Moon has been deputized by Kim to extort Lee to give Kim. Confusing? Put differently: The tyrant has cajoled the president, an elected leader, to coerce his nation's richest man to pay up to the tyrant. https://t.co/Kx3MSYnCOi
President Moon is continuing to advocate for everyone to believe in Kim Jong-un:
Korean President Moon Jae-in has an interview with Fox News in New York on Tuesday. [BLUE HOUSE]President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday that the United States has nothing to lose from its denuclearization talks with North Korea, as it could resume sanctions or reverse a declaration ending the Korean War if Pyongyang reneges on its pledge to denuclearize.
Moon stressed that U.S. concessions to North Korea could be reversed if Pyongyang was caught cheating on its denuclearization pledge during an interview with Fox News during his five-day visit to New York for the UN General Assembly.
“One thing stands clear,” the president said. “South Korea and the U.S. have nothing to lose from denuclearization talks [with the North]. Measures that the North is required to take are abandon already-made nuclear stockpiles; dismantle the Yongbyon nuclear facility; and close down nuclear testing and missile testing sites.”
These steps were equivalent to “irreversible measures,” and the North’s demands of the United States could easily be reversed if Pyongyang doesn’t follow through with its denuclearization promises, Moon argued. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Here is what he had to say about USFK:
Moon also dismissed concerns that an end to the war could change the status of U.S. troops in South Korea and the UN Command.
“An end-of-war declaration is a political statement en route to signing a peace treaty. Until the peace treaty is signed, an armistice will be maintained,” he stressed.
Moon stressed that the issue of U.S. troops in the South had to do with the U.S.-Korea alliance, not ending the war or signing a peace treaty.
“North Korean leader Kim also agrees with this concept [of the U.S. forces in South Korea],” he said.
For the status of USFK, of course both Moon and Kim are of course going to say there will be no change. I believe that President Moon is too smart to advocate against keeping USFK in Korea post-peace treaty because that will mobilize the conservative opposition against him. However, Moon can use his surrogates to make life difficult for USFK to where the Trump administration could decide to withdraw on its own. This gets Moon and his left wing base in South Korea what they ultimately want, USFK withdrawal without getting blamed for it.
As far as denuclearization, I have been saying repeatedly, if the Kim regime wants people to see that it is serious about denuclearization then begin shipping nuclear material out of the country. Instead the regime and President Moon want sanctions dropped for North Korea so far doing little to nothing in return.
Once sanctions are dropped it will be extremely difficult to get an international consensus to reimplement sanction if they are not denuclearizing, but at the same time behaving. These countries will know that if they reimplement sanctions then missile and nuclear tests and other provocations will restart, so best just to leave North Korea alone. This then allows the Kim regime to keep their nukes and have sanctions dropped. We have been down this road before and it keeps ending at the same point and President Moon wants everyone to think the destination will be different this time.
President Moon wants everyone to believe that the Kim regime really means it this time to denuclearize:
President Moon Jae-in speaks at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank in New York on Tuesday (local time). / Yonhap
South Korean President Moon Jae-in pushed back Tuesday against widespread skepticism about the sincerity of Kim Jong Un’s vows to give up his nuclear bombs, saying that the current round of diplomacy with North Korea is ”completely different” than the many failed deals that have frustrated past negotiators.
Moon, fresh off a dramatic summit in Pyongyang last week with Kim that saw more promises from the North Korean leader to dismantle his weapons programs, is at the U.N. General Assembly this week, meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and other world leaders to explain and, to some extent, defend his efforts to bring peace to the famously hostile Korean Peninsula.
He told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank in New York that it was ”only natural that we have plenty of suspicions regarding the true motivations” of Kim. It was, after all, only last year that a series of increasingly powerful North Korean weapons tests, including the nation’s sixth nuclear test explosion, and the tough reaction by Trump had many worrying about war. Some critics believe that tough sanctions and pressure, rather than engagement and concessions, stand a better chance of ridding the North of its nukes.
”It’s completely different this time around,” Moon said, speaking through an interpreter. What’s changed this time is that, unlike past efforts that collapsed when the countries tried to implement deals that had been made at the working level, this one has Trump and Kim making the decisions and then driving their lieutenants to follow through.
”This was a promise made in front of the whole world” by Trump and Kim, Moon said. ”For this reason, I believe the promise will be kept.” [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but if Kim Jong-un wants people to think he is serious about denuclearization he can start shipping out nuclear material from his country. The concessions they have made so far are all easily reversible that he wants sanctions dropped and a peace treaty signed in return for.
Shipping nuclear material out of the country cannot be reversed and worthy of bigger concessions from the US. Until the Kim regime starts doing that people are going to rightfully remain skeptical about his intentions. As I have long been saying, the Kim regime wants “pretend denuclearization” which many people in the academic class, political class, and US adversaries want as well.
If the ROK is removing landmines which are part of their defenses along the DMZ, shouldn’t the North Koreans do something in return like withdraw large parts of their military away from the DMZ?:
South and North Korea will begin to implement the inter-Korean military accord signed during last week’s summit between their leaders in Pyongyang.
