Tag: North Korea

The Kim regime continues to look for excuses to justify their long expected nuclear test to the international community, but I doubt anyone other than the usual suspects are going to buy it:

North Korea threatened to unleash a powerful action if the U.S. does not halt joint military drills with partners including South Korea, in what might be an effort by Kim Jong Un to lay the groundwork for his first nuclear test in five years.

“If the U.S. continuously persists in the grave military provocations, the DPRK will take into account more powerful follow-up measures,” the state’s foreign ministry said in a statement released on official media Tuesday. Such ministry statements are often used by the country, officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, to make clear the warning is coming from Kim’s regime.

The U.S. and South Korea this week started joint air drills known as Vigilant Storm that will run through Friday and involve about 240 aircraft in about 1,600 sorties to “hone their wartime capabilities,” the U.S. 7th Air Force said in a statement. The drills have added to a series of joint exercises on land, sea and air in recent weeks, some of which have also included Japan, that have led to complaints and provocations from Pyongyang.

Stars & Stripes

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If anyone knows about quality ice cream, it is probably Kim Jong-un:

 North Korea has completed building an ice cream factory in Pyongyang as instructed by leader Kim Jong-un, its state media reported Thursday, amid an economy faltering under global sanctions.

A ceremony was held the previous day to celebrate the construction of a “modern” ice cream production base in the center of Taesongsan, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Jon Hyon-chol, chairman of the budget committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly, delivered a speech at the ceremony, stressing that the “project for improving the welfare of the people cannot be delayed regardless of how severe the hardships are.”

He added that the construction was completed within a short period of time thanks to “special measures” taken by leader Kim to speed up the project.

Taesongsan is a mountain at the edge of Pyongyang with major attraction sites, including amusement parks, swimming pools and a zoo.

Yonhap

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It is good to see that someone is listening to what the Kim regime has been saying for years, they have no interest in denuclearizing:

Along with massive economic assistance, the normalization of diplomatic relations with the West ― particularly with the United States ― has long been viewed by countries outside of North Korea as one of the carrots that could persuade the reclusive state from seeking nuclear weapons. 

But a former U.S. diplomat said that North Korea has no intention to get rid of its nuclear weapons in exchange for economic incentives or the normalization of diplomatic relations. Joe DeTrani said the reclusive state wants both: to normalize diplomatic relations with the West while keeping its nuclear arsenal intact. 

“The North Koreans have been telling us, and certainly they’ve been telling me from 2003 to 2016, when I’ve been meeting them officially or track 1.5 meetings with a deputy foreign minister, that North Korea wants to be accepted as a nuclear weapons state and they want normal relations with the United States ― they want both,” DeTrani, a former U.S. special envoy for negotiations with North Korea, said during a session of the Korea Times Forum on the theme “New Challenges for Korea-U.S. Alliance,” at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul, Wednesday. DeTrani, now in Albuquerque, New Mexico, joined the discussion remotely.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I see no way any politician would be able to flip the Kim regime away from China and Russia and to suddenly denuclearize. North Korea has made it clear repeatedly they have no intention of denuclearizing and want to be recognized as a nuclear weapons state:

South Korea should prepare for a United States controlled by more isolationists and skeptics regarding American intervention in foreign affairs as Washington braces for a major Republican win in the upcoming midterm elections, according to a security expert on Northeast Asia.

The projected results of the Nov. 8 elections are about to bring new challenges to Northeast Asia, where the U.S.-China rivalry is intensifying and North Korea is speeding up the development of its nuclear weapons despite international outcry. Recent polls show that the conservative U.S. party will take control of the House and possibly win the Senate as well. 

“Many of the Republicans today are more isolationists and less internationalists than they used to be. That’s reflected most recently in signs that, if the Republicans retake the House, they are not going be so open to continue aid to Ukraine. No one is saying anything about our South Korea alliance, but it is certainly a trend in the wrong direction,” Joel Wit, founder of 38 North, a website devoted to analysis about North Korea, said at Wednesday’s forum hosted by The Korea Times. “If you look forward to the next presidential election, there is always a possibility that [former President] Donald Trump will come back and he’s not a big fan of our alliances overseas … Other Republican candidates may not as be as enthusiastic about American ties with overseas countries.” (…….)

Wit believes the denuclearization of North Korea is still possible through diplomacy, but only if the U.S. tries to achieve it from a long-term perspective.

“To put it simply, diplomacy with Pyongyang only has a chance of working with North Korea trying to move away from those countries (China and Russia). That’s been the case over the past 25 years. The problem is there is no sign of any interest on the part of North Korea,” he said. 

The only way to encourage North Korea to move away from the two nations is to transform its relationship with the U.S. fundamentally so that North Korea sees it as more valuable and beneficial. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

In a Taiwan crisis I would be very surprised if the North Koreans did not launch provocations in support of their Chinese allies just to divert U.S. troops and attention to the peninsula:

Seoul “should be fully prepared” for North Korean provocations in the event of a crisis between China and Taiwan, South Korea’s chief diplomat said this week.

Foreign Minister Park Jin, speaking to lawmakers Monday at a briefing for the Foreign and Unification Committee, said North Korea may engage in provocative behavior and exacerbate a potential crisis in the Taiwan Strait.

“Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is very important for the peace and stability of our Korean Peninsula,” Park said. “Therefore, we would like to continue to work together with the U.S. while firmly maintaining the [South Korea]-U.S. alliance.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Once again this all an attempt by North Korea to create tension and justify provocations in an attempt to get Seoul to respond in a way that justifies their upcoming nuclear test:

The issue of propaganda loudspeakers along the border may re-emerge as an area of disagreement between South and North Korea, in the wake of Pyongyang’s claim that Seoul has resumed the use of loudspeaker broadcasts. 

Diplomatic observers say the loudspeaker issue could ratchet up tensions further on the Korean Peninsula.

On Monday, while accusing a South Korean naval ship of intruding in its waters, North Korea claimed that the South Korean military has been staging provocations recently, including loudspeaker broadcasts along the border. 

However, the Ministry of National Defense said it is no longer operating loudspeakers along the border. Later it added that the South Korean military had recently used a similar broadcasting device ― installed at guard posts ― to notify helicopters for mobilization in operations to put out wildfires or transport emergency patients, a defense official here said.

The loudspeaker issue has been a hot-button issue between South and North Korea, leading to many disputes over the decades. Both sides have deployed speakers to direct propaganda at one another, and the North Korean regime has on many occasions responded sensitively to the matter. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It is pretty clear that the Kim regime is daring President Yoon to cancel the Inter-Korean military agreement. If it gets cancelled the Kim regime could use this as an excuse to justify their long awaited nuclear test:

North Korea fired artillery rounds into a buffer zone with South Korea that is designed to reduce tension on the Korean Peninsula, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Wednesday.

The North fired some 100 artillery rounds into the Yellow Sea from around 10 p.m. Tuesday and another 150 rounds into the East Sea from 11 p.m., according to the JCS.

The artillery shells fell into eastern and western buffer zones north of the Northern Limit Line, which were established under a 2018 inter-Korean agreement on reducing military tension.

“Firing artillery shells into the eastern and western buffer zones is a clear violation of the September 19 military agreement, and we strongly urge North Korea to immediately halt its actions as North Korea’s continued provocations are actions that undermine peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the international community,” it said in a released statement.

Yonhap

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