Members of North Korea’s team to the PyeongChang Winter Paralympics arrive at the customs, immigration and quarantine office in Paju, just south of the inter-Korean border, on March 15, 2018, on their way back home. A 24-member delegation, with six athletes, came for North Korea’s first participation in the Winter Paralympics. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
Judging by past history the odds are that the South Korean businesses involved with these joint projects will lose out on their investments, but I guess they are hoping things will be different this time:
South Korea is considering a resumption of economic projects with North Korea, but officials are choosing their words carefully since Pyongyang is still subject to international sanctions and the U.S. is still insisting on “maximum pressure.”
With detente seemingly setting in on the peninsula, Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon hinted that the ministry has some plans for economic cooperation with the North. “I think of the issue, but it is not appropriate to [speak] about this now because the president asked us to deal with North Korean affairs very carefully, like handling a fragile glass cup,” Kim told reporters.
Seoul appears concerned about crossing lines set by the United Nations. Most recently, in December, a Security Council resolution limited the supply of crude oil and refined petroleum products to the North, while also banning the country from exporting its food and agricultural products.
But there are also rumblings that South Korea and its state enterprises are eyeing joint projects. Local media reported on Thursday that state-run Korea Expressway Corp. wants to build a highway connecting the South Korean border city of Munsan and Kaesong, a North Korean border city where the neighbors ran a joint industrial complex until 2016. [Nikkei Asian Review]
It appears the Kim regime is positioning its self for talks with President Trump. Wanting a peace treaty that would lead to the withdrawal of USFK has been a long term goal of the Kim regime:
North Korea on Wednesday slammed the ongoing negotiations between South Korea and the United States to renew their deal on defense cost sharing, claiming that South Koreans want the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the peninsula.
The North’s claim comes ahead of a planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and its leader Kim Jong-un that would be held by May. It fuels speculation that the North may seek to strengthen its bargaining power ahead of the talks, experts say.
The North has long insisted that the some 28,500 American forces stationed in South Korea should be pulled out for peace. Analysts said that Pyongyang might seek inter-Korean unification by force if U.S. troops are withdrawn.
The Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the North’s ruling party, condemned Seoul and Washington’s latest talks on defense cost sharing, claiming South Koreans are the ones who hope for the troops’ withdrawal.
“What South Koreans want is an unconditional withdrawal of U.S. troops from the South, an unwelcome guest that poses a threat to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula,” the newspaper said. [Yonhap]
Here is another article about the modern day comfort women that few in South Korea seem to care about:
North Korean women experience high levels of sexual violence in their country and in China, say women who have defected. File Photo by Andrew Wong/UPI
A defector who says she was raped in a North Korean prison camp and was a victim of human trafficking in China said most North Korean women who work with brokers have experienced some form of rape.
May Joo, 37, who resettled in the United States after leaving North Korea in 2005, told UPI on Monday that even rape victims do not know the act is categorically a crime.
“That’s because [North Koreans] do not have a concept of human rights,” Joo said. “The violation of women’s rights, they don’t know what that is.
“Rape victims just think, ‘Well, I guess that happened.’ It never occurs to them to speak up, or seek justice.”
In the era of a global #MeToo movement, where women are increasingly vocalizing their anger and naming perpetrators of sexual abuse, the lack of rights protection for North Korean women is a reminder the Kim Jong Unregime — which stunned the world by offering to talk with U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in — has yet to address what may be the most pressing issue in the country.
Yoonseo Lee, 32, whose hometown is in North Korea’s South Hwanghae Province, said sexual violence is a serious problem in North Korea, but incidents of rape are more common in China.
“Getting raped is preferable to arrest in China,” said Lee, who resettled in South Korea. “Because the minute you alert the authorities, you are arrested.” [UPI]
In just a week, the situation in Korea has made yet another U-turn. It is quite normal to wonder “why is all this happening?” The answer is simple: like it or not, "Maximum pressure" seems to have worked – at least for now https://t.co/5MxL2bJLTX
There is an interesting read in the Joong Ang Ilbo about how secret talks between the US and North Korea led by the CIA have been going on for months that combined with the US pressure campaign helped lead to the current Kim-Trump summit:
Since last year, the United States has been aware of North Korea’s intent to resolve the nuclear crisis through a summit, a diplomatic source told the JoongAng Ilbo on Monday, contradicting the idea that U.S. President Donald Trump impulsively decided to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
“Using its own channels between the United States and the North, Washington detected last year Pyongyang’s idea that only a summit can resolve the issues,” said the source. He added that the North was persistent with the idea of a “top-down” approach and the U.S. leadership, including Trump, was frequently briefed about the situation.
Washington, however, didn’t pursue the idea of a meeting because it was implementing its “maximum pressure” campaign and because it was unsure of Pyongyang’s authenticity. The United States, therefore, decided to wait until North Korea offered talks.
“The United States believed that the appropriate timing would come when the North felt unmanageable pressure,” he said.
After the North decided to participate in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Washington and Pyongyang began secret contacts, around Jan. 20, the source said.
The contacts became more active after the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) got information that the North wanted to have a meeting with Vice President Mike Pence on the sidelines of the opening ceremony in February. The State Department was completely excluded from the process, the source said. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but this helps explain why CIA Director Mike Pompeo was moved over to be the Secretary of State. The CIA has been the lead with ongoing secret negotiations with North Korea and moving Pompeo over to the State Department will bring them someone the Kim regime may already be comfortable interacting with prior to the summit.
North Korea has definitely been the bright shining object of US foreign policy for decades in the Pacific region. China would definitely not benefit if North Korea suddenly was not a major preoccupation for the United States:
Picture this: thanks to a combination of diplomatic ingenuity, unique personalities and a historic willingness to see tensions in Northeast Asia disappear, President Donald J. Trump convinces North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to do the unthinkable and give up his nuclear weapons.
While we are a long way from even a meeting between the two taking place, let alone the ending of Kim’s nuclear weapons program, we can stargaze a little. If the Trump administration can somehow land the ultimate of deals, the geopolitical map would instantly be reset. America’s security, and that of its allies in Asia, would be enhanced dramatically, ridding our planet of one of its greatest security risks. Not only would President Trump deserve the Nobel Prize, but his place in history would be secure—forever.
And nothing would terrify China more. The reason, if you think about it, is obvious. The instability that Pyongyang brings to U.S. foreign policy presents to China a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to achieve many of its goals throughout the Indo-Pacific region. Remove the North Korea crisis from Asia and Washington has the economic, diplomatic, political and, most of all, military bandwidth to contain Beijing’s aspirations across Asia—and indeed, around the world. [Fox News]
You can read more at the link, but the author believes that if the North Korea crisis is resolved than that will allow the US to focus more on China’s activities in the region such as their island building campaign in the South China Sea.
It looks like Japan does not want to be left out of the upcoming negotiations over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs:
With North Korea now engaged with South Korea and getting ready for talks with the U.S., it looks like Japan doesn’t want to be left out. Tokyo says that if the North agrees to allow inspections of its nuclear facilities it’s willing to foot the initial costs up to 300 million yen, or about 2.8 million dollars. That’s according to Kyodo News Agency, citing multiple Japanese government officials. Analysts say Japan is trying to make sure it has a voice in the process of North Korea’s denuclearization and related discussions.
The Kyodo report went on to say that Japan will continue to pressure North Korea into taking concrete action on the nuclear issue. Pyongyang hasn’t allowed in nuclear inspectors from the IAEA since 2009. Inspections of its main nuclear facility at Yongbyon would cost up to around 3.7 million dollars, so Japan’s proposed contribution would foot most of the bill. [Arirang News]
