Tag: North Korea

Tweet of the Day: Kim Jong-un’s Field of Dreams

| October 3, 2017

Egyptians Caught Smuggling in $23 Million In Contraband Weapons from North Korea

| October 3, 2017

It is pretty amazing that the Egyptians had the nerve to accept $300 million in military aid from the United States and then turn around purchase $23 million in contraband arms from the North Koreans:

Last August, a secret message was passed from Washington to Cairo warning about a mysterious vessel steaming toward the Suez Canal. The bulk freighter named Jie Shun was flying Cambodian colors but had sailed from North Korea, the warning said, with a North Korean crew and an unknown cargo shrouded by heavy tarps.

Armed with this tip, customs agents were waiting when the ship entered Egyptian waters. They swarmed the vessel and discovered, concealed under bins of iron ore, a cache of more than 30,000 rocket-propelled grenades. It was, as a United Nations report later concluded, the “largest seizure of ammunition in the history of sanctions against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”

But who were the rockets for? The Jie Shun’s final secret would take months to resolve and would yield perhaps the biggest surprise of all: The buyers were the Egyptians themselves.

A U.N. investigation uncovered a complex arrangement in which Egyptian business executives ordered millions of dollars worth of North Korean rockets for the country’s military while also taking pains to keep the transaction hidden, according to U.S. officials and Western diplomats familiar with the findings. The incident, many details of which were never publicly revealed, prompted the latest in a series of intense, if private, U.S. complaints over Egyptian efforts to obtain banned military hardware from Pyongyang, the officials said.  [Washington Post]

I recommend reading the whole thing at the link since it is a long, but interesting read about North Korea’s history of selling illicit weapons.

Analysts Believe October Will See Another North Korea Provocation

| October 2, 2017

It seems like every month now there is at least one North Korean provocation so why would October be any different?:

North Korea could carry out provocative acts in October when the country marks the anniversaries of its party’s foundation and a former ruler’s ascent to power, and China opens a key party meeting, experts said Sunday.

North Korea has used important national occasions as pretexts for military provocations and a show of force.

South Korean presidential office Cheong Wa Dae has recently raised the possibility that North Korea may launch a provocation on Oct. 10, the 72nd founding anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK).  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link, but in the article there is speculation that the Kim regime could use October 4th as a date to launch a missile because it is the 10-year anniversary of when former President Roh Moo-hyun met with Kim Jong-il in North Korea.  The current ROK President Moon Jae-in was Roh’s chief of staff at the time.  If Kim Jong-un really wants to make a point to President Moon that reconciliation is not going to happen on the South’s terms then a provocation on that date would be a way of doing that.

Tweet of the Day: Italy Expels North Korean Ambassador

| October 2, 2017

The Joshua Ramos Freeze Deal Strategy

| October 2, 2017

Here is yet another example of a freeze deal being circulated around Washington, D.C.

My first question is what would the US give up to get North Korea to freeze their nuclear weapons for 26 months?  They are not going to freeze their nuclear weapons program out of the goodness of their hearts.  Additionally this does nothing to solve the ICBM issue which is actually more concerning than the nuclear program right now.  Their nuclear weapons cannot be used against the US homeland if they don’t have a reliable delivery system.

Tweet of the Day: Russia Sends Troops to North Korean Border

| October 1, 2017

US Secretary of State Says Direct Talks Being Held With North Korea Over Nuclear Program

| October 1, 2017

This is not surprising to me, the only thing surprising is that the US Secretary of State is admitting to the talks:

The United States is communicating with North Korea as it seeks to encourage the regime to abandon its build up of nuclear weapons, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said.

Mr Tillerson made his comments in Beijing after holding talks with Chinese leaders on Saturday amid rising concerns over Pyongyang’s military programme.

Washington is known to have back channels which it uses to help negotiate the release of US citizens who have been held captive in the North.

But Mr Tillerson’s disclosure suggests US officials are also using secret talks to convince Pyongyang to hold official negotiations aimed at easing tensions.  [The Telegraph]

You can read more at the link.

Will North Korea Execute A Chuseok Holiday Provocation?

| September 30, 2017

If the North Koreans do decide to commit a Chuseok holiday provocation the US and ROK military say they are ready:

The military is to remain on high alert against possible provocations from North Korea during the Chuseok holiday.

A military official said Saturday that troops are maintaining a bolstered defense posture as the North can carry out provocations at any time.

South Korean and U.S. forces are known to be closely observing any moves by the North Korean military using cutting-edge surveillance and reconnaissance assets in order to respond immediately in case of a provocation.

Authorities believe Pyongyang could engage in another major provocative act in the near future.

It’s speculated the regime could launch a ballistic missile around October tenth, which marks the founding anniversary of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party.   [KBS World Radio]

Reports today are saying that missiles from the Sanum-dong missile plant are currently on the move.  I guess we will see what happens in the next few days.

Tweet of the Day: North Korea Side Hustles

| September 30, 2017

North Korea Is Refusing to Pay Back Nearly A $1 Billion In South Korean Loan Money

| September 30, 2017

This is an example of how the ROK government during the Sunshine Policy years helped to fund North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and the leftists running the country at the time thought the North Koreans would actually pay them back.  Despite all this the current Moon Jae-in administration in South Korea wants to give them even more money they will likely never pay back:

North Korea seems unwilling to repay loans it received from South Korea when inter-Korean relations were good in the 2000s, an opposition lawmaker claimed Thursday.

Citing data from the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) and the National Assembly Budget Office, Rep. Shim Jae-cheol of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) said the North’s outstanding liabilities are 161.4 billion won ($142.5 million) as of July, out of accumulated loans of 1.05 trillion won ($932 million).

“North Korea has not paid back a penny since 2012 but the government has yet to come up with any countermeasure,” Shim said.

“The amount of redemption must have been used in nuclear and missile development. The government should do its utmost not to lose the entire 1.05 trillion won, which is the people’s tax money.”

According to the National Assembly data, the Kim Dae-jung government offered loans worth 369 billion won ($327 million) and the Roh Moo-hyun administration provided as much as 683.7 billion won ($650 million) in the form of food, material and equipment.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.