Korea

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North Korean defector says no homelessness in Pyongyang
Kim Ryon-hui, the North Korean defector who had said she was tricked into traveling to South Korea by Seoul’s spies in China, said life is better in the North.
ByElizabeth Shim


A Chinese man looks at photos of North Korea's leaders posted outside the North Korean embassy in Beijing on January 6. A North Korean defector in the South said she hopes to return to Pyongyang, where she has family. Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo

SEOUL, March 4 (UPI) -- Kim Ryon-hui, the North Korean defector who said she was tricked into traveling to South Korea by Seoul's spies in China, held a press conference where she reaffirmed her desire to return to the North.

Kim said she attempted suicide twice while in the South, local news service Oh My News reported. Kim said she left behind her parents, a physician husband and a daughter in Pyongyang, and that she "now has hope that she should be able to live, and return" to the North Korean capital.


The defector is a South Korean national, and last September Seoul rejected her request for repatriation to the North, citing current laws that ban defectors from leaving once they are naturalized.

Kim has been busy – staging a one-woman protest outside the Unification Ministry since Feb. 24. On Friday, she traveled to Masan in South Gyeongsang Province to speak to reporters.

Kim said she left North Korea for China in May 2011 to visit relatives across the border. During her stay, she met a "broker" who brought her to the South, where, according to her testimony, she was forced to resettle.

Kim said she is a tailor by training, and she graduated first in her class at a fashion design training school in the North. She was well off by North Korean standards, but she has so far been unable to procure a South Korean passport that she could use to leave the country.

Kim also said she began spying for North Korea in order to be charged with a crime and, hopefully, be deported.

None of her plans have worked, she said, and her activism is now centered on focusing attention on her cause – repatriation – and spreading awareness about "real life" in North Korea to South Koreans.

On the latter subject, Kim said South Koreans know very little about life in North Korea, and that upon her arrival in the South, she was surprised by the sight of numerous homeless people in the Seoul subways.

Kim said she had never seen homelessness in Pyongyang, because if someone is lost they are taken to their home by a helpful stranger.

"I was surprised that [homeless South Koreans] don't look for their parents or siblings," she said, stating she had lived in a socialist country for 42 years.

https://www.upi.com/North-Korean-defect ... 457150974/

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Courtesy LONG LIVE SYRIA @flagrantdolphin

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How Media Failures Complicate The Nuclear Talks With North Korea
North Korea recently again asked the Trump administration to stick to the three steps agreed upon in the Singapore Statement.

The Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin characterizes the North Korean request as "belligerent":

Pompeo received the letter from Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee, on Friday morning, and showed it to Trump in the White House, two senior administration officials confirmed. The exact contents of the message are unclear, but it was sufficiently belligerent that Trump and Pompeo decided to call off Pompeo’s journey ...
Reuters amplified the alleged "belligerence" when it headlined:

Trump called off Pompeo's North Korea visit after belligerent letter: report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump called off a visit to North Korea by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after the latter received a belligerent letter from a senior North Korean official just hours after the trip was announced last week, the Washington Post reported on Monday.
Reuters must know that Josh Rogin does not do "reporting". He is not a journalist but a neocon shill with a direct line to John Bolton. He publishes his effusions in the Opinion section of the paper, not in its news parts.

CNN then entered the frail and reported the real content of the letter:

North Korea warns Pompeo denuclearization talks are 'at stake,' sources say:

Top North Korean officials warned the United States in a letter that denuclearization talks are "again at stake and may fall apart," sources familiar with the process told CNN.
The letter was delivered to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whose fourth trip to Pyongyang was abruptly canceled, hours before he was scheduled to depart with his new special envoy Stephen Biegun on Friday, sources said.

Three sources with direct knowledge of the North Korean position on denuclearization said the letter stated that Kim's regime felt that the process couldn't move forward because "the US is still not ready to meet (North Korean) expectations in terms of taking a step forward to sign a peace treaty."

The described demand by North Korea to follow the agreed upon steps is certainly not 'belligerent'.

After the CNN reported the real content of the letter Reuters changed its 'belligerent' headline to:

North Korea tells U.S. denuclearisation talks may fall apart - CNN

but the URL to the piece on the Reuters website still reflects the original headline:

https://in.reuters.com/article/northkor ... NKCN1LC2HA.

The text though is now heavily modified:

WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean officials have warned in a letter to the United States that denuclearisation talks were “again at stake and may fall apart”, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
...
The Washington Post reported on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump called off a visit to North Korea by Pompeo after the latter received a belligerent letter from a senior North Korean official just hours after the trip was announced last week.
The "belligerent" Washington Post nonsense was moved down from the headline and first graph to the seventh of nine paragraphs. It should have been deleted or further modified.

This incident demonstrates two problems:

News agencies like Associated Press, Reuters, AFP or DPA have increased their distribution of opinions and vague reports picked from other media without confirming the content themselves. Reuters first picked the item from an Opinion piece in the Washington Post and then corrected it with the bits it gleaned from a CNN piece. Where are its own reporters? Has Reuters given up on those? This is an abrogation of the original task and purpose of a general news agency.
Websites which more or less automatically re-publish news agency reports do not have an automatic update process which replaces news-agency report with updates or corrections should the agency release any. A search for the "belligerent" Reuters headline finds more than 30 such entries hours after the original was updated and the headline changed. The lack of an automatic update procedure for agency news leaves a large amount of 'official' fakenews alive on the web even when the original piece has been retracted or modified.
Back to the North Korea issue. It is obvious that the Trump administration is not willing to follow the agreed upon sequence in the Singapore Statement and Panmunjom Declaration. It wants to proceed with step three, an aspirational North Korean promise to "work towards" denuclearization, before taking step one and two which prescribe the move towards better relations and a peace treaty. Instead of criticizing the unwillingness of the Trump administration to stick to its commitment, U.S. media push the administration further down its belligerent path.

