Category: North Korea

From the Chosun:

Former President Kim Dae-jung has urged the United States to consider lifting sanctions it imposed on North Korea last year and talking directly to Pyongyang. In an interview with the financial news service Bloomberg, Kim said Washington must lift financial sanctions on the North for the Stalinist state’s alleged money laundering and counterfeiting if there is no proof.

No proof? Has this guy been smoking dope with President Roh? You want proof? Here’s your proof, how about here, here, & here for starters? Kim Dae-jung is washed up, corrupt, and his Sunshine Policy is a failure, which means in pure Roh fashion, it is time to blame the Americans for everything in order to obscure the issue of his own failed legacy. No matter how many times he blames the US for everything wrong in Korea, one day North Korea will collapse and the horrors on the Kim Jong-il regime that will be discovered will ensure both Kim’s and Roh’s legacies are remembered as the two greatest failed presidencies in Korea’s short history in democracy.

A North Korean spy ring has been uncovered in South Korea and it’s members are really not surprising:

Authorities are holding a U.S. citizen, Michael Chang (44), who they say was trained as a spy in North Korea between 1989 and 1993, became a member of the ruling Korean Workers Party, pledged allegiance to the party, and spied for the North for 10 years. The National Intelligence Service and prosecutors on Thursday also alleged that a former member of the minor opposition Democratic Labor Party’s central committee, Lee Jung-hun (42), and businessman Sohn Jung-mok (42) were persuaded by Chang to join him in spying for the North and until recently provided classified information to North Korean agents.

The Seoul Central District Court issued arrest warrants for the three former student activists on Thursday. The NIS is expanding its investigation and also arrested the vice DLP secretary general Choi Ki-young and another former student activist identified as Lee (42) the same day.

By using the DLP’s political organization and cover, the spy ring’s tentacles stretched throughout just about every anti-US movement in Korea including the Camp Humphreys protests:

The DPL vice secretary general has reportedly taken a leading role in pro-North Korean activities. He played a key part in organizing protests against the move of U.S. Forces Korea headquarters to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province and was also involved in demonstrations condemning the government’s support for the UN resolution sanctioning North Korea in the wake of its nuclear test. Party sources said Choi showed more interest in issues like the abolition of the National Security Law and anti-American protests in Pyeongtaek than questions of public welfare. He also participated in candle light vigils over the killing of two middle school girls by a U.S. Army vehicle some years ago.

Lee Jung-hun also leaned toward a pro-North Korean ideology of national liberation when he was a member of the DLP’s central committee. National liberation, along with proletarian democracy, was one of the two major ideological strands among student activists in the 1980s. Since former student activists of the national liberation faction reportedly took a more active part in protests against free trade talks with the U.S. and the move of the USFK base, there is speculation linking the espionage scandal to the organized anti-American movement.

The spy ring has also been linked to the USFK environmental issue and even to trying to influence the election for the mayor of Seoul. Here is a report from One Free Korea:

A new report, not yet available in English, claims that North Korea used the Fifth Columnists of the “Il Shim Hue” to help the ruling leftist Uri Party in local elections last May. The report, based on leaks from South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, claims that North Korea used Il Shim Hue (rough translation: The One-Minded Hundred) to direct the Democratic Labor Party throw its votes and support to the Uri Party to prevent the GNP candidate, Oh Se Hoon, from winning. Oh won, defeating Uri Justice Minister Kang Kum-Sil.

North Korea also directed Il Shim Hue to assemble detailed dossiers on South Korean politics: politicians, civic groups, issues, parties, you name it. One particular issue that concerned them was how South Koreans reacted to North Korea’s recent nuke test. The NIS claims that Il Shim Hue members canvassed popular sentiment about the test throughout South Korean society. Recent polls show a substantial minority (but thankfully, still a minority) blamed America for North Korea’s nuke test, something the ruling party eagerly latched onto.

Another huge shocker: North Korea had plans to infiltrate environmental groups to use them to inspire more anti-American sentiment. You may recall the recent South Korean film, The Host, a monster flick loosely based on a 2000 incident in which a civilian mortician on a U.S. Army post dumped a small amount of highly dilute formaldeyde into the Han River. The incident became a huge story in the South, and The Host inspired some icky and unhinged anti-American comments from one ruling party legislator, which neither the legislator nor his party have retracted, to my knowledge.

I and other K-bloggers have long chronicled the anti-US hate groups activities in Korea so really none of this is surprising to me. You can read more about my postings on the Camp Humphreys relocation issue here and the USFK pollution issue here.

