This photo provided by South Korean presidential office Cheong Wa Dae shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (third from L) posing for a group picture with special envoys of South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Pyongyang on March 5, 2018. They are (from L) Yun Kun-young, a Cheong Wa Dae official in charge of a policy monitoring office, Chung Eui-yong, chief of the National Security Office, Kim, Suh Hoon, head of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung and Kim Sang-gyun, a senior NIS director. (Yonhap)

While North Korea is claiming they are willing to denuclearize they are on the other hand busy making more enriched plutonium for nuclear weapons:

38 North said the 5-megawatt reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear complex shows signs of operation, including steam vapor plumes from the generator hall and nearby river ice melt.

The monitoring website also spotted a new military tent camp established last month on the complex, more personnel and two large open-bed trucks.

The website, which is run by the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, examined commercial satellite images from Feb. 17 and Feb. 25.

38 North’s analysts noted that no cooling water discharges have been observed as would be expected under normal operations but said that was likely because the North Koreans had hidden them by extending a discharge pipe into the river.

“If the reactor is operating again, as the evidence suggests, it means North Korea has resumed production of plutonium presumably for its nuclear weapons program,” said the analysis by experts Frank Pabian, Joseph Bermudez Jr. and Jack Liu.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but I believe this news is all part of North Korea’s pressure campaign against the United States to get the Trump administration to agree to a “freeze deal”.  As part of the deal the Kim regime can agree to suspend plutonium production in return for sanctions busting concessions.

The fact that Kim Jong-un agreed to visit South Korea this time for the inter-Korean summit is a sign of how serious he is about signing a sanctions busting deal.  However, visiting the Peace House at Panmunjom is hardly equivalent to past South Korean leaders being paraded around Pyongyang as propaganda tools:

South and North Koreas have agreed to hold an inter-Korean summit at the truce village of Panmunjeom at the end of April, Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday.

Pyongyang also expressed intention to hold talks with Washington over denuclearization, saying it could give up its nuclear weapons if the safety of its regime is guaranteed.

President Moon Jae-in’s special envoys, who visited Pyongyang for two days and met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, announced these agreements upon returning to Seoul.

“The two Koreas decided to hold the third inter-Korean summit at the Peace House in Panmunjeom at the end of April, and will have meetings of working-level officials to discuss details about it,” National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong, who led the envoys, said in a press briefing.

“The two Koreas also agreed to set up a hotline between the leaders in an effort to ease military tension and have close discussion. They will have their first phone call before the summit.”  [Korea Times]

It seems that the Kim regime is eager to get their sanctions busting agreements to restart the Kaesong Industrial Park and the joint tourism projects going this year.  They are even willing to say they may consider denuclearizing in order to get an agreement:

North Korea showed its clear willingness for denuclearized Korean Peninsula, and made it clear that it would have no reason to have nuclear armament if military threats to the country are removed and the safety of its regime is guaranteed, according to Chung.

“Kim said denuclearizing the peninsula is teachings from the ancestors (his grandfather Kim Il-sung and father Kim Jong-il) and there is no change to it,” he said.

The North expressed intention to have candid talks with the United States to discuss denuclearization and to normalize Washington-Pyongyang relations. “The North Korean leader said denuclearization can be the topic of talks with the U.S.,” Chung said.

“He did not demand any specific conditions for talks. He said he wants to be recognized as a serious partner of dialogue,” Chung said.

Pyongyang clearly said while talks are ongoing, it would not carry out military provocations such as nuclear and ballistic missile tests. It was a change from its earlier stance of threatening military actions in opposition to Seoul and Washington resuming joint military drills, which have been delayed until after the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and Paralympics.  [Korea Times]

We all know the Kim regime is not going to give up their nuclear weapons.  Only apologists and the uninformed think this is actually a possibility.  What I think is going on is that in order to get the sanctions busing deal signed with the ROK, the Kim regime needs the Trump administration to agree to it.  Declaring they would consider denuclearizing appears to be a pretext to get the United States to agree to a “freeze deal” which would justify the ROK restarting the Kaesong Industrial Park and the joint tourism projects.  As I have long said the Kim regime wants a “freeze deal” because it busts sanctions while giving up little or nothing in return.

To further create the facade of how reasonable Kim Jong-un is he has also said he would not condemn the holding of the upcoming US-ROK military exercises:

“Kim said he understands South Korea and the U.S. will have to resume the military exercises in April in a usual scale,” Chung said. “We initially thought Kim would raise an issue of the drills and we would have to make him understand (no more delay or cancellation of the drills is possible), but we didn’t need to do so.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but holding the summit in April during the Key Resolve/Foal Eagle military exercises was intentional.  I think Kim Jong-un may not have wanted to demand the exercises be cancelled so it doesn’t appear President Moon is giving in to North Korean pressure.  This protects President Moon from criticism from the political right in South Korea.   This doesn’t mean that Moon won’t later request to President Trump to cancel the exercises in the spirit of peace or whatever other reason he comes up with.

With Kim Jong-un giving the appearance of meeting US demands to talk about denuclearization it appears the Trump administration will have to agree to talks with North Korea.  Basically North Korea has flipped the Trump administration’s “Pressure Campaign” against the Kim regime back on the US.  Now the Kim regime with the aid of the South Koreans, North Korea apologists, most academics, and the media will be putting maximum pressure on President Trump to agree to a “freeze deal” in return for sanction busting agreements.

