Tag: North Korea

As everyone has seen the US government has been filled with leakers ever since President Trump took office and here is the latest leak:

A White House internal review of strategy on North Korea features the possibility of both military force as well as regime change in order to thwart Pyongyang’s nuclear-weapons threat, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday citing sources familiar with the process.

The strategy review, reported to have begun a fortnight ago, combined with U.S. President Donald Trump‘s January vow to prevent North Korea from ever testing intercontinental ballistic missiles. The report – which could not be verified by CNBC – hints at a possible shift in U.S. foreign policy which could potentially rattle allies of both nations.  [CNBC]

A strategy review is just that, a review of different strategic options to address the North Korean threat which military strikes and regime change has long been potential options.  I am sure there are other options in the report to include negotiations or the strategic patience option the Obama administration followed.  Just because a report has military options does not mean he is going to use them.  I bet the Obama administration had similar reports that looked at the viability of military options as well.

This looks like another example of media sensationalism to me.

Meth labs smell (& sometimes explode). There's no way the regime doesn't know. If it knows, it takes a cut. https://t.co/ohyp1U0owk

— Joshua Stanton (@freekorea_us) March 3, 2017

Here we go again with rogue North Korean soldiers on the run in China.  Hopefully they don’t kill anyone this time:

A total of six North Korean soldiers armed with weapons crossed into China, prompting Chinese authorities to track their whereabouts, a source said Thursday.

The North Korean soldiers deserted their posts along the border area with China and illegally entered Changbai County in the country’s northeastern province of Jilin on Tuesday, according to the source.

“Chinese authorities notified residents to be on alert and immediately report their location if they are observed,” the source added.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

You can’t put nothing passed the Kim regime, but I doubt they would sell the large amount of VX nerve gas needed to launch a massive terrorist strike.  If they sold the nerve agent it was linked back to them it would lead to a retaliatory strike or worse regime removal.  It doesn’t seem like it would be worth the risk to them even if they are cash strapped:

The use of the nerve agent VX in the killing of Kim Jong-nam, the half brother of North Korea’s leader, raises the dangerous specter of a cash-strapped Pyongyang ultimately selling such a chemical weapon to terrorist groups like al-Qaida, a former senior diplomat warned Wednesday.

The use of VX added to mounting evidence that North Korea was behind Kim’s killing in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 13. VX is a chemical agent listed as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations and its use is banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention, to which the North is not a signatory.

Eight North Koreans have been named as suspects, but the North has denied its involvement.

“The specter of chemical weapons proliferation, of VX in the hands of terrorists, now looms ever larger,” James Rubin, a former assistant secretary of state, said in an article in the Politico.

“The apparent shipment from North Korea to Malaysia of VX — a lethal substance banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention — is a brazen violation of international law despite the fact that North Korea is not a signatory to the convention,” he said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Considering North Korea’s long criminal history it makes you wonder why the Malaysian government had a visa waiver program with North Korea in the first place?:

Malaysia has canceled its visa waiver arrangement with North Korea amid a diplomatic spat over the assassination of the half brother of the North’s leader, a news report said Thursday.

The cancellation will take effect on March 6, after which North Koreans entering Malaysia will be required to obtain a visa, Malaysian news agency Bernama quoted the country’s deputy prime minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, as saying. He cited national security as the reason.

This marks Malaysia’s first tangible action taken against Pyongyang following the assassination of Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Feb. 13.  [Yonhap]

Here is the other development regarding the Kim Jong-nam murder case:

Malaysia has decided to release and deport Ri Jong-chol, a 47-year-old North Korean suspect, due to a lack of incriminating evidence, AP reported.

Four North Korean suspects are believed to have fled Malaysia on the day of Kim Jong-nam’s death while three others, including Hyon Kwang-song, the second secretary at the North’s embassy in Malaysia, are wanted for questioning.  [Yonhap]

I was curious to why Ri Jong-chol did not flee like the other North Korean agents if he was in fact part of the murder plot.  Considering Malaysian authorities had no evidence to convict him it appears he was not involved.

