Category: North Korea

It is good to see that someone is listening to what the Kim regime has been saying for years, they have no interest in denuclearizing:

Along with massive economic assistance, the normalization of diplomatic relations with the West ― particularly with the United States ― has long been viewed by countries outside of North Korea as one of the carrots that could persuade the reclusive state from seeking nuclear weapons. 

But a former U.S. diplomat said that North Korea has no intention to get rid of its nuclear weapons in exchange for economic incentives or the normalization of diplomatic relations. Joe DeTrani said the reclusive state wants both: to normalize diplomatic relations with the West while keeping its nuclear arsenal intact. 

“The North Koreans have been telling us, and certainly they’ve been telling me from 2003 to 2016, when I’ve been meeting them officially or track 1.5 meetings with a deputy foreign minister, that North Korea wants to be accepted as a nuclear weapons state and they want normal relations with the United States ― they want both,” DeTrani, a former U.S. special envoy for negotiations with North Korea, said during a session of the Korea Times Forum on the theme “New Challenges for Korea-U.S. Alliance,” at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul, Wednesday. DeTrani, now in Albuquerque, New Mexico, joined the discussion remotely.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I see no way any politician would be able to flip the Kim regime away from China and Russia and to suddenly denuclearize. North Korea has made it clear repeatedly they have no intention of denuclearizing and want to be recognized as a nuclear weapons state:

South Korea should prepare for a United States controlled by more isolationists and skeptics regarding American intervention in foreign affairs as Washington braces for a major Republican win in the upcoming midterm elections, according to a security expert on Northeast Asia.

The projected results of the Nov. 8 elections are about to bring new challenges to Northeast Asia, where the U.S.-China rivalry is intensifying and North Korea is speeding up the development of its nuclear weapons despite international outcry. Recent polls show that the conservative U.S. party will take control of the House and possibly win the Senate as well. 

“Many of the Republicans today are more isolationists and less internationalists than they used to be. That’s reflected most recently in signs that, if the Republicans retake the House, they are not going be so open to continue aid to Ukraine. No one is saying anything about our South Korea alliance, but it is certainly a trend in the wrong direction,” Joel Wit, founder of 38 North, a website devoted to analysis about North Korea, said at Wednesday’s forum hosted by The Korea Times. “If you look forward to the next presidential election, there is always a possibility that [former President] Donald Trump will come back and he’s not a big fan of our alliances overseas … Other Republican candidates may not as be as enthusiastic about American ties with overseas countries.” (…….)

Wit believes the denuclearization of North Korea is still possible through diplomacy, but only if the U.S. tries to achieve it from a long-term perspective.

“To put it simply, diplomacy with Pyongyang only has a chance of working with North Korea trying to move away from those countries (China and Russia). That’s been the case over the past 25 years. The problem is there is no sign of any interest on the part of North Korea,” he said. 

The only way to encourage North Korea to move away from the two nations is to transform its relationship with the U.S. fundamentally so that North Korea sees it as more valuable and beneficial. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

That is one of the theories being bounced around on why North Korea is conducting so many missile tests and other drills in recent weeks:

“Rather, the recent moves are assumed to be aimed at gaining international attention for its seventh nuclear test with missile launches and other provocations, and showing its force to the world,” Go said. “Bragging about its nuclear forces seems to be the ultimate purpose of the recent moves.” 

Korea Times

Another theory is that North Korea is trying to test President Yoon and see if he will actually cancel the Inter-Korean military agreement as he has threatened to do:

Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said Friday’s provocations should be seen as its reaction against South Korea’s strengthened military posture and Seoul’s debates over discarding the military agreement so as to contain Pyongyang’s nuclear test.

“It was unusual that the North announced that it was reacting to a 10-hour long artillery drill,” Hong said. “It seems like the shelling was aimed at testing whether Seoul really thinks about breaking the military agreement. If the North dared to ignore the agreement, it can simply arm its soldiers in the Demilitarized Zone.”

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest ratcheting up of tensions on the peninsula:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has inspected an exercise of tactical nuclear operation units held in order to check and assess the “war deterrent and nuclear counterattack capability” in response to recent joint military trainings by South Korea and the United States, Pyongyang’s state media said Monday.

The drills were conducted from Sept. 25 to Oct. 9 while the South and the U.S. were staging a large-scale combined naval exercise in the waters near the peninsula involving the nuclear-powered Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The North’s military staged “ballistic missile launching drills under the simulation of loading tactical nuclear warheads,” it reported.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but once again how many times and how many different ways does the Kim regime need to tell the international community that it is not denuclearizing?

I wonder if the North Korean Air Force used up their entire yearly training budget on this flight:

Twelve North Korean military aircraft flew in formation and presumably conducted a firing exercise Thursday, Seoul officials said, in apparent protest over recent military drills between South Korea and the United States.

The group of eight fighter jets and four bombers staged the formation flight north of the inter-Korean air boundary at around 2 p.m., and they were thought to have conducted air-to-surface firing drills, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

Some 30 South Korean fighter jets were immediately deployed to the area in an “overwhelming” response to the flight, which is a move unseen over the past year, the JCS said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.