Category: North Korea

This is a really odd story:

U.S. sailors helped rescue the crew of a North Korean-flagged ship on Monday, according to the Navy.

The incident occurred in the Arabian Sea when the ship reported it had engine problems, no food or water, and was in danger of sinking, a Navy news release said.

The USNS Kanawha and the French ship Dupleix helped evacuate the ship’s 16 crewmembers to safety, according to the release. None of the crew was a North Korean citizen.

The U.S. and French ships are part of Combined Task Force 150, which conducts maritime security operations in the Gulf of Oman, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the North Arabian Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean.

I wish the article would detail who’s citizens were on the boat and what they were doing.  Any ship flagged by North Korea cannot be up to anything good.

The frozen Banco Delta Asia money has been returned to North Korea:

Money at the heart of a dispute that caused North Korea to delay its nuclear disarmament was finally making its way Friday to the communist nation after months of delay.

The transfer of funds previously frozen in a Macau bank could lead North Korea to start shutting down its nuclear weapons program. But the North is certain to want to count every last penny of its $25 million before fulfilling a February pledge to stop making atomic bombs.

“The transfer is in progress,” South Korea’s chief nuclear envoy, Chun Yung-woo, told reporters Friday. “Let’s wait and see how long it takes for North Korea to confirm it.”

Just to remind people the BDA money was frozen by the US Treasury Department not because of the NK nuclear issue, but because of the totally separate issue of NK counterfeiting of US currency and then laundering of the money through Banco Delta Asia.

Additionally something else that is important realize and that the the media has consistently missed is that the return of the BDA money was never part of the February denuclearization agreement.  It was a condition added by the North Koreans after signing the agreement because they knew the Bush administration was desperate to keep the deal together in order to show some kind of foreign policy success.  To keep this charade of a foreign policy success together the Bush administration agreed to return the money despite the fact that it compromises US counterfeiting laws.

Once the US agreed to allow NK to receive the BDA money they made further demands that the money had to be electronically transferred.  The North Koreans could have simply drove a truck to Banco Delta Asia in Macau and loaded it with the money and than chartered a plane to fly it back to North Korea.  They instead made the demands for a wire transfer because it would allow NK to rejoin the international banking system thus overriding the US Treasury Department sanctions.

However, the money is so tainted that no international bank wanted anything to do with NK’s money.  Amazingly enough the US State Dept. then tried to enlist the US Wachovia bank to launder Kim Jong-il’s money for him.  Wachovia justifiably declined and the State Dept. was forced to use our own American Federal Reserve bank and a Russian bank to launder Kim Jong-il’s ill gotten money instead:

 Japan’s Kyodo news agency, citing Macau financial authorities, said the funds were expected to be transferred through the New York branch of the Federal Reserve and Russia’s central bank to a Russian bank where North Korea holds accounts.

Russia said Wednesday it would allow one of its banks to transfer the funds if Washington gave written guarantees it would not fall foul of U.S. sanctions against North Korea.

It is incredible the lengths the current US government have gone to appease North Korea.  The current appeasement policy makes former President Clinton’s 1994 Agreed Framework policy of appeasement seem mild in comparison.  At least Clinton never agreed to launder North Korean money.

So now the big question everyone is wondering is if North Korea is going to denuclearize.  I have said this over and over again and the answer is no.  North Korea may shut down their reactor for awhile at some point after it has extracted all the aid and money it can get out everyone, but it will never give up it’s nuclear weapons.

Kim Jong-il developed nuclear weapons in order to appease his military eager to join the prestigious nuclear club and to ensure regime survival.  He is using the current six party talks to buy time to perfect his nuclear weapons program.  Once Kim Jong-il has successfully created a half dozen nuclear weapons he will be able to fully implement what Richardson at DPRK Studies calls Strategic Disengagement.

Before strategically disengaging, Kim will get all that he can from the international community in what I call the North Korean Freeze Tactic.  He has already been successful in getting his $25 million dollars returned to him along with being allowed to rejoin the international banking system.  He will continue to play out this nuclear issue as long as possible in order to extract whatever other goodies the US is willing to throw in for a nuclear freeze and buy more time to develop nuclear weapons program.

