This page includes materials on the stationing of US forces in ROK, MD, ROK reaction to US DPRK policy, etc. but does not attempt to go into wider US-ROK relations.
Nuclear reactors issue, KEDO, IAEA, etc. are currently on the nuclear programme page

2017

• December
• November
• October
• September
• August
• July
• June
• May
• April
• March
• February
• January

• Korea-US relations 2016
• Korea-US relations 2015
• Korea-US relations 2014
• Korea-US relations 2013
• Korea-US relations 2012
• Korea-US relations 2011
• Korea-US relations 2010
• Korea-US relations 2009
• Korea-US relations 2008
• Korea-US relations 2007
• Korea-US relations 2006
• Korea-US relations 2005
• Korea-US relations 2004
• Korea-US relations 2003
• Korea-US relations 2002
• Korea-US relations 2001
• Korea-US relations 2000

• Defector soldier reveals health conditions in N. Korea
  Posted : 2017-12-04 11:21 Updated : 2017-12-04 18:34 Trauma surgeon Lee Cook-jong shows images of parasitic worms found in a wounded North Korean soldier at Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Nov. 15. The soldier was shot several times during his escape to the South Korean side of the Joint Security Area before undergoing emergency surgery at the hospital. / Yonhap By Yi Whan-woo The defection of a North Korean soldier at the Joint Security Area (JSA) in November is raising awareness of health conditions inside the impoverished regime after parasitic worms and a chronic liver infection were found in the solider. The finding came unexpectedly after the soldier, Oh Chung-sung, 25, was shot by his comrades during his escape to the Southern side of the JSA , was brought to safety by South Korean and U.S. soldiers and underwent emergency surgery. Doctors found and removed several types of intestinal parasitic worms, some up to 27 centimeters long, according to Lee Cook-jong, the trauma surgeon who operated on Oh at Ajou University Hospital. [Sanctions effect] [Health]
• Most Koreans don't see war on the horizon
  Posted : 2017-12-28 13:39 Updated : 2017-12-28 19:53 Fear of war with North Korea runs second to concerns about poverty in a recent survey of 1,000 people. In this photo taken on Christmas Day 2014, armed South Korean forces stand guard at a post facing the Demilitarized Zone. / Korea Times file - Poverty is top concern - Two-thirds of young generation think reproduction is option By Oh Young-jin The world sees the Korean Peninsula as a powder keg that may go up in flames any minute amid U.S.-North Korean brinkmanship, but most Koreans don't agree with that assessment. [US NK war]
• Will A War With North Korea Be Our Political Leaders’ Greatest Regret?
  Top nuclear security expert Scott Sagan warns that the risk of war is far higher than during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and predicts that one million people could die on the first day. by Lisa Fuller President Bill Clinton’s greatest regret was his failure to respond to the Rwandan genocide. He estimated that U.S. intervention could have saved 300,000 lives. The Vietnam War was former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara’s biggest regret. He wrote an entire book to explain why he was “terribly wrong.” Former Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Sen. Tom Harkin, and Sen. Walter Jones have all said that they deeply regret authorizing the war in Iraq. Jones once lamented, “I helped kill 4,000 Americans, and I will go to my grave regretting that.” In each case, government leaders regretted their complicity in hundreds of thousands of deaths. In each case, they had chosen to prioritize politics above ethics. Today’s political leaders are about to make the same mistake. We are now on the verge of another unnecessary war — this time with North Korea — and it is likely to wreak more havoc than Vietnam, Iraq and Rwanda combined. Top nuclear security expert Scott Sagan warns that the risk of war is far higher than during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and predicts that one million people could die on the first day - a figure that exceeds the death toll of the entire Rwandan genocide. Even more worryingly, Russia and China are making military preparations, suggesting that a Korean war could quickly escalate into a world war. [US NK war]
• Ex-USFK Chiefs Urge Caution Over Plan to Postpone Drills
  By Cho Yi-jun December 28, 2017 11:11 Former chiefs of the U.S. Forces Korea have urged caution over President Moon Jae-in's proposal to postpone joint military drills until after the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. They said the suggestion is "legitimate" but warned that Seoul must not "abrogate the security treaty" and use military readiness as "a bargaining chip," Voice of America reported Tuesday. "The whole issue of postponing the military drills... I believe, is a legitimate issue and a sound issue," Gen. Burwell Bell, the USFK commander from 2006 to 2008, told VOA. From left, Gen. Burwell Bell, Gen. John Tilelli and Gen. James Thurman "But it is crucial that those exercises be conducted to their full range of requirements immediately following the Olympics." "They could be postponed for very short period of time so as to accommodate the conducts of the Olympics," but "any notion by anyone that exercises should be postponed to achieve some kind of diplomatic engagement is wrong," he said. He added he himself would not have allowed a postponement to be used as a diplomatic carrot. "If either party ever told me when I was in command to lower the readiness of the force, so as to appease the North, my immediate recommendation to both presidents, particularly to the president of the United States, would be because of the increased risk to failure, it would be necessary for the United States to withdraw its forces from South Korea and abrogate the security treaty" altogether, he added. Gen. John Tilelli, who was USFK commander between 1996 and 1999, said postponing the drills is worth considering, but the primary duty of the leader of a country is to protect its own people. And Gen. James Thurman, who was USFK chief between 2011 and 2013, said, "We must be careful appeasing North Korea. It has never worked, and I do not think cutting deals with them will be effective... The alliance must remain strong and vigilant." [Olympics18] [Joint US military] [US dominance]
• Will 2018 see war in North Korea? Chances soar after year of tumult
  Posted : 2017-12-26 10:35 Updated : 2017-12-26 10:36 South Korean soldiers patrol along a barbed-wire fence near the militarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, Dec. 21. / Reuters By Staff Reporter Will 2018 be the year that war breaks out in North Korea? In 2017, the hermit state's nuclear crisis escalated to its highest level in decades. Reflecting the seriousness of the past 12 months' events, Beijing's advisers recently urged it to prepare for war that could come to the Korean peninsula as early as 2018. So far, there is no sign the crisis can be reversed. [US NK war]
• Peru expels two more North Korean diplomats
  Posted : 2017-12-24 16:35 Updated : 2017-12-24 18:33 By Rachel Lee Peru has expelled two more North Korean diplomats _ following the deportation of the ambassador _ over the North's continued violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions on its nuclear program. Peru's foreign ministry said First Secretary Pak Myong-chol and Third Secretary Ji Hyok had 15 days to leave the Latin American country. The ministry made the announcement after it discovered the envoys were carrying out activities incompatible with their diplomatic duties. North Korea's "continuous" violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions relating to the nuclear program _ which has endangered world peace and security _ also led to the decision, the foreign ministry said. In September, Peru ordered North Korean Ambassador Kim Hak-chol to leave because of Pyongyang's violation of U.N. resolutions on its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. On Sept. 7, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto declared North Korean Ambassador Kim Hyong-gil persona non grata and gave him 72 hours to leave the country. The Mexican foreign ministry said the decision was meant to express the country's "absolute rejection" of North Korea's nuclear tests. Spain, Italy and Kuwait also ordered their North Korean ambassadors to leave. Kuwait decided to stop issuing visas to North Koreans. Portugal cut ties with North Korea in July as part of efforts to strengthen pressure on the North to make it come to the dialogue table. Some countries are scaling down their economic ties with Pyongyang. The Philippines, one of the North's top-three trading partners, said Sept. 8 it would suspend trade relations to comply with U.N. resolutions. Thailand has also reportedly cut down on economic exchanges with the North. The U.N. Security Council imposed new sanctions Friday in response to Pyongyang's latest ballistic missile test. The United States-drafted resolution includes measures to slash North Korea's petrol imports by up to 90 percent; that all North Koreans working overseas will have to return home within 24 hours; and a ban on exports of North Korean goods, including machinery. [US dominance] [Legality] [Diplomatic relations]
• For North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, 2017 has been a very good year.
  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, and politician Choe Ryong Hae arrive for the opening of the Ryomyong residential area in Pyongyang last April. (Wong Maye-E/AP) By Anna Fifield December 24 at 3:05 PM SEOUL — As 2017 opened, Kim Jong Un delivered a New Year’s address in which he declared that North Korea had “entered the final stage of preparation for the test launch of intercontinental ballistic missile.” As 2017 draws to a close, Kim can reflect on a year in which he’s not only kept his resolutions, he’s exceeded them: A missile that can fly 8,000 miles to reach Washington, D.C.? Check. A hydrogen bomb 17 times the size of the one the United States dropped on Hiroshima? Check. The whole world paying attention to him and taking him seriously? Double check. For good measure, Kim had his half brother and potential rival murdered in a gruesome chemical weapons attack, and dispensed with a bunch of top apparatchiks who might have had different ideas about how to run the country. And he’s done it all while facing a new and unconventional adversary in Donald Trump, a president who has mocked Kim as “Little Rocket Man” and has repeatedly threatened military action. It’s been a good year for Kim. [Kim Jong Un] [Media]
• The Clown and the Rock
  Trump’s incompetence and posturing threaten US credibility, with potentially dire consequences.
  By Tim Beal | December 21, 2017
  The Clown, the Rock, and Geopolitical Struggle
  North Korea may well be the rock on which the Trump administration, enfeebled and destabilised at home by Russiagate, shatters. Any geopolitical situation presents an interplay between underlying historical forces and strategic imperatives, on the one level, and the decisions, rhetoric and policies of the actors involved, on another. Sometimes the actors are wise, sometimes foolish. Donald Trump brings in an unusual degree of incompetence, bluster and something to which various labels are attached but which might be conveniently called clownishness. If the basis of humour, as Aristotle and others have suggested, is incongruity then “clown,” with its connotations of slapstick, sadness and inadequacy, is perhaps the best fit. Trump plays at being president as a spoiled child might, oblivious to, or ignoring the sniggers of the adults in the room. Trump did not originate the North Korea issue—that is the result of deeper historical processes—but he has exacerbated it to a degree that might have dire consequences. By contrast North Korea is, for reasons of geography and history, a rock against which US hegemony beats, so far, in vain. The Korean peninsula is where most of the world’s major powers meet and contest – the United States, Japan, China and Russia. Possession, or denial of possession by competitors, is of utmost strategic importance. By a historical process, complex in detail but simple in theme, North Korea has ended up as an independent country beholden to none and hosting no foreign military presence. In this, it is similar to China but in contrast to South Korea and Japan. Its deterrent, initially conventional but now moving to nuclear, is the guarantee of that independence. The Kim family has been central to that historical development but what we have is the interaction of nation-states, influenced by individuals but driven by geopolitical imperatives.
  North Korea poses no security threat to the United States – the huge disparity in power ensures that – but its successful defence of its independence does present a long-term challenge to US global hegemony. [Trump] [Credibility] [US NK policy] [Incompetence]
• North Korea can pose 'substantial nuclear threat to US'
  Posted : 2017-12-22 16:41 Updated : 2017-12-23 10:11 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stands to deliver an opening speech at a conference of the Workers' Party of Korea, in Pyongyang, Thursday. Circled in red is Kim Yo-jong, his sister who was recently given a leading post within the party. / Yonhap By Kim Rahn North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said his country can pose a "substantial nuclear threat" to the United States, according to state media, Friday. His remark comes after Pyongyang declared last month that it had mastered nuclear technology sufficiently after launching an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that it claimed was capable of striking the entire U.S. mainland. In an opening speech at a conference of district chairpersons of the Workers' Party of Korea Thursday, he stressed that "nobody can deny the entity of the DPRK which rapidly emerged as a strategic state capable of posing a substantial nuclear threat to the U.S.," according to an English statement from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name. The chairpersons are leaders of the party's lowest-level units called cells, which usually consist of five to 30 people. It was the first meeting of cell chairpersons since January 2013. Reviewing the Korean Peninsula situation, Kim said: "The rapid development of the DPRK's nuclear force is now exerting major influence on the world political structure and strategic environment," according to the KCNA. He said North Korea has achieved nuclear armament by fulfilling independence, self-reliance and self-defense stances, despite hardship from the "enemies' anti-North Korea moves." "Although grave challenges that should not be overlooked face us, we neither feel disappointed nor are we afraid of them, but we are optimistic about progress of our revolution under this situation," he was quoted as saying. Kim said the situation is a good chance for the country to unite and develop independently, adding "we have to work with confidence, optimism and a smile." [Deterrence] [Nuclear capability] [Kim Jong Un]
• Mattis: 'Storm clouds gathering' over Korean Peninsula
  23 Dec, 2017 12:25pm AP FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — "Storm clouds are gathering" over the Korean Peninsula, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis declared Friday. And as diplomats try to resolve the nuclear standoff, he told soldiers that the U.S. military must do its part by being ready for war. Without forecasting a conflict, Mattis emphasized that diplomacy stands the best chance of preventing a war if America's words are backed up by strong and prepared armed forces. "My fine young soldiers, the only way our diplomats can speak with authority and be believed is if you're ready to go," Mattis told several dozen soldiers and airmen at the 82nd Airborne Division's Hall of Heroes, his last stop on a two-day pre-holiday tour of bases to greet troops. [Mattis] [Compellence] [War]
• 5th US-Japan-Korea Trilateral Symposium
  Thursday | January 4, 2018 8:00 am - 12:00 pm The National Press Club The Holeman Lounge 529 14th Street NW | Floor 13 Washington, DC Space is Limited. RSVPs are Required. RSVP Here 2018 will carry with it many challenges from 2017 that have deep ramifications of American, Japanese, and Korean affairs. The three countries not only have to deal with North Korean provocations and regional challenges, but will also have to tackle social and economic issues. We need new ideas that address our 21st century issues. Far from being inexperienced, today's young generation is perhaps better prepared than any to carry the torch of US-Asia relations and policy. Thanks to cross-cultural exchange programs, the Internet, and immigration trends, the next generation of leaders have more access and are more knowledgeable on world affairs than ever. Using today's resources to their advantage, these leaders will provide sound policies and continue to strengthen U.S.-Japan-Korea relations. On January 4, 2018, the International Student Conferences (ISC) and Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA (SPFUSA) will provide the voice of future leaders for U.S.-Japan-Korea cooperation. These student leaders alongside senior experts will discuss key present-day topics directly relevant to the US, Japan and Korea. The fifth Trilateral Symposium will demonstrate to the larger audience the ability of the next generation to engage in much needed productive dialogue on U.S.-Japan-Korea relations, including ideas for improving trilateral cooperation. [US Asia strategy] [Triangular] [Alliance]
• USFK Troops Told to Report N.Korean Propaganda Leaflets
  By Yu Yong-weon December 22, 2017 10:22 The U.S. Forces Korea has told troops to report North Korean leaflets that have been turning up with increasing frequency in the Seoul metropolitan area. The Eighth U.S. Army on Thursday issued an alert urging personnel to report North Korean propaganda to the authorities. "A significant number of North Korean propaganda leaflets and CDs were recently placed at strategic locations on multiple U.S. military installations" across South Korea, the alert says. "Given the number of foreign nationals with access to our military installations via employment, sponsorship, and partnership programs, the potential for insider threat is always a reality," it adds. "It is essential for our personnel to re © This is copyrighted material owned by Digital Chosun Inc. No part of it may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. [USFK] [Insider threat] [Protest]
• Urge World to Support the Olympic Truce
  The United Nations has asked its member states to observe an Olympic truce during the upcoming February 9-25 Winter Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, and for one week on either side. South Korea has asked the United States to delay its war rehearsal flights over South Korea until after the truce. Please click below to sign a petition that can be printed out and delivered to the government of every nation on earth. Please add your own comments. We urge you to abstain from war and from provocative war "exercises" for the Olympic Truce between February 2 and March 4, 2018, and then to continue the truce indefinitely thereafter. [Joint US military] [Olympics18]
  • Sport for development and peace: building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal
    General Assembly Distr.: Limited 3 November 2017 Original: English 17 - 19489 (E) 0 7 1117 *1719489* Seventy - second session Agenda item 11 Sport for development and peace: building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal [UNGA]
• President Moon hints at possibility of postponing joint military exercises
  Posted on : Dec.20,2017 17:03 KST Modified on : Dec.20,2017 17:03 KST President Moon Jae-in is interviewed by the US broadcaster NBC while riding in “Train 1,” on Dec. 19. The train is an exclusive presidential KTX train service line between Seoul and Gangneung that is set to open on Dec. 22 ahead of the Games. (provided by Blue House) Annual US-South Korea drills are scheduled during the Pyeongchang Olympics The US is reportedly weighing South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s proposal on Dec. 19 to postpone joint military exercises until after the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. In an interview with the US broadcaster NBC that day, Moon said he was considering bold measures such as downscaling of joint South Korea-US military exercises to reduce tensions on the peninsula during the Olympics. The interview took place on board “Train 1,” an exclusive presidential KTX train service line between Seoul and Gangneung that is set to open on Dec. 22 ahead of the Games. “It is possible that South Korea and the US will examine whether their joint military exercises can be postponed,” Moon said. [Joint US military] [Olympics18] [Self delusion]
• Trump administration releases new national security strategy
  Posted on : Dec.20,2017 17:21 KST Modified on : Dec.20,2017 17:21 KST US President reiterates that North Korean nuclear crisis “will be taken care of” The administration US President Donald Trump published a new national security strategy report on Dec. 18, nearly eleven months after taking office. The report referred to North Korea and Iran as “rogue regimes,” but made no explicit reference to a preemptive strike or preventive war. “We remain ready to respond with overwhelming force to North Korean aggression and will improve options to compel denuclearization of the peninsula,” the White House said in the report. The message was read as signaling that the US would only use military force defensively in the event of a preemptive North Korean attack against the US or its allies, but would otherwise keep other options open, including sanctions and dialogue. [US NK policy] [US NK war] [NSS17]
• Film director wants to find truths behind massacres
  Posted : 2017-12-20 15:29 Updated : 2017-12-21 10:09 A still capture from the film Haewon / Courtesy of Gu Ja-hywan By Choi Ha-young In 2013, film director Gu Ja-hywan recalled the forgotten deaths of those who were killed during the 1950-53 Korean War, in his documentary film "Red Tomb." Four years later, Gu is back with his new movie "Haewon," as a follow-up. Gu Ja-hywan The word Haewon means resolving victims' deep sorrow. While Red Tomb focused on massacres which took place in the southern Gyeongsang area, where Gu is based as a journalist, his latest film uncovers tragic narratives all over the country. "I felt sorry for the many bereaved families when I filmed Red Tomb that primarily dealt with the so-called Bodo massacres during the 1950-53 Korean War," Gu said in an interview with The Korea Times. "The Bodo massacres are the tip of the iceberg. Most of the killings are not known to the public. Filming the movies, I sought advice of history professors and teachers, but they were not aware of some of the incidents." Gu said the ignorance due to concealment is the reason for a lingering "anti-commies" sentiment in the divided nation. [War crimes] [US SK] [Massacre]
  • HAEWON (2017)
    < Hae-won > According to a survey by the U.S. military government in 1946, 78% of the South Korean people wanted socialism and only 14% capitalism. In this situation, by appointing the pro-Japanese collaborators and the rightists, RHEE Syngman, who had not received the people’s support, massacred those groups and civilians that were political stumbling blocks. In dealing with the Jeju 4.3 uprising in 1947 and the Yeosun incident in 1948 and The Korean War having broken out, massive civilian massacre became regularized [US massacres] [Korea]
• 'Delay of drills depends on North Korea'
  Posted : 2017-12-20 16:30 Updated : 2017-12-20 17:09 By Kim Rahn Any North Korean nuclear or missile provocation before the PyeongChang Winter Olympics next February will influence Seoul and Washington to withdraw their consideration of delaying their joint military drills during the Olympic period, a Cheong Wa Dae official said Wednesday. The remark comes a day after President Moon Jae-in said in an interview with U.S. broadcaster NBC that South Korea proposed postponing the annual military exercises until after the Olympics to reduce tension on the Korean Peninsula if North Korea does not make any provocations. [Joint US military] [Olympics18][Pretend equality]
• South Korea asks U.S. to delay joint military drills until after the Winter Olympics
  South Korean police officers take part in a security drill on Dec. 12 ahead of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium, the venue for the opening and closing ceremony in Pyeongchang, South Korea. (Reuters) By Anna Fifield December 20 at 9:59 AM SEOUL — South Korea is considering delaying its next round of joint military exercises with the United States until after the Winter Olympic Games to avoid provoking North Korea, the presidential office in Seoul said Wednesday. Delaying the huge exercises would be a considerable olive branch to Pyongyang and underscores Seoul’s concern that North Korea might try to interfere with the Winter Games, which are due to be held just 50 miles south of the border between the two Koreas starting Feb. 9. [Joint US military] [Olympics18] [US dominance] [Pretend equality]
• The Costs of War with North Korea
  Posted on : Dec.17,2017 11:50 KST Modified on : Dec.17,2017 11:50 KST John Feffer The Iraq War was a tremendous foreign policy blunder by the United States. But at the time of the invasion, few Americans understood the magnitude of the mistake. The George W. Bush administration thought that it would be a quick war that would cost around $50 billion. Based on these estimates, Congress authorized the use of military force. Roughly seven out of ten Americans supported the war. [US NK war]
• S.Korea, U.S. Practice Destroying N.Korea's WMDs
  By Lee Yong-soo December 18, 2017 10:30 South Korea and the U.S. have staged a joint training exercise to destroy North Korea's weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. Forces Korea said Sunday. Troops from the two countries practiced identifying and destroying the North's WMD facilities through urban combat and infiltration of underground facilities. U.S. Forces Korea Commander Vincent Brooks (center) and South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Jeong Kyeong-doo (right) look at a soldier testing equipment in Seoul last week. /Courtesy of U.S. Forces Korea The drill was staged at the Rodriguez live fire range in Pocheon and Camp Stanley in Uijeongbu, both in Gyeonggi Province last week. The 2nd U.S. Armored Brigade Combat Team uploaded photos on Facebook that showed armored vehicles entering an "enemy" area, a sniper preparing to fire an aimed shot from a building, and troops throwing smoke bombs. The 2nd U.S. Infantry Division also released photos of Gen. Jeong Kyeong-doo, chairman of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Vincent Brooks, commander of the USFK, and Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, commander of the 8th U.S. Army, visiting an underground training ground at Camp Stanley. The drill is staged every quarter but has never attracted so much top brass. Back on Dec. 12, Tillerson promised China that in the event of a conflict or regime collapse in the North, U.S. troops would pull back to the 38th parallel after securing the regime's nuclear weapons. [Joint US military] [Special forces] [Seizure]
• Congressional leaders express support for Tillerson’s dialogue proposal with North Korea
  Posted on : Dec.16,2017 16:37 KST Modified on : Dec.16,2017 16:37 KST Confusion over White House’s stance on Secretary of State’s offer for talks without preconditions Congressman Ami Bera, co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Korea Though the White House adopted a critical attitude toward US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s proposal for talks with North Korea “without precondition” just one day after the proposal was made, members of Congress and government officials continue to say that Tillerson’s proposal should be considered in light of the serious situation on the Korean Peninsula. Ami Bera (Democrat), co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Korea referred to Tillerson’s proposal in a keynote address for a forum hosted in Washington on Dec. 14 by the National Unification Advisory Council. “If we can relax tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in the region and seek a way forward, we need to initiate dialogue, even if that’s the form it takes,” Bera said. Even US Senator Lindsey Graham, who takes a hardline on North Korea and recently made controversial remarks about removing the families of US soldiers from South Korea, told the Atlantic in an interview on Dec. 13 that he “takes the possibility of war seriously” and that, in order to prevent war, he would support directs talks with North Korea “without a whole lot of preconditions” “I’m not taking anything off the table to avoid a war,” Graham said, even indicating that a summit between Trump and Kim Jong-un might be possible. Graham argued that the chance of Trump launching a preemptive strike was 30%, but that this would increase to 70% if Pyongyang tested another nuclear device. “We should exercise direct diplomacy as well as sanctions. That is our policy, which is based on pressure and engagement,” Ambassador Joseph Y. Yun, the US Special Representative for North Korea Policy, told reporters on Dec. 15 during a visit to Thailand, according to a Reuters report. Yun emphasized that Tillerson’s remarks mean that the US is genuinely interested in dialogue with North Korea. By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent [Tillerson] [Diplomacy]
• White House contradicts Tillerson on North Korea dialogue
  Posted on : Dec.15,2017 16:18 KST Modified on : Dec.15,2017 16:18 KST Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announces that the US government is prepared to speak to North Korea without preconditions during a conference sponsored by the Korea Foundation and the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 13. (Yonhap News) Disagreement exemplifies the amateurish coordination of policy inside the Trump administration On Dec. 13, the White House officially adopted a critical position toward the proposal for meeting North Korea “without precondition” made the previous day by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. In the space of a day, Tillerson’s remarks have been effectively erased. This is thought to illustrate the amateurish coordination of policy inside the Trump administration. [Tillerson] [Trump] [US NK Negotiations]
• Moon's Dear John letter to US
  Posted : 2017-12-15 16:40 Updated : 2017-12-15 17:35 By Oh Young-jin The unbelievable beating of Korean journalists accompanying President Moon Jae-in on his Chinese visit Thursday has failed to deter Moon. Neither did Beijing's poor reception of the Korean president at the airport a day earlier. What Moon seeks is clear: he wants to court China even at the cost of Korea's alliance with the United States. [Moon Jae-in] [China SK] [Dilemma]
• No Wind Is Favorable If You Don’t Know Your PORT
  In this essay, Peter Hayes argues: “We know that a nuclear free Korean Peninsula is linked to the entire region and cannot be achieved alone by the two Koreas. We need to choose which ports we are headed to and then adapt to the prevailing winds along the way to avoid the many reefs that lie in the way. Strategic drift eventually will result in war and nuclear war, for which no wind is favorable.” This essay is based on a talk given at the 2017 IFANS Conference on Global Affairs, “Nuclear-Free Peninsula: Strategies and Action Programs for the Moon Jae-in Administration,” Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA), session III, Dealing with North Korean Problem: Lessons Learned and Devising a New Approach, December 11, 2017, Seoul. [NK Deal] [NWFZ]
• Tillerson Proposes Unconditional Talks with N.Korea
  By Cho Yi-jun December 14, 2017 09:24 U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has offered to hold unconditional talks with North Korea as tensions continue to mount over the North's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. "We're ready to talk anytime North Korea would like to talk and we're ready to have the first meeting without preconditions," Tillerson said Tuesday. At a forum co-hosted by the Korea Foundation and the Atlantic Council in Washington, he added, "It's not realistic to say we're only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program. They have too much invested in it. And the president is very realistic about that as well." That would mark a striking departure from Washin [Tillerson] [US NK Negotiations] [Preconditions] [Spin]
• Cheong Wa Dae 'Open to Contact' with N.Korea
  December 14, 2017 09:35 Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday cautiously welcomed an offer from U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of unconditional talks with North Korea. Presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun said South Korea is open to "various types of contact" with the North if they can help achieve a peaceful resolution to the nuclear standoff. Park said Tillerson's proposal confirms U.S. government's position that North Korea must halt further provocations and return to the negotiating table. He added that South Korea and the U.S. have kept the door open for dialogue and have held detailed discussions on a variety of methods. But when asked if the South Korean government was aware of talks between the U.S. and China about regime collapse in North Korea, a high-ranking Cheong Wa Dae official said merely, "The issue of sudden changes taking place in North Korea has been discussed since the previous administration." [Moon Jae-in] [US NK Negotiations] [Tragedy]
• FT: South Korea asks for delay of joint military exercises during Pyeongchang Olympics
  Posted on : Dec.13,2017 17:59 KST Modified on : Dec.13,2017 17:59 KST US FA-18 fighter jets from the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson prepare for takeoff as part of the Key Resolve-Foal Eagle joint military exercises on Mar. 14. (Photo Pool) The proposal is being interpreted as a bid to reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula South Korea has asked the US to postpone planned joint military exercises until after the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the Financial Times reported on Dec. 11. The newspaper quoted four sources in Washington reporting that Seoul expressed the desire to delay next year’s annual joint Key Resolve and Foal Eagle military exercises until after the Pyeongchang Paralympics end on Mar. 18. Two of the sources said the US was likely to agree. The newspaper interpreted the request as signaling Seoul’s desire to reduce the chances of North Korean provocations during the Games and open a window for future dialogue. “A delay in the exercise would be a prudent move to decrease tensions?.?.?.?as athletes and guests from around the global [sic] come to a South Korean city only 50 miles [80 kilometers] from the demilitarised zone,” a source familiar with Seoul’s request was quoted as saying. The source was also quoted as saying the need for major exercises was reduced because of extensive training by South Korean and US troops in 2017. The same source also suggested the request was part of an effort to relax Chinese travel restrictions. [Joint US Military] [Olympics18] [China SK] [THAAD]
• N.Korea Named 'Top-Tier' Risk in 2018
  By Cho Yi-jun December 13, 2017 09:47 The U.S. Council on Foreign Relations on Monday named a possible military conflict with North Korea a "top-tier" risk facing the U.S. and the world in 2018. A photo of the North's latest ballistic missile launch also made the front page of the annual report, illustrating a survey of about 7,000 U.S. government officials and foreign policy experts that ranks potential global conflicts for the next year. Risks were classified into three priority tiers based on probability and potential impact on the U.S. and the world. North Korea is on the list of "Tier 1 Conflicts to Watch" due to the possibility of "military conflict involving the United States, North Korea, and its neighboring countries." [US NK policy] [Threat]
• KORUS FTA having negative impact on South Korean agriculture
  Posted on : Dec.12,2017 17:14 KST Modified on : Dec.12,2017 17:14 KST Critics are calling for US tariff concessions during amendments over the agreement In proposed amendments for the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (known as the KORUS FTA), Seoul has declared the agricultural sector off limits and has announced that it will exclude it from the negotiations. But with damage to South Korea’s agro-livestock industry increasing over the five years since the KORUS-FTA took effect, some critics say that South Korea ought to be asking the US to adjust the tariff concessions in this sector. [KORUS FTA]
• South Korea’s trade deficit with US in agro-livestock products continues to grow
  Posted on : Dec.12,2017 17:17 KST Modified on : Dec.12,2017 17:17 KST The gap has widened since the implementation of the KORUS FTA in 2012 With imports of American agro-livestock products increasing every year since the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) took effect in Mar. 2012, South Korea’s trade deficit with the US in agro-livestock products continues to grow as well. South Korea’s trade deficit with the US in agro-livestock products during the five years since the KORUS FTA took effect (2012–2016) is a yearly average of US$6.7 billion, which is up US$750 million relative to the deficit of US$5.95 billion won in the five years before the agreement took effect (2007–2011). Though South Korea’s exports of agro-livestock products to the US did increase during this period, from a yearly average of US$400 million to US$590 million, the value of American imports leaped US$940 million (14.8%), from US$6.36 billion to US$7.3 billion. [KORUS FTA] [Deficit] [Agriculture]
• Former world leaders call for negotiations over North Korean nuclear program
  Posted on : Dec.12,2017 17:25 KST Modified on : Dec.12,2017 17:25 KST South Korean Special Presidential Advisor for Foreign Affairs Moon Chung-in, former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Korea National Diplomatic Academy Chancellor Cho Byung-jae, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha attend the 2017 Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) Conference on Global Affairs held at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy on Dec. 11. Pyongyang waiting for Moon administration to “become more independent” before agreeing to dialogue With North Korea declaring the “completion of the state nuclear force” after its Nov. 29 test-launch of the new Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), experts at a Dec. 11 conference agreed the only solution to the nuclear and missile crisis lies in diplomacy, dialogue, and negotiation. Some maintained that while the risk of rising tensions between Pyongyang and Washington leading to a military clash on the Korean Peninsula is not high, it is also not small enough to be ignored. Experts also argued that the Six-Party Talks remain a valid framework for resolving the nuclear issue. “It would be suicidal for North Korea to attack the US,” said former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, one of the attendees at the 2017 Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) Conference on Global Affairs. The conference, which began that morning at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul’s Seocho neighborhood, focused on the theme “Nuclear-Free Korean Peninsula: Strategies and Action Program for the Moon Jae-in Administration.” “If North Korea attacked the US, the US would immediately strike back [against North Korea], and the North Korean regime would be no more. I don’t believe North Korea will do anything suicidal,” Powell continued. [US NK policy] [Diplomacy]
• US solider who defected to North Korea dies
  Posted : 2017-12-12 16:04 Updated : 2017-12-12 19:36 By Park Si-soo This file photo taken on October 12, 2005 shows U.S. army deserter Charles Jenkins, who spent 40 years in North Korea, showing off his new book "To Tell the Truth," which was published in Japanese last week, at a press conference in Tokyo. Charles Jenkins, a U.S. Army deserter who spent four decades in communist North Korea and married a Japanese woman abducted by Pyongyang, has died at the age of 77, officials said on December 12, 2017. / AFP-Yonhap Charles Jenkins, a U.S. soldier who defected to North Korea and became a movie star there, has died in Japan, according to reports on Tuesday. He was 77. The former U.S. sergeant died on Sado island on Monday, where he was living with his wife Hitomi Soga, also a former prisoner of North Korea. [Defector]
• DPRK condemns US recognition of Kuds [Jerusalem] as capital of Israel
  A spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea gave the following answer to a question raised by KCNA Saturday over the U.S.'s decision to recognize Kuds as the capital of Israel The decision by U.S. president Trump to recognize Kuds as the capital of Israel and to move the U.S. embassy there well deserves a global condemnation and rejection as it is an open defiance of and an insult to the international legitimacy and to a unanimous will of the international society. The status of Kuds remains so sensitive that it, for sure, should be solved fairly by means of regaining the national rights of the Palestinian people and striking a comprehensive and lasting solution to the Middle East problem. This decision of the U.S. is not so surprising as it came from a dotard who had cried out for "total destruction" of a sovereign state at a sacred UN forum. But, through it, the world will be able to well discern about who is really a wrecker of the world peace and security and who is a gang of hooligans of the international society. [US Middle East Strategy] [Israel] [DPRK Middle East]
• Further signs of looming US war with North Korea
  By Peter Symonds 9 December 2017 In another indication of the advanced US preparations for war against North Korea, the Trump administration has suggested that US athletes might not participate in the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February for security reasons. US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley told Fox News on Wednesday that the US team’s participation was “an open question.” While Haley denied she had heard anything concrete, she intimated that “conversations are happening daily” about the protection of US citizens, “whether it’s about Jerusalem or North Korea.” [US NK policy] [War] [Olympics18]
• Have we got just three months to avert a US attack on North Korea?
  Mark Seddon Envoys say the US has till March to stop Kim Jong-un developing a nuclear missile that can hit Washington. The UN must act now to stop the slide to war Monday 4 December 2017 17.29 GMT Last modified on Monday 4 December 2017 17.35 GMT The drumbeat for a potentially devastating war on the Korean peninsula, and one that could quickly spread with calamitous consequences, has grown louder in the wake of North Korea’s latest missile test – its most advanced yet. The North’s long-range inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch was in direct contravention of a battery of UN security council resolutions and in disregard for its increasingly estranged – and last remaining – ally, China. Meanwhile, a major US and South Korean military exercise began today involving 12,000 military personnel and, for the first time, US F-22 “stealth” raptors, precision bombing aircraft that the North Korean regime has zero chance of spotting with its antiquated systems. In advance of the exercises, the North Korean foreign ministry said that the Trump administration was “begging for nuclear war”, while Trump’s security adviser, HR McMaster, speaking at the Reagan Defense Forum at the weekend, said that “North Korea is the greatest immediate threat to the US.” [US NK policy] [War] [UN] [Liberal] [Freeze]
• U.S. listing of N.K. as terror sponsor likely to dim outlook for talks: experts
  2017/11/21 13:57 By Koh Byung-joon SEOUL, Nov. 21 (Yonhap) -- The U.S.' decision to re-list North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism may aggravate tensions and dim the outlook for a possible resumption of talks to resolve the current nuclear stalemate, experts said Tuesday. On Monday (Washington time), U.S. President Donald Trump announced the re-designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. North Korea was put on the list in 1988 for its bombing of a South Korean airliner that killed all 115 people aboard. In 2008, it was taken off in exchange for progress in denuclearization talks. [Terrorism List] [US NK Negotiations]
• Toward a Common North Korea Strategy: ROK-U.S. Foreign Policy and Security Cooperation
  Featuring a Discussion with: Congressman Ami Bera, M.D. California, 7th District Seong-Ryoul Cho Chief Researcher, Institute for National Security Strategy Dr. Patrick Cronin Senior Advisor and Senior Director, Asia-Pacific Security Program Center for a New American Security Deog-Ryong Kim Executive Vice-Chairperson, National Unification Advisory Council Prof. Joon-Hyung Kim Professor, Handong Global University Dr. Young-Joon Kim Senior Research Fellow, Institute for National Security Strategy Bruce Klingner Senior Research Fellow, Northeast Asia Heritage Foundation Anthony Ruggiero Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies Prof. Jung-Kun Seo Professor, Kyung Hee University Prof. Bo-Hyug Suh Research Professor, Institute for Peace and Unification Studies Seoul National University Dr. Sue Mi Terry Senior Fellow, Korea Chair Center for Strategic and International Studies Dr. Andrew Yeo Associate Professor of Politics, Catholic University About The Event On behalf of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and the National Unification Advisory Council (NUAC), you are cordially invited to attend an event on “Toward a Common North Korea Strategy: ROK-U.S. Foreign Policy and Security Cooperation.” At an official state visit to Seoul in early November, Presidents Trump and Moon advanced a common agenda on North Korea and bilateral relations. How will the two governments’ policies develop in 2018 and beyond? This timely discussion will examine U.S. and Korean perspectives on both countries’ North Korea policy and the future of the ROK-U.S. alliance. [US NK policy] [MISCOM] [US SK alliance]
• North Korea warns US naval blockade 'declaration of war'
  Posted : 2017-12-10 15:41 Updated : 2017-12-10 17:06 By Rachel Lee North Korea has again hit out at a U.S. suggestion of a naval blockade, saying any such action would be considered a declaration of war. Pyongyang said such a move would be a "wanton violation of the country's sovereignty and dignity" that would be considered a declaration of war, the state-run Rodong Shinmun reported Sunday. "Once we discover a small movement to implement the naval blockade plan, there should follow our prompt, brutal and self-defensive response against the movement," the newspaper said. [Interdiction] [Blockade]
• US fully implements travel ban on North Korea
  Posted : 2017-12-09 12:23 Updated : 2017-12-10 15:06 The United States on Friday fully implemented travel restrictions against six Muslim-majority countries, North Korea and Venezuela. The restrictions were announced in a proclamation signed by President Donald Trump in September, but faced legal appeals. The Supreme Court ruled Monday to allow the order to be enforced while the legal proceedings continue. "The Department began implementing the full Proclamation at the opening of business (local time) at U.S. embassies and consulates overseas today, Friday, December 8, 2017," the State Department said in a statement. [Travel ban]
• Han Kang explains background of October New York Times op-ed contribution
  Posted on : Dec.8,2017 16:01 KST Modified on : Dec.8,2017 16:01 KST Han Kang The author doesn’t regard the piece as ideologically or politically tinged A controversial New York Times contribution last October by novelist Han Kang has been reprinted in the winter edition of the quarterly literary magazine “Munhak Dongne,” along with a brief position statement from the author on her reasons for writing the piece and the subsequent political uproar in South Korea. Han’s piece criticized US President Donald Trump for discussing war scenarios on the Korean Peninsula, declaring that any scenario other than peace was unthinkable for South Koreans. The piece was published in translation in the Oct. 7 edition of the New York Times under the title “While the US Talks of War, South Korea Shudders.” According to Han, the original title was “Who Is Talking about ‘Victory’ Scenarios?,” but the author changed it at the newspaper’s request. Han also explained that she was asked for a submission in May and respectfully declined, only to change her mind later “as the subsequent war of words escalated.” “I also felt concerned about the climate overseas, which seemed to regard South Korea as having only an anonymous public that is numb and insensitive to any crisis,” Han said. “So my thought was purely to communicate the real sense that there are flesh-and-blood people living here.” [US NK policy] [War] [Collateral] [SK] [Pawn]
• KEB Hana Bank discovers first known example of new US$100 “supernote”
  Posted on : Dec.7,2017 17:35 KST Modified on : Dec.7,2017 17:35 KST The counterfeiting response center at the main branch of KEB Hana Bank. (provided by KEB Hana Bank) The counterfeit bill in question was a copy of the 2006 series KEB Hana Bank announced on Dec. 6 that it had discovered the first example in the world of a new type of US$100 “supernote,” a high-quality counterfeit bill. New series of US dollars are issued with different signatures when the Secretary of the Treasury changes. The supernote in question was a copy of the 2006 series. “Early last year, a suspected counterfeit dollar bill at a branch in Seoul was separated out with a regular identification device and underwent visual scanning before being sent to the main branch’s counterfeiting response center,” a Hana Bank source said. “After video deciphering, the center concluded that a detailed identification would be needed. The original was obtained, and detailed analysis showed that it was a supernote,” the source added. “Apparently the same conclusion was reached when the information was later shared with the National Intelligence Service.” The same source said the method used had “not yet been reported to Interpol, which makes it impossible to know how many are actually circulating.” Recent dollar series are more difficult to forge. Supernotes are reportedly produced by protected state-level manufacturing facilities in North Korea and other countries, and are deliberately designed to be difficult to distinguish with the counterfeit identification equipment available at most bank branches. In addition to using special ink and paper that change color at different angles, the supernotes are also produced with printing techniques that create a rugged texture on the bill’s surface. “To print supernote-level forgeries, you need a minting corporation-level production line in place, which costs hundreds of billions of won,” explained a Hana Bank source. “This makes it difficult for ordinary criminal organizations to produce them.” “The bank has no knowledge of any connection between North Korea and the supernote-level forgery that was discovered [on this occasion],” the source said, adding that the NIS would “attempt to determine the route behind its circulation.” By Jung Se-ra, staff reporter [Counterfeiting] [Supernote]
• US intelligence agencies regard Kim Jong-un as rational actor, WSJ reports
  Posted on : Dec.7,2017 17:10 KST Modified on : Dec.7,2017 17:10 KST UN Undersecretary for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman is greeted upon his arrival at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang by a member of the North Korean Foreign Ministry on Dec. 5. (AFP/Yonhap News) The analysis could give added weight to a push for a diplomatic solution to NK nuclear issue The Wall Street Journal reported on Dec. 5 that US intelligence agencies and military officials regard North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as a “rational actor” and that this view is the basis for the US’s approach to North Korea. This shows that the administration of US President Donald Trump is leaning toward a diplomatic approach, at least internally, despite the fact that figures in and around the US government have repeatedly mentioned military options following North Korea’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Nov. 29. Quoting multiple officials, the Wall Street Journal said that two important ways of thinking about North Korea have taken shape, based on the conclusion that Kim Jong-un is a rational actor reached by the main organizations in charge of US national security. The first view is that Kim is fully aware that any attack on the US or its allies would pose a threat to North Korea’s security and to his own grip on power. The second is that diplomacy can be used to change Kim’s actions and to reduce the threat of war. [Irrationality] [Intelligence] [Banality]
• Wagging the Dog in Korea?
  by Charles Pierson December 6, 2017 “President’s Trump Card May Be N. Korea If Flynn Is Threat to Him” ran the headline in the Saturday New York Daily News. The Daily News does not use the phrase “Wag the Dog,” but the association is obvious. Wag the Dog was a 1997 film, based on a novel, in which an American President engineers a war in order to distract the public’s attention from a sex scandal (molesting an underage “Firefly Girl.” Roy Moore, take note.) The war in Wag the Dog was faked, conjured up by a Hollywood film director (Dustin Hoffman) acting at the behest of a Washington spin doctor played by Robert De Niro. (You want me to fake a war, the director asks? No, no, De Niro assures him. Not a war: a “pageant.”)
• Trump Sticks to the Script, Bolsters U.S. Defense Commitments in Japan and South Korea
  By Scott Snyder November 9, 2017 During his first visit to Northeast Asia as president, Donald Trump has stayed on script, deepened relationships with his counterparts, and succeeded in communicating the right combination of assurance regarding the United States’ commitment to its allies and resolve in the face of the global threat posed by North Korea. Indicative of the message and tone of the first part of Trump’s five-country Asian tour was the presentation of hats by Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. Emblazoned with the message “Make the Alliance Even Greater,” the hats were a not-so-subtle jab at the limits of Trump’s “America first” rhetoric when talking to friends and allies. Most notable from Trump’s visits to Japan and South Korea was what did not happen: no counterproductive personal attacks on North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and the fogged-out denial by Mother Nature of a visit with South Korean president Moon Jae-in to the demilitarized zone. [Trump] [Asia Visit 1711]
• Selected Articles: Is Trump Contemplating Nuclear War against North Korea?
  By Global Research News December 04, 2017 We bring to the attention of Global Research readers the selection of articles below which reveals the actions of the Trump administration to provoke North Korea into a nuclear war. Please help us spread this selection of articles by forwarding it far and wide, discussing it within your circle of friends and colleagues, reposting our articles on blog sites and social media, etc. [US NK policy]
• U.S. Embassy in Seoul Denies Secret Plan to Evacuate Americans
  By Kim Jin-myung October 18, 2017 10:04 The U.S. Embassy in Seoul said Tuesday it would not evacuate American citizens without informing the South Korean government first. The embassy issued a statement responding to rumors that the U.S. was making secret evacuation plans amid growing North Korean nuclear threats. The embassy said it was aware of recent rumors, inaccurate news reports, and false social media warnings regarding the alleged imminent evacuation of Americans from South Korea, and urged the public to check the U.S. government’s official websites for accurate information. It referred to the websites of the embassy (kr.usembassy.gov), U.S. Forces Korea (www.usfk.mil), and the U.S. State Department's travel information service (travel.state.gov). Decisions on whether to evacuate Americans are made by the State Department in consultation with the U.S. Defense Department and other government agencies, it said. Any such decision would be communicated to the host country through official channels and an evacuation would be conducted in cooperation with South Korean authorities, it added. Families of U.S. Forces Korea personnel board an aircraft as part of an evacuation drill at an airport in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province in November last year (file photo). /Courtesy of the USFK Eighth Army The announcement appears intended to dispel fears that the U.S. might attempt to secretly evacuate its citizens behind Seoul's back before launching a preemptive strike on North Korea. The embassy said the planned evacuation drill dubbed "Courageous Channel" has nothing to do with any specific security situation and is carried out as a matter of routine twice a year. The USFK plans to conduct the drill next week. The U.S. government has conducted such crisis-management drills all over the world for decades, it added. [Evacuation] [Pretend equality]
• US senator: It's time for US military families to leave South Korea
  President Donald Trump has "the best" national security team, Senator Lindsey Graham says. EVAN VUCCI/AP President Donald Trump has "the best" national security team, Senator Lindsey Graham says. A US senator says it's time to start moving the families of American military personnel out of South Korea as North Korea pushes the US closer to a military conflict. Senator Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he will also urge the Pentagon not to send any more dependents to South Korea. "It's crazy to send spouses and children to South Korea, given the provocation of North Korea. South Korea should be an unaccompanied tour,'' the South Carolina Republican said on CBS' Face the Nation. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says US families of military personnel in South Korea should leave. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says US families of military personnel in South Korea should leave. "So, I want them to stop sending dependents, and I think it's now time to start moving American dependents out of South Korea.'' [Lindsay Graham] [Evacuation] [Hawk]
• Risk of War with N.Korea Growing, Says U.S. Security Advisor
  By Cho Yi-jun December 04, 2017 09:55 The potential for war with North Korea is "increasing every day," White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster said Saturday. The warning follows the North's test launch of a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile last week. Speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, McMaster was asked if the North's latest missile launch had escalated the possibility of war. "I think it's increasing every day, which means that we are in a race, really, we are in a race to be able to solve this problem," he said. "There are ways to address this problem short of armed conflict, but it is a race because [North Korea is] getting closer and closer, and there's not much time left," he added. H.R. McMaster The remarks came as North Korea said it could engage in direct talks with the U.S. if Washington recognizes it as a nuclear power. Kim Yong-nam, the perennial president of the North's rubber-stamp Supreme People's Assembly, told Russian delegates who recently visited Pyongyang that the North could survive for "more than a hundred years" in the face of international sanctions. But he added that North Korea "is ready to sit down at the negotiating table," though only on equal footing with Washington, and seek a peace treaty, Russia's Interfax quoted a member of the delegation as saying. in any form or by any means without prior written permission. [McMaster] [US NK negotiations]
• U.S. Sends Massive Air Contingent to Drill in Korea
  By Yu Yong-weon December 04, 2017 10:27 A squadron of U.S. stealth fighter jets arrived in South Korea on Saturday and Sunday to participate in the largest-ever joint drill this week. A total of 24 F-22 Raptor and F-35A stealth fighters are to take part in the drill, which is dubbed "Vigilant Ace" and comes hard on the heels of North Korea's latest test on an intercontinental ballistic missile last month. U.S. F-22 Raptor fighter jets fly over the southwestern city of Gwangju on Saturday. /Yonhap Some 230 South Korean and U.S. aircraft will practice striking North Korea's nuclear and missile bases, mobile missile launchers and long-range artillery. A military source said the exercise had been planned well before the North's launch of a Hwasong-15 missile. "But it will be more intense because of the launch," the source added. The Defense Ministry said the purpose of the drill is to improve the joint capability of carrying out missions in all weathers, day and night. Other U.S. jets taking part are F-22s, F-35As, EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, F-15C fighters, and F-16 fighters, which have already been deployed at air bases here. Twelve F-35B stealth fighters and E-3 early warning and control aircraft, and a fleet of B-1B Lancer bombers will fly from U.S. air bases in Japan and Guam. A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman in a statement on Saturday denounced the exercise. It said the Trump administration is "begging for a nuclear war" and engaged in "dangerous nuclear gambling" on the Korean Peninsula. [Posturing] [Joint US military] [Airstrike]
• Calls grow for South Korea to be prepared to scrap KORUS FTA
  Posted on : Dec.3,2017 15:52 KST Modified on : Dec.3,2017 15:52 KST Agriculture and livestock industries are pushing the government to withdraw from the agreement During the second public hearing about revising the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (known as the KORUS-FTA), which was held on Dec. 1, multiple experts and discussants asserted that South Korea must be prepared to scrap the entire agreement. The agriculture and livestock industries, which have been seriously harmed by the KORUS-FTA, have long been pushing for South Korea to withdraw from the agreement. “We will pay heed to the concerns of stakeholders in all sectors, since every one of them is important to us,” said Kang Sung-chun, Deputy Minister of Trade. “We should approach these negotiations at a time of our choosing, according to our procedures, and in line with our needs and objectives, instead of being dragged around by the Trump administration,” said Song Gi-ho, an attorney with MINBYUN-Lawyers for a Democratic Society, during the hearing, which was held at COEX in Seoul’s Gangnam District. Baek Il, a professor at Ulsan College, went a step further. “Even declaring that we’re walking away from the agreement would not be to our disadvantage. Our attitude should be that we’re perfectly willing for the agreement to end. We have virtually no economic interest in sustaining an agreement if that means making concessions on our main products,” Baek said. [KORUS FTA]
• South Korea, US kick off massive air force drills
  Posted : 2017-12-04 12:08 Updated : 2017-12-04 15:30 South Korea and the United States kicked off a major air force exercise here Monday against North Korea's threats, with two dozen U.S. stealth jets mobilized. The five-day Vigilant ACE (air combat exercise) comes less than a week after the North fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and declared the completion of its "nuclear force." The annual training has drawn keen media attention, although it was scheduled before the provocation. It's known as the largest-ever combined air force drill between the allies, involving more than 230 warplanes and around 12,000 personnel. They include six F-22 Raptors and six F-35As, which have been deployed temporarily to Korea for the practice. It marks the first time that six Raptors, not just a few, have joined an exercise simultaneously in Korea. A dozen F-35Bs operated by the U.S. Marine Corps will take part in the training, flying from their base in Japan. Other assets include two B-1B Lancer bombers, six EA-18G Growler electronic warfare jets, and dozens of F-15C and F-16 fighter jets. South Korea has fielded F-15K, KF-16, FA-50 and F-5 fighters, as well as other planes. "It's aimed at enhancing the all-weather, day and night combined air power operation capabilities of South Korea and the U.S. ," South Korea's defense ministry said. The allies will conduct the drills under various wartime scenarios, including simulated precision strikes on mock North Korean nuclear and missile targets, it added. [Posturing] [Joint US military] [Airstrike] [Pretend equality]
• US lawmaker: likelihood of 'preemptive war' with North Korea grows
  Posted : 2017-12-04 12:04 Updated : 2017-12-04 15:11 A top Republican lawmaker warned Sunday that the United States moves closer to preemptive war with North Korea every time Pyongyang carries out a missile or nuclear test. North Korea's test launch this week of an intercontinental ballistic missile has sent tensions soaring once again on the Korean peninsula, after a two month lull. "If there's an underground nuclear test, then you need to get ready for a very serious response by the United States," Senator Lindsey Graham said on CBS' "Face the Nation." His remarks echoed those of National Security Advisor HR McMaster, who told a security forum in Washington on Saturday that the potential for war with North Korea "is increasing every day." The United States has demanded tougher international sanctions, including cuts in oil shipments to the isolated state, but both McMaster and Graham suggested that the risk of war is growing despite the diplomatic efforts. "We are in a race to be able to solve this problem," said McMaster. "This would be the most destabilizing development I think in the post World War II period. It's something that places us at direct risk but places the world at risk." Graham, a foreign policy hawk, said he has had extensive discussions with the Trump administration about the situation. The administration's policy, he said, is "to deny North Korea the capability to hit America with a nuclear-tipped missile. Not to contain it." "Denial means preemptive war as a last resort. That preemption is becoming more likely as their technology matures. Every missile test, every underground test of a nuclear weapon, means the marriage is more likely. "I think we're really running out of time. The Chinese are trying, but ineffectively," he said. [Lindsay Graham] [Preventive war]
• To Stop North Korea, Act Like Israel
  By Nitsana Darshan-Leitner Dec. 3, 2017 The news last week from the Korean Peninsula about yet another ballistic missile launch was déjà vu all over again. This one had an estimated range of 8,100 miles — long enough to hit Washington, D.C., or anywhere else in the continental United States. President Trump responded with angry tweets, but Kim Jong-un has good reason to be cocky. The strongman knows all too well that a military response is highly unlikely. There are some 8,000 North Korean cannons and rocket launchers aimed at Seoul, in effect holding the approximately 10 million inhabitants of that city hostage. All sides realize that the human and economic costs of another Korean war are simply unfathomable. Several American presidents have tried to persuade the Kim dynasty to abandon its nuclear ambitions, through a combination of sanctions and negotiations. But these efforts have been unsuccessful. In part that’s because the Kim family never ran North Korea like a normal nation. Even in a rogue nation like Iran, the vise of economic embargoes can force hard-liners to change their behavior. Not so with North Korea, which has been able to skirt sanctions and United Nations resolutions because it is run more like a Mafia fief than a state. [US NK policy] [Sanctions] [Israel] [False analogy]
• North Korean soldier’s survival is ‘truly a miracle,’ says American rescue crew
  From Left: Chief Warrant Officer 2 Nathan Gumm; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Eric Tirro; Spc. Carroll Moore; Sgt. 1st Class Gopal Singh; and Pfc. Karina Lopez, all of the Eighth Army's 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, pose for a photo with a Black Hawk at Camp Humphreys, South Korea. The team was responsible for the medical evacuation, stabilization and treatment of the North Korean soldier, Oh Chong Song, who defected Nov. 13. (Staff Sgt. Joel Salgado/Eighth Army Public Affairs/U.S. Army) By Anna Fifield December 2 at 5:00 AM TOKYO — When the injured soldier was loaded into the Black Hawk helicopter, Sgt. 1st Class Gopal Singh, on his last mission as a flight medic, said a prayer. He did not think the man, who had been shot five times, was going to survive. “I could tell immediately that this guy was probably going to die in the next 15 minutes if we didn’t start working on him and get the aircraft off the ground,” said Singh, a medic in the Eighth Army’s 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, stationed at Camp Humphreys in South Korea. The evacuation crew did not know it then, but their patient was a North Korean soldier who had just made a daring dash for freedom across the Joint Security Area, the neutral section in the demilitarized zone where enemy troops stand face-to-face. The soldier, a 24-year-old named Oh Chong Song, was shot five times by North Korean border guards Nov. 13 as he ran across the line, but he managed to get himself to shelter against a building on the southern side. He lay there, in a pile of leaves, for as long as 30 minutes until South Korean soldiers were able to crawl to him and drag him to safety. [US dominance] [OPCON]
• Hawaii tests nuclear alarms as North Korea threat escalates
  A Hawaii Civil Defense Warning Device, which sounds an alert siren during natural disasters, is shown in Honolulu on Wednesday. (Caleb Jones/AP) By Brittany Lyte December 1 at 10:42 PM KOLOA, Hawaii — Minutes before a cacophony of Cold War-era sirens blared across Hawaii on Friday, the staff of a Kauai Island adventure tour operator paused to gather at an outdoor parking area. Huddled in the partial shade of palm trees, five colleagues embraced an expectant moment of quiet. The silence was cut at 11:45 a.m., as the sirens wailed for the first time in a generation. As nuclear tensions between North Korea and the United States foment, Hawaii has reinstated a test of a statewide nuclear attack warning system not utilized since the 1980s. The drill will be repeated on the first business day of the month for the foreseeable future. [Hysteria] [Hawaii] [False balance]
• Relocation of ROK-US Combined Forces Command under consideration
  Posted on : Nov.30,2017 17:23 KST Modified on : Nov.30,2017 17:23 KST The ROK-US Combed Forces Command building at the Yongsan Garrison. (by Kim Kyu-won, staff reporter) A new plan would transfer the building outside of Yongsan Park A plan is being deliberated that would relocate the ROK-US Combined Forces Command from its current location in the middle of the Yongsan Garrison in Seoul to the building of the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff, next to the Ministry of National Defense. If this plan is implemented, Combined Forces Command would be based outside the park that will be built after the US military relinquishes control of the Yongsan base. The current site of the Combined Forces Command (240,000?) takes up 10% of the total area (2.43 million ?) of the planned park (called the Yongsan National Park), and its location bisects the northern and southern halves of the park. [USFK]
• CIA recruits Korean-speaking agents
  Posted : 2017-12-01 12:16 Updated : 2017-12-01 13:56 Captured from TwitterBy Park Si-soo By Park Si-soo American spy agency the CIA is recruiting agents who can speak Korean. In a Nov. 28 posting on Twitter, the CIA wrote: "Speak Korean? US citizen w(ith) a college degree? Interest in national security? Your skills are needed here. 1.usa. gov/1qOxdOa" The CIA didn't explain why it recruits Korean-speaking agents. The Korea Times explored the CIA website and the position seems to be a Directorate of Operations Language Officer. The position requires "advanced foreign language skills combined with cultural experience and expertise to producing high-quality, accurate, and timely translations, interpretations, and other language-related support to DO (Directorate of Operations) clandestine operations," according to the website. Applicants need to have native or near-native-level fluency in Korean. The CIA is also recruiting agents fluent in Arabic, Chinese Mandarin, Dari/Pashto, Persian/Farsi and Russian. Selected agents are generally assigned to the Washington, D.C. , area, but have opportunities for overseas travel, the website said. [CIA] [Diaspora] [Espionage]
• 'North Korea wants a peace'
  Posted : 2017-11-29 20:16 Updated : 2017-11-29 20:17 Latest provocation aimed at improving negotiation position By Kim Jae-kyoung SINGAPORE -- North Korea's latest test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) aims to get an edge over the U.S. and its rivals in a negotiation, S&P Global Ratings said, Wednesday. In its analysis report on North Korean provocations, the global ratings agency said that North Korea "wants a peace" and seeks to "avoid a military conflict with the U.S. ," wary that it could lead to regime change. The report came right after Pyongyang fired an apparent ICBM from an area north of Pyongyang early Wednesday, resuming its provocations after a 75-day lull. The missile flew some 960 kilometers at an apogee of around 4,500 km. The government said that it was apparently fired at a lofted angle, and if done at a standard one, it could have gone over 10,000 km, given its maximum altitude, which means that it could reach the U.S. mainland. "These moves appear calculated to improve North Korea's negotiating position with its international rivals," said KimEng Tan and YeeFarn Phua, both based in Singapore. "Consequently, we see a low likelihood that the country will raise tensions to a degree that makes an outright military conflict likely." [Hwasong-15] [US NK Negotiations]

• Government wants to delay Korea-U.S. military drills
  Posted : 2017-11-27 16:18 Updated : 2017-11-27 21:11 By Nam Hyun-woo The government wants to delay the joint military drills with the United States during the PyeongChang Olympic Games, said Song Young-gil, the chairman of the Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation. Song said the Moon Jae-in government has been calling for peace during the Winter Games, and a delay in the exercise may stop North Korea from conducting additional provocations. He made the comment during a conference hosted by the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) and the Russia-based think tank the Valdai Discussion Club at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul. Among the participants in the two-day conference were Song, Russia's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Morgulov, Valdai Club Chairman Andrey Bystritskiy, KIEP President Hyun Jung-taik and ranking government officials and scholars from South Korea and Asia-Pacific countries. [Joint US military] [Olympics]
• Is North Korea a terrorist state?
  Posted : 2017-11-27 17:45 Updated : 2017-11-27 17:52 By John Burton This question is surprisingly being debated after President Donald Trump last week decided to restore the North to the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, which now includes Iran, Syria and Sudan. North Korea was first put on the list in 1988 for clearly recognizable terrorist activities, including a bomb attack against senior South Korean officials in Rangoon in 1983 and blowing up a Korean Air passenger jet in 1987. President George W. Bush removed North Korea from the list in 2008 as part of an unsuccessful effort to resume talks with Pyongyang on curbing its nuclear and missile program. In putting North Korea back on the list, Trump cited the political assassination of Kim Jong-nam, half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in Malaysia and the alleged torture and subsequent death of American college student Otto Warmbier as reasons for the action. A debate has centered, however, on whether these events this year constitute terrorist acts. The U.S. does not have a standard legal definition for "international terrorism" and what constitutes "support" for them. Terrorism seems to be in the eye of the beholder, which makes selecting which countries should be on the list a highly political choice. What is clear is that who appears on the terrorism list is inconsistent. Putin's Russia has also assassinated political opponents on foreign soil, but Trump has hardly criticized Moscow. Washington is considering removing Sudan from the terrorist list despite its continued abysmal human rights record, including attacks on civilians in the Darfur region and the torture of political opponents. Pakistan has escaped being placed on the list despite supporting Muslim terrorist groups in India and providing aid to the Taliban fighting U.S. troops in Afghanistan. It could even be argued that Saudi Arabia should be labeled a state sponsor of terrorism because it has financed Islamic militancy around the world. [Terrorism List]
• US-DPRK: How the US Observed the 1994 Agreed Framework
  Konstantin Asmolov Let us start with the fact that the Agreed Framework was not an official form of diplomatic treaty and it would be more appropriate to name it a Framework Arrangement (this is also suggested by the word Framework in it), since the word “agreement” by default would create the false impression that it was not a gentleman’s agreement but a ratified treaty. Then, although the framework was perceived only as an obligation on the part of the DPRK to freeze its nuclear program, in fact Article 2 of the document stated that “the two sides will move towards full normalization of political and economic relations.” According to Article 3, the US had to “provide the DPRK with formal safeguards against the threat of US use of nuclear weapons.” As can be seen, we do not see any guarantees or promise of diplomatic relations. [Agreed Framework]
• US and South Korea Announce Plans for Massive Air Force Exercise Aimed at North Korea
  The early December drill comes as tensions continue to rise over North Korea's nuclear program and Trump's persistent antagonization of the nation's leader by Common Dreams staff The U.S. and South Korea announced Friday they will conduct a massive air force exercise over the Korean Peninsula next month as a notable show of force targeting North Korea—despite warnings that the Trump administration's decision earlier this week to add North Korea to the United States' list of state sponsors of terrorism could further provoke the isolated country. Six F-22 Raptor stealth fighters—which are among the world's most advanced warplanes—will be sent to South Korea for the drill, a U.S. Air Force spokesman told AFP, which reports: The massive five-day annual exercise comes as Washington pushes what President Donald Trump has called a "maximum pressure campaign" against Pyongyang over its nuclear program. The exercise, named Vigilant Ace, starts on December 4 with 12,000 U.S. personnel and an unspecified number of South Korean airmen flying more than 230 aircraft at eight U.S. and South Korean military bases. Reuters reports that U.S. Marine Corps and Navy troops will also participate in the exercise [Joint US military] [Posturing]
• [Editorial] Redesignation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism unlikely to advance dialogue
  Posted on : Nov.22,2017 16:00 KST Modified on : Nov.22,2017 16:00 KST US President Donald Trump presides over a cabinet meeting at the White House on Nov. 20. At this meeting, Trump announced that North Korea would be relabeled a state sponsor of terrorism. (AP/Yonhap News) On Nov. 20, the US government under President Donald Trump put North Korea back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism after an absence of nine years. In addition, Song Tao, the head of the International Liaison Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC), was unable to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on his visit to the North as the special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping. It is worrying to see the Korean Peninsula slipping back into a situation of extreme conflict and tensions after hopes that Trump’s trip to Asia and Xi’s assignment of a special envoy to the North might usher in a phase of dialogue. The reasons that Trump offered for redesignating North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism are that it is threatening the entire world with nuclear devastation and that it has repeatedly supported international terrorism, exemplified by carrying out an assassination in foreign territory. Trump also promised to put further sanctions on the North Korean individuals and organizations, signaling an acceleration of the “maximum pressure” campaign. [Terrorism list]
• American nuclear submarine enters Jeju Naval Base
  Posted on : Nov.24,2017 21:14 KST Modified on : Nov.24,2017 21:14 KST Members of civic groups call for the withdrawal of an American nuclear submarine outside of the Jeju Naval Base on Nov. 23 (provided by Island-Wide Action Committee for Blocking Military Bases on Jeju and for Achieving an Island of Peace) The USS Mississippi docked at the base despite protests from civic groups With an American nuclear-powered submarine entering the Jeju Naval Base for the first time since the base was built, civic groups opposed to the naval base protested and called for its immediate withdrawal. At noon on Nov. 23, the Action Committee Opposed to the Naval Base at Gangjeong Village and the Island-Wide Action Committee for Blocking Military Bases on Jeju and for Achieving an Island of Peace held a press conference in front of the Jeju Naval Base. “Jeju should be an island of world peace that aims to overcome the pain of the Apr. 3 Incident [a massacre that occurred in 1948], not a base for strategic assets of the US military. The US must immediately withdraw the USS Mississippi, a nuclear-powered attack submarine that threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula and in northeast Asia,” the committee said. [Jeju] [China confrontation]
• Why has North Korea been quite for more than two months?
  Posted : 2017-11-27 16:44 Updated : 2017-11-27 17:24 By Yi Whan-woo North Korea has not carried out any military provocations for over 70 days, fueling speculations about why. Some claim Pyongyang is having trouble mastering ballistic missile technology, while others say it is waiting for the world to offer carrots in return for ceasing its provocations. The longer-than-expected suspension came after Pyongyang fired a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile Sept. 15. Donald Trump's tour to five Asian nations including South Korea, Japan and China as well as a rare convergence of three U.S. supercarriers in early November were once thought to be reasons for Pyongyang remaining low key. Some analysts said there must be other reasons given that it has been weeks since Trump and the three U.S. carriers left. They speculated that Pyongyang's suspension of provocations is unintentional and is attributed to possible domestic events, such as a failure to make advances in its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) technology. They also speculated that a power struggle between North Korean military and Workers' Party officials may have delayed the ICBM test. [Tests]
• 85 Korean Tourists Refused Entry by U.S. Immigration
  By Kim Jin-myung November 22, 2017 10:04 A group of 85 Korean tourists were denied entry into the U.S. at an airport in Georgia on Sunday and sent back to Seoul, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. The ministry said the Korean Consulate General in Atlanta was notified. The travelers arrived on two separate flights, and all of them obtained a travel authorization in advance through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization under a visa waiver. According to U.S. media reports, about 50 of the visitors arrived aboard a Delta Air Lines flight and the rest came on a Korean Air flight. But they were made to wait for 24 hours at Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport and returned to Korea on Tuesday. They were all part of a single group. They had apparently visited the U.S. before to take part in a retreat but engaged in commercial activities like selling vegetables. A Foreign Ministry official said, "They were refused entry because the purpose of their visit in their documents differed from what they told immigration officials. We confirmed that they were not refused entry for political reasons." The Foreign Ministry said it will hold further talks with U.S. customs so that Korean visitors can be properly informed to prevent similar incidents. [Friction]
• US designates North Korea as state sponsor of terrorism
  Posted : 2017-11-21 08:19 Updated : 2017-11-21 08:22 The United States on Monday designated North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism in a symbolic move aimed at increasing pressure on the regime over its nuclear weapons program. President Donald Trump made the announcement at the White House, returning North Korea to a list of nations it was removed from nine years ago. "It should have happened years ago," Trump said at the start of a Cabinet meeting. "In addition to threatening the world by nuclear devastation, North Korea has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism, including assassinations on foreign soil." The designation is the latest in a series of steps Washington has taken to isolate the North and force it to come to the negotiation table over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Tensions spiked after the North tested two long-range missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland in July, and followed up with its sixth and most powerful nuclear test in September. Trump earlier threatened to "totally destroy" the North if necessary. [Terrorism List] [Renege]
• North Korea’s latest tirade: Trump is a ‘mean trickster and human reject’
  People watch a TV screen showing images of President Trump, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Seoul railway station on Nov. 21. (Ahn Young-Joon/AP) By Anna Fifield November 21 at 10:05 AM TOKYO — North Korea on Tuesday criticized President Trump in the way that only North Korean propagandists can, calling him “an old lunatic, mean trickster and human reject” over a speech he made in South Korea this month. This is not North Korea’s first commentary on Trump’s 12-day trip through the region. It already had denounced him for traveling around Asia “like a hungry wolf” who was trying to enrich the U.S. defense industry “by milking the moneybags from its subordinate ‘allies.’?” But it is North Korea’s most hyperbolic tirade to date. Trump’s “reckless remarks” during his visits to Japan, South Korea and China were “an open declaration of war,” the Rodong Sinmun, the mouthpiece of the ruling Workers’ Party, said in a commentary published Tuesday. “Rabid dogs’ barking can never frighten the Korean people,” it wrote, adding that North Korea must “toughly react to any acts of hostility.” [Vituperation]
• People Must See Past Media’s Portrayal of North Korea, Cumings Says
  November 19, 2017 Isabel Fenoglio News, On Campus Bruce Cumings, a history professor at the University of Chicago, addressed a tightly packed audience in Devlin 008 on Wednesday about what he considers to be the most serious crisis the world faces today: North Korea. In a lecture titled, “The Sources of North Korean Conflict,” Cumings outlined the complex history of United States and North Korean relations. Cumings told students that in order to resolve relations, people need to figure out what makes North Korea “tick,” to discover why they do what they do. Cumings argued that in many ways, North Korea shares characteristics with the late USSR, and cited the famous article “The Sources of Soviet Conduct” by George Kennan as evidence. “Understanding the rise and subsequent collapse of the USSR is essential to understanding North Korea,” Cumings said. However, a notable difference between North Korea and the USSR is expansion. With the exception of Japan, North Korea does not seek to expand beyond the Korean peninsula, Cumings said, but instead pursues policies of isolationism and exclusionism. [US NK policy] [Media] [False analogy]
• Trump's Softened Stance on North Korea Meant to ‘Relieve Anxiety' – Expert
  Speaking to reporters and officials in South Korea Tuesday, US President Donald Trump shocked many with his sudden softened stance on North Korea. "It makes sense for North Korea to come to the table and make a deal that is good for the people of North Korea and for the world," Trump said at a news conference with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. "I do see certain movement." Though the statement was a stark contrast to Trump's "fire and fury" comments made just a few months back, one expert says 45's remarks weren't something he just came up with on his own. ?Speaking to Sputnik Radio's Loud and Clear, Simone Chun, a fellow at the Korea Policy Institute, told hosts John Kiriakou and Walter Smolarek that Trump's "make a deal" remark was all about relieving anxiety on the Korean Peninsula. "I think [Trump] is, in my analysis… just responding to President Moon, who really, really wants to… relieve some of the anxiety [felt by South Koreans]." And Chun's not alone in this. Mark Fitzpatrick, executive director for the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told AP that POTUS is simply reflecting the talks he's had with both Moon and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.[Trump] [US NK policy] [Diplomacy]
• KPI Fellow Hyun Lee on current Korea situation
  November 8, 2017 “By Any Means Necessary” hosts Eugene Puryear and Sean Blackmon are joined by Hyun Lee of the Solidarity Committee for Democracy and Peace in Korea, a writer for ZoominKorea.org and a KPI Associate to talk about the efforts to push back-channel negotiations between North Korea and the United States, the reasons behind why negotiations continue to fail, the efforts of DPRK to develop a intercontinental ballistic missile, who Donald Trump will align himself with in South East Asia, the role of war games in exacerbating conflict in the region and the potential for North and South Korean reconciliation. (Sputnik International, November 8, 2017) Listen to the show. [Trump] [Asia visit 2017] [US NK policy]
• UN Command in Pickle Over Footage of N.Korean Defector
  By Lee Yong-soo More November 17, 2017 09:23 The UN Command has put off releasing a video clip of a North Korean soldier fleeing to South Korea through the Joint Security Area on Monday. The UNC had originally planned to release the footage on Thursday but faced a protest from reporters because it seems to have been edited down to almost nothing. On Wednesday, the UNC promised to release footage of the soldier's flight, but on Thursday it backtracked and said it would release only a 26-second edited version "to avoid unnecessary speculation." Reporters on the defense beat said that is not enough to shed light on the incident because it would probably omit key parts that would show whether North Korean guards crossed the military demarcation line in pursuit. [US Dominance] [USFK]
• Singapore Halts All Trade with N.Korea
  November 17, 2017 12:17 Singapore halted all trade with North Korea as of Nov. 8, Radio Free Asia reported Thursday. The Singapore customs authority informed trading companies in a notice on Nov. 7 that the city state would halt all trade activities with the North the following day. The trade ban includes North Korean goods that are sold to third countries via Singapore. Violators will be slapped with a 100,000 Singaporean dollar fine or three times the value of the traded product and up to two years in prison (US$1=SGD1.35). But unofficial trade through diplomatic pouches and personal bags carried by airline crew is not covered by the ban. [Singapore] [Sanctions] [US dominance]
• American man to be deported after failed attempt to enter North Korea
  Posted on : Nov.16,2017 17:53 KST Modified on : Nov.16,2017 17:53 KST A view of the civilian control line in Yeoncheon County, Gyeonggi Province. (by Park Kyung-man, North Gyeonggi correspondent) The 58-year-old was arrested on charges of violating the National Security Act An American man is being deported after attempting to cross to North Korea over the civilian control line in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi Province. As of Nov. 15, the 58-year-old US citizen, identified by the initial “B,” was undergoing questioning after being arrested on charges of violating the National Security Act and was scheduled to be released and deported the same day, the Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency reported. Under police questioning, B said he had attempted to cross because he believed doing so could contribute to negotiations between North Korea and the US and draw attention to him. He declined to comment on his family or profession, citing “privacy.” B used information found online to form his plan to cross to North Korea and was unaware before the fact that crossing the civilian control line was against the law, police said. A Louisiana native, B submitted to police questioning and met with the US consul. He does not suffer from any abnormal health issues, sources reported. B was arrested on a report from a local resident while attempting to illegally enter North Korean territory beyond the civilian control line in the township of Misan, Yeoncheon County, at around 9:55 am on Nov. 13. He entered South Korea on Nov. 3 to carry out the crossing plan and stayed in Seoul and Paju’s Munsan neighborhood before making the attempt. By Park Kyung-min, North Gyeonggi correspondent [Peace effort] [NSA]
• N.Korean Officials Want to Know If Trump Is 'Crazy'
  By Cho Yi-jun November 15, 2017 11:31 North Korean officials have asked American Korea experts if U.S. President Donald Trump is really "crazy," Politico reported Monday. Suzanne DiMaggio, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation who has been engaged in "Track 1.5" dialogue with North Korean Foreign Ministry officials, told Politico, "They want to know if [Trump is] crazy, or if this is just an act." They were apparently curious what weight Trump's "fire and fury" rhetoric against Pyongyang carries. DiMaggio frequently travels to Oslo and Moscow for unofficial talks with North Korean officials. [US NK policy] [Trump] [Buffon] [Track 2]
• U.S. Intelligence Officials Call N.Korean Leader 'Very Rational'
  VOA News October 05, 2017 08:49 Despite Kim Jong-un's repeated provocations and willingness to engage in heated rhetoric, top U.S. intelligence officials say the North Korean leader is not crazy. "Kim Jong-un is a very rational actor," the deputy assistant director of the Central Intelligence Agency's Korea Mission Center said Wednesday. "Bluster and rhetoric aside, Kim Jong-un has no desire to go toe to toe with [U.S. and South Korea's] combined forces command," Yong Suk Lee said at a CIA-spon [Irrationality] [Unique]
• Stop the Insanity and Negotiate Peace in Korea Before It is Too Late!
  by Paul Atwood I doubt that there are many within range of my voice who are not aware of the ongoing crisis with North Korea. Yet few seem to be taking it as the most serious threat of global war since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when utter destruction was averted by the refusals of a Soviet admiral and President Kennedy to allow the warmongers to have the Third World War. Are you confident that President Trump and his inner circle of power will act sanely today? A recent poll indicated that 58% of Americans believe if North Korea conducts a strike against the United States an all-out response would be warranted. This is madness and irrationality of the first magnitude. First, the regime in Pyongyang understands that it will be wiped off the map should it attack so it will not attack first unless of course it believes an American attack upon it is imminent. Yet North Korea will not allow itself to be ravaged as it was during the Korean War more than 50 years ago. If war breaks out in Korea it is certain to become a nuclear war and since Korea sits on the borders of both China and Russia the likelihood they would remain neutral is nil. All out global nuclear war is an extremely probable consequence should the U.S. strike North Korea. Pay no attention to Trump’s twaddle that the dire consequences will only be felt “over there.” Given that the future of the human species is always at stake in the nuclear age we should be shouting from our rooftops to stop this madness before it is too late. [US NK policy] [Obvious]
• Trump and Xi and Kim: Hot War or Cold Peace?
  by Roy Morrison November 10, 2017 Is the world at the brink of war and mass slaughter in Korea? Or will Trump’s Asian grand tour be limited to occasional rhetorical flourishes, twitter eruptions, and closing trade deals. President Trump is busy selling weapons to Japan. He will be closing deals with President Xi to sell liquified natural gas and oil to China from planned Gulf Coast LNG terminals and a Texas Permian Basin pipeline. Billions of dollars are on the table to be delivered to U.S. companies by salesperson-in-chief Donald Trump. Spilling tanker loads of Korean and American blood, at least a rhetorical reckless willingness to do so is snarled again and again in a tough guy pose, good at least for a bump in the polls. “Do not try us,” Donald Trump warns North Korea. In Beijing the message is that President Xi must impose more crippling sanctions upon North Korea. Or what? Popular wisdom is that President Kim, mindful of the lessons of the now deceased Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi will not give up his nuclear weapons nor stop development of ICBMs capable of reaching the United States. The Trump administration has frequently called the development of such weapons unacceptable and has indicated that if Korea does not denuclearize, war will come, and if tens of thousands must die, it will not be on American soil. The Homeland is to be spared at all costs. It’s time we looked at the question of North Korea realistically. [US NK policy] [Liberal] [Victim]
• American detained trying to enter North Korea; North Korean soldier escapes to the South
  North Korean soldiers march during a visit by Australian officials to the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, on Oct. 12. (Ahn Young-Joon/AP) By Anna Fifield November 13 at 12:42 PM TOKYO — The demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas was the scene of an unusual amount of action Monday as an American man unsuccessfully attempted to cross into the North and a North Korean soldier succeeded in defecting to the South. The 2.5-mile-wide strip between North and South Korea, which President Bill Clinton once called “the scariest place on Earth,” has kept the two states separate since the Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a truce in 1953. But a handful of North Koreans have made it across in recent years, and several Americans have been thwarted trying to make the opposite journey. [This thin ribbon of land separates North and South Korea] A 58-year-old man from Louisiana was arrested by South Korean forces Monday morning for crossing the civilian control line just outside the DMZ as part of an attempt to get into North Korea “for political purposes,” authorities said. [Defector]
• 3 U.S. Aircraft Carriers to Hold Drills off S.Korean Coast
  By Lee Yong-soo November 09, 2017 09:45 Three unclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups will hold training drills in waters off South Korea starting Friday in a show of force against North Korea. The USS Nimitz armada entered the South China Sea last Saturday and is presently sailing past Taiwan. The USS Theodore Roosevelt group has been deployed from its home port of San Francisco to the western Pacific and is heading north from Guam. And the USS Ronald Reagan, affiliated with the 7th U.S. Fleet, which had anchored in Busan following joint naval drills with South Korea between Oct. 16 and 20, is cruising along the East Sea. A military source said, "The three armadas will engage in naval drills in waters between South Korea and Japan starting Friday. They will hold various drills, including aircraft takeoff and landing exercises." [Posturing]
• Do market rallies signal no war in Korea?
  Posted : 2017-11-09 21:01 Updated : 2017-11-09 21:01 Seoul stocks outperforming amid rising tensions By Kim Jae-kyoung SINGAPORE ? "The more North Korea conducts nuclear and missile tests, the better" for the market. This is the equation applied by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore to describe how Korean and other East Asian exchanges are reacting to North Korea's saber-rattling. Ironically, the KOSPI, South Korea's benchmark stock index, has been soaring over the past month, in tandem with rising tension on the Korean Peninsula caused by Pyongyang's ballistic missile and nuclear provocations. Market analysts said investors are betting on Korean stocks on the belief there will be no military conflict despite the bombastic rhetoric both from the United States and North Korea. "In my view the Korean market performance reflects no war," Mikio Kumada, executive director of Global Strategist at LGT Capital Partners in Hong Kong, told The Korea Times. "Instead (there is) an expectation of improved international cooperation with all stakeholders. That is reflected in the fact that all regional markets are outperforming." He also said Korean markets are being buoyed by an improving economic situation due to the revival of global trade and increased domestic political stability with the Moon Jae-in presidency. "It's interesting that in the middle of all of this war rhetoric, the U.S. and South Korean stock markets are doing fine," said William Brown, adjunct professor at Georgetown School of Foreign Service. "Does this mean investors are crazy? I think most people recognize the chances of a shooting war are slim." [War] [Risk]
• Trump critic Sen. Corker to hold hearing on president's authority to launch nuclear attack
  • By J.J. GALLAGHER Nov 8, 2017, 10:15 PM ET WatchTrump continues his name calling and Twitter war with Sen. Bob Corker Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, will hold a hearing on the president's authority to launch a nuclear attack, he said on Wednesday. Interested in Congress? Add Congress as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Congress news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Congress Add Interest The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold the "long overdue" discussion on the "executive's authority to use nuclear weapons and the process for executing that authority," on Nov. 14, Corker said. It will be the first time since 1976 that the committee, which Corker currently chairs, or their counterparts in the House, "have looked specifically at the authority and process for using nuclear weapons," his statement reads. "A number of members both on and off our committee have raised questions about the authorities of the legislative and executive branches with respect to war making, the use of nuclear weapons, and conducting foreign policy overall," Corker said. The president's use of aggressive rhetoric against North Korea has set off a debate in Congress over the White House's authority regarding the use of nuclear weapons. [Trump] [Corker] [War] [Governance]
• Moon, Trump Reaffirm Alliance
  By Jeong Woo-sang, Ahn Joon-ho, Lee Yong-soo November 08, 2017 09:36 President Moon Jae-in and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump offered no new proposals for dealing with North Korea in their meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday but reaffirmed their strong alliance. Moon reassured a reporter that he is not trying to pivot away from America and toward China. "So on bringing balance in our diplomatic approaches, this is not about our stance vis-à-vis the United States and China," he said. "We would like to promote peace, stability and prosperity of the Northeast Asian region. So we would like to expand our diplomatic efforts in this regard." President Moon Jae-in (right) shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump at a press conference at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Tuesday. /Yonhap Trump reassured Moon that there will be a role for Seoul in any solution to the North Korean nuclear standoff, saying "there will be no skipping" South Korea. "South Korea... is very important to me and there will be no skipping South Korea. I can tell you that right now," he said. "Plus I've developed great friendships not only with the president, but with others and we're not going to let them down and they're not going to let us down cause we're doing a lot for them, to be honest," he said. The two leaders also signed off on new missile guidelines that lift limits on the payload of South Korea's missiles. Under guidelines revised in 2012, South Korea was limited to missiles with a maximum range of 800 km and a payload of 500 kg. But now the U.S. has agreed that the South can develop missiles with unlimited payload capacity as long as the range does not exceed 800 km. "We agreed to start talks on South Korea's acquisition and development of state-of-the-art military surveillance assets," Moon said. [US SK alliance]
• Trump's Visit Is a New Benchmark for Bilateral Alliance
  November 08, 2017 13:07 U.S. President Donald Trump is visiting South Korea as tensions remain high on the peninsula. In this context, President Moon Jae-in's visit to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek to welcome the U.S. leader was highly symbolic. Not only is Camp Humphreys the biggest American military installation outside the U.S., but South Korea shouldered 92 percent of the US$10.7 billion that went into building it. It houses more than 40,000 U.S. military personnel and their families. It was at this base that the two leaders reaffirmed their strong alliance in front of soldiers from both countries. [US SK alliance]
• Trump Forced to Abandon Surprise Visit to DMZ
  english.chosun.com November 08, 2017 12:31 U.S. President Donald Trump attempted to make a surprise visit to the heavily fortified border with North Korea but failed due to bad weather, a Cheong Wa Dae official said Wednesday. President Moon Jae-in was waiting for him at a guard post in the demilitarized zone. White House staff discuss the situation as U.S. President Donald Trump sits grounded in his car due to heavy fog in Seoul on Wednesday. /Yonhap Heavy fog prevented Trump's helicopter from landing, forcing him to return to a U.S. military base in Yongsan, Seoul. The trip was proposed by Moon on Tuesday, despite Trump's earlier announcement that he would not go to the border because it has become a cliché. [Trump] [Asia visit1711] [Moon Jae-in] [Ingratiation] [DMZ]
• ROK to purchase strategic arms from US
  Posted : 2017-11-07 22:00 Updated : 2017-11-07 22:26 President Moon Jae-in listens to U.S. President Donald Trump during a joint press conference after their summit at Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday. South Korea is the second stop of the U.S. president's five-nation Asian tour. He departs for China today. / Korea Times photo by Koh Young-kwon. Moon, Trump agree on speedy renegotiation of FTA By Kim Rahn South Korea will begin talks with the United States to purchase the latter's strategic arms, such as surveillance assets and nuclear-powered submarine, Cheong Wa Dae said after a summit between the leaders of the two nations, Tuesday. South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed on the South's purchase of cutting-edge military weapons to improve its own military capabilities during their summit. These were their third bilateral talks and Trump's first visit to South Korea. It was also the first state visit of a U.S. president here in 25 years. "We agreed to start talks on South Korea's acquisition and development of state-of-the-art military surveillance assets," Moon said in a joint press conference after the summit. "This is necessary to improve South Korea's own defense capabilities and the joint defense capabilities of the two nations." [Trump] [Asia Visit1711] [Arms sales] [Sidelined]
• No War Threats From Trump, Who Tells Koreans ‘It Will All Work Out’
  By Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Mark Landler and Choe Sang-Hun Nov. 7, 2017 President Trump with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea during their meeting at the Blue House in Seoul on Tuesday. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times SEOUL, South Korea — President Trump, whose long-distance threats and insults toward North Korea have stoked fears of a nuclear confrontation, brought a message of reassurance to South Korea on Tuesday, moving to bolster an anxious ally as he came within 35 miles of one of the world’s most dangerous borders. Gone were the threats to rain “fire and fury” on North Korea and the derisive references to its leader, Kim Jong-un, as “Little Rocket Man” as Mr. Trump said he saw progress in diplomatic efforts to counter the threat from Pyongyang, adding, “Ultimately, it will all work out.” After a day of private meetings and public bonding with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, who was elected promising a shift toward dialogue with the North, Mr. Trump — who as recently as last month tweeted that direct talks were a “waste of time” — said on Tuesday that it would be in Pyongyang’s interest to “come to the table and to make a deal.” And instead of threatening muscular pre-emptive action against the North, Mr. Trump said he prayed that using military force would not be necessary. [Trump] [Asia visit1711]
• A North Korean Defector in Washington
  by Tim Shorrock The celebration of defectors from communist countries is an old tradition in Washington. Over the years, dozens of diplomats and spies from the Soviet Union—along with numerous world-famous athletes and dancers—have stepped across the US national security stage and done their part for freedom and democracy, America-style. One of the most spectacular was Svetlana Alliluyeva, the daughter of Joseph Stalin, who defected while visiting India in 1966. A decade later, Victor Belenko flew his MIG fighter jet to Japan, turned himself over to US authorities, and spent years working as a consultant to US defense contractors. The biggest coup may have been Arkady Shevchenko, who in 1978 became the highest-ranking Soviet official to ever defect, taking refuge with the CIA after spying for the US for 3 years from his perch at the United Nations. This week, Washington gave a warm welcome to Thae Yong-ho, the highest-level diplomat to defect from North Korea since 1979. A year ago, Thae, an erudite man in his 50s, fled London, where he was serving as North Korea’s deputy ambassador to the UK. Thae and his family were eventually granted asylum in South Korea, where he is now working for the country’s National Intelligence Service, the successor to the once-dreaded Korean CIA. [Thae Yong Ho] [Defector]
• For South Koreans, Trump is a headache
  by Se-Woong Koo Donald Trump is set to arrive in South Korea on November 7. The country is naturally abuzz with anticipation, in a show of how important the military alliance with the US is, especially at a time of tense standoff with North Korea. The foreign minister and the South Korean ambassador to Washington will reportedly be at the airport to greet Trump and his wife. South Korean President Moon Jae-in will then have a one-on-one with his US counterpart before an extravagant dinner party with K-pop performances and traditional music. Trump will also address the National Assembly and visit US military base, Camp Humphreys. All that brouhaha over Trump's visit belies the difficult predicament the South Korean government is in. Since taking office, Trump has made clear that he cares only about US interests. To continue kowtowing to Washington would be dangerous, even if Seoul cannot quite quit the pretence of honouring its longtime ally, at least not yet. [Trump] [Moon Jae-in]
• How the DPRK Riddle is Freaking out the US Establishment
  November 6, 2017 by Pepe Escobar The 19th Party Congress has made it very clear that “socialism with Chinese characteristics” – as codified by President Xi Jinping – is China’s roadmap ahead. Not only the strategy graphically eschews those much-lauded “Western values”; it will, in Xi’s own words, offer “a new option for other countries and nations who want to speed up their development while preserving their independence.” Xinhua even dared to venture, “the 21st century is likely to see capitalism lose its appeal while the socialist movement, led by China, rapidly catches up”. To say this won’t go down very well in the West, especially in the US, may be the understatement of the century – even considering that the Chinese system is more like “neoliberalism with Chinese characteristics.” It’s enlightening to crisscross what happened in Beijing with what was happening in Washington on the eve of President Trump’s trip to Asia, when he will visit China but also Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines. Discussion of virtually all the key issues in Asia-Pacific will be on the table. Asia-Pacific is where the real action is – geopolitically and geoeconomically. And once again, the number one issue in the intractability stakes will be the DPRK. At a recent meeting with top US military and intelligence chiefs Trump, referring to the DPRK, asked to be provided “with a broad range of military options, when needed, at a much faster pace.” For his part, Pentagon head Mattis has emphasized that “the US army must stand ready.” He has been extolling his targeted military audience to read T.R. Fehrenbach’s This Kind of War – a history of the 1950-1953 Korean War, and even extracting a chilling quote from it; “You may fly over a nation forever, you may bomb it, atomize it, pulverize it and wipe it clean of life. But if you desire to defend it… you must do this on the ground the way the Roman legions did: by putting your young men in the mud.” Yet the real story regarding the Trump meeting is what was taking place behind the scenes involving key business/economic decision makers – call them some of the Masters of the Universe – as revealed to me by a high-level intel source privy to these meetings. The conclusions of the debate were then presented directly to Trump, ahead of his visit to Asia. [Trump] [US NK policy]
• Trade expected to be a main focus of Trump’s SK visit
  Posted on : Nov.7,2017 15:53 KST Modified on : Nov.7,2017 15:53 KST South Korean President Moon Jae-in with US President Donald Trump The US President will likely call for a number of revisions to the KORUS FTA With trade expected to be the main item on the agenda during the South Korea-US summit on Nov. 7, attention is focusing on whether US President Donald Trump will bring up sensitive issues connected with the revision of the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), including automobiles, steel and agro-livestock. “The United States has suffered massive trade deficits with Japan for many, many years…We will have more trade than anybody ever thought of under TPP…and it will be a much less complex situation,” Trump said in Tokyo on Nov. 6, referring to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. These remarks appears to indicate that the US and Japan will embark on negotiations for a bilateral FTA. But the bilateral FTA appears to be an excuse for Trump to launch a trade offensive against Japan. [Trump] [KORUS FTA] [Asia visit1711]
• Blue House to give Trump a warm welcome upon arrival in South Korea
  Posted on : Nov.6,2017 16:45 KST Modified on : Nov.6,2017 16:45 KST Blue House spokesman Park Soo-hyun tells reporters that the Blue House “will extend a warm welcome to President Trump,” at the daily briefing on Nov. 5. (Yonhap News) The government is asking for restraint in regards to protests against the US president “The South Korean government will give President Trump a warm welcome, providing him with the treatment befitting a state visit, in order to create a decisive opportunity to elevate our relations with the US from a ‘comprehensive alliance’ to a ‘great alliance,’” the Blue House said on Nov. 5 in regard to US President Donald Trump’s visit to South Korea on Nov. 7 and 8. “Given the extreme gravity of the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, including North Korea’s nuclear program and missiles, comprehensive cooperation between South Korea and the US on political, economic and military issues is more important now than ever,” Blue House spokesman Park Soo-hyun said during a message to the public on the occasion of Trump’s visit to South Korea at the Chunchugwan press center. Trump’s state visit to South Korea will “ultimately bring peace and prosperity to the Korean Peninsula,” Park emphasized, while noting that “rolling out the red carpet for guests has been a Korean tradition down through the generations” and asking South Koreans to “extend a warm welcome to President Trump.” This is a request for restraint aimed at civic groups that have pledged to hold anti-Trump protests as Trump’s visit approaches. [Trump] [US SK alliance] [Ingratiation] [Moon Jae-in] [Asia visit1711]
• North Korea may soon be redesignated as a state sponsor of terrorism
  Posted on : Nov.6,2017 16:43 KST Modified on : Nov.6,2017 16:43 KST US President Donald Trump dons a bomber jacket before addressing US troops at Yokota Air Base outside of Tokyo on Nov. 5 The Trump administration is deliberating the issue as part of its overall NK strategy The Trump administration continues toying with the idea of redesignating North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism as a means of applying pressure. In addition to its large diplomatic symbolism, redesignation is also seen as likely to generate a backlash from North Korea, leading many to view it as a predictor for the administration’s future North Korea policy. When asked about the issue of North Korea’s redesignation as a state sponsor of terrorism while traveling from Hawaii to Japan on Nov. 4, Trump replied that a decision would come “very soon.” White House National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster responded to a similar question on Nov. 2 by saying redesignation was “an option that's under consideration.” “The president's Cabinet is looking at this as part of the overall strategy on North Korea,” he added. [Terrorism List] [US NK policy] [Kim Yong Nam]
• Moon, Trump begin talks on N. Korea, trade, alliance
  Posted : 2017-11-07 12:58 Updated : 2017-11-07 16:39 President Donald Trump, front left, walks with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in during a welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul Tuesday. / AP-Yonhap The leaders of South Korea and the United States began their talks Tuesday centering on North Korea's nuclear threats and the proposed revision of the bilateral free trade agreement. President Donald Trump arrived in South Korea earlier in the day, making him the first U.S. leader in 25 years to make a state visit to the country. The bilateral summit between Trump and President Moon Jae-in is third of its kind since they each took office earlier in the year. [Trump] [Asia Visit1711]
• Trump's visit a crucial point for North Korea issues
  Posted : 2017-11-06 16:30 Updated : 2017-11-07 13:02 US president arrives today for summit with Moon By Kim Rahn U.S. President Donald Trump's two-day state visit to South Korea starting today will be a crucial point in addressing North Korea's nuclear and missile ambitions. The summit will be the third set of bilateral talks between President Moon Jae-in and Trump. It is the first state visit of a U.S. president in 25 years since George H. W. Bush in 1992. "He comes to South Korea at this time when comprehensive political, economic and military cooperation between the two countries is required amid a serious security situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula," presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun said. "With a warm welcome as a state guest, we hope to use this as an opportunity to take South Korea-U.S. relations beyond the comprehensive alliance and toward a great alliance," Park said, adding this will eventually help bring peace and prosperity to the peninsula. As Trump earlier said the top issues of his Asia tour are North Korea and trade. His itinerary here is focused on security and the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS FTA). By visiting his first destination, Camp Humphreys, the newly established headquarters of the Eighth U.S. Army, Trump will be able to witness South Korea's commitment to the alliance. The post is the largest U.S. Army garrison overseas, and South Korea paid 92 percent of the total cost of $10 billion. He will meet servicemen of the two countries, have lunch with them and receive a briefing from both armies on the security situation here. [Trump] [Asia Visit1711] [USFK] [Tribute] [US NK policy]
• US Presbyterian ministers visit site of Nogeun-ri massacre
  Posted on : Nov.5,2017 10:34 KST Modified on : Nov.5,2017 10:34 KST Reverend Dr. J. Herbert Nelson II, General Assembly Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church visits Ssanggul bridge with members of the Korean Presbyterian Church and other dignitaries, and listens to an explanation of the events of the Nogeun-ri massacre on Nov.2 (by Oh Yoon-ju, Cheongju correspondent) The Reverend Dr. J. Herbert Nelson II and other PC(USA) members called for an official American acknowledgment and apology Reverend Dr. J. Herbert Nelson II, General Assembly Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church PC(USA), paid a visit on Nov. 2 to the village of Nogeun-ri. PCUSA represents a denomination with some 2.77 million members, providing counsel and suggestions to the US government on policies related to social justice, human rights, and peace. Its prestige is great enough that it has become regular practice for Washington to officially review and announce findings for its suggestions. A minister and human rights advocate in the Washington area, the 58-year-old Nelson has drawn attention as the first African-American to become PCUSA’s de facto leader. [Nogunri] [Massacre] [Korean War]
• President Moon reiterates opposition to trilateral military alliance with US and Japan
  Posted on : Nov.4,2017 18:06 KST Modified on : Nov.4,2017 18:06 KST The South Korean leader is seeking balanced diplomacy to build good relations with China President Moon Jae-in asserted on Nov. 3 that it was “undesirable” for South Korea’s cooperation with the US and Japan to respond to North Korea’s nuclear and missile provocations to “develop the level of a military alliance.” While stressing the “paramount importance” of the South Korea-US alliance, Moon also sent a signal that he hopes to actively improve relations with China. “I intend to pursue balanced diplomacy to form a friendlier relationship with China,” he said. In an interview that day with the Singapore-based English-language news network CNA at the Blue House, Moon stressed that “in response to North Korea’s nuclear and missiles provocations, in addition to the cooperation with the US, such cooperation with Japan has also become very important. [Moon Jae-in] [Trilateral] [Spin]
• McMaster: US “welcomes” news of South Korea-China agreement
  Posted on : Nov.4,2017 18:14 KST Modified on : Nov.4,2017 18:14 KST US National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster gives a briefing at the White House National Security Council on Nov. 2. (Xinhua/Yonhap News) Remarks by US National Security Advisor imply understanding of South Korea’s “three no’s” principle In response to South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa’s negative remarks about deploying additional THAAD batteries, joining the US missile defense network or entering a military alliance with the US and Japan, US National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster said on Nov. 2 he doesn’t “think that South Korea would give up its sovereignty in those three areas.” During an interview at the White House with the Hankyoreh and 10 other media outlets from the five countries that US President Donald Trump will be visiting on his trip to Asia, McMaster said that he did not think that Kang’s statements had been “definitive” enough to call them policy principles. McMaster’s interview took place the day before Trump was scheduled to embark on his trip to Asia. [China SK] [McMaster] [Spin]
• Trump will have hectic schedule here
  Posted : 2017-11-03 18:14 Updated : 2017-11-04 18:23 Did Japanese fighter jets really participate in a military drill in Korean territory? Or were they only escorts outside Korean territory? By Rachel Lee U.S. President Donald Trump will be on a tight schedule during his two-day state visit to South Korea, Cheong Wa Dae said Friday. Trump will arrive on Nov. 7 and then visit the U.S. Army garrison at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, according to National Security Office official Nam Gwan-pyo. It will be the first visit of a U.S. president to the headquarters of the Eighth U.S. Army which relocated there in July. Trump will have lunch with South Korean and U.S. armed service members, and attend the joint forces' briefing of the current situation on the Korean Peninsula. In the afternoon, Trump and President Moon Jae-in will hold a one-on-one summit followed by an expanded meeting. The two leaders will also hold a joint press conference after their meeting. [Trump]
• [INTERVIEW] Kim Dae-jung's son offers advice to Trump
  Posted : 2017-11-03 17:08 Updated : 2017-11-04 18:32 Sun, November 5, 2017 | 03:58 Kim Hong-gul, chairman the Committee for National Unity at the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, speaks in front of a portrait of his farther, the late President Kim Dae-jung, during an interview with The Korea Times at a party office, Thursday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul War of words will only worsen the situation: Kim Hong-gul By Choi Ha-young A visit to South Korea will be helpful for U.S. President Donald Trump to grasp the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, according to Kim Hong-gul, the youngest son of late President Kim Dae-jung. "I hope President Trump will realize how close Seoul is to the inter-Korean border and how dangerous it is for people when a conflict arises," Kim said in an interview with The Korea Times Thursday. "Americans tend to underestimate the aftermath of the war on the faraway Korean Peninsula. While staying here for two days, I wish the President will study more and speak less to see how the possible military option would devastate the country." In Seoul, all eyes are on the U.S. President's speech at the National Assembly on Nov. 8. The government and experts are worried that the tough-talking leader may reignite North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's temper, as he did by calling the young leader "rocket man" at the United Nations General Assembly last month. "Yet another ‘war of words' will not only worsen the situation," said Kim, chairman the Committee for National Unity in the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). "Such explosive words will degrade the President's reputation to put him on the same level with the North Korean leader." [Kim Dae-jung] [Military option] [Consequences]
• The United States and North Korea Are Edging Into Increasingly Dangerous Territory
  But there is still a way to avoid war, and it begins with talks between the two sides, not escalating threats. By Tim Shorrock October 25, 2017 “There’s battle lines being drawn,” Stephen Stills sang in the 1960s about the war in Vietnam. Today those same words can be applied to the escalating confrontation between the United States and North Korea over the latter’s nuclear-weapons and missile programs. [US NK policy] [Falser balance] [Liberal]
• [News analysis] Trump set to embark on 12-day sojourn to Asia
  Posted on : Nov.3,2017 18:20 KST Modified on : Nov.3,2017 18:20 KST The trip is likely to serve as a bellwether of the completion between various factions in northeast Asia US President Donald Trump’s arrival in Hawaii at 1 pm on Nov. 3 marks the beginning of a 12-day sojourn to Asia during which he will visit Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. During this period, a sharp battle over foreign policy will be waged – including a tense showdown between Trump, with his “America first” policy, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has called for a “new type of international relations.” Trump’s trip is likely to serve as a bellwether of the competition between various forces in northeast Asia that will continue through the first half of 2018 and on the prospects of the political changes that will result. Trump will be holding a series of meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Nov. 6, with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Nov. 7 and with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Nov. 9. The APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) meeting, which will be held in Vietnam, and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summit and the East Asia Summit, which will be held in the Philippines, will test the US’s multilateral diplomatic capabilities. According to the White House, Trump’s trip is the longest since one by former president George H. W. Bush in 1991. [Trump] [US Asia]
• Report outlines amendment scenarios for KORUS FTA
  Posted on : Nov.3,2017 18:26 KST Modified on : Nov.3,2017 18:26 KST The KORUS FTA Despite previously being designated a “red-line,” additional openness in agriculture other than rice could be discussed Three to four “highly realistic” amendment scenarios for the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) are being considered in a report on the economic feasibility of changes to the agreement, including additional openness in sensitive agricultural product areas and looser conditions on service and investment sector openness. The South Korean government plans to publish the report at a KORUS FTA amendment hearing scheduled for Nov. 10. [KORUS FTA] [Renege]
• Trump: 'We'll see' if Tillerson lasts duration of term
  By Cristiano Lima 11/02/2017 10:59 PM EDT Updated 11/02/2017 11:41 PM EDT President Donald Trump on Thursday declined to give a full-throated endorsement of his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, saying that "we'll see" if he will serve out his term with the president. During a Fox News interview on Thursday, Trump was asked whether Tillerson "would be with you for the duration." "We'll see. I don't know who's going to be [here for the] duration," the president replied. He also noted that Tillerson was "working hard" and "doing his best." With the remark, Tillerson again had his future with the Trump administration thrown into uncertainty. [Trump] [Tillerson]
• Trump to stress international cooperation to maximize pressure on North Korea
  Posted on : Nov.2,2017 17:29 KST Modified on : Nov.2,2017 17:29 KST President Trump discusses his tax cut plan with business leaders at the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Oct. 31. (EPA/Yonhap News) The US president will also discuss trade issues during his visit to South Korea The White House announced that US President Donald Trump would emphasize cooperation with the international community to put pressure on North Korea during his visit to South Korea on Nov. 7 and 8 and that the issue of trade would also be on the agenda for his summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. [Trump] [Compellence]
• Some defectors moving to form North Korean government-in-exile
  Posted : 2017-11-02 16:00 Updated : 2017-11-02 19:13 By Kang Hyun-kyung About a year ago, So Jae-pyung, managing director of the North Korean Defectors' Association in Seoul, received a letter from a U.S. -based group asking for So and his organization to join hands to form a North Korean government in exile. In the soliciting letter, the senders introduced themselves as a group of activists striving to end dictatorship in North Korea and prepare for the Post-Kim Jong-un Era in case contingency occurs there. So said he ignored their request. "There was no information about who they were, except their email address," he said. "No phone numbers or names of the group or any staff working there were available. They wrote they decided not to disclose their identities because they were performing such a secret mission." So, a North Korean defector, said he was not convinced by what they said. "I don't understand why they chose to remain anonymous. If they were really doing what they said, they had no good reason to hide their identities," he said. "We didn't respond to them." The idea to form a North Korean government in exile has emerged among some defectors amid speculation that a war may be unavoidable on the Korean Peninsula after North Korea's intensified provocation pit the country against the rest of the world. [Defector] [Government in Exile]
• US masses ships and aircraft outside North Korea
  30 October 2017 US Defence Secretary James Mattis has again warned North Korea that the United States military is ready and able to obliterate the country of 25 million people unless it abandons its nuclear arsenal. The threat, backed by an unprecedented US military build-up in North East Asia, places the region and the world on the brink of a catastrophic war. “I cannot imagine a condition under which the US would accept North Korea as a nuclear power,” he told reporters in Seoul on Saturday. “Make no mistake any attack on the United States or our allies will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons by the North will be met with a massive military response that is effective and overwhelming.” US war plans are offensive, not defensive, in character. Asked about the possibility of a pre-emptive US attack on North Korea to prevent a hypothetical attack on Seoul, Mattis confirmed, “yes, we do have those options”. Under OPLAN 5015, US and South Korean forces are primed for massive offensive strikes against North Korean nuclear, military and industrial facilities as well as “decapitation raids” by special forces to kill its top leaders. [Posturing] [Military option] [Preventive]
• U.S. Stealth Bombers Practice Hitting N.Korean Targets
  By Jung Ji-sup November 02, 2017 09:22 The U.S. military conducted bombing drills recently in the mountains of Missouri to practice hitting targets in North Korea. According to U.S. website the Aviationist on Tuesday, the U.S. Air Force practiced night-time air raids at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri involving three B-2 stealth bombers, while radio communication was overheard referring to "North Korea's leadership." David Cenciotti, who runs the website, said, "Was the exercise aimed at simulating a raid on a North Korean 'VIP'? Most probably yes." [Attack] [Decapitation] [Posturing]
• Trump to Push for FTA Revision When He Visits Korea
  By Cho Yi-jun November 02, 2017 12:34 U.S. President Donald Trump is determined to push for a revision to the Seoul-Washington free trade agreement when he visits South Korea next week, the White House said Tuesday. In an address to the National Assembly, Trump will also call on the international community to put the utmost pressure on North Korea in response to its nuclear threat. Trump has decided not to go to the demilitarized zone but will instead visit Camp Humphreys, a U.S. military base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 7, the first day of his visit. [Trump] [KORUS FTA]
• U.S. Congress Identifies Military Options Against N.Korea
  By Cho Yi-jun November 01, 2017 13:11 The U.S. Congressional Research Service has laid out seven possible military options the U.S. could take to respond to the nuclear weapons threat from North Korea. The CRS laid them out in a report titled "The North Korean Nuclear Challenge: Military Options and Issues for Congress" last week. It also lists their benefits and drawbacks. The first option is "maintaining the military status quo," which aims to bring the North to the dialogue table through diplomatic and economic pressure. [US NK policy] [Military option]
• US-North Korea summit 'necessary' to solve nuke crisis: top N. Korean defector
  Posted : 2017-11-02 10:54 Updated : 2017-11-02 10:51 Former North Korean deputy ambassador to Britain Thae Yong-Ho testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on November 1, 2017. / AFP A high-ranking North Korean defector urged the United States on Wednesday to meet with Kim Jong-un before considering military action against his regime. Thae Yong-ho, a former deputy chief at the North Korean Embassy in London, addressed the current crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons program as he testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill. "Some people do not believe in soft power but only in military options," the 55-year-old said on his first visit to the U.S. "But it is necessary to reconsider whether we have tried all non-military options before we decide that military action against North Korea is all that is left." He went on to make a proposal that Washington has been reluctant to embrace. "Before any military action is taken, I think it is necessary to meet Kim Jong-un at least once to understand his thinking and to try to convince him that he would be destroyed if he continues his current direction." [Thae Yong Ho] [US NK Negotiations] [Defector]
• N.Korea Conducts Blackout, Evacuation Drills
  By Kim Myong-song October 31, 2017 10:06 North Korea conducted blackout and mass evacuation drills in provincial regions on Oct. 23-28 with a focus on the eastern seaboard area, U.S. news service NK News said Saturday. "The wartime preparations were not observed in Pyongyang... and were restricted to locations outside of the capital, particularly on the east coast," the NK News said. A source said similar drills had happened in the past but this was by far the biggest exercise. A researcher with a state-run think tank here said the drills probably came in response to a massive looming presence of U.S. aircraft carrier fleets on North Korea's doorstep. [Militarchy exercises]
• U.S. Defense Chief Looks at N.Korean Border from Helicopter
  By Cho Yi-jun October 31, 2017 10:44 James Mattis /Newsis U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis flew to the heavily fortified border with North Korea in a Black Hawk helicopter when he visited Seoul last week, the New York Times reported last Friday. "Mattis's copter circled the hills and flatlands that dot the densely packed region. He flew over a succession of high-rise residential complexes and surveyed armored tank positions," the paper said. Mattis flew to the border truce village of Panmunjom right after arriving in South Korea. [Mattis]
• America’s “Open Door Policy” May Have Led Us to the Brink of Nuclear Annihilation
  by Joseph Essertier October 31, 2017 Photo by frankieleon | CC by 2.0 “Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.” ? Bertrand Russell, Unpopular Essays (1950) [1] The North Korean crisis presents people on the left to liberal spectrum with one of the greatest challenges we have ever faced. Now, more than ever, we have to put aside our natural fears and prejudices that surround the issue of nuclear weapons and ask hard questions that demand clear answers. It is time to step back and consider who the bully is on the Korean Peninsula, who poses a dire threat to international peace and even to the survival of the human species. It is far past time that we had a probing debate on Washington’s problem in North Korea and its military machine. Here is some food for thought on issues that are being swept under the carpet by knee jerk reactions—reactions that are natural for generations of Americans who have been kept in the dark about basic historical facts. Mainstream journalists and even many outside the mainstream at liberal and progressive news sources, uncritically regurgitate Washington’s deceptions, stigmatize North Koreans, and portray our current predicament as a fight in which all parties are equally culpable. First of all, we have to face the unpalatable fact that we Americans, and our government above all, are the main problem. Like most people from the West, I know almost nothing about North Koreans, so I can say very little about them. All we can talk about with any confidence is Kim Jong-un’s regime. Restricting the discussion to that, we can say that his threats are not credible. Why? One simple reason: Because of the disparity of power between the military capability of the U.S., including its current military allies, and North Korea. The difference is so vast it barely merits discussion, but here are the main elements: [Liberal] [Bizarre] [US NK policy]
• SK Foreign Minister rules out additional THAAD deployments, joining US MD system
  Posted on : Oct.31,2017 17:11 KST Modified on : Oct.31,2017 17:11 KST Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha answers a question during a parliamentary audit by the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Oct. 30. (by Kang Chang-kwang, staff photographer) Kang’s remarks meant to soothe Chinese strategic concerns prior to bilateral summit Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha announced on Oct. 30 that South Korea would not pursue additional THAAD missile system deployments or participation in the US missile defense system. She also stated in no uncertain terms that trilateral security cooperation with the US and Japan would not develop into a military alliance. Her remarks appeared intended to help the Moon Jae-in administration change the current frame by sending a clear message in response to China’s concerns that the THAAD deployment is part of a strategy to hem it in with a South Korea/US/Japan military alliance. Indeed, a Chinese government official emerged as if on cue to state that Beijing “welcomes” Kang’s remarks – giving the appearance that the two sides engaged in behind-the-scenes discussions on a solution to the strain the THAAD issue has posed on their relations. Observers are also predicting Moon could have a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the upcoming APEC summit in Vietnam on Nov. 10–11. Kang lent weight to the predictions by saying preparations were “under way for a bilateral summit at APEC.” [THAAD] [US SK alliance]
• Majority of people back prompt OPCON transfer
  Posted : 2017-10-31 17:27 Updated : 2017-10-31 22:08 Moon's approval rating at 73 percent: Korea Times survey By Jun Ji-hye A majority of South Koreans support Seoul's prompt takeover of wartime operational control (OPCON) of its troops from Washington, according to a poll by The Korea Times and Hankook Research. The institute conducted the survey on 1,000 people from Oct. 25 to 26 to mark the 67th anniversary of The Korea Times, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Fifty-four percent of respondents said South Korea needs to regain OPCON of its military during wartime at the earliest possible date, while 40.2 percent oppose the expeditious transfer. Currently, a commander of the Republic of Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC), a position assumed by the U.S. Forces Korea commander, holds wartime OPCON of the South Korean military. Seoul was supposed to retake wartime OPCON from the U.S. in April 2012 following a 2007 agreement during the 2003-08 President Roh Moo-hyun administration. But the transfer was delayed to 2015 in the wake of the sinking of the South Korean Navy frigate Cheonan in a North Korean torpedo attack in March 2010. Then, President Moon Jae-in's predecessor, Park Geun-hye, delayed the transfer again until the 2020s, citing the growing North Korean nuclear and missile threats. During presidential campaigning earlier this year, Moon, who was the chief of staff for the late Roh, pledged to move up the date. [OPCON] [Mooon Jae-in] [Public opinion]
• No war, only peace on Korean Peninsula
  Posted : 2017-10-31 12:05 Updated : 2017-10-31 13:55 Shells used by the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) are piled up in a field on Nong Island in Maehyang-ri, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. With the Korean War breaking, the USFK began to use the small island as a firing range in 1951 and this continued for 54 years to 2005 according to an agreement with the South Korean government. They shelled the island for 11 hours a day, 250 days a year on average during the half-century of time, and 4,000 residents in Maehyang-ri suffered from the noise of fighters and the bombings. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk By Kim Rahn The more the tension rises, the more desperately we want peace. The tension surrounding the Korean Peninsula is showing no signs of abating. North Korea has been intensifying provocations, conducting its sixth nuclear tests in September and launching missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) that may fly far enough to hit the U.S. mainland. The U.S. has been responding with warnings of military options and, along with the international community, seeking tougher pressure and sanctions on the reclusive state. South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the first liberal president in a decade, declared the South should take the driver's seat in resolving the nuclear issue and restoring inter-Korean ties. However, there is not much Seoul can do as Pyongyang wants to negotiate directly with Washington. Not knowing the situation exactly is another fear factor. There is no way to find out what is really going on in the North ? whether its nuclear technology development has neared completion as it claims or is it just bluffing. And there is no way to find out what Trump's "madman" strategy aims to achieve ? whether he really believes military options are available or is he just bluffing. Such situation is driving South Koreans nervous ? seriously.
• Only diplomacy can change North Korea: Assembly Speaker
  Posted : 2017-10-31 16:31 Updated : 2017-10-31 18:00 National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun speaks during an interview with The Korea Times, Oct. 24, at his office in the Assembly. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk Assembly speaker wants to help revitalize inter-Korean talks By Choi Ha-young National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun said he will deliver a message of peace when he meets United States President Donald Trump, Nov. 8. "Dialogue and diplomacy should be the only option to resolve the crisis caused by North Korea's nuclear program, although sanctions are accompanied," Chung said in an interview with The Korea Times last week. "I will deliver to President Trump the Korean people's wishes for peace." The U.S. president plans to deliver a speech at the South Korean National Assembly, Nov. 8, after arriving here the previous day. [Diplomacy] [Wishful thinking]
• North Korea: How to start a nuclear war without even trying
  Van Jackson 31 October 2017 09:37 AEDT If effective strategy requires realistic aims, then America is in trouble. US officials have shown themselves to be pathologically overconfident in their ability to achieve political outcomes with military signals, and the outcome they’re trying to achieve is utterly unrealistic. Imagine if the US flew what North Korea thought were nuclear-capable bombers up near its border, sporadically at first, then once per month. Then twice per month. In parallel, the US starts sending nuclear-capable submarines to port in South Korea. Then it issues warning orders to US Navy surface ships armed with Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles (the kind used against Syria in April) to program North Korean targets while patrolling in waters off North Korea’s eastern coast. Then it deploys fifth-generation stealth fighters to Japan in conjunction with the arrival of three aircraft carriers to the Pacific. What do these military preparations look like? [US NK policy] [Posturing] [Trump]