A Washington Post editorial today laments that the Singapore negotiations have given North Korea too much. It urges Trump further into the blind alley he already finds himself in:

The administration’s best hope of rescuing the situation is to return to talking with North Korea about an equitable tradeoff. To start the process of denuclearization, U.S. officials say the Kim regime must provide a complete inventory of its assets — warheads, production facilities and other nuclear infrastructure — and agree to inspections to verify it. Previous negotiations have broken down because of Pyongyang’s refusal to take this step, so a full disclosure would provide the first clear signal that Mr. Kim was serious about denuclearization. That, along with a freeze in the production of missiles and fissile materials, could justify U.S. participation in the end-of-conflict declaration the two Koreas are seeking.
This is exactly what Trump and his water carrier Pompeo are doing. They demand that North Korea bows to whatever the U.S. wishes without assuring it of a significant quid pro quo. If the U.S. can not even stick to simple agreements, like the Singapore Statement, why should North Korea believe any verbal assurance of vague steps the U.S. might take after it disarms?

The only way out of this is for the U.S. to offer and sign a peace treaty that finally brings the Korea War to an official end. There is only one alternatives to that. A return U.S. strategic maneuvers, which Defense Secretary Mattis just now announced, followed up by North Korea with new nuclear and missile tests, possibly combined in a launch towards Guam. The 2020 commission report explains what we can expect to followed from these steps.

Posted by b on August 28, 2018 at 11:53 AM | Permalink

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/08/ho ... korea.html

Good report but 'b' gives the regime in Washington too much credit, as usual. If Trump was sincere he was deluded that he could have his way thru bullshit & bluster, his usual m.o. Ridiculous, the Koreans are not fools. If not he's just building a case for more aggression, which I'm sure is what Bolton sees and why he came aboard. 'b' doesn't even mention Trumpy reneging on the Iran deal, which the Koreans surely took note of.

End of day China calls the shots here, they'll throw Trump some red herrings but will not flinch from effective support of DPRK, their communists buds and northeast flank.

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UNC rejects two Koreas’ request to test-run cross-border railway

By Jung Min-kyung
Published : Aug 30, 2018 - 13:12 Updated : Aug 30, 2018 - 18:03
The United Nations Command declined the two Koreas’ request to test-run a train on a cross-border railway last week, sources said Thursday, fueling speculation that the US might be reluctant to support inter-Korean projects amid stalled denuclearization talks with North Korea.

A test operation of a train connecting the South’s capital of Seoul to the North’s Shinuiju, which lies on the border with China, was initially planned for Aug. 22-27 as part of the Koreas’ joint field survey on modernizing cross-border railways, according to the Unification Ministry.

However, the US-led UNC did not greenlight the plans for Seoul officials and the train to cross the military demarcation line within the Demilitarized Zone, due to what sources believe to be Seoul’s failure to meet the guideline of providing notification 48 hours in advance.



Gyeongui Line (Yonhap)

“In coordination with the ROK (South Korean) government, the UN Command respectfully declined the Aug. 23 request for government officials to visit to North Korea through Transportation Corridor-West while requesting more fidelity on the details of the proposed visit,” the UNC, which oversees the cease-fire that ended the 1950-53 Korean War and activities within the DMZ, said in a text message sent to reporters Thursday.

A Unification Ministry official, under the customary condition of anonymity, told a group of reporters that the 48-hour rule was not the main issue behind the UNC’s decision, without elaborating. The official also declined to explain what the UNC meant by “the details of the proposed visit.” On the discrepancy of the dates, the Unification Ministry said that Aug. 22 was the correct date and that the UN Command had made an error in its message.

“We are closely consulting with the North and the US,” the official added.

Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said the South will continue to pursue the railway project within the frame of international sanctions against the communist nation.

Amid the ambiguity surrounding the UNC’s decision, experts noted that the UNC had been flexible with the 48-hour rule on previous occasions.

“The US is trying to pressure North Korea into making progress in denuclearization talks, but certain developments in inter-Korean relations that are not in tandem with the progress in talks could distract their goal,” said Kim Joon-hyung, an international studies professor at Handong Global University.

Despite North Korea’s recent calls for the South to take inter-Korean affairs into its own hands, the US has repeatedly stressed that inter-Korean ties must advance in lockstep with progress on denuclearization.

“It would be an overstatement to say that the US is trying to break apart the South-North relations, but it is a message that it is not comfortable with the current situation, knowing that the North has been reportedly violating sanctions,” the Seoul-based expert added.

The two Koreas are said to be in talks to arrange new meetings for some time after Sept. 9, the North’s founding anniversary.

The opening of a joint liaison office is another matter that appears to be facing similar obstacles.

The office was initially to be launched in the North’s border town of Kaesong by the end of August as part of efforts to foster smoother cross-border contacts, but the opening was delayed over what was believed to be US officials’ concerns about possible sanctions violations.

“(The South’s) supply of all materials, equipment, and energy is for the convenience of our officials and operation of the office, so we believe (the office) does not undermine the purpose of the sanctions as it does not offer economic benefit to North Korea,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk said during a regular briefing.

By Jung Min-kyung (mkjung@heraldcorp.com)

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20180830000529

bolding added.

No it wouldn't.

It's all about China.

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Interview with Kim Chol, Economic Research Chief at DPRK’s Academy of Social Sciences
Summary of an interview with Kim Chol, economic research chief at DPRK’s Academy of Social Sciences, originally published in January 2018 by Choson Sinbo, a Japan-based Korean-language newspaper. (Link goes to an RoK news site, not the Choson Sinbo, but you can find the original yourself by searching for "김철" + “조선신보”.)

The interview comprises four main parts, each of which addresses two primary issues.

Part 1: Consistent Realization of the Independent Economy Line

Part 1, issue 1: The various debates surrounding sanctions’ influence on DPRK’s economy

Kim Chol:

All foreign economists ask if DPRK’s economy can tolerate the enemy countries’ vicious implementation of a sanctions regime that incorporates neighboring countries. I reply that DPRK is carrying out the 5-year strategy from the 7th Congress of DPRK Workers’ Party.

Discussion of DPRK economy first needs a correct representation. Since 1945 liberation, DPRK has worked for top-to-bottom national economic independence. No reliance on other countries, using our own resources/technology/citizens’ efforts to walk on our own feet.

