Jenny Jin of the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency speaks in an interview with Yonhap in Washington on Aug. 8, 2018. The forensic scientist of Korean descent is in charge of identifying the remains of U.S. soldiers killed during the Korean War repatriated by North Korea. (Yonhap)
North Korea reiterated its demand Thursday for the United States to agree to declare an end to the 1950-53 Korean War, saying that it would help bring in peace and create mutual trust.
Declaring an end to the Korean War is “the demand of our time” and will be the “first process” toward a peace and security guarantee, the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Workers’ Party of Korea, said in a commentary.
The newspaper added that it is “abnormal” to see distrust and animosity going on between the North and the U.S. even now, saying that it is time to take action toward declaring an end to the war. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but the Kim regime wants to end the Korean War and get a peace treaty signed because then that would justify demands to withdraw USFK from the peninsula. With the end of the US-ROK alliance the ROK and North Korea can move forward with their confederation idea which will essentially lead to unification on the Kim regime’s terms.
However, the Trump administration has made it clear that no peace treaty will be offered until real denuclearization happens. Over the coming year I guess we will see who blinks first.
The intelligence the US had must have been indisputable because the ROK government is now admitting that they did in fact allow in shipments of North Korean coal:
Korea Customs Service Deputy Commissioner Roh Suk-hwan presents the findings of an investigation regarding illegal entry of North Korean coal and pig iron into South Korean ports at a media briefing held at the government complex in Daejeon, Friday. / Yonhap
South Korea received 6.6 billion won ($5.86 million) worth of North Korean coal and pig iron, of which the country of origin was fabricated, the nation’s customs agency said, Friday.
Cheong Wa Dae said there is no conflict between South Korea and the U.S. regarding the issue as the two countries are coordinating closely with mutual trust.
According to the Korea Customs Service (KCS), three South Korean importers brought in 35,038 tons of North Korean coal and pig iron from April through October last year.
They turned out to have used a Russian port as a transit hub, fabricating the materials as Russian coal. They brokered exports of North Korean goods to other countries via Russia, and got North Korean coal as a commission. (……..)
There is concern the confirmation may negatively affect South Korea’s alliance with the United States as well as its relations with North Korea.
“Though the United States has been moving to improve ties with North Korea, engaging in talks, it has been continuing pressure,” said Yang Moo-jin, professor at the University of North Korean Studies.
Washington has been firm that sanctions should be maintained until North Korea takes concrete steps for denuclearization.
“As it turned out that South Korea, which is a U.S. ally, violated the sanctions, there will be negative effects,” he said. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but remember these are the violations that have been provable, I have to wonder what else has been going on in violation of UN sanctions?
It looks like the cover up of companies shipping North Korean coal into South Korea in violations of UN sanctions is in full effect:
A satellite image of North Korea’s Port of Wonsan in Kangwon Province taken on July 16. A vessel is docked next to a crane for moving coal. (Yonhap News)
A South Korean coal importing company is being investigated by the customs authority on suspicions of importing what is believed to be North Korean coal and disguising it as being from Russia, government officials have disclosed. Reportedly, this is only one of nine suspicious cases being investigated by the authorities.Misrepresenting the origin of coal counts as illegitimate importing under the Customs Act and the forgery of private documents under the criminal code.
And since importing North Korean coal is banned by UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea (Resolution No. 2371), this could also represent a violation of sanctions, if the coal does turn out to be from North Korea.On Aug. 6, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Korea Customs Service (KCS) met reporters at the Foreign Ministry office in Seoul’s Jongno District and explained the current status of their investigation into the import of coal suspected of being from North Korea.“We were provided with intelligence related to allegations of importing North Korean coal from the relevant government agency in Oct. 2017.
We have been investigating the importer implicated in the intelligence in question and are currently wrapping up that investigation,” said a KCS official. The KCS is planning to announce the details of its investigation when it hands over the case to the prosecutors, after completing the investigation. [Hankyoreh]
So the investigation has been going on for nearly a year which causes me to believe this is being slow rolled. Here is what the ROK government is trying to get people to believe:
But until upcoming investigations have run their course, it’s too soon to say whether the coal these companies imported is actually from North Korea. There are a number of possibilities that will have to be determined by investigators. The companies may have actually imported Russian coal; they may have known it was North Korean coal and passed it off as Russian; or they may have been fooled by Russian companies and imported coal without realizing it was from North Korea.