When there is no more goodies to be had and his nuclear weapon program has been perfected, his regime will withdraw content with the knowledge that the Kim regime can never be forcibly removed due to their possession of nuclear weapons and if times get tough they know they can always threaten the international community to give them more money and aid.  Why not it has worked every time so far.  In short they have guaranteed regime survival at the expense of the US taxpayer and American creditability.

I also highly recommend you read other views on this matter over at DPRK Studies and One Free Korea.  Also make sure you read this Front Page Magazine piece from notable Korean author and journalist Gordon Cucullu and OFK’s very own Joshua Stanton.  A great read and highly recommended.

From Yonhap:

At the State Department, spokesman Tom Casey called the tests "something North Koreans have done before."  "It is what it is," he told reporters. "It’s not something that offers any particular change in the general picture.  "North Korea early Friday launched what appear to be two short-range missiles, one toward the East Sea and the other in the opposite direction of the West Sea. The U.S. did not give detailed confirmation.
The timing was immediately questioned, as a stalemate drags on in implementing a six-nation denuclearization deal, signed by South and North Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan. Under the agreement, Pyongyang was supposed to shut down its key nuclear facilities within 60 days, a deadline that passed on April 14 without any actions by the North. The implementation has been complicated by a dispute over how to release US$25 million in North Korea-related funds in Macau.

The timing of this probably has less to do the six party talks and more to do with the launching of the new highly advanced South Korean naval destroyer. 

That is according to one of the all time South Korean useful idiots, Chung Dong-young:

In his book titled "In Kaesong Station, Train Ticket for Paris," Chung recounted a "serious and straightforward" conversation he had with Kim as South Korean presidential envoy in 2005.

"Chairman Kim very much looked like an easygoing and resolute leader. Through the entire conversation, the atmosphere was serious and straightforward," he said, calling the North Korean leader by his official title, Chairman of the National Defense Commission of the communist country.

Here is what Chung claims Kim Jong-il told him:

"The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is effective for the peace of the Korean Peninsula — that was the dying wish of leader Kim Il-sung … We think we have to stand against the United States because it looks down on us, but if the United States acknowledges us as a partner we can return to the six-party talks, even in July," Kim was quoted as saying in the book.

Chung then headed to the U.S. to deliver the news to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, but Washington was generally skeptical.

"He (Cheney) asked me, ‘Do you believe him?’" Chung said.

Yes it was the dying wish of Kim Il-sung that is probably why he is dead to begin with.  As far as looking down on North Korea, what countries in the world besides South Korea doesn’t look down on North Korea for the human rights violations and nuclear brinkmanship?  I can only think of a few, Sudan, Burma, and Zimbabwe for example.  There is some exclusive company.

I have to wonder when Cheney asked Chung if he believed him if that he said that sarcastically or not?  If Kim Jong-il told Chung that he saws pigs fly off of Paektusan dropping Pyongyang soju bottles over the cheering masses of North Korea he would believe him.

Richardson over at DPRK Studies has a great write up about former US Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton’s new book “Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the U.N. and Abroad”.  Here is the money quote from the write up:

First, the timetable of the Feb. 13 agreement is already shredded. President Bush said at the time of the deal: “Those who say that the North Koreans have got to prove themselves by actually following through on the deal are right, and I’m one.” Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill, the deal’s U.S. architect and chief negotiator, said: “We need to avoid above all missing deadlines. It’s like a broken-window theory: one window is unrepaired, and before you know it you’ll have a lot of broken windows and nobody cares.”

Those statements were correct when made, and they are correct today. Sadly, however, they no longer seem to be “operative.”

Second, by making secret side deals with North Korea, the State Department has left itself vulnerable to future renegotiation efforts. This is the North’s classic style: Negotiate hard to reach an agreement, sign it, and then start renegotiating, not to mention violating the deal at will. America’s serial concessions on BDA simply confirm to Pyongyang that State is well into the “save the deal” mode, which bodes well for future North Korean efforts to recast it.

Bolton as usual is absolutely correct because North Korea is a broken window that no one cars about now.  The last part about negotiating could fit the South Korean government as well where the US continuously gets double crossed on agreements with the ROK government.

Make sure to go read the rest of the posting it is a good read.