Therefore, even though economic sanctions may be damaging, the influence on DPRK is much less than it would be on other countries.

Anti-DPRK sanctions didn’t just start yesterday. We’ve been living with sanctions since we founded our country. We’ve built an economy that can cope with sanctions even if they’re intensified.

Part 1, issue 2: Could you provide a concrete illustration (of methods of dealing with sanctions)?

Kim Chol:

When building an economy, the most important thing is the issue of energy. DPRK has no petroleum-fired power plants, which neighboring countries recommended to us when we started building our economy. We rejected that advice.

For countries without crude oil, crude-oil power generation means that other countries have their hands on the fuel tap, which is off-limits for us.

DPRK’s thermoelectric power plants are using DPRK’s abundant coal. Enemy countries can sanction us to the sky, but our big and small hydroelectric power plants will run as long as it rains and the rivers don’t run dry.

Last year, construction began on Tanchon Power Station, which will be DPRK’s biggest hydroelectric power plant. DPRK’s north has hundreds of kilometers of waterways. The plant should be completed within the five-year plan.

New thermoelectric power generation capacity is also coming online. Huge generating facilities are in the final stage of construction at Pukchang Power Station.

DPRK Academy of Sciences Thermal Engineering Center is developing oxygen-fired combustion technology. This is one of our responses to sanctions. Going forward, it will appear in other power plants.

Part 2: Modernizing Factories without Foreign Currency

Part 2, issue 1: Aside from power generation, what kinds of other industries are in DPRK?

Kim Chol:

In the metals industry, Juche steel production is aggressively using domestically mined anthracite. In the past, blast furnaces were fueled with imported bituminous coal.

Despite increased sanctions, DPRK steel producers are transitioning to domestically produced factory components and raw materials. Iron ore is plentiful in DPRK, and domestic steel production is unaffected by sanctions.

With domestic steel production, DPRK can produce machines at will. High-performance computer numerical control systems have been incorporated into light industry factories, which have been repaired and modernized.

Via field guidance from Kim Jong-un last year, the Kumsong Tractor Factory and Sungri Automotive manufacturing center were repaired and modernized. In order to repair and modernize our factories, a lot of funds were used.

Part 2, issue 2: How are those kinds of funds accumulated?

Kim Chol:

To use terms that people from capitalist countries would easily understand, it’s the accumulation of domestic profits. From state-operated businesses’ profits, regulated shares are concentrated in the state budget, and remaining amounts are used for business activities.

If enemy countries block import of foreign currency, they say DPRK is in an economic depression, but it’s other countries that need foreign currency. By using domestic materials & equipment, repairing/modernizing our industries, DPRK doesn’t need foreign currency.

DPRK’s munitions industry as well, founded on its own effort and technology, is similarly developing Juche weapons and missiles. It’s a fool’s errand to expect that DPRK nuclear production will be affected by sanctions’ blocking of foreign currency inflows.

Part 3: Raw Materials, Resources, Equipment Made in DPRK

Part 3, issue 1: Devoting more effort to: Eradicating domestic factories’ and businesses’ import dependence; and DPRK-izing raw materials, resources, and equipment

Kim Chol:

DPRK’s science industries have guaranteed production of raw materials and resources urgently needed to develop our country’s light industry and agriculture sectors. On a foundation of coal gasification within our five-year plan, we can break even more ground.

New scientific products will emerge. Many countries can gasify coal into refined fuel. We too are preparing to use that technology. DPRK’s Methanol Research Center in Hamhung has deeply experimented and achieved production. We’ll soon be at the industrialization stage.

Rather than use foreign currency to buy expensive petroleum, we’ve expanded our economy by using our own abundant coal resources.

Part 3, issue 2: Implementation of the socialist system of responsible business operation appears to be accelerating the DPRK-ization of raw materials, resources and equipment

Kim Chol:

We are always working to fulfill our style of economic development, which realizes Juche thought. According to the socialist system of responsible business operation (SSRBO), many businesses are reaping great results via influential, emerging management techniques.

There are different reasons for businesses to use imported goods, but DPRK doesn’t have them. During the 1990s’ arduous march, we were unable to locally produce necessary materials and had to import them. Following this, businesses became dependent on imported goods.

However, now there’s a rising trend toward domestic production, which is becoming increasingly normal. Both production & consumption of goods occur w/in DPRK’s independent economy. If sanctions stop imported goods from entering, we use our own resources and technology.

Trading occurs between DPRK’s businesses thanks to highly developed technology and new products. Within the SSRBO, not only can citizens fulfill their economic plans, but businesses can also make mutual orders and fulfill contracts.

The SSRBO produces profits. Enemy countries can increase sanctions as much as possible, but DPRK’s newly produced domestic products will increasingly trade between our businesses.

Part 4: The Stable Life Enjoyed by DPRK Citizens

Part 4, issue 1: How do we evaluate the current economic situation?

Kim Chol:

Enemy countries may viciously implement a sanctions regime against DPRK, but the results will be counter to their expectations. The DPRK economy’s independence and Juche essence is becoming even stronger.

Across the board, DPRK’s economy is on track for vitalization. You can’t hear an idle factory. The arduous march is long finished. Our factories stand as one in kicking sanctions and using domestic raw materials and resources for production.

A sign of economic vitalization is the fulfillment of citizens’ economic plans. To make it easy to understand for people from capitalist countries, we can call it operating at capacity. All fields of our economy have fulfilled measures set a year ago.

As businesses’ rates of capacity have increased, we’ve produced more. You can’t yet say that our citizens live easy lives, but material conditions have improved. Circumstances exist for citizens to enjoy more technically and socially developed lives.

Part 4, issue 2: What’s your view of DPRK’s economy going forward?

Kim Chol:

2017 was a pivotal point for the fulfillment of the five-year economic plan, and we have exceeded expectations. A determined view to fulfill the five-year strategy has flourished.

We don’t know if the US and its followers will simply increase sanctions to try and block our strenuous efforts. DPRK’s economy isn’t declining, but is rather steadily ascending.

