North Korean UN missions claims there will be no more meeting UN demands without something in return

(November 24, 2019)North Korea's mission to the UN issued a statement last Friday claiming that the country no longer had any leeway to give way to any US demands without getting something in return.

North Korean public becoming angry at lack of progress of talks

It said also that the North Korean public was becoming more indignant at the lack of progress in talk with the US. The announcement claimed that the North had gone through all the diplomatic engagement with the US and had received in return nothing but a sense of betrayal, and continuing threats from the US for not denuclearizing.

The mission listed some what it had done to help negotiations: "North Korea has suspended nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests and returned the remains of American soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean war. The mission said Trump is “touted as a hero” for the repatriation of the remains “however, we have nothing in return. At the moment, the U.S. is obsessed with playing for time to follow through its domestic political calendar by abusing our patience and magnanimity,” the mission said. “As time goes by, the U.S. is becoming increasingly hell bent on sanctions aimed at interrupting our right to development as well as military threats to our security in pursuit of its hostile policy” against North Korea."

US officials have been calling for new meetings but North Korea is demanding concessions from the US before it will agree to any talks. So far the US has insisted on maintaining pressure such as sanctions and refuses to remove some or lessen them in order to promote talks.

The US demands even more North concessions

Some US officials are complaining that North Korea has not yet given enough steps to end its nuclear program. Many object to giving any incentive for the North to join talks. Rather they want further concessions from the North before any talks.

The two sides appear at loggerheads with neither willing to offer incentives to promote talks. For the near future it appears that both sides will be content to blame the other and to keep to their respective positions.

US and South Korean postponement of joint exercise

A recent article notes: "U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Thursday he does not regret postponing a U.S.-South Korean military exercise, even though the gesture was rejected by North Korea as not enough to restart nuclear diplomacy. The U.S. and South Korea announced Sunday they indefinitely postponed the annual Vigilant Ace aerial training as part of efforts to revive the nuclear talks. " The North however says that the joint exercises are meant to mimic an invasion of the North and need to be abandoned entirely to help towards new talks.

The US has been trying to get the South to pay many times more than it is now to pay for US troops deployed there. The joint exercises may have been postponed in part because the South is unhappy about what it is having to pay the US. The South is quite angry at the increased US demands which no doubt come from President Trump. Talks recently broke off over the issue.

Previously published in the Digital  Journal

US sends another aircraft carrier to Korea raising tensions

(May20)In spite of the fact that US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said this Friday that any military solution would be "tragic on an unbelievable scale", the US is sending another aircraft carrier to the South Korean area.

Mattis also said that Washington was also working internationally on a diplomatic solution. But by sending another aircraft to the region the US is just telling the North that it must indeed continue to develop missiles to defend itself. It will make it more difficult as well for the new president of South Korea to pursue a more conciliatory policy and reduce tension with the North. There could be increasing tension between the US and South Korea. There is considerable resistance to the deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system in the South and the new president campaigned against deploying it. However, since it is now deployed and operational he may not be able to change the situation.

The new carrier sent to the South Korean region is the USS Ronald Reagan which is now conducting training off the Japanese coast is expected to join the USS Carl Vinson and accompanying vessels near the Korean Peninsula two US officials told CNN. According to the US Navy, the USS Reagan set out Tuesday from its home port in Japan Yokosuka after completing maintenance and sea trials. The move may be in response to North Korea's recent successful missile test.

Rear Admiral Charles Williams said in a press release: "Coming out of a long in-port maintenance period we have to ensure that Ronald Reagan and the remainder of the strike group are integrated properly as we move forward," The Navy said that once it arrives in the region, the aircraft will test its ability to safely launch and recover aircraft. Defense officials refused to comment on how long the aircraft carriers were expected to be near South Korea. It is expected the USS Reagan will ultimately replace the Vinson. The Reagan is 1,092 feet long, has a huge crew of 4,539 and has roughly 60 aircraft. It was commissioned in 2003 and cost about $8 billion dollars. Being the global policeman is expensive but Donald Trump is going to ensure that funds are available for the US military establishment.

War hysteria about war between US and North Korea more common in US than South Korea

Tim Shorrock is an American researcher who will be spending May and June in South Korea working in the city of Gwangiu adding his collection of declassified documents on the 1980 uprising in the city to their archives.

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The Gwangiu uprising was a protest against the South Korean military government of the time. It was put down with the loss of many lives. Shorrock was made an honorary citizen of Gwangiu for his reports on the protest. After arriving in South Korea, Shorrock noticed the sharp contrast between American and South Korean coverage of the dispute with North Korea.

U.S. coverage is all about the rising tensions between the U.S. and the North. The U.S. is sending an aircraft carrier group with the USS Carl Vinson to Korean waters. The US discusses the possibility of U.S. preemptive strikes against Korea. Shorrock notes that CNN broadcasts the alarming buildup of tension in South Korea where it is widely available. U.S. news media even speculate whether the U.S. will send Seals to assassinate Kim Jong-Un.