UPDATE: Yonhap has an article on Katrin Fraser along with the Donga Ilbo. The Donga is reporting that Fraser will probaby have little influence with Korea policy it sounds like:

Meanwhile, the White House designated Katrin Fraser, a professional diplomat in her early 30s, as assistant for Korean and Japanese affairs to succeed the post left by Victor Cha, who has recently returned to Georgetown University. Fraser has worked on international organization affairs in the State Department, but since her career in security policy affairs isn’t extensive, it is likely that her role could be limited to executive support. On a Fulbright Association assistantship, she taught English for a year at Mokpo High School in 2000.

Just what the White House needs, a Low Quality Foreign English Teacher helping direct US-Korea relations. Maybe she can help negotiate a hagwon bill of rights for all the English teachers in Korea.

____________________________________________________________

If I only had a dollar for every time I have heard this excuse. With that any remaining hopes I held of an improved Korea policy coming any time soon has been dashed after reading this in the Chosun about the new Asia director for the National Security Council Katrin Fraser:

Fraser lived in Korea for two years. In a contribution to the spring 2002 edition of the Korean Society Quarterly, she said that the Bush administration’s misunderstanding of Korean culture fanned anti-American sentiment here since 2001. Fraser discusses President Bush’s State of the Union address of 2002 in which he famously called North Korea part of an “axis of evil.”

She says South Korea’s “swift and largely negative reaction” came from two factors. One was a gradual buildup of anti-U.S. sentiment due to Bush’s rejection of engagement with North Korea, and the other “cultural insensitivity on the part of the Bush administration.” By calling North Korea “evil,” Bush offended against Korean norms of relationship management and communication, which focus on face-saving and “kibun,” she said.

“If the president had demonstrated an awareness of the importance of maintaining kibun in relating to Koreans (North or South), perhaps the South Korean response to his statement would have been more muted,” she writes.

As far as “kibun” is concerned Robert over the Marmot’s Hole pretty much summed this up very well:

The difference is that over the last 10 years, South Koreans have moved away from viewing North Koreans as “horned communist devils” and more towards viewing them as part of the tribe, so to speak. The issue then becomes one not of the Bush administration failing to understand the Korean cultural concept of gibun, but rather one of it failing to understand — or care about — the a) changing nature of Korean nationalism and national identity and b) the priority Seoul placed on improving relations with the North.

Additionally, Ms. Fraser is highly misinformed if she thinks the anti-US movement was jump started due to President Bush’s labeling of North Korea as part of the access of evil. These people existed well before 2002:

The anti-US movement was quite active since the 1980’s, grew greatly in the 1990’s, and was jump started not due to President Bush, but rather due to former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung’s June 2000 Inter-Korean Summit. After the Inter-Korean Summit Korean nationalism was sky high and much of the general Korean public thought unification was near and that the US was now the problem preventing it. This has since proven to be absurd with the disclosure that Kim Dae-jung bought the summit along with the follow on Nobel Peace Prize with a $500 million dollar bribe to North Korea and the continuing defiance of the international community with North Korea ballistic missile and nuclear tests. However, after that summit the Korean mind set was clearly that the US was the problem now, not North Korea.

Without this mind set, “The Great Water Dumping Scandal of 2000” would not have created such a massive anti-US backlash. There was no “misunderstanding of Korean culture” from President Bush back in 2000 to cause such a large anti-US back lash to a minor and a highly hypocritical incident.

The same can be said for the 2000 Koon-ni Range protests as well. That range has been used by the US Air Force for decades, but suddenly in 2000 it becomes a national issue spreading anti-US hate. The protests at the range continued for years afterward with the Korean government giving the US Air Force no alternate range to use. The US Air Force had to in fact fly crews to Thailand to conduct training there because of the Koon-ni Range issue.

Perhaps Ms. Fraser can point out the “misunderstanding of Korean culture” to those of us that were here in 2000 who remember this hate so well.

I have to admit I have always wondered why the North Korean soldiers wear so many medals and now I know why:

South Korea is not the only country that is fascinated by the secretive North Korea. The same goes for China. Recently, a Chinese entertainment internet site 56ent.com posted a collection of photos titled, “Hard to get photos of North Korean soldiers.” These photos exposed North Korean soldiers covered in badges and medals as well as young students in military training.