The anti-US hate groups have been doing everything possible to stop the USFK relocation because the North Korean puppet masters did not want the US forces along the DMZ and in Seoul to be relocated further south on the peninsula and outside of North Korean artillery range. So they turned to their “activist” groups in the south to stop the relocation by playing towards Korean pride and trying to portray USFK as bullies because of the relocating of farmers to expand the base. The vast majority of the farmers took the compensation money and moved but the anti-US hate groups latched on to a handful of farmers as cover to launch their violent attacks on Camp Humphreys and have delayed the relocation. Here are the “activists” in action:

The pollution issue is the second front in stopping the USFK relocation. These “activists” claimed that the vacated Second Infantry Division bases were heavily polluted and were a danger to the civilian population if USFK did not pay to clean the bases up. The estimated costs to clean the bases by the “activists” was a completely unrealistic number they knew USFK would never pay. For those who have never served in Korea, the USFK camps are literally an oasis of green in the middle of dense urban cities. The camps after the Korean war were located on the outskirts of Korean cities but the camps have now been swallowed up by the growing cities which are a sign of Korea’s amazing development since the war. It is partly because of this development that USFK wants to relocate the camps to the sparsely populated Camp Humphreys area. If anything the USFK camps are the cleanest piece of land in the surrounding communities and some have been designated to become parks when handed over; yet the anti-US hate groups have successfully used this issue to further delay the USFK relocation.
However, none of this is anything new. Even before the USFK relocation issue surfaced the anti-US hate groups jumped on other anti-US issues in order to create a wedge between the US and the general South Korean population to great success. In fact this spy scandal has to be the worst kept secret in South Korea. The real scandal is why didn’t the ruling government do anything about it a long time ago? How high up the political ladder does this spy ring extend? The police do allegedly have a list of more possible spies that they intend to investigate:

However, the progressive party cannot but concern the aftermath, as its several leaders are scheduled to visit Pyongyang next Tuesday. DLP spokesman Park Yong-jin said the visit plan would not change, but some political watchers say they wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the visit would be cancelled.

Politicians of the 386 generation are also keeping a close eye on the case, as the prosecution secured a list of some 386 generation figure names at Chang’s house.

The 386 generation refers to those who were born in the 1960s and participated in pro-democracy struggles in the 1980s, and many of them are regarded as core members of the Roh administration.

Chang’s list had six figures names, including Choi. Four figures among the five arrested are also in the 386 generation, all except Chang. Because he is acquainted with many other members of the 386 generation, the case may develop into the largest spy scandal since 1997.

How far is the Korean government going to allow investigators to dig? This may just be the tip of the iceberg.

More from One Free Korea here.

I’m not really surprised but it appears that Korean President Roh Moo-hyun is slowly building a fan club at the New York Times. It must be one of those, “the enemy of my enemy, is my friend” kind of things since neither Roh or the New York Times cares much for President Bush. The latest NY Times article on North Korea is from Nicholas Kristof who has plenty of interesting things to say about
North Korea.

Send in the Fat Guys

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

A North Korean visiting
South Korea once sniffed that all the cars must have been brought in from around the country just to make a good impression for his visit. His South Korean host added dryly that it had been even more difficult to bring in all the tall buildings. Such interactions with the outside world are the best hope to chip away at North Korean totalitarianism, but we’ve missed the opportunity because for decades we’ve conspired with Kim Jong-il to isolate his people.Lately Americans have been quarreling over who is more to blame for
North Korea’s nuclear test, Bill Clinton or George W. Bush. Well, Mr. Clinton inherited a situation that, if it had continued, would have resulted in
North Korea having hundreds of nuclear weapons by now, and producing an additional 50 each year. Instead, Mr. Clinton negotiated a deal with
North Korea that resulted in it producing not a single ounce of new plutonium in his eight years in office.In contrast, President Bush inherited that North Korean nuclear freeze and, if he had just left it alone,
North Korea wouldn’t have produced any new plutonium. But Mr. Bush overruled Colin Powell’s efforts to continue the engagement and so
North Korea has churned out enough plutonium on Mr. Bush’s watch for perhaps eight nuclear weapons.

Of course Kristoff has to bring up the blame game of
Clinton had it right and Bush has it wrong. As I have said before
Clinton tried paying blackmail diplomacy in 1994 and it didn’t work partly because the North Koreans continued a covert nuclear program anyway because they need nuclear weapons for regime survival as well as for nationalistic reasons. The Clinton White House probably knew about it and that is why the two light water reactors they promised to build were never seriously constructed. Later the Bush Administration confronted the North Koreans on their covert program and the North Koreans even admitted to it and of course demanded more blackmail more bi-lateral diplomatic talks over the program.

