Category: Inter-Korean Issues

I think the Moon administration may be trying to create a precedent of sanctions exemptions at the Kaesong Industrial Complex with this request.  If this gets approved down the road they could request even more small exemptions and pretty soon they have a working industrial park again:

South Korea’s foreign ministry said Wednesday it was talking with the United States to possibly obtain sanctions relief for North Korea, though the ministry didn’t specify when the relief would happen.

“The ministry is in discussions with the United States to get the go-ahead for partial sanctions relief, which will be helpful for South Korea to push forward the country’s business projects, most of which are non-commercial, with North Korea. But the South has no plans to violate U.N. sanctions now being imposed on the North,” said a ministry official.

The official added the U.N. Security Council’s actions would support and conform to the efforts of diplomatic talks toward denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.

At the Singapore summit in June between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Trump said economic sanctions will be maintained until Pyongyang’s nuclear program is “no longer a problem.”

The remarks came after Seoul began supplying power to the liaison office located inside the joint industrial park in Gaeseong, North Korea. Seoul’s unification ministry said South Korea seeks to run the office within this month in consultation with the U.S. and the allies.

It also said the power supply will be limited to the joint liaison office, not the entire Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC), and that its measure should not be seen as a sign of easing the U.S.-led international sanctions on Pyongyang.

The measure however, raised suspicions whether South Korea will be walking a tightrope between abiding by the sanctions and seeking exemptions from the sanctions to help the impoverished Pyongyang regime.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but the Trump administration should tell them to have North Korea provide the power themselves.

Here is what President Moon had to say during his Liberation Day speech:

President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday used his Liberation Day address to pitch his Korea peace drive, calling for railway, energy and economic cooperation with the North as a cornerstone for Northeast Asian peace and prosperity.

Speaking at a ceremony marking Korea’s independence from the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule 73 years ago on the day, he renewed his commitment to end the division of the Koreas, saying “true liberation” can only be achieved when the two countries establish a lasting peace and economic community.

“We must overcome such a division for our survival and development. Even though a political unification may be a long way from here, establishing peace between the South and the North and freely visiting each other, and forming a joint economic community is true liberation to us,” Moon added in a nationally televised speech that also marked the foundation of the South Korean government 70 years ago on Wednesday.

Moon insisted the two Koreas were already moving toward peace, noting the countries have halted their hostile acts under an agreement reached at his first-ever summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held April 27.  (………)

To this end, South Korea will seek to physically connect its roads and railways with those of North Korea before the year’s end, the president said.

Noting the European Union began with a simple bloc for coal and steel, the South Korean president proposed the two Koreas, together with the United States and four other Asian countries, form what he called a “Northeast Asian railroad community.”

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae later explained the four Asian countries were China, Japan, Russia and Mongolia.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

The Moon administration has agreed to conduct their third inter-Korean summit this year, but this one will be held in Pyongyang:

South and North Korea agreed Monday to hold a summit meeting between their leaders in Pyongyang in September.

The agreement was made during high-level talks on the northern side of Panmunjom that separates the two Koreas. They, however, did not unveil the date of the meeting.

“We agreed to hold an inter-Korean summit within September in Pyongyang” the two Koreas said in a joint press statement issued after the meeting.

North Korea’s chief delegate, Ri Son-gwon, hinted after the meeting that the two sides agreed on a date but decided not to announce it, only to emphasize that the summit will take place “within September.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but the number topic I would guess they are going to talk about is how to get around the UN sanctions since the Kim regime is not going to denuclearize and the Trump administration is refusing to drop sanctions until they do.  If such talks are being conducted, hold the summit in Pyongyang makes sense because there is less possibility of intelligence gathering there to determine what their joint strategy is going to be.

The Unbelievable Story of North Korea's Most-Celebrated Propagandist – The Atlantic https://t.co/uRaHQ0nbJB

— DPRK Watch (@dprkwatch) August 11, 2018

It looks like President Moon and Kim Jong-un need to have another meeting to determine their next step to get around sanctions since the Trump administration will not drop them for little to nothing in return as they had hoped:

The two Koreas have agreed to hold high-level talks Monday to prepare for another summit between their leaders, even as nuclear talks between the North and the United States have stalled.

Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon will lead the South Korean delegation to the meeting on the northern side of the truce village of Panmunjom, which straddles the heavily fortified border, the ministry said Thursday.

The North offered to hold the talks but has yet to announce its chief delegate, a ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with department policy. The two sides planned to discuss preparations for another summit as well as review the implementation of agreements made during the first one on April 27.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met again in a more informal summit in late May. Both of those meetings – which were the first inter-Korean summits in more than a decade – were held in Panmunjom.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

The intelligence the US had must have been indisputable because the ROK government is now admitting that they did in fact allow in shipments of North Korean coal:

South Korea received 6.6 billion won ($5.86 million) worth of North Korean coal and pig iron, of which the country of origin was fabricated, the nation’s customs agency said, Friday.

Cheong Wa Dae said there is no conflict between South Korea and the U.S. regarding the issue as the two countries are coordinating closely with mutual trust.

According to the Korea Customs Service (KCS), three South Korean importers brought in 35,038 tons of North Korean coal and pig iron from April through October last year.

