https://twitter.com/freekorea_us/status/731071080803270656
It is not much of a gift set when people are told they have to first pay for it, especially when the items are of inferior quality:
To celebrate its seventh congress, Pyongyang distributed one tube of toothpaste, one toothbrush and one bottle of liquor per household, the Tokyo-based Asia Press reported on Wednesday, citing sources in North Korea. Not only were the gifts sets depressingly mean – they weren’t even free.
“Collective farms near where I live refused to take the gift sets because they cost about 1,500 (North Korean) won [$1.67],” a source was quoted as saying, “and I didn’t claim them, either.”
The anonymous source added that the toothpaste distributed by the government was unpopular among the public because of its much lower quality compared to products from China. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link.
That is what former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton is claiming:
Bolton, currently a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, also said the North may be trying to “reprise circumstances at the end of the Clinton administration,” referring to late 2000, when relations between Washington and Pyongyang warmed so significantly that then-President Bill Clinton even considered visiting the North.
A Clinton trip did not materialize, but a top North Korean military official paid a visit to Clinton at the White House in October 2000 and then-U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright traveled to Pyongyang later that month and met with then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, father of the current leader.
“Although Kim’s father had to be satisfied with a visit by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Obama would be an easier get. Kim could figure that even a farewell visit by peripatetic Secretary of State John Kerry would at least return the North to the status quo in 2000, after long years of isolation from Washington’s top leadership,” Bolton said.
The North could also be targeting Obama’s successor, he said.
“Kim may be calculating that Hillary Clinton would like a significant foreign-policy accomplishment early in her presidency, thereby demonstrating her seriousness and, early on, setting herself ahead of Obama’s international pace,” Bolton said. “While Donald Trump authored ‘The Art of the Deal,’ Kim knows that Pyongyang has outmatched Washington in every negotiation since the Korean War. He may think the challenge is worth the risk.” [Yonhap]
You can read the rest at the link, but I just don’t see President Obama going to Pyongyang or sending someone like John Kerry there as well. Pardon the pun, but the Kim regime is just too radioactive and has been proven repeatedly that it cannot be trusted that I just don’t see how this helps the legacy of an outgoing Presidency? Even a future President I think would have a hard time politically justifying taking a trip to North Korea unless something extraordinary was to occur. I guess we will see what happens.
Has Moranbong Band been dissolved? Leader Hyon Song-wol (female, ctr) not in uniform or w/ group at Party Congress. pic.twitter.com/rFlrNmkCAz
— Adam Cathcart (@adamcathcart) May 10, 2016
This really isn’t anything surprising that the new USFK commander is signaling to North Korea that he would like to resume dialogue in regards to any armistice issues like has been done in the past:
The new commander of the United States military forces in South Korea said Thursday he expects resumption of talks and coordination with North Korea during his first visit to the frontline region separating the two sides.
The Joint Security Area (JSA), the inter-Korean truce village where South and North Korean soldiers are standing face-to-face, was the choice for Gen. Vincent Brooks’ first field inspection as the top commander of the 28,000-strong U.S. Forces Korea.
“Each time I come back (here), it reminds me of how quickly things can change on the Korean Peninsula and why it is that we must be ready all the time and remain strong,” Brooks, who took command last month, said in front of an observation post inside the JSA. The officer had served in South Korea in the past during his long military career.
“It also reminds me that as we are in the military armistice controlled areas, there’s a need to continue dialogue and coordination (with North Korea),” the general, clad in a combat uniform, noted.
“We look forward to the time that (talks) can resume again,” he said, expressing hopes on talks with the North on the context of the armistice which ended the 1950-53 Korean War. [Yonhap]
Anything that goes beyond Armistice talks would fall within the purview of the State Department which has made it clear that talks will only happen when North Korea is serious about denuclearization.
The North Koreans could be doing a deception operation for all we know to make it appear they are not going to do a nuclear test before actually doing one:
Recent satellite images of North Korea’s nuclear test facility raise doubts that another underground blast is looming, a Washington-based think tank says.
“Despite predictions by the South Korean government that a nuclear test appeared imminent to coincide with [North Korea’s ruling party congress], that gathering is now ended and there are no apparent signs that a detonation will occur in the near future,” said 38 North, a website run by Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies that monitors North Korea activities. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link.
Curiosity aside, I wouldn't want a North Korea assignment. Don't want to give regime money for limited insight, Potemkin Village stories.
— Erik Slavin (@eslavin_stripes) May 11, 2016
https://twitter.com/freekorea_us/status/729358813430726656
In the least surprising news of the day, the North Korean military commander responsible for their ballistic missile program has been removed after repeated failures of their Musudan and submarine launched ballistic missiles:
The North Korean military commander responsible for the country’s recent botched missile launches was removed from the ruling party’s central military commission, the results of the party congress showed Tuesday.
The name of Gen. Kim Rak-gyom, the chief commander of the North Korean military’s strategic forces in charge of missile operations, was omitted when the North released the list of the reshuffled Central Military Commission at the closure of the congress of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea.
Along with Kim, other officials were let go, which caused a downsizing of the commission to a 12-member body.
South Korean military officials said the move may have been punishment for the back-to-back failures of the Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
“We are paying close attention to the exclusion of strategic forces commander Kim Rak-gyom from the Central Military Commission,” one official here said. “We need to study further personnel decisions, but the likelihood is that Kim may have been held accountable for (the failed launches).” [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but I would have to think that this has to be one of the least desirable command jobs in the North Korean military.
Here is what happens when journalists who visit North Korea go off script:
Report: North Korea expelled BBC journalist Rupert Wingfield-Hayes and his team from the country. The BBC said on Monday that its correspondent Wingfield-Hayes, producer Maria Byrne and cameraman Matthew Goddard were about to leave the country when they were stopped by North Korean officials at the airport on Friday. They were detained and questioned for eight hours by North Korean officials. Authorities took issue with “disrespectful” reports the team filed in Pyongyang last week.
[Sound bite: Audio footage of report by BBC’s Tokyo correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes (English)] “But we’re not allowed to talk to ordinary people. If I turn trying to ask these people, they ran away. Everything we see looks like a set-up.” (…………)
Secretary General O Ryong-il of the North’s National Peace Committee said that Wingfield-Hayes had to sign a statement of apology.
[Sound bite: O Ryong-il – Secretary General, DPRK National Peace Committee (Korean)] “We have decided to expel the BBC’s Tokyo correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes from the territory of the DPRK and we are going to never admit him again into the country for any report.” [KBS World Radio]
You can read more at the link, but this continues to make me wonder why journalists even bother to go to North Korea if all they get to report on is regime propaganda?
