Tag: North Korea

This is why the Kim regime agrees to family reunions, not because they actually care about reuniting their citizens with southern family members, but because they get money from it and it is an additional bargaining chip for them to use.  They are now using that bargaining chip in an effort to silence President Park’s criticism of their expected rocket launch:

North Korea lashed out against President Park Geun-hye’s speech at the UN General Assembly on Monday and threatened to cancel planned cross-border family reunions.

South Korea’s “reckless” and “confrontational” behavior means that “the rare reunions of separated families are at stake like being on a thin ice,” a spokesman for the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said in a statement.

In her UN speech, Park urged Pyongyang not to go ahead with what it claims will be a satellite launch but is widely seen as an attempt to test long-range missile technology.  [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Your eyes have not been deceiving you, Kim Jong-un has been growing fatter every year according to this report:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gained around 30 kg over the last five years and now weighs apparently close to 130 kg.

A government official said Friday, “By analyzing Kim Jong-un’s body shape and gait, we estimated he weighed less than 100 kg when he first appeared in public in September of 2010 but then rapidly put on weight.”

He said the clearest signs are his belly and double chin. “When he’s standing while holding his hands behind his back, you can see his abdomen protruding, and his chin folds when he is spotted giving orders.”  [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link, but at this rate Kim Jong-un will not need to worry about a palace coup to replace him because he will eat himself to death before then.

Yonhap: U.S. imposes sanctions on 2 N. Korea firms for missile technology proliferation: WASHINGTON… http://t.co/QNRBrex3wX #KoreaNews

— Korea News Summary (@ROKreport) September 30, 2015

Kim Jong Un tours new luxury river cruiser in Pyongyang http://t.co/xRyG2Mjcop

— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) September 28, 2015

I have stated repeatedly that after a North Korean regime collapse that the ROK military should be the ones to secure North Korea not the US military.  Documents like this that advocate for 150,000 US troops in North Korea is why the Chinese government keeps the Kim regime in power.  Does anyone think the Chinese want 150,000 US troops that may potentially be there long term on their northeastern border?  What would people in the US think if 150,000 Chinese just parked themselves in Tijuana?

An additional 150,000 U.S. troops would be necessary to cope with the aftermath in the event of North Korea’s collapse, such as securing the communist nation’s nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, a U.S. think tank said Tuesday.

“North Korea might suddenly collapse — either as a result of war or the failure of its economy and government. After such a collapse, a key U.S. concern would be to find, seize, secure, and remove its WMD, in particular its nuclear weapons,” RAND Corp. said in a report, titled “Building the Army We Will Need.”

“In such an event, the greatest burden would likely fall on U.S. forces to eliminate these weapons … We estimate that a North Korean collapse would require an additional 150,000 U.S. troops over and above the forces already stationed and presumed to be available in the Asia-Pacific region,” it said.  [Yonhap]

You can read the rest at the link.

Members of the Washington-based North Korea Freedom Coalition, including its head Suzanne Scholte (2nd from R), rally in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington on Sept. 24, 2015, to urge China not to deport North Korean defectors. (Yonhap)

These are just words on the part of the Chinese leader which are important, but I am more interested to see what action they would take in response to the next North Korean provocation:

In an apparent warning to North Korea, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Friday he opposes any action that violates U.N. Security Council resolutions as he and President Barack Obama reaffirmed their commitment to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.

Xi made the remark during a joint press conference after summit talks with Obama at the White House as concerns have grown that North Korea could launch a long-range rocket or conduct a nuclear test next month in violation of U.N. resolutions.

“We reaffirm our commitment to realize the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful way and we oppose any action that might cause tension in the Korean peninsula or violate U.N. Security Council resolutions,” Xi said.

Xi did not mention North Korea by name, but it was pretty clear that he was referring to Pyongyang.

It is highly unusual for a Chinese leader to publicly issue such a warning, given that Beijing has been reluctant to criticize North Korea and has usually urged all sides to exercise calm and restraint when it comes to tensions on the Korean Peninsula.”

Xi also said that a 2005 agreement on North Korea’s denuclearizations and U.N. resolutions should be “implemented in full and all relevant parties should work together to firmly advance the denuclearization process of the Korean peninsula and maintain peace and stability so as to achieve enduring peace and stability in Northeast Asia.”  [Yonhap]

You can read the rest at the link.

I would think the Japanese would want the Aegis ships deployed more to collect data on the rocket launch with their radars:

The Japanese government is mulling deploying Aegis destroyers in the East Sea and the East China Sea to intercept a long-range rocket North Korea plans to launch around the 70th anniversary of its ruling Workers’ Party on October 10.

Japan’s Sankei Shimbun daily reported on Sunday that Tokyo is considering deploying the destroyers equipped with sea-based missile defenses to the East Sea and the East China Sea to prevent the North’s rocket or its debris from falling on Japanese territory.

The paper said Japan is also considering deploying the Air Self-Defense Forces’ surface-to-air guided Patriot missiles in the area near the capital city and Okinawa.  [KBS World Radio]

And SecState Kerry keeps talking about tougher sanctions…and talking…and no action on NK human rights, etc. https://t.co/ii1dDE2c2Y

— Bruce Klingner (@BruceKlingner) September 26, 2015

I would be surprised if North Korea does not notify the IMO and ICAO of their expected rocket launch because of how they have been wanting to normalize their space program and not link it to their ICBM development program.  This could be a sign that they are not 100% confident that the rocket launch will be ready by October 10th.  I guess we will see what happens:

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) said North Korea has not given them any notice regarding a long-range rocket launch.

The Voice of American said on Saturday that the two international bodies confirmed via email that Pyongyang has not given any notice.

North Korea had notified both organizations of its plan prior to its long-range rocket launch in December 2012, informing them of when the launch will take place and where the rocket will fall.

North Korea has suggested the possibility of launching a space rocket around October 10th, the anniversary of the founding of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party. North’s Korean Central News Agency carried an interview earlier this month with a key scientist, who discussed the possibility of such a plan.  [KBS World Radio]