Tag: North Korea

Here is a lawyer who thinks that North Korea is a great place to invest:

North Korea has an advanced arbitration system even compared to developed countries, and foreign companies face an even playing field in dispute resolution, according to Michael Hay, the founder of North Korea’s only foreign law firm Hay, Kalb & Associates. 

“From start to finish, (an arbitration case) could be done in six months… which is much faster than most other countries I have worked in,” Hay said in an interview with The Korea Times at his office in Seoul, Monday. 

He has been a foreign legal counsel at HMP Law since December, after 12 years of operating his law firm in the North.

Hay emphasized that the North Korean regime has no choice but to maintain an advanced dispute resolution system in order to continue reeling in foreign investment and companies.

“One thing North Koreans are very conscious of: If they don’t have a dispute resolution system, people will not come and invest in the country. In my experience they are very supportive (of foreign firms),” he said.

Korea Times

You can read the rest at the link, but Mr. Hay says that the businesses that lost money in North Korea did so because they grandstanded about doing business in North Korea. He says businesses that kept their dealings quiet with the regime were more successful.

1/18/19: President Donald J. Trump presented w/a letter from Chairman Kim Jong Un by Kim Yong Chol, Vice Chairman of the Worker’s Party of Korea and Chairman of the Korea Asia Pacific Peace Committee, followed by a expanded bilateral meeting in the Oval Office at the @WhiteHouse. pic.twitter.com/FgKtKqkDZn

— Dan Scavino Jr. (@Scavino45) January 20, 2019

If the ROK Foreign Minister is to believed it appears the US will be offering a peace treaty and humanitarian aid in return for denuclearization steps:

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha referred to ending the Korean War, establishing a communication channel between North Korea and the U.S., and humanitarian aid as possible measures that Washington could offer Pyongyang for taking denuclearization steps.

“Various options are being discussed as corresponding measures,” Kang told reporters in a briefing at the foreign ministry, Wednesday.

However, on resuming operations at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) or tours to Mount Geumgang, which had drawn attention as possible reciprocal measures, Kang said such these “were not at a stage of being reviewed.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but as I have said before a Korean War peace treaty is something that North Korea has long sought as a way to end the presence of US troops in South Korea. If there is peace why is USFK needed?

President Moon has been saying all the right things that USFK will remain after any peace treaty is signed, to include claiming Kim Jong-un understands this as well. However, this is likely just rhetoric to prevent energizing South Korean conservatives against a peace treaty. 

Remember Moon is a very skilled politician that needs to keep the Korean right at bay and public anxiety down.  If he openly advocated for a USFK withdrawal, that would give the South Korean right an issue to strongly attack him with and cause much public anxiety after decades of security guarantees provided by US forces.  That is why I think the Moon administration will publicly say they support USFK staying, but will then have surrogates do things to make life difficult for USFK.

Possibly the future of USFK after a peace treaty could look a lot like the current THAAD site in Seongju.  President Moon will say all the right things that he supports USFK, just like he supposedly supports the THAAD site, but will set conditions to make it difficult for its continued existence and cause the US to withdraw troops on its own accord.

Who suggested late Feb? 3/1/1919 was Korea's anti-Japanese movmt. Moon/his party deny 8/15/48 as SKorea's birth (as liberal democracy/mkt econ), instead says 1919 "provisionl govt" in China. Moon plans big event on 3/1 & KJU may join to reap image victory. SK people aghast. https://t.co/4TYMwm68Ij

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) January 19, 2019

Kim-Trump 2 will apparently happen by the end of February:

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will hold a second summit near the end of February at a location to be announced at a later date, the White House said Friday.
Trump and a top North Korean official met at the White House to finalize details of a potential summit on dismantling the North’s nuclear weapons program.
“President Donald J. Trump met with Kim Yong Chol for an hour and half, to discuss denuclearization and a second summit, which will take place near the end of February,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement. “The President looks forward to meeting with Chairman Kim at a place to be announced at a later date.”

Vietnam is widely reported to be a top candidate site. Both the U.S. and North Korea have embassies there.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the fact that the Kim regime has agreed to the summit means they must feel they are going to get a significant concession from the US. I guess we will see what it is.

Kim Jong-un has finished getting his marching orders from Emperor President Xi and is on his way back home:

After holding meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has left Beijing and is now headed for Pyongyang aboard his special train. Kim is expected to have coordinated strategies with Xi ahead of his envisioned meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Kim Bum-soo has more. 

Report: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping for about an hour on Tuesday.

After their fourth summit, Xi hosted a banquet for Kim which lasted for more than four hours. Tuesday is believed to be Kim’s 35th birthday.

On Wednesday, Kim and Xi are believed to have met again for a luncheon at a hotel in Beijing.

KBS World Radio

You can read more at the link.

The left wing South Korean newspaper, the Hankyoreh, has an editorial published saying that to move the peace process forward we all just need to learn to live with a North Korea with nuclear weapons:

During a seminar last year, an expert on the North Korean nuclear issue said the end point of denuclearization talks would be “a situation where a peace regime is so firmly in place that it wouldn’t even matter if North Korea were hiding a few nuclear weapons.” We might describe it as an approach of “killing the North Korean nuclear issue through a peace process.” Quite a few of the participants vehemently objected. “Are you suggesting we accept a nuclear North Korea?” they asked, insisting that the North should not be allowed to have even a single nuclear weapon.

(………) Even if Kim’s “complete denuclearization” is a different proposition from the one the North put forth at the time of the Agreed Framework, we have no way of knowing the timeline or conditions. The least we can say is that it doesn’t appear to be the “swift surrender” envisioned by the West. (……….)

A world where North Korea does not possess a single nuclear weapon does not appear to be on the horizon for now. We need to practice somehow living with a nuclear-equipped North Korea. We will soon be facing a moment of truth where we will need to confront the reality of North Korea’s nuclear program.

Hankyoreh

You can read the whole thing at the link, but I think this is clearly a trial balloon by the Korean left. They realize that the Kim regime is not going to give up its nuclear weapons and now want to start socializing the concept of letting them keep some of their nukes to keep the peace process moving forward.

This all plays into the Kim regime’s confederation strategy where they can end the US-ROK alliance, withdraw US troops, remove the US nuclear umbrella, and then dictate terms of the confederation because they have the military advantage with their nuclear weapons.

My guess would be is that North Korea is sending out the telemetry data not as a test of anything but rather as a warning to the Trump administration to hurry up and drop sanctions or testing will begin again:

North Korea has continued its development of intercontinental ballistic missiles despite declaring a halt to launches, having conducted a missile-linked radio wave experiment early this month, it has been learned.
Despite sanctions limiting the North’s petroleum supply, the North Korean military is continuing to train at its usual levels. In response, the Japanese and U.S. governments plan to increase their surveillance of smuggling and other activities on the high seas, according to military and diplomatic sources.
North Korea conducted a launch test of its radio telemetry, which is transmitted from equipment in a missile’s components such as a warhead. When a ballistic missile is launched, telemetry provides essential information about the missile’s angle, location, speed and other factors to observers on the ground.
In 2016 and 2017, North Korea launched about 40 missiles, including ICBMs. Ground-based telemetry tests are often conducted prior to an ICBM launch, and are considered an important sign of an impending missile launch.

Yomiuri Shimbun

You can read more at the link.