This shouldn’t come as a surprise to any following the denuclearization negotiations that Moon Chung-in wants the US to drop sanctions for little or nothing in return from North Korea:
Moon Chung-in, a special presidential adviser for unification, diplomacy and national security affairs, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at his office in Seoul last week. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Washington remains largely skeptical of the North Korean leader’s intention to denuclearize.
Amid these circumstances, a special adviser to the President stated a paradigm shift may be necessary.
“The U.S. views North Korea in the frame of crime and punishment ―- this is its social construct of reality that North Korea cheats and lies,” Moon Chung-in, a special presidential adviser for unification, diplomacy and national security affairs, told The Korea Times in an interview at his office last week.
“But if it only looks at Pyongyang through this frame there is no way out. There needs to be a more pragmatic, flexible approach to North Korea.”
Stalled talks
Moon attributes the stall in denuclearization talks between North Korea and the U.S. to differences surrounding when to lift sanctions.
“Basically the stance of the U.S. is that sanctions will be lifted when North Korea achieves complete denuclearization, which North Korea cannot accept,” he said.
He pointed out that while Pyongyang initially called only for a declaration ending the war, it is now stating this is not enough because Kim offered to permanently dismantle the Yongbyon nuclear facility in his third summit with Moon held in Pyongyang. The U.S., meanwhile, wants North Korea to disclose its nuclear arsenal and submit to inspections, the adviser said.
However, Pyongyang would be unwilling to report its entire nuclear inventory for two reasons, he said.
“First, why would North Korea hand over a list of its inventory while relations with the U.S. are still hostile? This would leave the regime defenseless,” Moon said.
The other reason is based on the inherent nature of declaring inventory.
“The U.S. states that North Korea has 60 to 65 nuclear warheads, but if it has less than this amount, the U.S. will never believe it even if Pyongyang makes a declaration. Washington will continue to call for additional reports and the process will fall through. This will leave North Korea in a worse situation than before making the report.”
This is why Pyongyang is calling for a trust relationship to be built first, he said.
“The North is seeking a non-aggression relationship through the declaration ending the war, and for the U.S. to take corresponding measures for the shutting down of the Yongbyon facility in a verifiable way ―- such as lifting sanctions,” he said. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but Moon Chung-in is the ROK administration’s trial balloon specialist to judge American reaction to proposed ideas. In the past year Moon Chung-in has stated his opposition to the THAAD battery in South Korea and has hinted at ending the US-ROK alliance. He has even said the US US should recognize North Korea as a nuclear power which is a curious position since he says North Korea is planning to supposedly denuclearize.
Would that be the country that’s at least 50 times richer than North Korea, an open democratic society, backed up by the most powerful nation on earth, yet vigorously censors itself when it comes to crimes against humanity? https://t.co/YLbveE973f
Am I supposed to be excited because North Korea closed a couple of doors?
The entrances (circled) of artillery positions on North Korea’s Jangjae Island bordering South Korea in the West Sea is seen closed on Oct. 31, 2018, one day ahead of the implementation of the Sept. 19 inter-Korean military agreements, in which the two sides agreed to set a maritime buffer zone spanning around 80 km in the East and West Seas to prevent unintended naval clashes. (Yonhap)
This is just another example of an easily reversible so called concession by the North Koreans. They can just open the door and use their artillery when ever they want. Why doesn’t Seoul have them remove the artillery as well as their silkworm missiles and confirm it with an inspection? That would create a real buffer zone instead of the pretend one the Moon administration is agreeing to.
By the way the below graphic provides a breakdown of North Korea’s artillery and missile positions in the Yellow Sea:
It will be interesting to see if the claim of upcoming sanctions is true or not. I always figured that the Trump administration would wait until after the mid-term elections before taking any tough actions on the Korea front. This rumor may be a warning to the Moon administration that the US is ready to take action if Korea tries to do any banking deals with North Korea:
US Treasury Department
A rumor that the United States Treasury is considering including a Korean bank in a secondary boycott in early November has pushed down the shares of major financial institutes, although the country’s financial regulator and banks deny the claim.
A rumor surfaced early this week through Kakao Talk and other internet messengers that the U.S. Treasury Department will announce sanctions against a South Korean bank for illegally trading with North Korea before Nov. 6. While not specifying the bank, the rumor said that the bank was notified on Oct. 12.