• Talks Over New Korea-U.S. Wartime Command Put on Ice
  By Yu Yong-weon October 30, 2017 11:40 Discussions between Seoul and Washington about creating a new Korean-led command structure when Seoul gains full charge of its own troops have been postponed until next year. Defense Minister Song Young-moo and U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis originally planned to hammer out the plan during the annual security consultative meeting in Seoul last Saturday. President Moon Jae-in is keen for Seoul to gain full control of its own troops in wartime by 2020, but that looks increasingly unlikely as the U.S. drags its heels and tensions with North Korea mount. U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis (left) and Defense Minister Song Young-moo attend a press conference in Seoul on Saturday. At present, the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command is headed by the commander of the U.S. Forces Korea while a Korean officer serves as deputy chief. But under the plan Seoul envisages the top commander would be a South Korean general. It would be unprecedented for the U.S. to put its troops under foreign command in wartime. Washington's reluctance to stick with the plan is growing, especially as Seoul wants to maintain the number of U.S. reinforcements that would be sent in a crisis at the current level -- in other words, take charge without decreasing its reliance on American forces. The previous administration agreed with the U.S. to form a new combined command, but the two sides deliberately failed to specify a timeframe for the handover. After Moon was inaugurated, Korea and the U.S. agreed in principle to complete the handover within his single, five-year term. Ground crew inspect a U.S. B-2 Spirit at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri on Saturday. /Courtesy of U.S. Air Force But already Washington has postponed talks about the new command structure that were to take place during the annual Security Consultative Meeting last Saturday. A Defense Ministry official insisted Sunday there is "no dispute" about a Korean general heading the new combined command with a U.S. general as deputy. "But discussions have not resolved the composition of the staff and that's why it wasn't decided during the SCM," he said. Instead, the two defense ministers only agreed to a "speedy" transfer of wartime troop control to Seoul. They also agreed to increase U.S. weapons deployments on the Korean Peninsula and raising a cap on the payload Korea can mount on its missiles. [OPCON] [US dominance] [Media]
• Diplomacy key to resolving North Korea crisis
  Posted : 2017-10-30 17:44 Updated : 2017-10-31 00:08 This is the first in a series of interviews with international exports to seek ways toward a peaceful resolution of the North Korea nuclear crisis on the occasion of the 67th anniversary of The Korea Times, which falls on Nov. 1. ? ED. By Kim Jae-kyoung Kelsey Davenport Diplomacy is the only way to achieve a peaceful resolution of the North Korea nuclear crisis, according to Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association. She said that in order to bring North Korea back to negotiations, U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration should send a sincere, consistent message that the offer of engagement is real. "Diplomacy is the only path forward to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis," Davenport said in a recent interview. "The Trump administration purports to advance a strategy of maximum pressure and engagement but U.S. actions and rhetoric expose a serious diplomacy deficit," she added. She pointed out that mixed messages from Trump and top administration officials about U.S. intentions to engage in talks further complicate the environment. "The Trump administration can and must signal to North Korea that it is willing to engage in talks without preconditions," she said. [US NK Negotiation] [Preconditions] [Liberal]
• US military base in Incheon found to have severe soil contamination
  Posted on : Oct.29,2017 12:48 KST Modified on : Oct.29,2017 12:48 KST The US and South Korea are in negotiations regarding the return of the Camp Market military base in the Bupyeong District of Incheon to the South Korean government. Areas A & B are to be returned to South Korea, while the US military is continuing to use the area highlighted in yellow. (provided by Ministry of Environment) Camp Market is scheduled to be returned to the South Korean government Camp Market, a US military base scheduled for return in Incheon’s Bupyeong district, is suffering severe soil contamination with dioxin, PCBs, and other highly toxic carcinogens, oils, and heavy metals, survey findings show. Underground water at the site was also found to be contaminated with total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and trichloroethylene (TCE). [USFK] [Pollution]
• 'Trump not afraid of chaos'
  Posted : 2017-10-29 16:05 Updated : 2017-10-29 17:36 Ex-US vice president urges China to put greater pressure on N. Korea By Nam Hyun-woo Former U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle Former United States Vice President Dan Quayle says it is important for South Korea to understand that U.S. President Donald Trump "does not mind chaos and thinks it is his friend." The remark, made by a man close with incumbent U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, has extra significance given that Trump is expected to deliver messages regarding North Korea during his two-day state visit to the South on Nov. 7. In a recent interview with The Korea Times, Quayle, who is chairman of global investment firm Cerberus Capital Management, said Trump was "very different" from other U.S. presidents. "He likes results and likes to do things quickly and win," Quayle said at the Conrad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul. [Trump] [Quayle]
• Allies agree to speed up OPCON transfer
  Posted : 2017-10-29 16:44 Updated : 2017-10-29 17:32 By Jun Ji-hye South Korea and the United States have agreed to speed up their negotiations for Seoul's prompt takeover of wartime operational control (OPCON) of its troops from Washington, raising expectations that the allies are drawing up a roadmap for the transfer as early as next October. Defense Minister Song Young-moo and his U.S. counterpart James Mattis reached the agreement during their annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) in Seoul, Saturday, to make joint efforts "to enable the expeditious conditions-based transfer of OPCON," according to their joint statement. The two defense chiefs said their agreement was to implement steadily the decision made between President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump during their summit in June in Washington, D.C. South Korea was supposed to regain OPCON from the U.S. in April 2012 following an agreement in 2007 during the late President Roh Moo-hyun administration. But following the sinking of the South Korean Navy frigate Cheonan in a North Korean torpedo attack in March 2010, the transfer was delayed to 2015. Moon's predecessor, Park Geun-hye, delayed the OPCON transfer again until the 2020s, but Moon pledged to move up the date during presidential campaigning. Moon was the chief of staff for the late Roh. Song and Mattis agreed to update details for the conditions-based OPCON transfer by the next SCM that is expected to take place in Washington next October. This is raising expectations that details such as measures of enhancing a combined defense posture after the OPCON transition could be drawn up by then. [OPCON] [Wishful thinking]
• Anti-US rallies may mar Trump's Seoul visit
  Posted : 2017-10-29 16:32 Updated : 2017-10-29 17:38 Anti-Trump posters at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, Sunday / Korea Times photo by Jung Min-ho By Jung Min-ho Saturday night was supposed to be a time to celebrate the first anniversary of the massive candlelit protests that eventually helped oust corruption-tainted former President Park Geun-hye. But some anti-U.S. groups used the gathering as an opportunity to promote their own propaganda. "No Trump, no war," was one of the key messages shouted at Seoul's Gwanghwamun Square by some anti-U.S. groups. Led by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the country's second-largest umbrella trade union, they vowed to do all they can to mar U.S. President Donald Trump's state visit to Korea next month. They called Trump a threat to peace on the Korean peninsula, saying they will follow him and stage protests during his visit. [Trump] [US NK policy] [Protest]
• Sign the People's Peace Treaty with North Korea
  Alarmed by the threat of a nuclear war between the U.S. and North Korea, concerned U.S. peace groups have come together to send an open message to Washington and Pyongyang that we are strongly opposed to any resumption of the horrific Korean War. What we want is a peace treaty to finally end the lingering Korean War! Inspired by the Vietnam-era People’s Peace Treaty, we have initiated a People’s Peace Treaty with North Korea, to raise awareness about the past U.S. policy toward North Korea, and to send a clear message that we, the people of the U.S., do not want another war with North Korea. This is not an actual treaty, but rather a declaration of peace from the people of the United States. [Peace effort]
• Mattis makes courtesy visit to South Korea
  Posted on : Oct.28,2017 17:54 KST Modified on : Oct.28,2017 17:54 KST US Secretary of Defense James Mattis stands next to South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo at the Joint Security Area in Panmunjeom on Oct. 27 as he calls for North Korea to cease its military provocations and give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons. (Yonhap News) The US Secretary of Defense pledged to strengthen deterrence measures against North Korea US Secretary of Defense James Mattis demonstrated the solid state of the South Korea-US alliance with a courtesy visit to President Moon Jae-in and a visit to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjeom with Minister of National Defense Song Young-moo. Mattis arrived in South Korea on Oct. 27 for a bilateral Security Consultative Meeting (SCM). During his meeting with Mattis, Moon stressed that the two sides “need to continue strengthening our deterrence capabilities against North Korea’s nuclear weapons through our current solid allied defense posture.” He also said the “US’s active deployment of strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula is functioning effectively as a very powerful deterrent against North Korean provocations.” [Mattis]
• White House: no plan to seek Carter's help to tackle North Korea crisis
  Posted : 2017-10-28 12:37 Updated : 2017-10-28 12:48 The United States does not plan to seek former president Jimmy Carter's help in resolving the nuclear standoff with North Korea, the White House said Friday. Carter made public his willingness to visit North Korea in an interview with the New York Times published earlier this week. He said he had told President Donald Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, he was available if needed, but has so far received a negative response. "I don't think that's part of our process at this time," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters when asked if the administration plans to take up the offer. "If that changes, I'll certainly let you know. But that's not part of our current plan or thinking for how to deal with North Korea." Tensions have run high as North Korea has conducted multiple missile and nuclear tests in pursuit of a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the mainland U.S. Trump has threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea should the U.S. be forced to defend itself or its allies. Still, Pyongyang renewed its threat this week to detonate a powerful hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean. Trump is headed to Asia next week on his first official visit to the region. He is expected to address the growing threat posed by the North, especially during his stops in South Korea, Japan and China. Carter has a history of working with the North. In 1994, he flew to Pyongyang to resolve an escalating nuclear crisis, and again in 2010 to win the release of a detained American citizen. (Yonhap) [Jimmy Carter]
• U.S. Hits Korean Steelmakers with Anti-Dumping Duties
  By Shin Eun-jin October 27, 2017 09:07 The U.S. has imposed preliminary anti-dumping duties of 10.09 percent on carbon and alloy steel wire rods from Korea, the U.S. Department of Commerce said on Wednesday. The duties on POSCO and other companies are lower than the 33.96 to 43.25 percent that was requested by U.S. steelmakers. The Commerce Department launched an anti-dumping probe into wire rod imports from 10 countries including Korea on April 18. It was the first anti-dumping investigation into imports from Korea since President Donald Trump took office. The department plans to announce its final findings in January. [Dumping] [Protectionism]
• Nuclear Midnight in Korea
  by Charles Pierson Photo by Surian Soosay | CC by 2.0 The hands of the Doomsday Clock are moving closer to midnight. On Sunday, October 22, the website Defense One ran this headline: “Exclusive: US Preparing to Put Nuclear Bombers Back on 24-Hour Alert.” “The U.S. Air Force is preparing to put nuclear-armed bombers back on 24-hour ready alert, a status not seen since the Cold War ended in 1991.” Read that carefully. The bombers have not yet been placed on alert, but the Air Force is getting ready to do so should those orders come down. So there may be nothing to worry about. Maybe. Are the Air Force preparations a bluff? Donald Trump would not be the first president to engage in a nuclear bluff. In October 1969, President Richard Nixon approved Operation Giant Lance. US B-52 bombers loaded with nuclear bombs circled in the Arctic above the Soviet Union. Nixon thought this would persuade the Kremlin to pressure Hanoi to end the war in Vietnam. It was the birth of Nixon’s “Madman Theory,” the idea that the Soviets could be forced to come to terms by convincing them that Nixon was crazy enough to do anything. President Harry Truman played high-stakes nuclear poker on two occasions. The first was during the Soviet blockade of Berlin in 1948-49. President Truman sent two squadrons of B-29 bombers to Western Europe. This was a double bluff. The planes were similar to the B-29s which had dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, but had no atomic bombs on board.[1] Truman played a similar hand at the start of the Korean War. In early July, 1951, shortly after the war’s beginning,[2] Truman sent two groups of B-29 bombers to the UK and Guam, placing them within striking distance of the USSR, North Korea, and China. This time the bombers carried atomic bombs which were complete save for their fissile plutonium cores. The message was plain to America’s Communist adversaries—plain, but not enough to get the Communists to throw in the towel. [US NK policy] [Nuclear weapons]
• Documents show $265 million in USFK funds go unused each year
  Posted on : Oct.27,2017 17:43 KST Modified on : Oct.27,2017 17:43 KST The US and South Korean sides greet each other at the opening of the negotiating session 9th Special Measures Agreement held at the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Dec. 2013. (by Kim Bong-gyu, staff photographer) The money is part of South Korea’s contribution to host US military in the country Justice Party lawmaker Kim Jong-dae said on Oct. 26 that government documents show that around 300 billion won (US$265.6 million) of the money that South Korea gives US Forces Korea as its share of the defense burden remains unused each year. In an analysis of documents submitted by the Defense Ministry that Kim released on Oct. 26, he concluded that unused military construction funds included in South Korea’s defense contributions amounted to 324.88 billion won (US$288 million) in 2014, 255.57 billion won (US$226.3 million) in 2015 and 328.74 billion won (US$291.1 million) in 2016. “This 300 billion won is the gap between the agreed-upon amount of the contribution and the actual cost incurred. Since this arises because of structural reasons, it’s not easy to resolve,” he said. [USFK] [Tribute]
• 'Our goal is not war': South Korea, US defense chiefs
  Posted : 2017-10-27 17:01 Updated : 2017-10-27 19:03 Secretary of Defense James Mattis, left, speaks to reporters during his visit the Demilitarized Zone with South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo, Friday. / Joint press corps Defense Secretary Mattis visits DMZ By Jun Ji-hye U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said Friday that Washington did not want to go to war with Pyongyang, but hoped the Korean Peninsula would be denuclearized. He made the remark during a visit to the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides North and South Korea. The U.S. defense chief arrived in Seoul earlier in the day to attend the 49th Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) to be held Saturday. The SCM is the allies' annual gathering that brings together high-level defense and diplomatic officials from the two countries. [US NK policy] [Mattis]
• Mattis Visit to DMZ Highlights the North Korean Threat to Seoul
  By Helene Cooper Oct. 27, 2017 PANMUNJOM, Korea — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’s visit to the Korean Peninsula’s extremely militarized demilitarized zone on Friday was meant to show American solidarity with South Korea against a muscular North, which Mr. Mattis accused of building nuclear weapons to “threaten others with catastrophe.” But the trip also highlighted the central contradiction in the Trump administration’s rhetoric on North Korea: that for all the talk of military options, there really aren’t any — at least, none that wouldn’t put the sprawling city of Seoul, with its population of 10 million, in the cross hairs of thousands of Pyongyang’s artillery installations. [Attack] [Retaliation]
• Mattis talks diplomacy on North Korea ahead of Trump's Asia tour
  Phil Stewart South Korea (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis emphasized diplomatic efforts to resolve the North Korean missile and nuclear crisis as he stood at the tense and heavily fortified border between North and South on Friday, saying: “Our goal is not war.” U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (L) and South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo visit the truce village of Panmunjom, South Korea October 27, 2017. Yonhap/via REUTERS His remarks came before U.S. President Donald Trump - who has threatened to destroy the North if necessary - leaves on his first trip to Asia next week, including a stop in South Korea to meet President Moon Jae-in. For his part, Moon, after talks with Mattis, said the “aggressive deployment” of U.S. strategic assets in the region, which have included overflights by U.S. bombers, had been effective in deterring the North Korean threat. [Mattis]
• Another U.S. Aircraft Carrier Fleet Deployed to Pacific
  By Yu Yong-weon October 26, 2017 09:52 The USS Theodore Roosevelt in its home port of San Diego in the U.S. on Oct. 7. /Yonhap Another nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, has been deployed to the western Pacific, according to the U.S. Navy on Tuesday. The USS Ronald Reagan is already docking at Busan. It is uncertain whether the Roosevelt will head straight for Korean waters as well, but its presence reflects heightened tensions amid an escalating war of words between the U.S. and North Korea. The western Pacific is controlled by the 7th U.S. Fleet along with the Indian Ocean. The Roosevelt is a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier that carries about 80 aircraft, including FA-18E/F Super Hornet fighter jets. [Posturing] [Carrier]
• US House approves new sanctions on North Korea
  Posted on : Oct.26,2017 18:20 KST Modified on : Oct.26,2017 18:20 KST American university student Otto Warmbier is brought off a plane in a coma at Lunken Airport in Cincinnati, after being brought back to the US after 17 months in North Korea, June 13. (AP/Yonhap News) The Otto Warmbier Act is a carbon copy of the “secondary boycott” approach that was used against Iran The US House of Representatives passed a stiff new sanctions bill allowing the US government to punish overseas financial institutions conducting transactions not only with North Korea but also any individuals or groups in third countries that do business with North Korea. The bill, which is the farthest-reaching yet of any sanctions bills or executive orders on North Korea, is seen as unlikely to pass the Senate as well. In a plenary session on Oct. 24, the US House passed the Otto Warmbier North Korea Nuclear Sanctions Act by a vote of 415 to 2. First introduced on Oct. 2 by Rep. Andy Barr as the Impeding North Korea's Access to Finance Act, it was unanimously adopted on Oct. 12 by the House Financial Services Committee. Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy subsequently proposed to rename the bill in honor of Otto Warmbier, an American who died this past June after his return from detention in North Korea. [Sanctions] [Warmbier] [Spin]
• US defense chief to visit Seoul this week to coordinate Moon-Trump summit
  Posted : 2017-10-26 11:39 Updated : 2017-10-26 17:40 The top military officials of South Korea and the U.S. will hold bilateral talks in Seoul this weekend on North Korea and pending alliance issues, the Ministry of National Defense said Thursday. Defense Minister Song Young-moo is scheduled to hold the 49th Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) on Saturday, a day after the allies' Military Committee Meeting (MCM) here. The MCM will be led by the heads of their joint chiefs of staff. [Mattis]
• North Korean official raises possibility of dialogue to resolve tensions
  Posted on : Oct.25,2017 17:44 KST Modified on : Oct.25,2017 17:44 KST The head of the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s North American bureau, Choe Son-hui, speaks at the 2017 Moscow Nonproliferation Conference on Oct. 20. “[North Korea] will not be returning to the Six Party Talks until issues with the US have been resolved,” she said. (ITAR-TASS/Yonhap News) “There may be an exit” if the US is prepared to accept NK as a nuclear state Choe Son-hui, the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s North American affairs bureau chief, recently said there “may be an exit” from the North Korean nuclear crisis if the US “makes the right choice to abandon its hostile policies and co-exist with North Korea as a nuclear state,” it was reported on Oct. 24. The message is being interpreted as suggesting Pyongyang is leaving the possibility of dialogue open. [NK US policy] [US NK Negotiations] [Obvious] [Hostility]
• U.S. to Put Nuclear Bombers on 24/7 Alert
  By Cho Yi-jun October 24, 2017 09:20 The U.S. Air Force is preparing to put nuclear-capable B-52 bombers on 24-hour alert for the first time since the Cold War in response to North Korea's "rapidly advancing nuclear arsenal", U.S. news site Defense One reported Sunday. The concrete pads at the runway of Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana "could once again find several B-52s parked on them, laden with nuclear weapons and set to take off at a moment's notice," it said. "This is yet one more step in ensuring that we're prepared," Air Force chief of staff Gen. David Goldfein told Defense One. "I look at it more as not planning for any specific event, but more for the reality of the global situation we find ourselves in and how we ensure we’re prepared going forward." "Goldfein and other senior defense officials stressed that the alert order had not been given, but that preparations were under way in anticipation that it might come," the website added. A B-52 bomber flies over Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. /Yonhap The decision would be made by the commander of U.S. Strategic Command, who is in charge of the U.S. military's nuclear forces. "Various improvements have been made to prepare Barksdale... to return B-52s to an alert posture," it added. "Putting the B-52s back on alert is just one of many decisions facing the Air Force as the U.S. military responds to a changing geopolitical environment that includes North Korea's rapidly advancing nuclear arsenal... and Russia's increasingly potent and active armed forces," Defense One added. "The world is a dangerous place and we've got folks that are talking openly about use of nuclear weapons," Goldfein said. U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox News that day, "You would be shocked to see how totally prepared we are [against North Korea] if we need to be." [US NK policy] [Military potion] [Posturing] [B-52]
• Ex-CIA chief minimizes likelihood of new Korean War
  Posted on : Oct.24,2017 18:25 KST Modified on : Oct.24,2017 18:25 KST David Petraeus served as CIA Director under former president Barack Obama David Petraeus believes that Trump’s tough rhetoric is primarily intended for China David Petraeus, who served as director of the CIA while Barack Obama was US president, said that the sharp rhetoric against North Korea that is coming out of the current US administration – including by US President Donald Trump – is aimed at China and that there’s no chance of war on the Korean Peninsula. "I am concerned, but the question is, 'How concerned?' I don’t think [war] is likely, no," Petraeus said when asked about the possibility of nuclear war with North Korea during an appearance on “This Week,” a program on ABC News, on Oct. 22. Trump’s series of tough remarks about North Korea are a “communication strategy” aimed at China, Petraeus believes. “This is a communications strategy that is trying to make sure that China understands that this administration is in a very different situation from any of its predecessors, that North Korea on this president's watch could have the capability to hit a city in the United States with a nuclear weapon,” he said. [Petraeus] [Military option] [China hope]
• Nearly 90% of Americans View N.Korea as a 'Serious Threat'
  October 23, 2017 11:22 Nearly nine in 10 Americans regard North Korea as a "serious threat," according to a new CNN poll. In the poll conducted on 1,010 American adults by SSRS for the news network, "an overwhelming 86 [percent] of Americans said North Korea poses a serious threat to the U.S.," CNN reported on Friday. This is 17 percentage points higher than the 69 percent who see Iran or Russia as serious threats. Some 62 percent say the threat from North Korea is "very serious," and 24 percent saw it as "moderately serious." Another 4 percent saw no threat, and 1 percent answered "Don't know." Only 48 percent "are worried that they or their families will become victims of a nuclear attack on the U.S.," compared to 51 percent who "are not that worried." A majority, or 57 percent, said they disapprove of the way U.S. President Donald Trump is handling North Korea. This is up from 50 percent in a similar poll in September. And 63 percent said "Trump's responses to North Korea's threats... have been more reckless than responsible." [Threat] [Public opinion]
• N.Korean Diplomat Says U.S. Must 'Put up with' Pyongyang's Nuclear Weapons
  By Kim Jin-myung October 23, 2017 12:50 A senior North Korean official vowed on Friday that Pyongyang will never abandon its nuclear weapons program. Possessing nuclear weapons is "a matter of life and death" for North Korea, Choe Son-hui, an official from the North's Foreign Ministry, said at a conference on non-proliferation in Moscow. She also said North Korea won't repeat the mistakes of Iraq and Libya. The North apparently believes it would not be able to defend itself from a U.S. attack should it give up its nuclear weapons program. North Korean Foreign Ministry official Choe Son-hui speaks at a conference in Moscow on Saturday. /Yonhap Choe added that North Korea's nuclear weapons are needed to deter potential attacks, insisting Washington would "have to put up with" the reality that it possesses nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, there was no meaningful contact at the conference between South and North Korean officials. Choe exchanged brief greetings with South Korean Foreign Ministry official Lee Sang-hwa, but refused to talk further. [Deterrence] [US NK Negotiations]
• More Countries Expel N.Korean Diplomats
  October 23, 2017 13:04 Myanmar, Vietnam and Uganda have recently expelled diplomats of traditional ally North Korea as U.S.-led efforts to isolate Pyongyang gain steam. In a report to the UN Security Council, Myanmar said Friday that Kim Chol-nam, a second secretary at the North's embassy in Yangon, had been told to leave the country after being identified as working for blacklisted Korea Mining Development Trading Corp., which is North Korea's primary arms dealer involved in exporting goods and equipment related to ballistic missiles and conventional weapons. Kim and his family returned to Pyongyang in June. Lee Hyuk, South Korea's ambassador to Vietnam, said Friday that Kim Yong-su, the head of the Vietnam branch of Wonyang, controlled by North Korea's Ocean Maritime Management, was expelled from Vietnam in July. OMM is an exporter of North Korean minerals and coal and is known to be a source of hard currency for the North Korean regime. Vietnam also refused to extend the visas of 21 North Korean IT workers who were suspected of being hackers. Meanwhile, Ugandan Foreign Minister Oryem Okello said his government expelled several North Korean military officials and businessmen. [US dominance]
• Congress Can Stop War with North Korea
  October 23, 2017 by Elliott Adams We live in a world where North Korea presents the possibility of retaliatory strikes on the US mainland and our Republican administration is throwing around wildly bellicose and recklessly threatening words that risk all of us having to pay the price of a nuclear exchange. It is time for congress to fulfill their constitutional responsibility (Article I, Section 8, Clause 11) to be the only body in the US that may start a war. Congress now allows the President an emergency exemption to take action if they are told about it in 48 hours and the President gets Congress’s approval in 60 days (War Powers Resolution 1973). That is plenty of time for a nuclear conflagration to start. Congress must adjust the War Powers Resolution exemption by saying that no military action can be taken against North Korea with out prior written authorization by Congress. North Korea has repeatedly made it clear that their nuclear arsenal is defensive. They have cited the lesson of Libya and Iraq where the US negotiated away their nuclear ambitions and then invaded them. Kim Jung Un in explaining their nuclear program said, “no nuclear nation has been invaded.” [Congress] [Military option]
• KIET report shows that preferential duties in KORUS FTA had little effect on export increases
  Posted on : Oct.23,2017 16:52 KST Modified on : Oct.23,2017 16:52 KST Hyundai cars are lined up on a shipping pier at the Hyundai Motors’ Port waiting to be loaded onto a ship for export. SK trade authorities plan to use the findings to counter claims that the agreement is unfair South Korean trade authorities submitted empirical analysis findings to Washington showing that preferential US duties as part of the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) had almost no direct effect on the increase in South Korean exports to the US over the past five years. The findings are expected to be used as major support in the two sides’ amendment negotiations to counter Washington’s claims that the agreement is unfair and beneficial only to South Korea. An Oct. 22 Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade (KIET) report titled “Analysis of FTA Effects by Industry” included results from a quantitative analysis of the effects of preferential FTA duties (abolition or reduction) on South Korean exports of 12 major manufacturing items to the US in the period (2007-16) before and after the agreement took effect in Mar. 2012. [Korus FTA] [Trade balance]
• Korea and the Geopolitics of Division
  Posted on : Oct.22,2017 13:24 KST Modified on : Oct.22,2017 13:24 KST John Feffer As an ethnically homogenous and already divided nation, Korea might seem to be immune from all the fragmentation that seems to be happening around the world today. Far from the Korean peninsula, the European Union is negotiating the British exit and facing a possible withdrawal by the Spanish region of Catalonia. The Middle East is witnessing the breakdown of Yemen, the civil war in Libya, the continued crack-up of Syria, and the declaration of independence of Kurdistan in Iraq. Secessionist movements threaten the territorial integrity of Nigeria and Brazil. The forced exodus of the Rohingya is only one of the conflicts that put Myanmar at risk.
• Trump hints at a push for tougher NK sanctions during Asia trip
  Posted on : Oct.23,2017 16:36 KST Modified on : Oct.23,2017 16:36 KST US President Donald Trump meets with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the White House on Oct. 20 (UPI/Yonhap News) The US president will visit South Korea, China, and Japan in early next month As he prepares for his trip to South Korea, China and Japan in early November, US President Donald Trump hinted that he will pressure China to further increase the intensity of sanctions against North Korea after the conclusion of China’s 19th Communist Party Congress, which began on Oct. 18. “President Xi is right now going through his Congress,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News that was conducted on Oct. 20 and aired on Oct. 22. “I believe he’s [consolidated] the power to do something very significant with respect to North Korea. We’ll see what happens.” [Trump] [Sanctions] [UNUS]
• Nuclear war with North Korea unlikely, says ex-CIA director-
  Posted : 2017-10-23 10:48 Updated : 2017-10-23 11:02 The United States is unlikely to go to nuclear war with North Korea despite the recent escalation in tensions, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency said Sunday. David Petraeus, who served in the Barack Obama administration from 2011-2012, said he thinks U.S. President Donald Trump has been using tough rhetoric with North Korea to get the attention of the leadership in China, not in Pyongyang. "This is about getting President Xi's attention ... so that China will really clamp down on the umbilical cord through which 90 percent of the trade that goes to and from North Korea transits," Petraeus said in an interview on ABC News. China is able to "bring North Korea to its senses," he added, alluding to Beijing's leverage as Pyongyang's main ally and economic benefactor. North Korea carried out two long-range missile tests in July and a sixth nuclear test in September. Trump declared shortly thereafter that he would "totally destroy" the North if it posed a direct threat to the U.S. Petraeus said a nuclear war is still unlikely. "I don't think likely. No," he said. "I think, in fact, that again all of this is a communications strategy that is trying to make sure that China understands that this administration is in a very different situation from any of its predecessors, that North Korea on this president's watch could have the capability to hit a city in the United States with a nuclear weapon." He also held out hope for a diplomatic solution to the crisis. "I think there's still an opportunity here," he said (Yonhap) [Petraeus] [US NK policy] [Military option] [China option]
• Nuclear war with North Korea unlikely, says ex-CIA director-
  Posted : 2017-10-23 10:48 Updated : 2017-10-23 11:02 The United States is unlikely to go to nuclear war with North Korea despite the recent escalation in tensions, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency said Sunday. David Petraeus, who served in the Barack Obama administration from 2011-2012, said he thinks U.S. President Donald Trump has been using tough rhetoric with North Korea to get the attention of the leadership in China, not in Pyongyang. "This is about getting President Xi's attention ... so that China will really clamp down on the umbilical cord through which 90 percent of the trade that goes to and from North Korea transits," Petraeus said in an interview on ABC News. China is able to "bring North Korea to its senses," he added, alluding to Beijing's leverage as Pyongyang's main ally and economic benefactor. North Korea carried out two long-range missile tests in July and a sixth nuclear test in September. Trump declared shortly thereafter that he would "totally destroy" the North if it posed a direct threat to the U.S. Petraeus said a nuclear war is still unlikely. "I don't think likely. No," he said. "I think, in fact, that again all of this is a communications strategy that is trying to make sure that China understands that this administration is in a very different situation from any of its predecessors, that North Korea on this president's watch could have the capability to hit a city in the United States with a nuclear weapon." He also held out hope for a diplomatic solution to the crisis. "I think there's still an opportunity here," he said (Yonhap) [Petraeus] [US NK policy] [Military option] [China option]
• Pyongyang won't join six-party talks until US changes attitude: North Korea's diplomat
  Posted : 2017-10-22 13:49 Updated : 2017-10-22 14:38 CENESS Director and Nuclear Club Editor-in-Chief Anton Khlopkov (left) and Choe Son-hui, Head of the North America Department of North Korea's Foreign Ministry, attend the 2017 Moscow Nonproliferation Conference at the Centre for Energy and Security Studies, Oct. 21. / Tass-Yonhap By Ko Dong-hwan A North Korean diplomat says Pyongyang will not return to multilateral talks until it resolves issues with the United States, according to a source Sunday. Choe Son-hui, director-general of the North American department of the North's foreign ministry, said the crisis on the Korean Peninsula is due to the United States' hostile policy to the North. In a session at an international forum on nonproliferation in Moscow on Saturday, she said Pyongyang will not return to any multilateral talks, including the six-party talks, until it deals with Washington, according to the source who attended the event. She said the North will continue developing its nuclear program if the U.S. does not give up on its hostile policies toward Pyongyang. [NK US policy] [Hostility] [US NK Negotiations]
• Jimmy Carter Lusts for a Trump Posting
  Maureen Dowd Oct. 21, 2017 PLAINS, Ga. — Most people would run away screaming at the thought of working for a boss who humiliates subordinates in public, throttles them in private, demands constant flattery, spends all day watching cable TV and behaves in a wildly unpredictable way. And yet, there is someone who is eager to work for President Trump. Curious, but it’s a Democrat. And even curiouser, it’s a fellow member of the presidents club. And curiousest, it’s someone whom Trump has disparaged on Twitter as one of the worst presidents in history. Miracles can happen. No one knows that better than Jimmy Carter, who defied all odds 40 years ago to leap from his peanut farm to the White House and defied all odds again two years ago to beat brain cancer. The 93-year-old would like to pull another rabbit out of a hat — just not a killer rabbit — and enter into a productive partnership with Donald Trump over North Korea. When you think about it, though, it makes sense. One of the basic premises of the Carter Center is that you should talk to dictators. {Jimmy Carter] [[US NK Negotiations] [MISCOM]
• Trump visit to DMZ could provoke North Korea
  Posted : 2017-10-21 12:13 Updated : 2017-10-21 17:02 North Korea could feel threatened if U.S. President Donald Trump visits the demilitarized zone on the inter-Korean border next month, a U.S. expert said Friday. Trump could include a trip to the buffer zone dividing South and North Korea when he visits Seoul from Nov. 7-8, according to news reports. There are concerns it could provoke Pyongyang amid high tensions over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. "They're seeing almost everything as a threat," Sue Mi Terry, a former Korea analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency, said during a discussion on North Korea. She noted that Trump has called North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a "Rocket Man" on a suicide mission and threatened to "totally destroy" the country if necessary. "They already see him as a very provocative person," she said. "Anything that he does will be continually seen that way." Terry voiced strong opposition to the use of military action against North Korea, saying it could have "catastrophic consequences" for the 20 million people living in Seoul. "I think North Korea will retaliate if there's a military strike," she said. "In this 'track 2' meeting I had with North Koreans, they emphasized that they didn't go through this level of pain that they had gone through to acquire nuclear weapons -- spending millions of dollars -- just to be able to, to paraphrase their own words: 'We're not just going to perish without being able to use them if we think the attack for regime change is coming. '" (Yonhap) [MISCOM] [Bizarre]
• Engaging North Korea Successfully on Human Rights
  By: John Feffer September 28, 2017Commentary, Human Security North Korea has the worst human rights record of any country in the world except perhaps Eritrea and Syria. There is, however, a curious exception to this record: disability rights. This case offers a powerful counter-example of successful engagement in an arena where the country normally experiences nothing but universal condemnation.
• Didn't North Korea know of B1-B flight?
  Posted : 2017-10-20 11:31 Updated : 2017-10-20 17:52 By Oh Young-jin The United States tried to validate its insistence on having a military option in dealing with North Korea last month by flying two B1-B strategic bombers along the East Coast of North Korea. These bombers had flown farthest to the north of the inter-Korean border by any allied aircraft in the 21st century, the Trump administration said, although their nocturnal flight path was far from the North's airpace. A couple of days later, the National Assembly Intelligence Committee reportedly said that the North was kept in the dark, its radar snoozed off with none of its fighter jets scrambling to challenge the American planes. If that is true, the North's military is nothing but a paper tiger. Or can there be other explanations? [Provocation] [B1-B]
• Jimmy Carter offers to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
  By Mallory Shelbourne - 10/10/17 07:37 AM EDT Jimmy Carter offers to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un © Getty Former President Jimmy Carter (D) reportedly offered to meet with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in an attempt at peace talks. A University of Georgia professor detailed Carter’s offer to Korea JoongAng Daily, a South Korean newspaper. “Carter wants to meet with the North Korean leader and play a constructive role for peace on the Korean Peninsula as he did in 1994,” Park Han-shik told the newspaper. Park, who met with Carter, is the professor emeritus at the university's School of Public & International Affairs. “Should former President Carter be able to visit North Korea, he would like to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and discuss a peace treaty between the United States and the North and a complete denuclearization of North Korea,” Park told the paper. [Jimmy Carter] [Wishful thinking]
• Top N.Korean Diplomat Arrives in Moscow for Possible Back-Channel Talks
  Arirang News October 19, 2017 08:36 A top North Korean diplomat arrived in Moscow on Tuesday, to attend a three-day conference on nuclear non-proliferation. Choi Sun-hee, an official of Pyongyang's foreign ministry, did not answer reporters' questions at the airport regarding the purpose of her visit. But speculation is running high that Choi will hold discussions with a number of former U.S. government officials who are also in Russia to attend the conference. Washington and Pyongyang used to exchange views through unofficial talks in times of high tension. [Back Channel] [US NK Negotiations] [Track 2]
• FM Asks U.S. to Expedite Approval of New Ambassador to Seoul
  By Kim Jin-myung October 19, 2017 09:37 Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Wednesday requested during a meeting with visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan that Washington send a new ambassador to Seoul as soon as possible. The post has been empty since January. Sullivan was visiting Seoul for talks over the North Korean issue. "We really want to see an ambassador taking up the post," she said. "We fully respect U.S. procedures but hopefully this will be concluded very soon." Sullivan stressed that the approval process takes time and was getting more stringent, citing his experience of going through it three times. [US SK Alliance] [Sidelined]
• N.Korean Envoy Warns Nuclear War Could Break out at 'Any Moment'
  October 18, 2017 09:50 North Korea warned on Monday that "a nuclear war may break out any moment." North Korea's deputy ambassador to the UN Kim In-ryong made the remarks in a statement to a UN general assembly committee in New York. He said the situation on the Korean peninsula "has reached touch-and-go point." He claimed that North Korea completed its "state nuclear force and thus became a full-fledged nuclear power which possesses the delivery means of various ranges, including the atomic bomb, H-bomb and intercontinental ballistic rockets." "The entire U.S. mainland is within our firing range and if the U.S. dares to invade our sacred territory by even an inch it will not escape our severe punishment in any part of the globe," he said. [Conditionality] [Deterrence]
• The Real Reason Behind Trump’s Angry Diplomacy in North Korea
  by Ramzy Baroud October 18, 2017 To understand the United States’ stratagem in the Pacific, and against North Korea in particular, one has to understand the fundamental changes that are under way in that region. China’s clout as an Asian superpower and as a global economic powerhouse has been growing at a rapid speed. The US’ belated ‘pivot to Asia’ to counter China’s rise has been, thus far, quite ineffectual. The angry diplomacy of President Donald Trump is Washington’s way to scare off North Korea’s traditional ally, China, and disrupt what has been, till now, quite a smooth Chinese economic, political and military ascendency in Asia that has pushed against US regional influence, especially in the East and South China Seas. Despite the fact that China has reevaluated its once strong ties with North Korea, in recent years, it views with great alarm any military build-up by the US and its allies. A stronger US military in that region will be a direct challenge to China’s inevitable trade and political hegemony. The US understands that its share of the world’s economic pie chart is constantly being reduced, and that China is gaining ground, and fast. [China confrontation] [US NK policy]
• Trump likely to emphasize hardline stance against North Korea during SK visit
  Posted on : Oct.18,2017 17:27 KST Modified on : Oct.18,2017 17:27 KST US President Donald Trump returns to the White House from a fundraiser for Republican gubernatorial candidates in South Carolina on Oct. 16 (UPI/Yonhap News) The US President will also be seeking trade concessions from Asian nations During US President Donald Trump’s first tour of South Korea, China and Japan early next month, he is likely to focus on cooperation to put the “maximum pressure” on North Korea while also trying to extract as many concessions as possible in the area of trade to satisfy his domestic base. In regards to North Korea and its nuclear program, the White House said in an Oct. 16 statement about Trump’s trip to Asia that Trump would “call on the international community to join together in maximizing pressure on North Korea” during his speech before South Korea’s National Assembly. [Trump] US NK policy]
• North Korea won't give up nuclear weapons: unification minister
  Posted : 2017-10-18 16:11 Updated : 2017-10-18 20:34 By Kim Rahn Cho Myoung-gyon Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said Wednesday the chances of North Korea giving up its nuclear weapons are extremely low. The remark by one of the nation's top government officials in charge of North Korea issues came as international society has been intensifying sanctions against Pyongyang to make it scrap its nuclear program. [Nuclear weapons]
• Washington's messaging on North Korea 'confusing'
  Posted : 2017-10-18 10:55 Updated : 2017-10-18 16:25 South Korea is confused by the mixed signals the United States has been sending on how it wants to handle the threat of North Korea's nuclear weapons program, a ranking Democratic senator said Tuesday. Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, recently returned from a trip to South Korea, where he met with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and other officials. "I think the confusion is the message the administration is sending," he told CNN. "Secretary (of State Rex) Tillerson has been trying to establish diplomatic channels to North Korea. He's been trying to collaborate with our allies. But President Trump ... repeatedly sort of dissed him, told him not to do it in a series of tweets." Last month Tillerson said the U.S. maintains direct channels of communication with Pyongyang. But Trump tweeted a day later that Tillerson was wasting his time. "It's going to be ultimately necessary to have diplomacy here," Reed said, "because the consequences of a war are catastrophic on the peninsula." Tensions have heightened over North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, with Trump threatening to "totally destroy" the communist nation if necessary. North Korea said last month it tested a hydrogen bomb that can be mounted a long-range missile capable of hitting the mainland U.S. In a press conference Monday, Reed said the South Koreans are "confused" and "a little bit shaken because they understand that they would be in the line of fire if there's any contact between the United States and North Korea in terms of a kinetic military operation." He also urged the U.S. government to increase cooperation with its allies and appoint an ambassador to South Korea. (Yonhap) [US NK policy] [Tweet] [Trump]
• US-bound passengers face tougher security interviews at airports
  Posted : 2017-10-17 11:10 Updated : 2017-10-17 23:05 By Yoon Ja-young Those planning to fly to the United States had better hurry to the airport early so as not to miss their flight. Airlines advise them to arrive at least four or five hours earlier than the departure time beginning Oct. 26, since they have to go through a security interview at the airport amid growing concerns over terrorist attacks. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Tuesday, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) requested all airlines flying to the U.S. as well as its territories such as Guam and Saipan to strengthen security checks of passengers back in June. The TSA was established in 2001 following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. [Security] [Hysteria]
• Latin Is Latest Fad at Gangnam Crammers
  More October 16, 2017 08:40 The language of the ancient Romans has become an unlikely fad among parents in Seoul's glitzy Gangnam district, perhaps because they feel their kids will have an advantage at university if they read and write Latin. One crammer offers a course from beginner to advanced consisting of two-hour classes once a week for a hefty W500,000 a month (US$1=W1,130). "The class costs twice as much as an English conversation class, but all 30 seats usually sell out almost instantly," a staffer said. Most of the students who applied for the classes were preparing for the SAT, the American college-entrance test. About a dozen crammers in Gangnam and Seocho teach Latin. Many Korean students are studying Latin to appeal to U.S. university admissions officers. The number of people who have some mastery of Latin has been steadily declining in the U.S., prompting Harvard and other ivory league American universities to announce that knowing the language will boost applicants' chances. [Bizarre] [Education] [US dominance]
• U.S. Works on Mapping N.Korea's Underground Facilities
  By Cho Yi-jun October 16, 2017 12:11 As the South Korean and U.S. navies kicked off massive joint drills on Monday amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. has also begun assessing the locations of North Korea's underground military facilities, including tunnels along the demilitarized zone. Doug Wiltsie, chief of the U.S. Army's Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO), visited South Korea last month to work through an assessment of North Korean underground military facilities along the DMZ, Defense News reported last week. The RCO was created in August last year to expedite the deployment of critical military technologies.
• Old wounds in northeast Asia prevent effective response to mutual problems
  Posted on : Oct.15,2017 13:24 KST Modified on : Oct.15,2017 13:24 KST Political missteps in South Korea and Japan have hindered cooperation against threat from North Korea Robert E. McCoy Two issues cloud the political landscape shared by Seoul and Tokyo. Both are unresolved artifacts of Japan’s occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 until the conclusion of World War II in 1945. One is the matter of Korean comfort women forced to serve Imperial soldiers while the other is Koreans who were forced to labor for Japanese industry in slave-like conditions. The 1965 Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea was thought to have resolved the issue of forced labor, but as with many things in Asia, that resolution was fraught with complexities initially kept from the public eye. The other issue, comfort women or sex slaves, was completely swept under the table. [US NK policy] [Alliance] [SK Japan]
• US to show off military might in joint drills
  Posted : 2017-10-15 13:54 Updated : 2017-10-15 17:58 The United States is poised to show off its military might this week through joint drills and a defense exhibition in South Korea, deploying an aircraft carrier, nuclear-powered submarine, stealth fighters and other strategic assets. The show of force comes amid growing tensions on the peninsula, with North Korea expected to engage in additional provocations in protest against the South Korea-U.S. military drills. Pyongyang has not launched any major provocation since it fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan on Sept. 15. But Seoul and Washington officials remain on alert amid signs of possible missile launches following its leader's recent warning of a more powerful action. "In various locations in the North, TELs have repeatedly appeared and disappeared," a military official said on condition of anonymity. A TEL is a transporter erector launcher. "Based on this, we have judged that the North could launch a provocation at anytime, and we have remained on increased alert." [Posturing][Joint US military]
• Even After Sanctions, North Korea has a Lot to Cheer About
  Salman Rafi Sheikh 21.09.2017 Politics of sanctions is not known to have been an effective source of bringing about political change. This is particularly evident from the way Iran has thwarted the US and EU sanctions in the last decade or so, and this is even more particualr from the way North Kores has been thwarting, notwithstanding the role that the sanctioned countries’ allies play, the US over its nuclear programme. North Korea has a well-established nuclear infrastructure, and there is seemingly nothing in the air that the country might be tempted to role it back. Nor does the US have any option other than that of imposing sanctions to hurt North Korea directly and its allies indirectly. Still, the US imposed sanctions and even those imposed by the UNSC seem to have done little to ‘convince’ North Korea of the necessity of rolling back its nuclear programme. On the other hand, the UNSC imposed fresh sanctions, their dynamics and divergent international political interests involved have once again proved that North Korea has little to worry about. Nothing perhaps could better explain this than fresh North Korean missile tests, and the fact that both China and Russia continue to oppose, despite pressure from the US, any move against North Korea that may trigger a regime change scenario, or allow the use of military force. Notwithstanding the fact that fresh sanctions are harsh compared to the previous ones, this round of sanctions is still far from what the US president, Donald Trump, had been hoping for since the beginning of his presidency. What the US had hoped for included, apart from a complete oil embargo, an asset freeze and travel ban on Kim Jong-un and other specifically designated North Korean officials. The draft resolution also covered additional WMD-related items as well as a provision for regular inspection of North Korean vessels in international waters. While the scenario thus built does not prevent either China or Russia from applying political and diplomatic pressure, as North Korea will still be facing 30% reduction on its crude and refined oil imports, Russia-China duo has also drawn the line, which can be crossed only at the expense of triggering a major international crisis. In nutshell, both Russia and China have limited themselves to a measured application of diplomatic pressure, which explicitly includes, apart from other things, stability in Pyongyang, no regime change, no drastic alteration of the geopolitical chessboard and no massive refugee crisis. [US NK policy] [Sanctions] [Efficacy]
• Trump Sends Second Aircraft Carrier To Korean Peninsula With 7,500 Sailors, Marines Aboard
  by Tyler Durden Oct 13, 2017 9:05 AM Just one week after uttering his now-infamous "this is the calm before the storm" statement to the press ahead of a dinner with military leaders, we now learn that President Trump has dispatched a second nuclear aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, filled with 7,500 marines, to the Korean Peninsula. Of course, this comes after rumors swirled earlier this week that North Korea is preparing to fire multiple short-range rockets around the opening of the Chinese Communist Party’s twice-a-decade congress on Oct. 18th. [US NK policy] [Posturing]
• Why North Korea Wants Nuke Deterrence
  October 12, 2017 Exclusive: The revelation that North Korea hacked into South Korea’s military secrets and found U.S. plans for a preemptive “decapitation” of Pyongyang’s leadership explains its rush to build a nuclear deterrent, says Nicolas J S Davies. By Nicolas J S Davies The Western media has been awash in speculation as to why, about a year ago, North Korea’s “crazy” leadership suddenly launched a crash program to vastly improve its ballistic missile capabilities. That question has now been answered. Near the ceasefire line between North and South Korea, President Barack Obama uses binoculars to view the DMZ from Camp Bonifas, March 25, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) In September 2016, North Korean cyber-defense forces hacked into South Korean military computers and downloaded 235 gigabytes of documents. The BBC has revealed that the documents included detailed U.S. plans to assassinate North Korea’s president, Kim Jong Un, and launch an all-out war on North Korea. The BBC’s main source for this story is Rhee Cheol-Hee, a member of the Defense Committee of the South Korean National Assembly. These plans for aggressive war have actually been long in the making. In 2003, the U.S. scrapped an agreement signed in 1994 under which North Korea suspended its nuclear program and the U.S. agreed to build two light water reactors in North Korea. The two countries also agreed to a step-by-step normalization of relations. Even after the U.S. scrapped the 1994 Agreed Framework in 2003, North Korea did not restart work on the two reactors frozen under that agreement, which could by now be producing enough plutonium to make several nuclear weapons every year. However, since 2002-03, when President George W. Bush included North Korea in his “axis of evil,” withdrew from the Agreed Framework, and launched an invasion of Iraq over bogus WMD claims, North Korea once again began enriching uranium and making steady progress toward developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles to deliver them. By 2016, the North Koreans also were keenly aware of the horrific fate of Iraq and Libya and their leaders after the countries did surrender their unconventional weapons. Not only did the U.S. lead bloody “regime change” invasions but the nations’ leaders were brutally murdered, Saddam Hussein by hanging and Muammar Gaddafi sodomized with a knife and then summarily shot in the head. So, the discovery of the U.S. war plan in 2016 sounded alarm bells in Pyongyang and triggered an unprecedented crash program to quickly expand North Korea’s ballistic missile program. Its nuclear weapons tests established that it can produce a small number of first-generation nuclear weapons, but it needed a viable delivery system before it could be sure that its nuclear deterrent would be credible enough to deter a U.S. attack. [Deterrence] [US NK policy]
• S. Korea's defense chief visits US nuclear sub
  Posted : 2017-10-14 18:29 Updated : 2017-10-14 18:33 The USS Michigan, a nuclear-powered U.S. Navy submarine, arrives in the port of Busan on Oct. 13. / AFP-Yonhap South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo on Saturday emphasized the significance of the "regular deployment of U.S. strategic assets" to the peninsula, citing continued North Korean threats. He made the comments while visiting the Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Michigan (SSGN-727), which arrived at the Busan naval port on Friday for a routine tour. He was accompanied by Rep. Kim Young-woo of the minor opposition Bareun Party, who chairs the parliament's defense committee, and other members of the panel. "Now is the very time to show the power of close South Korea-U.S. coordination under the circumstances that North Korea's threats go on," Song said, according to his ministry. He added, "The strengthening of the regular rotational deployment of U.S. strategic assets demonstrate the allies' strong commitment to the defense of the Korean Peninsula." [US SK alliance] [Posturing]
• US won't go to war without ROK: minister
  Posted : 2017-10-12 16:38 Updated : 2017-10-13 09:25 Song reaffirms early takeover of OPCON By Kim Rahn Defense Minister Song Young-moo Defense Minister Song Moo-young said Thursday that the United States will never go to war against North Korea without South Korea's consent. He made the comment during a National Assembly audit of the defense ministry, which focused on U.S. President Donald Trump's rhetoric signaling military options against Pyongyang. Asked by independent lawmaker Lee Jung-hyun if it was possible for the U.S. to wage a war against the North without South Korea, Song said, "The U.S. will never stage a war unilaterally without South Korea." Trump said Saturday that negotiations with Pyongyang to end its nuclear programs have not worked for decades, adding "only one thing will work," suggesting a military option. The Kim Jong-un regime has also intensified its nuclear and missile ambitions, threatening to strike the U.S. territory of Guam. [US NK policy] [War] [Veto] [OPCON] [Wishful thinking]
• Trump Keeps Talking Tough Ahead of S.Korea Visit
  By Cho Yi-jun October 13, 2017 11:30 Amid increasing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, U.S. President Donald Trump will come to South Korea in early November, where he is expected to discuss whatever hardline measures against the renegade country he envisages at the time. Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday announced President Moon Jae-in and Trump will meet in Seoul in early November but added no exact date has been decided. Trump also visits Japan and China. [Trump]
• Fitch Says N.Korean Risk 'Nothing New'
  By Shon Jin-seok October 13, 2017 10:48 Global ratings firm Fitch said Thursday that a war between North and South Korea is unlikely, quelling fears of a credit downgrade for the South. "While the current level of tension is high, strains on the Korean Peninsula are not new," Fitch said in a statement. It pointed to a similar "pattern of rise-and-fall cycles" in the past and maintained South Korea's sovereign rating at AA- with a stable outlook. The rating has been unchanged since September 2012. However, Fitch noted that increasing geopolitical risks on the Korean Peninsula could have a negative impact on South Korea's economy by exacerbating business and consumer sentiment. It added that South Korea's solid growth trend and sound fiscal conditions are positive factors but cautioned against the country’s high level of household debt. [Conflict] [Risk] [Posturing]
• UAE to Stop Issuing Visas to N.Koreans
  VOA News October 13, 2017 08:07 The United Arab Emirates announced Thursday it would halt the issuance of visas to North Korean workers, as tensions surrounding the country's nuclear ambitions continue to build. The move by the UAE follows similar policy changes from Kuwait and Qatar, which already have blocked visas to the country, limiting North Korea's ability to evade sanctions and make money off the laborers it sends to work in Middle Eastern nations. The UAE statement said it also would block North Korean companies from operating in any of the seven emirates, and the UAE will end its non-resident ambassador program with North Korea. [Sanctions] [UAE] [US dominance] [Overseas labour]
• Park administration kept lawmakers unaware of increased funding for USFK facilities
  Posted on : Oct.13,2017 16:37 KST Modified on : Oct.13,2017 16:37 KST Government worried that the agreement would be unpopular with voters in June 2015 local elections Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Gyeong-hyeop directs a question at Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha regarding a secret memorandum to fund USFK Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities at a National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee meeting on Oct. 12 (Yonhap News) During the negotiations for the 9th Special Measures Agreement (SMA, the agreement about sharing the cost of keeping US troops in South Korea) that the two countries reached in early 2014, the South Korean government under former president Park Geun-hye made a secret memorandum to increase cash funding but kept this quiet out of concern for the local elections scheduled for June of that year, reports show. This was a political decision that was fueled by fears that the public would be displeased by the US military’s Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIF), for which the funding was earmarked, and by the fact that the government had “retreated” from the 8th SMA. [USFK] [Tribute] [Park Geun-hye]
• Former US military base sites heavy with contamination
  Posted on : Oct.13,2017 16:39 KST Modified on : Oct.13,2017 16:39 KST Almost 2/3 of environmental surveys since 2008 have revealed high pollution in water and soil A Seoul city worker puts contaminated groundwater from under the wall of Camp Kim in the Yongsan District of Seoul into a container for further sampling on Oct. 6. After oil contamination was discovered in 2006, the city has spent over 10 years purifying the groundwater, but contamination levels of petroleum hydrocarbons remain is 500 times higher than safety standards allow. (by Kim Tae-hyung, staff photographer) Contamination sources have been detected in six out of ten environmental surveys on former US military bases returned to South Korea. Democratic Party lawmaker and National Assembly National Policy Committee member Park Chan-dae received a Ministry of Environment report on basic environmental studies for USFK-granted areas on Oct. 12 by way of the USFK base relocation support team in the Office for Government Policy Coordination. The report showed a total of 110 environment surveys on returned US bases between 2008 and 2017, with 66 of them confirming soil and/or underground water contamination. [USFK] [Contamination]
• In defense of Han Kang
  Posted : 2017-10-13 10:55 Updated : 2017-10-13 17:53 By Oh Young-jin Our columnist Andrew Salmon drew first blood when he fisked Man Booker award winner Han Kang's op-ed contribution to the New York Times, entitled "When the U.S. talks about war, South Korea shudders," an anti-war piece about a critical situation caused by the U.S. -North Korean war of words. Salmon claimed Han unfairly blames the U.S. for the ongoing crisis due to her lack of knowledge of the Korean War and absence of historical balance. That piqued my interest and had me fisking back on his argument. My conclusion is the focus of her column is not about war itself but her resistance toward it, a civic duty for any responsible citizen, whether a novelist or butcher. My own war of words with Salmon took place on Facebook but Salmon declined to have his piece printed. So I had his points of arguments and addressed them with my own. [Military option] [Collateral] [Consequences]
• North Korea's winning strategy
  Posted : 2017-10-13 10:50 Updated : 2017-10-13 10:57 (From right) Mao Zedong and Kim Il-sung / Korea Times file By Oh Young-jin I don't buy into the idea that North Korea is capable of taking over the bigger and stronger South Korea, whether it has nuclear weapons or not. But the North's nuclear power affects the current balance of power. It is worth thinking what Kim Jong-un will do with it. The North's leader may feel tempted to polish up its old plan for communizing the South, put in mothballs and pigeonholed since his father's days. What could be at the heart of Kim's "old new" plan? It should be about separating the United States from the South. [US SK alliance]
• North Korea Renews Guam Threat Ahead of Joint Naval Exercise
  By Choe Sang-hun Oct. 13, 2017 SEOUL, South Korea — As the United States and South Korea prepared for next week’s joint naval exercise, North Korean officials on Friday renewed their threat to launch ballistic missiles near Guam, an American territory in the western Pacific. [Joint US military] [Guam] [Missile test] [Media] [Heading]
• U.S. Weapons Mass in S.Korea
  By Lee Yong-soo October 12, 2017 09:26 U.S. B-1B strategic bombers were sent again to skies over the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday night, practicing launching a precision strike against the North alongside the South Korean Air Force's F-15K fighter jets. Tuesday was the North Korean Workers Party's founding anniversary, when another widely feared missile launch failed to materialize. Earlier U.S. President Donald Trump was briefed by top defense officials on a "range of options" about how to deal with North Korea's nuclear threat, the White House said. Trump "met with members of his national security team to receive a briefing from Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford," the White House said in a statement on Tuesday. "The briefing and discussion focused on a range of options to respond to any form of North Korean aggression or, if necessary, to prevent North Korea from threatening the United States and its allies with nuclear weapons." [Posturing]
• US B-1B bombers again conduct military exercises over Korean Peninsula
  Posted on : Oct.12,2017 17:33 KST Modified on : Oct.12,2017 17:33 KST The latest training came 17 days after US bombers crossed the NLL in the East Sea Two US B-1B strategic bombers made sorties over the Korean Peninsula on the evening of Oct. 10 for air-to-surface missile exercises. The exercises came 17 days after a US Air Force B-1B squadron previously crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) to perform flight exercises outside North Korean airspace in the East Sea on the evening of Sept. 23 and early morning of Sept. 24. The US military also belatedly revealed on Oct. 11 that one of its nuclear-powered submarines had put in at Jinhae, South Gyeongsang Province. The moves are being interpreted as shows of force aimed at forestalling potential provocations by North Korea. B-1B bombers – the so-called “swans of death” – conducted air-to-surface missile exercises in the absence of any North Korean test launches, nuclear tests, or other provocations risks raising military tensions on the peninsula. [Posturing] [Provocation]
• Military advisors brief Trump on options for North Korea
  Posted on : Oct.12,2017 17:39 KST Modified on : Oct.12,2017 17:39 KST US Defense Secretary James Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford US seen as preparing countermeasures in case of further provocations from Pyongyang With analysts suggesting that North Korea could take action causing tensions to rise even further before the end of the month, the White House announced on Oct. 10 that US President Donald Trump had discussed various options for North Korea that his advisors from the Pentagon had briefed him about. “This morning President Donald J. Trump met with members of his national security team to receive a briefing from Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford,” the White House announced in an official statement released on Oct. 10. “The briefing and discussion focused on a range of options to respond to any form of North Korean aggression or, if necessary, to prevent North Korea from threatening the United States and its allies with nuclear weapons.” While the statement did not explicitly mention “military options,” the overall context of the statement suggests that military options were discussed as well. [Military option]
• [Column] Where does South Korea’s obligation to the US end?
  Posted on : Oct.12,2017 17:37 KST Modified on : Oct.12,2017 17:37 KST Moon Chung-in, professor emeritus at Yonsei University and President Moon Jae-in’s special advisor on unification, foreign affairs and national security, gives a keynote address at a seminar on the topic of “New Administrations and the U.S.-R.O.K. Alliance: Challenges and Way Forward,” which was hosted in Washington by the East Asia Foundation and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, June 16. (Yonhap News) As tensions with NK mount, conservatives criticize Moon Chung-in for recent statements on the alliance President Moon’s special advisor on unification, foreign affairs, and national security and professor emeritus at Yonsei University Moon Chung-in is a regular target for conservatives. Right-wing political parties continuing calling for his dismissal, painting him as a foolish “anti-American” and “North Korean mouthpiece.” Why do conservatives loathe Moon Chung-in so much? The situation began when the conservative press went on the attack over statements he made during a seminar in Washington last June ahead of a South Korea-US summit, when he suggested that “if North Korea halts its nuclear and missile activities, we might discuss a reduction of joint military exercises with the US and the US strategic weaponry deployed on the Korean Peninsula.” More recently, he drew controversy by saying that “even if there is a shattering of the South Korea-US alliance, many people do not think that would not mean war.” [US SK alliance] [Moon Chung-in]
• Park government made secret deal to increase cash contributions for USFK facilities in 2014
  Posted on : Oct.12,2017 17:42 KST Modified on : Oct.12,2017 17:42 KST Representatives from the US and South Korean governments met at the Foreign Ministry building in Sejong-ro, Seoul in Dec. 2013 to negotiate the terms for the Ninth Defense Cost Sharing Special Agreement regarding US Forces Korea. (by Kim Bong-gyu, staff photographer) Critics contend that the deal represents a transfer of Korean taxpayer money to private US companies The South Korean government made a behind-the-scenes deal pledging increased cash contributions on exceptional grounds while signing its Ninth Defense Cost Sharing Special Agreement with the US on support for the stationing of US Forces Korea in early 2014, it was recently discovered. Drawing particular attention is the fact that the actual designation for the additional contributions demanded by USFK was for Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs) inaccessible to South Korea. The deal’s existence was concealed by the Park Geun-hye administration (2013–16) in its explanation of the implementation arrangement to the relevant National Assembly standing committee, which came when the agreement had already been ratified and entered effect. Implementation arrangements are legally binding, but, unlike the agreement proper, do not require National Assembly ratification. [Park Geun-hye] [USFK] [Tribute]
• Ex-NSC Standing Committee chief Kim Kwan-jin found to have sped up THAAD deployment
  Posted on : Oct.11,2017 16:52 KST Modified on : Oct.11,2017 16:52 KST Kim Kwan-jin, fromer chief of the Blue House National Security Office. Documents show that Seoul, not US, pushed for early installation of the missile defense system The surprise delivery of two THAAD launchers in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, on the eve of the presidential election in late April was made at the request of the South Korean government rather than under US pressure, it was recently confirmed. It also emerged that the one orchestrating the effort to set the THAAD deployment in stone after then-President Park Geun-hye was ousted from office was Kim Kwan-jin, then head of the National Security Council Standing Committee and the chief of the Blue House National Security Office. [ROK military] [THAAD] [US dominance]
• Understanding the threat of North Korea and what it means for Hawaii
  Please tune-in for a panel discussion aimed at deepening understanding of the North Korean threat. The two-hour event, including a panel and Q&A, will be held on Thursday, October 12 from 5:00 - 7:00 pm HST (11:00 pm - 1:00 am EDT) at the East-West Center's Imin Conference Center (Wailana Room) in Honolulu. A live-stream will be available at www.facebook.com/civilbeat The event will begin with a guided panel conversation led by Ralph Cossa, president of Pacific Forum CSIS. Following the panel discussion, Chad Blair, politics and opinions editor at Honolulu Civil Beat, will moderate a Q&A session with the audience. Panelists: James Kelly, former assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Denny Roy, senior fellow at the East-West Center Keith Vieira, principal of KV & Associates Hospitality Consulting, LLC and executive-in-residence at Shidler College of Business Moderators: Ralph Cossa, president of Pacific Forum CSIS Chad Blair, politics and opinions editor at Honolulu Civil Beat [Threat] [Hysteria] [Retaliation]
• Top leader tasks DPRK with nuclear, missile development despite UN sanctions
  Source: Xinhua Published: 2017/10/8 13:41:12 The top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Kim Jong Un, has tasked the nation to go forward with nuclear and missile development despite numerous UN sanctions, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday. At the Second Plenum of the 7th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea held here Saturday, Kim justified the development of nuclear and missile programs by the DPRK as the only way of defense against "protracted nuclear threats" by the United States. "He solemnly declared: The nuclear weapons of the DPRK are a precious fruition borne by its people's bloody struggle for defending the destiny and sovereignty of the country from the protracted nuclear threats of the US imperialists. And they are a powerful deterrent firmly safeguarding the peace and security in the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia," said the report. [Deterrent]
• US aircraft carrier to join South Korean Navy for joint exercises
  Posted on : Oct.4,2017 15:11 KST Modified on : Oct.4,2017 15:11 KST The training will be held in the East Sea later this month A US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is arriving in the East Sea around mid-October for high-intensity joint exercises with the South Korean Navy. “[The aircraft carrier] could arrive by the middle of October or afterward,” a military source said on Oct. 1 of the joint exercises, adding that the exercises were “something we’ve been planning for a long time irrespective of the crisis that has recently emerged on the Korean Peninsula.” Led by the US nuclear-powered supercarrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), the strike group will reportedly hold exercises with the South Korean Navy in the East Sea in mid- to late October. Aircraft carrier strike groups typically consist of a carrier and several other vessels escorting it, including cruisers and destroyers. [Joint US military] [Carrier]
• South Korea cedes to US demands on renegotiating KORUS FTA
  Posted on : Oct.9,2017 17:10 KST Modified on : Oct.9,2017 17:10 KST South Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong (second from right) attends the special second session of the KORUS FTA Joint Committee with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer (second from left) in Washington,D.C. on Oct. 8 (provided by Ministry of Commerce, Energy, and Industry) Discussions over terms of revision expected to take place next year Now that South Korea and the US have effectively agreed to initiate negotiations to revise the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), this is likely to lead to a major overhaul of the agreement, experts say. The two countries are now entering a peculiar round of negotiations, since South Korea has granted the US side its unprecedented and unreasonable demand to resolve the trade deficit five and a half years after the FTA took effect, balancing the two countries’ interests. During a meeting with reporters immediately after the conclusion of the second special session of the KORUS FTA Joint Committee, which was held at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) in Washington on Oct. 4, South Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong said, “Our two countries have agreed on the need to revise the agreement to further strengthen the reciprocity of the KORUS FTA.” South Korea’s trade authorities announced that they would diligently move forward with the steps required to commence negotiations to revise the agreement in line with the Trade Procedure Act, which include assessing the economic feasibility of revising the agreement, holding public hearings and submitting a report to the National Assembly. Given the time required for these steps, the actual negotiations are likely to commence early next year. [KORUS FTA] [US dominance]
• US-North Korea Relations: Experts Weigh in on Future Course
  By: Edu Montesanti Published 4 October 2017 "Who is the threat to world security? The United States is. Does any country threaten U.S. security? The answer is no," Michel Chossudovsky told teleSUR. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has toned up nuclear force rhetoric as a U.N. Security Council resolution passed tougher sanctions after Pyongyang’s latest missile test in September. [US NK policy]
• North Korea and Yemen: the Costs of Empire
  by Mark Weisbrot October 3, 2017 As the war of words between the governments of Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un has spiraled into child-like name calling and escalating military threats, the world shudders at the possible consequences. The Pentagon has reportedly estimated that a North Korean attack with conventional weapons against the South would kill 20,000 people a day; but deaths could reach the millions in the event of a nuclear war. Meanwhile, in Yemen, the US is already participating militarily in what humanitarian aid groups have labeled crimes against humanity. US military forces are participating in refueling Saudi bombers and also in their targeting, which has killed thousands of civilians. By cutting off food imports, the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen’s civil war has put more than seven million people at the brink of starvation. [US global strategy]
• Moon Wants Early Transfer of Wartime Troop Control
  By Lee Yong-soo, Eom Bo-un September 29, 2017 12:15 President Moon Jae-in on Thursday said his government aims for the early transfer of full operational control of South Korean troops from the U.S. military. Speaking at an advance ceremony marking Armed Forces Day, Moon said, "When the South has [wartime operational control], the North will fear us more, and our armed forces will be trusted more. With improved self-esteem, our military will become stronger." Moon used the term "takeover" instead of "transfer" of troop control, breaking from the customary terminology of previous presidents. [OPCON]
• S. Korea says in close cooperation with US on DPRK communication channels
  Source: Xinhua Published: 2017/10/1 15:39:32 South Korea's presidential Blue House said on Sunday that it was closely cooperating with the United States to keep communication channels with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun told reporters via a text message that the government emphasized the peaceful resolution through dialogue of the DPRK issues whenever opportunities were given, according to local media reports. He said the government also expressed its position that dialogue could be of various types, including bilateral and multilateral ones. Park said the governments of South Korea and the United States were closely cooperating in efforts to maintain a contact channel with the DPRK while sticking to a principle that maximum pressure and sanctions would be needed to encourage Pyongyang to return to a dialogue table. The comment came after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US government was in direct communication with the DPRK and had two to three channels open to Pyongyang. Park said the US government had a position that it needs a quiet contact with the DPRK to resolve humanitarian issues such as the release of US citizens detained in the DPRK. The spokesman added that the DPRK has never expressed any interest in sincere dialogue over its nuclear program. [US NK Negotiations] [Sidelined]
• Second North Korean restaurant closes in Vietnam
  Posted : 2017-10-02 16:39 Updated : 2017-10-02 19:52 North Korean restaurant in Vietnam has gone out of business / Yonhap Another North Korean restaurant in Vietnam has gone out of business, sources said Monday, as intensifying international sanctions slash the North's overseas currency earnings. Koryo Restaurant, in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam's biggest city, closed last week, according to South Koreans living in the Southeast Asian country. The restaurant, which opened in 2014, employed around 15 North Koreans. A notice at the restaurant says it is temporarily closed for renovations, but an employee at a nearby restaurant said the North Korean business had closed after being sold. In February last year, another North Korean restaurant in Vietnam's famous tourist city of Da Nang, closed because of poor sales. The Ho Chi Minh restaurant was also said to have suffered a fall in customers as international sanctions tighten. Two North Korean restaurants are still operating in Hanoi, Vietnam's capital. But they are also struggling amid a drop in customers in a country that is one of North Korea's traditional allies. Despite its history of close relations with North Korea, Vietnam has joined the international community in condemning North Korea's provocations, including its sixth nuclear test last month and a series of ballistic missile launches. As part of efforts to implement U.N. Security Council resolutions on North Korea, Vietnam has also expelled the head and vice head of the Vietnamese unit of Tanchon Commercial Bank. The North Korean bank is suspected of money laundering and transferring money to buy arms overseas. The Security Council blacklisted the two executives. (Yonhap) [Sanctions] [US dominance]
• US exploring North Korea's willingness to talk
  By Yi Whan-woo U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's acknowledgement that Washington is maintaining "direct channels of communication" with Pyongyang has raised expectations for possible tension-easing efforts by the United States and North Korea. Speaking in Beijing, Tillerson said Saturday (local time) that the U.S. and North Korea are not in a "blackout" situation. "We have lines of communication to Pyongyang. We're not in a dark situation, a blackout," Tillerson told reporters during a visit to China. "We have a couple... three channels open to Pyongyang. We can talk to them, we do talk to them." Tillerson's remarks raise hope for a breakthrough in the heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula following verbal sparring between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to analysts, Sunday. They still remained skeptical whether the channel will help the U.S. and North Korea talk about Pyongyang's denuclearization in a discreet manner. North Korean officials "have shown no indication that they are interested in or are ready for talks regarding denuclearization," according to U.S. Department of State spokeswoman Heather Nauert. In a text message sent to reporters, Sunday, Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Park Soo-hyun also said Pyongyang "has not shown any interest toward sincere talks" as indicated by Nauert. [US NK Negotiations]
• White House again rejects talks with North Korea on nuclear issue
  Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Monday ruled out talks with North Korea except to discuss the fate of Americans held there, again appearing to rebuke Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who said Washington was directly communicating with Pyongyang on its nuclear and missile programs. “We’ve been clear that now is not the time to talk,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters, reiterating a tweet from President Donald Trump at the weekend that was seen as undercutting Tillerson. “The only conversations that have taken place were that ... would be on bringing back Americans who have been detained,” Sanders said. “Beyond that, there will be no conversations with North Korea at this time.” Tillerson said on Saturday during a trip to China that the United States was directly communicating with North Korea on its nuclear and missile programs but that Pyongyang had shown no interest in dialogue. [Trump] [US NK Negotiations] [Tillerson]
• All options are on the table: which table?
  Peter Hayes October 2, 2017 I’ll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours.— Bob Dylan, “Walking to World War III” (1963) Bad Dreams To anyone not serving in the American or Korean armies along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, the current talk of war and nuclear war is surreal and archaic, a throwback to an earlier and more dangerous era, a time when Bob Dylan sang about feeling lonesome and blue about walking into World War III with bad dreams in his head. [Military option] [Consequences]
• Why Are Peaceniks Burying Their Head in the Sand?
  September 29, 2017 12:51 Documents shared in a meeting Wednesday between President Moon Jae-in and the heads of the four major political parties specify Oct. 10 and 18 as highly likely dates of more North Korean provocations. Oct. 10 marks North Korea's founding day, while Oct. 18 is when Chinese President Xi Jinping starts his new term in office, so the North may want to draw attention to itself. Appearing before a U.S. Senate hearing on Tuesday, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford said it is only a matter of time before North Korea perfects a missile that can carry a unclear warhead to the U.S. mainland. "Whether it's three months or six months or 18 months, it is soon, and we ought to conduct ourselves as though it is just a matter of time, and a matter of very short time, before North Korea has that capability," he said. Dunford added that the U.S. will deploy 21 more interceptor missiles to defend the American mainland against a North Korean missile attack. There have also been reports that the U.S. has prepared four different military options. On Monday, Robert Gallucci, a former U.S. State Department special envoy, claimed a military confrontation could happen "within hours" on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea's foreign minister has already threatened to shoot down U.S. strategic bombers if they cross over the maritime border separating the two Koreas. Yet South Koreans are oddly unaffected by the tensions. [US SK alliance] [Conservatives]
• Moon Wants Early Transfer of Wartime Troop Control
  By Lee Yong-soo, Eom Bo-un September 29, 2017 12:15 President Moon Jae-in on Thursday said his government aims for the early transfer of full operational control of South Korean troops from the U.S. military. Speaking at an advance ceremony marking Armed Forces Day, Moon said, "When the South has [wartime operational control], the North will fear us more, and our armed forces will be trusted more. With improved self-esteem, our military will become stronger." Moon used the term "takeover" instead of "transfer" of troop control, breaking from the customary terminology of previous presidents. The Defense Ministry wants wartime troop control to be handed over by the early 2020s rather than the mid-2020s as the last administration planned. According to documents the ministry submitted to Liberty Korea Party lawmaker Kim Hack-yong on Thursday, the government has embarked on a three-stage roadmap. [OPCON] [Moon Jae-in] [SK NK policy]
• S.Korea on Emergency Alert When U.S. Bombers Buzzed NLL
  By Lee Yong-soo September 29, 2017 11:03 South Korean warships and fighter jets were on standby south of the land and sea border on the night of Sept. 23, when U.S. B-1B strategic bombers and F-15C fighter escorts buzzed the North Korean maritime border, it emerged on Thursday. This suggests they worried that the situation was touch-and-go and could have resulted in armed conflict if North Korea tried to shoot the fighter jets down. According to a senior military officer, South Korean F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets were scrambled at dead of night and began flying patrol near the demilitarized zone and the Northern Limit Line, the de facto border in the East Sea. At the same time, several Navy vessels were on standby south of the NLL. It was an unusually heavy presence at a time when South Korea and the U.S. were not staging any joint exercise. They were preparing for an emergency, the officer added. [Posturing] [Provocation] [Miscalculation]
• 'US diplomacy on N. Korea 'hollowed' by lack of capacity'
  Posted : 2017-09-30 19:20 Updated : 2017-09-30 19:20 The United States' focus on diplomacy to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue is "hollowed" by the absence of relevant personnel, including an ambassador to South Korea, a senator said Friday. Eight months into office, U.S. President Donald Trump has yet to name an ambassador to Seoul. The top State Department official for East Asia is also serving in an acting capacity. "Unfortunately, the diplomatic effort is being hollowed because of a lack of capacity," Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) said during a talk at the Council on Foreign Relations. "We do not have an ambassador in South Korea and we do not have a confirmed assistant secretary for the region." Reed, a ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, also pointed to what he called a "lack of coherent message." "We have seen that from the beginning, when the president tweeted about South Korea paying for the THAAD system when in fact they did a lot of political effort to get it into the country. We have seen it in terms of the free trade agreement. All of that has presented incoherent messages in many respects," he said, referring to Trump's argument that South Korea should pay to host the U.S. missile defense system and amend its trade deal with the U.S. The Trump administration has emphasized it will use diplomatic and economic pressure to get North Korea to back down from its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. But it has also said it is prepared to use military force if necessary. "I think the diplomatic effort is vitally important, because even though military is a must, they are preparing for some kind of operation, but this would be a much preferable way to proceed," Reed said. "And also, if it does not succeed, there is much more legitimacy for the use of force." The senator also said diplomatic options could involve developing informal tracks and back channels to hold talks with Pyongyang and reviving multilateral talks on the North Korea issue with South Korea, Japan, Russia and China. (Yonhap) [Trump] [State Department] [US Korea]

• Trump’s Threat of Total Destruction Is Unlawful & Extremely Dangerous
  By John Burroughs and Andrew Lichterman NEW YORK, Sep 25 2017 (IPS) - President Trump’s threat of total destruction of North Korea is utterly unacceptable. Also deplorable is the response of North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho on 23 September at the United Nations. He said that North Korean nuclear forces are “a war deterrent for putting an end to nuclear threat of the U.S. and for preventing its military invasion,” referred to “our rockets’ visit to the entire U.S. mainland,” and called Trump “mentally deranged”. Instead of exchanging threats and insults, the two governments should agree on a non-aggression pact as a step toward finally concluding a peace treaty formally ending the 1950s Korean War and permanently denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. [Totally destroy] [Liberal] [False balance]
• U.S. Announces Sanctions on 10 N.Korean Banks
  By Cho Yi-jun September 28, 2017 11:07 The U.S. government on Tuesday announced more sanctions against 10 North Korean banks and 26 individuals. The announcement came just five days after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order authorizing a secondary boycott of countries and individuals who engage in business with North Korea. "We are targeting North Korean banks and financial facilitators acting as representatives for North Korean banks across the globe," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. "This further advances our strategy to fully isolate North Korea in order to achieve our broader objectives of a peaceful and denuclearized Korean Peninsula." The Treasury Department said the North Korean banks on its fresh list are Agricultural Development Bank, Cheil Credit Bank, Hana Banking Corporaton, International Industrial Development Bank, Jinmyong Joint Bank, Jinsong Joint Bank, Koryo Commercial Bank and Ryugyong Commercial Bank. [Financial sanctions]
• N.Korean Workers in Middle East Pack up and Leave
  September 27, 2017 11:36 North Korean overseas laborers are returning home amid tightened international sanctions against the renegade regime. Of an estimated 6,000 North Koreans working in Kuwait, only about 2,000 are left. And of 2,000 North Koreans on construction sites in neighboring Qatar, three-quarters have gone. They have been replaced with workers from Nepal and Egypt. Kuwait and Qatar stopped renewing visas for North Korean workers in May. A source in the Middle East said, "By November you'll hardly see any North Koreans in the Gulf." This will deal a severe blow to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who steals most of the quasi-indentured workers’ wages. North Korean workers shop in a mall in Doha, Qatar. North Korea has been sending workers to construction sites in Gulf countries since the mid-1990s to earn hard currency for its nuclear and missile programs and to line the pockets of its dictators. Up to 10,000 North Koreans working in the Middle East used to send US$100 million back home. The regime also stands to lose side benefits like revenues from bootleg liquor. North Koreans in the mostly dry Middle East made and sold moonshine that generated tens of millions of dollars in profits each year. They sold it for $30 a bottle. Alcohol is banned completely in Kuwait, so around 3 million foreign laborers there have to turn to the black market. The North Koreans there have apparently now handed their equipment over to Indians. One Indian there said, "North Korean workers are angry about being sent home. Many of them had to pay bribes to get to work abroad, so a lot of them complain that they have to return without making any money." One local source said, "By the end of this year, most North Koreans will be gone and only some managers who need to collect money from builders will remain." The source said the North could still send workers to Russia and China, but even they are not allowed under UN Security Council sanctions to hire any more. [Sanctions] [UNUS] [Overseas labour]
• U.S. Korea Policy, “Mutually Assured Madness”
  by David William Pear, September 24, 2017 “if you have nukes, never give them up–if you don’t have them, get them”. —Dan Coats, Director of National Intelligence. Those were the words of President Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, about the lessons taught from the U.S. destruction of Libya and the assassination of Muammar Gaddafi. That is why North Korea is a nuclear power. That is the reality and eventually the U.S. will have to accept “Mutually Assured Madness“. The U.S. has nobody to blame for its self-inflected wounds. It is called Blowback. The propaganda mill and the mainstream media greatly exaggerate the US national security risk to the American people, and it is for their own greedy self-interest to spread panic and paranoia among the American people. If Kim Jong-un wanted to kill Americans out of insane hatred, he has that capability now with conventional weapons. There are over a quarter of a million American citizens living in Seoul, 100 miles from Pyongyang. Kim Jong-un has not attacked Seoul to kill Americans because he is not insane or suicidal, and that is according to experts on North Korea such as Dan Coats and Donald Gregg, and others. Forget the propaganda: it is nonsense aimed at selling extremely expensive Thermal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles and further encircle and threaten China and Russia . THAAD’s installed in South Korea at a cost of $1 billion are ineffective and useless against North Korean missiles in the early stage of launching. Lawrence Wilkerson, Professor of Government and Public Policy and former Chief of Staff for Secretary of State Colin Powell (2002-05), has spoken in interviews extensively on this subject. For North Korea to fear the U.S. is realism. To want a nuclear deterrent is sanity. [NK US policy] [Deterrence; THAAD] [US global strategy]
• Trump’s Bluster at the UN Shows He Doesn’t Understand North Korea at All
  The practical reality is this: To de-escalate this situation, the United States must be prepared to swallow its hubris and sit down with North Korea. By Tom Fowdy, September 25, 2017. Originally published in Common Dreams. PrintFriendly and PDFPrint Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump The ignorance and hubris of the President of the United States knows no boundaries. At his recent debut speech at the United Nations General Assembly — an organization built for the purposes of peace, humanitarianism, and internationalism — Donald Trump openly and apologetically threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea in response to its continued nuclear and missile testing. Prior, at no point in history had any world leader stood before the representatives of every nation and boasted in such vain egocentrism of their intent to destroy another member state, seemingly incapable of grasping the inevitable consequences of such actions. Although it may sound strong and tough to Trump’s religious supporters, these kinds of comments offer no practical solutions to a crisis his administration is pinning its foreign policy goals upon. Rather, they are leading the United States purposefully into a vicious cycle of escalations with which lack any serious exit strategy. This is a mistake: North Korea cannot be threatened into submission or surrendering its nuclear weapons, and the outcomes could be catastrophic. First of all, contrary to the hysteria generated by the U.S administration and the mainstream media, North Korea has no intent of initiating a war against America or any of its allies. Rather, owing to the legacy of the U.S presence in the Korean peninsula, which hosts annual military exercises on the North Korean border, including purposefully drilled “decapitation strikes,” North Korea’s nuclear weapons serve a necessity as a deterrent. [Deterrence] [US NK Negotiations]
• As North Korea threatens, U.S. to send ‘strategic assets’ to Seoul
  A B-1B bomber prepares to take off from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam on Saturday. (Staff Sgt. Joshua Smoot/U.S. Air Force via AP) By Anna Fifield and Dan Lamothe September 28 at 12:34 PM The United States will send “strategic” military assets to South Korea on a more regular basis to better deter North Korea, the South’s national security adviser said Thursday. The decision comes at a time of escalating tensions between the United States and North Korea, with many analysts concerned that incendiary rhetoric, combined with more frequent flyovers by U.S. bombers, could lead to a catastrophic miscalculation. Chung Eui-yong, national security adviser to President Moon Jae-in, told lawmakers in Seoul that U.S. “strategic assets” could be deployed to South Korea on a “rotational” basis before the end of the year. “This will help us expand our defense capabilities,” he told the lawmakers, according to Park Wan-joo, spokesman for the ruling Democratic Party. He did not define “strategic assets,” but South Korean officials usually use the term to refer to B-52 bombers, stealth warplanes, nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers. [Escalation] [Posturing]
• North Korea claims almost 5 million have signed up to join its already enormous army
  By Adam Taylor September 28 at 12:23 PM Play Video 0:45 North Korea is so upset over Trump that it says nearly 5 million want to join the army According to state media, 4.7 million North Koreans want to enlist or reenlist in the nation’s army, in part due to President Trump’s fiery rhetoric against the regime of Kim Jong Un. (The Washington Post) North Korea's state newspaper reported Thursday that 4.7 million students and workers have expressed a desire to enlist or reenlist in the nation's army, potentially adding a major boost in manpower to what is already one of the largest armed forces in the world. It is difficult for outside analysts to gauge the accuracy of the report in the Rodong Sinmum newspaper. North Korean state media has issued similar claims during past moments of tension. Earlier this summer, for example, it claimed that 3.5 million citizens had signed up for the army after the United Nations imposed new sanctions on Pyongyang. [Peoples war] [Mockery] [Racism]
• Churches appeal for peaceful dialogue in Korea
  September 28, 2017 by World Council of Churches Leave a Comment Churches appeal for peaceful dialogue in Korea Photo: National Council of Churches in Korea (WCC) Churches in Korea and in the USA continue to appeal for peaceful dialogue and an end to the threat of military action that has caused profound concern across the world. After participating in a press conference on 28 September, the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) issued an urgent appeal to the international community for peace in Korea. “Peace cannot be achieved through arms,” the statement reads. “As apostles of peace, the Korean churches, together with 10 million followers, strongly oppose a second war in the peninsula and therefore would not tolerate any forms of military actions aggravating the situation.” To resolve the current crisis in a peaceful manner, the NCCK appealed to governments, churches and civil societies in the world. The statement says the United States should immediately halt its military threats as well as sanctions on North Korea and create an atmosphere for peaceful dialogue. “North Korea should stop its nuclear tests and respond to the dialogue requests of the neighboring countries including South Korea and the US,” the statement continues. The NCCK also reiterated its support for a world free from nuclear weapons. “South Korea should consolidate all its efforts to bring the US and North Korea to the table for dialogue,” adds the statement. “We urge the South Korean government to immediately dispatch special envoys to North Korea, the US, China, Russia and Japan in order to deescalate the present tension and seek ways for peace.” The NCCK also asked political leaders, the media and people in South Korea to cease war-provoking words and cooperate together for peace-building. “In 2015, North and South exchanged artillery fire at the western border, but both governments peacefully overcame the crisis with dialogue,” the statement reflects. “Dialogue is the only way to avert a war.” In the USA, the National Council of Churches of Christ (NCCC) is gathering signatures for “An Open Letter From Americans of Faith to President Donald Trump.” The letter expresses profound concern over the rise in tensions between the United States and North Korea. “We recognize the unfortunate choice of language and careless posturing of Kim Jong Un,” reads the letter. “ For the sake of peace, however, we urge you to cease utilizing bellicose language and name-calling in your public speeches and tweets and instead pursue diplomacy as befitting the leader of the free world.” [Religion] [False balance]
• North Korea is still on a path to getting nuke missile
  by Denny Roy Denny Roy (royd@eastwestcenter.org) is senior fellow at the East West Center in Honolulu. On Sept. 18, China’s central bank instructed its subsidiaries to cease new loans to North Korea. China’s move is significant, but not stunning. The largest Chinese banks began distancing themselves from North Korea months ago. Chinese officials have long warned Chinese citizens to steer away from doing business with the North Koreans because of the increased risk that sanctions could torpedo economic agreements and leave Chinese investors with losses. The Chinese central bank’s announcement does not require an immediate halt to loans previously agreed with North Korea, nor does it indicate that Chinese banks will cease acting as North Korea’s gateway to the international financial system. China is doing more, but still not enough to “solve” the problem in line with US hopes, which means Washington will return to the old problem of choosing a Plan B from a list of terrible alternatives. Meanwhile, the Chinese government continues to take the reasonable-sounding position that the crisis should be solved by negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang. China benefits from appearing to be the responsible peacemaker while Pyongyang fires missiles over Japan and US President Donald Trump draws criticism for his blunt threat during his Sept. 19 speech to the United Nations to “totally destroy North Korea.” Some of the criticism of Trump is unwarranted. Many chose to interpret his statement as denoting an annihilation of the entire population of North Korea, but an alternative interpretation is the destruction of North Korea as a political or legal entity, meaning it would become part of a united Korea under the government in Seoul. [Totally destroy]
• ‘N. Korean missiles can reach Chicago, would not be stopped’
  US arms control expert: Hwasong-14 could even reach East Coast, but US anti-missile defenses probably couldn't shoot it down. Pyongyang likely has warhead that fits, he adds By Doug Tsruruoka September 23, 2017 11:07 AM (UTC+8) The Hwasong-14 is seen in an undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency. Photo: KCNA via Reuters The Hwasong-14 is seen in an undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency. Photo: KCNA via Reuters North Korea’s Hwasong-14 intercontinental missile could easily hit Chicago and current US anti-missile defenses probably could’t shoot it down, according to analysis by Joe Brazda, a US arms control expert. “Our model tells us it can reach at least as far as Chicago and perhaps further,” said Brazda, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) at Monterey. “Our model also shows there’s a high probability that they have a nuclear warhead that can fit on top of that missile.” If true, this puts East Coast cities like Washington and New York under threat. [Hwasong-14] [Range]
• White House expands travel ban, restricting visitors from eight countries
  Play Video 1:33 White House announces expanded travel ban President Trump expands new travel ban to restrict visitors from North Korea, Venezuela and Chad. (Reuters) By Devlin Barrett September 24 at 10:16 PM The Trump administration announced new restrictions Sunday on visitors from eight countries — an expansion of an existing travel ban that has spurred fierce legal debates over security, immigration and discrimination. In announcing the new rules, officials said they are meant to be both tough and targeted. The move comes on the day the key portion of President Trump’s travel ban, one that bars the issuance of visas to citizens of six majority-Muslim countries, was due to expire. “As president, I must act to protect the security and interests of the United States and its people,” Trump wrote in a proclamation announcing the changes for citizens from specific nations. On Twitter, he added: “Making America Safe is my number one priority. We will not admit those into our country we cannot safely vet.” [Travel ban] [Incompetence] [Trump]
• US sanctions 8 North Korean banks, 26 individuals
  Published time: 26 Sep, 2017 17:36 Edited time: 26 Sep, 2017 18:45 The Trump administration has announced sanctions against eight North Korean banks and 26 individuals, who the US says act as the banks’ representatives in various countries, including China, Russia, Libya and the United Arab Emirates. “As a result of today’s action, any property or interests in property of the designated persons in the possession or control of US persons or within the US must be blocked,” Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said in a statement Tuesday. “This further advances our strategy to fully isolate North Korea in order to achieve our broader objectives of a peaceful and denuclearized Korean peninsula,” he added. 19 of the North Korean nationals targeted by the sanctions work in China, while three represent various North Korean banks in Russia, according to the Treasury. The sanctions follow US President Donald Trump’s executive order, signed last week, targeting North Korea’s access to the international banking system. The UN Security Council had already passed a series of tough economic sanctions against Pyongyang following its repeated testing of ballistic missiles and, reportedly, also of a hydrogen bomb. The UN sanctions targeted shipments of oil and other fuel used in missile testing as well as government assets and leaders. [Financial sanctions]
• Trump Says U.S. Is Ready to Use ‘Devastating’ Force on North Korea
  By Margaret Talev , Jennifer Jacobs , and Saleha Mohsin President Donald Trump said the U.S. is prepared to use “devastating” military force against North Korea but encouraged the world to work together to end the country’s nuclear program as he imposed new sanctions on the country’s banks. “We are totally prepared for the second option -- not a preferred option -- but if we take that option it will be devastating I can tell you that,” Trump said during a joint news conference Tuesday at the White House with Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. “For North Korea that is called the military option. If we have to take it we will.” North Korea’s nuclear weapons threaten “the entire world with unthinkable loss of life” and “all nations must act now to ensure the regime’s complete denuclearization,” Trump said. [Trump] [Military option]
• Statement by RI Yong Ho, Foreign Minister of DPR Korea to General Debate of the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly
  Before going into the main points in my debate, I feel forced to make comments on the speech uttered 4 days ago by someone called the U.S. president that rendered this sacred UN arena tainted. Since Trump uttered such reckless and violent words provoking the supreme dignity of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) at this very platform, I think it is fair enough for me to make a response in the corresponding tone. During his 8 months in power, he has turned the White House into a noisy marketing place full of crackling sounds of abacus beads and now he has tried to tum the UN arena into a gangsters' nest where money is respected and bloodshed is the order of the day. The absurd reality that the person like Trump, a mentally deranged person full of megalomania and complacency, the person who is chastised even by American people as "Commander in Grief', "Lyin King", "President Evil" is holding the seat of the U.S. President, and the dangerous reality that the gambler who grew old using threats, frauds and all other schemes to acquire a patch of land holds the nuclear button; these are what constitute the gravest threat to the international peace and security today. Due to his lacking of basic common knowledge and proper sentiment, he tried to insult the supreme dignity of my country by referring it to a rocket. By doing so, however, he committed an irreversible mistake of making our rockets' visit to the entire U.S. mainland inevitable all the more. None other than Trump himself is on a suicide mission. In case innocent lives of the U.S. are lost because of this suicide attack, Trump will be held totally responsible
  .....
  Our national nuclear force is, to all intents and purposes, a war deterrent for putting an end to nuclear threat of the U.S. and for preventing its military invasion; and our ultimate goal is to establish the balance of power with the U.S
  ....
  The U.S. had put sanctions against our country from the very first day of its foundation and the over 70-year long history of the DPRK can be said in a sense a history of struggle, persevering along the road of self-development under the harshest sanctions in the world. Through such a prolonged and arduous struggle, now we are finally only a few steps away from the final gate of completion of the state nuclear force. It is only a forlorn hope to consider any chance that the DPRK would be shaken an inch or change its stance due to the harsher sanctions by the hostile forces. The day will certainly come in near future when we settle all damages inflicted to our peaceful economic development and improvement of the people's livelihood and all the sufferings imposed on our innocent women, children and elderly by the heinous and barbaric sanctions against our Republic. The DPRK already organized a national damage investigation committee to make comprehensive study of total damages inflicted on our Republic by all kinds of sanctions. This committee will thoroughly investigate and compile all physical and moral damages imposed upon the DPRK by the U.S., its followers and also those countries that submitted to the U.S. coercion. When this racket of sanctions and pressure reaches a critical point, thus driving the Korean peninsula into an uncontrollable situation, investigation results of this committee will have a huge effect in holding those accountable. Mr. President, [NK US policy] [Deterrence]
• Denouncing Trump’s heinous remarks
  Commentary from Pyongyang on Trump’s UN speech
  Dear friends, Warm greetings from Pyongyang. U.S. President Trump spit out unprecedented rubbish that he would wipe a country of 25 million people off the map, not just "regime change" in his speech at the 72nd UN General Assembly. His remarks has shocked the whole world. The Washington Post said the recent remarks made by Trump was a "prepared speech in which his words were undoubtedly pored over extensively beforehand" and that it sounds a lot like Trump is threatening a completely unprecedented effort to wipe out an entire nation, whether through nuclear weapons or more conventional means and it's a remarkably big statement, and the White House will undoubtedly be asked to clarify. The paper also derided the words of "totally destroying the north" as the one "full of childish curses rather than strong expression", saying "the speech made by the U.S. president will be remembered as one of speeches by boss of gangsters". [Trump] [UN] [Totally destroy] [Response]
• US-N. Korea chicken game heightens tension
  Posted : 2017-09-22 09:42 Updated : 2017-09-22 22:05 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump are intensifying a war of words. Kim called Trump a "mentally deranged dotard" after the U.S. president authorized fresh sanctions against the North for its missile and nuclear provocations. The exchange of bellicose rhetoric and personal abuse between the adversaries is feared to escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula. / Graphic by Cho Sang-won Pyongyang warns of Hydrogen bomb detonation in Pacific By Yi Whan-woo North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has threatened to take "the highest level of a hard-line countermeasure" in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to "totally destroy" the Kim regime. In an unprecedented statement under his name, Friday, Kim warned Trump he will "pay dearly" for his recent U.N. speech, according to Pyongyang's state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Kim said his message is not a mere "expression of rhetoric loved by Trump." Hours later, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho, who is attending the U.N. General Assembly in New York, told reporters Kim probably meant they would conduct their strongest hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific Ocean. It was the first direct address to the world by any North Korean leader, according to South Korean government officials and analysts. This suggests the young tyrant was apparently infuriated by Trump, who has upped belligerent rhetoric against Kim and his country. "I'd like to advise Trump to exercise prudence in selecting words and to be considerate of whom he speaks about when making a speech in front of the world," Kim said in the English-language statement. [False balance]
• U.S. Artillery Unit Stages Live-Fire Drill in Korea
  By Yu Yong-weon September 22, 2017 09:39 An artillery unit from the U.S. mainland practiced firing precision-guided munitions in South Korea on Thursday. The 18th Field Artillery Brigade based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina staged the live-fire drill in Daecheon, South Chungcheong Province on Thursday, according to the eighth U.S. Army. On being flown in by transport plane, the unit fired long-range munitions. The weapons they came with were two HIMARS light multiple rocket launchers. Each HIMARS launcher carries six 227 mm rockets with a range of more than 70 km or an ATACMS missile with a range of 300 km. A rocket is being fired from a HIMARS light multiple rocket launcher during a live-fire drill in Daecheon, South Chungcheong Province on Thursday. /Courtesy of the Eighth U.S. Army HIMARS provides a counterweight to North Korea's long-range artillery pieces and is so light that it can be deployed rapidly anywhere by C-130 transport aircraft. Guided rockets fired from the HIMARS launchers hit the target some 60 km away. The launchers had been deployed for live-fire drills here several times before. Thursday's drill was a show of force after North Korea's latest nuclear test and launch of Hwasong-12 ballistic missiles over Japan. [USFK] [Posturing] [Artillery]
• Moon, Trump, Abe Meet at Lotte Hotel in New York
  More September 22, 2017 10:45 President Moon Jae-in met with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel on Thursday. The hotel is owned by Lotte, which has fallen victim to a Chinese boycott for giving up a golf course in southern Korea for the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery from the U.S. Government officials here said the venue was "not intentional." But the trilateral meeting focused on putting more pressure on China to rein in its ally North Korea. President Moon Jae-in (far left) meets with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly at a hotel in New York on Thursday. /Yonhap Trump is staying at the hotel while he attends the UN General Assembly instead of using his own Trump International Hotel in the city. The hotel has been used as the official quarters of the White House since former U.S. President Barack Obama stayed there to attend the UN General Assembly in 2015. Previous U.S. presidents stayed at the Waldorf Astoria, but Obama dropped it when it was bought by China's Anbang Insurance Group for US$1.95 billion in 2014. There was speculation that the White House worried about wiretapping. Lotte Group bought the 130-year-old New York Palace Hotel for $850 million in 2015 and added its name to it.
• Moon and Trump agree on South Korea purchase of state-of-the-art US weaponry during summit
  Posted on : Sep.22,2017 16:26 KST Modified on : Sep.22,2017 16:26 KST President Moon Jae-in holds a summit with US President Donald Trump on Sept. 21 at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel (by Kim Kyung-ho, staff photographer) The deal is reportedly set to include nuclear powered submarines South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump agreed on Sept. 21 on a plan for South Korea to introduce state-of-the-art US weaponry or develop its own to counter North Korea’s recent nuclear and missile provocations. Later the same day, Moon had a luncheon and trilateral summit with Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, where the three agreed that the entire international community “must apply the maximum intensity sanctions and pressure so that North Korea cannot withstand it anymore and must come to the table for dialogue.” President Moon Jae-in holds a summit with US President Donald Trump on Sept. 21 at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel (by Kim Kyung-ho, staff photographer) During their bilateral summit in New York that morning, Moon and Trump “agreed to maintain and strengthen a robust South Korea-US allied defense posture with South Korea’s acquisition and development of cutting-edge military assets, and to expand the rotational deployment of US strategic assets to South Korea and its surrounding region,” Blue House spokesperson Park Soo-hyun reported. [Arms sales] [US SK alliance] [Moon Jae-in]
• U.S. Mulls Shooting Down N.Korean Missiles
  September 21, 2017 09:32 Washington is considering shooting down North Korean ballistic missiles "even if it does not directly threaten the U.S. or its allies," CNN reported Tuesday. North Korea has fired two missiles over U.S. ally Japan recently, on Aug. 29 and Sept. 15. But "the question that now needs to be answered is whether North Korea's missile program has progressed to the level of being such an inherent threat that the Pentagon would recommend targeting a missile even if its trajectory did not indicate it would hit the U.S. or its allies," CNN quoted a senior U.S. official as implying. "The idea of shooting down a missile even if it is not a direct threat is not new," a senior U.S. defense official said. "But with two recently launched North Korean missiles flying over northern Japan, the potential for having to consider a shoot-down without a direct threat remains very real." /Newsis The U.S. considers "a direct threat to the U.S. mainland and its allies" a red line for military action against the North. A U.S. intelligence official told CNN that the North's Hwasong-12 medium-range ballistic missile "appears to be successful." "It is likely North Korea will turn back to additional testing of [Hwasong 14] intercontinental ballistic missile to see if they can improve its performance," he added. [US NK policy] [War] [Missile test]
• Korea Solution Needs US to Sign a Peace Treaty
  Finian Cunningham | 19.09.2017 Germany and France have backed the stance of Russia and China for negotiations to avert the Korea crisis. South Korea and Japan also seem to be amenable to recent calls by Russian President Vladimir Putin for exclusively diplomatic efforts. Any other option in the alarming standoff with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program portends disaster. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has endorsed the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran as a model for possible negotiations. [US NK policy] [Peace Treaty]
• Moon dismisses security concerns to NY investors
  Posted : 2017-09-21 15:10 Updated : 2017-09-21 23:50 President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with Dan Quayle, former U.S. vice president and chairman of Cerberus Capital Management's Global Investments Division, after a meeting with New York-based investors at the InterContinental New York Barclay Hotel, Thursday. / Korea Times photo by Koh Young-kwon By Kim Rahn President Moon Jae-in has reassured businesspeople in New York about security concerns in South Korea amid North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, encouraging more investment into Korean businesses. Moon held an investor relations event Thursday with some 200 executives of investment banks, asset management companies, and broadcasters, on the sidelines of his visit to New York for the U.N. General Assembly. [Moon Jae-in] [FDI] [Wishful thinking]
• Qatar to terminate work permits for N. Korea workers
  Posted : 2017-09-21 17:11 Updated : 2017-09-21 20:11 ???? By Jun Ji-hye Qatar will not renew work permits of North Korean workers and will return almost all of them to Pyongyang by early next year, reports said Thursday. The Qatari government told Radio Free Asia (RFA) that 1,000 North Korean laborers are currently working in Qatar, noting it expects them to return home soon as most of their work permits will expire in the first half of next year. The move comes after Kuwait ordered North Korean Ambassador So Chang-sik and four other diplomats, Sept. 17, to leave within a month, cutting in half the size of the North's diplomatic mission. It also decided to stop issuing visas to North Korean passport holders. The measures made by Middle East countries are construed as them complying with a request from the U.N. Security Council and the United States to cooperate in vigorously implementing a new sanctions resolution against the North. Last week, the UNSC unanimously approved the resolution, eight days after the Kim Jong-un regime's sixth nuclear test, signaling a swift response by the international community. The RFA said the Qatari government has denied allegations it hired North Korean workers to construct its World Cup stadium, but admitted some construction companies employed them on other occasions. Sending workers overseas has been one of the key sources for the impoverished state to earn hard currency. [Overseas labour] [Sanctions] [US dominance] [Qatar]
• How N.Korea Bypasses Int'l Sanctions
  By Lee Kil-seong September 19, 2017 12:52 A panel of U.S. and UN experts have issued a report detailing the methods North Korea uses to bypass international sanctions, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported Monday. The methods include smuggling and bartering via Russian ports, forging the nationalities of ships, confiscating the wages of overseas laborers, modifying civilian-use equipment for military purposes, buying goods through bogus companies based overseas, smuggling in diplomatic pouches, and arms sales in Africa. The daily cited as an example of the barter trade a company called Dandong Zhicheng Metallic Materials, which was nabbed by the U.S. Treasury Department. The Chinese company bought steel and anthracite coal from North Korea in exchange for nuclear and missile components, it said. Public footage accidentally revealed an instance of civilian equipment adapted for military purposes. When North Korea unveiled the Pukguksong-1 missile in April at a military parade, the logo on a fuel tank carrying the missile read "Sinotruk." A UN investigation revealed that the company exported civilian trucks to North Korea from 2010 to 2014. [Sanctions] [Countermeasures]
• Moon Says Disagreements with U.S. Cannot Shake Alliance
  By Jeong Woo-sang September 20, 2017 12:06 President Moon Jae-in on Monday said occasional disagreements with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump cannot undermine the alliance between the two countries. "The South Korea-U.S. alliance is strong and unshaken, but the positions of the two countries cannot always be perfectly the same," Moon told Korean expats in New York. "One attendee expressed concern over possible conflicts between South Korea and the U.S. undermining the alliance," Moon said. "But that's not the case. Our alliance itself and our concerted efforts against the North Korean nuclear weapons and missiles provocations are strong as iron and stone." [Moon Jae-in] [US SK alliance] [Obsequious]
• Unmasked: Trump Doctrine vows carnage for new axis of evil
  North Korea, Iran, Venezuela are targets in "compassionate" America's war on the "wicked few." It's almost as though Washington felt its hegemony threatened By Pepe Escobar September 20, 2017 This was no “deeply philosophical address”. And hardly a show of “principled realism” – as spun by the White House. President Trump at the UN was “American carnage,” to borrow a phrase previously deployed by his nativist speechwriter Stephen Miller. One should allow the enormity of what just happened to sink in, slowly. The president of the United States, facing the bloated bureaucracy that passes for the “international community,” threatened to “wipe off the map” the whole of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (25 million people). And may however many millions of South Koreans who perish as collateral damage be damned. Multiple attempts have been made to connect Trump’s threats to the madman theory cooked up by “Tricky Dicky” Nixon in cahoots with Henry Kissinger, according to which the USSR must always be under the impression the then-US president was crazy enough to, literally, go nuclear. But the DPRK will not be much impressed with this madman remix. [Trump] [US NK policy] [Madman theory]
• Dealing with North Korean Missiles
  by Mel Gurtov September 19, 2017 Small powers often have leverage well above their size and capabilities. North Korea is the example par excellence today: It has a primitive economy by all the usual standards, no reliable trade or security partners, and depends on the outside world for essentials such as fuel and food. Yet by virtue of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, Pyongyang has the ability to cause consternation among the great powers. [US NK policy] [Liberal]
• Oil prices in Pyongyang stable despite sanctions
  Posted : 2017-09-19 14:34 Updated : 2017-09-19 18:16 Cars refuel at a gas station in North Korea's capital of Pyongyang. Gas prices in the city are reported to be stable despite new U.N. sanctions including putting a limit on oil imports. / Korea Times file North Korea's oil prices and exchange rates have shown no changes despite its nuclear and missile tests and the international community's sanctions, a U.S. broadcaster reported Tuesday, citing a western diplomat stationed in Pyongyang. There have been no noticeable changes in overall oil prices in Pyongyang before and after the North's nuclear test on Sept. 3, Voice of America quoted the diplomat as saying in an email. Gasoline and diesel were sold for $0.90 and $1.01 per kilogram, respectively, as of Aug. 12, and the prices are the same now, according to the diplomat. The remark goes against some earlier media reports that oil prices are soaring in Pyongyang amid the U.N. Security Council's move to impose additional sanctions against the nuclear test. The North Korean won's exchange rate also reportedly remains stable. Its rate was 8,000 won to the greenback as of Friday, according to the broadcaster. (Yonhap) [Sanctions effect]
• A Revolutionary State: North Korea’s Support of Non-State Actors
  During the Cold War, North Korea fomented revolutionary fervor by training and providing military equipment to communist guerillas and anti-colonial liberation movements. After the collapse of the Communist Bloc, North Korea turned its attention to assisting Islamist militants, such as Hezbollah and Hamas. This commitment to assisting non-state actors opened spaces for the Kim family regime to sell weapons, earn hard currency, and undermine the United States. However, Kim Jong-un has largely shifted away from Pyongyang’s traditional support for non-state actors, suggesting his policymaking decisions are guided by principles different from those of his father and grandfather. KEI invites you to join us for a discussion on the history of North Korea’s relations with non-state actors, how Kim Jong-un’s approach diverges from past practices, and what this means for addressing proliferation concerns. [NSA] [Liberation struggles] [Israel]
• North Korea Loses More Friends and Trading Partners
  Posted on 14 September 2017 By Jenna Gibson North Korea’s decision to shoot a missile over Japan and, just a few days later, to carry out its sixth nuclear test seems to have been the last straw for several countries around the world which had maintained some relations with the reclusive state. In back-to-back announcements, both Peru and Mexico announced that they would be expelling the North Korean ambassador from their countries, although they stopped short of cutting off diplomatic ties altogether. Both countries said they would maintain diplomatic relations with North Korea, although neither has a physical embassy in Pyongyang. [Sanctions] [US dominance] [Compellence]
• Starve Them to Death: Wall Street Journal’s Solution to North Korea
  by Mike Whitney September 18, 2017 The editors at the Wall Street Journal have settled on a plan for ending the crisis in North Korea. Starve them to death. I’m not kidding. In an article titled “Options for Removing Kim Jong In” the WSJ’s editorial board suggests that the US use “all of its tools to topple the North Korean regime” including, of course, vital food imports which keep women and children from facing an agonizing death by starvation. Here’s an excerpt from the article: [Sanctions effect] [Starvation] [US NK policy] [War crime]
• Why Would 58% Favor U.S. Bombing of North Korea?
  by Gary Leupp September 18, 2017 A new Gallup poll indicates the 58% of U.S. residents polled say they favor U.S. military action against North Korea if the U.S. “cannot accomplish its goals by more peaceful means first.” Like most polls it is tendentiously worded. What are “its goals”? U.S. goals? What national, discussed and decided, “goals” do we have (as a nation) as regards the Korean peninsula? I’m actually a U.S. citizen and a specialist in East Asian history. Frankly, I know a lot about Korea. But I was never consulted about those “goals.” [US NK policy] [Bombing] [Public opinion]
• Moon discusses purchase of high-tech weaponry during phone call with Trump
  Posted on : Sep.18,2017 17:34 KST Modified on : Sep.18,2017 17:34 KST President Moon Jae-in speaks on the phone with US President Donald Trump at the Blue House on Sept. 17 (Blue House Photo Pool) The moves are part of South Korea’s effort to develop a “Korean-model three axis” defense system South Korean President Moon Jae-in stressed the importance of a “combination of independent deterrent defense capabilities and US defense capabilities to effectively respond to North Korea’s continued provocations and preserve peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula” in a Sept. 17 telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump. In particular, Moon expressed gratitude to Trump for his “attention and cooperation toward amending the missile guidelines [to lift ballistic missile warhead weight restrictions] and reinforcing our state-of-the-art weaponry,” and said he “look[ed] forward to closer cooperation in this area going ahead.” Moon’s remarks are drawing particular attention for coming amid foreign press reports about Trump recently sounding out Moon’s plans on purchasing high-tech US weapons. [Moon Jae-in] [Arms purchase] [Military balance] [Tragedy]
• Kuwait to expel North Korean ambassador within 30 days
  Posted on : Sep.18,2017 17:39 KST Modified on : Sep.18,2017 17:39 KST US President Donald Trump and the Emir of Kuwait, Sheik Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meet at the White House on Sept. 7. (AP/Yonhap News) Country will also cease issuing visas to North Korean citizens, ban flights to Pyongyang On September 17, AFP reported that Kuwait has notified the North Korean ambassador that he must leave the country within a month and that the Kuwaiti government will downgrade its diplomatic relations with Pyongyang. Kuwait is the third country to expel a North Korean ambassador, after Mexico and Peru. A Kuwaiti official involved in foreign relations said, “The North Korean embassy staff are to be reduced to four: one as chargé d'affaires plus three other diplomats.” Kuwait will no longer issue visas to North Korean citizens and will cut off all air travel and trade between the two countries. Also, residence permits for North Korean workers in Kuwait will no longer be renewed. [Kuwait] [US dominance]
• F-35B fighters, B-1B bombers conduct drill
  Posted : 2017-09-18 16:33 Updated : 2017-09-18 18:55 By Kim Rahn The U.S. military dispatched four F-35B stealth fighters and two B-1B strategic bombers to the Korean Peninsula Monday in a warning to North Korea over its recent provocations, according to a government source. The strategic weapons conducted a mock bombing exercise together with four South Korean F-15k fighters and returned to their bases in Japan and Guam, the source said. [Posturing]
• Time to Deal with North Korea
  by John Feffer The United States faces a new nuclear power ruled by a communist dictator. Washington is worried that the leadership of that country is crazy enough to use its new weapons — even against the United States. Meanwhile, other countries fear that the “madman” in the Oval Office might just launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack. This description captures the situation today, with U.S. President Donald Trump facing off against North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. But it also describes a similar conflict in the late 1960s, between the United States and China. That confrontation ended not in war but in detente and a close economic relationship between the two countries. It’s an important reminder that diplomacy can work even in seemingly intractable situations. [US NK policy] [China card][False analogy]
• [Column] Trump and the KORUS
  Posted on : Sep.17,2017 20:28 KST Modified on : Sep.17,2017 20:28 KST Dean Baker Last month the Trump White House indicated that it was making plans to get out of the South Korea-United States Trade Agreement (KORUS). Like many statements from the Trump administration, it is difficult to know how seriously to take this threat. However as policy, this would be a bad move, which I say as someone who was opposed to the trade agreement. As a first point, it is worth noting the obvious. At a time when North Korea is building up a nuclear arsenal and making threats that it could use its weapons it is probably not a good idea to upset the U.S. relationship with South Korea. While it is desirable to make changes in the trade agreement, this is not a good time to abruptly propose cancelling the deal. The second point is that the effects of a trade deal are not reversible. The United States trade deficit with South Korea has increased rapidly in the years since the agreement took effect. While KORUS is certainly not the only factor responsible for this increase, one of the main points of the deal was to lend an element of certainty to U.S.-Korea trade relations. [Trump] [KORUS FTA]
• Moon, Trump, Abe summit may include military options on North Korea
  Posted : 2017-09-17 16:38 Updated : 2017-09-17 21:20 Moon, Trump agree to press Pyongyang By Yi Whan-woo The leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan may discuss possible military options against North Korea when they meet Thursday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York, analysts said Sunday. The joint summit will take place as North Korea has ignored all international sanctions against its nuclear and missile provocations since July 6 when President Moon Jae-in last met U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Germany while attending the G20 summit. They had vowed to put maximum pressure on the North to bring it back to dialogue for denuclearization, only to see Pyongyang carrying out its sixth nuclear test and a series of ballistic missile launches afterwards. Trump said that the U.S. options in addressing North Korea's threat are "both effective and overwhelming" during a speech, hours after Pyongyang's launch of a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), Friday. [US NK policy] [Moon]
• Latest North Korea missile test renews US talk of military option
  By Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent • "There is a military option," White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster told reporters • A key question for military planners and intelligence analysts is what military option would actually work as a deterrent (CNN)North Korea's latest ballistic missile test has renewed discussion at the highest levels of the Trump administration about how military force could be used to stop Kim Jong Un's development of nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles. "For those who have said, and been commenting about a lack of an military option, there is a military option," national security adviser H.R. McMaster told reporters Friday, adding: "Now, it is not what we would prefer to do." At the same press briefing, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley acknowledged that if sanctions and diplomatic pressure don't work, the UN may not be able to do much more. "So, having said that, I have no problem with kicking it to (Defense Secretary) Gen. James Mattis because I think he has plenty of options," she said. Speaking Friday at Joint Base Andrews, the Air Force installation outside Washington, President Donald Trump emphasized the robustness of US military options. "After seeing your capabilities and commitment here today, I am more confident than ever that our options in addressing this threat are both effective and overwhelming," he said. [US NK policy] [Military option] [Policy poverty]
• Moon Opposes Deployment of U.S. Nukes in S.Korea
  By Jeong Woo-sang September 15, 2017 09:24 President Moon Jae-in on Thursday ruled out the redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea. In an interview with CNN on the eve of his trip to the UN General Assembly in New York, Moon warned the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons here could lead to a nuclear arms race in Northeast Asia. He said his government will continue to make thorough preparations for North Korean provocations until Pyongyang freezes its nuclear and missile programs and reiterated that the North is developing such weapons to guarantee the safety of the regime. "I do not agree that South Korea needs to develop our own nuclear weapons or relocate tactical nuclear weapons in the face of North Korea's nuclear threat," he said. [Moon Jae-in] [Tactical Nuclear weapons] [Nuclearisation]
• Moon reiterates stance against redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons in CNN interview
  Posted on : Sep.15,2017 18:52 KST Modified on : Sep.15,2017 18:52 KST President also calls for China and Russia to stop illicit trade with North Korea On September 14, President Moon Jae-in said, “I do not agree with those who think we should develop our own nuclear weapons or bring tactical nuclear weapons back to South Korea in response to North Korea's nuclear program.” He has drawn a clear line against conservatives' claims that redeployment of nuclear weapons here is the best solution to the North Korean threat. When asked about the nuclear issue in an interview with CNN on the 14th, Moon said, “To respond to North Korea by having our own nuclear weapons will not maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula, and could lead to a nuclear arms race in northeast Asia.” [Moon Jae-in] [Tactical nuclear weapons] [Nuclearisation]
• U.S. Wants to Redeploy Sub-Based Nuclear Missiles in Asia-Pacific
  By Cho Yi-jun September 15, 2017 11:48 The U.S. Senate is reviewing a defense bill for 2018 that includes the redeployment of submarine-based nuclear missiles in the Asia-Pacific region. The plan is apparently aimed at deterring North Korean nuclear and missile provocations. Senator Mazie Hirono, a Democrat from Hawaii, proposed the amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act in July. It calls for several changes in U.S. nuclear weapons deployment, including redeployment of submarine-based nuclear cruise missiles that were pulled out of the Asia-Pacific region some 20 years ago. It also calls for the deployment of aircraft that can carry both conventional and nuclear weapons in the region, extending the missile defense network and stepping up military drills with allies. The bill will be put to the vote once hundreds of revisions proposed by senators have been reviewed. The ruling Republican Party hopes that will happen this month. [Tactical nuclear weapons] [SLBM] [US NK policy]
• How US pullout could take place
  Posted : 2017-09-15 11:44 Updated : 2017-09-15 19:05 By Oh Young-jin To tweak Mao Zedong's phrase, few would disagree that the United States is comparable to lips that protect teeth ? South Korea. The ROK-U.S. alliance was forged in blood when Americans came to the South's rescue when North Korea, backed by China and the former Soviet Union, invaded the South in the 1950-53 Korean War. The alliance has worked well so far, enabling Seoul to outgrow Pyongyang many times economically and forcing the reclusive dynasty to count down to its last gasps, or so it was thought. [US SK alliance] [USFK] [Withdrawal]
• Hurricane Donald Hits the Republican Party
  By John Feffer, September 13, 2017. The storm inside the Republican Party has reached Category Four. At the end of August, as Hurricane Harvey tore through Texas and Hurricane Irma was poised to devastate Florida, the hard right was experiencing its own high winds and pelting rain. On the TV show Fox and Friends, conservative commentator Laura Ingraham took aim at the Trump administration for being ill prepared to handle the incoming storms: We can all look at these horrific pictures, and we can conclude that a federal government does need staff. We see it acutely in need of staff in a situation like this. This isn’t the only crisis we’re facing. This is massive, humanitarian. We’re also facing a huge crisis with North Korea. We’re facing a crisis of confidence across the country where people wonder even with President Trump in, he said he was going to drain the swamp, can we have a government that works for the people and not just have a people enslaved to the government. The president, a big fan of Fox and Friends, immediately responded in his inimitable style through his medium of choice, Twitter: “We are not looking to fill all of those positions. Don’t need many of them — reduce size of government.” Ingraham, not usually an advocate of the sensible, was pointing out an inescapable fact of modern politics. If you want to change the direction of a country, you have to have people to do it. She called Trump’s sentiment “laudable,” but wanted to know “why our USTR” — the U.S. Trade Representative, that is — “doesn’t have a single Deputy in place during NAFTA talks.” Good question, Laura! But it’s a little late in the game to realize that, with football season already underway, the Trump team showed up on the field with little more than an erratic quarterback, several tough-looking linebackers, and a couple of utility players trying to fake it at unfamiliar positions. There’s a vocal cheerleading squad on the sidelines and a small claque of fervent fans, but nothing can substitute for a roster of players who actually know how to run plays. It’s no surprise that the Trump team is facing a shutout at the end of the first quarter. Of course it’s not just Trump. Ingraham should also direct her attention to all the “small government” conservatives who are busy in Congress — and have been for years — subjecting the institutions they serve to a death by a thousand cuts.
  Military First Foreign Policy When Donald Trump tweeted that the United States would respond to North Korea’s missile launches with “fire and fury,” he sounded as if he’d hired Pyongyang rhetoricians to staff his Twitter feed. But the resemblance between Trump policy and North Korea doesn’t end there. Like North Korea, the United States is willing to prioritize military spending even as natural disasters eat away at the edges of domestic infrastructure. In fact, the Trump administration has embraced something very similar to North Korea’s “military first” policy. Pyongyang’s implementation of this songun ideology in the 1990s not only directed more state resources to the military but also accorded more power to the generals to determine state policy. [Trump] [False analogy] [Songun] [Militarisation]
• Trump to Visit Korea on Asia Tour in November
  By Kim Jin-myung September 14, 2017 10:46 U.S. President Donald Trump may visit Korea during his Asia tour in November as he attends regional summits. "Washington and Seoul discussed Trump making a stop in Korea when he visits China in November," a Cheong Wa Dae official said Wednesday. Trump will attend the ASEAN summit on Nov. 10-11 and the APEC summit on Nov. 11-12, both in Vietnam, as well as the East Asia Summit in the Philippines on Nov. 13-14. China and the U.S. on Tuesday agreed to hold a summit within the year in China, which would fit into the extended schedule. Meanwhile, Seoul, Washington and Tokyo are also discussing a trilateral summit in New York on Sept. 21 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Moon, Trump, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also sat down together on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hamburg in July. [Trump] [US SK] [Sidelined] [Wishful thinking]
• Trump expected to make first Asian trip in November
  Posted on : Sep.14,2017 18:07 KST Modified on : Sep.14,2017 18:07 KST US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State listen to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak during a meeting at the White House on Sept. 12. (UPI/Yonhap News) The US president plans to visit South Korea, China, and Japan A plan for US President Donald Trump to visit South Korea, China and Japan around the time of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit that will be held in Vietnam in mid-November is reportedly on the table. If confirmed, this would be Trump’s first trip to Asia since his inauguration as president, which some think could be the turning point for affairs on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia. The discussion about Trump’s visit to China has apparently moved far enough along to get into the details. Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi met US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Washington on Sept. 12, China’s People’s Daily Online reported on Sept. 13. [Trump] [US Asia] [[China confrontation]
• The Future of the UN Command
  By: LTG In-Bum Chun September 12, 2017 The role of the United Nations Command (UNC) in deterring North Korean aggression and maintaining peace on the Korean peninsula could assume greater importance over the next few years as a result of three factors: a nuclear armed North Korea, the conclusion of a peace treaty ending the Korean War, and the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) of combined US/ROK forces from US Forces Korea (USFK) to the ROK. The UNC is the best organization to meet these and other challenges and changes on the Korean peninsula, but it will need to be revitalized and modernized. The Korean government must work to harness the UNC to provide greater international guarantees for a future Korean peace treaty. The UNC, created in 1950, is the unified command for multinational military forces arrayed to repel North Korean aggression and defend the Republic of Korea. The UNC supported the ROK during the Korean War and for several decades after the signing of the armistice it was responsible for the defense of South Korea. With operational control over a majority of the units in the ROK Armed Forces, the command was the primary peacetime planning organization for allied response to a North Korean invasion of South Korea and the principal wartime command organization for all ROK and US forces involved in defending South Korea. Even after the establishment of the ROK-US Combined Forces Command (CFC) in 1978, the UNC continued to play an important role in armistice maintenance and in concentrating the defense and military support of other nations in the defense of the ROK. The UNC would be a force provider of additional UN forces dispatched to the Korean peninsula. Among its most important tasks is to ensure that UNC rear forces are ready to support combat operations on the peninsula, primarily through logistical support and the facilitation of force flow and reinforcements. The predominant nature of USFK and CFC has overshadowed the critical and important role of the UNC. [UNC] [US SK alliance]
• Possibility of US-NK dialogue cautiously raised
  Posted : 2017-09-14 17:48 Updated : 2017-09-14 17:46 By Jun Ji-hye The possibility of dialogue between the United States and North Korea is being cautiously raised even after the U.N. Security Council's (UNSC) adoption of harsher-than-ever sanctions against Pyongyang. One instance backing the possibility was unofficial talks held in Switzerland between a former high-ranking U.S. government diplomat and a senior North Korean foreign ministry official. Japan's NHK reported Thursday that Evans Revere, former U.S. principal deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia, exchanged views with Choe Kang-il, deputy director general of the North Korean foreign ministry's North American affairs bureau, while the two were attending a three-day international security conference on Northeast Asia that wrapped up Wednesday. What they discussed during their talks remained unknown as Choi refused to answer reporters' questions and left the venue by car, NHK added. [US NK negotiations]
• President Moon will receive Global Citizen Award
  Posted : 2017-09-14 10:58 Updated : 2017-09-14 18:51 By Kim Rahn President Moon Jae-in President Moon Jae-in will receive the Global Citizen Award from the Atlantic Council, an American think tank on international affairs, Cheong Wa Dae said Thursday. The annual award, established in 2010, is given to individuals who contribute to global citizenship and the development of democracy, it said. [Moon Jae-in] [US approval]
• Domestic conflict deepens over tactical nuclear weapons
  Posted : 2017-09-13 17:09 Updated : 2017-09-13 17:34 By Yi Whan-woo Policymakers, politicians, pundits, researchers and civic activists are sharply divided over whether to ask the U.S. to redeploy its tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea following North Korea's sixth nuclear test. Analysts say the domestic rift could be more complicated to settle than the one caused by the deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here, because nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction while THAAD is for self-defense against incoming ballistic missiles. "It may not be easy to find the middle of the road in the debate over U.S. tactical nuclear weapons," said Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University. Lee Kang-yun, a political analyst, also said, "There's clearly a discrepancy among different groups." The division mainly comes from a gap in ideological and security interests, with advocates claiming the tactical nuclear weapons can be effective in extending nuclear deterrence against North Korea' military threats. [Tactical nuclear weapons]
• U.S. Kept Agent Orange at Another Camp in Korea
  June 07, 2011 08:11 The lethal defoliant Agent Orange was kept also at Camp Market, a depot of the U.S. Forces Korea in Bupyeong, Incheon, during the late 1960s, according to U.S. veterans. On "koreanwar.org," a website for the Korean War Project for USFK veterans, veteran Randy Watson in 2007 said "barrels of what I believe now to be Agent Orange" were kept at Ascom Depot, currently Camp Market. Watson says he was stationed at Ascom Depot's Company B, a supply and transport company, from 1968 to 1970. "We shipped supplies all over Korea and the far east. We would also take supplies by convoy to the DMZ area and to southern Korea," he recalled. [USFK] [cbw] [Agent Orange]
• McCain Calls for Return of Nuclear Arms to S.Korea
  By Cho Yi-jun September 12, 2017 11:26 U.S. Senator John McCain, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Sunday said the return of tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea "ought to be seriously considered." He was talking on CNN's "State of the Union." Back in March, McCain counseled prudence in an interview with the Chosun Ilbo, which suggests that the atmosphere in Congress is gradually changing since the White House put the issue on the table in the wake of North Korea's latest nuclear test. "The [South] Korean defense minister just a few days ago called for nuclear weapons to be redeployed," McCain told CNN, adding "It ought to be seriously considered." Defense Minister Song Young-moo told the National Assembly Defense Committee on Sept. 4 that U.S. tactical nuclear weapons "should be regarded as one of many ways" to deter the North. McCain said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is not a rational man. The U.S. should "make sure that [Kim] knows that if he acts in an aggressive fashion, the price will be extinction," he added. [Tactical Nuclear weapons] [McCain]
• The Rationality of Kim Jong-un (and His Nukes)
  by Gary Leupp Kim Jong-un is not mad. Quite the contrary. He has pulled off a wholly rational feat. By producing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles capable of delivering them to U.S. territory, Pyongyang has obtained near-assurance that the U.S. will not attack it, in (yet another) attempt at regime change. Wait, you’ll say. He already had that insurance. Every talking head on cable news says a U.S. strike would inevitably mean an attack on Seoul, which would kill tens of thousands immediately. South Koreans would blame the invasion on the U.S. So it’s just not tenable. Even if limited to conventional forces, the threat of invasion already constituted adequate deterrence. There’s no way the U.S. would trigger an attack on a city of 10 million people who are supposed to view the U.S. as their benevolent protector. So the North Koreans didn’t need to upset the world by acquiring nukes. But think about it from Jong-un’s point of view. [US NK policy] [Kim Jong Un]
• Time for America to Act on North Korea, Alone If Necessary
  The new sanctions will not stop Kim’s rush toward an operational strategic nuclear program any more than the old ones did. Dov S. Zakheim September 12, 2017 The UN Security Council has approved the “strongest sanctions ever” against North Korea. These include a two million barrel cap on North Korean imports of crude oil, sanctions on the import of natural gas, on North Korean textile exports, and on the issuance of new permits for North Koreans seeking to work abroad. On their face, these are indeed tough sanctions. They are not, however, the “strongest sanctions ever” passed by the Security Council. [US NK policy] [Compellence] [Financial sanctions]
• Why War with North Korea Could Cost Trillions of Dollars
  North Korean military participate in the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea Unleashing Trump's “fire and fury” on North Korea would rack up both human and financial costs. Anthony Fensom September 11, 2017 War with North Korea could result in the death of fifty thousand or more Americans and more than two million Korean casualties. However, the economic cost would be massive, too, running into potentially trillions of dollars for the United States, while damaging Asia’s biggest economies. The 1950–1953 Korean War caused 33,651 U.S. casualties and cost the United States an estimated $20 billion. For South Korea, it caused 1.2 million deaths and saw the value of its gross domestic product (GDP) slump by more than 80 percent. However, the cost of a second Korean War would be far greater, according to Capital Economics. At its peak in 1952, Washington was spending around 4.2 percent of U.S. GDP fighting the Korean War. While Pentagon officials believe another war on the Korean Peninsula could be finished far more quickly, reducing the likely casualties and cost, there is a risk that the conflict could last much longer. [US NK policy] [War] [Cost]
• A Korean Tragedy, Part 3
  Sep 12, 2017 This is an update to an article originally published in The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. By Tim Beal Since parts one and two of this article were published on 15 August (by a cruel irony the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonialism), events have moved rapidly and decisively to confirm that Moon Jae-in’s failure to seek autonomy from American dominance and his enthusiastic embrace of the client status manifested in the US-SK alliance is pushing his country, the peninsula and perhaps the world deeper into danger. [Moon Jae-in] [Tragedy]
• A Korean Tragedy, Part 2
  This article was originally published in The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. This article has been reprinted with the permission of the author and The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. By Tim Beal The Trump-Moon Summit It is traditional for an incoming South Korean president to make the first overseas visit to Washington to pledge fealty. South Korea is not alone in this, of course, and even Donald Trump, held in such disdain, often scarcely disguised, by foreign leaders had a long waiting list of suitors. That is the nature of international power. However Moon’s visit displayed more than the usual degree of obsequiousness. His pre-summit conciliatory statements were interpreted by many as a ploy to hide his real resolve to chart a new course for South Korea. For instance, the libertarian commentator Doug Bandow, with his usual mixture of realism and fantasy, wrote in Forbes in May, just after the election, that: The two presidents spoke last week by phone shortly after Moon took office and have agreed to a summit next month. Talks might help, but even friendly discussions won’t hide the fact that the two countries’ interests differ in substantial ways. And if President Moon pursues policies which undercut Washington’s objectives, relations could prove quite difficult: President Trump doesn’t suffer criticism gladly. The frigid relationship between George W. Bush and Kim Dae-jung might serve as a model. U.S.-South Korean ties have varied over time, in response to changing international conditions as well as shifts in the respective governments. However, the Trump-Moon match likely will present a special challenge. Donald Trump may find the serious and principled Moon to be a tougher adversary than Kim Jong-un. In the event President Trump must have been pleasantly surprised, if he noticed at all, that the new South Korean president was, on the surface at least, neither principled nor tough.
• Time for maximum pressure on North Korea, even without China’s permission
  By Josh Rogin Global Opinions September 10 at 8:09 PM The time has come for the United States to acknowledge that its policy of trying to induce North Korea’s friends to rein in Pyongyang has failed. The best option for stopping the mounting nuclear threat from Kim Jong Un’s regime is to muster maximum pressure without waiting for approval or cooperation from Beijing and Moscow. As early as Monday, the U.N. Security Council could consider a new resolution put forth by the Trump administration that proposes cutting off North Korea’s energy imports, textile exports and ability to deploy workers abroad, according to a leaked draft. If put to a vote, that resolution will likely fail in the face of Russian and Chinese resistance. Should that happen, there will be no more excuse for the United States not to move forward with allies Japan and South Korea with crippling sanctions aimed at the regime, its institutions and its elite supporters. Until now, the administration has held back as it sought to persuade and prod Beijing to use its considerable leverage to bring Kim to heel. [US NK policy] [Secondary sanctions] [Hawk]
• What Nikki Haley Doesn’t Know About the Korean Crisis
  by Dennis Morgan Regarding the current crisis on the Korean peninsula, for some peculiarly odorous reason Nikki Haley’s “timeline” presentation a few days ago at the UN emergency security council session reminded me of a similar timeline presentation by Colin Powell in the run up to the illegal war against Iraq in 2003. One glaring glitch in her presentation was the complete omission of the Agreed Framework period during the 90s. I wonder why. Well, during the Agreed Framework time period of roughly eight years, the North Koreans possessed one or two atom bombs and did not add another to their arsenal. This is significant because it shows that as long as North Korea is at the negotiating table, it isn’t busy producing nuclear weapons. That observation is based on the historical record, and that’s why Haley completely ignored it – it just doesn’t fit in with her cherry-picked timeline narrative. [US NK policy] [Nikki Haley]
• N. Korea warns US of 'greatest pain' over new sanctions
  Posted : 2017-09-11 11:39 Updated : 2017-09-11 16:54 North Korea warned Monday that the United States will suffer the "greatest pain" if it pushes ahead with new tougher U.N. sanctions over its sixth nuclear test. Pyongyang's threat comes as the U.S. asked the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) last week to vote on new sanctions Monday in response to the North's most powerful nuclear test. North Korea's foreign ministry said it will make the U.S. pay a "due price" if Washington goes ahead with the vote on a resolution on harsher sanctions. "The forthcoming measures to be taken by the DPRK will cause the U.S. the greatest pain and suffering it had ever gone through in its entire history," said the Korean Central News Agency, reporting a ministry statement in English. [Sanctions] [UNUS] [Bluster]
• Will 'toughest' sanctions rein in North Korea?
  Posted : 2017-09-10 16:56 Updated : 2017-09-10 17:36 Will punishment be harsh enough for North Korea this time? By Jun Ji-hye North Korea faces deepening diplomatic isolation and harsher sanctions including an oil embargo and assets freeze as the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) plans to vote on a draft resolution Monday. To exert the maximum pressure on the North, the United States wants the UNSC to impose an oil embargo, ban textile exports from the North and the hiring of North Korean laborers abroad, and freeze assets of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to the draft resolution circulated by the U.S. Among others, cutting off the oil supply would bring a maximum level of sanctions against the Kim regime as it is regarded as a "lifeline" for Pyongyang. However, China and Russia oppose it. "A senior U.S. official on Friday night expressed skepticism that either nation would accept anything more stringent than a ban on imports of North Korean textiles," Reuters reported. [US NK policy] [Sanctions]
• US calls for UN vote Monday on fresh North Korea sanctions
  Posted : 2017-09-09 17:30 Updated : 2017-09-09 17:37 The United States has formally requested that the U.N. Security Council hold a vote Monday on a draft resolution imposing fresh sanctions on North Korea in response to the communist nation's sixth nuclear test, a news report said Saturday. The U.S. mission to the United Nations released a statement saying that it intends to call a Security Council meeting to vote on Sept. 11 on the draft resolution imposing additional sanctions on the North, according to an AFP report. Earlier this week, the U.S. circulated the draft resolution, which calls among other things for imposing an oil embargo on the North, freezing assets of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and banning textile exports from the North. AFP quoted unidentified diplomatic sources saying that China and Russia, which have friendlier ties with Pyongyang than any other nations do, oppose the measures as a whole, except for the ban of textiles, during a meeting of experts Friday. (Yonhap) [US NK policy] [Sanctions] [UNUS]
• Mexico expels North Korean ambassador in protest of nuclear test
  Posted : 2017-09-08 12:09 Updated : 2017-09-08 12:04 Mexico on Thursday expelled the North Korean ambassador in protest of Pyongyang's recent nuclear test. The government has declared Ambassador Kim Hyong-gil persona non grata and he has 72 hours to leave the country, its foreign ministry said in a statement. Mexico said it "absolutely rejects" North Korea's nuclear activity. "North Korea's nuclear activity is a serious risk for international peace and security and represents a growing threat to nations in the region," the Mexican government said. The members of the United Nations Security Council are discussing new sanctions to punish North Korea's sixth and most powerful nuclear test conducted on Sunday. The U.S. is circulating a draft resolution including banning crude oil shipments to the North and its exports of textiles, according to reports. (Yonhap) [Softpower] [Global reach] [US dominance]
• Philippines suspends trade with North Korea
  Posted : 2017-09-09 17:25 Updated : 2017-09-09 17:25 The Philippines has suspended trade with North Korea as part of efforts to enforce a U.N. Security Council resolution against the regime, according to news reports. On Friday, Foreign Minister Alan Peter Cayetano told reporters in the capital of the decision in the wake of North Korea's sixth and most powerful nuclear test over the weekend. "We can say we have suspended trade relations with North Korea," Reuters quoted the minister as saying. "We will fully comply with UNSC resolutions, including the economic sanctions." North Korea is subject to multiple Security Council sanctions resolutions for its repeated nuclear and ballistic missile tests. The Philippines is North Korea's fifth-largest trade partner, with bilateral trade reaching US$28.8 million in the first six months of this year, Reuters said, citing the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. The United States is pushing to pass a new Security Council resolution next week to possibly include a ban on exports of crude oil to Pyongyang. (Yonhap) [Softpower] [Global reach] [US dominance]
• DPRK sports association protest at US sanctions
  Letters from three sports association to appropriate world bodies protesting that US sanctions are preventing them buying equipment and calling on them to uphold Olympic ideals
  • Skiing
  • Rifle shooting
  • Archery
  [Sanctions] [Sport] [UNUS]
• White House in U-Turn Over Scrapping FTA with Korea
  By Cho Yi-jun September 08, 2017 10:27 After months of bluster, the Trump administration told Congress that it has "put on the back burner discussion of terminating a free-trade agreement with South Korea," according to the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. "White House officials told some senior members of Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday that a plan to end the five-year-old bilateral pact... was no longer an immediate priority, after holding internal discussions on the matter late last week," the paper said quoting a source. Inside U.S. Trade said the White House assured key lawmakers including House Speaker Paul Ryan "that its threat to begin withdrawing from the [FTA] has -- for now -- been taken off the table." [Trump] [KORUS FTA] [Backdown]
• Dangerous Times: North Korea, China and the Threat of Nuclear War and Accident
  by John Pilger – TJ Coles The US continues to provoke North Korea with military exercises near its borders. It also fails to live up to diplomatic agreements. Western media continue to distort the chronology of cause and effect, inverting reality to claim that North Korea is provoking the West. John Pilger (The Coming War on China) talks to T.J. Coles about the situation. [US NK policy] [China confrontation]
• Why Trump Won’t Start a War With North Korea
  by Mike Whitney September 8, 2017 Donald Trump isn’t going to start a war with North Korea. That’s just not going to happen. Not only does the United States not have the ground forces for such a massive operation but, more important, a war with the North would serve no strategic purpose at all. The US already has the arrangement it wants on the Peninsula. The South remains under US military occupation, the economic and banking systems have been successfully integrated into the US-dominated western system, and the strategically-located landmass in northeast Asia provides an essential platform for critical weapons systems that will be used to encircle and control fast-emerging rivals, China and Russia. So what would a war accomplish? Nothing. As far as Washington is concerned, the status quo is just dandy. [US NK policy] [Trump] [China confrontation]
• Trump administration pushing for embargo on oil exports to North Korea
  Posted on : Sep.8,2017 15:58 KST Modified on : Sep.8,2017 15:58 KST Representatives discuss possible responses to North Korea’s sixth nuclear test at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Sept. 7 (AFP/Yonhap News) Draft UN resolution also calls for freezing overseas assets of North Korean leaders The draft of the UN Security Council’s sanctions resolution against North Korea that was prepared by the administration of US President Donald Trump in response to the North’s sixth nuclear test would place an embargo on crude oil and would freeze the overseas assets of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and others, the foreign press reported on Sept. 6. The Trump administration has apparently started out with its maximum demands as a bargaining tactic for its negotiations with China and Russia. The draft of the US’s sanctions resolutions runs the gamut on nearly every imaginable sanction that could be placed on the North. The draft would ban not only crude oil, but all petroleum products, including condensed oil, refined petroleum and liquefied natural gas (LNG), from being exported to North Korea. [US NK policy] [Sanctions] [Oil] [UNUS]
• Four days later, White House backtracks on FTA withdrawal threats
  Posted on : Sep.8,2017 16:07 KST Modified on : Sep.8,2017 16:07 KST Trade representatives of the United States and South Korea watch a video conference between US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and South Korean Minister of Trade Kim Hyun-chong at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul on Aug. 22. Outcry from US business community forces Trump to rethink plans to scrap treaty Reports to the US Congress indicating the White House does not plan to discuss backing out of the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) any time soon are raising questions about why it changed its position in the space of just four days and how this may affect future negotiations. In its report on national security briefings conducted with prominent members of Congress on Sept. 5 and 6, Fox Business quoted White House officials on Sept. 6 as saying that an end to the FTA was no longer an immediate priority. [Trump] [KORUS FTA] [Backdown]
• Ten Points on Korean History of Potential Current Relevance
  by Gary Leupp (1) Historical factors have combined to produce a fiercely nationalistic population, on both sides of the DMZ. Multiple kingdoms existed on the Korean Peninsula from the first century. (So one might say Korea is five times as old as the United States.) [US NK policy] [History]
• Trump may have to settle for deterring, not disarming, North Korea Arshad Mohammed, Phil Stewart
  (Reuters) - President Donald Trump, like his predecessors, may find that neither negotiations nor economic and military pressure can force North Korea to abandon its nuclear program, and that the United States has no choice but to try to contain it and deter North Korean leader Kim Jong Un from ever using a nuclear weapon. [US NK policy] [Deterrence] [Inversion] [NK deal]
• Statement from Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Current U.S.-North Korea Relations
  August 10, 2017 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Deanna.Congileo@cartercenter.org The harsh rhetoric from Washington and Pyongyang during recent months has exacerbated an already confrontational relationship between our countries, and has probably eliminated any chance of good faith peace talks between the United States and North Korea. In addition to restraining the warlike rhetoric, our leaders need to encourage talks between North Korea and other countries, especially China and Russia. The recent UN Security Council unanimous vote for new sanctions suggests that these countries could help. In all cases, a nuclear exchange must be avoided. All parties must assure North Koreans they we will forego any military action against them if North Korea remains peaceful. [Jimmy Carter] [Peace proposal]
• OPINION | Weakness against North Korea's power is unacceptable
  By Scott Snyder, opinion contributor - 08/10/17 12:00 PM EDT When Kim Jong Un inherited rule of North Korea in 2012 and later consolidated his power, he made an all-in bet on nuclear development as his best means by which to ensure regime survival against both internal and external threats. Early signs of Kim’s choice included his disregard of the Obama administration’s 2012 Leap Day deal to draw North Korea back to denuclearization negotiations, the addition of North Korea’s status as a nuclear state to the preamble of the North Korean constitution, and the March 2013 declaration that simultaneous nuclear and economic development would be Kim’s guiding strategic priorities. The pace and intensity of Kim’s sprint toward a long-range nuclear strike capability have clearly caught the United States off guard, but even more startling and politically unacceptable to most Americans is the binary strategic choice Kim Jong Un seeks to impose on U.S. policymakers between acceptance of vulnerability to a nuclear North Korea and the use of military force to separate Kim from his nuclear weapons. [US NK policy] [MISCOM]
• Young Koreans Face Deportation as U.S. Scraps 'Dreamers' Program
  By Cho Yi-jun September 07, 2017 11:19 Young undocumented Koreans in the U.S. face deportation after U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday scrapped the "Dreamers" program that protects illegal immigrants who were taken to the U.S. as children. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, introduced by President Barack Obama in 2012, allows unauthorized immigrants aged between 15 and 30 who arrived in the U.S. as children with their parents to continue their studies or work in America. [Trump] [Dreamers] [Immigration] [US SK]
• U.S. Sanctions and Pressure Never Work on DPRK
  It is the conclusion once again drawn by the international community that the U.S. sanctions and muscle-flexing only boomerang on it. Attention of the international community was focused on respected Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un's recent visit to an institute in the field of defence science. Experts claim it is very important for the DPRK to pay special attention to putting the defence industry on a Juche basis. They also comment that the nuclear deterrent of the DPRK is so valuable that it will never abandon it, no matter what pressure, ultimatum and temptation it faces. Missile experts of the West are skeptical whether even a country possessed of "dual and triple" interceptor systems can intercept ultra-modern ballistic rockets of the DPRK simultaneously and successively launched under waters and on the ground. The Trump administration should have a correct understanding of the actual power of the DPRK. It is a tragedy that the U.S. and its lackeys are still pinning hope on sanctions and military option. But clear is the fact that the more recklessly the U.S. resorts to irrational sanctions, pressure and military threats to the DPRK, the more rapidly the defence capability of Juche Korea will develop beyond the world's imagination. The perfect success in the H-bomb test for ICBM that shook the earth is its eloquent proof. Ri Hyo Jin [US NK policy] [Sanctions] [Deterrence]
• The North Korean Nuclear Dilemma: Is Asia Heading Towards Armed Conflict?
  Kevin Rudd's Address to the Swedish Institute of International Affairs 31 August 2017 oday I’d like to talk about North Korea. I’m always haunted by the book produced by my Australian compatriot, Christopher Clark, which he produced in 2014, entitled ‘The Sleepwalkers’, a deep historical reflection on how the world went sleepwalking into World War One a hundred years before. If we read the literature of that decade before 1914, the possibility of war between the great powers was seen as unthinkable. The problem was it was so unthinkable that it failed to stop the great powers preparing for war, planning for war, and taking increasingly reckless and provocative actions against one another. Until the line was finally crossed. And then there was no point of return, despite the Kaiser’s famous telegram of July of 1914 More than a century later, there is therefore a certain unreality about the discussion today, however qualified, about the possibility of another major pan-regional war, albeit this time in the Pacific. Coming three-quarters of a century after the last World War, and now fully a quarter of a century after the Cold War’s end, this sense of unreality becomes even starker. Remember we’re already supposed to be twenty-five years into Fukuyama’s ‘End of History’ by now, when major wars would be a thing of the past, with political democracy and economic liberalism at home, and a liberal international order abroad, becoming the permanent condition of human kind. Well, that at least was the plan [US NK policy] [NK deal]
• Endorse the appeal for diplomacy in the Korea nuclear crisis
  Aug 30, 2017 Endorse the appeal for diplomacy in the Korea nuclear crisis The latest missile test by North Korea, which took place yesterday (August 29th), is the latest in a series of provocations and counter-provocations between North Korea and the United States that could end up in an outbreak of war. See Trump says that ‘all options are on the table’ after North Korea fires missile over Japan. We therefore invite you to endorse an Appeal from Abolition 2000 members for a diplomatic solution in North East Asia (also available in Russian, Japanese and Korean) The escalating tensions and threat of military conflict over North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities make a diplomatic solution of vital importance and the highest priority. The increasing risk of war – and possibly even the use of nuclear weapons by miscalculation, accident, or intent – is frightening. Below is the appeal drafted by members of Abolition 2000. We plan to send the appeal and list of endorsers to leaders of China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the United States, as well as to the United Nations and European Union. [False balance] [US NK policy] [Peace effort]
• North Korea: can we learn to stop worrying and love the bomb?
  Bernard F.W. Loo Despite efforts to dissuade North Korea from its current path, the reclusive regime continues to pursue its military program with increasing intensity. Bernard F. W. Loo considers the options On 3 September 2017, North Korea conducted its 6th nuclear test. This nuclear test comes hot on the heels of the 29 August test of a Hwasong-12 ballistic missile test, its 21st ballistic missile test conducted in 2017 thus far. One of the missile tests involved the allegedly inter-continental range ballistic missile, KN-14. This represents a significant increase from the reclusive country’s 24 missile tests in 2016. The provocations have been only enhanced by talk from Pyongyang containing threats to the United States homeland and military facilities in the Pacific, the island of Guam in particular. President Trump’s response has been bellicose. A military attack against North Korea’s nuclear facilities was always an open speculation. Recently, there has been talk of the possibility of a preventive war from policy circles in Washington, D.C. Apart from a preventive war to destroy Pyongyang’s nuclear facilities, there are at least another two plausible military options. However, all three military options are seriously flawed. [Military option] [US NK policy]
• The North Korean chessboard: What next for the main players?
  By Ishaan Tharoor September 5 at 1:00 AM Want smart analysis of the most important news in your inbox every weekday along with other global reads, interesting ideas and opinions to know? Sign up for the Today's WorldView newsletter. Over the weekend, North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test, claiming it had detonated a thermonuclear bomb for the first time. The regime in Pyongyang has been signaling for months its intent to unveil such a weapon, and American experts are now coming to grips with what was once an "unthinkable" scenario — that North Korea may pose a credible nuclear threat to the U.S. mainland. On Monday, that dawning reality led Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to describe North Korea as "a global threat." Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said during an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council that the North Korean regime was "begging for war." "We have kicked the can down the road long enough," Haley said as other council members suggested additional sanctions on Pyongyang. "There is no more road left." But here's an attempt at gauging where the path ahead may take the actors involved in this geopolitical crisis. [Nuclear test]
• U.S. Pacific Fleet Chief Vows to Defend S.Korea
  By Kim Myong-song September 06, 2017 09:50 Adm. Scott Swift, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, pledged on Tuesday to deploy an aircraft carrier strike group in waters off the Korean Peninsula in response to provocations from North Korea. Swift, who supervises U.S. naval operations in the Asia-Pacific region, was speaking at the International Seapower Symposium in Seoul hosted by the Korean Navy, the Korean Institute for Maritime Strategy, and the Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOC) Study Group-Korea. He said that there is no change in the U.S.' "ironclad" commitment to the defense of South Korea. [US SK alliance]
• What the Media isn’t Telling You About North Korea’s Missile Tests
  by Mike Whitney September 4, 2017 Here’s what the media isn’t telling you about North Korea’s recent missile tests. Last Monday, the DPRK fired a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan’s Hokkaido Island. The missile landed in the waters beyond the island harming neither people nor property. The media immediately condemned the test as a “bold and provocative act” that showed the North’s defiance of UN resolutions and “contempt for its neighbors.” President Trump sharply criticized the missile test saying: “Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table.” What the media failed to mention was that, for the last three weeks, Japan, South Korea and the US have been engaged in large-scale joint-military drills on Hokkaido Island and in South Korea. These needlessly provocative war games are designed to simulate an invasion of North Korea and a “decapitation” operation to remove (Re: Kill) the regime. North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong-un has asked the US repeatedly to end these military exercises, but the US has stubbornly refused. The US reserves the right to threaten anyone, anytime and anywhere even right on their doorstep. It’s part of what makes the US exceptional. Check out this excerpt from an article at Fox News: “More than 3,500 American and Japanese troops kicked off a weeks-long joint military exercise Thursday against the backdrop of an increasingly belligerent North Korean regime. The exercise, known as Northern Viper 17, will take place on Hokkaido — Japan’s northern-most main island — and will last until Aug. 28…. “We are improving our readiness not only in the air, but as a logistical support team,” Col. R. Scott Jobe, the 35th Fighter Wing commander, said in a statement. “We are in a prime location for contingency purposes and this exercise will only build upon our readiness in the case a real-world scenario occurs.” (US, Japanese troops begin joint military exercise amid North Korea threat”, Fox News) Monday’s missile test (which flew over Hokkaido Island) was conducted just hours after the war games ended. The message was clear: The North is not going to be publicly humiliated and slapped around without responding. Rather than show weakness, the North demonstrated that it was prepared to defend itself against foreign aggression [Missile test] [Joint US military]
• [Editorial] Trump’s threat to withdraw from KORUS FTA is extremely regrettable
  Posted on : Sep.4,2017 17:59 KST Modified on : Sep.4,2017 17:59 KST President Donald Trump and his wife Melania arrive in Houston to visit areas flooded by Hurricane Harvey on Sept. 2. Trump’s threats to withdraw the US from the KORUS FTA have sparked criticism from various business and government officials. (AFP/Yonhap News) On Sept. 2, US President Donald Trump said the US is considering the option of withdrawing from its free trade agreement with South Korea (called the KORUS FTA) and that this process could begin as early as this week. These unilateral remarks are extremely regrettable since they were made not long after the two countries held the Joint Committee repeatedly requested by the US. The US must be aware that withdrawing from the agreement amid the international tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program could have consequences that go beyond the economic arena. It’s unclear whether Trump’s remarks will actually lead to the US’s withdrawal from the agreement or if they are merely aimed at gaining leverage in the negotiations. Neither country budged from their positions during the first special session of the FTA Joint Committee, which was held in Seoul on Sept. 22. The South Korean delegation proposed that the two sides jointly investigate, analyze, and assess the agreement’s impact, but the US didn’t even provide a timetable for responding. [Trump] [KORUS FTA] [Tragedy]
• Trump threatens to stop trade with countries doing business with N. Korea
  Posted : 2017-09-04 11:13 Updated : 2017-09-04 18:35 U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Sunday to cut off all trade with countries doing business with North Korea, an apparent warning to China following Pyongyang's sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date. Trump tweeted the message ahead of a meeting with his national security team on what the North claimed to be an H-bomb explosion earlier in the day. "The United States is considering, in addition to other options, stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea," he said. Such a ban would affect China the most as it is responsible for 90 percent of North Korea's trade. In a series of tweets earlier in the day, Trump slammed the North and also accused South Korea of conducting a policy of "appeasement" toward the North. [Nuclear test] [Trump] [Posturing] [Sanctions]
• Trump Blast S.Korean 'Appeasement' of N.Korea
  September 04, 2017 12:32 U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday blasted South Korea for its "appeasement" of North Korea. The comments came after North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test amid warnings from the U.S. of massive retaliation which Trump has summed up as "fire and fury." "South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!" Trump tweeted. President Moon Jae-in has made several overtures to the North in an attempt to bring it to the negotiating table, which the North has barely bothered to brush off. [Trump] [Moon Jae-in] [Tragedy]
• Selected Articles: U.S. and North Korea: Testing Each Other’s Brinkmanship?
  By Global Research News Global Research, August 11, 2017 The scare-/warmongers in Washington lambasted North Korea for posing yet another ‘grave danger’ to global security after it has successfully launched a tiny nuclear warhead into its arsenal. Trump threatened Kim Jong-un with ‘fire and fury’ (which relates to an attack with nuclear weapons) should the DPRK continue with its missile tests. Is the Pentagon itching to start a more sophisticated WW3? Read our selected articles below. The United States in the region has a central objective that does not concern Kim Jong-un or his nuclear weapons. Rather, it is driven by the perennial necessity to increase forces in the region for the purposes of maintaining a balance of military force (Asian Pivot) and ultimately trying to contain the rise of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). (Federico Pieraccini) [US NK policy] [Brinkmanship]
• Sanctions on North Korean Oil Imports: Impacts and Efficacy
  Peter Hayes and David von Hippel September 9, 2017 I. INTRODUCTION In this essay, Peter Hayes and David von Hippel analyze the impact of Chinese energy sanctions on the DPRK in response to its missile and nuclear testing. They conclude: "The DPRK could quickly cut its non-military use by about 40% of its annual oil use with a variety of end use reduction and substitution measures; There will be little or no immediate impact on the Korean Peoples’ Army’s (KPA's) nuclear or missile programs; There will be little or no immediate impact on the KPA's routine or wartime ability to fight due to energy scarcity, given its short war strategy and likely stockpiling; The DPRK has the ability to substitute coal and electricity for substantial fractions of its refined product use, as well as its heavy fuel oil use (the product of oil refining) for heat production; The immediate primary impacts of responses to oil and oil products cut-offs will be on welfare." [Sanctions] [Oil] [Effect] [Welfare]
• Mattis warns of 'massive military response' to NK nuclear threat
  By Angela Dewan, Taehoon Lee and Eli Watkins, CNN Updated 2102 GMT (0502 HKT) September 3, • "We are not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea," Mattis said • His remarks came after a White House meeting on the North Korean nuclear threat (CNN)US Defense Secretary James Mattis vowed "a massive military response" to any threat from North Korea against the United States or its allies in a statement outside the White House after a meeting with President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and top national security advisers Sunday. Mattis said Trump wanted to be briefed on each of the "many military options" for dealing with the North Korean nuclear threat. "Our commitment among the allies are ironclad," Mattis said. "Any threat to the United States or its territories, including Guam, or our allies will be met with a massive military response, a response both effective and overwhelming." Mattis called on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to "take heed" of the UN Security Council's unanimous position against North Korea's nuclear program and again stressed the US military's position. "We are not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea, but as I said, we have many options to do so," Mattis said. [Nuclear test] [US NK policy] [Mattis] [Threat]
• Trump rebukes South Korea after North Korean bomb test
  James Oliphant - U.S. President Donald Trump admonished South Korea, a key ally, for what he termed a policy of “appeasement” after North Korea claimed to have tested an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile on Sunday. On Twitter, Trump said: “South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they (North Korea) only understand one thing!” It was the latest signal that Trump is losing patience with the international community’s response to the increasingly belligerent regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Last week, Trump tweeted that “talking is not the answer” in terms of dealing with Pyongyang. [Trump] [Moon Jae-in] [Tragedy]
• US, Japan, South Korea Stage Massive Aerial Exercise in Show of Force Against North Korea
  Bombers and fighters from the three countries carried out major drills a day after North Korea’s latest missile launch. By Ankit Panda September 01, 2017 On August 30, one day after North Korea carried out its first-ever overflight of Japan with a ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear weapon, the United States, Japan, and South Korea staged a massive show of force involving several aerial assets. U.S. Marine Corps’ F-35B Lightning II fighters, for the first time, joined U.S. Air Force (USAF) B-1B Lancer conventional bombers, Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) F-15K Slam Eagle fighters, and Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) F-15J Eagle fighters for an exercise over Japanese and South Korean airspace. A press release from U.S. Pacific Command spokesperson Cmdr. David Benham noted that the “mission was conducted in direct response to North Korea’s intermediate-range ballistic missile launch, which flew directly over northern Japan on August 28 amid rising tension over North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile development programs.” [Joint US military] [Triangular]
• Presidents Moon, Trump agree to revise missile guidelines
  Posted on : Sep.2,2017 15:20 KST Modified on : Sep.2,2017 15:20 KST In phone call, the two leaders reaffirm maximum sanctions and pressure on North Korea During a phone call, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump reportedly agreed to revise the two countries’ missile guidelines. Moon’s phone call with Trump began at 11:10 pm on Sept. 1 and lasted for about 40 minutes, according to Blue House spokesperson Park Soo-hyun. During the phone call, the two leaders discussed how the North Korea’s recent missile provocations had affected the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and how to respond to those provocations. They also agreed to update the missile guidelines. [Moon Jae-in] [Missiles] [US dominance] [Tragedy]
• US ban on travel North Korea kicks in, with few exceptions
  [Associated Press] Josh Lederman Associated Press September 2, 2017 In this image made from video, U.S. citizen and aid worker Heidi Linton of Christian Friends of Korea speaks to reporters after arriving at Beijing International Airport from Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. A handful of Americans left Pyongyang on a flight to Beijing before the start of a U.S. ban on American citizens going to North Korea. (AP Photo) In this image made from video, U.S. citizen and aid worker Heidi Linton of Christian Friends of Korea, second from right, speaks to reporters after arriving at Beijing International Airport from Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. A handful of Americans left Pyongyang on a flight to Beijing before the start of a U.S. ban on American citizens going to North Korea. (AP Photo) 1 / 2 In this image made from video, U.S. citizen and aid worker Heidi Linton of Christian Friends of Korea speaks to reporters after arriving at Beijing International Airport from Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. A handful of Americans left Pyongyang on a flight to Beijing before the start of a U.S. ban on American citizens going to North Korea. (AP Photo) WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. ban on Americans traveling to North Korea took effect Friday amid concerns about the fate of those who have been detained there in the past. The U.S. said its citizens can start applying for exceptions, but few will be granted. The ban, announced by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in July after the death of American student Otto Warmbier following his release from North Korea, makes U.S. passports invalid for travel to the North. Related Searches U.S. North KoreaU.S. North Korea News TodayU.S. Drops Bombs On North Korea Americans who have a valid reason to travel to the North can still go under "extremely limited" circumstances, the State Department said, adding that applicants must prove their trip is in the U.S. national interest. Professional journalists assigned to collect information for public consumption about North Korea might be eligible, along with Red Cross representatives on officially sponsored missions. Humanitarian workers also could receive exemptions. In new details released Friday about the exemption process, the State Department said applicants must email or mail a statement explaining why their trip serves the national interest, along with documentation to substantiate it. Applicants must also send a copy of their identification and contact information. The State Department will notify applicants whether they've been deemed eligible or not. Those granted exceptions will receive a letter they can use to obtain a Special Validation Passport for a single trip to North Korea. For those denied, there is no appeal. Under the law, Americans who violate the ban could face a fine and up to 10 years in prison for a first offense. The State Department has emphasized the possibility that those who violate the ban would have their passports revoked. [Travel ban]
• New US amphibious assault ship to be deployed to Japan
  Posted on : Sep.3,2017 09:42 KST Modified on : Sep.3,2017 09:42 KST US large-deck amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LDH-1) The USS Wasp will alternate duties as flagship of the US Seventh Fleet, upgrade combat capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region The US large-deck amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LDH-1) departed from Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia on Aug. 30 en route to its new home port at Sasebo in southern Japan. The US Navy expects forward deployment of the ship, which carries the state-of-the-art F-35B stealth fighter, to improve its combat capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region. With the Wasp’s regular deployment to Sasebo that day, the ship is set to alternate duties with fellow Wasp-class USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) as flagship carrier for the Seventh Fleet amphibious forces, the Navy said. The date of the Wasp’s arrival in Japan was not disclosed. The Bonhomme Richard, which was deployed to Sasebo in Apr. 2012, has taken part in several joint South Korea-US amphibious exercises. The current plan is for it to remain anchored alongside the Wasp at Sasebo until next year, when it is to travel to Naval Base San Diego in California. One of seven Wasp-class amphibious assault ships, the Wasp measures 257 meters long and 32 meters wide. [Amphibious]
• Defense Chief Raises Redeployment of U.S. Nukes in S.Korea
  By Lee Yong-soo September 01, 2017 09:23 Defense Minister Song Young-moo brought up possible redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons here as he met with his U.S. counterpart James Mattis and White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster on Wednesday. The U.S. withdrew its nukes from South Korea in 1991, but now the prospect of North Korea developing its own nuclear-tipped missiles is becoming increasingly real. A senior government official here quoted Song as telling McMaster that opposition parties and the media here are calling for re-deployment of the nukes. How the U.S. officials reacted is not known. Cheong Wa Dae said Song did not mean that the government wants the U.S. nukes to return, but just reported these opinions. Vice Defense Minister Suh Choo-suk told the National Assembly Defense Committee, "Song and Mattis merely exchanged comments on the issue but didn't have any serious discussion about it." [Tactical nuclear weapons] [Tragedy]
• U.S. Jets Stage Bombing Drills in Korea
  By Yu Yong-weon, Kim Jin-myung September 01, 2017 10:10 The U.S. sent two B-1B Lancer strategic bombers and four F-35B stealth fighters to South Korean skies on Thursday afternoon in response to North Korea's latest launch of a mid-range ballistic missile. The aircraft practiced dropping a total of 18 bombs in Gangwon Province. The B-1Bs from Guam and F-35Bs from Japan flew alongside a squadron of South Korean F-15K fighter jets and practiced firing precision air-to-ground missiles at key North Korean facilities at a firing range in Gangwon Province, an Air Force spokesman here said. A U.S. KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling aircraft joined them. B-1B strategic bombers and F-35B stealth fighters fly over the Korean Peninsula on Thursday. The latest flyover will likely be followed by deployment of other U.S. strategic assets such as nuclear-powered submarines and a nuclear-power aircraft carrier. Their deployment is meant to deter further North Korean provocations, including another nuclear test, for which preparations appear to be complete. [B-1] [Posturing]
• Song, Mattis reportedly discuss redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea
  Posted on : Sep.1,2017 17:13 KST Modified on : Sep.1,2017 17:13 KST South Korean Minister of Defense Song Young-moo holds a meeting with his counterpart, US Defense Secretary James Mattis, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The subject was said broached during the first day of SK Defense Minister’s visit to US The South Korean and US defense leaders discussed the issue of deploying tactical nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula during their meeting on Aug. 30, according to sources. This marks the first official confirmation of discussions on the tactical nuclear weapon issue between top-level South Korean and US government figures. Critics are calling the discussions a hasty move that could fuel political controversy and confuse the issue of Seoul’s stated opposition to tactical nuclear weapons. South Korean Minister of National Defense Song Young-moo met with US Secretary of Defense James Mattis at the Pentagon on Aug. 30 and broached the tactical nuclear weapon deployment issue during discussions on amending the South Korea-US missile guidelines, a senior government official reported. [Tactical nuclear weapons] [Tragedy]
• South Korean government, steel industry leaders considering response to possible US trade restrictions
  Posted on : Aug.31,2017 16:56 KST Modified on : Aug.31,2017 16:56 KST Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Paik Un-gyu (Lee Jung-woo, staff photographer) Range of measures, including WTO complaint, are being actively considered Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Paik Un-gyu said at an Aug. 30 steel industry round table on shared growth and cooperation that Seoul plans to “respond resolutely to unreasonable import regulations” and “consider all available means in accordance with international norms,” including a possible World Trade Organization complaint. Paik’s comments came in response to the looming threat of steel quotas being imposed by the Trump administration. Speaking at the round table at Lotte Hotel in Seoul that morning, Paik stressed that the private sector and government “need to coordinate closely on trade issues, including increased import regulations in major steel-importing nations and research on the security impact of Section 232 in the US.” [[US SK] [Trade war] [Protectionism]
• Moon, Trump agree to build up missile deterrence, bring N. Korea back to dialogue
  Posted : 2017-09-02 15:57 Updated : 2017-09-02 16:00 The leaders of South Korea and the United States have agreed to enhance Seoul's deterrence against North Korea by increasing its missile capabilities, but also reaffirmed the need to bring the communist state back to the dialogue table, Seoul's presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, said Saturday. The agreement came in a telephone conversation between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, on Friday, three days after Pyongyang staged its latest missile provocation. "President Moon and President Trump reaffirmed their view that it was important to have North Korea come out to the dialogue table to peacefully resolve the North Korean nuclear issue by applying maximum sanctions and pressure on the North," Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Park [US dominance] [US NK policy] [Tragedy]
• US travel ban on N. Korea takes effect
  Posted : 2017-09-02 15:33 Updated : 2017-09-02 15:33 A U.S. travel ban on North Korea took effect Friday as bilateral tensions increased over the regime's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The ban was announced by the State Department in July after the death of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who returned from North Korea in a coma in June. As of Friday, all U.S. passports are invalid for travel to, in, or through the North in the absence of special validation, according to a notice in the Federal Register. "The Department of State has determined that the serious risk to United States nationals of arrest and long-term detention represents imminent danger to the physical safety of United States nationals traveling to and within the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," it said, referring to the North by its official name. [Travel ban]
• Summit to resolve NK crisis
  Posted : 2017-09-01 14:24 Updated : 2017-09-01 19:11 By Oh Young-jin In the main editorial on our print edition, Wednesday, we put forward the proposal of a summit bringing concerned nations together to deal with the North Korean issue. When it was posted on my Facebook, I had a series of gives and takes with one FB friend named David Tizzard. He had some very legitimate questions so I have decided to give more details to flesh out my summit proposal.

