Colonel-level military officials of the two Koreas meet at the Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine office in Paju, just south of the inter-Korean border, on June 25, 2018, in this photo provided by the Defense Ministry. The officials met to discuss restoring their military communication lines. (Yonhap)
It has now been 68 years since the start of the Korean War:
A solemn ceremony took place in Washington Monday to mark the 68th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, an annual event that carried special meaning as the remains of some of the fallen heroes are set to return home.
The ceremony drew some 200 people to the Korean War Veterans Memorial as the United States and North Korea are in talks to formally end the 1950-53 conflict that ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. [Yonhap]
Here is a cool quote from the article:
Paul Cunningham, president of the Korean War Veterans Association, delivers opening remarks at a ceremony marking the 68th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington on June 25, 2018. (Yonhap)
Cunningham, 88, said he served as a radar repairman with the Air Force during the war. He now drives an Amanti built by South Korea’s Kia.
“It is one of the finer cars that I have driven in the course of my lifetime, but when I left Korea in February of 1952 the last thing in my mind was that I would ever be driving a vehicle manufactured in this country because what I saw there was ashes and rubble,” he told Yonhap. “It’s very gratifying to us to see what’s been made of the economy — the 10th strongest economy in the world — and that’s very commendable.”
Considering how popular the Dragon Hill Lodge is, I would not be surprised if from the US side these talks get slow rolled as much as possible:
The Dragon Hill Lodge at Yongsan Garrison
There was sharp criticism from the city of Seoul and civic groups that leaving the 240,000㎡ ROK-US CFC on the site of the Yongsan Garrison would cause the park that will be built there after the land is returned to South Korea to end up looking malformed. South Korea and the US bowed to the pressure by agreeing at the end of last year to move ROK-US CFC to a building on the precincts of South Korea’s Ministry of Defense, located nearby. The relocation of the ROK-US CFC to the Defense Ministry grounds is reportedly supposed to be completed within the year.
On the other hand, little progress has reportedly been made in deliberations between South Korea and the US about relocating the Dragon Hill Lodge, which is located on the grounds of the base. The original agreement was for the 84,000㎡ resort to remain at Yongsan regardless of the base’s relocation. But recently, objections have been raised about leaving a US military facility that is not open to South Koreans at the center of the planned park.“There have not been any official discussions, and we are currently exchanging opinions,” said Defense Ministry spokesperson Choi Hyeon-su when asked about this in April. [Hankyoreh]
The North Koreans like to use these family reunions to appeal to the emotions of South Koreans which then makes them useful bargaining chips by threatening to cancel them if they don’t get what they want from the ROK government:
A South Korean woman talks with a Red Cross official to see if she can meet with her family in North Korea in this undated file photo. (Yonhap)
South Korea began a process Monday to select those who will meet their long-separated family members in North Korea in late August.
The two Koreas agreed to hold their first family reunion event in nearly three years at the North’s Mount Kumgang resort from Aug. 20-26, a follow-up to the April 27 summit deal.
It would enable 100 South Korean people, mostly elderly ones, to get together with their families across the border, decades after being separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but these reunions have also in the past been a cottage industry for the regime to make money by holding them at the Kumgang Resort on the east coast of North Korea. I suspect the regime also is using the reunions to promote the resort in its efforts to get sanctions dropped and tourism reopened to Gumgang resort and other nearby facilities.
Part II of the third summit between Xi and KJU. Here's the same NK general who created controversy, defense minister Roh Gwang-chol, doing the same military salute at another summit. This is a big entourage: about twice the hangers-on that accompanied KJU to the 1st & 2nd summits pic.twitter.com/3O67f0f8jo
Salvation Army General Andre Cox speaks at a joint service celebrating the 110th anniversary of Salvation Army Korea at Yonsei University in Seoul on June 24, 2018. (Yonhap)
ROK Drop favorite Andrew Salmon writes in the Korea Times about if the Moon administration should pursue a trilateral security pact with the United States with the third country not being Japan, but North Korea:
But even if South Korea can defend itself against North Korea conventionally, there are broader reasons to maintain a Washington alliance.
This alliance goes beyond USFK. Its underpinning is a mutual defense treaty ― which, incidentally, does not even mention North Korea.
