Category: Inter-Korean Issues

The upcoming decision to me is pretty clear, what does the Moon administration value more, continued appeasement of the Kim regime or maintaining the readiness of US and ROK military forces?:

President Moon Jae-in is facing a growing dilemma over South Korea’s planned military exercises with the United States, with North Korea offering a rare gesture for warmer inter-Korean relations.

On Monday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in a meeting with its highest-ranking delegation which returned to Pyongyang Sunday after ending their three-day trip to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, ordered the regime to elevate the ongoing peaceful bilateral relationship with the South,.

The uncommon sign for reconciliation is raising the likelihood for a possible inter-Korean summit this year.

This is in line with President Moon’s North Korean policy under which he has underlined the need for holding enough dialogue to stop Pyongyang’s provocative military threats.

However, the South Korean government is likely to face a bumpy road ahead on the matter, as Seoul and Washington plan to resume their annual joint military exercise sometime in April. They delayed the drills – which normally take place around late February to early March – until after the Winter Olympics.

The South Korea-U.S. drills have for years drawn a strong backlash from North Korea. The Pentagon has in recent weeks reaffirmed its willingness to stage the drills right after the closing of the PyeongChang Paralympics in mid-March.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but either way Kim Jong-un has set him self up to win because if the joint exercise is cancelled he advances his agenda of separating the US from the ROK.  If the joint exercise is executed he then uses that as an excuse to continue missile and maybe even nuclear testing.

Regardless of the decision I would expect that Pyongyang will still push for the inter-Korea summit with the South just likely on different timetables.  The Kim regime needs the inter-Korean summit in order to get their payday of reopening the Kaesong Industrial Park and the joint tourism ventures in North Korea.  These ventures will help them skirt international sanctions to maintain revenue flowing into the regime.

North Korean orchestra stayed in Seoul's five-star Grand Walkerhill hotel — at South Korean taxpayer expense https://t.co/fpNzHfJ25w

— Alastair Gale (@AlastairGale) February 14, 2018

I would not be surprised if this only increases further.

Below is an excerpt from ROK Drop favorite B.R. Myers who takes on Kim regime apologizers in regards to their recent military parade right before the start of the Olympic Games:

We have also been hearing that the parade of February 8 has nothing to do with the Olympics because a) the restoration of this day for commemorating the KPA’s founding took place in 2015, after a 37-year interval, and b) 2018 marks a “round” year in special need of a big splash. The obvious retort is to ask why the Kim Jong Il regime, for all its militarism, saw no reason to restore the holiday in time for the much “rounder” anniversary in 1998. Besides, in 2015 everyone already knew when and where the 2018 Winter Olympics would take place.

In line with an older tradition of South Korean apologism is the effort of the Unification Minister and other Pyongyang watchers to argue that the parade is no cause for alarm because these displays of resolve and might are merely for “domestic propaganda use,” for “unifying the North Korean people,” or for “maintaining the system.”

This recalls the wishful approach to propaganda with which many foreigners and even German Jews deceived themselves in the first years of the Third Reich. “Anti-Semitism,” they argued, “is too central to the legitimacy and popularity of Nazism for the regime not to profess it constantly in the strongest terms. Were Hitler to give the Judenhetze a rest even for a month or two, the public backlash would be swift and harsh. Yet we aren’t to worry too much, because he can’t possibly intend to act on that nonsense.”

If anything, the South Korean variant is even more irrational. After all, what the Nazis were planning was without precedent, whereas that same North Korean military whose founding is to be celebrated on February 8 once came very close to destroying the Republic of Korea.  [B.R. Myers]

You can read the rest at the link, but it is pretty convincing that this parade was organized specifically as a response to the Winter Olympics being hosted in South Korea since it wasn’t celebrated as a holiday until 2015.  The regime knew when the Winter Olympics were going to occur and this holiday fit nicely with the timeline.  If Park Geun-hye was still president I am sure the parade and rhetoric would have been more threatening to an external audience, however with President Moon in power they toned it down by North Korean standards.

Myers in his article goes on to explain how the regime must continue with bellicose rhetoric and threats domestically especially during a charm offensive like they are doing now with the Olympics.  The rhetoric and threats like this parade are used to remind North Koreans that final victory will only come through military strength that will defeat the evil American imperialists and their ROK lackeys.

It is this mentality which after the Olympics is over I suspect at some point the Kim regime will return to provocative behavior.  However, instead of blaming the ROK government they will likely try to blame the US in an effort to inflame anti-Americanism in South Korea.  The narrative will likely be that the Kim regime has tried to be peaceful and work towards unification during the Winter Olympics timeframe, but the evil American Imperialists continue with their aggressive behavior.  This will justify them conducting more nuclear and missile tests.

The earliest flashpoint to promote this narrative will be the Key Resolve military exercise coming up reportedly a month after the Winter Olympics are over.  This is assuming the exercise happens with reports that it may be cancelled.  Either way the Kim regime wins because both scenarios advance their effort to separate the ROK from the US.