• Trump reiterates “all options on the table” with regard to North Korea
  Posted on : Aug.30,2017 17:44 KST Modified on : Aug.30,2017 17:44 KST A woman in Sapporo, Japan reads a newspaper article about the North Korean missile launch while a television screen displays a report about the subsequent phone conversation between US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (Sapporo/Kyodo Yonhap News) Latest missile launch perpetuates an all-too familiar cycle on Korean Peninsula US President Donald Trump responded to North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launch on Aug. 29 by declaring that “all options are on the table.” The White House also reported Trump as reaching an agreement with Japan to increase pressure on North Korea in a telephone conversation the same day with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In a statement released 15 hours after North Korea’s missile launch that day, Trump stressed that “threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world.” “This [North Korean] regime has signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior,” the statement said. “All options are on the table,” it concluded. The response marked little of a departure from the Trump administration’s previous principle of “maximum pressure and engagement” toward Pyongyang. Shortly after the launch, Trump and Abe had a 40-minute telephone conversation, where the two leaders “agreed that North Korea poses a grave and growing direct threat to the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and other countries near and far” and pledged to increase pressure on North Korea and encourage the international community to join in, the White House said. Abe said the conversation included a “powerful statement on Japan’s defense,” with Trump declaring the US was “100% with its Japanese allies.” [Trump] [US NK policy] [Policy poverty]
• Victor Cha picked as new US envoy
  Posted : 2017-08-30 16:51 Updated : 2017-08-30 19:50 By Yi Whan-woo Victor Cha U.S. President Donald Trump plans to nominate Victor Cha, a Korean-American expert on North Korea, as the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, according to Reuters. Citing a government official, the news agency reported Tuesday that Cha's appointment will be announced soon. If appointed, he will be subject to a Senate confirmation hearing. If successful, he will replace Mark Lippert, who quit in January after Trump took office. Marc Knapper has been serving as the acting ambassador. A scholar, author and former foreign policy adviser to George W. Bush, Cha is generally seen as an advocate of a hawkish approach on North Korea. He currently works at the Center for Strategic and International Studies after joining it in 2009 as a senior adviser and inaugural Korea Chair. He is also the director of Asian studies at Georgetown University's Department of Government and School of Foreign Service. From 2004 to 2007, he was the director for Asian affairs at the White House on the National Security Council (NSC) under the George W. Bush administration, during which he received two Outstanding Service Commendations. Cha was mainly responsible for affairs in the two Koreas, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island nations. He was also U.S. deputy head of delegation during the six-party talks in Beijing. Cha won multiple awards with his books, including "Alignment Despite Antagonism: The United States-Korea-Japan Security Triangle" (1999), "Beyond the Final Score: The Politics of Sport in Asia" (2009) and "The Impossible State: North Korea, Past and Future" (2012). He earned a bachelor's degree, a master's of international affairs degree and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. He also holds a master's degree from Oxford University. Cha was a former John M. Olin National Security Fellow at Harvard University and a two-time Fulbright Scholar. [Victor Cha]
• America announces nuclear superbomb test in show of strength at North Korea warmongering
  The B61-12 guided bomb is the world’s most dangerous nuclear weapon By Jason Beattie 18:19, 30 AUG 2017Updated20:15, 30 AUG 2017 The B61-12 warhead is the world's most dangerous nuclear weapon The United States has announced it has tested a nuclear super bomb in a show of strength in the face of North Korean warmongering. America’s increasingly hard line towards Kim Jong-un was underlined by President Donald Trump who tweeted that “ talking is not the answer ” to dealing with the rogue leader’s regime. With the international community holding its breath amid fears the President was itching towards military action, the US Air Force said it had carried out a successful flight test of the B61-12 guided bomb - the world’s most dangerous nuclear weapon. [August crisis] [Inversion] [B61]
• Top advisers in more displays of disagreement with Trump
  Jonathan Landay and Jeff Mason U.S. President Donald Trump (L) is introduced by Defense Secretary James Mattis (R) during the commissioning ceremony of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford at Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Virginia, U.S. on July 22, 2017.Jonathan Ernst/File Photo WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Jim Mattis openly differed with his commander in chief over North Korea on Wednesday, the latest example of a once-rare public display of disagreement by top U.S. aides that has become more frequent under President Donald Trump. “We are never out of diplomatic solutions,” Mattis told reporters, just hours after Trump said in a tweet that “talking is not the answer” to the standoff over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs.
• Why Pyongyang needs a victory over the US
  by Justin Fendos Justin Fendos (jfendos@aya.yale.edu) is the associate director of the Tan School of Genetics at Fudan University, a teaching fellow in the National Academy of Sciences, and a professor at Dongseo University. Some phrases have been repeated with alarming regularity in the US media in recent weeks: “surgical strike” and “preemptive attack.” They suggest that the US has an unchallenged upper hand, the ability to swat away the North Korean threat if Washington chooses to do so. Now that things have cooled a bit, it’s time to reevaluate the situation and examine several of the critical economic and cultural realities missed in this “fly-swatting” outlook. The first of these realities is that North Korea has invested, over the last decade, everything it can in weapons development. North Korea’s GDP is around $28 billion, about two thirds ($15 billion less than) the quarterly revenue of Samsung Electronics. The average annual income of a North Korean is about $1,340, 5 percent of an average South Korean’s, and 2.3 percent of an American’s. In short, North Koreans are really poor. North Korea has little modern industry and few exports, most of them purchased by China. In fact, China accounts for about 92 percent of all North Korean trade. Despite being effectively bankrupt, North Korea has been spending about a third of its entire national income on weapons: just shy of $9 billion a year. To emphasize: that’s a third of their entire national income, not just a third of the government or military budget. Starvation and destitution have been the result. Pyongyang’s effort to weaponize has been very counterproductive economically, prompting successive rounds of sanctions and the 2016 closure of the Kaesong Complex, a highly lucrative industrial zone operated jointly by North and South Korea. This closure was a watershed moment, clearly conveying Pyongyang’s intentions to forgo economic dependence on Seoul and forge an independent path to self-sustenance, in this case, through weaponization. Although this intention ran contrary to the desires of other nations, one must appreciate how North Korea went all-in on itself, betting on weapons to secure some form of independent future. From a psychological perspective, it is foolhardy to imagine Pyongyang willingly abandoning the hard-earned fruits of its sacrifice just because Washington did some saber-rattling or added economic pressure to an already bleak economic situation. [US NK policy] [NK US policy] [Academic]
• Kim Jong-un Hails Missile Launch as Trump Blusters
  By Kim Jin-myung August 31, 2017 09:40 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hailed his country's launch of a medium-range ballistic missile over Japan as a "good experience in... rocket operation for an actual war," according to the official [North] Korean Central News Agency Wednesday. North Korean state media published pictures of Kim watching the launch of the Hwasong-12 from Pyongyang Sunan International Airport on Tuesday. Kim is seen sitting and looking relaxed behind a desk on an airstrip with binoculars at his side. Calling the launch a "meaningful prelude to containing" the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, Kim added, "It is necessary to positively push forward the work... by conducting more ballistic rocket launching drills with the Pacific as a target in the future." He added the North will "continue to watch the U.S. demeanors as already declared and decide its future action according to them." Kim said the launch of the missile, which flew over northern Japan on the day that marks the annexation of Korea by Japan in 1910, was a bold mission to leave Japan "flabbergasted." [Hwasong-12] [Missile test]
• THAAD Deployment to Be Complete Next Month
  By Lee Yong-soo August 29, 2017 11:22 The government hopes to complete the deployment of four additional launchers of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery from the U.S. by early September. It will notify Washington of the schedule in a meeting of the two defense ministers in the U.S. on Wednesday. But the full deployment could be delayed because the Moon Jae-in administration insists on proceeding in a transparent manner amid fierce protests by local residents. A U.S. helicopter flies over the site of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province on Aug. 22. A Cheong Wa Dae official said Monday, "Our aim is to complete the temporary deployment of the THAAD launchers once the Defense Ministry has reviewed a recent environmental study." The ministry been inspecting the area in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province since last month for signs of electromagnetic radiation and other potential hazards and is close to wrapping up its analysis. Some construction work is needed before the remaining four launchers can be set up, including electrical works. The ministry said it will reveal the exact date of the deployment at least one day in advance. [THAAD]
• Americans reach North Korea to beat travel ban
  Posted : 2017-08-28 16:26 Updated : 2017-08-28 17:38 By Chyung Eun-ju, Park Si-soo A group of American travelers ? probably the last before the U.S. government bans its citizens from visiting the reclusive state from Sept. 1 ? landed in North Korea on Saturday. The eight travelers ? include CNN correspondent Will Ripley on his 14th trip ? were undeterred by possible arrest, imprisonment or nuclear war. Details about the other tourists, including their itinerary, are unknown. Beijing-based Koryo Tours organized the visit, which general manager Simon Cockerell is leading on his 165th trip to the North. "It [the ban] is a pity for anyone curious who wants to go, but especially for North Koreans who might want to know what American visitors are really like," Cockerell told CNN. Ripley posted on his Instagram story the song "Where are you, dear general?" which is played hourly across the country to remind people of their late leaders' sacrifices. "With the upcoming travel ban, I felt like it was now or never," said Nicholas Burkhead from Virginia, expressing regret that he had not learned Korean before the ban. The U.S. State Department will invalidate passports for travel to, through and in North Korea from Sept. 1. U.S. citizens will have to obtain a passport with a special validation for travel to or within North Korea. The ban is in retaliation for the death of American Otto Warmbier, who was jailed in the North, but sent home to die. [Travel ban] [Pretext] [Fraternisation] [US NK policy]
• Bomb shelter business booms as Trump and North Korea posture
  By Stuart Leavenworth August 27, 2017 5:00 AM WASHINGTON The showdown that pits North Korea’s Kim Jong Un against Donald Trump has once again raised the specter of nuclear annihilation. And that has done wonders for the bomb shelter industry. Sales and inquiries have spiked, according to several of the U.S. companies that make money from doomsday fears. “The increase in demand is everywhere. We are getting hundreds of calls,” said Ron Hubbard, president of Atlas Survival Shelters, a firm based in Montebello, California. Inquiries have slowed down as tensions have eased over the last week, but Hubbard said he still expects to have a banner year, selling 1,000 shelters at an average price of $25,000 each. Bomb shelters are a cyclical industry, booming during crises and waning during periods of peace and predictability. Trump’s “fire and fury” threat, following news about North Korea’s nuclear weapons advancement, has helped boost sales, and not just in the United States. [Hysteria] [Threat]
• [Column]Regime Change in Washington?
  Posted on : Aug.27,2017 14:35 KST Modified on : Aug.27,2017 14:35 KST John Feffer The most aggressive nationalist in Donald Trump’s administration has been kicked to the sidelines. Steve Bannon, who served as Trump’s chief strategist, left the White House in mid-August after giving a candid interview to a liberal U.S. magazine. After a career of outrageous statements, Bannon finally said something in this interview that was completely unacceptable in Washington, DC, and that hastened his departure. Bannon said that “there’s no military solution” to the conflict between the United States and North Korea. [Military option] [Bannon] [US NK policy]
• N. Korea leaves door open to dialogue
  Posted : 2017-08-27 17:39 Updated : 2017-08-27 18:19 Pyongyang fires three projectiles in East Sea By Jun Ji-hye North Korea's relatively small-scale provocations conducted over the weekend seem to be aimed at protesting South Korea and the United States' ongoing joint exercise, but at the same time not to provoke Washington further, experts said Sunday. Through such provocations, the North is apparently seeking direct negotiations with the U.S. by showing a somewhat conciliatory gesture, while maintaining military tension with Seoul, they said. [NK US policy]
• Japan says no direct threat following North Korea’s short-range missile launch
  Launches, possibly in response to US-South Korea joint military exercises, appear to end in failure and did not pose a threat to Guam, says US Agencies Saturday 26 August 2017 03.51 BST First published on Friday 25 August 2017 23.52 BST Japan’s top government spokesman says there is no direct threat to Japan following North Korea’s latest test-launch of three short-range missiles. Yoshihide Suga told reporters the missiles early on Saturday did not fall into Japan’s territorial waters or the coastal 200-mile economic zone. Japan has previously deployed missile interceptors after North Korea threatened to fire projectiles over Japan toward the US territory of Guam. [Missile test] [Joint US military] [Media] [Heading]
• Why Can’t Wheeler-Dealer Trump Cut a Deal with North Korea?
  by Mike Whitney August 25, 2017 The United States and South Korea are currently engaged in large-scale, joint-military war games that simulate an invasion of the North, the destruction of the DPRK’s nuclear weapons sites, and a “decapitation operation” to take out the supreme leader, Kim Jong-un. The objective of the operation is to intensify tensions between North and South thereby justifying the continued US occupation of the peninsula and the permanent division of the country. Imagine if North Korea decided to conduct massive “live fire” military drills, accompanied by a Chinese naval flotilla, just three miles off the coast of California. And, let’s say, they decided to send formations of strategic high-altitude aircraft loaded with nuclear bombs to fly along the Canada and Mexico borders while tens of thousands of combat troops accompanied by hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles rehearsed a “shock and awe” type blitz onto US territory where they would immediately crush the defending army, level cities and critical civilian infrastructure, and topple the regime in Washington. Do you think the Trump administration would dismiss the North’s provocative war games as merely “defensive maneuvers” or would they see them as a clear and present danger to US national security warranting a prompt and muscular response from the military [US NK policy] [Joint US military]
• US turning positive about dialogue with N. Korea
  Posted : 2017-08-24 16:54 Updated : 2017-08-24 17:18 By Jun Ji-hye The Donald Trump administration is seemingly turning positive about dialogue with North Korea, while Pyongyang is apparently exercising restraint in its rhetoric against Washington. North Korea has made no provocations since its July 28 test-firing of what it claimed was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), though it has more recently threatened to fire missiles toward Guam. President Trump said Tuesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has begun to "respect" Washington, suggesting his administration is taking a positive view on a possible thaw in U.S.-North Korea relations. "I respect the fact that I believe he (Kim) is starting to respect us," Trump said at a rally in Phoenix, Arizona, according to Bloomberg. "Maybe, probably not, something positive will come out of it." Earlier in the day, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said dialogue between the United States and North Korea could be possible in the "near future," welcoming what he called the "restraint" the Kim regime had shown recently with its nuclear and missile programs. "I think it is worth noting, we have had no missile launches or provocative acts on the part of, or provocative actions, on the part of North Korea since the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolution," Tillerson said at the State Department. "I am pleased to see that the regime in Pyongyang has demonstrated restraint. We hope this is the signal we have been looking for, that they are ready to restrain provocative acts. And perhaps we are seeing a pathway in the near future to having some dialogue." [US NK policy] [Tillerson] [Spin]
• Nuclear Apocalypse: Trump and Kim Should Not Hold the World Hostage
  by Ramzy Baroud August 24, 2017 Not too far away from Seattle, Washington there are eight ballistic-missile submarines carrying the world’s large shipments of nuclear weapons. The 560-foot-long black submarines are docked at the Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, hauling what is described by Rick Anderson in a recent Los Angeles Times article as “the largest concentration of deployed nuclear weapons in the US.” [False balance] [US NK policy]
• 'Too many soldiers to feed': North Koreans fear more sanctions as drought threatens famine
  Plight of ordinary people being overlooked amid focus on missile launches and rising tensions between Pyongyang and Washington North Korea farmers UN agencies believe a drought that ravaged crops this summer will leave the North unable to properly feed many of its people Photograph: James Gourley/REX/Shutterstock Justin McCurry in Osaka Wednesday 23 August 2017 04.29 BST First published on Wednesday 23 August 2017 03.33 BST Sanctions and the worst drought for almost two decades threaten to cause severe hardship for millions of people in North Korea, while the country’s leadership continues to plough scarce resources into its missile and nuclear programmes, according to UN agencies and those with contacts in the impoverished nation. A drought that ravaged crops earlier this summer will leave the North unable to properly feed many of its people, including soldiers in the country’s million-strong army, the groups have warned. Two North Korean shipments to Syria intercepted in six months, UN told Read more While living standards have improved for some North Koreans under Kim Jong-un’s leadership, many of the country’s 25 million people face a struggle to secure enough food while others risk losing their jobs due to sanctions, according to Jiro Ishimaru, a Japanese documentary maker who runs a network of citizen journalists inside North Korea. “For one thing, there are too many soldiers to feed,” Ishimaru, whose contacts are equipped with contraband mobile phones, told the Guardian at his Asia Press office in the western Japanese city of Osaka. [Sanctions effect] [Media] [Agency] [NK military] [Hypocrisy]
• Trump, Tillerson offer praise as North Korea shows restraint
  Posted on : Aug.24,2017 17:21 KST Modified on : Aug.24,2017 17:21 KST US Secretary of State says moves reflect, “the beginning of a signal we’ve been looking for” President Donald Trump gives a speech to supporters during a rally in Phoenix, Arizona on Aug. 22. (Phoenix/EPA, Yonhap News) On Aug. 22, US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made an overtly conciliatory gesture to North Korea, praising it for recently exercising restraint on behavior that could increase tensions. Such restraint is extremely unusual, considering that the US and South Korea’s Ulchi-Freedom Guardian joint military exercises, which are currently underway, have often been a time for increasing tensions on the Korean Peninsula. At the same time, however, the US Treasury Department was slapping sanctions on 10 organizations from China and Russia and on six individuals from China, Russia and North Korea. This appears to signal that the US will leave open the door to dialogue while it continues to stop money and strategic material with military applications from entering North Korea. During a rally with his supporters in Phoenix, Arizona, on Aug. 22, Trump made hopeful remarks about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. "I respect the fact that he is starting to respect us," Trump said. "And maybe - probably not, but maybe - something positive can come about.” [US NK policy]
• U.S., North Korea clash at U.N. forum over nuclear weapons
  [Reuters] By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - North Korea and the United States clashed at a U.N. forum on Tuesday over their military intentions towards one another, with Pyongyang's envoy declaring it would "never" put its nuclear deterrent on the negotiating table. Japan, well within reach of North Korea's missiles, said the world must maintain pressure on the reclusive country to rein in its nuclear and missile programs and now was not the time for a resumption of multi-party talks. North Korea has pursued its weapons programs in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions and ignored all calls, including from major ally China, to stop, prompting a bellicose exchange of rhetoric between the North and the United States. North Korea justifies its weapons programs, including its recent threat to fire missiles towards the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, by pointing to perceived U.S. hostility, such as military exercises with South Korea this week. [Nuclear weapons] [Double standards] [Media]
• Trump and the Geopolitics of Crazy
  by John Feffer The United States has beaten its head against the wall of North Korea for more than 70 years, and that wall has changed little indeed as a result. The United States, meanwhile, has suffered one headache after another. Over the last several weeks, the head banging has intensified. North Korea has tested a couple of possible intercontinental ballistic missiles. In response, Donald Trump has threatened that country with “fire and fury,” one-upping the rhetoric coming out of Pyongyang. And North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is debating whether to fire a missile or two into the waters around the American island of Guam as a warning of what his country is capable of doing. Ignore, for the moment, Trump’s off-the-cuff belligerence. Despite all their promises to overhaul North Korea policy, his top officials have closely followed the same headache-inducing pattern as their predecessors.Threaten that all options are on the table? Check. Apply more sanctions, even tighter ones, fiercer international ones? Check. Try to twist China’s arm to rein in its erstwhile ally? Check. As Trump flirts with the same default position of “strategic patience” adopted by the Obama administration, two other options beckon: talk or attack. [US NK policy]
• Joint Drills Could Be Watershed in N.Korea Crisis
  August 21, 2017 12:52 Top U.S. brass are converging in Seoul as joint military exercises by the U.S. and South Korea start Monday. The heads of U.S. Pacific Command and U.S. Strategic Command arrived on Sunday, while the director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency is on his way. The U.S. officers apparently plan to observe the drills and hold a joint press conference with South Korean military chiefs. The three officers are in charge of strategy and troop deployment, strategic weapons and missile defense in case a war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula, and it is unprecedented for the three to converge on Seoul at the same time. Their presence means that the drills include the deployment of strategic bombers and missile defense systems. This is expected to be a watershed in the North Korean nuclear standoff. Although tensions have eased slightly as the North called off ostensible preparations to attack the U.S. territory of Guam and the U.S. touted diplomatic efforts before military options, the fundamental threat remains. [Joint US military]
• First meeting on possible KORUS FTA revisions ends in stalemate
  Posted on : Aug.23,2017 17:07 KST Modified on : Aug.23,2017 17:07 KST Trade representatives of the United States and South Korea watch a video conference between US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and South Korean Minister of Trade Kim Hyun-chong at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul on Aug. 22. US continues to demand immediate amendments, while Korean side insists more time needed for joint analysis of FTA effectiveness Trade authorities from Korea and the US engaged in a marathon discussion about whether to begin negotiations to amend the Korea-US FTA, but were unable to come to an agreement. The negotiations ended without setting a date for the next meeting. Instead, there was a clear difference of opinion between the two sides, with the US seeking to amend the agreement immediately while Korea wishes to first analyze the FTA’s effectiveness over the five year period it has been in force. It is now likely that further negotiations will take place through closed working level meetings. [KORUS FTA]
• Tillerson sees possible pathway to U.S.-North Korea dialogue 'in near future'
  U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson holds a press briefing at the State Department in Washington, U.S., August 22, 2017.Yuri Gripas Reuters Staff (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appeared to make a peace overture to North Korea on Tuesday, welcoming what he called the restraint it had shown recently in its weapons programs and saying a path could be opening for dialogue "sometime in the near future.""We have had no missile launches or provocative acts on the part of North Korea since the unanimous adoption of the U.N. Security Council resolution," Tillerson told reporters, referring to U.N. sanctions on North Korea agreed on Aug. 5. "We hope that this is the beginning of this signal that we've been looking for - that they are ready to restrain their level of tensions, they're ready to restrain their provocative acts, and that perhaps we are seeing our pathway to sometime in the near future having some dialogue," Tillerson added. Tillerson said he was "pleased" to see Pyongyang had "demonstrated some level of restraint that we've not seen in the past." "We need to see more on their part, but I want to acknowledge the steps they've taken thus far." [Tillerson] [US NK Negotiations]
• Understanding North Korea: Taking a History and Testing Hypotheses
  By Dr. Robert Rennebohm When there is conflict between two parties, it is best if each party tries to understand and think from the other’s point of view, as opposed to thinking only from their own point of view and perpetuating misconceptions regarding the other’s view. When a physician is confronted with a problem, the first step is to take a complete and accurate history; the second step is to test hypotheses generated by that history and the physician’s background knowledge and experience. Let’s start by taking a history of what has occurred in Korea over the past century or more:1 In 1871 Japan began plans to occupy Korea for its own economic and military purposes. By 1905 Korea had become a Japanese protectorate. By 1910 it had become a colony of Japan. For centuries the social structure on the Korean peninsula had consisted of a privileged aristocratic landowning class (a tiny minority of the population) who ruled over the rest of the people, almost all of whom were peasants. In the years following 1910 Japan ruled Korea by conspiring with and providing privileges for opportunistic Koreans who were members of this aristocratic landed class. Over the next three decades the Korean people suffered many atrocities under the brutal, oppressive rule by Japan and its Korean aristocratic collaborators. During this ruthless Japanese occupation the Korean language and culture were suppressed. Koreans were forced to take Japanese surnames. Precious Korean cultural artifacts were destroyed. And, resistance to the Japanese occupation was met with brutal force. For example, during the non-violent March 1st Movement of 1919 the Japanese police and military killed 7,000 peaceful demonstrators. Japanese repression in Korea accelerated during the 1930s, after Japan invaded Manchuria (in 1931-32) and established Manchukuo. During the 1930s Japan and its aristocratic Korean collaborators subjected Korean men to forced labor. Other Korean men were forced to join the Japanese military. Up to 200,000 Chinese and Korean women (the vast majority being Korean) were forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military, serving as “comfort women” while Japanese officers and soldiers occupied Korea and Manchuria [Korea] [US Korea policy] [History]
• Military exercises take place at time of receding tensions between US, North Korea
  Posted on : Aug.21,2017 18:01 KST Modified on : Aug.21,2017 18:01 KST Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo meets with Command of US Pacific Command Harry Harris at Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on Aug. 20 (Yonhap News) Top US military officials arrive in Korea for commencement of Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint exercises South Korea and the US began the Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint military exercises on Aug. 21, a move that was expected to cause tensions on the Korean Peninsula to soar. It appears that the US and North Korea have both taken a step back, but officials both inside and outside the military have not ruled out the possibility of a provocation taking place before the joint exercises finish on Aug. 31. Against this backdrop, there has been a great deal of interest in the visits to Korea paid by key US military officials on Aug. 20, including Harry Harris, Commander of the US Pacific Command and John Hyten, Commander of the US Strategic Command. [Joint US military] [Tension]
• Top U.S. Brass Arrive in Seoul for Joint Drills
  By Lee Yong-soo, Jang Hyeong-tae August 21, 2017 09:29 U.S. military leaders are arriving in South Korea ahead of the annual joint exercise that kicks off on Monday. Adm. Harry Harris, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, and Gen. John Hyten, the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, arrived on Sunday. They are followed by Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, the director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. They will stay for a few days and watch the exercises in a rare show of determination by such senior brass. "This is a warning to the North not to miscalculate the situation and act recklessly" after it threatened to attack the U.S. territory of Guam, a government source here said. Harris told Defense Minister Song Young-moo that the U.S.' "ironclad" commitment to the defense of South Korea remains unchanged in the face of nuclear and missile threats from the North. [Joint US military] [Moon Jae-in] [US dominance]
• A Korean Tragedy
  Tim Beal August 15, 2017 Moon Jae-in’s failure to challenge South Korea’s servile relationship to the United States has condemned his presidency to impotence. As the ‘August Crisis’ unfolds the South Korean president has little influence over the situation. He is spurned by Pyongyang, has no traction in Beijing or Tokyo, and is taken for granted in Washington.
  Observing Moon Jae-in win the election on 7 May, take up the presidency of the Republic of Korea and move on to a summit with President Trump has been like watching a movie where the action is put into slow motion to emphasise the inevitability of the disaster to come. The hero may gesticulate but he is essentially powerless and the plot flows through to the inexorable denouement. Things have come to this pass because the hero, for whatever reason, has made some fatal mistake and has not sought to extricate himself. He is doomed to a fate over which he has no control.
  So too with Moon Jae-in.
  His fundamental mistake was to not recognise, acknowledge and analyse South Korea’s geopolitical situation especially its relationship with the United States. [Moon Jae-in] [US SK alliance] [Tragedy]
• South Korea and US to discuss renegotiation of the KORUS FTA this week
  Posted on : Aug.20,2017 11:10 KST Modified on : Aug.20,2017 11:10 KST Disagreements center on steel, automotive trade imbalance The South Korean and US governments have agreed to hold a special session of the US-Korea FTA Joint Committee on August 22 in Seoul to discuss the possibility of renegotiating the trade agreement. It is expected that there will be a considerable tug-of-war between the US government, which has consistently demanded revisions to the FTA, and the South Korean government, who has maintained that both governments should first examine the effects of the FTA. On August 18, South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced that it had reached an agreement with the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to hold the meeting of the Joint Committee in Seoul on August 22, and revealed that, “The meeting will begin with a video conference between South Korea’s Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong and United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, followed by senior-level talks on location in Seoul.” [KORUS FTA]
• N. Korea resumes threats ahead of exercises
  War games reignite rhetoric Matt Stout Monday, August 21, 2017 Credit: Courtesy TENSIONS RISING: South Korean soldiers, above, conduct an anti-terror drill last year as part of the annual Ulchi Freedom exercises. Kim Jong Un and North Korea criticized the exercises once again. Nuclear tensions are high again between North Korea and the United States — days after a much-welcomed cooling-off period — with renewed sabre-rattling calling out President Trump by name as the U.S. and South Korea launch joint military maneuvers today. “The Trump group’s declaration of the reckless nuclear war exercises ... is a reckless behavior driving the situation into the uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war,” the report in Rodong Sinmun read, according to CNN. The North Korean government newspaper also promised that the pariah state can at anytime target the U.S. with a “merciless strike.” The warning — printed in an official North Korean government newspaper — came just hours before the U.S. and South Korea were slated today to start the so-called “Ulchi Freedom Guardian” military exercises, a 10-day annual military drill on the Korean peninsula. “No one can guarantee that the exercise won’t evolve into actual fighting,” North Korea claimed in the editorial, according to a South Korean news agency. [Joint US military] [Inversion] [Threat]
• Tillerson affirms President Trump’s support for negotiations with North Korea
  Posted on : Aug.19,2017 16:11 KST Modified on : Aug.19,2017 16:11 KST US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (left) walks to the podium to begin a joint press conference with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono following the US-Japan Security Consultative Committee Meeting that also included Defense Secretary James Mattis and Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera in Washington on Aug. 17. (Washington, Shinhwa/Yonhap News) US Secretary of State says that purpose of sanctions is to bring Pyongyang back to the bargaining table US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared on Aug. 17 that the North Korean policy statement that he and US Secretary of Defense James Mattis gave the press on Aug. 13 had “been endorsed” by US President Donald Trump. The two secretaries printed a column in the Wall Street Journal announcing their willingness to negotiate with North Korea and expressing their lack of interest in bringing about regime change in North Korea or accelerating the unification of the Korean Peninsula. During a press conference held at the office of the State Department after the first security consultation between the US and Japan’s top diplomats and defense officials to be held since Trump took office, Tillerson said the aim of US pressure and sanctions “is to cause them [North Korea] to want to engage in talks.” [Tillerson] [US NK Negotiations] [Spin]
• Information attack on N. Korea
  Posted : 2017-08-18 16:45 Updated : 2017-08-18 16:45 By Oh Young-jin How would the United States differ from South Korea in dealing with North Korea's nuclear and missile threat? Is there any way of influencing the North in pursuit of weapons of mass destruction? For the first question, the answer would be not much. For the second, there is. These are the conclusions I came to after a long chat recently with Dr. Bruce Bennett, a Korea expert at the U.S. Rand Corp. [Vulnerability gap] [Deterrence] [Subversion] [Corruption] [Wishful thinking]
• Top White House strategist rules out military option for North Korea
  Posted on : Aug.18,2017 18:25 KST Modified on : Aug.18,2017 18:25 KST Bannon also expresses openness to removing US troops from Korea in return for North’s denuclearization White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, known for his extreme right-wing views and his close association with President Donald Trump, spoke out on the North Korean nuclear and missile threat, saying “there’s no military solution [to North Korea’s nuclear threats], forget it.” After making the remark in an interview with left-leaning online publication “American Prospect” published on August 16, Bannon said “until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that ten million people in Seoul don’t die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know what you’re talking about, there’s no military solution here.” Although Bannon entertained the possibility of a deal with China in which, in exchange for China freezing North Korea’s nuclear development through verifiable inspections, the U.S. would move its troops out of the Korean peninsula, he did not see such a deal as likely. [Bannon] [US NK policy] [Military option]
• Trump aide's remarks confuse Seoul over N. Korea
  Posted : 2017-08-18 17:05 Updated : 2017-08-18 17:30 This file photo taken on Mar. 13 shows Senior White House advivor Steve Bannon as U.S. President Donald Trump (out of frame) speaks to the press before a meeting with his cabinet at the White House in Washington, DC. / AFP-Yonhap US president's strategist talks of USFK withdrawal By Jun Ji-hye U.S. President Donald Trump's key adviser says he would be open to a potential deal in which the United States removed its troops from South Korea in exchange for China persuading North Korea to freeze its nuclear programs. White House chief strategist Steve Bannon also said there was no military option to counter North Korean threats. His statements are provoking controversy in and outside the country because they stand in contrast to decades of U.S. policy, only confusing Washington's Asian allies amid the evolving nuclear and missile threats from Pyongyang. Bannon made the remarks in an interview published on Wednesday by American Prospect, during which he explained his trade strategy to win the "economic war" with China. He claimed issues related to the Korean Peninsula were just a "sideshow" in this war. "We're at economic war with China," Bannon told the liberal media outlet. "One of us is going to be a hegemony in 25 or 30 years and it's going to be them if we go down this path. On Korea, they're just tapping us along. It's just a sideshow." [Bannon] [US NK policy] [Withdrawal] [NK deal]
• 'Korea will not flinch on FTA talks with US'
  Posted : 2017-08-17 17:45 Updated : 2017-08-17 19:52 Stronger measures in store to stabilize housing prices By Yoon Ja-young President Moon Jae-in said that his administration has no reason to hold back in talks with the United States over amendments to the free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries. "According to an analysis by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Korea-U.S. FTA benefited both countries. While global trade decreased 12 percent since signing the deal, trade between Korea and the U.S. increased 12 percent between 2011 and 2016," President Moon said in a press conference. [KORUS FTA] [Wishful thinking]
• Seoul, Washington in Talks on Boosting S.Korean Missiles
  By Yu Yong-weon August 17, 2017 10:30 Seoul and Washington are discussing a revision of guidelines that restrict the payload of South Korean missiles. Under the current guidelines, which were last revised in 2012, South Korea can only have ballistic missiles with a range of up to 800 km and a payload of up to 500 kg. Gen. Lee Sun-jin, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the National Assembly's Defense Committee on Monday that talks are underway "in that direction." He was answering a question from independent lawmaker Lee Jung-hyun. President Moon Jae-in asked his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump in late June to raise the limit from 500 kg to 1 ton. And now, "the two countries are discussing ways to lift the limit so Seoul can develop more powerful ballistic missiles to deter further North Korean provocations," a diplomatic source said. Under a trade-off rule, South Korea can already increase the payload if it shortens the range. For example, it can have a 1-ton payload for missiles with a range of 500 km and a 2-ton payload for missiles with a range of 300 km. But it now wants the restrictions removed so it can have 1 to 2-ton payload for missiles with a range of 800 km. [Missiles] [US dominance] [Control]
• U.S. State Department Refuses to Be Drawn on Moon's Warning
  By Yu Yong-weon, Cho Yi-jun August 17, 2017 13:04 The U.S. State Department was anxious Wednesday to avoid any further impression of chaos in the Trump administration after President Moon Jae-in warned hawkish U.S. officials that Washington cannot go over Seoul's head in taking military action against North Korea. Asked for a comment on Moon's warning, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said, "That's a Department of Defense issue so I'm going to stay away from that." Nauert added, "We have a good relationship, as you know, with [South Korea]. We have constant, ongoing conversations with that government." She refused to be drawn by repeated questioning. "I'm not going to get into that. Okay? I'm not a part of that conversation that the U.S. military may be having with South Korea on that part. But they are a valuable ally of ours, as you well know, and we defend our allies." [Moon Jae-in] [US dominance] [Self delusion]
• B-1 Bombers Key to a U.S. Plan to Strike North Korean Missile Sites
  by Cynthia McFadden, William M. Arkin, Kevin Monahan and Kenzi Abou-Sabe Aug 9 2017, 6:20 pm ET The Pentagon has prepared a specific plan for a preemptive strike on North Korea's missile sites should President Trump order such an attack. Two senior military officials — and two senior retired officers — told NBC News that key to the plan would be a B-1B heavy bomber attack originating from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. Pairs of B-1s have conducted 11 practice runs of a similar mission since the end of May, the last taking place on Monday. The training has accelerated since May, according to officials. In an actual mission, the non-nuclear bombers would be supported by satellites and drones and surrounded by fighter jets as well as aerial refueling and electronic warfare planes. [The Pentagon Prepares Pre-Emptive Strike Plan for North Korea] The Pentagon Prepares Pre-Emptive Strike Plan for North Korea 3:05 "Of all the military options … [President Trump] could consider, this would be one of the two or three that would at least have the possibility of not escalating the situation," said retired Adm. James Stavridis, NATO's former Supreme Allied Commander Europe and now dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University and an NBC News analyst. Six B-1B "Lancer" bombers are currently positioned in Guam, 2,100 miles by air to North Korea. Military sources point out that the battle tested B-1, a workhorse for the past 16 years in both Afghanistan and Iraq, has been modernized and updated — "doubled in capability," according to the Air Force. [Attack] [B-1]
• [Editorial] President Moon emphasizes need for peaceful solutions in Liberation Day address
  Posted on : Aug.16,2017 18:11 KST Modified on : Aug.16,2017 18:11 KST President Moon Jae-in pays his respects in front of the tomb of Kim Ku in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, during commemoration of Liberation Day on Aug.15. Moon’s first visit to the tomb is the first visit by the incumbent president. (Blue House Photo Pool) During an address on Aug. 15 marking the 72nd anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial occupation, South Korean President Moon Jae-in declared to both international and domestic audiences his commitment to preventing war and finding a peaceful solution to issues on the Korean Peninsula. In addressing the recent showdown between North Korea and the US, Moon stated, “There must not be another war on the Korean Peninsula. The government will do everything it can to prevent war.” This made clear Moon’s opposition to the recent “war of words” between the US and North Korea. In a comment aimed at the US, Moon emphasized that “military action on the Korean Peninsula is a course of action that can be decided by South Korea alone, and no one can decide to take military action without the consent of South Korea.” The comment served as a firm declaration that the South Korean government would not tolerate military action of any kind from which it was excluded. [Moon Jae-in] [Military option] [Self delusion]
• Secretaries Tillerson and Mattis support dialogue with North Korea in WSJ joint contribution
  Posted on : Aug.15,2017 16:43 KST Modified on : Aug.15,2017 16:43 KST Pair dub Trump’s North Korean policy as “strategic accountability” accelerating diplomatic and economic pressure US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis clearly reiterated Washington’s willingness to negotiate with North Korea in a joint contribution to the Wall Street Journal that appeared on Aug. 13. Rex Tillerson, US Secretary of State The pair’s publication comes as tensions have eased slightly on the Korean Peninsula after previously rising with US President Donald Trump’s warnings of “fire and fury.” Reports also indicated no plans to expand the joint South Korea-US “Ulchi-Freedom Guardian” military exercises. In their piece titled, “We’re Holding Pyongyang to Account,” Tillerson and Mattis write that the US “is willing to negotiate with Pyongyang,” while adding that, “ it is incumbent upon the [North Korean] regime to signal its desire to negotiate in good faith.” As examples of signals, they mentioned “the immediate cessation of its provocative threats, nuclear tests, missile launches and other weapons tests.” Tillerson and Mattis also pledged a non-aggression approach, saying the US “has no interest in regime change or accelerated reunification of Korea” and “do[es] not seek an excuse to garrison U.S. troops north of the Demilitarized Zone.” While this position has been stated numerous times by Tillerson, the message was significant in showing that Mattis, who oversees the responsibility for military mobilization, also supports the view. [US NK policy] [Trump] [Tillerson] [Mattis] [Military option]
• Moon rules out possibility of war
  Posted : 2017-08-17 17:10 Updated : 2017-08-17 20:05 Journalists raise their hands to ask President Moon Jae-in questions during a press conference at Cheong Wa Dae, Thursday. Moon took questions freely on various topics of the reporters' choice, differing from his conservative predecessors who gave prepared answers to questions that had been prescreened by the presidential office in advance. / Korea Times photo by Koh Young-kwon ‘Any US military option against N. Korea requires Seoul's consent' By Kim Rahn President Moon Jae-in said Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to get South Korea's consent first before using any military options against North Korea, ruling out the possibility of a war on the Korean Peninsula. In his first press conference held at Cheong Wa Dae, marking the 100th day of his presidency, Moon said he would prevent war here at all costs. The conference came after Pyongyang test-fired an alleged intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and exchanged bellicose rhetoric with Washington. "I can guarantee you there will be no war here again," Moon said. Noting that the U.S. and the international community have recently agreed on stronger sanctions on North Korea, he said, "The measures were aimed at preventing war, and pressuring Pyongyang to come to the negotiation table through heavy sanctions." [Moon Jae-in] [US NK policy] [Self delusion]
• S, Korea-US to hold joint military exercises next week
  Posted : 2017-08-17 10:29 Updated : 2017-08-17 14:33 The United States will hold joint military exercises with South Korea next week regardless of North Korea's opposition to them, the State Department said Wednesday. Heather Nauert, a department spokeswoman, reaffirmed that the computer-based drills will kick off in South Korea Monday despite recent tensions over the North's nuclear and missile programs. "We will continue to conduct joint military exercises," she told foreign reporters during a briefing, noting that such drills are conducted routinely with many allies around the world. She went further to reject calls for a so-called "double freeze," or the suspension of the exercises in exchange for a stop to North Korea's provocations. That idea was recently floated by China and Russia. Nauert declined to comment on whether the exercises could be scaled back, saying it's a question for the Pentagon. In response to a similar question earlier this week, Pentagon spokesman Col. Rob Manning declined to get into specific exercise scenarios. "What I will tell you is that it remains focused on readiness of the ROK and U.S. forces, and it remains focused on ensuring the interoperability between those forces exists," he told reporters. ROK is an acronym of South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea. Meanwhile, Nauert made clear the U.S. will not accept a North Korea with nuclear weapons. "We do not believe there is a place for a nuclearized North Korea," she said, when asked to comment on former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper's remarks that a denuclearized North Korea is no longer "in the cards." "He's the former. He's no longer serving the U.S. government in that kind of capacity," she said. The U.S. is willing to hold talks with North Korea if it shows good faith by stopping its nuclear and ballistic missile testing. "But we are not anywhere near that point yet because North Korea has not stopped its destabilizing activities," she said. (Yonhap) [Joint US military] [US NK policy]
• S. Korean president says his nation can’t rely only on US for security
  KIM GAMEL | STARS AND STRIPES Published: August 15, 2017 SEOUL, South Korea — In vowing to prevent a new war on the divided peninsula, President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday that South Korea needs to do more to ensure its security. The liberal leader, who took office on May 10 in a snap election, stressed that Seoul will work “very closely” with its longstanding U.S. ally to resolve the growing threat from North Korea. “Still, we cannot rely only on our ally for our security,” he said in a televised speech to mark the anniversary of the country’s independence from Japanese colonial rule in 1945. “When it comes to matters related to the Korean Peninsula, our country has to take the initiative in resolving them,” he said. “Without the consent of the Republic of Korea, no country can determine to take military action.” [Moon Jae-in] [US NK alliance] [Self delusion]
• Kim vs. Trump, “Behavior” vs. “Misbehavior”, Who are the Lunatics?
  Bringing a Peaceful End to Conflict on the Korean Peninsula By Kim Petersen Global Research, August 14, 2017 United States president Donald Trump said of North Korea: “We want to talk about a country that has misbehaved for many, many years, decades…” [emphasis added] Misbehaved? What constitutes this misbehavior by North Korea? Has it attacked any countries since the end of the warring1 on the Korean Peninsula? What about the US’ behavior since 1953? It has since gone on to attack, among others, Viet Nam, Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Haiti, ex-Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. It begs the question: which country is the demonstrable threat to peace around the world? It would be egregiously euphemistic to describe US aggression as misbehaviors. Such acts are war crimes; for example, in 1986, the International Court of Justice found the US guilty of unlawful use of force in Nicaragua. The US rejected the ruling. More recently, a compelling case has been made charging the US with genocide in Iraq.2 [US NK policy] [NK deal]
• North Korea’s Kim appears to ease rhetoric in standoff over nuclear weapons
  By Anna Fifield and Dan Lamothe August 14 at 8:23 PM TOKYO — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared to take a step back from the brink of nuclear war Tuesday, when state media reported that he would “watch a little more the foolish and stupid conduct of the Yankees.” But, as is often the case with North Korea, the message was mixed: Kim was inspecting the missile unit tasked with preparing to strike near Guam, and photos released by state media showed a large satellite image of Andersen Air Force Base on Guam on the screen beside the leader. “The U.S. should stop at once arrogant provocations against the DPRK and unilateral demands and not provoke it any longer,” the North Korean leader told his missile unit, according to a report from the state-run Korean Central News Agency published Tuesday. If “the Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions on the Korean peninsula and in its vicinity,” Kim continued, North Korea would “make an important decision as it already declared,” he said. Kim was visiting the Strategic Force of the Korean People’s Army, the elite missile unit that — according to state media — is finalizing preparations to launch ballistic missiles into the Pacific Ocean near the American territory of Guam. A decision was due this week, a week during which the Kim regime is celebrating the ruling family with huge propaganda displays in North Korea. [August crisis] [Guam] [Overture]
• Both Korean leaders, US signal turn to diplomacy amid crisis
  This image made from video of an Aug. 14, 2017, still image broadcast in a news bulletin on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017, by North Korea’s KRT shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un receiving a briefing in Pyongyang. North Korea said leader Kim Jong Un was briefed on his military’s plans to launch missiles in waters near Guam days after the Korean People’s Army announced its preparing to create “enveloping fire” near the U.S. military hub in the Pacific. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this photo. (KRT via AP Video) (Associated Press) By Foster Klug and Kim Tong-Hyung?|?AP August 15 at 1:43 AM SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s military on Tuesday presented leader Kim Jong Un with plans to launch missiles into waters near Guam and “wring the windpipes of the Yankees,” even as both Koreas and the United States signaled their willingness to avert a deepening crisis, with each suggesting a path toward negotiations. The tentative interest in diplomacy follows unusually combative threats between President Donald Trump and North Korea amid worries that Pyongyang is nearing its long-sought goal of accurately being able to send a nuclear missile to the U.S. mainland. Next week’s start of U.S.-South Korean military exercises that enrage the North each year make it unclear, however, if diplomacy will prevail. During an inspection of the North Korean army’s Strategic Forces, which handles the missile program, Kim praised the military for drawing up a “close and careful plan” and said he would watch the “foolish and stupid conduct of the Yankees” a little more before deciding whether to order the missile test, the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said. Kim appeared in photos sitting at a table with a large map marked by a straight line between what appeared to be northeastern North Korea and Guam, and passing over Japan — apparently showing the missiles’ flight route. The missile plans were previously announced. Kim said North Korea would conduct the launches if the “Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions on the Korean Peninsula and its vicinity,” and that the United States should “think reasonably and judge properly” to avoid shaming itself, the news agency said. Lobbing missiles toward Guam, a major U.S. military hub in the Pacific, would be a deeply provocative act from the U.S. perspective, and a miscalculation on either side could lead to a military clash. U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said the United States would take out any such missile seen to be heading for American soil and declared any such North Korean attack could mean war. [August crisis] [Guam]
• Syrian army finds UK and US chemical agents at depots captured from terrorists
  Military & Defense August 16, 14:30 UTC+3 The chemical agents were found at terrorists’ depots both in Aleppo and in liberated districts in the eastern suburb of Damascus, according to the Syrian deputy foreign minister [Syria] [cbw] [Outsourcing]
• Trump praises North Korea's Kim for 'wise' decision on Guam
  Makini Brice (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for a "wise" decision not to fire missiles toward the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, which has eased escalating tension between the two countries. Reclusive North Korea has made no secret of its plan to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States to counter what it perceives as constant U.S. threats of invasion. Trump warned North Korea last week it would face "fire and fury" if it threatened the United States, prompting North Korea to say it was considering plans to fire missiles toward Guam. But North Korean media reported on Tuesday that Kim had delayed the decision while he waited to see what the United States did next. "Kim Jong Un of North Korea made a very wise and well reasoned decision," Trump wrote on Twitter. "The alternative would have been both catastrophic and unacceptable!" [Guam] [Trump]
• Kim Jong Un Folds, Trump’s Bluff Worked
  Tom Luongo 23 hours ago Geopolitics is one-part strategy, two-parts tactics and three-parts sales. Donald Trump proved something to me this weekend and I’m glad he did. Because now that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has backed down on his threat to nuke Guam, we can move to the diplomatic resolution of the situation on the Korean peninsula. We always knew he is a Master at sales. What he hadn’t proved was whether he had the strategic and tactical acumen to operate on the world stage effectively. Trump’s using Congress’ recess to push a confrontation with North Korea that they could not interfere with was his first truly tactical victory of his administration. And where I’ve been critical of Trump has been at the tactical level. His obsession with giving the media and his opposition power over him, to push him around, is what has gotten him in trouble on so many fronts. He has been erratic – 59 Tomahawks launched in Syria on thin (now disproven) evidence. As well, he has been an enabler of his opposition, making the classic mistake of projecting onto the people around him in D.C. as having the same love for the U.S. that he does. For everything Trump has done, I have never questioned his patriotism. What I questioned was his naivete in dealing with his enemies. But, as it pertains to his North Korea strategy, he has already gotten an enormous win. China refused to back Kim if he fired first. Trump pushed China to that point. The diplomatic outrage from both Russia and China’s Foreign Ministers over the rhetoric, is just that, rhetoric. What happens now is a negotiation. And this is where Trump should shine. He will have to sit down with Russia and China and work out a plan to guarantee we never go back to this moment in time again. [Trump] [US NK policy]
• Locked and Loaded: War with North Korea Cannot be Contained but Must Be Prevented, An Interview with K.J. Noh
  Ann Garrison, BAR contributor 16 Aug 2017 Locked and Loaded: War with North Korea Cannot be Contained but Must Be Prevented "Unless attacked, North Korea will not strike the U.S. However, “given their own history, not to mention the examples of Libya and Iraq, the North Koreans are unlikely to give up their deterrent.” Locked and Loaded: War with North Korea Cannot be Contained but Must Be Prevented, An Interview with K.J. Noh by BAR contributor Ann Garrison “On two occasions, Colin Powell blithely threatened to turn North Korea into charcoal briquette.” After Donald Trump threatened the Democratic People's Republic of [North] Korea with "fire and fury like the world has never seen,” I spoke to K.J. Noh, a peace activist and scholar on the geopolitics of the Asian continent who writes for Counterpunch and Dissident Voice. Rehearsing Armageddon Ann Garrison: North Korea is standing up to the US’s 4800 “locked and loaded” nuclear weapons with an estimated 30 to 60 of its own. Do you think it would still be standing without them? K.J.Noh: It's hard to imagine so. North Korea has been in a defensive crouch since the inception of its state. It has been under risk of nuclear attack almost continuously since 1950. [US NK policy] [History]
• North Korea’s Kim Jong Un appears to ease rhetoric in standoff over nuclear weapons
  By Anna Fifield and Dan Lamothe August 14 TOKYO — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared to take a step back from the brink of nuclear war Tuesday, when state media reported that he would “watch a little more the foolish and stupid conduct of the Yankees.” But, as is often the case with North Korea, the message was mixed: Kim was inspecting the missile unit tasked with preparing to strike near Guam, and photos released by state media showed a large satellite image of Andersen Air Force Base on Guam on the screen beside the leader. [Guam] [NK US policy]
• North Korea and the fraud of missile defense
  By Richard A. Bitzinger August 14, 2017 One does not want to appear blasé about the growing North Korean missile-and-nuke threat, but it is hardly anything new. Pyongyang detonated its first nuclear weapon more than a decade ago. It first demonstrated its growing prowess in missile development with the 1998 test of the Taepodong-1, a multi-stage intermediate-range missile that. Since then, North Korea has only further refined and advanced its weapons of mass destruction. Today, it is the WMD state that most worries the world. Obviously, North Korea is a nuclear-armed state, whether we like it or not. But before the United States and, in particular, its president engage in destabilizing, escalatory rhetoric (“fire and fury”) and actions, let’s all take a moment and consider options short of war. In particular, let us consider missile defenses. What about missile defense? Back in the 1980s and 1990s, missile defense was part of the great divide in US politics. More than that, it was a political touchstone. Republicans were against abortion, wanted to reduce taxes and big government – and were in favor of missile defense. Democrats, for the most part, were against missile defenses: they were costly, untested, and destabilizing to the global nuclear balance of terror, and would probably never offer the kind of universal catch-all protection that Ronald Reagan envisaged. By the early 2000s, however, Republicans and Democrats had moved to the middle ground on missile defense. Republicans came around to accepting (tacitly, if not openly) the idea that Reagan’s “astrodome” defense was probably untenable. It was impossible to protect the United States from a massive nuclear strike. At the same time, systems such as airborne lasers and space-based missile defenses were impractical and hideously expensive. For their part, Democrats under president Bill Clinton came to see that a limited missile defense system could have real-world benefits. In particular, they could protect troops from the kinds of battlefield missile systems that were rapidly proliferating at the time. More important, both sides began to coalesce around the idea of a limited missile defense to guard mostly against rogue nuclear states and the like. Defenses against Russian and Chinese nuclear forces were for the most part abandoned. Large nuclear adversaries could almost certainly overwhelm most practical missile defenses through greater numbers and decoys. Mutual assured destruction between the great powers, therefore, remained in place. Against much smaller nuclear adversaries, however, missile defenses made increasing sense. They were the most likely nuclear threat, and devising workable systems to guard against such threats were at least conceivable. And in such cases, North Korea (and to a lesser extent, Iran) were ready-made “poster boys” for limited missile defenses. [US NK policy] [Missile defense]
• Unlike before, Americans are worried about N. Korea
  Posted : 2017-08-13 17:04 Updated : 2017-08-13 17:04 By Jane Han DALLAS For most Americans, North Korea's routine provocations and threats have been all too familiar, yet distant news happening far away. But this time, things are different. With the rogue nation's specific threat of dropping missiles on the U.S. territory of Guam, many Americans, put on edge, are reacting with a heightened level of anxiety and concern. ''This is getting very serious,'' said Rob Gonzales, 42, who works at a cellular phone retailer in the suburbs of Dallas. ''I usually don't follow much international news, but this isn't international news anymore. It's become very local for Americans.'' U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un have been trading harsh rhetoric and threats of military attack in recent weeks. Unlike in the past, Pyongyang has disclosed detailed and specific plans against the U.S. It announced that a missile strike on Guam will be ready by mid-August through which it plans to launch four intermediate-range missiles into the waters 30 to 40 kilometers off of the small, but militarily strategic Pacific island. [Public opinion] [Trump] [US NK policy] [Retaliation]
• Open Letter to President Trump: Start Bilateral Negotiations Now
  August 11, 2017 Dear President Trump: We at the Korea Policy Institute, aghast at the prospect of war in Korea, in the region, and reaching possibly over the Pacific to Guam and to the shores of the United States, call upon your administration to engage the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (D.P.R.K.) in bilateral negotiations that would immediately halt military posturing by both sides which threaten to erupt in nuclear conflagration. On the heels of highly inflammatory threats being hurled back and forth between your administration and North Korea, the Ulchi Freedom Guardian war game, starting August 21, 2017, is fraught with danger. A miscalculation on either side could set us on an irreversible path to war, possibly nuclear war in which millions are projected to perish in the first hours of fighting, and which would turn much of the region into an uninhabitable nuclear wasteland. The D.P.R.K. perceives the war games as a threat to its sovereignty and has thus offered to freeze development of its nuclear weapons and missiles if the United States and the Republic of Korea (R.O.K.) will stop their joint war exercises. It is thus within the reach of your administration to halt that country’s progress toward towards fitting its ICBMs with nuclear [US NK policy] [Peace effort] [Freeze]
• A Trump nuclear strike against North Korea: constitutional or not?
  By Manuela Tobias on Thursday, August 10th, 2017 at 5:19 p.m. President Donald Trump’s threats against North Korea and tweets about the United States’ powerful nuclear arsenal have raised the specter -- however small -- of nuclear war. But some members of Congress argue that the current process by which the president can order a nuclear strike is illegal. "Our view is the current nuclear launch approval process is unconstitutional," U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif, said on CNN on Aug. 8, 2017. Lieu has filed a proposal to require congressional approval before the president could launch a first nuclear strike. "Right now one person can launch thousands of nuclear weapons, and that's the president. No one can stop him. Under the law, the secretary of defense has to follow his order. There's no judicial oversight, no congressional oversight," Lieu said. Lieu, a colonel in the Air Force reserves, is generally correct about the president’s power to initiate a nuclear strike. The constitutionality, however, is a more complex question. We won’t rate Lieu’s claims on the Truth-O-Meter, but we did think it was important to provide context to his statement and the law. [Trump] [War] [First strike] [Constitution] [Legality]
• Why The Adults Are Not Reining in Trump
  By Paul Pillar Optimism has repeatedly been expressed, especially after any qualified and respected person has been appointed to a senior position in the current administration, that the “adults in the room” will check the excesses and compensate for the deficiencies of a blatantly unqualified president. Hope placed on the four-star shoulders of John Kelly as he assumed duties of White House chief of staff is a recent example. Such optimism has proven to be largely unfounded. Repeatedly the excesses of Donald Trump have escaped any attempt to check them. Trump’s fire-and-brimstone threats against North Korea, which surprised his foreign policy advisers, are the latest example. Trump’s emulation of Kim Jong-un’s scary rhetoric played into the hands of Kim’s regime, whose propaganda emphasizes threats from the United States, and escalated tensions to the point of shaking global stock markets. The rhetoric was the sort of thing Trump turns to when he evidently does not have any better ideas for addressing a problem. [Trump] [False balance]
• Trump predicts ‘tenfold’ boost in tourism for Guam amid threats by North Korea
  By John Wagner August 12 at 8:42 AM President Trump on Friday assured the governor of Guam that the White House is “with you 1,000 percent” in the face of a threat from North Korea — and then told the governor that he’s becoming famous and predicted the attention would boost tourism “tenfold” in the U.S. territory. [Trump] [Bizarre] [Guam] [Tourism]
• Avoiding Nuclear War: Why Kim Jong-Un’s Strategy Makes Sense
  By Federico Pieraccini Global Research, August 11, 2017 Looking at the recent North Korean testing of two intercontinental missiles, it may seem that Pyongyang wishes to increase tensions in the region. A more careful analysis, however, shows how the DPRK is implementing a strategy that will likely succeed in averting a disastrous war on the peninsula. In the last four weeks, North Korea seems to have implemented the second phase of its strategy against South Korea, China and the United States. The North Korean nuclear program seems to have reached an important juncture, with two tests carried out at the beginning and end of July. Both missiles seem capable of hitting the American mainland, although doubts still remain over Pyongyang’s ability to miniaturize a nuclear warhead to mount it on an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). However, the direction in which North Korea’s nuclear program is headed ensures an important regional deterrent against Japan and South Korea, and in some respects against the United States, which is the main reason for North Korea’s development of ICBMs. Recent history has repeatedly demonstrated the folly of trusting the West (the fate of Gaddafi remains fresh in our minds) and suggests instead the building up of an arsenal that poses a serious deterrence to US bellicosity. [NK US policy] [Deterrence]
• Guam official following Trump’s ‘tenfold’ tourism assessment: ‘None of this is good publicity’
  By Kristine Phillips and John Wagner August 12 at 2:07 PM President Trump called Guam's governor on Aug. 12. The governor broadcast the conversation live. (Governor Eddie Calvo via AP) With Guam becoming the center of attention because of concerns over North Korea’s nuclear threats, some, including President Trump, see the island’s newfound notoriety as a good thing. During a phone call Friday with Eddie Baza Calvo, the Republican governor of the U.S. territory in the Western Pacific, Trump said that the attention would boost tourism “tenfold” — even as he continued to escalate rhetoric against North Korea. In talking about the heightened international attention to the island, Margaret Metcalfe, director of Calvo’s Washington office, said: “None of this is good publicity.” “I’m just saying that is the result of what’s happening. Nobody asked for it. Nobody wanted it. It happened,” she told The Washington Post on Saturday, adding: “We pray day and night. … And we hope that calmness prevail and balance prevail. We certainly don’t what to do anything that would put our families at risk.” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has threatened to fire a missile to land near Guam, a strategic U.S. military base. [Guam] [Tourism] [Trump]
• ‘When you put this guy in a cage and think you’re controlling him, things like this happen’
  By Philip Rucker August 10 at 8:30 PM BEDMINSTER, N.J. — Midway through President Trump’s second media availability in a single afternoon here Thursday, his press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, held up a sign signaling to the boss that it was time to drop the curtain on the show. “One more question,” it read. The president either did not see her plea or opted to disregard it, because he kept answering questions — for 20 minutes straight, after having already fielded them for seven minutes in the earlier session. This was Trump in his element: At his luxurious private golf club here in Bedminster, the cameras trained on him, his vice president and national security advisers looking on admiringly, he parried queries — at times even gleefully — like a tennis player. Engaging with people — journalists, advisers, friends and even foes — is Trump’s lifeblood. His Oval Office has felt like a busy train station, with people breezing in and out to share a juicy tidbit or to solicit the president’s opinion on a pressing issue or to chew over something in the news. He likes to watch cable television news shows with other people, sometimes only through the phone.
  Trump’s impromptu answers could cause headaches for his administration in the days to come. His comments on North Korea, for instance, are unlikely to calm jitters around the world over the escalating nuclear brinkmanship between Trump and North Korea’s erratic leader, Kim Jong Un. [Trump] [Kim Jong Un] [Dysfunction]
• Lee Tae-sik Tapped for Fresh Run as Ambassador to U.S.
  By Jeong Woo-sang August 11, 2017 11:22 Lee Tae-sik Former Ambassador to Washington Lee Tae-sik is being tapped for a repeat run in the job by the Moon Jae-in administration, sources said Thursday. President Moon is expected to officially announce his nomination, and will also name Noh Young-min as ambassador to China, government sources said. An experienced diplomat, Lee has a wide range of personal connections in the U.S. He was vice foreign minister and ambassador to Washington during the Roh Moo-hyun administration but left the job in January 2009, a year after Lee Myung-bak was sworn in as president. During the last presidential election, Lee Tae-sik assisted Moon as a member of a policy think tank. Cheong Wa Dae originally tapped politicians who share Moon's philosophy instead of career diplomats as ambassadors to the four major powers -- the U.S., China, Japan, and Russia. But the presidential office finally decided on Lee. "The prevailing view at Cheong Wa Dae was that we need a person who is well versed in both U.S. affairs and diplomacy," a senior presidential official said. [SK US relations]
• “Enveloping strike” and “fire and fury”: Pyongyang and Washington’s “war of words” reaches fever pitch
  Posted on : Aug.10,2017 17:03 KST Modified on : Aug.10,2017 17:03 KST Shortly after President Trump warned that North Korea “will be met with fire and fury,” North Korea said it was considering an attack on Guam With tensions rising around the Korean Peninsula because of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs, Pyongyang and Washington exchanged a volley of incendiary language on Aug. 9, suggesting that they could launch a military strike at each other. Amid rumors of a crisis on the Korean Peninsula in August, US President Donald Trump openly warned that North Korea “will be met with fire and fury,” while North Korea pledged to launch a missile attack on Guam. The intensifying showdown is further increasing uncertainty on the Korean Peninsula. “In order to overpower and suppress Andersen Air Force Base and other major military facilities on Guam and to send a grave warning message to the US, we are seriously considering the operational plan of carrying out an enveloping strike around Guam using our Hwasung-12 intermediate-range strategic ballistic rockets,” said a statement released on Aug. 9 by the spokesperson of the Korean People's Army (KPA) Strategic Force. “After the plan for an enveloping strike at Guam has been adequately prepared and reviewed, it will be immediately submitted to the supreme command. Pending the decision of our comrade Kim Jong-un, the plan will be carried out simultaneously and repeatedly, at a time of our choosing.” The Strategic Force is the unit that operates North Korea’s ballistic missiles. The day before, on Aug. 8, the US had two B-1B Lancers – long-range strategic bombers dubbed the “swan of death” – fly over the Korean Peninsula. [Rhetoric] [August crisis]
• S. Korea, US reaffirm 'close and transparent' cooperation
  Posted : 2017-08-11 16:41 Updated : 2017-08-11 18:43 By Choi Ha-young Chung Eui-yong, left, and H.R. McMaster Top security advisers from Seoul and Washington vowed "close and transparent cooperation" between the allies in containing North Korea's further provocations, South Korea's presidential spokesman said Friday following their phone conversation. On Friday, Chung Eui-yong, the chief of Seoul's Presidential National Security Office, and his U.S. counterpart H.R. McMaster discussed "measures in each stage" to be taken in accordance with the growing threats posed by the nuclear-armed country. "To ensure the two countries' security and our citizens' safety, the two sides reaffirmed their promise to closely and transparently cooperate on the future steps that will be taken in each stage," presidential spokesman Park Su-hyun said. The dialogue is an apparent signal to quell the concerns in South Korea that it may be isolated in the U.S.'s possible military actions against the North. The spokesman refused to reveal details of the measures citing security reasons. Following North Korea's continued intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test-firings on July 4 and 28, the tension around the Korean Peninsula is palpably growing as seen by the bombastic rhetoric between Pyongyang and Washington. Earlier on Monday, President Moon Jae-in and his counterpart Donald Trump shared opinions on the grave security crisis and discussed joint measures to make the North scrap its nuclear and missile programs. [US SK alliance] [US dominance] [Self delusion]
• Common Security Diplomacy to Resolve U.S.-North Korean Crisis
  Joseph Gerson* President Trump’s off the cuff and extremely dangerous and outrageous threat to devastate North Korea with “fire and fury… unlike the world has ever seen” is bringing us to the brink of the unthinkable. There is no military solution to the dangers posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. We need to do all that we can to bring reason and bear with Common Security diplomacy that could bring these two nuclear powers back from the brink and to establish the basis for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia. [August crisis] [False balance] [Liberal]
• ‘Fight tonight’? Explaining Trump’s retweet that says U.S. bombers are ready to strike North Korea.
  By Dan Lamothe August 11 at 12:21 PM U.S. tensions with North Korea took another turn Friday morning when President Trump opted to again highlight the threat the U.S. military could pose to Pyongyang, tweeting that “military solutions are now fully in place” and “locked and loaded” should North Korea “act unwisely.” But his next act on Twitter suggests that despite the bellicose rhetoric, the Pentagon is not on the brink of war. Trump retweeted a message from U.S. Pacific Command that said supersonic B-1B bombers on Guam were “ready to fulfill USFK’s #FightTonight mission if called upon to do so.” [US NK policy] [August crisis] [Bombers] [Posturing]
• Geography 101: “Get Trump an Atlas”. Trump Wants to Bomb North Korea With Nuclear Weapons. Where is the Target Country?
  A War on North Korea Will Inevitably Engulf South Korea and the entire Northeast Asian Region By Prof Michel Chossudovsky Global Research, August 10, 2017 George W, Bush was known for his total ignorance of geography. “Dubya the Geographer: Someone Buy This Man an Atlas” appears in dubyaspeak.com, Dubya Speaks, We Record the Damage. Fast forward to 2017: What about Donald Trump who has his thumb on the nuclear button. What is his knowledge of geography. “If you’re sweating the possibility of a Donald Trump presidency, take this to heart — at least he’s not running to be anyone’s eighth grade geography teacher.” Jeva Lange quoted in This Week, June 15, 2016) “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity”. Martin Luther King Jr. While Americans are ignorant regarding the World’s geography, they nonetheless expect that their elected president as well as his foreign policy advisers know “where the countries are”, particularly those countries which are on the Pentagon’s hit list. What is the “damage” of ignorance among Trump’s foreign policy makers? In the words of Donald Trump: “best not make any more threats to the United States. … [Kim Jong-un] has been very threatening – beyond a normal statement – and as I said, they will be met with fire, fury and, frankly, power the likes of which the world has never seen before.” (emphasis added) “Trump Speaks, We Record the Damage.” What is the “Damage” underlying Trump’s “fire, fury and power …” threats implying the preemptive use of nuclear weapons against North Korea? And who will “Record the Damage” in the wake of a world war? Ask Trump, Where is North Korea? Where is the target country? A preventive first strike nuclear attack is now being contemplated against North Korea. And this is where Geography 101 comes in. The distance between the centre of South Korea’s capital Seoul and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) marking the border with North Korea is 57 km or 35 miles, half the distance between Manhattan and New Jersey (71 miles via Interstate Highway 95S). [Trump] [Nuclear weapons] [Geography] [Military option]
• U.S. and N.Korea Escalate War of Words
  By Lee Yong-soo, Cho Yi-jun August 10, 2017 09:26 A war of words between the U.S. and North Korea has escalated in the last couple of days, with both sides resorting to ever more florid bluster. U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened "fire and fury" in language that held its own with the most colorful North Korean propaganda. "North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States," he told reporters. "They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen." Trump added that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "has been very threatening beyond a normal state." [Bluster] [False balance]
• Inflamed Rhetoric Is Pushing Region to the Brink of Disaster
  August 10, 2017 13:28 The U.S. and North Korea have been exchanging increasingly heated verbal barbs in recent days. What seems to have triggered the trading of florid threats was a report by the Washington Post that U.S. intelligence officials believe that the North has succeeded in developing a nuclear warhead small enough to be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile. U.S. President Donald Trump was irate. "North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen," he said, in remarks that echo the worst of North Korean propaganda. North Korea shot back by threatening to fire medium-range ballistic missiles at Guam, which is home to strategically important U.S. Air Force and Navy bases. It is unnerving to see North Korea mention specific targets it intends to strike. Even if there is only a small chance of war breaking out immediately, nothing seems impossible now that Trump is in office and North Korea has crossed the "red line" laid down by Seoul and Washington that could trigger a military response. [Trump]
• Why There’s No Reason to Worry About War With North Korea
  by Gary Leupp August 10, 2017 I think it best to assume that the sanctions against North Korea imposed by the UN with PRC and Russian support will not deter Pyongyang from pursuing its nuclear weapons program. The North Korean economy has been growing in recent years; even if it’s hit by declining coal exports it will muddle on. The people are long-suffering, and religiously conditioned to revere the Kim dynasty that Washington loathes and insults. Having survived the economic impact of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the effects of the famine years from 1994 to 1998. They are probably able to accept more economic hardship if it’s imposed by foreigners who seem to oppose the DPRK’s right to self-defense. The fact is, the U.S. has long sought regime change. (What did Dick Cheney say about North Korea, as he derailed talks in 2002? “We don’t negotiate with evil, we defeat it.”) [US NK policy]
• DPRK military says plan to strike Guam to be ready by mid-August
  Source: Xinhua Published: 2017/8/10 9:11:10 The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) military has said that its plan to strike Guam with intermediate missiles will be ready by mid-August and its implementation will depend on a decision by DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un, the Korean Central News Agency said Thursday. General Kim Rak Gyom, commander of the Strategic Force of the Korean People's Army (KPA), was quoted as saying in a statement that the Strategic Force is considering "the plan for opening to the public the historic enveloping fire at Guam, a practical action targeting the US bases of aggression." "The Hwasong-12 rockets to be launched by the KPA will cross the sky above Shimane, Hiroshima and Kochi Prefectures of Japan. They will fly 3,356.7 km for 1,065 seconds and hit the waters 30 to 40 km away from Guam," he said. The DPRK military said Wednesday it is "seriously examining the plan for an enveloping strike at Guam through simultaneous fire of four Hwasong-12 intermediate-range strategic ballistic rockets in order to interdict the enemy forces on major military bases on Guam and to signal a crucial warning to the US" The order was given by Kim Jong Un himself who said it is necessary to hit the US military "hardware" which are repeatedly threatening the DPRK with B-1B strategic bombers and aircraft carriers, according to the KPA statement. "KPA Strategic Force has through a statement of its spokesman fully warned the US against its all-round sanctions on the DPRK and moves of maximizing military threats to it. But the US president at a golf links again let out a load of nonsense about 'fire and fury,' failing to grasp the on-going grave situation. This is extremely getting on the nerves of the infuriated Hwasong artillerymen of the KPA," said the strategic force commander. He said the KPA is "keeping close watch on the speech and behavior of the US officials." [Guam] [Warning] [NK US policy]
• North Korea: Headlines full of “Fire and Fury” Signifying Nothing
  by Kit There is no Saddam Hussein. This guy’s name is John Gillnitz, we found him doing dinner theatre in Tulsa. Did a mean “King and I.” Plays good ethnics….I’m saying I invented the guy. We set him up in ’79. He rattles his saber whenever we need a good distraction. Morris Fletcher – The X Files In truly perverse fashion, the newspapers have all suddenly remembered that Nuclear war is possible, and that it’s probably not a good idea. This is all built on the developing war of words between Trump’s administration and North Korea. North Korea. Who haven’t successfully launched a missile further than their own backyard. Who have no money and no resources and no international pull. North Korea who are surrounded by larger, more powerful countries easily capable of applying pressure to resolve any situation (in fact just two days ago China, South Korea, Russia and North Korea held joint diplomatic talks. The US was not invited). North Korea who have been, until very recently, an international punchline. This whole scenario is simply the next step in evolution in news as theatre, which is to say, theatre as news. These are non-existent worries, concerning a non-problem in a false reality. There is no threat from North Korea. None. Their nuclear program is a joke. Their missile tests routinely fail. Including one just last month. [Bizarre] [Nuclear capability]
• “Enveloping strike” and “fire and fury”: Pyongyang and Washington’s “war of words” reaches fever pitch
  Posted on : Aug.10,2017 17:03 KST Modified on : Aug.10,2017 17:03 KST Shortly after President Trump warned that North Korea “will be met with fire and fury,” North Korea said it was considering an attack on Guam With tensions rising around the Korean Peninsula because of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs, Pyongyang and Washington exchanged a volley of incendiary language on Aug. 9, suggesting that they could launch a military strike at each other. Amid rumors of a crisis on the Korean Peninsula in August, US President Donald Trump openly warned that North Korea “will be met with fire and fury,” while North Korea pledged to launch a missile attack on Guam. The intensifying showdown is further increasing uncertainty on the Korean Peninsula. “In order to overpower and suppress Andersen Air Force Base and other major military facilities on Guam and to send a grave warning message to the US, we are seriously considering the operational plan of carrying out an enveloping strike around Guam using our Hwasung-12 intermediate-range strategic ballistic rockets,” said a statement released on Aug. 9 by the spokesperson of the Korean People's Army (KPA) Strategic Force. “After the plan for an enveloping strike at Guam has been adequately prepared and reviewed, it will be immediately submitted to the supreme command. Pending the decision of our comrade Kim Jong-un, the plan will be carried out simultaneously and repeatedly, at a time of our choosing.” The Strategic Force is the unit that operates North Korea’s ballistic missiles. The day before, on Aug. 8, the US had two B-1B Lancers – long-range strategic bombers dubbed the “swan of death” – fly over the Korean Peninsula.
• [Editorial] Pyongyang and Washington should end their strident war of words
  Posted on : Aug.10,2017 16:52 KST Modified on : Aug.10,2017 16:52 KST On Aug. 8, US President Donald Trump warned that if North Korea continued to threaten the US, “they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.” Just a few hours later, the General Staff Department of the North Korean armed forces mentioned the possibility of bombing Guam, a Pacific island that includes multiple American military bases, including Andersen Air Force Base: “We are carefully reviewing an enveloping fire operation around Guam using the Hwasong-12.” The North even mentioned the possibility of all-out war, vowing to “turn not only Seoul but the entire areas of the South Korean 1st and 3rd Field Armies into a sea of fire as soon as we see that the US intends to carry out a preemptive strike.” In effect, North Korea countered Trump’s threat to set North Korea ablaze by threatening to do the same to Guam and Seoul. Though this is just a war of words, it’s as dangerous as a car swerving out of control. Rather than actually meaning that the US will attack North Korea, Trump’s remarks presumably represent a warning to North Korea, pressure on China and Russia to implement the sanctions on the North, and most importantly a political gesture aimed at American voters. But despite these intentions, such incendiary language will not resolve the North Korean issue but only raise tensions in Northeast Asia, making the situation very unstable. In an editorial, the Washington Post described Trump’s remarks as “reckless and unnecessary.” This editorial also asked “why would the president of the world’s most powerful nation want to descend” to the level of the North Korean leader. [US NK policy] [Trump] [False balance]
• Trump urged to stop 'bombastic rhetoric'
  Posted : 2017-08-10 19:05 Updated : 2017-08-10 22:08 By Kim Jae-kyoung U.S. President Donald Trump should stop his improvised, inflammatory rhetoric about North Korea to avoid a military conflict on the Korean Peninsula, according to the Washington-based Arms Control Association (ACA). It said Trump's reckless words have escalated tension on the peninsula, raising the possibility Pyongyang will conduct more aggressive and dangerous military provocations. "Recent bombastic rhetoric from Trump is a dangerous and ineffective strategy to halt North Korea's nuclear development and could trigger a military conflict that would not be in the U.S's interest," ACA's Nonproliferation Policy Director Kelsey Davenport and researcher Alicia Sanders-Zakre said in an email interview. [Trump] [Posturing]
• Lawmakers fear Trump’s tough talk could trigger war
  By Anita Kumar and Lesley Clark McClatchy Washington Bureau August 09, 2017 5:41 PM WASHINGTON They’ve been worried about President Donald Trump going off script for months. And now members of Congress are worried that his blunt and provocative warning to North Korea could lead to war. Trump, using what a White House official described as his own words during impromptu remarks, threatened he would unleash “fire and fury” on the rogue nation if North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attacked the United States. He later followed it up with a tweet about America’s stronger and more powerful nuclear arsenal. “His bombastic rhetoric really inflamed a very…dangerous situation,” Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif. said in an interview. “Kim Jong Un is unpredictable and then we have a very unpredictable bellicose president. The two is a very dangerous mixture.” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., said in an interview that a constituent at a luncheon told him she was rattled by Trump's talk. “She was scared by the language being used by the president of our country,” Cleaver said. “It is not helpful. We don't need to be stirring up anxiety.” It’s not just Democrats who are alarmed. Across the nation, lawmakers on a month-long recess were surprised by Trump’s reaction to news reports that Pyongyang had successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead and was considering a plan to fire missiles at Guam. Even some fellow Republicans criticized the president’s language. “It’s kind of the classic Trump in that he overstates things,” Sen. John McCain, R-Az. told Arizona radio station KTAR. [Trump] [McCain] ]Posturing]
• U.S. Should Pay Heed to DPRK's Warning
  The success in the second test-fire simulating the maximum range of ICBM Hwasong-14 was the stern warning the DPRK sent to the U.S. recklessly vociferating about nonsense. The U.S. ruling quarters should have been prudent after pondering over the great meaning of a "gift" sent by the DPRK on "America Independence Day", if they had some perception. However, the foolish Trump group described the great success of the DPRK's test-fire of ICBM, which laid a strong support for peace and security in the Korean peninsula, region and the rest of the world, as "threat to the world." They hysterically claimed "worldwide act" against the DPRK in defiance of opposition of the international community, making desperate efforts to impose the toughest sanctions and pressure and military threat and blackmail upon the DPRK. The U.S. was also given the big "gift package" by the DPRK meaning a stern warning. The Trump group talked about "strong measure" in a bid to save the face of superpower. However, they put the U.S. on the cliff of the final destruction. The world clearly sees that the American empire fall down like "a giant of mud" in the face of the indomitable spirit of Juche Korea which is always meeting challenges with proactive tactics. The world believes that the day is near at hand when the illegal anti-DPRK "sanctions resolutions" cooked up by the U.S. by abusing the UN Security Council will be on the shelf of history as legacies of the old international order. The only option for the U.S. excepting repealing its bankrupt hostile policy toward the DPRK is self-destruction. [Hwasong-14]
• ‘God has given Trump authority to take out Kim Jong Un,’ evangelical adviser says
  By Sarah Pulliam Bailey August 9 at 11:28 AM President Trump, left, greets pastor Robert Jeffress on July 1 during the Celebrate Freedom Rally at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. (Oliver Douliery/Pool/European Pressphoto Agency) Texas megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress, one of President Trump’s evangelical advisers who preached the morning of his inauguration, has released a statement saying the president has the moral authority to “take out” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “When it comes to how we should deal with evildoers, the Bible, in the book of Romans, is very clear: God has endowed rulers full power to use whatever means necessary — including war — to stop evil,” Jeffress said. “In the case of North Korea, God has given Trump authority to take out Kim Jong Un.” [US NK policy] [War] [Religion] [Bizarre]
• Why North Korea threatened Guam, the tiny U.S. territory with big military power
  By Alex Horton August 9 at 6:11 AM North Korea is reviewing plans to strike U.S. military targets in Guam with its medium-range ballistic missiles to create “enveloping fire,” according to state media. KCNA: "The nuclear war hysteria of the U.S. authorities including Trump has reached an extremely reckless and rash phase for an actual war." — Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) August 8, 2017 The message came hours after President Trump warned North Korea that it will be “met with fire and fury and, frankly, power, the likes of which this world has never seen before” if the country does not stop threatening the United States. The threats follow a unanimous vote by the U.N. Security Council to impose strict new sanctions on North Korea. North Korea’s state media have often warned of strikes against the United States, but the threats are usually vague and do not typically include targets this specific, the Wall Street Journal said. That Kim Jong Un is eyeing Guam, the sovereign U.S. territory with a strategic airfield and naval station, is no surprise to the 160,000 Guamanians on the island. “Every time there is some saber rattling in the part of the world, Guam is always part of the occasion,” said Robert A. Underwood, the president of the University of Guam and the island’s former delegate to the House of Representatives. “When you’re from Guam and live on Guam, it’s disconcerting, but not unusual,” Underwood told The Washington Post. Play Video 1:58 Governor of Guam says no change in threat level from North Korea The governor of Guam, Eddie Baza Calvo, said on Aug. 9 that there has been “no change in the threat level to Guam,” after North Korea and President Trump traded threats. (Eddie Baza Calvo) The governor of Guam, Eddie Baza Calvo, posted an address early Wednesday morning on YouTube, telling island residents not to worry. “I know we woke up to media reports of North Korea’s talk of revenge on the United States and this so-called newfound technology that allows them to target Guam,” the governor said. “I'm working with Homeland Security, the rear admiral and United States to ensure our safety, and I want to reassure the people of Guam that currently there is no threat to our island or the Marianas.” [Retaliation] [Guam]
• U.S. Against Reopening Kaesong Industrial Park
  By Cho Yi-jun August 09, 2017 11:34 The U.S. State Department on Monday made it clear that Washington is against the reopening of the joint-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex. The department's East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau spokesperson Grace Choi said that Seoul's 2016 decision to shut the industrial park down reflected mounting worries in the region over the North's outright violation of UN Security Council resolutions, according to Voice of America. She also rebutted calls from some inside the camp of President Moon Jae-in to exempt the industrial park from sanctions. She urged all nations to take action to further isolate the North economically. [Kaesong] [Sanctions] [US dominance]
• U.S. 'Favorably Inclined' to Boosting S.Korean Missile Power
  By Kim Deok-han August 09, 2017 11:53 The U.S. Defense Department said Monday it is reviewing guidelines that limit the firepower of South Korean missiles amid accelerating missile development in North Korea. The announcement came a day after President Moon Jae-in told his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump over the phone that the South Korean military needs to drastically strengthen its own defense and strategic deterrence to cope with North Korean missiles. Asked if the Pentagon was reviewing the request, Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis said, "There is currently a limit on the warhead size and missiles that South Korea can have and yes, it is a topic under active consideration here." [Missile] [US dominance] [Sovereignty]
• Can US win the game of chicken with North Korea?
  Global Times Published: 2017/8/9 23:28:39 US President Donald Trump on Tuesday gave a harsh warning to North Korea that if it makes more threats to the US, "they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen." A few hours later, Pyongyang responded by saying that it is examining its operational plans for attacking Guam. US B-1B bombers flew over the Korean Peninsula from Anderson Air Force Base on Guam. This is the latest escalation of the war of words between Washington and Pyongyang. The US can't usually gain the upper hand in this war of words, as Pyongyang chooses whatever wording it likes, and what Washington says may not be heard by North Korean society. But US opinion has paid great attention to everything North Korea says. There is a huge gap between Washington and Pyongyang in terms of strength. As the weak side, it seems logical for Pyongyang to utter harsh words to make up for its lack of strength. But even if North Korea masters the mature technology of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), it would be surprising if Pyongyang actively launched a strike against the US. The verbal menace from North Korea seems meant to enhance its own deterrence. [US NK policy] [Deterrent] [Chinese IR]
• Trump warns of 'fire and fury'; N. Korea threatens to strike Guam
  Posted : 2017-08-09 18:18 Updated : 2017-08-09 22:17 By Jun Ji-hye North Korea threatened to strike areas around Guam with strategic missiles in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's warnings of "fire and fury," ratcheting up military tension here. The North Korean military said Wednesday that it would fire missiles topped with nuclear warheads at areas around Guam, home to U.S. naval and air bases, claiming it stands ready to stage an all-out war if Washington presses ahead with a "preventive war" against Pyongyang. [Retaliation] [Conditionality] [Preventive war] [Guam]
• America no longer sees Kim Jong Un as a joke
  By Stuart Leavenworth and Anita Kumar August 08, 2017 6:14 PM WASHINGTON Commentators laughed last year when a photograph emerged of Kim Jong Un standing next to an orb, which a North Korean newspaper stated was a miniaturized nuclear weapon. “That’s a weird looking disco ball,” joked one intelligence contractor on Twitter. Not many are laughing anymore. On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that a U.S. intelligence assessment concluded North Korea has successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead, a disclosure that rapidly intensified an already tense standoff with the rogue nation. Soon after the report, President Donald Trump warned Kim against making further threats, saying North Korea “will be met with the fire and the fury like the world has never seen.” Whether Kim truly possesses the ability to miniaturize a nuclear warhead — and successfully launch it on an intercontinental missile — is unknown and remains hotly debated. Yet there is no doubt now that Kim has scored one major achievement: He is finally being taken seriously by the foreign policy establishment and intelligence agencies, evidenced by the latest assessment on his nuclear capabilities. Kim came to power in 2011, and was immediately mocked for his funny haircut and pudgy appearance. [US NK policy] [Kim Jong Un]
• The U.N. has placed more sanctions on North Korea. That’s not enough.
  By Editorial Board August 7 at 7:32 PM NO ONE who grasps the seriousness of the missile and nuclear weapons threat from North Korea can dismiss the significance of a unanimous vote of the 15-member U.N. Security Council, including China, Russia and the United States, for yet another round of sanctions, the eighth in 11 years. The vote reflects a broad sense of international alarm, which reached new levels after the July 4 and July 28 tests of ballistic missiles that could reach the United States. The vote is very welcome. [US NK Policy] [Policy poverty] [Sanctions]
• Will UN Sanctions Against N.Korea Prove Toothless Again?
  August 07, 2017 12:31 The UN Security Council on Saturday unanimously agreed on a tougher set of sanctions against North Korea that include the complete ban on exports of coal, iron ore and seafood. But crude oil supplies from Russia and China were once again left out of the resolution, and North Korea can keep collecting hard currency from slave laborers it has already sent abroad. South Korea and the U.S. believe the latest sanctions will slash North Korea's exports by around US$1 billion or one-third of the annual total. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley lauded them as "the most stringent set of sanctions on any country in a generation." But while they may pinch, nobody believes that they will be enough to stop Kim Jong-un from continuing to develop nuclear weapons and missiles. South Korea and the U.S. praised the UN Security Council resolutions adopted shortly after North Korea's fourth and fifth nuclear tests last year as the ultimate penalties, but Pyongyang barely flinched and developed an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. [Sanctions] [UNUS] [China NK]
• N.Korea Vows to 'Retaliate 1,000 Times' Over Sanctions
  By Kim Myong-song August 08, 2017 12:03 North Korea on Tuesday slammed a new UN Security Council Resolution tightening sanctions against the renegade regime. A government statement released through the North's official Korean Central News Agency on Monday said that the new resolution is "a flagrant infringement" of the North's sovereignty and "an outright challenge" to the regime. In the usual garbled prose, it added, "As we've already said, we'll take a stern action of justice, as long as the U.S. has ultimately produced the UNSC resolution aimed at violating our sovereignty and rights to survival and development. We're ready to use the last resort of any kind without hesitation." [Sanctions] [Response] [Communications]
• Dealing with North Korea
  Tuesday 8 August 2017 10:20PM (view full episode) Last week, the UN imposed its toughest set of sanctions on North Korea. US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson stated on Monday that Washington was willing to talk to North Korea if it halted missile test launches. That comment was reported as being ‘conciliatory’ by Tillerson, who was at a regional security forum in Manila. Is talking to North Korea the only strategy to avert nuclear disaster in North East Asia? Guests Leon Sigal Director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council in New York. [US NK policy]
• Trump vows North Korea will be met with ‘fire and fury’ if threats continue
  By John Wagner and Jenna Johnson August 8 at 5:46 PM Trump on North Korea: 'They will be met with fire and fury' During his stay at his Bedminster, N.J., golf club on Aug. 8, President Trump said North Korea "will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen" if they continue making nuclear "threats." (Reuters) BEDMINSTER, N.J. -- President Trump on Tuesday issued a stern warning to North Korea, saying that if its threats to the United States continue, the outcast nation will be “met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.” Trump comments came as North Korea spurned a new round of sanctions approved by the United Nations Security Council and pledged to continue to press forward with development of nuclear weapons that could reach the U.S. mainland. Appearing at an event at his Bedminster, N.J., golf club, where Trump is on a 17-day “working vacation,” he said that “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States.” “They will be met with fire and fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before,” Trump said, as his administration faces one of its most serious foreign policy challenges of his presidency. Speaking of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump said “he has been very threatening beyond a normal state.” [Trump] [Threat] [Inversion]
• At meeting, top S. Korean and US diplomats discuss ways to implement N. Korea sanctions
  Posted on : Aug.7,2017 16:58 KST Modified on : Aug.7,2017 16:58 KST South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha shakes hands with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson before their meeting at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) foreign ministers‘ meeting in Manila, Aug. 6. (Yonhap News) Two sides also to discuss increasing South Korea’s ballistic missile weight, and trilateral cooperation with Japan During a meeting in Manila on Aug. 6, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson discussed ways of implementing Resolution No. 2371, the new sanctions resolution adopted by the UN Security Council early that morning, as well as ways for South Korea and the US to cooperate bilaterally and trilaterally with Japan on the issues of North Korea and its nuclear weapons and missile programs. The two top diplomats agreed to quickly launch negotiations to revise the South Korea-US missile rules and to speed up working-level consultations aimed at scheduling regular Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group (EDSCG) talks as discussed during the South Korea-US summit at the end of June. [Sanctions] [US dominance]
• Moon, Trump agree to peaceful resolution of N. Korea issues
  Posted : 2017-08-07 18:14 Updated : 2017-08-07 20:45 U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and President Moon Jae-in Moon, Abe seek maximum pressure on Pyongyang By Jun Ji-hye President Moon Jae-in reaffirmed that North Korean nuclear issues should be resolved peacefully and diplomatically during a telephone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump, Monday. Moon said the two countries should draw proper measures based on their close cooperation, stressing "a tragic war can never be allowed to break out on the Korean Peninsula," according to presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun. The 56-minute conversation took place amid military tension here following Pyongyang's test-firings of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), July 4 and 28. The North claimed its Hwasong-14 ICBM is capable of striking targets on the U.S. mainland. Moon's comments were construed as putting the brakes on President Trump and some U.S. politicians' increasing mentioning of various military options to deal with the North including a pre-emptive strike or a war on the peninsula, as well as — on the other hand — direct negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington. Trump has recently said he will go to war with the North if the regime in Pyongyang continues to threaten the U.S. with its nuclear and missile programs, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) last week. Possible direct negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington are also causing concern over the so-called "Korea passing," a term coined by the Korean press to describe Seoul's isolation from the international community. [Sidelined] [Self-delusion]
• [INTERVIEW] Seoul should push for THAAD deployment
  Posted : 2017-08-07 18:16 Updated : 2017-08-07 20:33 By Kim Jae-kyoung South Korea should push ahead with the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here in the face of China's strong opposition, according to a former U.S. special envoy to the six-party talks with North Korea. "Deploying THAAD is necessary, especially given North Korea's numerous missile launches, all in violation of U.N. resolutions prohibiting such launches," Joseph DeTrani said in an interview. "Regardless of China's opposition, THAAD and other missile defense capabilities are necessary, given North Korea's reckless behavior." [THAAD] [US dominance]
• Stung North Korea Threatens Retaliation Over Sanctions, Calls U.S. ‘Frantic’ About Missiles
  By Rick Gladstone Aug. 7, 2017 Stung by onerous new sanctions ordered by the United Nations Security Council, North Korea on Monday threatened retaliation “thousands of times over” and called the penalties a panicky American-led response to its missiles and nuclear bombs. The North Korean threat, in statements from its official news agency and United Nations mission, suggested the leader of the isolated country of 25 million, Kim Jong-un, was doubling down on his goal of strengthening North Korea’s nuclear program so its missiles could hit the continental United States. The statements came two days after the Security Council ordered the new sanctions in a 15-0 vote that basically left Mr. Kim bereft of any powerful supporter on the issue, including China, which helped the United States draft the new measures. If enforced, the measures could lop an estimated $1 billion annually off North Korea’s meager export revenue of $3 billion. [Sanctions] [Legality] [Sovereignty]
• Dear President Moon
  By: 38 North August 4, 2017Editor's Column Your Excellency: As an American who has worked for over 20 years in both the US government and as a private citizen to try to resolve the security challenges facing your country and mine on the Korean peninsula, I hope you will allow me to offer some advice on how to deal with the current mounting crisis over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. [US NK policy] [SK NK policy] [Engagement] [Moon Jae-in]
• Korean Americans decry Trump’s comments about deaths “over there”
  Posted on : Aug.6,2017 14:21 KST Modified on : Aug.6,2017 14:21 KST Instead of inflammatory rhetoric, groups urge “the non-military option: dialogue, engagement, and diplomacy” Council of Korean Americans executive director Sam Yoon The Council of Korean Americans (CKA), a group of second-generation Korean politicians, attorneys, and businesspeople in the US, has come out criticizing President Donald Trump’s willingness to risk war on the Korean Peninsula and demanding direct dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington. During an Aug. 1 television appearance, Senator Lindsey Graham quoted Trump as having said, “If there’s going to be a war to stop him [Kim Jong-un], it will be over there [on the Korean Peninsula]. If thousands die, they’re going to die over there. They’re not going to die over here [in the US].” In an Aug. 2 letter to CKA members, executive director Sam Yoon wrote, “This kind of rhetoric is unacceptable to Korean Americans, who came from ‘over there’ and who have family, relatives, and a shared history with the people from ‘over there.’” [Diaspora] [Graham]
• North Korea can show it’s ready for negotiations by stopping missile launches, Tillerson says
  China urges North Korea to stop missile tests China's foreign minister said new U.N. Security Council sanctions on North Korea were the right response to a series of missile tests. (Reuters) By Carol Morello August 7 at 12:02 AM MANILA — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Monday that North Korea could show it is ready for negotiations by stopping missile launches, and said he told Russian diplomats that the Kremlin’s meddling in U.S. elections had created “serious mistrust” of them among Americans. In remarks to reporters at a regional conference in which North Korea’s missile and nuclear tests have dominated discussions, Tillerson held out an olive branch to Pyongyang by saying the United States will sit down for talks “when conditions are right” to discuss denuclearization and steps to ensure North Korea can feel secure and prosperous. “The best signal that North Korea could give us that they’re prepared to talk would be to stop these missile launches,” he said. “We’ve not had any extended period of time where they have not taken some type of provocative action by launching ballistic missiles. I think that would be the first and strongest signal they could send to us, would be to stop these missile launches.” [Tillerson] [IUS NK policy] [Preconditions]
• U.N. imposes new sanctions on North Korea following missile tests
  Haley reacts to U.N. Security Council vote on North Korea The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved tough new sanctions on North Korea, including a ban on exports worth over $1 billion. (UNTV) By Karen DeYoung August 5 The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Saturday to impose new sanctions on North Korea, banning exports that supply up to a third of the country’s annual $3 billion earnings. The U.S.-sponsored resolution was in response to North Korea’s launch of two intercontinental ballistic missiles last month, activities prohibited under existing U.N. resolutions. The sanctions ban North Korea’s largest export, coal, along with exports of iron and iron ore, lead and lead ore, and seafood. Together, those exports amount to more than $1 billion a year in income for Pyongyang. [US NK policy] [Sanctions] [UNUS]
• North Korea’s ‘humanitarian’ exports paid for weapons programs, U.S. says
  A North Korean military officer, right, and another North Korean stand behind a pile of coal Dec. 14, 2012, along the banks of the Yalu River in the northeast of the North Korean border town of Siniuju. (Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images) By Peter Whoriskey August 6 at 1:00 AM The U.N. Security Council’s move to block countries from buying North Korean coal plugs a large loophole that allowed Chinese companies to import more North Korean coal after the first U.N. ban in 2016. Previous bans have allowed Pyongyang to sell coal for “humanitarian” trade, but Saturday’s vote banned all coal sales in an effort to choke off funding for Kim Jong Un’s weapons programs, where much of the money was funneled, according to recent U.S. court filings. The coal trade cited in the court documents accounted for as much as one-third of North Korean exports and helps explain how North Korea continued to develop its weapons programs despite being impoverished and under trade sanctions. The connections to the military also undermine Chinese claims that their imports were benefiting North Korean civilians. [Trade] [Defense] [Sanctions] [Hypocrisy]
• DPRK warns US against further military pressure over nuclear program
  Source: Xinhua Published: 2017/8/5 19:41:47 The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Saturday warned the United States against further military and economic pressure over its nuclear program, after Pyongyang successfully test fired its second intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The official Korean Central News Agency said the United States has thrown "a hysteric fit" after being "taken aback by the DPRK's continued demonstration of nuclear attack capabilities." The United States has been making repeated military threats against Pyongyang after it launched its second ICBM on July 28, by sending B-1B strategic bombers to the Korean Peninsula and holding joint missile drills with South Korea, said the news agency in a commentary. "The more desperately the US works to realize its ambition for 'nuclear dismantlement of the north' through 'maximum pressure and engagement,' the more dynamically the DPRK has stepped up diversifying and modernizing its nuclear force," it said. The United States is going to propose a new resolution of sanctions against the DPRK at the United Nations Security Council on Saturday, according to media reports. [NK US policy] [Deterrence]
• S. Korean, US and Japanese top security officials hold first video conference on North Korea
  Posted on : Aug.5,2017 15:54 KST Modified on : Aug.5,2017 15:54 KST Blue House National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong responds to reporters’ questions after meeting with Minjoo Party floor leader Woo Won-shik and other party leaders, Aug. 3. (by Kang Chang-kwang, staff photographer) Three countries agree that dialogue with North Korea is possible, and pledge to keep applying sanctions and pressure The top national security officials in South Korea, the US and Japan expressed their agreement that dialogue with North Korea is possible under the right conditions and that the international community, under the lead of these three countries, should keep working to apply sanctions and pressure on the North to bring it to the negotiating table. [Moon Jae-in] [Triangular]
• US, China agree on toughest sanctions on North Korea
  Posted : 2017-08-05 16:12 Updated : 2017-08-05 16:50 The U.N. Security Council will soon vote on a resolution imposing tougher sanctions on North Korea for its recent intercontinental ballistic missile tests, diplomats said Saturday. The U.S.-drafted resolution aims to cut North Korea's export revenue by one-third to $1 billion a year, according to news reports. "We tabled a U.N. Security Council Resolution and hope for adoption as soon as possible," a U.S. official told Yonhap on the condition of anonymity. After lengthy negotiations, the U.S. reached a deal on related measures with China, the top trading partner and ally of the North, they said. Russia seems to have approved the proposal, a South Korean diplomatic source said. [US NK policy] [Sanctions] [UNUS] [China NK]
• McMaster Says Kim Jong-un 'Should Not Be Sleeping Easy'
  By Cho Yi-jun August 04, 2017 09:41 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un should not be sleeping easy at night after his latest provocation, White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said Wednesday. H.R. McMaster McMaster told MSNBC in an interview, "I think he should not be [sleeping well] because he has the whole world against him... He's isolated on this." He described North Korea's missiles as a "grave threat" but declined to confirm that the Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile the North tested recently can reach New York. "I'm not going to confirm it," McMaster said. "But as I mentioned, really, whether it could reach San Francisco or Pittsburgh or Washington -- how much does that matter, right? It's a grave threat." He added it is intolerable for North Korea have nuclear weapons that could threaten the U.S., and all options including a military option should be on the table. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters the previous day that the U.S. is willing to hold talks with the regime and added, "We do not seek regime change." But in an interview with the Wall Street Journal the same day, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence ruled out direct talks. The U.S.' strategy doesn't involve "engaging North Korea directly," he said. The shambolic Trump administration has frequently made it difficult to discern any clear line in the fog of obfuscation and braggadocio that emerges from it. McMaster, an Army lieutenant general, is seen by some in the U.S. mainstream media as the most rational in the national security team and is thought to stand his ground against President Donald Trump if necessary. [Deterrence] [Hwasong-14] [US NK policy]
• [Correspondent’s column] What it means when the State Dept. only says “ask the White House”
  Posted on : Aug.4,2017 15:59 KST Modified on : Aug.4,2017 15:59 KST The Trump administration’s scattered way of dealing with the media indicates that the government is dysfunctional During the two years I’ve spent in Washington as a foreign correspondent the last one and a half years of the presidency of Barack Obama and the first six months of the presidency of Donald Trump, I’ve been shocked by the stark differences in how the two administrations deal with the news media. Under the Trump administration, inquiries to the State Department or the Department of Defense over a major issue are frequently met with instructions to “ask the White House.” I don’t remember ever hearing that during the Obama administration. But since Trump became president, I find myself getting different answers from the same official in the same department. Responding to the media is an important yardstick for assessing a government’s organizational capacity. Both in South Korea and the US, internal discussion in the administration leads to the production of “press guidance,” or in other words guidelines for dealing with the news media. These guidelines provide sample responses to media inquiries, since all departments need to be consistent in what they say. The fact that government departments are telling me to “ask the White House” is very suggestive. It suggests that those departments have little authority and are constantly watching the White House for cues. The fact that they’re not aggressively responding to the media means that the administration lacks teamwork. As a result, the positions adopted by the White House and by the departments are sometimes out of sync. [Trump] [Dysfunction]
• Blue House National Security Advisor says US agrees that “there will be no war”
  Posted on : Aug.4,2017 16:02 KST Modified on : Aug.4,2017 16:02 KST Blue House National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong responds to reporters’ questions after meeting with Minjoo Party floor leader Woo Won-shik and other party leaders, Aug. 3. (by Kang Chang-kwang, staff photographer) South Korean officials try to dispel rumors of a crisis on the Korean peninsula, say they’re in constant contact with US During a visit to the National Assembly on Aug. 3, Blue House National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong told Minjoo Party floor leader Woo Won-shik and other party leaders that “There will be no war, and the US thinks the same thing.” In the wake of North Korea’s second test launch of an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile), the government’s decision to “temporarily deploy” four more THAAD launchers has provoked controversy, and widespread rumors about an “August crisis on the Korean Peninsula” have even sparked concern in the ruling party. This meeting was designed to forge a consensus on the security situation between the party and the Blue House. [US NK policy] [Military option] [Wishful thinking]
• US Secretary of State not planning to meet with N. Korean Foreign Minister at ASEAN Regional Forum
  Posted on : Aug.4,2017 16:01 KST Modified on : Aug.4,2017 16:01 KST US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (right) and Secretary of Defense James Mattis enter a meeting of Senate Foreign Relations Committee at Capitol Hill in Washington, Aug. 2. (EPA/Yonhap News) At ARF, US will discuss suspending North Korea’s membership status US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has no plans to meet with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho at an ASEAN-related meeting in Manila on Aug. 6—8, the State Department said. The US also announced plans to discuss suspending North Korea’s status as an ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) member. Speaking in a telephone briefing on Aug. 2 for Tillerson’s Asia visit, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia said that the Secretary of State had “no plans to meet the North Korean foreign Minister in Manila.” “I don’t expect to see that happen,” she added. “As of right now, we don’t see any indication that the North Koreans are willing to enter into . . . a serious discussion with us,” Thornton continued, adding that Washington was “still in the stage of elevating pressure on the North Korean regime, elevating their feeling of isolation.” [Tillerson] [ARF] [US NK Negotiations]
• Victor Cha - Korean Caesar wannabe
  Posted : 2017-08-04 11:57 Updated : 2017-08-04 18:57 By Oh Young-jin The U.S. Trump administration is in chaos. I am not talking about its internal power struggle but its North Korea policy. President Donald Trump has zigzagged, with his mantra being the end of strategic patience ? the idle-minded policy of his predecessor President Barack Obama. This means that who the next U.S. ambassador to Seoul will be is ever more important. He or she should be communicative with Koreans and have Trump's trust ? giving a nudge when the president wobbles and making sure it gets noted. In that sense, Victor Cha, a former Bush operative and professor at Georgetown couldn't be a worse candidate, according to five people in the know. Putting their suggestions together, the result is Cha, who would act as if he were Caesar the Conqueror, trying to get his way no matter what at the risk of a great deal of friction with the Moon Jae-in government. That would be possible and dangerous because he, if appointed, would exert influence at key junctures when his boss was distracted, and the North's asymmetric threat will peak. Some say that it is better now without a resident at Habib House in Seoul than Cha in it. Cha appears to be the only who has made the short list. [Victor Cha] [US NK policy] [MISCOM]
• What is behind NK's ICBM tests?
  Posted : 2017-08-04 18:20 Updated : 2017-08-04 18:20 Pyonyang seeks to estrange South Korea from US By Kim Jae-kyoung President Moon Jae-in must be anxious about North Korea's military provocations following his dialogue offer to defuse tension and reach a denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The North is yet to respond officially to Moon's outreach. It has said through the Rodong Sinmun, the mouthpiece of the ruling Workers' Party, that halting "anti-North Korean confrontations and hostile practices" is a prerequisite for improving inter-Korean relations. The proposal for talks came shortly after Pyongyang succeeded in its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that it said was capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. Moon expressed his wish to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at any time. But instead of accepting talks with Moon, Kim carried out a second test of an ICBM, and is preparing to conduct another nuclear test. What is North Korea's true intention of testing ICBMs while the South is offering peace gestures? What is behind the North's silence to the offer of talks? Experts said the immediate purpose of Pyongyang's actions is to estrange South Korea from the U.S. and to have talks directly with Washington. [Missile test] [Bilateral]
• Send Tillerson to Pyongyang
  With North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and its recent tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles that may reach the United States, there is an urgent need to break the cycle of threats and testing. U.S. military and economic pressure on North Korea—sanctions, provocative war games, and deployment of the THAAD missile system in South Korea—have not and will not work. It’s time for a bold initiative by those with the power to move forward a peace treaty. Rex Tillerson recently said: “We would like to sit down and have a dialogue with them.” Tell President Trump to give Tillerson the opportunity to show us he’s a diplomat with the courage to make the peace deal of the century by sending him to North Korea. [US NK policy] [Petition] [Diplomacy]
• North Korea Sanctions: Isolating the Isolated
  Sanctions haven't changed North Korea's behavior. When are we going to try something different? By John Feffer, July 31, 2017. Originally published in Hankyoreh. North Korea has prided itself over the years on remaining relatively detached from the international community. During the Cold War, for instance, it refused to become a cog in the Soviet trading system that would have relegated it to supplying raw materials to and purchasing finished products from the imperial center. Instead, it remained economically independent and invested in manufacturing its own products. When South Korea decided to tie its own economy to global capitalism, becoming a major exporting power, North Korea kept its distance from international finance. It created a special economic zone in the northeast of the country, changed its laws to facilitate foreign investment, and organized trade fairs to sell its products to the world’s customers. Eventually, as a result of the collapse of the state distribution system, it even tolerated private markets within the country. But the regime eyed the free market warily, anxious that it would undermine the authority of the central government. It made accommodations to capitalism, but only on its own terms. Geopolitically, North Korea has also avoided entangling alliances. It maintains fraternal relations with China but has repeatedly disregarded Chinese advice and bristled at Chinese pressure. Ditto with Russia. No country has been allowed to impinge on North Korea’s sovereignty. It’s not that North Korea prefers isolation, but it certainly has become accustomed to it. Nor is the country entirely isolated: the elite is aware of the outside world while a good deal of information has leaked to the rest of the population via flash drives and word of mouth. Given the high degree of comfort that North Korea has with its state of isolation, it’s somewhat odd that the United States can’t think of any other way of dealing with the country than to increase that isolation. [US NK policy] [Engagement]
• Trump 'Willing to Go to War with N.Korea'
  By Cho Yi-jun August 03, 2017 09:34 U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham on Tuesday claimed President Donald Trump told him he is willing to go to war with North Korea if it develops a nuclear-capable intercontinental missile that can hit the U.S. Speaking on NBC's "Today" program, Graham flatly contradicted pundits who say there is no realistic military option against North Korea. "There is a military option to destroy North Korea's nuclear program and North Korea itself," he said. Trump "is not going to allow the ability of this madman [North Korean leader Kim Jong-un] to destroy America," he said, adding, "He's told me that to my face." White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders tried to contain another scattershot salvo of mixed messages from the U.S. administration by telling reporters, "We're weighing all options, keeping all options on the table." But Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters the same day, "We felt the appropriate thing to do first was to seek peaceful pressure on the regime in North Korea to have them develop a willingness to sit and talk with us." But he added there needs to be "an understanding that a condition of those talks is there is no future where North Korea holds nuclear weapons or the ability to deliver those nuclear weapons to anyone in the region much less to the homeland." Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that Washington is preparing to take retaliatory trade measures against China. The measure is aimed at pressuring China to lean harder on its ally North Korea to scrap its nuclear and missile programs. [Military option]
• S.Korea Wants U.S. to Send Aircraft Carrier to Korean Waters
  By Yu Yong-weon August 03, 2017 11:58 The military is asking the U.S. to dispatch two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers to the Korean Peninsula for a joint drill, government officials here said Wednesday. A government source here said, "We're asking for the deployment of a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group for the joint Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise that starts on Aug. 21." The source added there is "a possibility" that the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier of the 7th U.S. Fleet will come. The Reagan strike group is scheduled to join a joint exercise in Korean waters in October, but after the North's latest test of an intercontinental ballistic missile the allies are now considering bringing the dispatch forward. [Joint IUS military] [Moon Jae-in]
• An Insane Policy Towards North Korea
  by Ron Forthofer This year we commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the unjustifiable US use of nuclear weapons against civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those two attacks demonstrated the horrific power of the atomic bomb, a bomb that is tiny in comparison to the nuclear weapons available today. Here are a few quotes that are worth pondering as we now face an avoidable crisis with North Korea, a nation with a few nuclear weapons. [US NK policy]
• [News analysis] What’s behind Tillerson’s softer tone on North Korea?
  Posted on : Aug.3,2017 17:11 KST Modified on : Aug.3,2017 17:11 KST US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks during a surprise appearance at a press briefing at the State Department in Washington DC, Aug. 1. (EPA/Yonhap News) Possibility of a meeting between top US and North Korean diplomats next week at ASEAN Regional Forum With tensions increasing on the Korean Peninsula after North Korea conducted two test launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), the US‘s top diplomat publicly stated that the US is leaving open the door for dialogue with North Korea. While the remarks seem to have been primarily aimed at containing the situation and clearing up confusion about the internal message, they are notable since the top diplomats from North Korea and the US will both be attending the ASEAN Regional Forum, which will be held next week in Manila, the Philippines. “We’re trying to convey to the North Koreans we are not your enemy, we are not your threat,” Tillerson said during a press conference at the office of the State Department in Washington on Aug. 1. “At some point,” he continued, “we would like to sit and have a dialogue with them about the future that will give them the security they seek and the future economic prosperity for North Korea.” “We do not seek a regime change; we do not seek the collapse of the regime; we do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula; we do not seek an excuse to send our military north of the 38th parallel,” Tillerson emphasized. Tillerson had expounded these four principles during a speech to State Department employees on May 3. “We initiated a sustained and continued intensified campaign on what I like to call peaceful pressure [on North Korea], because the options available to us [. . .] are limited,” Tillerson said as he explained why the US was focusing on sanctions against North Korea rather than military action. “We certainly don’t blame the Chinese for the situation in North Korea,” Tillerson said, noting that the US has been asking China “to use that influence with North Korea to create the conditions where we can have a productive dialogue.” “We don’t think having a dialogue where the North Koreans come to the table assuming they‘re going to maintain their nuclear weapons is productive,” he said, reiterating the US position that the aim of dialogue with North Korea is denuclearization. The remarks by Tillerson, who has now been in office for six months, had not been previously announced by the State Department, making his appearance at the briefing something of a surprise. This suggests that Tillerson, who is notoriously uncomfortable with exposure to the media, had a special reason for making these remarks. [Tillerson] [US NK policy] [Ploy] [US NK Negotiations]
• Journalists, humanitarian workers exempt from US North Korea travel ban
  Posted on : Aug.3,2017 17:13 KST Modified on : Aug.3,2017 17:13 KST Travel ban to go into effect on Sep. 1, motivated by “mounting concerns over the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention” in N. Korea The US Donald Trump administration announced details on Aug. 1 regarding its North Korea travel ban for US citizens. US journalists and people or groups traveling to North Korea for humanitarian purposes were recognized as exceptions to the ban. Examination of an overview of the North Korean travel ban, which the Trump administration posted online on Aug. 1 ahead of its official Federal Register listing on Aug. 2, shows that US passports will not be recognized as valid for North Korean travel, and that individuals or groups visiting North Korea for special purposes will only be able to do so with a special passport approved by the State Department. Four categories were listed as exceptions to the North Korea travel ban: professional journalists and media figures, groups officially sponsored by the International Committee of the Red Cross or US Red Cross, travel for humanitarian purposes, and instances where the applicant’s request is related to US national interests. The inclusion of determinations based on national interests was seen as a gesture toward the possibility of US diplomats or major figures negotiating with or contacting North Korea. Signed by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on July 21, the measure officially goes into effect on Sep. 1, 30 days after its official register listing. The Trump administration’s decision to ban travel to North Korea was strongly influenced by the recent death of US student Otto Warmbier. The State Department said it adopted the measure amid “mounting concerns over the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention under North Korea’s system of law enforcement.” By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent [Travel ban] [US NK policy]
• As Tensions Explode on Korean Peninsula, US Peace Delegation Calls for Immediate Response to North Korea’s Offer to Freeze Its Nuclear Program
  August 2, 2017 STikgroup Peace Delegation, Press Release 0 The Solidarity Peace Delegation, concluding their July 23-28 visit to South Korea, calls for immediate US-South Korean action to de-escalate growing military tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The delegation was composed of Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK, Reece Chenault of US Labor Against the War, Will Griffin of Veterans for Peace, and recent Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein. It was sponsored by The Channing and Popai Liem Education Foundation and the Task Force to Stop THAAD in Korea and Militarism in Asia and the Pacific.(STIK). The delegation issued the following statement: The Korean Peninsula is rapidly approaching the boiling point. On the last day of our visit, July 28, North Korea conducted a missile test, and the US-South Korean governments launched another set of warning missiles. South Korean President Moon announced he would allow the United States to deploy four additional launchers to complete the controversial THAAD anti-missile system unit, reversing his previous position. In light of these escalations and the likelihood of more aggressive measures, urgent actions are needed in order to de-escalate tensions. North Korea has repeatedly offered to suspend its nuclear weapons development in exchange for a freeze in US-South Korean joint war exercises. It’s time for the US and South Korea to respond to this offer as a jumping off point for definitive negotiations towards a peaceful, sovereign, nuclear-free Korean peninsula, free from the conflicts of competing global powers that have been so harmful to the region. [Peace effort] [Freeze] [US NK policy]
• U.S. Ready to Set up 4 More THAAD Launchers
  By Kim Jin-myung August 02, 2017 09:54 The U.S. Defense Department said Monday that it is ready to install four more Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery launchers in South Korea. Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis told reporters in Washington, "We made an alliance decision with the [South Korean] government last year to deploy THAAD to the Korean Peninsula as a defensive measure. We have gotten that to an initial missile defense ability just within the past few months. We are certainly ready to bring additional pieces in as quickly as we can." The U.S. brought six THAAD interceptor launchers to South Korea in March but set up only two in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province while the other four remain in storage. "A lot of people question the need for THAAD; they question the requirem [THAAD] [Pretext]
• S.Korea Is Being Sidelined from Its Own Future
  August 02, 2017 13:28 U.S. government officials are adopting a completely new approach to dealing with the North Korean nuclear crisis following the North's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile on July 28. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has proposed promising China that American troops will withdraw from South Korea following the collapse of the North Korean regime. The idea is to ease Beijing's jitters over Chinese and U.S. troops in direct confrontation once Kim Jong-un and the North Korean nuclear threat disappear. Jay Lefkowitz, who was special envoy for human rights in North Korea during the George W. Bush administration, has even said that the U.S. should abandon its "one Korea policy" of recognizing only the South Korean government. The aim is to give China what it wants -- a permanently divided Korean Peninsula -- while getting rid of the North's nuclear weapons. [US NK policy] [Approval] [Sidelined]
• Is Military Strike Against N.Korea Feasible?
  By Yang Seung-sik August 02, 2017 08:20 The U.S. and South Korean chairmen of the joint chiefs of staff discussed a military response after North Korea's latest missile test over phone, Pentagon spokesman Greg Hicks said last Friday. But is a "surgical strike" on the North's nuclear facilities or leader Kim Jong-un's residence in Pyongyang or a preemptive strike on missile launch vehicles a realistic option? Some people claim that it would be possible to reduce North Korea to ashes in a single day given the formidable military power the U.S. has. But South Korean and U.S. military strategists say this would require at least three aircraft carrier strike groups, and their presence would alert North Korea as well as China and Russia well in advance. [Military option] [Approval]
• Moon Shifts Position on THAAD After N.Korean Missile Test
  July 31, 2017 12:48 President Moon Jae-in is showing signs of shifting his dovish position on North Korea and the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery here after North Korea's latest missile test. Moon was briefed about the North's latest intercontinental missile launch at 11:50 p.m. on Friday night, just minutes after the provocation, and called a meeting of the National Security Council at 1 a.m. Saturday. "The latest missile launch could lead to fundamental changes in the Northeast Asian security structure," Moon said. He called on officials to consider "our own sanctions against North Korea." South Korean and U.S. forces conducted joint exercises aimed at intercepting North Korea's missiles on Sunday. Seoul also proposed to revise limits imposed by the U.S. on the range and payload of South Korea's own missiles. The government wants raise the maximum payload from the current 500 kg to 1 ton. [Moon Jae-in] [Missile test] [Pretext]
• The North Korea Travel Ban Will Do More Harm Than Good
  By Christine Ahn
  Aug. 2, 2017 SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea tested two long-range missiles last month, demonstrating that it may be able to reach American soil with a nuclear weapon. Tensions between Washington and Pyongyang are at a high point. In this atmosphere, multiple barriers — language, culture and ideology — make misunderstanding and dangerous miscalculations more likely, paving the way for conflict. We need more contact and communication among the people of North Korea, South Korea and the United States — not less. But the United States government is barring Americans from traveling to North Korea. The ban was put in place by the Trump administration following the death in June of Otto Warmbier, the American college student who had been detained in North Korea for more than a year and died after returning home in a coma. [Travel ban] [US NK policy] [Peace effort]
• A North Korean ICBM is a danger, not a game changer
  by Brad Glosserman Brad Glosserman (brad@pacforum.org) is executive director of Pacific Forum CSIS. North Korea’s determination to acquire an intercontinental missile capability continues to alarm US officials and experts. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson noted that last week’s missile test – now acknowledged to be an ICBM – “represents a new escalation of the threat to the United States, our allies and partners, the region and the world.” Gen. Mark Milley, chief of staff of the US Army, warned the day before the test that North Korea is “the single most dangerous threat facing the international community right now.” They are right to raise the dangers of Pyongyang’s relentless drive – 28 missile tests in the last year alone – to be able to reach out and touch the US. But the claim that a North Korea ICBM capability is a “game changer” – the description of Gen. Vincent Brooks, commander of U.S. Forces Korea along with numerous other analysts and planners – goes too far, and is in fact dangerous. We should abandon the rhetoric that a North Korean ICBM fundamentally changes the security landscape: it is incorrect and sends the wrong signal to allies and adversaries. North Korea believes that its ability to deliver a nuclear warhead to US soil transforms the strategic equation on the Korean Peninsula, concluding that it can then threaten the US and its allies, or force Washington to accept Pyongyang’s goals. Pyongyang assesses the prospect of “trading Seattle for Seoul” will decouple the US from its allies, forcing Washington to stand down or aside in a crisis. That logic is mistaken. [US NK policy] [Deterrent] [ICBM]
• U.S. displays military firepower after North Korea’s latest ICBM test
  U.S. military tests THAAD missile defense program The United States said, July 30, it shot down a medium-range target ballistic missile in its latest test of the country's THAAD missile defense program, designed to protect against threats from countries such as North Korea and Iran. (Reuters) By Carol Morello July 30 The United States pointedly showed off its military prowess over the Pacific and the Korean Peninsula on Sunday in response to North Korea’s launch Friday of a missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, a test Pyongyang said was a “stern warning” for Washington to back off from threats and more sanctions. In a sign that tensions are spiraling upward rapidly, the United States flew two supersonic B-1 bombers over the Korean Peninsula as part of a joint exercise with Japan and South Korea. And U.S. forces conducted a successful missile defense test over the Pacific Ocean, sending aloft from Alaska a medium-range ballistic missile that it detected, tracked and intercepted using the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System. [Posturing] [THAAD]
• Urgent Warning: Time to Hit the Reset Button on U.S.-Korean Policy
  by Medea Benjamin Touching down in Washington D.C. Friday night after a peace delegation to South Korea, I saw the devastating news. No, it was not that Reince Priebus had been booted from the dysfunctional White House. It was that North Korea had conducted another intercontinental ballistic missile test, and that the United States and South Korea had responded by further ratcheting up this volatile conflict. [US NK policy] [Peace effort] [Liberal]
• U.S. would like dialogue with North Korea at some point: Tillerson
  The United States does not seek to topple the government of North Korea and would like to have a dialogue with Pyongyang at some point, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson attends a joint news conference with Qatar's foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani in Doha, Qatar, July 11, 2017.Naseem Zeitoon "We do not seek a regime change, we do not seek a collapse of the regime, we do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula, we do not seek an excuse to send our military north of the 38th Parallel," Tillerson told reporters at the State Department. "We are not your enemy ... but you are presenting an unacceptable threat to us, and we have to respond. And we hope that at some point they will begin to understand that and we would like to sit and have a dialogue with them." [Tillerson] [US NK policy] [Negotiations] [Policy poverty]

