Quotes of the Day:
“The Stoics are exhorters.And at their best, they exhort us to rise to our potential through reason, cooperations, and selflessness.”
- Nancy Sherman, Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience.
“We train and prepare our military people for the war which we are not fighting and which we hope will never come, but we fail to train our own citizens and our representatives abroad to operate in the cold war — the only war which we are presently fighting.”
- Sen Karl Mundt, 1962
"For to know a man's library is, in some measure, to know his mind."
- Geraldine Brooks
1. Ruling party reaffirms S. Korea-U.S. military exercises should go ahead
2. Ruling party split over North's objection to joint drill
3. ‘Moon should not cave to NK’s bullying’
4. Kim Yo-jong causes internal conflicts in South over joint military drill with US
5. North Korea wants US to allow fuel, metal trade to restart talks - South Korea lawmakers
6. Kim Jong Un’s Head Bandage Is Added to List of Health Mysteries
7. General executed for criticizing Kim’s grain order: report
8. Kim Yo Jong dismisses prospect of inter-Korean summit
9. Review: Thrilling ‘Escape from Mogadishu’ one of the best action films of the summer (north-South Korea)
10. Kim Yo-jong's Latest Remarks Not Published by N. Korean Domestic Outlets
11. Chinese boat detained by authorities after suspected North Korea activity
12. Korean Peninsula: Why is Pyongyang reaching out to Seoul?
13. Seoul: North Korea releases army rice reserves amid shortage
14. Restoration of inter-Korean liaison hotlines requested by Kim Jong-un: NIS
15. Blinken to urge ASEAN members to fully implement U.N. sanctions on N. Korea: State Dept.
16. Why Another ROK - North Korea Summit Won’t Change Anything
17. Moon vows to focus on response to virus, industrial revolution, climate change
18. North Korean State Media Released Video of an ICBM Launch—But Is It Real?
19. Kim Jong Un needs a wardrobe upgrade thanks to apparent weight loss
1. Ruling party reaffirms S. Korea-U.S. military exercises should go ahead
Some good news but as reports will show there are still split inthe ROKG.
Ruling party reaffirms S. Korea-U.S. military exercises should go ahead | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- The chief policymaker of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) reaffirmed Tuesday that South Korea and the United States should conduct joint military exercises this month as planned.
Rep. Park Wan-joo acknowledged in a meeting with reporters that there is a "minority opinion" within the party against the annual drills, but he said the issue does not warrant a plenary session of DP lawmakers.
"The party chairman stated the principle that it is correct to hold the South Korea-U.S. combined exercises within a broad framework, and that is the party's position," Park said in response to a question asking if it is the party's official position that the exercises should proceed.
A day earlier, five-term DP Rep. Sul Hoon called for postponing the drills in light of last week's restoration of inter-Korean communication lines.
The suggestion came a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister, Yo-jong, warned that the allied exercises could hurt inter-Korean ties.
Speaking at a party meeting Monday, DP Chairman Rep. Song Young-gil responded that the drills are not "hostile," as believed by Kim Yo-jong, but defensive in nature and meant to maintain peace.
He said they "have to proceed as planned."
North Korea has long condemned the drills as an invasion rehearsal despite repeated assurances from Seoul and Washington that their purpose is defensive.
hague@yna.co.kr
(END)
2. Ruling party split over North's objection to joint drill
I am happy there is support for the training among the ruling party. However the comments and assessment from the director of the NIS are really troubling. He clearly does not acknowledge the nature, objectives, and strategy of the Kim family regime. I have to believe the director of the NIS has been fully briefed on north Korea.
Some DP lawmakers, however, urged the government to delay the exercise. A group of 76 DP lawmakers including Rep. Sul Hoon held a press conference Sunday saying it was crucial for Seoul bring Pyongyang back to the bargaining table, asking governments of the South and the United States to delay the drill.
Park Jie-won, director of the National Intelligence Service, told the National Assembly on Tuesday that the government needs to show a flexible attitude.
After Park briefed the Intelligence Committee of the National Assembly, Rep. Kim Byung-kee of the DP said: “Park said he understands the importance of the Korea-U.S. joint exercise, but there is a need for flexibility in order to maintain the momentum of dialogue and the bigger picture of North Korea’s denuclearization.”
According to Kim, Park also said Pyongyang was sending a message that it will improve inter-Korean relations if Seoul and Washington stop the drill. “The North will pay attention to our response and Korea-U.S. consultation before making its next move,” Park said.
Tuesday
August 3, 2021
Ruling party split over North's objection to joint drill
Park Jie-won, director of the National Intelligence Service, speaks before the Intelligence Committee of the National Assembly on Tuesday. [YONHAP]
Leaders of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) said a joint military exercise with the U.S. must take place as planned, dismissing North Korea’s demand that the annual drill be canceled.
“The joint military exercise is a matter of the Korea-U.S. alliance,” Rep. Min Hong-chul, chairman of the National Assembly’s Defense Committee, said Tuesday in an interview with MBC radio. “It is also a matter of our sovereignty. We have conducted the joint exercise annually, and I believe we must proceed with it on principle.”
Min, a three-term lawmaker for the DP with decades-long experience as a military court judge, said a recent demand from Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, that the South cancel the joint military exercise was nothing more than a typical bullying tactic.
“I think the regime is facing serious hardships internally due to the Covid-19 pandemic and economic crisis,” Min said. “Her demand could be an attempt to resolve the hardships. The North is sending a signal to the South and the United States.”
Min said Seoul and Washington are preparing to conduct the joint military exercise as planned. “An announcement is yet to be made, but to my knowledge, military authorities of the South and the United States are preparing to push forward the plan,” he said.
According to Min, Seoul and Washington scheduled crisis management staff training (CMST) from Aug. 10 to 13, as a prelude to the summertime combined command post training (CCPT) scheduled from Aug. 16 to 26.
In this file photo, Korean and U.S. soldiers monitor the joint military exercise from an underground bunker in Korea. [U.S. Air Force]
On Sunday, Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the Central Committee of the North’s ruling Workers' Party, issued a lengthy statement, translated into English, complaining about the upcoming military drill. “Our government and army will closely follow whether the South Korean side stages hostile war exercises in August or makes other bold decision,” she said. “Hope or despair? Choice is not made by us.”
DP Chairman Song Young-gil also rejected Kim’s demand. “The upcoming exercise is not a hostile one as she described,” Song said Monday at a DP’s Supreme Council meeting. “The military exercise must take place as scheduled.”
Some DP lawmakers, however, urged the government to delay the exercise. A group of 76 DP lawmakers including Rep. Sul Hoon held a press conference Sunday saying it was crucial for Seoul bring Pyongyang back to the bargaining table, asking governments of the South and the United States to delay the drill.
Park Jie-won, director of the National Intelligence Service, told the National Assembly on Tuesday that the government needs to show a flexible attitude.
After Park briefed the Intelligence Committee of the National Assembly, Rep. Kim Byung-kee of the DP said: “Park said he understands the importance of the Korea-U.S. joint exercise, but there is a need for flexibility in order to maintain the momentum of dialogue and the bigger picture of North Korea’s denuclearization.”
According to Kim, Park also said Pyongyang was sending a message that it will improve inter-Korean relations if Seoul and Washington stop the drill. “The North will pay attention to our response and Korea-U.S. consultation before making its next move,” Park said.
“Based on various intelligence, the North’s dissatisfaction with the United States has snowballed because it stopped nuclear tests and intercontinental ballistic missile launches for the past three years, but received nothing in return,” Kim quoted Park as saying. “Lifting some sanctions on the North will resolve the trust issue and make talks possible. To this end, a flexible approach is recommended to the Korea-U.S. military exercise.”