Shorrock notes that most U.S. reporting lacks any historical context of the dispute and almost all favor a confrontational approach adopted by Obama and now accentuated by Donald Trump. Bruce Cummins, professor of history at the University of Chicago noted in a recent interview with Democracy Now how North Korea keeps tabs on what is happening in Washington and engages in what it considers appropriate action. While Japanese PM Shinzo Abe was having dinner with Donald Trump, Kim Jong-un initiated a missile test as reported in U.S. media:But what wasn’t pointed out in our media is that Abe is the grandson of Kishi Nobusuke, who was a war criminal, a Class A war criminal in World War II, according to the U.S. occupation, and had been one of the people fighting against Kim Il-sung in Manchuria in the 1930s. He was responsible for munitions production. So you have Abe, who reveres his grandfather, and Kim Jong-un, who likewise reveres his grandfather, Kim Il-sung. And, basically, 70 or 80 years of history is represented by that particular missile test. But Americans think that’s a bunch of irrelevant minutiae. They don’t realize that Japan and North Korea have terrible relations, no diplomatic relations.

U.S. news media even picks up and spreads false reports that only help to foster fear. On April 13th NBC cited "multiple senior U.S. intelligence officials" as saying that Trump was “prepared to launch a preemptive strike with conventional weapons against North Korea should officials become convinced that North Korea is about to follow through with a nuclear weapons test.” Yet the report was repudiated by other sources and even the Trump administration repudiated it. The North Korean response was also extreme suggesting that it would attack U.S. bases in South Korea even with nuclear weapons.

Shorrock receives emails from his 93-year-old father in California and friends urging him to come home immediately. Shorrock's reply was not to worry that ordinary South Koreans are not worried.

They are to some extent worried about what Trump might do rather than Kim Jong-un whose exaggerated threats are quite familiar to South Koreans. A friend who taught engineering at a local university told Shorrock: “I’m much more worried about anything President Trump might do than the threats of war and retaliation from North Korea." Two Wall Street Journal reporters wrote from Seoul: “For many South Koreans, the concerns about the North can feel like a rite of spring, along with the rain showers or the cherry blossoms that crowds flock to see this time of year.”

Many Koreans are concerned about ensuring that their new president will end right-wing rule and that there is punishment of resigned president Park. On May 9, South Koreans will choose their next president. The two leading candidates are liberal Moon Jae-in and centrist Ahn Cheoi-soo who are far ahead of conservative Hong Jun-pyo. U.S. military officials are worried that the left opposition could win.

Moon Jae-in is calling for direct dialogue with the North, and wants renewed cooperation. This position was championed by former president Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Dae-jung, the opposition leader who was president during the late 1990's and early 2000s. This contrasts with the position of Trump who claims that the era of strategic patience is over. Many Koreans approved Kim's so-called "Sunshine Policies" towards the north. While Ahn, supports the immediate deployment of the THAAD missile system unlike Moon, both candidates expressed opposition to a unilateral U.S. strike such as Trump has suggested. Both stress that South Korea should play a lead role in any dealings with North Korea. Either candidate could win the presidency as they are running neck and neck in the polls.

There are some signs that the Trump administration may be changing policy direction subtly. Vice-President Mike Pence, came to South Korea on Sunday to consult with the government. H.R. McMaster, Trump's national security advier said on ABC: “It’s time for us to undertake all actions we can, short of a military option, to try to resolve this peacefully.”

The war talk coming both from Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump is a cause of concern among South Koreans. The Hankyoreh newspaper said in an editorial: “A military clash on the Korean Peninsula would have disastrous consequences not only for North and South Korea but also for all neighboring countries. That is why we will never agree with hardliners who are willing to go to war and who see war as inevitable. The brinkmanship of the U.S. and North Korea, which appear to be engaged in a battle of nerves, is tantamount to taking hostage the entire populations of North and South Korea.”

While western media almost always charge North Korea with being the cause of the failure to achieve a peace treaty and come to a political agreement, not all commentators agree as evidenced in an article in Global Research. The article points out that in the 64 years since the truce Washington has not entered direct talks with the North but depends upon putting pressure on the Chinese to get the U.S. to do what it wants. The U.S. has done everything in its power to punish North Korea including cutting the government off from foreign markets and capital, strangling its economy with crippling sanctions and installing missile systems and military bases on their doorstep. There is no similar presence of the Chinese military in North Korea. The article asks:if a hostile nation deployed carrier strike-groups off the coast of California while conducting massive war games on the Mexican border (with the express intention of scaring the shit of people) then they might see things differently. They might see the value of having a few nuclear weapons to deter that hostile nation from doing something really stupid.

The hatred of the U.S. in North Korea comes in part from their experience in the Korean war. In the early 1950's the U.S. dropped more bombs on North Korea than it had dropped in the entire Pacific area during World War II. Carpet bombing included 32,000 tons of napalm. It is estimated that around 20 percent of the population were killed:Dean Rusk, a supporter of the war and later secretary of state, said the United States bombed “everything that moved in North Korea, every brick standing on top of another.” After running low on urban targets, U.S. bombers destroyed hydroelectric and irrigation dams in the later stages of the war, flooding farmland and destroying crops……Americans may have never known of the extent of the damage they caused and certainly any who did have long forgotten it but in North Korea the regime still keeps the memory alive in every citizen so that Kim Jong-un's rhetoric rings true to many North Korean citizens.

