We now know why Kim Jong-un’s girl band had to cancel their Beijing performance:
Hyon Song-wol (L), leader of North Korea’s all-female band, arrives at a Beijing hotel on Dec. 11, 2015. The Moranbong Band came to China the previous day for what will be its first performance abroad, a move that North Korea watchers say is a gesture by Pyongyang to mend somewhat strained ties with Beijing. Hyon was once rumored to have been executed for distributing pornographic videotapes. The Moranbong Band, formed by the North’s current leader Kim Jong-un in 2012, will perform for three days in the Chinese capital. (Yonhap)
China had decided to send officials of lower rank to a concert by the all-female North Korean propaganda band in response to the North’s leader Kim Jong-un hinting earlier last week that Pyongyang had developed a hydrogen bomb, a source in Beijing close to the situation said Sunday.
The decision might have been related to the sudden cancellation of the concert by the North Korean side, said the source, who got the information from a Chinese government official with knowledge of the situation.
The Moranbong Band, formed in 2012 following an order from leader Kim, had been scheduled to perform for three days in Beijing starting Saturday, in what was seen as a fresh sign of warming relations between the two allies.
However, the band abruptly headed home hours before the invitation-only concert began Saturday. [Yonhap]
Below is the latest on the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea. I have always said that it would take a major crisis for the ROK to have political cover to deploy this system on the peninsula. From the ROK perspective this strategy make sense because it gives them leverage with China to keep North Korea in line if they don’t want THAAD in South Korea:
Placement of a U.S. mobile missile defense system in South Korea remains unlikely in the near term despite continued concern about North Korea’s nuclear program, analysts and government officials say.
Top U.S. military officials want the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, ready to deploy in the Asia-Pacific region on a permanent basis — and its bases in South Korea are ideally where they need to be to counter a possible North Korean offensive.
Last year, Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work said the Pentagon had conducted site surveys for THAAD within South Korea. However, what makes sense from a military tactical standpoint doesn’t always correspond with how leaders view the strategic and diplomatic consequences.
When rumors spread in March of a deal to deploy THAAD to South Korea in an emergency, China decried the possibility as a threat to its security, with Russia voicing opposition as well.
That left South Korea uncomfortably positioned in a dispute pitting China and Russia on one side and the United States and Japan on the other, said Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul.
The result was that despite discussions between President Barack Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye earlier this year, along with high-level ministerial talks between both nations, neither side has confirmed ever having had formal talks about THAAD. [Stars & Stripes]
I remember a few KATUSA soldiers over the years who lived the majority of their lives in the US, but still went and did their mandatory service to the ROK Army to keep their Korean citizenship. I always had a lot of respect for those who did this unlike some of the Korean males that try to get dual citizenship to get out of their mandatory service requirement:
Michael Cho and his mother.
In May 2011, Michael Cho’s phone rang while he waited for an elevator in his freshman dorm. His mother was calling to tell him his conscription letter had arrived — from the South Korean Department of Defense.
Cho, a Georgetown University student born in South Korea, was raised in Sydney, Australia. But South Korean Conscription Law requires males between 20 and 30 to serve for a minimum of 21 months to maintain citizenship.
So, in the fall, Cho went to South Korea, jumping right into the regimented, rigorous drills and daily life of a South Korean soldier.
After a grueling five-week boot camp, Cho’s commanders selected him to patrol the DMZ — a dangerous demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North Korea and South Korea. Every soldier routinely took shifts patrolling the border. [USA Today]
You can read the rest and see a video at the link.
Members of North Korea’s all-women “Moranbong Band” shake hands with officials before heading out to China for a friendship visit in this photo published by the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Dec. 9, 2015. The three-year-old band, formed by the country’s current top leader Kim Jong-un, stands out with the members’ stylish stage clothes. (Yonhap)
Supposedly their were Internet rumors in China that Kim Jong-un had a relationship with one of the girl band members. These rumors may be why the performance was cancelled so suddenly:
An all-female band formed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un canceled its concerts in Beijing and abruptly left the Chinese capital on Saturday for unknown reasons, possibly further cooling relations between the traditional allies.
The Moranbong Band had been scheduled to hold three concerts in Beijing beginning Saturday night in what was viewed as a visit to cultivate ties between the countries.
However, band members arrived at Beijing’s airport in North Korean Embassy vehicles on Saturday afternoon, and departed aboard a North Korean Air Koryo jet shortly after 4 p.m. following a lengthy delay, Chinese news website sina.com reported.
A staff member at the National Theater, where the band was to give the invitation-only performances, said the concerts had been canceled, but did not give a reason. An accompanying North Korean musical troupe, the State Merited Chorus, also canceled its performances. [Associated Press]
It looks like Kim Jong-un really wants to get the Kumgang Resort cash cow reopened considering the North Koreans are holding talks again with the ROK in regards to another possible round of family reunions. ROK Heads may remember the Kumgang Resort was closed to South Korean tourists when a 53 year old grandma was shot dead on the beach by a North Korean soldier:
North and South Korea held high-level talks at a North Korean border town on Friday, a small step meant to improve ties battered by a military standoff in August and decades of acrimony and bloodshed.
No major breakthrough was reached in the meeting of vice-ministerial officials in Kaesong, and the two sides decided to extend the talks for another day.
Analysts see the talks as meaningful because they seek to carry out previously agreed reconciliation efforts — something the rivals have often failed to do in the past.
South Korean officials want to discuss more reunions between aging family members separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. Analysts have said cash-strapped North Korea might seek the South’s commitment to restart joint tours to its scenic Diamond Mountain resort, which were suspended by Seoul in 2008 following the shooting death of a South Korean tourist there by a North Korean soldier. [Associated Press]
South Korean and U.S. soldiers set up a floating bridge during a river crossing operation as part of a joint military exercise on Dec. 10, 2015, in Yeoncheon, just south of the inter-Korean border, on Dec. 10, 2015. It was the last day of the exercise by the two allies that began on Dec. 1. (Yonhap)