But in a larger sense, the North Korean nuclear test and the fact that Kim Jong-il is still in power represent a failure not so much of either Mr. Bush or Mr. Clinton, but of decades of bipartisan American policy that aimed to isolate the North. Look around the world at the regimes we despise: North Korea, Cuba, Burma and
Iran. Those are among the world’s most long-lived regimes, and that’s partly because the sanctions and isolation we have imposed on them have actually propped them up by giving those countries leaders an excuse for their economic failures and a chance to cloak themselves in nationalism.

The North Koreans don’t need isolation as an excuse to blame foreigners for economic failures or to create more nationalism. Look at South Korea, the Asian Financial Crisis in the 90’s is called the IMF crisis in South Korea because the South Korean government blamed the IMF for the crisis thus in turn turn blaming the big, bad foreigners for the financial crisis instead of the government’s own backwards financial and banking policies that actually led to the crisis. To this day the people in
South Korea still believe foreigners are to blame for the Asian Financial Crisis in the 90’s. Nationalism is also as high as ever in South Korea when dealing with foreigners especially the Japanese and the
United States. I could write a book on the number of things Koreans blame the Japanese and the
United States for. Heck I could write a book on just the things Koreans blame “Low Quality Canadian English Teachers^TM ” for much less the US and
Japan. Whether you engage or isolate the North Koreans it doesn’t matter, foreigners will still be scapedgoated for the North Korean regimes failures.

Kim Jong-il sees that the best way to preserve North Korean totalitarianism is in the formaldehyde of its own isolation. In effect, Mr. Kim has placed sanctions on his own country, and we’re abetting him.In the 1970’s, North Korea poked its head out of its shell, negotiating with
South Korea, seeking foreign investors and sending letters to Jimmy Carter seeking talks. Mr. Carter considered inviting the leaders of North and South Korea to a summit meeting at a place like
Camp David but dropped the idea when his own aides reacted with horror.Yet if we had held such a meeting, and gradually encouraged trade and other contacts,
North Korea’s regime might well have collapsed by now. At least, it would have moderated enough that the country would look like China or
Vietnam. I lived in China in the 1980’s and 1990’s when Communist ideology was collapsing there, and I’m convinced that the best way to undermine North Korea’s government would be to send in business executives overweight ones, if possible. In a country like
North Korea, where the government responded to famine by broadcasting a cautionary documentary about a man who exploded after eating too much rice, nothing would be more subversive than tubby foreigners.

The China example doesn’t work in Kim Jong-il’s case because the economic reforms put forward by Deng Xiaoping that have led to today’s current economic success didn’t happen until Mao was dead. Mao couldn’t completely open the country for fear the population would see his lies for what they were and revolt against him. Once he was dead new leaders could gradually open the country and as the population became more connected to the outside world any failures of the past would be Mao’s failures not the new leadership’s who were working to improve Chinese life. Much like
Mao, North Korea cannot open up to the outside world until Kim Jong-il is dead and a new leader can start with a clean slate and slowly open the country without fear of losing his head. Kim Jong-il will never completely open the country and anyone thinking otherwise is wasting their time trying to form policy around that belief.

Mr. Bush is right that we have to punish North Korea for its brazen nuclear test, and the administration has been sensible and prudent in the last few weeks in devising a series of penalties. But after
North Korea drags itself back to six-party talks, we should begin to move away from our long, failed strategy of trying to isolate the world’s most isolated country. In particular, it’s a mistake for us to reproach the South Koreans who have more of a stake than anybody, and who understand the North Koreans better than we do for operating factories in the Kaesong industrial zone in
North Korea. It’s true that those North Korean workers have no rights, and that
North Korea will use the hard currency to bolster its military. But those South Korean factories are expected to employ 700,000 workers by 2012.While North Korea can survive punitive sanctions, I don’t think the regime can survive the shock of having 700,000 of its citizens working for South Korean capitalists and realizing that the southerners are so rich and spoiled that they refuse to eat rice with gravel in it. The biggest threat to
North Korea’s regime isn’t from American warships, but from the sight of other Koreans dieting, or listening on iPods to love songs, or watching decadent television comedies.So let’s stop helping the Dear Leader isolate his own people.

