Tag: North Korea

This has been something I have been saying for years that the Kaesong Industrial Complex is a cash cow for the Kim regime which further helps them build the very weapons they use to threaten South Korea and the international community with:

South Korea said Wednesday it has decided to “completely” shut down a joint industrial complex in North Korea in response to the North’s recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.

The Unification Ministry announced that it will suspend the operation of the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the North’s border city of the same name, the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation.

Seoul’s move is part of its “bone-numbing” measures against North Korea’s nuclear test on Jan. 6 and its long-range missile launch earlier this week.

On Sunday, the North launched a long-range rocket carrying a satellite, which Seoul and Washington view as a cover for a banned test of intercontinental ballistic technology.

“Despite our efforts to support the Kaesong complex, the factory zone is seen as being used for North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles,” Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo said in a press briefing. “We’ve decided to halt the operation of the Kaesong complex to prevent South Korean money from being funneled into the North’s nuke and missile developments and to protect our companies.”  [Yonhap]

You can read the rest at the link, but I think the Park administration has left Kaesong open as something of a bargaining chip to make the North Koreans behave.  This clearly has not worked and finally the Park administration has had enough and shut it down.

For the Banco Delta Asia type of sanctions to work the US must be willing to play hardball with Chinese banks and cut them off from the international financial system:

The United States does not rule out imposing sanctions on North Korea similar to the 2005 financial restrictions that had almost cut off the communist nation from the international financial system, the White House spokesman said Monday.

“I wouldn’t rule out additional steps like that,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said at a briefing in response to a question whether unilateral sanctions the U.S. is currently considering against Pyongyang would be different from the 2005 measures.

At that time, the Treasury Department blacklisted a Macau bank. The measure not only froze North Korean money in the bank named Banco Delta Asia, but also scared away other financial institutions from dealing with Pyongyang for fear they would also be blacklisted.

That resulted in the North getting almost cut off from the international financial system.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but One Free Korea has a great analysis of the sanctions options that Congress in considering.

A quick take on North Korea's successful satellite launch: https://t.co/qZRO6kKraO

— Stephen Young (@StephenUCS) February 7, 2016

Via a reader link it appears that the North Koreans have not corrected the mistakes from their first satellite launch since this satellite is reportedly tumbling out of control in orbit as well:

The satellite North Korea fired into space on Sunday is “tumbling in orbit” and incapable of functioning in any useful way, a senior U.S. defense official told CNN.

Sunday’s launch of the long-range rocket triggered a wave of international condemnation and prompted strong reaction from an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

North Korea maintained the launch was for scientific and “peaceful purposes.”

South Korea has recovered about 270 pieces of debris, believed to have come from the rocket launch, from the ocean Sunday and is working to analyze the objects, a South Korean Defense Ministry official told CNN.  [CNN]

You can read the rest at the link, but probably more important to the North Koreans is that it appears they have proven that they have perfected their rocket technology with another successful launch.  Over at 38North.org they even have more great analysis about the technical achievement the North Koreans have accomplished with this launch.

The deployment of THAAD has nothing to do with the radar being able to look into China, but more to do with trying to create a wedge between the US and the ROK according to analysts:

Analysts say China’s leadership is reluctant to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea because a sudden collapse of the regime could spark a refugee crisis at its border and lead to a pro-U.S., democratic Korea on its doorstep.

Kim Heung-kyu, head of the China Policy Institute at South Korea’s Ajou University, said relations between South Korea and China face a test because Beijing views the THAAD battery as a way of strengthening the alliance with Seoul, Washington and Tokyo.

“China does not regard the THAAD system as an issue of missile or radar, but a ‘regional alliance’ among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan,” Kim said. South Korean and U.S. officials made it clear that the THAAD battery, if deployed, “would be focused solely on North Korea.”

Still, there is a risk that the deployment of the THAAD battery in South Korea could make it difficult for Seoul to seek Beijing’s cooperation against Pyongyang, Kim said.

“With regard to the denuclearization of North Korea, I am not positive about whether the THAAD system is a useful option or not,” Kim said.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link.

Both Kerry and Abe calling NK missile launch unacceptable. But what will they actually do? We'll see. https://t.co/IDo1vNMlD9

— Erik Slavin (@eslavin_stripes) February 7, 2016

This image, captured on Feb. 7, 2016 from the North’s Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station, shows a document signed the previous day by the country’s leader Kim Jong-un authorizing the launch of the “Kwangmyongsong-4” satellite. North Korea said in a special broadcast it has succeeded in placing the satellite into orbit. The rocket launch is widely viewed as a disguised ballistic missile test. (Yonhap)

The Chinese government is upset about the talks between the US and South Korea to deploy the THAAD missile defense system to the ROK and their complaints when looked at objectively pretty much justifies the deployment of THAAD to Korea:

China summoned South Korean Ambassador Kim Jang-soo to protest against Seoul and Washington’s agreement to begin talks on deploying a U.S. Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in South Korea..

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin called in the ambassador Sunday to protest.

It is the first time the Chinese government has called in Kim, a former defense minister, who assumed the post last March.

Earlier, the Chinese foreign ministry had expressed “deep concern,” about the THAAD discussions.

Hours after the North Korean rocket launch Sunday, South Korea and the U.S. said they would begin talks on deploying the THAAD battery. The launch is widely viewed as a covert ballistic missile test to develop delivery vehicles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

“China’s position on the issue of anti-missile is consistent and clear,” the Chinese foreign ministry said in a faxed statement, Yonhap News Agency reported. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but here is the part of their complaint when looked at objectively pretty much justifies deploying THAAD to Korea:

“Countries, when pursuing their own security, should take into account others’ security interests as well as regional peace and stability.”

The Chinese should heed their own advice because their actions to allow the Kim regime to continuously destabilize regional security and threaten the security interests of South Korea is why THAAD looks like it will be deployed to Korea in the first place.

This photo, released by the North’s Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station on Feb. 7, 2016, shows North Korea’s “Kwangmyongsong-4” satellite being fired from the Dongchang-ri launch site in Cholsan, North Pyongan Province. The North launched the rocket in a move widely viewed as a disguised ballistic missile test in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions. (Yonhap)

Like I have been saying for months, official talks to deploy THAAD to Korea would probably happen once the ROK government had the political cover of a North Korean provocation which the latest rocket launch has given them:

South Korea and the United States have agreed to begin negotiations for the deployment of an advanced American air defense system on South Korean soil, officials said Sunday, despite opposition from China and Russia.

The announcement on the controversial defense system, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, was given just hours after North Korea launched a long-range missile as part of the continual push of its intercontinental ballistic missile tests.

“The U.S. and South Korea have decided to start official discussion on the possibility of U.S. Forces Korea’s deployment of THAAD as part of measures to upgrade the South Korea-U.S. alliance’s missile defense posture against North Korea’s advancing threats,” Yoo Jeh-seung, deputy minister for policy, said in a joint briefing with Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, the commander of USFK’s Eighth Army.

Vandal said the decision was made upon USFK Commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti’s recommendation, adding that “it is time to move forward on the issue.”  [Yonhap]