The two Koreas plan to remove mines and explosives in the Demilitarized Zone area located near Cherwon, Gangwon Province for two months from October first.
The removal is part of preparations for a joint excavation of remains of about 300 soldiers killed during the Korean War, including those of United Nations forces.
The two Koreas will also remove mines around the truce village of Panmunjeom from October first to 20th as part of a plan to disarm the troops in the Joint Security Area in the DMZ. [KBS World Radio]
I interrupt your exuberance to remind you that North Korea is not denuclearizing, is more oppressive & totalitarian than ever & has an unbroken history of international proliferation, crime, blackmail & terrorism. This is not leading to a lasting peace. It rhymes with 1938.
It is pretty clear that Kim Jong-un is doing everything he can to influence the South Korean public that he can be trusted:
Kim Jong-un and his wife Ri Sol-ju (left) with South Korean president Moon Jae-in and his wife Kim Jung-sook (R) on Mount Paektu, where Kim attempted to make ‘finger hearts’ sign. Photograph: Kcna Via Kns/AFP/Getty Images
During a joint visit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in to the top of Mount Paekdu, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un posed for cameras with the hottest photo gesture in South Korea: a finger heart.
Kim made the gesture, which crosses the thumb and the index finger to make the shape of a heart, when he posed for a photo with his wife, Ri Sol-ju, against the backdrop of Cheonji or Heaven Lake on top of the mountain Thursday, the South’s presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said.
The gesture has been one of the most popular photo poses in South Korea in recent years — perhaps as popular as the conventional V gesture — as a lot of actors, actresses and singers, including boy band BTS, have used it.
After trying to figure out how to make the gesture, the North’s leader approached the spokesperson.
“How do you do this?” Kim was quoted as asking. “I can’t make it in the right shape.”
Kim managed to make the gesture and his wife, Ri, put her hands under Kim’s hand as if she’s upholding the heart, according to the spokesman [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but this is all a carefully choreographed narrative being constructed of Kim Jong-un that I would not be surprised if the Moon administration is helping to craft.
Considering the media controls the Moon administration has put on the press in South Korea why is anyone surprised by this?:
Journalists, including those from outside South Korea, attend to covering the third inter-Korean summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sept. 18-20 at the Main Press Center in Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Joint Press Corps
Foreign reporters based in Seoul are upset that they were not invited to Pyongyang to cover the three-day inter-Korean summit from Tuesday to Thursday.
“Foreign media should be there because it is an international event surrounding the biggest foreign policy concern of the U.S.,” NK News managing director Chad O’Carroll told The Korea Times, Wednesday.
He has made five times of trips to the North since 2010.
“South Korean media were welcomed en masse to Singapore and hundreds of South Korean journalists went, because that issue was as much of concern to Seoul as the inter-Korean summit is to foreigners,” he said.
Although a journalist with South Korea’s English media was included in the media delegation to Pyongyang, O’Carroll said there was still need to invite foreign reporters to provide different perspectives to global audiences. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but Mr. O’Carroll is a smart guy and I am sure he understands the Kim regime and the Moon administration do not want different perspectives. They planned a carefully crafted narrative for the Inter-Korean Summit and allowing foreign reporters was something that could potentially chip away at the narrative they created.
It figures that the Dokdo issue would some how come up during the recent Inter-Korean Summit:
Choi turned a set of cards into a large card that showed the Unification Flag. Korea Times file
Magician Choi Hyun-woo, who went to Pyongyang as part of the South Korean delegation for the three-day inter-Korean summit, presented a magic show to the leaders of the two Koreas Tuesday night at Mokran (Magnolia) House.
“I was nervous at the moment,” The Kyunghyang Shinmun quoted Choi as saying. He said he was bit worried as he heard North Korean leader Kim Jong-un likes magic and he did not want to let him down.
During dinner on Tuesday, Choi performed card tricks that engaged the leaders and their wives.
“The first theme was telepathy, that is, to communicate telepathically,” Choi said.
For example, if President Moon Jae-in chose a card in his mind, Kim had to guess what card that was.
“It went well with President Moon and Chairman Kim, as well as with the two first ladies who were telepathic with each other,” the magician said.
“At the end, I turned the cards into a large card with a Korean Peninsula flag on it to show a message of going together in harmony. I was surprised when the two leaders pointed out the same thing that Dokdo (the rocky islets in the East Sea) was displayed on the card.” [Korea Times]
The head of state visit, yet no #SouthKorean flag whatsoever. Only flags of #NorthKorea & unification. What does it say about how Kim Jong-un thinks about 1)SK? 2)president Moon Jae-in? What does it say about Moon, who is not only fine with it, but just beaming (in other pics)? pic.twitter.com/b0IsMCnFag
The front page of Sept. 19, 2018, edition of North Korea’s daily Rodong Sinmun is covered with an article and photos of South Korean President Moon Jae-in arriving in Pyongyang the previous day. Moon began his three-day visit on Sept. 18 for his third summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. North Korean media outlet Korean Central News Agency also filed multiple articles and photos on meetings and activities by the two leaders. (Yonhap)
