South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se (R) talks with Daniel Russel, U.S. assistant secretary of state, during their meeting in Seoul on Feb. 26, 2016. The U.S. diplomat arrived earlier in the day as the U.N. Security Council is getting closer to adopting a resolution that will slap tough sanctions on North Korea for its recent nuclear test and rocket launch. Russel heads to China on Feb. 27, whose cooperation is critical to making the sanctions effective. (Yonhap)
That is what this North Korean defector who once worked as a body guard for Kim Jong-un’s dad, Kim Jong-il thinks:
A former bodyguard to the late Kim Jong Ilsaid the current North Korean leader leads a life of luxury while ordinary North Koreans die of hunger.
After speaking at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, defector Lee Young-guk told Voice of America Tuesday Kim Jong Un should be referred to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
According to Lee, Kim has built 14 luxury villas for his enjoyment and makes seasonal visits to each retreat to go hunting or swimming.
The defector said that as the leader of North Korea Kim should be taking care of his people, but is instead pursuing his own interests.
Lee added Kim should take responsibility for the countless North Koreans languishing in political prison camps, where they are dying from hunger, malnutrition and beatings.
Information control in North Korea is tight, and the Pyongyang regime “closes the eyes and ears” of the people – preventing most, even senior officials, from ever knowing anything about Kim’s lavish lifestyle and the abject conditions in the prison camps.
Lee said Kim needs to be referred to the ICC, if it means North Koreans can now know the truth about the leadership. [UPI]
I have always said that Kim Jong-un is not an absolute dictator and instead rules with the consensus of an inner regime circle. The below article tends to confirm this hypothesis. Jang Song-taek may have been trying overly grow his power base above what other inner regime circle types were comfortable with:
The motives behind the highly publicized execution of Jang Sung Taek, the uncle of current North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, have been open to question, but a South Korean analyst said Jang’s ambition to restore an old power structure could have played a role in his death sentence.
Ko Soo-suk, a senior researcher at the Unification Research Institute of JoongAng Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper, wrote Jang was seeking the role of prime minister in the North Korean Cabinet. (………………)
Jang, who was a prominent figure under former leader Kim Jong Il, often traveled to China and even to South Korea to learn about economic policy and planning. Jang has often been associated with economic reform, but in December 2013 was executed on charges of treason and of being a “counterrevolutionary.”
The prime minister position Jang could have had in mind was the more influential version in place under North Korea founder Kim Il Sung. Prime ministers under the late Kim were in charge of economic policy and Jang would have been well-suited for a bigger role involving growth and development.
Ko also stated in his analysis that members of North Korea’s core leadership, rather than Kim Jong Un, could have thwarted Jang’s ambition. Core leadership officials foiled attempts by Jang to procure a meeting with Kim, who was away on a field guidance trip at a critical time. While Kim was away, Ko wrote, core members could have been able to enforce an order of execution for Jang. [UPI]
Call me skeptical that the Chinese will actually inspect all cargo cross their border into North Korea and enforce these sanctions:
The United States presented a draft resolution on North Korea to the United Nations Security Council on Thursday. The resolution, which would tighten sanctions on Pyongyang, represents the culmination of nearly two months of negotiations between the United States and China, beginning just after North Korea’s nuclear test on January 6. As The Diplomat reported previously, final agreement on the resolution came during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s trip to Washington, D.C. this week, where he met with Secretary of State John Kerry, National Security Advisor Susan Rice, and President Barack Obama.
Reuters has details on the new draft, which is expected to go to a vote this weekend. Notably, the new draft would require mandatory inspections of all cargo en route to or from North Korea; ban all military sales to Pyongyang (including both weapons and items with dual-use potential); and ban the sale of aviation or rocket fuel to North Korea.
However, David Feith, writing in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, points out that Beijing’s agreeing to the sanctions doesn’t necessarily mean much. After all, China doesn’t have a good track record of actually enforcing UN sanctions. [The Diplomat]
I would think that anyone that is part of the ruling regime would appear to have a lavish lifestyle compared to ordinary North Koreans:
North Korea‘s first lady Ri Sol Ju is rarely seen in public, but according to a recent report, the wife of leader Kim Jong Un is not well liked.
Ri is best known for her love of luxury goods that suggest she leads a lavish lifestyle, Asia Press reported Wednesday.