“We’re getting this intelligence from an ally, and the intelligence itself does not constitute definitive proof that the coal is from North Korea,” said an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
I get the feeling this investigation will lead no where, but I guess we will see.
There is no reason why this travel ban should be allowed to expire. The North Koreans have never come clean about what happened to Otto Warmbier and allowing Americans to travel to North Korea gives the Kim regime a fresh pool of hostages to grab when the current negotiations inevitably collapse:
A U.S. ban on its citizens traveling to North Korea is expected to expire at the end of this month.
The U.S. government announced on Aug. 2 last year that U.S. passport holders were banned from traveling to North Korea for a year. The ban took effect on Sept. 1.
There has been no announcement from the U.S. government of an extension.
The travel ban followed the death of U.S. college student Otto Wombier, who suffered brain damage after he was detained by North Korea. [Korea Times]
Prominent North Korean defector Thae Yong-ho who is also a candidate for the most hated person by South Korean leftists who they haven’t put in jail yet, has started his own English language blog. In his recent posting he discusses how Kim Jong-un has no intention to denuclearize and is strengthening the Anti-Imperialist Education within North Korea against South Korea:
Thae Yong-ho
The reality is that when North Korea’s Kim Jong-un came out to the inter-Korean Summit and US-North Korean Summit, he had no intention of giving up his nuclear weapons. It was simply a way to earn time to hold onto his survival by putting on a ‘show’ of pretending to be interested in denuclearization.
While Kim Jong-un thinks that as long as he is in possession of nuclear weapons he will be able to continue the hereditary rule of the Kim family, in actuality, as long as North Korea has nuclear weapons it will not be treated as a ‘normal state.’ In fact the nuclear weapons will be the malignant tumour that leads to the collapse of the North Korean system.
At this moment in time, South Korean citizens are delighted at the start to an era of forgiveness and cooperation between the two Koreas and think that through these inter-Korean exchanges, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un will change.
However, while Kim Jong-un is pretending to be interested in inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation on the outside; internally, he is intensifying the ‘Anti-Imperialist Education’ and warning his people about getting swept away with the exchange and cooperations with South Korea. [Thae Yong-ho]
North Korea repatriated a South Korean citizen Tuesday through the border village of Panmunjom in a “positive humanitarian” move, Seoul’s unification ministry said.
In a message to Seoul a day earlier, Pyongyang claimed the 34-year-old, identified only by his surname Suh, illegally entered the country on July 22.
On Monday, the North’s Red Cross informed the South of a plan to send him back, and Seoul accepted the offer.
The North repatriated Suh via Panmunjom at 11 a.m. as scheduled, a ministry official told reporters.
He is under investigation by the South’s authorities into why and how he entered the North. He left for China before July 22, an informed source said.
The government views the North’s repatriation of Suh as “positive from a humanitarian perspective,” the official added.
But six South Korean nationals, including three missionaries, are still detained in the communist nation. [Yonhap]
It is interesting that President Trump was able to get all the American detainees released, but Moon Jae-in has done nothing to get ROK detainees released.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) tours a catfish farm in Samchon, South Hwanghae Province, in this photo carried on North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Aug. 6, 2018. (Yonhap)
Here we go with yet another report of the Russians violating UN sanctions:
FILE – Piles of coal are seen in the Astafyev Cape area of the far eastern port of Nakhodka, Russia Sept. 5, 2017.
Russia engaged in more extensive oil exports to North Korea than had been previously reported, by setting up an illicit trade network that is likely still being used today to evade United Nations sanctions, according a South Korean research organization.
A recent report issued by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul used Russian customs data to document how “one North Korean state enterprise purchased 622,878 tons of Russian oil worth $238 million,” between 2015 and 2017.”
While China is North Korea’s main oil supplier, the ASAN estimate for Russian oil exports to North Korea is significantly higher than the $25 million in sales for the same period that was reported by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) in Seoul.
“Smuggling has always been an important element in the cross-border trade between North Korea and it’s important allies. What the Chinese government and the Russian government to a lesser extent have been doing is to turn a blind eye to these activities,” said Go Myong-Hyun, a North Korea analyst with the Asan Institute For Policy Studies in Seoul. [Voice of America]
You can read much more of how Russia is aiding North Korea’s efforts to get around UN sanctions at the link.