The hypocrisy is quite stunning from the Chinese government considering they are criticizing the ROK for the deployment of the THAAD system for being against Chinese security interests while completely ignoring ROK security interests.  If it wasn’t for the Chinese backing of their client state North Korea that has allowed them to pursue missiles and nuclear weapons to threaten the ROK with the THAAD deployment would not be necessary:

As Korea speeds along with the deployment of the U.S.-led Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) system by sealing a land deal with Lotte Group to acquire a golf course in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang, Beijing is threatening diplomatic, economic and possibly military retaliation.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said through a press briefing Tuesday that Beijing is “firmly opposed to and strongly dissatisfied with the fact that” Seoul is working with Washington to accelerate the deployment process of a Thaad battery and “ignoring China’s interests and concerns.”

He added Beijing will “resolutely take necessary actions to safeguard its own security interests,” without specifying what measures it will take.

The Korean Ministry of National Defense earlier that day signed a deal with Lotte International, the operator of the Lotte Skyhill Seongju Country Club, to swap the golf course with government land in Namyangju, Gyeonggi. Lotte’s board of directors agreed on the land swap deal on Monday, after much delay.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

Here is where the Chinese threaten the ROK militarily:

Chinese military expert Song Zhongping, a former officer of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Second Artillery Corps, told the state-affiliated Global Times Wednesday that once the Thaad system is deployed to Korea, “Seongju County will appear on the list of the PLA missile system’s strike targets.”

So is the Chinese threatening the ROK with a military strike in support of North Korea because that is what this system is in the ROK to defend against.

This is what I get for reading national security journalism from Rolling Stone.https://t.co/E2S4OFLhkR pic.twitter.com/sTiYOBGVqZ

— Joshua Stanton (@freekorea_us) February 28, 2017

A few of my pieces on daily life in North Korea made it into an e-book by NK News. Download and read for free at: https://t.co/KSA1FI61et

— Andrei Lankov (@andreilankov) February 24, 2017

So many people think of Kim Jong-un as a crazy madman, however I consider him to be a rational, but ruthless leader.  The things he does may seem crazy, but they tend to always have the purpose of maintaining his regime’s survival.  Understanding that Kim Jong-un is a rational actor instead of a crazy madman is basically what this Joong Ang Ilbo op-ed is stating:

That the younger Kim is ruthless is unquestionable. But he is not necessarily crazy. If he had an uncontrollable violent temper, his father would not have groomed him to succeed him. His economic policy alone shows him to be practical to an extent. It may be naïve to blame an instable temperament for his acts of brutality and to assume that they underscore the vulnerability of the North Korean state. Such a simple interpretation could distort our North Korean policy.

Tyranny could be his choice. It is certainly his inheritance. Kim Jong-un may be naturally ruthless, or strategically so. It could be a means to maintain power. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin resorted to an infamous reign of terror. Under his command, 5 percent of the Soviet population was killed. He ordered the execution of 700,000 from 1937 to 1938. Such sheer brutality reveal him to be a hideous madman. But such terror was also necessary to build his authority and transform the Soviet Union into a global superpower. Studies of confidential documents by Stalin paint him as a reasonable dictator.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read much more at the link.

Kim does not want to be the next Saddam Hussein or Muammar Gaddafi, dictators that were eventually executed by their own people.  Kim’s inheritance is a mafia state which his father Kim Jong-il understood that only someone willing to be ruthless could run.  That is why his oldest son Kim Jong-nam was passed over because he was simply too nice to run a mafia state.  Kim Jong-un on the other hand was clearly the correct choice because he has shown he is willing to take whatever measures are necessary to ensure the regime’s survival.  So Kim Jong-un is not crazy, he just ruthless.

South Korea blasts news of Kim Jong-nam's murder to North https://t.co/edF4dRCNbl

— South Korea Daily (@SouthKoreaDaily) February 23, 2017