First of all I find it interesting that people on the left will condemn western companies for operating sweat shops in Latin America for example, but when it comes to
North Korea they are willing to look the other way. Anyway, the majority of the people in South Korea don’t even support the current Uri government and more than likely a more conservative administration will be elected next year which may mean the end of the
Kaesong project all together, though I have my doubts. The Kaesong Industrial Zone was part of the Sunshine Policy that believed that economic engagement would be reawarded with better behavior from
North Korea and most importantly keeping the status quo on the peninsula so the economy could continue to surge. The economic projects with
North Korea was nothing more than a bribe for the North Koreans to behave so South Koreans can continue their own economic success. The North Koreans haven’t behaved and South Koreans feel betrayed some what by the North Koreans but as recent polls have shown more South Koreans blame the big, bad foreigners for the nuclear test than the North Koreans. South Koreans could care less about human rights and reunification with North Korea when their ability to own a Hyundai and take vacations to
Guam are threatened. Thus the current South Korean government believes the bribes need to continue and much like the American left, wishes the US government would just hurry up and pay off Kim Jong-il as well, so this would all just go away. HT: Florida Maschist

John Bolton continues to do great work at the UN by nearly getting the United Nations Security Council to approve sanctions against North Korea that actually has some teeth in them:

  Article 8 of the draft resolution says all UN member nations are to prevent all goods, equipment, products and technology related to North Korea’s nuclear development from going into the country, and that such materials are banned from direct or indirect transfer to the North via land and sea. It also covers luxury goods.

Member nations will be obliged to freeze financial assets owned and managed by individuals and organizations proven to have helped the North develop weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear arms and missiles. When it comes to the contentious issue of inspections of North Korean vessels, UN members are called on to take “cooperative action” as necessary under their own domestic law and in a way that does not violate international law.

Basically what I’m getting out of reading this resolution is that anything related to the NK nuclear program will be hit with sanctions including even luxury items for the regime.  So Kim Jong-il may have some less cognac in stock this winter.  The sanctions also hit North Korean leaders with a travel ban.  It will be interesting to see how the travel ban is implemented.  Does it mean Kim Jong-il can’t take train journeys to Russia and China anymore?  Or Kim’s son can’t take family holidays at Tokyo Disneyland as well?

The big item in the sanctions is the cargo inspections of North Korean ships.  The way I interpret the sanctions is that the US and it’s allies can conduct cargo inspections.  If cargo inspections of North Korean ships is implemented expect some kind of incident to happen, because these inspections would shut down the North Koreans drug trade activities.  To move their drugs the North Koreans would have to ship them over land through China which could be potentially embarrassing for the Chinese.  Plus if the US does implement  the sanctions they should be very careful about having the Japanese help with the inspections because a fire fight for example between the North Koreans and the Japanese may bring up old imperial Japan sentiments in South Korea and China no matter how outrageous they may seem.

The US media is playing it that the sanctions are weak because it does not hit North Korea with full sanctions on all their economic activities.  My response to that is what other economic activity does North Korea have?  Drug running and counterfeiting?   Now the big question for South Korea will be the Kaesong and Kumgangsan economic projects with North Korea:

The draft resolution is still ambiguous in determining the kinds of transactions UN members are prohibited from conducting with North Korea. When it is put into action, however, such inter-Korean business projects as the Kaesong Industrial Complex and package tours to Mt. Kumgang, which are cash cows for the North, will come under the scrutiny of a committee to be established in the UN to monitor whether member countries are adhering to their obligations. The UN will put more pressure on Seoul to inspect North Korean vessels in the East and West Sea.

The US would have to prove that these projects provide money for the North Korean weapons programs.  Though it is obvious that they are, it would be difficult to prove.  Expect these programs to continue under the Roh Administration but once a new South Korean president is elected next year expect them to end.

The final vote and approval of these sanction should happen in the next 24 hours.

More sanctions coverage at One Free Korea (particularly good) and the Marmot.

UPDATE #2: It sounds like at least somebody in the South Korean government has been reading Kaplan:

China is pursuing the so-called Northeast Project to co-opt Korean history with an eye on claiming North Korean territory when the regime there collapses, a senior lawmaker quoted a Chinese leader as saying. Former National Assembly speaker Kim Won-ki quoted the remarks in the Unification, Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee on Thursday, saying they were made in a frank meeting with the high-ranking Chinese official.

The Chinese leader also reportedly said Beijing finds the Kim Jong-il regime and the political situation in North Korea very unstable. In any emergency, the U.S and allied army would move to North Korea?s border with China and face the Chinese People’s Liberation Army there, a situation Beijing would not tolerate, he said.

Meanwhile, Chinese attempts to distort ancient Korean history have this time taken it to the point of trademarking as their own the spot of the birth of the Korean people according to the Dangun mythology, Mt. Baekdu, by attaching the Chinese name, “Changbai shan.”