However international affairs change, DPRK’s economy will finally achieve the target of the five-year plan, laying the foundation for lasting economic development by vitalizing the economy as a whole and ensuring balance between economic sectors.

https://korcounterprop.tumblr.com/post/ ... conomy-can

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Moon and Kim jointly announce Pyongyang Declaration
Posted on : Sep.19,2018 17:22 KST Modified on : Sep.19,2018 17:22 KST
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Agreements include first concrete measures for permanent denuclearization


South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un jointly announce the contents of the Pyongyang Declaration during the inter-Korean summit on Sept. 19.

On Sept. 19, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un jointly announced the September Pyongyang Declaration, which includes an agreement by North Korea to permanently shut down its missile engine test site and launch pad at Dongchang Village. The agreement also includes a promise to shut down the Yongbyon nuclear facility, depending on corresponding measures from the US.
Furthermore, Kim agreed to visit Seoul for a fourth inter-Korean summit within the year given that no special circumstances arise.
After signing the September Pyongyang Declaration Agreement at the Paekhwawon Guest House, Moon and Kim held a joint press conference.
“South and North Korea have agreed on concrete denuclearization measures for the first time. This is a very meaningful result,” Moon said.
“North Korea has agreed to permanently shut down its missile engine test site and launch pad at Dongchang Village under the eye of inspectors from concerned nations. North Korea has also agreed to additional measures such as permanently dismantling its Yongbyon nuclear facility, depending on corresponding measures from the US,” Moon added.
Kim also made a statement during the press conference. “I have promised President Moon to visit Seoul in the near future,” he said. “Together, we will end the tragedy of our division as soon as possible and embark upon a sacred journey toward permanent peace and prosperity so as to offer even the slightest of relief for the wounds caused by Korea’s division,” Kim declared.
“The road will not always be smooth,” Kim continued. “But we will always walk hand-in-hand together on this sacred journey toward peace and prosperity, just as we have done today.”
Regarding Kim’s Seoul visit, Mood said, “What Chairman Kim means by ‘near future’ is that he will visit Seoul within the year given that no special circumstances arise.”
“Chairman Kim’s visit to Seoul will mark the first ever visit to Seoul by a North Korean head of state, and will provide groundbreaking momentum for inter-Korean relations,” Moon added.


South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pose for photographs during a signing ceremony after their summit at Paekhwawon State Guesthouse in Pyongyang on September 19, 2018.
Additional measures for inter-Korean cooperation
Regarding concrete improvements in inter-Korean economic cooperation, Moon said, “Within this year, South and North Korea will begin construction on projects that link railways and roads along the East and West seas. We will also normalize operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex and resume Mount Kumgang tourism when conditions allow.”
“We will also soon push ahead with environmental cooperation as well as medical cooperation to prevent the influx and spread of contagious diseases,” Moon added.
Moon also said that the Mount Kumgang reunion site will be restored as a permanent facility, and that divided families will be able to communicate through letters and video chat in the meantime.
“We have also agreed to bid to jointly host the 2032 Winter Olympics,” Moon announced. “Furthermore, we have agreed to prepare a joint celebration of the 100th anniversary of the March 1st Movement,” he continued.
“The Pyongyang Art Performance Group will come to South Korea in October. Their performance of ‘Fall has Arrived’ will bring the two Koreas even closer together,” he added.


South Korean President Moon Jae-in exchanges documents with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a signing ceremony after their summit at Paekhwawon State Guesthouse in Pyongyang on September 19, 2018.
Trump’s tweet just one hour after declaration
US President Donald Trump offered his position on the denuclearization agreements in the Pyongyang Declaration on his Twitter account.
On Sept. 19, Trump tweeted: “Kim Jong Un has agreed to allow Nuclear inspections, subject to final negotiations, and to permanently dismantle a test site and launch pad in the presence of international experts. In the meantime there will be no Rocket or Nuclear testing. Hero remains to continue being returned home to the United States. Also, North and South Korea will file a joint bid to host the 2032 Olympics. Very exciting!”
Trump’s tweet indicates that he welcomes Kim’s willingness to have outside experts inspect the shutdown of the missile launch site at Dongchang Village. It can also been as his general approval of the agreements of the third inter-Korean summit. Trump posted his tweet at around midnight in Washington time. It is rare for Trump to tweet at such an hour. It was posted just one hour after the Pyongyang Declaration, which is seen as a strong indicator that he was waiting eagerly for the results of the inter-Korean summit.
Moon and Kim are expected to hike Mount Baekdu together on Sept. 20 before the former’s departure for Seoul. On Sept. 19, Blue House Spokesperson Kim Eui-kyum held a press conference at the Pyongyang summit’s press center and said, “President Moon and Chairman Kim have agreed to go to Mount Baekdu together tomorrow.”
“The hike came about when Chairman Kim suggested that the two leaders visit Mount Baekdu together, which President Moon accepted,” he continued. “They are scheduled to leave for Mount Baekdu early tomorrow morning, and further details are currently being worked out.”
By Noh Ji-won, staff reporter

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_ ... 62815.html

Let Korea be Korea....

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N. Korea says it won't denuclearize unless US removes threat Posted : 2018-12-21 09:57Updated : 2018-12-21 09:57

North Korea said Thursday it will never unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons unless the United States first removes what Pyongyang called a nuclear threat. The surprisingly blunt statement jars with Seoul's rosier presentation of the North Korean position and could rattle the fragile trilateral diplomacy to defuse a nuclear crisis that last year had many fearing war.

The latest from North Korea comes as the United States and North Korea struggle over the sequencing of the denuclearization that Washington wants and the removal of international sanctions desired by Pyongyang. The statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency also raises credibility problems for the liberal South Korean government, which has continuously claimed that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is genuinely interested in negotiating away his nuclear weapons as Seoul tries to sustain a positive atmosphere for dialogue.

The North's comments may also be seen as proof of what outside skeptics have long said: that Kim will never voluntarily relinquish an arsenal he sees as a stronger guarantee of survival than whatever security assurances the United States might provide. The statement suggests North Korea will eventually demand the United States withdraw or significantly reduce the 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea, a major sticking point in any disarmament deal.

