Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
Here is what one anonymous source is claiming:
North Korea has reasons to keep up nuclear talks with the United States, but it may consider their timing based on its assessment of the political fortunes of U.S. President Donald Trump, who faces an impeachment trial, a source said Thursday.
Though the Senate trial is expected to result in Trump’s acquittal on charges of obstruction of congress and abuse of power, the North could wait until the political footing of the Trump administration becomes firmer, the source said on condition of anonymity.
Pyongyang has been concerned that the submission of a list of its nuclear weapons, materials and related sites — a key denuclearization step demanded by the U.S. — could be tantamount to making them potential targets for attack absent clear security assurances.
Taking such a step when the fate of the incumbent U.S. government remains uncertain would be a key concern for the communist regime, a reason why it may now be “taking a breather,” the source pointed out.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
The only reason the Korean National Assembly would be passing this bill would be to increase the amount of unelected left wing parliament members:
The National Assembly on Friday passed a bill for a new election system for the April general election, despite the main opposition party’s physical blockade.
A bill to revise the Public Official Election Act, proposed by Rep. Kim Kwan-young of the Bareunmirae Party, was passed shortly after National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang announced the opening of the voting session Friday evening.
Of the 167 lawmakers who participated in the voting, 156 supported, 10 opposed and one abstained. The ruling Democratic Party (DP) lawmakers and its allies cast votes and endorsed the new election system.
A plenary session was originally scheduled to open at 3 p.m., but lawmakers of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) staged a protest inside the main hall of the National Assembly, effectively delaying the voting. After more than two hours of delay, Speaker Moon invoked his power to maintain order inside the legislature. While the LKP lawmakers resisted by shouting a slogan, “Step down Moon Hee-sang,” the speaker managed to sit in his seat and declared the opening of a session around 5:30 p.m.
According to the revised election law, the number of single-member constituency seats and proportional representation (PR) seats in the 300-member legislature remain the same at 253 and 47 for the April general election.
Of the 47 PR seats, 30 are to be apportioned using a new calculation method in which parties that fail to win enough constituency seats that correspond to their nationwide support margin could be compensated with PR seats. Smaller parties would thus be more likely to expand their seat share in the National Assembly, while the two major parties – the DP and LKP – will likely gain fewer proportional representatives.
Joong Ang Ilbo
Here is how much this bill will help the left wing parties secure more parliament seats:
Based on several recent polls, under the new rule the Justice Party would secure 15 seats, adding nine seats from the current number, while the DPK would add six seats and the LKP would lose three.
Korea Times
Currently, the DPK has 129 seats, while the LKP, the Bareunmirae Party and the Justice Party have 108, 28 and six seats, respectively.
So essentially this bill will increase the number of unelected left wing politicians into Parliament. These political parties can’t win elections to increase their parliament numbers so they depend on a proportional representation system to get more of them into office.
Another thing this bill slipped in was the decrease the voting age from 19 to 18. This will add 560,000 new voters for the upcoming April election. Considering that younger people tend to vote for liberal policies this was surely intended to increase the votes for left wing political candidates.
So why is the Korean left doing everything it can to increase its parliament members for the April election? Increasing the amount of left wing parliament members is important for future plans to change the ROK constitution and pave the way for a confederation with North Korea. Another thing to look for is the Korean left pushing for is the ability for President Moon to seek reelection instead of being capped at one five year term in office.
The relocation of MCAS Futenma on Okinawa is starting to turn into the Yongsan Garrison relocation boondoggle that Korea experienced over multiple decades:
The relocation of a U.S. Marine Corps base to a less-crowded area of the southern Japanese island of Okinawa will take more than twice as much money and time as previously estimated because of the need to stabilize the reclaimed land it will be built on, Japan’s government said Wednesday.
The Defense Ministry said the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from densely populated Ginowanto Henoko on Okinawa’s eastern coast will cost $8.5 billion and take 12 years, pushing its completion into the 2030s. That adds more than a decade to the plan, which has already been delayed by more than 20 years because of local opposition and other reasons.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link, but I wonder if this project will be filled with the shoddy construction and corruption like what we saw in the Yongsan Garrison relocation?
People following this issue without preconceived biases knew the US-ROK cost sharing deal was not going to be $5 billion a year and was instead a negotiating tactic. Well it appears to have worked as the ROK is reportedly agreeing to a 10-20% increase in funding on top of the billion dollars of increased weapons purchases:
The U.S. and Korea narrowed differences significantly in the latest round of defense cost-sharing talks as the U.S. stepped back from demands for an exorbitant five-fold hike in Korea’s contribution, sources said Wednesday.
But Washington is still demanding an expanded contribution from Seoul, which already pays more proportionally than any other U.S. ally for keeping 28,500 American troops here.
“The two sides began narrowing their differences and moved toward a smaller increase in defense cost-sharing,” a diplomatic source said.
The final agreement is not expected until February, two months past the expiry of the current agreement.
The American negotiators took into account the views of several senior U.S. lawmakers that a $5 billion bill would be excessive. Instead, the two sides are likely to agree on a 10 to 20 percent hike in South Korea’s contribution and a hefty sweetener in arms purchases from the U.S., other sources said.
Chosun Ilbo
You can read more at the link.
I don’t know why anyone in the media is surprised by this, the Kim regime never promised to stop weapons development, why would they?:
North Korea never halted efforts to build powerful new weapons, experts say
But the recent surge in activity also appears to confirm something that U.S. intelligence agencies have long suspected: Despite a self-imposed moratorium on testing its most advanced missiles during the past two years, North Korea never halted its efforts to build powerful, new weapons. Indeed, Kim’s scientists appear to have used the lull to improve and expand the country’s arsenal quietly, U.S. and East Asian officials say.
U.S. analysts say the two tests at Sohae appear to reflect months of continued work on North Korea’s arsenal of potent liquid-fueled missiles, which already includes two ICBMs, the Hwasong-14 and Hwasong-15, capable of striking the U.S.. But the country’s scientists have demonstrated progress on other kinds of missiles as well. In the months since the failed U.S.-North Korean summit in Vietnam, Pyongyang has tested five new short- and medium-range missiles, all of which use solid propellants. Solid-fueled missiles are more mobile and easier to hide compared with similar rockets that use liquid fuel.
Washington Post
You can read more at the link.