• S. Korea, US agree to open negotiations on missile guideline
  Posted : 2017-07-29 15:27 Updated : 2017-07-29 15:43 South Korea and the United States have agreed to open negotiations to revise a bilateral ballistic missile guideline to allow the former to develop a more powerful missile amid North Korea's continued provocations, Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Saturday. President Moon Jae-in instructed his government to begin bilateral consultations to rewrite the guideline that bans Seoul from developing ballistic missiles with a range of over 800 kilometers and a payload exceeding 500 kilograms, said Yoon Young-chan, his chief press secretary. In a phone call, Chung Eui-young, top presidential security adviser, made an official proposal to his U.S. counterpart H.R. McMaster to open negotiations over the revision, and McMaster agreed, Yoon said. The agreement came hours after the North fired off what it claims to have been an intercontinental ballistic missile in a stinging blow to Moon's pursuit of dialogue and rapprochement with the wayward regime. The focus of the negotiations is expected to be on doubling the payload weight limit to 1 ton, a source said, declining to be named. [Missiles] [US dominance] [ICBM] [Pretext] [SK]
• As North Korea intensifies its missile program, the U.S. opens an $11 billion base in the South
  US soldiers of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division salute during a transfer of authority ceremony in June at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul. (ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images) By Anna Fifield July 29 at 5:00 AM CAMP HUMPHREYS, South ­Korea — This small American city has four schools and five churches, an Arby’s, a Taco Bell and a Burger King. The grocery store is offering a deal on Budweiser as the temperature soars, and out front there’s a promotion for Ford Mustangs. But for all its invocations of the American heartland, this growing town is in the middle of the South Korean countryside, in an area that was famous for growing huge grapes. “We built an entire city from scratch,” said Col. Scott W. Mueller, garrison commander of Camp Humphreys, one of the U.S. military’s largest overseas construction projects. If it were laid across Washington, the 3,454-acre base would stretch from Key Bridge to Nationals Park, from Arlington National Cemetery to the Capitol. [Pyeongtaek] [Bases] [Inversion]
• A Strategy For Dealing With North Korea
  Leon V. Sigal July 28, 2017 I. Introduction In this essay, Leon V. Sigal argues that North Korea’s unbounded weapons program "poses a clear and present danger to U.S. and allied security. That makes it a matter of great urgency to negotiate a suspension of its nuclear and missile testing and fissile material production even if the North is unwilling to recommit to complete denuclearization up front. Have no doubt about it: complete denuclearization remains the ultimate goal. But demanding that Pyongyang pledge that now will only delay a possible agreement, enabling it to add to its military wherewithal and bargaining leverage in the meantime.” Leon V. Sigal is Director, Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project, Social Science Research Council, New York This essay is Leon V. Sigal’s testimony before the Hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity Policy, U.S. Congress, July 25, 2017 on “Assessing the Maximum Pressure and Engagement Policy Toward North Korea.” [US NK policy] [US NK Negotiations] [Threat] [Engagement]
• Trump Designates July 27 as Korean War Armistice Day
  By Cho Yi-jun July 28, 2017 12:35 U.S. President Donald Trump has designated July 27 as National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day to mark the ceasefire that halted fighting in 1953. Donald Trump /AP-Yonhap Trump in a statement on Wednesday said, "On National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day, we honor the patriots who defended the Korean Peninsula against the spread of communism in what became the first major conflict of the Cold War." He vowed never to forget the veterans and urged all Americans to observe the day with "appropriate ceremonies and activities that honor and give thanks" to them. But Trump added, "North Korea's ballistic and nuclear weapons programs continue to pose grave threats to the United States, and our allies and partners." "At this moment, more than 28,000 American troops maintain a strong allied presence along the 38th parallel, which separates North and South Korea. These troops, and the rest of our armed forces, help me fulfill my unwavering commitment as president to protecting Americans at home and to steadfastly defending our allies abroad," he said. [Trump] [Korean War] [Armistice]
• North Korean Policy Must Focus on Engagement Not Coercion
  by Angela Kim North Korea’s nuclear program has been an urgent problem on the U.S. government’s agenda for decades, and their recent missile launch shows that we have yet to come to a resolution. On July 4th, North Korea launched their first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) that is estimated to be able to reach Alaska. While the U.S. government and media label Kim Jong-un as “crazy,” he has stayed true to his goal for his regime: “to put resources into missile developments and tests.” The consistent missile tests over the last two years not only show that the North Korea is capable of developing ICBMs that can reach the U.S., but also raises the question: What’s next? [US NK policy] [Naiveté]
• THAAD site to get full-scale environmental impact assessment
  Posted : 2017-07-28 18:24 Updated : 2017-07-28 21:29 By Kim Se-jeong The Ministry of National Defense will carry out a full-scale environmental impact assessment of the entire site of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) unit in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, the ministry said Friday. The site covers 700,000 square meters of land donated to the government by Lotte ? 328,799 square meters is already in use, housing two anti-missile launchers and a radar system. The ministry said, however, the 328,799 square meters of land is not subject to an additional survey as it was already reviewed in a small-scale assessment. The Ministry of Environment confirmed it received the assessment report on July 24 and is reviewing it. Four additional launchers should arrive at the golf course-turned military site to complete the deployment. That will depend on the findings of the full-scale assessment report ? but some experts point out the decision would be a political one and the full deployment will eventually take place. The process is expected to take up to 15 months. Originally, it was expected to be completed by the end of this year. The decision was a step back for the Ministry of National Defense, which had wanted to avoid the full-scale environmental impact assessment. Earlier, it had conducted a small-scale assessment in December on half of the land. But the ministry met an obstacle in May as new President Moon Jae-in wanted to make a full assessment of the whole area. [Environmental Impact Assessment] [THAAD]
• U.S. Peace Delegation Urges Chair of South Korea’s National Assembly Committee to Reverse THAAD Decision
  July 26, 2017 STikgroup News, Peace Delegation 0 July 24, 2017 The U.S. Solidarity Peace Delegation in South Korea this week to support the struggle against the U.S. THAAD deployment met with Democratic National Assemblyman Shim Jae Kwon, who chairs the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee of the National Assembly, on July 24. The following report is based on a summary of the meeting by Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK, who is part of the delegation: The U.S. delegation met with Assemblyperson Shim and raised the need to reverse the controversial U.S. THAAD deployment. Shim acknowledged the opinion of missile defense experts who question the military effectiveness of THAAD and discussed his own doubts about the THAAD system’s ability to defend South Korea. He discussed his commitment to creating an environment that removes the need for weapon systems like the THAAD. He discussed the tensions the THAAD deployment has caused with its neighboring countries and its impact on South Korea’s economic relations with China. He also acknowledged the grievances of the residents of Seongju, where the THAAD battery is being deployed. [THAAD] [Protest]
• Defense chief vows stronger alliance with U.S.
  2017/07/26 14:03 SEOUL, July 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo on Wednesday emphasized the need for closer cooperation with the United States to handle security risks on the peninsula. During an introductory meeting with Marc Knapper, the acting U.S. ambassador to Seoul, the minister reaffirmed his commitment to a stronger alliance. "The current security conditions on the Korean Peninsula are graver than any other time due to the advancement of North Korea's nuclear and missile capabilities," Song told the envoy in the meeting at his office. He stressed that the countries should closely coordinate in order to halt the North's strategic provocations and dismantle its nuclear program in a complete manner. [ROK military] [US SK alliance] [Subservience] [Moon Jae-in]
• North Korea’s Deterrent and Trump’s Options
  By Tim Beal
  Jul 26, 2017 The test launch of North Korea’s Hwasong-14 ICBM on 4 July produced a predictable outpouring of official statements and media articles claiming that the United States is under an existential threat of an unprovoked attack from North Korea. ‘North Korea brings missile threat to the US: What does Trump do now?’ asked CNN. And it’s not only the US that is in danger, according to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. North Korea poses ‘a global threat,’ he said, so from Patagonia to Peoria, the world is at risk. Actually, if there is one thing that is certain in life in addition to death and taxes it is that North Korea will not attack the US except in retaliation. The reason for this is obvious. America’s military superiority is so overwhelming that retribution would be devastating and would mean the end of North Korea. The balance of military power between the US and its ‘allies’ (the imperial alliance structure is a major part of American power) scarcely needs elaboration or documentation. South Korea on its own has a military budget perhaps 30 times that of the North, has, generally speaking, much more advanced and modern equipment (it buys more weapons from the US than even Saudi Arabia) and, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), can field two and a half times more troops (standing army plus reservists) than the North. Bring in the US and its allies, including especially Japan, and the imbalance is astounding: a combined military budget of roughly $1 trillion against North Korea’s $1.2 to $10 billion. The portrayal of North Korea as a threat to the US is not merely wrong, it is preposterously and diametrically at variance with reality. Yet it is widely believed. That is mainly due to omnipresent and repetitive propaganda, and as Harold Pinter pointed out in his Nobel lecture, the ‘United States is without doubt the greatest show on the road’ in that respect. And as we know, things that are repeated without contradiction, however silly and devoid of evidence or plausibility, tend to be believed. Not merely would retribution be inevitable, but nothing could possibly be achieved by a preemptive North Korean attack on the United States. What would be the point, for instance, of North Korea launching a missile against Hawaii, as feared by authorities there according to a Yonhap report? Would Washington in terror ship the contents of Fort Knox off to Pyongyang? Would Kim Jong Un send in a fishing boat to harvest the irradiated pineapples? The only way to overlook the absurdity of the notion of an unprovoked attack is to construct a pastiche of North Korea and its leaders as irrational, as, for instance, Nikki Haley did recently. The problem is that you have to be deeply ignorant (that’s probably her excuse) to believe such nonsense, because no one with a modicum of knowledge does. Or perhaps to believe North Koreans are mad, you have to be mad yourself–an irony which Joseph Heller of Catch 22 fame would have enjoyed. Ambassador Haley might conceivably put her hand up for that one as well. What we are talking about in the case of North Korea is deterrence, and that means the United States only faces danger if it attacks first. [Deterrence] [Hwasong-14] [US NK policy]
• Why are sanctions on N. Korea not working?
  Posted : 2017-07-26 17:41 Updated : 2017-07-26 21:41 By Kim Jae-kyoung The United States and its allies are joining forces to tighten the screws on North Korea to curb Pyongyang's development of its nuclear weapons. In particular, following the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching Alaska, the U.N. Security Council is threatening harsher sanctions on the isolated country led by young leader Kim Jong-un. However, its provocations never stop. Nobody believes such countermeasures will bring any meaningful changes to North Korea's nuclear brinkmanship or the future course of its policy direction. Why isn't strengthening sanctions to rein in North Korea working? There are two key reasons why they aren't bringing the North under control, according to North Korea experts. First, the sanctions are not strong enough to make North Korea behave. Second, international cooperation is insufficient to bring about the desired results. [Sanctions] [US NK policy]
• Seoul to Push Washington to Lift Missile Restrictions
  By Yu Yong-weon July 25, 2017 09:44 The government wants to push the U.S. to lift restrictions so it can increase the size of missile warheads from 500 kg to 1 ton. The payload and range of South Korean missiles are severely limited under missile guidelines imposed by the U.S. A government source here said Monday, "The government raised the need to revise the guidelines during the Seoul-Washington summit in June. We plan to initiate full-fledged negotiations with the U.S. during the annual Security Consultative Meeting" in the second half of this year. The move goes in tandem with the handover of full operational control of South Korean troops to Seoul. The U.S. agreed in 2012 to increase the permissible range of the South Korean missiles from 300 km to 800 km, but limited the payload to 500 kg. Seoul has been developing a missile with that range and successfully conducted a test last month as President Moon Jae-in watched. The missiles will be deployed at the end of this year. But the government wants to equip them with a bigger warhead. Under the present guidelines, missiles with a maximum range of 500 km can be mounted with a one-ton warhead, and those with a 300-km range with a 1.5-ton warhead. In other words, the payload can be bigger if the range is shorter. If the permissible payload increases, South Korean missiles could be capable of taking out North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's underground bunkers near Mt. Baekdu near the border with China and other facilities. [Missiles] [US dominance] [ROK Military] [Moon Jae-in]
• In summit with US, Moon administration requested increase of maximum warhead weight
  Posted on : Jul.25,2017 17:09 KST Modified on : Jul.25,2017 17:09 KST The launch of an 800-km ballistic missile Request indicates the administration seeking to develop weaponry that could be used to target North Korean leadership The Moon Jae-in administration made a request during its late June summit with the US to amend the two sides‘ New Missile Guidelines (NMG) to increase the maximum permissible warhead weight on a 800-km ballistic missile from its current 500kg to one ton, it was learned on July 24. Seoul proposed the idea to the US at the time, with plans to discuss the details with the US during the two sides’ Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) and Korea-US Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) scheduled for the second half of the year, sources said. The proposal indicates that Seoul is attempting to amend the NMG for the first time in roughly five years. A Ministry of National Defense source said it would be “inappropriate to confirm the specifics of matters discussed at a summit between the South Korean and US leaders,” but did not deny that the proposal to increase the warhead weight had been made. A high-level government source familiar with the situation said, “I think that if you look at the administrations’ response when North Korea launched its [Hwasong-14] missile last month, you can pretty much see its position in terms of responding resolutely to the issue.” [Missiles] [US dominance] [Trump_Moon17]
• Korean-American anti-THAAD activist barred from entering South Korea
  Posted on : Jul.25,2017 17:00 KST Modified on : Jul.25,2017 17:00 KST Members of the US Solidarity Peace Delegation opposing THAAD, Medea Benjamin, head of the women-led peace group CODEPINK (second from the left) Will Griffin of Veterans For Peace hold a press conference after arriving at Incheon International Airport, condemning the South Korean government’s entry refusal for peace activist Juyeon Rhee, July 23. The delegation is planning a demonstration near the THAAD deployment site in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province on July 26. Ministry of Justice says peace activist may pose a threat to South Korean interests or public safety A Korean-American peace activist who wanted to visit South Korea to protest the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system was prohibited from entering the country by the government. According to the National Campaign to Block the Deployment of THAAD in South Korea, Juyeon Rhee was planning to visit South Korea as the leader of the US Civic Peace Delegation for Cancelling the THAAD Deployment on July 23. But when Rhee tried to check in at LaGuardia Airport in New York on July 22 for a flight bound for Incheon International Airport, she was prevented from boarding. At the end of July 2016, Rhee was not allowed to enter South Korea after flying to Incheon International Airport to protest the THAAD deployment. Between 2004 and 2013, Rhee had traveled between North and South Korea with an education and peace team that she had organized, and last year was the first time she was refused entry to South Korea. [Peace effort] [Repression] [Moon Jae-in]
• Hawaii to Conduct Monthly Nuclear Evacuation Drills
  By Kim Deok-han July 24, 2017 12:26 The U.S. state of Hawaii has decided to resume evacuation drills every month starting in November in case of a North Korean missile attack. The move follows North Korea's successful test on July 4 of an intercontinental ballistic missile that may be capable of reaching Alaska and Hawaii. The islands' Emergency Management Agency said Friday that residents will practice to "get inside, stay inside, and stay tuned" on the first workday of each month. "The normal siren will sound, followed by a second siren that would be used in the event of an attack," officials told local media. The drills are based on the assumption that a 15kt nuclear weapon detonates 300 m above Honolulu. Toby Clairmont of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency shows new information materials to a reporter in Honolulu on Friday. /AP-Yonhap These will be the first such drills since the Cold War. Some 14 million residents as well as tourists who visit the islands in their millions will take part in the drills. There were concerns that they could scare tourists away, but emergency officials insisted that they need to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Vern Miyagi at the agency said an attack is "a low probability. But then... we have to keep a lookout for that. That's why we're talking about updating the plan. It's an awakening." State officials are also preparing an emergency guidebook. The drills will include evacuation exercises for schools and public service announcements, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser said. The state is just 7,000 km away from North Korea and is home to major American military installations, including the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Command. It could take less than 20 minutes for a North Korean ICBM to land on Hawaii. A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll showed that 74 percent of Americans fear a full-blown war with North Korea, while 39 percent said they are "very concerned." [Hysteria] [Threat]
• Korea proposes holding KORUS FTA talks in Seoul
  Posted : 2017-07-25 00:04 Updated : 2017-07-25 00:06 By Yoon Ja-young The trade ministry has suggested holding talks on the U.S.-initiated renegotiations over the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) in Seoul soon after government restructuring is completed. In a letter sent to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Paik Un-gyu said that the Seoul government is aware of Washington's concerns over its trade deficit in goods with Korea. He stated that Korea is "willing to engage in constructive discussions on ways to foster an expanded and balanced bilateral economic and trade relationship." Following U.S. President Donald Trump's continuous pressure that the bilateral deal should be renegotiated to lessen his country's trade deficit with Korea, the USTR requested convening "a special joint committee meeting under the KORUS FTA to start the process of negotiations to remove barriers to U.S. trade and consider needed amendments to the agreement." Paik said Korea agreed to hold the joint committee in accordance with the due procedures set forth in the deal. [KORUS FTA] [Venue]
• North and South Korea Want a Peace Treaty: The US Must Join Them
  Friday, July 21, 2017 By Christine Ahn, Truthout | Op-Ed People watch a television broadcast reporting the North Korean missile launch at the Seoul Railway Station on July 4, 2017 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo: Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images)People watch a television broadcast reporting the North Korean missile launch at the Seoul Railway Station on July 4, 2017, in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo: Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images) This Truthout original was only possible because of our readers' ongoing support. Can you make a monthly donation to ensure we can publish more like it? Click here to give. Two years ago, I crossed the world's most fortified border from North to South Korea with 30 women peacemakers from 15 countries, calling for a peace treaty to end the six-decade Korean War. On July 13, I was denied entry into South Korea from the United States as retribution for my peace activism, including the 2015 women's peace march. As I checked in for my Asiana Airlines flight to Shanghai at San Francisco International Airport, the ticket agent at the counter informed me that I would not be boarding the plane headed first to Seoul Incheon International. The supervisor handed me back my passport and informed me that she had just gotten off the phone with a South Korean government official who had told her I was "denied entry" into the country. "This must be a mistake," I said. "Is South Korea really going to ban me because I organized a women's peace walk across the demilitarized zone?" I asked, appealing to her conscience. If there was indeed a travel ban, I thought, it must have been put in place by the disgraced President Park. But she wouldn't make eye contact with me. She walked away and said there was nothing to be done. I would need to apply for a visa and book a new flight to Shanghai. I did, but before I boarded my flight, I spoke with veteran journalists Tim Shorrock of The Nation and Choe Sang-hun of the New York Times. [Christine Ahn] [Peace effort]
• [Reporter’s notebook] In KORUS FTA renegotiations, whose “interests” should be defended?
  Posted on : Jul.23,2017 10:27 KST Modified on : Jul.23,2017 10:27 KST Negotiators could make South Korea’s sovereignty a goal of the talks, targeting the investor-state dispute settlement system Newly appointed Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Paik Un-kyu said at a confirmation hearing on July 19 that he would respond to the US’s demands to amend its Free Trade Agreement with South Korea “in a way that maximizes national interests and adheres to the principle of balanced interests.” But which national interests and whose interests should that be? In a document sent to South Korea on July 12 seeking amendment of the South Korea-US FTA (KORUS FTA), the US Trade Representative clearly stated Washington’s priority was to rectify the US’s trade imbalance with South Korea. The aim is to correct the trade figures that have resulted from the FTA’s execution over the past five years. The basic aims of an FTA are trade liberalization and market openness. When an FTA is first being negotiated, mutual benefits and balanced interests are stated as common goals, but there is no precedent for negotiations aimed specifically at altering the scale of an actual trade balance. This marks a return to “managed trade” rather than “free trade” for the US. It’s something even the World Trade Organization would find staggering. [KORUS FTA]
• The US to ban its citizens from traveling to North Korea
  Posted on : Jul.22,2017 17:05 KST Modified on : Jul.22,2017 17:05 KST Ban set to take effect in 30 days, and comes after outcry over death of American student Otto Warmbier The US government, led by President Donald Trump, announced that it would be banning American citizens from going on tours of North Korea following the death of Otto Warmbier, an American university student who was arrested during a tour of North Korea and later died after returning to the US in a coma, the AP reported on July 21. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has decided to implement a travel ban on North Korea, a US government official said. The US invalidates the passports of American citizens that enter a country under such a ban. Officials said that the travel ban on North Korea will take effect within 30 days of its announcement in the Federal Register. On July 21, the BBC reported that Koryo Tours and Young Pioneer Tours, China-based travel agencies that arrange tours to North Korea, had said that same day that the US government would announce a ban on American citizens traveling to North Korea on July 27 and that it would put the ban into effect 30 days later. [US NK policy] [Travel ban] [Fraternization]
• U.S. Congressman Slams N.Korean 'Slave Trade'
  July 21, 2017 11:09 U.S. Congressman Ted Poe denounced the North Korean regime as "a slave trader" in its exploitative labor exports, Radio Free Asia reported on Wednesday. Speaking in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday, Poe said, "A new soccer stadium in St. Petersburg, a luxury apartment complex in Moscow, all brought to Russia by North Korean slaves." "These slaves get almost no wages, no holidays, with little food or sleep," he added. "Little Kim [North Korean leader Kim Jong-un] not only enslaves his own people at home, he runs an international slave trade," he said. "This is state-sponsored human trafficking and slavery." "The slave network brings in $2 billion to $3 billion every year to the North Korean military complex and helps little Kim evade sanctions." Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department did not put the North back on its list of state sponsors of terrorism. The North was removed from the list in 2008 amid hopes that it would agree to dismantle its nuclear program. [Overseas labour] [Slave] [Hypocrisy]
• [News analysis] North Korea may prefer direct dialogue with the US to inter-Korean talks
  Posted on : Jul.22,2017 17:04 KST Modified on : Jul.22,2017 17:04 KST Satellite imagery posted on July 20 on the North Korea affairs website 38 North of activity at Sinpo South Shipyard, suggesting preparation for test of an updated Pukguksong-1 (KN-11) submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) or a potentially newer system. Recent ICBM launch could strengthen North Korea’s position in talks with Washington North Korea gave no official response to the Moon Jae-in administration’s proposal for inter-Korean military talks on July 21. This could mean even the Aug. 1 inter-Korean Red Cross talks proposed by Seoul for divided family reunions may also fall through. In a statement the same day, Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Moon Sang-kyun sent a message “urg[ing] the North to quickly agree to our proposal and come out [for talks].” With its simultaneous proposal of military and Red Cross talks on July 17 as follow-up measures to President Moon Jae-in’s “Berlin vision,” the South Korean government emphasized North Korea’s wishes where they conflicted with the South’s. But the only response from Pyongyang to date has consisted of basic comments on inter-Korean relations in the Korean Workers’ Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun and other sources. Experts are giving two reasons to explain why the North Korean government hasn’t responded directly. [SK NK Negotiations] [Agency] [Self delusion]
• Hawaii rolls out emergency plan for possible N. Korean missile attack
  Posted : 2017-07-22 13:34 Updated : 2017-07-22 13:38 The U.S. state of Hawaii announced a set of measures Friday to keep its people safe from a potential North Korean missile attack, news reports said. The plan involves making public service announcements about staying inside, school evacuation drills and a new emergency siren that will be tested starting in November, according to the AP and other media. Experts say Hawaii could be within range of North Korea's missiles soon, if not immediately, based on the communist country's first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile on July 4. "We do not want to cause any undue stress for the public; however, we have a responsibility to plan for all hazards," the Honolulu Star Advertiser quoted Vern T. Miyagi, Hawaii's Emergency Management Agency administrator, as saying in a statement Thursday. "We don't know the exact capabilities or intentions of the North Korean government, but there is clear evidence that it is trying to develop ballistic missiles that could conceivably one day reach our state. Therefore, we cannot wait to begin our public information campaign to ensure that Hawaii residents will know what to do if such an event occurs," he said. (Yonhap) [Deterrent] [Hawaii] [Hysteria]
• Member of Peace Delegation Denied Entry to South Korea | Lift Ban on Korean American Peace Activist
  July 22, 2017. Korean American peace activist and STIK peace delegation to South Korea coordinator Juyeon Rhee holding sign that reads, "Absolutely Opposed to THAAD Deployment." Korean American peace activist and STIK peace delegation to South Korea coordinator Juyeon Rhee holding sign that reads, "Absolutely Opposed to THAAD Deployment." A member of the Task Force to Stop THAAD in Korea's (STIK) peace delegation to South Korea has been blocked from boarding the plane headed to South Korea. At approximately 9:00 AM at the LaGuardia Airport in New York City, Korean American peace activist and delegation coordinator Juyeon Rhee was told by Delta Airlines that she could not board the plane. Last year, Rhee was blocked from entering South Korea by the previous right-wing administration of recently impeached and jailed Park Geun-hye. With the newly elected Moon Jae-in in office, Rhee and members of the peace delegation expected her ban to have been lifted. [Peace effort] [Moon Jae-in] [Repression] [THAAD]
• THAAD electromagnetic wave testing testing delayed due to opposition from local residents
  Posted on : Jul.21,2017 15:24 KST Modified on : Jul.21,2017 15:24 KST A banner opposing the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system near the deployment site in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, July 13. (by Kim Il-woo, Daegu correspondent) Defense Ministry had asked locals to attend testing in order to observe, but groups still pushing for removal of THAAD equipment South Korea’s Defense Ministry was planning to measure the safety of the electromagnetic waves of THAAD’s X-band radar on July 21, but it postponed the test by one week because of opposition from local residents. The residents of Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province, the THAAD deployment site, refused to participate in the test, which they characterized as a “distortion of procedural legitimacy that is aimed at legitimizing the THAAD deployment.” The Defense Ministry announced the postponement on July 20. “The original purpose of measuring the THAAD electromagnetic waves is for the military, the government and residents to come together. Since the residents are in opposition, we decided it would be better to adequately explain the project to the residents and to gain their understanding,” a Ministry official said. The Ministry’s original plan was to test the safety of the THAAD radar’s electromagnetic waves with the participation of residents, the government and the military from 10:30 am until 6 pm on July 21. The test was supposed to take place at Soseong Village, Chojeon Township in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province, and other areas near the deployment site: the nearby city of Gimcheon, namely Wolmyeong Village, Nam Township; Nogok Villlage, Nongso Township; and Yulgok Neighborhood. The Ministry notified residents of this plan by telephone on July 18 and asked that they be present during the testing to observe the proceedings. [THAAD] [Health] [Protest]
• Moon admin.’s governance plan signals step back on pushing for OPCON transfer
  Posted on : Jul.20,2017 17:40 KST Modified on : Jul.20,2017 17:40 KST President Moon Jae-in and Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon listen to a national governance task plan by the Planning and Advisory Committee meeting at the Blue House in Seoul, July 19. (Blue House photo pool) Document shows change of language from pushing for transfer “within Moon’s term” to “at an early date” The list of 100 governance tasks announced by the Moon Jae-in administration‘s Planning and Advisory Committee on July 19 stated that the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) to South Korea would be “pursued at an early date.” A document distributed to the media beforehand by the committee listed governance task #86 as “Transferring OPCON within Moon’s term based on a firm South Korea-US alliance (Ministry of National Defense).” But a Blue House official notified reporters of the revision that morning, explaining that the “wording about ‘within the term’ has been changed to ‘at an early date.’” “This was a presidential order, since it was something agreed upon by the two leaders at the South Korea-US summit,” the official explained - a reference to the joint statement on June 30 stating that the South Korean and US Presidents had “decided to continue the Alliance’s work to expeditiously enable the conditions-based transfer of wartime operational control of ROK forces.” Moon also discussed the OPCON transfer timeline in a luncheon the same day with the leaders of four political parties. “I decided not to specify the [transfer] timeline and to revise ’within my term‘ to ’at an early date,‘” he explained. The decision not to specify an OPCON transfer date marks a step back from Moon’s initial pledge as a presidential candidate. [OPCON] [Moon Jae-in] [US dominance]
• Pyeongtaek Garrison vulnerable to chemical, biological missile attacks
  Posted : 2017-07-21 18:58 Updated : 2017-07-21 18:58 By Oh Young-jin The new U.S. Pyeongtaek Garrison is vulnerable to North Korea's rocket and missile attacks possibly topped with chemical and biological warheads, a noted American defense analyst told The Korea Times Friday. "The new North Korean 300mm rocket launchers would be able to reach Pyeongtaek," said Bruce Bennett, a senior defense researcher at the Rand Corp. It was a contingency that the U.S. failed to anticipate in the early 2000s when the integrated U.S. base was planned, the Korea expert added. Pyeongtaek is located 100 kilometers from the southernmost area of the North Korean side on the inter-Korean border and is outside the range of the North's 7,000 artillery pieces located there. But the latest 300mm rocket launchers can cover the distance and hit the U.S. base and what is also worrisome is they are reloadable, he said. The North's theater ballistic missiles also pose a threat to the base where key elements of the U.S. forces here are being moved to. "The North has 100 launchers for these missiles," he said, citing a ROK military whitepaper. "We have significant uncertainties with regard to their number and payloads." The North is said to possess large quantities of chemical and biological weapons that are deliverable by their projectiles. Bennett, however, moderated these concerns with doubts he had about the 300mm rockets' reliability and deployment levels. [Rocket artillery] [Pyeongtaek] [Retaliation]
• Are we America lovers or China lovers?
  Posted : 2017-07-21 13:18 Updated : 2017-07-21 18:58 By Oh Young-jin Here are accounts of what happened to me on three occasions. I used my imagination to some extent to make them presentable to help in one way or more define Korea's future relationship vis-a-vis the United States and China. Case No. 1 After a heated debate about the supposed declining power of the United States, an American friend asked me, "When do Koreans have new masters, the Chinese?" I told him, "We will change our masters, when we need to. We may consider Americans' behavior in the meantime." In the lead-up to this tit-for-tat, I told him that the American power is declining so this calls for Korea to review its present relationship. My friend disputed it citing his country's defense budget and trade volume that are the biggest in the world. [Dilemma]
• North Korea tourism: US to ban Americans from visiting
  21 July 2017 The US State Department currently warns US citizens not to travel to North Korea The US is to ban its citizens from travelling to North Korea. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement that the ban would be published next week in the Federal Register, to come into effect 30 days later. US officials linked the move to the death of jailed American student Otto Warmbier. Once the ban is in effect, US citizens will need special validation to travel to or within North Korea. [Tourism] [Travel ban] [Human rights]
• Most Americans Worry About War with N.Korea
  By Cho Yi-jun July 20, 2017 09:39 Seven in every 10 American adults worry that a full-scale war with North Korea is imminent, a poll suggests. In the Washington Post-ABC News poll published Tuesday, 74 percent said they are more concerned about the possibility of a full-scale war with the North. Thirty-nine percent are very concerned and 35 percent somewhat concerned. Some 13 percent are not so concerned and 12 percent not concerned at all. Sixty-six percent said the North poses a serious threat, up from 54 percent in a similar poll in 2005, before the North conducted its first nuclear test. Many are critical of the way the current U.S. administration handles the situation. Sixty-three percent said they have "just some or less confidence" in President Donald Trump to handle the situation, and 40 percent none at all. The poll was conducted by mobile and landline phones among 1,001 voters on July 10-13 after the North's test of an intercontinental ballistic missile on July 4. [Threat] [Public opinion]
• Kim Jong-un 'Wants Peace Treaty with U.S.'
  By Lee Dong-hwi July 20, 2017 12:09 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sent an "urgent directive" to diplomats to "negotiate a peace treaty with the U.S.," Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported Wednesday. Sources told the daily that Kim considers South Korean President Moon Jae-in's term in office a "golden opportunity" to sign the peace treaty. The paper said Kim sent the directive to the North's overseas diplomatic mission during the G20 Summit in Germany from July 7-8, apparently emboldened by the successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. "The Moon Jae-in administration is providing a golden opportunity for us. Before hostile forces cause a stir, we must realize our duty of reunification," it quoted the directive as saying. The idea seems to be that Moon's desire for rapprochement offers North Korea a chance to drive a wedge between South Korea and the hardline Trump administration. That may be why the official Rodong Sinmun daily recently accused Moon of "succumbing" to the U.S. by maintaining sanctions against the North. Seoul said it could not verify whether Kim had indeed sent the directive, but one government official said on condition of anonymity, "North Korea has demonstrated it has an ICBM capable of striking the U.S and could try to use the weapon as leverage to ease sanctions." Meanwhile, the president's special advisor on North Korea policy, Moon Jung-in, admitted to Japan's Mainichi Shimbun that there is no room for South Korea as long as North Korea insists that the nuclear standoff involves only Pyongyang and Washington. But Moon added that the South could "continue to exercise influence by recovering trust with North Korea" and "play a leading role in the resumption of stalled six-party talks." [Asahi Shimbun English website shows no trace of this story] [Peace Treaty] [NK US policy]
• Following criticism, South Korea lifts entry ban on peace activist Christine Ahn
  Posted on : Jul.19,2017 16:32 KST Modified on : Jul.19,2017 16:32 KST Female activists march along the DMZ in Paju, Gyeonggi Province as part of Women Cross DMZ, a project by activists from around 15 countries, May 24, 2015. (by Lee Jong-keun, staff photographer) The NIS reportedly sent an opinion to the Justice Ministry, calling for Ahn to be denied entry on security grounds The National Intelligence Service (NIS) overturned its decision to deny entry to a peace activist visiting South Korea to protest the THAAD deployment on July 18 after criticism over the move. Christine Ahn, a Korean-American involved in the peace movement, initially planned to arrive in South Korea for a five-day visit on July 24 as part of a US citizen peace delegation demanding the THAAD deployment’s reversal. Her schedule involved visiting the THAAD battery’s location in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province with Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the anti-war group Code Pink, and attending one of the regular Wednesday demonstrations for a resolution to the comfort women issue. Ahn was also slated for a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha. But while booking plane tickets with a domestic travel agency on July 13, Ahn learned that the South Korean government had placed her on a list of people subject to travel bans. An investigation by the Hankyoreh confirmed that the decision to ban entry to Ahn was made at the NIS’s request. [Peace effort] [NIS] [Repression]
• Policy Distortions: How the American Right Frames Donald Trump’s Policy on North Korea
  By Sam Swash | July 19, 2017 | No Comments On the face of it, Donald Trump’s surprise election as President of the United States has led to far more questions about the White House’s foreign policy than it has provided answers. The American right have reacted by trying to portray Donald Trump’s policy on North Korea as a radical departure from Barack Obama’s “strategic patience.” But, does this reflect reality, or are these questions being posed as a result of distortions by a media who are confused by Trump’s ambiguity and influenced too heavily by the “securitization” of North Korea? The Trump Effect | Donald Trump’s populist election platform, coupled with his tendency to alter his policy positions overnight, has resulted in a perception of ambiguity over his foreign policy agenda. His enigmatic approach to policy, intentional or not, has significantly emboldened a section of the American media whose views were largely marginalized during Barack Obama’s presidency — the “alt-right.” [US NK policy] [Trump] [Continuities]
• Moon's Overtures to N.Korea Are Troubling Alliance with U.S.
  July 19, 2017 13:15 The White House has voiced opposition to President Moon Jae-in's overtures to North Korea in language anyone can understand. It is rare for the U.S. to voice such immediate opposition to an offer by South Korea to hold military and Red Cross talks with North Korea as White House spokesman Sean Spicer's remark on Monday, "I think the president has made clear in the past with respect that any type of conditions that would have to be met are clearly far away from where we are now." The U.S. State Department and Defense Department refused to answer any questions on the rash and disruptive proposal. The U.S. says it is ready to talk with North Korea only if the North takes steps to scrap its nuclear weapons, and this is not the time. The Japanese government also publicly voiced its opposition. The U.S. position is exactly the same as in a joint statement by Moon and U.S. President Donald Trump after their summit on June 30, where the two leaders clearly stated that the door to talks with North Korea remains open "under the right conditions." The U.S. believes the conditions are not right, especially so soon after the Nort [SK NK negotiations] [US NK policy] [Friction]
• U.S. Congress Urges Caution in FTA Renegotiations with Korea
  By Kim Deok-han July 19, 2017 11:06 The U.S. Congress on Monday wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer urging him to "closely consult with Congress" during discussions with Korea about the two countries' free trade agreement. "The U.S. trade agreement with [Korea] remains a key cornerstone of U.S. economic and strategic engagement in the Asia-Pacific region," the letter said. "Preserving and strengthening the strong economic relationship between [the two nations] is particularly important today with rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula." The bipartisan letter was signed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, Senator Ron Wyden, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, and Rep. Richard Neal. [Korus FTA]
• N.Korea 'Lacks Capacity to Hit U.S. with Accuracy'
  VOA News July 19, 2017 08:11 North Korea does not have the ability to strike the United States with "any degree of accuracy" and while its missiles have the range, they lack the necessary guidance capability, Vice Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Paul Selva said on Tuesday. "I... am not sanguine that the test on the Fourth of July demonstrates that they have the capacity to strike the United States with any degree of accuracy or reasonable confidence or success," Selva said while appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Earlier this month North Korea said it had conducted its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, and that it had mastered the technology to mount a nuclear warhead on the missile. [Hwasong-14] [ICBM] [Accuracy] [Nuclear capability]
• White House and State Dept. with subtly differing responses to inter-Korean dialogue overture
  Posted on : Jul.19,2017 16:30 KST Modified on : Jul.19,2017 16:30 KST White House spokesperson Sean Spicer during a briefing on July 17. (EPA/Yonhap News) Both bodies referred queries back to the South Korean government, with White House indicating displeasure at prospect of dialogue The White House and US State Department showed a subtle difference in their responses to Seoul‘s July 17 proposal of inter-Korean military talks and Red Cross talks toward divided family reunions for the Chuseok holiday in October. When asked by the Hankyoreh on July 17 for the US’s position on the South Korean proposal, State Department East Asia-Pacific spokesperson Katina Adams curtly suggested the reporter “ask the South Korean government.” A diplomatic source in Washington interpreted this as a “neutral expression” - indicating neither active support and welcoming nor opposition. A joint statement agreed upon on June 30 by South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump indicated that Trump “expressed support for President Moon’s aspiration to restart inter-Korean dialogue on certain issues, including humanitarian affairs.” The statement also said Trump “supported the ROK’s leading role in fostering an environment for peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula.” The State Department‘s determination appeared to be that Seoul’s proposal was not a departure from this agreement in the broader scheme of things. In contrast, the response from the White House showed more evident displeasure than the State Department’s. When asked about Trump’s response at a regular briefing the same day, White House spokesperson Sean Spicer replied, “Obviously those comments came out of the Republic of Korea and I would refer you back to them.” [SK NK Negotiations] [US NK policy] [Friction] [Wishful thinking]
• 11 years after US decamped, military base in Busan still festering with pollution
  Posted on : Jul.19,2017 16:40 KST Modified on : Jul.19,2017 16:40 KST An apartment complex seen behind the former site of the depleted Busan DRMO, meaning Defense Reutilization and Marking Office, formerly a US military facility. (provided by Green Korea) Busan city government has been waiting for almost a year for a response to request for a cleanup Between Gaegeum Station and Dong-eui University Station on line two of the Busan subway system is the polluted site of a former American military base. The site occupies 29,354 square meters of the Donggam neighborhood of Busan’s Jin District, with a KTX car repair center on the east and a residential area, including a complex of high-rise apartments, to the west. Eleven years after closing, the base remains polluted with oil and heavy metals. Even though the pollutants are seeping out of the base, the US decamped without dealing with the pollution. The site was not returned to the South Korean government until 2015, and since then government ministries have been dodging responsibility for the cleanup. [USFK] [Bases] [Pollution]
• S. Korea lifts entry ban on American peace activist
  Posted : 2017-07-19 14:30 Updated : 2017-07-19 14:30 By Park Si-soo South Korea has lifted the entry ban imposed on Korean-American Christine Ahn, 44, who organized a controversial march of 30 female peace activists spanning the two Koreas in 2015. It came a day after The New York Times reported that South Korea had denied her entry. She learned that she was "persona non grata" after Asiana Airlines stopped her from boarding a flight at San Francisco Airport on Thursday (local time). "Her entry ban has been lifted at the request of a state organization that asked for her entry ban," South Korea's justice ministry said Tuesday. South Korea's spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, is said to have made the ban request soon after Ahn hosted the march that might have provoked then President Park Geun-hye. Park, who is now on trial over corruption charges, maintained a hard line on the unhinged North while in office, in retaliation for the North's repeated military provocations. [Peace effort] [NIS] [Repression]
• Analysts expect 'full-scale resetting of KORUS FTA'
  Posted : 2017-07-19 18:09 Updated : 2017-07-19 18:09 ???? By Kim Jae-kyoung SINGAPORE ? It seems President Moon Jae-in and his policymakers are painting a rosy picture of Korea's relationship with the United States following the summit between Moon and U.S. President Donald Trump. However, a series of incidents showing gaps between the two administrations over substantive issues is casting doubt on such optimism. The Moon administration's clumsy approach has exposed its lack of sophistication in diplomacy. This is because they did not try to catch the true message Trump's rhetoric carries. They have focused only on positive remarks by Trump who usually says good things with no details when meeting with his counterparts. This is well manifested in the divergent views about the free trade agreement between the two administrations. [Trump-Moon17] [KORUS FTA] [Wishful thinking]
• American peace activist denied entry to S. Korea
  Posted : 2017-07-18 13:39 Updated : 2017-07-18 16:25 By Park Si-soo An American who organized a controversial march of 30 female peace activists spanning the two Koreas in 2015 has been denied entry to South Korea. Christine Ahn, a South Korean-born American citizen, learned about being "persona non grata" after Asiana Airlines stopped her from boarding a flight at San Francisco Airport on Thursday, according to the New York Times (NYT). She reportedly planned to transit through South Korea's Incheon International Airport on her way to China. After being told she was not allowed to, she bought a new ticket to fly directly to Shanghai, it reported. A justice ministry official was quoted as saying in the report that Ahn had been denied entry because there were sufficient grounds to fear she might "hurt the national interest and public safety." She told the U.S. newspaper that her denial might be a byproduct of conservative former President Park Geun-hye's anti-North Korea policy. Park, who is now on trial over corruption charges, took a hard line on the unhinged North while in office, cutting off all economic exchange and even inter-Korean dialogue. Give this, it's reasonable to assume that Park's administration had put Ahn on a blacklist for her dovish stance toward the North. According to the NYT, Ahn's supporters, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire, recently sent letters to Ahn Ho-young, the South Korean ambassador to Washington, urging Seoul to lift the ban on Ahn. In a speech on July 6, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who replaced Park in May, said his government would push for a peace treaty with North Korea as part of a comprehensive solution to the crisis over the North's nuclear weapons program. [Peace effort] [Moon Jae-in] [Bizarre]
• American Peace Activist Is Denied Entry to South Korea
  By Choe Sang-hun JULY 17, 2017 Photo Christine Ahn, fifth from right, marching with Gloria Steinem and other activists near the border between South Korea and North Korea in May 2015. Credit Lee Jin-Man/Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea — An American who helped arrange for 30 female peace activists to cross the heavily armed border between North and South Korea in 2015 has been denied entry to South Korea, officials confirmed on Monday. Christine Ahn, a South Korean-born American citizen, said she did not know she was persona non grata in the country until Asiana Airlines stopped her from boarding a flight at the San Francisco airport on Thursday. She had planned to transit through Incheon International Airport outside Seoul on her way to China, where she intended to spend a week before visiting South Korea. After being told she was not allowed to transit though South Korea, she bought a new ticket to fly directly to Shanghai, she said. The Justice Ministry of South Korea said on Monday that Ms. Ahn had been denied entry because there were sufficient grounds to fear that she might “hurt the national interests and public safety” of South Korea. Ms. Ahn said she suspected that the government of the former president Park Geun-hye, a conservative who was impeached over a corruption scandal and removed from office in March, had put her on a blacklist for helping organize the Women Cross DMZ campaign in May 2015. [Peace effort] [Repression] [Bizarre]
• Moon's dialogue offer to N. Korea unwelcome in US, Japan
  Posted : 2017-07-18 16:46 Updated : 2017-07-18 20:50 By Kim Hyo-jin The United States and Japan expressed negative responses to the South Korean government's proposal for inter-Korean dialogue to North Korea, Monday. This came after Seoul proposed that the two Koreas hold military talks to ease tension along the border, and Red Cross talks to resume reunions of separated families, follow-up measures to President Moon Jae-in's peace overture made during his Berlin speech in early July. When asked about U.S. President Donald Trump's position on Seoul's proposal, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer expressed reservations, saying conditions for talks with North Korea were not currently present. "Well, obviously those comments came out of the Republic of Korea and I would refer you back to them," Spicer said during a regular press briefing. "That being said, I think the president has made clear in the past with respect that any type of conditions that would have to be met are clearly far away from where we are now." Japan responded with a clearly negative tone, saying now was the time to increase pressure on North Korea. "This is not a time for dialogue. This is a time for pressure," Japan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Norio Maruyama said during a press conference in New York where Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida was attending a United Nations meeting. Stressing that North Korea had reached "a new level" with its latest launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile July 4, Maruyama said increasing international actions was now essential in order to conduct a "serious dialogue" with the North in the future. "Dialogue for the sake of dialogue is meaningless," he noted. On the U.S. response, Seoul's unification ministry insisted Tuesday that there was no gap between the two countries in assessing conditions for talks with Pyongyang. [SK NK Negotiations] [Friction] [US NK policy]
• White House: Current conditions 'far away' to reopen inter-Korean talks
  Posted : 2017-07-18 10:10 Updated : 2017-07-18 18:10 The White House expressed veiled opposition to South Korea's proposal for rare inter-Korean talks Monday, saying current conditions are "far away" from those needed to reopen dialogue with the recalcitrant state. Seoul proposed military talks for this coming Friday and Red Cross talks on Aug. 1 to discuss ways to ease tensions along their shared border and resume reunions of families separated since the 1950-53 Korean War. The offer came amid renewed tensions over the North's first launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile on July 4. "Well, obviously those comments came out of the Republic of Korea and I would refer you back to them," Press Secretary Sean Spicer said during a briefing, when asked if there are certain conditions U.S. President Donald Trump would like to see met before the talks take place. "That being said, I think the president has made clear in the past with respect that any type of conditions that would have to be met are clearly far away from where we are now." Other government officials expressed a cautious attitude earlier in the day. "We refer you to the ROK government for comment," Katina Adams, a State Department spokeswoman, said in response to a query from Yonhap about whether Washington views the proposal as appropriate in the wake of the latest provocation. The last time the Koreas held official talks was in December 2015. Cmdr. Gary Ross, a Pentagon spokesman, repeated Adams' remark when asked for comment. The South Korean government under liberal President Moon Jae-in has stressed the need to reopen dialogue with the communist neighbor while also keeping sanctions in place. But Trump has mostly focused his efforts on pressuring China to do more to rein in the North. Washington has also been pushing to impose fresh sanctions on Pyongyang by drawing up a U.N. Security Council resolution and targeting foreign firms doing business with the North. In New York, a Japanese government spokesman told U.N. reporters that now is a time to raise pressure on North Korea, not hold dialogue, according to news reports. Tokyo "downplayed" South Korea's proposal for cross-border talks, the AFP said. Trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan has been key in efforts to get the North to abandon its nuclear and missile programs. Pyongyang has yet to respond to Seoul's offer. (Yonhap) [SK NK Negotiations] [US NK policy] [Friction]
• US House submits bill seeking strengthened joint defense posture in response to N. Korea threat
  Posted on : Jul.17,2017 19:02 KST Modified on : Jul.17,2017 19:02 KST North Korean leader Kim Jong-un observes the final assembly site of the Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), broadcast during a performance commemorating the recent successful launch of the Hwasong-14, on Korean Central Television, July 14. (Yonhap News) Bill also seeks increased deployment of key US assets, including missile defense systems, long-range strategic bombers On July 14, the US House of Representatives passed an annual defense policy bill that asks the US government to submit a plan for strengthening joint military exercises, military cooperation and missile defense with allies in response to North Korea‘s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test launch. The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2018 that was passed by the House contained a section proposed by Liz Cheney, representative for Wyoming, that describes a plan to strengthen the US’s capability for expanded deterrence and defense commitments to allies in the Asia-Pacific region. The bill passed with 344 in favor and 81 against, and it must still be revised by the Senate. [US NK policy] [Escalation]
• Commander Says U.S. Ready for Military Ops Against N.Korea
  By Kim Myong-song July 17, 2017 11:48 The U.S. has all military options available against North Korea, the chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. Harry Harris, said Friday. Harris told the Asahi Shimbun daily that efforts to solve the North Korean nuclear issue by diplomatic means and sanctions will continue, but military options are always on the table and can be put into action at any time. Earlier, White House National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said, "The threat [from North Korea] is much more immediate now. We can't repeat the same failed approach of the past... The President has directed us to not do that and to prepare a range of options, including a military option, which nobody wants to take." After the North announced the successful launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile on July 4, Harris said it is getting "closer to being able to deliver a nuclear-equipped missile" to the U.S. mainland. He also stressed the need to deploy a new radar to defend Hawaii, where USPACOM is stationed. [Military option]
• US asking S. Korea to increase defense cost share, while using funds for relocation
  Posted on : Jul.16,2017 11:20 KST Modified on : Jul.16,2017 11:20 KST US President Donald Trump speaks about defense cost sharing with South Korea with President Moon Jae-in during a joint press conference at the White House Rose Garden in Washington DC after their summit, June 30. (by Kim Kyung-ho, staff photographer) Total relocation costs are $10.8 billion, which the US insists on covering only 8% of “We will always defend our allies. As part of that commitment, we are working together [with South Korea] to ensure fair burden sharing in support of the US military presence in South Korea. Burden sharing is a very important factor. A factor that is becoming more and more prevalent, certainly in this [US] administration,” said President Donald Trump during his joint press conference with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the White House on June 30 following their summit. Trump’s remarks imply that he will keep pressuring South Korea to increase its share of defense costs. Cost-sharing has once again become a bone of contention for the South Korea-US alliance. On top of this, the US Forces Korea (USFK) relocation to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province took nearly ten years longer than originally planned and the cost of the move has greatly increased, while a debate continues to rage over the US allocation of South Korea’s defense contribution to pay for the relocation cost, which it had agreed to pay for itself. The current situation’s disconnect with the principles of the agreements even appears in recent American documents. South Korea-US defense cost sharing (Special Measures Agreements 1-9) Data: Ministry of National Defense In written testimony submitted to the US Senate Armed Services Committee at the end of April, USFK Commander Vincent Brooks explained, “Construction of new facilities under YRP is 100 percent R.O.K. funded, while those under the LPP are 100 percent U.S. resourced. Total project costs are approximately $10.8B, of which only 8 percent of that comes from U.S. appropriated funds.” A report titled “US-South Korea Relations” that the US Congressional Research Service (CRS) released in late May quoted Brooks’ written testimony and appears to shift the blame for the delay of the US base relocation and for the cost increase to South Korea.[Tribute] [USFK]
• No Need to Fear Revisions to Korea-U.S. FTA
  July 14, 2017 12:58 The prospect of renegotiating the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, which went into effect in 2012, has become a reality after Washington fired off a request in unseemly haste. Talks are expected to start around November. The letter from the U.S. Trade Representative asks for "amendments and modifications" rather than a complete overhaul. U.S. President Donald Trump has denounced this FTA and the North American Free Trade Agreement as "job killers," but it seems the Trump administration now acknowledges the value of the Korea-U.S. FTA, give or take a few tweaks. Since the trade pact went into effect, Korea's share of the U.S. market has grown 0.62 percentage points but America's share of Korea's market increased 2.14 percentage points. The U.S. is expected to focus on trade imbalances in the car and steel industries as well as allowing American law firms to operate in Korea and letting foreign investors hold stakes in Korean newspapers and broadcasters. The U.S. is Korea's second-biggest trading partner, accounting for 12 percent of the country's trade, so changes could have a huge economic impact. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy needs to prepare meticulously for the talks. But there is no reason to be terrified. Many of the so-called trade imbalances the U.S. refers to are either nonexistent or have little to do with the FTA regulations. Trump has cited the auto sector as a major area, but Korea's import of American-made cars grew a whopping 22 percent last year. [KORUS FTA] [Trump] [Wishful thinking]
• Trump says US is already renegotiating KORUS FTA with South Korea
  Posted on : Jul.15,2017 14:45 KST Modified on : Jul.15,2017 14:45 KST US President also taking aim at China in his campaign to amend what he calls “horrible” trade deals US President Donald Trump during a joint press conference after his summit with French President Emmanuel Macron, in Paris, July 13. (EPA/Yonhap News) US President Donald Trump has slammed the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) as a “horrible deal” and said that the two sides have started “renegotiating” the agreement. Given Trump’s blunt language, the US is expected to put significant pressure on South Korea during the FTA negotiations. “We started, as of yesterday, renegotiating the deal with South Korea. We have to,” Trump said on Air Force One on July 12 while on his way to France for a summit with French President Emmanuel Macron. While the press conference originally took place off the record, the White House took the unusual step of releasing the transcript a day later, on July 13. This appears to be an attempt to pressure South Korea by making public Trump’s commitment to the KORUS FTA negotiations. [Trump] [KORUS FTA]
• South Korea and US wrangling over where to host KORUS FTA committee special session
  Posted on : Jul.15,2017 14:46 KST Modified on : Jul.15,2017 14:46 KST The official request to renegotiate the KORUS FTA, sent by the Office of the United States Trade Representative to the South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Joo Hyung-hwan on July 12. (from the USTR website) Both sides want the session held in their country; in principle it should be held in S. Korea, which received the request South Korea and the US are already wrangling over the location of the upcoming special session of the joint committee that will be negotiating revisions to the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA). It didn’t take long for the battle of wills to begin, with both sides proposing on July 14 to hold the meeting in their respective countries. “I request the convening of a special session of the Joint Committee soon in Washington, D.C.,” said the US Trade Representative (USTR) in the official request sent to South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Joo Hyung-hwan on July 12. The joint committee is a high-level deliberating body that meets each year under bilateral agreement for the purpose of implementing the KORUS FTA. Thus far, the joint committee has convened four times, with South Korea and the US alternating as hosts. But since this special session was requested by the US without South Korea’s agreement, in principle the session ought to be held in the country that received the request. According to Article 22.2, Section 4, of the KORUS FTA, which deals with special sessions of the joint committee, “Unless the Parties otherwise agree,” special sessions shall “be held in the territory of the other Party or at such location as the Parties may agree.” [KORUS FTA]
• [Correspondent’s column] Time for progressives to descend on Washington like a swarm of bees
  Posted on : Jul.14,2017 17:36 KST Modified on : Jul.14,2017 17:36 KST To sway both Washington and Pyongyang, South Korean progressives need to invest in building stronger networks Late last month in Washington, President Moon Jae-in had his first summit with US President Donald Trump since taking office. He deserves some generous marks, given the short time he had to prepare. It even seemed somehow thrilling, after the absence of any South Korean administration early this year and the pain of worrying whether the Trump administration was going to take military action against North Korea. That said, it’s difficult to shake the feeling there was something lacking in that South Korea-US summit preparation process. The administration was forced on its heels amid the onslaught from the conservative South Korean media and the US over the THAAD issue. Now we seem to have more or less lost any kind of leverage we could use in our relations with China. The Battle of Chosin Reservoir, during the Korean War, story was certainly moving and tactically marvelous, with the way it tied in to Moon’s own history, but it also gave the sense of being a bit overplayed. [Trump_Moon17] [THAAD]
• Seoul can leverage N. Korea issue for FTA talks with US
  Posted : 2017-07-14 18:25 Updated : 2017-07-14 21:04 By Kim Jae-kyoung South Korea should use the North Korean nuclear issue as leverage to get the upper hand in talks to adjust the free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States, analysts said Friday. They said President Moon Jae-in should pursue a strategy to keep both the U.S. and China competing for their own interests in the resolution of North Korea's problem so it can benefit South Korea in trade negotiations. "U.S. President Donald Trump really needs South Korea to deal with North Korea, especially given China's cold reaction to Trump's needs, and this clearly gives Korea the upper hand," said Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief Asia-Pacific economist at Natixis. She believes Moon is trying to play both sides after the severe consequences of THAAD but he should stick with the U.S. for a while until the FTA is renegotiated. "Moon can also pay attention to the U.S.-China mini-trade deal and learn that small concessions can make a big difference to Trump," she said. "As a good populist, he needs a headline more than a solution." [Wishful thinking] [THAAD] [KORUS FTA]
• Halt the U.S. Drive to War with North Korea!
  Friday, July 14, 2017 U.S. television news programs (CNN, MSNBC, and Fox) have been pounding the war drums in the last few weeks and days, since North Korea successfully launched a long- range missile. The long drift to war with North Korea[1] has seemingly become, overnight, a U.S. drive to war with North Korea. With his usual bluster and saber-rattling, President Trump on his recent tour of Europe continued to threaten “severe action” against North Korea. Trump has made matters worse by devolving authority to battlefield commanders who inflame tensions with their own incendiary statements. Example: the U.S. commander in Korea, General Vincent Brooks, stated publicly “the only thing which separates armistice from war” with North Korea is “our self-restraint, which is a choice.” Anyone is the U.S. could conclude, quite reasonably, that the U.S. is the aggrieved and threatened party; that North Korea obviously wishes to harm the U.S. people; that the U.S. confronts a new danger; that North Korea is the aggressor; that an innocent and remarkably patient U.S. is the intended victim. Such a conclusion — all of it — would be false. Almost nothing of what the U.S. mainstream media says about North Korea is true. Only a grasp of the history and the broader context can shed light on this Korea Crisis. [US NK policy] [Peace effort]
• U.S. Makes Formal Request to Revise FTA
  By Kim Deok-han, Kim Seung-bum July 14, 2017 09:39 The U.S. on Wednesday formally asked Korea to renegotiate their bilateral free trade agreement that went into effect in 2012. U.S. President Donald Trump has denounced this FTA as well as the North American Free Trade Agreement as "job killers" for U.S. workers and businesses and claimed after a summit with President Moon Jae-in late last month that the two sides are already discussing a revision. Now U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has sent a letter to Korean Trade Minister Joo Hyung-hwan seeking "a meeting of a special joint committee in Washington D.C. within 30 days" to renegotiate terms of the FTA. The letter sent Korean trade officials into emergency mode. Officials at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy were shocked by how quickly the U.S. made the formal request and are legally bound to respond within 30 days. The U.S. is seeking "amendments and modifications," though it is unclear what areas it wants to revise since even some in the Republican Party have praised the deal as a "win-win" arrangement. In the letter, Lighthizer only said he wants to resolve "several problems regarding market access in Korea for U.S. exports, and... significant trade imbalance." Korea's trade ministry said it will send a director-level official to Washington soon to fine-tune the agenda of the joint committee meeting. The position of trade representative is still vacant in the new Korean government. Moon told senior officials in a meeting on Thursday to "make preparations leaving open all possibilities." [Korus FTA] [Trump]
• Americans Think N.Korea Is More Dangerous Than ISIS
  July 14, 2017 12:49 Four out of 10 Americans regard North Korea as the biggest threat to their national security, a poll suggests. The survey by news website Politico and Morning Consult published Wednesday found that 40 percent of respondents see the North as the biggest threat, followed by ISIS (30 percent), Russia (16 percent), China (five percent), and Iran (three percent). The older the respondents, the more likely they were to single out the North as the greatest threat, with 50 percent over 65, 42 percent aged 55 to 64, and 30 percent aged 18 to 29. The poll was conducted on July 7-9, right after the North launched a long-range ballistic missile that may be capable of reaching some U.S. territories. Eighty-three percent of respondents said they had heard the news. The threat that "firing such a missile on a standard trajectory 'would allow it to reach all of Alaska'... appears to be weighing on the minds of Americans," Morning Consult said. A majority were for military action against the North, with 49 percent backing air strikes against suspected nuclear sites and 33 percent sending ground troops. Seventy-five percent supported additional sanctions on the North and 72 percent called for sanctions against third countries that do business with the North. The nationwide online survey polled just 1,983 American voters. [Threat] [Public opinion]
• [News analysis] US pressuring on KORUS renegotiation, S. Korea says joint investigation first
  Posted on : Jul.14,2017 17:32 KST Modified on : Jul.14,2017 17:32 KST US President Trump and his wife Melania disembark from Air Force One after arriving in Paris, July 13. Trump will be in France for twenty-four hours over the country’s Bastille Day holiday, and will meet with President Emmanuel Macron. (AFP/Yonhap News) After efforts to placate Trump, South Korea may already be at a disadvantage in trade negotiations The US Donald Trump administration officially notified South Korea that it is beginning negotiations to amend the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA). Seoul has emphatically maintained that it did not ‘agree’ to opening the talks. But many observers are saying the negotiations have already more or less begun, given the tenor of Washington’s demands. [KORUS FTA] [Trump]
• South Korea says no agreement yet on renegotiating KORUS FTA
  Posted on : Jul.14,2017 17:40 KST Modified on : Jul.14,2017 17:40 KST Cars waiting to be exported from the Hyundai Motor port in Ulsan, July 13. (Yonhap News) Two sides would have to agree to renegotiation, and South Korea now preparing for such a scenario After the US administration under President Donald Trump officially requested negotiations to revise the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), Seoul has stated that the two countries have not made an agreement to negotiate a revision of the KORUS FTA. “We will communicate to the US our position that we should first jointly investigate, analyze and assess the effects of implementing the KORUS FTA and then determine whether the agreement is actually the cause of the bilateral trade imbalance,” Seoul said. [KORUS FTA] [Trump]
• S. Korean trade experts recommend pro-active response to US KORUS FTA negotiation
  Posted on : Jul.14,2017 17:44 KST Modified on : Jul.14,2017 17:44 KST Renegotiation an opportunity to address “unequal toxic clauses,” such as the investor-state dispute (ISD) settlement system After US President Donald Trump asked for talks aimed at revising the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), Seoul has been sticking to its strategy of attempting to avoid initiating those talks. But some experts think that Seoul should stop concentrating on preventing a revision and should be a little more proactive about engaging in negotiations with the US. “It would also be possible for us to bring up any issues we may have with the US during the special session of the KORUS FTA Joint Committee,” Yeo Han-gu, chief of the bureau of trade policy at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, acknowledged during a press briefing on July 13, but said the Ministry plans to “boldly communicate to the US our position that we need to first determine if the KORUS FTA is the real cause of the bilateral trade imbalance.” [KORUS FTA] [Trump] [Wishful thinking]
• [Reportage] One year later, candles still burning in Seongju, fighting THAAD deployment
  Posted on : Jul.14,2017 17:47 KST Modified on : Jul.14,2017 17:47 KST A elderly woman in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province during a protest against the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system, on the first anniversary of the Ministry of National Defense announcement of the deployment, July 12. (by Kim Seong-gwang, staff photographer) Residents worried Moon administration could be swayed by the US’s power logic, and unable to reverse deployment “Today marks one year since the candles were first lit in Seongju. As chairman of the Seongju struggle committee, I find it shameful that after a year of fighting, the THAAD deployment is going forward, never mind being withdrawn. But I believe history always ends up on the right side.” Lee Jong-hee, the 59-year-old co-chairperson of the Seongju Committee Fighting for Withdrawal of the THAAD Deployment, was speaking at the 33rd anti-THAAD Wednesday demonstration at 2pm on July 12 on the front lawn of the Soseong village center in Chojeon, a township in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, where Lee resides. The day marked one year since Seongju residents began their fight against the THAAD deployment. Around 100 residents and others turned out for the demonstration despite the blistering heat. Since the THAAD deployment in Seongju was announced last year, residents have been gathering to hold demonstrations against THAAD – daily since July 13 in Seongju township, and weekly on Wednesday since Nov. 30 at the Soseong village center. [THAAD] [Protest]
• How Moon could betray US
  Posted : 2017-07-14 11:21 Updated : 2017-07-14 18:32 By Oh Young-jin President Moon Jae-in's "successful" summit with U.S. President Donald Trump ironically shows the tenuous state of the ROK-U.S. alliance. The highlight of Moon's visit that captivated Trump and other Americans was his emotional speech of appreciation for Americans at the statue to memorize the fighting retreat by U.S. Marines from the Chosin Reservoir in the early stages of the 1950-53 Korean War. American troops were hounded by the Chinese and retreated through the port of Heungnam from Dec. 15 to 24, 1950. They took enormous risks to take along thousands of Korean refugees in what is also known as "the Christmas gift." Old American veterans were moved to see President Moon, the son of parents who fled onboard one of U.S. evacuation ships. Hosting politicians felt proud to see a head of state in Moon, who was grateful for the sacrifice of their fathers. But what lies beneath this show of rapport is the reality of their gaping differences. The South has grown bigger economically and stronger to the point of becoming totally different from what it was during the conflict more than 60 years ago. As an adult nation, Korea needs its own space and has its own needs. Moon could be the last leader to go the extra mile in thanking the U.S. for its help. It can't be ruled out that he himself has to reverse his stance before his five-year term ends. Domestic politics was one motivation for Moon's effusive expression of thankfulness. Moon had prepared for his Washington trip fearing that if anything went wrong in his meeting with Trump, he would take a drubbing from his conservative foes, who have accused the leftist leader of being soft on the North. The foes are kept at bay and his popularity is at an enviable high. He needed Trump's endorsement for latitude to push for reconciliation with the North in his own way. [Moon Jae-in] [Pro-Americanism] [Ploy] [THAAD] [China SK] [Dilemma]
• No to THAAD in Korea, Yes to Peace through Dialogue
  Solidarity Peace Delegation of the Task Force to Stop THAAD in Korea and Militarism in Asia and the Pacific and the Channing and Popai Liem Education Foundation, July 2017
  Under cover of darkness a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system was installed in Seongju City, ROK in April 26 this year, in spite of daily and growing opposition from local villagers and their nation-wide supporters and without official deliberation by South Korea’s governing bodies. Protesters correctly fear that its deployment will strain their country’s already delicate relationship with China, embolden militaristic and anti-democratic political forces in their own country, and exacerbate tensions between North and South Korea. They also worry about potential negative health and environmental effects associated with the operation of the THAAD radar system, and defilement of sacred lands like the nearby pilgrimage site of the Won Buddhist community.
  To add your endorsement, please fill out the Endorsement Form no later than July 19, 2017 (at the end of the day). [Protest]
• North Korea’s ICBM and South Korea’s Confusing Response
  July 10, 2017 Hyun Lee By Hyun Lee | July 10, 2017 “It won’t happen!” Trump had tweeted earlier this year in response to North Korea’s warnings that it was poised to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Yet, it happened. In the early morning hours of July 4, North Korea test-launched the Hwaseong 14. Launched at a steep trajectory, the missile reportedly reached an apogee exceeding 2500 kilometers and flew for 37 minutes. Experts say if launched on a standard trajectory, the missile should technically be able to reach a distance of more than 6,000 kilometers , which would put the missile in the category of an ICBM. Trumps’ policy of maximum pressure is apparently not working. Intensifying sanctions, it seems, has only emboldened North Korea to speed up its missile development. Perhaps it’s time to try maximum engagement. North Korea’s ICBM test is a game-changer, not because Washington actually believes that the country will use the missile to attack the United States, as Gregory Elich and Stephen Gowans point out. What makes Washington nervous is North Korea’s ability to strike back at the heart of the U.S. Strategic Command in Hawaii if attacked. This changes the strategic balance in the region and hence forces the Pentagon to change its strategic calculus. [Hwasong-14] [US NK policy] [Engagement] [Deterrence] Moon Jae-in] [US dominance]
• Time to Think and Act Differently on North Korea
  July 9, 2017 By George Koo | July 9, 2017 Originally published in Asia Times North Korea’s latest test of a missile with a range capable of threatening American cities has left the Trump Administration somewhere between wishful thinking and a hard place. Too bad neither represents a realistic resolution of the conundrum. The easy way out, for the US at least, is to “let China do it.” President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary James Mattis and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley have in unison chanted the same basic mantra: The problem would be solved if China would apply more pressure on North Korea. Unfortunately, this naïve wishful thinking is based on several false premises. [US NK policy]
• Can Trump Actually Cut (Good) Deals on Diplomacy?
  From North Korea to Russia to the Middle East, there's no shortage of deal-making needed. But beware the fine print of anything with Trump's insignia. By John Feffer, July 12, 2017. American beef is now available in China — as a result of a deal that Donald Trump made with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. In exchange, Chinese chicken is now available in the United States. Seems like a fair deal — hats off to Trump. Oh, except that there are a few important caveats to the quid pro quo. The chicken can only be cooked. It won’t be labeled as coming from China. And consumers won’t even know the name of the brand that will market the birds. So, if you’re worried about eating chicken produced in a country with notoriously lax food safety regulations and inspections, stay away from that box of drumsticks in the freezer aisle. But here’s perhaps the most idiotic part of the deal. The chickens that China cooks have to be sourced from the United States, Canada, or Chile. Chickens can’t fly long distances. But these particular chickens are jetsetters, flying as much as 12,000 miles one way from Chile to China and then another 7,000 miles from China to the United States. Sorry, Donald: As deals go, this one’s definitely a zonk, as Monte Hall would have put it. Donald Trump based his campaign in part on his ability to make better deals. He lambasted trade pacts like NAFTA and promised to do better. He criticized the Iran nuclear agreement and promised to do better. He challenged the terms of alliance arrangements with Japan and South Korea and promised to do better. So far, however, the Trump administration has either left previous deals in place (NAFTA, Iran, alliances) or simply pulled out unilaterally (Trans Pacific Partnership, Paris climate deal). [Trump] [Foreign policy] [Liberal]
• He ran North Korea’s secret moneymaking operation. Now he lives in Virginia.
  By Anna Fifield July 13 at 1:00 AM Efforts to sanction North Korea into submission won’t work because there are too many ways around them, Ri Jong Ho says. He should know. For about three decades, Ri was a top moneymaker for the Kim regime, sending millions of dollars a year back to Pyongyang even as round after round of sanctions was imposed to try to punish North Korea for its nuclear defiance. “We were never in pain or hurting in our trade business because of the sanctions. Instead, we conducted our first nuclear test in 2006,” Ri said in an interview near Tysons Corner. The 59-year-old, whose job had been to raise money for the North Korean regime, and his family now live in Northern Virginia, having defected to South Korea at the end of 2014 and moved to the United States last year. [Defector] [Sanctions]
• World has much riding on South Korea’s President Moon
  The most intriguing personality at last week’s Group of 20 meeting was the least discussed: Moon Jae-in of South Korea By William Pesek July 12, 2017 11:13 AM (UTC+8) The most intriguing personality at last week’s Group of 20 meeting was the least discussed: Moon Jae-in of South Korea. President of Asia’s No. 4 economy for all of two months, Moon sits directly at the nexus of the two biggest challenges facing those 20 world powers. One is North Korea, which may soon have the capability to deliver nuclear warheads to the continental US. The other is deepening inequality delegitimizing democratic governments everywhere and sparking populist backlashes. Raising the stakes on both fronts is the extent to which solutions may depend on Donald Trump’s whims. [Moon Jae-in] [US dominance]
• US Forces Korea got $59.4 million in tax breaks over the last five years
  Posted on : Jul.13,2017 17:33 KST Modified on : Jul.13,2017 17:33 KST Civic groups chant slogans during a press conference in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul’s Jongno district, calling for a reduction of South Korean burden of defense cost sharing in the tenth Special Measures Agreement with the US, Jan. 10, 2014. (by Lee Jeong-a, staff photographer) Precise levels of South Korean support is still a mystery, as the US military does not release detailed figures US Forces Korea had at least 67.6 billion won (US$59.4 million) in local taxes waived by Gyeonggi Province and Seoul in the last five years, it was recently learned. From 2012 to 2016, USFK received 14.4 billion won (US$12.6 million) in property tax, vehicle tax, and regional educational tax exemptions from Seoul Metropolitan Government. The estimable portion of the USFK local taxes waived by Gyeonggi Province over the same time comes out to around 53.2 billion won (US$46.7 million). Since that amount does not include automobile taxes, which account for a large portion of Gyeonggi’s local tax revenue, the actual tax breaks are almost certainly much larger. The details came from an analysis of USFK indirect cost support based on data acquired over the past month from Justice Party lawmaker and National Assembly National Defense Committee member Kim Jong-dae and the Hankyoreh’s own investigation. [USFK]
• South Korean gov’t on the hook for $870 million to clean up US base contamination
  Posted on : Jul.12,2017 17:15 KST Modified on : Jul.12,2017 17:15 KST As US bases are returned to South Korea, they leave behind a legacy of mishandled chemicals and waste Old, rusted oil tanks containing gasoline, diesel fuel, and JP-8 jet fuel lie buried throughout the 2.8 million square meters of the US military base in Seoul’s Yongsan district. Tiny cracks are discovered only after they become large holes. In its incident report, US Forces Korea writes, “Ground was saturated with oil at time of discovery. Worn fuel pipe appears to be cause, but not clear when or where leak started. Discharged fuel permeated waterway and flowed into Han River.” Seoul residents have no idea when an accident has occurred. Recently, Green Korea United (GKU) and other South Korean civic groups submitted an information disclosure request to the US government for details on oil leakage incidents at Yongsan Garrison. The results showed 84 USFK-recorded incidents since 1990. The South Korean Ministry of Environment was notified in just five of the cases. Over those years, Seoul residents have only become aware of the incidents when oil leaking outside the base has been discovered by chance. [USFK] [Contamination] [Pollution] [Tribute]
• S. Korea and US with different assessments of when Pyeongtaek base will be finished
  Posted on : Jul.12,2017 17:13 KST Modified on : Jul.12,2017 17:13 KST A helicopter on the runway at Camp Humphreys US military base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province on July 11, the day that USFK officially started relocating forces from Yongsan Garrison in Seoul. (by Kim Jeong-hyo, staff photographer) US troops are starting to move out of Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, but still unclear on when move will be completed The South Korean media gathered en masse at the US Eighth Army’s Camp Humphreys, in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province for a ceremony marking the Eighth Army headquarters’ relocation there from Yongsan Garrison in Seoul. On a bus tour of Camp Humphreys, Ministry of National Defense (MND) officials involved in the relocation program explained: “Ten additional square kilometers of land have been allocated to the base, giving it a total area of 15 square kilometers. This is 5.5 times the size of Yeouido [a neighborhood in Seoul], which measures 2.8 square kilometers.” Construction is still in progress in some parts of the base. Primary, middle, and high schools have already opened. But construction workers are still at work completing family housing and barracks for soldiers. Among the infrastructure projects that are already finished is a rail line connecting the base to Pyeongtaek’s Sukseong Station, but the line going from Sukseong Station to Pyeongtaek Port is still under construction, an MND official said. [USFK] [Pyeongtaek] [Bases]
• Benzene near Yongsan Garrison still 587 times higher than threshold levels
  Posted on : Jul.12,2017 17:17 KST Modified on : Jul.12,2017 17:17 KST Gate 17 of US Army Garrison in Yongsan Seoul, called Camp Kim, the possible source of petroleum contamination of underground water at the Noksapyeong subway station. South Korea left unaware of contamination inside US bases, and could be left with costly cleanup after US forces leave Even thought I was born and raised in Seoul, the area near Itaewon in the Yongsan neighborhood is an unfamiliar place to me. I’ve been to Itaewon’s side streets a few times to visit well-known restaurants, but that’s about it. The site where contamination levels around Yongsan Garrison were being measured was near Noksapyeong Metro Station, right at the entrance of Itaewon’s main strip. I bought a glass of watermelon juice at a fancy cafe and went down the below the artwork bearing the English words “Welcome to Korea.” In that instant, I was assaulted by an oil stench powerful enough to leave me nauseated. [USFK] [Pollution]
• Let North Korea keep some nukes? Robert Gates lays out a vision for a solution
  Posted on : Jul.12,2017 17:07 KST Modified on : Jul.12,2017 17:07 KST Former US Secretary of Defense outlines three principles, including ruling out a military strike and acknowledgment of China’s crucial role The opinion that North Korea should be guaranteed nuclear missiles in a limited capacity, and that there should be a change in the military forces stationed on the Korean peninsula, has made its way into mainstream discourse in the US as the solution to North Korean nuclear and missile issues. Former US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates proposed that acknowledging the North Korean regime, signing a peace treaty with the regime, and partially changing the structure of the US forces stationed within South Korea would be necessary to the solution. Going further, he even laid out a plan in which North Korea would be guaranteed its nuclear weapons, under the condition of inspections. These opinions were published in Wall Street Journal columnist Gerald F. Seib’s piece on July 10 in the Journal, based on an interview with Gates and titled, “What Would Gates Do? A Defense Chief’s Plan for North Korea.” [US NK Negotiations]
• [Interview] The Park Geun-hye administration’s biggest national defense mistake
  Posted on : Jul.11,2017 17:40 KST Modified on : Jul.11,2017 17:40 KST Former senior secretary says of transfer of OPCON to South Korea, “the sooner the better” Korean Peninsula Future Forum Chairman Chun Yung-woo said in an interview with the Hankyoreh on June 21, “The biggest strategic mistake made by the Park Geun-hye administration in terms of national security and defense was the postponement of the transfer of wartime operational control [OPCON] to us. The Lee Myung-bak government had fully prepared so that the new administration could carry out the transfer of OPCON in 2015 as scheduled.” Chun was a conservative who served as senior secretary to the president for foreign affairs and national security during the Lee Myung-bak administration (2008-13). He further emphasized, “At the time, I could not understand why there was a delay or who the president was listening to that would cause her to make such an erratic decision. In view of our economic and military power, there is absolutely no reason to leave wartime operational control in the hands of the US.” As part of its promise to carry out the OPCON transfer by December 2015, the government prepared a collaborative command system in which the commander of US Forces Korea would participate as deputy commander and create a combined South Korea-US division. In addition to violating her own election pledge, Park’s independent postponement of the OPCON transfer also resulted in the de facto cancellation of the previous administration’s Yongsan Relocation Plan (YPR) and Land Partnership Plan (LPP), which had been ratified by the National Assembly. At the time, the administration cited “a changing security environment, including the North Korean nuclear and missile threat” as its reason. “While I was senior secretary, it wasn’t a situation where people like [Blue House] National Security Office chief Kim Kwan-jin, who thought we could go ahead with the transfer, could change [the determination],” Chun recalled. [OPCON] [Park Geun-hye]
• With tensions high, Pentagon flies bombers over Korean Peninsula in show of force
  By Dan Lamothe and Thomas Gibbons-Neff July 8 A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer of the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron sits at Andersen Air Force Base on Friday in Guam before a bilateral mission with South Korean and Japanese jets. (Airman 1st Class Jacob Skovo/Air Force) The Pentagon flew two B-1B bombers over the Korean Peninsula Friday in a show of force, carrying out a 10-hour, multipart mission alongside fighter jets from South Korea and Japan four days after North Korea launched its first-ever intercontinental ballistic missile. U.S. Pacific Command disclosed the operation late Friday, saying the mission was a demonstration of the “ironclad” American commitment to allies in the region. The Air Force launched the planes from Andersen Air Force Base on Guam, flying west across the Pacific before joining South Korean F-15s and dropping inert bombs over Pilsung Range, a training area in the northeastern corner of South Korea. [Posturing]
• Observations on the Korea Crisis and Donald Trump
  by Gary Leupp 1) The North Korean (DPRK) leadership considers the development of nuclear weapons as vital to national security. Why? There are 70,000 U.S. troops in Japan and South Korea, and Pyongyang is in Washington’s nuclear cross hairs. B-52s over South Korea provide a “nuclear umbrella” (as the Pentagon puts it). The U.S.-led war of 1950-1953 (to prevent the reunification of the country under Pyongyang’s leadership) resulted in the death of around three million civilians. [Trump] [US NK policy]
• James Mattis says US still not planning military action against North Korea
  Posted on : Jul.8,2017 15:42 KST Modified on : Jul.8,2017 15:42 KST Commitment to pressure and engagement remains after Nikki Haley’s allusion to possible military action As tensions rise on the Korean Peninsula in the wake of an ICBM launch by North Korea, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis has stressed that current US policy towards the North remains committed to applying economic and diplomatic pressure instead of seeking a military solution. “I do not think this capability [to launch an ICBM], in and of itself, brings us closer to war. The president’s been very clear, the secretary of state’s been very clear, that we are leading with diplomatic and economic efforts,” Mattis stated in a press interview on July 6. The sudden press conference has been interpreted as an attempt to quell speculation about a pre-emptive strike after Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the UN, mentioned the previous day that the US is prepared to use its "considerable military forces" to defend itself and its allies "if we must." [Mattis] [Military option]
• S. Korean and US militaries have differing claims on North Korean ICBM re-entry
  Posted on : Jul.7,2017 16:05 KST Modified on : Jul.7,2017 16:05 KST US Defense Department said Hwasong-14 included a re-entry vehicle, while S. Korea said re-entry was not verified The US Defense Department said North Korea’s Hwasong-14 missile included a re-entry vehicle (RV). The claim is igniting controversy, as it differs from the assessment the day before by the South Korean Ministry of National Defense, which said the missile’s re-entry had “not been verified.” Reuters reported Pentagon spokesperson Capt. Jeff Davis as saying at a July 5 press briefing that North Korea’s Hwasong-14 missile was fired from a mobile launcher and confirming the presence of an RV at the missile’s tip. Davis’s claim differs from what was reported by the South Korean Ministry of National Defense the same day to the National Assembly National Defense Committee. At the time, the ministry said the missile was “fired from a fixed launcher, and re-entry, which requires advanced technology, was not verified, which means we can’t conclude that [North Korea’s] ICBM development has been successful.” [Hwasong-14] [Intelligence] [US dominance] [Re-entry]
• Peace treaty proposal drawing caution
  Posted : 2017-07-09 17:39 Updated : 2017-07-09 21:03 Kim Jong-eun expected to keep sidelining Moon By Kim Jae-kyoung President Moon Jae-in needs to take a more cautious approach with his initiative to sign a "peace treaty" with North Korea until Pyongyang agrees to halt the development of its missile and nuclear programs, international experts said Sunday. They are voicing concerns that pushing for his idea despite the North's ongoing provocations could in the end drive a wedge between South Korea and the United States. [Moon Jae-in] [Peace Treaty] [US dominance] [Sidelined]
• ‘I’m worried about moose, not missiles.’ Alaskans on North Korea threat: Shrug.
  By Julia O'Malley July 8 at 7:27 PM Christine Homan and Zach Homan eat ice cream with their sons at Wild Scoops in downtown Anchorage. (Ash Adams/for The Washington Post) ANCHORAGE — There have been times in Alaska’s history when people have had deep anxiety about foreign threats. The state was bombed and two of its islands were occupied by the Japanese in World War II. And it is, after all, the closest anyone can get to Russia and still be on American soil. But nobody here seems all that worried right now. With North Korea’s test of an intercontinental ballistic missile last week, the news has been filled with speculation that a nuclear warhead could reach the Last Frontier and that Anchorage could be the most realistic U.S. target for destruction. But people here have been talking about the possibility of missile strikes for decades, and Alaskans tend to focus on more tangible hazards, like avalanches covering the highway, bear maulings at campgrounds, boating accidents and earthquakes. “I’m worried about moose, not missiles,” quipped Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz. “Bears, not bombs.” [Threat] ][Alaska] [Retaliation] [ICBM]
• North Korea’s Fast-Track Missile Development: How Far It’s Come and Why It Has the U.S. on Edge
  by Gregory Elich
  July 7, 2017 Since Donald Trump became president, North Korea has conducted a flurry of missile tests, triggering a wave of condemnation by U.S. media and political figures. The reaction contains more than an element of fear-mongering, and it is sometimes implied that armed with an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), North Korea is liable to launch an unprovoked attack on the U.S. mainland. [Hwasong-14] [US NK policy]
• North Korea vs. America: Trump’s Better Things to Do?
  By Kim Petersen Global Research, July 06, 2017 Following a successful ICBM test by the Democratic Republic of Korea (DPRK, also referred to as North Korea), United States president Donald Trump behaved in what he considers an unpresidential fashion and took to twitter: North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life? Hard to believe that South Korea….. ….and Japan will put up with this much longer. Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all! “[T]his guy” is obviously a reference to the supreme leader of the DPRK, Kim Jong-un. One also draws the conclusion from the tweets that the tweeter engages in better things to do with his life. So what are the better things president Trump does with his life? [Hwasong-14] [Trump]
• Even a US ‘Surgical Strike’ Against North Korea Could Lead to Full-Scale War
  Experts Agree There Is No 'Limited' Military Option Jason Ditz Posted on July 5, 2017 Even administration officials readily admit that a full-scale war with North Korea is “a war we don’t want.” After almost 70 years of armistice, North Korea has retaliatory capabilities that would devastate South Korea, killing millions, and the large US military contingent in South Korea would be sitting ducks. [Military option] [Retaliation]
• North Korea and the “Axis of Evil”
  By S. Brian Willson Global Research, July 06, 2017 Global Research 22 April 2004 This 2004 article by award winning author, peace activist and Vietnam war veteran Brian Willson brings to light the process of demonization directed against the people of North Korea. In the words of General Curtis Lemay who led the bombing raids during the Korean war: “Over a period of three years or so we killed off – what – twenty percent of the population.” According to Brian Willson: “It is now believed that the population north of the imposed 38th Parallel lost nearly a third its population of 8 – 9 million people during the 37-month long “hot” war, 1950 – 1953, perhaps an unprecedented percentage of mortality suffered by one nation due to the belligerance of another.” Let us carefully analyze the current context of confrontation between Washington and Pyongyang. Since the end of the Korean War, the DPRK has repeatedly put forward a proposal involving a peace treaty, the reunification of North and South Korea, the withdrawal of US troops from South Korea, the end of the conduct, on a yearly basis of a month-long U.S-South Korean war games. This year’s US-South Korea war games in mid March involve a “hypothetical” US nuclear attack against the DPRK. The war games constitute a deliberate act of provocation by the World’s foremost military power. The media consensus –which nobody dare to challenge– is that North Korea rather than the US is a threat to global security. Where is the threat, North Korea or the US? A pre-emptive nuclear war against North Korea has been on the drawing board of the Pentagon for over half a century. Lets ask ourselves: Who is the Killer State? Who Possesses the WMDs? Who has the money and military hardware to pursue a global military agenda, in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East? How could a small country of 25 million which lost 30 percent of its population as a result of US bombings in the 1950s constitute a threat to global security. Why is this impoverished country –which has been the object of economic sanctions for the past sixty years– being threatened? Since the end of the Korean war the threat of a US led nuclear has been relentless, for more than half a century. Is Washington committed to world peace? Recent history suggests that countries which are opposed to US expansionism are routinely the object of acts of aggression. Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, April 5, 2013, July 5, 2017 [US NK policy]
• Don’t go ballistic! The least bad agenda after North Korea’s ICBM test
  by David Santoro David Santoro (david@pacforum.org) is director and senior fellow for nuclear policy at the Pacific Forum, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). You can follow him on Twitter @DavidSantoro1. On July 4, the day the United States celebrated its independence, North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), that is, a missile capable of striking the US homeland. This is highly symbolic and will drive many in Washington to demand drastic measures in response, including preemptive strikes, even as experts debate whether this missile technology can land on US soil. In recent weeks, influential politicians, notably Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham, have urged the Trump administration to consider such strikes if Pyongyang crossed that threshold because they, like many US policymakers, have for years regarded it a “strategic game-changer.” Launching military strikes against North Korea, however, would almost certainly be unsuccessful in eliminating its arsenal and, more importantly, would lead to a disastrous conflict that could escalate to nuclear war. Yes, North Korea’s nuclear and missile progress is worrisome and requires action, but beating the drums of war does not make sense right now. Yesterday’s North Korean ICBM test is not, and should not be viewed as, a strategic game-changer. This is both an inaccurate and counterproductive characterization. [Hwasong-14] [US NK policy] [Military option] [US NK negotiations] [Freeze]
• Americans and South Koreans Want Peace. Will Trump Listen?
  Korea's new pro-engagement president may not have to be as deferential to Washington hardliners as his predecessors. By Christine Ahn, June 29, 2017. Leaders of national peace organizations meet with Rep. John Conyers before delivering petitions to South Korean Embassy. (Photo provided by Christine Ahn) As the newly elected South Korean President Moon Jae-in meets President Donald Trump for his first White House visit, the South Korean leader should stay focused on his calls for diplomatic, economic, and cultural engagement with Pyongyang. The Trump administration will undoubtedly try to steer Moon in the opposite direction, towards “maximum pressure” on North Korea. However, while the United States may have heavily influenced South Korea’s economy and politics for the last 70 years, including still maintaining wartime operational control over its military, it’s a new day. [US NK policy] [Trump] [Moon Jae-in] [Wishful thinking] [Diplomacy]
• Honoring Otto Warmbier
  How should the United States respond to the detention and subsequent death of an American student who visited North Korea? By John Feffer, July 3, 2017. Originally published in Hankyoreh. North Korea is not a tourist destination that I generally recommend for Americans. South Koreans have special reasons to visit the country – to see members of their divided families, to visit legendary places like Mt. Paektu, to experience an alternative Korean reality. Chinese tourists visit North Korea to get a taste of their own more austere Communist past. Humanitarian workers from a variety of countries go back and forth to North Korea to help people who would otherwise fall through the frayed safety net of the country. American tourists, on the other hand, are usually looking for a good time. Although Pyongyang has a casino and a bowling alley and numerous restaurants, North Korea is not a fun destination. Still, some Americans go there as part of their quest to visit every country in the world or because they can claim bragging rights for having participated in adventure tourism. I’ve also met American tourists who were genuinely curious about North Korea. Some tour companies go the extra length by incorporating briefings by experts in North Korean society. [Warmbier] [Liberal]
• Trump warns of ‘severe’ consequences for North Korea as Russia, China balk at tough U.S. talk
  Trump: 'We must confront the threat from North Korea' President Trump said there will be consequences for North Korea's "very, very bad behavior," during a news conference in Poland on July 6. (Reuters) By Emily Rauhala July 6 at 12:09 PM BEIJING — President Trump warned Thursday that North Korea could face “some pretty severe” consequences after its defiant test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, but Washington also confronted firm opposition from Russia and China over any possible response. Trump did not specify potential U.S.-directed punishment for North Korea, which on Tuesday launched a missile that experts say had a range that made it capable of reaching Alaska. Yet efforts to find consensus among world powers appeared to hit a wall — sharply limiting Trump’s options. New sanctions would have little effect unless backed by China, which is the North’s financial lifeline. Russia also has rejected further economic pressures on the regime of Kim Jong Un. [Missile Test] [Trump] [Policy poverty]
• S.Korea, U.S. Flex Muscles After N.Korean Missile Launch
  By Lee Yong-soo July 06, 2017 10:35 The South Korean military and U.S. Forces Korea on Wednesday simultaneously test-fired ballistic missiles that could pulverize North Korean nuclear and missile facilities. The show of force came only a day after North Korea launched what it claimed was an intercontinental ballistic missile. South Korean forces also released footage of a "decapitation operation" drill, including practice for a strike on Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang. "All this shows how serious both Seoul and Washington are about Pyongyang's ICBM launch," a Defense Ministry spokesman here said. And USFK Commander Vincent Brooks said, "Self-restraint, which is a choice, is all that separates armistice and war." "As this alliance missile live-fire shows, we are able to change our choice when so ordered by our alliance national leaders. It would be a grave mistake for anyone to believe anything to the contrary," he added. [US NK policy] SK] [US dominance] [Military option] [Posturing] [Pretend equality]
• Kim Jong-un Calls New Missile 'Gift to U.S. Bastards'
  By Hwang Dae-jin, Yang Seung-sik July 06, 2017 10:44 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday praised officials for sending a "package of gifts" to "American bastards" on their July 4 Independence Day with the test launch of what he claims was an intercontinental ballistic missile. The comment came from a report by the North's official Korean Central News Agency CNA and confirms that it meant to make a splash on the U.S. national holiday. Kim Jong-un It quoted Kim as saying that the Hwasong-14 missile "looked as handsome as a good-looking boy and was well made" and vowing never to give up his nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles until the U.S. ends its "hostile policy" against the North. [Hwasong-14] [Hostility] [Conditionality]
• APB: The US-China-North Korea Tangle
  by Mel Gurtov It’s not too early to sound alarm bells about the downward turn in US-China relations. Trump’s evident frustration with China over its presumed failure to rein in North Korea has already led to a number of steps that have rankled Beijing. These include a State Department report on human trafficking that includes sharp criticism of China’s denial of human rights; statements from the administration about China’s unfair trade practices; a major US arms sale to Taiwan; and a US frigate’s sail-by in South China Sea waters close to Chinese-claimed territory. [Engagement] [Triangular]
• [News analysis] North Korea’s ICBM launch presents Trump administration with a dilemma
  Posted on : Jul.6,2017 16:35 KST Modified on : Jul.6,2017 16:35 KST US cannot rely on either a show of force or cooperation with China to solve issue of North Korea’s nuclear program The US government under President Donald Trump has changed its assessment of the missile that North Korea test launched on July 4 from an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) to an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Faced with the test launch of a North Korean ICBM, which is being called a “game changer,” the Trump administration will have to ask some big questions about its North Korean policy moving forward, the US media reported. [Hwasong-14] [US NK policy] [Policy poverty]
• North Korea’s ICBM launch comes as apparent response to recent S. Korea-US summit
  Posted on : Jul.5,2017 15:17 KST Modified on : Jul.5,2017 15:17 KST North Korea prepares the launch of a Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile, July 4. (Korean Central Television/Yonhap News) ICBM capability is apparently a strategic asset for North Korea before entering into negotiations North Korea’s claims on July 4 of having successfully launched a Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) strikes a blow against a South Korean government that was attempting to leverage the outcome of its recent South Korea-US summit to push an ambitious North Korea policy approach. For now, pressure from the international community appears certain to grow, including a possible additional UN Security Council resolution. Pyongyang‘s claims of having successfully launched an ICBM are being seen as a response to the summit. “At the summit, the South Korean and US leaders emphasized a combination of pressure and dialogue, while agreeing on the South Korean government taking a leading role in Korean Peninsula issues, including the North Korean nuclear program and inter-Korean relations,” explained Korea National Strategy Institute director Kim Chang-soo. “With the strategic provocation of this ICBM launch, North Korea sent the message that it wants to negotiate directly with the US,” Kim said. Kim explained that North Korea claimed to have “succeeded at developing an ICBM after continued tests with engine performance, re-entry technology, and increased range since last year.” “If this is true, it can be expected to continue making provocations and raising tensions as it works militarily to increase its secondary retaliation capabilities, including improved ICBM performance and more nuclear warheads,” he predicted. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un observes the launch of a Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile, July 4. (Korean Central Television/Yonhap News) Some analysts suggested Pyongyang had made the choice to pursue dialogue with the US after securing the strategic asset of an ICBM. Thus far, the international community has implicitly viewed North Korea’s ICBM development as a “red line.” The North‘s development of an ICBM to carry the small-scale, lightweight, standardized nuclear warheads it claimed to have successfully developed with its fifth nuclear test would make it a direct military threat to the US and other countries. “We had expected North Korea to leave the last stage of ICBM technology for later and attempt negotiation, but it seems to have opted for pursuing dialogue after securing a strategic asset first,” said Cho Sung-ryul, a supervising senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy. [Hwasong-14]
• How to Track a North Korean Sanctioned Ship
  North Korea's shipping industry has become a massive source of revenue for the Kim regime and a major target of UN Security Council and international sanctions in the past several years. North Korean-linked vessels have been involved in countless cases of weapons, crude oil, and drugs smuggling, rendering ship tracking an invaluable method to detect anomalous activities. There are several factors that can help determine the likelihood of a particular vessel being linked to sanctions breaching activity, or any individuals or entities known to help North Korea evade sanctions. The Risk Indicator is a measure developed by our experts at NK Pro that helps evaluate this probability. While all North Korean vessels would likely be considered “high risk” by financial or insurance institutions, within the DPRK fleet some vessels exhibit behavior that is intended to hide their links to the DPRK, their true ownership, and their general activity. North Korea's deceptive practices have led the United Nations, the U.S., South Korea and Japan to take specific actions on North Korean shipping. All UN member states should now refuse entry to a list of 27 vessels, while also prohibiting the use of North Korean crew or ship chartering services. Resolution 2270 calls “upon the Member States to de-register any vessel that is owned, operated or crewed by the DPRK." [Sanctions]
• Blue House official’s humorous crack lightened mood at S. Korea-US summit
  Posted on : Jul.4,2017 16:17 KST Modified on : Jul.4,2017 16:17 KST Jang Ha-sung, Blue House Policy Chief of Staff, talks to US President Donald Trump at the White House, in a photo released on the Blue House‘s Facebook page on July 3. (Yonhap News) Policy Chief of Staff spoke in fluent English, and Trump joked about how US publication of his book would further widen trade deficit During a tense moment about trade in the “expanded summit” between South Korea and the US on June 30, the serious mood was reportedly relaxed by a remark made by Jang Ha-sung, Blue House Policy Chief of Staff and an alumnus of the Wharton School, along with US President Donald Trump. According to a Blue House official’s account on July 3 of what happened behind the scenes at the South Korea-US summit, the Americans started by expressing their hope that Trump would focus on trade issues, and American participants including US Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross made a series of remarks that put pressure on South Korea. Representing South Korea, Jang and economic advisor Kim Hyeon-cheol countered by providing specific trade figures. Just then, Jang said he would speak in English without relying on interpretation to make things easier for the Americans, and Trump made a joke about how Jang must be smart because he was from the Wharton School, of which Trump is also an alumnus, which drew a laugh from the people in the meeting. Jang received his PhD in business administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
• Following summit, S. Korea and US to form consultation group on KORUS FTA
  Posted on : Jul.4,2017 16:20 KST Modified on : Jul.4,2017 16:20 KST US Vice President Mike Pence stands and applauds as President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump hold a press conference in the White House Rose Garden after their expanded summit in Washington DC, June 30. (Blue House photo pool) US apparently will want the group to revise KORUS FTA while South Korea seeking analysis of the agreement‘s impact The next step after the South Korea-US summit will be forming a bilateral consultation group to discuss whether to renegotiate the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA). The questions now are the composure of this group and the timing of its formation. The US wants the consultation group to revise the KORUS FTA while South Korea wants it to analyze and assess the KORUS FTA’s impact, suggesting that the two sides will be waging an intense battle of nerves from the very outset. “Since we have a counterpart to consider here, for now I can’t offer a definitive answer about when, where, or what form this consultation group will take,” said a senior official from South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on July 3. “There hasn’t been any official discussion in our two countries’ working-level channels since the end of the summit.” The Ministry’s American counterpart is the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). On July 2, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said that US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer would be organizing a meeting of a “special joint committee” in order to begin the process of renegotiating and revising the agreement. The US is likely to view the purpose of the consultation body as being to renegotiate and revise the KORUS FTA. [Trump_Moon17] [KORUS FTA]
• At meeting in Seoul, Pres. Moon gets Obama’s advice on strengthening alliance with US
  Posted on : Jul.4,2017 16:22 KST Modified on : Jul.4,2017 16:22 KST Obama is in South Korea with his family to attend the Asian Leadership Conference On the afternoon of July 3, South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with former US President Barack Obama at the Blue House and asked for Obama’s help and advice on strengthening South Korea’s alliance with the US. Blue House spokesperson Park Soo-hyun said that Moon told Obama during the meeting, which lasted for over 40 minutes, that his summit with Trump had exceeded expectations and that the two leaders had agreed to further strengthen the South Korea-US alliance. Moon also asked Obama to give him some more advice about further developing the alliance. Moon was quoted by Park as telling Obama that Moon and Trump had agreed to keep using sanctions and pressure to resolve the issue of the North Korean nuclear and missile programs while also engaging in dialogue. Moon reportedly said that this was North Korea’s last chance to engage in dialogue. In response, Obama related how Abraham Lincoln had once said that without the support of the people, a government can do nothing, but with the support of the people, there is nothing a government cannot do. Since the South Korean people want Moon to succeed, Obama continued, he believes that Moon will be able to adequately achieve what he desires. Obama went on to say that there was bipartisan support for the South Korea-US alliance in Congress. Since South Korea has the support of the American people and of the Korean-American community, South Korea-US relations will become even stronger, Park quoted Obama as saying. Obama arrived in South Korea the previous day with his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, to attend the Asian Leadership Conference. Obama visited South Korea four times while president. This was his first visit since his summit with former president Park Geun-hye on Apr. 25, 2014. By Lee Se-young, staff reporter [Moon Jae-in] [Obama] [US SK alliance]
• Moon's US visit brings economic achievements
  Posted : 2017-07-04 16:39 Updated : 2017-07-04 19:07 President Moon Jae-in delivers a speech during the Korea-U.S. Business Summit at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, June 28. / Yonhap By Kang Seung-woo President Moon Jae-in talks with Thomas Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, during the Korea-U.S. Business Summit. / Yonhap The joint statement focusing on North Korea's denuclearization was the highlight reel during President Moon Jae-in's visit to the United States. Above all, Moon's U.S. trip is said to have sought quality over quantity as Korean companies came up with detailed investment plans rather than just signing non-binding memoranda of understanding (MOUs).But economic fruits from his maiden overseas trip as Korean president are also as productive as diplomatic achievements, observers pointed out Tuesday. During Moon's visit to Washington, D.C., for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, the business delegation, comprised of 52 top executives, announced that they will invest $12.8 billion into the U.S. economy over the next five years. Plus, Korean corporations plan to spend $22.4 billion to purchase aircraft and other American products and resources. [Moon_Trump17] [Economic relations] [Self delusion]
• Some states stand to lose if Trump roils trade relations with South Korea
  By Stuart Leavenworth sleavenworth@mcclatchydc.com LinkedIn Google+ Pinterest Reddit Print Order Reprint of this Story WASHINGTON President Donald Trump seems determined to reset the U.S. trade relationship with South Korea. But if his effort backfires, it could hurt several states that depend upon commerce with Seoul, including California, Texas, Washington and South Carolina. Trump has long said he wants to tear up the 2012 U.S.-South Korea Trade Agreement, an Obama-era pact that will surely come up Friday when he holds his first formal meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae In, who arrived in Washington on Wednesday. [Trump] [US SK trade] [KORUS FTA]
• Korea May Have to Shoulder More of USFK Upkeep
  By Lee Yong-soo July 03, 2017 12:43 U.S. President Donald Trump said after his summit with President Moon Jae-in on Friday that he wants to ensure a "fair" division of the cost of keeping 29,000 American troops in Korea. Trump stressed that a fair sharing of the costs is "very important." The comments were absent from the written joint statement the two leaders issued after their summit, but Trump often talks off the cuff, perhaps to play to his core support base. One diplomatic source said, "The comments may have been for domestic consumption, but they did confirm that Trump is determined to raise Korea's share of the costs." As a result, Seoul could face pressure to shoulder more of the costs in annual defense talks scheduled late this year. President Moon Jae-in (second from left) meets with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on Friday. /Newsis The issue of getting Washington's allies to pay more to keep American troops stationed on their soil was among Trump's key campaign themes. One government official who was present at the summit said Saturday, "We explained in detail how much we contribute to the defense expenses." The shared upkeep of the U.S. Forces Korea covers salaries for Koreans working for the U.S. military, the cost of buildings in American bases and support for various military equipment. Under a cost-sharing agreement inked in January 2014, Seoul paid W920 billion that year and with a slight increase every year is about to pay W935.5 billion this year (US$1=W1,146). The next cost-sharing talks start in early 2018 for the arrangement starting the following year. A government official here said, "It won't be as high as the $1 billion Trump mentioned in April this year, but it looks like Washington will seek the highest increase so far." The Foreign Ministry has said Korea will probably not face the same tough demands Trump has been making of NATO allies, but that could be proved wrong. [Trump_Moon17] [USFK] [Tribute]
• Will Korea Have to Renegotiate FTA with U.S.?
  By Kim Seong-min, Song Won-hyung July 03, 2017 12:38 U.S. President Donald Trump's claim that Seoul and Washington "are renegotiating a trade deal right now" has stoked fears that the time is up for the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement in its present form. FTA renegotiations cannot in principle be forced on the other side unilaterally, but the U.S. has plenty of means at its disposal to make Korea comply and could in theory scrap the pact altogether. Choi Won-mok at Ewha Womans University said, "We need to accept the fact that renegotiation will happen, even if they were not explicitly mentioned in the joint statement" Trump and President Moon Jae-in made after their summit. But the White House's first priority seems to be the North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA after Trump stirred up anti-Mexican feelings to fever pitch on the campaign trail. Supposing that takes about a year, renegotiations of the Korea-U.S. FTA would start at the end of 2018. "The U.S. Trade Representative is currently preparing to renegotiate NAFTA, while the U.S. Commerce Department is analyzing America's trade deficit, so it's difficult to start renegotiations of the Korea-U.S. FTA right now," said Ahn Duk-geun at Seoul National University. [Trump_Moon17] [KORUS FTA] [Tribute]
• Moon Wins U.S. Support for 'Leading Role' in Talks with N.Korea
  By Jeong Woo-sang, Lim Min-hyuk July 03, 2017 10:01 President Moon Jae-in succeeded in winning support from U.S. President Donald Trump to play a leading role in resuming talks with North Korea during their meeting in Washington on Friday. "We have secured the United States' support for us to lead the resolution of the Korean Peninsula problem through dialogue," Moon said on returning to Korea on Sunday. But he added, "We now have to start a long journey to build a structure of lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula." [Trump_Moon17] [SK NK Negotiations] [Self delusion]
• Korea, U.S. Skirt THAAD Controversy During Summit
  By Lee Yong-soo July 03, 2017 13:09 President Moon Jae-in and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump during their summit Friday managed to skirt the contentious issue of the deployment of a THAAD anti-missile battery in Korea. The omission seems to have been the result of strenuous efforts by the government here, which was wary of getting off to a rough start with the notoriously volatile Trump. [Trump_Moon17] [THAAD] [US dominance]
• Korea-U.S. Spend 7 Hours Negotiating Joint Statement
  By Jeong Woo-sang July 03, 2017 10:58 It took seven hours for a joint statement to be released after Friday's summit between President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump after the two ended their talks. Normally, such statements are passed out to the news media before the summit even starts, because key areas are agreed upon by both sides prior to the meeting. [Trump_Moon 17]
• In US, Pres. Moon stresses North Korea policy based on “four nos”
  Posted on : Jul.3,2017 14:47 KST Modified on : Jul.3,2017 14:47 KST President Moon Jae-in makes an address to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a think tank in Washington, June 30. (Blue House photo pool) Moon is apparently seeking to spur negotiations with Pyongyang by pledging to refrain from things North Korea fears most President Moon Jae-in stressed the need for improvements in inter-Korean relations, proclaiming a “four no” approach that includes avoiding hostile acts or military attacks against North Korea, attempts to undermine or replace its government, and efforts to artificially hasten reunification. Moon‘s agreement on these principles during his summit with US President Donald Trump is being seen as laying a foundation for dialogue toward North Korea’s denuclearization. Moon reportedly plans to announce a “Moon Jae-in doctrine” - a vision and proposal for North Korea policy structured around these “four nos” - during his July 5-8 visit to Germany to attend the G-20 Summit. Moon shared the principles during a June 30 dinner for invited Korea experts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) during his Washington visit for the South Korea-US summit. “Neither President Trump nor I will be pursuing antagonistic policies toward North Korea,” he said. [Trump_Moon17] [SK NK policy]
• [Editorial] South Korea must prepare to mitigate US pressure on trade
  Posted on : Jul.3,2017 14:44 KST Modified on : Jul.3,2017 14:44 KST US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in During the South Korea-US summit that was held at the White House last week, Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump agreed to set up a high-level economic consultation body to discuss the issue of the trade imbalance. According to the South Korean government, the two sides made no agreement to revise the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA). But the Americans have made various remarks suggesting that negotiations to revise the KORUS FTA are about to begin, leaving a bad aftertaste. “We are renegotiating a trade deal right now with South Korea,” Trump said in the opening remarks to the summit. During his joint press conference with Moon, Trump stressed that the KORUS FTA was “not exactly a great deal” for the US and that the US would not allow the trade deficit to continue. [Trump_Moomn17] [KORUS FTA]
• Seven hours “felt like seven years” - waiting for S. Korea-US summit joint statement
  Posted on : Jul.3,2017 14:51 KST Modified on : Jul.3,2017 14:51 KST President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump during a press conference at the White House Rose Garden in Washington DC after their summit, June 30. (by Kim Kyung-ho, staff photographer) Summit in US a success, but hiccups in releasing joint statement caused headaches for S. Korean delegation The South Korea-US summit has generally been heralded as a success, but for a moment South Korean officials were sweating bullets. The tete-a-tete between President Moon Jae-in and President Donald Trump and the extended summit on the morning of June 30 went smoothly enough. There were no major disagreements about issues such as North Korea’s nuclear program, and the discussion of the trade balance dragged on for a while but ended with the two sides confirming the principle of reciprocal trade. During their meeting, Trump described his relationship with Moon Jae-in as being “very, very good” and even said that Moon had “great chemistry.” The trouble began when Trump made unexpected remarks during the joint press briefing held in the Rose Garden in front of the White House after the summit that morning. Trump said that the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) “was up” and that he would do a good job on the negotiations, effectively declaring that the KORUS FTA would be renegotiated. This contradicted a statement by the Blue House claiming that no remarks had been made about renegotiating the KORUS FTA, leading some to declare the summit a failure. Furthermore, since the release of the joint statement was delayed for several hours, speculation was rife that the summit had ended without any results. [Trump_Moon17] [KORUS FTA] [US dominance]
• Greater Trump trade pressure looming
  Posted : 2017-07-02 17:23 Updated : 2017-07-03 15:35 ???? President Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump walk into the Rose Garden to deliver a joint statement to the press at the White House in Washington, D.C., Saturday (KST) / UPI-Yonhap Moon gains support for initiative to open dialogue with NK By Kim Rahn President Moon Jae-in returned home Sunday from his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, securing support for his initiatives to resolve North Korean issues with dialogue in return for modifications in trade deals and a greater burden to keep American troops here. In their first meeting and summit in Washington, D.C., from Thursday to Friday, the two leaders seem to have built personal trust and friendship, which is important for them in seeking cooperation on various issues during what will almost be their whole terms in office. However, the two showed a gap on the trade issue, implying possible future conflict over the trade deal including the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) which Trump has long criticized for causing a deficit with his country. [Trump_Moon17] [KORUS FTA] [Self delusion] [US dominance]
• Allies join hands for inter-Korean dialogue
  Posted : 2017-07-02 17:09 Updated : 2017-07-02 18:46 Presidents Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump shake hands during a joint press conference in the Rose Garden at the White House, Friday. They reaffirmed the alliance between the two countries, following concerns over possible diplomatic friction surrounding a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery deployed in South Korea and other security issues. / Joint Press Corps Pyongyang may find Seoul-Washington statement offensive By Yi Whan-woo The summit between Presidents Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump will help speed up South Korea's efforts to resume inter-Korean dialogue in cooperation with the United States, analysts said Sunday. But they remained skeptical about whether the Kim Jong-un regime would accept the Moon administration's reconciliatory gestures, claiming that Pyongyang would find the joint statement of Moon and Trump "offensive." [Trump_Moon17] [Pretend equality] [Self delusion]
• Deportation a ‘Death Sentence’ to Adoptees After a Lifetime in the U.S.
  By Choe Sang-hun July 2, 2017 SEOUL, South Korea — Phillip Clay was adopted at 8 into an American family in Philadelphia. Twenty-nine years later, in 2012, after numerous arrests and a struggle with drug addiction, he was deported back to his birth country, South Korea. He could not speak the local language, did not know a single person and did not receive appropriate care for mental health problems, which included bipolar disorder and alcohol and substance abuse. On May 21, Mr. Clay ended his life, jumping from the 14th floor of an apartment building north of Seoul. He was 42. To advocates of the rights of international adoptees, the suicide was a wrenching reminder of a problem the United States urgently needed to address: adoptees from abroad who never obtained American citizenship. The Adoptee Rights Campaign, an advocacy group, estimates that 35,000 adult adoptees in the United States may lack citizenship, which was not granted automatically in the adoption process before 2000. [Diaspora] [Human rights]
• At first summit, Moon and Trump agree alliance should be basis for solving N. Korea nuke issue
  Posted on : Jul.1,2017 18:31 KST Modified on : Jul.1,2017 18:31 KST President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump hold a joint press conference following their summit, at the White House Rose Garden in Washington DC, June 30. (Yonhap News) Trump also makes official that he plans to work for renegotiation of KORUS FTA During the South Korea-US summit on June 30, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump agreed that a strong alliance between South Korea and the US should be the basis for solving the North Korean nuclear issue and for peace and economic prosperity on the Korean Peninsula. The two leaders also agreed to keep discussing urgent economic issues such as renegotiating the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA). During a joint statement released after their first summit meeting at the White House in Washington on the morning of June 30, Moon and Trump emphasized “the exemplary nature of the US-ROK Alliance” and “pledged to build an even greater Alliance.” In regard to the North Korean nuclear issues, the two leaders reaffirmed their “shared top priority to resolve the nuclear issue” while confirming their openness to using “maximum pressure” as well as “dialogue [. . .] under the right circumstances” in order to push “North Korea to return to credible negotiations on denuclearization.” The two leaders agreed to discuss the “conditions necessary for denuclearization talks through a high-level strategic consultation mechanism.” [Trump_Moon17] [US SK alliance] [Ingratiation]
• In US Congress, Pres. Moon highlights democratic values of alliance with US
  Posted on : Jul.1,2017 18:35 KST Modified on : Jul.1,2017 18:35 KST President Moon Jae-in greets Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker in Washington DC, June 29. (by Kim Kyung-ho, staff photographer) Moon makes comments apparently intended to dispel US concern over possible overturning of THAAD decision During meetings with the leaders of both houses of US Congress on June 29, South Korean President Moon Jae-in highlighted the “democracy that the South Korea-US alliance had planted in South Korea” while focusing on dispelling concerns felt by some Americans about his new administration. The meetings proceeded in a combative manner as members of Congress voiced their frustration about the North Korean nuclear threat and the role of China and intimated their doubts about Moon’s policy toward North Korea. During Moon’s meeting with the leadership of the House of Representatives, which was held at the Capitol that morning, the first salvo was fired by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. After saying that the THAAD missile defense system was necessary for the defense of the people of both countries and was an important tool for security, Ryan asked Moon about his opinion on the issue. [Trump_Moon17]
• [News analysis] Moon and Trump agree on pressure towards dialogue with North Korea
  Posted on : Jul.1,2017 18:33 KST Modified on : Jul.1,2017 18:33 KST President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with US President Donald Trump during a joint press conference at the White House Rose Garden in Washington DC after their summit, June 30. (by Kim Kyung-ho, staff photographer) At the same time, Trump brought up issue of defense cost-sharing and trade imbalances with South Korea The results of the first summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump exceeded expectations, considering how little time was available to prepare for it. The US granted a significant number of South Korean requests during the summit, including a plan to create the conditions for denuclearization talks and speeding up the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON). But the blunt statements that Trump made on issues of trade and commerce and on negotiating the cost-sharing agreement for US troops stationed in South Korea suggest that future negotiations will not be easy. [Trump_Moon17] [Compellence]
• President Trump signals intention to renegotiate KORUS FTA at summit with Pres. Moon
  Posted on : Jul.1,2017 18:34 KST Modified on : Jul.1,2017 18:34 KST In joint statement, two leaders pledge to boost economic growth and job creation in both countries US President Donald Trump all but officially declared his plans to renegotiate the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) to rectify trade imbalances between the two sides. “[T]he United States has trade deficits with many, many countries, and we cannot allow that to continue. And we’ll start with South Korea right now,” Trump said at his June 30 summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Trump also strongly hinted at renegotiation of the KORUS FTA in prefatory remarks before the summit [Trump_Moon17] [KORUS FTA] [US dominance]
• Trump supports Moon's policy to reopen dialogue with NK in joint statement
  Posted : 2017-07-01 09:30 Updated : 2017-07-01 19:50 South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump give speeches after their summit at the White House in Washington, D.C., Friday. In a joint statement, they said they would open dialogue with North Korea to resolve the nuclear issue under right conditions. / Yonhap By Kim Rahn WASHINGTON, D.C. ? South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump said Seoul and Washington could open dialogue with North Korea to resolve the nuclear program issue under the right circumstances, Friday. During their first summit at the White House in Washington, D.C., President Trump supported South Korea's leading role in making an environment for peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula and Moon's aspiration to restart inter-Korean dialogue on issues including humanitarian affairs. [Trump_Moon17] [US NK policy] [US NK Negotiations] ]Preconditions] [Self delusion]
• President Trump, Melting Under Criticism
  By THE EDITORIAL BOARD JUNE 30, 2017 Maybe we should all take a moment to feel a little sorry for Donald Trump, who reacted to criticism on Thursday by tweeting a stream of coarse insults at the television journalist Mika Brzezinski. After all, he so clearly lacks the toughness of George Washington, who once privately observed that his critics’ “arrows … never can reach the most vulnerable part of me.” He lacks the confidence of Dwight Eisenhower, who said, when asked if he thought his press coverage was fair, “Well, when you come down to it, I don’t see what a reporter could do much to a president, do you?” And — are we really about to write this sentence? — Mr. Trump lacks the grace Richard Nixon showed, at least in public.
  Mr. Trump’s behavior sabotaged a day that included critical talks on the Senate health care bill, a speech on energy policy and the arrival of South Korean President Moon Jae-in for talks on the North Korean nuclear threat. Thursday ended with Mr. Trump awkwardly awaiting Mr. Moon’s motorcade, as reporters shouted, “Mr. President, do you regret your tweets this morning?” [Trump] [Trump_Moon17] [US dominance]
• White House Warns of 'Military Option' Against N.Korea
  By Cho Yi-jun June 30, 2017 11:37 U.S. President Donald Trump has directed staff to "prepare a range of options" against North Korea, "including a military option, which nobody wants to take," U.S. national security adviser H.R. McMaster said Wednesday. McMaster was speaking at a national security conference in Washington sponsored by the Center for a New American Security and the Washington Post. He was complaining that China is not putting enough pressure on North Korea to dismantle its nuclear and missile programs. "The threat is much more immediate now," he said. "We can't repeat the same failed approach of the past," he added. "The president has directed us to not do that." "What we have to do is prepare all options because the president has made clear to us that he will not accept a nuclear power in North Korea and a threat that can target the United States and target the American population," McMaster said. "There's recognition that there has to be more pressure on the regime." [Military option] [Threat] [Policy poverty]