Kim and President Donald Trump met June 12 in Singapore where they agreed on a vague goal for the ''complete denuclearization'' of the Korean Peninsula without describing when and how it would occur. The leaders are trying to arrange another meeting for early next year.

But North Korea for decades has been pushing a concept of denuclearization that bears no resemblance to the American definition, with Pyongyang vowing to pursue nuclear development until the United States removes its troops and the nuclear umbrella defending South Korea and Japan. In Thursday's statement, the North made clear it's sticking to its traditional stance on denuclearization. It accused Washington of twisting what had been agreed on in Singapore and driving post-summit talks into an impasse.

''The United States must now recognize the accurate meaning of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and especially, must study geography,'' the statement said.

''When we talk about the Korean Peninsula, it includes the territory of our republic and also the entire region of (South Korea) where the United States has placed its invasive force, including nuclear weapons. When we talk about the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, it means the removal of all sources of nuclear threat, not only from the South and North but also from areas neighboring the Korean Peninsula,'' the statement said.

The United States removed its tactical nuclear weapons from South Korea in the 1990s. Washington and Seoul have not responded to the North Korean statement.

North Korea's reiteration of its long-standing position on denuclearization could prove to be a major setback for diplomacy, which was revived early this year following a series of provocative nuclear and missile tests that left Kim and Trump spending most of 2017 exchanging personal insults and war threats. The statement could jeopardize a second Trump-Kim summit as the United States may have difficulty negotiating further if the North ties the future of its nukes to the U.S. military presence in the South, analysts said.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who met Kim three times this year and lobbied hard for the Trump-Kim meeting, has said Kim wasn't demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula as a precondition for abandoning his nuclear weapons. But Kim has never made such comments in public.

''The blunt statement could be an indicator that the North has no intentions to return to the negotiation table anytime soon,'' said Shin Beomchul, a senior analyst at Seoul's Asan Institute for Policy Studies. ''It's clear that the North intends to keep its nukes and turn the diplomatic process into a bilateral arms reduction negotiation with the United States, rather than a process where it unilaterally surrenders its program.''

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies, said it's unlikely that the North would push things too far and allow the momentum for dialogue to collapse. Pyongyang has been strengthening its demands for the removal of sanctions and its latest statement is another attempt to win concessions from Washington, Yang said.

''Pyongyang is sending a message to Washington that confrontation and dialogue cannot coexist,'' Yang said.

The nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled since the Trump-Kim meeting. The United States wants North Korea to provide a detailed account of nuclear and missile facilities that would be inspected and dismantled under a potential deal, while the North is insisting that sanctions be lifted first.

Since engaging in diplomacy, North Korea has unilaterally dismantled its nuclear testing ground and parts of a missile engine test facility and suspended nuclear and long-range missile tests. However, none of those moves were verified by outsiders, and most experts say they fall short as material steps toward denuclearization. In the third meeting between Kim and Moon in September, the North also said it would dismantle its main nuclear facility in Nyongbyon if the United States takes ''corresponding measures,'' which the state media later specified as sanctions relief.

Kim declared his nuclear force was complete after the torrent of weapons tests in 2017, including the detonation of a purported thermonuclear weapon and three test-flights of intercontinental ballistic missiles potentially capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. Several reports from private analysts in recent weeks have accused North Korea of continuing nuclear and missile development, citing details from commercial satellite imagery.

''If we unilaterally give up our nuclear weapons without any security assurance despite being first on the U.S. list of targets for pre-emptive nuclear strikes, that wouldn't be denuclearization _ it would rather be a creation of a defenseless state where the balance in nuclear strategic strength is destroyed and the crisis of a nuclear war is brought forth,'' the KCNA said.

''The corresponding measures we have asked the United States to take aren't difficult for the United States to commit to and carry out. We are just asking the United States to put an end to its hostile policies (on North Korea) and remove the unjust sanctions, things it can do even without a snap of a finger.''

The North Korean statement came a day after Stephen Biegun, the Trump administration's special envoy on North Korea, told reporters in South Korea that Washington was reviewing easing travel restrictions on North Korea to facilitate humanitarian shipments to help resolve the impasse in nuclear negotiations.

During his four-day visit, Biegun plans to discuss with South Korean officials the allies' policies on North Korea, including the enforcement of sanctions. The meetings are likely to include conversations about a groundbreaking ceremony the Koreas plan to hold at the border village of Panmunjom next week for an aspirational project to reconnect their roads and railways.

The North has yet to respond to Biegun's comments. (Yonhap)

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/ ... 60751.html

Damn, everybody conspiring to make the Donald look bad.

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North Korea’s nuclear problem a pretext for the US keeping a foothold on the Asian continent
Things that really obsess the US is the potential power of China and Russia

25.02.2019 18:41
Tim Anderson, Australian academic and activist
North Korea’s nuclear problem a pretext for the US keeping a foothold on the Asian continent
Context:
US and North Korean doubts ahead of summit
US President Donald Trump announced that he will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for the second time in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi on February 27-28. Inforos spoke about the two sides’ positions ahead of the summit with Tim Anderson, an Australian academic and activist.

Trump is looking for some sort of foreign policy gains. He hasn’t really gained very much, he was going to get out of Syria, and he has not done that yet. Apparently, he still wants to do it, I think mainly because his pragmatic instinct tells him that he does not want to be associated with a losing war - he adopted a war from his predecessor.

In relation to Korea, Korean course is a 70-year old war that every US president pretty much has inherited. There is still state of war there, there have been no peace treaties since 1953. And, of course, there was three-years’ war before that. The fact that Trump engaged directly in talks with the North Korean leader is a fascinating thing. From the US point of view it really comes as a result of the North Koreans’ developing and demonstrating their possession of nuclear weapons, and their willingness to start talking peace on a basis of respect.

And to some extent Trump delivered on that during the meeting in Singapore. We have to put this in context that some other things are going on in Korea. One is the important breakthrough between North and South Korea. This has happened before, and it has been stalled or sabotaged, if you like, because there still exists in the south of Korea very-very strong sentiment in favor of reunification. And the North has always been in favor of reunification despite the two very different systems. So the momentum that was begun last year with the Winter Olympics in South Korea and then the summit meetings between the leaders there, and subsequently I think three summit meetings between the North Korean leader and the Chinese leader have shifted the dynamics significantly on the peninsula.