They turned out to have used a Russian port as a transit hub, fabricating the materials as Russian coal. They brokered exports of North Korean goods to other countries via Russia, and got North Korean coal as a commission. (……..)

There is concern the confirmation may negatively affect South Korea’s alliance with the United States as well as its relations with North Korea.

“Though the United States has been moving to improve ties with North Korea, engaging in talks, it has been continuing pressure,” said Yang Moo-jin, professor at the University of North Korean Studies.

Washington has been firm that sanctions should be maintained until North Korea takes concrete steps for denuclearization.

“As it turned out that South Korea, which is a U.S. ally, violated the sanctions, there will be negative effects,” he said.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but remember these are the violations that have been provable, I have to wonder what else has been going on in violation of UN sanctions?

Did Im Jong-seok run away from the Blue House?:

North Korea repatriated a South Korean citizen Tuesday through the border village of Panmunjom in a “positive humanitarian” move, Seoul’s unification ministry said.

In a message to Seoul a day earlier, Pyongyang claimed the 34-year-old, identified only by his surname Suh, illegally entered the country on July 22.

On Monday, the North’s Red Cross informed the South of a plan to send him back, and Seoul accepted the offer.

The North repatriated Suh via Panmunjom at 11 a.m. as scheduled, a ministry official told reporters.

He is under investigation by the South’s authorities into why and how he entered the North. He left for China before July 22, an informed source said.

The government views the North’s repatriation of Suh as “positive from a humanitarian perspective,” the official added.

But six South Korean nationals, including three missionaries, are still detained in the communist nation.  [Yonhap]

It is interesting that President Trump was able to get all the American detainees released, but Moon Jae-in has done nothing to get ROK detainees released.

Gaesong Industrial Complex was a cash cow for Kim Jong Un. Why is #SouthKorea's prez Moon Jae-in trying so hard to re-open it? https://t.co/yHb1C8FZe6

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) August 5, 2018

You would think this would be bigger news that the South Korean government is intentionally allowing North Korea to violate sanctions using their ports 52 times over the past year:

An opposition lawmaker claimed Sunday that three more foreign vessels suspected of carrying North Korean coal, a banned item under international sanctions, entered South Korean ports 52 times since August last year.

Yoo Ki-june of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party made the claim, arguing that the Seoul government did not take due steps such as the interdiction of the suspicious vessels in line with U.N. Security Council (UNSC) mandates.

Adopted in December last year following the North’s launch of a long-range missile, UNSC Resolution 2397 allows a country to capture and look into a vessel suspected of engaging in prohibited activities with North Korea. Resolution 2371, passed in August last year, imposes a blanket ban on the overseas sale of North Korean coal, iron ore and other mineral resources.

Yoo’s argument came amid media speculation that Seoul, which has been pushing for inter-Korean rapprochement, has not been thoroughly monitoring foreign vessels that enter South Korea with North Korean coal disguised as Russian products, possibly in violation of the sanctions regime.  [Yonhap]

It is bad enough that the Chinese and the Russians are helping the North Koreans to bypass the coal sanctions and new the ROK is as well.  If President Trump wants to Tweet about something, this should be it.

Expect more articles like this in the future out of South Korea in an effort to try and pressure the Trump administration to drop sanctions against North Korea:

“We cannot go further,” said Moon Chung-in, an influential adviser to the South Korean president. “Why? Because of the sanctions regime.”

There is growing frustration that a slow pace on sanctions could dash renewed hopes for a connection.

“It’s so stressful that the United States is so controlling,” said Song Young-gil, a South Korean politician who recently inspected North Korea’s railways for the president’s office.  (……)

But while a west coast railroad would connect political capitals, an east coast line through Jejin would be important for two key areas of Moon’s plans for cooperation with North Korea: trade and tourism.

Following existing tracks, this line would start at Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city and one of the world’s busiest seaports. Train service would run through Jejin and on into North Korea, passing through the Mount Kumgang tourist zone and then Wonsan, a weapons-industry hub converted into a beach resort. The service would continue to Hamhung, an industrial city and the second largest in North Korea.

Eventually, it would reach Rason, an ice-free seaport close to North Korean natural resources. From there, travelers would go on to the Russian border, where there are links to the Russian seaport of Vladivostok and beyond. In theory, a train could continue to Europe on what’s been dubbed the “Iron Silk Railroad.  [Washington Post]

You can read more at the link, but this is why South Korea wants the sanctions dropped.  North Korea has a number of tourism projects on their East Coast ready for ROK investment and tourists to create a cash cow for the Kim regime.  The only thing stopping this are the sanctions.  In the article South Korean politicians say that if the US drops the sanctions this will give Kim Jong-un the leverage he needs to get his military to give up its nukes.

Probably the most laughable line in the article is that South Korea experts told the Washington Post that the train line could open up North Korea politically.  The Kim regime is not going to agree to do anything that will threaten the stability of their regime.  Any tours into North Korea will be highly controlled just like all the other foreign tours into North Korea currently are.

I guess we will see what happens, but expect the South Korean government and their media allies to continue to put pressure on the Trump administration to drop the sanctions on the Kim regime for little to nothing in return.