, on Aug. 7, 2018. (Yonhap
South Korea’s spy chief told a parliamentary panel Tuesday his agency reported the import of North Korean coal to the presidential national security office last October, lawmakers said.
A monthslong probe by the customs office showed that three South Korean firms imported North Korean coal from Russia in apparent violation of U.N. sanctions resolutions. There is a controversy over whether the government turned a blind eye to the North Korean coal shipment amid a peace mood with Pyongyang.
Suh Hoon, the chief of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), told lawmakers at a closed-door meeting that the NIS reported the coal shipment to the Office of National Security under Cheong Wa Dae last October.
Suh was quoted as saying that he communicated the fact to the office though there was no direct report to President Moon Jae-in.
The customs office’s recent announcement has spurred controversy over whether South Korea is fully implementing U.N. sanctions on North Korea. [Yonhap]
Moon admin is dismantling anti-tank barriers. Says it's for people's convenience & safety. What about national security? With no barriers, could allow #NorthKorea to invade #Seoul within hours. pic.twitter.com/WguZbEEVTh
The message President Moon should bring with him is very simple, get rid of the nukes if you want sanctions dropped:
South Korean President Moon Jae-in will likely seek to mediate a breakthrough in talks between the United States and North Korea when he visits Pyongyang for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, a Seoul official said Sunday.
The presidential aide highlighted the importance of Moon’s role in advancing apparently stalled talks on the North’s denuclearization following the cancellation of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to the North scheduled for this week.
“I believe President Moon’s role has only become greater,” the official from the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said when asked about any possible change to Moon’s scheduled trip after U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday abruptly called off Pompeo’s visit.
Trump cited a lack of “sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” [Yonhap]
Moon admin: Setting up liaison ofc at Gaesong is "sovereignty issue" "why must (we) get US permission on every little thing?" "A thick water stream is flowing haughtily; sanctions controversy is not a big obstacle." Sanctions is but "a small problem."https://t.co/hFmVf1NQJ7
Does anyone have any suggestions on what to call the North Koreans since South Korea doesn’t want to use the word “enemy”?:
South Korea is considering deleting its reference to North Korea’s military as “our enemy” in its defense white paper to be published later this year, multiple government sources in Seoul said Wednesday.
The move is in line with the April inter-Korean summit agreement to halt “all hostile acts” against each other, seek to alleviate tensions and “practically eliminate the danger of war.”
“It would be contradictory if we hold consultations (with the North) over measures to halt hostile acts, which are mentioned in the Panmunjom Declaration, while leaving the description of the North Korean military as an enemy in our government’s official paper,” a government source told Yonhap News Agency on condition of anonymity.
“We have been striving to come up with a way to use a phrase or word that would sufficiently reflect the North’s military threat instead of using the ‘enemy’ expression,” he added. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but here we go again with the pretend game. We already have “pretend denuclearization” going on and now we have “pretend non-enemies”.
The North and South Korean governments are trying to use this week’s inter-Korean family reunions to create a strong emotional response both domestically and internationally to justify future economic cooperation. However, sanctions continue to be in place against North Korea over their nuclear program which prevents the South Korean government from giving the Kim regime the payday the Kim regime has long wanted. However, if the ROK government pushes the Trump administration on this issue President Trump should hold a press conference with Mr. Hwang In-cheol and other abductees and ask when their family reunions are going to happen?:
As a lucky few Korean families meet decades after being divided by war, Hwang In-cheol looks on lamenting the absence of his father, whose plane was hijacked by the North.
Hwang was only two when his father Won left for a business trip in 1969, never to return. Now 50, he has spent his life missing a man he only knows from pictures.
Scores of elderly North and South Koreans who were separated by the 1950-53 conflict met for the first time in decades Monday, hugging each other tearfully.
But none of them was among the thousands of South Koreans Seoul says were kidnapped by the North after the war.
“The sight of the families reuniting looks very nice but these one-time reunions are not a solution to the problem,” Hwang said.
“I hope that day for me comes soon. I’m hoping that my father will be alive until then.” [Japan Times via a reader tip]
You can read more at the link, but Mr. Hwang’s father was abducted as part of the hijacking of Korean Air YS-11 back in 1969. You can read about the hijacking at the below link:
It's remarkable how far down you have to read in some news articles to see that these “reunions” are closely monitored & brief visits, terminated by the abductee’s return to captivity & isolation. What a heartbreaking “reunion” that must be. https://t.co/WgCK1McSnQ
South Korean participants arrive at an immigration office on the east coast to cross into North Korea for a reunion event for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War at the Mount Kumgang resort on the North’s east coast on Aug. 20, 2018. The family reunion event, the first of its kind in nearly three years, will be held there till Aug. 26. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
Here is an update on the Inter-Korean family reunions that the North Koreans are currently holding at the Kumgang Resort on the country’s east coast:
This photo taken by Joint Press Corps shows Lee Keum-seom (L), 92, with her son during a family reunion event held at a Mount Kumgang resort on North Korea’s east coast on Aug. 20, 2018, after nearly seven decades of separation caused by the Korean War. (Yonhap)
The first session of reunions will be followed by a dinner to be hosted by the North Korean side later in the day.
Some of them appeared to be a little uncomfortable at first, apparently reflecting the decades without contact, but the awkwardness soon melted away and they engaged in conversation, asking each other about how they have lived.
On the second day, the families will be granted more time to meet, helping them become closer. They will see each other again Tuesday morning and have lunch together in their hotel rooms, the first time the separated families will have had such a private meeting since the start of the reunion event.
They will have six meetings totaling 11 hours by Wednesday, according to the unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affair.
In subsequent reunions planned to take place from Friday to Sunday, 83 North Koreans will also meet their relatives found to be alive in the South. More than 300 South Koreans will travel to the venue later this week for the event.
The two rounds of family reunions are a follow-up on an agreement the leaders of South and North Korea reached in April to address humanitarian issues arising from nearly seven decades of division caused by the Korean War.
The event came amid a thaw in relations between the two Koreas after a yearslong hiatus and tensions heightened by the North’s continued pursuit of nuclear and missile programs. [Yonhap]
You can read much more at the link, but I have to wonder how much money was transferred to host this event? Family reunions has long been used by the Kim regime as a bargaining chip to get what they want from the ROK and a cottage industry to make money. We know that South Korea had to renovate the Kumgang Resort for the North Koreans. How much did that cost?
How many ppl believe an unchanged N Korea – i.e., one still the Kimist DPRK – will be more peaceful,rather than more belligerent or dangerous,if it becomes more prosperous? Isn’t it much safer that NK change first, bf we help it get wealthier? Isn’t this subsidizing dictatorship? https://t.co/St0yw59ums
