Tag: North Korea

The North Koreans don’t need economic aid for the US considering that President Moon is figuratively willing to drive the Bank of Korea armored truck directly to Kim Jong-un’s palace.  They just need the US to drop the sanctions on the Kim regime so the payoff aid can be legally delivered to North Korea:

North Korea on Sunday fumed at U.S. reports that the country is seeking economic assistance from the United States in return for denuclearization.

The ruling Workers’ Party’s official newspaper Rodong Sinmun commented that Fox News TV, CBS and CNN were “as impudent as to make rubbish that if the DPRK meets the requirements of the U.S., it can get ‘large-scale non-governmental economic aid.'”

“This is nonsense of hack media on the payroll of power,” according to its commentary carried in an English dispatch by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

“U.S. media is still building up public opinion that the DPRK comes to the negotiating table with the U.S. in a hope to get ‘economic aid,'” the report said using the initial of the North’s full name, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “We can not but make the fact clear. It is the U.S. that asked for DPRK-U.S. talks first,” the North claimed.

“As far as the ‘economic aid’ … is concerned, the DPRK has never expected it.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but most of the US media is completely uninformed about North Korea

BREAKING: A team of U.S. officials led by Sung Kim crossed into North Korea today to hold summit preparation talks, despite uncertainty surrounding the June 12 Trump-Kim meeting. The North Korean delegation is led by vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui. https://t.co/eLPZiB68cC pic.twitter.com/XwRwNqYtxo

— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) May 27, 2018

The South Korean ambassador to the US, Cho Yoon-je recently published an article in the Washington Post pretty much saying this time things are different with North Korea:

When North Korea announced last Wednesday that it was postponing high-level inter-Korea talks and might reconsider taking part in the planned summit with President Trump, pundits were quick to say North Korea was up to its old tricks. But my memory went back to a different moment. I recalled my days as a young economist at the International Monetary Fund in the late 1980s when Washington was debating the gloomy prospects of the Cold War. It was impossible to imagine that anything like peace could emerge during that dark time.

Today, the same pall is hovering over Washington regarding the seemingly dimmed hopes for the denuclearization of North Korea. One Korean expert pointed out to me that such skepticism in Washington is based on long-established habit; the world has tried everything, he noted, and Pyongyang has not given up its nuclear weapons no matter what. It is hard to argue against this viewpoint given North Korea’s record. And yet I would still contend that this time is different. That is why we must still give hope a chance, even though there are miles to go and the road will be bumpy.

Back in the 1980s, many in the West initially regarded the Soviet Union’s policies of economic reform and political openness, as well as its stated intention of nuclear arms reduction, with pronounced skepticism. Now we feel that same pessimism once again, this time in respect to North Korea. Some are advising Seoul and Washington that they should, instead, recall the opportunities that presented themselves in the second half of the 1980s. The grim history of the Cold War did not stop Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and President Ronald Reagan from reaching for a chance at peace.  [Washington Post]

You can read the rest at the link, but so far I have not seen anything different from the Kim regime so far.  Everything so far has been spectacle and little substance which about sums up all past negotiations and agreements with the Kim regime.

Also an important fact that Mr. Cho failed to mention in his article is Reagan’s famous words of “Trust by Verify”.  I seriously doubt the Trump administration is going to sign up for any denuclearization deal with the Kim regime that does not have strong verification protocols.  When I see the Kim regime agree to nuclear material to be removed from the country and the Yongbyon nuclear plant irreversibly shut down under the supervision of international inspectors then I will say this time is different.

I think this is a sign of just how off balance President Trump has the Kim regime right now, that Kim Jong-un had to have an emergency summit with Moon Jae-in just to figure out how to move forward:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met for the second time in a month on Saturday, holding a surprise summit at a border truce village to discuss Kim’s potential meeting with President Donald Trump, Moon’s office said.

Kim and Moon met hours after South Korea expressed relief over revived talks for a summit between Trump and Kim following a whirlwind 24 hours that saw Trump cancel the highly anticipated meeting before saying it’s potentially back on.

Moon, who brokered the summit between Washington and Pyongyang, likely used Saturday’s meeting to confirm Kim’s willingness to enter nuclear negotiations with Trump and clarify what steps Kim has in mind in the process of denuclearization, said Hong Min, a senior analyst at Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification.  [Associated Press]

I can only imagine what they talked about, but I would not be surprised if the conversation included the fact that the usual playbook is not working on President Trump.  The past strategy of the North Koreans giving little to nothing in return for massive aid and lifting of sanctions is clearly not going to happen this time.  The Trump administration has made it pretty clear that real denuclearization is what will happen if a deal is to be done.

By the way does anyone want to provide their own caption of the below picture?:

Former North Korean diplomat Thae Yong-ho who defected to South Korea in 2016 describes in his book what it was like escorting Kim Jong-un’s brother, Kim Jong-chul around London to attend an Eric Clapton concert:

Jong-chul stayed in London for 61 hours, during which he saw Clapton’s concert twice. He also went shopping at an HMV record store and Selfridges department store, both in London, and drove 100 kilometers to buy a “Made in U.S.” guitar he had been eagerly looking for. He paid 2,400 pounds for it.