There is no multilateral security architecture in the region; no Northeast Asian NATO. We all know that _ for emotive rather than political reasons ― Koreans cannot ally with Japanese. This makes the U.S. South Korea’s only friend to turn to if things turn rough. It has no other ally. Period.
Speaking of the broader peninsula: What is more threatening? A superpower across the Pacific ― or a superpower next door? Could ― gulp! ― Seoul and Washington one day invite Pyongyang into a trilateral pact against external enemies?
This is not complete lunacy. After all, the late Kim Jong-il told the late Kim Dae-jung that he agreed to a long-term US presence on the peninsula to counterbalance a rising China.
I would respectfully suggest that Seoul considers these factors very carefully as it negotiates the upcoming issues of defense cost-sharing and wartime operational control with Washington.
These are big-picture issues here. There are big-boys’ rules to consider. In a situation where all possibilities are in play, there is more at stake than North-South rapprochement. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but if this was to happen this would be a huge strategic victory for the US against Chinese hegemony in northeast Asia. Could you imagine a Foal Eagle exercise with US soldiers training with North Korean troops?
What I find interesting about this is that JTBC ran a fake news story that ultimately led to the impeachment of the South Korean president with no consequences; TV Chosun airs a far less significant fake news story and they are having legal action taken against them:
A scene from a TV Chosun broadcast on May 19 which claimed North Korean officials had demanded US$10,000 per reporter from overseas press during the shutdown of the nuclear test site at Punggye Village. (captured from TV Chosun)
A controversial false report by the TV Chosun network claiming North Korea demanded US$10,000 for coverage of the dismantlement of its Punggye Village nuclear test site was subsequent to heavy disciplinary action in the form of “legal measures” by the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) broadcasting subcommittee for violation of objectivity. TV Chosun is a conservative network that began broadcasting under Chosun Ilbo on Dec. 1, 2011.In a meeting convened on June 21, the subcommittee heard opinions and accounts from TV Chosun information center deputy chief Jeong Seok-yeong and political desk chief Kang Sang-gu before reaching a majority decision to refer the matter to the KCSC plenary session.
On May 19, TV Chosun aired an “exclusive” on “News 7” claiming North Korea had demanded US$10,000 per person from US journalists for coverage of the dismantlement of the nuclear test site at Punggye Village.In his appearance before the subcommittee that day, Kang said that he himself had been the segment’s writer rather than Eom Seong-seop, the journalist who delivered the report.“I basically wrote the piece,”
Kang said.When asked by review committee members if TV Chosun had different journalists investigating stories, writing reports, and reading reports, Kang replied, “There are such cases in the interest of protecting sources.”TV Chosun claimed the report was based on interviews with two US journalists and North Korean officials. While it did not disclose the names of the US reporters, it described them as “reliable journalists.” But neither of them was actually present for coverage at Punggye Village. South Korean and overseas new outlets confirmed that no such money had been paid by members of the foreign press present at the dismantlement, including CNN’s Will Ripley. [Hankyoreh]
You can read more a the link, but TV Chosun is really the only conservative TV news station left in South Korea since the Moon administration used labor unions and violence to consolidate control over the other major news networks. This is clearly a shot across the bow by the ROK government to get them to moderate their coverage.
The cynic in me though does wonder if TV Chosun was setup or not by whoever gave them the information about the payments to North Korea?
I guess we will see how the Moon administration tries to end South Korea’s human rights act since the Kim regime through their state controlled media is demanding it:
North Korea’s state media on Sunday demanded the abolishment of South Korea’s human rights act and a foundation dedicated to its enforcement, arguing they only hamper efforts to improve cross-border ties.
The call came weeks after Seoul closed the office for the state-run foundation due to a yearslong delay in its official launch, which was caused by political hurdles. The government, however, pledged continued efforts for the launch.
“The North Korean human rights act, which the cohorts of (former President) Park Geun-hye manipulated, must be abolished, while the North Korean human rights foundation, an institution designed to plot against our republic, ought to be buried away,” said Uriminzokkiri, a North Korean propaganda website. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but ROK Heads may remember that last the Moon administration closed the ROK government’s office for human rights citing administrative issues.
