Category: North Korea

North Korea is continuing to put pressure on the Trump administration to drop sanctions. Expect these shorter range tests to continue up to the New Year. After the New Year they will probably have some kind of longer range test planned to demonstrate their displeasure to the Trump administration:

North Korea fired two short-range projectiles from a western region toward the East Sea on Thursday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, amid a lack of progress in denuclearization talks with the United States and chilled inter-Korean ties.

The projectiles were fired at 4:35 p.m. and 4:38 p.m. from areas in the city of Sunchon, South Pyongan Province, toward the East Sea, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

Both flew around 370 km across the peninsula, reaching a maximum altitude of around 90 km, the JCS said, adding that South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are analyzing their exact type.

“Our military is monitoring the situation in case of additional launches and maintaining a readiness posture,” the JCS said, calling on the North to “immediately stop such an act that does not help efforts to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The North Koreans continue to put pressure on the Trump administration to cut the “pretend denuclearization” deal that want:

North Korea said on Sunday there has been no progress in the North Korea-United States relations, and hostilities that could lead to an exchange of fire have continued, according to North Korea’s state news agency KCNA. 

In a statement under the name of Chairman of the Korea-Asia Pacific Peace Committee Kim Yong Chol, KCNA said that it would be mistaken for the United States to ignore a year-end deadline on U.S. President Donald Trump’s and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s “close personal relations.” 

Kim Jong Un has set an end-of-the-year deadline for denuclearisation talks with Washington. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

If Kim Jong-un needs a consultant to help him build better resorts in North Korea he could always call President Trump:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un criticized his late father’s policy of depending on South Korea for the development of the Mount Kumgang resort on the east coast, ordering the removal of “all the unpleasant-looking facilities” built by the South.

During a “field guidance” visit to the mountain resort, Kim also ordered the construction of the country’s own “modern service facilities” and said the North “will always welcome our compatriots from the South” to the resort, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“The mountain was left uncared for more than ten years to leave a flaw and the land is worthy of better cause. He made a sharp criticism of the very wrong, dependent policy of the predecessors who were going to rely on others when the country was not strong enough,” the Korean Central News Agency said in English.

“He instructed to remove all the unpleasant-looking facilities of the south side with an agreement with the relevant unit of the south side and to build new modern service facilities our own way that go well with the natural scenery of Mt. Kumgang,” it added.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest reading of the tea leaves in regards to North Korea denuclearization talks:

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said there would be a “major rebuild” of North Korea at some point, and he referred to some “very interesting information” he recently obtained in regard to the country.

It was unclear whether the remark, delivered near the end of a cabinet meeting, alluded to some progress in Washington’s stalled denuclearization negotiations with Pyongyang or whether it could be another of Trump’s idiosyncratic ideas of striking an ultimate deal with the regime.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but apparently an offer the Trump administration made at the last talks was to help North Korea complete their massive tourism project between Wonsan and Kalma on the country’s east coast. The project has been delayed by the sanctions. If anyone knows how to complete a resort project it would be Trump. I guess we will see what happens in the coming months on this offer.

The North Koreans will be very unhappy with this news:

A New York court has formally handed the US ownership of a North Korean cargo ship seized for violating international sanctions, the Justice Department said.

The 17,061 ton bulk carrier Wise Honest — the first North Korean vessel seized by Washington for sanctions violations — was caught carrying a $3 million shipment of coal in Indonesian waters last year and later handed over to US authorities.

The court in the Southern District of New York ordered the vessel to be forfeited to Washington and for the Treasury Department to “dispose of” it, an order released by the Justice Department showed.

The sale process has already taken place, according to the US Coast Guard, which earlier this month said the ship had been auctioned in a court-ordered process.

AFP

You can read more at the link, but seizing the Kim’s regime ships caught smuggling and then selling them off is an idea I have long advocated for.