The crackdown suggests Kim Jong Un is looking to silence critics and shore up his regime’s finances in the face of international sanctions https://t.co/1CsX1O0m6m
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) February 20, 2019
It looks like Kim Jong-un is using the Vietnam summit as a mini-vacation by taking a train trip through China:
North Korea leader Kim Jong-un is expected to travel to Vietnam by train for his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, slated for next week, a news report said Wednesday.
Yonhap
Kim is expected to leave Pyongyang later this week for his planned arrival in the Southeast Asian nation on Monday, as it could take him at least two and a half days to travel through China, Reuters reported, citing sources with direct knowledge of security and logistics planning.
Trump and Kim are set to hold their second summit from Feb. 27-28.Â
“Kim’s train will stop at the Vietnamese border station of Dong Dang, where he will disembark and drive 170 kilometers to Hanoi by car,” the report said.
But an ideologically problematic step for NK. How does a regime which staked it claim to total control in large part on its resistance to what it always saw as the primary cause of national division – the US presence and influence on Korean soil – thread the liaison needle? https://t.co/WTwmFULqIt
— Edward Oh 🇺🇸 (@EdwardHBOh) February 19, 2019
I really hope it is true that Kim Jong-un wants to denuclearize, but we don’t know what his definition of denuclearization is:
North Korea’s state-run Rodong Sinmun said there’s not “any room to turn around or go back” from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s “unexpected and groundbreaking decision to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.” This basically emphasizes that the “complete denuclearization” that Kim expressed during three inter-Korean summits and the North Korea-US summit last year and during his 2019 New Year’s address is an “irreversible decision.”
Hankyoreh
This is the first time the Rodong Sinmun has run a story explaining the significance and background of the “complete denuclearization” that Kim has repeatedly promised. Though the newspaper had emphasized Kim’s commitment to complete denuclearization by printing the full texts of the Apr. 27 Panmunjom Declaration, the June 12 North Korea-US Summit Statement and the Sept. Pyongyang Joint Declaration, it hadn’t run any articles elaborating on their meaning.
You can read the rest at the link because of course the left wing Hankyoreh gets all excited about this news. However, Kim Jong-un’s definition on denuclearization will likely mean an end to the US nuclear umbrella which could lead to the end of the US-ROK alliance. His definition of denuclearization may also mean that North Korea gets to keep the nuclear weapons it currently has and just not develop new ones.
It looks like the Kim regime is not happy with what the Trump administration is offering for the Trump-Kim II Summit and have had President Moon send out his trial balloon guru Moon Chung-in to let Washington know of their displeasure:
Only North Koreans can dismantle nuclear and missile facilities in North Korea, not international experts, according to President Moon Jae-in’s security adviser, Moon Chung-in.
Korea Times
Moon said Washington should offer some substantial concessions beyond opening a liaison office in Pyongyang to make the upcoming second Washington-Pyongyang summit successful.
He made the remarks in an interview with Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun.
“Only North Korean technicians are able to disband its nuclear warheads safely and completely,” said Moon, special adviser for unification, diplomacy and national security.
“This is because the North Korean experts designed and outlined core specifics of its nuclear facilities and entirely handled the nuclear development. It’s required for the United States to offer a rewards programs to help the regime remain cooperative in the ongoing collective work toward dismantling its nuclear program.”
The adviser didn’t say whether the U.S. officially asked North Korea to hand over a list of nuclear experts who were directly involved in the development of its intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) as one of the prerequisites to comply with Washington’s repeated calls to disband its nuclear program, verifiably and completely.
North Korea tested its first ICBM ― the Hwasong-14 ― on July 4, 2017, shocking the world by demonstrating advanced capabilities beyond what many believed possible for the rogue country.
The Trump administration initially refused to believe it, but later acknowledged that North Korea had, in fact, launched an ICBM. ICBMs are regarded as a direct threat to the U.S. mainland, though it’s still unconvinced North Korea has mastered warhead miniaturization, re-entry systems and missile guidance due to technological challenges.Â
The presidential aide told the Japanese daily that North Korea “would be dissatisfied” if the United States only agreed to end the Korean War and open a liaison office in the North Korean capital as these are “superficial and not something relating to actual economic benefits the North want.”
“An early restart of economic projects with South Korea such as reopening of Gaeseong Industrial Complex and other economic projects are needed, as one evident point is Kim Jong-un most wants sanctions relief to revive his country’s dilapidated economy with financial assistance from the restarts of now-halted inter-Korean business projects,” Moon said.
You can read more at the link.
“[T]he only way to solve the nuclear threat is the final elimination of Kim Jong-un and the regime. I think in order to eliminate…the regime…the most realistic and effective is to disseminate the outside information in order to educate North Korean people.” – Thae Yong Ho https://t.co/WABxjeFOr5
— Edward Oh 🇺🇸 (@EdwardHBOh) February 16, 2019
It looks like Kim Jong-un may visit a Samsung factory during his trip to Vietnam. I suspect that such a visit will be used to further the perception that he has changed and really wants to advance the DPRK economy and thus why sanctions should be dropped before denuclearization:
 A senior North Korean official is believed to have looked around areas near a smartphone factory in Vietnam owned by South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co., sources said Sunday.
Yonhap
The move is prompting speculation that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may seek to visit the Samsung factory when he travels to Vietnam for his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Kim Chang-son, known as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s de facto chief of staff, and other officials arrived in Hanoi Saturday to check logistics for a second summit between Trump and Kim slated for Feb. 27-28.
You can read more at the link.
Again: North Korea’s greatest strategic weapon is a longer attention span.
— the oranckay (@oranckay) February 16, 2019
Also, the ability to get the words “verification,” “inspection,” “dismantling,” and “nuclear facility” into the int’l news cycle all over again, without giving up anything important. https://t.co/9iYiRBm1Hl
It is looking more and more like not much is going to come out of the Trump-Kim II Summit:
Anchor: U.S. President Donald Trump said sanctions will remain on North Korea and he is not in a rush to remove the regimes’ nuclear arsenal. Instead, ahead of his planned meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Trump tried to highlight what the North can achieve through denuclearization.Â
KBS World Radio
Kim Bum-soo has more on Trump’s latest news conference.
Report: Ahead of his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un later this month, U.S. President Donald Trump has again highlighted the economic potential of the reclusive state.
[Sound bite: US President Donald Trump]Â
“… we think that North Korea and Chairman Kim have a tremendous potential as an economic force, economic power. Their location between South Korea and then Russia and China — right smack in the middle — is phenomenal.”
Speaking during a White House news conference on Friday, the American president addressed a wide range of issues, including the denuclearization of North Korea.Â
[Sound bite: US President Donald Trump]Â
“But we hope we’re going to be very much equally as successful. I’m in no rush for speed. We just don’t want testing. The sanctions, as you know, remain. Everything is remaining.”Â
Just a day earlier, U.S. State Secretary Mike Pompeo hinted that at the upcoming meeting Washington may be more focused on further easing the military tension on the peninsula rather than immediately lifting sanctions.
You can read more at the link.
A country suffering mass malnutrition and chronic food insecurity is holding a cooking competition. https://t.co/SCqYgfxxEQ
— Edward Oh 🇺🇸 (@EdwardHBOh) February 15, 2019