In this March 30, 2015, file photo, marines of Korea, right, and the U.S aim their weapons near amphibious assault vehicles during Korea-U.S. joint landing military exercises as part of the annual joint military exercise Foal Eagle between the two countries in Pohang. Since 2018, the two countries stopped holding joint field exercises and replaced them with computer simulation drills from command posts. [AP]
Rep. Ha Tae-keung of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) criticized Park’s remarks. “The NIS has been reduced to an organ that receives an order from Kim Yo-jong,” Ha said.
He said the NIS's role is analyzing intelligence, not making policy decisions, criticizing Park for crossing the line by recommend the government delay the exercise.
BY SER MYO-JA [ser.myoja@joongang.co.kr]
3. ‘Moon should not cave to NK’s bullying’
My comments, among others, below.
I have to disagree with Harry Kazianis. Exercises should not be bargaining chips or concessions. We must maintain readiness or we risk the security of the ROK. And even if we chose to use them that way we would not get anything substantive in return front he north (we never have).
‘Moon should not cave to NK’s bullying’
Published : Aug 3, 2021 - 15:30 Updated : Aug 3, 2021 - 17:49
South Korean Marines take part in a Korea-US joint landing operation in this file photo dated 2017. (AP-Yonhap)
South Korea should not suspend military exercises with the US to rebuild ties with North Korea because Pyongyang is not interested in peace efforts like Seoul, experts said Tuesday.
On Sunday, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, warned Seoul against holding the drills, which Pyongyang routinely denounces as rehearsals for war. The South and US annually stage drills mainly in spring and summer to bolster readiness against the North.
A last-minute debate over whether to greenlight the August drills this year is underway as the South Korean government looks to pursue diplomacy with North Korea over recently reconnected hotlines that Pyongyang had asked to reopen. The North cut them off last year in protest of the South’s policy.
“We need to see her move for what it is: a bullying tactic meant to pressure the US-ROK alliance to once again delay a critical military exercise,” said Harry J. Kazianis, senior director of Korean studies at the Washington-based Center for the National Interest. The Republic of Korea is the South’s formal name.
Kazianis said North Korea has nothing to fear because the drills are computer-based war games rather than all-out field exercises, which have been suspended since 2019 after former US President Donald Trump halted them to save costs and facilitate North Korea’s denuclearization.
“The US and ROK have already given up most of their major field training exercises done each winter and summer and gotten almost nothing from North Korea in exchange,” said Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the US-based policy think tank Rand Corp.
North Korea has yet to solidify its commitment to abandon its nuclear arsenal as it promised in a series of inter-Korean summits that took off in April 2018, when the two neighbors agreed to make the Korean Peninsula nuclear-free.
Instead, Pyongyang severed all communication with Seoul and demolished an inter-Korean liaison office last year to protest Seoul’s handling of anti-North Korea activists who launched propaganda leaflets over the inter-Korean border. The South then introduced legislation that made the activity a crime.
“The Kim family regime’s political warfare strategy relies heavily on its blackmail diplomacy -- the use of increased tension, threats and provocations to gain political and economic concessions,” said David Maxwell, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington.
Kim Yo-jong’s warning on the drills, which came just a week after North Korea reopened the communication lines it had left unattended despite South Korea’s yearlong outreach to restore them, demonstrates a unique North Korean strategy.
“It conducts provocations for specific objectives. It does not represent a policy failure on our part,” Maxwell said, noting South Korea and the US should not be held responsible for the pattern of North Korean tactics.
Experts said Seoul and Washington should have a quid pro quo deal with Pyongyang if the drills were to get pushed back or skipped altogether.
“The bottom line is Washington and Seoul should get something in return for such a concession. We can’t come to heel every time Kim Yo-jong asks -- that would be a mistake,” Kazianis said.
4. Kim Yo-jong causes internal conflicts in South over joint military drill with US
Yep. Not only does the regime want to split the ROK/US alliance it wants to subvert the ROK political system. The alliance should be working to marginalize and undermine Kim Yo-jong's propaganda. Instead our reactions to it only reinforces the regime's perceived value of its political warfare strategy.
Kim Yo-jong causes internal conflicts in South over joint military drill with US
Ruling Democratic Party of Korea Chairman Rep. Song Young-gil, center, speaks during a meeting of the party's Supreme Council at the National Assembly in Seoul. Yonhap
Politicians, government bodies express different stances over joint exercises
By Jung Da-min
The government is experiencing an internal divide over the joint summertime military exercises between Seoul and Washington, following a warning from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's powerful sister that they would damage inter-Korean relations.
Opinions are divided even within the ruling party and different government departments, over whether to delay, cancel or scale down the regular exercises or to go ahead with them as originally planned from the middle of the month.
Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un / YonhapThe controversy emerged after Kim's sister, Kim Yo-jong, issued a statement, Sunday, saying the drills would be "an undesirable prelude" undermining peace efforts by North Korean leader Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
Her warning came only five days after the two Koreas restored communication hotlines after 13 months of severed relations, raising expectations for an improvement in inter-Korean ties and the recommencement of denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington.
Since the restoration of the hotlines, some high-ranking government officials and members of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) have claimed that the South should postpone or cancel the exercises to keep momentum for engagement with the North. But such claims have faced opposition not only from the country's conservative opposition but also among some members of the liberal bloc as well, especially after Kim Yo-jong's statement.
DPK Chairman Rep. Song Young-gil, the head of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, said the summertime drills were not hostile military actions but rather defensive ones to keep the peace on the Korean Peninsula, adding holding them was necessary for the South Korean military's plan to acquire wartime operational control of its armed forces from the U.S.
"We are not conducting large-scale exercises with the mobilization of troops, and we are preparing the exercises in accordance with the COVID-19 pandemic situation and the peace process on the Korean Peninsula. It is joint command post training without any actual mobilization of troops and is conducted through computer simulations," Song said during a meeting of the DPK's Supreme Council, Monday.
But five-term DPK lawmaker Sul Hoon, a member of the Assembly National Defense Committee, said it was time for a "flexible" response to fully restore dialogue momentum between the Koreas, proposing the postponement of the drills.
"In order to create a new inflection point in inter-Korean relations and to prevent the spread of COVID-19, it is desirable to postpone the exercises. There is no need to forcefully conduct the joint drills when the pandemic situation is worsening," Sul said in his Facebook the same day.
Government bodies have shown different positions as well. Unification ministry officials are advocating a delay saying the exercises should not raise military tensions on the peninsula. But the defense ministry maintains that the governments of the South and the U.S. will decide on the drills.
The opposition criticized Kim Yo-jong's statement and the Moon government's stance, saying it has been submissive to Pyongyang.
"The Moon administration keeps silent again to Kim Yo-jong's demand to cancel the South Korea-U.S. joint military drills. Since when did Kim Yo-jong become South Korea's commander-in-chief?" main opposition People Power Party (PPP) member Yoo Seong-min wrote on Facebook.
The PPP has criticized the government for doing everything that Kim Yo-jong has demanded, including establishing a law to ban anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns late last year after she slammed the campaigns and the North blew up the inter-Korean joint liaison office in Gaeseong in protest.
North Korea watchers said the sister of the North Korean leader has achieved what she intended with her latest statement ― causing internal conflict not just between South Korea and the U.S. but among South Korean politicians.
"Kim Yo-jong knows that the militaries of South Korea and the U.S. will carry out the joint exercises as planned starting mid-August. But what she intended through her statement was to bring about internal conflict among South Korean politicians," said Moon Sung-mook, a senior researcher at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy.
5. North Korea wants US to allow fuel, metal trade to restart talks - South Korea lawmakers
A correct assessment from the NIS. The regime has been trying to shape the information environment since the Biden Administration came into office so that it can make these demands and gain the political and economic concessions it needs. We should not forget that sanctions do not prohibit food, medical, or other humanitarian aid. It is Kim Jong-un's deliberate decision making that is the cause of the suffering of the Korean people living in the north. He prioritizes nuclear weapons over the welfare of the people.