• Moon Embarks U.S. Trip
  By Jeong Woo-sang June 29, 2017 09:39 President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday embarked on a five-day visit to the U.S., where he will meet his counterpart Donald Trump. On arrival in Washington, Moon started his itinerary with a visit to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia. He laid a wreath at a memorial there commemorating the Battle of Jangjin (Chosin) Reservoir, one of the fiercest in the 1950-53 Korean War that left 10,400 American soldiers dead or injured. The battle delayed a southern advance by North Korean and Chinese troops, allowing the evacuation of around 90,000 Korean refugees, including Moon's own parents, from what is now Hungnam, North Korea. Moon will then attend a business round table and dinner hosted by the Korean and American chambers of commerce. President Moon Jae-in (center) visits a monument to the Battle of Jangjin (Chosin) Reservoir at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia on Wednesday. /Newsis On his second day, Moon is to meet Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House of Representatives and other House and Senate officials. He and his wife Kim Jung-sook will attend a dinner hosted by the Trumps at the White House later on Thursday. On Friday, Moon and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will lay a wreath at the Korean War Memorial in Washington and meet veterans from the war. Pence's father is also a Korean War veteran. Talks with Trump are scheduled later on Friday. The two leaders will discuss how to deal with the North Korean nuclear threat as well as ways to strengthen the bilateral alliance. The controversial issue of delaying the additional deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery in South Korea has not been included in the official summit agenda, but there is a strong chance that the subject will come up anyway. [Trump_Moon17]
• Moon Must Resolve THAAD Controversy on U.S. Trip
  June 29, 2017 13:02 President Moon Jae-in flew to Washington on Wednesday to meet with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump. The issue of a procedural review delaying the full deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery here threatens to overshadow other issues, even though it has been left off the official agenda. The White House and Senate have reacted sensitively to Cheong Wa Dae's decision to postpone the deployment of additional THAAD batteries, and 18 senators from both sides of the aisle sent a letter to Trump just days left before the summit, urging him to speed up the deployment. The U.S. is paying for the deployment to protect the lives of American soldiers and their families as well as vital equipment here. But an added benefit is that most of South Korea falls within the protective range of the THAAD. It does not take a genius to guess how Americans feel as they watch Seoul stall the full deployment, apparently because it is wary of opposition from China. Political think tanks in Washington rarely agree on anything, but they seem to be united when it comes to THAAD. There are issues involving the U.S. and China that South Korea needs to approach strategically, but the deployment, whose sole purpose is to defend against North Korean missile attacks, is not one of them. [THAAD] [Pro-Americanism]
• On first trip to US, Pres. Moon to underscore importance of alliance with US
  Posted on : Jun.29,2017 17:19 KST Modified on : Jun.29,2017 17:19 KST President Moon Jae-in lays a wreath at the memorial to the Battle of Chosin Reservoir at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, in Virginia, June 28. (Blue House photo pool) Moon will be first head of state invited for official White House dinner since Trump became president On June 28, President Moon Jae-in departed for the US for the first South Korea-US summit since his inauguration. Moon‘s five-day itinerary is studded with events that underline the strong alliance between South Korea and the US. The South Korea-US summit, which will be held in Washington on June 30, is taking place 51 days after Moon’s inauguration, earlier than any previous South Korean president. This reflects the view that the South Korea-US alliance and mutual trust are essential for easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The capstone of Moon‘s emphasis on the alliance is his visit to a memorial commemorating the Battle of Chosin Reservoir (also known as the Changjin Lake Battle), immediately following his arrival in Washington on June 28. In the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, which was fought at the end of Nov. 1950, more than 15,000 soldiers from the US 1st Marine Division were seeking to capture the strategic North Korean city of Kanggye when they were surrounded by Communist Chinese forces hidden around a lake in Jangjin County, South Hamgyong Province, and came close to being annihilated. It was a fiercely fought battle in which upwards of 4,500 American marines lost their lives, and it’s believed to have contributed decisively to holding back the advance of the Communist Chinese long enough for more than 90,000 refugees to be evacuated from the port of Hungnam. [Trump_Moon17] [Ingratiation] [US SK alliance]
• 'Peace will spur US investment in N. Korea'
  Posted : 2017-06-29 11:16 Updated : 2017-06-29 21:21 President Moon Jae-in listens to a speech during a business summit organized by Korea and the U.S.' chambers of commerce at the International Hall of Flags in Washington, D.C., Wednesday. / Yonhap By Kim Rahn WASHINGTON, D.C. ? President Moon Jae-in said Thursday that he hopes South Korea and the United States will become "strategic economic partners" to pioneer the global market by combining their strengths. In the Business Summit organized by the two countries' chambers of commerce, he also said if the two allies can resolve North Korea's nuclear issue and realize peace on the Korean Peninsula, American companies will be able to invest in South Korea and furthermore in North Korea. Moon said economic cooperation between the two nations can go beyond merely expanding bilateral trade and investment and develop into a strategic economic partnership, saying the strong points of the two countries' businesses can be combined to produce new products and services. "I and my government will provide full support so businesspeople of the two nations can come up with a new growth engine," said Moon, who arrived here on the day for his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, scheduled for Friday. The President said the two nations' alliance used to focus on security in the past but has been expanded and solidified through economic cooperation, adding it will grow further to include other sectors. He said peace on the peninsula can bring new opportunities for the business communities of the two nations, citing a survey by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) which showed many Korean companies view North Korea as a new opportunity for growth. [Moon Jae-in] [Trump_Moon17] [FDI]
• [Interview] At upcoming summit with Trump, Pres. Moon can “be a little bold”
  Posted on : Jun.28,2017 15:49 KST Modified on : Jun.28,2017 15:49 KST From left to right, Minjoo Party lawmaker Hong Ik-pyo, Moon Chung-in, President Moon‘s special advisor on unification, foreign affairs and national security, and Justice Party lawmaker Kim Jong-dae, during an interview at the Hankyoreh’s office in Seoul’s Mapo District, June 26, (by Kim Myoung-jin, staff photographer) Experts who recently visited the US speak on diplomacy and security share views on Pres. Moon‘s first summit President Moon Jae-in will depart South Korea on June 28 for his summit with US President Donald Trump, Moon’s first foray into summit diplomacy. He has a full plate of urgent issues, including the North Korean nuclear program. To figure out how Moon means to tackle these issues, the Hankyoreh interviewed Moon Chung-in, President Moon’s special advisor on unification, foreign affairs and national security, and Justice Party lawmaker Kim Jong-dae and Minjoo Party lawmaker Hong Ik-pyo, who are some of the National Assembly’s preeminent experts on diplomacy and security. The interview was conducted on the afternoon of June 26, at the Hankyoreh’s office in Seoul’s Mapo District. The conversation lasted more than 1 hour and 20 minutes, covering the topics of the North Korean nuclear program, the THAAD missile defense system, inter-Korean relations and the South Korea-US alliance. [Trump Moon] [Liberal]
• [Column] The real face of Korea experts in Seoul and Washington
  Posted on : Jun.28,2017 15:48 KST Modified on : Jun.28,2017 15:48 KST Summit with US could create an opportunity for South Korea to take the lead in peninsula affairs Many people in Seoul hold that South Korea should thoroughly cooperate with the US. They think that “alliance-level” decisions must be obeyed as part of this “thoroughness.” They believe that’s the only way for South Korea to survive. Some of them are even “naturally sympathetic to all things American” - a phrase that appears in a diplomatic cable sent to the US in July 2006 by Alexander Vershbow, former US Ambassador to South Korea. The phrase was used to describe Ban Ki-moon as one of South Korea’s so-called mainstream experts in diplomacy and security. [Trump_Moon17] [Agency]
• Moon to have crucial summit with Trump
  Posted : 2017-06-28 17:08 Updated : 2017-06-28 19:17 President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook wave before boarding a plane for Washington at Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. This is Moon's first overseas trip since taking office, May 10. He is scheduled to hold a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, Friday. / Yonhap 4-day tour begins with visit to memorial for Jangjin Lake Campaign By Jun Ji-hye President Moon Jae-in headed to the United States, Wednesday, for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. The first-ever summit since the launch of the two countries' new governments will take place Friday and is expected to focus on reaffirming their alliance and promoting personal friendship between the heads of state. The two leaders are also expected to touch on thorny issues such as North Korea's nuclear and missile threats as well as the deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in Korea. Other challenging issues include the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) as concerns have been raised about possible renegotiations after Trump denounced the agreement as a "job-killing" deal and a "disaster." Experts are watching how far Moon and Trump can engage in increased mutual understanding on the tough issues facing the two nations. "We hope the two heads of state will develop empathy on the significance and value of the alliance, so they can enhance cooperation in foreign and security affairs as well as in the economic field," said Chung Eui-yong, head of the presidential National Security Office. Moon will begin his four-day tour with a visit to the new memorial for the Jangjin Lake Campaign in Quantico, Virginia, Thursday. Also known as the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, it was one of the fiercest battles in the 1950-53 Korean War, and delayed an eventual southward advance of North Korean and Chinese forces. This enabled the evacuation of 90,000 Korean refugees from the besieged port of Hungnam in North Korea to Geoje Island in South Gyeongsang Province on Christmas Eve in 1950 in an operation known as the Hungnam Evacuation. [Trump_Moon17] [Ingratiation]
• Breaking the frame
  Posted : 2017-06-26 17:30 Updated : 2017-06-26 18:10 By Spencer Kim Generally speaking, for decades there have been basically two frames of reference in South Korea ? the conservative world view and the progressive world view. There was a certain tribalism mentality in that conservatives or progressives felt the need to subscribe to their "list" of beliefs, or at least defend them from attack by the other side. There were national leaders who pretty much followed the belief list down the line, and there were others who were more flexible in curtailing policies that were proving to be counterproductive (see especially Roh Tae-woo and Kim Dae-jung) but by and large the conservative-progressive fault line endured. Both conservatives and progressives were, however, united in the ultimate goal of building a Korea that would be strong enough to never again be exploited by a stronger power, as Korea was by Japan in its colonial period. [US SK alliance] [Self delusion] [THAAD] [Moon Jae-in] [China SK]
• USFK Deploys Precision Cruise Missiles
  By Lee Yong-soo, Kim Myong-song June 27, 2017 11:57 The U.S. Forces Korea has deployed a dozen long-range air-launched precision-guided cruise missiles in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province. The JASSM (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile) is capable of hitting major facilities in Pyongyang with pinpoint precision from skies south of the military demarcation line. It is to be used in "decapitation" operations against the North Korean regime and has a range of 370 km and a range error probable of a mere 2 m. It will be carried by F-16 fighter jets. It seems that the USFK deployed the JASSM missiles right after a controversy flared up late last month over an omission of the report on the introduction of four additional launchers of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery from the U.S. here. The South Korean Air Force tried to buy JASSM missiles for itself, but the U.S. refused because it did not want to technology to become known. Instead Seoul bought Taurus long-range air-to-ground missiles from Germany. South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities have recently started collecting intelligence from defectors on the apartment complexes in Pyongyang where many senior North Korean officials live. "Senior officials in the Workers Party and military live in certain areas in Pyongyang. I was paid by South Korean and American intelligence agents for some information about that," a defector from Pyongyang said. The precise coordinates will be useful for precision strikes or the infiltration of special commandos in a war. [Cruise missiles] [USFK] [JASSM] [Decapitation] [Defector] Espionage]
• U.S. Senators Urge Trump to Speed up THAAD Deployment
  By Cho Yi-jun June 27, 2017 09:13 A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has written to President Donald Trump urging him to use his meeting with his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in to speed up the full deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery here. Eighteen senators led by Republican Cory Gardner and Democrat Bob Menendez made the request in a letter to Trump on Friday. Signatories include Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who lost out to Trump in the Republican presidential nomination. [THAAD]
• At summit in US, Pres. Moon to focus on building trust
  Posted on : Jun.27,2017 17:33 KST Modified on : Jun.27,2017 17:33 KST South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa enter a meeting with former South Korean ambassadors to the US, at the Blue House on June 26. (Blue House photo pool) With Moon and Trump administrations both in their early stages, two sides unlikely to generate specific outcomes President Moon Jae-in said that he plans to focus on “building trust between leaders and strengthening the South Korea-US alliance rather than generating specific outcomes” at the South Korea-US summit in Washington DC in four days. Moon‘s remarks came during a roundtable at the Blue House on June 26 with former South Korean ambassadors to Washington. Also present at the roundtable was Blue House National Security Office director Chung Eui-yong, who said the summit would “affirm the US’s strong Korean Peninsula defense posture, including expanded deterrence against North Korean threats, and include frank discussions toward joint solutions to the North Korean nuclear and missile issues in a broader framework.” [Trump Moon] [Ingratiation]
• Foreign Minister says environmental assessment can build public support for THAAD
  Posted on : Jun.27,2017 17:35 KST Modified on : Jun.27,2017 17:35 KST Questions over whether Kang Kyung-wha’s remarks presume THAAD will be deployed or not “Securing democratic and procedural legitimacy through an environmental impact assessment of the THAAD site will further strengthen public support for the THAAD deployment and ultimately strengthen the South Korea-US alliance.” The remarks about the THAAD missile defense system made by South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha during a forum organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on June 26 have made an unusual impact. Compared to the remarks made by President Moon Jae-in during an interview with the Washington Post on June 20 in which he said that “carrying out an environmental impact assessment is not delaying the deployment or reversing the decision,” Kang’s remarks that the environmental impact assessment can “strengthen public support for the THAAD deployment” represent an even clearer expression of the assessment‘s intentions and effectiveness. [THAAD] [Kang Kyung-wha] [Public opinion] [Ploy] [US dominance]
• Before US summit, Moon seeking advice from advocates of dialogue with N. Korea
  Posted on : Jun.27,2017 17:36 KST Modified on : Jun.27,2017 17:36 KST South Korean President Moon Jae-in makes a welcoming address at a meeting with former South Korean ambassadors to the US, at the Blue House on June 26. (Blue House photo pool) Moon Chung-in reportedly advised Pres. Moon to seek a leading role for South Korea on North Korea issues President Moon Jae-in recently had dinner with former Minister of Unification Lim Dong-won and special aide for unification, foreign affairs and security Moon Chung-in, it was belatedly reported. The meeting may be an attempt by President Moon to seek advice from two leading advocates of dialogue and negotiation with North Korea on the eve of a South Korea-US summit. According to accounts on June 26 from Blue House insiders and observers, President Moon summoned Lim and Moon Chung-in to his official Blue House residence on the evening of June 22 for a dinner and conversation lasting around two hours. Also reportedly present for the occasion were Chief of Staff Lim Jong-seok and Minjoo Party lawmaker Hong Ik-pyo, who accompanied Moon Chung-in on a recent visit to the US. The upcoming summit was reportedly discussed at the occasion, with Moon Chung-in taking a leading role in the conversation. [Trump Moon] [Agency] [Self delusion]
• After barely a month, USFK removes radar from Osan Air Base
  Posted on : Jun.27,2017 17:39 KST Modified on : Jun.27,2017 17:39 KST Members of the US 7th Air Force Command move a radar in Osan Air Base (located in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province) to a different location, June 26. Local residents living nearby had been complaining of noise and electromagnetic waves Barely a month after US Forces Korea (USFK) installed a radar in the Osan Air Base (located in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province) about 20 m from a residential neighborhood, complaints from residents about loud noise and the electromagnetic waves have prompted USFK to remove the radar. In a press release issued on June 26, the US 7th Air Force Command announced that it was moving the radar to a different location of the Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek. The press release explained that the radar (AN/TPS-59 ground-based radar) had been set up temporarily at the Osan Air Base to defend against threats from the air and from ballistic missiles. The AN/TPS-59, a mobile radar deployed with the US Marine Corps, is used for long-range detection, with an effective detection range of 370 km and a maximum range of 740 km. [Radar] [USFK]
• [News analysis] Upcoming S. Korea-US summit first hurdle to address N. Korean nukes
  Posted on : Jun.26,2017 16:10 KST Modified on : Jun.26,2017 16:10 KST President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump Seoul and Washington could scale down joint military exercises to bring North Korea into negotiations President Moon Jae-in’s repeated emphasis on resolving the North Korean nuclear issue and improving relations with Pyongyang in recent interviews with the US media ahead of his June 29 summit with US President Donald Trump are focusing attention on the summit discussions that represent the first hurdle in achieving the two aims. [Trump Moon] [ Wishful thinking]
• North Korea says its nukes are “not for negotiation”
  Posted on : Jun.26,2017 16:11 KST Modified on : Jun.26,2017 16:11 KST Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the Korean Workers’ Party, wrote in a front-page editorial on June 25 that North Korea must “unwaveringly see through the party’s strategic course of combining economic development with nuclear weapon development.” Rodong Sinmun editorial also calls out Moon Jae-in administration for ‘making a fuss’ about its nuclear program North Korea declared on the 67th anniversary of the Korean War’s outbreak that its “defensive nuclear deterrent” was “not for negotiation.” The Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the Korean Workers’ Party, wrote in a front-page editorial on June 25 that North Korea must “unwaveringly see through the party’s strategic course of combining economic development with nuclear weapon development.” “Our defensive nuclear deterrent is not any matter for negotiation,” the piece said, adding that US and South Korean authorities “must give up their foolish ambitions for the North’s abandonment of nuclear capabilities.” [Nuclear deterrent] [US NK negotiations]
• North Korea asks US for direct negotiations, without China’s involvement
  Posted on : Jun.26,2017 16:12 KST Modified on : Jun.26,2017 16:12 KST Japanese media reports that for Otto Warmbier’s release, Pyongyang had asked for visit by former US president North Korea demanded that the US take part in direct nuclear negotiations without Chinese participation, Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported. In a June 24 report, the newspaper quoted former Robert Gallucci, a former US State Department special envoy on the North Korean nuclear issue, and Leon Sigal, director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council, as saying Pyongyang had communicated this demand. Gallucci and Sigal, who held nuclear and missile discussions with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol in Kuala Lumpur last October, said North Korea had relayed its intent to negotiate directly with the US to the Trump administration by way of the State Department. [Bilateral] [US NK Negotiations] [NK US policy]
• 'US should not ban travel to North Korea'
  A photo taken on Nov. 27, 2016 shows the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang, where U.S. student Otto Warmbier was alleged to have removed a political poster from staff quarters. Warmbier who was sentenced in March 2016 to 15 years in prison with hard labor in North Korea, died June 19, days after returning to the United States. / AFP-Yonhap By Jane Han DALLAS ? Amid the possibility of a ban prohibiting all Americans from traveling to North Korea, a prominent political scientist and North Korea expert claims such a measure is an ill-advised idea that will penalize the basic human rights of Americans. "What can we achieve from a travel ban?" Dr. Han Park, director and professor emeritus of public and international affairs at the University of Georgia, said in an interview with The Korea Times. "It is simply taking away the American people's basic human rights to travel and go wherever they want to go." [US NK policy] [Travel ban]
• Victor Cha Tapped as U.S. Ambassador to Seoul
  By Kang In-sun June 26, 2017 10:05 The White House has tapped former State Department advisor Victor Cha as the next U.S. ambassador to Korea, diplomatic sources said last week. Cha is Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a professor at Georgetown University. A senior State Department official confirmed the news, saying Cha is the most likely candidate for the post. But Cha said he has heard nothing officially from the White House, and understands that no decision has been made. The post has been vacant since the last ambassador, Obama protégé Mark Lippert, left abruptly after the election of Donald Trump to the presidency. Deputy Chief of Mission Marc Knapper is working as chargé d'affaires. Cha has also been mentioned as a candidate for assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs due to his experience as a former director for Asian affairs in the National Security Council under George W. Bush. But Trump is having trouble filling senior posts in his erratic administration. Jon Huntsman, the former ambassador to China, has been selected as the new ambassador to Russia. He accepted the offer and already did the paperwork in April, but his nomination has not been made official yet. Word is going round diplomatic circles in Washington that candidates have to pass a "loyalty test" to feed Trump's ego, and several candidates have failed at this last hurdle. Former Governor of Iowa Terry Branstad, who has known Chinese President Xi Jinping personally for 30 years, was confirmed by the Senate as the new ambassador to Beijing in May. And banker William Hagerty was confirmed as the new ambassador to Japan. [US SK] [US NK Policy] [Victor Cha] [Hawk]
• Ending The North Korean Nuclear Threat By A Comprehensive Security Settlement In Northeast Asia
  Morton Halperin, Peter Hayes, Chung-in Moon, Thomas Pickering, Leon Sigal June 28, 2017 In this essay, the authors argue “that a US-ROK coordinated approach can be built on the foundation of a plausible, concrete concept of a comprehensive regional security strategy that is actually capable of reversing and disarming the North Korean nuclear weapons program. Unless the two allies propose to bring about a final state of affairs that is desirable to North Korea as well as the international community, nuclear brinksmanship in Korea is likely to continue for the foreseeable future; and North Korea will continue to acquire more nuclear weapons and to add delivery systems to its arsenal. This essay explains how the United States might actually achieve its most important policy goal in Korea, stopping and reversing North Korea’s nuclear breakout.” Morton Halperin is senior advisor, Open Society Foundations; Peter Hayes is Director, Nautilus Institute and Honorary Professor, Center for International Security Studies, Sydney University; Chung-in Moon is distinguished professor, Yonsei University; Thomas Pickering is retired US ambassador; Leon Sigal is Director, Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project, Social Science Research Council. [US NK Negotiations] [Liberal]
• North Korea at the top of agenda as South Korea’s new president comes to D.C.
  South Korean President Moon Jae-in, shown on a large screen, delivers a speech at the National Assembly in Seou on June 12. REUTERS/Ahn Young-joon/Pool (Pool/Reuters) By Anna Fifield June 27 at 3:00 AM SEOUL — When South Korea’s new president comes to the United States this week for his first meeting with President Trump, there will be no cozy dinners at Mar-a-Lago or rounds of golf in the Florida sunshine. Instead, Moon Jae-in will be going to the White House for what is shaping up to be a challenging summit, with the leaders taking sharply different approaches to dealing with North Korea and a continuing disagreement over an American antimissile system deployed to South Korea. “The summit should really be about drawing the big picture, but instead they will be focusing on areas of potential friction,” said James Kim, a specialist in U.S.-South Korea relations at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. “A lot will hinge on how the two leaders get along and the chemistry between them.” Moon, a liberal who was elected president in a landslide in May following the impeachment of conservative Park Geun-hye amid a bribery scandal, has been doing his best to appear conciliatory in the lead-up to the summit. “President Trump and I have a common goal — that is the complete dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear program and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” he told The Washington Post’s Lally Weymouth in an interview last week. “I hope we will be able to show the world that the collaboration between our two countries is strong and will continue to grow stronger.” But his message was muddied when one of his top advisers delivered a very different message in Washington. If North Korea suspends its nuclear and missile activities, then Moon would ask the United States to scale back its joint military exercises with South Korea, Moon Chung-in, the president’s special adviser for unification, foreign and security affairs, said at the Wilson Center. [Trump Moon]
• 67th anniversary of outbreak of Korean War
  Dear Friends, The coming 25th of June marks the 67th year since the US unleashed war on Korean peninsula. The atrocities the US committed during the Korean War(1950-1953) were the most heinous and inhumane war crimes unprecedented in the world history of war. After starting the Korean war, the US prattled that “78 cities of north Korea would be wiped off the map”. More than 428,000 bombs were dropped on Pyongyang alone, the number more than that of Pyongyang citizens at that time. At the time, the US had completely reduced the whole territory of Korea into ashes by showering bombs of nearly 600,000 tons, 3.7 times greater than those dropped on Japan during the Pacific War, even using napalm bombs prohibited by the international conventions. The US massacred more than 1 231 540 civilians in the northern part of Korea during the three-year war. [Korean War] [War crimes]
• Blue House scrambling to address controversy sparked by Pres. Moon’s THAAD remarks
  Posted on : Jun.24,2017 16:31 KST Modified on : Jun.24,2017 16:31 KST President Moon Jae-in presides over a meeting of the National Security Council, at the Blue House on June 8, the day North Korea launched a missile. (provided by the Blue House) Moon meant not that number of launchers was changed, but that deployment process was push forward, Blue House explains On June 23, the Blue House moved quickly to quash a controversy about changes to the THAAD deployment agreement provoked by President Moon Jae-in’s interview with Reuters on June 22. After Moon’s remarks during the interview that “the original agreement [between South Korea and the US] was to deploy one launcher by the end of 2017 and the remaining five launchers next year” unexpectedly caused a disagreement between the two countries, the Blue House explained that “the crux of the president’s remarks was not that the number of launchers changed but rather that the deployment process was pushed forward.” “The remarks came after the Reuters reporter asked questions on the assumption that the THAAD deployment was being delayed and President Moon was explaining that [an environmental impact assessment] has procedural transparency and legitimacy and that [the deployment] could have happened more quickly if this step had been taken,” a senior official at the Blue House told reporters who were asking about the significance of Moon’s remarks during the interview. “The question of whether the original plan was for ‘one plus five’ [one launcher now and five later] or ‘two plus four’ isn’t fundamentally important.” But despite the Blue House’s explanation, questions remain. [Moon Jae-in] [THAAD]
• North Korea decries “provocation and a political plot” related to Otto Warmbier’s death
  Posted on : Jun.24,2017 16:36 KST Modified on : Jun.24,2017 16:36 KST The funeral for student Otto Warmbier, held on June 22 at his alma mater of Wyoming High School in Ohio. (AFP/Yonhap News) In first official response to student’s death, North Korea says Warmbier’s passing after return to US is a “mystery” On June 23, the North Korean government released its first official response to the death of Otto Warmbier, an American student detained by the North who returned to the US in a coma and died just six days later. “There are a lot of groundless rumors in the US about Warmbier dying because he was tortured and beaten while doing hard labor. We gave him the best treatment until we sent him back to the US for humanitarian reasons considering his deteriorating health,” North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement by its spokesperson that was released on June 23. [Warmbier] [Manipulation]
• 'No THAAD, No Trump': 1st anti-US rally under Moon presidency staged in Seoul
  Posted : 2017-06-24 20:22 Updated : 2017-06-25 00:11 By Park Si-soo Thousands of protesters marched near the U.S. embassy in Seoul on Saturday, accusing U.S. President Donald Trump of "forcing" South Korea to deploy the controversial American missile defense system China opposes. The protest came as South Korea's new president Moon Jae-In heads to Washington next week for his first summit with Trump amid soaring tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. Around 4,000 people participated in the first anti-U.S. rally under Moon's presidency. It was also the largest protest since South Korea and the United States agreed to deploy the system, known as the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD). Protesters marched with placards that read: "Trump, stop forcing (South Korea) to deploy THAAD" and "No THAAD, No Trump." The crowd included residents from the southeastern county of Seongju where the system is being deployed. The system's deployment was approved by Moon's predecessor, the ousted conservative president Park Geun-hye, despite China's strong opposition. Beijing has consistently opposed the system, saying it threatens China's security and will do nothing to ease tension on the Korean peninsula. As Seoul did nothing to stop the deployment, China has reacted with fury, imposing a series of measures of economic retaliation against the South. Though parts of the system are already in place, Moon this month suspended further deployment. Officially, the delay is to allow for a new, comprehensive environmental impact assessment, but analysts say the move is a strategic delay by Moon to handle the tricky diplomatic situation he inherited. [THAAD] [Protest]
• Presidential office slams Japan's Asahi Shimbun over 'false reports'
  Posted : 2017-06-24 17:04 Updated : 2017-06-24 17:04 South Korea's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae expressed dismay Saturday over what it called "false" reports by a Japanese newspaper that suggested a possible crack in the South Korea-U.S. alliance. The rare rejection by Cheong Wa Dae came after Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported that the U.S. has urged South Korea to allow complete deployment of the THAAD U.S. missile defense system here before the year's end. Quoting unidentified U.S. sources, the Japanese daily said such a request was filed by Thomas Shannon, U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, during his trip to Seoul earlier this month. Yoon Young-chan, the chief press secretary for South Korean President Moon Jae-in, flatly dismissed the report, calling it "incorrect." "The Asahi Shimbun's report that U.S. Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon demanded the deployment of the THAAD before the year's end in a meeting with our government officials is not true," the Cheong Wa Dae official said in a released statement. [THAAD] [US dominance]
• Moon Says THAAD Deal Was 'Mysteriously' Rushed
  June 23, 2017 10:01 President Moon Jae-in said Thursday the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery from the U.S. here was "mysteriously" accelerated. In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, Moon said only one THAAD launcher was scheduled to be deployed in 2017 here under an agreement with the U.S., and the remaining five next year. The deal was rushed and secretive, with the Park Geun-hye administration denying until the last minute that the matter was being discussed at all for fear of upsetting China. The whole battery was then suddenly moved here in a pre-dawn operation in March. [THAAD] [China SK] [SK_election17]
• We participated in talks with North Korean representatives. This is what we learned.
  By Bruce Klingner and Sue Mi Terry June 22 at 7:45 PM Bruce Klingner, senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation, previously served as the CIA’s deputy division chief for Korea. Sue Mi Terry, a former CIA analyst and director for Korea, Japan and oceanic affairs at the U.S. National Security Council, is managing director for Korea at the Bower Group Asia consultancy. Not even the fate of American student Otto Warmbier, who died this week after returning to the United States following his detainment in North Korea, will dissuade advocates of “engagement” with Pyongyang. They argue that, however repugnant the regime, diplomacy is the only way to stop North Korea’s rapidly advancing nuclear and missile programs. But our recent experience suggests that trying to talk to supreme leader Kim Jong Un is a waste of time. This month, we were part of a group of delegates from the United States, Japan, China and South Korea who met in Sweden with representatives of North Korea to explore possible grounds for resuming the six-party talks that collapsed in 2009. After many hours with the North Korean delegation at these “1.5 track” talks, we left more pessimistic than when we arrived. North Korean officials made unambiguously clear that Pyongyang will not be deterred from augmenting its nuclear arsenal or test-launching an intercontinental ballistic missile that could eventually threaten the U.S. homeland. There were no signals of flexibility or willingness to negotiate on these programs. [US NK Negotiations] [Track 2] [MISCOM]
• North Korea Must Apologise for American Tourist Warmbier’s Death
  The death of an American tourist just days after he was released from North Korean custody and repatriated to his home in Ohio has cast another long shadow over relations between Pyongyang and Washington. 22-year-old Otto Warmbier was in a coma when he departed the North Korean capital last week, and had apparently been in that condition for over a year. He appears to have been released and sent home only in order that he might die with his family around him, rather than in the unbending isolation of distant Pyongyang. It is unclear how Warmbier ended up in a coma, and the entirely reasonable decision of his family to refuse an autopsy means that we probably never will. From a humanitarian standpoint it is of no consequence. Warmbier died at the hands of the North Korean government, and that is all we need to know. [Warmbier] [Media] [Front]
• DPRK says death of U.S. student Warmbier 'mystery'
  Xinhua, June 23, 2017 PYONGYANG, June 23 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Friday the death of American student Otto Warmbier days after his release was a "mystery," as his health indicators and examination results were all normal when he left DPRK. A spokesman the country's foreign ministry said the DPRK gave Warmbier all available medical treatment and care on a humanitarian basis until his return to the United States, and that Warmbier was not mistreated or tortured during his 18-month detention in DPRK. "Although we had no reason at all to show mercy to such a criminal of the enemy state, we provided him with medical treatment and care with all sincerity on a humanitarian basis until his return to the U.S.," the Korean Central News Agency quoted the spokesman as saying. [Warmbier] [Evidence]
• N.Korea Blasts Trump and Moon Ahead of Summit
  By Kim Myong-song June 23, 2017 11:58 North Korea on Thursday slammed leaders of South Korea and the U.S. ahead of their summit scheduled at the end of this month. A spokesman for the ironically named Committee for the Peaceful Unification of the Fatherland said Wednesday that "the person in power" in the South is trying to blame the North for failed efforts to improve cross-border relations. It accused President Moon Jae-in of making "wanton" comments. Citing the historic June 15 agreement the two Koreas signed in 2000 pledging unprecedented rapprochement, the committee called on Moon to "assume a proper attitude" to inter-Korean relations by refraining from making comments that it claimed were "foolish" and "futile." Moon last week told reporters that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is keen on dialogue in his heart of hearts and "bluffing" in his rush to acquire nuclear weapons. But Moon also said strong international sanctions are needed at this stage, and the committee complained that this "signals a lack of interest" in dialogue. The state-run Rodong Sinmun daily meanwhile took aim at U.S. President Donald Trump by calling him a "lunatic." The daily said the Trump administration is considering a preemptive attack against the North and warned that the U.S. faces a "major disaster." Cho Han-bum at the Korea Institute for National Unification said, "North Korea wants to resolve the nuclear standoff by talking only to the U.S. but extract economic rewards from South Korea. They're probably annoyed that the Moon administration is falling in synch with Washington ahead of the summit." [Trump Moon summit]
• If North Korea Didn’t Exist US Would Create It
  by Nizar Visram In its latest move early June 2017, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) unanimously adopted a resolution drafted by the United States to expand the scope of sanctions against Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) over its latest missile tests. Prior to this the UNSC slapped the North Korea with six rounds of sanctions, but Washington and its allies have been pushing for more powerful and crippling sanctions in an attempt to halt the increasing wave of missile tests by Pyongyang. Meanwhile, President Trump said “all options are on the table” (implying military solution), while his Vice President Pence declared the “end of strategic patience.” Pence added: [US NK policy]
• Pres. Moon: THAAD agreement included deployment of only one launcher this year
  Posted on : Jun.23,2017 17:25 KST Modified on : Jun.23,2017 17:25 KST A helicopter delivers fuel to the THAAD missile defense deployment site in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, May 2. Before that, US Forces Korea had attempted to deliver the fuel by truck, but had been blocked by local residents. (Yonhap News) In media interview, Moon apparently seeking to stress importance of environmental impact assessment ahead of US summit President Moon Jae-in said in a June 22 interview with Reuters that the initial South Korea-US agreement on the THAAD deployment had only one of six launchers in the battery to be deployed this year, with the remaining five to be deployed in 2018. By Moon’s account, the deployment process was accelerated for unclear reasons as presidential predecessor Park Geun-hye (2013-16) was facing impeachment in 2016. Moon’s remarks appeared aimed at underscoring the highly incomplete and non-transparent nature of the general process from the agreement to the equipment’s delivery and deployment. In addition to the deployment completion date for a single THAAD battery being moved up to 2017 from the originally agreed-upon 2018, the number of launchers deployed increased from one to two, with no explanation offered on the process or reasons from the relevant authorities on either side, Moon claimed. [THAAD] [Moon Jae-in]
• Top S. Korean and US diplomats have their first telephone conversation
  Posted on : Jun.23,2017 17:28 KST Modified on : Jun.23,2017 17:28 KST Kang Kyung-wha and Rex TIllerson agree to coordinate on N. Korea nuclear and THAAD deployment issues Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha had her first telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson since taking office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
• North Korea hints at suspending nuke tests if S. Korea-US military exercises are suspended
  Posted on : Jun.23,2017 17:23 KST Modified on : Jun.23,2017 17:23 KST Kye Chun-yong, North Korea’s ambassador to India during an interview Indian TV network WION on June 21 Ambassador to India also hints at possibly negotiating an end to North Korea’s nuclear program North Korea could suspend its nuclear weapons and missile testing if the US and South Korea suspended their joint military exercises, said Kye Chun-yong, North Korea’s ambassador to India. He also hinted at the possibility of negotiations designed to end North Korea’s nuclear program. Kye’s remarks are significant not only because he is believed to be a confidante of North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong but also because they appear at a critical juncture, just one week before the South Korea-US summit. [NK US policy] [Peace proposal] [Moratorium]
• Why summit should fail spectacularly
  Posted : 2017-06-23 10:47 Updated : 2017-06-23 11:27 By Oh Young-jin If the summit between President Moon Jae-in and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump fails to produce any significant narrowing of their supposed differences, one shouldn't take it as a failure. Rather, it may be the start of a new healthy beginning of the stronger alliance. The current state of alliance is so outdated that it won't work properly. What can rejuvenate it is an overhaul that better accommodates their respective, changing needs. A week ahead of the summit in Washington, indications point toward a tough meeting. [Trump-Moon]
• H. R. 2732 [[North Korea Travel Control Act]
  To prohibit travel-related transactions to, from, and within North Korea by persons subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES M AY 25, 2017 Mr. S CHIFF (for himself and Mr. W ILSON of South Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs [US NK policy] [Travel ban]
• When the Detainee is American…
  by Robert Koehler June 22, 2017 The corpses pile up like sandbags along the planet’s geopolitical borders. “Perhaps his condition deteriorated and the authorities decided it was better to release him in a coma than as a corpse.” So said an expert on North Korea recently, quoted in the New York Times following the death of 22-year-old Otto Warmbier, six days after he had been released in a comatose state from a North Korean prison. He had been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor a year and a half ago because he had taken a propaganda poster off the wall in his hotel. He had been with a tour group. Oh Lord. The shocking wrongness and horror of this young man’s death — the absurdity of his arrest, the razor slash of his tears — is all over the news. Of course. Who couldn’t identify — with him, with his parents? He had been dehumanized. He had a future, but it got pulled away from him by uniformed lunatics, or so the news presents this tragedy: in the context of America and its enemies. And there’s no enemy out there with less legitimacy than North Korea. Any time the country and its supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, show up in the news, they look, you might say, like evil cartoon characters. But they possess, as the Times story informed us, “nuclear arms and missiles capable of striking the United States.” [Warmbier] [Double standards]
• In US media interviews, Moon stresses that he has the same ideas as Trump
  Posted on : Jun.22,2017 14:44 KST Modified on : Jun.22,2017 14:44 KST President Moon Jae-in’s interview with the Washington Post, published on June 21 Ahead of next week’s summit, Moon lays out plans to work toward denuclearization and improving inter-Korean relations During interviews with US media prior to the South Korea-US summit next week, President Moon Jae-in laid out the details of his strategy for resolving the North Korean nuclear issue and for improving inter-Korean relations. While offering a two-stage process for resolving the North Korean nuclear issue that would first freeze and then dismantle the program, Moon has proposed working on North Korean denuclearization while simultaneously improving inter-Korean relations. He also mentioned “carrots” that could be offered if North Korea responds favorably, such as holding an inter-Korean summit and reopening the Kaesong Industrial Complex. While repeatedly emphasizing the importance of cooperation with the US during this process, Moon suggested that he has the same idea as US President Donald Trump in regard to resolving the North Korean nuclear issue. The success of Moon’s plan is likely to depend on the upcoming South Korea-US summit and on North Korea’s subsequent reaction. [Moon Jae-in] [Ingratiation] [Trump]
• [Editorial] South Korea’s leading role in solving the North Korean nuclear issue
  Posted on : Jun.22,2017 14:43 KST Modified on : Jun.22,2017 14:43 KST President Moon Jae-in during an interview at the Blue House with CBS Norah O’Donnell for the program “This Morning”, June 20. (Blue House photo pool) President Moon Jae-in shared his new administration’s strategic approach toward North Korea in interviews with the Washington Post and CBS on June 19-20. Moon also proposed a two-stage denuclearization approach involving a “nuclear freeze” first to halt further North Korean nuclear and missile advancements, followed by termination of the North’s nuclear program. Moon’s suggestions strongly hinted at efforts to reassure the Donald Trump administration ahead of the summit on June 29-30. This was especially apparent in his repeated references to “close coordination with the US.” But Moon also made it clear he was leaving the door open for dialogue, stating repeatedly that he was willing to visit North Korea and meet with leader Kim Jong-un “if the conditions are appropriate.” The message, which comes as US opinion toward North Korea has soured intensely over the death of US student Otto Warmbier, stressed that the point of pressure on Pyongyang was to achieve dialogue. The message from Moon that has drawn the most attention concerns South Korea’s role in resolution of the nuclear issue. Leaving it up to major powers like US and China to find a solution to Korean Peninsula issues increases the likelihood the situation will be dictated by their global strategies. If anything, the emphasis on Seoul’s role seems long overdue, given South Korea’s economic scale and international stature. As Moon noted, inter-Korean relations have been far more peaceful - and relations between the US and North Korea relatively positive - whenever Seoul has taken an active, guiding role in relations with Pyongyang. It’s a good approach in terms of both national interests and policy efficiency. [SK NK policy] [US SK alliance] [Self delusion]
• After student’s death, is Trump changing his approach to North Korea?
  Posted on : Jun.22,2017 14:51 KST Modified on : Jun.22,2017 14:51 KST US President Donald Trump comments on the death of American student Otto Warmbier in North Korea, after a meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, at the White House on June 20. (AP/Yonhap News) Recent messages from Trump administration signal a move away from relying on cooperation with China US President Donald Trump may be changing his approach of cooperating with China to pressure North Korea after the death of 22-year-old Otto Warmbier. “While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi [Jinping] & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!” Trump tweeted on June 20. The cryptic message from Trump, which came the day after Warmbier’s death and a day before the US-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, has received varying interpretations. Reuters said it was “unclear whether his remark represented a significant shift” in US policy, but added that it was intended to “increase pressure on Beijing ahead of Wednesday’s Diplomatic and Security Dialogue.” But while Trump did sound a note of definite pressure following his early April summit with Xi in saying that the US would “solve the [North Korea] problem without” China if it did not help, he has consistently expressed more understanding of Beijing’s position since then, suggesting he is aware a solution may not work without efforts from China. In that sense, the message is unlikely to simply be intended to pressure Beijing. [Warmbier] {US NK policy] [Trump]
• Ahead of summit with Trump, Pres. Moon receives useful tips from Richard Haass
  Posted on : Jun.22,2017 14:49 KST Modified on : Jun.22,2017 14:49 KST President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, at the Blue House in Seoul, June 21. (Yonhap News) US foreign policy expert advises Moon to emphasize all the times South Korea has fought alongside the US military On June 21, President Moon Jae-in met with Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and asked Haass to help him “convey a positive message about developing the South Korea-US alliance to the US government and public around the time of the South Korea-US summit.” Haass is considered one of the leading US experts on foreign relations and is also reportedly the only figure in the foreign policy establishment who is liked and respected by US President Donald Trump. Moon also received some useful tips from Haass about how to establish rapport with Trump, who he will be meeting for the first time during the South Korea-US summit in Washington on June 29 and 30. [Moon Jae-in] [Moon Chung-in] [Ingratiation]
• Justice Party lawmaker lashes out at criticism of Moon Chung-in
  Posted on : Jun.22,2017 14:47 KST Modified on : Jun.22,2017 14:47 KST Justice Party lawmaker Kim Jong-dae Kim Jong-dae decries “three slaps in the face” from US experts, the conservative South Korean media, and Chinese experts Justice Party lawmaker Kim Jong-dae blasted the South Korean media for “singling out and bashing” presidential aide on unification, foreign affairs, and security Moon Chung-in. Kim, who returned to South Korea early in the morning on June 21 after accompanying Moon on a US visit, posted a Facebook message that evening responding to criticisms from the conservative media and political opposition over Moon’s suggestion that joint military exercises with the US could be scaled down if North Korea halts its nuclear program. “Did he really say something we’re just not allowed to say?” Kim asked. Kim also share shared details about the “total disregard for South Korea” in remarks made by US experts during a seminar on the South Korea-US alliance held in Washington on June 15. Following Moon‘s talks, Princeton University professor Gilbert Rozman, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) senior vice president Michael Green, and others bluntly criticized South Korea’s reconsideration of the THAAD deployment as “breaking the alliance,” while mocking Moon’s claims as a presidential candidate that Seoul would be a “mediator between Washington and Beijing” by asking, “What kind of mediating is South Korea going to do when the US is already in close conversation with China?” [Moon Chung-in] [US dominance]
• Dovish Moon vs. hawkish Trump
  Posted : 2017-06-22 16:39 Updated : 2017-06-22 20:40 President to offer 2-phase solution to tackle NK issues By Kim Rahn President Moon Jae-in is apparently seeking to take the initiative in resolving North Korea issues by proposing a two-phased solution of a nuclear freeze followed by complete dismantlement. In recent interviews with CBS and the Washington Post, Moon has shown his willingness to talk with the North and said he will discuss the matter with U.S. President Donald Trump. [Moon Jae-in] [SK NK policy]
• N. Korea is open to moratorium on nuclear, missile tests [VIDEO]
  Posted : 2017-06-22 10:02 Updated : 2017-06-22 16:08 North Korea's top envoy to India on Wednesday offered a conditional moratorium on his country's nuclear and missile tests in an apparent bid to hold talks with the United States. North Korea Ambassador to India Kye Chun-yong said Pyongyang is willing to talk in terms of freezing its nuclear and missile tests under certain circumstances. "If our demands is met, we can negotiate in terms of the moratorium of such as weapons testing," Kye said in English in an interview posted on the website of India's television station WION. He suggested that one of the key demands is the halt of the U.S. joint military drills with South Korea, which Pyongyang denounced as a rehearsal for invasion. Seoul and Washington say their annual exercises are defensive in nature. [Overture] [Peace proposals] [Moratorium]
  • S. Korea cautious about assessing N. Korea's offer for moratorium on nuke tests
    Posted : 2017-06-22 15:22 Updated : 2017-06-22 15:22 ???? South Korea on Thursday cast caution over reading too much into a North Korean envoy's remarks proposing a conditional moratorium on the North's nuclear and missile tests. North Korea's top envoy to India Kye Chun-yong said Wednesday that North Korea can place a moratorium on its nuclear and missile tests if the U.S. suspends its annual joint military drills with South Korea. It marked the first time that the North raised the possibility of the conditional suspension of its nuclear and missile provocations since liberal President Moon Jae-in took office in May. South Korea's unification ministry expressed prudence about giving its assessment over Kye's remark, saying that North Korea made a similar proposal in January 2015. On Jan. 10, 2015, North Korea proposed that it would temporarily suspend its nuclear testing if the U.S. halted its joint military exercises with the South that year. [Peace proposal] [Moratorium] [Rebuff]
• U.S. Sends B-1B Bombers to Korean Skies
  By Lee Yong-soo June 21, 2017 10:26 The U.S. has sent two B-1B strategic bombers to Korean skies for joint exercises with the South Korean Air Force on Tuesday, a Defense Ministry spokesman here told reporters. A military source here said Gen. Vincent Brooks, the commander of the U.S. Forces Korea, gave unprecedented instructions to publicize the bombers' arrival. The USFK asked South Korea the previous day to assist with aerial photography. Pictures of the bombers taking off from Guam and training in the sky over the Korean Peninsula were posted on the USFK and Pacific Air Forces Command Facebook pages. Two Korean F-15Ks joined the drill, which took some three hours. U.S. B-1B bombers and South Korean F-15Ks conduct a joint drill over the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday. /Courtesy of the South Korean Air Force The show of force came shortly after the death of Otto Warmbier, an American student who was returned from North Korea in a coma with severe head injuries sustained after he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for trying to steal a propaganda poster. It also follows a call in Washington last Friday from Moon Chung-in, a special adviser to President Moon Jae-in, to scale down joint exercises. The B-1B is the biggest and fastest U.S. bomber with a maximum speed of Mach 1.2, and the North has reacted nervously whenever the planes approach the peninsula. It takes them just 2.5 hours to reach the peninsula from Guam. [Joint US Military] [B-1] [Posturing]
• Making Trouble in the Alliance Is Unhelpful at This Point
  June 19, 2017 13:30 President Moon Jae-in's special adviser for security and foreign affairs, Moon Chung-in, put his foot firmly in his mouth during a visit to Washington ahead of the Korea-U.S. summit. He told South Korean correspondents there that joint military exercises with the U.S. should be scaled down, and questioned why American aircraft carriers and nuclear bombers should be deployed on the Korean Peninsula. He also suggested that if controversy over the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery here in southwestern Korea is an alliance-breaker, then the alliance does not deserve the name. He added that his comments are his own views, but it "would not be wrong" to say that the president agrees with him. Moon Chung-in probably made the comments in a bid to bring Pyongyang back to the negotiating table. But the U.S. State Department was peeved, saying it views his comments as his "personal opinion" and probably not the official stance of the Moon Jae-in administration. [US SK alliance] [Pro-Americanism] [Moon Chung-in]
• President Moon condemns North Korea’s role in Otto Warmbier’s death
  Posted on : Jun.21,2017 13:35 KST Modified on : Jun.21,2017 13:35 KST President Moon Jae-in during an interview at the Blue House with CBS Norah O’Donnell for the program “This Morning”, June 20. (Blue House photo pool) In CBS interview, Moon also hoping to work toward dialogue, and a possible summit, with North Korea On June 20, President Moon Jae-in sharply criticized North Korea for being “unreasonable” in regard to Otto Warmbier, the American student who had been detained in North Korea and died six days after returning to the US in a coma. At the same time, Moon said that dialogue with the North was necessary for resolving the North Korean nuclear issue. He also said he hopes “the conditions will form that would allow [an inter-Korean summit] to be held within the year” and described the dismantling of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and peace in Northeast Asia as the greatest accomplishment that could be achieved while he and US President Donald Trump are in office. After 17 months of detention in North Korea, Warmbier returned home in a coma on June 13. Despite medical treatment, he never recovered and passed away on the afternoon of June 19. “While it’s impossible to know [whether North Korea killed Warmbier], it‘s indisputable that the North Korean government bears a very heavy responsibility for Warmbier’s death,” Moon said during an interview with CBS that took place at the Blue House on June 20. “I strongly denounce North Korea‘s brutal behavior. Several American and South Korean citizens are still being detained in North Korea, and I’m calling for their prompt release as well.” [Warmbier] [Moon Jae-in] [Ingratiation]
• [Editorial] After Warmbier’s death, North Korea must apologize and change its attitude
  Posted on : Jun.21,2017 13:33 KST Modified on : Jun.21,2017 13:33 KST (UPI/Yonhap News) Otto Warmbier, the American student who returned home in a coma after a long period of detention in North Korea, passed away on June 19. Warmbier was on a trip to Pyongyang in Jan. 2016 when he was arrested for attempting to steal a propaganda poster on the wall of a hotel that contained the name of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Warmbier was convicted of attempting to overthrow the regime and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. On June 13, Warmbier was released while in a coma, dying six days later. In North Korea, objects that contain the name or picture of Kim Jong-il are regarded as inviolable. But Warmbier was a foreigner, as well as a curious student in his early twenties. At the most, he might have been fined for attempted theft; this mere tourist hardly deserved to be sentenced to 15 years on trumped up charges of trying to “overthrow the regime.” In the past, North Korea has also given tourists heavy sentences (between six and 15 years) for trivial offenses and then held them until the US negotiated their release. It has used these detained civilians as a means of relaxing strained relations with the US. If Warmbier had returned home in good health, his release could once again have been a catalyst for improving North Korea-US relations. [Warmbier]
• [News analysis] Otto Warmbier’s death leads to further souring of US opinion on North Korea
  Posted on : Jun.21,2017 13:40 KST Modified on : Jun.21,2017 13:40 KST Fred Warmbier, father of Otto Warmbier, speaks at a press conference at Wyoming High School in Cincinatti, June 15, 2017. (AP/Yonhap News) President Trump describes North Korea’s behavior as “brutality” as experts across the board voice condemnation The death of US student Otto Warmbier on June 19, six days after he returned comatose from a 17-month detention in North Korea, appears likely to mean a short-term end to the faint glimmers of Pyongyang and Washington’s attempts at exploratory dialogue. The immediate outcome has been a rapid souring of US public opinion toward North Korea. In a statement the same day, President Donald Trump went so far as to use the term “brutality” in denouncing the North Korean regime - a harsh tenor even for his recent remarks about Pyongyang. Previously, Trump hinted at a more understanding position on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, noting that he “assumed power at a young age” and was “a pretty smart cookie.” The overall mood in the US was one of outrage. Prominent Republican senator John McCain declared that Warmbier had been “murdered by the Kim Jong-un regime” and said the US “cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers.” CNN mourned the news as tragic and quoted his family as saying “we would never hear his voice again.” In another troubling signal, even experts with closer ties to North Korea are voicing their condemnation. Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who has visited North Korea several times, said he felt “saddened and angry” and demanded that North Korea “disclose what happened to Otto, fully, to the international community.” [Warmbier] [Public opinion] [Hysteria] [Media]
• Moon Chung-in says US must be consulted on any reduction of military exercises
  Posted on : Jun.21,2017 13:41 KST Modified on : Jun.21,2017 13:41 KST Special presidential aide for unification, foreign affairs, and national security Moon Chung-in (right) during an Asia Society seminar in Manhattan on June 19 on the topic “Crisis on the Peninsula: Implications for the US-Korean Alliance.” On the right is former US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel. (Yonhap News) Special aide’s recent comments about scaling down caused a stir; Moon insists he was just speaking as a professor Special presidential aide for unification, foreign affairs, and national security Moon Chung-in stressed that any scaling down of joint South Korea-US military exercises was a matter of negotiation and would require “full consultation” with the US. Moon was responding to the controversy surrounding his remarks in Washington on June 16, when he suggested joint exercises might be reduced in exchange for a freeze in North Korea’s nuclear program. “What I talked about [with] the South Korean media people is [that] the immediate goal of our efforts should be freezing North Korean nuclear and missile activities, and in return we could scale down our joint military exercises and training,” Moon explained at an Asia Society seminar in Manhattan on June 19 on the topic “Crisis on the Peninsula: Implications for the US-Korean Alliance.” [Moon Chung-in] [Joint US military]
• USS Destroyer and Canadian Naval Warships make first docking at Jeju naval base
  Posted on : Jun.21,2017 13:42 KST Modified on : Jun.21,2017 13:42 KST Members of civic groups hold a demonstration near Jeju naval base, opposing the docking of US and Canadian vessels, June 20. Civic groups oppose the dockings, arguing Jeju naval base will be used as a base for the US in northeast Asia US Navy Aegis-equipped destroyers and other foreign warships have been using the Jeju naval base more and more frequently since its Feb. 2016 completion. The South Korean Navy announced that the USS Dewey, an Aegis-equipped destroyer with the US Navy, entered the base and finished mooring at around 8:20 am on June 20. The Dewey is the second US Navy vessel to put in at the Jeju naval base, after the Aegis-equipped destroyer USS Stedham on Mar. 25. The Dewey was at the base to participate in joint naval exercises by the South Korean, US, and Canadian navies in the waters off Jeju Island on June 23-25. An Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, the Dewey measures 155.3 meters in length, 20 meters in height, and 9,2000 tons and travels at speeds of up to 30 knots, with a crew of around 380. Canada’s HMCS Winnipeg and HMCS Ottawa are scheduled to arrive on June 22. Use of the Jeju naval base by foreign naval vessels appears likely to become more frequent as US and Canadian ships arrive to hold joint naval exercises in the waters near Jeju. [Jeju] [China confrontation] [Protest]
• [Reporter's Notebook] S. Korea is not America's marionette
  Posted : 2017-06-21 16:16 Updated : 2017-06-21 20:51 President Moon Jae-in holds an interview with Norah O'Donnell, a co-host of the U.S. broadcaster CBS' news program "This Morning," at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae By Kim Rahn Does South Korean President Moon Jae-in need prior "approval" from U.S. President Donald Trump before having talks with North Korea over the nuclear weapons issue? An influential U.S. broadcaster seems to think so. Although Cheong Wa Dae said South Korea does not require any U.S. approval for its North Korea policy, it is concerned that the globally broadcast interview by the influential CBS may give the wrong impression that the South Korean President will visit the U.S. to seek approval from Washington. In an interview with Moon, Tuesday, 10 days before his summit with Trump, CBS's "This Morning" co-host Norah O'Donnell said his idea of engaging in dialogue with Pyongyang before its denuclearization was at odds with Trump's policy; but Moon replied it was not. Then she said, "But it's not clear that, even under President Trump, that he will agree to allow you to negotiate with the North Koreans without any preconditions." It is unclear how her comment was interpreted into Korean for Moon and how the questions and answers were edited. Moon's answers were dubbed in English. [Moon Jae-in] [US dominance] [Client] [SK NK policy] [Self delusion]
• 'We were mugged at JFK airport': N. Korean delegates
  Posted : 2017-06-21 14:20 Updated : 2017-06-21 18:37 By Ko Dong-hwan Three North Korean men claiming to be diplomatic couriers said security officers "mugged" them at John F. Kennedy International Airport last week. U.S. Department of Homeland Security officers and airport police took a package from the men that contained a valid diplomatic courier certificate, Pyongyang's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Sunday. The report said U.S. authorities "literally mugged" the delegates and behaved like "gangsters." It called the incident "an illegal and heinous act of provocation," according to CNN. Homeland Security said the North Koreans were not accredited members of North Korea's Mission to the United Nations and had no entitlement to diplomatic immunity. It said the package had no diplomatic protection. "The Homeland Security officers seized multiple media items and packages from the individuals, at which time the North Koreans attempted to physically retrieve the items but were prevented from doing so by the American officers," the department said. "The reported aggression was initiated by the North Koreans." The 1961 Vienna Convention states that diplomatic couriers "shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention" and the diplomatic bags they carry may not be opened or detained. It also states that any person claiming courier status must carry accreditation and any courier bags must be marked as such. The North Koreans were stopped from boarding their flight out of JFK, according to Homeland Security. They were in New York for a three-day U.N. conference on the rights of people with disabilities, which ended Thursday. [US NK policy] [Culture clash] [Arrogance] [Harassment]
• Cheong Wa Dae Cautions Adviser Over U.S. Gaffe
  By Kim Deok-han June 20, 2017 10:50 Cheong Wa Dae on Monday cautioned President Moon Jae-in's security adviser over controversial comments in Washington that could damage relations with the U.S. A high-ranking official at the presidential office said Moon Chung-in, who is still in the U.S., has been told "that his remarks will do little to contribute to Seoul-Washington relation in the future." Special presidential adviser Moon Chung-in speaks at a seminar in New York on Monday. /Yonhap-Reuters The adviser told correspondents in Washington last Friday that Seoul could scale down joint military exercises with the U.S. if North Korea halts its nuclear weapons and missile program, questioned the need to dispatch American super-carriers and strategic bombers, and downplayed the importance of the THAAD anti-missile battery being stationed here. [US dominance] [Moon Chung-in] [Peace effort]
• After comment on US alliance, Blue House asks Moon Chung-in to “exercise restraint”
  Posted on : Jun.20,2017 17:05 KST Modified on : Jun.20,2017 17:05 KST Moon Chung-in, professor emeritus at Yonsei University and President Moon Jae-in’s special advisor on unification, foreign affairs and national security, gives a keynote address at a seminar on the topic of “New Administrations and the U.S.-R.O.K. Alliance: Challenges and Way Forward,” which was hosted in Washington by the East Asia Foundation and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, June 16. (Yonhap News) Blue House apparently concerned that Moon’s comments could create impression S. Korea and US are out of sync ahead of summit After Moon Chung-in, President Moon Jae-in’s special advisor on unification, foreign affairs and national security, said that South Korea and the US could discuss the idea of scaling back the South Korea-US joint military drills if North Korea suspended its nuclear weapons and missile activity, the Blue House asked Moon Chung-in to “exercise restraint” on June 19, explaining that such remarks “were not helpful for South Korea-US relations.” After the Blue House distanced itself from the remarks the previous day by saying that they were “only his personal opinion as a scholar and had not been previously cleared with us,” it has now gone one step further by issuing what is basically a public warning. After Moon Chung-in’s remarks during a visit to the US created a stir in Washington political circles shortly before the South Korea-US summit on June 29 and 30, the Blue House has resorted to even tougher language to stress that his remarks are at odds with the Blue House’s official position. [Moon Chung-in] [US dominance]
• US experts argue in favor of scaling down S. Korea-US military exercises
  Posted on : Jun.20,2017 17:06 KST Modified on : Jun.20,2017 17:06 KST William Perry and Jane Harman stress the need for additional flexibility from Washington - the proverbial carrot in addition to the stick Some domestic observers have been arguing the proposal of a reduction in joint South Korea-US military exercises in exchange of for a North Korean nuclear freeze by President Moon Jae-in’s special aide for unification, foreign affairs, and security Moon Chung-in, is potentially compromising to the South Korea-US alliance. But even many US experts are arguing the need to scale down the exercises, citing the practical need to prevent Pyongyang from achieving advanced nuclear and missile capabilities. While attending a seminar in Washington June 13, former US Secretary of Defense William Perry, 89, responded to questions on the proposed halt to joint South Korea-US military exercises in exchange for a North Korean nuclear and missile freeze. In his response, Perry said the idea was “worth considering” from Washington’s perspective, but that “South Korea might not accept it” - suggesting public opinion in South Korea might be a bigger issue than the US. Perry also addressed the possibility of a halt to joint exercises during a talk with reporters in Washington in January, saying it would be better not to provide a halt as a precondition to negotiations but suggesting it could be put on the table once serious negotiations have begun. [Joint US military]
• [Interview] Tony Namkung says Moon Jae-in should lead way to three-way dialogue
  Posted on : Jun.20,2017 17:09 KST Modified on : Jun.20,2017 17:09 KST Seoul can’t take the lead in solving North Korea issue, but can create conditions to come together with Washington and Pyongyang “South Korea can’t take the lead in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue. But it can play a leading role in creating the conditions that will lead North Korea and the US to come to the table to resolve that issue,” said Tony Namkung during an interview with the Hankyoreh on the morning of June 19. The former deputy director of the Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, Namkung is regarded as one of the US’s leading experts on North Korea. “If the new administration pushes for trilateral talks between South Korea, North Korea and the US, it would be able to exercise leadership,” Namkung said. He reported that he had been to Pyongyang in April and hinted that behind-the-scenes contact is taking place between the US and North Korea. Here’s the text of the Hankyoreh’s interview with Namkung. Hankyoreh (Hani): There are serious concerns that Otto Warmbier being released in a coma could worsen North Korea-US relations. Tony Namkung (Namkung): While this is an unfortunate situation, I think it could actually have a positive effect. Warmbier’s release was the first example in a very long time of cooperation between the US and North Korean governments. Doctors have said that Warmbier was not malnourished and that there was no evidence of torture or other cruel treatment. [US NK policy] [Moon Jae-in] [Agency]
• [Editorial] Moon Chung-in’s incautious remarks on time and place
  Posted on : Jun.19,2017 16:55 KST Modified on : Jun.19,2017 16:55 KST Moon Chung-in, professor emeritus at Yonsei University and President Moon Jae-in’s special advisor on unification, foreign affairs and national security, gives a keynote address at a seminar on the topic of “New Administrations and the U.S.-R.O.K. Alliance: Challenges and Way Forward,” which was hosted in Washington by the East Asia Foundation and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, June 16. (Yonhap News) Special advisor on unification, foreign affairs, and security Moon Chung-in said Seoul “may discuss” reducing US strategic asset deployment and downscaling joint military exercises with Washington if Pyongyang halts its nuclear and missile activities. Moon stressed that he was “a non-permanent advisor speaking from what I have observed, not representing the government’s position.” The Blue House has also said his remarks are not the administration’s official position. But because he is a special advisor, his comments on issues directly involving Washington have become a source of controversy. [Moon Chung-in] [US SK alliance] [US dominance]
• Moon Chung-in says if THAAD breaks S. Korea-US alliance, “what kind of an alliance is it?”
  Posted on : Jun.19,2017 17:02 KST Modified on : Jun.19,2017 17:02 KST Moon Chung-in In talk in Washington, Moon also says “US Forces Korea cannot be exist above South Korean law” President Moon Jae-in’s special aide on unification, diplomacy and security Moon Chung-in took aim on June 16 at the attempts by US media to pressure the new administration in Seoul, claiming that the THAAD issue is a “red line” for the South Korea-US alliance. Moon’s remarks came while addressing the issue of an environmental impact assessment on the THAAD deployment site during a seminar on “New Administrations and the U.S.-R.O.K. Alliance: Challenges and Way,” which was hosted in Washington by the East Asia Foundation and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. “US Forces Korea cannot be exist above South Korean law,” Moon stressed. “Administrations may have been able to skirt over the law during the dictatorships of the past, but not today,” he added, emphasizing the importance of procedural legitimacy in the THAAD deployment. While Moon conceded that “legal procedures could be carried out more swiftly,” he also stressed that an environmental impact assessment “needs to measure impacts across all four seasons of spring, summer, fall, and winter.” “Perhaps even God himself cannot elide over that regulation,” he added. The remarks are being seen as implying the THAAD deployment could be postponed for around one year. At the same time, Moon stressed that the decision would follow South Korean legal procedure and the agreement on the THAAD deployment would not be overturned. In a talk with South Korean correspondents afterwards, Moon strongly disputed US experts‘ claims that failure to resolve the THAAD issue could “break the alliance.” “If that’s true, what kind of an alliance is it?” he asked, adding, “It‘s hard to accept people talking as though THAAD were all there is to the alliance.” [Moon Chung-in]
• Behind the scenes work by officials led to Otto Warmbier’s release
  Posted on : Jun.15,2017 16:38 KST Modified on : Jun.15,2017 16:38 KST Medical staff wait for the return of university student Otto Warmbier at Lunken Airport in Cincinnati, June 13. Warmbier was brought back to the US after 17 months in North Korea. (AP/Yonhap News) Recent 1.5 track meetings in Oslo were first exploratory dialogue between US and N. Korea since Trump took office It turns out that US and North Korean government officials had been secretly working behind the scenes since last month for the release of American university student Otto Warmbier, 22, who had been detained in North Korea for about 17 months. The interaction between North Korean and American officials goes back to the 1.5 track dialogue (talks between figures from the government and the private sector) that took place in Oslo, Norway, on May 8 and 9. The only North Korean official known to have attended the talks was Choe Son-hui, chief of the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s North America bureau, while reports indicated that the only Americans in attendance were experts in the private sector including Suzanne DiMaggio, a Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, and Robert Einhorn, a former US State Department special advisor for nonproliferation and arms control. But it was confirmed that Joseph Yun, the chief US envoy to the Six-Party Talks, had also attended the 1.5 track dialogue. Yun is the Special Representative for North Korea Policy and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Korea and Japan in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. The meeting was also reportedly joined by Pak Song-il, the ambassador for American affairs at North Korea’s delegation to the UN. This made the meeting the first example of exploratory dialogue between the governments of the US and North Korea since Donald Trump became president. [Warmbier]
• Former US Defense Secretary says THAAD should be removed if Moon doesn’t want it
  Posted on : Jun.15,2017 16:39 KST Modified on : Jun.15,2017 16:39 KST Former US Defense Secretary William Perry gives a keynote address in a seminar about ways to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula that was held in Washington under the joint auspices of the Institute for Korean Studies at George Washington University and the Korea Peace Network, June 13. (by Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent) William Perry expresses doubt in THAAD’s ability to distinguish real missiles from North Korean decoys On June 13, former US Defense Secretary William Perry, 89, said that the THAAD missile defense system would be little use for defending against North Korean missile attacks and that THAAD should be removed if the administration of President Moon Jae-in doesn‘t want it. Perry made the remarks during a Q&A session following his keynote address in a seminar about how to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula that was held in Washington under the joint auspices of the Institute for Korean Studies at George Washington University and the Korea Peace Network. The Korea Peace Network was established on Oct. 3, 2015, by groups such as the American Friends Service Committee, Women Cross DMZ and the National Association of Korean Americans (NAKA) that have worked for private-sector exchange with North Korea and for peace on the Korean Peninsula. [Perry] [THAAD]
• South Korea and US seeking a mutually “satisfactory” discussion of THAAD issue
  Posted on : Jun.15,2017 16:40 KST Modified on : Jun.15,2017 16:40 KST US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon meets with First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Lim Sung-nam at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Complex in Seoul on June 14. (by Kim Seong-gwang, staff photographer) THAAD issue not expected to be on the agenda at upcoming South Korea-US summit in Washington US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon said in a recent visit to South Korea that Seoul and Washington would continue to discuss the THAAD issue “in a way that is satisfactory to both countries.” The THAAD missile defense system has emerged as the biggest issue between South Korea and the US. Shannon‘s remarks came in a meeting with reporters following discussions with First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Lim Sung-nam at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Complex in Seoul on June 14 to prepare for a South Korea-US summit later this month. [THAAD] [Friction]
• After Otto Warmbier’s death, tourism to North Korea comes under scrutiny
  By Anna Fifield June 20 at 11:58 AM TOKYO — For some intrepid travelers, North Korea is the holy grail. There’s hardly a place that’s more off the beaten path, a travel tale more exotic than one that begins “When I was in Pyongyang .?.?.” About 1,000 American tourists visit North Korea each year, looking for an adventure and a glimpse at the “Hermit Kingdom.” But the death of Otto Warmbier, the American student who had been imprisoned in the country for 17 months, has focused a new light on tourism to North Korea, which the regime has been trying to promote. Warmbier’s father, Fred, said after his son was sent home in a coma last week that companies promoting tourism to North Korea are providing “fodder” for the regime. Rep. Edward R. Royce (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, agreed. “Otto’s father is right,” he said. “Travel propaganda lures far too many people to North Korea.” [Warmbier] [Tourism] [Sanctions] [Pretext]
• Moon Adviser's Dovish Comments Raise Hackles in U.S.
  By Cho Yi-jun June 19, 2017 11:46 A special adviser to President Moon Jae-in has ruffled feathers during a visit to Washington by calling for nuclear-powered aircraft carriers to be kept away from the Korean Peninsula and downplaying the importance of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery being stationed here. "It's unnecessary to deploy a super-carrier and a nuclear submarine" during annual U.S.-South Korea joint exercises, Moon Chung-in said during the visit ahead of President Moon's summit with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump. "Tension on the peninsula could be eased if those U.S. strategic assets are scaled down to the level they were before 2010." Regarding the controversy over the THAAD deployment, the adviser added, "There's talk that our alliance will break up if THAAD-related issues are not resolved. I wonder if such relations could really be considered an alliance." Moo Chung-in, a special adviser to President Moon Jae-in, speaks at a luncheon meeting at the Wilson Center in Washington last Friday. /Yonhap A spokesman for the U.S. State Department told Voice of America that the comments were Moon Chung-in's "personal opinion" and do not necessarily reflect the official stance of his government. The State Department added that the joint military exercises are aimed at defending the South and the Northeast Asian region. Seeking to quell the controversy, a Cheong Wa Dae official said many of the comments were the personal opinion of the adviser as an academic and not Cheong Wa Dae's official stance. "Such issues require the two governments' agreement," he said. Moon Chung-in made the remarks in a meeting with South Korean correspondents at the Wilson Center. He also said that if North Korea halts its nuclear weapons and missile tests, South Korea is willing to discuss with the U.S. the possibility of scaling down joint military exercises. He said those were his personal opinions but added it "would not be wrong" to say that President Moon agrees. He added that North Korea seems to have been provoked into its recent frenzied missile tests by the deployment of the U.S. aircraft carriers and bombers to the Korean Peninsula. Asked about the prospect of inter-Korean talks, the envoy said Seoul will find it hard to accept Washington's refusal of dialogue with Pyongyang until it scraps its nuclear weapons program. "We do not need to meet the terms of any U.S.-North Korea agreements in holding talks between South and North," he added. [US NK policy] [Moon Jae-in] [Moon Chung-in] [Peace effort] [THAAD] [US dominance]
• Why I can’t stop thinking about Otto Warmbier
  U-Va. student Otto Warmbier released from North Korea View Photos The University of Virginia student had been held in North Korea for 17 months for trying to steal a propaganda poster while on a trip to the country. By Fred Hiatt Editorial Page Editor June 18 at 7:10 PM I can’t stop thinking about Otto Warmbier. And the more I think about him, the more I remember all the smart people I’ve heard over the years explaining why the North Korean regime — the regime that “brutalized and terrorized” Otto, as his father said last week — shouldn’t be challenged or destabilized. Warmbier is a smart and immensely likable kid who graduated from high school in 2013 in his hometown of Wyoming, Ohio, and enrolled in the University of Virginia. Toward the end of 2015 he was traveling in China when he signed up, out of curiosity and a sense of adventure, for a four-day New Year’s trip to North Korea. As the rest of his tour group departed from Pyongyang International Airport on Jan. 2, 2016, Warmbier was detained. [Detainee] [Warmbier] [Media] [Manipulation]
• Otto Warmbier dies days after release from North Korean detention
  By Susan Svrluga and Anna Fifield June 19 at 10:33 PM U-Va. student Otto Warmbier dies days after return to U.S. Fred and Cindy Warmbier announced June 19 that their son, Otto, has died, days after he was medically evacuated from North Korea. (The Washington Post) Otto Warmbier, the University of Virginia student who was detained in North Korea for nearly a year and a half, died Monday afternoon, days after he returned home in a coma, his parents announced. Warmbier, 22, had been medically evacuated last week and was being treated at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. His parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, did not specify the cause of death. But they made clear in a written statement that they blamed North Korea for what happened. Their son was arrested in January 2016 at the end of a brief tourist visit to the isolated country. “Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today,” the Warmbiers said. [Detainee] [Warmbier] [Blame]
• Otto Warmbier has extensive loss of brain tissue, no obvious signs of trauma, doctors say
  By Susan Svrluga June 15 at 7:26 PM Play Video 2:06 Doctor says Otto Warmbier has 'extensive loss of brain tissue' An American university student who was detained for 17 months in North Korea suffered a serious neurological injury that resulted in "extensive loss of brain tissue" but showed no signs of botulism, according to doctors. (Reuters) CINCINNATI — Otto Warmbier, who was medically evacuated from a 17-month detention in North Korea this week, has extensive loss of brain tissue and is in a state of unresponsive wakefulness, University of Cincinnati doctors said Thursday afternoon. Doctors said they don’t know what caused the brain damage. When asked whether it could be the result of beating or other violence while in prison, they said that Warmbier did not show any obvious indications of trauma, nor evidence of either acute or healing fractures. [Detainee] [Warmbier]
• WCC asks for sanctions suspension and immediate talks to defuse Korean conflict
  11 June 2017 “In the face of escalating confrontation and heightened risks of catastrophic conflict” on the Korean peninsula, the World Council of Churches has urged that “a paradigm shift in approaches to the resolution of the geopolitical challenges of the region is urgently needed.” In its statement, the WCC’s executive committee also offered a range of bold ideas to further “the ecumenical movement’s support for and engagement in new initiatives for dialogue and peaceful coexistence on the Korean peninsula,” including a freeze on the annual joint US-South Korean military exercises, halting further missile or nuclear weapons tests by North Korea, suspension of international sanctions against North Korea, ecumenical efforts toward a peace treaty to replace the armistice agreement of 1953, continued efforts to address ongoing issues of human rights, and stepped up support for encounter, exchange, and dialogue among Christians North and South. [Sanctions] [Religion]
• Statement on Ecumenical Engagement for Peace, Reconciliation and Reunification on the Korean Peninsula
  11 June 2017 World Council of Churches EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Bossey, Switzerland 7-12 June 2017 Doc. No. 12 (final) Public Issues Statements The document is available in Arabic. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9) The World Council of Churches has long been engaged in efforts for peace, reconciliation, reunification and development cooperation on the Korean peninsula. Especially since the ‘Tozanso Consultation’ in 1984, the WCC – in partnership with the National Council of Churches in [South] Korea (NCCK), the Korean Christians Federation in North Korea (KCF), the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) and several other ecumenical partners – has encouraged and facilitated encounters between Christians from North and South Korea, and together with Christians from a wide spectrum of member churches around the world. This ecumenical channel for mutual visits, inter-church relations, people-to-people encounter, dialogue and cooperation has remained open through even the periods of greatest tension in the region when almost all other such channels have been closed. And since 2006 the WCC, through the Director of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, has convened and moderated the Ecumenical Forum for Peace, Reunification and Development Cooperation on the Korean Peninsula (EFK) – a network of churches, national and regional councils of churches, mission organizations and church-related development agencies – to help strengthen and coordinate ecumenical efforts in these areas. [Sanctions] [US NK policy] [Religion]
• Engaging North Korea - Volume II
  Photo: AFSC As tensions between the U.S. and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK/North Korea) approach new heights, the new U.S. administration is beginning to prioritize the conflict in Korea in its foreign policy agenda. However, the Trump administration’s approach to the DPRK has yet to be fully determined or articulated. The administration has repeatedly stressed that it would prefer to resolve issues through diplomatic means, but officials have also made overtures toward military action. Use of force by the U.S. against the DPRK could elicit overwhelming retaliatory strikes on Seoul, jeopardizing millions of lives. Yet diplomacy appears to be at an impasse, as well. Avenues for communication are urgently needed to de-escalate tensions and begin dialogue. American nonprofit organizations addressing humanitarian, cultural, scientific, and other concerns of mutual interest have established some of the most consistently successful partnerships between Americans and North Koreans. Scaling their best practices to the government-to-government level could represent the best chance of success for political dialogue. This report presents AFSC’s reflections on its work in Korea over the last 65 years and shares the critical humanitarian issues we see as opportunities for dialogue between the U.S. and DPRK. [US NK policy] [Diplomacy] [Engagement]
• North Korea says it released American student ‘on humanitarian grounds’
  Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old college student who was imprisoned in North Korea, is carried off an airplane at Lunken Airport in Cincinnati on June 13. (Sam Greene/AP) By Anna Fifield June 15 TOKYO — North Korea said Thursday that it released Otto Warmbier “on humanitarian grounds,” its first public statement about the University of Virginia student who went to North Korea as a healthy young man and left in a coma. Warmbier is now being treated at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, in his home town, after being evacuated on a U.S. military medical plane on Tuesday. His parents have said he is “in bad shape” and that they will hold a news conference Thursday morning to talk more about their son’s condition. North Korea’s state-run news agency said a court allowed Warmbier to return home “on humanitarian grounds,” despite the fact that he was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor after he attempted to take a poster from his hotel. [Detainee] [Warmbier]
• The Halt of South Korea’s THAAD Deployment
  Blog Post by Scott A. Snyder June 12, 2017 Senior Fellow for Korea Studies and Director of the Program on U.S.-Korea Policy South Korea’s new president decided to halt deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) system last week—pending environmental review. Why the immediate trigger? Moon’s administration discovered the ROK Ministry of National Defense did not brief the incoming president that four additional THAAD launchers scheduled for deployment as components of the battery deployed last April near Seongju had already arrived in-country. The failure to provide critical information regarding South Korea’s security rightly incensed Moon, and ensured he will clean house. [THAAD] [Moon Jae-in]
• Dennis Rodman returns from North Korea. And, amazingly, nothing happened.
  Dennis Rodman leaves an airport in Beijing airport after arriving on Saturday from Pyongyang. (Thomas Peter/Reuters) By Anna Fifield June 17 at 12:39 AM TOKYO — Dennis Rodman has returned from a five-day trip to North Korea, but he did not meet with a man he once called his “friend for life” — Kim Jong Un. The colorful retired basketball player did not speak to reporters waiting for him when he arrived in Beijing after leaving Pyongyang. After a disastrous trip in 2014, Rodman’s fifth journey into North Korea seemed to be something of a redemption tour. It was relatively low-key and passed without major controversy. Rodman was widely criticized for singing happy birthday to Kim Jong Un from the basketball court during a trip to the isolated state in 2014, and also for an angry and apparently drunken television interview in which he suggested that an American imprisoned in North Korea had deserved his punishment. Soon after returning to the United States, Rodman went into rehab. This time, Rodman visited important Kim regime monuments, coached a women’s basketball team, and presented gifts to his host, the sports minister, to pass on to Kim Jong Un. They included two autographed basketball jerseys, soap sets, a mermaid jigsaw and a “Where’s Waldo?” book for Kim’s daughter – and a copy of Donald Trump’s “The Art of the Deal.” He did not do any media interviews, although he did tweet a video he’d made before going to Pyongyang, presenting the trip as an effort to broker peace between the United States and North Korea. [Rodman] [Peace effort] [US NK policy]
• Dennis Rodman is back in North Korea. Was he sent by Trump?
  By Anna Fifield June 13 TOKYO — Former Chicago Bulls basketball star Dennis Rodman arrived in North Korea Tuesday and hopes to meet leader Kim Jong Un, at a time when President Trump is said to be trying to set up a secret channel to North Korea. Rodman’s trip has sparked speculation that he may be traveling to free American citizens being held by North Korea, perhaps as a first and important step toward lessening tensions between Washington and Pyongyang. Before Rodman arrived in Pyongyang, North Korea arranged with U.S. authorities to free one of the four Americans it was holding: Otto Warmbier, 22, a University of Virginia student who was held for 17 months for trying to steal a propaganda poster as a souvenir [Rodman] [Warmbier] [US NK policy]
• Why Trump’s North Korea strategy can’t succeed
  By Yoichi Funabashi June 11 at 6:00 PM The North Korean nuclear crisis is at its most severe and perplexing juncture. President Trump is pushing China to shoulder the burden to solve it as part of a deal entangling U.S.-China economic relations and regional geopolitics. Trump is not wrong to put China on the spot as the enabler for Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons development program, but the thinking and strategy behind his approach are gravely mistaken. While China shares the strategic interest of a denuclearized North Korea, Beijing’s policy remains unchanged in wanting to avoid North Korean upheaval, an influx of migrants into China and U.S. troops occupying North Korea. In addition, Trump’s strategy encourages Chinese suspicions that American pressure is a calculated attempt to decisively degrade Beijing’s relations with North Korea. Consequently, a Trumpian boxing-in of North Korea via China is hard to imagine. [US NK policy]
• High-level U.S. visit leads North Korea to free student in coma
  By Matt Spetalnick and Bryan Woolston | WASHINGTON/CINCINNATI Otto Warmbier, an American university student held prisoner in North Korea for 17 months and said by his family to be in a coma, was medically evacuated from the reclusive country after a rare visit there from a high-level U.S. official. Warmbier, 22, a University of Virginia student from suburban Cincinnati, arrived in the United States on Tuesday evening, witnesses said. His release came after Joseph Yun, the U.S. State Department's special envoy on North Korea, travelled to Pyongyang and demanded Warmbier's release on "humanitarian grounds," capping a flurry of secret diplomatic contacts, a U.S. official said. Warmbier's parents, Fred and Cindy, confirmed their son was on a medevac flight. "Sadly, he is in a coma and we have been told he has been in that condition since March of 2016," the parents said in a statement. "We learned of this only one week ago. We want the world to know how we and our son have been brutalized and terrorized by the pariah regime in North Korea." Warmbier was detained in January 2016 and sentenced to 15 years of hard labour in March last year for trying to steal an item with a propaganda slogan, according to North Korean media. Warmbier's plane landed at Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airport at around 10.15 p.m. local time (0215 GMT), according to a Reuters witness. Medical personnel carried a male, believed to be Warmbier and wearing a blue shirt and dark blue pants, off the plane without the use of a stretcher. The person carried from the plane did not appear to be moving independently, the Reuters witness said. A person believed to be Otto Warmbier is transferred from a medical transport airplane to an awaiting ambulance at Lunken Airport in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S., June 13, 2017. REUTERS/Bryan Woolston A small group of family friends was nearby to celebrate Warmbier's arrival, cheering and holding signs that read "Pray for Otto" and "Welcome home Otto." The man was loaded into an ambulance bound for the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where a hospital spokeswoman said he would receive treatment. Warmbier's family said they were told by North Korean officials, through contacts with American envoys, that Warmbier fell ill from botulism some time after his March 2016 trial and lapsed into a coma after taking a sleeping pill, the Washington Post reported. The New York Times quoted a senior U.S. official as saying Washington recently received intelligence reports that Warmbier had been repeatedly beaten in custody. Hours after his release, the U.S. government blamed Pyongyang for a raft of cyber attacks stretching back to 2009 and warned more were likely. [Rodman] [Detainee] [Warmbier][ Overture] [Rebuff]
• Who is the South Korean military really fighting for?
  Posted on : Jun.8,2017 17:34 KST Modified on : Jun.8,2017 17:34 KST Ministry of National Defense’s policy office chief Army Lt. Gen. Wi Seung-ho enters the National Planning and Advisory Committee office in Seoul’s Tongue neighbourhood, May 31. According to a Blue House report, Wi ordered the omission of four additional THAAD launchers from a Defense Ministry report, and has been dismissed. Recent controversy over additional THAAD launchers raises questions about blind loyalty to the US When former Washington Post reporter Myra MacPherson wrote her biography of legendary 20th century American independent journalist I. F. Stone, she titled it “All Governments Lie.” No title could have better expressed Stone’s lifelong campaign against deception by the state. Stone was so committed to his investigation of government misinformation that the FBI kept a close watch on him, with a file more than 1,600 pages long. [THAAD] [ROK military] [US dominance] [Client]
• Moon plays old power game anew
  Posted : 2017-06-09 11:45 Updated : 2017-06-09 11:44 By Oh Young-jin For those who feel uneasy about hiccups in the deployment of a U.S. missile interceptor, or Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, here is the lowdown. The late President Roh Moo-hyun settled for a theoretical level on his diplomacy of equidistance ? getting away from the orbit of U.S. influence and bringing it closer to China to gain mediating power. But his protege and friend, President Moon Jae-in, is now putting the so-called "balancer" theory into practice. Now, the supposed gallery ? Moon's conservative foes, government and pundits in the U.S. , and the media on both sides of the Pacific ? may feel bewildered but the chance is that Moon knows what he is doing when he kicked up the dust over THAAD. Of course, the success is not guaranteed. Now, two launchers are deployed plus the radar system. But the remaining four launchers are in storage and will be there for the coming months. Full deployment this year is out of question, considering a full-range environmental impact assessment survey, ordered by Moon, which some say may take two years to complete, is underway. Now Moon backed down with his aides indicating that the survey may be scaled down. When he goes to Washington for his first summit with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, Moon will likely hold the trump card against the politically embattled U.S. leader whose impeachment appears to be a strong possibility. Moon's advantage comes from two factors. [Moon Jae-in] [Trump_Moon17] [THAAD]
• THAAD in S. Korea comes up at White House discussions
  Posted : 2017-06-09 11:03 Updated : 2017-06-09 11:03 South Korea's decision to suspend the deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system was a topic when U.S. President Donald Trump held an Oval Office meeting with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, the State Department spokesperson said. At the start of the regular briefing, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said that Tillerson met with Mattis for a working breakfast at her department Thursday morning, and the two secretaries later joined Trump at the White House and talked about "the ongoing situation on the Korean peninsula and also in the Gulf." While responding to questions about Seoul's decision to suspend THAAD's deployment pending an environmental assessment, Nauert said, "Those were parts of the conversations that he (Tillerson) had today with Secretary Mattis, and also at the White House." Seoul's presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, said Wednesday that deployment of four launchers for the THAAD battery should wait until the environmental study is over, though two, already-deployed launchers won't be withdrawn, a decision that the U.S. could see as a setback to its efforts to fully deploy the system as soon as possible. [THAAD] [Trump]
• The Need For A New US Foreign Policy Towards North Korea
  Marty Hart-Landsberg Leave a comment Posted by mhl on May 26, 2017 US-North Korean relations remain very tense, although the threat of a new Korean War has thankfully receded. Still the US government remains determined to tighten economic sanctions on North Korea and continues to plan for a military strike aimed at destroying the country’s nuclear infrastructure. And the North for its part has made it clear that it would respond to any attack with its own strikes against US bases in the region and even the US itself. This is not good, but it is important to realize that what is happening is not new. The US began conducting war games with South Korean forces in 1976 and it was not long before those included simulated nuclear attacks against the North, and that was before North Korea had nuclear weapons. In 1994, President Bill Clinton was close to launching a military attack on North Korea with the aim of destroying its nuclear facilities. In 2002, President Bush talked about seizing North Korean ships as part of a blockade of the country, which is an act of war. In 2013, the US conducted war games which involved planning for preemptive attacks on North Korean military targets and “decapitation” of the North Korean leadership and even a first strike nuclear attack. [US NK policy]
• Cheong Wa Dae Wants to Keep THAAD off Summit Agenda
  June 07, 2017 12:12 Cheong Wa Dae has asked the White House to exclude the controversial issue of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery stationed here, from the agenda when President Moon Jae-in meets his counterpart Donald Trump in Washington later this month. A Cheong Wa Dae official said too much fuss is being made about Moon's plans to let the National Assembly review the deployment. "Some measures are being taken regarding the THAAD deployment, but that does not mean we want to send it back, and we have already conveyed this point to the U.S," a Cheong Wa Dae spokesman said. "An understanding has already been reached between U.S. and Korean officials, so we expect the THAAD issue to be excluded from the agenda of the summit," he added. He claimed the U.S. has said it "understands" the matter, but no agreement has been made. One diplomatic source said, "Even if the THAAD issue is excluded from the agenda, Trump may decide to comment on the issue during a press conference so we are preparing for that." [THAAD] [US dominance] [Moon Jae-in]
• Koreans in US question FM nominee's qualification
  Posted : 2017-06-07 17:17 Updated : 2017-06-07 21:21 Foreign citizenship of FM nominee's daughter matters for confirmation By Jane Han DALLAS — While the foreign citizenship of Foreign Minister nominee Kang Kyung-wha's daughter has the public debating her qualifications, many Koreans in the U.S. say it's no surprise that this is a deal-breaking factor. On Wednesday at a confirmation hearing at the National Assembly in Seoul, Kang told lawmakers that her daughter has decided to give up her U.S. citizenship. Many Korean-Americans here said that top government officials must go through a thorough vetting and foreign citizenship of their children is an issue serious enough to affect their jobs. [Kang Kyung-wha] [Anchor babies] [Diaspora]
• Moon halts THAAD deployment
  Posted : 2017-06-07 16:27 Updated : 2017-06-07 18:36 By Jun Ji-hye The presidential office said Wednesday that the ongoing deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) unit here will be suspended until a full-scale environmental impact study of the site is completed. It added, however, two launchers, radar and other equipment that have already been deployed at the site in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, will remain in place while the study is conducted. "There is no reason to demand the withdrawal of the THAAD unit equipment already deployed at the site," a Cheong Wa Dae official said, asking not to be named. "But a decision on whether to continue to deploy the additional launchers will be made after the environmental survey is finished." [THAAD] [Moon Jae-in] [US dominance]
• THAAD deployment could slow down as Pres. Moon orders environmental assessment
  Posted on : Jun.6,2017 13:34 KST Modified on : Jun.6,2017 13:34 KST To avoid a proper environmental assessment, Defense Ministry appears to have gamed the system The THAAD deployment schedule appears more likely to slow down from its original plan after President Moon Jae-in confirmed on June 5 that the Ministry of National Defense was attempting to avoid an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the deployment and ordered it to “carry out suitable assessment measures according to the law.” The next question is how far the investigation into who ordered the EIA dodge will go. [THAAD] [Environment] [[ROK military]
• Blue House reprimanding Defense Ministry over THAAD report omissions
  Posted on : Jun.6,2017 13:36 KST Modified on : Jun.6,2017 13:36 KST Blue House Senior Secretary to the President for Public Relations Yoon Young-chan provides a briefing on the results of a Blue House investigation on the Ministry of National Defense’s omission of a report on the delivery of THAAD launchers, June 5. (Blue House photo pool) Ministry trying to explain away omissions, saying they were part of behind-the-scenes agreement with the US military The Blue House’s reprimand on June 5 over the omission of a report on four additional THAAD launchers is more broadly a form of disciplinary action for going ahead with the system’s deployment without establishing its procedural legitimacy. The explanation given to the Blue House by the Ministry of National Defense’s policy office chief, Army Lt. Gen. Wi Seung-ho, can be summarized in three points: South Korea had reached a behind-the-scenes agreement with the US military on the delivery of additional equipment, similar information had not been included on reports in the past, and attempts were made to give a verbal explanation. In terms of the first of these, behind-the-scenes agreements with the US military have been the rule rather than the exception for the Ministry of National Defense. Apart from when two THAAD launchers were delivered on Mar. 6, the ministry has not given any official confirmations on additional deliveries of THAAD components. But the Blue House maintained that while the approach of reaching behind-the-scenes agreements with the US could be seen as a response to the media, it was a separate issue from reports to the supreme commander of the armed forces. The Blue House was similarly unmoved by the other two points in Wi’s explanation. [THAAD] [ROK military] [US Dominance]
• [Column] Can Moon Help Prevent US Attack on North Korea?
  Posted on : Jun.4,2017 20:43 KST Modified on : Jun.4,2017 20:43 KST John Feffer The U.S. media has been full of dire warnings of an imminent U.S. attack on North Korea. Two aircraft carriers are now within firing distance of North Korea. They’re part of a military exercise in the Sea of Japan in which South Korea and the United States are coordinating a drill involving advanced bombers. The Pentagon recently tested a successful anti-missile interceptor, which some analysts interpret as a pointed message to Pyongyang. Prominent geopolitical analyst George Friedman believes that U.S. government representatives briefing officials in Guam on civil defense is another sign of an upcoming attack because the island could be the target of North Korean retaliation. President Donald Trump is an impulsive leader. He is unhappy with the slowness of domestic reform in the United States, the critical response by European leaders after his recent trip to the NATO and G7 meetings, and the reluctance of China to put more pressure on North Korea. If he were convinced that a preemptive attack on North Korea would represent the “big win” that he is craving for his presidency, he might just pull the trigger. Still, I’m not convinced that the United States is preparing an actual attack. For decades, Washington has emphasized that all options are on the table – including military ones – and operational plans have long been in place for an attack on North Korea. The latest, OPLAN 5015, even incorporates a preemptive attack for the first time. But this is all contingency planning, not the lead-up to an order to start bombing. [US NK policy] [Attack] [Moon Jae-in]
• Defense Minister says omitted THAAD report a “fully domestic measure”
  Posted on : Jun.5,2017 16:51 KST Modified on : Jun.5,2017 16:51 KST Minister of National Defense Han Min-koo, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Japanese Minister of Defense Tomomi Inada clasp hands for a photo at the the Shangri-La Dialogue (IISS Asia Security Summit) in Singapore, June 3. (provided by the Ministry of National Defense) At Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, South Korea and US say they’re continuing to work toward THAAD deployment Minister of National Defense Han Min-koo recently described the investigation into omissions in the Blue House’s THAAD report as a “fully domestic measure.” Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis expressed “understanding” about the Blue House investigation, but also stressed that the goal of THAAD was to protect South Korea from the North Korean missile threat. His remarks were seen as reflecting Washington’s position that Seoul’s stance should be respected as much as possible, but that the THAAD deployment must go ahead according to schedule. Meeting with reporters after a bilateral defense ministers‘ meeting with Mattis in Singapore on June 3, Han reported telling Mattis that the South Korean current measures in connection with THAAD are “fully domestic measures and not an attempt to change the current decision or send a different message to the US” and that Seoul would “make it a top priority to respect the basic spirit of the South Korea-US alliance throughout the process.” [THAAD] [ROK military] [US dominance]
• After controversy over of unreported additional launchers, THAAD in limbo
  Posted on : Jun.5,2017 16:53 KST Modified on : Jun.5,2017 16:53 KST Children and parents from Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province (where the THAAD missile defense system is being deployed) read letters and display drawings calling on President Moon Jae-in to withdraw the deployment decision, in front of the Blue House in Seoul, June 4. (by Shin So-young, staff photographer) Moon administration seeking to establish procedural legitimacy through an environmental impact assessment After the controversy over the THAAD deployment was aggravated by the news that the Defense Ministry failed to mention the delivery of additional THAAD launchers in a report to the Blue House, THAAD is likely to remain in limbo for the time being. The Blue House has been taking proactive steps to dispel US concerns that the THAAD deployment could be reversed even while taking this opportunity to gain “procedural legitimacy” through an environmental impact assessment. While the fact that some of the THAAD launchers have already been stationed on the Korean Peninsula makes reversing the decision impractical, the Blue House seems set on taking its time to carefully assess the issue before making a final decision. [THAAD]
• Court orders release of information on pollution at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul
  Posted on : Jun.5,2017 16:56 KST Modified on : Jun.5,2017 16:56 KST Members of civic groups hold a press conference in front of the Yongsan US military base in Seoul, calling on South Korea’s Ministry of Environment to make public the results of an investigation into environmental contamination on the base, and for the US military to take responsibility for cleaning up any contamination, Aug. 17, 2016. (by Kim Seong-gwang, staff photographer) Ministry of Environment had refused to release info on groundwater, citing national security concerns A South Korean court has ordered the Ministry of Environment to release the results of the second and third rounds of an environmental assessment of the Yongsan Garrison, a US military base in Seoul. The results of the first round of the environmental assessment, which were made public following a decision by the Supreme Court in April, showed that levels of benzene, a class-one carcinogen, in the groundwater at the Yongsan Garrison were as much as 162 higher than the standard level. [USFK] [Bases] [Pollution]
• US nuclear-powered attack submarine visits Busan port
  Posted : 2017-06-06 13:58 Updated : 2017-06-06 13:59 A US nuclear-powered attack submarine arrived in the southern port city of Busan on Tuesday in what appears to be another show of Washington's military might amid North Korea's continued saber-rattling. The 6,900-ton USS Cheyenne whose home port is Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, entered the ROK (Republic of Korea) Fleet Command in the city, some 450 kilometers south of Seoul, in the morning. The purpose of its visit is to have its crew take a rest and replenish supplies, a military official here said, declining to be named. The submarine has no plan to engage in any joint maneuvers with the South Korean Navy, the official added. [Posturing]
• Defense deputy minister suspended over THAAD controversy
  Posted : 2017-06-05 17:21 Updated : 2017-06-05 20:35 By Jun Ji-hye President Moon Jae-in suspended the deputy defense minister for policy, Monday, for directing ministry officials to omit details of the controversial deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in the ministry's recent briefings to the new administration. Moon's chief press secretary Yoon Young-chan said at a press briefing that the President's order came after the presidential office found out that Deputy Minister for Policy Wee Seung-ho told his subordinates to delete references to the arrival of four additional THAAD launchers in the ministry's reports to the government launched early last month. [THAAD] [ROK military] [US dominance]
• Avoiding Apocalypse on the Korean Peninsula
  Why Diplomacy Is Not Naïve Appeasement in the Korean Crisis By Rajan Menon Defense Secretary James Mattis remarked recently that a war with North Korea would be “tragic on an unbelievable scale.” No kidding. “Tragic” doesn’t even begin to describe the horrors that would flow from such a conflict. [US NK policy] [Diplomacy]
• Korean politics of child citizenship
  Posted : 2017-06-05 14:35 Updated : 2017-06-05 16:23 Daughter may give up US citizenship for FM-nominated mother ? but why? By Jung Min-ho Many nominees for top government posts in Korea have faced trouble during the National Assembly confirmation hearings for having children with U.S. citizenship. While some made it through after making public apologies, others could not. Kang Kyung-wha, the nominee for foreign minister, is the latest one waiting in the line for the test. Most people outside Korea remain puzzled over the news that Kang is trying to convince her 34-year-old daughter, who was born and raised in the United States as a dual citizen, to ditch her U.S. citizenship and revert to her Korean one, which she previously renounced.
  Opposition to someone having U.S. citizenship was first born out of South Korea's unique situation, in which all able-bodied men must serve in the military (for 36 months in the past and for 21 months today) to fend off the rancorous regime in the North. But many people use their money and power to help their sons dodge what they believe is a thankless duty, and the rest of society has started to perceive such abuse of money and power as a symbol of selfishness and irresponsibility. And over time, the gender of the beneficiary grew less important in their perceptions. [Anchor babies] [Kang Kyung-wha] [Client]
• US politicians concerned about THAAD row
  Posted : 2017-06-04 17:28 Updated : 2017-06-05 11:04 By Jun Ji-hye U.S. politicians are unhappy with the South Korean government's ongoing inspection of the controversial deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here. Regardless of which party they belong to, the politicians claim the anti-missile system is to defend South Koreans as well as U.S. troops stationed here against North Korea's missile threats, calling into question the Moon Jae-in government's move to seek parliamentary approval for the installation. On Moon's order, Cheong Wa Dae is investigating the former Park Geun-hye government's deployment decision-making process for THAAD. The presidential office believes that in a recent briefing to Moon's top security adviser, the Ministry of National Defense "intentionally" omitted details about the arrival of four additional launchers. This has raised suspicion that what some described as a "covert" process might be aimed at evading an assessment of their environmental impact. [THAAD]
• This is what would happen if North Korea launched a real attack
  By Chris Perez May 16, 2017 | 10:31pm | Updated President Trump would have “maybe 10 minutes” to decide whether to launch a retaliatory strike against North Korea — should it ever fire a missile that’s capable of reaching the US mainland, experts say. Speaking to the Associated Press about what would happen in the event of a nuclear strike from the North, scientist David Wright, of the UCS Global Security Program, and rocket analyst Markus Schiller, of ST Analytics in Germany, described how the drama would unfold. “The timelines are short,” Wright explained. “Even for long-range missiles, there are a lot of steps that go into detecting the launch and figuring out what it is, leaving the president with maybe 10 minutes to decide whether to launch a retaliatory strike.” While experts insist that North Korea is still not capable of launching a missile that could reach the United States, the communist nation on Monday claimed it could. Its state-run KCNA news service alleged that it now has the ability to send a “large-size heavy nuclear warhead” across the Pacific following its test of a Hwasong-12 missile over the weekend. But Kim Dong-yub, professor at South Korea’s Kyungnam University, told local media that they’d be lucky to reach Alaska or Hawaii, at best. If they did have the capability of hitting US targets, though, Wright and Schiller predict that things could get out of hand — and fast. While Wright believes an intercontinental ballistic missile fired from the Hermit Kingdom would take a little over a half-hour to reach San Francisco, Schiller said he believes one could strike Seattle or Los Angeles less than 30 minutes after launch. New York and Washington, at less than 6,800 miles away, would likely have between 30 and 40 minutes before being hit, Schiller and Wright said. American allies around the Korean Peninsula will have an even shorter window, should leader Kim Jong Un decide to attack his neighbors in the South Pacific. People living in Seoul would essentially have zero to 6 minutes — from the moment a missile is launched to the time it hits the target — to take cover in the event of a strike, Schiller and Wright said. Those in Japan will have a little more time to prepare, but not much. Schiller and Wright estimate that it would take 10 to 11 minutes before a missile from the North reached Tokyo. Then there’s the added risk of Kim using chemical or biological warheads, while also unleashing a “swarm” attack on South Korea and Japan — using medium-range Scud ER missiles, which were tested back in March. While defense systems are in place to defend against such assaults, Schiller and Wright warned that they could wind up failing or prove worthless against artillery strikes and multiple projectiles. The pair told the AP that if the North ultimately thought it was under immediate attack or threatened, one possible scenario would be that it would first target the South Korean city of Busan, which is often used as a port by the US Navy. From that point on, it is unclear what would likely be the next step — but if Trump did decide to fire back, Schiller and Wright said he could have land-based ICBMs in the air within five minutes, and submarine-based missiles in 15. [US NK conflict] [Inversion] [Hysteria]
• Trump’s “Strategic Patience 2.0”
  Jun 3, 2017 | News, US-NK Relations | 0 comments Trump’s “Strategic Patience 2.0” While the United States drags its feet to end the long-standing military tension on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea continues to develop its nuclear deterrence. On May 29, North Korea conducted its latest missile test — its third just in the month of May. Following the test, North Korea announced that it was successful in testing a precision-guidance system. The string of recent missile tests seem to have boosted North Korea’s confidence and underscores predictions that the country may soon test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Despite its declaration that “the era of strategic patience is over,” the Trump administration’s North Korea policy — “maximum pressure and engagement” — appears to be the same game, merely with a different name — i.e. increasing economic sanctions and war exercises to force North Korea to capitulate. While the Trump administration has repeatedly claimed that “all options are on the table,” a fundamental resolution towards lasting peace and normalization seems off the table. The U.S. military recently conducted a missile test of its own–a long-range interceptor missile against a mock ICBM. On May 31, the Pentagon claimed that the interceptor missile successfully destroyed the mock ICBM off the coast of Hawaii. As long as the U.S. continues its military exercises aimed at collapsing the North Korean state, North Korea has little reason to freeze its nuclear and missile program.
  As Asia expert Tim Beal discusses in an interview with RT News , the U.S. will no longer have a military option on the Korean peninsula if North Korea acquires a working ICBM capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to the U.S. mainland: [US NK policy] [Continuities] [Deterrence]
• 'Excuse me' 'Thank you'
  Posted : 2017-06-04 15:46 Updated : 2017-06-04 16:10 By Oh Young-jin If one says, "Excuse me," the other wouldn't say, "Thank you," or "You're welcome." This rhetorical anomaly may best capture the narrative Korea and the United States are having on the allegedly "smuggled" four launchers for the latter's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile interceptor battery. By all means the two allies do know the proper way of initiating and responding ? "sorry" or "certainly" to "excuse me," and "you ‘re welcome" to "thank you." So the chance is that it is part of their game to go one up on the other. First, Chung Eui-yong, President Moon Jae-in's top national security aide, went to Washington and met his U.S. counterpart, H.R. McMaster, to consult on the Moon-Trump summit in Washington this month. Upon his return, Chung said that McMaster thanked him for explaining the delay in the THAAD deployment due to an environmental impact survey Moon has now insisted on conditioning it on. Chung also said that Washington expressed its understanding on what Seoul claimed was an "intentional omission" of four THAAD launchers being brought into the nation during the Ministry of National Defense's report to Cheong Wa Dae. Two launchers are already deployed at its Seongju, North Gyeongsang, site, but the four in question are now in storage. [THAAD] [US SK alliance]
• Merkel’s words on self-reliance provide a lesson for South Korea
  Posted on : Jun.2,2017 19:14 KST Modified on : Jun.2,2017 19:14 KST World leaders gather for a commemorative photo at the G-7 Summit in Taormina, Italy, May 26. German Chancellor Angela Merkel talks with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni as Donald Trump stands between them. On the left is Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. (AP/Yonhap News) Ahead of South Korea-US summit, Pres. Moon must learn to use US alliance as an asset On May 25, heads of state in Europe prepared for the dedication of the new NATO headquarters and the unveiling of a monument to commemorate the 9/11 terror attacks and recall Article 5 of the NATO Treaty. The memorial was crafted out of rubble from the World Trade Center buildings in New York. The event was planned for Donald Trump’s first visit to Europe as US President. NATO‘s Article 5 essentially says that a military attack against any one member will be regarded as an attack against all members and subject to immediate response by individual members or all members. It defines the collective defense that is NATO’s reason for being as an alliance. [US SK Alliance] [Self reliance] [Self delusion]
• President Moon seeks ex-UN chief Ban's help ahead of US visit
  Posted : 2017-06-02 15:38 Updated : 2017-06-02 17:43 President Moon Jae-in, right, shakes hands with former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon before a closed-door meeting at the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae, Friday. / Courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae President Moon Jae-in met former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Friday to apparently discuss issues concerning foreign policy and national security, officials said. The meeting was held over lunch at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae with only Moon's spokesman Park Soo-hyun in attendance. Details of their discussions were not immediately disclosed, but they were widely expected to focus on the North Korean nuclear conundrum and renewed controversy over the deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system in South Korea. The meeting came ahead of Moon's planned summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington later this month. [Ban Ki-moon] [Moon Jae-in]
• [Jeju Forum 2017] Moon vows to take initiative on N. Korea
  Posted : 2017-06-01 16:18 Updated : 2017-06-01 18:41 By Yi Whan-woo SEOGWIPO, Jeju Island — South Korea will take the initiative in security issues on the Korean Peninsula, President Moon Jae-in said Thursday. Speaking through a video link at the opening ceremony of the 12th Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity, Moon also said he can help mend North Korea's relations with both South Korea and the U.S. through a two-track strategy of dialogue and pressure on Pyongyang. "We will take the lead in dealing with Korean Peninsula issues without relying on the role of other countries," he said. [SK NK policy] [Self delusion]
• U.S. 'Could Spend THAAD Money Somewhere Better,' Senator Warns
  June 02, 2017 09:47 U.S. Senator Dick Durbin on Wednesday warned President Moon Jae-in that Washington could divert the money for the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery that has been stationed here somewhere else. The peevish outburst came after Moon pledged to have the National Assembly reexamine the process of the THAAD deployment, which was rushed through by the previous administration. Durbin is a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and therefore has a say in how the U.S. spends its defense budget. President Moon Jae-in (right) shakes hands with U.S. Senator Dick Durbin at Cheong Wa Dea in Seoul on Wednesday. /Newsis "I basically said to him two things," Durbin told the Yonhap news agency. "We face tough budget times in Washington. We are cutting a lot of programs. And if South Korea does not want the THAAD missile system, it is US$923 million that we can spend some other place." "I believe that if I lived in South Korea, I would want as many missile defense systems as possible to protect against the hundreds of ballistic missiles which North Korea could rain on the South should war begin," he added. "I don't understand why that feeling does not dominate this conversation. I think national security and defense should dominate." Cheong Wa Dae made no mention of this during a press briefing the previous day. Durbin added, "I said several times that protecting U.S. forces in Korea is important to me. It should be important to people of South Korea. These U.S. forces -- 28,500 -- are risking their lives for the safety of South Korea and they should be protected as should all of the people in Korea." But Durbin is the Democratic whip, and his party has been completely routed in both houses of the U.S. Congress, so it is unclear how much sway his opinions hold. [THAAD] [Tribute] [Bizarre]
• U.S. Lawmakers Seek Better Defense Against N.Korean Missiles
  By Yang Seung-sik June 02, 2017 12:42 U.S. senators have proposed a regulation to strengthen America's defenses against potential North Korean missile attacks. Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan in a statement Tuesday said he introduced a bill named the Advancing America's Missile Defense Act. Alaska may fall within the range of North Korea's Hwasong-12 missile launched recently. Fourteen Republican and Democratic senators are behind the bill. The act details steps to bolster missile defense capabilities on the U.S. mainland including the deployment of 28 more interceptor missiles on the west coast. There are currently 44, but the U.S. aims to boost them gradually to 100. [Missile defense] [Threat]
• Blue House investigation into THAAD deployment could affect summit with US
  Posted on : Jun.1,2017 17:36 KST Modified on : Jun.1,2017 17:36 KST President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with US Senate Democrat Whip Dick Durbin at the Blue House on the afternoon of May 31. (Yonhap News) President Moon stressing that investigation is a domestic matter, as hefty issues like THAAD and FTA not likely to be discussed at summit With the Blue House launching an investigation into the omission of information about the delivery of additional THAAD components from briefings by the Ministry of Defense, the next question is what effect this may have on the US-South Korea summit meeting, which will be taking place in just over than 20 days. Since President Moon Jae-in has called for the THAAD deployment to be procedurally democratic and transparent since his presidential campaign, he could emphasize the lack of procedural legitimacy when he meets the President Donald Trump While the US-South Korea summit is supposed to take place in mid- or late June, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on May 31 that the exact date has yet to be determined. Deliberations are reportedly still continuing about the summit agenda, which First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Lim Sung-nam visited the US on May 25 and 26 to coordinate. The Defense Ministry’s failure to mention the additional THAAD launchers in its briefings is likely to play a major role in those deliberations. [THAAD] [ROK military] [US dominance] [Moon_Trump17]
• Investigation of THAAD deployment could spread to Hwang Kyo-ahn
  Posted on : Jun.1,2017 17:37 KST Modified on : Jun.1,2017 17:37 KST The three high-ranking government officials responsible for the rushed THAAD deployment, from left to right, former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, former Blue House National Security Office chief Kim Kwan-jin and Minister of National Defense Han Min-koo. (Hankyoreh file photos) Moon administration to assess all phases of the rushed deployment to bring facts to light Now that the Blue House has confirmed that the Defense Ministry deliberately omitted information about the delivery of four additional THAAD launchers from a report, the Blue House has expanded the scope of its inquiry to include not only Defense Minister Han Min-koo, who had final say over the report, but also former Blue House National Security Chief Kim Kwan-jin. Given the revelation that the Defense Ministry hurried to deploy THAAD before the presidential election and then tried to conceal related information after power changed hands, there will almost certainly be an investigation of the entire process of the previous administration’s reckless deployment of THAAD. The reason the Park administration gave for its decision to deploy THAAD was the threat posed by North Korea’s increasingly sophisticated nuclear weapons and missiles, as demonstrated by its fourth nuclear test in Jan. 2016. But as recently as July 2016, when the US and South Korea announced their decision to deploy THAAD, Seoul said it meant to deploy the missile defense system by Dec. 2017. Even when North Korea carried out its fifth nuclear test two months later, the US and South Korea did not explicitly change their timeline for deploying THAAD. [THAAD] [US Dominance]
• Moon's top secretary flies to US for talks on THAAD, summit
  Posted : 2017-06-01 17:16 Updated : 2017-06-02 11:21 By Jun Ji-hye President Moon Jae-in's top security adviser departed for the United States, Thursday, for talks on the controversial deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here. Another purpose of his visit is to coordinate the schedule for the summit between Moon and U.S. President Donald Trump, which is to take place in Washington late this month. Chung Eui-yong During his two-day stay, National Security Office (NSO) chief Chung Eui-yong will meet with U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and other officials to mediate the summit agenda. [THAAD] [US SK alliance]
• Pres. Moon objects to Defense Ministry’s stealthy THAAD launcher deployment
  Posted on : May.31,2017 16:58 KST Modified on : May.31,2017 16:58 KST President Moon Jae-in moves to the Joint Chiefs of Staff headquarters after leaving a meeting with Defense Minister Han Min-koo (far left) at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, May 17. It was Moon’s first visit to the Ministry since becoming President. (Blue House photo pool) Administration orders thorough investigation into who mandated and carried out delivery procedure After confirming on May 30 that four THAAD launchers had been secretly delivered to South Korea and were being stored at a US military base near Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, President Moon Jae-in instructed the Blue House National Security Office and the Office of the Senior Secretary to the President for Civil Affairs to determine why this information had been omitted from briefings by the Ministry of Defense. Since this implies that Moon considers the Ministry’s failure to brief him on this information as a serious infringement on the national order, the fact-finding investigation could lead to wholesale reform measures and a major reshuffling of personnel in the military and the Defense Ministry. [THAAD] [ROK military] [Moon Jae-in] [US dominance]
• [News analysis] THAAD fact-finding could lead to military reshuffle and reform
  Posted on : May.31,2017 17:00 KST Modified on : May.31,2017 17:00 KST Investigation could uncover details of THAAD deployment decision and be pretext to oust defense holdovers from preceding administration The order given by President Moon Jae-in on May 30 to find out why the clandestine delivery of four THAAD launchers had been omitted from Defense Ministry briefings is likely the prelude to a fact-finding investigation into the decision and agreement to deploy the THAAD missile defense system and the entire process of bringing THAAD components into South Korea, which was one of Moon’s pledges during his presidential campaign. The prevailing view in the Blue House and the Defense Ministry is that the president’s order will go beyond the issue of the THAAD deployment and will lead to a complete personnel reshuffle and institutional reforms in the military and at the Ministry. The first uncharacteristic development was Moon’s remark yesterday that it was “very shocking” to learn from Defense Minister Han Min-koo that four THAAD launchers had been delivered to South Korea. Moon assigned the fact-finding investigation not only to the Blue House National Security Office, which officially handles briefings from the Defense Ministry, but also to the Office of the Senior Secretary to the President for Civil Affairs, which is responsible for maintaining discipline among public officials. This indicates that Moon considers the incident to be a serious infringement on the national order. If the investigation confirms that this information was deliberately omitted from the Defense Ministry’s briefings, the consequences could conceivably go beyond disciplinary measures and lead to a full-fledged investigation into the entire process of the THAAD deployment. THAAD deployment formation But this investigation is unlikely to culminate in a complete reversal of the THAAD deployment. When asked whether this could lead to the removal of the delivered equipment, Blue House Senior Secretary to the President for Public Relations Yoon Young-chan did not make a definite response. National Security Chief Chung Eui-yong and Cho Byeong-je, former ambassador to Malaysia, who advised Moon on diplomacy and security policy during his presidential campaign, have both maintained that if the US wants to deploy THAAD, South Korea has no choice but to accept that in light of the South Korea-US alliance. [THAAD] [ROK military] [Moon Jae-in] [US dominance]
• Defense Ministry also concealed the actual path of the USS Carl Vinson
  Posted on : May.31,2017 17:05 KST Modified on : May.31,2017 17:05 KST Belated revelation of the US aircraft carrier‘s whereabouts fed dangerous Korean peninsula tensions in April The Ministry of National Defense knew as early as the beginning of April that the US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson would be arriving near the Korean Peninsula around the end of the month, but kept the information secret, it was recently learned. The revelation suggests that while the Korean Peninsula was being thrown into turmoil by a crisis in April over the Carl Vinson’s activities, the ministry allowed the situation to escalate by ignoring repeated demands to disclose the vessel’s location, despite being fully aware that its deployment to the peninsula would be far later than the media was predicting. [ROK military] [Moon Jae-in] [US dominance] [Vinson]
• S Korean embassy in Afghanistan damaged in powerful car bomb explosion
  Posted : 2017-05-31 16:29 Updated : 2017-05-31 17:13 By Park Si-soo The South Korean embassy in Afghanistan's capital Kabul was damaged in a powerful car bomb explosion on Wednesday that killed at least 62 people and injured more than 320, according to the South Korean foreign ministry. "Nothing has been confirmed yet," a foreign ministry official told The Korea Times. The French and German embassies were also damaged in the explosion. [Afghanistan] [Tribute]
• Defense ministry 'CHEATS' Moon on additional THAAD launcher deployment: presidential office
  Posted : 2017-05-31 10:46 Updated : 2017-05-31 13:14 The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday it confirmed the defense ministry had intentionally omitted the delivery of additional THAAD launchers in a recent briefing. Yoon Young-chan, chief presidential press secretary, said that the finding came after an investigation into several ministry officials, including the deputy minister for policy. A day earlier, President Moon Jae-in expressed his frustration and ordered a probe into why the delivery of four additional launchers of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system was not disclosed. "Yesterday (Tuesday), Cheong Wa Dae called in several defense officials and intensively investigated how (the delivery) was omitted in the briefing," Yoon told reporters. [THAAD] [ROK military] [US dominance]

