The North Korean diplomat turned defector Thae Yong-ho wasn’t kidding when he said he would become an outspoken critic of the Kim Jong-un regime after defecting from the DPRK embassy in London:
Thae Yong-ho
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is determined to complete development of nuclear weapons by the end of 2017 and has no plans to give up the country’s nukes even if he is offered huge sums of money, a high-profile North Korean diplomat who recently defected to South Korea said Tuesday.
Kim is “racing ahead with nuclear development after setting up a plan to develop it (nuclear weapons) at all costs by the end of 2017,” Thae Yong-ho, formerly No. 2 at the North Korean Embassy in London, said in a press briefing. It was his first media appearance since he escaped his post in London in July to take refuge in South Korea with his wife and two sons.
“As long as Kim Jong-un is (in power), North Korea will never give up its nuclear weapons … the North will not give them up even if the country is offered $1 trillion or $10 trillion in return,” Thae said at the press briefing. “It’s not a matter of (economic) incentives.”
For North Korea, the year 2017 is “an opportune time” when South Korea and the United States will have new presidents, he said. “Due to domestic political procedures, North Korea calculates that South Korea and the U.S. will not be able to take physical or military actions to deter North Korea’s nuclear development.”
In the meantime, Pyongyang will try to open dialogue with Seoul and Washington’s new administrations as a nuclear-possessing state, Thae said of the North’s strategy to secure nuclear power status.
Until then, North Korea will continue to launch military provocations and conduct nuclear tests in a bid to frustrate Seoul and Washington’s sanctions-concentrated policy towards Pyongyang, Thae said. “North Korea believes that relentless provocations must shift new (South Korean and U.S.) governments’ policy lines into more stability-focused ones.” [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but Thae is just confirming what many of us have been saying for years, North Korea has no intention of giving up their nuclear weapons. In the article Thae also confirms that the North Koreans can continue to get away with their nuclear and provocation strategies because they know that the Chinese will do nothing to stop them.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reportedly replaced Christmas with celebrations honoring his deceased grandmother. While Christians remain a minority in North Korea, Kim has declared Dec. 25 a holiday to pay tribute to Kim Jong Suk, who died in 1949, according to media reports Sunday.
Kim’s grandmother was born on Christmas Eve in 1919. Known as the “Sacred Mother of the Revolution,” she was the wife of former North Korean leader Kim Il Sung and a Communist activist. To honor her birthday, many North Koreans visit her tomb on Dec. 25 each year.
North Korea has prevously banned Christmas trees and Kim has upheld his family’s anti-Christmas beliefs. In 2014, he threatened war against South Korea after it announced it would erect a Christmas tree along the border.
“The DPRK ostentatiously treats anyone of faith, but especially Christians, as hostile,” wrote Doug Bandow, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C. “Believers place loyalty to God before that of the North Korean state. Churches allow people to act and organize outside of state entities. Christianity also has ties to a world seen as almost uniformly threatening by Pyongyang.” [International Business Times via a reader tip]
You can read more at the link, but considering how various Christian groups have been helping defectors escape from North Korea, it should be no surprise that Kim Jong-un has tried to eliminate Christmas.
Via a reader tip comes news that North Korean border guards have received a special Christmas gift from Kim Jong-un, diarrhea!:
Several North Korean border guards are down with diarrhoea after consuming a special diet ordered by the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, sources told a radio service.
Kim had reportedly issued the order for better quality food for soldiers after receiving complaints about dietary deficiencies, but some of the supply was reportedly found to be adulterated.
“Under the direction of Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s people’s armed forces increased the supply of materials to improve the diet of border guard soldiers,” a source in North Hamgyong Province told Radio Free Asia, UPI reported. The province is located close to the China border.
The source added that all the soldiers, from a unit of border guards who consumed the new food supply, are suffering from diarrhea. [International Business Times]
You can read more at the link, but like I always do I want to caveat that this story is from an anonymous source so who knows if it is true or not.
This is just another example of how North Korea gets around sanctions to bring in hard currency. Of course the Chinese are once again involved in making this possible:
The brightly coloured packages advertising “Walleye Pollock” at the West Market in Yanji, a Chinese city near the border with North Korea, say the fish came from China.
But 15 vendors interviewed at the market say the fish came in from North Korea to be processed, packaged and mostly sold in China. They say they buy the fish from Chinese wholesalers who deal with their North Korean counterparts at the border.
The packaged fish is also exported to countries that ban North Korean products, including South Korea, Japan and the United States, say the vendors, who are also involved in the export of their products.
“All the dried fish is from North Korea but we package it here so we say the fish is from here,” said one vendor who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Smaller packets sell for around 40 yuan ($5.80) while the bigger ones which are often given as gifts sell for at least 100 yuan.
“We export everywhere, mostly to South Korea and Japan. I’ve even exported to the U.S.,” said another vendor. “We sell some of our fish here, but we mostly export overseas.”
The official newspaper of the government of Jilin province, where Yanji is located, said in a September article that North Korean and Russian seafood is processed in a town near Yanji, before being exported to South Korea, Japan, the United States and Europe.
Reuters could not independently confirm that North Korean seafood from Yanji or nearby towns is being exported to South Korea, Japan and the United States. [Reuters]
Via a reader tip, Thae Yong-ho the North Korean diplomat who defected with his family from the North Korean embassy in the United Kingdom, has spoken out for the first time:
Thae Yong-ho at the North Korean embassy in west London CREDIT: KATIE SCHUBAUBR
Mr Thae spoke to the committee behind closed doors, but Lee Cheol-woo, the committee chairman, told newswire Yonhap that he had become increasingly aware of the “gruesome realities” of the authoritarian regime.
Mr Thae promised to devote his life to “freeing the North Korean people from repression and persecution,” said Mr Lee.
“There are many ranking North Korean officials suffering from depression over concerns they will have to live like slaves for a long time if the North’s young leader rules the country for decades,” he quoted Mr Thae as saying.
“Thae said that he had come to grasp South Korea’s democracy and (economic) development by watching South Korean dramas and movies during his long stay in foreign countries,” added Mr Lee.
Mr Thae, who fled with his wife and two sons, will begin his resettlement process on Friday. He has vowed to work for Korean unification, but he will likely continue to live under tight security.
“I will engage in public activities even if it threatens my own safety,” he is reported as saying. [The Telegraph]
You can read more at the link, but you would think this guy would want to keep a low profile because he is definitely going to be a target of North Korean reprisals. He likely has a poison needle with his name on it right next to the one for fellow outspoken defector Park Sang-hak. It will also be interesting to see how outspoken the ROK government will allow him to be if a Korean left wing politician likely takes power after the impeachment of Park Geun-hye.
You would think the regime would want to keep these scientists alive to advance their nuclear program instead of continuously shuffling through scientists as they get sick and die if this defector’s story is true:
A North Korean nuclear plant is seen before the demolition of a cooling tower in Yongbyon. Photo: Reuters
Lee’s husband had the mind of a boy, constantly craved food, she said, was sexually dysfunctional and had suffered some sort of mental problem that had diminished his memory. He also became violent towards his wife.
“We have heard of many cases of women forced into marriages with men who were put to work on the North’s nuclear programmes becoming the victims of domestic violence,” said Lee Ae-ran (above), president of the NGO.
Other women described life with these men as “torture” because the men they had been forced to marry “were monsters, not human beings”.
“We hear that many nuclear scientists in the North die or become disabled before the age of 40 as a result of their exposure to radiation,” she added. [South China Morning Post]