In some respect, Trump, if he is well-advised, is playing catch-up politics here. In other words, for example, if the rail line from Seoul to Pyongyang goes through, if some of the joint projects they are talking about happen, it will be against the wishes of the US, because the US has not wished to leave the Korean peninsula. It is an important staging post for them, it is an important base next to Russia, next to China, and that is one of the main reasons they want to keep their foot in the door, so to speak, on the north-east Asian continent there. They do not want to go out.

But if there is a significant breakthrough between North and South Korea, both Koreas stand to gain from it, and it is only the US really that stands to lose. So how is the US going to stop its demonstrated irrelevance to the Korean peninsula - that is an important question. You can already see elements of sabotage of this North—South soaring last year, for example, the US general project tried to stop the development of the rail line across the border because theoretically it was a UN-controlled area and the US has its sanctions against North Korea. So they are using a number of pretexts to try and stop developments between the north and the south. So that is going on in the background.

When it comes to the negotiations over nuclear deals, the problem is that the North Koreans know that the US does not really understand negotiations, even before you have a person as crass and as uncultured, let’s say, as Donald Trump who simply demands things of people and put offside his European friends and other friends by the crassness of the demands. When it comes to a traditional enemy like the North Koreans, the North Koreans know that the US has great difficulty in negotiating, they expect the other side to surrender. They expect the North Koreans to surrender their nuclear weapons and leave US nuclear weapons on the peninsula, for example.

So the North Koreans, realizing that there is a great incapacity on the part of the US to negotiate, but on the other hand, by doing it, by talking to Trump and by saying we are going to stop testing and so on, although having not given up their weapons, of course, they can prove the goodwill with South Korea and with China. Of course, China is extremely important for North Korea as its biggest commercial partner, there is a new tourism regime with China and North Korea, so Trump in many respects is trying to demonstrate the relevance of the US to this situation.

He is trying to focus attention on the fact that somehow the US relationship with North Korea is more important than the North Korean relationship with South Korea or the North Korean relationship with China. That is not the case; of course, the US is the foreign body in North-East Asia, everyone in the region knows that it is there because they have this jealous hegemonic plan, to try to outflank Russia and China. The things that really obsess the US is the potential power of China, in particular, and also Russia. And the worry that the Europeans are going to split off and develop some independent policy or some independent relationship with Russia, for example, that is really at the core of the concerns of the US. They are more concerned about potential competitors than little countries. North Korea is a little country, it has been a pretext for all sorts of things, but now it is a pretext for the US keeping a foothold there on the Asian continent, and they are really concerned about China and Russia.

They say that North Koreans have developed some more weapons in the meantime, but they have stopped their testing. So they have made an offer there, they have stopped the testing, they have made a gesture of goodwill, these gestures are very important for South Korea, and they are very important for China. They are the more potentially constructive relationships that North Korea has and wants to have. It does not really care so much about economic relationship with the US, it is a traditional enemy, it has tried to kill North Korea, it bombed it almost into oblivion 65 years ago, they remember all those sorts of things. But, at the same time, they talk the language of… let’s have the Korean peninsula a nuclear- free zone.

Knowing that the US is almost completely incapable of doing such a thing, if the US has a military presence there or wherever the US has a military presence, they have a policy of saying we neither confirm nor deny the fact that our ships and our planes and so on carry nuclear weapons. So, the North Koreans can say fairly confidently that look we will give up our nuclear weapons if you remove everything from the peninsula. Remember, it was the US in breach of the Armistice agreement of 1953 which first brought nuclear weapons to the Korean peninsula. I think it was in 1956-1957, and the North Koreans have had hundreds of nuclear weapons pointed at them in the subsequent 60 years. That is something that I believe has made North Korea paranoid and defensive, understandably, in my opinion, over those decades.

Now they have a tool that, of course, no one in their right-mind thinks that North Korea is going to attack the US whatever they say or whatever videos they have about it. But they have a tool, with which there is some fear in the minds of their enemies, and, of course, they will draw the conclusion that the fact that Trump is making his overtures and has met with the Korean leader (which I can’t remember the last time that the US president met with the leader of North Korea, if at all) after they develop their nuclear weapons. At the same time the North Koreans look at what happened in Libya and Iraq in terms of unilateral disarmament processes and a subsequent invasion in those countries, and they draw their own conclusions.

So the North Koreans can competently say – let’s have a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, and they probably do want it, but you know this really presupposes that the US is going to do something other than it has always done. The US really considers itself the exceptional nation, this is another way of saying they consider themselves above the international law, and they are not used to normal bilateral relationships, are not used to saying – ok, you remove your weapons, we will remove ours, they want surrender. They got surrender from Libya, they got surrender from Iraq, they destroyed those countries, and the North Koreans are very well aware of that sort of history.

http://inforos.ru/en/?module=news&action=view&id=86449

[blindpig]

Lots of good info here, some of the analysis, not so much. To wit, the delusion that the US, Trump or otherwise, is acting in 'good faith'. There was never a chance of these negotiations going anywhere but Korea gave it a try anyway.

North Korea's Game Plan And Its Upcoming Satellite Launch
John Bolton won. After a short period of calm and talks between the U.S. and North Korea both sides are again walking towards a conflict. But one important thing changed.

The recent talks between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un in Hanoi failed when the U.S. overplayed its hand. In his New Year speech Kim had already warned that he was ready to take a "new way" if such a problem would occur. As we wrote:

History shows that North Korea has always gamed out such talks. It is always prepared to let them fail and it is ready to take the next step whenever that happens. The "new way" may well allure to some new weapon that North Korea is ready to test. Cruise missiles are a possible candidate.
There are no cruise missiles (yet) but a satellite launch that is supposed to pressure Trump to come back to the table:

Commercial satellite imagery from March 6 of North Korea’s Sohae Satellite Launching Station (Tongchang-ri) indicates construction to rebuild the launch pad and engine test stand that began before the Hanoi Summit has continued at a rapid pace. Given that construction plus activity at other areas of the site, Sohae appears to have returned to normal operational status.
There are also signs of new activity at the Sanumdong missile factory which produces both, space launchers as well as ballistic missiles.