Excerpts:
North Korea wants international sanctions banning its metal exports and imports of refined fuel and other necessities lifted in order to restart denuclearization talks with the United States, South Korean lawmakers said on Tuesday.
The North has also demanded the easing of sanctions on its imports of luxury goods to be able to bring in fine liquors and suits, the lawmakers said after being briefed by South Korea's main intelligence agency.
North Korea wants US to allow fuel, metal trade to restart talks - South Korea lawmakers
This handout image obtained on July 30, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Justice, shows oil tanker M/T Courageous docked in an undisclosed location and date. - A U.S. federal court on July 30 ordered the seizure of an oil tanker suspected of making deliveries to North Korea in violation of U.S. sanctions against Pyongyang. AFP-Yonhap
North Korea wants international sanctions banning its metal exports and imports of refined fuel and other necessities lifted in order to restart denuclearization talks with the United States, South Korean lawmakers said on Tuesday.
The North has also demanded the easing of sanctions on its imports of luxury goods to be able to bring in fine liquors and suits, the lawmakers said after being briefed by South Korea's main intelligence agency.
The briefing came a week after the two Koreas restored hotlines that North Korea suspended a year ago.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have shared a willingness to rebuild trust and improve ties since April, and Kim had asked to reconnect the hotlines, the lawmakers said.
They also said North Korea was in need of some 1 million tons of rice, as its economy was battered by the coronavirus pandemic and bad weather last year. (Reuters)
6. Kim Jong Un’s Head Bandage Is Added to List of Health Mysteries
Kim Jong Un’s Head Bandage Is Added to List of Health Mysteries
August 3, 2021, 12:43 AM EDT Updated on August 3, 2021, 4:00 AM EDT
- Bandage visible in images release by North Korean media
- South Korea spy agency sees no unusual signs about his health
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un has appeared in recent days with a bandage about the size of a few postage stamps on the back of his head, in the latest episode to stoke speculation about the reclusive leader’s health.
The bandage was visible in state media images when Kim appeared at a Korean People’s Army event from July 24 to 27, according to NK News site and the Chosun Ilbo newspaper. There were also images at events in late July in which the bandage was gone and a dark greenish spot was visible, they said, citing a review of North Korean state media.
While the leader’s health is one of the mostly closely guarded secrets in North Korea, it has allowed rare glimpses into the 37-year-old leader’s condition as he tries to revive the economy and battles food shortages. State propaganda for decades has portrayed the supreme leaders as being so people-focused that they risk their own well-being.
In June, state media cited a citizen as saying North Koreans broke down in tears over seeing a dramatically thinner Kim, who returned to the public eye cutting a much thinner figure after being absent for most of May.
Kim keeps his hair shaved below the level of his temple, making it difficult to hide any blemishes on the back of his head. By releasing the images to the outside world, North Korea provided fodder for spy agencies looking for clues on Kim’s health.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service believes there have been no unusual signs regarding Kim’s health, the Yonhap News Agency reported Tuesday. It cited lawmakers who had been briefed by the spy agency, which added the patch was removed after a few days and there was no scar.
NK News, a specialty service focusing on the country, said there was no mark on the back of Kim’s head in photos released by state media when he attended a July 11 event with musicians, adding the leader likely spent time after that at a beachfront mansion in Wonsan.
After a prolonged absence last year that raised concern about the stability of his regime, Kim emerged for a May Day 2020 event at a fertilizer factory with marks on his wrists that fueled speculation he may have had a medical procedure.
Kim -- overweight and a smoker -- has been the subject of health speculation for years. His longest absence from the public eye was six weeks in 2014. When he did reappear, he was walking with a cane, raising speculation he could be suffering from gout.
His grandfather and state founder Kim Il Sung had an almost tennis ball-sized growth on the back of his neck, which was caught in photographs on international trips over the years. His propaganda machine made sure it was never shown to his public.
Kim Jong Un is facing one of the most difficult periods of his rule that started in late 2011. The economy in 2020 posted its sharpest drop in more than two decades due to the coronavirus, natural disasters and international sanctions, according to South Korean central bank data released last week. Gross domestic product was smaller last year than when Kim took over, it said.
North Korea is demanding permission to export minerals as well as import refined oil and other essentials as prerequisites for reviving dialogue with the U.S., South Korean spy agency officials told lawmakers, according to Yonhap. Some of those essentials included fine liquor and suits, they said.
Pyongyang’s recent warning against upcoming joint U.S.-South Korea military drills shows it’s willing to take some corresponding measure if the exercises are halted, the spy agency said. Kim Jong Un’s sister cautioned this week the drills could jeopardize talks with Seoul, a move that reinforced worries North Korea might use South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s desire for dialogue to try to force him to break with the U.S.
The North Korean leader in recent months has issued rare warnings of economic struggles and food shortages but so far has shown no indication he’s willing to return to discussions on reducing his nuclear arsenal in return for economic incentives.
(Updates with details from spy agency.)
7. General executed for criticizing Kim’s grain order: report
Bradley Martin provides his assessment on the recent Daily NK report on this execution.
The general was a logistician. He was trained in the Supply Sergeant school of logistics which is based on the response to all requests for supply: "I cannot give you the last roll of toilet paper because then I would not have any in stock." (No disrespect to real supply sergeants as I have had some great ones over the years who have taken great care of our soldiers)
General executed for criticizing Kim’s grain order: report
Top general killed for reportedly saying North Korean leader's military granaries distribution order was 'ignorant of reality'
The organization, which keeps in touch with people inside North Korea, quoted one of its sources there as saying: “The major general in charge of the logistics headquarters of Training Camp 815 was court-martialed and shot on July 18 after he criticized Kim’s special order as ‘an order ignorant of reality.'”
On July 22, the regime notified “military officers ranked department head and above” of the punishment in a warning message that included “detailed recent examples of ‘stern judgments'” in other cases, DailyNK’s source said.
The notification said that after receiving the special order from the ruling party, the commander “indiscreetly” complained that “military granaries are facing more serious problems than the food [shortage] issue facing the people.”
He also reportedly said: “If they’re going to squeeze us while remaining ignorant of the situation in lower-level rear areas, from where on earth are we going to produce all that rice, not sand from the river bed?”
By criticizing Kim’s supposedly insufficient sense of reality, he basically became a “sectarian” in the view of the authorities …
[B]y punishing cadres, Kim seemingly intends to turn attention away from his own loss of face in ordering “three months of food provisions” without first ascertaining the state of military food stocks. This means Kim plans to minimize risk by turning the situation into a political and ideological issue regarding the military’s logistics commanders …
Regarding the joint investigation by the military’s Political Guidance Department and Military Security Command, the source noted emerging criticism that stores of military supplies “have been empty since the time of Kim Jong Il” [Jong Un’s father and predecessor as leader] and “it’s a bigger problem that the government is starting to get a grip on conditions on the ground only now, 10 years after Kim Jong Un took power.”
DailyNK in an earlier article had reported that “food shops recently established by the North Korean government to control the supply and price of rice have little or no rice to sell.” Those shops were supposed to sell the rice from the military storehouses.
This undated picture released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on December 4, 2019, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visiting a vegetable greenhouse farm and a tree nursery in Jungphyong in Kyongsong County, North Hamgyong Province. Photo: AFP via KCNA and KNS / South Korea OUT / Stringer
Once again swallowing their pride: “North Korean authorities have reportedly established plans to accept food aid – should the international community offer it – and sell it to locals through the state food shops,” that article reported. It continued:
In a Voluntary National Review (VNR) to the United Nations High-level Political Forum (HLPF) on July 13, North Korea said its plan to produce seven million tons of grain faces problems. It confessed that grain production had plummeted to the lowest level in a decade, since the country produced just 4.95 million tons in 2018.