• S. Korea investigates THAAD launchers delivery
  Xinhua, May 30, 2017 Protesters shout slogans during a rally near the golf course where the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system will be deployed in Seongju, South Korea, March 15, 2017. About 200 local residents attended the rally on Wednesday to protest against the deployment of THAAD system. (Xinhua/Liu Yun) South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday ordered an investigation into the unauthorized delivery of four more mobile launchers of the U.S. missile shield to the country. Yoon Young-chan, chief presidential press secretary, told a press briefing that President Moon said it was "very shocking" after he was briefed by his top national security advisor Chung Eui-yong on the unauthorized delivery. About two weeks before the May 9 presidential by-election, two mobile launchers and a radar for the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile interception system were transported in the middle of night to a golf course at Soseong-ri village in Seongju county, North Gyeongsang province. THAAD is composed of six mobile launchers, 48 interceptors, a AN/TPY-2 radar and a fire and control unit. [THAAD] [US dominance]
• U.S. Defense Chief Says War with N.Korea Would Be 'Catastrophic'
  By Cho Yi-jun May 30, 2017 10:00 A war with North Korea would be "the worst kind of fighting in most people's lifetime," U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said Sunday. Mattis was speaking on CBS News' "Face the Nation," when he was asked to say how he would expect a conflict with the North to turn out. "The North Korean regime has hundreds of artillery cannons and rocket launchers within range of one of the most densely populated cities on Earth, which is the capital of South Korea." "This regime is a threat to the region, to Japan, to South Korea. And in the event of war, they would bring danger to China and to Russia as well," he said. It is also "a direct threat to the United States," he added. "They have been very clear in their rhetoric we don't have to wait until they have an intercontinental ballistic missile with a nuclear weapon on it to say that now it's manifested completely." [Mattis] [Threat]
• President orders probe into 'uninformed' THAAD launcher instalment
  Posted : 2017-05-30 15:38 Updated : 2017-05-30 16:29 South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday ordered a special probe into what the presidential office called the secret or undisclosed entry of four rocket launchers into the country under the U.S. missile defense program deployed here, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said. "President Moon was briefed on such facts by National Security Office (NSO) chief Chung Eui-yong and said it was very shocking," Moon's chief press secretary Yoon Young-chan said at a press briefing. The president then called Defense Minister Han Min-koo to confirm the delivery of the four rocket launchers into the country, Yoon added.
  Han confirmed, also admitting he had prior knowledge. [THAAD] [Moon Jae-in] [US Dominance] [ROK military]
• U.S. Sends Another Aircraft Carrier as Warning to N.Korea
  By Lee Yong-soo May 29, 2017 09:47 The U.S. is sending another aircraft carrier strike force to the western Pacific region as a warning to North Korea to halt its missile and nuclear programs. The USS Nimitz will join two other supercarriers, the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Ronald Reagan in a rare show of overwhelming force. Sources told Voice of America on Friday that the Nimitz has completed 27 months of maintenance and test operations and will depart from a naval base in Bremerton in Washington state on Thursday. It will join other vessels in the carrier group in San Diego, California and head out to the western Pacific. The USS Nimitz /Yonhap But the destination of the armada is unclear. Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported Saturday that the Nimitz was originally scheduled to be deployed to the Middle East but the destination was moved to the western Pacific for a six-month stint in order to respond to the "changing international political situation." [Carrier] [Posturing]
• The Dirty Secret of the Korean War
  May 26, 2017 by Thomas Powell The Korean War has been called “America’s forgotten war”. The heavily weaponized US Army was fought to a draw by Soviet-equipped North Korean and Chinese armies. For the very first time in its storied legacy of military campaigns dating back to American Independence, the US Army did not prevail in war. In its next colonial war against communism in Asia the following decade, the US was soundly defeated by North Vietnam. However, these military setbacks are not the sole reason to forget the Korean War. There is a much darker denial at work in forgetting the specifics of history, and this unwillingness to honestly examine the Korean War is at the root of our ongoing conflict with North Korea. The US Army’s clandestine deployment of biological weapons (BW) in North Korea and China during the Korean War is our ugly suppressed history. The allegation of American BW use was first made by North Korea in May of 1951. New allegations were made the following year by both North Korea and China that American war planes on night sorties dropped canisters containing insects and voles contaminated with bubonic plague, hemorrhagic fever and other highly contagious diseases on villages and fields in rural North Korea and China. [Korean war] [cbw]
• U.S. Slams Plans to Resume Package Tours to N.Korea
  By Cho Yi-jun May 29, 2017 12:16 The U.S. State Department on Friday slammed plans by the new South Korean government to resume package tours to North Korea. State Department spokeswoman Katina Adams told Voice of America that tourism revenues could flow into North Korea's weapons development programs and urged potential visitors to the North to think about where their money may be headed. Adams said Pyongyang draws money from "various sources" to fund its nuclear and missile development programs. The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a bill aimed at prohibiting American tourists from visiting North Korea. But President Moon Jae-in is keen to return to exchanges with North Korea, and his special advisor on diplomacy and security, Moon Chung-in, last week said tour [SK NK policy] [Tourism] [US NK policy] [US SK] [US dominance]
• G-7 countries call on North Korea to give up its nuclear program
  Posted on : May.29,2017 16:48 KST Modified on : May.29,2017 16:48 KST The leaders of the Group of Seven (G-7) - the US, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan hold a meeting during a two-day conference in Taormina on the Italian island of Sicily, May 26. (AP/Yonhap News) Leaders of major countries say they are “ready to strengthen measures aimed at achieving these objectives” On May 27, the leaders of the Group of Seven (G-7) - the US, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan - called on North Korea to give up its nuclear weapon and missile programs and declared that they are ready to impose stricter sanctions. “North Korea, a top priority in the international agenda, increasingly poses new levels of threat of a grave nature to international peace and stability,” said a communique released by the G-7 leaders following a two-day conference in Taormina on the Italian island of Sicily. [US NK policy] [US dominance] [G-7]
• [Editorial] Moon administration should complete OPCON transfer during term
  Posted on : May.27,2017 17:20 KST Modified on : May.27,2017 17:20 KST President Moon Jae-in moves to the Joint Chiefs of Staff headquarters after leaving a meeting at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, May 17. It was Moon’s first visit to the Ministry since becoming President. (Blue House photo pool) The Ministry of National Defense reportedly notified President Moon Jae-in’s governance planning advisory committee that it plans to move the date of the wartime operational control (OPCON) transfer from the US up to the early 2020s. The new date would fall during Moon’s term as President, which ends in 2022. Achieving the OPCON transfer during his term was one of Moon’s pledges as a candidate. While the ministry’s about-face from its past opposition to the transfer just because a new administration is in office does leave something of an unpleasant aftertaste, there’s also the feeling that we missed an opportunity to finish the transfer some time ago. Even taking the fact of the divided Korean peninsula into account, it makes no sense for a sovereign state to entrust control to another country in a wartime situation where its own citizens’ lives are on the line. Putting the US in command in the event of a war on the Korean Peninsula means US global strategy will take precedence, while South Korea’s interests become secondary. Pushing back the date of the OPCON transfer also robs South Korea’s military of the opportunity to build its own operational capabilities. The state of the military right now - the way it seems to want to rely on the US not only for hardware (weapons) but also for software (operations) in a wartime scenario - is a product of that. [OPCON]
• Moved-up OPCON transfer will require “political will” by South Korea
  Posted on : May.27,2017 17:29 KST Modified on : May.27,2017 17:29 KST The new US Forces Korea Combined Forces Command, under construction at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. Transfer will also depend on agreement with the US, and improved South Korean military capability Efforts to speed up the wartime operational control (OPCON) transfer are expected to take more concrete shape after the Ministry of National Defense reported to President Moon Jae-in’s governance planning advisory committee on May 25 that it will be working to honor his election pledge to have the transfer take place during his term. But the need to reach an agreement with the US and concerns about the South Korean military’s capabilities and the security environment around the Korean Peninsula mean there is still a long way to go for the OPCON transfer to actually happen during Moon’s five-year presidency, which is set to end in May 2022. According to the ministry’s report, the date of the OPCON transfer is to be moved up three to four years from the mid-2020s to the early 2020s. “As far as a specific implementation plan or road map goes, there are going to need to be more discussions and examination,” a government official said. [OPCON]
• American teens assault Korean for 'not knowing nightclub location'
  [VIDEO] Posted : 2017-05-28 13:47 Updated : 2017-05-28 13:49 By Park Si-soo Three teenage children of U.S. forces in South Korea have been arrested for assaulting Koreans, including a 50-something taxi driver, while drunk, police said Sunday. One victim was reportedly assaulted because he did not know the location of a nearby nightclub, according to Mapo Police Station. The alleged incident happened at 2 a.m. of May 23 near Sogang University in Mapo, northwestern Seoul. According to police, the teenagers picked a fight with two adult Koreans after they bumped shoulders accidently. The teenagers were then involved in a fight with a Korean man near Hongik University at around 3 a.m. after he failed to answer their question about the nightclub. A taxi driver who tried to intervene was also assaulted. One victim had his nose broken and his teeth loosened, according to police. Only one of the three teenagers admitted doing anything wrong. Police have banned the three from leaving the country and are checking footage from surveillance cameras. [USFK]
• Defense Ministry developing plan to move up OPCON transfer to early 2020s
  Posted on : May.26,2017 16:03 KST Modified on : May.26,2017 16:03 KST President Moon Jae-in presides over a meeting at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, his first visit to the Ministry since taking office, May 17. (Blue House photo pool) Ministry to establish defense reform committee to carry out President Moon’s pledges The Ministry of National Defense made plans on May 25 for the establishment of a special defense reform committee to develop a reform plan in the next year to execute election campaign pledges by President Moon Jae-in. “The Ministry of National Defense has reported that the special defense reform committee will be establishing a defense reform plan in the next year based on President Moon’s pledges,” reported Park Kwang-on, spokesperson for Moon’s governance planning advisory committee, at a May 25 press briefing in his office in Seoul’s Tongui neighborhood following operational reports by the Ministry of National Defense and Defense Acquisition Program Administration. [OPCON]
• Minister of Foreign Affairs nominee says “stiffer sanctions” needed on North Korea
  Posted on : May.26,2017 16:04 KST Modified on : May.26,2017 16:04 KST Minister of Foreign Affairs nominee Kang Kyung-wha answers reporters’ questions as she enters the temporary office near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs complex in Seoul’s Doryeom neighborhood to prepare for her hearing, May 25. (Yonhap News) Kang Kyung-wha also pledging to keep humanitarian aid as a separate issue, and to meet with former comfort women Minister of Foreign Affairs nominee Kang Kyung-wha said on May 25 that further provocations from North Korea would “require stiffer sanctions,” but added that humanitarian aid “should be addressed separately from political considerations.” Kang also said she would meet with former comfort women if she takes office. Speaking at Incheon International Airport early that morning after returning from New York, Kang responded to questions on whether she had changed in her beliefs on the need to restore dialogue channels with Pyongyang and provide unconditional humanitarian aid to the North. “Humanitarian aid is a universal human value that we must undertake when people are suffering, and it should be addressed separately from political considerations,” she said. “That is the UN’s principle,” she added. [Kang Kyung-wha] [SK NK policy] [Continuities]
• US reaffirms all options open for North Korea
  Posted : 2017-05-26 16:58 Updated : 2017-05-26 18:17 By Jun Ji-hye The U.S. State Department reaffirmed Friday that "all options are on the table" in dealing with North Korea, indicating it has not ruled out the military option. Its comments came after a bipartisan group of South Korean lawmakers, after meeting in Washington with Joseph Yun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, told reporters they heard from Yun that the Donald Trump administration is not considering any military options against the North. Rep. Kim Kwan-young of the opposition People's Party quoted Yun as saying U.S. President Donald Trump has approved a four-point policy plan that did not include the military option. The four main strategies are: refusing to recognize North Korea as a nuclear state, imposing every possible sanction and pressure, not seeking regime change, and resolving the problem with dialogue in the end, according to Rep. Kim. Yun was also quoted as saying Trump signed the policy report by the State Department about two weeks ago. However, State Department spokeswoman Katina Adams refused to confirm whether or not Trump approved the policy. "We are not going to discuss our private diplomatic conversations," Adams said during a telephone interview with Voice of America (VOA). She indicated the U.S. government has not ruled out the military choice, reaffirming: "All options are on the table." [US NK policy] [Continuities] [Military option] [Policy poverty]
• Trump finalizes 4-point strategy on N. Korea
  Posted : 2017-05-26 12:56 Updated : 2017-05-26 17:30 U.S. President Donald Trump has approved a four-point policy plan on North Korea revolving around using "every possible pressure" while looking for a diplomatic solution, a South Korean lawmaker said Thursday. A bipartisan group of South Korean politicians met with Joseph Yun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy. Yun briefed the lawmakers on the Trump administration's approach toward Pyongyang. Trump signed a comprehensive policy report by the State Department about two weeks ago, Yun was quoted as saying by Rep. Kim Kwan-young of the opposition People's Party. [US NK policy] [Continuities] [Military option] [Policy poverty]
• Schiff, Wilson Introduce Bipartisan North Korea Travel Control Act
  May 25, 2017 Press Release Legislation Would Restrict Travel To, From and Within North Korea by American Citizens WASHINGTON D.C. – Today, Congressmen Adam Schiff (CA-28) and Joe Wilson (SC-02) introduced the bipartisan North Korea Travel Control Act, which would require the Treasury Department to issue regulations requiring a license for transactions related to travel to, from, and within North Korea by American citizens. It also provides that no licenses may be issued for tourist travel. "Tourist travel to North Korea does nothing but provide funds to a tyrannical regime—that will in turn be used to develop weapons to threaten the United States and our allies, as I saw firsthand on a rare visit to Pyongyang,” Rep. Wilson said. “Worse, the regime has routinely imprisoned innocent foreign civilians and used them as bargaining chips to gain credibility with the West. We should not enable them any longer—which is why it is critical to carefully regulate travel to North Korea.” “In recent years, there has been an increase in tourist travel to the DPRK by citizens of Western countries, including the United States,” Rep. Schiff said. “With increased tensions in North Korea, the danger that Americans will be detained for political reasons is greater than ever. Given North Korea’s continuing destabilizing behavior and their demonstrated willingness to use American visitors as bargaining chips to extract high level meetings or concessions, it is appropriate for the United States to take steps to control travel to a nation that poses a real and present danger to American interests.” In the past, North Korea has shown a willingness to use American prisoners to seek diplomatic concessions, including securing visits from former U.S. Presidents and cabinet officials. At least seventeen Americans have been detained in the past ten years, despite the State Department strongly warning U.S. citizens against traveling to the DPRK. Currently, at least four Americans remain imprisoned. In addition to security concerns, Western visitors bring with them much needed foreign currency, especially valued in a country facing extensive international sanctions for its illegal nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. [US NK policy] [Tourism] [Sanctions]
• Trump in Volte Face Over 'Madman' Kim Jong-un
  By Cho Yi-jun May 25, 2017 10:50 U.S. President Donald Trump has performed a typically abrupt volte face by calling North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a "madman with nuclear weapons." Trump earlier displayed unusual sympathy for Kim and his "tough" role as a young dictator, adding he would be "honored" to meet him. But he changed his tune in a phone call with fellow hip-shooter President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines on April 29, according to a transcript published by the Washington Post on Tuesday. The transcript was leaked by the government of the Philippines. When Trump asks if Kim is "stable or not stable," Duterte answers that the North Korean leader's "mind is not working well and he just might go crazy one moment." [Trump] [Duterte] [Kim Jong Un] [Irrationality]
• George Friedman: US Attack on North Korea Is Imminent
  May 23, 2017 By Mauldin Economics The US is preparing to attack North Korea, according to Geopolitical Futures founder George Friedman—setting the stage for a difficult, messy war with potentially catastrophic consequences. Speaking Monday to a rapt audience at the 2017 Strategic Investment Conference in Orlando, Friedman said that while it is unlikely the US will take action before President Trump returns home at the weekend, North Korea’s actions appear to have “offered the US no alternative” to a clash. According to Geopolitical Futures analysis, evidence is mounting that the enmity between the two is escalating to a point where war is inevitable. [US NK policy] [Invasion] [MISCOM]
• Envoy to US conveys problem with procedural legitimacy of THAAD deployment
  Posted on : May.22,2017 17:25 KST Modified on : May.22,2017 17:25 KST Hong Seok-hyun, director of the Korean Peninsula Forum and President Moon Jae-in’s special envoy for unification, diplomacy and security, at the White House with US President Donald Trump, May 17. On the right is South Korean Ambassador to the US, Ahn Ho-young. (Yonhap News) Two sides also agree to address North Korea issue with sanctions and pressure, and dialogue under the right circumstances Hong Seok-hyun, President Moon Jae-in’s special envoy for unification, diplomacy and security and chairman of the Korean Peninsula Forum, returned to South Korea on May 21 after a four-day assignment to the US. Along with the special envoys who have been sent to China, Japan and Russia, Hong’s visit signaled both at home and abroad that South Korea’s diplomatic vacuum has ended after more than five months. The actions by the delegation to the US appear to fall into two approaches. First, the delegation clearly conveyed to the US the new government’s position that there was a problem with the procedural legitimacy of the THAAD missile defense system deployment and that this necessitates discussion in the National Assembly. This was presumably part of the instructions the delegation was given and reflects President Moon’s will. [THAAD]
• Netizens offer 'Korean know-how' to impeach Trump
  Posted : 2017-05-23 15:52 Updated : 2017-05-23 17:05 By Ko Dong-hwan Amid calls to impeach controversial U.S. President Donald Trump, Korean netizens are quipping they can help. They cite Korea's recent impeachment and ouster of former president Park Geun-hye following months of civic protests, investigations and parliamentary questioning as a blueprint for how it could be done. The Republican President, on his first overseas trip ? to the Middle East and Europe ? since taking office in January, is facing criticism from many angles. Grassroots groups have objected to derogatory remarks about women made during his presidential campaigning and the ethnically charged policies of banning travelers from some Muslim countries and building a wall on the Mexican border to keep out illegal immigrants. Many members of Congress are also raising concerns over his sacking of former FBI Director James Comey earlier this month, possible coordination with Russia during the presidential campaign and the alleged leaking of top-secret national intelligence about Islamic State to visiting Russian diplomats. "Maybe we can export our impeachment know-how to the U.S.?" a Korean blogger said while talking about Trump firing Comey. Another netizen supported the idea, emphasizing that Koreans "need to export South Korean knowledge about impeaching a president and how to remove the president peacefully without shedding a single drop of blood" at price of $1 billion, considering "the high demand." [Trump] [Impeachment] [Park Geun-hye]
• 2 US carriers prepare for military drill in East Sea
  Posted : 2017-05-22 15:05 Updated : 2017-05-22 18:29 By Lee Han-soo The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Regan will join the USS Carl Vinson for a military drill in the East Sea, according to CNN, citing a U.S. Department of Defense official on Saturday. The move, just days after North Korea conducted a missile test, is the first time two U.S. aircraft carriers have conducted a drill in the East Sea. The USS Ronald Reagan, which had been undergoing maintenance at its homeport in Yokosuka, Japan, returned to sea on May 16, according to the U.S. Navy. The aircraft carrier will take part in a variety of training exercises mainly focused on certifying its ability to launch and recover aircraft safely. It is also expected to replace the USS Carl Vinson in the region. Meanwhile, North Korea has stepped up its provocation by firing a ground-to-ground Pukguksong-2 missile in the country's western province on Sunday. The launch was the second in a week, following the test of a mid-to-long-range ballistic missile called the Hwasong-12 on May 14. After the latest missile test on Sunday, North Korea warned the U.S. not to provoke the North, saying that U.S. mainland and Pacific operations were now within range of North Korean missiles. [Military exercises] [China confrontation]
• McCain Confirms Washington Will Pay for THAAD Deployment
  By Cho Yi-jun May 22, 2017 11:16 U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain on Friday reiterated that Washington will pay for the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery in Korea. McCain made the commitment in a meeting with President Moon Jae-in's special envoy Hong Seok-hyun in Washington. John McCain They come after U.S. President Donald Trump, in one of many unguarded outbursts last month, claimed Washington will make Korea pay the US$1 billion for the battery. [McCain] [THAAD] [Cost] [Tribute]
• North Korean nuclear program can't be stopped with weapons, says Siegfried Hecker
  Elisabeth Eaves Siegfried Hecker has the rare distinction of being an American who has visited both North Korean and Russian nuclear facilities. An expert on plutonium science and a professor at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, Hecker is also a former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Here he answers questions on Pyongyang’s nuclear capabilities, its most recent missile test, and what influence the new president of South Korea might have on the regional balance of power. He explains how North Korea developed its arsenal despite global opposition, and says there is no conceivable way the United States can destroy all North Korean nuclear weapons with military might. BAS: Is North Korea currently capable of delivering any nuclear weapons any distance? How do you know? SH: We know they have nuclear weapons that work because they have tested five nuclear devices over a period of 10 years. That test experience most likely enables them to miniaturize nuclear warheads to make them small and light enough to mount on missiles. They have also demonstrated over many years that they can launch relatively short-range missiles reliably. We have to assume they can mate the warheads and the missiles so as to reach targets anywhere in South Korea and Japan.
• N. Korea unveils footage of alleged terror plot to kill Kim Jong-un
  Posted : 2017-05-20 14:37 Updated : 2017-05-20 14:50 North Korea on Saturday unveiled footage which it claims backs its latest revelation that South Korean and U.S. spy agencies plotted to kill its leader Kim Jong-un using a biochemical substance. North Korea's propaganda outlet Uriminjokkiri TV filed the footage containing testimony from what it insists is a terrorist and pieces of evidence about an alleged terror attempt against Kim. North Korea claimed on May 5 that a terrorist group supported by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and South Korea's intelligence body infiltrated North Korea to stage a biochemical terrorist attack against Kim. The footage shows a man named Kim Song-il, whose face is blurred, saying that he was deceived and lured into the plot. North Korea's ministry of state security said in May that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) conspired with the CIA to bribe a North Korean timber worker surnamed Kim in Russia in June 2014 and turn him into a terrorist. In the footage, Kim said that he discussed methods to attack the North's leader with NIS officials such as by hiding a small amount of a toxic biochemical substance in a heating and cooling fan. Last week, North Korean prosecutors unveiled a list of four suspects who it claimed were involved in the terror attempt, including Lee Byong-ho, South Korea's spy chief. They announced the start of their indictment under North Korea's penal code, calling for their prompt extradition by Seoul and Washington. North Korea's claim could not be independently verified. South Korea's spy agency has dismissed it. (Yonhap) [Assassination] [Kim Jong UN] [CIA] [NIS] [cbw}
• 'Trust US promise of no hostility and stop provocation': Tillerson speaks to N. Korea
  Posted : 2017-05-19 09:46 Updated : 2017-05-19 18:26 The United States wants North Korea to trust its promise of no hostility and conduct no more nuclear or missile tests before Washington can consider opening talks with the communist nation, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was quoted as saying Thursday. The remarks, made in a meeting with South Korea's special presidential envoy Hong Seok-hyun, is the latest in a series of signs that the U.S. may be moving toward dialogue and engagement with Pyongyang after months of exchanging saber-rattling and harsh rhetoric. "The most impressive thing that I heard (from Tillerson) was that sanctions and pressure are not by themselves aimed at harassing North Korea, but are designed to create an opportunity for North Korea's development through opening its doors and scrapping its nuclear program," Hong said. Tillerson was also quoted as saying he hopes the North will take chances and "trust the U.S." He also said there are many companies willing to invest in North Korea and if the North makes the right choice, it will be good for its development, according to Hong. A member of Hong's delegation, who requested anonymity, also quoted Tillerson as saying that the U.S. meant it when it said it seeks no regime change, no invasion of the North and it will guarantee the North's system. Tillerson also said that the U.S. sends its messages only through public channels and the North shouldn't inquire about U.S. intentions "through back channels," according to the official. Should the North want talks with the U.S., Tillerson said that Pyongyang should refrain from conducting nuclear or missile tests for a certain period of time so as to create the right atmosphere for talks, the official said. Hong arrived in Washington on Wednesday and paid a visit to President Donald Trump at the White House. During the meeting, Trump expressed hope for working closely together with Moon to strengthen the alliance and resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, Hong said. Trump also told the delegation that he is willing to make peace through engagement with Pyongyang if conditions are right, though he wouldn't hold talks for the sake of talks. Hong also held a separate one-on-one meeting with National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster to discuss pending issues between the two countries, including nuclear and missile tensions with North Korea and the deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system (Yonhap) [Tillerson] [Hostility] [Bizarre]
• War with North Korea would be tragic: US military chief
  Military action on the Korean peninsula would be 'tragic on an unbelievable scale', Pentagon chief James Mattis says. James Mattis and Joint Chiefs Chairman Marine General Joseph Dunford hold a press briefing on Friday [Yuri Gripas/Reuters] US defence chief James Mattis delivered a sombre caution on North Korea saying any military attempts to resolve the crisis would be "tragic on an unbelievable scale". Mattis was speaking on Friday to reporters at the Pentagon, days after North Korea test-fired what analysts say was its longest-range rocket yet. Despite tough talk from top US officials in recent weeks and the deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group to the region, Mattis said the best option for North Korea is finding an international solution to effectively apply pressure on Pyongyang. "As you know, if this goes to a military solution, it is going to be tragic on an unbelievable scale, and so our effort is to work with the UN, work with China, work with Japan, work with South Korea to try to find a way out of this situation," he said. [Mattis] [Military option]
• New Gov't Wants Lawmakers to Ratify THAAD Deployment
  By Yang Seung-sik May 18, 2017 10:01 Cheong Wa Dae and the ruling party want the National Assembly to vote on the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery from the U.S. here, which they say the Park Geun-hye administration pushed through without due process. The floor leader of the ruling Minjoo Party, Woo Won-shik, said in a radio interview Wednesday, "We have to look into issues including the possibility of sending back THAAD if it didn't go through the proper legal procedures here." Woo later told reporters that his party agrees with Cheong Wa Dae on the matter. The controversial battery was hastily set up on a former golf course in southwestern Korea in the dying days of the last administration, apparently for fear that the new government would block it. [THAAD] [Moon Jae-in] [National Assembly]
• Defense, Foreign Ministries in Quandary Over THAAD
  By Kim Jin-myung May 18, 2017 11:19 The defense and foreign ministries are in a quandary after Cheong Wa Dae and the ruling party said they want the National Assembly to ratify the controversial deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery from the U.S. here. The two ministries, which have not been re-staffed since President Moon Jae-in came to power last week, have toed the party line of the previous Park Geun-hye administration that the THAAD deployment is not a matter for lawmakers to decide. But the Minjoo Party cites Article 60 of the Constitution, which stipulates that the National Assembly has the right to approve or disapprove treaties that pose significant fiscal burdens on the nation. The government acquired a W89 billion piece of land in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province through a land swap with Lotte Group to station the THAAD battery on, and the lawmakers say that does constitute a significant fiscal burden (US$1=W1,123). But the Defense Ministry has argued that the deployment is simply part of a long-standing mutual defense treaty with the U.S. and does not constitute a new treaty requiring National Assembly ratification. Article 4 of the defense pact stipulates the right of American forces to deploy weapons systems here, and Article 5 of the Status of Forces Agreement says the U.S. shoulders all costs of maintaining American soldiers on the Korean Peninsula, while Korea provides the land and infrastructure.
  The ministry also said that there has been no precedent where the National Assembly has reviewed plans by the U.S. Forces Korea to deploy a new weapons system, and THAAD cannot be an exception. [THAAD] [National Assembly] [US dominance] [Democracy]
• Moon to Meet Trump in Late June
  May 17, 2017 09:43 President Moon Jae-in will go to Washington in late June to meet with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday. The trip comes at an anxious time for Seoul amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula and a heavy U.S. naval presence in nearby waters. Trump has also threatened to revise a bilateral free trade agreement and make South Korea pay more for the upkeep of U.S. forces here. On Tuesday, Moon met with Matthew Pottinger, the visiting senior director for East Asia at the White House National Security Council, and told him he would like to meet Trump "to reaffirm the strength of the bilateral alliance and to continue close cooperation in dealing with the North Korean nuclear threat," presidential spokesman Yoon Young-chan told reporters. "They agreed to mobilize all available means including sanctions and dialogue" to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear program, Yoon added. [Moon Jae-in] [US SK alliance] [Subservience]
• [News analysis] Before summit, South Korea and US find common ground on North Korea
  Posted on : May.17,2017 17:13 KST Modified on : May.17,2017 17:13 KST President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with Matthew Pottinger, senior director for East Asia at the White House’s National Security Council at the Blue House in Seoul, May 16. (provided by the Blue House) First summit will reportedly focus on Moon and Trump building a rapport, as many top officials in both countries not yet appointed South Korea and the US’s tentative agreement to hold a summit in Washington as early as the end of June appears to mean that both sides recognize the need to fill the gap in summit diplomacy, created by the impeachment of former president Park Geun-hye, as soon as possible. At the same time, the Blue House also seems determined to quickly dispel US concerns about South Korea’s new president, Moon Jae-in. On May 16, Blue House officials said that Chung Eui-yong, head of the Blue House diplomacy and foreign affairs task force, and Matthew Pottinger, senior director for East Asia at the White House’s National Security Council, had largely agreed during a meeting at the Blue House that morning to hold a summit at the end of June. The two sides’ announcement of their agreement on “four principles for the North Korean nuclear program” appears to mean that the North Korean nuclear issue may be given top billing in the summit agenda. Not only have both leaders already been emphasizing a solution to the North Korean nuclear issue, but the statement released after Chung and Pottinger’s meeting shows that the two sides have found some common ground. Since it would be awkward for both sides if they end up disagreeing about approaches to the North Korean nuclear issue in their first summit, they are expected to do their best to reach a general agreement during this meeting that emphasizes that they are on the same page. Military action is likely to be left out of the options, and the threshold of the proper conditions for resuming dialogue with North Korea is likely to be raised or lowered according to North Korea’s subsequent actions and South Korea and China‘s skill at diplomacy and mediation. “The fact that the US and South Korea are looking for common ground on policy suggests that this is a good opportunity to resolve Korean Peninsula issues. Holding a meeting so soon means that Seoul intends to find a way to ‘engage’ in keeping with the Trump administration’s [North Korean policy framework of] ‘maximum pressure and engagement,’” said Kim Gi-jeong, director of the School of Public Administration at Yonsei University. [Moon Jae-in] [US SK alliance] [SK NK policy] [US dominance]
• [Editorial] Can the South Korea-US summit lead to a breakthrough on North Korea?
  Posted on : May.17,2017 17:15 KST Modified on : May.17,2017 17:15 KST President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with Matthew Pottinger, senior director for East Asia at the White House’s National Security Council at the Blue House in Seoul, May 16. (provided by the Blue House) South Korea and the US agreed to hold their first summit since the inauguration of President Moon Jae-in, in Washington, DC, at the end of next month. Given the urgent developments on the Korean Peninsula, including North Korea’s missile launches and the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system, the two new administrations’ agreement to hold a summit so soon is welcome news. South Korea had to do without summit diplomacy for six months because of the Choi Sun-sil scandal and the impeachment of former president Park Geun-hye. This inspired the term “Korea passing,” a reference to how South Korea was being disregarded by its neighbors. By holding summits, first with the US and then with China and Japan, the Moon administration seems set to tackle pending diplomacy and security issues. [Moon Jae-in] [US SK alliance] [SK NK policy]
• Key facts omitted when US informed S. Korea about detection of recent N. Korea missile launch
  Posted : 2017-05-17 14:15 Updated : 2017-05-17 14:15 The United States military stationed in South Korea has informed the host country of its detection of a recent North Korean missile launch, but important facts were omitted in the information sharing, sources said Wednesday. Following North Korea's ballistic missile launch on early Sunday, the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) informed the South Korean military that the TPY-2 radar component of the recently stationed Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system detected the North Korean missile, the intelligence sources said. The notification was made verbally over the phone, they said. However, key facts involving the detected launch were omitted, including the falling speed of the missile or the shape of the warhead the missile was carrying, according to the sources. "Currently, (the South Korean military) is unable to have real-time access to the detection data of the THAAD radar because the system to share real-time data with the USFK is still under construction," a defense official said on condition of anonymity. South Korea has "been informed only of the fact that the North Korean missile was detected over the phone and through word of mouth." [THAAD] [Missile test] [US dominance]
• Why does North Korea hate the United States? Let’s go back to the Korean War.
  By Anna Fifield May 17 at 2:03 AM North Korean soldiers take part in a military parade. (Reuters) SEOUL — Any day of the week, the North Korean propaganda machine can be relied upon to spew out anti-American vitriol using some formulation of “imperialist” and “aggressor” and “hostile.” The Kim family has kept a tight grip on North Korea for some seven decades by perpetuating the idea that the Americans are out to get them. From the earliest age, North Korean children are taught “cunning American wolves” — illustrated by fair-haired, pale-skinned men with huge noses — want to kill them. [Korean War] [NK US policy] [Media] [US NK policy] [Reverse_Desire]
• Moon, Trump to meet in Washington late June
  Posted : 2017-05-16 15:05 Updated : 2017-05-16 16:09 By Park Si-soo South Korean President Moon Jae-in will visit Washington in late June for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, media reports said on Tuesday, the presidential office said Tuesday. It was announced after Moon's foreign policy adviser met with Trump's national security advisers in Seoul on Tuesday. During the meeting, they agreed to work for North Korea's "complete" denuclearization. New ‘bold' ways for denuclearization South Korea and the United States agreed Tuesday to work toward the "complete" denuclearization of North Korea, also vowing to seek new and practical ways to rid the communist North of its nuclear weapons, Seoul officials said. The agreement came at a meeting between South Korean officials and U.S. National Security Council (NSC) officials. "The United States reaffirmed its strong commitment to the security and defense of South Korea," Yoon Young-chan, the top press secretary of South Korean President Moon Jae-in, told reporters. The two sides also agreed to exert joint efforts for a "complete" disposal of North Korea's nuclear weapons, he added. "First, they agreed that their ultimate goal was the complete disposal of North Korean nuclear weapons. Second, they agreed to mobilize all available means, including sanctions and dialogue," the official said. [Moon Jae-in] [US SK alliance]
• Trump open to dialogue with North Korea “under certain circumstances”
  Posted on : May.15,2017 17:31 KST Modified on : May.15,2017 17:31 KST President Moon Jae-in presides over a meeting of the National Security Council on May 14, after North Korea launched a ballistic missile, May 14. (Blue House photo pool) North Korean diplomat Choe Son-hui says North Korea is open to dialogue with the US, if conditions are right US President Donald Trump sent a message on South Korean President’s approach to North Korea, saying he did not oppose dialogue but that the conditions would have to be appropriate. “[Moon is] more open to discussion,” Trump said in an NBC interview transcript released on May 12. “I don’t mind discussion, but it’s under certain circumstances,” he added. By “certain circumstances,” Trump appeared to mean a signal from Pyongyang that it is ready to approach negotiations on the condition of its denuclearization. With the Trump administration currently adopting an approach of “maximum pressure and engagement,” his remarks could be read as indirectly telling Seoul not to move too far ahead toward dialogue with Pyongyang. When asked what changes Moon’s policy approach to the North would mean for US policies of pressure, Trump replied, “I could probably give you a much better answer to that in a month or two months. We’re going to see what happens.” The message is that he plans to wait to comment until after North Korea policy has been coordinated with Seoul and policy outcomes have been assessed. “The North Korean situation is a very, very dangerous one for South Korea, for Japan, frankly for China and for the rest of the world. And I think we’ve handled it very well, very firmly,” Trump said by way of assessing his administration’s own performance. [Trump] [US NK policy] [US NK Negotiations] [Preconditions]
• [Interview] In dealing with Trump, “South Korea needs to act with confidence”
  Posted on : May.14,2017 08:52 KST Modified on : May.14,2017 08:52 KST Katy Oh advises President Moon Jae-in to use first summit with President Trump to lay down principles When asked about President Moon Jae-in’s foreign policy during an interview with the Hankyoreh, Kongdan (Katy) Oh, 67, a senior Asia specialist at the US Institute for Defense Analyses, placed a particular emphasis on South Korea’s self-respect and courage. The Institute for Defense Analyses is a publicly funded research institute for the Pentagon and the US Federal Government. Oh has researched security strategy for seven years at the RAND Corporation and for 20 years at the Institute for Defense Analyses. Oh was interviewed on May 8 and exchanged emails on May 10. Kongdan (Katy) Oh, 67, a senior Asia specialist at the US Institute for Defense Analyses, Hankyoreh (Hani): President Moon Jae-in has agreed to hold a summit with US President Donald Trump in the near future. Kongdan Oh (Oh): The Trump administration is an extremely unusual administration in American history. The president lacks principled advisors, which makes it extremely difficult for South Korea to deal with the Trump administration. As a businessperson, Trump likes to scare his opponents by taking shocking action and then take those actions back. You’ve got to be extremely accurate in your understanding of him. The most important thing is for South Korea, even though it’s not a great power, to have confidence as a “middle power.” What South Korea needs to do is exhibit an attitude of firm conviction and assurance on the importance of the alliance and on the challenges of dealing with North Korea in the future. Sucking up to Trump or making unconditional concessions would be unadvisable. Since this is a relationship between two countries, South Korea needs to act with confidence. [US SK alliance] [SK NK policy]
• Pyongyang will talk with Trump under right conditions: N.Korean diplomat
  Posted : 2017-05-13 18:48 Updated : 2017-05-14 13:55 Director-general of the North America bureau chief of North Korea's foreign ministry Choe Son-hui (left) arrives at the Beijing Capital International Airport, Friday, as she returns from Norway and transfers a flight to North Korea. / Yonhap A senior North Korean diplomat in charge of U.S. affairs said Saturday Pyongyang will hold talks with Washington "under the right conditions," raising the possibility bilateral contact amid U.S. President Donald Trump having expressed his willingness to meet with the North's leader. Choe Son-hui, director-general of the North America bureau chief of North Korea's foreign ministry, told reporters at the Beijing Capital International Airport that her country "will hold dialogue under right conditions" with the U.S. administration. Choe led a North Korean delegation that met with a group of American experts, headed by Suzanne DiMaggio -- director of the U.S. think tank New America -- in Oslo, Norway, earlier this week, according to South Korean diplomatic sources. DiMaggio is known as an Iran specialist well-versed in the Obama administration's nuclear talks with the Middle Eastern nation. Thomas Pickering, former U.S. envoy to the U.N., and Robert Einhorn, U.S. State Department's former special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control, were also among the American experts' group. The diplomat was in Beijing and was returning to Pyongyang. When asked what she discussed with Pickering, Choe answered, "I met with Pickering and I will discuss it when given the opportunity in the future." [US NK Negotiations] [Track 2]
• South Korea’s New President Says His Election Completes the ‘Candlelight Revolution’
  Tim Shorrock Nation writer Tim Shorrock interviews Moon Jae-in, Gwangju, South Korea, May 7, 2017. (Tim Shorrock) By Tim Shorrock | May 12, 2017 Originally published in The Nation Gwangju—Moon Jae-in, a human rights and labor lawyer who came of age protesting authoritarian military governments backed by the United States, assumed South Korea’s presidency Wednesday after a snap election that repudiated nearly a decade of right-wing conservative rule. Moon, 64, took office after securing about 41 percent of a total popular vote of 32.8 million, far ahead of his closest rival, the conservative Hong Joon-pyo, who ended up with 24 percent. It was the largest margin in Korean election history, the wire service Yonhap reported. [Moon Jae-in] [US SK alliance] [SK NK policy] [Friction] [Self delusion]
• CIA Launches Korea Mission Center
  By Cho Yi-jun May 12, 2017 09:59 The CIA on Wednesday launched a Korea Mission Center to deal with the North Korean nuclear issue, according to a press release. The move is part of the Trump administration's new North Korea strategy of "maximum pressure and engagement." "Creating the Korea Mission Center allows us to more purposefully integrate and direct CIA efforts against the serious threats to the United States and its allies emanating from North Korea," CIA Director Mike Pompeo said in a statement. "It also reflects the dynamism and agility that CIA brings to evolving national security challenges." The CIA has been establishing mission centers since 2015 to effectively manage intelligence, but the Korea Mission Center is the first country-specific unit while the others are regional or mission-specific including the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and counterterrorism. The aim is "to harness the full resources, capabilities, and authorities of the agency in addressing the nuclear and ballistic missile threat posed by North Korea," the press release added. The center "will work closely with the Intelligence Community and the entire U.S. national security community." An intelligence source here said it will be headed by Andrew Kim, a leading Korean-American North Korea expert in the CIA who retired early this year. [CIA]
• Will Moon and Trump hold a summit soon?
  Posted on : May.12,2017 14:40 KST Modified on : May.12,2017 14:40 KST South Korean President Moon Jae-in has his first phone conversation with US President Donald Trump, at the Blue House in Seoul on May 10. (provided by the Blue House) In first summit, two leaders likely to discuss THAAD, defense cost-sharing, free trade and North Korea issue Amid indications that South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump will be soon holding a summit, the next questions are when the summit meeting will be held and what the two leaders will discuss. An early summit between Moon and Trump began to take shape during a phone call between the two leaders on the evening of May 10. After Trump extended an official invitation, Moon responded by saying he hoped to visit Washington as soon as possible so that the two leaders could have an honest exchange of ideas. Trump added that he also wanted a summit to be held soon. [Moon Jae-in] [US SK Alliance]
• How compatible are the Moon and Trump administrations?
  Posted on : May.12,2017 14:35 KST Modified on : May.12,2017 14:35 KST South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump Two sides may find common ground and show that not only conservative S. Korean governments can partner with the US On May 3, the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held his first address to State Department officials since taking office. This is noteworthy because it represents the most refined form of foreign policy yet under the Donald Trump administration. It could be seen as a coming-out of sorts for Tillerson, who has been dismissed as the “invisible secretary” for his lack of presence to date. Tillerson’s speech could also serve as a good resource for the Moon Jae-in administration in gauging Washington’s foreign policy. To be sure, there is a chance Trump could change the policies at any time to suit his domestic political needs. We should be ready for that. But Tillerson has been fairly consistent in his actions since the US-China summit in April. In his way, he’s reliable. Tillerson’s speech made reference to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the so-called “four nos” - a declaration that Washington won’t pursue North Korean regime change, a regime collapse, steps to artificially hasten reunification, or northward crossing of the 38th parallel. Those four nos could serve as an excellent shared foundation for the Moon and Trump administrations. It seems obvious that the Moon administration would agree with the three basic principles of not pursuing a regime change or collapse in Pyongyang or a unification by absorption scenario. [Trump] [Moon Jae-in] [US NK policy] [Tillerson] [Wishful thinking]
• To counter North Korea threat, CIA sets up Korea Mission Center
  Posted on : May.12,2017 14:41 KST Modified on : May.12,2017 14:41 KST The US CIA notice about the establishment of a Korea Mission Center CIA has ten mission centers on regions or issues; center devoted to one country highly unusual On May 10, the CIA announced the establishment of the Korea Mission Center, which is designed to counter the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles. It’s very unusual for the CIA to set up a mission center focused on one specific country. The CIA said it had established the center to deploy all the resources, capabilities and authority in the agency to deal with the North Korean nuclear and missile threat and that experienced CIA agents would be gathered at the center to exercise their expertise and creativity. The agency added that it would be appointing a veteran agent in the field as deputy director in charge of Korea to head up the center. The center is likely to focus on collecting and analyzing intelligence related to North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile technology. CIA Director Mike Pompeo said the Korea Mission Center’s establishment “allows us to more purposefully integrate and direct CIA efforts against the serious threats to the United States and its allies emanating from North Korea.” “It also reflects the dynamism and agility that CIA brings to evolving national security challenges,” he added. The Korea Mission Center is the CIA’s eleventh mission center. The agency current has mission centers for Africa, counterintelligence, counterterrorism, and the Near East, among others. Al Jazeera reported that the establishment of a mission center for a specific country rather than a region or content hints at the firmer stance the Donald Trump administration is taking on North Korea. By Hwang Sang-cheol, staff reporter [CIA]
• Could $175bn pay for the removal of Kim Jong-un? Huge bribes of $30m may be enough to convince North Korea's top officials to abandon their dictator, says expert
  New theory proposes using a $175billion 'reunification fund' to solve Korea crisis Up to $30million would be paid to high-ranking officials to abandon Kim Jong-un A further $12billion would go to Pyongyang's army to ensure peaceful transition Theory set out in a book by a former professor at Inha University in South Korea By Julian Robinson for MailOnline Published: 00:11 +10:00, 12 May 2017 | Updated: 00:57 +10:00, 12 May 2017 Kim Jong-un could be removed from power by using a massive $175billion fund to bribe his army and North Korea's high-ranking elite, an expert has claimed. Up to $30million would be paid to each of the country's top officials while $12billion may be enough to convince Pyongyang's army to abandon the dictator, a radical new theory suggests. Moves to 'buy out' North Korea's elite - and offer Kim and his ruling family immunity - would avoid the need for a bloody conflict at a time when the country's relationship with the US and South Korea is threatening to boil over, it is claimed. Professor Shepherd Iverson, a former professor at Inha University in Incheon, South Korea, suggests setting up a 'reunification investment fund' to solve the crisis on the Korean peninsula. [Takeover] [Bribery] [Bizarre] [US NK policy] [Corruption]
• North Korea demands that the U.S. hand over would-be assassins of Kim Jong Un
  By Amanda Erickson May 11 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches a military drill. (Korean Central News Agency via Reuters) Last week, North Korea made a fairly sensational allegation: that in 2014, the CIA and South Korea's National Intelligence Service conspired to assassinate Kim Jong Un with a biochemical weapon. In vivid detail, the North Korean Ministry of State Security described how U.S. and South Korean officials “ideologically corrupted and bribed” a North Korean citizen working in Russia. The plan was as follows: The alleged agent would return home to North Korea, wait for a public event, then use some kind of poisonous substance on top regime officials. Pyongyang suggested that South Korean agents provided satellite communication equipment and money to this alleged would-be killer. The United States, according to this account, provided a biochemical substance — a delayed-action radioactive or “nano poisonous” gas. [US NK policy] [Assassination] [Kim Jong Un]
• Trump, Moon to Meet 'as Soon as Possible'
  By Cho Yi-jun May 11, 2017 12:00 President Moon Jae-in and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump in a phone conversation Wednesday vowed to meet as early as possible to discuss North Korea and other pending issues. Trump congratulated Moon on his election victory and promised to invite him to Washington. "The South Korea-U.S. alliance is more important than at any other time given the growing uncertainties over the security situation of the Korean Peninsula," Moon was quoted as saying in their 30-minute phone call. [Moon Jae-In] [Trump] [US SK alliance]
• In phone conversation, Moon and Trump reaffirm alliance
  Posted on : May.11,2017 17:27 KST Modified on : May.11,2017 17:27 KST Moon says he hopes to visit Washington DC soon for a bilateral summit South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump agreed in a telephone conservation on the evening of May 10 to cooperate closely on addressing the North Korean nuclear issue and security crisis on the Korean Peninsula through a firm bilateral alliance, the Blue House reported. During the conversation, Trump congratulated Moon on his victory and voiced his respect for the South Korean public’s choice. Trump also said the North Korean nuclear issue was difficult but solvable and called the alliance between South Korea and the US a “great” alliance rather than simply a “good” one. He went on to say he hoped Moon would soon visit the US for a summit. Trump also announced plans to send a team of senior advisors to South Korea to discuss the matter of Moon’s US visit and said Moon would be welcomed with respectful treatment as a foreign head of state, the Blue House said. [Moon Jae-in] [US ROK Alliance]
• Trump advised to send envoy to Pyongyang
  Posted : 2017-05-10 18:16 Updated : 2017-05-11 14:24 This is the eighth and last in a series of interviews with international experts on North Korea to look at how its nuclear issues will unfold down the road and seek ways to secure stability on the Korean Peninsula. ? ED. NK estimated to have ability to produce 7 nuclear bombs a year By Kim Jae-kyoung Siegfried S. Hecker A world-renowned nuclear scientist said that U.S. President Donald Trump must to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un by sending an envoy to Pyongyang to avoid a nuclear catastrophe. "I believe the first talks should be bilateral and informal by a presidential envoy talking directly to Kim Jong-un," said Siegfried S. Hecker, a senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University, in an interview. "I believe both Seoul and Beijing would support such talks. These talks may then also help to build the foundation for renewed multilateral negotiations, which, first and foremost must involve South Korea, as well as China," he added. Hecker, the co-director of CISAC from 2007 to 2012, has visited North Korea several times to assess the plutonium program at the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center since 2004. He stressed that it is most important to convey the message that nuclear weapons cannot be used under any circumstances. "There is no such thing as a limited nuclear war. Any explosion of a nuclear device on the Korean Peninsula is a catastrophe of indescribable proportions," he said. The internationally recognized expert in plutonium science, global threat reduction and nuclear security said that the Trump administration and the new South Korean government face the challenge of avoiding a nuclear detonation on the Korean Peninsula. [Hecker] [Engagement] [US NK policy]
• VIDEO: U.S. Crimes of Genocide against Korea
  Prof. Michel Chossudovsky, via Global Research
  Video: Michel Chossudovsky’s Presentation to the Japanese Foreign Correspondent’s Club on US Aggression against the People of Korea, Tokyo, August 1, 2013 The crimes committed by the US against the people of Korea in the course of the Korean War but also in its aftermath are unprecedented in modern history. We Killed Off – What – Twenty Percent of the Population. We Burned Down every Town in North Korea…” The above quotation is from General Curtis Lemay, who coordinated the bombing campaign (1950-53) Who is a Threat to Global Security? The US or the DPRK? The public perception of the entire population of North Korea is that the US is a threat to their national security. During the Korean War, the DPRK lost more than 25% of its population. The population of North Korea was of the order of 8-9 million in 1950 prior the Korean War. US sources acknowledge 1.55 million civilian deaths in North Korea, 215,000 combat deaths. MIA/POW 120,000, 300,000 combat troops wounded. What we are dealing with are crimes of genocide under international law. (Article 2 of the “Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”(1948)) In contrast, during the Second World War, the United Kingdom lost 0.94% of its population, France lost 1.35%, China lost 1.89% and the US lost 0.32%. Casually ignored by the Western media and the international community, the US has actively deployed nuclear weapons targeted at North Korea for more than half a century in violation of article 13b) of the 1953 Armistice agreement. This is what Pyongyang looked like in 1953: the result of US carpet bombing of all major cities without exception. This is how it looks today. And this is what Donald Trump wants to destroy. This urban infrastructure is largely residential ( Compare Pyongyang’s towers to the Trump Towers). [US NK policy] [Korean War]
• Informal talks in Oslo
  Posted : 2017-05-10 17:29 Updated : 2017-05-10 17:29 The United States held informal talks with North Korea in the Norwegian capital Oslo under tight security, Monday and Tuesday. The so-called Track 2 meeting was the first since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January. Choi Son-hui, who is in charge of U.S. affairs at the North's foreign ministry, represented the North Korean side. The U.S. delegation was led by Suzanne DiMaggio, a senior fellow at the Washington-based New American think tank. [US NK Negotiation] [Track 2]
  • Suzanne DiMaggio
    Director, The U.S.-Iran Initiative; Senior Fellow Suzanne DiMaggio is a Director and Senior Fellow at New America, where she focuses on the organization’s growing body of international security projects related to the Middle East and Asia. She is based at New America NYC. Suzanne has been leading Track 1.5 and Track 2 diplomatic initiatives on regional security, terrorism, nonproliferation, governance, and development for over 15 years. She has a special interest in the role of policy dialogue with countries that the United States has limited official relations, especially Iran, Myanmar, and North Korea. [Think Tanks]
  • New America
    New America is a think tank and civic enterprise committed to renewing American politics, prosperity, and purpose in the Digital Age. We generate big ideas, bridge the gap between technology and policy, and curate broad public conversation. Structurally, we combine the best of a policy research institute, technology laboratory, public forum, media platform, and a venture capital fund for ideas. We are a distinctive community of thinkers, writers, researchers, technologists, and community activists who believe deeply in the possibility of American renewal. Our History New America was founded in 1999 to nurture a new generation of public intellectuals—scholars, policy experts, and journalists who could address major social, economic, and political challenges in ways that would engage the public at large—and to provide a set of blueprints for American renewal in an era of globalization and digitization. The initial challenge, which continues today, was to find the minds and foster the debates needed to guide American renewal in an era of profound, exhilarating, but often threatening change. Under the leadership of founding president Ted Halstead and his successor Steve Coll, New America became a vibrant intellectual community and public policy institute. Its fellows and program staff have incubated and advanced breakthrough ideas in a wide range of domestic and international policy arenas. Today we have a staff of some 150 people, a budget of roughly $25 million, and a wide array of programs and undertakings.
    Our CEO and president is, Anne-Marie Slaughter, who assumed the role in 2013. [Think Tank]
• America’s Ready Supply of Enemies
  May 6, 2017 The U.S. political process seems to rely on a steady supply of foreign “enemies” to hate, but sometimes politicians overcome hostilities and talk out differences, which remains the hope for the North Korean standoff, says Ann Wright. By Ann Wright Enemies of the United States come and go, but the longer they espouse revolutionary ideals and thus defy the United States, the longer they stay enemies. Eventually, U.S. officials try other strategies, such as engagement, to undermine or win over these adversaries. Currently, the U.S. does not recognize/have diplomatic relations with only three countries—two built on revolutionary models that the U.S. doesn’t like, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the communist regime of North Korea — and Bhutan, a remote Asian kingdom in the Himalayan mountains that purposely isolates itself and has diplomatic relations with only India. [Imperialism] [US global strategy] [US NK policy]
• Tillerson meets ASEAN ministers to seek support on North Korea
  U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (C) poses with ASEAN foreign ministers before a working lunch at the State Department in Washington, U.S., May 4, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas By David Brunnstrom | WASHINGTON U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met Southeast Asian foreign ministers on Thursday to seek their support in pressing North Korea to give up its nuclear and missile programs. Tillerson's first meeting with all members of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations will also address another pressing regional issue - China's assertive pursuit of territory in the South China Sea, where several ASEAN members have competing claims. Tillerson told reporters at the start of the Washington meeting that he and his counterparts would discuss North Korea. Last week in the U.N. Security Council, Tillerson called on all U.N. members to fully implement U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang, which has ignored demands to abandon its weapons programs and is working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States. He also called on countries to suspend or downgrade diplomatic ties with Pyongyang, saying it abuses diplomatic privileges to help fund the arms programs. Tillerson warned countries that if they did not do so, Washington would sanction foreign firms and people conducting business with North Korea. All ASEAN members have diplomatic relations with North Korea and five have embassies there. The Trump administration wants Southeast Asian countries to crack down on money laundering and smuggling involving North Korea and restrict legal business too, U.S. officials said. The administration has been working to persuade China, North Korea's neighbor and only major ally, to increase pressure on Pyongyang. U.S. officials say they are also asking China to use its influence with more China-friendly ASEAN members, such as Laos and Cambodia, to persuade them to do the same. U.S. efforts have included a flurry of calls by President Donald Trump at the weekend to the leaders of the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore. Also In World News • Trump to wade into Middle East politics on first foreign trip • 'I can't stand up much' Prince Philip quips as he retires from royal duties Diplomats say U.S. pressure has caused some irritation in ASEAN, including Malaysia, which has maintained relations with Pyongyang in spite of the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's estranged half brother at Kuala Lumpur International airport on Feb. 13. [Tillerson] [ASEAN] [US NK policy]
• U.S. Special Unit to Spy on N.Korea
  By Lee Yong-soo, Cho Yi-jun May 08, 2017 10:58 The U.S. Forces Korea will set up a unit later this year that specializes in gathering human intelligence information from the North. Work is also in progress to create an organization within the U.S. government that will handle only North Korean intelligence. The Central Intelligence Agency has already picked staff from the Director of National Intelligence and National Security Council for a separate department to handle the data. According to the U.S. Eighth Army newsletter, the 524th Military Intelligence (MI) Battalion will be set up in October, when the 2018 fiscal year begins. Its mission will be to gather human intelligence and engage in counter-espionage operations against North Korea with the support of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea. It will gather intelligence by infiltrating operatives across the heavily armed inter-Korean border or using informants in the North. USFK soldiers take part in a tactical communication drill in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province in September last year. /Courtesy of the Eighth U.S. Army Currently the 532nd MI Battalion is in charge of human intelligence, but it rarely involves clandestine activities. A government official here said, "The USFK operates a huge arsenal of weapons and equipment to monitor and spy on North Korea, but its human intelligence capability has been relatively weak, which makes it difficult to gather and analyze accurate information about the North. It looks like there was a realization of the importance of bolstering it." The U.S. government has had some trouble making accurate assessments of North Korea's nuclear and missile strengths since leader Kim Jong-un came power. It only has a vague estimate of the North's progress in miniaturizing nuclear weapons and how far it has advanced toward building a warhead that can re-enter the atmosphere on an intercontinental ballistic missile. One military source said, "Gathering intelligence through wiretapping and satellite imagery has its limitations, so the missing pieces of the puzzle must be solved through human intelligence." Meanwhile, Voice of America reported Saturday that U.S. Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy tabled a bill last month to authorize the integration of bodies handling North Korean intelligence. The bill authorizes the U.S. Director of National Intelligence to create an "integrated cell" to monitor illicit North Korean activities and gather information on how effectively the North is adhering to UN Security Council resolutions. It will be capable of sounding the alarm on looming North Korean nuclear and missile provocations and other activities that violate UN sanctions. © This is copyrighted material owned by Digital Chosun Inc. No part of it may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. [HUMINT] [Intelligence] [Espionage]
• North Korea says Trump administration’s policy is “nothing new”
  Posted on : May.8,2017 16:09 KST Modified on : May.8,2017 16:09 KST In response, Pyongyang says it will “take measures to strengthen nuclear deterrence as fast as possible” North Korea said there’s “nothing new” about the new North Korean policy (called “maximum pressure and engagement”) adopted by the US government under President Donald Trump and criticized it as being “a policy of hostility toward North Korea under a different name.” “[The Trump administration] has declared the end of the age of ‘strategic patience,’ which was pursued by the Obama administration, but all it has done is choose plans for recklessly using the military and strengthening economic and diplomatic sanctions and pressure to an extreme degree and put those into a single package, on which it has slapped the label of ‘maximum pressure and engagement,’” said a column that ran on the sixth page of the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Korean Workers‘ Party (KWP), on May 6. The column, which was signed by an individual, was titled, “The US must squarely face the indomitable will of 10 million North Koreans.” The column also mentioned an article by Doug Bandow, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, titled “Strategic impatience won’t defeat North Korea,” which ran in the bimonthly American journal the National Interest, and said that “Bandow’s assessment is accurate.” “Aggressiveness and impatience might yield profits in real estate speculation, but they can incur unimaginably negative consequences in politics. That’s even more so in a confrontation with us,” the column said. [Trump] [US NK policy] [Continuity] [Hostility]
• Unpredictable Trump adds to security concerns on the Peninsula
  Posted : 2017-05-08 15:53 Updated : 2017-05-08 17:31 Protesters rally near the U.S. Embassy in Seoul on April 29 to protest against the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD), a day after Donald Trump suggested billing South Korea for it. / AP-Yonhap By Yi Whan-woo U.S. President Donald Trump's priority on self-interest over the Seoul-Washington alliance may pose security challenges for the next South Korean president on top of North Korea's growing nuclear threats, analysts say. They say the Trump administration may take advantage of South Korea's reliance on the U.S. "nuclear umbrella" to press Seoul to meet U.S. demands aimed at benefitting the U.S. military and economy. They cite Trump's latest remark about billing South Korea for deploying a U.S. missile shield, and his national security adviser H. R. McMaster's reversal of words about Washington's commitment to bear deployment costs. Trump told Reuters and the Washington Times on April 28 that "it would be appropriate" if South Korea paid for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, which he priced at $1 billion. He also said he would either renegotiate or terminate the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), which he repeatedly called a "job-killing" deal. In a later phone conversation with National Security Office chief Kim Kwan-jin, McMaster reaffirmed the Seoul-Washington agreement, under which the U.S. agreed to pay for deploying and operating THAAD in exchange for Seoul providing land and relevant infrastructure. But McMaster then voiced Trump's view during the "Fox News Sunday" interview, saying "the deal is in place" only until renegotiation. [Trump] [Unpredictable] [THAAD] [Tribute]
• US, N. Korea holding unofficial talks: report
  Posted : 2017-05-08 17:15 Updated : 2017-05-08 17:25 By Jun Ji-hye Former and incumbent officials from the United States and North Korea have reportedly been holding "unofficial" talks for two days since Monday in a European country, raising hopes for the resumption of official dialogue between the two countries. Japan's TV Asahi reported Sunday that Choe Son-hui, who is in charge of U.S. affairs at the North's foreign ministry, headed to Europe via Beijing for talks with unidentified former U.S. government officials. The dialogue, unofficially called a "track 1.5" or "track 2" meeting, is the first of its kind since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump. The meeting is reportedly being held in Norway, timed to coincide with South Korea's presidential election scheduled for today. [US NK Negotiations] [Track 2]
• South Korea's presidential election could change its relationship with the United States. Here's why
  Matt Stiles South Korean voters will pick their next leader on Tuesday at a challenging moment in the nation’s democratic history, after months of political turmoil, mounting regional tension and uncertainty over new leadership in the United States. [SK_Elections17] [Moon Jae-in] [Agency]
• Trump and the Rush to Deploy THAAD
  The United States is pushing a hasty deployment of a missile defense system in South Korea. The backlash could be huge. By Raekyong Lee, May 3, 2017. The Korean police swarmed onto the golf course in Seongju, just 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, just before dawn on April 26. The officers pushed aside the dazed protesters and escorted a group of US Army military trailers that carried the critical parts for the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) missile defense system. The deployment of THAAD in Korea has become extremely contentious since China expressed its strong opposition. The sudden deployment of the AN/TPY-2 radar system and two missile launchers and interceptors a week before the Korean presidential election on May 9 has created even greater controversy. It looks for all the world like a bid to make deployment a fait accompli even as the liberal candidate Moon Jae-in, who is the frontrunner in several polls, suggests that the system requires further debate. Although the incident did not grab the headlines around the world, it was an obvious effort to circumvent the Korean political process. It also marks a fundamental shift in Korea-US relations . But that’s not all. President Donald Trump also went on to demand that Korea pay one billion dollars for the cost of the deployment, even though the Korean military is not actually purchasing the missile defense system and has agreed to deployment in the face of strong opposition. [THAAD] [SK_election17]
• Why Do North Koreans Hate Us? One Reason — They Remember the Korean War.
  Mehdi Hasan May 3 2017, 11:32 p.m. “Why do they hate us?” It’s a question that has bewildered Americans again and again in the wake of 9/11, in reference to the Arab and Muslim worlds. These days, however, it’s a question increasingly asked about the reclusive North Koreans. Let’s be clear: There is no doubt that the citizens of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea both fear and loathe the United States. Paranoia, resentment, and a crude anti-Americanism have been nurtured inside the Hermit Kingdom for decades. Children are taught to hate Americans in school while adults mark a “Struggle Against U.S. Imperialism Month” every year (it’s in June, in case you were wondering). [US NK policy] [Korean War] [Cliché]
• Moon Jae-in on TIME's cover: kudos to S. Korea's next leader?
  Posted : 2017-05-05 13:50 Updated : 2017-05-05 20:56 By Park Si-soo Appearing on the cover of the U.S. magazine TIME is sometimes more than just being a cover model -- especially before important political events. The news magazine used to wrap its front cover with a staged portrait of the most likely new leader of a country before his/her formal election (or victory by any means). And in recent memory, there was no case denying the accuracy of its model-winner matchup. Four years ago, TIME bet on Park Geun-hye, not knowing that she -- described as the Strongman's Daughter in its cover story -- would defeat Moon by a very narrow margin. On Thursday, Moon appeared on the cover of TIME's Asian edition, which indicates that the magazine firmly believes he will be South Korea's next leader, replacing the ousted Park Geun-hye, when the presidential election is held on May 9. [Moon Jae-in]
• Trump’s tough talk about North Korea might actually end the crisis
  By defining his goals more narrowly than previous presidents, he may halt Pyongyang's weapons program. By Eric Li May 5 Eric X. Li is a venture capitalist and political scientist in Shanghai. SHANGHAI — In North Korea, the United States is closer to nuclear war than at any other time since the Cold War. An aircraft carrier battle group (after some confusion) is steaming in. Kim Jong Un vows a sixth nuclear test, which the United States says it will not tolerate. “Diplomatic efforts,” according to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, “have failed.” Heated words are exchanged on a near-daily basis between the world’s only superpower and its small and impoverished, but nuclear-armed, antagonist. If posturing tips over into actual violence, 1 million people could die on the Korean Peninsula alone — that is, if the conflict doesn’t go nuclear. Pyongyang’s missiles are not able to reach the United States, but Japan is well within range. At the same time, Washington and Pyongyang may also be closer to peace than at any point in nearly two decades. This is because the United States appears to be shifting away from a policy that exacerbated the conflict. Under the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, the United States mixed two fundamentally conflicting aims in its dealings with North Korea, writes Fu Ying, who led the Chinese delegation in many of the failed multilateral Korean nuclear talks, in a recent paper for the Brookings Institution. Washington aimed for both denuclearization and regime change. The first goal is strategic, and the second is largely ideological. But the threat of regime change is the very reason the regime wants a nuclear deterrent. [Trump] [US NK policy] [Regime change] [US NK Negoations]
• What the North Korean “Crisis” is Really About. Pretext to Nuke Both Russia and China?
  By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts Global Research, May 04, 2017 The North Korean “crisis” is a Washington orchestration. North Korea was last at war 1950-53. N. Korea has not attacked or invaded anyone in 64 years. N. Korea lacks the military strength to attack any country, such as South Korea and Japan, that is protected by the US. Moreover, China would not permit N. Korea to start a war. So what is the demonization of N. Korea by the presstitutes and Trump administration about? It is about the same thing that the demonization of Iran was about. The “Iranian threat” was an orchestration that was used as cover to put US anti-ballistic missile bases on Russia’s borders. An anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is intended to intercept and destroy nuclear-armed ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) and prevent them from reaching their targets. Washington claimed that the anti-ABM bases were not directed at Russia, but were for the protection of Europe against Iran’s nuclear ICBMs. Insouciant Americans might have believed this, but the Russians surely did not as Iran has neither ICBMs nor nuclear weapons. The Russian government has made it clear that Russia understands the US bases are directed at preventing a Russian retalliation against a Washington first strike. The Chinese government also is not stupid. The Chinese leadership understands that the reason for the N. Korean “crisis” is to provide cover for Washington to put anti-ballistic missile sites near China’s border. In other words, Washington is creating a shield against nuclear retaliation from both Russia and China from a US nuclear first strike against both countries. [US NK policy] [Pretext] [First strike] [Missile defense]
• At UN, Rex Tillerson, Top US Diplomat, Delivers Stark Warnings to North Korea
  By Barbara Crossette UNITED NATIONS, Apr 29 2017 (IPS) - Speaking to the United Nations Security Council at a meeting on North Korea held at the foreign-minister level, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked member countries to join the United States in a strong campaign to enhance pressures on the Kim Jong-un regime, whose rapidly developing nuclear and missile programs have reached dangerous levels. The high-level diplomatic session took place on April 28, the final day of the American presidency of the Security Council, a monthly rotating position. The atmosphere signaled that the US was back and needed partners after months of disparaging the UN and insulting various UN member countries. [US NK policy] [Tillerson] [Bluster]
• THAAD Controversy Threatens Bumpy Ties with U.S.
  May 02, 2017 12:41 U.S. National Security Adviser Herbert McMaster on Saturday tried to smooth ruffled feathers in South Korea over President Donald Trump's threat to make Seoul pay $1 billion for the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery being stationed here. Trump's ill-considered remarks have needed a lot of glossing over the first 100 days of his presidency, and McMaster did just that. What Trump really meant, he said, "is to look across all of our alliances and to have appropriate burden sharing-responsibility sharing." McMaster hinted that other areas of the Korea-U.S. alliance could be up for renegotiation. That means talks held every five years over sharing the cost of maintaining 28,500 American troops in here could result in Seoul paying a higher bill. Korea already pays around W1 trillion a year to maintain American troops here (US$1=W1,138). Public resistance here will be strong, and a broadly progressive new government here may not go out of its way to quell it. There is no telling how Trump will respond. It would not be beyond him to try and tear up the current agreements and completely overhaul the U.S. military presence in South Korea. Unfortunately for Seoul, the threats to its national security are no longer restricted to North Korea. They can even come from its closest ally. This will be a massive challenge for the next administration. [THAAD] [Trump] [Tribute] [Friction]
• Withdrawing from KORUS: an own goal for the United States
  by Troy Stangarone Troy Stangarone (ts@keia.org) is the Senior Director of Congressional Affairs and Trade at the Korea Economic Institute of America. The views expressed here are the author’s alone. No trade agreement is without its imperfections. NAFTA, as President Donald Trump has pointed out, is in need of updating. However, political realities in negotiating countries mean that certain sectors maintain some level of protection. The US-Korea FTA, or KORUS FTA, is no exception. When the agreement was originally negotiated, South Korea excluded rice from the agreement, while the United States maintained restrictions on inland water shipping established under the Jones Act. Politics in both countries necessitated that the restrictions remain place. With the KORUS FTA now five years old, Trump has said that the agreement should either be renegotiated or the United States should withdraw. However, withdrawing from the KORUS FTA would only increase the US trade deficit with South Korea. The standard by which to judge a free trade agreement is not whether it is a perfect agreement, but whether both countries sufficiently benefit from it. For KORUS FTA, the answer is clearly yes. [KORUS FTA] [Softpower] [Trump]
• Trump's 'without-China' approach on North Korea
  Posted : 2017-04-04 17:29 Updated : 2017-04-05 15:32 By Lee Seong-hyon Donald Trump's warning that he would deal with North Korea "with or without China's help" may in fact have a chance to succeed as a viable new alternative. It reflects a judgment on China's role on the matter and hints at shifting to a "Plan B." It is disempowering China from its "larger-than-role" stake on the international policy narrative on North Korea. Solving the North Korean conundrum with the U.S. initiative would mean sustained American leadership and enlarging U.S. interests in the region where the two major powers are increasingly competing against each other. Trump did not specify what unilateral options he would take. Therefore, it's more objective to state "all options" are on the table (borrowing from Secretary of State Tillerson's words), ranging from a military strike on North Korea to direct diplomatic talks. Yet it is reasonable to expect that Trump will exhaust an inventory list of non-kinetic options first before he finally arrives at the conclusion that it's time to authorize the military option. Taking this sequential approach is also more likely to garner more international support for U.S. actions. The key policy logic here is to make China "irrelevant" in dealing with North Korea, including the credit China has either received or claimed as the host of the six-party talks. [Trump] [US NK Policy] [China confrontation] [Six Party Talks]
• Let's pay Trump off
  Posted : 2017-05-03 10:41 Updated : 2017-05-03 10:43 By Oh Young-jin Let's calm ourselves down. It's exasperating to hear U.S. President Trump demand South Korea pay $1 billion for a missile interceptor owned and operated by the U.S. After all, the two allies cut a deal by which Korea provided land for a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, while the U.S. paid for the rest ? hardware and maintenance. It's tempting to shout back at Trump and tell him that we don't want it so he can take it back. But here are some sobering questions. Can we defend ourselves without U.S. forces? The South excels the North in the size of economy many times and is more than double it in terms of population. So the answer to this question is yes, we can. But if so, what extra cost would we have to pay for their absence? Billions of dollars would be needed to make up for the U.S. Forces Korea with its 28,000 American troops stationed here. They serve as a tripwire to bring in bigger and more powerful reinforcements ? the so-called extended deterrence (nuclear umbrella) included ? from the U.S. in the event of a war. The tab for this is uncountable because it has worked as the bedrock for Korea's sense of security for decades. [THAAD] [Tribute] [Pro-Americanism]
• Presidential candidates polarized over THAAD row with U.S.
  Posted : 2017-05-02 22:58 Updated : 2017-05-03 09:35 Presidential candidates hold hands before their final TV debate at MBC headquarters in Seoul, Tuesday. They are, from left, Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea, Hong Joon-pyo of the Liberty Korea Party, Yoo Seong-min of the Bareun Party, Sim Sang-jung of the Justice Party and Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party. / Joint press corps 14 lawmakers quit Bareun Party to support LKP's Hong By Kim Hyo-jin Presidential candidates remained poles apart Tuesday over how to respond to President Donald Trump's pressure on sharing the cost of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery stationed here. Liberal candidates Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea and Sim Sang-jung of the Justice Party said the issue should be reviewed thoroughly by the next government while the remaining nominees said it would not be an issue as the U.S. is supposed to pay the cost according to a bilateral pact. In the last debate before the May 9 presidential election, the candidates engaged hotly on welfare, education policies and ways to improve national unity. Moon renewed his call to seek a parliamentary review of the deployment of the missile defense system, saying it was his upmost priority. [THAAD] [Candidates]
• Arrival of US bombers known through N. Korea
  Posted : 2017-05-02 17:26 Updated : 2017-05-02 19:01 By Yi Whan-woo North Korean state media said Tuesday two U.S. B-1B Lancer strategic bombers conducted a nuclear bombing drill in South Korea, Monday. The South Korean military confirmed the arrival of the U.S. planes hours after the North Korean report, adding to concerns over a possible preemptive strike by Washington against Pyongyang and the possible outbreak of war on the Korean Peninsula. [Censorship] [US dominance] [Sidelined]
• 'US asked to step towards dialogue over nuke threats'
  Posted : 2017-05-02 17:16 Updated : 2017-05-02 17:16 China holds the key for direct talks between Washington and Pyeongyang By Jingnan Huo WASHINGTON D.C. ? The United States needs to demonstrate its openness to dialogue and keep the growing tension on the Korean Peninsula rationally controlled, according to analysts. "Washington needs to make a move toward negotiations with North Korea now that pressure has been put on the country," said Joseph Cirincione, a professor at the Georgetown University Graduate School of Foreign Service. Cirincione is president of the nuclear nonproliferation advocacy group, the Ploughshares Fund, after having served as a senior vice president for National Security and International Policy at the liberal think tank, the Center for American Progress. He was worrying over the possible "negative outcome" on the Korean Peninsula from the results of passiveness on nuclear-related issues by the United States. "I'm afraid that if the United States doesn't engage [in dialogue] with North Korea, one side or another will make a precipitous unilateral move that could ignite a military conflict unlike anything we've seen on this planet since the Korean War," Cirincione said. But he added that it is unlikely that Washington will engage in direct talks with Pyongyang over the latter's nuclear development programs anytime soon, as U.S. President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are now trapped with their "own commitments" to show maximum military strength. [US NK negotiations] [False balance]
• Trump Says He’d Meet With Kim Jong Un Under Right Circumstances
  by Margaret Talev and Jennifer Jacobs 2 May 2017, 4:30 AM NZST 2 May 2017, 2:50 PM NZST ‘I would be honored to do it,’ he says in Bloomberg interview North Korea has become Trump’s top foreign policy challenge Trump Says He's Open to Meeting With North Korea's Kim U.S. President Donald Trump said he would meet with Kim Jong Un amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program if the circumstances were right. “If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it,” Trump said Monday in an Oval Office interview with Bloomberg News. “If it’s under the, again, under the right circumstances. But I would do that.” The U.S. has no diplomatic relations with North Korea, and as recently as last week Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. would negotiate with Kim’s regime only if it made credible steps toward giving up its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. “Most political people would never say that,” Trump said of his willingness to meet with the reclusive Kim, “but I’m telling you under the right circumstances I would meet with him. We have breaking news.” Asked later about Trump’s comments, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that “clearly conditions are not there right now” for a meeting. He said “we’ve got to see their provocative behavior ratcheted down.” [Trump [Preconditions] [US NK Negotiations]
• THAAD in S. Korea 'operational' amid protests: US
  Xinhua, May 2, 2017 The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said Tuesday that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system, which was deployed last week in southeast South Korea, is "operational." USFK spokesperson Rob Manning said the USFK "confirms the THAAD system is operational." The installed THAAD system has the ability to "intercept missiles" from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and "defend South Korea," according to the spokesperson. On April 26, about 20 U.S. trucks and trailers carried part of THAAD elements, including radar, to a golf course at Soseong-ri village in Seongju county, South Gyeongsang province. The golf course was designated as the THAAD site. The installed THAAD elements include two mobile launchers, an AN/TPY-2 radar and other equipments. A THAAD battery is composed of six mobile launchers, 48 interceptors, the radar and the fire and control unit. THAAD in South Korea has been strongly opposed by regional countries, including China and Russia, as it breaks strategic balance in the region. [THAAD] [Chinese media]
• U.S. Will Pay for THAAD, White House Advisor Confirms
  By Cho Yi-jun May 02, 2017 09:26 U.S. National Security Adviser Herbert McMaster on Sunday tried to smooth ruffled feathers in Korea by clarifying that the U.S. will indeed pay the roughly US$1 billion for the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery being stationed here. "What I told our South Korean counterpart is until any renegotiation, that the deal is in place, we will adhere to our word," McMaster told Fox News. U.S. President Donald Trump incensed tempers in Seoul last week by saying in an interview that he wants South Korea to pay. [Trump] [THAAD] [McMaster] [Spin] [Media] [Heading]
• Korea Biggest Buyer of American Weapons
  By Kim Myong-song May 02, 2017 10:42 Korea has been the world's biggest buyer of American weapons even ahead of perpetual captive client Saudi Arabia, despite claims by U.S. President Donald Trump that Seoul fails to pull its weight. According to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, Korea has bought W36 trillion worth of American weapons since DAPA was set up in 2006, the biggest figure in the world and almost the same as Korea's entire defense spending last year (W38 trillion). Korea was the No. 1 importer of American weapons from 2006 to 2015, according to the 2016 yearbook by the Defense Agency for Technology and Quality. And Seoul is going to spend more than W10 trillion in coming years to buy F-35A fighters and Global Hawk surveillance drones from the U.S. under the current procurement plans. [Arms sales] [Saudi Arabia] [Military balance]
• Trump risk affecting South Korea’s security and economy
  Posted on : May.2,2017 16:30 KST Modified on : May.2,2017 16:30 KST US president has gone off script in asking South Korea to pay for THAAD, and scrap KORUS FTA With US President Donald Trump demanding that South Korea pay US$1 billion for the THAAD missile defense system and calling for the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) to be renegotiated or scrapped, the Trump risk is emerging as a major challenge for South Korea’s economy and its security. Experts believe that this will pose a considerable challenge for the next South Korean government. Trump’s incendiary remarks about THAAD and the KORUS FTA began during an interview with Reuters on Apr. 27 and continued during an interview with the Washington Times the following day. Blue House National Security Chief Kim Kwan-jin and White House National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster attempted to rein in the situation by “reconfirming the current agreement” during a telephone discussion on the morning of Apr. 30. But the very next day, McMaster stirred up the controversy once again by making comments about the possibility of renegotiating the cost of THAAD. This situation was confirmed to have begun with Trump making unscripted remarks that he had not run by his advisors. Until they were asked for confirmation by the South Korean government, officials at the US State Department, Pentagon and even the White House were reportedly unaware that the cost of THAAD had come up in the interview. “The material that advisors had prepared for Trump’s interview with Reuters apparently did not contain any mention of THAAD,” said one diplomatic source. But Trump’s style made this controversy inevitable, and it only looks especially serious to South Koreans because they are Trump’s current target, many analysts believe. [Trump] [US SK] [THAAD] [Tribute]
• McMaster’s doublespeak on THAAD costs feeding fire started by Trump
  Posted on : May.1,2017 17:58 KST Modified on : May.1,2017 17:58 KST US President still sticking to his contention that South Korea should pay $1 billion for THAAD system US President Donald Trump kept up the pressure on South Korea to pay THAAD deployment costs for a second straight day. The growing outcry prompted senior South Korean and US officials to put out the fire by reaffirming their existing agreement on the issue. But Trump’s characteristic unpredictability has many worried he could send another THAAD invoice - or that something similar could happen on the issue of US Forces Korea stationing costs. “Why should we pay for [THAAD]?” Trump asked in a Washington Times interview given on the eve of his 100th day in office on Apr. 28. “I respectfully say that I think it would be appropriate if [South Korea] paid for it,” he added. Trump went on to describe THAAD as a “phenomenal protective system” that is “meant to protect South Korea.” Trump has repeatedly stressed THAAD as a “billion-dollar system” since first stating in a Reuters interview the day before that he would be asking South Korea to pay for its deployment. He also restated his intent to renegotiate the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement for a second straight day, describing it as having been “a very bad deal for the United States, negotiated by [then-Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton.” The heavy backlash to Trump‘s remarks in South Korea and at home prompted a 35-minute emergency phone conference on the morning of Apr. 30 by Blue House Office of National Security chief Kim Kwan-jin and White House National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster. [THAAD] [Trump] [Tribute] [McMaster] [Spin]
• Rex Tillerson alludes to providing N. Korea financial aid to hold talks
  Posted on : May.1,2017 17:49 KST Modified on : May.1,2017 17:49 KST South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se talks with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at the UN Headquarters in New York on Apr. 28. (Reuters/Yonhap News) Top US diplomat also encouraging UN member states to suspend diplomatic relations with North Korea The top diplomat in the administration of US President Donald Trump has made the first mention of the possibility of giving North Korea financial aid in exchange for denuclearization. Even as the US government continues pressuring Pyongyang to return to the table to discuss denuclearization, it is sending consistent and concrete messages about dialogue with the North. “Since 1995, the United States has provided over $1.3 billion dollars in aid to North Korea, and we look forward to resuming our contributions once the DPRK begins to dismantle its nuclear weapons and missile technology programs,” said US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during a ministerial meeting of the UN Security Council that he chaired at the UN Headquarters in New York on Apr. 28. [Tillerson] [[US NK Negotiations] [Aid weapon]
• Trump does not seek Kim's demise
  Posted : 2017-05-02 17:14 Updated : 2017-05-02 17:40 US needs to break NK's dangerous illusion about ‘nuclear blanket' This is the seventh in a series of interviews with international experts on North Korea to see how its nuclear issues will unfold down the road and seek ways to secure stability on the Korean Peninsula. ? ED. By Kim Jae-kyoung United States President Donald Trump is not seeking to drag North Korean leader Kim Jong-un down from power, according to William Brown, adjunct professor at Georgetown School of Foreign Service. He said that what the Trump administration wants is for Kim to change its path or policy relying on nuclear weapons program to protect his regime. "Kim should know that U.S. policy does not require his demise but it does require major policy changes that would lead to a radical transformation of his country, perhaps with him still as leader," he said in an interview. [Trump] [US NK policy] [Regime change]
• North Korea: US bomber flight pushes two countries on brink of nuclear war
  Published May 02, 2017 Fox News North Korea accuses US of pushing world toward nuclear war North Korea on Tuesday said the United States’ decision to fly two supersonic B-1B Lancer bombers in the area in a training drill is a provocation and puts the two countries on the brink of a nuclear war. "The reckless military provocation is pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula closer to the brink of nuclear war," the North's official KCNA news agency said on Tuesday, according to Reuters. [US NK policy] [Provocation] [B1]
• Controversial missile defense shield operational in South Korea
  By Missy Ryan May 1 at 9:38 PM A THAAD interceptor is test-launched on Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean in 2015. (AFP/Depart of Defense/Ben Listerman). A U.S. antimissile defense system recently installed in South Korea is now operational, a U.S. official said Monday, in the latest sign of an enhanced U.S. response to threats from North Korea. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss military operations overseas, said the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, an American-made system to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles, had reached initial operating capability. The U.S. military’s installation of the THAAD battery in South Korea has been hotly contested. China considers the system a threat to its own security, while critics in South Korea allege that the United States is scrambling to set up the system before that country can hold a presidential election that might lead to a decision to halt its use altogether. [THAAD] [SK_election17] [China confrontation]
• Trump is not ruling out military action against North Korea
  By Kristine Phillips April 30 at 2:25 PM President Trump said Kim Jong Un is a “tough cookie,” while administration officials and other Republicans weighed in on North Korea's latest missile test. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) President Trump did not appear to be ruling out military action against North Korea if the country pushes forward with its nuclear weapons program. In an interview with CBS News’s John Dickerson that aired Sunday on “Face the Nation,” Trump said he would not be pleased if North Korea takes that step. “He’s going to have to do what he has to do. But he understands we’re not going to be very happy,” Trump said of the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un. Pressed by Dickerson on whether he means there could be military action, Trump did not confirm, but he also did not deny. “I don’t know,” he said. “I mean, we’ll see.” [Trump] [US NK policy] [Military option] [Policy poverty] [China hope]
• DPRK blames US, ROK for rising tension
  Xinhua, May 1, 2017 Photo taken on April 11, 2017 shows military vehicles during the U.S.-South Korea joint Exercise Operation Pacific Reach in Pohang, South Korea. (Xinhua/Lee Sang-ho) The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said on Sunday that the U.S.-South Korea joint exercises and U.S. buildup of nuclear assets on the Korean Peninsula are the root cause of high tension in the region. Explaining the situation on the Korean Peninsula to Russian ambassador Alexander Matsegora, DPRK Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Han Song Ryol said the DPRK will "steadily take measures to bolster up its nuclear deterrence in order to defend the sovereignty and vital rights of the country and peace on the peninsula from the U.S. nuclear war threat." The Russian side expressed its understanding of the stand of the DPRK and hoped the tension on the Korean Peninsula would be defused as soon as possible, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. Tension has remained very high over the past two months between the United States and the DPRK over the former's threat to stage military attack upon Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile programs. The United States and South Korea also held their largest ever joint military exercises in the past two months, while the USS Carl Vinson nuclear aircraft carrier task group has arrived in the waters off the peninsula for joint drills with the South Korean military. [Tension] [US Joint military] [Amphibious]
• [Editorial] Trump’s absurd demand that S. Koreans pay $1 billion for a THAAD system we don’t even want
  Posted on : Apr.29,2017 14:31 KST Modified on : Apr.29,2017 14:31 KST On Apr. 27, US President Donald Trump asked South Korea to pay one billion dollars as the cost of deploying the THAAD missile defense system. The demand is absurd. It doesn’t make sense to ask South Koreans to pay for THAAD when the people don’t even want the system, and when that system is being deployed in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province – far from the armistice line – in order to protect US military bases. While many had been concerned that a substantial part of the financial burden of THAAD would be shifted to South Korea once the system became fully operational, those concerns have become reality more quickly, and on a larger scale, than expected. The administrations of former president Park Geun-hye and acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn deceived the public with the claim that since THAAD is a US weapons system, South Korea would only have to provide the base and the basic infrastructure. What excuses are they going to make now? [THAAD] [Cost] [Tribute] [Trump]
• US to renegotiate THAAD deal with S. Korea: Trump's security adviser
  Posted : 2017-05-01 09:58 Updated : 2017-05-01 15:58 The United States will renegotiate the terms of the THAAD missile defense system's deployment to South Korea, and until then, will stick to the existing deal that commits the U.S. to pay for the system, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said Sunday. McMaster made the remark during an interview with "Fox News Sunday," rejecting reports that he contradicted President Donald Trump and promised the U.S. will pay for THAAD when he spoke by phone with his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan-jin. The phone call came after Trump said the South should pay for the $1 billion system. The demand sparked a firestorm in South Korea because it runs counter to a deployment deal in which the U.S. agreed to pay for the system in exchange for Seoul's agreement to host it and provide land for it. "The last thing I would ever do is contradict the president of the United States, you know? And That's not what it was. In fact, what I told our South Korean counterpart is until any renegotiation that the deal is in place. We'll adhere to our word," McMaster said. "What the president has asked us to do is to look across all of our alliances and to have appropriate burden-sharing, responsibility-sharing. We are looking at that with a great ally, South Korea. We're looking at that with NATO," he said. "And what you've seen because of the president's leadership, more and more nations are contributing more to our collective defense." Asked if who will pay for THAAD is still up in the air, McMaster said, "The question of what is the relationship on THAAD, on our defense relationship going forward, will be renegotiated as it's going to be with all of our allies." "Because what the president has said is, he will prioritize American citizens' security and interests. And to do that, we need strong alliances. But also to do that effectively, and a way that is sustainable economically, we need everybody to pay their fair share," he said. [THAAD] [Cost] [Tribute] [McMaster] [Spin]
• US should be prepared for military operations against N. Korea: Trump's adviser
  Posted : 2017-05-01 10:01 Updated : 2017-05-01 15:13 The United States should be prepared for military operations against North Korea, even though the hope is to resolve the situation without resorting to force, National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster said Sunday. "We do have to do something, and so, we have to do something, again, with partners in the region and globally. And that involves enforcement of the U.N. sanctions that are in place. It may mean ratcheting up those sanctions even further. And it also means being prepared for military operations if necessary," McMaster said on "Fox News Sunday." President Donald Trump has connected military options to what we're trying to politically, he said. [US NK policy] [Military option] [McMaster]
• Trump signals row with next S. Korean leader
  Posted : 2017-04-30 16:36 Updated : 2017-05-01 13:59 A protester holds up a card during a rally to oppose a plan to deploy the U.S. Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system near the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, Saturday. / AP-Yonhap Seoul likely to come under pressure to pay more for defense costs By Yi Whan-woo U.S. President Donald Trump's recent remark on billing South Korea for the deployment of a U.S. missile shield signals that Seoul will come under greater pressure to share more of the cost of stationing American forces here, analysts said Sunday. With just nine days before the May 9 presidential election, the White House call to charge South Korea is stirring up concerns over a possible clash between the incoming government and the Trump administration. True, the unpredictable Trump may want something else and may be intimidating South Korea over the cost of the ongoing installation of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery to reach his goal. But whatever his motives are, the next government will face a tricky job of resolving Trump's complaints about Seoul, according to the analysts. [THAAD] [USFK] [Cost] [Tribute]
• Former US official blasts Trump's THAAD payment demand
  Posted : 2017-04-30 13:38 Updated : 2017-04-30 18:00 By Lee Han-soo John Kirby, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State under the Obama administration, has blasted U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks that South Korea should pay for the U.S. THAAD missile defense system. Saying that Trump did not understand the "contours of our alliance with South Korea," the retired Admiral wrote in an opinion piece on CNN that Trump should not view the THAAD deployment as a real estate deal. Referring to Trump's ambiguous price tag on the missile defense system, Kirby also said the THAAD deployment was not sold but deployed by U.S. forces in Korea. "THAAD deployment is just that, a deployment. And like every other military deployment, while we may need the use of certain domestic facilities and physical sites, it's still our stuff and using it is still our responsibility," wrote Kirby. "It's not clear at all where the President got his $1 billion figure. That's about what the system costs us [United States.] to buy, but operating costs are much lower. And since we aren't selling it to anyone, it doesn't make much sense to slap a price tag on it." He urged Trump not to view the deployment as a zero-sum game, but a deal to benefit the U.S. and its allies. [Trump] [THAAD] [Cost] [Tribute]
• No South Korea's payment for THAAD operation: S. Korean, US security chiefs reaffirm
  Posted : 2017-04-30 14:01 Updated : 2017-04-30 14:01 The national security chiefs of South Korea and the United States on Sunday reaffirmed their initial agreement that Seoul will only provide land for the U.S. deployment of a high-tech missile defense system here without further costs as demanded by President Donald Trump. National Security Office chief Kim Kwan-jin and his American counterpart H.R. McMaster reconfirmed the stance during a phone conversation held earlier in the day at the request of the U.S. side, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said in a statement. In an interview with Reuters last week, Trump said he wants South Korea to pay for the US$1 billion for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system which is now being fielded in South Korea to better defend the country against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. [THAAD] [Cost] [Tribute] [McMaster] [Spin]
• Pope urges US and North Korea to step back to avert bloody conflict
  Posted : 2017-04-30 14:23 Updated : 2017-04-30 18:00 By Park Si-soo Pope Francis urged the United States and North Korea on Saturday (local time) to defuse their increasingly tense standoff that could lead to a bloody conflict on the Korean Peninsula. He called for international mediation to prevent the situation from getting worse. The pontiff suggested that Norway, for example, was "always ready to help." "I call on them, and I will call on them, as I have on leaders of different places, to work to resolve their problems through diplomatic avenues," the New York Times quoted Pope Francis as saying. He made the remark aboard his plane on his way back to Rome from Egypt. Noting that North Korea's missile program was not a new concern, he said "things have gotten too hot" and suggested that "the United Nations has the duty to reassume, a little, its leadership because it's been watered down." He warned that the crisis risked sparking a devastating war in which "a good part of humanity" would be destroyed. [Pope Francis] [False balance]
• S. Korea, US finish joint military exercise amid tensions
  Posted : 2017-04-30 10:37 Updated : 2017-04-30 15:43 South Korea and the United States on Sunday wrapped up their two-month combined defense drills amid unrelenting tensions on the Korean Peninsula. "The Foal Eagle exercise is ending today as scheduled," a South Korean military official said. The allies kicked off the annual Foal Eagle drills, a major field-training exercise, at the start of March involving more than 10,000 American troops including those from military bases abroad. Hundreds of thousands of South Korean soldiers joined in as well. The U.S. troops from outside of the peninsula will soon return to their bases, added the official. A host of strategic assets from the U.S. took part in the training, such as the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, F-35 stealth fighter jets and B-1B bombers, as a show of force. This year's exercise came amid North Korea's continued provocations, which include ballistic missile launches and war threats. The Vinson is on its way back to waters near Korea reportedly for another round of joint drills with South Korean warships. "Despite the end of Foal Eagle, there will be no change in the defense posture of the South Korean and U.S. militaries," the official said. (Yonhap) [Joint US military] [Foal Eagle]
• N. Korea threatens to sink US submarine deployed to S. Korea
  Posted : 2017-04-30 13:34 Updated : 2017-04-30 18:02 After the United States deployed a nuclear-powered submarine and an aircraft carrier to South Korean waters amid high inter-Korean tensions, North Korea on Sunday threatened to sink the underwater vessel, accusing America of stepping up military intimidation. "The moment the USS Michigan tries to budge even a little, it will be doomed to face the miserable fate of becoming a underwater ghost without being able to come to the surface," the North's propaganda website Uriminzokkiri said in a posting. "The urgent fielding of the nuclear submarine in the waters off the Korean Peninsula, timed to coincide with the deployment of the super aircraft carrier strike group, is intended to further intensify military threats toward our republic," the website claimed. [Retaliation] [Conditionality] [Zero tolerance]
• A Lot of What You Know About North Korea Is Racist Nonsense: Pyongyang is not crazy
  by Andrew Dobbs Less than three months into Pres. Donald Trump’s reign we can already say that there is a non-trivial chance that the United States will soon be engaged in a nuclear war. The threat is still remote, but all the pieces are in place. An aircraft carrier group en route to North Korea, anonymous sources threatening a preemptive strike against them, a recent unilateral attack on the Syrian government and the dropping of a 21,000 pound conventional bomb in Afghanistan?—?interpreted by many as a message for North Korea. [Irrationality] [US NK policy] [Racism]