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UPDATE #1: Richardson has more analysis of the Kaplan article over at TKL.

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It seems like every six months somebody writes an article about what should happen in the event of a North Korean collapse. The latest person to take his shot at providing a theory of what to do in the event of a North Korean collapse is Robert Kaplan. Well now we know what Mr. Kaplan was up to two months ago at the DMZ. Coming Anarchy first reported on this, but you had to have an Atlantic Magazine subscription to read the complete article, however Robert was nice enough to actually cut and paste the whole article.

Basically Kaplan provides a good summary of the Korean situation and provides his recommendations about how to handle a post-Kim Jong-il North Korea. Kaplan believes that the Chinese are making a power play to control a post-Kim Jong-il North Korea by either militarily occupying the country or installing a puppet regime subservient to China. This really shouldn’t be a surprise to those following things here on the peninsula. I would actually be more surprised if China wasn’t making plans to exert some kind of authority over North Korea after a collapse. After all the Chinese are fearful of the masses of refugees that could pour across their borders not to mention the regional economic and military threat a united Korean peninsula could become a few decades after reunification to China. I’m also sure the Chinese wouldn’t appreciate a united Korea with US troops in it as well. So it is totally in their interest to establish conditions to where they will exert some kind of authority over a post-Kim Jong-il North Korea and prevent a unified Korean peninsula. However, don’t expect a collapsed North Korea any time soon. China will not allow that country to collapse until after the Beijing Olympics. The 2008 Olympics is going to be China’s coming out party and they don’t’ want anything like a massive refugee crisis or war on the Korean peninsula to ruin it. The scenario of China taking authority over North Korea is a very real one. China is already trying to claim ancient Korean history as their own so if they ever do occupy North Korea they can use their shared history as part of the reasoning for doing so. It worked in Tibet, why not North Korea too?

Kaplan also provides scenarios of a collapsed North Korea being occupied by US, Chinese, Russian, and South Korean troops. I have long advocated that the US should not send in any troops into a collapsed North Korea and that the ROK Army should overwhelmingly fill the country with soldiers to exert authority over the north before the Chinese or Russians can move in. If the US moves into North Korea that would give the Chinese and the Russians the green light to move in as well. In the interest of a unified democratic Korean peninsula the US and South Korea cannot have these two country’s occupy any portion of North Korea. That is why it is critical that South Korea quickly deploys it’s forces throughout North Korea and implement martial law and immediately begin humanitarian assistance to exert a sense of authority. North Koreans have been brought up since the day they were born to hate the United States and if the ROK Army is seen working side by side with the United States in North Korea this may give many North Koreans the impression that the South Koreans are the pawns of the United States and may be more inclined to wanting a Chinese occupation instead. It is critical that the South Koreans have to be viewed early on as the legitimate occupiers of North Korea by the North Korean population. The US military could be best used in South Korea to help the ROK Army establish camps and give humanitarian aid to North Korean refugees that may poor into South Korea. Even this has to appear to be South Korean led. Everything done in the early days of a collapse has to be viewed in the context of building the legitimacy of the South Korean government in the eyes of the North Korean population. Also the US Navy would be critical to blockade the country to ensure no weapons or WMD are being smuggled out of the country.

Another recommendation that Kaplan advocates is that the US should not conduct a military strike on North Korea in response to a missile test, which he is absolutely correct about. This is something I have long believed in though for slightly different reasons than Kaplan’s. Kaplan believes North Korea would retaliate with a limited artillery attack on Seoul and Yongsan Garrison. I don’t think he would do that because that would provoke a war because the automatic counter battery fire back at North Korea would just be tremendous which would ultimately escalate into full scale war. What I think is more likely is that North Korea would retaliate in more unconventional ways like terrorist attacks on subways, bombing bridges, shooting down civilian airliners, or small scale DMZ shootouts for example that would not precipitate a full scale war, but still inflict heavy damage on the South Koreans which the regime could in turn blame the US for and then use the attack on his country as an excuse for a complete nuclear arms build up. Kim Jong-il is desperately praying for a US air attack that the Clinton era history revisionists want George W. Bush to give to him. The Clinton era policy advice on Korea is as incompetent now as it was back when they were in power. Fortunately President Bush is not taking their advice and sticking to economic sanctions to wear down the Kim regime.

Overall, the Kaplan article is a good read for those who haven’t been following the situation on the Korean peninsula to closely and I think it is great he debunks the Clinton era policy makers recommendations to bomb North Korea. Ultimately reading the article I think it is increasingly clear that South Korea’s greatest national interest should be in maintaining a strong US-ROK relationship because South Korea has no chance of a reunified, democratic Korean peninsula without the United States to counter balance the territorial and hegemonic ambitions of China and Russia.