A high-ranking source claimed that North Korea revealed its domestic food situation through the UN after deciding to accept international food aid.
Within the Workers’ Party, some have reportedly argued that if the country were to cheaply sell rice and corn received as international food aid through the state food shops, it could kill several birds with one stone: rice prices would stabilize, the state’s hurting finances would be bolstered, and the government would be provided a propaganda boost for supplying food to its people.
Pyongyang may energetically move forward on the rice aid issue given these potential benefits. However, it appears likely the government will not accept food aid from organizations or governments that demand monitoring of the aid’s distribution.
Depending on the donor, the foreign monitors in previous food crises often sought to prevent the distribution of donated food to the military.
How bad is the situation? “More and more locals are suffering malnutrition,” Daily NK in a still-earlier story quoted a source as saying, “and some people are even starving in certain areas. If the closure of the border and market controls continue under the guise of coronavirus quarantine efforts, even people with excellent survival skills will have a tough time getting through this.”
Other news outlets with sources inside the country agree that the situation has become desperate.
“Last Resort: Urban Poor Flee to Farming Villages to Beg for Food” is the headline on an article published by Osaka-based AsiaPress/Rimjingang, which teaches reporting to North Koreans who travel outside the country and sends them back home with Chinese cellphones with which they can pass along their reports.
And it’s clear that, in case you’re a starving North Korean, it’s not a smart move to get sent to prison in the hopes of being fed. “Death of Two North Korean Prisoners Highlights Starvation Diets” is the headline of one recent article by US-funded Radio Free Asia, another news outlet that deals directly with North Korean news sources.
Freight cars stopped on a line at Dandong Station in Liaoning Province, China, on July 4. Overland commerce between China and North Korea has been at a near halt. North Korea has put severe limits on trade over concerns about letting in the novel coronavirus, but worsening food shortages seem to have forced a change of tack. Photo: AFP / Daisuke Kawase / The Yomiuri Shimbun
Several experts outside of Korea told RFA that Pyongyang’s motive for restoring communications was open to debate.
“We know and have seen reporting on North Korea’s dire food situation brought on by the pandemic. While we can’t pinpoint Pyongyang’s motivation for restoring the communication lines to the food situation, it’s certainly a possibility,” analyst Soo Kim of the California-based Rand Corporation’s told RFA.
“Kim’s foolish pride is a hindrance to directly appealing for international aid. But he knows that the current South Korean government is unlikely to turn a blind eye to the North’s humanitarian situation. By opening the door to ‘communication’ with Seoul, Kim may be indirectly appealing for assistance from the South,” she said.
Seoul could and probably, under Moon, would provide both food aid and Covid vaccines – perhaps the Russian Sputnik version, manufactured under license in South Korea.
In one sad story from RFA, we learn that a North Korean diplomat’s wife died in Vladivostok because her mission couldn’t afford to have her vaccinated.
Meanwhile, here comes the international cavalry to the rescue. “Concerns are mounting over the food security situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, due to strained access and the potential impact of trade limitations, which may lead to food gaps,” said the United Nations’ latest outlook report.
Bradley K. Martin is the author of Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty.
8. Kim Yo Jong dismisses prospect of inter-Korean summit
The bad cop continues to play her role well. And this increase in tension works well in support of blackmail diplomacy simply because a duty officer has picked up the phone on the north side of Panmunjom for the past few days. That phone call raised hopes and expectations to unrealistic highs in South Korea. There will be more whiplash in Korean relations.
Kim Yo Jong dismisses prospect of inter-Korean summit
Posted August. 03, 2021 07:13,
Updated August. 03, 2021 07:13
Kim Yo Jong dismisses prospect of inter-Korean summit. August. 03, 2021 07:13. .
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, issued a statement on Sunday warning that joint military exercises between Seoul and Washington will be an unpleasant prelude and cloud the future of inter-Korean relations. She further claimed that there had been no discussion on the scale or format of joint exercises, saying the North will closely monitor whether the South will stage hostile war exercises or make a bolder decision, calling for a suspension or a halt of the joint drills. Such pressure came after a consensus has been built between South Korea and the United States that the two allies will cut the scale of the drills to the level of those in the first half this year.
Pyongyang’s pressure to cancel the annual military exercises was on the cards as the inter-Korean communication hotline was restored last week. The latest statement from the North is no surprise given that the joint drills are a perennial bone of contention for them; this time it was the South that ignited the fission. Merely three days after the restoration of hotline, a high-ranking official from the South Korean Unification Ministry made it official that Seoul considers it desirable to postpone the exercises. There is also a chance that the letters exchanged between the two Koreas served as a conduit of communication between the two heads of state.
Kim Yo Jong also cast doubts on the possibility of the fourth inter-Korean summit meeting, calling it “hasty,” adding making speculation and groundless interpretation will only lead to disappointment. After all, the restoration of hotline was nothing more than a bait for the South seeking to rebuild rapport. But the Unification Ministry was quick to bite the bait to announce postponement, prompting Pyongyang to fume and demand cancellation.
The government appears flustered after Kim’s statement was released. On Sunday, an official from the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae tried to shrug it off, saying nothing has been decided yet. Even leaders of the ruling party and the National Defense Commission weighed in, saying, “It must proceed as scheduled.” This not only reveals the internal discords in the South but lays bare the cacophony within the ruling party. The United States, the joint participant and the organizer of the joint drills, is casting doubts to its ally, keeping the stance that this is a matter that needs to be settled down between the two countries concerned.
Over the last three years, the ROK-US joint military drills have been reduced to command post exercises without maneuvers on a large scale. Already perfunctory, the joint drills might be terminated for good if canceled by Pyongyang’s demand. Military is a means for diplomacy; sometimes it requires flexibility. But even as we speak, the North is bent on producing and stocking up on nuclear materials, refusing to have any sort of denuclearization talks.
9. Review: Thrilling ‘Escape from Mogadishu’ one of the best action films of the summer (north-South Korea)
I am looking forward to seeing this. But not because it may be a good action film. I want to assess it for its propaganda for use in the north. And of course a little known chapter in north-South history.
Review: Thrilling ‘Escape from Mogadishu’ one of the best action films of the summer
A scene from the South Korean film 'Escape from Mogadishu'
Photo: WellGo USA
Most American moviegoers probably know very little about the collapse of Somalia into unrest and civil war in the early ‘90s and what they do know, they learned from Ridley Scott’s “Black Hawk Down.” Now, they can add South Korean filmmaker Ryoo Seung-wan’s thrilling “Escape from Mogadishu” to that very short list.
Based on an actual incident and set against the backdrop of East African geo-politics — in which both North Korea and South Korea were involved in the region for their own selfish ends — “Escape from Mogadishu” is a tense look at how sly political maneuvering, power games and spycraft, when mixed with a disregard for the local citizens among whom they work, can devolve into a political horror movie with those who think they’re in control running for their lives. “Escape from Mogadishu” is “Argo” and the fall of Saigon set on African soil.
In 1990, South Korea wanted desperately to join the UN and, since many of the countries that would have to vote on their admission were in Africa, the country launched a campaign to woo local leaders, including Somalian dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. The film opens with a group of officials from the South Korean embassy — including Kang Dae-jin (Jo In-sung, “The Great Battle”) and Han Sin-seong (Kim Yoon-seok) — on their way to bring a small gift to Barre. On the other side, the North Koreans — such as officials Rim Yong-su (Huh Joon-ho, “Default,” “Kingdom”) and Tae Joon-ki (Koo Kyo-hwan, “Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula”) — are trying to thwart South Korea at every turn. In response, the South Koreans accused the North Koreans of selling arms to the rebels.