His plan to see the concert could have been canceled when his visit was leaked to the media. A throng of reporters gathered at the concert venue to catch a glimpse of the “unfortunate prince,” an often-used term to explain his fate of yielding the North’s throne to his younger brother.

But he pushed ahead and ended up seeing the concert under British police protection. He bought many souvenirs after the concert ― cups, key chains, T-shirts and albums.

Jong-chul looked quite moved when he bought the American guitar, according to Thae. He cuddled it for a while and gave an impromptu performance for 40 minutes at the shop. People extolled his play. The guitar was at his side all the way back to London.

“I’ve sent a cable to many embassies to find this guitar, but they failed. Why couldn’t they be able to find this?” he asked himself.

Thae said Jong-chul was married and had children. He bought children’s clothes at Selfridges.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but Kim Jong-chul has been described as being effeminate in the past, but Thae said he saw no evidence of that his time with him in London. Judging from the above picture Jong-chul does not have the same authoritarian appearance Jong-un.  Plus the behavior described by Thae makes Jong-chul appear a bit childish.  This tends to further validate why he was passed over for the North Korean leadership.

Never mind that SKorea's head of national security and intelligence agency chief announced from the White House that KJU was going to denuke. Never mind that Moon Jae-in insisted NKorea wants "complete" denuclearization. Everything is John Bolton's fault. https://t.co/3NVIoNu8Yo

— John Lee (The Korean Foreigner) (@koreanforeigner) May 22, 2018

A protester holds a banner that says, “Trump jeopardizes peace on the Korean Peninsula,” during a rally in front of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul on May 25, 2018, to criticize the U.S. government and call for a summit with North Korea as scheduled. On May 24, U.S. President Donald Trump called off his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un scheduled for June 12, citing the North’s “tremendous anger and open hostility.” (Yonhap)

As I said yesterday, the cancellation of the Trump-Kim summit by President Trump was nothing more than part of the ongoing negotiations.  Well it looks like the Kim regime got the message from the Trump administration that the usual games they played during past negotiations will not be tolerated:

Despite U.S. President Donald Trump cancelling the June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to discuss the regime’s denuclearization, it appears a meeting could take place not too far in the future, as both sides seem willing to engage in dialogue.

North Korea, unlike its usual hard-line stance, expressed regret over the cancellation and said it is open to talks at anytime, so the ball is again in the U.S.’s court.

After Trump’s announcement late Thursday, North Korea stated that it had a “willingness to resolve issues through dialogue, whenever and through whatever means.” The statement was made by North Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, reported by the Korean Central News Agency the following morning.  [Korea Times]

Who can remember a time when the Kim regime has been this conciliatory for talks?  The only time that comes to mind was during the Banco Delta Asia incident where they were desperate to get the millions of dollars frozen by the US Treasury Department back.  The Kim regime played nice until they got what they wanted and then eventually returned to conducting provocations.

It is pretty clear the Trump administration is trying to change this dynamic and the President today is signaling that the summit can still happen if North Korea changes its tone:

U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday his planned meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could still take place June 12, after cancelling the summit a day earlier.

“We’re going to see what happens. We’re talking to them right now. It could even be the 12th,” Trump told reporters before departing the White House.  (….)

“Very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea,” he wrote. “We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell!”  [Yonhap]

I guess we will see what happens, but it is good to see the Kim regime for once on the defensive when it comes to negotiations.

Trump administration official on North Korea: “It doesn’t look like they want to denuclearize at all.”

Entire North Korea expert community: “No shit, Sherlock.” https://t.co/t1kKpkXx8p pic.twitter.com/dw6wEGfVi2

— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) May 20, 2018

Here is the play-by-play of the Punggye-ri dog and pony show:

North Korea destroyed its only known nuclear test site with a series of explosions over several hours on Thursday, taking an initial step toward denuclearization, according to South Korean journalists visiting the area.

The North dynamited the North Portal, also referred to as Tunnel No. 2, at Punggye-ri, a northeastern remote area, at around 11 a.m., they said in a brief pool report delivered by phone.

Two other tunnels were destroyed at 2:17 p.m., followed by the explosion of barracks, observation towers and other facilities on the ground.

The blasts ended at 4:17 p.m., the journalists said without clarifying whether Tunnel No. 1, or the East Portal, was removed as well. Among the four tunnels in the zone, the East Portal was evidently abandoned earlier, according to 38 North, a U.S.-based website.

Plumes of smoke soon covered the mountain.

Reporters and television crews from the United States, China, Russia and Britain were also invited to witness the ceremony.

They filmed the spectacle, but footage is expected to be available only after they return to Wonsan, the North’s eastern coastal city, presumably on Friday morning.  [Yonhap]

As I have long said the closure of the nuclear test site is largely meaningless because if they decide they need to conduct more tests they can just dig another shaft at a time of their choosing.