The U.S. media turn the upcoming space launch into another scare stories about North Korea. Quoting the usual anti-Korean 'experts' NBCNews writes:

North Korea is pursuing the "rapid rebuilding" of the long-range rocket site at Sohae Launch Facility, according to new commercial imagery and an analysis from the researchers at Beyond Parallel.
Sohae Satellite Launching Station, North Korea's only operational space launch facility, has been used in the past for satellite launches. These launches use similar technology to what is used for intercontinental ballistic missiles.
...
"The activity they are undertaking now is consistent with preparations for a test, though the imagery thus far does not show a missile being moved to the launch pad," Victor Cha, one of the authors of the report, said.

"The activity on the ground," Cha said, "shows us that they do have a (nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile) capability that is not just developmental, but in the prototype phase. They've already tested a few of these and it looks like they're preparing the launch pad for another act."

The highlighted phrases are false. They are war propaganda. Ballistic missiles use different technologies than space launchers:

An ICBM requires a short burn-time of the rocket engines in order to minimize gravitational losses and the risk of early interception in boost-phase by anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems. The typical ICBM rocket motor burn time is about 180-320 seconds.
The Unha-3 boost-phase is estimated at to be between 550-570 seconds.

Ballistic missiles usually have different motors than space launch vehicles. There are also different structural issues, differences in the control systems, different launch trajectories. See here, here and here. Most significantly ballistic missiles need to reenter the atmosphere to deliver their payload. It is only there that North Korea still has problems using them. Space launch vehicles are unsuitable to test the reentry phase.

Moreover the Sohae facility has never been used to launch ballistic missiles. For geographic reasons it is exclusively used for space launches.

To understand why North Korea is using this satellite launch to maybe bring the U.S. back to the table we have to go back to the negotiations between the two parties.

Before the first summit between Trump and Kim in Singapore both sides agreed that the U.S. would freeze large scale maneuvers in and around Korea while North Korea would stop ballistic missile testing as well as nuclear tests. This 'freeze for freeze' agreement was held up since. Trump recently reconfirmed that no large maneuvers would take place.

North Korea would like to keep the 'freeze for freeze' agreement alive. A satellite launch is not contrary to that agreement. Unfortunately some U.S. officials, i.e. John Bolton, and North Korea hawks like Victor Cha may well want to use a satellite launch to declare it dead.

The first summit ended with a signed Joint Statement, a sequenced four step agreement in which the U.S. promised to lift some sanctions (1) and an end to the state of war (2) while North Korea commited "to work towards complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" (3) and to recover remains of U.S. personal killed during the Korea war (4).

Trump had asked for and was granted an additional personal favor. Kim promised Trump to blow up North Korea's nuclear test tunnels and to dismantle a missile engine test stand. He fulfilled both but is now walking back on the second point.

The U.S. has not fulfilled its side of the bargain. The Trump administration still demands the "full denuclearization" of North Korea before the lifting of sanctions. That position contradicts the Joint Statement. It is also utterly delusional. North Korea never agreed to and will never agree to completely denuclearize. The best deal the U.S. can get (pdf) is one that limits the extend of North Korea's nuclear arsenal and prevents the proliferation of its nuclear technology. The logic is simple:

North Korea has the bomb. This is how deterrence works. If Saddam Hussein or Muammar al-Qaddafi had finished their bombs, they’d both likely still be around.
During the recent summit in Hanoi North Korea offered to destroy its largest nuclear complex which includes the Yongbyon reactor used to make plutonium and an uranium enrichment site. As a "corresponding measure" it demanded the lifting of those sanctions that most directly hurt its people. But the U.S. side was not willing to take that deal:

With Trump preparing to leave the hotel, North Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son-hui hurriedly brought the US delegation a message from Kim, two senior administration officials and a person briefed on the matter said. The message amounted to a last-ditch attempt by the North Koreans to reach a deal on some sanctions relief in exchange for dismantling the Yongbyon nuclear complex.
US and North Korean officials had been haggling over a shared definition of the sprawling, three-square-mile [Yongbyon] site and the last-minute overture sought to advance the North Koreans' proposal for dismantling it. But the message did not make clear whether the North Koreans shared the US's expansive definition of the facility and US officials asked for clarity.

Choe rushed back to get an answer. Kim replied that it included everything on the site.

But even when Choe returned with that response, the US delegation was unimpressed and didn't want to resume the negotiations. Within hours, Trump would be wheels up for Washington.

"We had to have more than that," Trump said when asked about Yongbyon before leaving Hanoi. "We had to have more than that because there are other things that you haven't talked about, that you haven't written about, that we found."

The destruction of the Yongbyon complex in exchange for the lifting of some sanctions would have been a great deal. The U.S. blew it.

In a press conference the Foreign Minister of North Korea Ri Yong-ho declared that this was the best deal the U.S. would get. He said the North Korea expected "corresponding measures" to be taken by the U.S. in exchange for the destruction of Yongbyon but that the U.S. was unwilling to offer any.

In a later interview the Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui accused the U.S. of moving the goal posts:

"I think about whether (we) should continue talks," she said, recalling leader Kim Jong-un's New Year's message, in which he said his regime will be left with no other choice than pursuing a "different path" to dialogue unless the U.S. takes reciprocal steps.
...
[A]mid the lack of any sign that the U.N. will lift the sanctions, the U.S. has gone too far toward the "reckless assertion" that North Korea should dismantle nuclear and missile facilities, Choe said.
She accused the Trump administration of having moved the goal posts, saying it initially talked about dismantling the Yongbyon nuclear complex and is now taking issue with other sites as well.