But as Somalia slid deeper into civil war and anarchy, and both the government, the rebels and ordinary Somalians started to turn on foreigners in general, it became clear that the time was up for the gamesmanship that had served the interest of the two Koreas in the past. There was only one option left for the ambassadors and embassy employees: get out.
That’s the basic narrative drive of the propulsive “Escape from Mogadishu” as both sets of Korean diplomats and their families — cut off from communications and supplies — have to plot how to get out of a country in which a large share of the populace suddenly wants them dead. Do they put aside their differences to help each other or cling to their long-held animosity?
The question makes for an involving and suspenseful action-thriller that Ryoo Seung-wan handles with flair, capably staging big action scenes — like the final, nerve-rattling drive to potential salvation — while not neglecting the human stories at their heart. Don’t be surprised if Hollywood comes knocking on Seung-wan’s door in a big way. (He makes the most of the Moroccan locations and the film’s reported $20 million budget.)
‘Escape from Mogadishu’
Rated TV-14
Running time: 121 minutes
Language: In Korean with English subtitles
Where: Cinemark Memorial City, Houston; AMC Fountains 18, Stafford
**** (out of 5)
“Escape from Mogadishu” is told from South Korea’s point of view — the only reference to the U.S. is that we’re told the Americans diplomats packed up and got out of town much earlier — and that’s refreshing in one sense. But that still means the Somalians are reduced to being just a mass of corruption and violence, with few distinguishing characteristics. They might as well be zombies with automatic weapons. Maybe one day we’ll get a movie about this conflict a Somalian’s viewpoint.
Still, on its own terms, “Escape from Mogadishu” makes for an engrossing, nail-biting Korean history lesson.
cary.darling@chron.com
Cary Darling joined the Houston Chronicle in 2017 where he writes about arts, entertainment and pop culture, with an emphasis on film and media. Originally from Los Angeles and a graduate of Loyola Marymount University, he has been a features reporter or editor at the Orange County Register, Miami Herald, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. In addition, he has freelanced for a number of publications including the Los Angeles Times and Dallas Morning News.
10. Kim Yo-jong's Latest Remarks Not Published by N. Korean Domestic Outlets
Then her remarks were clearly meant for the ROK and US. But if we cancel or postpone the training they will surely be broadcast to the domestic audience to show the success of the regime's blackmail diplomacy and the "strength and power " of the regime.
Kim Yo-jong's Latest Remarks Not Published by N. Korean Domestic Outlets
Written: 2021-08-02 15:13:23 / Updated: 2021-08-02 15:15:07
Photo : YONHAP News
As of Monday noon, North Korea has yet to report to its own people the latest remarks by leader Kim Jong-un's sister on how Pyongyang will closely watch whether the South Korea-U.S. joint drill will take place.
Kim Yo-jong issued the warning on Sunday, saying the drill will cloud the future of inter-Korean relations.
This is in contrast to March when the North's domestic media outlets such as Korean Central Television and ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun published Kim's statement criticizing the South Korea-U.S. springtime exercise.
The difference may reflect Pyongyang's intent to observe the situation further before lashing out, especially as cross-border communication lines were reconnected just last week after being cut off for more than a year.
The North's Korean Central News Agency earlier said the restoration will play a positive role in improving and developing inter-Korean relations.
In the past, North Korea has also opted not to report its stance on South Korea or U.S.-related matters apparently to make room for diplomatic adjustments in response to the changing environment. However the regime has always been adamant on the issue of anti-Pyongyang leaflets, condemning them as unacceptable.
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11. Chinese boat detained by authorities after suspected North Korea activity
Illegal fishing or illicit support to north Korea? I think north Korea has been providing "licenses" to Chinese fishing vessels to generate funds.
Chinese boat detained by authorities after suspected North Korea activity
By Elizabeth Shim
Aug. 2 (UPI) -- South Korean authorities handed over to the Chinese coast guard a Chinese fishing vessel suspected of operating illegally in North Korean waters.
Seoul's Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries said Monday that the apprehended ship was transferred to China Saturday, Yonhap reported.
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The 290-ton vessel "Yodaneo 26013" is a fishing trawler that operated at least two trawl nets simultaneously. The boat included 84 crewmembers and entered North Korean waters on June 22, South Korean authorities said.
South Korea tracked the Chinese boat over a distance of more than 1,000 miles before apprehending it, according to JoongAng Ilbo on Monday.
The fishing boat first was detected in waters near the South Korean island of Ulleungdo on the eastern coast June 17, according to the report.
Chinese boats fishing in North Korean waters are in violation of international sanctions. United Nations Security Council Resolution 2371 bans all North Korean exports of seafood. State-managed exports are suspected of financing the regime's nuclear weapons program.
South Korea did not take action against the vessel for 15 days until Saturday because the Chinese boat has the right of passage in South Korean waters. No action can be taken until a boat begins fishing operations in South Korean waters, the report said.
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The Chinese trawler attempted to return to the North after the South notified Chinese authorities Saturday. Seoul's fisheries ministry deployed boats to block the fleeing trawler before it was transferred to China, according to Yonhap.
Lim Tae-ho, director of the Guidance and Negotiation Division at the South's fisheries ministry, said the purpose of detaining the boat was to prevent illegal activity.
The preponderance of Chinese boats in North Korea is believed to be driving the depletion of regional squid stock, Lim said.
Last year, Global Fishing Watch, composed of a team of scientists based in South Korea, Japan, Australia and the United States, said thousands of Chinese vessels were engaging in "clandestine fishing" in the North, depleting stock and catching more than half a billion dollars' worth of squid.
12. Korean Peninsula: Why is Pyongyang reaching out to Seoul?
Four words: Political Warfare Blackmail Diplomacy.
I hate to beat the dead horse but I will. And I concur with the succinct statement in the subtitle.
Korean Peninsula: Why is Pyongyang reaching out to Seoul? | DW | 02.08.2021
South Korea appears keen to help its belligerent neighbor — but critics warn that the North has little to offer in return, has no intention of giving up its nuclear stockpile and has a habit of breaking its promises.
DW · by Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com)
The North reopened links, which had been shut down since June 2020, at 10 a.m. on July 27, with a comment by the state-run Korean Central News Agency declaring: "The restoration of the communication liaison lines will have positive effects on the improvement and development of North-South relations."
The first indication in more than a year that the North was willing to talk was met with delight in Seoul. South Korean President Moon Jae-in has staked his political legacy on building better ties with Pyongyang in the remaining months of his administration.
Ministries were quick to dust off proposals on areas where the two sides might be able to initially make progress. The South has reiterated that it is willing to support the reconstruction of the North's rail and road infrastructure, restart joint tourism projects north of the DMZ and resume reunions of families divided since the end of the war nearly 70 years ago, initially by video link.
Watch video 03:02
Is North Korea just posturing?
Prudence and realism
Despite the surge of optimism in the South, analysts are cautioning prudence and realism.
Experts warn the North has a well-established habit of promising restraint and better ties with the rest of the world in return for assistance, only to go back on its word as soon as it has taken delivery of the aid.
"It's an open secret that the situation in the North is very bad at the moment," said Robert Dujarric, co-director of the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies at the Tokyo campus of Temple University.
"They closed their own borders to keep the virus out, but there are credible reports of shortages of food, medicines, fuel and other necessities," he added.
"I would suggest that by reopening the communications links, they hope they will be able to get money and food or medical supplies," he said.
"Unfortunately for Kim, they do not have much to offer to the US and the Biden administration will be very aware that the governments before him all tried very hard to reach deals with the North, but that they never turned out to be productive," he told DW.