It looks like Kim Jong-il may have crossed China one too many times::

The Bank of China has frozen North Korea’s accounts at a branch in Macau due to Pyongyang’s counterfeiting and money laundering activities, it emerged Monday. It is the very BOC branch where South Korea’s National Intelligence Service transferred US$200 million to the North to guarantee the success of the first North-South summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il and then-president Kim Dae-jung in 2000. U.S. pressure on the Macau-based bank Banco Delta Asia last year to freeze North Korean accounts reignited conflict between the U.S and the North.

Grand National Party lawmaker Park Jin said a former high-ranking U.S. official told him about the Chinese bank¿s decision when Park visited Washington last week. A South Korean government official later confirmed the account, saying Beijing could not turn down Washington¿s demand to clean up dubious accounts since it is well aware of the importance of improving financial transparency for the sake of trade. Analysts say that is one reason behind the recent rift between North Korea and its long-term ally over the North¿s missile tests.

US diplomats have been saying that China has been very helpful during the North Korean nuclear crisis and it appears behind the scenes they have if this latest crackdown is any indication.

This resolution is actually quite impressive that US Ambassador John Bolton was able to get both the Russians and the Chinese to back this resolution against North Korea:

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to impose weapons-related sanctions on North Korea in response to its flurry of missile tests earlier this month.

The resolution demands that North Korea suspend “all activities” on its ballistic missile programs.

It requires all U.N. members to prevent imports from or exports to North Korea of missiles and missile-related items as well as materials that could be used in weapons of mass destruction.

To avert a veto from China, the resolution does not mention Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which is used on a legally binding document. But Security Council members say the resolution is mandatory because of the way it is worded.

China and Russia had originally proposed weaker language, but agreed to a tough resolution. They expressed fears that Chapter 7 would lead to military action as in Iraq.

The real judge of this resolution is going to be how well it is enforced.  Remember Saddam Hussein had sanctions leveled against him by the UN and from first hand experience I can tell you that the sanctions did not stop him from buying lots of weapons for his war machine from the usual sources such as the Russians and even so called US allies like France.  So quite possibly the Chinese and Russians signed on to this resolution knowing full well it will only be enforced by the US and the Japanese only.

Here is what the North Koreans think of the sanctions:

North Korea’s envoy to the United Nations warned Saturday his country would be forced to take “strong physical action” should it be pressured on its “self-defensive” missile launches, protesting a resolution passed unanimously by the U.N. Security Council condemning his government.

Amb. Pak Gil-yon, addressing the council, said North Korea “totally rejects” the resolution and vowed Pyongyang will “go on with missile launch exercises as part of its efforts to bolster deterrent for self-defense in the future.”
He said the United States has “totally hamstrung efforts” for sincere dialogue on North Korean issues by applying financial sanctions.  He also accused the U.S. of threatening the North with military exercises targeting it.

At least these sanctions are something against North Korea, but don’t expect this resolution to solve the North Korea problem.  This resolution just makes it a little bit more difficult for North Korea to import parts for their missiles and in turning selling them internationally.  This just tightens the noose a little bit more on North Korea’s sources of hard currency and hopefully will ultimately make them more likely to return to six party talks seeking to make a deal over their nuclear program.  At least that is the hope, but I remain skeptical.

This was so predictable:

South Korea has called for a calm response to North Korea’s missile tests, accusing Japan of heightening tensions through its hawkish remarks.

“There is no reason to fuss over this from the break of dawn like Japan, but every reason to do the opposite,” said a statement from the office of President Roh Moo-hyun’s spokesman.

“There is nothing good in heightening tensions on the Korean peninsula and worsening inter-Korean relations. This will not help at all to settle the nuclear issue or the missile issue,” it said Sunday.

“It is the president’s view not to raise a shrill voice but to respond calmly,” it said.

“The possible launch of a Daepodong missile had been widely publicized in advance. It was aimed at nobody and did not lead to a state of emergency in either our country or other countries.”

Roh’s government has expressed caution at a US and Japanese push to slap further sanctions on North Korea at the United Nations Security Council.

President Roh has been feeling the heat due to his lackluster response to the North Korean missile tests, so he pulled out the first play in the Roh Playbook, which is blame the Japanese. Why not? It usually works despite the idiocy of the comments.