Kim Yo-jong was school in Switzerland so she does know what a free city looks and feels like:

Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister, said Seoul felt familiar even though it was her first-ever visit to the South, at an official dinner Saturday, according to a pool report.

“It doesn’t feel unfamiliar,” she replied when Choi Moon-soon, governor of Gangwon Province, asked her how she felt about Seoul.

Wearing a wine-colored jacket and black pants, Kim attended the dinner held at a hotel in Gangneung, the sub-host city of the Olympics. It was hosted by Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon for North Korea’s high-level delegation.

North Korea’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam, Choe Hwi, the chairman of the National Sports Guidance Committee, and Ri Son-gwon, the head of the North’s state agency in charge of inter-Korean affairs, were also in attendance.

Kim Yong-nam celebrated the South’s hosting of the Winter Games.

“As the Olympics were opened successfully with applause from North and South Korea, we believe that the games will pave the way for the two sides’ reconciliation, and stronger inter-Korean ties, and furthermore for Koreans’ unity and unification,” Kim said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but someone should have asked her if the city would have felt more like home if there were forced labor camps and executions?

Is it just me or Kim Yo-jong has a smug face at just about every event she has attended?:

President Moon Jae-in attended a North Korean art troupe’s concert in Seoul on Sunday, expressing hopes that the reconciliatory mood for inter-Korean dialogue would be maintained going forward.

President Moon and the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un both attended the performance in the evening, marking the fourth time Moon and Kim Yo-jong have met since they greeted each other during the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics on Friday.

Other members of the North’s high-level delegation were present for the concert, including the North’s ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong-nam.

During talks made just before the performance began, President Moon said the meeting with Yo-jong and the North’s delegation was very important, saying, “the two Koreas should cooperate to make this reconciliatory meeting’s charcoal become a torch.”

The North’s ceremonial head of state, Kim, said in response, “It is very happy and impressive to share such precious times. I would go back with a new note of hope of getting together again, because we created an opportunity to meet frequently.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but as far as the performance goes it was choreographed to push the narrative of unification:

The grand finale of the concert was North Korean song, “Let’s Meet Again,” and a common Korean song titled, “Our Wish Is Unification,” both sung together by Seohyun, a member of South Korean pop group Girls’ Generation, and a North Korean female octet.

Seohyun, wearing a short, white minidress and high-heeled shoes, and the North’s octet ended the concert, performing in perfect harmony the song with a theme reflecting the two Koreas’ desire for reunification.

The performers hugged as the audience gave them a standing ovation.

Another highlight of the concert was the surprise appearance of Hyon Song-wol, head of the Samjiyon Orchestra, on the stage.

“I came here to the South by crossing the border twice. In the process I felt saddened by the reality that Pyongyang and Seoul are located so close but feel so far away from each other,” she said. “I’m in a bad condition because I have a sore throat from Gangneung, but please applaud me a little bit more loudly than other singers so I can save face as the director,” Hyon said, resulting in thunderous applause.

She then sang a North Korean song titled “Paektu and Halla Are My Fatherland.” Her solo performance was later joined by the North’s orchestra and female singers.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but the narrative of unification is likely being used to justify holding a near term Inter-Korean Summit, make agreements to reopen Kaesong and the Kumgang Resort Tours, which will ultimately make ineffective the sanctions on North Korea.

I would not be surprised at all if this mask was intended by the North Koreans to look a little like Kim Il-sung just to stick it to South Korea’s conservatives who have been critical of the Kim regime’s participation in the Winter Olympics:

The unification ministry on Sunday denied a local news report that the image of North Korea’s late founding leader Kim Il-sung appeared on the mask worn by North Korean cheerleaders during an ice hockey match involving the unified team of the two Koreas.

The female cheerleaders, dressed in red, put the masks on while rooting for the women’s ice hockey team comprising athletes from the South and the North as the team played its first match Saturday against Switzerland during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

The mask bore the image of a man, and a local media outlet reported that it was an image of the North’s revered founder when he was young. That report sparked criticism that the North was using the Olympic event for propaganda purposes.

But the South’s unification ministry said the report was based on an incorrect assumption.

“After checking with a North Korean official at the scene, it has been confirmed that there was no such meaning whatsoever, as assumed in the report,” the ministry said in a release, adding that the North Korean official also confirmed it was impossible to use an image of the North’s founding leader in such a way.

