The Moon administration is now playing defense over the reports of ships carrying North Korean coal being allowed to dock in South Korea:
A Belize-flagged ship, the Jin Long, is docked at a port in Pohang, on South Korea’s east coast, on Aug. 7, 2018. (Yonhap)
The South Korean government on Tuesday dismissed a report that another foreign vessel carrying North Korean coal has entered a southeastern port in the country, potentially in breach of U.N. Security Council sanctions.
VOA, a U.S.-based broadcaster, reported earlier that a Belize-flagged ship, the Jin Long, docked at South Korea’s southeastern port of Pohang on the weekend and is still believed to be at the port. It cited the MarineTraffic vessel locating service.
The ship had been spotted at the Russian port of Nakhodka, along with black materials believed to be North Korean coal, days before arriving in Pohang, it added.
Rep. Yoo Ki-june, a South Korean opposition lawmaker, also said the freighter suspected of carrying 5,100 tons of North Korean coal is anchored at the Pohang port.
South Korea’s foreign ministry confirmed the entry of the ship itself but said it’s carrying Russian coal.
“There has been no confirmation of a violation of the (U.N.) Security Council resolution in an inspection of the ship by related authorities,” the ministry’s spokesman Noh Kyu-duk said at a press briefing. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but of course the documents are going to say it is “Russian coal”. These would not be very good smugglers if they are advertising they are shipping North Korean coal. What are the intelligence agencies saying that it is because they have the assets to determine where the coal actually came from.
You would think this would be bigger news that the South Korean government is intentionally allowing North Korea to violate sanctions using their ports 52 times over the past year:
This file photo shows Yoo Ki-june of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party. (Yonhap)
An opposition lawmaker claimed Sunday that three more foreign vessels suspected of carrying North Korean coal, a banned item under international sanctions, entered South Korean ports 52 times since August last year.
Yoo Ki-june of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party made the claim, arguing that the Seoul government did not take due steps such as the interdiction of the suspicious vessels in line with U.N. Security Council (UNSC) mandates.
Adopted in December last year following the North’s launch of a long-range missile, UNSC Resolution 2397 allows a country to capture and look into a vessel suspected of engaging in prohibited activities with North Korea. Resolution 2371, passed in August last year, imposes a blanket ban on the overseas sale of North Korean coal, iron ore and other mineral resources.
Yoo’s argument came amid media speculation that Seoul, which has been pushing for inter-Korean rapprochement, has not been thoroughly monitoring foreign vessels that enter South Korea with North Korean coal disguised as Russian products, possibly in violation of the sanctions regime. [Yonhap]
It is bad enough that the Chinese and the Russians are helping the North Koreans to bypass the coal sanctions and new the ROK is as well. If President Trump wants to Tweet about something, this should be it.
Expect more articles like this in the future out of South Korea in an effort to try and pressure the Trump administration to drop sanctions against North Korea:
“We cannot go further,” said Moon Chung-in, an influential adviser to the South Korean president. “Why? Because of the sanctions regime.”
There is growing frustration that a slow pace on sanctions could dash renewed hopes for a connection.
“It’s so stressful that the United States is so controlling,” said Song Young-gil, a South Korean politician who recently inspected North Korea’s railways for the president’s office. (……)
But while a west coast railroad would connect political capitals, an east coast line through Jejin would be important for two key areas of Moon’s plans for cooperation with North Korea: trade and tourism.
Following existing tracks, this line would start at Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city and one of the world’s busiest seaports. Train service would run through Jejin and on into North Korea, passing through the Mount Kumgang tourist zone and then Wonsan, a weapons-industry hub converted into a beach resort. The service would continue to Hamhung, an industrial city and the second largest in North Korea.
Eventually, it would reach Rason, an ice-free seaport close to North Korean natural resources. From there, travelers would go on to the Russian border, where there are links to the Russian seaport of Vladivostok and beyond. In theory, a train could continue to Europe on what’s been dubbed the “Iron Silk Railroad. [Washington Post]
You can read more at the link, but this is why South Korea wants the sanctions dropped. North Korea has a number of tourism projects on their East Coast ready for ROK investment and tourists to create a cash cow for the Kim regime. The only thing stopping this are the sanctions. In the article South Korean politicians say that if the US drops the sanctions this will give Kim Jong-un the leverage he needs to get his military to give up its nukes.
Probably the most laughable line in the article is that South Korea experts told the Washington Post that the train line could open up North Korea politically. The Kim regime is not going to agree to do anything that will threaten the stability of their regime. Any tours into North Korea will be highly controlled just like all the other foreign tours into North Korea currently are.
I guess we will see what happens, but expect the South Korean government and their media allies to continue to put pressure on the Trump administration to drop the sanctions on the Kim regime for little to nothing in return.
Here is another example of a forum being used to pressure the US to drop sanctions against North Korea:
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) shakes hands with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho at a photo session of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Singapore on Aug. 4, 2018. (Yonhap)
The top diplomats of the two Koreas and regional powers engaged in a flurry of diplomatic talks over the past few days in Singapore, although no breakthroughs were made toward Pyongyang’s denuclearization and the proclamation to formally end the Korean War.
