This is sad news for his family, but if what has been written about him is true I can’t say I am sad to see him go:
James Dresnok in 2006. The former US soldier, who defected to North Korea in 1962, died last year, his sons said. Photograph: Alamy
The only US soldier known to still be living in North Korea after defecting more than five decades ago died last year, pledging his loyalty to the “great leader Kim Jong-un”, his sons have said.
James Joseph Dresnok was among a handful of American servicemen to desert following the Korean war, crossing the heavily fortified demilitarised zone in 1962.
He went on to appear in North Korean propaganda films and was believed to be the last US defector in the country, the others all having died or been allowed to leave. [The Guardian]
You can read much more at the link, but include a video of his two sons giving an interview about his death wearing North Korean uniforms.
The North Korean propaganda apparatus is working overtime with the UFG exercise kicking off this week:
Less than a week after backing off its threat to strike waters near Guam with a barrage of missiles, North Korea has released a video depicting such an attack on the tiny U.S. island territory.
The video – titled “What will the cost be for Americans, who are losing sleep at night?” – was released just before the start of Ulchi Freedom Guardian war games between the United States and South Korea. Pyongyang claims the annual computer-simulation drills, which kicked off on Monday, destabilize the peninsula and simulate decapitation strikes on its leadership.
A third of the way through the incendiary video, North Korean missiles are launched and then fly through clouds before coming down toward a map of Guam. Later, an image of President Donald Trump is shown overlooking a field of crosses as the words, “The fate of the U.S., with its many crimes, ends here,” are displayed in Korean. [Stars & Stripes]
Here is the North Korean propaganda video in its entirety:
It seems President Moon has made himself a pretty specific red line with North Korea that in my opinion he has no intention of actually enforcing:
The President’s definition of a “red line” for North Korea has fueled controversy, with critics questioning its adequacy.
At a press conference to mark his 100th day in office Thursday, President Moon Jae-in said that he would consider North Korea had crossed a red line “if it completes development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and weaponizes it by fitting a nuclear warhead on it.”
He also said, “North Korea is nearing the threshold of the red line.”
Some people, including Moon’s aides, interpreted the rare remarks as a warning to the North on its rapid progress in developing nuclear weapons and missiles. But criticism of his “diplomatic immaturity” was prevalent.
Pundits expressed concerns that the statement narrowed the Moon administration’s policy options in dealing with North Korea.
“Moon must be the first leader in the world who went into details of what constitutes a red line,” said Nam Sung-wook, a professor at Korea University’s department of unification and diplomacy. “Keeping ambiguity suits national interests. Moon may have said so to prevent a U.S. preemptive attack, but still, it exposed our intentions.” [Korea Times]
Latest North Korean propaganda posters do away with their trademark subtlety, show attacks on USA, dramatic ripping up of UNSC 2371. pic.twitter.com/U0t9SLSRUh
It is pretty amazing to me that someone from the White House would just call up a random reporter and be this open about their views, but as we have seen there is nothing conventional about Steve Bannon:
Steve Bannon
“We’re at economic war with China,” he added. “It’s in all their literature. They’re not shy about saying what they’re doing. One of us is going to be a hegemon in 25 or 30 years and it’s gonna be them if we go down this path. On Korea, they’re just tapping us along. It’s just a sideshow.”
Bannon said he might consider a deal in which China got North Korea to freeze its nuclear buildup with verifiable inspections and the United States removed its troops from the peninsula, but such a deal seemed remote. Given that China is not likely to do much more on North Korea, and that the logic of mutually assured destruction was its own source of restraint, Bannon saw no reason not to proceed with tough trade sanctions against China.
Contrary to Trump’s threat of fire and fury, Bannon said: “There’s no military solution [to North Korea’s nuclear threats], forget it. Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that ten million people in Seoul don’t die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know what you’re talking about, there’s no military solution here, they got us.” Bannon went on to describe his battle inside the administration to take a harder line on China trade, and not to fall into a trap of wishful thinking in which complaints against China’s trade practices now had to take a backseat to the hope that China, as honest broker, would help restrain Kim.
“To me,” Bannon said, “the economic war with China is everything. And we have to be maniacally focused on that. If we continue to lose it, we’re five years away, I think, ten years at the most, of hitting an inflection point from which we’ll never be able to recover.” [The American Prospect via a reader tip]
You can read much more at the link, but in regards to threat to Seoul Mr. Bannon is correct that it continues to restrain US actions against North Korea. The fact that Bannon is willing to consider a freeze deal with North Korea in exchange for the removal of US troops I find very interesting. I think everyone pushing for the freeze deal are now going to push it even harder if they see an opening that the White House might accept it.
Bannon in the article also talks about trying to get more hawks into the administration that don’t want to play nice with China. He feels there are too many people in the government that think playing nice on trade with China will encourage them to help us with North Korea.
As far economic war with China it seems to me that a lot of the economic problems are self inflicted with the exporting of manufacturing jobs to China. I don’t know if someone can even live a modern life any more if they made a conscious decision to not buy anything made in China.