North Korean reporters who went undercover to gather opinions about life in the secluded country said Ri gets bad ratings for her choices at a time when many North Koreans say their standard of living has worsened since Kim came to power.
North Koreans who were interviewed anonymously called Kim a “rookie” and “fearsome.”
But they reserved their most negative remarks for Ri, who, according to the report is 26 years old and traveled to South Korea in 2005 with a North Korean cheerleading squad during the Asian Athletics Championship in Incheon.
Some North Koreans complained that they were irritated with her debut on state media, where she was touted as “Respectable Comrade Ri Sol Ju.”
One male worker in the North Korean province of Yanggangdo said the title was undeserved, adding, “What did she do to earn such praise? And why does she carry a moneybag everywhere she goes? Is she giving out money?”
Ri is often seen with an expensive French purse on her arm. [UPI]
The below article has a number of charts showing the unclassified military capabilities that the North Korean military has. Out of all the military equipment and personnel they have their biggest threats I believe is their artillery due to its proximity to Seoul and then their ballistic missiles that can strike all of South Korea as well as targets off of the peninsula with chemical and in the future nuclear weapons:
The US Office of the Secretary of the Defense has released its annual report to Congress on North Korea’s military, and the findings are chilling. Included in the report are the following three maps, which outline North Korea’s military might.
North Korea’s ground forces make up the primary thrust of the rogue nation’s military. Nearly 70% of its ground forces are forward deployed to within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of the South Korean border.
The ground forces are a mix of infantry corps, which are predominantly comprised of regular and light-infantry units. In general, these forces are housed in fortified underground facilities facing toward South Korea.
In addition to infantry, the ground corps also has large armor and artillery corps. Although corps make use of old technology, their forward-deployed nature remains a threat to South Korea. North Korea’s artillery, in particular, is worrisome as the long-range cannons and rockets are capable of hitting South Korea’s capital, Seoul, from over the border in the event of a war.
But aside from North Korea’s special forces, its ground forces are generally underfed, ill-equipped, and poorly trained. [Business Insider]
I think the Kim regime is counting on China to bail them out of any serous economic troubles caused by increased sanctions in order to maintain regime stability:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watches an air force flight training session, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported on Feb. 21. (For use in South Korea only. No redistribution) (Yonhap)
North Korea’s Kim Jong-un regime may face resistance from its military should the armed forces grow disgruntled at its bungled economic policy under the communist party-centric politics, a government-commissioned report showed Tuesday.
Written by the Industry-Academy Cooperation Foundation affiliated with the Seoul National University of Education, the report warned the absence of economic progress in the impoverished state could weaken the governing legitimacy of the Workers’ Party.
The report, entitled “A Study on the Party-Military Relations of the Kim Jong-un Regime,” was commissioned by the Unification Ministry.
It underscored the importance of Pyongyang’s economic growth for the autocratic ruler to secure the people’s backing and legitimize his authority.
The relatively smooth transition toward the current Kim regime was a “result of the military’s relative concessions,” the report said, noting that under the young leader the center of power has shifted to the ruling party from the military.
But the military could call for reshaping the political order in its own favor if Kim fails to shore up the country’s debilitated economy and ensure sustainable military expenditures, the report pointed out.
“The stability of the Kim regime and party-military relations hinges on the country’s economic growth and continued military spending,” the report said. [Yonhap]
It looks like South Korean students will no longer be dressed in clothes made by quasi-slave labor:
Tens of thousands of secondary school students may not be able to wear school uniforms for the upcoming semester, as suppliers based in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) are unable to deliver the goods in time after the complex was shut down due to strained inter-Korean relations.
Those students may have to wait for up to two more months to buy new uniforms, while the new semester begins on March 2.
A day after South Korea announced the shutdown of the inter-Korean industrial park on Feb. 10, North Korea expelled all South Korean workers from the complex.
According to Mansun, a uniform subcontractor to Hyungji Elite, the largest school uniform manufacturer here, more than 80,000 sets of uniforms were left behind in its factory in Gaeseong.
“When we were forced out, we were not allowed to take our products with us,” an official from Mansun said. “Not only us but three other subcontractors for school uniform manufacturers were prevented from bringing the products, causing the uniform supply shortage.” [Korea Times]