This year’s ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) followed two inter-Korean summits at the Panmunjom truce village in spring and the unprecedented North Korea-U.S. summit in this city-state in June.
It was a sort of prelude to the U.N. General Assembly to be held in New York next month.
The gathering was widely expected to help maintain the momentum for constructive dialogue amid some signs of an impasse in the Korea peace process.
The U.S. is pressing the North to take concrete denuclearization steps, beyond a show of dismantling nuclear and missile testing sites in the absence of international experts.
The North says it has done a lot, and the Trump administration should reciprocate. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but wouldn’t it be great if President Trump responded to criticisms of reciprocating Pyongyang’s so called “good-will” gestures by saying that the US is showing good-will by not bombing them?
Funny thing about sanctions — the year we start to enforce them just happens to be the year Kim Jong-un shows up for summits w/ 3 foreign heads of state. You can argue whether sanctions helped diplomacy, but events refute any argument that they've hampered it. https://t.co/roKbGUdxn2
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un boards a domestically built bus in Pyongyang after touring a trolley car and bus plant in the capital city, the North’s main Rodong Shinmun newspaper reported Aug. 4, 2018. (Yonhap)
North Korea on Saturday said the US was acting with “alarming” impatience on the issue of denuclearisation, after Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State, stressed the need to maintain full sanctions pressure on Pyongyang.
At historic talks with Donald Trump, the US President, in June, Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator, signed up to a vague commitment to “denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula” – a far cry from long-standing US demands for complete, verifiable and irreversible disarmament.
While US officials have publicly been optimistic about the agreement, Pyongyang appears to have made little substantial progress and Washington has become concerned that some UN member states are easing sanctions.
At the ASEAN Regional Forum, Ri Yong Ho, North Korea’s Foreign Minister, criticised US impatience on denuclearisation.
“What is alarming, however, is the insistent moves manifested within the US to go back to the old, far from its leader’s intention,” he said, according to a statement.
Hidden trillions: What if North Korea’s economy opened up?
Since the June agreement, Pyongyang had taken “goodwill measures”, including a halt on nuclear and missile tests and “dismantling a nuclear test ground”, he said.
“However, the United States, instead of responding to these measures, is raising its voice louder for maintaining the sanctions against the DPRK,” he said, using the initials of the North’s official name.
“As long as the US does not show in practice its strong will to remove our concerns, there will be no case whereby we will move forward first unilaterally,” Mr Ri added. [The Telegraph]
You can read more at the link, but as I have long said the North Koreans were going to try and get the sanctions dropped for little to nothing in return. They need the sanctions dropped in order for South Korean President Moon Jae-in to restart the cross-border economic projects that will bring in huge sums of money for the Kim regime. This money in turn will go to further modernizing their nuclear and missile programs.
To get President Trump to drop the sanctions that is why the North Koreans have been behaving and saying nice things about President Trump. Likewise South Korean President Moon has been saying nice things as well to include saying President Trump should get the Nobel Peace Prize. They are trying to appeal to President Trump’s ego to get the sanctions dropped for little to nothing in return.
If there is no agreement, no doubt you'll agree that Pyongyang has no basis to complain if we enforce sanctions aggressively, talk about human rights, hold defensive exercises, or install missile defenses. https://t.co/tPghepmVYF
Considering that Hyundai was used to help pay the original $500 million bribe to the Kim regime to secure the first Inter-Korean summit, I can understand why North Korea has fond memories of working with the former chairman Chong Mong-hun:
In this photo provided by Hyundai Group, its chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun pays respect to late chairman Chung Mong-hun during a memorial service at Mount Kumgang on Aug. 3, 2018. (Yonhap)
A North Korean media outlet reported in detail on a South Korean firm’s devotion to inter-Korean cooperation Friday, apparently trying to create a favorable mood for resumption of the company’s now suspended tour program.
Uriminjokkiri, the North’s external propaganda website, shed light on Hyundai Group’s work and its relations with Pyongyang in time for a trip by group officials to Mount Kumgang to attend a memorial service for late chairman Chung Mong-hun.
Chung spearheaded the now suspended tour program to the North Korean mountain. His wife and current chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun was among the visitors.
The ceremony was attended by some 20 North Korean officials and 30 Hyundai officials, according to the company.
“We have expectations to resume the tour program within this year. That’s what the North was thinking too,” Hyun told reporters after her visit.
Yet the chairwoman said she did not have detailed discussions on the possible resumption of inter-Korean projects with the North Korean officials.
During a meeting with Hyun in 2005, the website said that the North’s then leader Kim Jong-il delivered condolences for the death of Chung, emphasizing that the North began its “first love” with Hyundai in terms of improving inter-Korean relations way ahead of its cooperation with the Seoul government.
Kim also praised Chung for his devotion to advancing relations between the two Koreas, calling him a “patriotic business person” who followed in the footsteps of his late father and group founder, Chung Ju-yung, according to the website. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but for those that don’t remember Chong Mong-hun committed suicide back in 2003 by jumping off of a building after he was indicted for his role in paying the bribe to North Korea.