With the vast majority of Guam’s tourists coming from Japan and South Korea it makes sense that they are unfazed by the recent rhetoric from North Korea which they have grown accustomed to:
Tourists haven’t been deterred from visiting the tropical island of Guam even though the U.S. territory has been the target of threats from North Korea during a week of angry words exchanged by Pyongyang and Washington.
Chiho Tsuchiya of Japan heard the news, but she decided to come anyway with her husband and two children. “I feel Japan and Korea also can get danger from North Korea, so staying home is the same,” said the 40-year-old.
Won Hyung-jin, an official from Modetour, a large South Korean travel agency, said several customers called with concerns, but they weren’t worried enough to pay cancellation fees for their trips.
“It seems North Korea racks up tension once or twice every year, and travelers have become insensitive about it,” Won said. His company has sent about 5,000 travelers to Guam a month this year, mostly on package tours. [Bloomberg]
Here is another example of the equivalency many journalists try to make between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump:
People watch President Trump on TV at a railway station in Seoul on Wednesday.
I think if I really think about it, I’m a little concerned. But it’s also in the sense that I’m concerned about how easily accessible nuclear weapons are increasingly in this world. And it’s not just North Korea. It’s the United States, it’s Russia, it’s all these different countries.
There’s another layer of hypocrisy in the way we report about North Korea. Like, the United States owns nuclear weapons, but why is North Korea in the axis of evil that doesn’t get to because it’s supposed to be the less rational one? I’m just generally afraid of nuclear weapons in general. I’m just as afraid of Trump owning nuclear weapons as Kim Jong Un owning one. [VOX]
You can read more of the interview at the link, but does this South Korean journalist believe Japan should get nuclear weapons because everyone should have the right to pursue them? That is the obvious logic being advocated for here.
Plus in my opinion anyone who thinks President Trump is just going to wake up one day and authorize a nuclear weapons strike should not be taken seriously. The same can be said for anyone who thinks Kim Jong-un is just going to wake up one day and launch a nuclear weapons strike as well.
CNN has a long article published advocating for a freeze deal with North Korea by suspending US-ROK military exercises. As I have long said suspending or degrading the US-ROK alliance is a long term goal of China. Suspending the upcoming UFG military exercises will only invite more belligerent behavior by North Korea by rewarding bad behavior and further advance China’s strategic goal of ending the US-ROK alliance:
In an editorial Tuesday, nationalistic state-run tabloid Global Times said South Korea should “act as a buffer” between the US and North Korea and urged Seoul to halt the upcoming joint military exercise.
The dual freeze approach put forward by China and Russia often “gets a bad rap” in Washington because of who backs it, said Delury. “But it’s a way for both sides to take a step back, lower the temperature (and) explore a diplomatic option.”
Zhao said such a freeze could “have prevented North Korea from fast advancing their missile programs, especially from acquiring an ICBM capability so quickly.”
However, Pinkston described such a deal as a “completely asymmetric,” pointing out that regular military exercises held by North Korea and China would not be covered by it. [CNN]
You can read more at the link, but what I think the US should do is say they would sign up for a freeze deal if the punishment for non-compliance by North Korea is the authorization of preemptive strikes to take out their nuclear and missile programs. The North Koreans would never sign up for such a deal because like past agreements they fully intend to violate it at a time of their choosing. However, offering this condition shows the US attempted to negotiate and the North Koreans were the ones that would not agree to a deal.
I don’t think anyone with knowledge about North Korea’s capabilities even remotely thinks a conflict with North Korea would look anything like Iraq or Afghanistan:
Sung-Yoon Lee said the North Korean regime was more than capable of fighting back
Sung-Yoon Lee, a professor of Korean studies at The Fletcher School, Tufts University, said the rogue nation was “no Iraq or Syria or Afghanistan” and was more than capable of fighting back.
The comments come amid growing tensions between Kim Jong-un’s regime and Donald Trump, who vowed to meet any attack on the US territory of Guam with “fire and fury”.
Speaking to CNBC, the academic said: “North Korea has a need to test more in the continental ballistic missiles to conduct another nuclear test and I don’t think Kim Jong-un will be deterred by this strong rhetoric – even rhetorical bellicosity coming out of the Trump administration.
“The truth is, since the end of the Korean war more than 60 years ago, despite countless provocations and lethal attacks from the north, neither the US or South Korea has ever responded with military force.
“Why? For fear of escalation because we know North Korea has both the intent and the capability to hit back – they are no Iraq or Syria or Afghanistan, they will strike back and we don’t want to go there.”
Professor Lee also called on the US for the “proper enforcement” of financial sanctions on North Korea. [Express-UK]
Professor Lee’s comments about not responding with military force is not quite accurate. For example there has been many DMZ shootouts over the decades and most recently the ROK military fired 80 artillery shells back into North Korea during the 2010 shelling of Yeonpyeong Island by North Korea.