Watch video 02:02
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North Korea warns US
Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3srJl
North Korea accuses US of hostile intent
A spokesman for the US State Department described the reopening of the link as "a positive step" to reporters in Washington. "Diplomacy and dialogue are essential to achieving complete denuclearization and to establishing permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula," he said.
No surrender of nuclear weapons
But Dujarric and other analysts say there is little likelihood of Kim abandoning nuclear weapons that have taken billions of dollars and decades to build. There may be some small-scale developments, but Dujarric anticipates that Kim will demand too much and offer too little in return.
The primary reason for the North's apparent demonstration of a desire for better ties with its neighbor are worsening reports of hunger, with UN agencies warning that the nation's already strained food situation will deteriorate further in the coming four months.
North Korea is facing a shortage of around 860,000 tons of foodstuffs, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program.
Kim has so far resisted appealing to the international community for assistance and merely called on his citizens to tighten their belts. Reaching out indicates that the regime has recognized the severity of the situation.
There are almost certainly other considerations behind the maneuver. South Korea goes to the polls for a general election next spring and the North hopes that by demonstrating a willingness to talk, the public might be elect another liberal leader who will continue to try to build bridges, rather than electing a more hawkish conservative.
Watch video 01:57
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Blinken visits Seoul
Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3qpSB
Blinken urges China to persuade N. Korea to denuclearize
The North may also simultaneously be attempting to influence the South's security policies.
Pyongyang has been successful in convincing the Moon administration to dramatically scale down or cancel outright joint military exercises with the US over the last four years and is attempting to do the same again.
An official of the South Korean Unification Ministry on Friday proposed that joint drills scheduled for later this month be delayed to enable "engagement with the North," the JoongAng Daily reported.
South Korea-US security rift
A side effect of the debate on the drills that is beneficial to the North is the creation of a deeper rift between South Korea and the US, whose military is known to be very concerned at the gradual degradation of its abilities on the Korean Peninsula as a result of not being able to carry out regular exercises.
Yet, others in the South — including some who admit they do not trust the government in North Korea — say any opportunity for better relations with their neighbors need to be seized.
"I would not say we should trust them completely, but it is possible that Kim is hoping for another summit as well as food and other aid," she said. "If we want to see progress in our relationship with the North, we have to do something. We can provide food and vaccines, but we need to rebuild this relationship and the first step is through dialogue."
DW · by Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com)
13. Seoul: North Korea releases army rice reserves amid shortage
I wonder how much corrupt military officials and brokers are really charging for the rice (if any is really being "released.")?
Seoul: North Korea releases army rice reserves amid shortage
AP · by HYUNG-JIN KIM · August 3, 2021
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea is releasing emergency military rice reserves as its food shortage worsens, South Korea’s spy agency said Tuesday, with a heat wave and drought reducing the country’s supply.
North Korea’s reported food problems come as its moribund economy continues to be battered by the protracted COVID-19 pandemic. While mass starvation and social chaos have not been reported, observers expect a further deterioration of North Korea’s food situation until the autumn harvest.
Seoul’s National Intelligence Service told a closed-door parliamentary committee meeting that North Korea is supplying rice reserved for wartime use to citizens with little food, other laborers and rural state agencies, according to Ha Tae-keung, one of the lawmakers who attended the session.
Ha cited the NIS as saying an ongoing heat wave and drought have wiped out rice, corn and other crops and killed livestock in North Korea. The NIS said North Korea’s leadership views fighting the drought as “a matter of national existence” and is focusing on increasing public awareness of its campaign, Ha said.
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Another lawmaker, Kim Byung-kee, quoted the NIS as saying that North Korea normally needs about 5.5 million tons of food to feed its 26 million people but is currently short 1 million tons. He said the NIS told the lawmakers that North Korea is running out of its grain stockpiles.
The price of rice, the most important crop in North Korea, once doubled from early this year. The price briefly stabilized in July before soaring again, Kim cited the NIS as saying.
Ha said North Korea is trying to control the price of grains to which its public is most sensitive.
Kwon Tae-jin, an expert at the private GS&J Institute in South Korea, said North Korea is likely releasing the military reserves to sell at a cheaper price than at markets to stabilize prices. He said rice prices are “considerably unstable” in North Korea because the government has a limit in how much rice it can supply.
It isn’t the first time that North Korea has released state rice reserves, but the assessment that it doesn’t have much left in its grain stockpiles is worrisome, Kwon said.
North Korea had similar food shortages in past years before the pandemic, according to Kwon, but its needs were met by the smuggling of rice and other grains via its porous border with China. But North Korea’s ongoing pandemic-caused border closure makes it extremely difficult for such smuggling to happen, worsening this year’s food shortage, Kwon said.
The NIS has a spotty record in confirming developments in North Korea, one of the world’s most secretive countries. But its current assessments come after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un admitted his country faces the “worst-ever” crisis due to the pandemic and other difficulties and even a possible dire food shortage.
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During a key ruling party meeting in June, Kim urged officials to find ways to boost agricultural production, saying the country’s food situation “is now getting tense.” Earlier, he even compared the ongoing pandemic-related difficulties to a 1990s famine that killed hundreds of thousands of people.
Chinese data show North Korea’s trade with China, its last major ally and biggest trading partner, nosedived by about 80% last year — a result of the North’s strict border closure. South Korea’s central bank said last week that North Korea’s economy is estimated to have shrunk 4.5% last year, the biggest contraction since 1997.
Kwon said North Korea’s current food problem will continue until it harvests corn, rice and other grains in autumn. But he said North Korea isn’t likely to suffer a humanitarian disaster like the 1990s famine, during which he said there was grain remaining at most markets. Currently, North Korean citizens can still buy grain at expensive prices if they have money, he said.
Other experts say China isn’t likely to allow a massive famine to occur in North Korea. They say China worries about North Korean refugees flooding over the border into China or the establishment of a pro-U.S., unified Korea on its doorstep.
According to the NIS, North Korea wants the United States to relax some of the newer U.N. sanctions imposed over its high-profile weapons tests as a precondition for returning to talks on its nuclear program. They are bans on exporting mineral resources and importing refined oil and high-end liquors and suits. Kim Jong Un, in particular, needs those liquors and suits to distribute to elites in North Korea, Ha cited the NIS as saying.
The two lawmakers said the NIS also believes there is no indication that Kim Jong Un has a health issue, following recent photos that appeared to show a bandage on the back of his head. The NIS said Kim has been actively making public appearances and his movements have appeared normal.
AP · by HYUNG-JIN KIM · August 3, 2021
14. Restoration of inter-Korean liaison hotlines requested by Kim Jong-un: NIS
An interesting development, if accurate.
He probably said, "Please call me so I can conduct my blackmail diplomacy with you."
(LEAD) Restoration of inter-Korean liaison hotlines requested by Kim Jong-un: NIS | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES with more details in paras 6-7, 14)
SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- The recent restoration of long-severed communication hotlines between Seoul and Pyongyang was initiated at a request by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, South Korea's spy agency said in a parliamentary briefing Tuesday.
"(The restoration) was what Chairman Kim Jong-un requested," the National Intelligence Service (NIS) was quoted by Kim Byung-kee and Ha Tae-keung, senior members of the parliamentary intelligence committee, as saying during a parliamentary briefing.
A week earlier, Cheong Wa Dae announced that the two Koreas reopened direct cross-border liaison hotlines and were resuming inter-Korean communications. The liaison hotlines were disconnected by the North about 13 months ago in protest of propaganda leaflets coming in from the South.
"Through the (reconnected) communication lines, South and North Korea are regularly talking on the phone twice every day," the NIS was quoted as saying during the briefing.