This would effectively eliminate all the sanctions and pressure the Trump administration has put on the Kim regime for little to nothing in return.  All the while the Kim regime can continue to develop and mass produce the nuclear and missile technology they already have.  If the Trump administration agrees to this it is basically deja vu all over again.

What I will find the most interesting about the final cost sharing number that the ROK agrees to is whether or not they will exceed that number with the aid they plan to give to the Kim regime?:

Seoul and Washington will begin the first round of negotiations for the renewal of a cost-sharing agreement for American troops in Korea on Wednesday in Honolulu, Hawaii, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday.

Korea’s delegation to the three-day talks on the 10th Special Measures Agreement (SMA) will be headed by its top negotiator, Chang Won-sam, while Timothy Betts, acting deputy assistant secretary for plans, programs and operations at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, will lead the U.S. side. Both delegations will include defense officials.

The SMA, a multi-year cost-sharing deal under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), establishes what Korea will contribute to the non-personnel costs associated with keeping U.S. troops in the country.

Since 1991, the two countries have conducted routine negotiations to decide what Korea’s financial contribution should be, and the current five-year agreement, the ninth of its kind, is set to expire on Dec. 31.  (……..)

Negotiations for the latest burden-sharing deal, set to come into force in 2019, come at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump has indicated that he may demand Korea to pay a greater contribution.

Seoul currently pays about half of the cost of the stationing of some 28,500 U.S. troops on the peninsula, and its contribution has consistently increased over the years and reached over 950 billion won ($878 million) currently compared to some 150 billion won in 1991.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but the original Sunshine Policy was bought and paid for initially with a huge $500 million bribe to the Kim regime.  Follow on bribes described as humanitarian and economic aid continued under the Sunshine Policy.  The aid would total to about a $1 billion a year.  To put this into context the South Koreans were paying more money to the Kim regime annually then what they were contributing to the US-ROK alliance at the time.  Will history repeat itself?  We will likely find out this year.

"Lost his mind" is correct. If the U.S. were to launch an unprovoked preventive war against Son'gun Korea, the U.S. would be relegated to the status of a pariah state. https://t.co/FuxzIgCG5y

— Daniel Pinkston (@dpinkston) March 3, 2018

Members of South Korea’s ninth rotational contingent of peacekeeping troops to South Sudan raise their fists in a show of solidarity at a send-off ceremony in Incheon, west of Seoul, on March 5, 2018. South Korea has been participating in the U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan since March 2013, rotating their contingent every eight months, to help with the country’s reconstruction. (Yonhap)

It will be interesting to see what President Moon has to say about this considering that An Hee-jung was looked at as a possible successor to Moon in the next Presidential election:

South Chungcheong Province Governor An Hee-jung has been accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting his secretary over the past eight months.

During a TV interview on JTBC, a local cable channel, Monday, Kim Ji-eun who has served as An’s secretary since June, claimed that the 54-year-old assaulted her four times and frequently sexually harassed her.

He has reportedly admitted to having sexual relations with her, but insists they were consensual.

Kim said she will file a complaint with the prosecution Tuesday.

The shocking news of his behavior could bring about the end of his political career regardless of the nature of their relationship. An was regarded as one of the strongest hopefuls for the country’s next president.

“Our sexual relations were not consensual, and I’m sure he knows it,” Kim said. “I was not in a position where I could say no.”

She said there was no one that could help her.

The accusation comes amid the spread of the #MeToo movement here, which was triggered by female prosecutor Seo Ji-hyun in January.

“After the issue about the movement came into the spotlight, An appeared to be anxious,” Kim said. “On Feb. 25, he called me into his office and apologized. But then, he did it again … I thought I would never be able to get away from him at that time.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but I would not be surprised if this is something An has been doing for years and Kim Ji-eun just happens to be the first person to speak out against him.

This is all laying the groundwork for when the Inter-Korean Summit will eventually happen:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hosted a welcome dinner for South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s special envoys on Monday, Seoul’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said.

“Chairman Kim Jong-un is currently hosting a dinner for the special envoys,” Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom told a press briefing.

It is the first time the reclusive North Korean leader has met South Korean officials. The dinner began at 6 p.m.

Kim’s meeting with the South Korean envoys apparently reflected his willingness to improve his country’s ties with the South.

Moon and his aides have repeatedly highlighted the importance of talks between the U.S. and North Korea for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and have also noted that the trip by Moon’s special envoys was partly aimed at arranging such dialogue.

“I plan to hold in-depth discussions on various ways to continue talks between not only the South and the North, but also the North and the United States and the international community,” Chung Eui-yong, Moon’s chief envoy and head of the presidential National Security Office, said shortly before his departure for Pyongyang.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but who is Chung Eui-yong?  He is a career diplomat that from 2001-2004 during the liberal Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations served as South Korea’s UN ambassador.  He would then get elected as a legislator for the same party that President Moon is in.  So obviously Choi and Moon and been around each other a long time and Choi is someone that Moon trusts to represent his interests with the North Koreans.

Talks with NK will achieve nothing. They even made advances whilst they attending the stupid term 'Peace Olympics'. NK will never give up nukes without a war. https://t.co/7zVempdnSC

— Asia-Pacific News (@AsiaPacificN3ws) March 3, 2018

Families of the dead and missing crew watch in despair as a capsized fishing boat is hoisted at a pier in Wando on March 3, 2018. The boat was found floating upside down in waters off the country’s southwest coast on Feb. 28. Two of the seven crew on board were found dead inside the boat, and the rest remain missing. (Yonhap)