Tag: North Korea

The US Treasury Department is continuing to go after companies that violate sanctions against North Korea:

The United States imposed sanctions on a Russian port service agency and Chinese firms for aiding North Korean ships and selling alcohol and tobacco to Pyongyang in breach of U.S. sanctions.

The U.S. Treasury said in a statement on Wednesday that China-based Dalian Sun Moon Star International Logistics Trading Co. Ltd and its Singapore-based affiliate SINSMS Pte. Ltd had netted more than $1 billion a year by exporting alcohol and cigarette products to North Korea.

The department also sanctioned Russian-based Profinet Pte Ltd and its director general, Vasili Aleksandrovich Kolchanov, for providing port services on at least six occasions to North Korean-flagged ships.

Kolchanov was personally involved in North Korea-related deals and interacted directly with North Korean representatives in Russia, the department said.

“The tactics that these entities based in China, Singapore, and Russia are using to attempt to evade sanctions are prohibited under U.S. law, and all facets of the shipping industry have a responsibility to abide by them or expose themselves to serious risks,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in the statement.  [Reuters]

You can read more at the link.

How many ppl believe an unchanged N Korea – i.e., one still the Kimist DPRK – will be more peaceful,rather than more belligerent or dangerous,if it becomes more prosperous? Isn’t it much safer that NK change first, bf we help it get wealthier? Isn’t this subsidizing dictatorship? https://t.co/St0yw59ums

— Robert E Kelly (@Robert_E_Kelly) August 15, 2018

I think the Moon administration may be trying to create a precedent of sanctions exemptions at the Kaesong Industrial Complex with this request.  If this gets approved down the road they could request even more small exemptions and pretty soon they have a working industrial park again:

South Korea’s foreign ministry said Wednesday it was talking with the United States to possibly obtain sanctions relief for North Korea, though the ministry didn’t specify when the relief would happen.

“The ministry is in discussions with the United States to get the go-ahead for partial sanctions relief, which will be helpful for South Korea to push forward the country’s business projects, most of which are non-commercial, with North Korea. But the South has no plans to violate U.N. sanctions now being imposed on the North,” said a ministry official.

The official added the U.N. Security Council’s actions would support and conform to the efforts of diplomatic talks toward denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.

At the Singapore summit in June between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Trump said economic sanctions will be maintained until Pyongyang’s nuclear program is “no longer a problem.”

The remarks came after Seoul began supplying power to the liaison office located inside the joint industrial park in Gaeseong, North Korea. Seoul’s unification ministry said South Korea seeks to run the office within this month in consultation with the U.S. and the allies.

It also said the power supply will be limited to the joint liaison office, not the entire Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC), and that its measure should not be seen as a sign of easing the U.S.-led international sanctions on Pyongyang.

The measure however, raised suspicions whether South Korea will be walking a tightrope between abiding by the sanctions and seeking exemptions from the sanctions to help the impoverished Pyongyang regime.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but the Trump administration should tell them to have North Korea provide the power themselves.

As I and many have been saying for years, the Kim regime is not going to denuclearize:

Anchor: A U.S. news Web site says the Trump administration has presented North Korea with a formal timeline for starting the process of denuclearization. The report comes as the U.S. and North Korea are witnessing a stalemate in their nuclear negotiations and Washington seems to have adopted a carrot-and-stick approach towards Pyongyang.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more.

Report: U.S. news Web site Vox reported on Wednesday that Washington had proposed Pyongyang hand over 60 to 70 percent of its nuclear weapons within six to eight months, after which the U.S. or a third party would take possession of the warheads and remove them from the North.

According to the report, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo presented the plan to North Korean negotiators multiple times over the past two months, but the North’s delegation, led by senior official Kim Yong-chol, has turned down Pompeo’s proposal each time.

Vox said that “it’s unclear what concessions, if any, the U.S. would offer in exchange beyond sanctions relief or removing North Korea from the state sponsors of terrorism list.”

Given that Pyongyang has yet to disclose to Washington just how many nuclear bombs it has, it would be difficult to verify the North’s arsenal volume even if it did agree to hand over what it claims to be 60 to 70 percent of its arsenal.

One source told Vox that Pompeo’s main goal in this stage of the negotiations is solely to get Pyongyang to officially reveal how many nuclear weapons it has.  [KBS World Radio]

You can read more at the link, but I really hope I am wrong one day about this and the Kim regime decides to give up all their nuclear weapons, but judging from past history and current statements it appears to be unlikely.