"Since April, the two leaders, through two rounds of letter exchanges, have expressed commitment to recovering trust and improving relations between the two Koreas," the NIS also said of the background of the recent decision to resume inter-Korean communication.
The resumption also reflects the North's "expectations for our government to play a role in reviving North Korea-U.S. relations in the future," according to the spy agency.
The North is currently demanding permission to export minerals, and import refined oil and other living essentials as prerequisites for reviving dialogue with Washington, it said.
The spy agency also said a recent warning by the North against joint South Korea-U.S. military drills may indicate the country's willingness to advance inter-Korean ties in return for a halt to the joint military exercises.
"(NIS) assesses that the North displayed its intention to take corresponding measures regarding inter-Korean relations if South Korea and the U.S. suspend their joint military drills," according to the spy agency.
Issuing a statement Sunday, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim, warned that annual summertime military drills between Seoul and Washington will cloud the future of inter-Korean relations.
South Korea and the U.S. are expected to hold their annual summertime joint military exercise later this month, though Seoul's defense ministry earlier said when and how to stage the exercise have not been decided yet.
Adding to the analysis, NIS Director Park Jie-won said the government needs to review ways to "flexibly" handle the joint exercise for the sake of the broader cause of denuclearizing the North, effectively suggesting the suspension of the annual drills.
The spy agency also brushed off speculation about Kim's health, raised over a recent photo showing medical plaster on the back of his head, saying, "We assess there are no signs indicating ill health."
The communist country's trade volume with China came to US$65.75 million in the first half of this year, down 84 percent from a year earlier as the country operated its industrial facilities at 25 percent capacity last year due to suspended coal exports and a shortage of raw materials, it added.
pbr@yna.co.kr
(END)
15. Blinken to urge ASEAN members to fully implement U.N. sanctions on N. Korea: State Dept.
Excellent. This is the right response to north Korea's clal to lift sanctions. We need aggressive international support for sanctions enforcement.
And for those who advocate sanctions relief in return for a hope, promise, and prayer that Kim would negotiate I ask which malign behaviors of the regime would you like to condone when you lift sanctions without full compliance of the north? Nuclear and missile programs? Proliferation of weapons and training? Global Illicit activities? Cyber attacks? Overseas slave labor and human rights abuses and crimes against humanity being committed against the Korean people living in the north? When you call for sanctions please include your malign activity(ies) of choice that you would like to condone. Sanctions should not be bargaining chips. The international community has decided north Korean activities are wrong and cannot be tolerated.
(LEAD) Blinken to urge ASEAN members to fully implement U.N. sanctions on N. Korea: State Dept. | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES with remarks from a State Department official in paras 5-7)
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to call for full implementation of U.N. Security Council sanctions on North Korea when he meets with his counterparts from the 10-member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a State Department spokesman said Monday.
"During this week's meeting Secretary Blinken will ... reiterate U.S. positions on pressing regional issues, including calling on the Burmese junta to immediately end the violence and restore Burma to the path of democracy, supporting freedom of the seas in the South China Sea, improving resilience and transparency through the Mekong-U.S. partnership and urging ASEAN members to fully implement UN Security Council resolutions on the DPRK," the spokesman, Ned Price, said in a press briefing.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.
The department earlier said the top U.S. diplomat will take part in five virtual meetings related to ASEAN between Monday and Thursday (U.S. time), including the ASEAN Regional Forum, which in the past had been attended by North Korea.
A senior department official later said the North was expected to take part in the regional forum, but that Blinken had no immediate plans to engage with his North Korean counterpart.
"We expect that the DPRK foreign minister will participate in the ASEAN Regional Forum as he has participated in the past," the official said in a telephonic press briefing, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Secretary Blinken has no plans to engage him on any particular issues," the official added when asked.
The U.S. emphasis on the full implementation of U.N. sanctions resolutions on North Korea comes amid a thaw in inter-Korean relations.
North Korea reopened its direct communications lines with South Korea last week, more than 13 months after it unilaterally severed them in June 2020.
Washington has said it welcomes and supports inter-Korean reconciliation, noting "diplomacy and dialogue are essential to achieving complete denuclearization and establishing permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula."
On Sunday, North Korea warned an upcoming joint military exercise of South Korea and the United States may cloud the future of inter-Korean relations.
"I view this as an undesirable prelude which seriously undermines the will of the top leaders of the North and the South wishing to see a step taken toward restoring mutual trust and which further beclouds the way ahead of the North-South relations," North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister, Kim Yo-jong, said in a statement, carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
"Our government and army will closely follow whether the South Korean side stages hostile war exercises in August or makes other bold decision," she added. "Hope or despair? Choice is not made by us."
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
16. Why Another ROK - North Korea Summit Won’t Change Anything
It will just provide more opportunity for Kim Jong-un to conduct political warfare (apologies for being a broken record).
Before any future summit we must ask and answer these two questions (among many others)
1. Do we believe that Kim Jong-un has abandoned the seven decades old strategy of subversion, coercion-extortion (blackmail diplomacy), and use of force to achieve unification dominated by the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State in order to ensure the survival of the mafia like crime family cult known as Kim family regime?
2. In support of that strategy do we believe that Kim Jong-un has abandoned the objective to split the ROK/US Alliance and get US forces off the peninsula? Has KJU given up his divide to conquer strategy - divide the alliance to conquer the ROK?
And of course neither the ROK nor the US should agree to any future summits unless there is substantive progress toward denuclearization and Kim proves he has changed to become a responsible member of the international community.
Why Another ROK - North Korea Summit Won’t Change Anything
Summit hype today is far lower than it was in 2018, if only because no one really expects much from such meetings anymore.
There is talk in South Korea of another summit between its president, Moon Jae-in, and North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un. Ostensibly on the agenda is reopening communications between the two sides, with the hardly disguised hope of bringing Kim to the table for wider discussions and, ideally, nudging him to speak to the Americans.
Moon and Kim have met three times already and little has come of the meetings. Some minor inter-Korean deals were struck, but their primary purpose was to lay the groundwork for a North Korean-U.S. rapprochement. The North takes inter-Korean summits less seriously than the South does, as the North is focused on the United States and tends to read the South as a junior alliance partner whose foreign policy is dominated by the Americans.
North Korea is content to chat with South Korea, but it rarely makes major deals or concessions with the South. The North assumes the Americans put constraints on the South’s bargaining space. This may not but formally true, but it is likely informally true. More importantly, the North wants the prestige of speaking to the Americans. It wants the global superpower to treat it as an equal sovereign state, and as an equal Korean state. Playing hard to get with the South and reserving its main energies for the Americans also snubs South Korea and reminds it that the North views it as an American lackey despite all its superior wealth and modernity.
This raises the question of the purpose of yet another summit. That is not necessarily a reason to refrain from meeting again. It is always possible that one more meeting might be the one where the North finally starts to negotiate seriously with the South. Given just how dangerous North Korea is, it is usually best to keep on engaging, to keep on trying.
Certainly, the South Korean government wants these meetings to lead to progress. Moon has been trying for years to forge his own inter-Korean peace track without tying every serious change on the peninsula to U.S.-North progress. This has not worked to date, but it is a deeply held belief of Moon’s left-wing coalition that the South must continually try to engage the North, even if that means distance from the Americans, who—ex-President Donald Trump’s made-for-TV summits aside—tend to be much more skeptical of leader-level meetings with the North.
This also goes down uneasily with the South Korean public, with whom the U.S. alliance is popular. Past inter-Korean summits have mostly been pageantry, primarily because the North insists on serious dealing only with the Americans, which do not encourage enthusiasm. Summit hype today is far lower than it was in 2018, if only because no one really expects much from such meetings anymore. Moon’s coalition will support his effort of course, but the South Korean center has lost faith in Moon’s ability to bring Pyongyang to the table. Meanwhile, the staunchly anti-communist South Korean Right is now deeply suspicious that Moon is a North Korean sympathizer.