Officials said it was just an image of a good-looking man and the mask was worn when the cheerleaders sang a North Korean song, “Whistle,” whose lyrics are about a man’s unrequited love for a female neighbor.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but the left in South Korea is claiming this is all fake news drummed up by South Korea’s conservatives.  Here is a picture of the young Kim Il-sung, I will let readers be the judge if it was a young Kim Il-sung mask or not.  Here is a picture of a young Kim Il-sung (center) with his wife Kim Jong-suk (right), and his son Kim Jong-il (left):

An Inter-Korean summit would likely be used to further weaken sanctions by agreeing to re-opening the Kaesong Industrial Park and the Mt. Kumgang Resort among other things:

Kim Yong-nam (R), North Korea’s ceremonial head of state, attends a dinner at a hotel in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, on Feb. 10, 2018. On the left is Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. (Yonhap)

South Korea’s political parties showed mixed reactions Saturday to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s proposal to hold an inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang at an early date.

The proposal was conveyed by Kim’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, during a meeting with President Moon Jae-in at Cheong Wa Dae earlier in the day. Moon responded, “Let’s make it happen by creating necessary conditions.”

The ruling Democratic Party welcomed the meeting as a historic occasion in advancing inter-Korean reconciliation.

“The meeting created an important momentum for building peace on the Korean Peninsula,” Kim Hyun, party spokeswoman, said.

Noting Moon’s positive but cautious reaction, the party called for “mutual efforts to reduce tensions on the peninsula and cooperation from relevant countries.”

Opposition parties urged the government to be wary of the North’s true intentions.

“President Moon Jae-in and his government is getting caught up deeply into North Korea’s disguised peace offensive one step after another,” Rep. Jun Hee-kyung, of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, said.

Behind the North’s peace overtures is its intention to cause a crack in international sanctions on the isolated country, she said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but here is what the Korea Times reported:

North Korea delegates sit at a table during their meeting with President Moon. / Yonhap

Moon expressed his hope to make the visit happen by creating the necessary conditions, according to the spokesman.

The President said the North Korean delegation’s visit to the South created the opportunity to hold a peaceful Olympics, relieved tension on the Korean Peninsula and improve inter-Korean relations.

“He also asked North Korea to be more open to talks with the U.S. , adding Pyongyang-Washington dialogue was also necessary to improve inter-Korean relations,” the spokesman said.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but any planned summit would also give the Kim regime more time to work on their nuclear and ICBM programs.

I guess Kim Jong-un wanted his sister to personally attend the Winter Olympics and relay his extortion demands to the ROK government:

Kim Jong-un’s dear sister, Kim Yo-jong, is set to become the first member of North Korea’s ruling dynasty to set foot in the rival South this week.

The Unification Ministry in Seoul announced Wednesday that Kim Yo-jong, presumed to be aged about 30, will be part of a high-ranking government delegation attending the Winter Olympic opening ceremony slated for Friday.

The team will be led by Kim Yong-nam, the nominal head of state. Kim Yo-jong is widely believed to be powerful and close enough to the leader to directly represent his views.

Kim’s visit could further boost the reconciliatory mood between the Koreas. Seoul wants to pave the way for the restoration of relations and possibly to talks for the denuclearization of the North.

Kim’s high status in the North Korean leadership and close blood tie with the leader raised expectations that she may serve as the reclusive brother’s representative to the South Korean government.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Kim Jong-un’s propaganda squad is getting ready for their big performance in South Korea:

North Korea’s art troupe on Wednesday held a rehearsal for its upcoming performances in South Korea, which will celebrate the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

The 140 member-strong Samjiyon Orchestra traveled to the South by ferry Tuesday to perform in Gangneung, a sub-host city of the Feb. 9-25 Winter Games, on Thursday, and in Seoul on Sunday.

It will be the first performance by North Koreans in the South since 2002, when Pyongyang sent a cohort of 30 singers and dancers from several music and performance groups to Seoul for a joint event.

After having lunch in their Mangyongbong-92 ferry, which is docked at the South Korean eastern port of Mukho, the North Koreans showed up at the Gangneung Arts Center, the venue of their first performance, at about 3:40 p.m. on Wednesday in an atmosphere quite different from that of the morning.

They changed to casual attire from the stylish red coats and black fur hats and ankle boots for female members and from black coats and hats for males.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I see that the reason they brought the performers by ferry is because it can serve as a floating jail for them.

I wonder how many sanctions busting demands Kim Yong-nam is going to demand from President Moon?:

President Moon Jae-in is considering having bilateral talks with North Korea’s Kim Yong-nam who will lead a high-profile delegation to the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games, according to Cheong Wa Dae, Monday.

The meeting, if it takes place, could speed up the thawing of inter-Korean relations which is a result of the North’s participation in the Games. Moon is also expected to try to encourage Washington-Pyongyang talks, as he will also meet with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence who is leading his country’s Olympic delegation.

Cheong Wa Dae welcomed the attendance of Kim, the president of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the nominal head of North Korea according to its Constitution.

“It is Kim’s first visit to South Korea, and he is the highest-ranking North Korean official ever to visit the South,” presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said. “His visit shows North Korea’s wishes to improve inter-Korean relations and for a successful Olympics. We recognize the North is showing a serious and sincere attitude.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.