Tag: North Korea

The North Koreans probably see no irony in them complaining about Japan’s proposed changes to their pacifist constitution when they have in fact started a major war and launched multiple attacks against their neighbors since World War II while Japan has caused no aggressive actions. The only reason Japan wants to modify its constitution is to better respond to aggressive acts from neighboring nations like North Korea:

 North Korea condemned Japan on Wednesday for pushing to revise its pacifist constitution, calling the move a “declaration of war against humankind.” 

The North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) made the criticism as Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga mentioned the need to discuss the possible revision of its war-renouncing constitution earlier this month to officially recognize its self-defense forces by the law. 

“Japan has made desperate efforts to turn itself, which renounced war, into a war-capable country, remaining unchanged in its wild ambition for launching reinvasion to avenge the past defeat,” KCNA said in a commentary.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is hard for the Kim regime to accept COVID vaccines when they are probably getting ready to start a provocation cycle in time for this summer’s Tokyo Olympics:

The U.S. is making efforts to facilitate talks with North Korea with an offering of COVID-19 vaccines, but the probability of Pyongyang accepting this offer seems to be low, given the Kim Jong-un regime’s ignoring of humanitarian aid offers and its strict quarantine policy. 

Experts said Wednesday the U.S. move can be interpreted as a tactic of showing various benefits available to the North if it joins the party, in the wake of the Joe Biden administration’s new North Korea policy. However, they have expressed doubts whether the North will find the vaccine offer attractive, as the regime seeks to be on equal footing with Washington and has not been acting desperate for vaccines.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Here is a clever way the Kim regime is trying to keep their citizens from reading the leaflets within the balloons launched by ROK human rights activists:

North Korea’s official newspaper on Thursday urged people to stay alert against coronavirus infections through “strange objects” floating in the air, days after the regime issued a harshly worded statement against propaganda leaflets sent from South Korea.

Last week, an activist group consisting of North Korean defectors in South Korea said that it released around 500,000 leaflets into the North via large balloons despite a recently enacted ban on such cross-border leafleting.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The Unification Ministry is still living in their fantasy where they believe North Korea will live up to past agreements with the ROK:

 Unification Minister Lee In-young urged North Korea on Tuesday to implement inter-Korean summit agreements and come out for talks as he marked the third anniversary of a historic 2018 summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Lee made the remarks during an event organized by civic groups to celebrate the anniversary of the Panmunjom Declaration adopted after the summit talks on April 27, 2018, stressing that South Korea is willing to resume talks with the North “anytime, anywhere and on any issues.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It seems that if a major provocation was coming there would be more a of a build up towards it than what we have seen lately. I guess we will see soon enough what the Kim regime decides to do:

In what could be a pivotal week on the Korean Peninsula, there is interest whether North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un would opt for any provocation as the country marks the birthday of Kim Il Sung Thursday and Washington finalizes its Pyongyang policy review.  
   
The U.S. Congress is also set to hold a rare hearing Thursday on Seoul’s controversial law banning sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border, a move seen by observers as the United States pressuring both Koreas on human rights, an issue prioritized by the Joe Biden administration.  
   
The Day of the Sun, which takes place on April 15 each year, is North Korea’s biggest national holiday, and this year marks the 109th birthday of the country’s founder Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of the current leader.  
   
Pyongyang has also often marked the occasion with flashy military parades, such as one in 2017 showcasing its new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) at a parade to mark the 105th birthday of Kim Il Sung. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

By not having their athletes at the Olympics this will more easily allow the North Koreans to make trouble this summer. What better time to start a provocation cycle that will get the world’s attention on you than the Olympics:

North Korea said Tuesday it will not participate in the upcoming Tokyo Summer Olympics to protect its athletes against the coronavirus pandemic, dashing South Korea’s hopes to use the games to kickstart the stalled peace process with Pyongyang.

The decision was made during a general assembly meeting of the North’s Olympic Committee held in Pyongyang on March 25, according to Sports in the DPRK Korea, a website on sports affairs in North Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but will the U.S., ROK, and Japan cut a deal to end a provocation cycle before the Olympics just to get the Kim regime to behave? I guess we will see what happens.

You can see the slow building up towards a provocation cycle once again with North Korea:

 The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Tuesday criticized South Korean President Moon Jae-in for his speech on the North’s recent missile launches, mocking him as a “parrot” that repeats the United States’ “gangster-like logic.”

Kim Yo-jong made the criticism in a statement after Moon said on Friday in a speech that any action that could undercut the mood for dialogue is “undesirable,” hours after Pyongyang confirmed its test-firing of short-range ballistic missiles.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The Nam Hyun-woo in the Korea Times writes that Trump was soft on North Korean missile launches and that the Biden administration will take a harder line:

This contrasts with the previous Donald Trump administration, which downplayed Pyongyang’s missile launches while attempting to achieve denuclearization through summit talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

In contrast, the Biden administration has been signaling a hard-line approach to North Korea and diplomatic efforts simultaneously, with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying both pressure and diplomatic options are on the table to deal with Pyongyang.

“During the Trump administration, the U.S. did not respond to short-range ballistic missiles, but now the Biden administration is mentioning Thursday’s launch violated U.N. resolutions,” said Go Myong-hyun, a senior fellow at Asan Institute for Policy Studies. “Although Biden also said the U.S. can also respond on its own, the bottom line is that it is returning to a rules-based international order based on liberalism.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but Mr. Nam must have forgotten all the “rocket man” and “fire and fury” rhetoric from former President Trump on top of the pressure campaign that is widely believed to have brought Kim Jong-un into negotiations. The negotiations as we all know went no where, but it did stop the missile launches and nuclear tests.

It is too early to state whether the Biden administration is taking a hardline or not on North Korea, but to claim that the Trump administration was some how soft on North Korea is inaccurate.

It seems that North Korea is slowly working their way up towards another provocation cycle if they don’t get what they want:

North Korea fired two cruise missiles off the west coast Sunday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Wednesday, Pyongyang’s first missile test in about a year seen as aimed at testing the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden without being too provocative.

“We detected two projectiles presumed to be cruise missiles fired from the North’s western port county of Onchon early Sunday,” a JCS officer told reporters.

Yonhap

You can read more at the test, but firing cruise missiles is actually not part of the UN ballistic missile ban on North Korea.