No sign of US attempting to reduce tensions with North Korea

(April 17)There appears little hope that the Trump administration will make the slightest move to cool down tensions between it and the Kim Jong-un regime in North Korea.

Vice President Mike Pence visited South Korea and declared that the "era of strategic patience" toward North Korea was over. He said the US would achieve its objectives in North Korea by any means necessary. He also restated what had been said before that all options are on the table. China urged that there be a non-military solution to the crisis. Pence also held out for a "peaceable" solution through Chinese intervention but it is not at all clear China has the ability to stop Kim Jong-un who showed his defiance of the US by allegedly attempting a missile test that supposedly failed. Some reports already suggest it was due to US hacking. However, there is no report from the regime itself as yet.

China has already stopped purchasing coal from North Korea and has now terminated scheduled flights. However it has said this is because of lack of demand. Russia has warned the US against taking any unilateral action. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a news conference: 'We do not accept the reckless nuclear missile actions of Pyongyang that breach UN resolutions, but that does not mean that you can break international law. I hope that there will not be any unilateral actions like the one we saw recently in Syria.' "

There are reports that North Korea is prepared for another nuclear test. There are some reports that the US could attack North Korea even if they think the country is about to conduct another nuclear test. So far North Korea only carried out the alleged failed missile test. There is as yet no peace treaty after the Korean war which began back in 1950 only an uneasy truce with periods of detente followed by increased tensions. However, so far the two sides have avoided any outright renewal of the war. Should the US attack a North Korean nuclear site all bets would be off. Even without nuclear weapons North Korea has a large army and the capacity to cause considerable damage to South Korea including the capital city Seoul which is quite close to the border. North Korea has said that they would carry out retaliatory nuclear strikes against US bases in the region but it is not clear they could actually do this. Much of what North Korea threatens it may be unable to carry out unlike US threats. However, North Korea does have a massive number of conventional missile weapons.

Trump's Easter message to Kim Jong-un was that North Korea had to behave. Holding war games with the South Koreans that simulate an invasion of North Korea, and sending a nuclear aircraft carrier and other ships to Korea are simply responses to a North Korean threat to defend itself but not misbehaving or increasing tensions. The deployment of the THAAD missile system is also regarded as a threat by China and the Russia but neither is saying anything about that for the moment. However both China and Russia are reported to have sent spy ships to shadow "Trump's Armada".

North Korean You Tube Channel closed down due to US sanctions

YouTube has decided to block the channel of North Korean state television as a consequence of U.S. sanctions on the country. The ban will not only be a blow to the propaganda efforts of North Korea but also to those doing research on the country.

Apparently the channel was not removed because of the propaganda it produces, but because North Korea could actually make money through Google's built in advertising system. Under the sanctions it is not legal to do business with those in North Korea who operate the channel. The U.S. Treasury Press Center says: "OFAC has designated the Workers’ Party of Korea, Propaganda and Agitation Department (the “Propaganda and Agitation Department”) as an agency, instrumentality, or controlled entity of the Government of North Korea. The Workers’ Party of Korea has full control over the media, which it uses as a tool to control the public." OFAC is the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

What is not clear is if North Korea actually participates in the advertising program. Apparently even the potential that YouTube could do business with the North Korean entities is sufficient grounds to ban the channel. TaJ Meadows, head of communications for Google said: “We don’t comment on individual videos or channels...but we do disable accounts that violate our terms of service or community guidelines, and when we are required by law to do so.”

Researchers who study North Korea were disappointed in the Google decision. The channel provided in a timely fashion some of the daily content aired on North Korean TV. Researcher David Schmerler said: “This led to a better understanding of an event, even if the North Koreans tried to hide or spin a particular event as being a success when it may not have been.”

A message on the Korean Central Television channel's page says: "This account has been terminated for violating YouTube's Community Guidelines". Usually this would involve videos that contain violent, sexual images or that breach copyright but in this case Google may worry that they are breaking the law and violating sanctions. The company will not explain their action except to note that they disable accounts when they are required by law to do so.

Joshua Stanton a lawyer who approves the sanctions said: “Having reviewed the sanctions in March, they would have said that this is risky, we are potentially in violation. It’s good that they have done this, although it’s a fairly small piece of the picture." Bruce Klingner of the Heritage Foundation said that the North Koreans could get around the ban in that they could post the videos without making money off them or simply have some supporters post them.

There is still plenty of material from North Korea on YouTube. There are old movies such as the Flower Girl from 1972 that had seven views when last checked. More recent productions include popular videos showing Kim Jong Un's favorite woman's band. I enclose a video of a performance with tens of thousands of views. There are many popular TV "soap operas" as they were called in the old days as well with subtitles.