I have been saying this for years that US tourism to North Korea should not be allowed and unfortunately the death of Otto Warmbier may be the spark that finally causes an end to Americans being allowed to visit North Korea:
Warmbier’s treatment and death has served as a wake-up call to both those who join and organize tours to North Korea. In an emotional statement, Young Pioneers Tours said: “The way his detention was handled was appalling, and a tragedy like this must never be repeated … Considering these facts and this tragic outcome we will no longer be organizing tours for U.S. citizens to North Korea.” Uri Tours, a U.S.-based tour company also offering trips to North Korea, said it was “reviewing its position on [North Korea] travel for American citizens.”
They may not have a choice. Although the State Department already warns in strong terms against North Korean travel, last month Republican and Democratic U.S. congressmen introduced a bill that would ban American tourists from traveling to North Korea as tourists and require special permission for other visits, citing at least 17 Americans detained by the regime over the last decade. “With increased tensions in North Korea, the danger that Americans will be detained for political reasons is greater than ever,” Democrat Adam Schiff and Republican Joe Wilson said in a statement. [TIME]
Voice of America (VOA) reported that Google Earth revealed the satellite images taken by France’s space center Centre Nationale d’Etudes Spatiales and Airbus on May 20. The images shows 20 fighters that appear to be MiG-19 and MiG-21 about one-point-six kilometers southwest of the airport terminal and three more fighters 800 meters off the back of the terminal. The VOA said that all the 23 fighters can be moved to the runways and main buildings of the airport. The report said that a large number of fighters were never spotted at the airport except during the 2015 air show, suspecting that the North is utilizing the airport for military purposes. [KBS World Radio]
I think it is unfortunate that the death of Otto Warmbier is taking on a political tone:
His parents told The Associated Press the day of his release that they wanted “the world to know how we and our son have been brutalized and terrorized by the pariah regime.”
Fred Warmbier praised his son’s “performance” and President Donald Trump’s administration. He was critical of the approach to his son’s situation taken by former President Barack Obama’s administration.
In a White House statement, Trump said, “A lot of bad things happened, but at least we got him home to be with his parents.” He called North Korea a “brutal regime.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he offered his prayers as Warmbier’s parents “enter a time of grief no parent should ever know,” and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Warmbier’s death “touches the American heart like no other.” [Associated Press]
You can read more at the link, but the some in the far right are now blaming former President Obama for Warmbier’s death. First of all we don’t know what effort the Obama administration put into getting Warmbier’s release. Maybe they did try and what the North Koreans wanted in return was completely unreasonable. Maybe we will hear more from former Obama administration officials in the coming days on what happened. However instead of blaming President Obama it seems the blame should completely go on the Kim regime for Warmbier’s death.
A second defector has crossed over the DMZ in a week:
A North Korean man defected to South Korea on Sunday after crossing the border, Seoul’s military said.
He was spotted at the northern part of the mouth of the Han River in Gimpo, just west of Seoul, according to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
The JCS said the man, in his early 20s, was spotted around 2:30 a.m. Sunday near the observation post of the Second Marine Division. Questioning is under way to find out what caused him to flee to the South.
The man is said to have swum his way south with plastic foam pieces on both shoulders to stay afloat. The JCS said he was discovered at a particularly narrow stretch in the river. [Yonhap]
There must have been something or someone that tipped off US officials to seize this package because it is pretty serious to take a diplomatic package like this:
North Korea has claimed that the United States recently mugged its delegation carrying a diplomatic package in New York, calling on Washington to provide an explanation on what it calls a provocation.
According to the (North) Korean Central News Agency on Sunday, which quoted its foreign ministry, a group of government officials and police officers from the U.S. took a diplomatic package from its delegation Friday at John F. Kennedy International Airport before it was about to board a flight home.
The delegation was in New York to attend the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it added.
“As the diplomats vigorously resisted, they grabbed the diplomatic package using physical violence and made off,” the ministry was quoted as saying. It called the incident a “planned and organized provocation.”
The ministry also asked the world to “seriously reconsider” New York as a venue for major international events and demanded Washington provide an explanation for infringing upon its sovereignty.
