Category: North Korea

You can see the slow building up towards a provocation cycle once again with North Korea:

 The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Tuesday criticized South Korean President Moon Jae-in for his speech on the North’s recent missile launches, mocking him as a “parrot” that repeats the United States’ “gangster-like logic.”

Kim Yo-jong made the criticism in a statement after Moon said on Friday in a speech that any action that could undercut the mood for dialogue is “undesirable,” hours after Pyongyang confirmed its test-firing of short-range ballistic missiles.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is North Korea trying to defend their recent ballistic missile launches:

“It constitutes a denial of sovereignty and an apparent double standard that the UNSC takes issue, on the basis of the U.N. ‘resolutions’ — direct products of the U.S. hostile policy toward (North Korea),” senior North Korean Foreign Ministry official Jo Chol Su said in a statement carried by state media.

Jo said it “doesn’t make any sense” for the U.N. council to take issue with only North Korea’s missile launches, while not doing anything on similar weapons tests by other countries. He said such a “double standard will invite more serious consequence” but didn’t elaborate.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but there will likely be more missile launches in the coming weeks and months.

It seems that North Korea is slowly working their way up towards another provocation cycle if they don’t get what they want:

North Korea fired two cruise missiles off the west coast Sunday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Wednesday, Pyongyang’s first missile test in about a year seen as aimed at testing the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden without being too provocative.

“We detected two projectiles presumed to be cruise missiles fired from the North’s western port county of Onchon early Sunday,” a JCS officer told reporters.

Yonhap

You can read more at the test, but firing cruise missiles is actually not part of the UN ballistic missile ban on North Korea.

The Malaysian courts just did a real solid for the U.S. and the Kim regime is not happy:

North Korea said Friday it will cut off diplomatic relations with Malaysia for extraditing one of its nationals to the United States to face money laundering charges and pinned Washington as the “backstage manipulator.”

Mun Chol-myong, a North Korean businessmen living in Malaysia, was accused of supplying prohibited luxury items from Singapore to Pyongyang and laundering funds through shell companies in violation of U.N. sanctions. Last week, Malaysia’s top court ruled that he can be extradited to Washington, rejecting his appeal challenging the extradition request from the U.S.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I think the Malaysian authorities have always maintained animosity at the Kim regime in the wake of using a nerve agent to kill Kim Jong-nam in the Kuala Lumpur airport. They are probably glad to be done with the North Koreans in their country.

It seems the U.S. can never consistently keep pressure on North Korea to ever get any results, but here is the latest administration to try:

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that Washington is looking at various ways to address the North Korean nuclear issue, including “pressure measures” and “diplomatic paths,” during its ongoing policy review.

During a press conference with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and their Japanese counterparts, Toshimitsu Motegi and Nobuo Kishi, in Tokyo, Blinken also pointed out the U.S.’ commitment to dealing with human rights abuses in the North.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

So much for Kim Yo-jong being sidelined by her brother because she is clearly back to playing a key role attacking South Korea and the U.S.:

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un threatened Tuesday to scrap a military peace agreement with South Korea and break up a Workers’ Party organ tasked with inter-Korean dialogue as she lambasted the South for conducting military exercises with the United States.

Kim Yo-jong also warned the new U.S. administration of President Joe Biden not to engage in such hostile acts, saying it better not do things that would “keep it from getting a good night’s sleep” if it wants to sleep well for the next four years.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see if the US government does anything to try and seize North Korean assets to pay this court settlement:

A federal court has awarded $2.3 billion to several crewmembers and families of the USS Pueblo, a Navy ship taken hostage by North Korea more than 50 years ago.

Split evenly for compensatory and punitive damages, the amount is among the largest ever awarded in a state-sponsored terrorism case, according to Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, the Washington-based law firm that filed the case three years ago on behalf of 61 crew members and 110 family members in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link and learn more about the USS Pueblo Incident at this link. I doubt the surviving crew members and the family members will ever see any money from North Korea, but at least this ruling will make it harder for the engagement crowd to make their case that aid for little to nothing in return should be U.S. policy with the Kim regime.