This just proves that the Chinese government is using North Korea to drive a wedge between the US and the ROK. Declaring peace with North Korea would mean an end to the reason for the existence of US Force Korea (USFK) which is what the Chinese and North Koreans both want. If China wants a more normal relationship how about they have North Korea stop threatening to nuke the US or turn South Korea into a Sea of Fire? Or how about they get them to stop launching deadly provocations against South Korea and comply with United Nations resolutions?
Chair for the foreign affairs committee of China’s National People’s Congress Fu Ying speaks at the Munich Security Conference.PHOTO: EPA
The US and North Korea need to formally declare an end to 76 years of hostility if the international community wants North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to stop developing nuclear weapons, a top Chinese foreign policy official said.
“North Korea and the US still have not made peace, they’ve been in an extended cease-fire,” said Fu Ying, who chairs the foreign affairs committee of China’s National People’s Congress.
“You need to think how to bring an end to the war and enter a more normal relationship.” [The Straits Times]
You can read more at the link, but in the fantasy land of peace in our time with North Korea does anyone really think the Kim regime would stop their provocations against South Korea? Without the backing of the US, the provocations would likely get worse and more threatening. The Kim regime has never accepted the legitimacy of the ROK and continue to be postured and train for the forceful reunification of the peninsula.
Over at One Free Korea there is a post up that discusses some of the inside baseball involved with the passing of the North Korea sanctions bill that is set to hit the President’s desk. I found it interesting that Senator Rubio had such an interest in North Korea that he read the entire bill and left his own track changes comments. Even Senator Feinstein has come out in strong support of the bill:
By now, most of you know that the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act, the Senate’s version of H.R. 757, passed the Senate unanimously Wednesday night. The House is expected to pass the Senate’s version this morning and send it to the President’s desk.
In an election year, when floor time is especially precious, it was remarkable and humbling that the Senate spent an entire day debating this bill. Senator after senator came to the floor to give supportive speeches. If you read only one of them, read the moving speech of Senator Diane Feinstein (D, CA) about human rights, but be warned — this is the stuff of nightmares, and not for children’s eyes.
The speeches should be available on video here within the next few days. [One Free Korea]
You can read the rest at the link, but the house approved the Senate’s bill with a vote of 408-2. It appears that how to deal with North Korea has more bipartisan support now then even how to deal with ISIS.
Jung Ki-sup, chief of the association of 124 South Korean firms at the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the North’s border city, speaks to reporters after meeting with lawmakers of the ruling Saenuri Party at the National Assembly in Seoul on Feb. 12, 2016. The Kaesong-based firms are expected to see huge losses, as the North expelled all South Korean nationals from the complex the previous day and froze the factory assets of South Korean firms in retaliation for Seoul’s decision to shut down the complex. (Yonhap)
Military officials display for the press what is believed to be debris from a North Korea-launched rocket at a naval fleet in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on Feb. 11, 2016. The pieces, three in total, were retrieved from the ocean floor in the Yellow Sea. North Korea launched the rocket on Feb. 7 and claimed it put an Earth observation satellite into orbit, but it is widely viewed as a test of its intercontinental ballistic missile technology. (Yonhap)
Members of South Korea’s conservative civic groups rally in Seoul on Feb. 11, 2016, to condemn North Korea for launching a long-range rocket, a move widely believed to be a de facto test-firing of a long-range ballistic missile. (Yonhap)
Kim Jong-un is either taking a very hardline against corruption or this is just a cover to eliminate people he doesn’t completely trust or may be it is both:
North Korea has executed its army chief of staff, Ri Yong Gil, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday, which, if true, would be the latest in a series of executions, purges, and disappearances under the country’s young leader.
The news comes amid heightened tension surrounding the isolated North Korea after its Sunday launch of a long-range rocket, which came about a month after it drew international condemnation for conducting its fourth nuclear test.
A source familiar with North Korean affairs also told Reuters that Ri had been executed. The source declined to be identified, given the sensitivity of the matter.
Ri, who was chief of the Korean People’s Army General Staff, was executed this month for corruption and factional conspiracy, Yonhap and other South Korean media reported. [Business Insider via reader tip]
If THAAD is going to be deployed to South Korea it appears it will happen pretty rapidly:
The United States hopes to deploy the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea “as quickly as possible” and the two countries will begin formal discussions on the matter “in the next few days,” the Defense Department said Monday.
“We would like to see this move as quickly as possible. We’re beginning the consultations now in the coming days with the South Koreans and we expect that this will move in an expeditious fashion,” Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said at a briefing.
Shortly after North Korea’s long-range missile launch Sunday, South Korea and the U.S. announced they would launch formal consultations on the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to the South to better defend against the North’s nuclear and missile threats. [Korea Times]
The South Korean military confirms on Feb. 9, 2016, that North Korea successfully launched a three-stage rocket on Feb. 7, putting a satellite into orbit. (Graphic provided by Defense Ministry) [Yonhap]