The U.S. continues to walk away from the Joint Statement Trump signed in Singapore and is back to making threats:

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton warned North Korea it must be willing to completely give up its nuclear weapons program or perhaps face even tougher sanctions.
“If they’re not willing to do it, President Trump has been very clear they’re not getting relief from the crushing economic sanctions that have been imposed on them,” Bolton told the Fox Business Network on Tuesday evening. “And we’ll look at ramping those sanctions up, in fact.”

North Korea never promised to stop its space launches. It will soon revive them. The U.S., especially John Bolton and other hawks, will use the upcoming space launch to claim that it is a 'ballistic missile test' and that the 'freeze for freeze' agreement should thereby end. New large scale maneuvers will be held to train for the invasion of North Korea and the U.S. sanctions regime will be further tightened.

A similar situation already occurred in early 2012. Shortly after Kim Jong-un was formally declared North Korea's new leader, talks between the U.S. and North Korea were held in Beijing. In February the two sides agreed on a deal. North Korea promises a moratorium on nuclear and long range ballistic missile tests in exchange for significant U.S. food supplies. A month later North Korea announces its plans for a space launch. Two weeks later the U.S. stops the promised food supply. In April North Korea attempts to launch a weather satellite. The space launch fails, but the U.S. uses it to ramp up UN pressure against North Korea for its 'ballistic missile development'. Another satellite launch later that years results in more pressure. In February 2013 North Korea conducted another nuclear test.

A repeat of that situation is now highly likely. The U.S. already walked back on the Singapore Statement Trump signed. It did not accept the quite reasonable offer made in Hanoi. It rejects to take "corresponding measures" until North Korea fully denuclearizes which it will never do.

The upcoming North Korean space launch will be used by Bolton and others to condemn North Korea for 'ballistic missile' testing. The U.S. will probably declare the 'freeze for freeze' agreement dead and restart its maneuvers. The North will take "corresponding measures" and restart nuclear and missile tests. U.S. sanctions will further increase.

We will be back to the situation of early 2018 when both sides hurled insults against each other and Trump threatened with war.

But one important thing will have changed.

During the latest round China, Russia and South Korea were on the side of the United States. Now, after North Korea demonstrated that it is reasonable and made good offers to get to a deal, neither China nor Russia will support further sanctions. Indeed China already urges to lift sanctions in response to the "positive will" that North Korea demonstrates.

China is North Korea's biggest trade partner. If it reopens its border to North Korea trade, all U.S. sanctions are in vain.

By overreaching with his demands the 'great deal maker' Donald Trump will have lost his biggest negotiation asset, the international solidarity that held up the sanctions.

As said above:

History shows that North Korea has always gamed out such talks.


Posted by b on March 7, 2019 at 02:27 PM | Permalink

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2019/03/n ... aunch.html

[blindpig]

CIA implicated in attack on North Korean embassy in Madrid
According to Spanish investigators, two of the men who broke into the diplomatic headquarters have connections to the US intelligence service
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The North Korean embassy in Madrid. ULY MARTÍN

MIGUEL GONZÁLEZ
PATRICIA ORTEGA DOLZ

Madrid 13 MAR 2019 - 10:53 CET

Investigators from the Spanish police and National Intelligence Center (CNI) have linked an attack on the North Korean embassy in Madrid on February 22 to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Sources believe the goal of the attack embassy was to get information on the former North Korean ambassador to Spain

At least two of the 10 assailants who broke into the embassy and interrogated diplomatic staff have been identified and have connections to the US intelligence agency. The CIA has denied any involvement but government sources say their response was “unconvincing.”

If it is proven that the CIA was behind the attack, it could lead to a diplomatic spat between Madrid and Washington. Government sources say that it would be “unacceptable” for an ally to take such action. Not only would it mean that the US agency had operated on Spanish soil without asking for authorization or informing the authorities, it would also be a violation of the international conventions that protect diplomatic delegations.

What’s more, unlike other intelligence activities – such as cyberattacks, which are characterized by their discretion, the attack on the North Korean embassy was especially violent. On February 22 at 3pm, 10 masked men carrying alleged imitation weapons broke into the embassy, located north of the capital in the residential area of Aravaca. They tied up the eight people inside and put bags on their heads. The victims were beaten and interrogated. A woman managed to escape from a window on the second floor and her screams for help were heard by a neighbor, who contacted the police.

Officers arrived at the scene but when they tried to enter the embassy a man opened the door to them and told them that there was nothing going on. Minutes later, two luxury vehicles sped out of the embassy. The cars used for the getaway belonged to the diplomatic mission and were later abandoned in a nearby street.

The assailants tied up the eight people inside the embassy and put bags on their heads

Police found the eight victims inside. They had been held hostage for two hours, had had bags placed over their heads, had been beaten and were scared. Two of them required medical attention.

Investigators from the General Information Office (CGI) and CNI ruled out the idea that the attack was the work of common criminals. The operation was perfectly planned as if it were carried out by a “military cell,” said sources close to the investigation. The assailants knew what they were looking for, taking only computers and mobile phones.

The highly secretive investigation will be heard at Spain’s High Court, the Audiencia Nacional, which could order the arrest of the identified assailants. Government sources, however, admit it would be difficult to prove the CIA was involved in court.

Kim Hyok Chol
Sources believe that the goal of the attack on the North Korean embassy was to get information on Kim Hyok Chol, the former North Korean ambassador to Spain.


Former North Korean ambassador to Spain, Kim Hyok Chol, in a file photo from 2015. CARLOS ROSILLO

Kim Hyok Chol was expelled from Spain on September 19, 2017 by the then-Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis given that the nuclear testing that the country was carrying out at the time was in serious breach of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Kim Hyok Chol, who was declared persona non grata by Spain and was invited to leave the country before the end of the month, is currently one of Kim Jong-un’s highly trusted diplomats, and one of the architects of the failed nuclear summit between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jon-un in Vietnam. The meeting, aimed at securing North Korea’s nuclear disarmament, ended in failure without any agreement on a timetable for disarmament or on future negotiations.

In February, Kim Hyok Chol also led the North Korean delegation that negotiated a nuclear disarmament plan with US special envoy Stephen Biegun in exchange for sanctions to be lifted.

English version by Melissa Kitson.

https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/03/13/in ... 79320.html