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) refuted the claim on Wednesday, calling it a groundless rumor. Local banks echoed the denial.
“The rumor that the U.S. is pushing forward with a secondary boycott is not true as we confirmed with local banks,” said the regulator in a statement.
The measure was designed to punish third-party companies that engage in illicit trade with Pyongyang. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but South Korean bankers have recently publicly said they will not do any business with North Korea until the sanctions are dropped.
This photo provided by the unification ministry shows a four-story building that will be used for the liaison office in the North Korean border town of Kaesong. (Yonhap)
South Korea’s Unification Ministry on Sunday unveiled details about the money it spent to renovate the inter-Korean liaison office in the North Korean border city of Kaesong, amid criticism that it spent too much on the project.
The ministry sent the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and unification a document containing details of the costs of the office, which launched on Sept. 14 as a communication platform for cross-border cooperation and exchanges.
Of the total expenditures, which amounted to 9.78 billion won ($8.56 million), the cost for renovation materials, including construction equipment and pipes, was 3.49 billion won, while labor costs amounted to 2.58 billion won.
The costs for materials to construct the office’s main building, accommodation facility and other amenities were 1.22 billion won, 570 million won and 560 million won, respectively, the ministry said. [Joong Ang Ilbo via a reader tip]
Here is the latest from the Trump administration on North Korea’s denuclearization:
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, right, shakes hands with U.S. special representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun during a meeting to discuss North Korean nuclear issues at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on Monday. [WOO SANG-JO]U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday during a campaign rally in Illinois that he doesn’t care how long North Korean denuclearization takes as long as there is no nuclear testing.
The remark was made as denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang remain deadlocked and a month after Trump said it “doesn’t matter” if it takes “two years, three years of five months” for the North to denuclearize.
Trump’s refusal to set a time frame seems to ignore North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s thinking on the issue. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in September, shortly after his third summit with Kim, that Kim mentioned his regime was willing to give up its nuclear arsenal by the end of Trump’s term in January 2021.
“I don’t care,” Trump said during the Illinois rally. “I tell my people, I couldn’t care how long, as long as there’s no testing, as long as there’s no nuclear testing.”
Trump boasted of his “great relationship” with Kim and how both sides were happy with each other, rebuking critics who say his administration isn’t moving fast enough to get the denuclearization job done.
“North Korea’s going to be a great economic place,” Trump said, again painting a rosy future for the North if it gives up its nuclear weapons. “The location is so good between Russia and China and South Korea.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
KCNA: "Anyone, who values truth in sincerity, should instead ask for an investigation into the cause of Warmbier's sudden death soon after his arrival in the U.S., whose health indicators were all normal at the time of his release."
Here is another indication that the Moon administration is getting played by the Kim regime over the NLL issue:
The current NLL is depicted with the Blue line and North Korea’s claimed NLL is depicted with the Red line.
Touching on the controversy over the North’s position on the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de-facto sea border with the South, Jeong said that working-level North Korean officials have yet to accept the NLL as the maritime border, despite leader Kim Jong-un’s apparent recognition of it.
In April, the leaders of the two sides agreed to turn the tense area into a “maritime peace zone.” They used the term “NLL” in their joint statement.
President Moon Jae-in said it indicates that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has virtually recognized the NLL.
The North’s navy, however, had continued to claim its own security line until recently, sending repeated warning messages to South Korean ships crossing it.
That appears to be because North Korea’s front-line troops have not received any new related instructions from Kim, Jeong said.
He added that the North’s working-level officials have not yet agreed to accept the NLL.
Gen. Park Han-ki, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the South urged the North not to take issue with the NLL during the bilateral general-grade talks last week.
“(We) clearly told (the North) to stop sending such inappropriate radio messages,” he said. [Yonhap]
It looks like the leaders of South Korea’s banks are not about to break sanctions like the Moon administration has been pushing them to do:
FSC Chairman Choi Jong-ku. (Yonhap)
South Korea will open bank branches in North Korea only after international sanctions are lifted in return for irreversible steps by the North to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, the top financial regulator here said Friday.
Choi Jong-ku, chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), told a parliamentary audit meeting that Seoul has not discussed cooperation with North Korea in the financial sector.
“Opening bank branches in North Korea will be possible only after conditions are met,” Choi said. [Yonhap]