“If the U.S. fails to give its due response to our demand which is all too reasonable and fair enough, it will be totally responsible for all the consequences to be entailed,” the ministry said. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but it was believed that the North Koreans used a diplomatic package to bring the VX nerve agent into Malaysia to assassinate Kim Jong-nam. I don’t think they would bring something like that to New York, but I would not be surprised if they were taking money out of New York from some criminal enterprise they have going on.
It looks like the Moon administration is still pushing for Sunshine Policy 2.0 and a peace treaty with North Korea:
Moon Chung-in, special presidential adviser for unification, foreign and security affairs. (Yonhap)
South Korea may consult with the United States about scaling back joint military exercises and deployment of American strategic weapons if North Korea suspends nuclear and missile activities, an adviser to President Moon Jae-in said Friday.
Moon Chung-in, a foreign affairs scholar and special presidential adviser, made the remark during a Wilson Center seminar in Washington, saying President Moon has proposed the idea.
“He proposed two things. One, if North Korea suspends its nuclear and missile activities, then we may consult with the United States to (on) scaling down ROK-US joint exercises and training. I think what he has in mind is we may scale down deployment of American strategic weapons over the Korean Peninsula,” the adviser said.
“Another one is linking North Korea’s denuclearization to creation of a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula,” he said. (……..)
During the seminar, the adviser said that President Moon pursues “incremental, comprehensive and fundamental” denuclearization with North Korea, beginning with a freeze on its nuclear and missile programs and a verifiable dismantlement of its nuclear facilities and materials. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but here is my view on a freeze deal. Any freeze deal should not include a peace treaty and only include the scaling down of US-ROK military exercises. A peace treaty should only be offered in return for the complete dismantlement of their nuclear and ICBM programs which we know they will never do.
The freeze deal should then have strong language in it that any non-compliance by North Korea opens them to a kinetic strike to ensure compliance. Including language that includes the use of force to ensure compliance gives the US world opinion on its side if it needs to strike North Korea. It additionally puts pressure on China to ensure that Pyongyang is complying with the deal to avoid the use of force being used against North Korea.
Here the latest on the medical status of Otto Warmbier after his release from a North Korean prison:
A man believed to be Otto Warmbier was transferred from an airplane to an ambulance at Lunken Airport in Cincinnati on Tuesday.
An American college student who was imprisoned in North Korea and returned to his home state of Ohio in a coma suffered a “severe neurological injury,” a hospital spokeswoman said Thursday.
Otto Warmbier is in stable condition at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center with his mother by his side, hospital spokeswoman Kelly Martin said. Doctors planned an update later Thursday.
His father, Fred Warmbier, said he does not believe North Korea’s explanation that the coma resulted from botulism and a sleeping pill. He said there was no reason for North Korea to keep his 22-year-old son’s condition a secret and deny him top medical care.
Fred Warmbier called his son’s return bittersweet.
“Relief that Otto is now home in the arms of those who love him and anger that he was so brutally treated for so long,” he said at a news conference at Wyoming High School, where Warmbier graduated in 2013 as class salutatorian and played soccer. Blue-and-white ribbons in the school’s colors were tied around the trees and utility poles all the way along the city’s main road in a show of support.
To honor his son, Fred Warmbier wore the same jacket Otto wore when North Korea presented him before the media in March 2016 at an event where he tearfully confessed that he tried to steal a propaganda banner while visiting the country.
Fred Warmbier said that he doesn’t know why North Korea released his son but that the country doesn’t do anything out of “the kindness of their hearts.” He called on the country to release other Americans currently held there.
“There’s no excuse for the way the North Koreans treated our son,” he said.
Warmbier also accused North Korea of luring Americans to the country with a Chinese tour company making the false promise they will never be detained. [Associated Press]
You can read more at the link, but I don’t buy the botulism claim either considering the North Koreans are saying he went into a coma the day after his sentencing.
That leads me to believe one of two things happened; a guard could have possibly struck him in the head which the New York Times is reporting that US intelligence have reports of him being beaten. Another possibility is maybe he was so depressed from a 15 year jail sentence and beatings that he had a botched suicide attempt? Either way the Kim regime is responsible for what happened and should be held accountable for it.