How can he say the missiles were aimed at no one? They were obviously aimed at provoking Japan by landing close to their shores with no fore-warning in advance not to mention almost hitting an Asiana Airliner. Then if the Taepo-dong2 had actually worked who knows where it would have landed. If it would have landed any where near the US shores you would have seen a real increase in tensions.

I’m all for a cool and calculated response to the North Korean threat, but could someone please tell President Roh to shut the hell up.

Many news agencies are reporting that it is likely that North Korea is preparing to fire more missiles: North Korea has another long-range Taepodong-2 missile of the kind that crashed into the ocean after launch on Wednesday, according to a confidential report by South Korea¿s National Intelligence Service. That means another test launch is likely once the North figures out how to fix the defect that scuppered the first attempt. Officials also contradicted reports Wednesday that the missile blew up in midair 42 seconds after launch, saying it actually traveled for seven minutes after veering from its original trajectory. With the failure of the Taepodong2, North Korea is going to feel compelled to launch a successful missile if possible in order to demonstrate that they are still a real threat towards the US. If the North Koreans can demonstrate themselves as a legitimate threat to the US mainland, then their bargaining power during negotiations is greatly enhanced. Not to mention demonstrating to potential buyers that their missile technology works. The fact that the missile possibly flew for 7 minutes is irrelevant if the guidance system doesn’t work. If you are going to shoot something 2000 miles you better be able to hit something of importance in the US or your threats appear very weak. However, if the North Koreans cannot fix the current problems with the Taepodong2 then they will not risk a second failure. Firing off more shorter range missiles seems foolish when they know and the international community knows those missiles do work. In the meantime the South Koreans are looking at bulking up their defensive capabilities against the North Korean missile threat: Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry in a report to the National Assembly’s Defense Committee announced it plans to introduce 48 Patriot missiles between 2008 and 2009 as part of the SAM-X project. After 2009, it will introduce SM-2 Block-IV sea-to-air interceptor missiles to be carried on Aegis ships to counter the North Korean missile threat. Why is the South Korean government purchasing these weapon system for? I thought North Korea was no longer the main enemy? Here is what the North Koreans are saying about their missile tests: The country’s “exercise of its legitimate right as a sovereign state is neither bound to any international law nor to bilateral or multilateral agreements … ,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said, according to the state-run news agency KCNA. “The KPA [Korean People’s Army] will go on with missile launch exercises as part of its efforts to bolster deterrent for self-defense in the future, too.” Pyongyang also warned countries against interference. North Korea “will have no option but to take stronger physical actions of other forms, should any other country dare take issue with the exercises and put pressure upon it,” the spokesman said in Pyongyang’s first official comment since test-firing the missiles on Wednesday. North Korea is correct when they say they have the right to fire missiles, but their are international standards for conducting missile tests, such as not almost shooting down a commercial airliner like they almost did with this test or violating other nation’s airspace like they did over Japan in 1998. Plus, usually countries begging for international aid don’t fire missiles.

UPDATE #7:  Sitting here checking out the news sites before going to work and no new missiles have been fired yet.  However, the White House is saying that the North Koreans may fire more today:

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Wednesday that North Korea has additional missiles that could be launched in the next day.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer also said more launches could be coming, the AP reported.

“We think they probably do intend to launch more missiles in the next day or two,” the AP quoted Downer as saying after he phoned North Korea’s ambassador to protest the launches.

Looking at the news sites cooler heads are prevaling in Washington however the news networks are continuing to hype military action over these missile tests.  War is good for TV ratings.

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UPDATE #6:  This is great, I come back from work and there is still missiles being launched and talking heads on TV demanding military action against North Korea.  Reportedly a seventh missile was launched just a few minutes ago and it lasted for six minutes.  I’m watching Larry King and he has Clinton era officials Sandy Berger and Madelline Albright trying to rewrite their failed history with dealing with North Korea.  They are complaining that President Bush isn’t using diplomacy and engagement with North Korea like they did.

Let me see the Clinton era government used diplomacy and gave the North Koreans massive amounts of aid and what did they get for it?  North Korea went ahead and secretly continued their nuclear program and fired a missile over Japan in 1998 not to mention the mini-sub incidents in South Korea that led to the deaths of numerous Korean soldiers and civilians.  This is what the Democrats consider successful diplomacy?  The North Koreans have actually been much better behaved during the Bush administration than during the Clinton era, thus the need by these people to rewrite history.

Now Bill Richardson is on the TV saying the US needs to continue the momentum of the six party talks.  Momentum?  What Momentum?  I think the US government will probably set up some further six party talks but I really think the government shouldn’t do anything that makes it appear they are giving into North Korean demands.  That just encourages them to be more belligerent.  Ignoring them and being cool about the missile test is the best way to go.  If anything this missile test weakened Kim’s hand because his big bad missile failed.

