Tag: North Korea

Via a reader tip comes this news which I am not sure I believe is actually true:

China and Russia have sent home more than half of their North Korean workers, likely tens of thousands of people, according to reports submitted to the UN North Korean Security Council sanctions committee.

Russia’s report said that the number of North Korean workers with valid work permits decreased from 30,023 to 11,490 persons.
In its report, China, the strongest ally of North Korea, said more of half of its income-earning North Korean nationals had been repatriated.

A UN diplomat confirmed to CNN that one-page reports from Beijing and Moscow were sent to the committee on sanctions, as required by a December 2017 Council resolution demanding repatriation of all North Korean workers by the end of this year. 
Reuters first reported this story. CNN could not immediately confirm the figures given and China has previously been accused of trying to find ways around North Korea sanctions.China’s report also noted that it does not wish for the submission to be made public.

CNN

You can read more at the link, but it appears that there is no corroboration of the claims made by Russia and China that they actually sent these near-slave labor workers home. If they did that would be another major cut in foreign revenue to the Kim regime.

This could also help explain why Kim Jong-Un is reportedly planning a trip to Russia to meeting with President Putin.

Fmr NK diplomat Thae Yong-ho specs NK may've lost encryption decoder(?) in CCD raid of NK embo in Spain. If this gets into US' hands, all source files would've to be changed; NK unable to use crypto comm w dip offices for while. (Forgive compy term botch!)https://t.co/yTDuYnl6JL

— Soo Kim (@mllesookim) March 25, 2019

It looks like President Trump’s decision to not implement new sanctions on North Korea has caused them to respond by sending back some of the Joint Liaison Office workers:

South Korea expressed hope that planned inter-Korean projects will proceed smoothly after some North Korean officials at the inter-Korean liaison office in the North’s Gaeseong went back to work Monday.

A meeting between the representatives of the liaison office from the two Koreas was held and the office will operate normally, according to the unification ministry.

North Korean officials were quoted by the ministry as saying they came to work “as usual.”

On March 22, North Korea withdrew its staff from the inter-Korean liaison office saying the measure reflected “instructions from a superior authority,” without giving further details.

While the North Korean side has yet to explain the withdrawal and partial return of officials at the liaison office, Seoul remained hopeful about keeping the momentum for talks. 

“We still have to watch the situation as the North’s officials have yet make a full return, but it could be that the North felt pressure after breaking the momentum of talks with the South,” said Oh Gyeong-seob, a researcher at the Sejong Institute.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It appears that either Kim Jong-un is planning a trip to Russia or that his de facto Chief of Staff, Kim Chang-son is just checking in on the sanctions busting schemes they have with the Russians. Russian President Putin has offered to hold an Inter-Korean Summit in Vladivostok before:

A senior North Korean official has left for Vladivostok in Russia’s far east after ending his trip to Moscow in what’s seen as part of preparations for a possible visit there by the North’s leader Kim Jong-un. 
Kim Chang-son, the official with the North’s State Affairs Commission, was spotted at Sheremetyevo International Airport in the Russian capital city at around 2:45 p.m. Saturday (Russia time). 
He was in Moscow for five days. 

Escorted by two guards, he quickly went into the VIP section, while four others who appeared to be accompanying Kim entered the boarding gate. 
The Russian Aeroflot SU 1700 flight carrying Kim took off at 4:10 p.m. and was expected to land in Vladivostok early Sunday. 
The visit by Kim, known as leader Kim Jong-un’s de facto chief of staff, raised speculation that Pyongyang could be making preparations for leader Kim’s first trip to Russia since taking office. 

A vehicle possibly carrying Kim Chang-son was seen coming into the Kremlin every day from Wednesday to Friday, suggesting the official held talks with Russian counterparts over logistics and protocol.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the Moon administration better come up with a Plan B because their effort for an “ethnic exemption” to sanctions appears to not be getting traction in the US:

The U.S. Congress may pass a bill calling for additional sanctions on North Korea as early as May, according to multiple diplomatic sources Tuesday, a move to pressure Pyongyang to take meaningful denuclearization measures. 

Despite analysis by Seoul officials that Washington was unlikely to implement new sanctions on North Korea in the near future, the sources indicated that preparations for new legislation are already finished. 

“Following the collapse of the second North-U.S. summit, the Republicans and Democrats are considering introducing legislation to strengthen sanctions on North Korea,” said one diplomatic source in Washington. “Because they have been preparing the bill for a year, there is plenty of possibility it may be introduced in May or June.”

The source said that the push to strengthen sanctions on the North is centered around the Senate’s committees on armed services, finance and foreign relations. 

