It looks like President Moon’s attempt to lobby European governments to drop North Korean sanctions is not working:
French President Emmanuel Macron
President Moon Jae-in has told French President Emmanuel Macron that North Korea’s denuclearization needs to be stimulated further by easing UN sanctions if the North’s measures to scrap its nuclear program are believed to have reached an irreversible level.
But North Korea has not remotely reached a point where denuclearization is irreversible. It has not even started. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un flatly refused to give the U.S. even a partial inventory of its nuclear facilities and stockpiles when visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pleaded with him, and instead demanded that the U.S. officially declare an end to the Korean War to “build trust.”
The first step to denuclearization must be reporting all nuclear facilities and fissile materials, because how else will anyone know whether North Korea is scrapping anything? This is a no-brainer. Yet the North is vehemently protesting before taking even the first step, claiming that the demand is tantamount to “mafia-like tactics.”
Yet the South Korean president labors under the delusion that North Korea’s denuclearization has progressed significantly. During his summit last month with U.S. President Donald Trump, Moon even said the North’s denuclearization had almost reached an “irreversible” level already. U.S. nuclear experts, by contrast, say Pyongyang’s gestures so far — dismantling a moribund nuclear test site in Punggye-ri and a static missile launch pad it no longer needs — do not qualify as denuclearization at all.
Moon hopes that North Korea’s denuclearization can reach an irreversible level in a few months and is going around the world asking global leaders to stimulate the process by easing sanctions. Macron quite rightly brushed him off, saying sanctions must continue until “concrete denuclearization steps are taken.” [Chosun Ilbo]
The big test is going to be if the Key Resolve exercise that happens every March is cancelled. I would think by then we would have a good idea of which way the whole denuclearization negotiations is going to go:
F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft take part in Exercise VIGILANT ACE 18 at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea, on Dec. 3, 2017. U.S. and South Korean officials announced on Friday, Oct. 19, 2018, that the annual exercise has been canceled for 2018.
The United States and South Korea have canceled an annual air exercise scheduled for December, the Pentagon announced Friday, emphasizing ongoing diplomatic discussions with North Korea.
The Pentagon and South Korea’s military will not conduct Exercise Vigilant Ace as the two nations negotiate with North Korea over its nuclear program, said Dana White, a Pentagon spokeswoman. It’s at least the fourth military exercise that the nations have canceled since President Donald Trump unexpectedly announced he was suspending military “war games” on the peninsula after his June summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. [Stars & Stripes]
The Moon admin's political suppression in the name of "jeokpae cheongsan" (elimination of deep rooted evil) continues. Its target #1 is Park Seung-chun, former Minister of Veterans & Patriots. He was found not guilty on 5 charges. So now they set up comttee to investigate again. https://t.co/VmhGwfmBux
S. Korea will grant refugee status to zero of the roughly 500 Yemenis that arrived on Jeju to flee the civil war in their home country, though many will have humanitarian visas allowing them to stay for one year.https://t.co/DFEljNiwwv
A visitor looks at an old pear tree heavy with pears at a theme park in Yeongdong, about 210 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Oct. 17, 2018. The tree is known to have been planted around 1910. (Yonhap)
Despite the Moon admin saying it's "routine, the #SouthKorean banks are deathly scared of potential secondary sanctions. So should Moon and his circle, if they care about #SouthKorean economy. https://t.co/Nzwy8i8Yz2
It wouldn’t be Korea if somebody wasn’t protesting something:
Anti-carpool protesters raise pickets reading “Illegal carpool app service OUT,” “Illegal personal vehicle service in disguise of carpool OUT” and “Keep passenger transport industry ordered.”
A walkout by thousands of taxi drivers in protest against a commercial carpool service disrupted commuters heading to works during morning rush hour on Thursday.