So, it increasingly looks like this would be more process for process’ sake. The logic here is that if the United States keeps talking and talking to North Korea, then a breakthrough might somehow occur. Also, at minimum, North Korea will not launch a provocation on the border if talks are in progress.
Finally, the real reason for any further summit is likely that Moon is desperate because he has bet his presidency on a North Korea breakthrough.
Moon ran for president on a domestic program of social democracy, emphasizing issues like transparency, reducing corruption, equity, and so on. This fairly typical left-of-center messaging plays well in South Korea, where there is a strong perception that business and political elites are an unaccountable dominant class. Moon’s foreign policy views—to robustly engage Pyongyang—were known but not the focus of his campaign.
Now, Moon’s focus on the North has completely taken over his efforts and energies. His leadership on the coronavirus pandemic has been excellent, and last year’s world-class quarantine effort has justifiably propped up his polling. But it is a revolution in North-South relations that truly moves him, and he has more strenuously—or more slavishly, according to his critics—engaged the North than any of his predecessors.
Unfortunately for his legacy though, little concrete has come of all this effort. Moon met Kim three times; Trump met Kim three times. There was enormous hype for years. Before the pandemic, I attended one conference after another about ending the Korean war via a North-South “peace regime” or “peace economy,” sanctions rollback, mutual disarmament, and so on. There was a tremendous vibe of movement and change. Moon relentlessly talked this up in his speeches. So enthusiastic was he in comparison to the unchangingly dour North Korean response that South Korean conservatives started calling him North Korea’s foreign minister.
Now, as Moon slides into lame-duck status with the presidential election less than a year away, he is almost certainly desperate. He took a big gamble on the North and he has precious little to show for it. The situation on the ground—North Korea’s gulags, forward-deployed forces flush against the demilitarized zone, weapons of mass destruction, a deal with the Americans—remains completely unrealized.
Moon will try again. He has no other play. But the optics will be uncomfortable. Moon has already been criticized in the press for cloying supineness before Kim in his desperation for a deal, especially now that new team of President Joe Biden clearly signaled that they are just waiting Moon out. Thus, it is unlikely that Kim will agree to another summit.
Robert E. Kelly is a professor of international relations in the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy at Pusan National University.
Image: Reuters
17. Moon vows to focus on response to virus, industrial revolution, climate change
Priorities for the remainder of the Moon administration.
Moon vows to focus on response to virus, industrial revolution, climate change | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday it has become an "inevitable duty" during the remainder of his tenure to protect people's lives with a focus on curbing the COVID-19 spread and improving their livelihoods.
Another key task is preparing for South Korea's future in connection with the fourth industrial revolution and climate change, he said at the start of a weekly Cabinet meeting.
"I feel a great sense of responsibility," he said.
Moon was presenting major policy goals for the rest of his term, which ends in May 2022. He effectively admitted that it will be difficult for the country to resolve the coronavirus crisis before he leaves Cheong Wa Dae.
In particular, job creation is a top priority, and the government will provide proactive support for private companies to that end, he added.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)
18. North Korean State Media Released Video of an ICBM Launch—But Is It Real?
I would bet on fabrication. I am sure the Propaganda and Agitation Department has acquired advanced film editing techniques.
But if it is real and we missed it??? I hope not (and I doubt we would have missed it).
North Korean State Media Released Video of an ICBM Launch—But Is It Real?
There's a good chance the footage was fabricated.
North Korean state media this week released a video of what appears to be the launch of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), but there is reason to believe the video is fake.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the footage was shown over the weekend during a concert for a workshop of military commanders. It appeared to show a Hwasong-15, taking off from a transporter erector launcher.
However, Yonhap quoted observers as stating that there's a good chance the footage was fabricated. That’s because North Korea has only test-fired the Hwasong-15 once, it was in 2017, and it wasn’t from a vehicle, but rather from the ground.
Yonhap also quoted “observers” as stating that it would be unlikely for the North Korean regime to conduct another such launch without anyone noticing.
“The Kim Jong Un regime launched the Hwasong-15 on Nov. 29, 2017. North Korea used a road-mobile launcher at the time to transport the missile to a launchpad. The footage released Friday, may have not shown the same weapon deployed in 2017, and if the Hwasong-15 was tested after 2017, it likely would have been detected in the South,” United Press International reported on the launch.
Back in March, the North Korean regime conducted a pair of tests of its missiles, including a test of its short-range ballistic missiles. It’s something the Kim regime has long done in order to test new presidents when they take over, both in the United States and South Korea. The 2017 ICBM test, in fact, came shortly after Donald Trump became president, first in July of that year. Trump later began a diplomatic process with North Korea that entailed a pair of meetings with Kim Jong-un, although the process never led to any type of final agreement.
“Let me say that number one, the UN resolution 1718 was violated by those particular missiles that were tested,” President Joseph Biden said after he was asked about the January launch. “We’re consulting with our allies and partners, and there will be responses if they choose to escalate. We will respond accordingly.”
“This activity highlights the threat that North Korea’s illicit weapons program poses to its neighbors and the international community,” U.S. Indo-Pacific Command spokesperson Capt. Mike Kafka said at the time.
Several countries, including Japan and South Korea, also condemned the missile launch back in March. The launches also closely followed the first visit to the region by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, while the United States and South Korea also conducted joint military exercises, which North Korea traditionally considers a provocation.
Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
Image: Reuters
19. Kim Jong Un needs a wardrobe upgrade thanks to apparent weight loss
Kim Jong Un needs a wardrobe upgrade thanks to apparent weight loss
The emperor needs new clothes.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service has estimated that North Korea’s formerly corpulent dictator has lost up to 44 pounds.
Recent images of the famously reclusive and rotund leader — who previously weighed 308 pounds — appeared to show that the 37-year-old has lost a large chunk of weight, sparking renewed speculation about his health.
A Pyongyang resident made headlines recently when he told state media that North Koreans were heartbroken by Kim’s “emaciated looks.”
According to one source, the diminutive despot’s cronies said he gained weight due to stress, drinking, heavy smoking and a high-fat diet, The Sun reported.
A heavier Kim Jong Un seen on October 1, 2021.
via REUTERS
The 38 North website, which analyzes the Hermit Kingdom, reported that Kim may have been taking weight loss medication or had a bariatric surgery procedure such as a gastric sleeve or a gastric bypass, according to the report.
Others have suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic might have prompted him to take drastic health action since his morbid obesity and likely cardiovascular disease are high-risk factors.
Meanwhile, Kim’s powerful sister — and possible successor — Kim Yo Jong warned Sunday that next month’s annual military drills between South Korean and American troops will undermine prospects for better ties between the Koreas, CNBC reported.
Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, could possibly succeed her brother as dictator.
REUTERS
“For some days I have been hearing an unpleasant story that joint military exercises between the South Korean army and the US forces could go ahead as scheduled,” she said just days after Pyongyang and Seoul reopened their long-dormant communication channels.
“I view this as an undesirable prelude which seriously undermines the will of the top leaders of the North and the South wishing to see a step taken toward restoring mutual trust and which further beclouds the way ahead of the North-South relations,” Kim Yo Jong said.
“Our government and army will closely follow whether the South Korean side stages hostile war exercises in August or makes other bold decision,” she added.
Kim Jong Un seen in his baggy-fitting suit.
via REUTERS
Drills between the US and South Korea Seoul have been a long-running source of animosities on the Korean Peninsula — with Pyongyang calling them an invasion rehearsal and responding with missile tests.
Washington and Seoul have repeatedly said their drills are purely defensive.
V/R
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Phone: 202-573-8647
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
FDD is a Washington-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
