Media cliches are a trove of unintentional insight into the running 20-year failure of the engagement hypothesis. See also, "rare glimpse." https://t.co/khZ8LYTiVJ
Participants squirt their water pistols in Sinchon, a hangout for young people, on July 8, 2018, as they gear up for a water gun festival as a part of fun activities to get through a hot summer day. (Yonhap)
This was an encouraging response from Secretary of State Pompeo to North Korean claims of “gangster demands”:
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha (R), U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono pose for a photo during their talks in Tokyo on July 8, 2018, in this photo provided by Japan’s Kyodo News. (Yonhap)
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday his country is making fair demands on North Korea in denuclearization talks, refuting its strongly worded criticism following his latest trip to Pyongyang.
The North openly expressed disappointment over what he put forward during a hourslong bargaining with Kim Yong-chol, a top North Korean official, on Thursday and Friday.
Pompeo presented a “unilateral and gangster-like” demand for “complete, verifiable and irreversible” denuclearization (CVID), the North’s foreign ministry said in a statement issued after his departure.
“If those requests were ‘gangster-like’ then the world is a gangster, because there was a unanimous decision at the U.N. Security Council about what needs to be achieved,” the secretary said in the first U.S. response to the North’s assertion that added to skepticism over future negotiations.
He was speaking at a joint press conference with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts — Kang Kyung-wha and Taro Kono — in Tokyo. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but the irony of this is that North Korea is often called the “Sopranos State” and they are ones accusing the US of gangster demands.
Probably the most positive sign in the article is that Pompeo says the sanctions will remain in place:
“Sanctions will remain in place until final, fully verified denuclearization,” Pompeo stressed. “While we are encouraged by the progress of these talks, progress alone does not justify the relaxation of the existing sanctions regime.”
The denuclearization of Korea covers not just nuclear bombs but also missiles, he said, adding North Korean officials also understand that.
On the trustworthiness issue, he said, “There will be a verification connected to the complete denuclearization.”
Like I have always said if the US drops sanctions for little to nothing in return then hit the panic button. People just need to be patient and let what I think is Kim’s final chance to rejoin the world community to play out.
Eight officials of South Korean TV station JTBC will visit North Korea’s capital Pyongyang next week to discuss inter-Korean exchange in the field of media and the opening of the broadcaster’s bureau there.
It will become the first case of inter-Korean cooperation in media since inter-Korean military tension subsided early this year.
Seoul’s unification ministry approved their visit to the North late Friday. The ministry’s approval is a must for South Korean citizens to visit the North since the two Koreas are technically still at war with each other because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
The ministry said the JTBC delegation, headed by its newsroom managing director Kwon Suk-chun, will visit the North from July 9 to 12, during which time they will meet with North Korean broadcasters and officials from the National Reconciliation Council, which invited the delegation to the North.
The purpose of the visit is to discuss “inter-Korean exchange in the field of media and JTBC’s opening of a Pyongyang bureau,” said the ministry in a message sent to reporters. It didn’t give further details. [Korea Times]
Foreign students participating in the international summer school of Korea University stage a K-pop flash mob at the school in Seoul on July 6, 2018. They danced to “Red Flavor,” a song of Red Velvet, one of K-pop’s biggest girl groups. (Yonhap)
This was some smart thinking by this 9 year old Korean boy on vacation in Hawaii with his parents when he was kidnapped as part of a car theft:
A 9-year-old boy from South Korea and witnesses helped lead Honolulu police to the man who allegedly stole a car with the child inside in Kailua late Thursday morning.
Police said officers arrested a 35-year-old Enchanted Lake man on suspicion of kidnapping, auto theft, theft of property and two warrants after he allegedly stole a rental car with the boy inside.
Police gave the following account of the incident: The boy’s parents, visiting from Korea, left the child inside the car with the air conditioning on, and stopped near the Kailua boat ramp to take pictures of the scenery. At 11:23 a.m. near 729 Mokulua Drive, the suspect jumped into the car and drove off with the boy inside. The boy, who speaks English, asked the man to drop him off at Kalapawai Market and the suspect complied.
The child was able to give officers the car’s license plate number and a description of the vehicle, police said.
Witnesses called 911 and police located the car, which had collided with another vehicle at the intersection of Kamehameha Highway and Mokulele Drive in Kaneohe.
Police said the driver got out and ran on foot, but officers captured him a short distance away. The suspect had personal property from the vehicle on his person, police said.
The suspect was taken to Castle Medical Center with minor cuts to his hand received in the accident. He was later taken to the Kaneohe station for booking. [Star Advertiser]
North Korea says high-level talks with a U.S. delegation led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were “regrettable” and has accused Washington of trying to unilaterally pressure the country into abandoning its nukes.
The statement by an unnamed North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman on Saturday came hours after Pompeo concluded two days of talks with North Korean officials led by Kim Yong Chol.
The statement says that the United States betrayed the spirit of last month’s summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by making unilateral demands on “CVID,” or the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea.
It says the outcome of the follow-up talks was “very concerning” because it has led to a “dangerous phase that might rattle our willingness for denuclearization that had been firm.” [Associated Press]
You can read more at the link, but my best guess on what is going on is that North Korea wants some of the sanctions dropped for the little to nothing they have done to denuclearize. This is their standard playbook from past negotiations.
The other thing that is in their playbook is using the remains of US servicemembers killed during the Korean War as bargaining chips. When the return of 200 war remains was announced I was wondering what the cost would be? Now we know they were just bargaining chips by the Kim regime to get sanctions dropped.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has wrapped up two days of talks with senior North Korean officials without meeting Kim Jong Un but with commitments for new discussions on denuclearization and the repatriation of the remains of American soldiers killed during the Korean War.
The Kim regime is only committing to further discussions on the return of the remains which proves they are simply bargaining chips to get what the Kim regime wants which is some of the sanctions dropped. South Korean President Moon is ready to send the Kim regime cash and aid, but the sanctions are preventing him from doing so.
What will be important to watch now is if the Trump administration flinches and allows some of the sanctions to be dropped to keep the negotiations going. If they do then truly nothing has changed, the Trump administration is just the latest government to be fooled by the Kim regime’s false promises to denuclearize.
It is still business as usual for North Korea’s hackers:
North Korean hackers are suspected of carrying out cyber attacks aimed at raising profits and collecting data despite warm relations between the two Koreas, security experts here said Thursday.
According to security sources, North Korea has not desisted from attacking South Korean organizations even though Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to stop hostile acts against each other after the landmark summit held in late April.
A North Korea-based hacking group, dubbed “Hidden Cobra,” recently infected local hospitals and manufacturing firms with malicious codes, cyber security sources said. The group is also presumed to have attacked financial and media companies around the globe to collect data.
ESTsecurity Corp., a local security firm, said Wednesday a hacking group is sending out e-mails disguised as a South Korean governmental agency carrying out research on separated families of the two Koreas. The email can infect the computer with advanced persistent threat (APT) attacks. [Yonhap]
