Good luck trying to make this happen:
The United States on Friday welcomed the U.N. Security Council’s united support for the fully verified denuclearization of North Korea and pressed China and Russia to strictly enforce U.N. sanctions to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused North Korea of violating an array of tough sanctions imposed by the council. He warned that ”when sanctions are not enforced, the prospects for the successful denuclearization of North Korea are diminished.”
Nonetheless, Pompeo told reporters after meeting behind closed doors with the 15 council members that President Donald Trump ”remains upbeat about the prospects for denuclearization” following his historic summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. ”So do I, as progress is happening,” he added without elaborating.
The Trump administration hopes that one day North Korea will be at the United Nations ”not as a pariah but as a friend,” Pompeo said. But ”it will take full enforcement of sanctions for us to get there” as well as Kim following through ”on his personal commitments” to Trump. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but I have to hand it to Secretary Pompeo, he is doing everything possible to not be seen as the belligerent whenever the breaking point with North Korea’s foot dragging on denuclearization happens.
There are probably going to be many people surprised slavery exists in North Korea after reading this, but the gulags and forced labor of its citizens for regime projects has been going on for decades:
North Korea has the highest prevalence of modern slavery in the world, with 1 out of every 10 citizens victims under the practice, according to estimates included in a new report.
More than 2.6 million people live under modern slavery in the country, the 2018 Global Slavery Index found, with the vast majority forced to work by the state. The report also argued that the North Korean government had the weakest response to slavery out of all the countries surveyed, as the North Korean state itself is involved in forced labor both inside and outside of the country.
The report defines modern slavery as slavery itself, as well as human trafficking, forced labor, debt bondage, forced or servile marriage, and the sale and exploitation of children. [Washington Post]
You can read more at the link, but remember this number does not include the near slave labor that were once employed at the Kaesong Industrial Complex. Restarting the near slave labor project at Kaesong is one of the South Korean governments top priorities and why they want the US to drop sanctions against North Korea.
South Korea’s delegation heads for North Korea through the North and South Entry Office in Paju, north of Seoul, on July 20, 2018, for joint railway inspection. The two Koreas agreed in June to modernize and link their currently severed railways and conduct pre-inspections. They will look at the system along the eastern coast on the day and inspect the system along the western coast next week. (Yonhap)
It didn’t take long for the North Koreans to use the proposed family unions as leverage against the South Korean government:
North Korea’s state-run media released a string of articles on Friday that criticized the South Korean government, hinting that planned reunions for families split between the two nations could be canceled. An editorial in the official state newspaper of the North Korean ruling party, Rodong Sinmun, argued that South Korea had been exaggerating its role in denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington. South Korea’s role in the talks does “not even amount to that of an assistant,” the editorial stated. The same article described comments made by South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Singapore last week as “presumptuous” and “flippant.” [Washington Post]
You can read more at the link, but it appears the North Koreans are trying to put the ROK government back in its place as being subservient to the Kim regime with the denuclearization talks solely between the US and North Korea.
Here is the main reason they are threatening the cancelation of the family reunions:
In another attack against the Moon administration, Uriminzokkiri, a North Korean propaganda website, urged it to repatriate a dozen North Korean restaurant workers who came to the South in 2016.
The 12 had worked at a North Korean restaurant in China. Pyongyang claims they were abducted by South Korean authorities. The South has said the workers defected of their own free will.
Uriminzokkiri said there could be an “obstacle” in the planned reunion of families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War next month if the workers are not returned.
It lashed out at Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon by name, accusing him of “siding with” the former government which it said plotted the workers’ defection. [Reuters]
I think even for a left wing administration like President Moon’s, this will be politically very difficult to do. Could you imagine the backlash of forcibly removing these defectors from South Korea and handing them over to the Kim regime?
Now there is supposedly not a time limit on North Korean dencuclearization:
U.S. President Donald Trump says that there is “no time limit” on North Korea’s denuclearization, reiterating that negotiations with Pyongyang are a process.
Trump made the remarks to reporters on Tuesday at a meeting with members of Congress at the White House, explaining the outcome of his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.
Trump said that discussions on dismantling North Korea’s nuclear weapons program are ongoing and progressing well, but stressed that there is “no rush for speed” to achieve the goal.
He added that the sanctions against Pyongyang are still in place and referenced the improving U.S.-North Korea relations as the North has refrained from missile tests for nine months and released three U.S. detainees in May. [KBS World Radio]
You can read more at the link, but it may seem like more of the same in regards to North Korea negotiations. However, I would not hit the panic button on this as long as the sanctions remain in place. The big question though is what is Kim Jong-un’s time limit? At some point the regime is going to want the sanctions dropped for little to nothing in return.
A possibility is that the Trump administration’s new strategy may be to wait out the Kim regime. Maybe the Trump administration understands now that the Kim regime will not denuclearize and instead just play along with negotiations while keeping the sanctions in place. If North Korea eventually returns to making provocations this could be the excuse the Trump administration needs to take other actions against the regime.
It is bad enough that Russia and China actively undermine United Nations sanctions against the Kim regime, but now even South Korea is reportedly helping North Korea evade sanctions as well:
North Korea reportedly transported its coal to a third country via South Korea last year in violation of UN sanctions.
The Voice of America(VOA) issued the report on Tuesday, citing information released by an expert panel under the UN committee monitoring sanctions against North Korea.
The panel said that North Korea shipped its coal from Kholmsk Port in Russia to a third country two times via South Korean ports in Incheon and Pohang on October second and 11th last year.
Earlier this year, the panel said in its previous report that the South Korean ports were the final destinations of the North Korean coal. However, in the latest report, it said the shipments were likely headed to a third country, although it is unconfirmed.
Meanwhile, an official at the South Korean Foreign Ministry said that there is a need to confirm the findings of the report.
The UN Security Council Resolution 2371 adopted in August last year imposed a total ban on all exports of North Korean coal. [KBS World Radio]
In honor of the 65th anniversary of the Korean War armistice it appears the North Koreans are prepared to hand over a large number of remains:
North Korea has agreed to hand over as many as 55 sets of remains believed to be from American troops killed in the 1950-53 war, and to allow the United States to fly them out of the country next week, a U.S. official said Tuesday.
The preliminary details emerged after U.S. and North Korean officials held working-level talks Monday in the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone.
The Americans planned to send transit cases via truck to the DMZ, where they would be given to the North Koreans to use for the remains. “They’re going to use our cases for the remains and give them back to us,” the official told Stars and Stripes.
A U.S. delegation was expected to retrieve the remains in North Korea and fly them out on July 27, either to Osan Air Base in South Korea or Hawaii, the official said, adding that the date may change as the two sides planned to iron out final details during another meeting in the near future. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but the North Koreans according to the article are supposedly not asking for anything in return for the remains.
Here is what came out of the general level talks with North Korea on the war remains issue:
The United States and North Korea have agreed to resume searching for the remains of thousands of American soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday.
The agreement came at a general-level meeting between the two sides earlier in the day, Pompeo said in a statement. On Monday the two countries will begin working-level talks to coordinate the repatriation of remains already found in the North, he added.
“This meeting was aimed at fulfilling one of the commitments made by Chairman Kim at the Singapore Summit,” Pompeo said in the statement, noting that it was the first general-level talks between the two countries since 2009. “Today’s talks were productive and cooperative and resulted in firm commitments.” [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but I wonder if this so called search for remains in North Korea will require cash payments to the Kim regime as they demanded in past searches?