What the Kim regime is willing to do is pretend to denuclearize like they did during past US presidential administrations.  They will do this to create the myth that “progress” is happening to denuclearize North Korea.  In return for pretending to denuclearize the Kim regime would want the sanctions dropped.  In such a scenario President Trump would probably get his Nobel Peace Prize for signing a pretend denuclearization agreement, the Moon Jae-in administration in South Korea could then start pumping cash into North Korea, and the Kim regime can then use the funds to hand out cash to the regime elite and further modernize the military.

Signing up to such an agreement may sound ridiculous, but remember the US has signed up for pretend denuclearization deals not once, but twice!  The first was the Agreed Framework during the Clinton administration and then the Six Party Talks deal during the Bush administration.  Will there be a third one?  Time will tell.

The date? Likely early Sept, so Moon can celebrate #NorthKorea's 70th anniversary on 9/9 in Pyongyang, but he has denied #SouthKorea's birthdate of 1948/8/15. Why does SK's own prez deny SK's birthdate, but want to celebrate north's, helping north's claim over the peninsula? https://t.co/sdLqVbtDXO

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) August 12, 2018

Here we go again, another year and yet more claims of a food crisis in North Korea.  When are people going to learn that the only reason there is a food crisis in North Korea is because of the Kim regime which many governments and organizations continue to enable?:

A heat wave in North Korea has led to rice, maize and other crops withering in the fields, “with potentially catastrophic effects,” the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said on Friday.

The world’s largest disaster relief network warned of a risk of a “full-blown food security crisis” in the isolated country, where a famine in the mid-1990s killed up to 3 million people. It said the worrying situation had been exacerbated by international sanctions imposed due to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.  [Japan Times]

You can read more at the link, but I wonder if the Moon administration will try and claim that the “food security crisis” is why sanctions should be dropped on North Korea?

The Moon administration has agreed to conduct their third inter-Korean summit this year, but this one will be held in Pyongyang:

South and North Korea agreed Monday to hold a summit meeting between their leaders in Pyongyang in September.

The agreement was made during high-level talks on the northern side of Panmunjom that separates the two Koreas. They, however, did not unveil the date of the meeting.

“We agreed to hold an inter-Korean summit within September in Pyongyang” the two Koreas said in a joint press statement issued after the meeting.

North Korea’s chief delegate, Ri Son-gwon, hinted after the meeting that the two sides agreed on a date but decided not to announce it, only to emphasize that the summit will take place “within September.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but the number topic I would guess they are going to talk about is how to get around the UN sanctions since the Kim regime is not going to denuclearize and the Trump administration is refusing to drop sanctions until they do.  If such talks are being conducted, hold the summit in Pyongyang makes sense because there is less possibility of intelligence gathering there to determine what their joint strategy is going to be.

The Unbelievable Story of North Korea's Most-Celebrated Propagandist – The Atlantic https://t.co/uRaHQ0nbJB

— DPRK Watch (@dprkwatch) August 11, 2018

I don’t think the North Koreans have to worry about giving up their nuclear science when few people think they will ever actually denuclearize in the first place:

North Korea will not give up its nuclear science even in the event of denuclearization, the country’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho said, according to Iranian media reports.

Speaking in Tehran, Thursday, Ri speculated the U.S. will remain hostile toward North Korea even after their leaders held a summit in June and said his country needs a safeguard.

Ri, who arrived in Iran on Tuesday, made his remarks as Pyongyang and Washington accuse each other of dragging their feet in implementing the agreement reached at the summit on the North’s denuclearization.

His remarks also came after the government of U.S. President Donald Trump issued a fresh round of nuclear sanctions against Iran, Tuesday.

The Trump administration previously broke the 2015 nuclear deal among Iran and the six major powers _ the U.S., China, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and Germany. The Tuesday sanctions heightened Iran’s distrust toward the U.S. nuclear policy.  [Korea Times]

For the Korea Times’ benefit I will need to educate them on the Iran Nuclear Deal.  The deal was never ratified by the US Senate which means all it was, was a personal promise from then President Barack Obama to the Iranians.  He is no longer the President which means the current President is not obligated to keep Obama’s personal promise.  The Iranians and the six other nations involved with this deal all knew this, but figured Hillary Clinton would be the next President, thus keeping the deal in place for an extended timeframe.

That is why I have always said that any denuclearization agreement reached with North Korea should be ratified by the Senate because then the US is obligated by treaty to follow it.

#breaking Warning from North Korea: “high-level officials within the U.S. administration are making baseless allegations against us and…intensifying international sanctions… there is no guarantee that the hard-won atmosphere of stability on the Korean Peninsula will continue” pic.twitter.com/sEhPkJOPRD

— Will Ripley (@willripleyCNN) August 10, 2018