Tag: Russia

The Russians are alleging that the human rights activists sending of balloons with vulgar pictures of Kim Jong-un’s wife is what caused the recent uproar:

A Russian diplomat on Monday suggested that North Korea likely retaliated against defector-led anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns in South Korea after recent leaflets contained obscenely edited photos of first lady Ri Sol-ju.

Speaking to TASS Russian News Agency, Russian Ambassador to Pyongyang Alexandre Machegora said the North Korean leadership and citizens were furious over leaflets sent on May 31 containing content that was deemed vulgar and insulting.

Days before demolishing the Gaeseong liaison office, the North’s ruling party mouthpiece Rodong Sinmun said plotting to harm the regime’s supreme dignity is more threatening than Seoul and Washington’s joint military drills.

Pyongyang’s retaliation is also believed to have been triggered by posts in the online communities of some defector groups in which individuals claimed to be buying ​items used by COVID-19 patients to send to North Korea to spark a pandemic that would cause Kim Jong-un’s regime to collapse.

KBS World Radio

I doubt this because the defector groups have been sending unflattering material of the Kim regime for a long time without this reaction. My theory is that the Kim regime was just looking for a convenient excuse to start a provocation cycle to pressure the Moon administration. The Kim regime behaved and did what it could to help the Korean left win April’s parliamentary elections and now wants to cash in by pressuring the Moon administration to unilaterally drop sanctions.

I think Ambassador Harris should troll the Korean leftists by growing out his mustache to look like Choi Jin-dong:

You can read the whole story about how Choi Jin-dong was identified at this link. The picture was taken in Moscow during a communist conference and the guns both are wearing were actually gifts from Lenin.

Via a reader tip comes news that the Russians are holding 80 North Koreans for illegal fishing in Russian waters:

Russia says the ships were engaged in illegal fishing off its coast, and that one of the vessels launched an “armed attack”. 

Three Russian border guards were reportedly wounded in a clash.

North Korea has yet to comment on the incident, but Russia’s Foreign Ministry has expressed “serious concern” and summoned the country’s top diplomat.

A spokesperson for the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said the two schooners were accompanied by 11 motorboats and were spotted poaching near the Yamato Bank, which lies between the Korean Peninsula, Russia and Japan.

Russia says they were caught in its Exclusive Economic Zone, which extends 200 nautical miles (370km) from its coast.

MSN

I just don’t understand how someone could win a major volleyball match to qualify for the Olympics and the first thing to come to mind is to make the slant eye gesture?:

The South Korean national volleyball federation said Wednesday it will lodge a complaint against a Russian women’s team coach for his racist gesture following a recent match.

Russia defeated South Korea 3-2 (21-25, 20-25, 25-22, 25-16, 15-11) in the final Group E match of the FIVB Women’s Volleyball Intercontinental Olympic Qualification Tournament at DS Yantarny in Kaliningrad, Russia, on Sunday (local time). With that victory, Russia earned direct qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In post-match celebration, Sergio Busato, an Italian-born assistant coach for Russia, was photographed making the slant-eye, racist gesture.

Russian website Sport 24 carried a photo of Busato with his two index fingers on his eyes. The accompanying blurb simply said the coach “did not hide his positive emotions” and showed a gesture depicting narrow eyes, with no mention of the gesture’s implications.

FIFA bans this and other discriminatory gestures under its disciplinary code and once sanctioned Colombian midfielder Edwin Cardona, who resorted to the act in a friendly against South Korea in November 2017. But FIVB, the international volleyball federation, isn’t known to have specific rules against racist or discriminatory acts.The South Korean national volleyball federation said Wednesday it will lodge a complaint against a Russian women’s team coach for his racist gesture following a recent match.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

What is ironic about this is that the Russians have done something more provocative than the Japanese have ever done with Dokdo. So are all the Dokdo crazies going to go protest in front of the Russian embassy now?:

South Korean warplanes fired hundreds of warning shots at a Russian military aircraft that entered South Korean airspace on Tuesday, defence officials said, while Russia denied violating any airspace and accused South Korean pilots of being reckless.

It was the first time a Russian military aircraft had violated South Korean airspace, an official at the South Korean Ministry of National Defence said in Seoul. 

The incident, which also involved China and Japan, could complicate relations and raise tension in a region that has for years been over-shadowed by hostility between the United States and North Korea. 

Two Russian Tu-95 bombers and two Chinese H-6 bombers entered the Korea Air Defence Identification Zone (KADIZ) together early on Tuesday, the South Korean defence ministry said. 

A separate Russian A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft later twice violated South Korean airspace over Dokdo – an island that is occupied by South Korea and also claimed by Japan, which calls it Takeshima – just after 9 a.m. (midnight GMT Monday), according to the South Korean military.

Reuters via a reader tip

You can read more at the link, but this is the first time a foreign aircraft has violated ROK air space and warning shots were fired. Despite all the Japan bashing over the years on the Dokdo issue they have never done anything close to this. Don’t forget that the Chinese are involved in this as well. Will any of the so called patriotic Koreans show up and protest in front of the Chinese embassy?

In my opinion this appears to be a planned provocation by the Chinese and the Russians to stir the pot between the ROK and Japan since they both claim the Dokdo islets.

Study this photo. Note the truly evil eyes of Kim and Putin. Wonder what they are plotting to do to try to undermine the US and our way of life? pic.twitter.com/AYb3hKgHZ3

— David Maxwell (@DavidMaxwell161) April 26, 2019

It looks like everything went as expected for the Kim-Putin summit in Vladivostok:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday highlighted his “unwavering” will to cement ties with Russia while President Vladimir Putin made an emphatic call for a peaceful resolution of Pyongyang’s nuclear quandary.
The leaders held their first summit in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok amid Pyongyang’s stalled nuclear negotiations with Washington.
The much-anticipated summit was seen as a key test of Kim’s diplomatic outreach aimed at breaking the logjam in the parley with the United States, easing sanctions pressure and catalyzing his lackluster drive for economic development.
“I had candid, meaningful talks with President Putin on the issues of developing the friendly relationship between North Korea and Russia, of guaranteeing peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, and common international issues,” Kim said during a dinner session after the summit that lasted for around three hours. (……)

During a press conference, Putin stressed the need for an “international” security guarantee for the North as part of efforts toward denuclearization and a lasting peace on the peninsula. He also said that multilateral talks on the North’s denuclearization, including long-stalled six-party dialogue, ought to resume if a need arises.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but Putin talking about how there needs to be an international security guarantee for the North to denuclearize I believe is code for withdrawal of USFK.

Kim Yong Chol, NK's top negotiator with the US, and Ri Su Yong, head of the party's International Department, not going to Russia with Kim Jong Un. First time for Kim or Ri to skip out on the leader's foreign trip.

At least Ri is seen giving KJU a send-off. pic.twitter.com/qb2OaBZeTW

— Rachel Minyoung Lee (@rachelminyoung1) April 23, 2019