The stoppage began at 4 a.m. to protest against the recent launch of Kakao T Carpool, a ride-sharing service designed to connect ordinary drivers to passengers during the morning and evening rush hours. The taxi drivers claim the top mobile messaging company’s service will kill the industry. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but the ride share apps are a threat to the established taxi industry across the world. The way I look at this is that this would be like retail store workers protesting against Amazon instead of evolving with the times and making a better service or product to entice consumers.
Ambassador Harris recently made a very subtle message to the Moon administration in regards to sanctions on North Korea:
South Korea and the United States should have a “common voice” in dealing with North Korea rather than putting priority on improving inter-Korean relations over denuclearization, U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Harry Harris said Wednesday.
“We are, of course, cognizant of the priority that President Moon Jae-in and his administration have placed on improving South-North relations. I believe this inter-Korean dialogue must remain linked to denuclearization, and South Korea synchronized with the United States,” Harris said during a seminar co-hosted by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies and the Wilson Center.
“There, of course, remains a lot of work to be done, but I believe that if the United States and South Korea continue to approach North Korea with a common voice, we can turn the commitments that were made in Pyongyang, Panmunjeom and Singapore into reality.”
He made his remarks amid the recent dissonance between South Korea and the U.S. in dealing with easing sanction against the North. He reiterated Washington’s stance of maintaining sanctions against Pyongyang, while expressing discontent over Seoul’s move to prioritize improving inter-Korean relations and easing the sanctions.
The two countries have been showing different approaches to achieving the denuclearization of North Korea. President Moon Jae-in, on a state visit to European countries, has urge them to ease the sanctions somewhat. Meanwhile, the U.S. has been warning South Korea that lifting them, along with related actions, should only take place with Washington’s approval. [Korea Times]
It will be interesting to see how the US reacts to this:
The two Koreas and the United Nations Command (UNC) discussed disarmament of the Joint Security Area (JSA) Tuesday amid expectations for unarmed soldiers to “guard” the inter-Korean border area in a near future.
“The three-way consultation body had negotiation on measures on having a weapons-free JSA, including the withdrawal of firearms and guard posts,” according to the Ministry of National Defense.
Army Colonel Cho Yong-geun headed the South’s three-member delegation, with the North led by Colonel Om Chang-nam, according to the ministry. United States Army Colonel Burke Hamilton also represented the UNC for the hours-long discussions.
The trilateral meeting is aimed at finalizing details to realize complete disarmament at the JSA. The two Koreas reached a consensus over the plan by signing a joint military agreement during an inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang last month. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but I would not be surprised if this just gets slow rolled because who wants to put faith in the North Koreans complying with this agreement?
One way the US could respond is that they will disarm the JSA if the North Koreans agree to withdraw their artillery 50 kilometers north of the DMZ.
Two draft designs for South Korea’s new passport which will be adopted from 2020 were released by the culture and foreign affairs ministries Monday. The government will choose one of the two by the end of this year after considering public opinion. The design on the left has the Taegeuki and Rose of Sharon symbols, while the other has no national emblems. / Yonhap
Draft designs for a new passport are drawing a heated debate online as to whether the concept and color are appropriate. Observers also raised questions on the necessity to change the design. The culture and the foreign affairs ministries presented the draft designs Monday with two options, one having the Taegeuki (Korean flag) and Rose of Sharon design and the other without any national emblems.
They plan to choose one by the end of this year after considering public opinion. The new passport will begin to be issued from 2020.
After Monday’s disclosure of the drafts, some were skeptical of the first big change in 32 years. There was in particular the issue of the indigo color. The current passport is dark green.
They said the new passport looks like the North Korean passport or represents the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, which uses the color blue to symbolize itself. Some raised suspicion that the color was changed due to the reconciliatory mood with North Korea.
However, the change has been planned since 2007, and the design was selected from entries to a contest held that year. Also there have been requests to change the passport design for over a decade because the dark green cover is out of style and does not reflect Korea’s culture. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but who was in charge in 2007? Roh Moo-hyun a left wing President that current President Moon Jae-in was Chief of Staff for. Based on that fact it is fair for critics to wonder if the passport design was not intended to match North Korea’s?