• Trump’s North Korean Obsession
  Federico Pieraccini | 27.04.2017 Since Donald Trump's victory, tensions in the Korean Peninsula have reached almost unprecedented levels. This aggressive approach from the new administration has accentuated tensions with Pyongyang, leaving one to wonder whether another US war is in the making. During the election campaign, Trump often took ambiguous and, in some respects, isolationist positions concerning hotspots around the world. The exception to this rule has often been North Korea. Business Insider cites the current US president speaking in January of 2016 about the DPRK with the following words about its nuclear program: «We got to close it down, because he's getting too close to doing something. Right now, he's probably got the weapons, but he does not have the transportation system. Once he has the transportation system, he's sick enough to use it. So we better get Involved». [Trump] [US NK policy]
• The Long, Dirty History of U.S. Warmongering against North Korea
  by Christine Hong April 25, 2017 As the latest North Korea crisis unfolded, and Donald Trump swapped campaign plowshares for post-inauguration swords, Americans took to the streets demanding that the President release his tax returns and then marched for science. There were no mass protests for peace. Although the substance of Trump’s foreign policy remains opaque, he had campaigned on an “America First” critique of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s liberal interventionism in Libya and, to his own party’s mortification, blasted George W. Bush’s neoconservative adventurism in Iraq. Once in the White House, though, Trump announced he would boost the U.S. military budget by a staggering $54 billion and cut back on diplomacy, while pushing the United States to the brink of active conflict with North Korea. None of this provoked a major backlash. To the contrary, Trump’s surprise bombing of Syria, which, his administration declared, doubled as a warning for North Korea, garnered him across-the-aisle praise from hawks in both parties and his highest approval ratings so far. The American public’s quietism with regard to the prospect of renewed U.S. aggression against North Korea is remarkable. [US NK policy] [Imperialism] [War] [Public opinion]
• After Surprise Visit to DMZ, Pence Tells North Korea ‘All Options Are on the Table’
  April 22, 2017 By Nika Knight | April 22, 2017 Originally published in Common Dreams Seemingly unabashed after North Korea’s warning last week of an imminent “thermonuclear war,” Vice President Mike Pence once again engaged in saber-rattling against the country on a surprise visit to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea on Monday. All options are on the table” when it comes to North Korea, Pence said as he stood alongside South Korea’s acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn, in Seoul, and promised “an overwhelming and effective response” if North Korea launched a nuclear weapon. [US NK policy] [Pence] [Military option]
• Trump: ‘We may terminate’ U.S.-South Korea trade agreement
  President Trump speaks before signing a Memorandum on Aluminum Imports and Threats to National Security in the Oval Office of the White House on April 27. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) By Philip Rucker April 28 at 12:22 PM President Trump threatened to terminate the U.S. trade agreement with South Korea in an interview Thursday night, declaring that the five-year-old accord with a key ally was “a horrible deal” that has left America ­“destroyed.” During an Oval Office interview about trade policy in North America, Trump served notice that he is looking to disrupt an important partnership in the tumultuous Asia-Pacific region as well — even with Seoul on edge because of North Korea’s escalating military provocations. [Trump] [KORUSFTA] [Renege]
• War With North Korea: No Joke
  by John Stanton Tweet Email The 20th Century Korean War from 1950-1953 pitting US-led United Nations coalition forces against the North Korean and Chinese militaries has been in pause mode for 64 years. The Korean Armistice was signed on July 27, 1953 by the United States, China and North Korea. It called for a cessation of hostilities until a lasting peace agreement between the warring parties could be negotiated and signed. That, of course, has not happened due as much to North Korea’s rationally maniacal behavior and ruthless treatment of its citizens, as to its role as a useful pawn of the Chinese and American governments. The Chinese feel compelled to let the incendiary North Korean government in Pyongyang irritate and provoke the United States and much of the world community, and the Americans don’t mind having a large military presence to deter North Korea but also to keep an eye on the China and the Southeast (sic) Asian region. [US NK policy] [Bizarre]
• Trump sends South Korea a $1 billion invoice for THAAD
  Posted on : Apr.29,2017 14:44 KST Modified on : Apr.29,2017 14:44 KST US President Donald Trump speaks at the Department of Veteran Affairs in Washington DC on Apr. 27. (UPI/Yonhap News) Amount demanded by Trump is roughly equal to the purchase cost of one THAAD unit US President Donald Trump said South Korea would have to pay US$1 billion in expenses for the THAAD missile defense system deployment, a position he said he had informed the South Korean government of. The demand is expected to trigger some controversy, with the US’s calls for Seoul to pay a hefty price tag on the THAAD deployment coming on the heels of a surprise delivery of components to make the deployment a fait accompli before a new South Korean administration takes office next month. Trump also blasted the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) as a “horrible” deal and declared it should be either renegotiated or terminated. With this, the Trump administration is lobbing two grenades at the alliance simultaneously - demanding Seoul pay up on THAAD and renegotiating or terminating the KORUS FTA - in a move that focuses on US interests while ignoring the economic retribution South Korea is suffering from China over THAAD. [Trump] [THAAD] [Cost] [Tribute]
• [News analysis] Trump’s THAAD cost demand reflects his “America first” policy
  Posted on : Apr.29,2017 14:48 KST Modified on : Apr.29,2017 14:48 KST Demand that S. Korea pay for THAAD system also part of Trump’s strategy of distracting US public from domestic politics US President Donald Trump’s demand in an Apr. 27 Reuters interview that South Korea pay for the costs of the THAAD missile defense system deployment appears to have complex ties to his “America first” policy approach and method of business negotiations, along with his vulnerable political situation in the US. To begin with, Trump has adhered to an “America first” approach stressing US interests during his election campaign and since taking office, while calling on South Korea, NATO, and other allies to pay a greater cost for stationing US troops. The argument is that because the US is guarding its allies’ security, they should not be riding for free on its security coattails. Since the very beginning of his term, Trump has made it clear he has no intention of backing down on the expense issue - even with key allies. [Trump] [THAAD] [Cost] [Tribute]
• With US seeking payment for THAAD, locals ask “Is South Korea a colony?”
  Posted on : Apr.29,2017 14:47 KST Modified on : Apr.29,2017 14:47 KST Residents of Soseong Village, North Gyeongsang Province hold a press conference calling for the US to make a formal apology for a soldier who was seen smiling as he used his mobile phone to film residents protesting the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system, Apr. 28. Residents near deployment site and civic groups incensed over US demand that S. Korea cough up $1 billion for THAAD “We’re already upset about THAAD being deployed in our town, and now they want us to pay for it, too? South Korea can’t pay, so just send it back to the US,” said Lim Soon-boon, 61, on Apr. 28. “At first, the US said it would be paying for the deployment, so it’s ridiculous for them to start asking us to pay for it now.” Lim is head of the women’s association in Soseong Village, Chojeon Township, Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province, where the THAAD missile defense system is being deployed. “I’m grateful to Trump for bringing us to the realization that the US’s ultimate goal was to sell THAAD to South Korea,” said Bae Mi-yeong, 39, a Seongju resident. On the day that US President Donald Trump asked South Korea to pay US$1 billion to deploy THAAD and South Korea’s Defense Ministry rejected the request, a group chatroom on KakaoTalk that is used by more than 800 residents of Seongju was filled with comments about “bastards selling out the country” and “morons in the Defense Ministry.” “It seems as if not a single thing has gone right with the THAAD deployment. It doesn’t make sense for the Defense Ministry to deny that when the US president is openly asking for US$1 billion,” said Kim Chung-hwan, 57, co-chair of the Seongju Committee Fighting for the Cancellation of the THAAD Deployment. [Trump] [THAAD] [Cost] [Tribute] [Public opinion] [US dominance] [Client]
• South Korean trade officials bracing for possible “termination” of KORUS FTA
  Posted on : Apr.29,2017 14:49 KST Modified on : Apr.29,2017 14:49 KST Several US officials have mentioned amending the agreement, but Trump first to discuss scrapping it altogether Bewildered South Korean trade officials have already begun taking response measures on the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), which they see as unlikely to continue under its present system after President Donald Trump raised the possibility of “terminating” it. Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, and other top US administration officials had mentioned the possibility of renegotiating the KORUS FTA on several occasions in the past, but Trump’s remarks were the first to raise the specter of termination. The current KORUS FTA agreement states that it may be terminated effective 180 days from the date when one party notifies the other in writing of its intent to terminate it. South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Joo Hyung-hwan and Second Vice Minister Woo Tae-hee have visited Washington several times since Trump took office to meet with senior US officials, but sources said none of the US officials had mentioned the possibility of the FTA’s termination - an indication of just how unexpected Trump’s Apr. 27 remarks were. [KORUS FTA] [Renege]
• US Secretary of State alludes to direct dialogue with North Korea
  Posted on : Apr.29,2017 14:51 KST Modified on : Apr.29,2017 14:51 KST Rex Tillerson says the US will seek to convince North Korea that they don’t need nukes to survive US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the US could negotiate directly with Pyongyang in order to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue. When asked during an interview with NPR on Apr. 27 whether direct dialogue between the US and North Korea would help relieve international conflict, Tillerson said, “Obviously, that [dialogue] would be the way we would like to solve this.” [Bilateral] [US NK Negotiations] [Preconditions]
• Trump baffles Seoul over THAAD, FTA
  Posted : 2017-04-28 17:21 Updated : 2017-04-28 18:56 In the top left photo, elements of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery are being installed on a former golf course in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, Friday. In the bottom left photo, members of the Korean Federation of Environmental Movements stage a protest against the deployment of the anti-missile system at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, Friday. In the right photo, U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Department of the Interior in Washington, Wednesday. Trump said in an interview with Reuters Thursday that Seoul should pay the cost for the battery which is around $1 billion. / AP-Yonhap Payment call will turn public against THAAD By Jun Ji-hye U.S. President Donald Trump has abruptly demanded that Seoul pay $1 billion for the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here, stoking negative public sentiment against the anti-missile system. In response to the unexpected, deal-breaking remark, the Ministry of National Defense said Friday that Washington should pay any costs in accordance with the two countries' Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) that governs the treatment of U.S. forces stationed here. Trump's comments were squarely against the allies' previous agreement, reached based on SOFA, which calls for South Korea to provide the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) with the site for the anti-missile shield and other infrastructure, and for the U.S. to bear the cost of deployment and operation. The government provided the USFK with land in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province, previously owned by Lotte Group, April 20. Trump's surprise remarks are adding fuel to the ongoing controversy over the deployment of the THAAD battery, giving objectors another reason to oppose it, along with fierce protests from local residents over the system's possible environmental risks. During an interview with Reuters, Thursday, President Trump said the THAAD system was to protect South Korean people, questioning why the U.S. should pay for that. "On the THAAD system, it's about a billion dollars. I said, ‘Why are we paying? Why are we paying a billion dollars? We're protecting,'" he said. "So, I informed South Korea it would be appropriate if they paid." Stressing that the battery is "phenomenal" and "the most incredible" equipment to shoot down enemy missiles, he continued: "We're going to protect them. But they should pay for that, and they understand that." [Trump] [THAAD] [Cost] [Tribute] [KORUS FTA] [Friction]
• Letter to Trump from female peace activists of WomenCrossDMZ
  President Donald Trump Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Secretary of Defense James Mattis H.R. McMaster, National Security Council April 26, 2017 Dear President Trump: We are women leaders from over 40 countries, including the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and many from nations that fought in the Korean War. We are from academia, business, civil society and the military, and represent a diversity of ethnicities, nationalities, religions, and political views. We are united by our belief that diplomacy is the only way to resolve the nuclear crisis and threat of war now facing the Korean peninsula. On July 27, 1953, leaders from the United States, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and China signed the Armistice Agreement to halt the Korean War. They promised to re-convene within three months to replace the ceasefire with a binding peace agreement. This never occurred and an entrenched state of war has ever since defined inter-Korean and U.S.-D.P.R.K. relations. This war must end. [WomenCrossDMZ]
• THAAD Battery to Be up and Running 'in a Few Days'
  By Lee Yong-soo April 28, 2017 09:34 The Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery being set up at a former golf course in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province will be operational in a matter of days, the Defense Ministry said Thursday. Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun said the battery will soon be put into "actual operation," not merely "testing operation," giving South Korean and the U.S. the capacity to deal with North Korean provocations. Adm. Harry Harris, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, also told the U.S. House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that the battery will become operational "in the coming days." [THAAD] [SK_election17]
• U.S. Navy Commander Names N.Korea as No.1 Threat
  April 28, 2017 11:15 U.S. Pacific Command chief Adm. Harry Harris on Wednesday named North Korea as the "most imminent threat" to the U.S. and its allies in the Pacific and urged lawmakers to support the deployment of advanced American weapons in the region. Harris was speaking at the House Armed Services Committee, where he devoted two-thirds of his opening statement to the North Korean standoff. He also told the committee that the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery being set up in South Korea will become operational "in the coming days," which will give the two allies the capacity to deal with North Korean provocations. [US NK policy] [Threat]
• Trump’s North Korea policy announcement indicates concentrating of diplomatic resources
  Posted on : Apr.28,2017 15:58 KST Modified on : Apr.28,2017 15:58 KST US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence leave after a closed-door briefing on new North Korea policy, at the White House for the members of the Senate, in Washington DC, Apr. 26. (UPI/Yonhap News) Trump administration may also be turning attention to North Korea issue to distract from lack of progress domestically The US announcement of its policy toward North Korea on Apr. 26 in the form of a joint statement by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats – that is, the top diplomats and security officials in the administration of President Donald Trump – carries considerable weight both because of its official status and because of the message it sends to the outside world. The joint statement’s formal espousal of denuclearization through negotiations with the North (an idea that had been occasionally brought up before) is also significant in light of the confused attitude the Trump administration has had toward its North Korean policy framework. The joint statement released by the three officials on Apr. 26 is unprecedented. It can be seen as a declaration that the Trump administration regards tackling the North Korean nuclear issue as a top foreign policy priority and as an expression of its commitment to concentrating diplomatic resources on that agenda in the future. [US NK policy] [Policy poverty] [Wishful thinking]
• THAAD missile defense system to become operational soon
  Posted on : Apr.28,2017 16:00 KST Modified on : Apr.28,2017 16:00 KST Components of the THAAD missile defense system being moved to the Seongju golf course site in North Gyeongsang Province, Apr. 27. (by Kim Seong-gwang, staff photographer) Defense Ministry deploying the system without conducting a thorough environmental impact assessment The THAAD missile defense system that US Forces Korea suddenly deployed to the Seongju Golf Course in North Gyeongsang Province is to begin operations soon. The announcement that THAAD will soon become fully operational before an environmental impact assessment has even been conducted is likely to spark further controversy over the deployment. During a regular press briefing on the morning of Apr. 27, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesperson Moon Sang-gyun explained remarks by Admiral Henry Harris, commander of the US Pacific Command, as meaning that THAAD would be “actually” operational, not just on a trial basis. During an appearance before the US House Armed Services Committee on Apr. 26, Harris said that THAAD would be operational before long. “What this means is that some of the launchers, the fire control station and the radar, which are currently on site, will be connected and acquire initial operational capability,” Moon added. [THAAD] [SK_election17]
• US soldier transporting THAAD components smiles as he films weeping protesters
  Posted on : Apr.28,2017 16:03 KST Modified on : Apr.28,2017 16:03 KST A video of a US soldier grinning as he uses his mobile phone to film residents opposing the delivery of THAAD system components in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province. The channel “Soseong Village Situation Room Opposing THAAD” posted the 3-minute, 24-second video on YouTube. Won Buddhist community expresses disappointment for deployment of THAAD to sacred site in Seongju A video has surfaced of a US soldier grinning as he uses his mobile phone to film residents opposing the delivery of THAAD system components in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province. The channel “Soseong Village Situation Room Opposing THAAD” posted the 3-minute, 24-second video on YouTube on Apr. 27 under the title “Laughing US soldiers film weeping Soseong grandmother.” The video was taken at around 6:50 am on Apr. 26 as US Forces Korea trailers and trucks entered the former Lotte Skyhill Seongju Country Club site carrying THAAD components. Police had forced residents off of the road, where the trailers and trucks formed a line heading into the golf course site. In the video, residents can be heard shouting and crying. Some are heard urgently yelling, “People are getting hurt” and “Don’t push.” While this is happening, a US soldier in the passenger seat of one of the trucks can be seen filming residents on his cell phone. “The residents were screaming after being pushed out of the way by police with shields. To see that and smile as you film it shows no human decency,” said incensed Seongju resident Park Su-gyu, 54, who was present at the time. [THAAD] [Protest] [Arrogance]
• Payment call to turn public against THAAD
  Posted : 2017-04-28 17:21 Updated : 2017-04-28 17:44 In the top left photo, elements of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery are being installed on a former golf course in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, Friday. In the bottom left photo, members of the Korean Federation of Environmental Movements stage a protest against the deployment of the anti-missile system at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, Friday. In the right photo, U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Department of the Interior in Washington, Wednesday. Trump said in an interview with Reuters Thursday that Seoul should pay the cost for the battery which is around $1 billion. / AP-Yonhap By Jun Ji-hye U.S. President Donald Trump has abruptly demanded Seoul pay $1 billion for the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here, stoking negative public sentiment against the anti-missile system. In response to the unexpected, deal-breaking remark, the Ministry of National Defense said Friday that Washington should pay any costs in accordance with the two countries' Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) that governs the treatment of U.S. forces stationed here. Trump's comments were squarely against to the allies' previous agreement, reached based on SOFA, which calls for South Korea to provide the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) with the site for the missile defense system and other infrastructure, and for the U.S. bear the cost of deployment and operation. The government already offered the USFK land in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province, previously owned by Lotte Group, April 20. Trump's surprise remarks are adding fuel to the ongoing controversy over the deployment of the THAAD battery, giving objectors another reason to oppose it, along with fierce protests from local residents over the system's possible environmental risks.
  During an interview with Reuters, Thursday, President Trump said the THAAD system is to protect South Korean people, questioning why the U.S. should pay for that. "On the THAAD system, it's about a billion dollars. I said, ‘Why are we paying? Why are we paying a billion dollars? We're protecting,'" he said. "So, I informed South Korea it would be appropriate if they paid." [THAAD] [Tribute] [Trump] [Public opinion]
• Hopes growing over dialogue with N. Korea as US softens war talk
  Posted : 2017-04-27 17:05 Updated : 2017-04-28 15:45 By Yi Whan-woo The incoming South Korean government is expected to be in sync with President Donald Trump's administration over policies on North Korea, given that the latter is surprisingly open to dialogue with Pyongyang, according to analysts, Thursday. Dampening talk of military action against the North, the U.S. suggested "tightening economic sanctions and pursuing diplomatic measures" against the reclusive regime in a statement issued Wednesday. [US NK policy] [US SK] [Wishful thinking]
• Trump Warns That ‘Major, Major Conflict’ With North Korea Is Possible
  By Gerry Mullany April 27, 2017 Photo President Trump during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office on Thursday. “There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea” if diplomatic efforts fail to resolve a dispute over that country’s weapons programs, Mr. Trump said. Credit Carlos Barria/Reuters HONG KONG — President Trump warned Thursday of the possibility of a “major, major conflict” with North Korea, in an interview in which he said he was seeking a diplomatic solution to concerns that Pyongyang was preparing to conduct another nuclear test. In the interview with Reuters, Mr. Trump praised President Xi Jinping of China for his efforts to resolve the dispute over North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons programs, but he cautioned that diplomatic efforts might fail. “There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea,” he said. “Absolutely.” [Trump] [Bluster] [Test] [US NK policy]
• U.S. Starts Setting up THAAD Battery in Korea
  By Kim Jin-myung April 27, 2017 09:26 Angry protests on Thursday greeted the first U.S. military trucks carrying parts for a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery that is hastily being set up in southern Korea. The U.S. and South Korean governments are in a hurry to set up the battery before the presidential election on May 9 as candidates still dispute the controversial deployment. Some 8,000 police were deployed to block roads as the equipment was moved to Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province in an unannounced operation in the early morning hours. It had been quietly shipped to Busan last month and kept in storage until now. It included a high-powered radar that will be used to track incoming missiles. [THAAD] [Protest]
• No Exit? The NY Times and North Korea
  by Mel Gurtov
  Three opinion pieces on US policy toward North Korea have appeared in the New York Times in the past week. They deserve critical comment. The writers are all very capable people who share a deep concern about Korea’s security and the possibility of a major blowup that would cause enormous human and material losses throughout the Asia Pacific. As a longtime student of Korean affairs, however, I find that these commentaries—which reflect analysis in the US mainstream media generally—are narrowly focused and alarmist. They would make it seem that, like climate change, we are doomed because “the situation” has entrapped us. [US NK policy]
• Hurried THAAD deployment to make fait accompli, before election
  Posted on : Apr.27,2017 16:46 KST Modified on : Apr.27,2017 16:46 KST Residents of Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province are blocked by police from protesting the arrival of components of the THAAD missile defense system at the deployment site, Apr. 26. (Yonhap News) Equipment was delivered without having conducted an environmental impact assessment It was confirmed that US Forces Korea unexpectedly delivered the key components of the THAAD missile defense system - including the radar, the fire control system and the launchers - to the golf course in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province in the early morning hours of Apr. 26. The delivery is being criticized as an attempt by the South Korean and US governments to prevent the next South Korean president (who will be elected in 13 days) from discussing the issue any further with the US or China, and therefore as an act of deception against the South Korean public and an act of violence against the sovereignty of the Republic of Korea. Minjoo Party candidate Moon Jae-in and Justice Party candidate Shim Sang-jung both strongly expressed their regret, and residents of Seongju County are taking steps to resist the deployment, suggesting that this will have consequences for the presidential election. [THAAD] [SK_Election17]
• Who is rushing the THAAD deployment, and why?
  Posted on : Apr.27,2017 16:45 KST Modified on : Apr.27,2017 16:45 KST Blue House National Security Chief Kim Kwan-jin made two visits to the US, may have made a back room deal It happened like a sneak attack in the dead of night. All set procedures were utterly disregarded. With US Forces Korea and the Ministry of National Defense proceeding on Apr. 26 with the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system, the question for many now is just who made the decision and when. Whoever it was - and whatever their intentions - is likely to face accusations of interfering in the May 9 presidential election, where the THAAD issue was certain to be a key point of contention. The THAAD deployment has been timed to coincide with the election from the beginning. In announcing the decision on July 8 of last year, the Ministry of National Defense and USFK said combat placement would happen “no later than late next year [2017].” At that time, no one was even discussing the possibility of then-President Park Geun-hye‘s impeachment, so the next presidential election would have been scheduled for December of this year. [THAAD] [SK_Election17]
• New leader may cooperate with Trump for dialogue with N. Korea
  Posted : 2017-04-27 17:05 Updated : 2017-04-27 17:49 By Yi Whan-woo The incoming South Korean government is expected to be in sync with President Donald Trump's administration over policies on North Korea, given that the latter is surprisingly open to dialogue with Pyongyang, according to analysts, Thursday. Dampening talk of military action against the North, the U.S. suggested "tightening economic sanctions and pursuing diplomatic measures" against the reclusive regime in a statement issued Wednesday. Summarizing a White Housing briefing before Congress, the statement also suggested that the Trump administration remains "open to negotiations" regarding the Kim Jong-un regime's denuclearization, while being fully prepared for self-defense. Jointly issued by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis and National Intelligence Director Dan Coats, the statement finalizes the Trump government's doctrine on Pyongyang. "This is believed to be in line with the two leading presidential candidates' North Korea policies," said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University. The two candidates _ Moon Jae-in and Ahn Cheol-soo _ have called for a two-track strategy of maintaining sanctions on while simultaneously resuming dialogue with North Korea. Assuming that either Moon or Ahn will win in the presidential race, some analysts, however, are doubtful about such strategy as it clashes with the hawkish Trump government's repeated assertion of using military options, including a pre-emptive strike. But Kim Yong-hyun said: "Now, it can be said that a candidate who aggressively seeks dialogue with Pyongyang will be in sync with Washington's diplomatic stance on the North." [US NK policy] [Negotiations] [Wishful thinking]
• Full text of US statement on North Korea policy
  Posted : 2017-04-27 10:35 Updated : 2017-04-27 10:40 Following in the full text of a joint statement on North Korea issued by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.
  Past efforts have failed to halt North Korea's unlawful weapons programs and nuclear and ballistic missile tests. With each provocation, North Korea jeopardizes stability in Northeast Asia and poses a growing threat to our allies and the U.S. homeland. [US NK policy] [Policy poverty]
• Diplomacy with North Korea: A Real Benchmark for President Trump’s 100 Days
  If Trump wants to make an early mark with North Korea, it should be with the only thing that's ever worked: diplomacy. By Christine Ahn, April 26, 2017. The Trump administration recently announced an emergency meeting with 100 senators at the White House, where many speculated that Trump would disclose new intelligence to justify U.S. military action against North Korea, or else more sanctions. Neither would constitute a success in the Trump administration’s first 100 days. What would is calling for diplomacy to avert nuclear war. Any military action by the United States, however limited, would provoke a conflict that could instantly kill millions on the Korean peninsula — and threaten a regional nuclear war that could draw in Japan, China, and Russia. Every president before Trump considered a pre-emptive strike against North Korea, but they were quickly sobered by the reality that a military option would trigger a counter-reaction from Pyongyang. The Obama, Bush, and Clinton administrations all felt they couldn’t justify military action that would kill millions of South Koreans and endanger the 28,500 U.S. soldiers and 230,000 U.S. citizens residing there. [US NK policy] [Engagement]
• North Korea puts out new video showing the White House in crosshairs and carriers exploding
  By Anna Fifield April 27 at 5:55 PM SEOUL — A North Korean propaganda outlet released a video clip on Thursday showing simulated attacks on the United States and declaring that “the enemy to be destroyed is in our sights.” [Retaliation]
• Trump administration talks tough on North Korea, but frustrated lawmakers want details
  Senators react after White House briefing on North Korea Play Video1:46 After senators attended a briefing on North Korea at the White House, April 26, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), Angus King (I-Maine) and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) said China must pressure North Korea into stopping its nuclear weapons program. (Dalton Bennett, Alice Li/The Washington Post) By David Nakamura and Ed O'Keefe April 26 at 7:56 PM President Trump and his top national security advisers briefed congressional lawmakers Wednesday on what a senior aide called the “very grave threat” posed by North Korea, but they offered few details about the administration’s strategy to pressure Pyongyang. Administration officials emphasized in a pair of private briefings — one open to all senators and held at the White House complex and one for House members on Capitol Hill — that they were developing a range of economic, diplomatic and military measures in the wake of a series of provocations from North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s regime. Lawmakers said they came away convinced that the Trump administration recognized the urgency of the mounting tensions on the Korean Peninsula, where Pyongyang conducted a failed missile test last week and drew international condemnation for the launch. But several members of Congress said the administration remained vague about its efforts to confront Pyongyang beyond tougher talk from Trump. [Trump] [US NK policy] [Policy poverty] [Senate]
• White House holds out prospect of diplomatic solution to North Korea crisis
  North Korea conducted a live-fire artillery drill to mark the founding of the country's army on April 25. The White House plans to host a private briefing on North Korea for the U.S. Senate amid growing concern over Pyongyang's nuclear program. (Reuters) By Anna Fifield April 25 at 5:07 PM TOKYO — As North Korea conducted live-fire drills Tuesday and South Korea, Japan and the United States carried out their own military exercises, the White House said there is still room for a diplomatic resolution. “The more that we can solve this diplomatically and continue to apply pressure on China and other countries to use the political and economic tools that they have to achieve a goal in stabilization in the region, but also to tamp down the threat that North Korea faces,” said Sean Spicer, President Trump’s spokesman, “I think that that is something that we all share.” Spicer said the cordial meeting Trump had with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida earlier this month was “paying off dividends.” He boasted that “this president’s relationships that he’s building with heads of government is clearly reestablishing America’s place in the world and getting results for the country.” At the same time, one of the largest U.S. guided-missile submarines showed up in the South Korean port of Busan, presaging the imminent arrival in the region of a naval strike group led by an aircraft carrier. A national meeting at the People's Palace of Culture in Pyongyang on April 24 in celebration of the 85th anniversary of the Korean People's Army. (Korean Central News Agency/AFP/Getty Images) Kim Jong Un’s regime marked the 85th anniversary of the founding of North Korea’s army Tuesday with its typical bluster. “If the enemies dare opt for the military adventure despite our repeated warnings, our armed forces­ will wipe the strongholds of aggression off the surface of the Earth through powerful preemptive nuclear attacks,” Defense Minister Pak Yong Sik said in a televised speech before a hall filled with the country’s top brass. [US NK policy] [China hope] [Warning] [Bluster]
• 8th U.S. Army Starts Moving Out of Seoul
  By Yu Yong-weon April 26, 2017 13:06 The Eighth U.S. Army on Tuesday started moving its headquarters out of the old garrison in Seoul to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, further away from the tense inter-Korean border. The Eighth Army, which forms the core of the U.S. Forces Korea, held a symbolic ceremony at the Yongsan Garrison on Tuesday morning to take down a statue of Gen. Walton Walker (1899-1950) and ship it to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, the new USFK headquarters. Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, the commanding general of the Eighth Army, hosted the ceremony with Korean and U.S. military leaders attending. [Drawback] [USFK]
• N.Korean Army Anniversary Passes Without Major Incident
  By Lee Yong-soo April 26, 2017 09:24 The 85th anniversary of the North Korean Army on Tuesday passed without a dreaded nuclear or missile launch as U.S. naval forces massed near the Korean Peninsula and pressure from China rose. Instead, the North conducted a large-scale artillery drill in remote Kangwon Province in the east, a face-saving solution that led many to breathe a huge sigh of relief. That suggests U.S. President Donald Trump's gamble paid off and overwhelming force is for now a language the North understands. The nuclear-powered submarine USS Michigan arrives in Busan on Tuesday. /Courtesy of the U.S. Navy The U.S. bolstered its military presence around the peninsula as a warning against a North Korean provocation. The USS Michigan, a nuclear-powered submarine armed with some 150 guided missiles arrived in Busan on Tuesday, while a separate Navy strike group led by the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson made its way into nearby waters. China, meanwhile, appears to have cut off or threatened to cut off oil supplies to North Korea as well as massing troops at the border and increasing diplomatic pressure. But experts say it is too early to crow. One intelligence source said, "In the end, North Korea conducts its nuclear or missile tests when it has made progress in weapons development. There are also internal and logistical demands, so the threat of a fresh provocation has not gone away altogether, just postponed." Once U.S. pressure eases, Pyongyang may well decide to push ahead. [Deterrence] [Tactical pause] [Test]
• Tensions set to continue as US and South Korea step up pressure on North Korea
  Posted on : Apr.26,2017 17:41 KST Modified on : Apr.26,2017 17:41 KST The USS Michigan (SSGN 727), a nuclear-powered submarine in the US navy, also arrived at the port of Busan on Apr. 25. US Naval Forces Korea Command described this as “a routine visit during a regularly scheduled deployment to the Western Pacific.” (Yonhap News) North Korean holiday passes without major provocation, as US navy hardware comes to South Korea for exercises Even though North Korea did not take any actions to heighten tensions - such as testing a nuclear device or launching a missile - on Apr. 25, the 85th anniversary of the foundation of the Korean People’s Army, South Korea and the US initiated a series of joint exercises the same day in the West (Yellow) Sea and the East Sea, and the US government under President Donald Trump intends to intensify sanctions until North Korea comes to the table to discuss denuclearization. As a result, low-level tensions are expected to continue for the time being. The USS Wayne E. Meyer, an Aegis-equipped destroyer, participated in gunnery exercises in the West Sea on Apr. 25 with the ROKS Wang Geon, a 4,400-ton destroyer in the South Korean navy. The two navies will also reportedly be carrying out missile detection, tracking and interception drills in the West Sea to prepare for the contingency of a North Korean missile launch. 300 artillery units participate in military exercises in Wonsan, North Korea, in this photo from the Apr. 25 edition of the Rodong Sinmun newspaper. (Yonhap News) The USS Michigan, a nuclear-powered submarine in the US navy, also arrived at the port of Busan on Apr. 25. US Naval Forces Korea Command described this as “a routine visit during a regularly scheduled deployment to the Western Pacific.” “The submarine is visiting the port to provide its crew with some R&R and to pick up supplies, and no plans for exercises have been confirmed thus far,” said Jang Wook, chief communications officer for the South Korean navy, during a briefing. [US NK policy] [Escalation]
• Moon expresses strong regret over THAAD
  Posted : 2017-04-26 17:08 Updated : 2017-04-26 17:32 A military vehicle carrying parts of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system moves to a golf course in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province, Wednesday, while police confront local residents protesting the deployment. The U.S. Forces Korea pushed for an overnight operation to transport THAAD elements including its radar to the site to begin the controversial installation. / Yonhap By Jun Ji-hye Leading presidential candidate Moon Jae-in said Wednesday that he strongly regretted the rush to start the deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province. Moon of the Democratic Party of Korea said that the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), which pushed for a surprise overnight operation to transport elements of the anti-missile system, ignored due procedure and the opinion of the South Korean people. The USFK brought the AN/TPY-2 X-Band radar, mobile launchers and other parts, needed to set up the THAAD unit, onto a former golf course in Seongju by trailers and trucks early in the morning. The USFK secured the land, previously owned by Lotte Group, from the South Korean government, April 20. The sudden deployment of the advanced missile defense system comes at a sensitive time when the presidential election here is just two weeks away. Moon said he is firm in the position that the U.S. government should discuss the deployment of THAAD with the next South Korean administration. "The THAAD deployment should not be rushed ahead of the presidential election," Moon told reporters. Rep. Park Kwang-on, public relations chief of Moon's election campaign, said that deploying the equipment before the completion of an environmental survey showed that due procedure had not been followed. "We express strong regret for that," he said, noting that local residents still oppose the installation. [Moon Jae-in] [THAAD] [SK_Election17]
• Seoul, Washington, Tokyo seek to ban N. Korea's trade of fishing rights if provoked
  Posted : 2017-04-26 12:43 Updated : 2017-04-26 12:43 South Korea, the United States and Japan plan to push for a ban on North Korea's trade of fishing rights if it conducts a fresh nuclear or missile provocation, a diplomatic source said Wednesday. The countries are currently reviewing a plan to craft new U.N. Security Council sanctions including prohibiting the communist country from selling its fishing rights and exporting its labor, in the event that it carries out another nuclear test or a test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, according to the source. The measures, if enacted, are expected to further squeeze North Korea's foreign currency earnings, which are believed to be funneled into its development of nuclear weapons and missiles. After a trilateral meeting of the three countries' envoys on the North Korean nuclear issue in Tokyo on Tuesday, South Korea's Kim Hong-kyun said they agreed to take "unbearably strong punitive action" if the North goes ahead with a strategic military provocation amid signs that the North is preparing its sixth nuclear test or the first ICBM launch. The trade of fishing rights with China and the dispatch of workers overseas are key foreign currency income sources for North Korea. North Korea is believed to have sold to China the rights to fish in the waters along the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime demarcation between the two Koreas. North Korea reportedly earned US$75 million from the transaction with China. Whether it would be possible remains to be seen, as adding the new measure to a UNSC resolution requires consent from China, the biggest ally of North Korea, as well as the dominant buyer of North Korean fishing rights and a permanent member of the UNSC. (Yonhap) [Secondary Sanctions] [Fishery] [Legality] [China hope] [False equality]
• USS Carl Vinson raises risk of Kim's miscalculation
  Posted : 2017-04-25 18:26 Updated : 2017-04-26 09:49 This is the sixth in a series of interviews with international experts on North Korea to see how its nuclear issues will unfold down the road and seek ways to secure stability on the Korean Peninsula. ? ED. By Kim Jae-kyoung The dispatch of the United States aircraft carrier the USS Carl Vinson will raise the risks of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's miscalculation of threats to his regime, warned James D. Bindenagel, a former U.S. Ambassador to Germany. He said the dispatch draws a red line with unpredictable results, which he believes could lead to a military conflict. [US NK policy] [Trump] [Vinson] [Bluster]
• Is N. Korea freaked out by surge of US strike assets?
  Posted : 2017-04-25 17:20 Updated : 2017-04-26 09:50 The USS Michigan, a Ohio-class nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine, arrives at Busan Port, Tuesday. The sub can carry about 150 Tomahawk missiles capable of conducting a surgical strike on key North Korean facilities. / Courtesy of the United States Forces Korea N. Korea warned of fresh provocation By Jun Ji-hye U.S. strategic assets including a nuclear-powered submarine are gathering around the Korean Peninsula in a show of force against North Korea as the regime in Pyongyang celebrated the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army, Tuesday. The dispatch of advanced weapons comes amid growing worries that the North may conduct large-scale military provocations including a nuclear test to mark the event. As of Tuesday, the North showed no unusual movements other than conducting a live-fire drill near the eastern city of Wonsan, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The USS Michigan, an Ohio-class nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine, arrived in South Korea's port city of Busan, Tuesday morning, during a regularly scheduled deployment to the Western Pacific. "This visit is yet another example of the steadfast ROK and U.S. naval partnership," said Rear Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Korea. "We (the U.S. and ROK navies) work closely with one another every day of the year and this well-deserved port visit is a chance for Michigan sailors to enjoy the wonderful Busan culture that U.S. Navy Korea sailors experience each and every day." As one of the largest submarines in the world, the Michigan is about 170 meters long and weighs more than 18,000 tons when submerged. The sub can carry about 150 Tomahawk missiles capable of conducting a surgical strike on the North's key facilities. [Escalation]
• U.S. moves THAAD anti-missile to South Korean site, sparking protests
  By Ju-min Park and Jack Kim | SEOUL The U.S. military moved parts of an anti-missile defense system to a deployment site in South Korea on Wednesday amid heightened tensions over North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons programs, triggering protests from villagers and China. The top U.S. commander in the Asia-Pacific, Admiral Harry Harris, told the U.S. Congress the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system would be operational "in coming days." The earlier-than-expected steps to deploy system were denounced both by China, and the frontrunner in South Korea's presidential election on May 9. [THAAD] [SK_election17]
• U.S., Allies Preparing 'Shock Therapy' for N.Korea
  By Cho Yi-jun, Kim Jin-myung April 25, 2017 09:50 The U.S., Japan and South Korea have agreed to prepare a "shock therapy package" for North Korea in case it conducts another nuclear or missile test, officials here said Monday. "Seoul, Washington, and Tokyo are going to discuss concrete ways to take punitive actions against the North in case it carries out a further provocation," a Foreign Ministry official here said. "Talk of shock therapy itself is sends a strong deterrent message." "Beijing has already given consent to the idea," another Foreign Ministry official claimed. "The key point is to cut off the North's sources of hard currency with the help of China, while the three countries are mulling their own sanctions like the U.S. designating the North as a state sponsor of terrorism and a secondary boycott." The chief nuclear negotiators from the three countries meet in Tokyo on Tuesday, and their foreign ministers will sit down in New York on the sidelines of the UN Security Council Ministerial Meeting on Friday. © This is copyrighted material owned by Digital Chosun Inc. No part of it may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. [US NK policy] [Sanctions] [China hope]
• U.S. Nuclear Submarine Arrives in Busan
  By Lee Yong-soo April 25, 2017 10:16 The USS Michigan, a nuclear-powered submarine armed with some 150 guided missiles arrived at Busan port on Tuesday while a separate U.S. Navy strike group also makes its way into nearby waters. The deployments are intended as a dire warning to North Korea against carrying out another nuclear test or missile launch as the isolated state on Tuesday marks the anniversary of its 1.3-million-strong military. [Escalation] [Submarine]
• [News analysis] Spring tensions hit crescendo with North Korea’s army foundation day
  Posted on : Apr.25,2017 17:28 KST Modified on : Apr.25,2017 17:28 KST US President Donald Trump looks into a camera at the White House in Washington DC, Apr. 21. (AP/Yonhap News) US, China and Japan discussing possibility of nuclear test on day of last event for North Korean seasonal calendar Predictions of a sixth nuclear test around the 85th anniversary of the North Korean People’s Army‘s foundation on Apr. 25 are generating a sense of urgency in other countries involved in Korean Peninsula issues. The situation has prompted US President Donald Trump to hold telephone conversations with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. According to China’s state-run CCTV network, Trump and Xi discussed the North Korean nuclear issue in a telephone conversation on the morning of Apr. 24 (local time). The conversation comes after the two leaders’ summit on Apr. 6-7 and a telephone conversation on Apr. 12 - a frequency of communication that is unusual for US and Chinese leaders. During the Apr. 24 conversation, Xi told Trump that Beijing “resolutely opposes violations of UN Security Council resolutions, but it also hopes all the countries involved will maintain restraint and avoid actions that heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula.”
• Instead of threatening North Korea, Trump should try this
  By John Delury
  April 23 at 9:17 PM John Delury is an associate professor of Chinese studies at the Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies in Seoul. President Trump’s missile strike on Syria won plaudits from commentators on the left and right, with some of the enthusiasm spilling over into the debate about a “military solution” when it comes to North Korea. The comparison, like much of the administration’s rhetoric about Korea, is dangerously misleading. There is no way to hit North Korea without being hit back harder. There is no military means to “preempt” its capabilities — nuclear and otherwise — with a “surgical” strike. Any use of force to degrade its weapons program would start a war, the costs of which would be staggering. Maybe in the era of America First, we don’t care about death and destruction being visited on the 10 million people who live in Seoul, within North Korean artillery and short-range missile range. Do we care about some 140,000 U.S. citizens residing in South Korea — including soldiers and military families at bases here, plus more in nearby Japan? [US NK policy] [Military option] [Economy]
• Trump gets on the phone to Asia as another North Korea flash point looms
  President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping pause April 7 for photographs at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. Trump spoke by phone with Xi and the Japanese president April 24. (Alex Brandon/AP) By Simon Denyer and Anna Fifield April 24 at 10:37 AM BEIJING — President Trump was working the phones Monday morning Asia time, speaking to his counterparts in China and Japan ahead of another key anniversary and potential flash point in North Korea. Just days after the nation marked the birthday of founder Kim Il Sung with a massive military parade and missile test, there are concerns that North Korea could stage a provocative missile or nuclear test Tuesday, on the anniversary of its military’s founding. [Trump] [US NK policy] [Policy poverty]
• USFK to Stage Evacuation Drill in June
  By Lee Yong-soo April 24, 2017 12:15 The U.S. Forces Korea will practice evacuating American civilians from Korea in June. The drill comes amid growing rumblings from Washington of a possible preemptive strike on North Korea's nuclear or missile facilities. But the USFK carries out the drill, awkwardly dubbed "Courageous Channel," as a matter of routine twice a year and has deliberately postponed it by a month to avoid giving an impression of urgency, according to a military source here. [Evacuation] [Military option]
• Why Does North Korea Want Nukes?
  by Paul Atwood We are fighting in Korea so we won’t have to fight in Wichita, or in Chicago, or in New Orleans, or in San Francisco Bay. — President Harry S Truman, 1952 Why has this tiny nation of 24 million people invested so much of its limited resources in acquiring nuclear weapons? North Korea is universally condemned as a bizarre and failed state, its nuclear posture denounced as irrational. Yet North Korea’s stance cannot be separated out from its turbulent history during the 20th Century, especially its four decade long occupation by Japan, the forced division of the Korean peninsula after World War II, and, of course, the subsequent utterly devastating war with the United States from 1950-1953 that ended in an armistice in which a technical state of war still exists. Korea is an ancient nation and culture, achieving national unity in 608 CE, and despite its near envelopment by gigantic China it has retained its own unique language and traditions throughout its recorded history. National independence came to an end in 1910 after five years of war when Japan, taking advantage of Chinese weakness, invaded and occupied Korea using impressed labor for the industries Japan created for the benefit of its own economy. As always the case for colonization the Japanese easily found collaborators among the Korean elite Koreans to manage their first colony. Naturally a nationalist resistance movement emerged rapidly and, given the history of the early 20th Century, it was not long before communists began to play a significant role in Korea’s effort to regain its independence. The primary form of resistance came in the form of “peoples’ committees” which became deeply rooted throughout the entire peninsula, pointedly in the south as well. It was from these deeply political and nationalistic village and city committees that guerrilla groups engaged the Japanese throughout WWII. The parallels with similar organizations in Vietnam against the Japanese, and later against the French and Americans, are obvious. Another analogous similarity is that Franklin Roosevelt also wanted a Great Power trusteeship for Korea, as for Vietnam. Needless to say both Britain and France objected to this plan. [US NK policy] [History] [Deterrent]
• Trump administration to explain North Korea policy to Congress and experts
  Posted on : Apr.24,2017 15:14 KST Modified on : Apr.24,2017 15:14 KST From right to left, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Vice President Mike Pence Washington to pursue policy of “maximum pressure and engagement,” with pressure on China to play a key role The US Donald Trump administration has put the finishing touches on a new North Korean policy titled “maximum pressure and engagement,” and is now in the process of explaining it to Congress and experts. The explanations appeared to part of a ground-clearing effort aimed at establishing a cooperative opinion climate ahead of actual implementation of the policies. Trump also issued a series of tweets pressuring Beijing to actively sanction Pyongyang. Politico reported on Apr. 21 that Trump was planning to hold a closed-door North Korea policy briefing on Apr. 26 for around 100 US Senators. The briefing is to be attended by a number of foreign affairs and security agency leaders, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford, and Direct of National Intelligence Dan Coats. The North Korea policy briefing was originally to be held in the Senate Building, but the venue was abruptly changed to the White House on Apr. 21 and Senators’ aides were barred from attending. The move had some observers speculating that the Trump administration could be announcing a major change in its policies on the North Korean nuclear issue. But a Washington foreign affairs source said it was “apparently just an explanation of what’s already been said so far” and predicted there would be “nothing really new.” The Trump administration has also reportedly begun holding briefings for Korean Peninsula experts. [Trump] [US NK policy] [Policy poverty] [Congress]
• USFK to hold civilian evacuation drill in June
  Posted : 2017-04-23 16:59 Updated : 2017-04-24 11:04 By Jun Ji-hye The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) plans to conduct an evacuation drill in June to train soldiers to transport U.S. civilians living in South Korea to safety in the event of a contingency on the Korean Peninsula, sources said Sunday. The drill could take place in a realistic way in which soldiers would evacuate their family members and other civilians to places such as Japan by transport planes. Computer-simulated training could also be conducted instead of a realistic exercise, sources noted. [Evacuation] [USFK]
• 'Madman strategy' on N. Korea
  By Tong Kim Tensions keep mounting on the Korean peninsula as the U.S. and North Korea ratchet up their mutual threats of a preemptive strike against each other through bellicose rhetoric and saber rattling. There is no question any preventive or preempt strike by one side would instantly lead to a renewed war in Korea, that could spread beyond the peninsula. It is not new that Pyongyang puts out provocative statements, sticking to its nuclear and missile development. It is new that Washington keeps Pyongyang on notice with the threat of military option, although measured.
  Are both Trump and Kim Jong-un employing a "madman strategy" evolved from Nixon's madman theory: if Kim believes Trump is mad enough to use nuclear weapons to get rid of the North's nukes and ballistic missiles, Kim may be forced to cave in. What happens if Kim Jong-un also uses the madman strategy? The madness will have to be removed. What's your take? [US NK policy] [Madman theory] [Bizarre]
• North Korea detains American at airport
  North Korean authorities detained an American on Friday at the Pyongyang airport. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters) By Anna Fifield April 23 at 9:51 AM TOKYO — North Korea has detained another U.S. citizen, a Korean American professor, taking to three the number of Americans being held in Pyongyang. The Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, which represents U.S. interests there because the United States does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea, confirmed to The Washington Post that a U.S. national has been detained. Media in South Korea identified the man as Kim Sang-duk, a former professor at the Yanbian University of Science and Technology (YUST) in the northeastern Chinese city of Yanji, near the border with North Korea. Kim was arrested at Pyongyang’s international airport Friday as he was waiting to board a flight, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported. Kim had been teaching a class in international finance and management at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, a sister institution, for a month and was leaving the country with his wife when he was arrested, the specialist website NK News quoted the chancellor of PUST, Park Chan-mo, as saying. [Detainee]
• Amid North Korea crisis, Pence becomes Trump emissary abroad
  FILE - In this April 17, 2017 file photo Vice President Mike Pence arrives with U.S. Gen. Vincent Brooks, second from right, commander of the United Nations Command, U.S. Forces Korea and Combined Forces Command, and South Korean Deputy Commander of the Combined Force Command Gen. Leem Ho-young, left, at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, South Korea, Monday, April 17, 2017. Vice President Mike Pence’s 10-day, four nation visit to Asia has offered evidence that Pence is becoming one of Trump’s main emissaries on the global stage, patching up relations, reassuring allies who wonder about Trump’s unpredictable ways and diving into international crises like North Korea. (Lee Jin-man, File/Associated Press) By Ken Thomas?|?AP April 23 at 3:10 AM SYDNEY — As tensions rose on the Korean peninsula, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who has President Donald Trump’s trust but little diplomatic experience to go with it, became the top American official headed to the region after North Korea again failed to successfully launch a ballistic missile. Days later, the mild-mannered former governor stood along the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea and stared back at soldiers from the North. In Australia, Pence’s mission was to soothe any lingering hurt stemming from a tense telephone conversation Trump had with the prime minister in January. A 10-day swing through four Pacific Rim nations is offering evidence that Pence has become one of Trump’s chief emissaries on the world stage, patching up relations, reassuring allies still wondering about Trump’s unpredictable ways and diving into international crises like North Korea. [Pence] [Dysfunction]
• North Korea threatens nuclear war ahead of Trump meeting with U.N. Security Council
  UNITED NATIONS – North Korea declared in a series of statements Saturday that “U.S. muscle-flexing can never browbeat DPRK,” threatening “a nuclear war” against the U.S. if it is attacked. “The DPRK will react to a total war with an all-out war, a nuclear war with nuclear strikes of its own and surely win a victory in the death-defying struggle against the U.S. imperialists,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman wrote in one of three missives, echoing the message delivered by a top official at a massive military parade in Pyongyang on April 15. [Media] [Heading]
• White House: Korea has been independent for thousands of years
  Posted : 2017-04-22 11:56 Updated : 2017-04-22 12:39 The White House said Friday it is well aware that Korea has been "independent for thousands of years," after President Donald Trump quoted Chinese President Xi Jinping as claiming, falsely, that Korea used to be part of China. "We generally do not comment on the details of what is said between the President and other leaders. We know well that Korea has been independent for thousands of years," Michael Anton, deputy assistant to the president for strategic communications, told Yonhap News Agency. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal earlier this month, Trump talked about his discussions with Xi during their first summit meetings in Florida that Trump hoped to use to get China to exercise more of its influence over North Korea to rein in the provocative regime. [Trump] [China Korea] [History]
• What does Trump's 'very unusual moves' refer to?
  Posted : 2017-04-22 11:53 Updated : 2017-04-22 12:51 U.S. President Donald Trump was referring to "some things that were helpful" in resolving the problem of North Korea when he said a day earlier that "very unusual moves" have been made with regard to the issue, his spokesman said Friday. White House press secretary Sean Spicer, however, provided no further specifics. "The president, obviously, is privy to a lot of information. He's not going to share everything he knows, but there's some things that he saw that were helpful with respect to that subject," Spicer said during an off-camera press gaggle. Asked to be more specific, Spicer said, "I cannot. I'm not privy. No." Trump made the remark during a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni at the White House, praising Chinese President Xi Jinping for trying hard to rein in the North. "Many coal ships have been sent back. Many other things have happened. Some very unusual moves have been made over the last two or three hours. I really have confidence the president will try very hard," Trump said without elaborating. [Trump] [China hope] [US NK policy]
• N. Korea says 'ready to counter' US aggression
  Posted : 2017-04-22 11:41 Updated : 2017-04-22 11:41 North Korea has said it is closely monitoring moves by the United States and fully prepared to counter any "provocations." The North's foreign ministry said in a statement, released by the Korean Central News Agency on Saturday, that Pyongyang will never be intimidated by the recent U.S. actions, including the dispatch of a nuclear aircraft carrier strike group to waters off the Korean Peninsula. "Recently, the authorities of the Trump administration are spouting a load of rubbish calling for browbeating the DPRK by force of arms every day. They are crying out for settling the issue with the help of someone, seeking to bring nuclear aircraft carrier strike groups one after another to the waters off the Korean Peninsula," said the statement dated Friday. DPRK is the acronym of North Korea's official name. "Such intimidation and blackmail can never frighten the DPRK. ... The invincible revolutionary Paektusan army, closely following the maneuvers of the U.S., is waiting for an order only after rounding off its full preparedness to counter them immediately," said the statement written in English. The ministry said the North is determined to "go to the end," stressing its "access to a powerful nuclear deterrent to protect itself from the U.S. nuclear threat." It then vowed to take "Korean-style tough counteractions" to cope with any U.S. provocations. North Korea "neither fears a war nor wants to avoid it," the ministry said. The latest statement came amid growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. There is speculation that it may carry out its sixth nuclear test or launch an intercontinental ballistic missile. (Yonhap) [Retaliation]
• Twenty-five million reasons the U.S. hasn’t struck North Korea
  By Anna Fifield April 21 at 3:29 PM TOKYO — If the United States were to strike North Korea, Kim Jong Un’s regime would retaliate by unleashing its conventional weaponry lined up on the demilitarized zone that has separated the two Koreas for about seven decades. And that conventional weaponry is reliable, unlike North Korea’s missiles, and could cause major devastation in South Korea, which is a staunch ally of the United States. [Retaliation]
• With North Korea, we do have cards to play
  North Korean soldiers get off the backs of trucks as they arrive at the Central Zoo in Pyongyang. (Wong Maye-E/Associated Press) By Charles Krauthammer Opinion writer April 20 The crisis with North Korea may appear trumped up. It’s not. Given that Pyongyang has had nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles for more than a decade , why the panic now? Because North Korea is headed for a nuclear breakout. The regime has openly declared that it is racing to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach the United States — and thus destroy an American city at a Kim Jong Un push of a button. The North Koreans are not bluffing. They’ve made significant progress with solid-fuel rockets, which are more quickly deployable and thus more easily hidden and less subject to detection and preemption. At the same time, Pyongyang has been steadily adding to its supply of nuclear weapons. Today it has an estimated 10 to 16. By 2020, it could very well have a hundred. (For context: The British are thought to have about 200.) Hence the crisis. We simply cannot concede to Kim Jong Un the capacity to annihilate American cities. [US NK policy] [US NK Negotiations] [China hope]
• US considering resdesignation of North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism
  Posted on : Apr.21,2017 16:03 KST Modified on : Apr.21,2017 16:03 KST US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks at a briefing at the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington DC on Apr. 19 in which he mentioned possibly redesignating North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. (AP/Yonhap News) Resdesignation would have minimal economic effect due to sanctions, but would be another form of pressure on Pyongyang The US is reviewing the option of redesignating North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. This is being taken as a signal that the US intends to raise pressure on Pyongyang to the highest possible level. “We’re reviewing all of the status of North Korea, both in terms of state sponsorship of terrorism as well as all the other ways in which we can bring pressure to bear on the regime in Pyongyang to reengage,” said US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a briefing on Apr. 19 designed to explain the US’s review of its policy toward Iran. This reengagement would be “on a different footing than the past talks have been held,” Tillerson said, adding that the US was “evaluating all of those options.” [Terrorism List]
• U.S. Press Picks up on Trump's Korea Gaffe
  By Lee Kil-seong April 21, 2017 11:18 The Washington Post on Wednesday slammed U.S. President Donald Trump's claim that Korea "actually used to be a part of China" as a "blunder" and "misleading." Trump's claim was apparently based on a brief and inaccurate history lesson from Chinese President Xi Jinping, who brought his own chauvinist bias to the table. "Trump's inartful retelling of Sino-Korean history sparked widespread outrage among Koreans, who are particularly sensitive to the U.S. president's rhetoric," the newspaper wrote. "Korea has been long intertwined culturally and historically with China but was not under direct and official territorial control by China, despite repeated Chinese invasions." [Trump] [China Korea] [History] [Bizarre]
• U.S. Mulls Putting N.Korea Back on Terror Sponsors List
  By Cho Yi-jun April 21, 2017 10:22 Washington is considering whether it should put North Korea back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday. The remark came two days after Washington announced a new North Korea strategy of "maximum pressure and engagement" on Monday. Tillerson told reporters at the State Department. "We're reviewing all the status of North Korea, both in terms of state sponsorship of terrorism as well as the other ways in which we can bring pressure on the regime in Pyongyang to reengage with us," he said. "We are evaluating all of those options." [Terrorism List] [Escalation]
• [Correspondent’s column] Who played the starring and supporting roles in recent Korean peninsula crisis?
  Posted on : Apr.21,2017 15:58 KST Modified on : Apr.21,2017 15:58 KST The US Trump administration fed tensions with fake announcement, which was picked up by US and S. Korean media Rumors about a crisis on the Korean Peninsula have reappeared whenever there have been reasons for anxiety. Our constant exposure to these rumors is too distressing for us to accept them as the inescapable destiny of those who live on this divided peninsula. The rumors of crisis on the peninsula this April demand our reflection in particular since they plainly show how our neighbors act when South Korea has been weakened politically and economically. To begin with, rumors of crisis typically used to be provoked by speculation about the North Korean regime collapsing when negotiations about the North Korean nuclear program reached an impasse or following incidents in the North such as the death of former leader Kim Jong-il in 2011. But the main actor and the epicenter of these rumors was the US government under President Donald Trump. The rumors were triggered by the “fake announcement” that the USS Carl Vinson, an American aircraft carrier, had abruptly changed course for the Korean Peninsula when it departed Singapore on Apr. 8. To be sure, there were many predictions that the North would carry out a nuclear test on Apr. 15, the Day of the Sun (which celebrates the birthday of North Korean founding leader Kim Il-sung). But since such predictions routinely accompany major events inside North Korea, there was nothing special about this year. The Trump administration had to have known about the rapidly spreading rumors of a crisis on the Korean Peninsula, but it did nothing to stop them. If anything, Trump appeared to be actively trying to exploit these rumors for his domestic political ends. It appeared that the security and the anxiety of an ally’s citizenry had no place in their calculations. If the Trump administration’s objective was to use unpredictability to maximize its opponents’ fears, in keeping with Trump’s approach to bargaining, you could say that they succeeded – at least considering the vehement reactions from North Korea and China. [Vinson]
• US advised to sanction Chinese banks
  Posted : 2017-04-21 17:40 Updated : 2017-04-21 17:43 North Korea's fear-based control system is showing cracks By Kim Jae-kyoung Tara O To make North Korea behave, the United States and allies should target Kim Jong-un's "critical vulnerabilities," said Tara O, an adjunct fellow at the Pacific Forum CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies). She said that Kim's regime is losing its legitimacy and becoming more vulnerable because its control system, based on fear and information control, is cracking as a result of economic difficulties and the inflow of outside information. "We can make far more aggressive effort in drying up the regime's financial support, which includes secondary sanctions against Chinese banks and front companies," O said in an interview. O, the author of "Collapse of North Korea: Challenges, Planning and Geopolitics of Korean Unification," said the sanctions against North Korea are weaker than those against Iran and Syria, and there is room to tighten the screws further. [Secondary sanctions]
• US President, VP ignorant of Korea's sensibilities?
  Posted : 2017-04-21 12:47 Updated : 2017-04-21 17:59 By Park Si-soo With many Koreans still aggravated by U.S. President Donald Trump's controversial comment that "Korea used to be a part of China," his closest business partner, Vice President Mike Pence, has jangled their nerves again. During a Tuesday meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Pence called the body of water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan the "Sea of Japan." Pence told Abe that the United States stood firm with Japan against what he called "provocation from across the Sea of Japan." The name has been a long-standing point of conflict between Seoul and Tokyo, which the former has promoted as the "East Sea." The naming dispute is considered a sentimental rivalry between the two countries that stems from Japan's 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula. It is uncertain whether Pence spoke the term knowing of the long-standing dispute between America's two important allies in Asia. But it seems certain his careless choice of words will only drive a wedge between Korea and Japan and make it difficult for Washington to seek the concerted cooperation of its two Asian allies. [Pence] [Ignorance] [US SK]
• Trump Claims Korea 'Was Part of China'
  By Cho Yi-jun April 20, 2017 09:43 U.S. President Donald Trump in an interview with the Wall Street Journal last week falsely claimed that Korea "used to be part of China." During a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump told the daily on April 12, Xi "then went into the history of China and Korea... And you know, you're talking about thousands of years ...and many wars. And Korea actually used to be a part of China." The paper did not publish the claim, but it was picked up later by online news agency Quartz. [Trump] [History] [China Korea]
• The U.S. Pushed North Korea to Build Nukes: Yes or No?
  by Mike Whitney Let’s say you know someone who wears funny blue suits and doesn’t share your views on politics. So you decide to stick this person in a cage and put him on a diet of bread and water until he agrees to change his wardrobe and adjust his thinking. And when he sits quietly on the cage-floor with his hands folded, you ignore him altogether and deal with other matters. But when he stomps his feet in anger or violently shakes the cage, you throw cold water on him or poke him in the back with a sharp stick. [US NK policy] [Deterrent]
• The Rogue State that is the United States of America
  April 15, 2017 As one more US aircraft carrier steams off to confront the North Koreans and threaten nuclear war once again , it is timely to recall that 60 years ago the United States and its allies (including a very compliant New Zealand) began a genocidal bombing of every town and city in the north of Korea. Millions of Koreans died. Since that war ended, the largest and nuclear superpower in the world has refused to sign a peace treaty with North Korea, has stationed thousands of troops and weapons along its South Korean border and has regularly threatened to nuke North Korea, applied annual large scale attack manoeuvres along the border with North Korea, as well as implementing sanctions that in several years since the war, caused mass starvation in the north. Small wonder that the North Korean regime might be considered paranoid and unstable! Ironically, the United States has absolutely no interest in the Korean peninsula and its peoples; its sole rationale for maintaining the ongoing conflict with North Korea is to justify maintaining the extensive military bases encircling China, with the support of the Japanese. China has recently proposed “As a first step, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) may suspend its nuclear and missile activities in exchange for the suspension of large-scale U.S.-Republic of Korea (ROK) military exercises,” but this eminently reasonable offer has been once again refused by the United States because it would reduce the threat to China. [US NK policy] [China confrontation] [NZ]
• [Analysis] Was USS Carl Vinson deception or internal miscommunication?
  Posted on : Apr.20,2017 15:30 KST Modified on : Apr.20,2017 15:30 KST F/A-18 fighter jets prepare to take off from the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier off the southeast coast of South Korea, during the Foal Eagle/Key Resolve South Korea-US joint military exercises in mid-March. (pool photo) US announced the sudden redirection of aircraft carrier, which raised fears about an attack on North Korea The false claims about a course change by the USS Carl Vinson, an US aircraft carrier, were at the center of rumors about a crisis on the Korean Peninsula this April. The administration of US President Donald Trump ratcheted up tensions by claiming that it had suddenly changed the carrier’s direction. If intentional, this drove an ally to the brink of armed conflict; if unintentional, it opens up the Trump administration to criticism about crippling internal communication problems. The timing of the US Navy’s announcement of the USS Carl Vinson’s course change on Apr. 8 was atrocious - it was the day after the US military fired cruise missiles at a Syrian air base. It fueled speculation that Trump meant to flex his muscles, first in Syria and then in North Korea. The rationale for the carrier’s course change also emphasized the danger of North Korea, which the US described as being “the number one threat in the region” and “reckless [and] irresponsible.” Fears were fanned by reports that the US had even cancelled plans for the carrier to participate in joint exercises with Australia. An aircraft carrier‘s destinations are planned and coordinated at least several months in advance. The claim that the exercise had been abruptly cancelled meant that North Korea represented a severe and imminent threat and suggested that the US might carry out a military strike on the North. [Vinson]
• [Editorial] The absurd lies about the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier
  Posted on : Apr.20,2017 15:24 KST Modified on : Apr.20,2017 15:24 KST On Apr. 8, the US Navy announced that the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) an American aircraft carrier, had received orders to move north from Singapore toward the Western Pacific. Amid worrying signs that North Korea might test a missile before the Day of the Sun (birthday of founding leader Kim Il-sung) on Apr. 15, the US had apparently dispatched the USS Carl Vinson to the Korean Peninsula as a show of force. US Secretary of Defense James Mattis announced the cancellation of joint exercises with Australia that had been scheduled for Apr. 11, and Trump said on Apr. 12 that he was sending an “armada” to the Korean Peninsula, which ratcheted up tensions in the region. But on Apr. 18 we learned that a week later, on Apr. 15, the USS Carl Vinson was even further south than its starting point in Singapore, that the joint exercises with Australia had taken place on schedule and that the aircraft carrier was only now heading north. [Vinson]
• Chinese website marvels, “Americans apparently don’t always tell the truth”
  Posted on : Apr.20,2017 15:32 KST Modified on : Apr.20,2017 15:32 KST USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier docks in Busan on Mar. 15 as part of South Korea-US joint military exercises. (EPA/Yonhap News) In China, media and netizens stunned by revelation that USS Carl Vinson didn’t move to Korean peninsula, as was announced The Chinese media and netizens were stunned by the news that the USS Carl Vinson, the American aircraft carrier that had stoked regional tensions with its alleged course for the waters around the Korean Peninsula, had in fact arrived at Indonesia. In an article about this development that quoted US media, Guancha.cn concluded that “Americans apparently don’t always tell the truth” and that “Trump really put one over on people this time, including the American media.” An article titled “Was the whole world fooled?” posted on the Weibo account of the website Sina Military received sarcastic comments such as “the imperialists were just a paper tiger” and “they couldn’t have fought to begin with - this was just a bluff by the American imperialists.” [Vinson]
• Donald Trump says “Korea actually used to be a part of China”
  Posted on : Apr.20,2017 15:36 KST Modified on : Apr.20,2017 15:36 KST Comment apparently came after historical discussion with Chinese President Xi, and is historically inaccurate US President Donald Trump has stirred up controversy by his reported remark that “Korea actually used to be part of China.” He made the remark after saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping had explained Chinese and Korean history to him during their Apr. 6-7 summit. Trump’s remarks were reported by the Wall Street Journal in an interview conducted in the Oval Office on Apr. 12. They were included among excerpts of specific comments Trump had made. “[Xi] then went into the history of China and Korea. Not North Korea, [all of] Korea. And you know, you’re talking about thousands of years . . . and many wars. And Korea actually used to be a part of China,” Trump was quoted as saying while discussing the summit with Xi. “After listening [to Xi] for 10 minutes I realized that . . . it’s not so easy,” he continued. “You know I felt pretty strongly that . . . they had a tremendous power over. I actually do think they do have an economic power [over North Korea], and they have certainly a border power to an extent, but they also - a lot of goods come in [from North Korea]. But it’s not what you would think,” he added. [Trump] [China Korea] [History] [Bizarre]
• Trump administration broadening its approach to North Korea
  Posted on : Apr.19,2017 16:37 KST Modified on : Apr.19,2017 16:37 KST Senior officials say they aren’t seeking armed conflict or regime change, but don’t wish to “telegraph” specific policy plans The US government appears to be broadening its horizons toward negotiations even as it moves to step up its sanctions against North Korea. The signs of change have been apparent since the Donald Trump administration put the finishing touches on its North Korea policy and held a summit with China (Apr. 6-7). In a conference call on Apr. 17, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton responded to questions about possible actions the US could take multilaterally or bilaterally with North Korea to reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula. “[W]e‘re really looking for some kind of signal that [North Korea has] realized that the current status quo is unsustainable,” Thornton said. [US NK policy] [Policy poverty]
• Government finds pollution 162 times higher than safe levels near US military base
  Posted on : Apr.19,2017 16:30 KST Modified on : Apr.19,2017 16:30 KST Members of civic groups hold a press conference in front of the Yongsan US military base in Seoul, calling on South Korea’s Ministry of Environment to make public the results of an investigation into environmental contamination on the base, and for the US military to take responsibility for cleaning up any contamination, Aug. 17, 2016. (by Kim Seong-gwang, staff photographer) Environmental groups accusing Ministry of Environment of not releasing complete results of assessment In compliance with a court order, South Korea’s Ministry of Environment has released some of the results of a pollution assessment inside Yongsan Garrison, a US military base near Noksapyeong Station in Seoul, but environmental groups complain that the incomplete results are in defiance of the court’s ruling. On Apr. 13, the Supreme Court rejected the Ministry’s appeal in a lawsuit demanding that the Ministry release the results of the first 2015 assessment of sources of pollution inside the Yongsan Garrison. The assessment results that the ministry sent to environmental groups following the court’s decision contain neither the specific sites assessed nor the units of pollutants that were detected. The groups also claim that while it was confirmed during the trial that the ministry had collected and analyzed samples from groundwater tube wells at 18 sites in the garrison over the course of four days, starting on May 26, 2015, the assessment results from four of those sites was completely omitted from the results sent to the groups. [USFK] [Pollution]
• S. Korea working to confirm Trump's 'Korea used to be part of China' comment
  Posted : 2017-04-20 17:08 Updated : 2017-04-20 17:12 South Korea's foreign ministry said Thursday that it is working to confirm reports that Chinese leader Xi Jinping told U.S. President Donald Trump that Korea "used to be a part of China." "We are working to confirm the reports through diverse diplomatic channels including the United States and China," Cho June-hyuck, foreign ministry spokesman, said at a regular press briefing. "As soon as detailed facts are confirmed, (the government) will make the necessary response." The controversy was sparked after it was revealed that Trump quoted Xi as saying during their first summit earlier this month that Korea "used to be a part of China." [Trump] [China Korea] [Bizarre] [Friction]
• 'Korea used to be part of China': Trump's claim draws ire
  Posted : 2017-04-19 17:23 Updated : 2017-04-20 10:51 Donald Trump's false claim that Korea was "part of China" is disturbing Koreans. / Korea Times file By Eom Da-sol U.S. President Donald Trump's remark that "Korea used to be part of China" is disturbing Koreans. Trump made the claim during an interview with The Wall Street Journal after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping on Apr. 12. Trump said in the interview, "(Xi) then went into the history of China and Korea. Not North Korea, Korea. And you know, you're talking about thousands of years and many wars. And Korea actually used to be a part of China." American online news agency Quartz later published the claim. The agency reported that Trump made "a shocking admission of ignorance" by this comment and expected it would upset Koreans. [Trump] [China Korea] [Bizarre] [Friction]
• S. Korea, US field 100 aircraft in joint drill
  Posted : 2017-04-20 16:27 Updated : 2017-04-20 16:28 More than 100 South Korean and U.S. warplanes have joined an annual combined defense exercise under way on the peninsula, South Korea's Air Force said Thursday. The Max Thunder training, which started on April 14 for a two-week run, also involves around 1,200 troops, including some American personnel stationed in Japan. South Korea has dispatched F-15K, KF-16, FA-50, F-4E and F-5 fighter jets, as well as C-130 cargo and E-737 airborne early warning and control aircraft. [Joint US military]
• N. Korea slams Pence's tough warning against provocation
  Posted : 2017-04-20 13:38 Updated : 2017-04-20 13:38 North Korea's propaganda website on Thursday reviled U.S. Vice President Mike Pence in its first response to his recent warning to Pyongyang not to test U.S. resolve and military strength. Pence issued the warning during a joint news conference Monday after his meeting with South Korean Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn amid growing tensions over the North's nuclear and missile programs. The North's propaganda outlet Uriminzokkiri slammed Pence for what it called babbling about sanctions and pressure. "Hwang and Pence plot to strengthen sanctions and pressure against us," it said. "The move is a delusion aiming to stifle us." It is the first reaction by North Korea though Uriminzokkiri is not its state media. [Pence]
• Seoul must be 'part of solution to nuke issues'
  Posted : 2017-04-19 17:01 Updated : 2017-04-20 11:41 Joseph DeTrani This is the second in a series of interviews with international experts on North Korea to see how its nuclear issues will unfold down the road and seek ways to secure stability on the Korean Peninsula. ? ED. Beijing urged to broker talks between US, North Korea By Kim Jae-kyoung Joseph DeTrani, a former U.S. special envoy for the six-party talks with North Korea, said South Korea should not be sidelined in the Trump administration's move to address North Korean nuclear issues. "South Korea has to be part of the solution to the North Korea nuclear issue," DeTrani, president of the Daniel Morgan Academy in Washington, said in an interview. "There should be no space between the U.S. and South Korea on an approach to resolving issues with the North." [US NK policy] [Sidelined]
• North Korea: Is a “Grand Bargain” Possible?
  by Ralph A. Cossa Ralph A. Cossa (Ralph@pacforum.org) is president of Pacific Forum CSIS. North Korea’s nuclear policy seems based on a simple and clear, but potentially fatally flawed, premise: its all-out effort to develop and possess the ability to put a nuclear warhead on an intercontinental missile and launch it at the United States will ensure the security of the nation and regime. Nothing could be further from the truth! The closer the DPRK gets to achieving this capability, the greater becomes the cost (to the US, ROK, Japan, and even to China) of allowing it to do this. [US NK Negotiations]
• Trump’s missing ‘armada’ finally heading to Korea — and may stay a while
  On April 8, the Carl Vinson strike group was ordered to sail north from Singapore toward the Western Pacific, according to the U.S. Pacific Command. But a week later, the Navy published photos showing it was actually sailing in the opposite direction through the Sunda Strait near Indonesia. (The Washington Post) By Simon Denyer and Emily Rauhala April 19 at 11:57 AM BEIJING — It was supposed to be steaming toward North Korea more than a week ago, an “armada” signaling American resolve. Then it wasn’t. Now, it seems the USS Carl Vinson may finally be heading north. “Our deployment has been extended 30 days to provide a persistent presence in the waters off the Korean Peninsula,” Rear Adm. Jim Kilby, commander of Carrier Strike Group One, said in a message posted on the Carl Vinson’s Facebook page addressed to “families and loved ones” of the personnel on board. The Carl Vinson, accompanied by a carrier air wing, two guided-missile destroyers and a cruiser, was supposed to have been ordered to sail north after leaving Singapore on April 8. But a week later, the Navy published photos showing it was actually sailing in the opposite direction through the Sunda Strait between the Indonesia islands of Sumatra and Java, more than 3,000 miles southwest of the Korean Peninsula — and more than 500 miles southeast of Singapore. [US NK policy] [Escalation] [Carrier]
• On North Korea, Trump administration talks tough but hopes to avoid war
  By Missy Ryan, Simon Denyer and Emily Rauhala April 19 at 12:01 AM As tensions mounted on the Korean Peninsula this month, the U.S. military made a dramatic announcement: An aircraft carrier had been ordered to sail north from Singapore toward the Western Pacific, apparently closing in on North Korea and its growing nuclear arsenal. But the ship that some officials portrayed as a sign of a stepped-up U.S. response to threats was in fact, at the moment that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un mounted a defiant show of military force last weekend, thousands of miles away from the Korean Peninsula, operating in the Indian Ocean. Officials’ nebulous — if not seemingly misleading — statements about the whereabouts of the USS Carl Vinson come as the Trump administration attempts to deliver a dual message on one of its most thorny foreign problems: at once illustrating a willingness to employ force against a dangerous adversary while also steering clear of steps that could spiral out of control. [US NK policy] [Trump] [Military option]
• U.S. Says No Change to THAAD Deployment
  April 19, 2017 10:00 There is no change to plans to deploy a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery in Korea, U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton said Monday. "We made this decision to deploy THAAD. That's an alliance decision back, I guess, over a year ago now or about a year ago, and we have been sort of continuing apace in that decision," she said. "There hasn't been any change, and there hasn't certainly been anything about the decision-making process that would indicate any change." Thornton's statement came after reports of a possible delay caused by remarks by a White House advisor who was accompanying U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on his trip to Seoul. The advisor said there is still a problem to be solved before the THAAD battery is deployed and operational here and it will be decided by the next South Korean president. But Thornton told reporters in a teleconference, "So we're on track as far as that goes for THAAD deployment... We're proceeding through the steps necessary to get the THAAD deployment done." [THAAD] [US dominance] [SK_election17]
• Pence Says U.S. Will 'Reform' Free Trade Pact with Korea
  By Song Won-hyung April 19, 2017 11:22 U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday said Washington wants to "reform" the free trade agreement with Korea, which was something of a bugbear for President Donald Trump on the campaign trail. Speaking at an American Chamber of Commerce meeting in Seoul, Pence said, "Our businesses continue to face too many barriers to entry which tilts the playing field against the American workers and American growth... We are reviewing all of our trade agreements across the world to ensure they benefit our economy as much as they benefit our trading partners." [KORUSFTA] [Pence]
• USFK Forced to Reveal Contamination of Yongsan Garrison
  April 19, 2017 13:17 The water under the old U.S. Forces Korea headquarters in Yongsan, Seoul is heavily contaminated with benzene and other toxic substances, the U.S. and Korean governments have been forced to admit. The Environment Ministry on Tuesday finally published the findings of a joint Korea-U.S. inspection of the site, which still serves as the garrison for the 8th U.S. Army, in May 2015. The U.S. refused to disclose the findings, but civic group Lawyers for a Democratic Society filed a freedom of information suit later that year, and the Supreme Court finally found in its favor on Tuesday. The findings show that benzene alone is 162 times over the acceptable limit in groundwater at the site. Of 14 underground tube wells within a 200-m radius of the base, seven had higher-than-acceptable benzene. One well showed 2.44 mg of benzene per liter, a whopping 162.7 times over the acceptable level of 0.015 mg per liter. Three tube wells also had excessive levels of xylene, one more toluene than acceptable, and four more ethylbenzene than the limit. The ministry said it conducted additional inspections in 2016 and is working on a final report with the environment committee under the Status of Forces Agreement. "When the final report agreed by both parties is drafted, we will have official discussions with the U.S. about measure to take and whether to disclose the report or not," a ministry official said. [Bases] [Contamination] [USFK]
• US lied about carrier strike group
  Posted : 2017-04-19 10:02 Updated : 2017-04-19 13:31 Carl Vinson wasn't headed to Korean peninsula By Ko Dong-hwan A U.S. Navy strike group ? led by the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson ? was thousands of miles from the Korean Peninsula at the weekend despite widespread belief it would be there to deter North Korea, according to news reports Tuesday. The ships were not heading directly to the peninsula as originally reported. Instead, the group is taking part in scheduled exercises with Australia, Defense News said. On Saturday, the strike group was about 3,500 miles from Korea, passing through the Sunda Strait between the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java, according to the outlet. The Washington Post said the group was in the Indian Ocean later in the day, a direction opposite to Korea. The group would participate in naval exercises with the Australian navy south of Singapore and is expected to arrive off the Korean Peninsula at the end of this month, according to CNN. It was believed the group was heading to waters off Korea amid fears Pyongyang could conduct a nuclear test at the weekend to mark the anniversary of the birth of national founder Kim Il-sung, grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un. U.S. officials had earlier said the ships were scheduled to participate in exercises with Australia, but were redirected to waters off Korea, an unusually massive show of force designed to warn Pyongyang against additional provocations. It was unclear why the U.S. decided to let the ships participate in the exercises rather than head to Korea. U.S. Pacific Command spokesman Dave Benham said on Apr. 9 that a U.S. Navy strike group, led by the nuclear-powered carrier, was being deployed to waters close to the peninsula to rein in North Korea's increasing nuclear threats. Chinese media seized on the news that the ships were not where everyone assumed. "Tricked badly!" the Global Times said Tuesday on its social media account. "None of the U.S. aircraft carriers that South Korea is desperately waiting for has come!" [US NK policy] [Carrier] [Vinson] [Escalation] [Backdown]
• Trump sending confusing signals about N. Korea
  Posted : 2017-04-18 16:53 Updated : 2017-04-19 16:12 By Yi Whan-woo Officials from the Donald Trump administration are seemingly sending confusing signals about policies on North Korea. Analysts said Tuesday this shows the Trump team is divided over how to reflect its strategy of "maximum pressure and engagement" in mapping out action plans on Pyongyang. Others say President Trump is employing a "highly-sophisticated tactic of ambiguity." Vice President Mike Pence, who wrapped up a three-day visit to South Korea, Tuesday, said, "All options are on the table to achieve the objectives and ensure the stability of the people of this country." The remark was a repeat of the White House warning that military action against North Korea was also a possibility. National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster had said in an ABC interview Sunday that "all of our options are on the table, undergoing refinement and further development." [Strategic incoherence] [Contradictions] [Trump] [US NK policy]
• 5 reasons why US cannot attack N. Korea like it did Syria
  Posted : 2017-04-18 13:21 Updated : 2017-04-18 13:29 By Catherine Wong [SCMP] US President Donald Trump's sudden strike on Syria and Washington's doubling down on aggressive military posturing has led to wide speculation that Pyongyang could be the next target for unilateral action. Even though the administration has indicated that military option is among the options under review, there are many signs that North Korea is not Syria – as military action against the former carries far greater risks. [US NK policy] [Syria] [False analogy]
• Military force is new component of Trump's N. Korea policy: congressman
  Posted : 2017-04-19 13:37 Updated : 2017-04-19 13:37 A main difference between President Donald Trump's North Korea policy and that of his predecessor, Barack Obama, is the potential for using military force, a U.S. congressman said Tuesday. The Trump administration has reportedly finalized its North Korea strategy with a focus on "maximum pressure and engagement" toward denuclearization of the communist nation. The new policy does not appear much different from that of former President Barack Obama, known as "strategic patience," which centered on waiting for Pyongyang to show good faith while increasing sanctions and pressure on the regime. But Rep. Scott Taylor (R-VA) said the new policy has a military force component. "I think some of the difference, of course, is as you see the potential for the military to be there, so the potential of force as well, too, is a sort of a new component with this," he said on CNN. "When you have diplomacy, whether you're conducting diplomacy or U.N. conventions or sanctions, whatever it is, sometimes you have to have at least the perception that you will back things up by force. So, that's the new component here." That potential has made China work harder than before to rein in the North, Taylor said. "They have said openly, you know, warning North Korea, as well as openly saying that they are engaging with our president to try to tamp down pressures over there," he said. "I think China has stepped up more than they ever have before. And you have to give credit where credit is due, that is because of this White House." (Yonhap) [US NK policy] [Military option]
• Contamination on Yongsan US base confirmed
  Posted : 2017-04-18 18:09 Updated : 2017-04-18 19:08 Government inspection finds high levels of benzene in groundwater By Kim Se-jeong Underground water on the 8th U.S. Army headquarters on Yongsan Garrison was found to be contaminated by oil, according to Ministry of Environment data released Tuesday. The revelation confirmed the longtime suspicion of contamination on the military base which is not normally accessible by the authorities. The government was able to run a special inspection in 2015 but refused to disclose the test results until Tuesday. The release came after almost two years of legal fighting between the ministry and a civic group, Lawyers for a Democratic Society, over the release of the contamination test results. On April 13, the Supreme Court upheld a high court decision, ordering the ministry to release the results. The ministry refused to disclose the data, citing the military agreement between Korea and the U.S., known as the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which requires consultation before releasing any information to the public. [Bases] [Yongsan] [Contamination] [USFK] [[SOFA]
• Trump has no red line for N.Korea but ready to take 'decisive' action: White House
  Posted : 2017-04-18 09:51 Updated : 2017-04-18 09:51 U.S. President Donald Trump has no "red line" in dealing with North Korea, but he is ready to take "decisive" action when it is deemed appropriate, the White House said Monday. In a regular press briefing, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that China is playing an active role with respect to the North and will continue to apply pressure but noted that Washington will keep urging Beijing to do more. "I think when we talked about the use of red lines in the past with respect to Syria ? the president's red line ? that drawing red lines hasn't really worked in the past," he said. "He holds his cards close to the vest, and you're not going to see him telegraphing how he's going to respond. I don't think that you're going to see the president drawing red lines in the sand, but I think that the action that he took in Syria shows that, when appropriate, this president will take decisive action," he added. It was in response to a question whether the president has a "red line," a tipping point that could prompt military action when it is crossed. [Trump] [US NK policy] [Unpredictable]
• Face-to-face with North Korea's top diplomat
  By John Sudworth BBC News, Pyongyang Media caption The BBC’s John Sudworth asks North Korea’s vice-foreign minister what message he has for Donald Trump Two days ago, I stood on the edge of Kim Il-sung Square in the centre of Pyongyang and watched, with a mixture of awe and unease, as North Korea's giant military parade passed by. Back in that same location today, the vast space of the square was almost empty except for a few government workers on foot and the odd car - which pretty much sums up the traffic situation, or lack of it, in this isolated, sanction-hit city. My government minders ushered me up the steps of the foreign ministry and I soon found myself sitting face to face with Vice-Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol. Were some of the weapons on display in the parade, as many analysts have speculated, new intercontinental ballistic missiles? I asked him. "The respected Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un in his historic new year address this year said that we are at the final stage of preparations to launch an ICBM (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile)," he replied. "I'm no military expert," he went on, "but I hope that there was an ICBM among the missiles shown at the parade." What can the outside world do about N Korea? All about North Korea's missiles Media caption The BBC's John Sudworth, in Pyongyang, explains what may happen next North Korea needs such weapons, he said, "in order to protect our government and system from threat and provocation from the United States". And in a direct riposte to US President Donald Trump and his assertion that North Korea will not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons, Mr Han added this. "According to our own schedule we'll be conducting more tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis." [NK US policy] [Deterrence]
• Pence Warns N.Korea of Trump's 'Resolve'
  By Jung Nok-yong April 18, 2017 09:27 U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Monday warned North Korea not to test the resolve of President Donald Trump, adding that the world is running out of patience with the rogue regime in Pyongyang. "The era of strategic patience is over," Pence told reporters during an ongoing visit to Seoul. "North Korea will do well not to test his resolve or strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region." [Pence] [US NK policy] [Strategic patience] [Posturing] [Policy poverty]
• The Problem is Washington, Not North Korea
  by Mike Whitney Washington has never made any effort to conceal its contempt for North Korea. In the 64 years since the war ended, the US has done everything in its power to punish, humiliate and inflict pain on the Communist country. Washington has subjected the DPRK to starvation, prevented its government from accessing foreign capital and markets, strangled its economy with crippling economic sanctions, and installed lethal missile systems and military bases on their doorstep. Negotiations aren’t possible because Washington refuses to sit down with a country which it sees as its inferior. Instead, the US has strong-armed China to do its bidding by using their diplomats as interlocutors who are expected to convey Washington’s ultimatums as threateningly as possible. The hope, of course, is that Pyongyang will cave in to Uncle Sam’s bullying and do what they are told. [US NK policy] [History] [Korean War] [War crimes]
• US settles North Korea policy review, appears to be moving away from talk of military strike
  Posted on : Apr.18,2017 16:21 KST Modified on : Apr.18,2017 16:21 KST US Vice President Mike Pence speaks at a joint press conference after his meeting with South Korean acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn, at the Prime Minister’s Residence, in the Samcheong neighborhood of Seoul, on Apr. 17. (Blue House photo pool) Trump administration has settled on policy of “maximum pressure and engagement,” meaning tough sanctions and option of dialogue With the administration of US President Donald Trump wrapping up its review of North Korea policy, the US and North Korea, which had been racing toward a confrontation, seem to be taking a breather. The Trump administration appears to be shifting its focus from talk of a preemptive strike on North Korea to the simultaneous use of pressure and sanctions to bring about a peaceful resolution. Speaking with reporters following a meeting with South Korean acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn at the Prime Minister’s Residence, located in the Samcheong neighborhood of Seoul, on Apr. 17, US Vice President Mike Pence described the North Korean nuclear issue as the “most dangerous and urgent threat” and said that “the era of strategic patience is over.” [US NK policy] [Military option] [Policy poverty]
• Former US Secretaries of Defense speak out to urge calm handling of North Korea
  Posted on : Apr.17,2017 16:17 KST Modified on : Apr.17,2017 16:17 KST Officials say a preemptive strike could spark military response from North Korea, that could be “catastrophic” Former US Secretary of Defense William Perry Amid the recent heightening of tensions on the Korean Peninsula, former US Secretaries of Defense have come forward to urge the administration of US President Donald Trump to respond to North Korea rationally and prudently. [US NK policy] [Military option] [Retaliation]
• Pence, in South Korea, Calls North Korea Missile Launch ‘a Provocation’
  By Julie Hirschfeld Davis April 16, 2017 WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday described North Korea’s failed missile test as “a provocation” that highlighted the risks plaguing both the region and the United States, as the White House said President Trump had an array of military, diplomatic and other options to respond. “This morning’s provocation from the North is just the latest reminder of the risks each one of you face each and every day in the defense of the freedom of the people of South Korea and the defense of America in this part of the world,” Mr. Pence said at an Easter dinner at Yongsan military base in Seoul, South Korea, where he was beginning a 10-day tour of Asia. Mr. Pence said he had spoken with Mr. Trump, who asked him to convey to the troops stationed in South Korea that “we’re proud of you and we’re grateful for your service.” Earlier, on board Air Force Two as Mr. Pence made his way to South Korea, a White House foreign policy adviser said the United States had had good intelligence about the launch both in advance and afterward, an intriguing statement that suggested the United States had the information it would have needed to take covert action against the latest launch, even as it left open the question of whether such interference occurred. [US NK policy] [Missile] [Failure]
• ROK, US agree on punitive actions on DPRK provocations
  Xinhua, April 17, 2017 South Korea and the United States agreed on Monday to take punitive actions on any provocations from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said during a joint press conference with visiting U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. [Chinese IR]
• Will THAAD deployment be left for next S. Korean administration to decide?
  Posted on : Apr.17,2017 16:15 KST Modified on : Apr.17,2017 16:15 KST US Vice President Mike Pence lights incense at the National Cemetery in Seoul‘s Dongjak district, Apr. 16. (pool photo) Recent comments by US and China suggest a possible slowing to previous rush to deploy THAAD system Differences between past and present positions on South Korea and the US being united in support for a swift THAAD system deployment are drawing attention after a White House foreign policy adviser visiting South Korea with US Vice President Mike Pence on Apr. 16 called the matter something for the next South Korean president to decide. The South Korean government has been rushing to deploy THAAD since signing a site swap contract with Lotte in late February to acquire a golf course in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province. When the contract took longer than expected due to hesitation on Lotte’s part, the Ministry of National Defense moved in Dec. 2016 to select an environment impact assessment provider to perform a preliminary survey. In March of this year, the ministry made the surprise announcement that it had already brought some of the components onto Osan Air Base, including two THAAD launcher trucks. With impeachment procedures against then-President Park Geun-hye under way at the time, some saw the move as a way of nailing down the THAAD deployment as a fait accompli - regardless of what the next administration might have to say about it. {THAAD] [US Dominance]
• Trump administration settles on N. Korea policy of “maximum pressure and engagement,”
  Posted on : Apr.17,2017 16:14 KST Modified on : Apr.17,2017 16:14 KST US President Donald Trump during a press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House in Washington DC, Apr. 12. (AP/Yonhap News) US currently has no ongoing engagement with North Korea, but has ruled out military action The North Korea policy adopted by the US government under President Donald Trump reportedly means to keep up intense pressure on the North in the short term with the goal not of overthrowing the regime but rather of persuading it to rejoin denuclearization negotiations. Military action against the North has basically been ruled out, sources say. [US NK policy] [Policy poverty]
• NBC report on North Korea strike called “wildly wrong” and “extremely dangerous”
  Posted on : Apr.17,2017 16:18 KST Modified on : Apr.17,2017 16:18 KST An Apr. 13 NBC news report that the US was weighing a preemptive conventional weapon strike against North Korea if it felt convinced a nuclear test was imminent. (from NBC’s website) Network reported that US had deployed two destroyers capable of carrying out preemptive strike on North Korea NBC is facing controversy over a false report that the US was weighing a preemptive conventional weapon strike against North Korea if it felt convinced a nuclear test was imminent. Observers in the US and overseas have been outspoken in disputing and criticizing the network‘s report. On Apr. 13, NBC reported that the US had deployed two destroyers equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles - capable of preemptive strike operations against North Korea - into the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula, with one of the destroyers positioned around 300 miles away from North Korea’s nuclear testing site at Punggye Village. The report resulted in rising fears not only in South Korea but among North Korea experts in the US. But reporters covering the South Korean Ministry of National Defense for other US news outlets unanimously dismissed the report as false. South Korean foreign affairs sources bluntly called the [Preemptive]
• South Korea not designated “currency manipulator” but still on US watch list
  Posted on : Apr.17,2017 16:22 KST Modified on : Apr.17,2017 16:22 KST Unchanged status from Washington expected to constrain South Korea’s ability to manage foreign exchange policies “Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States”, a US Department of the Treasury Office of International Affairs report released on Apr. 14. The US kept South Korea on its watch list for currency manipulation, and sent a clear message that it does not plan to let up on its pressure. The decision from Washington is expected to leave South Korean foreign exchange authorities with less room to maneuve [US SK] [Friction] [Currency]
• US-North Korea in secret talks to end nuclear crisis?
  Posted : 2017-04-16 13:37 Updated : 2017-04-17 14:31 By Park Si-soo Tensions surrounding the Korean Peninsula are extreme, with no immediate sign of easing. North Korea has made it clear it will respond tit-for-tat to aggressive U.S. moves by firing a missile on Sunday morning, although the launch failed dismally. The geopolitical crisis is expected to face a critical juncture this week as U.S. Vice President Mike Pence makes a three-day visit to Seoul from Sunday afternoon, during which he will discuss a possible breakthrough with his South Korean counterpart, Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn. Against this backdrop, a senior journalist here has raised startling claims that secret talks had begun between the U.S. and North Korea in New York to end the crisis. The North's recent revival of a parliamentary foreign affairs commission was a "prelude" to the alleged bilateral dialogue, said Korea Economic editorial writer Jeong Kyu-jae, in a self-produced news analysis video posted on YouTube on Friday afternoon. He did not present any concrete evidence of the alleged secret talks, merely claiming that his claim was based on intelligence from credible sources. The video has been watched more than 150,000 times as of Sunday noon. "It seems to be true that a secret meeting between the U.S. and North Korea has begun," Jeong says in the 20-minute video." As far as I know, the U.S. will demand that North Korea permanently abandon, not freeze, its nuclear program." The Korea Times contacted government bodies handling North Korean issues, but nobody confirmed such a meeting. The favors Washington is reported to have offered in return for the North's permanent abandonment of its nuclear program are somewhat mind-boggling. According to Jeong, the U.S. has expressed its willingness to establish a formal diplomatic relationship with North Korea. Once the relationship is formed, Washington would station an infantry outside Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, to protect the Kim Jong-un regime, and the U.S. Navy would support the mission at North Korea's military port in Wonsan, according to the journalist. "If the dialogue turns out to be productive, U.S. President Donald Trump might send his special envoy to the North in a clandestine manner in late April or early May," he said. "This is a scenario that will play out only when things unfold smoothly. If the talks are unsuccessful, the U.S. might consider a military strike as the next option." Experts called Jeong's claims "absurd" and "unrealistic" A North Korea expert here said China would never agree to U.S. forces being stationed near Pyongyang. [US NK negotiations] [Bizarre]
• Pence warns North Korea of U.S. resolve shown in Syria, Afghan strikes
  By Roberta Rampton and Sue-Lin Wong | SEOUL/PYONGYANG U.S. Vice President Mike Pence put North Korea on notice on Monday, warning that recent U.S. military strikes in Syria and Afghanistan showed the resolve of President Donald Trump should not be tested. Pence and South Korean acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn, speaking after a failed missile test by North Korea and a huge display of missiles in Pyongyang, said they would move ahead with the early deployment to South Korea of the U.S. THAAD missile-defence system. Pence was on the first stop of a four-nation Asia tour intended to show that the Trump administration is not turning its back on the increasingly volatile region. "Just in the past two weeks, the world witnessed the strength and resolve of our new president in actions taken in Syria and Afghanistan," Pence said in an appearance with Hwang. [US NK policy] [Pence] [Posturing] [Policy poverty]
• South Korea’s turmoil could spoil Trump’s North Korea plan
  By Josh Rogin April 17 at 3:20 PM Vice President Pence warned North Korea not to test President Trump during a press conference in South Korea on April 17, citing "the strength and resolve of our new president in actions taken in Syria and Afghanistan,” as examples. (The Washington Post) SEOUL – The Trump administration is planning to drastically ramp up pressure on North Korea, and it needs cooperation from America’s partners in the region for the strategy to work. But deep uncertainty about the future of South Korea’s government could undermine Donald Trump’s plan to tighten the noose around the Kim Jong Un regime. Vice President Pence toured the demilitarized zone Monday and looked across the border to North Korea. He delivered a tough message promising that “the era of strategic patience is over” and “all options are on the table” to deal with Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile mischief. Pence told CNN that the United States plans to “redouble our efforts to bring economic and diplomatic pressure” on North Korea, in conjunction with allies and hopefully China as well. Pence then met with the acting president of South Korea, Hwang Kyo-ahn, and National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun, both of whom echoed Pence’s tough talk on how to deal with the North Korean regime. Nobody mentioned during the meetings that both of these leaders will likely not be in power after South Koreans go to the polls to choose a new president next month. At the exact same time Pence was delivering his speech reassuring South Korea that the United States will stand “shoulder-to-shoulder” with its ally on the peninsula, news broke that the most pro-American leader South Korea has had in a generation, ousted president Park Geun-hye, had been indicted on 13 criminal charges. The two leading candidates to replace her in South Korea’s May 9 presidential election are Moon Jae-in from the left-leaning Democratic Party of Korea, and Ahn Cheol-soo, a software tycoon who helped found the somewhat more centrist People’s Party. Moon’s proposed policies clash more directly with Trump’s than Ahn’s, but neither is likely to be as close to the Trump administration on key issues as the Conservative Party leaders who will soon leave power. Both candidates requested meetings with Pence during his two-day stop here in South Korea, but the vice president declined to see them, a White House foreign policy adviser on the trip said. “We’re able to work with whoever the people of South Korea decide will be their president,” the adviser said, adding that Pence didn’t want to be seen as supporting one candidate or another. The adviser also acknowledged that the most pressing bilateral defense initiative, the deployment of the THAAD — Terminal High Altitude Area Defense — missile defense system in South Korea, could face changes depending on who wins the upcoming election. [US NK policy] [Pence] [SK_election17]
• ‘The Only Sensible Path at This Point is Dialogue’
  CounterSpin interview with Hyun Lee on North Korea
  By Janine Jackson 11 April 2017 Janine Jackson interviewed Hyun Lee about North Korea for the April 7, 2017, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. Hyun Lee Hyun Lee: “Every country has a sovereign right to test its weapons capability. That’s how you know if it works or not, and that’s precisely what North Korea is doing.” Janine Jackson: The Washington Post suggests that people in Seattle and San Francisco “should be worried” about being hit by a ballistic missile from North Korea, citing an analyst who described such an event, a bit cryptically, as “a looming threat but not a current threat.” If the concern is that the saber-rattling between Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump could indeed have dire consequences, it’s hard to see how such stories help, or maps that show ranges for North Korea’s missiles far greater than any actually tested missiles have gone, or the conflation of nuclear and non-nuclear weaponry. But we’re equally ill-served by a failure to interrogate US policy on the Korean peninsula, and corporate media’s reduction of North Korea to caricature in the time-honored method reserved for official enemies. As we record this show Trump is meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping, and we’re told North Korea is at the top of the agenda, Trump having declared, “If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will.” What does that mean, and how has it come to this? We’re joined now by writer and activist Hyun Lee of Zoom in Korea, a project of the Solidarity Committee for Democracy and Peace in Korea. She’s also a Fellow at the Korea Policy Institute. Welcome to CounterSpin, Hyun Lee. [US NK policy] [THAAD]
• Kim probable: Why North Korea is not unpredictable
  11:57 am today Stan Grant * I have lost count of how many times this week I have heard or read analysts - and indeed government ministers - describe North Korea as "unpredictable". It is a cliche, it is simplistic and it is wrong. This undated picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 14, 2017 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) inspecting the "Dropping and Target-striking Contest of KPA Special Operation Forces - 2017" at an undisclosed location in North Korea. This undated picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 14, 2017 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) inspecting the "Dropping and Target-striking Contest of KPA Special Operation Forces - 2017" at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Photo: AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS Nearly two decades of covering the goings-on inside the 'hermit kingdom' - both outside and inside the country - has taught me that the Kim regime is dangerous, brutal and petulant but if anything, predictable. North Korea has pursued a rogue nuclear weapons program, defying sanctions, and international condemnation. It has participated in and walked away from countless negotiations, engaging in a game of bait-and-switch that dates back decades. [US NK policy] [Unpredictable]
• North Korea displays apparently new missiles as U.S. carrier group approaches
  Military trucks carry soldiers through central Pyongyang before sunset as the capital preparers for a parade marking today's 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, North Korea's founding father and grandfather of the current ruler, April 15, 2017. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj By Sue-Lin Wong and James Pearson | PYONGYANG/SEOUL North Korea displayed what appeared to be new long-range and submarine-based missiles on the 105th birth anniversary of its founding father, Kim Il Sung, on Saturday, as a nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier group steamed towards the region. A U.S. Navy attack on a Syrian airfield this month raised questions about U.S. President Donald Trump's plans for reclusive North Korea, which has conducted several missile and nuclear tests in defiance of U.N. and unilateral sanctions, regularly threatening to destroy the United States. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Kim Il Sung's grandson, looking relaxed in a dark suit and laughing with aides, oversaw the huge parade on the "Day of the Sun" at Pyongyang's main Kim Il Sung Square. [US NK policy] [Escalation]
• War of words escalating between North Korea and US
  Posted on : Apr.15,2017 15:58 KST Modified on : Apr.15,2017 15:58 KST North korean missiles are displayed during a parade at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, Saturday, April 15, 2017. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has appeared in a massive parade in the capital, Pyongyang, celebrating the birthday of his late grandfather and North Korea founder Kim Il Sung. US keeps putting military pressure on North Korea, which says a sixth nuclear test will be decided by leadership The North Korean military has openly threatened to carry out a preemptive strike on the Blue House and US military bases in Osan, Pyeongtaek (in Gyeonggi Province) and Gunsan, North Jeolla Province. North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol also said that North Korea would go to war if the US wants one. Rumors continued to swirl in the US on Apr. 14 about a preemptive strike on the North. The “war of words” between the US and North Korea is moving toward a crescendo. “An extremely grave situation is forming on the Korean Peninsula right now because of the rash military provocations and lunacy of the new Trump administration in the US,” the spokesperson for the General Staff Department of the Korean People’s Army said in a statement released late in the afternoon of Apr. 14, the Korean Central News Agency reported. “North Korea will immediately make its own kind of appropriate super-hardline response according to the kind and the intensity of the American provocation. This includes a number of options, including an unexpected preemptive strike in the North Korean style, which includes mobility on the ground, in the ocean, in the water and in the air,” the spokesperson said. North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-Ryol “The North Korean military and people always maintain a state of complete readiness to make every super-hardline response, including a nuclear strike. We do not conceal the fact that all of the bases of evil, including the Blue House, and American bases in South Korea such as those at Osan, Gunsan and Pyeongtaek will be razed to the ground in the space of a few minutes.” [US NK policy] [Invasion] [Retaliation]
• Fears Grow of Trump 'Going Rogue' on N.Korea
  By Yu Yong-weon April 13, 2017 09:26 Fears are growing of U.S. President Donald Trump launching a temperamental preemptive strike on North Korea without consulting Seoul after his abrupt airstrikes on Syria last week. Repeated statements by the government and the military here that Washington would have to discuss any action with Seoul beforehand have not been able to quell the fears given Trump's inexperience in international relations. [Sidelined] [Preemptive] [US dominance] [Trump]
• [News analysis] Trump’s foreign policy creating uncertainty on Korean peninsula
  Posted on : Apr.13,2017 16:56 KST Modified on : Apr.13,2017 16:56 KST American aircraft carrier was redirected toward Korea without consultation, while “all options on the table” regarding North Korea As the US administration under President Donald Trump faces criticism for its unpredictable foreign policy, it has neither been consistent nor considerate of its South Korean ally in the responses it has made to developments on the Korean Peninsula. The Trump administration’s diplomatic approach has even played a role in aggravating rumors about a crisis on the Korean peninsula, critics say. First of all, it is doubtful whether South Korea was informed in advance about the change of course of the USS Carl Vinson, an American aircraft carrier, and whether adequate discussion occurred before the change of course toward the Korean peninsula. [Sidelined] [Preemptive] [US dominance] [Trump]
• James Mattis thought it “most prudent” to have USS Carl Vinson near Korean peninsula
  Posted on : Apr.13,2017 16:57 KST Modified on : Apr.13,2017 16:57 KST US official does not confirm that aircraft carrier’s movement was related to military action on North Korea US Defense Secretary James Mattis said that the USS Carl Vinson, an American aircraft carrier, was heading for waters in the West Pacific near the Korean Peninsula because “that’s where we thought it was most prudent to have her at this time.” “There’s not a specific demand signal or specific reason we’re sending her up there,” he said. Mattis’s remarks are being taken to mean that the carrier was not relocated because North Korea is about to carry out a sixth nuclear weapons test or in order to take military action, such as launching a preemptive strike on the North. “She’s stationed in the Western Pacific for a reason. She operates freely up and down the Pacific,” Mattis said during a press conference about events in North Korea and Syria at the Defense Department in Washington, D.C., on Apr. 11. When asked whether the USS Carl Vinson‘s route had been announced in advance to send a signal to North Korea, Mattis said, “It’s because she was originally headed in one direction [Australia] for an exercise, and we canceled our role in that exercise, and that‘s what became public. We had to explain why she wasn’t in that exercise.” The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier It was when the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike force, which had been scheduled to head from Singapore to Australia for the exercise, abruptly changed course for the Korean Peninsula that rumors began to spread about the US bombing North Korea. [Mattis] [Military option] [Preemptive]
• To strike or not to strike
  Donald Kirk Posted : 2017-04-13 17:17 Updated : 2017-04-13 19:50 POHANG – An array of heavy-duty, sophisticated gear spread over the beaches here shows the incredible military might of the U.S. and South Korea. Far offshore, way beyond the horizon, the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson leads a "strike force" of warships. Watching the display of U.S. strength on the beach in a wargame called Pacific Reach, one realizes how easy it would be to decimate the North Koreans. The purpose of this particular exercise is logistics ? to show the speed and agility with which these forces can unload hundreds of thousands of tons of supplies anywhere on shore ? perfect for an attack on the North. The South Koreans are in it too ? infinitely stronger than when the North Koreans rolled over them in the summer of 1950. [Military balance] [Military option]
• Candidates oppose pre-emptive strike
  By Kim Hyo-jin Posted : 2017-04-13 21:10 Updated : 2017-04-13 21:57 All presidential candidates said Thursday that they are opposed to a possible pre-emptive strike by the United States on North Korea amid escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula. [Preemptive] [Sidelined]
• US will not bypass Seoul when dealing with N. Korea: FM
  Posted : 2017-04-13 11:47 Updated : 2017-04-13 15:27 The United States will first consult with South Korea before taking any serious measures, including a pre-emptive strike, against North Korea to punish the communist state for possible provocations, Seoul's top diplomat said Thursday. Yun Byung-se refused to speculate whether Washington was preparing to pre-emptively strike following additional provocations from the communist North but insisted the U.S. will not take such measures without first consulting with Seoul. "In fact, the U.S. is working to reassure us that it will not, just in case that we might hold such concerns," he said in a special report to the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs. Thursday's meeting came amid growing concerns here over a possible U.S. attack against the North. [Preemptive] [Sidelined] [Yun Byung-se]
• WCC shares concern over escalating tensions on Korean peninsula
  Apr 13, 2017 The World Council of Churches (WCC) joined the National Council of Churches in South Korea (NCCK) in expressing grave concern at the redeployment of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group to the seas surrounding the Korean peninsula. “In a context of already heightened tensions - especially in the midst of the ongoing joint US and South Korean Foal Eagle-Key Resolve military exercises and the steps being taken to deploy the US missile defence system THAAD in South Korea, and North Korean threats of a nuclear response - this constitutes a further escalation of military confrontation in the region,” reads the statement. [US NK policy] [Escalation] [Religion] [Retaliation]
• What Does Kim Jong Un Want?
  John Feffer Posted on : Apr.9,2017 20:26 KST Modified on : Apr.9,2017 20:26 KST Virtually every week, politicians and journalists and policy experts attempt the impossible: mind reading. Specifically, they want to know what’s going on inside one man’s mind. They want to know what Kim Jong Un is thinking and, more importantly, what he wants. It’s impossible to know for sure what another person is thinking. And yet figuring out what the current North Korean leader wants – in the absence of any substantial engagement with him – is the basis of all policy options for how to address the country. These policy options fall into three main categories: military force, non-military force, and diplomacy. [Irrationality] [NK US policy]
• 'The US is planning to eliminate Kim Jong-un
  High-level Pentagon source says US finalizing plan to eliminate North Korean dictator. Chana Roberts, 08/04/17 21:26 Share US intelligence agencies are finalizing a plan to eliminate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, an anonymous high-level Pentagon source said. One source claims that according to a leaked document, the US plan includes disguising a small building opposite Kim's primary office in the DPRK building. The disguise would turn the smaller building into a "Pizza Hut" selling both normal and poisoned pizzas. According to a South Korean military official, the US will work under South Korean command. US special agents will form a special brigade under South Korean command, which the natives would tailor to meet the area's unique requirements. [Assassination] [Kim Jong Un] [Bizarre]
• [Editorial] Where is South Korea in Trump and Xi’s push to address Korean peninsula crisis?
  Posted on : Apr.14,2017 17:10 KST Modified on : Apr.14,2017 17:10 KST Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump shake hands during their summit at the Mar-a-lago Resort in Florida, Apr. 6. (AP/Yonhap News) In an unusual development, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke again by telephone about the North Korean nuclear issue on Apr. 12, five days after their summit ended. The mood suggests something serious might have happened on the Korean Peninsula. Trump has been bringing up the North Korean issue several times in media interviews over the past few days. Every time, his position has been a tough line. Many of his remarks seem aimed at ratcheting up military pressure in the wake of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson’s return to the Korean Peninsula, such as when he noted that the US also has nuclear submarines and said its military was the most powerful on the planet. He has also tried to get Beijing on board with the pressure against Pyongyang by insisting that the US will take action on its own if it doesn’t cooperate and offering reassurances that he will not designate China as an exchange rate manipulator. [Trump-Xi_April17] [Sidelined]
• North Korea threatens counterattack
  Posted : 2017-04-14 17:14 Updated : 2017-04-14 18:08 Han Song Ryol, center, North Korea's vice minister of foreign affairs, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press on Friday in Pyongyang, North Korea. / AP-Yonhap By Jun Ji-hye North Korea's vice foreign minister said Friday that his country was ready for another nuclear test and would take military countermeasures if the Donald Trump administration chose "reckless" options such as a pre-emptive strike. Vice Minister Han Song-ryol told the Associated Press in Pyongyang that it was not North Korea, but the U.S. and President Trump that were "making trouble," warning, "We will go to war if they choose." Han was quoted as saying, "If the U.S. comes up with reckless military maneuvers, then we will confront it with the DPRK's pre-emptive strike. "We've got a powerful nuclear deterrent already in our hands, and we certainly will not keep our arms crossed in the face of a U.S. pre-emptive strike." [Retaliation] [Preemptive]
• The Overlooked Past Behind U.S.-North Korea Tensions & How South Korea Could Forge Peace
  Christine Hong of UC Santa Cruz and the Korea Policy Institute discusses the overlooked history behind U.S.-North Korea tensions and says the best hope for resolving them is a progressive government in South Korea willing to engage. AARON MATÉ: It's The Real News. I'm Aaron Maté. Tensions between the U.S. and North Korea are rising. North Korea has warned the U.S. that sending a Navy strike group, including the aircraft carrier Karl Vincent to the Korean Peninsula, could lead to war. North Korea's official newspaper said its, quote, "nuclear sight is focused on U.S. forces and the U.S. mainland." A new ballistic missile test last week is said to have prompted the Trump administration's move, sending a U.S. Navy force into the area. In a Twitter post President Trump said, quote, "North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them. USA." Joining us is Christine Hong, Associate Professor at UC Santa Cruz. She is on the executive board of the Korea Policy Institute. Welcome, Professor Hong. [US NK policy] [Trump] [Continuity] [Engagement]
• U.S. Ready to Shoot Down N.Korean Missiles
  By Yu Yong-weon April 12, 2017 09:29 The U.S. has put Australia and other allies on alert that it is fully prepared to shoot down rockets launched by North Korea, the Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday. Intelligence sources told the Australian daily the North could test-launch ballistic missiles around the birthday of nation founder Kim II-sung this week. "The United States, which has a fleet headed to the Korean Peninsula, is understood to have notified Australia that it is fully prepared to shoot down these rockets," the report said. "The Australian-United States joint facility at Pine Gap monitors North Korean missile launches, and is on standby." In a letter to the U.S. Senate the same day, Gen. Lori Robinson, the commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), said, "North Korea’s closed society and robust denial and deception capabilities challenge our ability to observe missile and nuclear test preparations, a concern that would be exacerbated in crisis or in wartime and complicate our ability to defend the U.S." But Robinson said she is "confident" in the U.S.' ability to "defend against a limited long-range ballistic missile attack from North Korea." The North has been testing a range of rockets and ballistic missiles in recent months and seems determined to build an intercontinental ballistic missile that could deliver a nuclear payload to the U.S. mainland. The U.S. Navy strike group led by the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier is expected to reach waters near the Korean Peninsula as early as Saturday. It is escorted by an Aegis cruiser armed with SM-3 interceptors. In addition, the U.S. is expected to deploy two or three more Aegis destroyers in the East Sea around Saturday. [Missile test] [Escalation] [Legality] [Australia]
• U.S. Navy sends strike group toward Korean Peninsula
  U.S. sends strike group toward Korean peninsula Play Video2:49 A U.S. Navy strike group is traveling toward the Korean peninsula ahead of anniversary celebrations in North Korea that are expected to include huge military parades. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson commented on the situation during his April 9 interviews on ABC and CBS. (Monica Akhtar, Dani Player, Anna Fifield/The Washington Post) By Anna Fifield April 9 SEOUL — A U.S. Navy strike group led by the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier was making its way toward the Korean Peninsula on Sunday “to maintain readiness” as Kim Jong Un’s regime in North Korea prepared to mark key anniversaries in the coming weeks. North Korea is expected to hold a huge military parade Saturday to celebrate the 105th birthday of its founding president, Kim Il Sung, and to mark with similar fanfare the 85th anniversary of the creation of the Korean People’s Army on April 25. Analysts expect the recent barrage of missile launches­ to continue, and activities around the country’s known nuclear test site have raised concerns that Pyongyang may be preparing for a sixth nuclear test. Over the weekend, North Korea said that it was not afraid of military strikes like those the United States launched on Syria last week, saying it could defend itself with its “tremendous military muscle with a nuclear force.” In this atmosphere, the Carl Vinson strike group, which includes a carrier air wing and two guided-missile destroyers, was ordered to travel to the “Western Pacific.” When the group left Singapore on Saturday, it was bound for Australia before receiving the new orders. [US NK policy] [Escalation] [Posturing]
• Fears of U.S. Strike on N.Korea Are Premature
  April 11, 2017 12:47 Senior officials in the Trump administration have signaled the possibility of a preemptive strike against North Korea, resulting in rumors spreading in South Korea of an imminent attack. They were spurred by reports that a U.S. Navy strike group headed by the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson has been dispatched to the waters off the Korean Peninsula, and stories in the Japanese press that the return of the Japanese ambassador to Seoul was aimed at facilitating the evacuation of Japanese citizens in case of a war. On social media, people were soon claiming that foreign businesses are pulling out or that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un plans to defect. A preemptive strike is certainly one of the options on the table for the new U.S. administration. President Donald Trump is probably the most likely American leader so far to consider the option. But any military operation requires a clear objective as well as a detailed follow-up plan, and when it comes to North Korea both of these points are murky at best. Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo on Monday voiced opposition to a preemptive attack, saying South Korea "cannot but consider various problems" such a move would entail. The U.S. defense secretary has always stressed the side effects of a preemptive attack when briefing the president about such an option. [US NK policy] [Invasion]
• Korean peninsula tensions rising with rare redeployment of USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier
  Posted on : Apr.11,2017 16:40 KST Modified on : Apr.11,2017 16:40 KST US military power increase around the Korean peninsula This month North Korea is scheduled to hold several commemorative events, when it often conducts rocket launches The tension index is rising after the unusual decision to send the US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson back to the Korean Peninsula two weeks after its departure. The launch of large-scale joint South Korea-US logistical exercises and the scheduling of several “commemoration days” when North Korea is seen as likely to engage in tension-raising actions mean the possibility of an unintended clash cannot be ruled out. But experts were almost unanimous in agreeing that the US move was not intended as a step toward military action. The dispatch of the Carl Vinson does appear directly connected to various internal events scheduled in North Korea for this month. “There haven’t been any unusual trends by the North Korean military. This doesn’t seem to be the groundwork for any kind of military measure right now,” said a South Korean military official. “With so many events scheduled in North Korea for April, the likelihood of a strategic provocation like a sixth nuclear test is high, and it looks like the aim is to put pressure on North Korea ahead of time to prevent that,” the official said. [US NK policy] [Carrier] [Escalation] [Posturing] [Provocation]
• Rex Tillerson says US’s objective is a denuclearized Korean peninsula
  Posted on : Apr.11,2017 16:39 KST Modified on : Apr.11,2017 16:39 KST Secretary of State’s remarks appear to rule out regime change and preemptive strike on North Korea US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the purpose of US policy toward North Korea was not regime change but rather the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. This message is thought to clearly rule out a preemptive strike on North Korea or the elimination of Kim Jong-un while leaving open the possibility of negotiations in the future, if not for the moment. [Tillerson] [US NK policy]
• [Interview] At summit, US and China could have made an agreement behind closed doors
  Posted on : Apr.11,2017 16:38 KST Modified on : Apr.11,2017 16:38 KST Gong Keyu says “US doesn’t currently have an option that ensures it could annihilate North Korea in a single blow” Gong Keyu, Senior Researcher of the Institute for World Economy Studies and Deputy Director of the, Center for Asian-Pacific Studies Gong Keyu, a senior researcher at the Center for Asian-Pacific Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies and a Chinese expert on Korean Peninsula affairs, predicted that the summit meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would ultimately lead to diplomatic deliberations. Gong made the prediction during an interview with the Hankyoreh’s Beijing correspondent on Apr. 10, in which she remarked that “the North Korean nuclear issue is challenging because Trump has to do something as American president, but the difficult problem is that there isn’t much he can do.” Hankyoreh (Hani): Some are saying that no agreement was made about North Korea during the summit. Gong Keyu (Gong): There were no disagreements between the two sides on the general principles that the North Korean issue is important, that China and the US need to cooperate, that a peaceful solution is necessary and that UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea must be strictly implemented. But it looks like another agreement took place behind closed doors. Hani: Some reports are saying that the two sides agreed to expand sanctions against North Korea. Gong: I think that’s a possibility, but the US doesn’t have a lot of viable options. In the end, there are three ways to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue: dialogue and negotiations, sanctions and pressure, and a military strike. The US thinks that the dialogue China is talking about is pointless, and it isn’t prepared militarily either. Ultimately the only remaining option is “double pressure” - in which the US puts pressure on North Korea not only directly but also through China. [US NK policy] [Chinese IR] [Sidelined]
• Is second Korean War imminent? [Q&As]
  By Digital News Team Will North Korea conduct a nuclear test in coming days? And will the United States punish it with a military strike, as Donald Trump pledged as one of the options to curb the North's nuclear ambitions? Any military clash between the two countries could lead to the worst-case scenario of a full-scale war on the Korean Peninsula. Many South Koreans are increasingly uneasy about possible exchanges of fire -- between the two Koreas or a three-way battle involving a third country, most likely the U.S. -- that could throw their lives into unprecedented chaos. The unplanned deployment of a U.S. carrier strike group to waters close to the peninsula has stoked worries. Adding fuel to the fire are widespread "warmongering rumors" on the internet, with detailed prospects, including when and how a second Korean War would break out. Many experts and government officials called the rumors "baseless," but that seems to have done little to contain rising public anxiety. At this critical juncture, The Korea Times interviewed four experts on North Korea and international relations to draw up a likely scenario that will play out in coming days. [US NK Policy] [Invasion] [War]
• S. Korea plays down possibility of preemptive US attack on N. Korea
  Posted : 2017-04-10 13:53 Updated : 2017-04-10 13:53 South Korea played down the possibility of a pre-emptive U.S. attack on North Korea on Monday, saying it wants to settle North Korea's nuclear issue peacefully, and the U.S. supports that position. "There's no need to be worried much," Lee Duck-hang, spokesman at the Ministry of Unification, said on the prospect of any pre-emptive U.S. attack on Pyongyang during a press briefing. "The U.S. has said it supports South Korea's policy on North Korea, and our government intends to solve all the problems peacefully," Lee said. [US NK policy] [Preemptive]
• Falling Short: Financial Sanctions and Sino-North Korean Border Trade
  By Kevin Gray | April 06, 2017 The “North Korea question” is high on the agenda at Friday’s summit meeting between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Speaking outside the White House on Wednesday, Trump escalated the issue, labelling North Korea a “big problem,” calling Kim Jong-un “somebody that is not doing the right thing,” and declaring that he takes full responsibility for solving it. Trump has already had to abandon several election promises upon which he had staked slices of his reputation, and in all likelihood he would get away with abandoning this one, too. Nevertheless, his comments set the scene for a combative tête-à-tête in Florida. Given that military action against North Korea would be ruinous for all concerned, one of the more plausible threats on Washington’s table of options at Mar-a-Lago is heightened financial sanctions against North Korean entities and/or the Chinese ones that do business with them. It is pertinent, therefore, to ask at this point not only whether such financial sanctions work — which obviously depends on the intended goal — but also what the unintended consequences of their implementation could be. Wading into the financial sanctions swamp with a new article for Sino-NK, Kevin Gray brings us the findings from his new paper with Lee Jong-woon of Far East University, in which the authors do exactly that: interrogate the usefulness of financial sanctions, and highlight ways in which they have impacted economic development.– Christopher Green, Co-editor [Sanctions] [Secondary sanctions] [China hope]
• Trump, Xi unlikely to produce deal on N. Korea
  Posted : 2017-04-07 16:47 Updated : 2017-04-07 17:51 Summit may fall short of tackling Kim Jong-un regime By Yi Whan-woo U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are unlikely to produce any meaningful deal on North Korea during their summit, analysts said Friday. On the first day of the two-day summit at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, the U.S. military bombarded a Syrian airbase with 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles in retaliation to a chemical weapon attack on civilians. This could leave Xi a bit uncomfortable with Trump increasing pressure on China to make North Korea stop its provocations or it will "act independently." However, analysts say the military action against Syria will still not scare Xi enough. "The U.S. airstrike on Syria was apparently Trump's slap on Xi's face, ensuring that U.S. military options are on the table if China continues to be reluctant on pushing North Korea," said Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, citing that China has opposed sanctions on Syria. [Trump-Xi_April17] [Syria_airstrike_170406]
• Korea alienated from Trump-Xi summit
  Posted : 2017-04-06 17:00 Updated : 2017-04-06 21:58 By Yi Whan-woo All South Korea can do is just wait and see as U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping deal with North Korea issues in their first summit today. Their talks will influence the country's security interests for years to come, but there is not much Seoul can do. South Korea has failed to raise its voice ahead of the crucial summit — its corruption-ridden president was removed from office in early March and the acting president is not on a par with foreign leaders. Trump made the headlines in South Korean newspapers when he told the Financial Times, Monday, that he will deal with North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile threats with or without China's help. The media quoted him as saying, "That's going to be my responsibility," concerning Pyongyang, and that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "is not doing the right thing" during a joint press conference with Jordanian King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein at the White House, Wednesday. The White House response to possible action to be taken on Beijing's retaliation against Seoul over the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in South Korea was also discussed in the South Korean diplomatic circle. "The United States will always act to defend our allies...There will be no move away from protecting our South Korean allies and the United States," a senior White House official said, Wednesday, during a background briefing on Xi's U.S. visit. The South Korean media also wondered why Trump had a telephone conversation with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Thursday, but not with acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, over Pyongyang's ballistic missile test on the eve of the U.S.-China summit. [Sidelined] [Trump_Xi_April17]
• Foal Eagle exercise
  South Korean marines participate in an Amphibious Operations (AMPHOPS) during the annual Foal Eagle exercise against a possible attack from North Korea in Pohang, 360 kilometers southeast of Seoul, Sunday. South Korean and U.S. military Combined Forces Command is holding the annual exercise from March 1 to May 1. / EPA-Yonhap [Joint US military] [Amphibious]
• Two-thirds of Americans support use of force against N. Korea
  Posted : 2017-04-06 15:15 Updated : 2017-04-06 19:27 By Kim Hyo-jin About two-thirds of Americans support their government's use of military force against North Korea if it is to protect its allies in Asia, according to a U.S. poll, Wednesday (local time). The poll conducted by the Pew Research Center showed that 64 percent of respondents said if an Asian ally, such as South Korea, Japan or the Philippines, were attacked by North Korea, the U.S. should use force to defend it. The poll also showed that 88 percent of U.S. citizens are concerned about North Korea having nuclear weapons, with 65 percent saying they are "very concerned" and 23 percent "somewhat concerned." The poll was released amid Washington taking a tough stance against Pyongyang over its nuclear ambitions. U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned earlier that the U.S. would consider unilateral action if China refuses to help address the problem, while increasing economic sanctions. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said military options were not off the table. The poll hinted that public sentiment in the U.S. is backing the Trump administration's approach. When asked about the best option for dealing with North Korea's nuclear issue, 61 percent favored increasing economic sanctions against the North while 28 percent favored opening ties. It also showed that three quarters of U.S. citizens hold a negative view of North Korea ruled by its young leader Kim Jong-un. A total of 78 percent said they have an unfavorable opinion, with 61 percent expressing a very unfavorable opinion. Only 12 percent replied they view the country favorably. There were no significant partisan divides on attitudes toward the North, unlike public opinion on other aspects of U.S. foreign policy, the pollster said. The poll was conducted on 1,505 Americans who were 18 years old and over between February 16 to March 15. It has a margin of error of 3 percent. [US NK policy] [Military option] [public opinion]
• THAAD's return on cost
  Posted : 2017-04-06 17:19 Updated : 2017-04-06 17:19 By Donald Kirk From the outset, the idea of implanting a Star Wars weapon capable of zapping an enemy missile 150 kilometers above the earth's surface had to be controversial. The real problem from the South Korean viewpoint initially was, what for ? what we really need are short and mid-range missiles for not only countering whatever North Korea is throwing at us but also delivering body blows to targets on North Korea soil. South Koreans hemmed and hawed with visiting American potentates, from cabinet-level personages to military officers to corporate types and engineers, and even a physicist or two, all laden with charts, graphics, power-point and information sheets showing why South Korea needed THAAD for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense. [THAAD] [Military Industrial complex]
• Can the US really solve North Korean nuke issue on its own?
  Posted on : Apr.5,2017 16:52 KST Modified on : Apr.5,2017 16:52 KST North Korea’s launch of four Scud extended range missiles on Mar. 6 Experts agree that issue can’t be solved without China’s active enforcement of sanctions In a Financial Times interview on Apr. 2, US President Donald Trump said, “If China is not going to solve North Korea, we [the US] will.” The next question is what he actually meant by that, and how China will respond. There appears to be little room for disputing that Trump’s remarks were made to pressure Beijing ahead of his Apr. 6-7 summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. But experts were largely skeptical on whether the US could actually achieve a solution to the North Korean nuclear issue on its own. “What Trump wants is North Korea’s denuclearization,” said Yonsei University professor emeritus Moon Chung-in. “That brings with it the issue of guaranteeing [North Korea’s] security, but at the same time [Pyongyang] wants economic compensation. Trump has no economic incentive [to offer Pyongyang],” Moon continued. “That means it’s impossible for the US [to resolve the issue] on its own.” [Trump] [US NK policy]
• S. Korea, US and Japan start first joint antisubmarine exercises
  Posted on : Apr.4,2017 15:48 KST Modified on : Apr.4,2017 15:48 KST South Korea-USjoint antisubmarine exercises Exercises part of expansion of S. Korea’s bilateral military cooperation with Japan and trilateral military cooperation with US and Japan On Apr. 3, South Korea, the US and Japan began three days of joint antisubmarine exercises in the water south off of Jeju Island in international waters between South Korea and Japan. As the first time the three countries have conducted joint antisubmarine exercises, this takes their trilateral military cooperation one step further than the previous humanitarian search and rescue exercises (SAREX) and missile warning exercises. “These exercises are designed to ensure that the three countries can respond effectively to the North Korean submarine threat, including its development of submarine launched ballistic missile capability,” South Korea’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement released on Apr. 3. The Ministry explained that the exercises had been discussed during the Defense Trilateral Talks between senior defense officials from South Korea, the US and Japan in Dec. 2016. [Joint US military] [Triangular] [ASW]
• Pig Peril: the Real Threat to America!
  by Tim Beal April 3, 2017 You may have seen the scary story in The Hill by James Woolsey and Peter Pry, How North Korea could kill 90 percent of Americans Frightening eh? Especially the bit about ‘Why do the press and public officials ignore or under-report these facts?’ Note that Woolsey is a former Director of the CIA, the Central Intelligence Agency. Intelligence, as in really smart and CIA, as in fiendishly devious. Or perhaps not smart, but certainly devious. Devious? Yeah, because they are not telling us the real story. [US NK policy] [Threat] [Hysteria]
• Trump warns China: Fix North Korea problem or we will
  Posted : 2017-04-03 13:08 Updated : 2017-04-03 13:12 By Lee Han-soo, Park Si-soo If China does not solve the North Korean problem, the U.S, will do it, President Donald Trump has warned Beijing before his first summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week. "China has great influence over North Korea, and China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't," Trump told The Financial Times in an interview published on Monday. "And if they do, that will be very good for China, and if they don't it won't be good for anyone. If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you." The meeting is scheduled at Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Thursday-Friday (local time). Asked if he believed he could solve North Korea's nuclear armament issue without China, Trump replied: "Totally." But he didn't elaborate on what "totally" meant. Trump also did not comment on the much-talked about option of a preemptive strike on the North's nuclear and military facilities. Asked what incentive the U.S. had to offer China, Trump replied, "Trade is the incentive. It is all about trade." Trump avoided saying whether he would consider pulling U.S. troops out of the Korean Peninsula if the U.S. and China came such an agreement on the North. "I'm not going to tell you," he said. "You know, I am not the United States of the past where we tell you where we are going to hit in the Middle East." However, it is still unclear that Trump's strong words will influence China. China recently imposed tough sanctions on the North, following U.N. Security Council sanctions, but has done little to tackle the nuclear problem. [Trump] [US NK policy] [China hope] [Military option] [Bluster]
• Trump To Tell Xi: “If China Is Not Going To Solve North Korea, We Will"
  by Tyler Durden Apr 2, 2017 2:35 PM In an interview with the Financial Times coming less than a week ahead of his meeting with China's president Xi Jinping in Mar A Lago (Xi, however, will not be staying at Trump's "Winter palace" as the SCMP reports) Donald Trump has warned the US "will take unilateral action to eliminate the nuclear threat from North Korea unless China increases pressure on the regime in Pyongyang." Among the key topics for discussion with Xi Jinping, the US president said he would focus on the growing threat from Kim Jong Un’s nuclear program when he hosts the Chinese president at his Florida resort this week in their first meeting. “China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won’t,” Mr Trump said in the Oval Office. “If they do, that will be very good for China, and if they don’t, it won’t be good for anyone.” But he made clear that he would deal with North Korea with or without China’s help. Asked if he would consider a “grand bargain” — where China pressures Pyongyang in exchange for a guarantee that the US would later remove troops from the Korean peninsula — Mr Trump said: “Well if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you.” [Trump][US NK policy] [China Hope] [Trump_Xi_April17] [Bluster]
• [Correspondent’s column] Negotiations can ease the “powder keg” of East Asia
  Posted on : Apr.2,2017 07:50 KST Modified on : Apr.2,2017 07:50 KST US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Mar. 19. (AP/Yonhap News) The North Korean nuclear issue is intensifying, as the Trump administration plans for summit with China For the last two weeks or so, the Korean Peninsula “crisis index” in Washington DC has been going through the roof. The signs certainly aren’t encouraging. The conflicts are only getting worse, not better. While the upcoming US-China summit next week means the situation is still up in the air, that is certainly how it feels at the moment. Since Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s recent visits to South Korea, China, and Japan, the mood in Washington has been progression toward a hard line on Pyongyang. The fires were stoked by Tillerson’s remarks about the possibility of military action against North Korea. In context, he was talking about it as a last resort, noting that there were many other steps that could be taken before things reached that point. Yet the remarks drew an edgy response from the South Korean and US media alike. [US NK policy] [US China]
• U.S. defense chief says North Korea has ‘got to be stopped’
  U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis leaves after visiting British Prime Minister Theresa May at 10 Downing Street in London, Friday, March 31, 2017. (Matt Dunham, Pool/Associated Press) By Robert Burns?|?AP March 31 LONDON — North Korea must be stopped on its path toward being able to threaten the United States with nuclear attack, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday in a stark expression of America’s top national security concern at the moment. He emphasized diplomatic means of changing Pyongyang’s “reckless” agenda. On his first visit to Britain as Pentagon chief, Mattis also took rhetorical jabs at Russia and said America’s priority in Syria is defeating the Islamic State group rather than bringing down President Bashar Assad. At a joint news conference with his British counterpart, Michael Fallon, Mattis was reminded by a reporter that as commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East several years ago, he considered Iran to be the biggest threat to U.S. interests. Asked how he would deal with Iran as secretary of defense, Mattis called Tehran a problem but quickly pivoted to condemning North Korea and described the isolated, communist country as the more immediate threat. [US NK policy] [Mattis] [Threat] [Policy poverty] [Military option]
• US passes strengthened version of legislation sanctioning North Korea
  Posted on : Mar.31,2017 15:07 KST Modified on : Mar.31,2017 15:07 KST US Congressman Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Bill redesignates North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, citing assassination of Kim Jong-nam The US House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed a stiffer version of existing legislation sanctioning North Korea at a plenary session on Mar. 29. The passage of the Korean Interdiction and Modernization of Sanctions Act came eight days after the legislation was introduced. The committee also passed a bill calling for redesignation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism and a resolution denouncing its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program. The moves were seen as reflecting the US Congress’s current hard-line mood on North Korea. [US NK policy] [Sanctions] [Royce]
• President Trump and the crisis on the Korean Peninsula
  by Captain Sukjoon Yoon, ROKN retired Sukjoon Yoon (sjyoon6680@kims.or.kr) is retired from the Republic of Korea Navy and is senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for Maritime Strategy, and director of international maritime security studies. Failure to resolve the North Korean problem could be disastrous for all parties, but deciding the best response to North Korean WMD threats is far from easy. Prevailing assumptions include: North Korea is never going to be accepted as a nuclear power; North Korea will retaliate against any military strike, potentially leading to all-out war; the US will continue to follow rules-based principles to promote regional peace and stability; and South Korea needs to identify policies distinct from the strong stance taken against the North Korean regime by former President Park Geun-hye. [Trump] [US Korea policy] [ROK military]

• Insurgency in the DPRK? Post-regime Insurgency in Comparative Perspective
  By 38 North 16 March 2017 Instability in the DPRK could have many sources, ranging from internal political strife to economic collapse to a renewal of intense armed conflict with the ROK and its allies. Regardless of origin, instability could lead to the collapse of the regime, which could in turn open the door to potential civil war inside the DPRK as well as resistance to an intervention seeking to reunify the Korean peninsula. Politicians and military planners alike must take seriously the possibility of insurgency in any state following rapid and violent governmental change. [Invasion] [Pacification] [False analogy] [Iraq]
• N.Korean Missiles Target U.S. Reinforcements
  By Yu Yong-weon, Kim Jin-myung March 30, 2017 11:25 The short-term objective of North Korea's frantic missile development is to prevent U.S. troop and weapons reinforcements from reaching the Korean Peninsula in the event of war, analysis suggests. North Korea launched 46 missiles since leader Kim Jong-un came to power in 2012, often at high angles or in groups. The Chosun Ilbo on Wednesday asked military sources and experts to analyze the launches, and they concluded that while the long-term goal is to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of striking targets on the U.S. mainland, the immediate targets are closer to home. The experts said the North seems to have developed the capability to deliver a "significant blow" to U.S. troop and weapons reinforcements. If they are unable to reach the peninsula in the event of a war between North and South, proper defensive maneuvers will be extremely difficult to carry out, to say nothing of reprisal attacks.
• Ex-CIA chief: US should consider nuclear attack on N. Korea if necessary
  Posted : 2017-03-30 11:21 Updated : 2017-03-30 11:21 The United States should be prepared to launch preemptive strikes on North Korea, including a nuclear attack if necessary, before the communist nation uses its nuclear bombs that could "kill 90 percent of Americans," a former CIA chief said Wednesday. James Woolsey, who served as CIA director from 1993-95, made the case in an op-ed piece in the Hill newspaper, arguing that the U.S. is erroneously underestimating Pyongyang's capabilities to deliver nuclear weapons by missile, freighter and even satellite. "Why do the press and public officials ignore or under-report these facts? Perhaps no administration wants to acknowledge that North Korea is an existential threat on their watch," Woolsey said in the article, titled "How North Korea could kill 90 percent of Americans." [Threat] [CIA] [US NK policy]
• U.S. WMD Disposal Unit Takes Part in Joint Drills
  By Lee Yong-soo March 29, 2017 12:32 A U.S. unit specializing in the disposal of weapons of mass destruction took part in the joint annual South Korea-U.S. drills on March 13-23. Sources from the Combined Forces Command also said a British bomb disposal unit took part. A researcher at a state-funded think tank here said Tuesday this suggests the two sides "have started preparing for pre-emptive strikes against North Korea's nuclear and chemical weapons facilities and incapacitating its WMD facilities in a war." U.S. soldiers from the 52nd Ordnance Group conducts a drill in Louisiana (file photo). /Courtesy of the U.S. Army Meanwhile, the 2nd U.S. Infantry Division hosted a dinner party at a camp in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province on March 23 for reinforcement troops from the U.S. mainland and British soldiers. One of the photos the division published Monday shows Maj. Gen. Theodore Martin, the division commander, presenting a plaque of appreciation to Col. Mark Faria from the 52nd Ordnance Group of the U.S. Army. According to military website Global Security, the 52nd Ordnance Group controls and supervises all ordnance units of the U.S. Army tasked with assessing and disposing of explosives including conventional weapons, biochemical and nuclear weapons, and improvised explosive devices. It is not known how many contingent troops the group sent and what kind of practice they carried out here. But it seems that only a small number of members from the unit participated in the part of the exercise dubbed Key Resolve, which is a computer simulation drill. [Joint US military] [Preemptive] [US dominance] [Seizure]
• North Korean military threatens “preemptive special operations”
  Posted on : Mar.27,2017 16:12 KST Modified on : Mar.27,2017 16:12 KST A Korean Central Television anchor reads a warning issued on Mar. 26 in the name of a Peoples’ Army General Staff Department spokesperson, about “preemptive special operations,” on Mar. 26 in response to special operations exercises by the South Korean and US militaries. (Yonhap News) Threat comes in apparent response to South Korean and US joint Key Resolve/Foal Eagle military exercises The North Korean military threatened “our method of preemptive special operations” on Mar. 26 in response to special operations exercises by the South Korean and US militaries. The South Korean military countered that they would “punish any provocations.” In a warning issued on Mar. 26 in the name of a Peoples‘ Army General Staff Department spokesperson, Pyongyang was quoted by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) as saying, “Now that the heinous scheme of ‘special operations’ by the American empire and the belligerent fanatics of the puppet [South Korean] military has become apparent and their ideas for a dangerous preemptive strike have been revealed, we proclaim our military’s position that it will ruthlessly crush all such machinations with our own method of preemptive special operations and our own method of preemptive strike warfare.” [Joint US military] [Preemptive]
• US Stryker team participates in joint drills in S. Korea
  Posted : 2017-03-29 11:27 Updated : 2017-03-29 11:27 Thousands of U.S. rapid response troops, including the Stryker team, are taking part in a joint exercise in South Korea, the U.S. military said Wednesday, as tensions run high on the peninsula amid North Korea's saber-rattling. The Army's 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) has been deployed here for the ongoing Foal Eagle exercise after the Cobra Gold training in Thailand, according to the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM). The Stryker unit, code-named Task Force Ghost, is a motorized infantry force known for increased operational and tactical mobility and flexibility. It reportedly includes three infantry battalions, a cavalry squadron for reconnaissance, a field artillery battalion, an anti-tank company and a military intelligence company. [Joint US military] [Special forces]
• Are Sanctions Against North Korea Working?
  Date & Time: Thu, 04/06/2017 - 12:00pm - 1:30pm The Korea Economic Institute of America's Academic Symposium presents Are Sanctions Against North Korea Working? Last year the international community placed increasingly tougher sanctions on North Korea in response to two separate nuclear tests from Kim Jong-un. U.N. Resolution 2321 enacted in November aimed to improve upon Resolution 2270 passed in March—closing loopholes, expanding the scope of sanctioned items, and capping coal trade — yet concerns still remain over its enforcement. Unilateral measures were also passed, including the first sanctions on a North Korean leader for human rights abuses and secondary sanctions targeting financial institutions, but these are also not without their limitations. While North Korea’s continued defiance of the international community may not come as a surprise in 2017, it does not portend sanctions are ineffectual. In light of calls to revisit strategies toward North Korea, discerning the impact of recent sanctions on the Kim regime is now critical to how future policy will be shaped. [Sanctions] [US NK policy]
• U.S. Stealth Fighters Conduct Precision Bombing Drill
  By Yu Yong-weon March 27, 2017 10:43 U.S. F-35B fighter jets conducted a precision bombing drill over the Korean Peninsula last week as part of a huge contingent of special forces taking part in this year's joint exercises with South Korea, U.S military officials said Saturday. South Korean and U.S. militaries are putting on their biggest show of force against the North since early this month, including the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and B-1 bombers. The jets arrived from a U.S. military base in Japan and carried out a drill for hitting targets in North Korea in the event of a war on the peninsula. Six to eight F-35B jets conducted the drill in Taebaek, Gangwon Province from March 20 to 23, carrying precision-guided missile and small diameter bombs. They can take off from and land vertically on a large landing ship, carrying a maximum of 6.8 tons of bombs and missiles. Other U.S. aircraft such as the U.S. Marines' AV-8B Harrier vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, and AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters also participated in the drill. "The latest bombing drill, with F-35B stealth jets which are capable of striking targets without being detected by radar, gives a strong warning to North Korea," military officers here said. This year's joint exercises will continue until late next month. [Joint US military] [Airstrike] [F-35]
• Bennett's curse - about US pullout
  Posted : 2017-03-26 13:17 Updated : 2017-03-27 11:30 By Oh Young-jin Bruce Benett is a senior researcher at the Rand Corporation. The spooky-sounding Rand dates back to the height of the Cold War, helping prepare the United States for war or other contingencies. Dr. Bennett is a Korea expert and we should feel better off with some of his plans kept in the pigeonhole. So I was surprised to know he was speaking to a general audience, Tuesday. [VX] [MISCOM] [US NK policy] [cbw] [Military presence]
• US sending strategic weapons in greater secrecy
  Posted : 2017-03-26 16:59 Updated : 2017-03-26 17:34 A U.S. Air Force F-35B stealth fighter takes off from its base in Japan, Thursday, to participate in a joint drill between South Korea and the U.S., in this handout photo made available Saturday by U.S. Forces Korea. / Yonhap By Jun Ji-hye The U.S. armed forces appear to have been sending their strategic weapons to South Korea in greater secrecy, a move that would maximize fear for North Korea. A military official said on condition of anonymity, Sunday, that increasing the dispatch of weapons in secret reflects the Donald Trump administration's shifting toward offensive measures in dealing with the North's evolving threats as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson vowed to explore all options including military action. "Surprise dispatch of strategic weapons is effective in maximizing fear in the North as it sends a message that such weapons can be mobilized any time in case of a contingency," the official said. In the latest series of mobilizations, it was belatedly known that Washington had sent several F-35B stealth fighters, deployed to the U.S. Forces Japan, to the Korean Peninsula last week. [Strategic assets] [Escalation]
• S. Korea, U.S. drill targets N. Korean chemical weapons
  Posted : 2017-03-26 15:30 Updated : 2017-03-26 16:00 By Ko Dong-hwan South Korea and the U.S. have conducted an exercise on destroying North Korean chemical weapons, according to American military forces in Korea Sunday. The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said troops participated in an exercise to remove the lethal nerve agent sarin at a shooting range in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on Tuesday and Wednesday. The drill was part of the annual joint Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises. During the exercise, the forces raided a mock North Korean chemical weapons factory and destroyed its products. The American troops arrived in CH-47 Chinook and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. From Feb. 13 to 17, the two allies conducted a drill at a live-fire complex in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, to seize and destroy North Korean weapons of mass destruction. North Korea has 25 nerve agents, including VX that was used in the recent murder of Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of the military state's leader Kim Jong-un, according to the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. [Joint US military] [Special forces] [Seizure] [cbw] [False equality]
• N. Korea threatens attack in response to joint drills in South
  Posted : 2017-03-26 15:41 Updated : 2017-03-26 15:59 The North Korean People's Army on Sunday criticized joint military exercises by South Korea and the U.S., threatening retaliation. The screen grab shows the statement, titled "North Korean People's Army spokesman's warning message," that says the North "will mercilessly trample using our own preemptive strikes." By Ko Dong-hwan North Korea threatened on Sunday a military strike in response to South Korean and U.S. troops' recent drills to counter Pyongyang's provocations and possible attacks on the global community. The North Korean People's Army said the military state is ready to fend off any attempts by enemy commandos to attack its leader Kim Jong-un. "We will mercilessly trample on all their attempts with our own preemptive special operations and our own preemptive strikes," a General Staff Department spokesman said. The statement said the North will attack without warning as long as U.S. special operations forces remain in South Korea. U.S. commandos ? including Navy SEAL Team 6, Army Rangers, Delta Force and Green Berets ? this month joined the annual Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises with South Korea. [Threat] [Conditionality] [Preemptive]
• North Korea’s leader is a lot of things — but irrational is not one of them
  North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un appears on a screen during a confetti-filled concert at the Pyongyang Arena in May 2016. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) By Anna Fifield March 25 at 8:41 PM SEOUL — It’s easy to write off Kim Jong Un as a madman. What with the colorful nuclear threats, the gruesome executions of family members, the fact that he’s a self-appointed marshal who’s never served in the military. Indeed, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) did it just this past week, calling Kim “this crazy, fat kid that’s running North Korea.” That came on the heels of a pronouncement from Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, that “we are not dealing with a rational person” in Kim. [US NK policy] [Irrational]
• Rex Tillerson’s ‘new approach’ to North Korea sounds a lot like the old approach
  He even used the same language as the Obama and Bush administrations. By Jeffrey Lewis March 24 Follow @armscontrolwonk Jeffrey Lewis is a scholar at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-Se during a visit to Seoul on March 17. Credit: Jung Yeon-Je/Reuters When Secretary of State Rex Tillerson showed up in Asia this month, he announced that the United States would take a “new approach ” to North Korea. Tillerson avoided any specifics of how he planned to get a different result, but he was well armed with platitudes — he spoke of decades of failed “diplomatic and other efforts,” joined the Japanese foreign minister in calling Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs “totally unacceptable,” and urged the North’s leaders “to change your path.” Shortly after Tillerson departed, North Korea attempted yet another missile launch. [Tillerson] [US NK policy] [Continuities] [Policy poverty]
• North Korea: The Real Serious Options on the Table
  by Pepe Escobar The National People’s Congress in Beijing made it clear that China in the 21st century as led by Xi Jinping now relies, as a state, on the “core” leader’s “four comprehensives” as the letter of the law. The “four comprehensives” are to build a moderately prosperous society; deepen economic reform; advance the law-based governance of China; and strengthen the Communist Party’s self-governance. No foreign-policy adventure/disaster should be allowed to interfere with the “four comprehensives,” which, extrapolated, are also linked to the imperative success of the New Silk Roads (One Belt, One Road), China’s ambitious outreach across Eurasia. But then there’s supremely unpredictable North Korea. And the notorious Lenin line resurfaces: “What is to be done?” Pyongyang has successfully tested land-based, mobile, solid-fueled intermediate-range ballistic missiles. When operational, this development translates into a North Korean first-strike capability difficult to track, as well as the means to absorb an initial foreign attack and retaliate with – nuclear-tipped? – missiles. [US NK policy] [Chinese peace proposal]
• Bending to China to jeopardize Korea-US ties
  Posted : 2017-03-24 18:27 Updated : 2017-03-24 18:40 ‘Korean presidency is hardest job on planet' By Kim Jae-kyoung A former U.S. government official warned that any decision by South Korea to yield to China's trade curbs may jeopardize the Seoul-Washington alliance. "Wrong decisions -- anything seen as aid or compromise with the North Korean state -- or bending to Chinese economic blackmail, could have disastrous consequences for our long-lived alliance and friendly relations," Georgetown University School of Foreign Service professor William Brown told The Korea Times. [THAAD] [China SK] [US SK alliance]
• US Presence in Korea Drives Instability
  Ulson Gunnar US and European interests continue to portray the government and nation of North Korea as a perpetual security threat to both Asia and the world. Allegations regarding the nation’s nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs are continuously used as justification for not only a continuous US military presence on the Korean Peninsula, but as justification for a wider continued presence across all of Asia-Pacific. In reality, what is portrayed as an irrational and provocative posture by the North Korean government, is in fact driven by a very overt, and genuinely provocative posture by the United States and its allies within the South Korean government. [US NK policy] [Threat]
• US's N. Korea policy options range from “warm hamburger” to “war hammers”
  Posted on : Mar.23,2017 15:32 KST Modified on : Mar.23,2017 15:32 KST Trump administration still nominally open to dialogue, examining “the whole spectrum of possibilities” The White House called for a new perspective on North Korea policy on Mar. 21, saying it was leaving open every option from “warm hamburger” to “war hammers.” The message is seen as hinting that in addition to the possibility of using military force against the North, the Donald Trump administration has not fully closed the door to the option of dialogue. Speaking at a Mar. 21 debate on US nuclear policy organized by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, White House Senior Director for Weapons of Mass Destruction and Counter-Proliferation Christopher Ford said the people examining North Korea policy were “look[ing] at the whole spectrum of possibilities.” The possibilities in question ranged from “warm hamburger” to “war hammers,” Ford added. [US NK policy] [Policy poverty]
• US Congress passes bipartisan bill to strengthen sanctions on North Korea
  Posted on : Mar.23,2017 15:30 KST Modified on : Mar.23,2017 15:30 KST New measures allows the US to restrict other countries from most forms of trade with North Korea US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs chair Ed Royce Lawmakers with the US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs sponsored a bipartisan bill on Mar. 21 to further strengthen existing legislation on North Korean sanctions. While many new terms have been left up to the executive to discretion, the move is seen as a reflection of the US Congress’s hard-line mood on Pyongyang. The Korea Interdiction and Modernization of Sanctions Act, a bipartisan bill sponsored on Mar. 21 by Republican Party subcommittee chair Ed Royce and Democratic Party ranking member Eliot Engel among others, includes terms that would toughen sanctions by revising previous North Korea sanctions legislation passed across party lines early last year in response to North Korea’s fourth nuclear test and ballistic missile launches. The new tougher terms would allow the executive branch discretion to ban the sale and transfer of crude oil and petroleum products to North Korea by other countries except for humanitarian purposes, along with the hiring of North Korean workers. Overseas companies that employ North Korean workers could be designated as subject to sanctions and banned from asset transactions within US jurisdiction. The executive would also be given the authority to consider the purchasing or obtaining North Korea of food, farming, fishing, and textile products and the provision of telephone, telegraph, and other communication services to North Korea as subject to sanctions. [US NK policy] [Sanctions]
• US official voices concern over China’s economic retaliation over THAAD
  Posted on : Mar.23,2017 15:29 KST Modified on : Mar.23,2017 15:29 KST While on tour of East Asia, US Secretary of State refrained from openly mentioning THAAD backlash measures from China Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Kim Hong-kyun (right) shakes hands with US Special Representative for North Korea Policy Joseph Yun at the Central Government Complex in Seoul on the morning of Mar. 22. (by Shin So-young, staff photographer) US Special Representative for North Korea Policy Joseph Yun said that US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who recently visited Japan, South Korea and China, told China during a closed-door meeting with his Chinese counterpart that it was inappropriate for China to retaliate against South Korea because of the THAAD defense system and that this was making the US concerned. [THAAD] [China SK]
• Military action against N. Korea would lead to second Korean War: US expert
  Posted : 2017-03-24 10:55 Updated : 2017-03-24 11:43 A former chief U.S. nuclear negotiator with North Korea said Thursday that attacking North Korea, regardless of whether it's preemptive or preventive strikes, is sure to prompt retaliation that could lead to a second Korean War. Robert Gallucci, who negotiated a 1994 nuclear-freeze deal with Pyongyang that unraveled due to the North's cheating, made the point in an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times, stressing that a negotiated settlement is the only viable alternative to military action. Talk of pre-emptive strikes against the North has come to the fore after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last week that diplomacy failed to disarm the North and the U.S. is considering a new range of options, including a military option. "Tillerson's warning did signal that the Trump administration is taking U.S. policy toward North Korea in a new direction -- that we may be serious about abandoning engagement and willing to pursue containment through military action," Gallucci said. Gallucci, currently a professor of diplomacy at Georgetown University, said that the U.S. could launch attacks as part of either a "preemptive" strike in response to an imminent attack or a "preventive" strike to remove a future threat. "In either scenario, we can expect that attacking North Korea, even with an intended 'surgical strike,' will bring retaliation, most likely against South Korean and American forces and civilians on the Korean peninsula -- there are a lot of both within range of North Korean missiles and artillery ? and possibly a second Korean War," Galluci said. "The U.S. and its allies should be ready for this. At the moment, neither we nor our allies are prepared for war," he said. Gallucci also rejected that tougher sanctions aren't likely to work either. "The real alternative to war is a negotiated settlement that addresses the threat," he said. Recalling the ultimate breakdown of the 1994 deal, Gallucci said that a new deal with the North should be made better than the last deal and should require that the North improve the human rights of its citizens as a condition of normalizing relations with the U.S. (Yonhap) [US NK policy] [Military option] [Gallucci]
• On N. Korea, Trump administration considering “some form of ‘all of the above’”
  Posted on : Mar.22,2017 16:42 KST Modified on : Mar.22,2017 16:42 KST US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (right) during a meeting at the White House with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, Mar. 20/ (AP/Yonhap News) US could launch a cyberattack, and additional sanctions, including a secondary boycott The administration of US President Donald Trump is considering various ways to respond to North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs, including cyberattacks and sanctions, such as a secondary boycott, and once Trump has decided on his policy, all of the chosen methods will be used simultaneously, a senior US official said on Mar. 20. “These options are not done as stand-alones,” Reuters quoted the US official as saying. “It’s going to be some form of ‘all of the above,’ probably excluding military action.” [US NK policy] [Policy poverty] [Secondary sanctions] [Military option]
• U.S. Tries to Cut Off N.Korea's Oil Supplies, Labor Exports
  By Cho Yi-jun March 23, 2017 12:52 The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee introduced fresh sanctions on Wednesday against North Korea sending workers overseas and importing crude oil and related products. North Koreans laborers overseas have been one of the key sources of dollar revenues for the North Korean regime's nuclear weapons and missile programs. Committee Chairman Ed Royce introduced the Korea Interdiction and Modernization of Sanctions Act, which improves on sanctions Congress authorized in February last year. The measures are far more sweeping than the sanctions imposed so far by the UN. Entities that are caught violating oil sale sanctions could face retaliatory measures from the U.S. government. But more than 90 percent of the crude oil North Korea imports comes from China, which is unlikely to be impressed. A diplomatic source said, "It will be difficult for the U.S. to pressure China to halt crude oil supplies to North Korea immediately, but Chinese companies that do will have to fear becoming targets of a secondary boycott by the U.S." The legislation also stops North Korea from selling fishing rights and cracks down on online gambling and commerce websites operated by the North. It prohibits "goods produced in whole or part by North Korean forced labor" from entering the U.S. as well as banning foreigners who employ North Korean labor. It also bans imports of North Korean agriculture and other food products. The bill prohibits foreign banks from allowing North Koreans to open accounts and bans shipping insurance guarantees to North Korean vessels. "The legislation will provide the grounds to sanction all governments, businesses and individuals who deal with North Korea," a diplomatic source said. [Sanctions] ]Oil] [Overseas labour] [Secondary sanctions]
• US working to resolve China's economic retaliation over THAAD
  Posted : 2017-03-23 15:20 Updated : 2017-03-23 15:20 The United States is working to stop China's economic retaliation over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea, a politician here quoted an American diplomat as saying Thursday. Joseph Yun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, met with Rep. Park Jie-won, chief of the minor centrist People's Party, during a four-day visit to the Asian ally. Park later told reporters at the National Assembly that he "strongly protested" China's economic retaliation over Washington's deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea. China has banned tour packages to South Korea and cut off other bilateral ties in apparent anger over the deployment, which it claims is a threat to its security. Yun replied that the U.S. "expects China's economic sanctions to be resolved in the near future and is working on it," Park said. The diplomat expressed hope for a good outcome from Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Washington next month, saying he has held "in-depth talks" over the THAAD issue with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Park added. "It sounded like they were quite optimistic and had various (plans) for Xi Jinping's visit," he said. (Yonhap) [THAAD] [China SK] [Wishful thinking]
• War Is Not An Option for Korea
  Attacking North Korea now would undermine the very reason U.S. troops have been stationed on the peninsula for seven decades: to protect the South Korean people. By Christine Ahn, March 18, 2017. “Let me be very clear: The policy of strategic patience has ended,” U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters at a news conference in Seoul, South Korea. “All options are on the table,” Tillerson continued, including “an appropriate response” to any North Korean threat. The United States and North Korea are like two “accelerating trains coming toward each other,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned last week. North Korea test-fired four ballistic missiles off the coast of Japan as thousands of South Korean, Japanese, and U.S. troops, backed by warships and warplanes, are currently engaging in massive military exercises, including the deployment of the Navy SEALS that killed Osama Bin Laden. With no communication other than military posturing, Pyongyang is left to interpret Washington’s maneuvers as preparation for a pre-emptive strike. Given the political vacuum in South Korea following President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment, all tracks are heading towards one destination: war. [US NK policy] [War] [False balance] [Chinese peace proposal]
• [Analysis] In diplomatic debut, Rex Tillerson limited by lack of expertise
  Posted on : Mar.21,2017 16:54 KST Modified on : Mar.21,2017 16:54 KST US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (second from the left) meet Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi (second from the right) at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Mar. 18. (AP/Yonhap News) Similar to how Trump campaigned for the presidency, Tillerson offered rhetoric without substance US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made his debut on the stage of Asian diplomacy with his tour of Japan, South Korea and China from Mar. 15 to 16, but experts think he was limited by his lack of expertise. Tillerson’s remarks about policy toward North Korea contain statements but are short on details. While he declared the end of the Obama administration’s policy of strategic patience toward North Korea while in South Korea on Mar. 17, his proposed approach toward North Korean policy remains, at least in the short term, comparable to strategic patience. Tillerson said that dialogue would not occur until Pyongyang gave up its nuclear weapons, which is similar to the Obama administration’s view that dialogue with North Korea would be a reward for the North giving up its nuclear weapons. Furthermore, Tillerson repeatedly mentioned toughening sanctions against North Korea and calling on China to play a bigger role as solutions to the North Korean nuclear issue - two policies, as it happens, which are core components of strategic patience. Tillerson’s declaration that strategic patience has failed ought to have been backed up with an appropriate alternative and a plan for implementing it, but he only offered rhetoric without substance. [Tillerson] [US NK policy] [Continuity] [Strategic patience] [Policy poverty]
• US Secretary of State says Japan in an “ally”, South Korea a “partner”
  Posted on : Mar.20,2017 17:31 KST Modified on : Mar.20,2017 17:31 KST US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson enters the room for his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Mar. 19. (EPA/Yonhap News) In an interview, Rex Tillerson says Japan is the US’s most important ally in East Asia US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is drawing attention for comments made during his current three-country Northeast Asia tour that seemed to assign differing levels of importance to Japan and South Korea. Speaking in a Mar. 18 interview with a journalist from the conservative-leaning US website Independent Journal Review who was accompanying him on his tour, Tillerson said Japan was “our [the US’s] most important ally in the region,” while describing South Korea as an “important partner relative to stability of Northeast Asia.” On the reasons for naming Japan the “most important ally,” said it was “because of the size of their economy” and “because of the standpoint of both security issues, economic issues, stability issues.” “That’s not anything new. That’s been the situation now, for decades,” he added. Tillerson went on to say Japan “has a larger footprint [than South Korea] in the Asian Pacific region” and “is obviously an important element of that trilateral relationship [with South Korea]” in terms of Korean Peninsula issues. In contrast, Tillerson said that “attention on South Korea early in this [Donald Trump] administration has been dominated by the actions of North Korea.” By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent [Sidelined] [US Japan alliance] [US SK alliance]
• Tillerson says he wasn’t invited to dinner while visiting South Korea
  Posted on : Mar.20,2017 17:29 KST Modified on : Mar.20,2017 17:29 KST South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se shakes hands with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson after a joint press conference at the Central Government Complex in Seoul, Mar. 17. (by Park Jong-shik, staff photographer) US Secretary of State had official dinners while in both Japan and China during three-country East Asia tour There’s an ongoing debate about why South Korea was the only country in which US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson did not have dinner with high-ranking officials during his tour of Japan, South Korea and China. While Tillerson is accused of having discriminated against South Korea by having dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Mar. 16 and with Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi on Mar. 18 but not with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se on Mar. 17. Tillerson claimed that he did not receive a dinner invitation from South Korea. “They [South Korea] never invited us for dinner,” Tillerson said on Mar. 18 during an interview with Erin McPike, a reporter from right-leaning news website the Independent Journal Review who was the only reporter allowed to accompany Tillerson on his trip to Northeast Asia. “Then at the last minute they realized that optically it wasn’t playing very well in public for them, so they put out a statement that we didn’t have dinner because I was tired.” “I had dinner last night,” Tillerson said. “The host country decides whether we are going to do things or not. We didn’t decide that.” [Tillerson] [US-SK] [Sidelined]
• “Trump Madness”: US Threats Against North Korea And The Danger of War in Asia
  By Andre Damon Global Research, March 20, 2017 World Socialist Web Site 18 March 2017 With extreme recklessness, the Trump administration is charting a course toward war in the Asia-Pacific. From the response in the US media and political establishment, however, one would have no idea how dangerous the situation is, nor how incalculable the consequences. The latest in the escalating war of words came from US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who said at a press conference in Seoul, South Korea on Friday that “all options are on the table” in dealing with North Korea. The comments came in advance of Tillerson’s visit today to China, North Korea’s main ally. “Let me be very clear: the policy of strategic patience has ended,” the former CEO of ExxonMobil said, in what was widely interpreted as a rebuke to the Obama administration’s preference for economic sanctions in relation to North Korea. When asked about the possibility of a military response, Tillerson replied, “If they elevate the threat of their weapons program to a level that we believe requires action then that option is on the table.” Echoing Tillerson’s threats, US President Donald Trump tweeted, “North Korea is behaving very badly. They have been ‘playing’ the United States for years. China has done little to help!” If words have any meaning, the statements from Tillerson and Trump make clear that the US is preparing “pre-emptive” war, justified by North Korea’s reported plans to test an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the continental United States. [US NK policy] [Military option]
• What would a Trump-Tillerson war with North Korea really look like?
  By Mike Lyons, opinion contributor - 03/17/17 03:00 PM EDT Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Friday that “all options are on the table” to deter the threat from Pyongyang. What does that really mean? Is the use of military force really an option? How to interpret that depends on who you are. Is that comment just a part of a continuing pattern of the U.S. response to escalation of both North Korea’s capability and rhetoric for the past two administrations? ADVERTISEMENT What usually follows now is North Korea will conduct another ballistic missile test, or even a nuclear test — either way, we can expect a response from Kim Jong-un to these remarks by Secretary Tillerson. Countries in the region will respond and have — the Japanese are taking about developing first strike weapons; South Korea is pushing the U.S. to return tactical nuclear weapons to their military capability; the Chinese hold a key leverage with their economic lifeline to the regime, all in spite of UN sanctions. [US NK policy] [Military option] [Retaliation]
• Trump administration weighing broad sanctions on North Korea - U.S. official
  By Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom | WASHINGTON The Trump administration is considering sweeping sanctions aimed at cutting North Korea off from the global financial system as part of a broad review of measures to counter Pyongyang's nuclear and missile threat, a senior U.S. official said on Monday. The sanctions would be part of a multi-pronged approach of increased economic and diplomatic pressure – especially on Chinese banks and firms that do the most business with North Korea – plus beefed-up defenses by the United States and its South Korean and Japanese allies, according to the administration official familiar with the deliberations. While the long-standing option of pre-emptive military strikes against North Korea is not off the table – as reflected by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's warning to Pyongyang during his Asia tour last week - the new administration is giving priority for now to less-risky options. [US NK policy] [military option] [Secondary sanctions]
• This Is No Time to Toy with the Korea-U.S. Alliance
  March 20, 2017 12:54 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has presided over the thrust test of a new rocket engine and declared that "the whole world will soon witness what eventful significance the great victory won today carries." Garbled talk about "satellites" that accompanied the event suggests it was an engine for an intercontinental ballistic missile. Experts believe North Korea's missile technology has now reached the same level as the Soviet Union just before its implosion, or will soon reach that stage. Meanwhile U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said during his visit to Asia that the policy of "strategic patience" with North Korea has failed and warned, "All options are on the table. If they elevate the threat of their weapons program to a level that we believe requires action, then [the military] option's on the table." [US-SK alliance] [SK_Election16] [North Wind] [Bizarre] [Nuclear capability] [Pro-Americanism]
• U.S. Supersonic Jets Conduct Aerial Refueling Drill
  By Lee Yong-soo March 20, 2017 10:29 The U.S. conducted an aerial refueling drill of top-of-the-line supersonic vertical takeoff and landing aircraft in Japan last week. The F-35B jets would come to the aid of forces in Korea in the event of a war on the peninsula. A military spokesman here said, "The exercise suggests that the F-35Bs are practicing all processes necessary for precision strikes against targets in North Korea." The F-35B can avoid anti-aircraft artillery fire and launch precision strikes against key targets in a war, but its maximum flight range is only 1,670 km and its combat radius 865 km. "It's about 800 km from Iwakuni to Pyongyang, so just enough for the F-35B to carry out a mission in North Korean areas without aerial refueling and return to base," the spokesman added. Meanwhile, the South Korean and U.S. Navies started a massive joint exercise on Sunday to prepare for North Korean provocations in the East, West and South Seas. About 60 vessels and submarines from the two countries are taking part, including the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, which arrived at Busan on March 15, and South Korean Aegis ship and some 60 submersibles. [Joint US military] [Air strikes] [Decapitation] [F-35]
• No One Needs Another Korean War
  Eric Margolis • March 18, 2017 Panmunjom, the ‘peace village’ on the incredibly tense demilitarized zone (aka DMZ) between North and South Korea, is one of the weirdest places I’ve ever visited. Tough North Korean soldiers lurk about, watched by equally tough South Korean troops in one-way sunglasses and an aggressive judo ‘warrior’ stance. When I was filming at Panmunjom, we were warned to beware of North Koreans who could at any moment rush into the main conference room and drag us into North Korea. It was into this crazy house that the new, jet-lagged US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was transported from turbulent Washington. After a quick look at the DMZ, Tillerson announced `no more Mr. Nice Guy.’ The US had run out of `strategic patience’ with North Korea and will go to war to end North Korea’s ‘threat’ to the US, he warned. Tillerson, formerly CEO of Exxon, is well-versed in world affairs but the Korean peninsula’s complexities could be too much for him to quickly absorb. Immediately threatening war is no way to begin a diplomatic mission. But Tillerson was obviously reading from a script written by his boss, Donald Trump, whose knowledge of North Asian affairs makes Tillerson look like a Confucian scholar. Welcome to Trump’s credo: tweet loudly and walk with a big stick. What would war between the US and North Korea mean? A very grim scenario if it occurs. The US has nearly 80,000 military personnel in South Korea and Japan, as well as more war-fighting units in Guam, which the US conquered from Spain in 1898. The US 7th Fleet patrols the region, armed with tactical nuclear weapons. US nukes are also based in South Korea and Guam. As we recently saw, US heavy B-1 and B-52 bombers can fly from North America to Korea. South Korea has a formidable, 600,000-man army equipped with state of the art weapons. I’ve been up on the DMZ with the 2nd ROK division. As an old soldier, I was very impressed by their skill and warlike spirit. North Korea’s one million-man armed force is large, but obsolescent. Its great strength in heavy artillery partly compensates for its totally obsolete, 1960’s vintage air force. Key combat elements of the DPRK army are dug deep into the rocky hills just north of the DMZ, with thousands of heavy North Korean guns facing south. In the event of war, the North claims it will destroy South Korea’s capitol, Seoul, that is only 30km away and has 20 million residents. [US NK policy] [War] [Media] [Heading] [Liberal]
• US talking of new North Korea policy, but no practical details yet
  Posted on : Mar.18,2017 14:47 KST Modified on : Mar.18,2017 14:47 KST Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se shakes hands with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson after their press conference at the Central Government Complex in Seoul, Mar. 17. (by Park Jong-shik, staff photographer) Tillerson proclaims the end of Obama administration’s “strategic patience” and searching for new, distinct policy approach US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who is currently on a tour of South Korea, China and Japan, has repeatedly mentioned a new course for North Korea policy. In Japan on Mar. 16, Tillerson only stated the need for a new policy toward North Korea, but in Seoul on Mar. 17, he said, “Let me be very clear: the policy of strategic patience has ended.” These remarks suggest that a search is underway for a North Korean policy that is distinct from that of the administration of US President Barack Obama. The remarks made by Tillerson during a joint press conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se on Mar. 17 suggest that the Trump administration is looking for a different approach from the Obama administration’s policy of strategic patience. “Efforts toward North Korea [. . .] over the last two decades have failed,” Tillerson said during the press conference. “America has provided $1.3 billion in assistance to North Korea since 1995. In return, North Korea has detonated nuclear weapons and dramatically increased its launches of ballistic missiles to threaten America and our allies,” he said, stressing the need for a new policy toward the North. [Tillerson] [US NK policy] [Policy poverty]
• DPK calls for Assembly ratification of THAAD
  Posted : 2017-03-17 16:37 Updated : 2017-03-17 18:08 By Kim Hyo-jin The Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is pressuring the government to seek National Assembly approval for the deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here. It launched a special committee for the move Friday, signaling that it will step up protests against the U.S. anti-missile system ahead of the May 9 presidential election. The committee will request a meeting with Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, Monday, to demand the government halt the deployment until it gets parliamentary ratification, said Rep. Kim Young-ho. "We will urge Hwang to stop installing the THAAD battery promptly and get the Assembly's consent first," he said. While the government says it has the sole authority to decide on THAAD deployment, the DPK claims it is an issue requiring the Assembly's ratification because it involves providing land worth over 100 billion won to the U.S. Forces Korea. [THAAD] [SK_Election17]
• Tillerson promises new policy on North Korea after '20 years of a failed approach'
  By Matt Rivers and Joshua Berlinger, CNN Updated 1308 GMT (2108 HKT) March 16, 2017 (CNN)US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called for a new approach toward North Korea Thursday, saying all the efforts of the past 20 years have failed. Tillerson was speaking in Tokyo, ahead of stops in Seoul and Beijing, where Chinese leaders are expected to present their own plan to defuse escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula. "The diplomatic and other efforts of the past 20 years to bring North Korea to a point of denuclearization have failed. So we have 20 years of a failed approach," Tillerson said at a news conference with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida. China will formally present its own proposal to Tillerson on Saturday, a senior Chinese diplomat told CNN Thursday. The Chinese plan calls for North Korea to suspend its ballistic missile tests and nuclear activities, and for the United States and South Korea to halt large-scale military exercises that annually antagonize Pyongyang. "(North Korea) would like to see the Americans move first and take some actions first to show their sincerity, and vice versa," Xiao Qian, the director general of the Asian Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told CNN in an exclusive interview. "So China's proposal is, why not do these things at the same time?" This is the second time in as many weeks that China has floated this plan. A similar proposal by Foreign Minister Wang Yi was rejected by the US State Department last week. [Tillerson] [US NK Policy] [Policy poverty]
• Tillerson says ‘all options are on the table’ when it comes to North Korea
  Tillerson on North Korea: 'The policy of strategic patience has ended' Play Video1:11 Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said "all options are on table" when confronting North Korea's nuclear threat, while speaking in Seoul on March 17. He also commented on China's opposition to the South Korea bringing in American anti-ballistic systems. (Reuters) By Anne Gearan and Anna Fifield March 17 at 10:16 AM The Trump administration challenged China to do more to pull its ally North Korea back from the nuclear brink as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson bluntly declared Friday that the United States will do whatever is necessary to prevent a North Korean attack. “All options are on the table,” Tillerson said in Seoul, where he underscored U.S. commitment to Asian allies threatened by North Korea and said he would lean on China during a visit there Saturday. In Washington, President Trump goaded China, which has extensive economic and political ties to North Korea but has resisted choking off the flow of money and military materials to its ally. “North Korea is behaving very badly. They have been ‘playing’ the United States for years,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “China has done little to help!” China has repeatedly pledged to do more, but the Trump presidency, like the Obama and George W. Bush administrations before it, accuses Beijing of going easy on Pyongyang. [US NK policy] [Tillerson] [Media]
• Tillerson delivers stark warning to North Korea of possible military response
  By Ju-min Park and James Pearson U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday issued the Trump administration's starkest warning yet to North Korea, saying that a military response would be "on the table" if Pyongyang took action to threaten South Korean and U.S. forces. Speaking in Seoul after visiting the Demilitarized Zone dividing the Korean peninsula and some of the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, Tillerson said former President Barack Obama's policy of "strategic patience" towards Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs was over. "We are exploring a new range of security and diplomatic measures. All options are on the table," Tillerson told a news conference. He said any North Korean actions that threatened U.S. or South Korean forces would be met with "an appropriate response," turning up the volume of the tough language that has marked President Donald Trump's approach to North Korea. "Certainly, we do not want for things to get to a military conflict," he said when asked about possible military action, but added: "If they elevate the threat of their weapons program to a level that we believe requires action, that option is on the table." [Tillerson] [US NK Policy] [Military option] [Bluster] [Conditionality] [Media]
• THAAD's X-band radar to arrive in South Korea
  Xinhua, March 16, 2017 The X-band radar, a core element of the U.S. missile defense system dubbed Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), will arrive in South Korea on March 16, a local broadcaster KBS reported on Wednesday. The AN/TPY-2 radar and part of U.S. troops who will operate the THAAD battery are scheduled to make it to the Osan air base, some 60 km south of the capital city Seoul, on Thursday morning. An unnamed government source was quoted as saying that other THAAD elements will arrive in South Korea one after another to respond to the advanced military threats from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The radar will be transported to an unknown base of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) to wait the construction of the base in southeastern South Korea where the THAAD battery is set to be installed. The new arrival would follow two mobile launchers and part of the THAAD equipments, which got to the air base on March 6. The first pieces were also moved to an unknown USFK base. THAAD is composed of six mobile launchers, 48 interceptors, an X-band radar and the fire and control unit. The hurried push for THAAD was aimed to make it more difficult to put back the deployment decision as an early presidential election is scheduled to be held here on May 9. [THAAD] [Radar] [SK_Election17]
• US soldiers 'smuggled philopon in cereal boxes'
  Posted : 2017-03-16 15:51 Updated : 2017-03-16 16:03 Two U.S. Forces Korea privates and six Korean-Americans allegedly smuggled bags of philopon methamphetamines into Korea inside cereal boxes. / Yonhap By Ko Dong-hwan Prosecutors on Wednesday arrested U.S. soldiers and their Korean accomplices for smuggling bags of philopon methamphetamines worth 13.6 billion won ($11.9 million). Suwon District Prosecutors' Office arrested an American private, 20, and two Korean-Americans for infringing Korean narcotics laws. Prosecutors also booked without arrest another American private, 20, stationed at K-6 base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, for providing an address to where the contraband could be sent. [USFK] [Drugs]
• N. Korea gives up attending programming contest in US
  Posted : 2017-03-16 11:22 Updated : 2017-03-16 11:22 North Korea has announced it won't attend the upcoming international collegiate programming contest in the United States without elaborating on the reasons, a U.S. broadcaster said Thursday. The contest refers to the 41st Annual World Finals of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) set for May 20-25 in Rapid City, South Dakota. The ACM is the world's largest educational and scientific society, uniting computing educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field's challenges. "The Pyongyang office in charge of an ACM-ICPC preliminary contest in North Korea recently notified that it would not send students to the event this year," Radio Free Asia said, citing an ACM spokesperson.
• As Rex Tillerson makes his debut in Asia, ‘the No. 1 issue’ will be North Korea
  Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will “discuss and coordinate strategy to address the advancing nuclear missile threat from North Korea” during his visit, a State Department official said Monday. (Susan Walsh/AP) By Anne Gearan March 14 at 5:51 PM When President Trump told an interviewer last month that former president Barack Obama had warned him of a grave “military problem from a certain place,” there was little doubt that the place was North Korea. And that was before the military dictatorship launched missiles in a perceived challenge to the new Trump administration or allegedly ordered a bizarre assassination in a busy international airport. The threat from North Korea — nuclear-armed, impoverished and deeply suspicious of a potential U.S. attack — is the centerpiece of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Asia beginning Wednesday. It was also the main topic for Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’s Asia trip last month — his first as the Pentagon chief. [Tillerson] [Threat] [US NK policy] [Media]
• Korea, U.S., Japan Stage Missile Intercept Exercise
  By Lee Yong-soo March 15, 2017 12:34 South Korea, the U.S., and Japan on Tuesday started a joint exercise with Aegis destroyers capable of detecting and intercepting North Korea's ballistic missiles. It is the fourth drill of the kind since last June and takes place separately from ongoing South Korea-U.S. military exercises. A Navy spokesman here said the aim is "to suit the current security situation." The three countries are increasingly worried about advancement in the North's missile technology, a government official here said. At the core of the drill is real-time information exchange between the three countries in efforts to intercept ballistic missiles from the North. It comes after the North on Feb. 12 fired a new medium-range missile dubbed Pukguksong-2 with a range of 2,500 to 3,000 km and simultaneously fired four improved Scuds last week. [Missile defense] [Joint US military] [Japanese remilitarisation]
• US Forces Korea to deploy top-of-the-line reconnaissance drone
  Posted on : Mar.14,2017 16:49 KST Modified on : Mar.14,2017 16:49 KST MQ-1C Gray Eagle, a top-of-the-line reconnaissance drone Gray Eagle is a mid-altitude drone that can fly up to 30 hours at a top speed of 280 km/h US Forces Korea (USFK) announced on Mar. 12 that they had begun deploying the MQ-1C Gray Eagle, a top-of-the-line reconnaissance drone. The deployment will consist of one Gray Eagle Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) company, which will be stationed at the Kunsan Air Base, in North Jeolla Province. The drone company will be attached to the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade of the USFK’s 2nd Infantry Division. USFK explained that the drones were being deployed as part of “the US Army’s strategic plan to add one Gray Eagle company to each division in the Army. The UAS adds significant intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability to US Forces Korea and our ROK partners.” With a length of 8m and a wingspan of 17m, the Gray Eagle is a mid-altitude drone that can fly up to 30 hours at a top speed of 280 km/h. Though it is equipped with a high-definition information gathering apparatus, the Gray Eagle can also be used as an attack drone. It can carry four cutting-edge small guided missiles and four Hellfire anti-tank missiles, which can strike an enemy tank from a distance of about 8km. In Aug. 2015, USFK conducted a test flight of the Gray Eagle at the Kunsan Air Base. During the test, the Gray Eagle demonstrated its ability to transmit video footage to an AH-64 Apache helicopter while in flight. By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer [USFK] [Drones] [Escalation]
• Carl Vinson enters Busan to join annual drills
  Posted : 2017-03-15 14:22 Updated : 2017-03-15 14:50 Nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson arrives at Korea's southern port of Busan on Wednesday. / Yonhap The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier arrived at Korea's southern port of Busan on Wednesday to participate in the ongoing joint exercises by Seoul and Washington in the latest show of force against North Korea, the US military said. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier plans to conduct bilateral exercises with forces from the South Korean Navy in the waters around the Korean Peninsula during the Foal Eagle field training exercise that runs through the end of April, the US Navy said in a press briefing held in the port city. [Carrier] [Joint US military]
• S. Korea, US Marine Corps leaders call for vigilance against N. Korea WMDs
  Posted : 2017-03-15 16:08 Updated : 2017-03-15 16:08 Marine Corps officials from South Korea and the United States on Wednesday called on troops to stay vigilant against threats of North Korea's weapons of mass destruction. South Korean Marine Corps Commander Lt Gen Lee Sang-hoon and Lt Gen Lawrence D Nicholson, commanding general of the III Marine Expeditionary Force, visited the 6th brigade on Baengnyeong Island near the western maritime border with North Korea, to check military readiness against the North and discuss countermeasures, the Marine Corps said in a statement. They vowed to strongly retaliate against North Korea if provoked. It marked their second on-site inspection following their visit to Yeonpyeong Island in August last year. The North's shelling of Yeonpyeong left four South Koreans dead in November 2010. The shelling followed a torpedo attack in March on a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors. There is no unusual military movement in the North, with the annual Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises underway in the South, according to the defense ministry. Seoul and Washington kicked off their annual joint drills -- Key Resolve and Foal Eagle -- in March. The two-week Key Resolve started Monday, while Foal Eagle runs through the end of April. Pyongyang has long denounced the exercises as rehearsals for an invasion despite Washington's assurance that they are defensive in nature. (Yonhap) [Joint US military] [False equality]
• Diplomacy only viable option to prevent nuclear war in Korea
  Posted : 2017-03-14 19:49 Updated : 2017-03-14 22:05 China opposition to THAAD untenable, says William Perry By Oh Young-jin Living in constant fear of invasion by the North after the Korean War ended in a truce in 1953, South Koreans ironically appear doubtful whether there will be a second conflict on the peninsula. It is a coping system of sorts without which many of them could have gone mad, considering the crazy quilt of micro-attacks, some of them fatal, Pyongyang has inflicted on the South through its three generations of despots — the latest being the 33-year-old dictator Kim Jong-un, who doesn't pale in ruthlessness compared to his father and grandfather. Will Kim's rule be business as usual with some minor conflicts that, as before, prevent steam from building to the point of explosion or a full-fledged war? If any ordinary person with the label of expert cries war, they would likely be dismissed as another Cassandra or wolf-crying shepherd. But what if William Perry sounded the alarm? That could be a different matter. [Perry] [THAAD] [US NK policy] [Military option]
• THAAD deployment unrelated to political situation in South Korea: State Department
  Posted : 2017-03-14 10:00 Updated : 2017-03-14 10:00 The United States believes the ongoing deployment of the THAAD missile defense system has nothing to do with the political situation in the Asian nation because it's a "very utterly reasonable step" against North Korean threats, a senior State Department official said Monday. Acting Assistant Secretary Susan Thornton made the remark during a Foreign Press Center briefing previewing Secretary of State Rex Tilleron's upcoming trip to Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing as South Korea prepares to elect a new leader after former President Park Geun-hye was ousted from office for corruption. [THAAD] [SK_Election17]
• North Korea: The Grand Deception Revealed
  Christopher Black In 2003 I had, along with some American lawyers, members of the National Lawyers Guild, the good fortune to be able to travel to North Korea, that is the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, in order to experience first hand that nation, its socialist system and its people. The joint report issued on our return was titled “The Grand Deception Revealed.” That title was chosen because we discovered that the negative western propaganda myth about North Korea is a grand deception designed to blind the peoples of the world to the accomplishments of the Korean people in the north who have successfully created their own circumstances, their own independent socio-economic system, based on socialist principles, free of the domination of the western powers.
• NKorea: US-SKorea exercises leading to 'nuclear disaster'
  1:30 PM Tuesday Mar 7, 2017 UNITED NATIONS (AP) " North Korea warned Monday that U.S.-South Korean military exercises, which it called "the most undisguised nuclear war maneuvers," are driving the Korean Peninsula and northeast Asia toward "nuclear disaster." The North Korean ambassador to the United Nations, Ja Song Nam, said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council that the U.S. is using nuclear-propelled aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, nuclear strategic bombers and stealth fighters in the joint exercises that began Wednesday. "It may go over to an actual war," Ja warned of the military drills, "and, consequently, the situation on the Korean Peninsula is again inching to the brink of a nuclear war." [Joint US military]
• DPRK blames US, ROK for VX assassination
  Xinhua, March 14, 2017 The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) ambassador to the United Nations on Monday denied the man assassinated in Malaysia was half-brother of the DPRK leader Kim Jong Un, saying the United States and South Korea should be blamed. Kim In Ryong, ambassador of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, speaks during a press conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York, March 13, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua] Kim In Ryong, ambassador of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, speaks during a press conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York, March 13, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua] Ambassador Kim In Ryong told reporters here that the case of the assassination "is the product of reckless moves of the United States and South Korean authorities aimed to ... tarnish the image of the dignified DPRK and to bring down the Socialist system." Kim spoke in response to a question on the assassination during a news conference he had called to condemn a recent UN Security Council statement denouncing recent DPRK ballistic missile launches as a threat to international peace and security. But he acknowledged that the victim, who was poisoned to death in Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Feb. 13 by two assailants, is a citizen from the DPRK with a diplomatic passport. "The United States and the South Korean authority are groundlessly blaming the DPRK, asserting that he was intoxicated by a highly poisonous VX nerve substance," Kim said, referring to the victim who has been identified by Malaysian authorities as the estranged half-brother of Kim Jong Un. The ambassador said Washington wanted to "store up international repugnancy towards the DPRK ... to provoke nuclear war against the DPRK at any cost."
  He also raised the question as to where the assailants were able to obtain such a banned chemical weapon as VX, pointing out the United States has "a stockpile" of such outlawed weapons. Kim also said U.S. and South Korean assertions the assailants were unaffected while applying VX to a victim was an "absurdity." [Kim Jong Nam] [Assassination] [VX] [False flag]
• Big Contingent of U.S. Special Forces Joins Regular Drills
  By Yu Yong-weon March 14, 2017 09:19 The U.S. unit that assassinated Osama bin Laden is among a huge contingent of special forces taking part in this year's joint exercises with South Korea. They will join their South Korean counterparts in strike drills including "decapitation" operations aimed at removing the North Korean leadership in a war. South Korean Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lee Sun-jin (4th from left) and Vincent Brooks, commander of the U.S. Forces Korea, visit the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson on Sunday. South Korea and the U.S. are putting on their biggest show of force so far against the North, with South Korean Air Force fighter jets staging precision strike drills since last Friday. "More U.S. special forces than ever before are participating," a government source here said on Monday. "They'll carry out a wide range of exercises in the wake of a series of North Korean provocations as well as recent developments on the Korean Peninsula." They include as the Army Rangers, the Delta Force, the DEVGRU, and the Green Berets. The DEVGRU was responsible for killing Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets taxi at an air base in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province on Monday. In South Korea, a new brigade with about 1,000 troops under the Special Warfare Command will be officially launched around December. The special forces troops of the two countries are expected to practice infiltrating the residences of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and other command posts in Pyongyang and removing leaders under cover of night using special mission aircraft like MC-130 cargo planes and the MH-47 helicopters. They will also practice locating underground bunkers where North Korean military leaders are holed up and firing precision guided munitions like GBU-27 bunker busters at them. Meanwhile, the South Korean Air Force is staging its own separate massive air combat exercise until March 17, a spokesman said Monday. [Joint US military] [Escalation] [Decapitation] [Special Forces]
• US Delta Force, SEAL Team 6 Prepare To Take Out Kim Jong-Un, Practice Tactical North Korea "Infiltration"
  by Tyler Durden Mar 14, 2017 4:45 AM On March 1, the WSJ reported that the options contemplated by the White House in response to recent North Korean acts, include "the possibility of both military force and regime change to counter the country’s nuclear-weapons threat." The review came es amid recent events have strained regional stability including last month's launch by North Korea of a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan, and the assassination of the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Malaysia. And, according to a report in Yonhap, said "regime change" may come far sooner than expected: the South Korean website writes that U.S. special operations forces, including the unit that killed Osama Bin Laden, will take part in joint military drills in South Korea "to practice incapacitating North Korean leadership in the case of conflict", a military official said Monday. The U.S. Navy’s Special Warfare Development Group, better known as the SEAL Team 6, will arrive in South Korea for joint military drills and take part in an exercise simulating a precision North Korean incurion and "the removal of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un", according to the Ministry of National Defense Monday. The U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six will join the annual Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises between the two allies for the first time, along with the Army's Rangers, Delta Force and Green Berets. The counterterrorism unit is best known for its removal of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May 2011, known as Operation Neptune Spear. It will be the team’s first time participating in the annual Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises, which will run through late April. The ministry did not say when the SEAL Team 6 will arrive. The Japan Times reported that the American unit boarded the USS Carl Vinson, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, last Friday and are currently training in South Korean waters. The carrier will arrive in Busan Port Wednesday, according to the Japanese newspaper. The ministry did not say when the SEAL Team 6 will arrive, however according to The Japan Times, the American unit will arrive in Busan Port Wednesday, according to the Japanese newspaper. [Special forces] [Decapitation] [Joint US military]
• New U.S. Drones Deployed in S.Korea
  By Kim Jin-myung March 14, 2017 09:24 The U.S. is deploying new missile attack and surveillance drones known as MQ-1C Gray Eagles at an airbase here. The Gray Eagles have started arriving at the U.S. airbase in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, where they will be attached to the 2nd U.S. Infantry Division, a spokesman said Monday. /Yonhap The Gray Eagle is an 8 m-long medium-altitude drone with a 17-m wingspan, an improved version of the Predator drones that the U.S. used with mixed success to assassinate Taliban leaders in the Afghanistan wars. Carrying all-weather night vision surveillance equipment, it can fly at a speed of 280 km/h for up to 30 hours. The Gray Eagle can carry four Hellfire anti-tank missiles, which can strike tanks 8 km away, and four GBU-44/B Viper precision-guided munitions. Armed with Stinger air-to-air missiles, the drone can also attack enemy helicopters. [Drones] [USFK]
• Pentagon Leads Over 300,000 Troops in a Rehearsal for an Invasion One Week after the White House Announces It’s Considering Military Action against North Korea
  March 13, 2017 By Stephen Gowans The United States and South Korea are conducting their largest-ever military exercises on the Korean peninsula [1], one week after the White House announced that it was considering military action against North Korea to bring about regime change. [2] The US-led exercises involve: • 300,000 South Korea troops • 17,000 US troops • The supercarrier USS Carl Vinson • US F-35B and F-22 stealth fighters • US B-18 and B-52 bombers • South Korean F-15s and KF-16s jetfighters. [3] While the United States labels the drills as “purely defensive” [4] the nomenclature is misleading. The exercises are not defensive in the sense of practicing to repel a possible North Korean invasion and to push North Korean forces back across the 38th parallel in the event of a North Korean attack, but envisage an invasion of North Korea in order to incapacitate its nuclear weapons, destroy its military command, and assassinate its leader. [Joint US Military] [Invasion]
• Moon Jae-in says South Korea should be able to say “No” to the US
  Posted on : Mar.13,2017 17:35 KST Modified on : Mar.13,2017 17:35 KST Former Minjoo Party leader Moon Jae-in speaks at a press conference at the party headquarters in Seoul’s Yeouido neighborhood, Mar. 12. (by Kim Tae-hyeong, staff photographer) In New York Times interview, Moon discusses need to bring North Korea back to negotiating table “Whether we put pressure and sanctions on North Korea or engage in dialogue to solve the North Korean nuclear issue, we have no choice but to acknowledge that Kim Jong-un is the person we’re actually dealing with,” said Moon Jae-in, former leader of the Minjoo Party and leading presidential candidate for South Korea’s opposition, on Mar. 12. Moon also addressed China’s retaliatory measures against the THAAD missile defense system deployment: “While I fully understand that China is worried and voicing its opposition, the THAAD deployment is strictly a South Korean security issue and falls within our sovereignty. It’s not right for China to go beyond expressing its opposition by putting excessive pressure to make its opposing view a reality.” This was how Moon responded to reporters who asked him how he would address the North Korean nuclear issue and the THAAD deployment issue in a press conference at the headquarters of the Minjoo Party in Seoul, on Mar. 12. In an article printed on Mar. 10, the New York Times quoted Moon as saying that South Korea’s relationship with the US should be developed and strengthened, but that it should not be lopsided. Moon also said that South Korea should to learn to “say ‘No’ to the Americans,” the New York Times reported. [Moon Jae-in] [Autonomy]
• Even with Park Geun-hye out, THAAD deployment to continue
  Posted on : Mar.13,2017 17:34 KST Modified on : Mar.13,2017 17:34 KST Pentagon spokesperson Jeff Davis US has appeared to rush deployment of the missile defense system before inauguration of next S. Korean government The US Defense Department said it plans to continue sending THAAD missile defense system components to South Korea even after Park Geun-hye’s removal as president following a Constitutional Court ruling upholding her impeachment. Reuters quoted Pentagon spokesperson Jeff Davis as answering “yes” when asked on Mar. 10 if the US would still ship THAAD components to South Korea. “Leaders change over time, that’s not new,” Davis said. “We made an agreement with the Republic of Korea that this was a capability that they needed,” he continued. “This is something that is needed militarily. That agreement was reached and we remain committed to delivering on it.” [THAAD] [US dominance]
• Diplomat says N. Korea not interested in denuclearization dialogue
  Posted : 2017-03-14 11:09 Updated : 2017-03-14 11:48 North Korea's deputy ambassador to the United Nations said Monday that his country is not interested in dialogue with the United States if it's aimed at denuclearizing North Korea. "If the purpose is making us give up our nuclear program, (North Korea) is not interested in any kinds of dialogue," Ambassador Kim In-ryong, North Korea's deputy permanent representative to the U.N., said through the North Korean mission's spokesman. The key to resolving all the issues between the countries lies in the U.S. giving up its hostile policies toward North Korea, Kim also noted. In a press conference earlier in the day, the deputy ambassador also refuted allegations of Pyongyang's involvement in the recent assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half brother. Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, was killed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Feb. 13 after two women rubbed VX nerve agent on his face. The Malaysian police concluded that several North Korean men, including a Kuala Lumpur-based diplomat, were behind the killing. The ambassador accused South Korea and the U.S. of falsely laying the blame on North Korea, saying it is politically driven to taint the image of the country and its socialist system. The ultimate goal of the U.S. is to spur the international community's hatred toward North Korea, Kim also claimed. Criticizing the U.N. Security Council's sanctions on Pyongyang, he also said they are legally groundless and in violation of North Korea's sovereign rights. Referring to North Korea's recent series of ballistic missile tests, he also said they are fired in self-defense against the on-going joint military exercise between Seoul and Washington, which he said is a rehearsal for a pre-emptive nuclear attack on North Korea. (Yonhap) [US NK Negotiations] [NK US policy] [Hostility]
• Drills to strike N. Korea taking place
  Posted : 2017-03-13 16:20 Updated : 2017-03-14 13:58 ROK Air Force's fighter jets, including F-15Ks, fly in formation over the West Sea during the Soaring Eagle exercise, Monday. The large-scale combat exercise, aimed at striking North Korea's key nuclear and missile facilities, began last Friday for a one-week run. / Yonhap By Jun Ji-hye The Air Force is currently conducting a large-scale combat exercise aimed at striking North Korea's key nuclear and missile facilities. Soaring Eagle, a week-long drill that began last Friday, involves 50 aircraft including F-15Ks, KF-16s and FA-50s fighter jets as well as 500 troops. This is taking place in conjunction with the joint annual Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises by South Korea and the United States, which are aimed at improving the combined forces' operation and combat capabilities to deter threats from the North. "The Soaring Eagle exercise is designed to practice the Air Force's readiness against possible provocations from North Korea and counterattack operations," the Air Force said in a statement, Monday. "By carrying out the exercise in tandem with Key Resolve, we expect the ROK Air Force to enhance its combat capability in the event of war." During a drill scheduled for Thursday, the Air Force will apply the concept of the Kill Chain preemptive strike system that the military is planning to establish in the early 2020s. [Kill chain] [Preemptive] [Joint US military]
• Dealing with Pyongyang
  by Ralph A. Cossa Ralph A. Cossa (ralph@pacforum.org) is president of the Pacific Forum CSIS. North Korea-related events have been capturing headlines with alarming frequency in recent weeks. The most intriguing saga, the Feb. 13 assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s half-brother Kim Jong Nam in Malaysia, continues to unfold. It quickly overshadowed the most significant event, the Feb. 12 launch of a solid-fueled Pukguksong-2 (North Star-2) Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM), theoretically capable of hitting targets as far away as US bases in Okinawa and Guam with minimal warning. In case the message from this launch was missed, the North on March 6 fired a salvo of four modified medium-range Scud missiles into the Sea of Japan. According to Pyongyang, the units firing the missiles are tasked to strike the bases of the US imperialist aggressor forces in Japan in contingency. (While South Koreans hate to acknowledge it, North Korea is well aware that US access to Japan bases is critical to the defense of the ROK in the event of a crisis or war.) [US NK policy] [THAAD]
• Allies to hold annual Key Resolve exercise
  Posted : 2017-03-12 14:42 Updated : 2017-03-12 14:42 South Korea and the United States will begin the Key Resolve joint military exercise Monday amid heightening tensions following the North's recent missile test and the killing of its leader's half brother, the defense ministry said. The computer-simulated command post exercise will be held until March 24. During the period the ministry plans to heighten the level of alertness against the North's possible provocations. The allies are also conducting Foal Eagle, a field training exercise involving ground, air and naval forces. It started May 1 and will run through the end of April. North Korea denounced the joint drills as a rehearsal for invasion. The ministry said the nuclear-powered USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier will arrive in the southern port of Busan on Wednesday to take part in the exercises. (Yonhap) [Joint US military]
• White House Defends THAAD Deployment
  By Cho Yi-jun March 10, 2017 13:01 White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Wednesday defended the rapid deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery in South Korea. "The deployment of a THAAD system is critical to their protection, as witnessed by this weekend's ballistic missile test" by North Korea, Spicer said. "We're continuing to work with the government of South Korea to make sure that they have the defenses necessary to protect themselves." Spicer also downplayed tensions with China, which is furiously opposed to the deployment because it thinks the aim is to keep in check its rising military domination of the region. "China and the United States in particular both understand the threat that North Korea poses to the region," Spicer said. "And I think that there's areas of concern that we can work together to protect the country." [THAAD] [Pretext] [China confrontation] [US dominance]
• Trump administration N. Korea policy: no preemptive strike but state-of-the-art missile defense
  Posted on : Mar.10,2017 16:18 KST Modified on : Mar.10,2017 16:18 KST Full policy should be decided within March as high-level national security appointments are made The outlines of the US Donald Trump administration’s North Korea policy are gradually coming into focus. The basic framework is expected to emerge later this month following US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visits to South Korea, China, and Japan next week. The most notable development is that the option of a military attack - including a preemptive strike in the event of signs of an imminent North Korean nuclear or missile attack or a preventive strike to destroy its nuclear and missile capabilities even without those signs - has been all but ruled out. The New York Times reported on Mar. 8 that after three recent meetings, the White House National Security Council (NSC) had already reached the foreseeable conclusion that an attack on North Korea’s missile and nuclear bases could trigger war on the Korean Peninsula. [US NK policy] [Preemptive] [THAAD]
• Trump administration carrying out North Korea sanctions enacted under Obama
  Posted on : Mar.9,2017 16:04 KST Modified on : Mar.9,2017 16:04 KST Recent large fine on Chinese company apparently a warning against companies that transact with North Korea The Donald Trump administration continues to ratchet up its sanctions against North Korea. While the White House is in part carrying on sanctions initiated under predecessor Barack Obama, its pressure tactics against Pyongyang also appear influenced by the latter’s ballistic missile launches and the killing of Kim Jong-nam with the nerve agent VX. The US Justice, Treasury, and Commerce departments announced in separate press releases on Mar. 7 that the Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation (ZTE), China’s largest telecommunications equipment company, had been fined US$1.192 billion (around 1.3702 trillion won). It was the largest fine yet imposed on a foreign company for violations of sanctions. ZTE is accused of supporting establishment and operation of a communications network in Iran by exporting US$32 million (around 36.78 billion won) worth of US mobile phone network experiment to Iranian government-affiliated and other Iranian businesses over the six years from Jan. 2010 to Apr. 2016. It also exported mobile phones to North Korea on 283 occasions, the US claimed. [Sanctions] [US NK policy] [Continuities] [Secondary sanctions]
• N. Korea leader 'not rational person': US diplomat
  Posted : 2017-03-09 10:31 Updated : 2017-03-09 13:43 The U.S. ambassador to UN on Wednesday rejected calls for opening negotiations with North Korea to defuse escalating tensions, saying North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is "not a rational person." Amb. Nikki Haley also turned down China's suggestion that the U.S. halt annual joint military exercises with South Korea in exchange for Pyongyang's suspension of its nuclear and missile activities. She also said the U.S. is reviewing all options on the table. "I appreciate all of my counterparts wanting to talk about talks and negotiations. We are not dealing with a rational person. If this was any other country, we would be talking about that and it wouldn't be an issue. This is not a rational person who has not had rational acts, who is not thinking clearly," Haley told reporters after an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on North Korea. But State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Haley's point was that the North's "behavior" has not been rational. He also said the U.S. remains open to dialogue with the North with the aim of returning to credible and authentic negotiations on denuclearization, and the North should take meaningful actions toward the goal. "Efforts up until today, whether it's six party talks, whether it's sanctions, all of the efforts that we have taken thus far to attempt to persuade North Korea to, again, engage in meaningful negotiations, have fallen short, to be honest. So we need to look at new ways to convince them, to persuade them that it's in their interest," he said. [Irrational] [Rebuff]
• THAAD radar may arrive in month
  Posted : 2017-03-08 16:37 Updated : 2017-03-09 13:52 By Jun Ji-hye The radar system for a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery is expected to arrive in South Korea this month as the two countries speed up deployment of the system, a government source said Wednesday. The comment came after the first batch of equipment, including two missile launchers, arrived here Monday night. "Components needed to set up the THAAD unit will be gradually arriving here," the source was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency. "As far as I know, the radar will also arrive as early as this month to undergo operational testing." [THAAD] [Radar]
• Tillerson's visit to focus on THAAD
  Posted : 2017-03-08 16:28 Updated : 2017-03-08 17:32 Top US diplomat will visit next week before heading to Beijing By Jun Ji-hye U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit South Korea next week to discuss evolving North Korean threats and the deployment of an advanced missile defense system here, officials said Wednesday. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson On his first trip to Northeast Asia since being appointed, Washington's top diplomat also will visit Japan and China, the State Department said, noting that he will be in Tokyo from March 15 to 17, Seoul on March 17 and 18, and Beijing, March 18. [Tillerson] [THAAD]
• CONTINUATION OF POLICY WITH OTHER MEANS: ENSURING THAT THE MARCH-APRIL 2017 US-ROK MILITARY EXERCISES DO NOT INCREASE THE RISK OF WAR
  February 15, 2017 War, wrote Clausewitz, is the continuation of policy with other means. War-time means are largely military; and require constant practice if they are to support policy. Thus, the United States and its ally South Korea exercise their joint military forces and military strategies in regular cycles. There are many types of military exercises and all are simulations of war, some of them more realistic than others; but all designed to realize political-military objectives. In South Korea, two back-to-back exercises have just began that are the most politically significant due to their scale and history have just begun, coinciding with an fractious strategic moment in the Korean conflict. These are Foal Eagle, a command post exercise that began on March X 2017; and Key Resolve, a massive land exercise that includes joint and combined field training exercises of ground, air, naval, and special operations forces, etc., and is the name of an exercise formerly known as RSOI (Reception, Staging, Onward Movement, Integration), and during the Cold War as Team Spirit.[1] Key Resolve will commence on March 13, 2017 and lasts until April 2017. It will involve 17,000 American and more than 300,000 South Korean troops,—said to be pegged at the same scale as 2016.[2] According to media reports, Key Resolve “will simulate a full-scale war scenario that assumes the deployment and readiness of THAAD, the U.S. missile defense system, at its designated location in central South Korea.”[3] There are three issues that make these exercises problematic in 2017. The first is that the United States does not have a clear policy with regard to North Korea under President Trump’s new administration. The White House is currently conducting its Korea policy review,[4] with its main progenitor, General Michael Flynn, having resigned shortly after he instigated the review. The policy review is examining all options but is incomplete. To date, President Trump’s statements on North Korea have ranged all over the map including the notion of hamburger diplomacy, the suggestion that China “take out” Kim Jong Un, being “very angry” at the DPRK’s missile test. They provide little insight into what his preferences are for dealing with North Korea. The “now you see it, now you don’t” visas issued then withdrawn on the same day (February 25, 2017)[5] for North Korean diplomats to visit New York for private talks underscore this apparently confused state of the Administration’s stance towards North Korea. By default, US policy today amounts to continuation of the status quo ante, with a primary emphasis on military containment, but in a context of massive and structural strategic change in the context such that the past is not prologue to the future and strategy is likely to also shift radically in the near and medium term. The second is that South Korea’s president sits under a cloud of impeachment. The Blue House has continued under the Prime Minister’s direction to sustain President Park’s anti-DPRK hostility and loose talk about regime change. The moribund leadership may encourage the DPRK to provoke the ROK (and vice versa). Meanwhile, the pending elections in South Korea may lead to a radical shift in the ROK’s nordpolitik. Thus, the oscillating status of the South Korea’s strategic orientation towards the DPRK deepens the uncertainty about allied strategy created by President Trump’s statements. Third, the North Korean-Chinese relationship is in a state of distemper. Hostility surfaced in the DPRK’s statement after China condemned its February 12 2017 missile test, with KCNA characterizing China as a power competing with the United States for hegemony as the root cause of escalated tension in Northeast Asia.[6] It became positively wrathful after China cut the DPRK’s coal exports in 2017, leading the DPRK to dismiss its erstwhile ally as “dancing to the tune of the U.S.”[7] In fact, China’s move was a power play exploiting the DPRK’s alleged assassination of Kim Jong Nam in Kuala Lumpur airport on February 13, 2017 to put the onus on the Trump Administration to resolve the US-North Korea conflict.[8] [Joint US military]
• THAAD Battery Arrives in Korea
  By Yu Yong-weon, Lee Yong-soo March 08, 2017 09:34 A controversial Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery has arrived in Korea from the U.S. sooner than expected in a bid to preempt a change of heart by the next government here. The arrival of the battery and handover of the necessary land in southern Korea practically ensures the completion of the deployment before the next election, even if President Park Geun-hye is removed from office next week. The Defense Ministry on Tuesday said work to deploy the THAAD battery "has begun" and Korea and the U.S. will finish installing it "at the earliest possible date." So far two mobile missile launchers with eight interceptors each have been transported by C-17 transport plane from Fort Bliss, Texas to Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek. They are now at a U.S. military base. This handout photo from the U.S. Forces Korea on Tuesday shows the first elements of the U.S.-built Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense arriving at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul on Monday. Normally a THAAD consists of six launchers and at least 48 interceptor missiles, a powerful AN/TPY-2 radar that is the main reason China is against the deployment here, and control and communications units plus a generator operated by around 200 personnel. The U.S. military said the THAAD deployment is not related to massive joint military exercises currently underway. The battery was expected between June and July, but North Korea's launch of a new ballistic missile is believed to have played a major role in speeding up the deployment. The new missile, dubbed Pukguksong-2, is powered by a solid-fuel engine, which vastly shortens launch preparation time compared to liquid-fuel-powered missiles that must be refueled shortly before launch and take longer to set up. One U.S. military source said, "The early deployment of the THAAD battery was decided several weeks ago, but both sides kept the schedule a secret." One South Korean military source said, "We looked into the prospect of speeding up the deployment considering internal and external circumstances, including the rapid advancement of North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile technology." But the military source downplayed suspicions that the two allies want to make the deployment an established fact before the next presidential election, saying the decision was "unrelated to politics." [THAAD] [SK_Election17]
• Trump Warns N.Korea of 'Dire Consequences' of Missile Launch
  By Cho Yi-jun March 08, 2017 11:44 U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday warned North Korea of "very dire consequences" over its latest missile launch Monday, the White House said. Trump was talking on the phone with acting South Korean president Hwang Kyo-ahn. The two agreed that the missile launch was "a violation of the UN Security Council resolutions and a provocation against the international community." The government here quoted Hwang as saying North Korea's nuclear weapons "are a direct threat to both South Korea and the U.S.," and the two countries "should bolster their deterrence forces." Trump added the U.S. government "has supported and will support South Korea 100 percent." [Trump] [US NK policy]
• [Editorial] Ramming through THAAD deployment both irresponsible and dangerous
  Posted on : Mar.8,2017 16:58 KST Modified on : Mar.8,2017 16:58 KST A C-17 Globemaster aircraft delivers two vehicles for launching interceptor missiles, the first components of the THAAD missile defense system, to Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Mar. 6. (provided by US Forces Korea) The South Korean and US militaries announced on Mar. 7 that they had already begun work on deploying the THAAD missile defense system in South Korea. They started shipping the equipment into the country even before the deployment site was prepared. Barging ahead like this is both rash and irresponsible. It’s also a heavy-handed attempt to quash resistance from civic groups and opposition parties calling for the THAAD deployment to be reconsidered and from China, which has initiated economic retaliation against South Korea. The move also appears to have political undertones, targeting the presidential election that will take place after the upcoming decision about the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye. We hope that the South Korean and US governments will immediately suspend the THAAD deployment. [THAAD] [SK_Election17]
• More THAAD components coming soon, deployment could be done in 7-9 months
  Posted on : Mar.8,2017 16:53 KST Modified on : Mar.8,2017 16:53 KST An F-16 fighter jet moves to take off on a runway near the C-17 Globemaster carrier that delivered two launchers, the first components of the THAAD missile defense system, to Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Mar. 7. (by Kim Jeong-hyo, staff photographer) Government say there is no plan to hold a hearing for local residents who will be affected by the deployment The deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system with US Forces Korea (USFK) gained further momentum on Mar. 6 as South Korean and US governments introduced part of the battery. As of now, the US military has only introduced a portion of the THAAD system, including two vehicles for launching interception missiles. While the exact schedule has not been announced, other necessary equipment for actual THAAD operation - including the key components of X-band radar (AN/TYP-2), interception missiles, and launch control units - are expected to arrive in South Korea shortly, along with US troops to operate them. [THAAD]
• Trump’s policies on the peninsula: Does South Korea have cause for concern?
  Stephen R Nagy 16 December 2016 South Korea’s domestic political turmoil is a bigger threat to its national security than US foreign policy under a Trump Presidency, Stephen Nagy writes in the third of his series looking at the Trump effect in East Asia. North Korean belligerence in the form of nuclear and missile developments, a slowing Chinese economy, and the successful vote to impeach President Park have compromised the South Korean government’s ability to plan and implement social, political and security policy. In this growingly severe geopolitical, domestic and economic environment, the rhetoric of President-elect Trump, if turned into action, would exacerbate the negative trends on the peninsula with a foreign policy agenda that seems to deviate from the bipartisan approach the US has had in regards to the peninsula in the past, one characterised by stalwart support for South Korea. [US Korea] [Trump]
• Launchers of US missile defense system arrive in Korea: defense ministry [VIDEO]
  Posted : 2017-03-07 10:49 Updated : 2017-03-07 14:06 / Captured from Osan Air Base YouTube page By Park Si-soo The U.S forces have brought parts of the controversial THAAD anti-ballistic missile defense system to South Korea, said the defense ministry on Tuesday in an earlier-than-expected deployment that will fuel China's indignation toward the country. Two THAAD missile launchers are among the parts airlifted to Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek on Monday using a C-17 military cargo plane, according to the ministry. The parts will be transported to a designated site in Seongju, North Gyeongsang province, the ministry said, adding more parts will come soon to complete the THAAD missile defense system and make it operational by April. "U.S. Pacific Command deployed the first elements of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to the Republic of Korea, March 6, implementing the U.S.-ROK Alliances July 2016 decision to bring the defense capability to the peninsula," the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) said in a statement. "THAAD system contributes to a layered missile defense system and enhances the US-ROK Alliance's defense against North Korean missile threats." The first batch of deployment was made on the same day when North Korea fired off four ballistic missiles in protest against the ongoing military drills between Seoul and Washington. [THAAD]
• [ROUNDTABLE] Trump to force N. Korea to choose: nukes or survival
  Posted : 2017-03-06 15:28 Updated : 2017-03-07 10:39 Park Jin, center, three-term lawmaker who headed the National Assembly's foreign affairs and unification committee and now chairman of the Korean-American Association, poses with a group of The Korea Times' columnists ? from left, Andrew Salmon; Casey Lartigue Jr.; Michael Breen and Chief Editorial Writer Oh Young-jin before starting the roundtable discussion on how to best handle the North Korea challenge at the Times in downtown Seoul, last week. Don Kirk, also a Times' columnist later joined the discussion as well. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk By Park Jin It is clear that the advent of the Trump administration will have a substantial impact on Asia and the Korean peninsula. Above all, Washington's perceived new pro-Russia and anti-China policies will introduce a geopolitical shift in Asia. President Trump's "America First" foreign policy is likely to push for increased defense burden sharing from its allies in Asia, including Korea and Japan, as well as causing trade conflicts with China. Plus, protectionist policies to keep US jobs will also call for a review of free trade agreements with countries such as Korea. While the US and China are anticipating tough negotiations in the areas of trade, currency and geopolitical issues, North Korea's security threats are becoming an urgent policy priority for the Trump administration. [Trump] [US NK policy]
• A Path Forward on North Korea
  By Ann Wright
  March 5, 2017 Mainstream U.S. media depicts North Korean Kim Jong-Un as crazy and his country as an insane asylum, but there is logic in their fear of “regime change,” a fear that only negotiations can address, says ex-U.S. diplomat Ann Wright. Why are discussions for a peace treaty with North Korea not an option to resolve the extraordinarily dangerous tensions on the Korean peninsula? At long last, experts with long experience with the North Koreans are publicly calling for these negotiations. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Many in Washington’s think tanks finally acknowledge that the Obama policy of “strategic patience,” which relied on sanctions and other pressures to frustrate North Korea, did not result in a slowdown in the nuclear weapon and missile programs, but instead provided room for the North Koreans to expand their research and testing of both nuclear weapon and missile technology. These experts now acknowledge that the U.S. government must deal with the reality that sanctions have not slowed North Korea’s programs and that negotiations are needed. William Perry, who was Secretary of Defense from 1994-1997 during talks with the North Koreans that led to an arms control framework, wrote in a Jan. 6 op-ed in the Washington Post that some Western perceptions of the North Koreans as crazy fanatics are false and meaningful negotiations are possible. [US NK policy] [Engagement]
• US government report stresses need for reconsideration of KORUS FTA
  Posted on : Mar.3,2017 16:00 KST Modified on : Mar.3,2017 16:00 KST USTR’s reasons for claiming need to reconsider trade agreements Trump administration has pointed to FTA with South Korea as one reason for growing trade deficit The US Trade Representative (USTR) issued an official report on Mar. 1 stressing the need for serious reconsideration of the US’s Free Trade Agreement with South Korea, citing it along with NAFTA and China joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) as factors in a rapid rise in its trade deficit. This marks the first time reconsideration of the KORUS FTA has been mentioned in an official government document since the Donald Trump administration’s inauguration. “[T]he largest trade deal implemented during the [Barack] Obama Administration - our free trade agreement with South Korea - has coincided with a dramatic increase in our trade deficit with that country,” the USTR said in its “2017 Trade Policy Agenda and 2016 Annual Report” published on Mar. 1. Specifically, the USTR noted that US exports to South Korea in 2016 were down US$1.2 billion (1.3 trillion won) from 2011, the year before the KORUS FTA took effect, while imports of South Korean items had increased by US$13 billion (around 14.8 trillion won). [Trump] [KORUS FTA]
• 'Korea may have to share THAAD cost'
  Posted : 2017-03-03 17:03 Updated : 2017-03-03 17:55 By Choi Ha-young Rep. Shim Jae-kwon Korea may have to shoulder a bigger financial burden than expected to deploy and operate a United States-made anti-ballistic missile system on its soil, opposition lawmakers said. Since the country decided to install the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, doubts on transport expenses and the costs to install it here have not faded away. Originally, Defense Minister Han Min-koo said Korea would bear no additional cost except for providing the site. However, some opposition lawmakers have pointed out that the U.S. has not allocated a budget for it. Regarding this, Rep. Shim Jae-kwon of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and chairman of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee presented three possible scenarios. "First, the U.S. may not be fully prepared to deploy it on time for practical reasons," Shim said in an interview with The Korea Times, Feb. 22. "Secondly, it may demand Korea share the expense unlike the previous agreement. Last, it may use money deposited in the Community Bank." [THAAD] [Cost] [Tribute]
• Top source: Trump believes North Korea is greatest threat
  By Jake Tapper, Wolf Blitzer and Jeremy Diamond, CNN Updated 2344 GMT (0744 HKT) February 28, 2017 Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump believes the "greatest immediate threat" to the US is North Korea and its nuclear program, a senior administration official told reporters Tuesday. Trump has already called on China to take action to rein in North Korea, over which China has considerable influence and leverage, the official said. "You gotta work on North Korea," Trump told a Chinese official on Monday, the senior administration official said, apparently pointing to a brief meeting at the White House Monday between Trump and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi, the highest-ranking Chinese official Trump has met with since taking office. North Korea has successfully developed nuclear weapons, but still lacks a delivery method, the official said. Still, the US administration is concerned that North Korea could purchase a delivery method. Trump is not the first US president to be alarmed over North Korea's nuclear program. China & North Korea: A complicated relationship China & North Korea: A complicated relationship 01:13 The senior official who spoke to reporters Tuesday on the condition of anonymity said President Barack Obama on his final day in office told Trump he believed North Korea is the biggest national security threat to the US. Trump previously referred to the conversation during an interview last month with Fox News, but declined to reveal what Obama relayed, other than to call it "a military problem with a certain place." Trump's concern over North Korea is in part fueled by his belief that North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un "may be crazy," the official said. The question for Trump, though, has been, "Is he crazy or is he smart and strategic?" the official said, relaying Trump's thinking. [Trump] [US NK policy] [Threat]
• S.Korea, U.S. Kick Off Big Show of Force
  By Yu Yong-weon March 02, 2017 13:22 South Korea and the U.S. kicked off joint annual military drills on Wednesday that amount to an unusually heavy show of force against North Korea. The drills, dubbed "Foal Eagle" for reasons lost in time, will carry on until late April and involve a fleet led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, as well as F-35B vertical takeoff and landing stealth aircraft. Surveillance is at a maximum amid fears that North Korea will launch a fresh provocation to protest at the huge military presence on its doorstep. A military spokesman said the drills feature the biggest military arsenal in their history. "Foal Eagle" is a field training exercise, including landing drills, while a simultaneous exercise called "Key Resolve" focuses on computer-based simulation. "Key Resolve" will this time include practicing preemptive strikes, a decapitation exercise targeting the North Korean leadership, and intercepting North Korean missiles using a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery that will be deployed in North Gyeongsang Province. About 3,600 U.S. troops and some 300,000 South Korean soldiers will be taking part, over 10,000 more troops than last year. The USS Carl Vinson is expected in mid-March stacked with 80 aircraft including the FA-18E/F Super Hornet jet fighters and E-2 Hawkeye early warning and control aircraft. The U.S. Marines' F-35Bs from a military base in Japan will participate for the first time. The vertical takeoff and landing stealth aircraft can be carried on an amphibious assault ship and attack targets by avoiding radar detection. Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently visited the command post of a military unit tasked with defending Pyongyang, where he ordered troops to step up preparations to fight, the official [North] Korean Central News Agency reported Wednesday. The regime has reportedly begun preparations for a vast military parade marking the 85th anniversary of the North Korean Army on April 25. "Kim Jong-un has instructed officials to make this year's parade the biggest ever in response to the joint South Korea-U.S. exercises," a military source here said. A rehearsal for the parade is taking place at Mirim Airport in Pyongyang with about 6,000 troops. More than 20,000 troops are expected to be mobilized for the actual parade. [Joint US military] [Foal Eagle] [Escalation] [Media]
• Trump says Pacific allies must “pay their fair share” of defense costs
  Posted on : Mar.2,2017 16:13 KST Modified on : Mar.2,2017 16:13 KST US president sticks to “America First” policy approach in his first address of Congress During an address to a joint session of US Congress on Feb. 28, US President Donald Trump emphasized once again his “America First” approach in the areas of commerce and trade and in regard to increasing allies‘ share of the defense burden. This suggests that American pressure in the areas of trade and the defense burden will soon become a reality. “We strongly support NATO, an alliance forged through the bonds of two World Wars that dethroned fascism, and a Cold War that defeated communism,” Trump said during the address, but added that “our partners must meet their financial obligations.” [Trump] [Tribute]
• Trump may see North Korea as the greatest threat to the US
  Posted on : Mar.2,2017 16:12 KST Modified on : Mar.2,2017 16:12 KST North Korean leader Kim Jong-un takes a commemorative photo with (North) Korean People’s Army Large Combined Unit #966, in this photo from the Rodong Sinmun newspaper. (Yonhap News) US president’s belief that Kim Jong-un might be crazy is adding to his concerns about North Korea, official says On Feb. 28, CNN quoted a senior official in the US government as saying that US President Donald Trump regards North Korea and the North Korean nuclear issue as the greatest threat facing the US. CNN also quoted the official as saying that Trump had told a senior Chinese official on Feb. 27 that China needed to make an effort to resolve the North Korean issue. During a brief meeting on Feb. 27 with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi, who was visiting the US, Trump apparently emphasized China’s role once again. This is the first time that a senior official in the US has said that Trump regards North Korea and the North Korean nuclear issue as one of the top priorities for American foreign policy. This was apparently affected by North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile. But Trump has not moved beyond the standard approach of using China to put pressure on North Korea. The official added that the US is also concerned about the possibility of Pyongyang acquiring ICBMs or some other delivery system for the nuclear weapons it has successfully developed. [Trump] [US NK policy] [Threat]
• Will Korea-US free trade deal survive in Trump era?
  Posted : 2017-03-02 16:30 Updated : 2017-03-02 16:32 The U.S. Trade Representative said Wednesday the free trade agreement with South Korea resulted in a "dramatic increase in our trade deficit," stressing it's time for a major review of how the U.S. approaches trade deals. "The largest trade deal implemented during the Obama administration -- our free trade agreement with South Korea -- has coincided with a dramatic increase in our trade deficit with that country," USTR said in President Donald Trump's 2017 Trade Policy Agenda. Compared with before the deal went into effect in 2012, the total value of U.S. goods exported to South Korea fell by $1.2 billion, while U.S. imports of goods from South Korea grew by more than $13 billion, USTR said. "As a result, our trade deficit in goods with South Korea more than doubled," it said. "Needless to say, this is not the outcome the American people expected from that agreement. Plainly, the time has come for a major review of how we approach trade agreements." The report is seen as a strong indication that the U.S. could seek a renegotiation of the pact. The USTR also said the U.S. has run more than $74 trillion in trade deficits in goods under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and former President Barack Obama had also called for renegotiating the agreement or a withdrawal from it if such renegotiations were unsuccessful. "For decades now, the United States has signed one major trade deal after another and, as shown above, the results have often not lived up to expectations. The Trump Administration believes in free and fair trade, and we are looking forward to developing deeper trading relationships with international partners who share that belief," USTR said. [FTA] [Trump]
• Korea, US kickoff annual exercise
  Posted : 2017-03-01 16:53 Updated : 2017-03-01 22:09 U.S. aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson Allies seek to send strong warning to NK By Yi Whan-woo South Korea and the United States began their annual Foal Eagle military exercise Wednesday, sending a strong warning to North Korea over its escalating saber-rattling. A military official said the scale of the joint field training exercise will be around the same as in 2016, citing that the drill last year was the largest-ever with 300,000 South Korean troops and 15,000 U.S. personnel. During a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Defense Minister Han Min-koo assessed that the drill, along with its parallel Key Resolve exercise, has contributed significantly to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. The Foal Eagle exercise will run through the end of April, while Key Resolve, a largely-computer-simulated exercise, will take place from March 13 to 23. [Joint US military] [Foal Eagle]
• Use of nerve gas in Kim Jong-nam killing causes increased international pressure on North Korea
  Posted on : Mar.1,2017 13:34 KST Modified on : Mar.1,2017 13:34 KST From left to right, the senior envoys to the Six Party Talks, Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Kim Hong-kyun, US Joseph Y. Yun is Special Representative for North Korea Policy and Kenji Kanasugi, Japan’s Director-General of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau for its Foreign Ministry, clasp hands in Washington DC on Feb. 27. (Yonhap News) US could again designate North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, after removing designation in 2008 Following the Malaysian government’s official announcement that Kim Jong-nam, half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was killed with the VX nerve gas, the international community has gradually been intensifying its diplomatic pressure on North Korea. “I’ve heard from the Americans that they’ve begun reviewing the option of designating North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism once again,” said a senior South Korean government official during a meeting with foreign correspondents in Washington, DC, on Feb. 27. The official was in the US for deliberations with the senior envoys to the Six-Party Talks from South Korea, the US and Japan. “The US has periodically reviewed this option since removing North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism in 2008, but this time I’m told that the review was launched because of the killing of Kim Jong-nam,” the official said. [Kim Yong Nam] [Assassination] [Terrorism List] [VX]
• The Death of Kim Jong-nam: Implausible Deniability
  Posted on 27 February 2017 By Mark Tokola The story of Kim Jong-nam’s assassination took a bizarre turn with the announcement by Malaysian authorities that the cause of death was a banned chemical weapon, the nerve agent VX. It is only supposed to be held in limited quantities by the United States and Russia. However, it has been reported that North Korea has been developing stockpiles of VX, among other substances banned by the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, of which North Korea is not a party. The Malaysian announcement seems to have removed almost any remaining doubt that North Korea was responsible for the assassination, but why would North Korea choose to use such an exotic method when other, more prosaic, means of assassination were available? And why choose a weapon that would be so obviously traced back to North Korea? [Kim Jong Nam] [Assassination]
• Use of VX nerve agent in Kim Jong-nam killing further hardens US stance on North Korea
  Posted on : Feb.27,2017 17:01 KST A worker in a gas mask and protective suit at Menara Medical Clinic in Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia, detoxing any possible traces of the VX nerve agent, Feb. 26. (EPA/Yonhap News) Reports of chemical weapon use in killing scuttles 1.5 track meeting in US with North Korean officials Following the news that the VX nerve agent was used to kill Kim Jong-nam, 46, half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, attitudes toward North Korea are hardening.Efforts to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula, which had been tentatively advancing under new US President Donald Trump, are back at square one. This is likely to damage North Korea’s relations not only with the US but also with China and to interrupt behind-the-scenes efforts by the US and China to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue. It will likely take quite some time to regain momentum in these areas. In terms of North Korea’s relations with the US, since the beginning of the Trump administration there had been a tentative but noticeable effort by the US government officials responsible for North Korean policy to take advantage of the possibilities inherent during a handover of power to improve relations with North Korea. Some signs of this were several visits to North Korea by organizations that provide humanitarian aid to North Korea (such visits require the implicit approval of the US State Department) and the efforts to hold a “1.5 track” meeting between North Korean officials and American experts on North Korea in New York in early March. [US NK policy] [Kim Jong Nam] [VX] [Pretext]