Another overseas source said, “If North Korea doesn’t show steps toward meaningful denuclearization measures by next month, it will be a matter of time that sanctions will be strengthened, rather than eased.”

The source added, “I met with a key U.S. administration official in charge of sanctions following the Hanoi summit who clearly said that they are not considering sanctions relief to allow the resumption of Mount Kumgang tourism or the reopening of the Kaesong Industrial Complex.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Hopefully North Korea heeds John Bolton’s warning:

John Bolton, the U.S. national security adviser, warned that North Korea resuming its nuclear and missile testing will “not be a good idea” in a radio interview Sunday. 

Responding to North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui’s recent remarks critical of Washington, Bolton told the WNYM radio in New York, “They issued an unhelpful statement that they’re thinking of going back to nuclear and ballistic missile testing, which would not be a good idea on their part.” 

Last Friday, Choe said Pyongyang may suspend further denuclearization negotiations with the Washington, and that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could rethink the country’s moratorium on nuclear and missile tests. 

Notably, Choe blamed Bolton and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for creating an “atmosphere of hostility and mistrust” that “obstructed” the negotiation efforts by the two countries leaders. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

I agree they may not be preparing for a missile launch in the near term, but they are definitely reconstructing the launch site to prepare for a future launch if needed to pressure the Trump administration:

 South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo said Monday that he does not view North Korea’s recent activities at its long-range rocket launch site as preparations for a missile launch.
Recent media reports and U.S. think tank analyses on activities at the North’s west coast Dongchang-ri launch site and the Sanumdong missile research center near Pyongyang have fueled the speculation about a possible missile or satellite launch.
“Describing them missile-related activities is a hasty judgment,” Jeong said during a session of the National Assembly’s defense committee. “Though Dongchang-ri is a launch site, we don’t judge them as activities in preparation for a missile launch.”

he communist regime has been seen rebuilding the Dongchang-ri missile launch facility it partially dismantled last year. Some analysts said that it might be a negotiation tactic following the breakup of the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi last month.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I can only imagine what criminal schemes the Russians and North Koreans are discussing to skirt United Nations sanctions:

A group of Russian senators is visiting North Korea, the latest in a series of talks between the two countries following the collapse of the U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Sergei Kislyak, the first deputy chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s Committee for Foreign Affairs and one of the Russian delegates, said the visit from March 16 to 21 will be “an absolutely natural, normal practice” to continue dialogue between the two countries.

But speculation is rampant it results from Pyongyang’s desperate bid to woo support from Moscow, following the collapse of talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The failure of talks apparently clouds the North Korean leader’s plans to rebuild the country’s economy by convincing the U.S. to lift nuclear sanctions against his regime.

China, the North’s closet ally, is believed to be remaining prudent in its stance over the summit collapse.

“The goal of the visit (to North Korea) is to continue the dialogue with a country that is friendly to us and that is solving most difficult problems in the foreign and domestic policies,” Kislyak told Russian news agency TASS after arriving at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport, March 16. “We have things to discuss, we wish to better understand the aspirations of our North Korean neighbors, and I think that this dialogue is an absolutely natural, normal practice that we will continue in our relations.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This news makes me wonder if the intent behind the raid was to cause the Hanoi Summit to fail?:

Days before President Donald Trump was set to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam, a mysterious incident in Spain threatened to derail the entire high-stakes nuclear summit.
In broad daylight, masked assailants infiltrated North Korea’s Embassy in Madrid, restrained the staff with rope, stole computers and mobile phones, and fled in two luxury vehicles.

The group behind the late February operation is known as Cheollima Civil Defense, a secretive dissident organization committed to overthrowing the Kim dynasty, people familiar with the planning and execution of the mission told The Washington Post.
The group’s alleged role in the attack has not previously been reported, and officials from the governments of North Korea, the United States, and Spain declined to comment on it.

But in recent days, rumors have swirled about the motivations behind the attack in the Spanish media, including a report in El Pais alleging that two of the masked assailants have ties to the CIA.
People familiar with the incident say the group did not act in coordination with any governments. American intelligence agencies would have been especially reluctant to do so given the mission’s sensitive timing and brazen nature. But the raid represents the most ambitious operation to date for an obscure organization that seeks to undermine the North Korean regime and encourage mass defections, they say.
“This group is the first known resistance movement against North Korea, which makes its activities very newsworthy,” said Sung-Yoon Lee, a North Korea expert at Tufts University. [Washington Post]

You can read more at the link, but I would think there is going to be a covert war against the dissidents now by North Korea and their allies.