The interesting thing is that the people with the badges stuck on their chest are not only retired officers, but soldiers still in service.

First, students from the Revolutionary Academy are introduced. In response, netizens questioned, “Are medals some decorative ornament in North Korea?” ridiculing that the medals were awarded to soldiers at such a young age.

Furthermore, Chinese people find it interesting that the majority of students from the revolutionary academy, whose parents performed meritorious deeds and died for the country wear badges inherited from their parents.

HT: Reader

North Korea is still trying to find a bank to accept their ill gotten money and they have now suggested that the US launder the money for them:

North Korea has demanded the United States allow it to open an account at a bank in New York and its funds at a Macau bank be transferred there, a Japanese daily reported in Sunday.

Of course the Korean media agrees with this, from the Chosun:

The reason why the South Korean government seeks to place this awkward burden on KEXIM is because North Korea is putting off fulfilling its six-party talks promise until the BDA problem is resolved. But it’s the U.S. government that first raised the BDA problem, so the U.S. government should take steps to resolve it.

North Korea probably isn’t happy about getting KEXIM involved in this picture. North Korea doesn’t want a single transaction, but a permanent right to transfer funds freely. All banks around the world must go through a depository bank in New York when it comes to dollar transfers. And the U.S. Treasury Department regulates this process. If that’s the case, then it would only be proper for the U.S. government to handle the matter transparently through an American bank, rather than trying to dump that responsibility on an unwilling country and an unwilling bank.

So according to the Chosun Ilbo it is the US government’s fault for enforcing our counterfeiting laws against the North Koreans and the US should take one for the team and have a US bank launder North Korea’s ill gotten money.  How about South Korea take one for the team and launder the money and ruin their bank’s credit rating instead? 

Read more over at One Free Korea.

But of course there is a catch:

After a 2005 visit to Pyongyang, former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Donald Gregg quoted North Korean officials as saying that they had no need to keep the ship if a top-level American official makes a trip to the communist country as a goodwill gesture towards normalizing relations between the two countries.

The latest North Korean gesture comes amid active international efforts to denuclearize North Korea. A Feb. 13 six-party agreement calls for improved ties between Pyongyang and Washington, aside from making the Korean Peninsula nuclear-free.

If the U.S. takes concrete steps to normalize relations with North Korea, the communist regime in Pyongyang may actually give back the ship, said the same source in Seoul.

First of all the USS Pueblo is not theirs to demand anything in return for.  Secondly now seems hardly the time to talk about normalizing relations when the North Koreans have already violated the Agreed Framework 2.0 agreement by not freezing their nuclear program at the agreed upon time. 

You can read a full account of the USS Pueblo Incident here.

So how does it feel to be a propaganda piece?:

The North Korea colonel who served as Richardson’s guide smiled as he told the governor the ship was an example of continued U.S. aggression toward his country. Richardson and his traveling companion, former Veteran Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi, were then shown bullet holes circled in red paint and a video describing the maneuvering of "brazen-faced U.S. imperialists."

(…)

Richardson, a Democratic presidential candidate who is in North Korea this week to collect the remains of U.S. servicemen killed in the Korean War, said the tour of the ship was "unpleasant."

Why in the heck was he touring this ship to begin with and allow himself to be used for propaganda purposes by the North Korean government?  He should have told his minders to shove the USS Pueblo tour up their collective asses. 

The seizure of the USS Pueblo was overt act of aggression against the United States with the murder of one crew member and the imprisonment and torture of the rest of the crew for nearly a year.  The vessel remains the only commissioned US Navy ship still remaining in enemy hands today.  I have always maintained that any negotiations carried out with the North Koreans should include the return of the USS Pueblo.  If the North Koreans want to make demands such as the return of the $25 million ill gotten dollars that was not in the Agreed Framework 2.0 than how come the US government cannot demand the return of the USS Pueblo?

What a disgrace to the memory of the former crew members of the Pueblo, that the only thing that Richardson can say after being used as a propaganda tool by the North Koreans is "unpleasant". 

You can read more about the USS Pueblo at my prior posting here.

HT: Ironically enough to Richardson