• Trump says he’d “never say no” to possible meeting with North Korea
  Posted on : Feb.25,2017 17:17 KST US president also says Washington is “very angry” over North Korea’s recent ballistic missile launch US President Donald Trump said on Feb. 23 that he “would never say no” to the possibility of a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, but that it was “very late in the picture” under the current circumstances. Speaking in an interview with Reuters at his office in the White House, Trump went on to say the US was “very angry at what [Kim has] done” in conducting a recent ballistic missile launch. “Frankly, this [nuclear and missile program issue] should have been taken care of during the [Barack] Obama administration,” he continued. Reuters interpreted Trump as saying that he would not rule out any possibility of a future meeting, but that it would be difficult at the current stage after the North’s ballistic missile launch. [Trump] [US NK policy] [US NK negotiations]
• Trump says it's too late to meet with Kim Jong-un
  Posted : 2017-02-24 11:09Updated : 2017-02-24 21:12 U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he is "very angry" at North Korea's latest missile launch, and it's too late to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to an interview. Trump also said in the interview with Reuters that talks are under way about "a lot more" options than beefing up missile defenses to cope with the North's threats. He called the situation "very dangerous" but said China can solve the problem "very easily if they want to." He welcomed Beijing's suspension of North Korean coal imports but said it should put more pressure on Pyongyang. [Trump] [US NK policy]
• US axes N. Korea talks after Kim murder
  February 25, 2017 16:42 By Agence France-Presse Planned talks in New York between North Korea and former US officials were canceled following the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's half brother, US media reported Saturday. The unofficial meeting which was to have taken place next week fell through when the State Department refused to issue visas for diplomats coming from Pyongyang, The Washington Post reported, citing unnamed sources who knew of the decision. It would have been the first meeting between the two countries to have taken place inside the United States in more than five years. The meeting was organized by Donald Zagoria, a senior official at the non-profit National Committee on American Foreign Policy, who according to the Wall Street Journal has been involved in previous back-channel talks with North Korea. Both newspapers said the North Korean delegation was to have been led by Choe Son Hui, head of the US affairs department at the foreign ministry in Pyongyang. Washington was to have been represented by Robert Gallucci, the main US negotiator during the 1994 North Korean nuclear crisis, and Victor Cha, who headed Asian affairs in George W. Bush's National Security Council, the Journal said. But plans for the unofficial talks ran into difficulties after North Korea launched a ballistic missile earlier this month. According to the Post, Washington decided to cancel the talks after Malaysian police confirmed that Kim Jong Nam was assassinated with VX, a lethal nerve agent manufactured for chemical warfare and listed by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction. [US NK Negotiations] [Track 2] [Kim Yong Nam] [Renege]
• Plans for first post-Trump US contact with North Korea cancelled, says report
  Talks with former US officials reportedly called off after Pyongyang envoy denied a visa in wake of missile test and Kim Jong-nam murder Reuters Saturday 25 February 2017 05.26 GMT Plans for the first contact between North Korea and the United States after Donald Trump took office have reportedly been cancelled after the US state department denied a visa for the top envoy from Pyongyang. The talks, between senior North Korean foreign ministry envoy Choe Son Hui and former US officials, were scheduled to take place on 1 and 2 March in New York but were called off after Choe was denied a visa, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. It was not clear what led the state department to deny the visa but North Korea’s test-firing of a ballistic missile on 12 February and the murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half brother in Malaysia may have played a role, the report said. South Korean and US officials have said they believe North Korean agents assassinated Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half brother of Kim Jong-un, on 13 February. A US state department official denied so-called track two discussions had been scheduled. “The US government had no plans to engage in track 2 talks in New York,” the official said, declining comment on individual visa cases. A South Korean foreign ministry official declined to comment on the report of the cancelled meeting in New York, saying the reported plan did not involve its government. The meeting in New York would have been the first time a senior North Korean envoy would visit the United States since 2011 and the first contact between US and North Korean representatives since Trump took office. [US NK Negotiations] [Track 2] [Kim Yong Nam]
• Time to Test Diplomacy with North Korea
  By Ottar Andreasen and Steve Andreasen 23 February 2017 One of us experienced war firsthand at the age of 23 serving in the US Army in Korea in 1952. The other first learned about war 20 years later by asking about the ribbons on his father’s uniform hanging in the closet. The son went on to serve as a civilian in the United States Department of State and the White House National Security Council (NSC) staff, working on defense policy and nuclear arms-control issues, some involving North Korea. [US NK policy] [Engagement] [Bizarre]
• The Sino-DPRK Split and Origins of US-DPRK Bilateralism
  By Eungseo Kim | February 20, 2017 As China signals a potential willingness to apply economic pressure to North Korea by banning coal imports, one is reminded of the simmering contention that underlies a relationship so often described as being like “lips and teeth.” History informs us that, in fact, the Sino-DPRK relationship is in no small part defined by substantive disagreement. Some have been bigger than others, and there is perhaps none bigger than the schism that resulted from Beijing’s unwillingness to promote Pyongyang’s interests in the early 1970s, argues London School of Economics graduate Eungseo Kim. Using sources from the indispensable Wilson Center Digital Archive and its North Korean International Documentation Project (NKIDP), Kim dissects the politics and unintended consequences of Sino-US détente in 1972. He finds that Pyongyang’s grievance against Beijing for its refusal to insist on certain preconditions for Sino-US diplomatic normalization (namely, removal of US Forces Korea from the peninsula and a peace treaty) was likely the reason why Pyongyang soon decided it needed to deal directly with the United States. Instructively, Kim notes that Pyongyang’s demands then were not substantively different than they are now. — Steven Denney, Managing Editor The Sino-DPRK Split and Origins of US-DPRK Bilateralism by Eungseo Kim The Birth of North Korea’s “Self-Reliant” Foreign Policy | While the North Korean regime is frequently labeled as erratic and irrational, North Korea’s policy in its quest to acquire nuclear weapons has been unchanging in one essential regard: the goal of directly negotiating with the US rather than participate in any form of multilateral talks including South Korea, China, Japan, Russia or anyone else. North Korea’s government identified its foreign policy as “self-reliant” in the 1960s, and bilateral negotiations with the US have since been seen as the essential means to achieve it. [US NK Negotiations]
• North Korean and US officials planning 1.5 track meeting in New York
  Posted on : Feb.21,2017 17:29 KST US State Department still deciding whether to issue visas for North Koreans, considering recent missile launch and Kim Jong-nam’s killing North Korean officials and American experts on North Korea are reportedly getting ready to engage in “1.5 track dialogue,” which would involve figures from both the government and the private sector, in New York. Since North Korean officials will need the US State Department to approve and issue visas in order to visit the US, this is expected to serve as a litmus test for President Donald Trump’s North Korean policy. On Feb. 19, the Washington Post reported that Donald S. Zagoria, senior vice president of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, is preparing to hold the meetings in New York within a few weeks and that North Korean government officials and former US government officials are planning to participate. A likely leader of the North Korean delegation, according to the report, is Choe Son-hui, director general of the US affairs bureau in North Korea‘s Foreign Ministry. [US NK Negotiations] [Track 2]
• North Korean officials are preparing to come to U.S. for talks with former officials
  A rocket is displayed behind a hostess at a flower show celebrating the 75th anniversary of the birth of former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on Feb. 17 in Pyongyang. Preparations are underway to bring senior North Korean representatives to the United States for talks with former American officials. (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images) By Anna Fifield February 19 at 6:42 PM ? KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Preparations are underway to bring senior North Korean representatives to the United States for talks with former American officials, the first such meeting in more than five years and a sign that Pyongyang sees a potential opening with the Trump administration. Arranging the talks has become a lot more complicated over the past eight days, with North Korea testing a ballistic missile and the assassination of Kim Jong Un’s half brother in Malaysia, an act that many suspect was ordered by the leader of North Korea. Malaysian police on Sunday named as suspects four North Koreans who left the country on the day of the attack. Analysts also say they highly doubt that Pyongyang, which has insisted on being recognized as a nuclear state, would be willing to moderate its position on its weapons program. If the talks do take place, they could offer a glimmer of hope for an already-hostile relationship that has only deteriorated as the Kim government works aggressively to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the continental United States. The planning for the “Track 1.5” talks — with the U.S. side made up of the former officials who usually take part in Track 2 talks, but the North Korean side composed of government officials — is still in a preparatory stage, according to people with knowledge of the arrangements. [US NK negotiations] [Track 2]
• [Analysis] Trump administration shows growing discomfort with North Korea
  Posted on : Feb.15,2017 15:50 KST US President has refrained from immediate response on North Korea, but discomfort likely to have negative effect On Feb. 13, US President Donald Trump responded to North Korea’s ballistic missile launch by saying that he would “deal with North Korea very strongly.” His tone was tougher than when he said during his emergency joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Feb. 11 that he stood fully behind his Japanese ally without specifically mentioning North Korea. When asked on Feb. 13 during a joint press conference following his summit at the White House with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the most important national security issues facing the US, Trumps said that North Korea is “a big, big problem.” When asked to clarify its position on this issue by the Hankyoreh on Feb. 13, an official at the office of the spokesperson for the US State Department said, “We are asking all countries to use their available channels and influence to make it clear to North Korea and its enablers that efforts to improve its capability for ballistic missiles and launches using ballistic missile technology are unacceptable.” This message is mostly thought to serve as a request for cooperation from China. [US NK Policy] [China hope]
• US to send strategic assets to military drill with S. Korea
  Posted : 2017-02-14 13:52Updated : 2017-02-14 13:52 The United States will send its strategic assets to a joint military exercise with South Korea next month as North Korea has escalated tensions with its latest missile launch, a Seoul official said Tuesday. "The two sides have agreed to send U.S. strategic assets, such as the F-22 stealth fighters and a nuclear-powered submarine, one by one to the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises in March," the military official familiar with the matter told Yonhap News Agency. In a report to lawmakers, the Ministry of National Defense said, "We are in talks with the U.S. to determine the size of U.S. strategic assets to be deployed and the range of their exposure to local media." The move is to show the allies' full readiness and combat capabilities against the North's evolving nuclear and missile threats in the "biggest-ever" joint exercise, the ministry said. The North test-fired a newly developed intermediate-range ballistic missile Sunday morning in its first provocation since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump. The launch came after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last month threatened to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. (Yonhap) [Joint US military] [Strategic assets] [Escalation]
• US-North Korean Relations in a Time of Change
  by Gregory Elich
  February 13, 2017 The months ahead may reveal the direction that U.S.-North Korean relations will take under the Trump administration. After eight years of ‘strategic patience’ and the Rebalance to Asia, those relations now stand at their lowest point in decades. Many foreign policy elites are expressing frustration over Washington’s failure to impose its will on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). There are increasing calls for a change in policy, but what kind of change do they have in mind? We may be at the point of a major transition. President Trump has given mixed signals on North Korea, ranging from saying he is open to dialogue, to insisting that North Korea cannot be allowed to possess nuclear weapons and that he could solve the dispute with a single call to China. It is fair to say that any change in policy direction is possible, although deeply entrenched interests can be counted on to resist any positive movement. Other than his frequently expressed hard line on China, Trump has not otherwise demonstrated much interest in Asian-Pacific affairs. That may mean an increased likelihood that he will defer to his advisors, and conventional wisdom may prevail. The more influence Trump’s advisors have on North Korea policy, the more dangerous the prospects. [US NK policy]
• Trump calls N. Korea 'big, big problem,' vows to deal with it 'very strongly'
  Posted : 2017-02-14 13:46Updated : 2017-02-14 13:59 U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he will deal with North Korea "very strongly," calling the communist regime a "big, big problem" after Pyongyang carried out the latest ballistic missile launch. "Obviously North Korea is a big, big problem and we will deal with that very strongly," Trump said during a joint news conference at the White House with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in response to a question about the most important national security matters facing him. Trump did not elaborate on specific strategies to deal with Pyongyang. Still, the remark shows Trump seriously takes the North's growing nuclear and missile threats. After summit talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday, Trump said that defending against the North's nuclear and missile threat is "a very very high priority" for him. Trump also held a late night joint press conference with Abe on Saturday, just hours after the North's missile launch, to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to defending the ally in the face of North Korean threats, though he stopped short of directly condemning the launch. The North's missile launch marked the first provocative act by Pyongyang since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump. The launch came after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un threatened to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile apparently capable of reaching the U.S. Experts said the latest firing could be aimed in part at testing how the Trump administration would react to a missile launch before the regime goes ahead with a full-fledged ICBM test that Trump has pledged to prevent from happening. On Monday, the North said the launch represented a successful test of a newly developed intermediate-range missile powered by solid fuel. Weapons experts say solid-fuel missiles pose greater threats as they require less preparation time than liquid-fueled rockets, and can be fired from mobile launchers easy to move around. (Yonhap) [Test] [Solid fuel]
• Untying North Korean 'nots'
  February 14, 2017 North Korea last weekend again defied world opinion and tested a medium-range ballistic missile. The launch was the first of 2017, and constitutes the first real security test for the Donald Trump administration; the president noted in a press conference Monday that “North Korea is a big, big problem and we will deal with that very strongly.” An effective response demands a clear understanding of the forces driving North Korean behavior; too often, however, myths and misunderstandings dominate thinking about the North. Corrective #1: Kim Jong Un is not irrational. The typical response to a North Korean act is either a rueful or angry headshake along with a comment about North Korean irrationality and “those crazy Kims.” The Kim family is anything but irrational. They have played a poor hand extremely well, defying international opinion, antagonizing allies and adversaries alike, and ignoring their chief benefactors. They have relentlessly pursued a narrowly defined national interest and shrugged off virtually every attempt to get them to change course or even compromise. No another country has been in the headlines for over two decades by flouting the United Nations, the United States and China, yet managed to stay on the course set by its leadership. North Korea has figured out how far it can go without prompting an overwhelming response. This is exceptional strategic thinking, not irrationality. No leader does anything that he or she thinks is “irrational.” When we say Kim Jong Un is irrational, what we are really saying is “we don’t understand his rationale.” Why does the North do what it does? Quite simply because (so far, at least) it’s working! Corrective #2: North Korean tests are not provocations. While outright defiance of the international community is by definition provocative, the primary purpose of North Korean nuclear and missile tests is not to provoke. Instead, those tests are intended to advance weapons programs. That development schedule is determinative, not external events. Of course, if a test overshadows the summit between President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, that is icing on the cake. North Korea is also happy to demonstrate that it is not intimidated by Defense Secretary Mattis’ visit to South Korea and Japan, and his statements of support for both allies, or by a phone call between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping that likely addressed North Korean issues. The best proof for this proposition is Pyongyang’s readiness to test despite the political uncertainty in Seoul. Many analysts – us included – expected North Korea to hold off until the Constitutional Court ruled on the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye to avoid distracting the Korean public from the current political spectacle and remind them of the North Korean threat. If Pyongyang put foreign considerations foremost, it would have held off. [Test] [US NK policy]
• Trump says defending S. Korea from N. Korean nuclear, missile threats 'very very high priority'
  Posted : 2017-02-11 18:10Updated : 2017-02-12 14:09 U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that defending against the nuclear and missile threats from North Korea is a "very very high priority." Trump made the remark during a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the White House, reaffirming the U.S. security commitment to defending the ally. "We will work together to promote our shared interests, of which we have many, in the region, including freedom from navigation and of navigation and defending against the North Korean missile and nuclear threats, both of which I consider a very, very high priority," Trump said. [Trump] [US NK policy]
• USFK Chief Hints at Preemptive Strikes Against N.Korean Missiles
  By Yu Yong-weon February 10, 2017 11:31 U.S. Forces Korea Commander Vincent Brooks has called for greater capability to target and destroy North Korean missile bases. Addressing the Association of the United States Army in a video call on Tuesday, Brooks said the proliferation of low-cost missiles that can be used to threaten the U.S. requires a "layered" approach to missile defense. Brooks joins a growing chorus of hawkish voices in the U.S. calling for preemptive strikes against North Korea if it continues its nuclear and missile programs. Brooks said existing defenses are "insufficient" in dealing with the North Korean missile threat. The U.S. general warned that even one stray North Korean missile could wreak havoc on South Korea because of the high population density here. He also stressed the need "to present a sufficient combination of capabilities that is known to an adversary in both defensive and offensive aspects so that deterrence actually occurs." Brooks is not the only U.S. government official touting the need for preemptive strike capabilities. New U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday vowed to come up with a "new approach" to dealing with North Korea that includes military measures, while Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker asked a hearing on North Korea last week whether the U.S. needs to prepare for a preemptive attack on the North's putative intercontinental ballistic missiles. [Preemptive] [US NK policy]
• Uncertain Futures: China, Trump and the Two Koreas
  By Yun Sun 09 February 2017 China waving flagAt the beginning of the Trump administration, the situation on the Korean peninsula is highly uncertain and potentially volatile. During a late January research trip to Beijing, “uncertainty” and “concerns” were the keywords that best characterized how Chinese scholars and officials are feeling about Trump and the two Koreas. During his presidential campaign, Trump suggested that he would be willing to negotiate with North Korea directly. However, that scenario has become more uncertain in recent months, especially given the hawkish instincts of President Trump and his national security team. Chinese analysts nonetheless expect the US to enlist Beijing’s support on the North Korea issue and are anxiously waiting for Washington to engage so that China can bargain for its preferred outcomes. The prolonged silence from the administration is making Beijing increasingly uncertain and uncomfortable, and complicating its plans to reduce the threat that the United States and its network of alliances in Northeast Asia poses to Chinese security and strategic influence. [US NK Policy] [Chinese IR]
• Seoul Pays Fair Share for U.S. Troop Presence, Says Tillerson
  By Cho Yi-jun February 10, 2017 11:52 U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said South Korea is bearing its fair share of the defense burden, it emerged on Wednesday. Seoul already contributes "large amounts to support U.S. forces" in the country, he said in his congressional confirmation hearing in January. U.S. President Donald Trump singled out South Korea on the stump as getting a "free ride," whereas in fact there is a frequently renegotiated cost sharing agreement in place. Tillerson made the remarks in a written reply to questions from U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, the Democratic ranking member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. It was made public by a U.S. environmental group. Replying to a question whether he would withdraw U.S. troops from South Korea and Japan unless a "fair" burden-sharing deal is struck, Tillerson said, "Japan and South Korea already contribute large amounts to support U.S. forces in their respective countries, and I am optimistic that future discussions will continue to be productive and result in equitable burden-sharing arrangements." This suggests that Washington will not make unreasonable demands. South Korea's ratio of defense spending to GDP stood at 2.4 percent in 2016, higher than that of Japan (one percent), and major NATO member states like the U.K. (two percent), France (1.9 percent) and Germany (1.1 percent). . [Tribute] [Continuities]
• Trump and North Korea: On the Mark Or On Collision Course?
  by Scott A. Snyder January 5, 2017 During his annual New Year’s address on Sunday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un dropped a bombshell: He stated as part of his review of the past year’s accomplishments that North Korea has entered “the final stage in preparations to test-launch” an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). One that could hit the United States. That, at least, is Kim’s intent. For years, these threats were treated as bluster because it was clear that the country did not have the capabilities to match them. This may have changed in 2016. Last year, North Korea conducted missile tests of various types on twenty-four occasions, including tests of both its estimated 3,000 kilometer-range Musudan intermediate-range missile and submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBM). North Korean media claims that the country now has “standardized” a nuclear warhead that can be delivered on such missiles and to have made progress toward mastering atmospheric re-entry required to develop an ICBM. Some analysts assess that North Korea already has the ability to conduct a nuclear strike on the United States with an ICBM, and continued North Korean progress in this direction would give the country a small, but formidable nuclear strike capability by 2020. This burst of activity designed to expand North Korea’s capabilities is why Kim’s declarations of intent must be taken seriously. [US NK policy] [Trump]
• The Korean Pivot: Seoul’s Strategic Choices and Rising Rivalries in Northeast Asia
  A CFR Discussion Paper Authors: Scott A. Snyder, Senior Fellow for Korea Studies and Director of the Program on U.S.-Korea Policy, Darcie Draudt, PhD Candidate, Johns Hopkins University, and Sungtae "Jacky" Park, Research Associate, Korea Studies The Korean Pivot: Seoul’s Strategic Choices and Rising Rivalries in Northeast Asia - the-korean-pivot-seouls-strategic-choices-and-rising-rivalries-in-northeast-asia Overview As U.S.-China tensions intensify and as the North Korean threat grows, the importance of the Republic of Korea (ROK, or South Korea) has become clearer than ever. Yet the U.S.-ROK alliance faces a period of uncertainty. In the United States, President Donald J. Trump has stated that South Korea should shoulder a greater burden for its own defense. In South Korea, the national assembly has suspended President Park Geun-hye from office after she was implicated as an accomplice in the criminal investigation of her close friend, Choi Soon-sil. Given this uncertain strategic environment, this discussion paper by Scott A Snyder, Darcie Draudt, and Sungtae "Jacky" Park argues that it is critical for U.S. policymakers to understand South Korea's geopolitical position in the context of the reemergence of great power rivalries in Northeast Asia and the acute constraints on South Korea's foreign policy and strategic options. For the United States to effectively manage rising regional tensions, South Korea's ability to deftly navigate Northeast Asia's rivalries and coordinate with the United States and regional partners will be critical. Simultaneously, the United States and South Korea will need an even closer alliance and improved multilateral cooperation to deal with the North Korean threat and to prepare for any scenario of instability in North Korea. [SK Pivot] [Dilemma]
• Korean Women Take On Trump
  As the Trump administration tries to do damage control in Asia, Korean women are leading a movement to re-define their country's relationship with Washington. By Christine Ahn, February 8, 2017. U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis recently made the Trump administration’s first overseas trip. His destination: South Korea and Japan. Coming on the heels of Donald Trump’s loud complaints about America’s “freeloading” allies, Mattis was there to assure South Korean and Japanese officials of America’s commitment to the trilateral security alliance between the three countries. Yet Trump is hardly the only critic of Washington’s military alliances in the region. Civil society organizations in the region have long complained about their governments’ deference to the United States, from challenging U.S. military bases to warning against policies that could draw their countries into a superpower conflict between Washington and Beijing. In South Korea, Mattis’ first stop, women demanding genuine human security are at the forefront of the resistance. [US SK alliance] [Protest] [THAAD]
• Trump tweets a red line for North Korea
  By George F. Will Opinion writer February 8 at 7:25 PM SANTA MONICA, Calif. The Cold War was waged and won in many places, including this beach city, home to the Rand Corp. Created in 1948 to think about research and development as it effects military planning and procurement, Rand pioneered strategic thinking about nuclear weapons in the context of the U.S.-Soviet competition. Seven decades later, it is thinking about the nuclear threat from a nation created in 1948. When Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that any North Korean use of nuclear weapons would draw an “effective and overwhelming” U.S. response, he did not, according to Rand’s Bruce W. Bennett, “overcommit” the president by saying that the response would be nuclear. But an overwhelming response could be. [US NK policy] [Inversion] [Continuities] [Military balance]
• Tillerson Vows 'Steadfast' U.S. Commitment to S.Korea
  By Lim Min-hyuk February 08, 2017 11:27 New U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday pledged "steadfast" commitment to the alliance with Seoul. . Yun Byung-se (left) and Rex Tillerson Tillerson described North Korean nuclear program as an "immediate threat" both to Seoul and Washington, adding the two countries should finds a joint approach. He was speaking to his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se in their first phone conversation. The top diplomats "vowed to continue efforts to make the South Korea-U.S. relations the strongest alliance under the new U.S. administration in order to be able to respond effectively to challenges posed by North Korea and its nuclear ambitions," the Foreign Ministry here said in a statement. They also discussed a planned meeting on the sidelines of the G20 foreign minister's conference in Bonn, Germany on Feb. 16-17 or the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 17-19. Tillerson said the bilateral alliance is vital for peace and prosperity in Asia and the Pacific. They also defended plans to deploy a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery in South Korea. "Both sides concurred that the THAAD deployment is a defensive action to guard only against North Korean threats and it does not infringe upon the interest of any other countries," the ministry said. . The agreed that China, which objects to the THAAD plans, has a vital role to play in persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions. . [US SK alliance] [THAAD] [China hope] [Continuities]
• US issues travel warning for N. Korea
  Posted : 2017-02-08 11:23Updated : 2017-02-08 12:50 The U.S. State Department on Tuesday issued a new warning against traveling to North Korea. "The Department of State strongly urges U.S. citizens to avoid all travel to North Korea/the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) due to the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention under North Korea's system of law enforcement," the department said. "This system imposes unduly harsh sentences for actions that would not be considered crimes in the United States and threatens U.S. citizen detainees with being treated in accordance with 'wartime law of the DPRK,'" it said. At least 14 U.S. citizens have been detained in North Korea in the past 10 years, it said. The department issues the anti-North Korea travel warning every three months. Two American citizens -- college student Otto Warmbier and Korean-American pastor Kim Dong-chul -- are currently detained in the North after being sentenced to long prison terms for what Pyongyang calls subversive acts against the country. American citizens have often been detained in North Korea on charges of anti-state and other unspecified crimes. Widespread views have been that Pyongyang has often used the detentions as bargaining chips in its negotiations with Washington. (Yonhap) [Tourism] [EWA]
• Trump advised against rushing THAAD deal
  Posted : 2017-02-07 16:01Updated : 2017-02-07 21:04 By Jun Ji-hye The United States is rushing to deploy an advanced anti-missile system here possibly before a new South Korean leader takes office, analysts said Tuesday. Washington is jittery about the possibility that the new leader, who will most likely come from the opposition bloc, could reconsider the deployment decision made by the Park Geun-hye administration, they noted. However, the rush is triggering concerns here because an early deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery may have serious implications for the next government amid rising protests from China and Russia. It is obvious that the next government will have to bear the brunt of any hasty deployment. Some analysts claim that it is improper for President Donald Trump's administration to push for the deployment while Seoul is suffering from a leadership crisis caused by President Park's impeachment. They say the issue should be handed over to the next government for possible renegotiations. If Park's impeachment is backed by the Constitutional Court this or next month — which seems very likely now — a presidential election will take place two months after the decision, instead of in December under the original schedule. [THAAD] [Dilemma]
• Poll: More than half of South Koreans think THAAD decision is a mistake
  Posted on : Feb.6,2017 16:58 KST But only 37.5% think that the next government should reconsider decision to deploy missile defense system Thoughts on decision to deploy THAAD in South Korea While more than half of the country thinks that the decision to deploy the THAAD missile defense system on the Korean Peninsula was a mistake, just 37.5% think the next administration should reconsider the plan. In a public opinion poll carried out on Feb. 3 and 4 by Research Plus, commissioned by the Hankyoreh, 37.5% of respondents said the decision to deploy THAAD was a mistake and should be reconsidered by the next administration, while 17.9% said the decision was a mistake but should be maintained by the next administration. 34% of respondents said it was the right decision in terms of security on the Korean Peninsula. While more than half of respondents (55.4%) said the decision was a mistake, more than half (51.9%) also think the plan should be left in place. Support for reconsidering the decision was highest among respondents in their 20s, 30s and 40s; residents of the Honam region in the traditionally liberal southwest; and supporters of former Minjoo Party leader Moon Jae-in and Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung, while support was relatively lower among supporters of South Chungcheong Province government Ahn Hee-jung. An overwhelming percentage of respondents (81.7%) said that the Dec. 28 agreement about the former comfort women for the Japanese military was a mistake. 67.3% said the agreement was a mistake and should be reconsidered by the next administration, while 14.4% said it was a mistake but should be maintained by the next administration. Just 8.7% said the agreement was a good idea. In effect, the majority of voters (aside from supporters of the Saenuri Party, who tend to be hardline conservatives sympathetic to Park) want the agreement to be reconsidered. By Kim Jin-cheol, staff reporter [THAAD] [Public opinion]
• Getting job in US becoming impossible for Korean students
  Posted : 2017-02-07 11:19Updated : 2017-02-07 11:31 Landing job in America becoming impossible By Jane Han DALLAS ? Despite living in the U.S. for almost five years, Kim Ju-young neither paid attention nor cared much about U.S. politics ? not until two weeks ago. "Not after my immediate future started literally depending on the decisions made by the U.S. president," says Kim, 27, who studies music composition at The University of Texas in Austin. The graduate student originally planned to pursue a professional career here in the U.S. upon graduating in just three short months, but for Kim ? along with hundreds of thousands of other international students in America ? U.S. President Donald Trump has stepped in as the single biggest obstacle toward their dream of employment in the U.S. A draft executive order, which has been circulating for several weeks, would directly impact the H1-B visa, a competitive working visa that enables foreign talents to legally live and work in the U.S. for up to six years and apply for permanent residency. According to various news reports, the draft outlines that the Secretary of Homeland Security must review all regulations of work visa programs within 90 days, make them "more efficient" and ensure "the best and the brightest" are being admitted. And separately, a legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives which aims at more than doubling the minimum salary for H1-B visa holders from the current $60,000 (68 million won) to $130,000, a change that may push employers away from hiring foreign workers. "Landing a job in the U.S. has always been tough," says Kim, "but now, it's going to take a miracle." [Trump] [Diaspora]
• Direction of South Korea’s Foreign Policy: MOON Jae-In’s Straegty for Making Better Alliance with Trump Administation
  February 15, 2017 The US-Korea Institute at SAIS presents Direction of South Korea’s Foreign Policy: MOON Jae-In’s Strategy for Making Better Alliance with the Trump Administration The US-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) invites you to attend a discussion with Professor KIM Ki Jung, a policy advisor to Mr. MOON Jae-in, a leading candidate in the next presidential election in South Korea, on Mr. MOON’s strategy to strengthen the US-ROK Alliance with the Trump Administration. Discussion on South Korean Foreign Policy: KIM Ki Jung, Professor of Political Science and International Studies and Dean of the Graduate School of Public Administration at Yonsei University Moderator: SONG Ho Chang, Former member of the National Assembly (The Minjoo Party) and USKI Visiting Scholar This event is fully booked. [US SK alliance] [Moon Jae-in]
• On visit to Seoul, new US Defense Secretary reconfirms THAAD deployment within this year
  Posted on : Feb.4,2017 17:59 KST US Defense Secretary James Mattis and South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo speak before their meeting at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, on Feb. 3. (by Park Jong-shik, staff photographer) James Mattis also reiterates American pledge of “extended deterrence” in South Korea On Feb. 3, US Defense Secretary James Mattis reaffirmed the US commitment to defending South Korea, which includes the nuclear umbrella. The two governments also agreed to deploy the THAAD missile defense system in South Korea by the end of the year. Mattis met South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, on Feb. 3 in the first meeting of the two countries’ top defense officials since Donald Trump became the US president. The two ministers “were in agreement about the importance of maintaining a strong combined defensive posture” to the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said. [Mattis] [THAAD]
• US may opt for pre-emptive strike against N. Korea
  Posted : 2017-02-05 16:54Updated : 2017-02-06 15:01 Hardliners gaining ground in Washington By Rachel Lee Calls in the United States for a pre-emptive strike against North Korea are growing amid escalating tension after Pyongyang said it was apparently ready to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at any time from any location. Hardliners in the Donald Trump administration — who are leading the country's security and diplomacy agenda — have argued that a pre-emptive strike and regime change may be among options in dealing with North Korea, which is determined to develop nuclear weapons. [US NK Policy] [Preemptive] [Hawks] [Self-delusion]
• Congress and North Korea: Diplomacy Not on the Table
  by Tim Shorrock The first Senate hearing on North Korea since President Trump came to office reveals a Congress bereft of any ideas except regime change. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee appears to be torn between sanctions that haven’t worked and military action that would almost certainly trigger a wider war. “Something obviously has got to give,” declared Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), the chairman of the committee, as he opened the hearing Tuesday. He called North Korea, which has produced five atomic bombs and tested at least 20 long-range missiles over the last 10 years, “one of the most urgent security challenges facing the United States.” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), the top Democrat on the committee, opened with the grave observation that the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) is in the “final stage” of testing an ICBM and joining Russia and China as “the only countries in the world with the ability to launch attacks on the United States.” But America alone “has little chance of stopping” this trend, so must work with South Korea and Japan to resolve the situation, he argued. In that context, he noted approvingly that Secretary of Defense James Mattis was leaving Wednesday for South Korea and Japan. Mattis will discuss military and diplomatic options, including the Pentagon’s decision to move forward with the deployment in Korea of the missile defense system known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD). Cardin also noted that Trump tweeted recently that North Korea’s ICBM launch “will not happen,” and speculated whether the president was drawing a red line with that declaration. If stopping such a launch is the intent, Corker laid out three choices for the United States. One is “pro-active regime change” aimed at toppling the government of Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s 30-something hereditary leader, through “non-kinetic” (or non-military) means such as stricter sanctions. Another is to “exploit pockets of regime instability,” such as the spectacular defection to South Korea last month of Thae Yong-ho, North Korea’s ambassador to London, to convince others in the North that nukes and political isolation are not the way to go. [US NK policy] [Military option]
• Ex-U.S. Officials Warn of N.Korean Nuke Threat
  By Kim Jin-myung February 03, 2017 11:51 Two former senior U.S. officials on Wednesday warned of the growing nuclear threat from North Korea. One of them was Elaine Bunn, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense, who warned that the North's nuclear weapons are not simply a bargaining chip. She said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un really wants to have weapons that can attack U.S. allies in Northeast Asia and the U.S. military on Guam and even the U.S. mainland. She was speaking at a seminar hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. . [MISCOM] [Threat]
• Mattis's visit gives THAAD deployment momentum
  Posted : 2017-02-03 18:02Updated : 2017-02-03 19:00 By Jun Ji-hye Seoul and Washington's plan to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here within the year is gaining considerable momentum after the visit of U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis. During his highly symbolic first overseas trip since taking office last month, Washington's top defense official stressed, among other things, that the advanced anti-missile system was absolutely necessary to defend against North Korean threats so the deployment would go as planned. The retired Marine Corps general said Friday, ahead of his meeting with Seoul's Defense Minister Han Min-koo, "We are taking defense steps like deploying the highly effective THAAD anti-missile unit to the Republic of Korea to protect its people and our troops that are stationed with our ally." During his meeting with Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se earlier in the day, Mattis also reaffirmed the determination to move ahead as planned. This was seen as an apparent effort to remove speculation that the deployment decision, made last year under the leadership of President Park Geun-hye, could be reconsidered by the next South Korean government, given that Park has been impeached over a corruption scandal and China has intensified its retaliatory actions. Opposition presidential hopefuls including Moon Jae-in from the Democratic Party of Korea have raised the need to renegotiate the issue. From the viewpoint of newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump, THAAD could be a major factor in deciding a winner in the power game between the U.S. and China in his early days in office. Experts said Washington probably wants to deploy the battery before South Korea's presidential election takes place ? possibly in the first half of the year instead of December. If the Constitutional Court endorses Park's impeachment, the country must elect a new leader within 60 days. "I think there is a greater possibility the U.S. will bring the deployment forward so that it can be done before the presidential election," said Hong Hyun-ik, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute, a local think tank, in his radio appearance. He noted that Washington might think that if an opposition candidate wins the election, the deployment could be reconsidered. A military official also said, on condition of anonymity, that the deployment would help Washington in many ways such as holding Beijing in check and sending a warning to North Korea. According to informed sources, Lotte Group will also go ahead in providing its golf course in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province, as the site for the THAAD unit despite repercussions for its businesses in China. Lotte International ? the owner of Lotte Skyhill Country Club ? held a board of directors meeting Friday to discuss exchanging the property for military-owned land in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province. Although the board put off a final decision until the next meeting, the date of which has not been set, sources noted the group recently decided to go approve the deal as it was related to national security. Lotte was earlier expected to approve the land swap deal at the start of the year but has apparently delayed the move amid growing concerns over possible damage to its businesses here and in China. [THAAD] [SK_Election17] [China SK]
• S. Korean government attempted to amend unfavourable article of KORUS FTA
  Posted on : Feb.3,2017 16:04 KST Three attempts to amend article on foreign investor rights is contrary to Ministry’s rejection of MINBYUN’s concerns Facts have come to light indicating that the South Korean government made three attempts to amend the unequal article of the 2007 Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), which became the subject of controversy at the time, but that the government ultimately failed. According to a 2007 Foreign Ministry document released on Feb. 2 by MINBYUN - Lawyers for a Democratic Society, on negotiations surrounding the preamble of the KORUS FTA, although the South Korean government submitted three proposed revisions to the passage in the preamble to the agreement that dealt with the protection of the rights of investors, the proposals were rejected and the agreement was concluded according to proposals made by the US. MINBYUN sued the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the rights to the information in the documents exchanged between the two countries during the process of drawing up the preamble, and won the suit last month, receiving one of the documents related to the case. The passage that MINBYUN found fault with was as follows: “Agreeing that foreign investors are not hereby accorded greater substantive rights with respect to investment protections than domestic investors under domestic law where, as in the United States, protections of investor rights under domestic law equal or exceed those set forth in this Agreement; “ In the document released by MINBYUN, the government made three attempts to amend “as in the United States” to “as in the Republic of Korea and the United States.” At the time MINBYUN raised concerns about the US proposal, saying that “The FTA would apply to US investors in South Korea, but it leaves open the possibility of an interpretation that allows the application of US domestic laws to South Korean investors in the US.” At the time the Foreign Ministry released a statement rejecting these anxieties. However, it was retroactively discovered that the government at the time had, contrary to the official explanation, been also aware of concern that the passage could be interpreted in a way unfavorable to South Korea. A Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy told the Hankyoreh by phone, “The preamble has no binding force, and in the annex concerning investment both sides are equally protected,” but also added that “Although there is no actual difference [in the equality of protection that both sides receive], it seems that the administration at the time attempted to amend the passage to ensure that there was also formal equality, because there was room for misunderstanding.” It has been five years since the KORUS FTA was signed, and up until now there have not been any investor-state dispute (ISD) lawsuits or any issues submitted to the FTA Implementing Committee. According to MINBYUN, “Under the Trump Administration it remains a possibility that this passage will be abused.” By Ko Na-mu, staff reporter [KORUSFTA] [US dominance]
• Hasty Trump tweet adds pressure on Samsung
  Posted : 2017-02-03 13:10Updated : 2017-02-03 16:54 By Kang Seung-woo Samsung Electronics may have to build a plant for home appliances in the United States on growing pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump on global firms to invest more in his country. Even before the tech giant makes a final decision on the plant construction, Trump already sent out a thank-you note on his Twitter account, praising it. There has been growing speculation that the nation's two home appliance powerhouses ? Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics ? might have to build their factories in the U.S. as the Trump administration vows to impose a border tax on products manufactured outside his country, particularly those from Mexico. Currently, the two companies operate their own plants in Mexico and export their goods to the United States without having to pay taxes based on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that Trump is seeking to reform. "Samsung has iterated that it considers building a factory in the U.S. without confirming any details. But Trump already thanked Samsung on some news reports on the possibility," said an industry source who asked not to be named. "Against this backdrop, it would be difficult for Samsung not to set up one in the U.S." [Trump] [Samsung] [ODI] [Tariff]
• Pentagon reaffirms THAAD deployment in S. Korea
  Xinhua, February 3, 2017 Visiting U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis reaffirmed the controversial deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system in South Korea despite strong opposition at home and abroad. The Pentagon chief under Trump administration held talks in Seoul Friday with his South Korean counterpart, Defense Minister Han Min-koo, reaffirming the agreement that was abruptly announced in July last year to install one THAAD battery in southeast South Korea by the end of this year. The contentious decision drew sharp criticism and strong objection from China and Russia as its X-band radar can peer deep into territories of the two countries, breaking strategic balance and bolstering arms race in the region. It has also caused opposition from local residents as the radar emits super microwaves detrimental to environment and human body. Civic group activists and opposition lawmakers have objected to it for lack of public consensus. While the defense ministers' talks were going on, residents and advocate group members gathered in front of the South Korean Defense Ministry's headquarters to protest against the THAAD deployment. The opponents said no parliamentary and public consent were given to the U.S. missile shield deployment, calling for the reversal of the decision on THAAD that has no defense effectiveness and never helps bring peace on the Korean Peninsula. [THAAD] [Mattis] [China confrontation]
• US could consider pre-emptive strike as possible option for N. Korea: researcher
  Posted : 2017-02-02 11:01Updated : 2017-02-02 11:01 The United States could consider a pre-emptive strike as a possible option to deal with North Korea's evolving nuclear weapons capabilities, given that its new diplomatic and national security team is comprised of many hardliners, a researcher of a Seoul-based state-run think tank said Thursday. In the report on the outlooks for U.S.-China relations under the new administration in Washington, Lee Ji-yong, a researcher of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS), also underlined the need for South Korea to open communication channels with the North to help resolve the drawn-out nuclear stalemate. "Given that Trump's diplomatic and security team is comprised mostly of hawks, there are chances that a pre-emptive strike could be discussed as a solution (to the North's nuclear issue), though we cannot say that the likelihood is high that it will be actually put into action," he said. In the event that a pre-emptive strike option is discussed, he said it would draw strong condemnation from the North and heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula, posing a "challenge" to the Seoul government in keeping things under control. Lee pointed out the deepening friction between the U.S. and China coupled with the growing voice from hardliners in Washington could end up increasing China's influence on Pyongyang and make it hard to enlist cooperation from Beijing on the nuclear front. The researcher said that the Seoul government should recognize that it has to take the initiative and endeavor to improve inter-Korean relations. He underlined the need for opening communication channels with the North. "Along with strengthening the South Korea-U.S. alliance and increasing security cooperation among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan to beef up deterrence and toughening sanctions through the U.N. against the North, there is a need to launch an unofficial channel through which dialogue can be opened with the North," the IFANS researcher said. (Yonhap) [Trump] [US NK policy] [Preemptive] [China confrontation]
• In initial Asia visit, Mattis vows joint stance against North Korean nuclear threat
  U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis says the U.S. is committed to making the U.S.-South Korean relationship "even stronger, especially in the face of the provocations that you face from the North." (Reuters) By Missy Ryan February 2 at 4:25 AM ? SEOUL — Defense Secretary James Mattis focused on the nuclear threat from North Korea in his first overseas trip Thursday, sending a signal about U.S. defense priorities at the outset of the Trump administration. Mattis began a lightning-fast visit to Asia this week — the first foreign trip by a member of President Trump’s still-incomplete Cabinet — less than two weeks after being sworn in as the Pentagon boss. After touching down in Seoul, Mattis met with senior officials in the South Korean capital, including Hwang Kyo-ahn, the acting president. The retired Marine general’s visit takes place at a time of political upheaval in South Korea caused by a major political scandal as the Constitutional Court considers whether to uphold lawmakers’ vote to impeach President Park Geun-hye. [Mattis] [US NK policy] [Unpredictable]
• U.S. Mulls Big Show of Force in Joint Exercises
  By Yu Yong-weon February 01, 2017 10:05 Washington is minded to put on a big show of force against North Korea in joint exercises with South Korea in March as new President Donald Trump tries to position himself as tough on the enemies of America. That could mean deploying a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and strategic bombers here around the time of the drills. "U.S. military authorities are considering deploying strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula in preparation for a provocation by North Korea, including a possible test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile," a government source here said Tuesday. "A concrete deployment plan is going to be fixed in February after a comprehensive review of the situation." . Trump spoke with acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn on the phone on Monday and U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis with his South Korean counterpart Han Min-goo the following day. The nuclear-powered supercarrier USS John C. Stennis participated in last year's joint exercises. This year, the 93,000-ton supercarrier USS Carl Vinson fleet is expected to take part. It arrived in Asia Pacific waters last week after departing from San Diego, its home port, on Jan. 5. . [Joint US military] [Escalation] [Trump]
• [Editorial] Now is the time to reassess South Korea-US alliance
  Posted on : Jan.31,2017 17:32 KST On the right, Prime Minister and acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn talks on the phone with US President Donald Trump, at the Central Government Complex in Seoul, Jan. 30. On the right, Trump talks to the President of Russia on Jan. 28. (Yonhap News) Yesterday Prime Minister and acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn had his first telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump since Trump took office. US Secretary of Defense James Mattis will visit Seoul on Thursday to discuss joint defense between the two countries. This demonstrates that relations between South Korea and the US are a priority for the Trump administration. [US-SK alliance] [Liberal]
• US to deploy F-16 fighter jets to S. Korea this month
  Posted : 2017-02-01 11:14Updated : 2017-02-01 11:14 The United States plans to deploy 12 F-16 fighter planes to South Korea this month, the U.S. Pacific Air Forces Command said Wednesday, Washington's first deployment of military assets since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump. "Approximately 200 airmen and 12 F-16 Fighting Falcons with the 119th Fighter Squadron from Atlantic City Air National Guard Base, New Jersey, are set to deploy in February to Osan Air Base" in South Korea, the command said on its website. The U.S. Pacific Air Forces routinely deploys a unit to the region in a bid to counter North Korea's growing threats and bolster the Seoul-Washington alliance since 2004. The move is part of its "theater security packages", which aims to help "maintain a deterrent against threats to regional security and stability," the command said. [Trump] [Escalation] [F-16]
• Korea needs to adjust to Trump's 'America first' policy
  Posted : 2017-01-31 15:49Updated : 2017-02-01 12:10 By James Kim On Jan. 20, we inaugurated the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump. We will also have a new president in South Korea before the end of 2017. And given the departure of U.S. Amb. Mark Lippert, we will also have a new United States ambassador to South Korea, yet to be named. We are now entering an uncertain and potentially transformative new era between the United States and Korea. President Trump has already executed on some of his campaign pledges, including the withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, announced the building of the "wall" with Mexico along with renegotiating NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), instituted major immigration reforms and has actually succeeded in convincing major companies to change their manufacturing footprint in favor of the United States. Everyone has to take President Trump very seriously. [US-SK] [Trump]
• Korea, US reaffirm THAAD deployment on schedule
  By Jun Ji-hye Defense Minister Han Min-koo and U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis agreed to push for the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in South Kore as planned, Tuesday. In a phone conversation, the top defense officials of the two nations said the plan to deploy the anti-missile system by this year will go forward despite China's ongoing protests and various actions in retaliation. Han and Mattis also agreed to immediately respond to North Korea's possible provocations including the test-firing of ballistic missiles. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said in his New Year address that the North has entered the final stages of preparations to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of about 10,000 kilometers, capable of hitting targets on the U.S. mainland. Mattis is planning to visit South Korea Thursday and Friday for talks with Han on his first overseas trip after he was named to head the Pentagon. The U.S. official said he chose South Korea as the first destination as Seoul-Washington alliance is significant amid growing North Korean threats. After visiting Seoul, he will leave for Japan. [THAAD] [Mattis]
• Trump Vows 'Ironclad' Commitment to Defending S.Korea
  By Jung Nok-yong January 31, 2017 09:29 U.S. President Donald Trump and Korea's acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn spoke on the phone for the first time Monday and agreed to strengthen joint defense capabilities to deal with the North Korean nuclear threats. In the 30-minute phone call, Trump said the U.S will always be with South Korea "100 percent" and bilateral relations will be "better than ever." The phone call came late among Asian countries amid the power vacuum here, though embattled President Park Geun-hye congratulated Trump on Nov. 10 after he won the U.S. election. Trump made calls to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week. . Hwang Kyo-ahn (left) and Donald Trump According to the White House, Trump "reiterated our ironclad commitment to defend" South Korea, "including through the provision of extended deterrence, using the full range of military capabilities." He also pledged close cooperation with South Korea in dealing with North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. . [Trump] [US-SK alliance] [Sidelined] [Dilemma]
• U.S., S.Korea defense chiefs reaffirm THAAD deployment
  Xinhua, January 31, 2017 Defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States on Tuesday reaffirmed the bilateral agreement to deploy the U.S. missile shield, called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), in South Korean soil. Seoul's defense ministry said that South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo held the first telephone talks with his U.S. counterpart James Mattis, who became the first defense secretary under the Trump administration Monday. During the dialogue, they shared security situations on the Korean Peninsula, agreeing to strengthen their defense capability against nuclear and missile threats from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and develop the bilateral alliance under severe security environment. The defense chiefs expressed serious concerns about top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un's New Year's Day address that said Pyongyang had entered a final stage in preparations to test-launch the long-range ballistic rocket. Han and Mattis agreed to push the THAAD installation as scheduled and beef up close cooperation in DPRK policy between defense authorities. Seoul and Washington abruptly announced the agreement in July last year to deploy one THAAD battery in South Korea's southeastern region by the end of this year. It caused strong oppositions from China and Russia as the THAAD's X-band radar can peer into territories of the two nations. The U.S. anti-missile shield is composed of the super microwave-emitting radar, six mobile launchers, 48 interceptors and the fire control unit. The radar also caused a barrage of criticism from residents in Seongju county, where the THAAD is scheduled to be installed, and its nearby Gimcheon city as it is detrimental to environment and human body. The absense of open discussions stoked parliamentary and public objections. Some of conservative voters believe that the THAAD is a cure-all to protect South Korea from the DPRK's nuclear threats, but others raise doubts over its intercepting capability and worry about escalated tensions and arms race in the region. The THAAD is designed to shoot down incoming missiles at an altitude of 40-150 km, but most of DPRK missiles targeting South Korea fly at an altitude of less than 40 km. The U.S. missile shield is also incapable of protecting Seoul and its suburban metropolitan area, which has more than half of the country's 50 million population. [THAAD]

• Koreans in US worried amid Trump ban
  loading By Jane Han DALLAS ? As U.S. President Donald Trump's abrupt immigration ban sparks protests across the nation and throws major airports into chaos, Koreans here are anxious and concerned if their lives, too, may get disrupted in what many call the "new America." "Under the Trump government, even a legal and valid green card could instantly mean nothing," says Julie Kim, an immigration lawyer based in San Francisco. "This was unimaginable in the U.S But in a matter of one week, we're now living in a very different, uncertain and unpredictable country." [Trump] [Diaspore]
• New U.S. Defense Chief to Visit Seoul Next Month
  By Kim Soo-hye, Lee Yong-soo January 26, 2017 11:57 Washington is fine-tuning a schedule with Seoul and Tokyo for the visit of new U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis in early February, Japanese media reported Wednesday. The Defense Ministry here confirmed the report. Korea and Japan will be Mattis' first overseas stopovers since he took office. His visit aims "to show that the administration of President Donald Trump attaches importance to Asia," Kyodo News said. Mattis is expected to talk with his Korean counterpart Han Min-goo about the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula and the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery here. . [Mattis] [THAAD]
• Ex-N.Korean Diplomat to Visit U.S.
  By Kim Myong-song January 26, 2017 12:03 Thae Yong-ho, the former North Korean deputy ambassador to the U.K. who defected last year, will visit the U.S. in February to meet with officials and experts, the Asahi Shimbun reported Wednesday. Thae decided to visit the U.S. right after the Donald Trump administration's inauguration to call for strong sanctions against the North Korean regime. He is also expected to meet U.S. journalists, the daily added. Since he arrived in Seoul, Thae has consistently expressed his wish to engage in public activities for the democratization of the North. . [Thae Yong Ho]
• [News analysis] US departure from TPP to benefit South Korea in short term
  Posted on : Jan.25,2017 16:53 KST The next question is how protectionist measures by the Trump administration could be a harbinger of trade pressures The US’s decision to bow out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will be beneficial to South Korean trade in the short term, but demands wariness in the medium to long term as a reaffirmation of the Donald Trump administration’s strong protectionist stance, experts are saying. Because the US’s departure comes before the TPP has actually taken effect, it is not expected to have an immediate impact on the South Korean economy. Indeed, it will benefit South Korea in the short term. “What would have been bad for the South Korean economy is if the TPP had gone into effect under the original plan,” said a Korea International Trade Association (KITA) source. “This will be a blow to countries like Japan and Vietnam that had pinned their expectations to the TPP, but it could be beneficial for us in the short term,” the source predicted. [TPP] [Tribute]
• US advanced missile system bewilders Korea
  Trump expected to add pressure over MD program By Jun Ji-hye The new U.S. government is likely to attempt to deploy more assets of its global missile defense (MD) program on and around the Korean Peninsula in addition to a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, officials here said Tuesday. Washington is also expected to pressure Seoul to join the U.S.-led MD system, which Japan is already participating in, while improving its weapons systems including missiles that are already stationed in the Asia Pacific region, they noted. Should this materialize, it could provoke a severe backlash from China, which could trigger a fierce arms race in the region. [Missile defense] [China confrontation] [Trump] [Dilemma]
• Auto exports to US sink amid Trump woes
  South Korea's auto exports to the United States fell for the first time in seven years last year amid concerns that the Trump administration may take protectionist measures on vehicle imports, industry data showed Wednesday.
• N. Korea reconfirms independent foreign policy amid launch of Trump administration
  North Korea on Monday reaffirmed its independent foreign policy based on nuclear power amid a new complicated international situation created by the launch of the Trump administration. "It's our unchanged foreign policy to guard the peace in the world as well as on the Korean Peninsula by continuously strengthening self-defense power and pre-emptive strikes centered on nuclear power," the Rodong Sinmun, a daily of the North's ruling Workers' Party, said. The paper criticized the United States' annual military drills in South Korea as keeping the Korean Peninsula on the brink of war. [NK foreign policy] [NK US policy]
• No to Missile Defense
  On July 7, 2016, the U.S. and South Korean governments announced a joint decision to deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system in South Korea. The two governments assert, without serious evidence and contrary to expert opinion, that the THAAD system will protect South Korea from the threat of North Korean missiles. For example, the U.S. Congressional Research Service finds that THAAD is unlikely to shield South Korea since it is designed to counter high altitude missiles, not those that North Korea would likely use against South Korean targets. Moreover, the decision to deploy THAAD in South Korea, and to continue with last summer’s U.S.-South Korea war games, occurred in spite of offers by North Korea to freeze its nuclear weapons programs if Washington and Seoul would stop the war games. North Korea has since continued testing its ballistic missiles; it conducted its fifth nuclear explosion, September 9, 2016, and continues to pursue its goal of fitting a nuclear warhead on top of an ICBM missile. [THAAD] [Protest]
• Trump's NAFTA Rejig Could Hurt Hundreds of Korean Firms
  January 24, 2017 11:09 U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement has set alarm bells ringing among scores of Korean firms that do business in Latin America. According to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, 183 Korean businesses have operations in Mexico alone, accounting for 40 percent of Korean firms doing business in the region. They employ around 34,000 workers there and generate some US$22 billion in annual sales, most from exports to the U.S. . [Trump] [NAFTA]
• Trump Announces Massive Missile Shield
  By Yu Yong-weon January 24, 2017 12:40 New U.S. President Donald Trump has made a state-of-the-art anti-missile shield a top priority to protect America "against missile-based attacks from states like Iran and North Korea." The plan was announced with great fanfare on the White House website the day after Trump was sworn in last Friday. "Our military needs every asset at its disposal to defend America. We cannot allow other nations to surpass our military capability," the statement reads. "The Trump administration will pursue the highest level of military readiness." The U.S. already has a multilayer missile defense system consisting of SM-3 missiles on Aegis vessels, and ground-based missiles batteries such as Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense batteries and PAC-3 interceptors. It now aims to increase the number of ground-based missiles on the U.S. mainland and Alaska from 30 to 44 by year's end. The U.S. is also pushing ahead with a plan to intercept ballistic missiles at a high altitude with drone-mounted laser weapons. Last year, the chief of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said it would become a reality soon. Some experts predict such weapons could be deployed warfare-ready before 2020. A government source here said South Korea could try to buy THAAD and SM-3 missiles . [Trump] [Missile defense] [THAAD]
• Seoul already paying enough for USFK
  By Jun Ji-hye Korea is already paying enough for the upkeep of 28,000 U.S. troops stationed here while also being a major buyer of American weapons, officials said Monday. Policymakers plan to make the case that Seoul is not "free riding" on U.S. security commitments — as President Donald Trump has insisted — if Washington demands more payment. The officials said Korea spends a large percentage of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense-cost sharing, noting that it already allocates the largest percentage compared with Japan and Germany, also hosts to U.S. bases. If the cost of Korean Augmentation Troops to the United States Army (KATUSA) and purchases of U.S. weapons are added, Seoul does more than enough to share the burden of the bilateral security alliance. President Trump said in his inaugural speech that Washington has so far "subsidized the armies of other countries while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military and defended other nations' borders while refusing to defend our own." [Tribute] [USFK]
• Seoul not high on Trump's priority list
  By Yi Whan-woo Rumors are circulating here over who will become the U.S. ambassador to Korea under Donald Trump, while nominees for ambassadors to Japan and China have already been reported. Some analysts say this could be an indication that Korea has been pushed aside in the Trump administration's list of priorities for its foreign policies in East Asia. There have been no clues about who will replace former Ambassador Mark Lippert, who returned home on Trump's inauguration day, Friday. In stark contrast, Trump signed the formal nomination of Iowa Governor Terry Branstad as the next ambassador to China on the same day he was sworn into office. Trump initially tapped Branstad, who has a close relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, for the post Dec. 7. The six-time Iowa governor can begin his new job immediately if approved by the Senate. Regarding the ambassadorship in Tokyo, the U.S. and Japanese media outlets have reported since Dec. 28 that Trump plans to pick William Hagerty. The founder of Hagerty Peterson and Company, a private equity investment firm in the U.S., has spent many years in Japan. He was also the director of presidential appointments in Trump's transition team. Analysts said Monday that South Korea's leadership vacuum is causing the delay in finding Lippert's successor in addition to Washington's greater interest toward Beijing and Tokyo over Seoul. [US SK] [Sidelined]
• Power Vacuum Prevents Korea from Forging Ties with Trump
  By Kim Jin-myung January 23, 2017 10:52 Korea is unlikely to be able to forge vital ties with new U.S. President Donald Trump amid the power vacuum here until at least July. "Even if a presidential election is held in April or May, the new president wouldn't be able to visit Washington in the first half of the year," a government source here said Sunday. A diplomatic source said it would take considerable time to arrange a summit schedule after President Park Geun-hye's impeachment trial, even if it is rejected by the Constitutional Court, since Trump's summit schedule is already filling up fast. . The first realistic chance for the new Korean president to meet Trump will be at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany in July, and there will be little time for in-depth talks on the sidelines. Due to its precarious situation at the edge of the U.S. sphere of influence in Northeast Asia, Seoul has traditionally pushed for a summit with new U.S. presidents as soon as they were sworn in. In 2001, President Kim Dae-jung visited Washington in March to meet George W. Bush. In 2009, Lee Myung-bak waited until June to meet Barack Obama. . Another worry is that no new U.S. ambassador to Seoul has been appointed yet while former ambassador Mark Lippert, who is close to Obama, left Korea to coincide with Trump's inauguration on Friday. It could take more than six months for a new envoy to arrive after a congressional confirmation hearing. [US SK]
• Korea concerned about Trump's 'America first' policy
  Seoul concerned about Trump's 'America first' By Yi Whan-woo South Korea is taking steps to counter Donald Trump's "America first" policy that could reshape the alliance between the two countries, after he was sworn in as U.S. president Friday. Government officials and analysts said Sunday that Seoul's interests would be at risk if Trump demanded renegotiations about the cost of maintaining American troops here and also the bilateral free trade agreement. What may complicate the Seoul-Washing alliance are North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats as well as South Korea's growing diplomatic tension with Japan and China. The analysts pointed out that Trump, in his inauguration speech, brought up issues related to his repeated criticism of South Korea for "free riding" on the U.S. military in defense and Seoul's "job-killing" free trade deal with Washington. "For many decades, we've enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry; subsidized the armies of other countries, while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military," Trump said. "We've defended other nations' borders while refusing to defend our own." Given the circumstances, the leadership vacuum in South Korea will make it harder to reshape diplomacy and security affairs with the Trump administration. [US SK] [Trump]
• North Korea in the Crosshairs: Trump's Advisers Demand Showdown
  Loud & Clear 09:12 04.01.2017(updated 12:20 04.01.2017) Get short URL Brian Becker On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker is joined by Hyun Lee, Gregory Elich, and Juyeon Rhee, all with the Solidarity Committee for Democracy and Peace in Korea. Few countries are as fiercely demonized as the Democratic People.s Republic of Korea — more commonly known as North Korea. The media presents the country as a dangerous and mysterious pariah that lashes out uncontrollably at its neighbors. But as we should come to expect from the corporate media, this is a total distortion. What's the real history of US-North Korean relations? As Donald Trump prepares to become the next president of the United States, what does this mean for the prospects of normalization between the U.S. and the DPRK? What's the situation inside of North Korea? And how does this relate to the geopolitics of the region? Lee, Rhee and Elich are involved in the Task Force to Stop THAAD in South Korea and Militarism in Asia and the Pacific. To find out more about their work, visit stopthaad.org or find them on Facebook (Stop THAAD). [US NK policy] [Trump]
• Koreans join Women's March against new US president
  By Ko Dong-hwan Hundreds of demonstrators took to the Seoul streets on Saturday to join Women's March, a global campaign that denounced new U.S. president Donald Trump for his derogatory remarks towards women. Some 500 protesters, made up of locals and foreigners, marched near Gangnam Station in southern Seoul, demanding from the 45th American President "freedom, equality and respect right now." The demonstration came after Trump made discriminatory remarks against women in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election in November. [Trump] [Protest] [Diaspora] [Feminism]
• [Interview] How the Trump administration may be similar to Richard Nixon
  Posted on : Jan.20,2017 16:07 KST Trump could push for South Korea to take on larger share of costs of hosting US troops “There are quite a few respects in which [Donald] Trump is similar to [Richard] Nixon. In the Nixon Doctrine, Nixon said that Asia should handle its own defense and reduced American troops in South Korea. This was a result of economic problems. Trump’s positions can be located in a similar context. But Nixon’s position presumed the maintenance of a US-centered world order, while Trump has said he will not exercise hegemonic leadership, which could spell trouble for managing alliances,” said Yonsei University professor emeritus Moon Chung-in, one of South Korea‘s leading experts on international relations. When asked about South Korea-US relations and the issues of North Korea and the North Korean nuclear program in the era of US President-Elect Donald Trump (who will be inaugurated on Jan. 20), Moon offered the Nixon era as a yardstick for comparison, with the caveat that there are still too many variables. Moon’s interview with the Hankyoreh took place at his house in Seoul on Jan. 8, the day before he departed for the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California, San Diego, to spend three months as a Krause Distinguished Fellow. The interview was subsequently augmented through an exchange of emails. [Trump] [Nixon] [US Korea policy] [Tribute]
• [Interview] On foreign policy, Trump may follow Kissinger’s advice
  Posted on : Jan.20,2017 16:14 KST Donald T. Critchlow, Professor of History at Arizona State University Expert says Trump’s rhetoric has been isolationist, but the team he has assembled is anything but Donald T. Critchlow is Professor of History at Arizona State University, and an expert on the history of the US Republican Party, and conservatism in the US. He is the author of “Future Right: The Forging of a New Republican Majority”. He recently conducted an email interview with the Hankyoreh’s Washington correspondent, discussing the likely foreign policy of the incoming administration of President Elect Donald Trump. Hankyoreh (Hani): What do you think will be the essence of Donald Trump’s foreign policy? Donald T. Critchlow (Critchlow): Trump appears to be following the advice of Henry Kissinger. Working with nations with different national interests who are not necessarily friends with the US, while seeking agreement to work on issues of common interest, such as Russia in the Middle East, and China and North Korea. Hani: What impact might this have on the Korean peninsula? Critchlow: Trump‘s foreign policy should benefit South Korea. Tillerson in hearings pledged support to NATO. This was designed to reassure European allies. Asian allies South Korea and Japan should be reassured by this signal. Pressure will be brought on China to address North Korea’s nuclear advancement, which will be in South Korea’s interest. [Trump] [Foreign policy] [US Korea]
• Trump administration looking likely to maintain Obama’s approach to North Korea
  Posted on : Jan.19,2017 16:46 KST Incoming government showing signs of continuing approach of sanctions and pressure on Pyongyang With just two days left in office, senior officials in the Barack Obama administration stressed the importance of policies to pressure Pyongyang. With the incoming Donald Trump administration also apparently poised to ratchet up sanctions on North Korea and demand a stronger role of China in curbing it, the two administrations are managing to send a more or less similar message on North Korea policy alone. [US NK policy] [Continuity] [Obama] [Trump]
• 'Trump will solve N.Korea issue. No he won't'
  North Korean leader Kim Jong-eun (left) and the 45th U.S. President Donald Trump Upon Donald Trump's inauguration as 45th U.S. President, The Korea Times offers contrasting expectations by its two columnists about the solution of a clear and present challenge this pariah state poses to the world through missiles and nuclear weapons. ? ED.
  Oh Young-jin; Stephen Costello [US NK policy] [Trump]
• Trump won't give concessions to Korea
  US may focus more on taming Beijing than Pyongyang By Kim Jae-kyoung Jeffrey Jones Korea should not expect to win any special concessions from President-elect Donald Trump in major economic and military policies, according to Jeffrey Jones, former chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea. He said that the Korean government should come up with more sophisticated strategies to negotiate key policies, such as the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. "Korea still tends to view itself as the younger brother demanding concessions, understanding and compromises from the U.S.," Jones told The Korea Times. Jones, an American international lawyer at Kim & Chang, headed the AMCHAM Korea from 1998 to 2002. Jones expects that Trump, who will take office today, will not budge an inch on his "America First" policy being tough and demanding of allies and partners, including Korea. "This will require the new administration in Korea to be especially skillful in pursuing policies important for Korea and learn to communicate more effectively with the Trump administration and the domestic audience," he said. He pointed out that the THAAD issue is a good example of failed domestic communication affecting foreign policy issues. [US Korea policy] [Trump] [Tillerson] [THAAD]
• Shifting Hierarchy & Subordinate Sovereignty: The Carter-Reagan Transition and the US-South Korea Alliance
  By Clint Work | January 18, 2017 The incoming Trump administration has many feeling uneasy about the future of the American-lead world order, especially America’s understanding of and commitment to its alliance system. It is still unclear what direction the Trump administration will lead the country, but if it is towards isolation, as Uri Friedman suggests, then it’s worth remembering that this isn’t the first time the US has undergone a serious reconsideration of its role in the world and its alliance system. Clint Work, Jackson School of International Studies PhD Candidate at the Washington University, reminds us that uncertainty defined the ROK-US alliance during the Carter and early Reagan years. His working paper on the historical subject matter, “Shifting Hierarchy & Subordinate Sovereignty: The Carter-Reagan Transition and the US-South Korea Alliance,” will be presented at the conference “Ronald Reagan and the Transformation of Global Politics in the 1980,” hosted by the University of Texas at Austin, January 19-21.1) In this Yongusil, Mr. Work provides a short summary of his work in progress. — Steven Denney, Managing Editor Shifting Hierarchy & Subordinate Sovereignty: The Carter-Reagan Transition and the US-South Korea Alliance by Clint Work US national security policy toward the Republic of Korea during the Carter and early Reagan Administrations underwent a process characterized by uncertainty, restructuring, and ultimately reaffirmation of basic patterns in the US-ROK relationship. These patterns include: First, South Korea being subsumed under broader US strategic and political concerns; second, the US maintaining a hierarchical role as the guarantor of South Korea’s external sovereignty, which includes relative control over South Korean actions; and, third, the intersection of the US-ROK alliance with domestic political contestation within South Korea. These patterns and their several consequent logics are rooted in the foundation and resultant historical process of the US-South Korea relationship. Although evolving as a result of changed external and internal conditions, over time the patterns have been reconstituted rather than fully overturned. The Carter-Reagan transition serves as a period wherein such a reconstitution occurred. In addition to recasting our understanding of the alliance, these patterns provide a novel framework with which to examine contemporary events and potential future trends. This paper revisits the troop withdrawal plan begun under Carter and eventually reversed by Reagan, in order to construct a focused case study with which to examine the patterns above. It traces the process whereby the plan was devised, implemented, delayed, and fully stopped. The process was marked by several key factors and notable outcomes, including: concern over instability within the ROK and elsewhere; the US desire to maintain a preponderant position and credibility in the international system and East Asia more specifically; restructuring of the US-ROK alliance’s command architecture, which increased South Korean responsibility yet preserved ultimate American control; and, lastly, US legitimation of authoritarian resurgence in South Korea and the growth of intensified anti-Americanism as a result. In sum, although Carter started the process, it was Reagan who definitively reinforced the patterns above, several of which have outlived the end of the Cold War. [US NK policy] [Jimmy Carter] [Ronald Reagan]
• End All The Craziness Over North Korea
  Eric S. Margolis North Korea has ‘entered the final stage of preparation for the test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile(ICBM)’. So crowed North Korea’s young leader, Kim Jong-un, in his New Year’s Day message aimed at tough-talking US president-elect, Donald Trump. In case there was any doubt about Pyongyang’s meaning, Kim warned his nation would continue to build its ‘capability for preemptive strike’ as long as the US and its allies continued their nuclear threats and ‘war games they stage on our doorstep.’ [Engagement]
• N. Korea biggest threat to US: poll
  By Choi Ha-young Americans consider North Korea a bigger security threat than Russia, despite Moscow's alleged cyberattack that interfered in the U.S. presidential election, according to a survey released Friday. North Korea ranked highest with 86 percent of the recipients selecting it as a threat, beating other options: Russia, Iran, Syria, China, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Yemen, the poll conducted jointly by Reuters and Ipsos said. Russia stood at 82 percent behind the totalitarian nation followed by China and Iran with 80 percent each. [Threat] [Public opinion] [Bizarre]
• US Ambassador Lippert gives final press conference before Jan. 20 department from S. Korea
  Posted on : Jan.15,2017 13:06 KST Lippert says South Korea-US alliance is “the best it's ever been” and sees “opportunity for deeper cooperation” US ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert said on Jan. 13 that North Korea’s resistance to having dialogue on denuclearization now “doesn't mean they may not want talks in the future.” Speaking at his last official press conference with reporters covering the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at his residence in Seoul’s Jeong-dong neighborhood, Lippert, who is scheduled to depart South Korea on Jan. 20, said the Obama administration’s policy “has always been to keep . . . the possibilities of renegotiation open as well . . . that the North will come back to the table.” “We [in the Obama administration] were disappointed that North Koreans did not respond to a number of entreaties for dialogue,” he added, explaining that the point of sanctions against Pyongyang had been to bring it back to the table for dialogue. When asked by reporters to characterize North Korea, Lippert said he did not feel it would be appropriate to assign a label. At one point during the press conference, Lippert waved a clenched fist and declared the South Korea-US alliance to be “the best it's ever been.” In particular, he noted the “opportunity for deeper cooperation” in various areas, while cautioning the region and world’s security and economic situation was serious. Rather than reexamining existing negotiations, Lippert called for “writing the next chapter.” He may have been speaking in reference to the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Areas Defense (THAAD) missile defense system with US Forces Korea and the Japanese military comfort women issue. Lippert responded to reporters’ questions on those issues by saying he had already spoken about them in the past and had nothing new to say. Lippert, who was accompanied at the press conference by family members, appeared sad to be leaving and teared up several times while talking about his experiences in South Korea. [US NK policy] [US SK alliance] [THAAD]
• Incoming US Secretary of State hints at pushing S. Korea to cover more US troops costs
  Posted on : Jan.13,2017 18:05 KST Rex Tillerson, the nominee for US Secretary of State, clenches his fists while responding to a senator’s question during his confirmation hearing before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in Washington DC on Jan. 11. (pool photo) Rex Tillerson also pledges to take a hard line on North Korea, and to push China to implement sanctions Rex Tillerson, the nominee for US Secretary of State, hinted that he would ask Seoul to cover more of the cost of stationing US troops in South Korea. If confirmed, Tillerson will coordinate American foreign policy under the administration of Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on Jan. 20. “We must hold our allies accountable to commitments they make. We cannot look the other way at allies who do not meet their obligations,” Tillerson said in his opening remarks at a confirmation hearing in the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Jan. 11. This is understood to strongly suggest that Tillerson means to force South Korea and other allies to cover more of the cost of defense. Tillerson also promised to take a hard line on North Korea, which he described as a “grave threat.” He also said that it China does not implement sanctions against North Korea, it would be appropriate to consider ways of forcing China to do so, such as a secondary boycott. Since this would mean putting sanctions even on Chinese companies that do not trade with North Korea, actually implementing such measures would inevitably provoke substantial friction with China. But Tillerson adopted a different position from Trump on allowing South Korea and Japan to acquire their own nuclear arsenals, on the “one China” policy and on the question of Russia. This suggests that uncertainty about the Trump administration’s policy toward the Korean Peninsula will continue, though Trump is likely to adopt a hardline framework. [Tillerson] [Tribute] [US NK policy] [Secondary sanctions] [China confrontation]
• What to Do About a North Korean ICBM
  By 38 North 13 January 2017 Former Defense Secretary William J. Perry and USKI Senior Fellow Joel Wit speak during a 38 North press briefing held on January 9, 2017.
  During his annual New Year’s address, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced that the country is in the final stages of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile. 38 North hosted a press briefing with former US Secretary of Defense William J. Perry on January 9, 2017. In his remarks, Secretary Perry provided insight on US-DPRK relations and possible ways to deal with the growing North Korea threat. Secretary Perry discussed the DPRK’s three main goals, and misconceptions about the country and its leaders. He also outlined a proposal for future US negotiations with Pyongyang to lessen the danger of their nuclear program. In the event of failed negotiations, Secretary Perry also specified “Plan B” backup measures based on coercion. USKI Senior Fellow Joel Wit moderated a question and answer session with journalists in attendance regarding negotiations with the DPRK, China’s role, and General James Mattis as the proposed Secretary of Defense. Download the 38 North press briefing transcript “What to Do About a North Korean ICBM,” with Secretary William J. Perry and USKI Senior Fellow Joel S. Wit. [US NK Policy] [ICBM] [William Perry]
• [Memory of Selig Harrison] The passing of a good American, and a staunch voice for peace
  Posted on : Jan.12,2017 17:01 KST Selig Harrison receives a plaque of appreciation from the Hankyoreh, at his home in an elderly community near Washington DC, June 2011. Selig Harrison was an invaluable source who spoke out against military power-based policies on the Korean peninsula When I learned of the passing of Selig Harrison, my first feeling was one of deep regret. I felt like I really had been thoughtless. In my 11 years as Washington correspondent for the Hankyoreh, he was the American I met most frequently and got to know the best - yet I had forgotten him almost completely since 2008. True, it had been a harsh time for me, when powerful institutions under the Lee Myung-bak administration (2008-2013) had been mobilized to hound me out of my post as KBS president and politically biased prosecutors subjected me to judicial torture with false charges of “breach of trust.” Still, it was not the kind of relationship where we should have simply fallen out of touch. Hearing that he had passed away, the news left my heart feeling as empty as an ashen autumn field. [Selig Harrison] [Engagement] [US NK policy]
• Can Korea say no to US?
  By Oh Young-jin It appears to be unthinkable for South Korea to give up its decades-old alliance with the United States and choose China in its place. However, a combination of events gives a sense of reality to this unlikely scenario. Recently, a group of opposition lawmakers visited China on a fact-finding mission over Beijing's opposition to Seoul's decision to deploy a U.S.-made missile interceptor here. The delegation was given a thorough drubbing by the media for fueling the national division on the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system deployment. [THADD] [China SK] [Dilemma] [US dominance]
• CIA chief nominee picks N. Korea as one of biggest threats to US
  The nominee for CIA director Mike Pompeo on Thursday pointed to North Korea as one of the biggest threats to the United States, along with terrorism, China and Russia. Pompeo made the remark during his Senate confirmation hearing in response to a question about whether he believes terrorism is the highest threat that the U.S. faces. "In the near-term threat to life and limb of Americans, yes. I put North Korea, China and Russia right up there alongside them (terrorists)," he said. Asked which one of them has the weapons to do the U.S. harm, Pompeo said, "The nuclear powers are the ones that have the biggest threat to do catastrophic harm to the United States." Pompeo also said the North has "dangerously accelerated its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, with little regard for international pressure." [Threat] {US NK policy]
• Korean political, business leaders not seen on Trump schedule
  By Kim Tae-gyu, Park Ji-won U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has met with international heavyweights both in politics and business since his surprise victory in November. Among them were Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Alibaba founder Jack Ma and SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son; but no Korean big shots. Korean political and business leaders have failed to grab the opportunity to affect Trump in his political and business policies early on due to a lack of proactive diplomatic efforts. "The government should have formed a delegation including business leaders to meet Trump and his aides just as Japanese Prime Minister Abe did," Prof. Lee Phil-sang at Seoul National University said. [Trump SK] [Sidelined]
• US imposes sanctions on N. Korea leader's sister over human rights violations
  The United States imposed sanctions on the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday for her links to human rights violations in the communist nation. Kim Yo-jong, the leader's younger sister and vice director of the Workers Party's Propaganda and Agitation Department, was among seven North Korean officials and two agencies that the State Department blacklisted for their roles in the regime's human rights violations. It was the second time the U.S. has imposed human rights sanctions on the North after blacklisting leader Kim Jong-un, 10 other top officials and five state agencies in July, which marked the first-ever sanctions ever imposed on the North's leader. The sanctions underscore Washington's determination to keep pressure on Pyongyang, which has aggressively been pursuing nuclear weapons and its delivery systems at the expense of the well-being of the country's 24 million hunger-stricken population. [Sanctions] [Softwar] [Extraterritoriality]
• Former US Secretary of Defense calls for Plan B on N. Korean nukes and missiles
  Posted on : Jan.11,2017 15:57 KST Previously a strong proponent of dialogue, Perry’s comments suggest a shift in US thinking on North Korea Former US Secretary of Defense William Perry, one of the US’s leading realist advocates of dialogue with North Korea, suggested Washington should proactively attempt negotiations with Pyongyang, but also consider “Plan B” actions such as shooting down airborne North Korean missiles in case the talks fail. Perry‘s message is seen as showing that US concern about North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile capabilities has mounted enough in the wake of leader Kim Jong-un’s New Year’s address claiming to have reached the “final stage” of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) development that even US dialogue advocates are openly discussing other options. “The time for patience is over because time is really not on our side,” Perry declared in a talk with reporters organized in Washington on Jan. 9 by the North Korea website 38 North. Instead, he called for a more proactive response to the North Korean missile threat. [US NK policy] [William Perry] [Military option]
• Randall Schriver tapped as likely to handle Korean peninsula in State Dept. under Trump
  Posted on : Jan.11,2017 15:50 KST Also, media veteran Matthew Pottinger could be White House National Security Council senior aide for Asian affairs Randall Schriver, a former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, is reportedly the leading contender to serve as Assistant Secretary of State handling Korean Peninsula, China, and Japan affairs for the State Department under the incoming Donald Trump administration. According to accounts from Washington sources on Jan. 6, Schriver is seen as a near lock to be appointed an assistant secretary for East Asian affairs either in the State or Defense Department. Schriver is currently working on Trump’s transitional committee as an advisory committee member for East Asia policy. During the election, he served as a bridge between the Trump camp and the Republican Party mainstream. Schriver is seen as part of the team of former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who emphasizes the importance of both military strength and soft power. But Schriver has also shown hard-line leanings toward China, calling for checks against Beijing through a stronger relationship with Taiwan. The Washington Post reported on Jan. 9 that Matthew Pottinger, a media veteran who has taken a hard line on Beijing, was the top potential pick as White House National Security Council senior aide for Asian affairs. In addition to Schriver’s selection as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, it also named Center for Strategic and International Studies Korea chair and George W. Bush administration NSC senior Asian affairs aide Victor Cha as a likely contender for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs. Lack of working experience with China was cited a potential weakness for Cha, who is seen as a hard-liner on North Korea. By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent [Randall Schriver] [Armitage]
• Trump may unveil hostile stance on N. Korea
  A soot-covered North Korean factory worker takes off his gloves at the Pyongyang 326 Electric Wire Factory in Pyongyang, North Korea, Tuesday. The country's leader, Kim Jong-un, made the call on New Year's day for the nation to keep building up its nuclear and long-range missile capacity, which have brought severe international sanctions, while at the same time expanding the economy to lift the nation's standard of living. / AP-Yonhap By Yi Whan-woo U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is likely to unveil tough stance against North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs at a press conference, Wednesday, analysts said Tuesday. This will be Trump's first press conference since his victory in the November election, before which he held two opposing views of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ? proposing "hamburger talks" on the one hand and calling him a "maniac" on the other. Trump may put aside the friendly overture and instead may speak about Kim and his regime in a hawkish tone, which may provide a glimpse of his administration's policy toward the reclusive nation. [Trump] [US NK policy]
• Trump's problem with North Korea
  By Sumantra Maitra China.org.cn, January 10, 2017 It is commonsense that Donald Trump, in lack of better words, is unorthodox and unusual when it comes to diplomacy. He has a childlike obsession with Twitter, where he likes to launch broad tirades laced with tortured puns and tired sarcasms, against his real and perceived enemies. Some of it stems from his genuine beliefs about wrongs done to the United States and the victimhood he and his country faced since the collapse of the Soviet Union. According to this belief, the U.S. has suffered despite providing leadership in international affairs, because everyone took advantage. The second reason for his tweet diplomacy is a more simple psychological need of seeking validation and stems from relative insecurity and narcissism. However, in one aspect his tweets are going to cause a major crisis soon, and that is with regards to North Korea. Xinhua sort of predicted it, but trust me, we in the West already know and are waiting for it to happen. North Korea recently said that it wants to test a long range ICBM which is capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. This would indeed be a provocative act and the U.S. and Chinese governments are both understandably worried. However, a role reversal has happened, and it is not the U.S. but China which is now playing the responsible side. As The Washington Post reported, Donald Trump once wanted to invite Kim Jong-un to eat a hamburger and to persuade him to give up his nuclear ambition, but he more recently said that nuclear test must not happen. [China IR] [ICBM] [Trump]
• A new US administration and a proposal to bolster the ROK-US alliance
  January 6, 2017 Nov. 8, 2016 was a historical date for the United States when Donald Trump, a much controversial figure known for his unique style of speech, won the presidential election. During his campaign, Trump took a very different approach from a traditional US administration or “ordinary” US politicians. He did not hesitate to mention sensitive topics such as South Korea’s alliance burden-sharing, China’s pressure on North Korea’s nuclear program, and a potential sit-down with Kim Jong Un over some hamburgers. News of Trump’s election victory was greeted by South Koreans with great surprise. Fortunately, President-elect Trump has already begun to change. During his recent phone call with the president of South Korea, Trump emphasized the importance of the blood-forged ROK-US alliance and won the heart of Koreans with carefully chosen words. With regards to some current international issues - although the recent discussions about Russia aren’t helping - he has been showing leadership and a readiness to act in the best interest of the US. Trump has changed and proven to be a more reliable figure compared to candidate Trump or president-elect Trump immediately following the election. Confidence of ROK citizens in the steady development of the ROK-US alliance is getting stronger as a result. [US SK alliance] [MISCOM] [Pretend equality]
• Selig Harrison, Proponent of Engagement and Peace, Dies at Age 89
  Jan 4, 2017 Journalist and scholar Selig Harrison, a staunch proponent of peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula, died of myelodysplasia at the age of 89 on Dec. 30, 2016. Harrison, who met with the late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung in 1994, urged President Obama at the start of his presidency in 2009 to declare his support for peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula and “set to rest North Korean fears that the United States will join the right-wing elements in Japan and South Korea now seeking reunification by promoting the collapse of the North Korean regime.” Today, as Obama leaves office after eight years of a failed policy that has brought North Korea closer to developing a deliverable nuclear weapon, Harrison’s words, delivered in a statement to a subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, seem prescient– “If the United States is unwilling to give up the option of using nuclear weapons against North Korea, it will be necessary to live with a nuclear-armed North Korea while maintaining adequate U.S. deterrent forces in the Pacific.” [Selig Harrison] [US NK policy] [Engagement]
• Small hands big missiles: Trump's dangerous adolescence What happens when two teenage leaders get access to nuclear weapons?
  Donald Trump will soon have control over the codes for the US nuclear arsenal [Reuters] By Marwan Bishara Marwan Bishara is the senior political analyst at Al Jazeera. When people, notably women, say "men are boys with more expensive toys", they mean cars, boats or golf clubs. Not a university, a foundation or a beauty pageant; and certainly, not drones, cruise missiles and Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles. But now we've got a man who demonstrated once and again that he's got the "temperament, language skills and emotional age" of a teenager holding the most powerful office in the land and with direct access to the nuclear codes What is America to do about it? What are the rest of us to do, especially those at the receiving end of American power (bearing in mind that in one year only, in 2016, the US has dropped more than 26,000 bombs on mainly Muslims nations)? First, one needs to understand the gravity of the situation. Foremost, just why and how Donald is dangerously adolescent. [Trump] [Nuclear weapons] [Kim Jong Un] [False balance]
• Inspector O and the Twitter Account
  By James Church 09 January 2017 twitterInspector O was the glummest I’d ever seen him. He was sitting at a table in a dark corner of the bar, shoulders slack, head bowed, eyes closed. At first it appeared he might be praying. “What’s wrong, Inspector?” I put a cheery note into my voice. “It’s the New Year. All is fresh and sparkling with hope.” “Shut up, will you?” He looked up at me, waved a cell phone in the air, and groaned. The groan was with such genuine pain that I immediately grew alarmed. “Really, Inspector, can I help? Should I call an ambulance?” “No, I am beyond help.” He paused dramatically and indicated I should sit. “What do you know about Ben Hogan?” “Who?” “You heard me. Why do you always pretend to be hard of hearing when I ask something?” “I heard you. I just wasn’t sure I heard you right. Ben Hogan? What do I know about him? Not much. I do know, however, that he’s dead.” “What? When!” “That I couldn’t say. Maybe twenty years ago.” “Brother, when it rains! Now what am I supposed to do?” “If you’d tell me what this is about, maybe I could suggest something.” O lowered his voice and leaned toward me. “I’ve been ordered to get a Twitter account.” [Trump] [Humour] [Twitter] [Mockery]
• US commandos will join 'Kill Kim Jong-un' mission
  By Yi Whan-woo Soldiers from U.S. special operations forces may join in a mission to kill the North Korean leadership including Kim Jong-un in the event of a war, military sources said Sunday. South Korea plans to set up a brigade within this year tasked with removing the North's wartime leadership. For this goal, the military will increase exercises this year with the U.S. special forces, such as Delta Force, the Green Berets, Navy Seals and Rangers. "In the event of contingency, elite commandoes from the U.S. military will be assigned to the envisioned brigade that the Ministry of Defense plans to set up this year," a source said. The brigade will include the personnel from the South Korean Army, Navy and the Air Force. A top-ranked South Korean special warfare officer will lead the unit that will run under the joint special operations command between Seoul and Washington if a war breaks out. The U.S. special operation forces will take orders from the brigade commander, the sources said. [Special forces] [Decapitation] [False equality]
• US commando, S. Korean special forces to work together to kill Kim Jong-un in case of war
  U.S. special operation forces are expected to participate in a South Korean-led operation to kill North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un in the event of war, according to military sources Sunday. "The South Korean military will form a special brigade based on that of the U.S. sometime later this year," said a high-ranking government official on the condition of anonymity, adding that U.S. special agents are expected to be under Korean command during the operation. "Although the brigade is modeled after that in the U.S., it will be tailored to the special environments of the peninsula," he said. The 1,000-2,000-strong unit is tasked with eliminating Pyongyang's wartime command, including Kim Jong-un, and paralyzing its functions. Strategic Digest 2016, a publication by the USFK J5 Strategic Communication Division, said: "SOCKOR (Special Operations Command Korea) secured new authorities and agreements, enhanced U.S. SOF force posture and mission command on the peninsula, and redefined its ROK partner engagements. The presence of rotational Special Operations Forces underpins the Alliance's ability to maintain the combined crisis response capability and ensures sustained engagements with ROK ground, maritime and aviation partners." It continued: "The ability to leverage a crisis response capability with operational Special Operations Forces or employ unique combined special operations capabilities provides U.S. military and national leaders with strategic options to deter or defeat North Korean asymmetric threats." The South Korean military will increase joint exercises with U.S. special operations forces. "They engage in a regular exercise in Korea depending on their missions," another military source said. "There will be more joint exercises this year." (Yonhap) [Special forces] [Decapitation] [US dominance]
• U.S. Envoy Cancels Farewell Press Meeting
  By Kim Jin-myung January 06, 2017 12:48 Outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Korea Mark Lippert abruptly canceled a farewell press conference scheduled for Thursday. The U.S. Embassy had told reporters on Wednesday that Lippert would be giving a press conference at 11 a.m. the next day. But only about 40 minutes before the event, the embassy said it was canceled due to an "urgent" situation but did not elaborate. Lippert, a former aide to U.S. President Barack Obama, is expected to leave office later this month, when president-elect Donald Trump is sworn in. He has already resigned his post but no successor has been named yet. Lippert had also planned a press conference on Nov. 9 last year, the day after the U.S. presidential election, but canceled it when Trump unexpectedly won. . [Purge] [Trump]
• Allies agree to increase pressure on N.Korea
  Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam, left, attends a joint press conference with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts Antony Blinken, center, and Shinsuke Sugiyama after their talks in Washington, Thursday. / Yonhap By Jun Ji-hye South Korea, the United States and Japan agreed, Thursday, to step up joint efforts to increase pressure on North Korea and isolate it further in the international community as part of efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. The agreement was made during deputy-level trilateral consultations between South Korean Vice Minister Lim Sung-nam, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama in Washington. "South Korea, the U.S. and Japan agreed to further strengthen joint efforts aimed at leaving North Korea with no choice but to step forward toward meaningful denuclearization," Lim said during a joint news conference with Blinken and Sugiyama after the talks. [US NK policy] [SK Japan US]
• US likely to designate S. Korea as currency manipulator along with China
  Updated : 2017-01-05 11:28 The new U.S. government will likely designate South Korea as a currency manipulator after putting China on its list in the first half of this year, a report said Thursday. "In order to name China as a currency manipulating country, the U.S. has to ease the current standards or lay down new rules," said the report released by the state-run Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP). "Should it happen, it is highly likely that South Korea will be designated as a currency manipulator." [Trump] [Friction] [Currency] [China confrontation] [Tribute]
• “Toughest Sanctions Ever”: UN Security Council Resolution 2321
  by Scott A. Snyder December 2, 2016 The UN Security Council (UNSC) unanimously passed Resolution 2321 condemning North Korea’s fifth nuclear test, conducted on September 9, 2016. The resolution builds on Resolution 2270 passed by the UNSC only nine months earlier in response to North Korea’s fourth nuclear test by imposing even tougher restrictions on North Korean maritime and financial activities, misuse of diplomatic channels for commercial purposes, and restrictions on North Korean trade. On paper, UNSC 2321 essentially calls upon member states to place North Korea under economic quarantine unless it reverses course on nuclear development. Most notably, the resolution imposes a numerical and volume cap of $400 million or 7.5 million tons/year of coal exports to China from 2017. According to Marcus Noland, this represents a $650 million reduction in coal exports compared to 2016 or an over 20 percent reduction in the value of North Korean merchandise goods exports of approximately $2.7 billion. An additional ban on North Korean exports of copper, nickel, silver, and zinc should cost the North Koreans an additional $100 million. Following the passage of each UNSC resolution imposing even tougher sanctions on North Korea, a pattern has emerged. First, there is the feeling with the release of each UNSC resolution that China has outperformed expectations by agreeing to tougher sanctions than expected. Then, there is the realization that China has left sufficient loopholes and wiggle room to ensure that North Korea pays a price for its nuclear weapons development, but not so large a price that North Korea’s stability is endangered. Finally, just when it becomes clear that China is easing off on the pressure, the cycle repeats itself, and North Korea conducts yet another nuclear or missile test. [US NK policy] [Sanctions] [China hope] [UNUS]
• North Korea: 4 Hard Questions for the Trump Administration
  Trump’s answers will determine his administration’s North Korea policy. By Sungtae (Jacky) Park January 04, 2017 On January 20, 2017, Donald J. Trump will become the next president of the United States. One of his most pressing foreign policy priorities will be North Korea, which has been advancing its nuclear and missile capabilities at an alarming pace. Yet, Trump will not be the first president to face the North Korean threat; George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama all attempted but failed to address the issue. [US NK policy] [Trump]
• Trump To North Korean Nuke Threat: ‘Won’t Happen’
  President-elect Donald Trump responded to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s Sunday announcement that his country’s military is in the final stages of testing its first intercontinental ballistic missile. Trump tweeted Monday evening that this “won’t happen.” Kim also stated that his goal was “to cope against the vicious threats for nuclear war by the Imperialists.” Trump previously stated he wants to beef up U.S. nuclear weapon facilities saying back in December, “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.” Trump’s aspirations may already be helped by a changes and provisions made in the National Defense Authorization Act. The NDAA was approved by Congress last November and included major changes by Arizona Republican Rep. Trent Franks. One provision called on the military to start “research, development, test and evaluation” of space-based missile defense systems. Additionally, the word “limited” was deleted from the nation’s missile defense policy. Since 1999, the U.S. had specified that the goal of its missile defense system was to stop a “limited” or small-scale nuclear attack on American soil. The purpose of the “limited” modifier was to keep the U.S. from an arms race in outer space, but the under the radar change happened without much talk of it and Congress dropped the restriction. [Trump] [US NK policy]
• Trump Asks for Briefing on N.Korean Nukes
  By Cho Yi-jun January 03, 2017 09:22 U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has asked for an intelligence briefing on North Korea's nuclear weapons program, Reuters reported Sunday. "Trump's first, and at that time only, request for a special classified intelligence briefing was for one on North Korea and its nuclear weapons program," the news agency said citing a senior U.S. intelligence official. "North Korea and its nuclear program has also been of interest to retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, Trump's choice for national security advisor." The U.S. State Department swiftly condemned North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's claim in his New Year's address that the North is close to test-launching a ballistic missile that can reach the U.S. mainland . [Trump] [US NK policy]
• S. Korea should pay less defense cost to US: presidential contender
  Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung, one of the leading presidential hopefuls for the opposition bloc, said Tuesday that South Korea should pay less of the defense-cost sharing with the United States, clashing with calls by President-elect Donald Trump's plan to get Washington's allies to contribute more. "South Korea's defense-sharing cost should be on par with that of Japan," Lee said during an interview with CBS Radio. "Germany and Japan pay 18 percent and 50 percent, respectively, while South Korea shares stand at 77 percent," he claimed. [Tribute] [USFK] [SOFA]
• Korea urged to brace for US protectionism
  Trump's nomination of Navarro raises trade war concerns
  By Kim Jae-kyoung Korea should prepare a strategic plan for a trade dispute with the U.S. as protectionism is likely to dominate the global economy once President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20, according to market analysts. The specter of U.S. protectionism is looming larger after Trump appointed Peter Navarro as head of the newly created White House National Trade Council, a sign the President-elect is serious about putting his campaign pledge into action. Navarro, a hawkish critic of U.S.-China relations and globalization, is highly expected to create tension not only with China but also with some export-driven Asian economies, including South Korea, to address America's trade deficit problem. [Trump] [Protectionism] [Navarro] [China confrontation]
• Making the ‘North Korea problem’ smaller
  Nicholas Eberstadt December 30, 2016 9:45 am | AEIdeas Two overarching facts frame the recent history of the gradually mounting threat from North Korea: •The first is that Pyongyang has been methodically working for decades to perfect a capability to strike the United States with nuclear weapons; •The second is that US “nonproliferation” policy toward North Korean has been a near-total failure for a full quarter century. There are many reasons for this unhappy state of affairs. One of these, alas, has been the strangely blinkered vision of all recent American administrations, Democrat and Republican alike, for coping with the North Korea problem. [US NK policy] [Takeover]

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