Oh God, Albright is now saying we need to request the UN to do something about North Korea.  Yeah that will scare the Norks, the big bad UN.  I must change the channel I cannot take anymore of these Clinton era people.

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UPDATE #5:  Here is my favorite international response so far:

Asked about the missiles, Han Song Ryol, deputy chief of North Korea’s mission to the United Nations in New York, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview: “We diplomats do not know what the military is doing.”

Fox News is now reporting that NORAD is saying that a fourth, fifth, and sixth missiles were just fired..

I just saw some guy on Fox News advocating a military strike on North Korea because of this “in your face” provocation.  The news anchor asked what if the North Koreans in response nuked Seoul and the guy just said that we need to bomb all their military capacity in order to prevent them from being able to strike Seoul.  This is a perfect example of how little the American media understands about the military situation in Korea.  To take out every missile, rocket, and artillery piece that could strike Seoul would require a full scale war, which no one wants.  An attack on North Korea would not be like a bombing campaign of Kosovo.  If you attack North Korea you best be ready to fight a bloody second Korean War.

The CNN guy was just talking to the Seoul correspondent and was surprised by the shoulder shrugging reaction of the South Koreans.  When you have lived within artillery range for the last 50 years who would care about a missile.

Here is a BBC graphic of missile ranges if anyone cares:

Alright I have to go to work but this was enough early morning comedy for me watching the American media.  I’m sure other K-bloggers will keep everyone up to date on  this “threat to world peace” as quoted by CNN.  I think the greater threat to world peace was Italy advancing to the World Cup finals but that is a whole other story.

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UPDATE #4:  Here is what the BBC is reporting::

After news of the missile launch Mr Bolton said: “We are urgently consulting with members of the Security Council.”

Japan “strongly protested” North Korea’s move, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said.

The BBC’s Charles Scanlon says North Korea has been feeling under pressure in recent months with the US refusing to negotiate on its demands over its nuclear plans.

This may be a way for North Korea to get attention and break the diplomatic log jam, our correspondent adds.

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UPDATE #3:  Yonhap News is reporting the South Korean reaction:

Th South Korean government confirmed Wednesday that North Korea test-fired at least three missiles.
But the government said it was still trying to confirm details of the missiles..
South Korea immediately called an emergency meeting of security-related ministers.

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UPDATE #2:  I’m watching CNN right now and they had some guy on there blaming Bush for not giving enough carrots to the North Koreans and not preventing the launch.  The CNN is questioning some guy about if North Korea can still nuke the US with a missile.  The “expert” says they cannot nuke the US yet. Isn’t that a stupid question to ask after their ICBM failed miserably just an hour ago?  The expert did say we need to see what the trajectory of the missile was to see if it was aimed at the US and react accordingly.

I think it is safe to say that North Korea is getting exactly what they wanted from this launch.  Attention and scaremongering from the US media in order to pressure the US government into taking them seriously.

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UPDATE #1:  Coming Anarchy has a post on the launch up and here is the Fox News report on the launch:

North Korea may have tried to fire a long-range missile, but it failed in flight, two U.S. officials told FOX News on Tuesday. Two non-guided, medium-range Scud-style missiles were also fired, North American Aerospace Defense Command confirmed.

Japanese public broadcasting channel NHK first reported the missile launches. The two Scud missiles landed in the Sea of Japan, the first about 360 miles from mainland Japan, NHK said. Japan’s Kyodo news agency said the missiles were believed to be mid-range Rodong missiles, and landed about 300 miles off the western coast of Japan’s Hokkaido Island.

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North Korea has finally test fired their stupid missiles and guess what, like I have been saying all along the long range Taepodong-2 missile failed:

North Korea launched a long-range Taepodong-2 missile early Wednesday in an apparently unsuccessful test that failed in flight, a senior State Department official said.

North Korea also tested at least two smaller missiles, U.S. sources told CNN.

Both missiles were launched from a site other than the one intelligence officials have watched for weeks ahead of the long-range missile test, a senior State Department official said.

I’m watching Fox News right now and they are saying the Taepodong-2 missile failed after 35 seconds of flight and of course the news programs are repeating over and over again that the US is not under attack.  Boy, what a relief (sarcasm).  What a joke, I still can’t believe people mostly Democrats have been advocating starting a war over this stupid missile.  I’m curious to what these people are going to be saying over the coming days.

I will post more as developments happen.