Monthly Archives: April 2019

China and North Korea open new border crossing despite sanctions

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China and North Korea opened a new border crossing over the Yalu River, signaling aspirations for deeper economic ties between the neighbors even as Pyongyang’s trade remains crimped by international sanctions.

The border checkpoint at the foot of a new bridge opened Monday, connecting the northeastern Chinese city of Jian with North Korea’s Manpo, Chinese state media reported. The China-DPRK Jian-Manpo highway connection is for passenger and cargo transport and hosts an advanced customs facility, the China News Service said.

An opening ceremony appeared to show that local Chinese officials were ready to step up trade and exchanges with North Korea in response to its call for economic development, according to Yonhap. China provides a lifeline to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his state has long been dependent on Beijing’s help to keep its meager economy afloat. It was unclear how the new border checkpoint — the fourth between China and North Korea — would operate under the sanctions, which ban or limit a broad range of goods from moving in or out of the country. The South Korean Unification Ministry declined to comment.

In 2017, China’s overall trade with North Korea declined by more than 10 percent to about $5 billion, as Trump secured Beijing’s backing for four escalating rounds of sanctions in response to North Korea nuclear weapons program testing. While official trade with China has slowed, North Korea has turned to other methods to evade sanctions, with a main source of activity being illegal high-seas cargo transfers with North Korean vessels, the U.S. and UN Security Council said in reports in March.

[[Bloomberg]

Vietnam starts deporting North Korean refugees back to China

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Just a month after hosting a summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Vietnam has deported three North Korean refugees, sending them home via China to an uncertain future in their homeland.

The deportations mark a worrying new development for fleeing North Koreans, who previously had been safe if they managed to evade capture in China and reach a third country. Vietnam has been one of Southeast Asian countries that provide safe haven for North Korean escapees, helping them reach South Korea.

The deportations could also be an indication of North Korea’s growing diplomatic clout and lessening isolation since Kim Jong Un stepped onto the global stage over the past year.

Aid workers told South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper that the South Korean Foreign Ministry failed to respond to a request to assist the refugees, a claim the ministry denied. The ministry repeatedly told them to wait, but no assistance was provided before the refugees were sent to China on Wednesday, the aid workers told Chosun Ilbo.

The Foreign Ministry in Seoul denied the report, saying in a statement that the ministry “immediately got in contact with the local authorities and took a stand against forcible repatriation to North Korea.” The ministry declined to comment on the safety and whereabouts of the refugees.

[The Washington Post]

North Korean Defector Group vows further action

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The defector group that calls itself Free Joseon (Free North Korea) could be the first organization to have successfully infiltrated a North Korean diplomatic mission.

Pyongyang’s first public acknowledgment of the incursion into its Madrid Embassy recently came when it complained North Korea had been the victim of a “grave terrorist attack”, calling it a “flagrant violation of international law.” It called on Spanish authorities to thoroughly investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Normally, says Sung-Yoon Lee, a Korean studies expert at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, North Korea would be loath to mention anything at all that might puncture “the myth of invincible, unassailable, infallible, omnipotent leadership.” But these days, too much information is flowing into North Korea for its government to keep the Madrid embassy incident a secret.

Free Joseon’s significance lies in “the symbolism of hope, perhaps even justice, created in standing up to, in defying the powerful, oppressive state,” says Lee.

Two years ago, under a different name, the group was apparently successful in spiriting away to safety a potential heir — or possible threat — to the Kim dynasty. Last month, rebranded as Free Joseon, it made a declaration of revolution and announced the establishment of a “provisional government” to take power in Pyongyang.

Free Joseon says on its website that after Madrid incident hit the news, it is suspending operations for now, due to negative media coverage. But it urges patience, and says it is planning big things for the future.

[NPR]

Kim warned his generals of inadvertent movement ahead of Trump summit

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In one of the clearest signs of just how much Kim Jong Un wanted an agreement at what became the failed Hanoi summit in February with President Donald Trump, CNN has learned that the North Korean leader gave specific orders to his generals to not carry out any unplanned activity in the days and weeks leading up the meeting, according to a senior South Korean official and a US defense official.

The US official added that Kim was worried any inadvertent movement of his military units would raise tensions leading up to the summit. He issued specific orders that forces stay in place in a passive status, without any indication they were moving in the field. His goal was to ensure existing military confidence building measures would remain in place, especially in the demilitarized zone between North Korea and South Korea, with the aim of helping him convince Trump to ease sanctions on the regime.

The previously undisclosed orders by the North Korean leader and the subsequent failure to convince Trump to agree to a partial lifting of sanctions without a move towards denuclearization have underscored the assessment by the US that Kim thought he could convince Trump to agree. “He underestimated the President,” the official said.

North Korean forces subsequently returned to their regular deployment status. The orders did not involve missile and nuclear sites which are always under Kim’s strict controls, according to the official. The orders issued by Kim prior to the summit would have significantly reduced the ability of the units affected to suddenly fire their weapons. The US saw no evidence that North Korea was intending any provocation using its conventional forces, suggesting Kim’s order may have had more to do with his worries about a sudden mistake in the field.

[CNN]

North Korea calls for probe into ‘terror attack’ on embassy in Spain

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North Korea called on Spanish authorities to investigate a Feb. 22 raid on its embassy in Madrid, calling it a “grave terror attack,” according to Reuters.

During the February incident, a group of 10 people led by U.S. resident Adrian Hong Chang stole computers and documents from the facility, claiming to represent the Cheollima Civil Defense, an activist group that claims to aid defectors from North Korea. The group gagged the embassy’s business envoy So Yun Sok when he turned down their offer to defect.

Adrian Hong Chang then traveled to the United States and contacted the FBI, offering them the materials stolen during the raid, according to Spanish officials. A Spanish judge has issued international arrest warrants for two of the intruders who forced their way into North Korea’s embassy in Madrid last month and are currently believed to be in the United States.

In its first official comment on the incident, North Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for a probe and said it was aware of rumors that the FBI helped organize the raid, although it did not go so far as to blame the U.S. for the incident, according to Reuters.

“An illegal intrusion into and occupation of a diplomatic mission and act of theft are a grave breach of state sovereignty and a flagrant violation of international law, and this kind of act should never be tolerated over the globe,” North Korean officials said, according to the news service.

The incident comes amid efforts to improve ties between the U.S. and North Korea, particularly after a second meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong Un ended without the two leaders reaching a deal.

[Reuters]