Category: North Korea

Its August which means provocation time from North Korea due to the annual joint exercise between the U.S. and the ROK:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for a “drastic boost” of the country’s missile production capacity, the North’s state media said Monday, as South Korea and the United States plan to stage joint military drills later this month.

Kim made the remarks during a two-day visit to major factories that produce strategic missiles, rocket launchers and other military weapons on Friday and Saturday, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The visit came less than a week after the North Korean leader conducted a “field guidance” of major munitions factories as South Korea and the United States plan to hold their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise later this month, which Pyongyang has denounced as a rehearsal for an invasion of the North.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Why is the U.N. providing North Korea any aid? I don’t care if it is just tents, the Kim regime has money to build nuclear weapons, ICBMs, submarines, etc., but can’t buy their own tents?:

A U.N. Security Council panel has approved sanctions exemptions for the World Health Organization (WHO) allowing the delivery of tents into North Korea, its website showed Saturday.

On July 20, the U.N. committee overseeing sanctions approved the waiver on the importation of five “multipurpose” tents into the North for humanitarian relief to civilians to help cope with flood, drought and other emergencies, according to the U.N. website.

The exemption will be valid for nine months, the committee said.

It remains unclear when the items will be delivered to the North, as the reclusive country maintains border controls due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is the question being discussed in the Korea Times:

Will North Korea use King as a bargaining chip or perhaps a propaganda tool? The reality is, according to Washington experts, that the North is less interested in getting short-term gains by releasing him. However, another question is whether or not he should be viewed as a valuable asset given his low military rank. 

“King could either be a bargaining chip or a propaganda tool. If he desires to stay in North Korea for fear of punishment awaiting him in the U.S., he would probably become the latter. Once Pyongyang decides on an approach, they will reply to the United Nations Command’s (UNC) attempts to discuss the matter,” according to the Korea Society director. 

Over the years, there have been a number of U.S. citizens who have crossed the border separating the two Koreas. These people were mostly human rights activists, missionaries and, from time to time, soldiers. On occasion, based on the weight of each incident, the North Korean regime has used political tactics in its handling of border crossers.

The widely-known cases are the defection of Charles Jenkins and James Dresnok back in the 1960s, both of whom were featured in various North Korean films as “U.S. villains.” In Jenkins’ case, for example, he thought he would be traded to the Soviet Union and then back to the U.S., where he would serve time in jail ― which he preferred over possible deployment to Vietnam. He was held in North Korea for 39 years, where he was tortured and used in propaganda.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I think this decision is really dependent on King. If he is willing and enthusiastically embraces being a propaganda tool than North Korea will probably keep around while he is still useful. The minute he is no longer useful is when they will deport him.