Category: Kim Jong Un

Should US engage rather than isolate North Korea?

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Under the Obama administration, U.S. policy toward North Korea largely has devolved into the president sitting in the Oval Office, closing his eyes, and hoping the nuclear monsters will go away. Alas, it hasn’t worked. Pyongyang has staged its 4th nuclear test and may well be working on the hydrogen bomb that it falsely claimed to have tested.

The administration’s frustration in dealing with the DPRK is understandable. Nothing seems to have worked. The latest member of the ruling Kim dynasty is unlikely to abandon his nation’s nuclear pretensions. In fact, the latest test came amid evidence of warming ties with the People’s Republic of China and reports of a possible invitation to Kim Jong-un to visit Beijing. Evidently Pyongyang cares no more about its ally’s than America’s opinion on the issue.

Washington is pressing the UN Security Council to approve additional sanctions; the House has passed legislation to impose additional unilateral economic penalties. But the Kims never have let their people’s suffering influence policy, the North’s economy remains largely isolated except for trade with China, and so far Beijing, though professing to support a “necessary response” by the UN, has refused to apply sufficient pressure to threaten the Kim regime’s survival.

If China did so the U.S., its allies South Korea and Japan, and China all might regret getting what they wished for. An abrupt and violent regime collapse could yield civil disorder, factional combat, loose nukes, and refugee tides. The consequences would overflow the DPRK’s boundaries. That could lead to Chinese military intervention to stabilize a new, pro-PRC government in Pyongyang. Then the Republic of Korea would face a renewed and likely permanent division of the peninsula.

The only other alternative? What Beijing has advocated all along: engagement with the North. Obviously, there’s no guarantee that this approach will work either. Nevertheless, it offers what the North most wants–direct contact with America. Talking to North Korea offers a better hope of success than ignoring it.

[Read full Huffington/World Post article]

Reform in Stalinist North Korea would come at a price

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North Korean founder Kim Il Sung (left) with son Kim Jong Il

A new book claims Kim il-Sung, the father of Kim Jong-il and grandfather of current North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, ordered officials to shoot his successor if he ever tried to lead the country away from its Stalinist system.

Ra Jong-yil, the former head of South Korea’s national intelligence service, claims he was told about Kim il-Sung’s plan by a Pyongyang insider, who described how the inner circle were handed the guns and ordered to assassinate Kim Jong-il if he tried to change how the country is run.

Mr Ra told the Sunday Telegraph: ”Kim Il-sung had seen by the experiences of the Soviet Union what would happen if you start reforming or meddling with a dysfunctional system. The whole system inevitably collapses. He could not let that happen”.

Mr Ra’s new book, The Path Taken by Jang Song-thack: A Rebellous Outsider, also claims Kim Jong-il wanted to end the hereditary system of rule which made Kim Jong-un his successor. Instead, the book argues, he wanted the country to be ruled by a committee of 10, but because he died in 2011 before he could set the wheels in motion, his plans never came to fruition.

The book is named after Jang Song-thack, the uncle who helped Kim Jong-un through the first months of his dictatorship after the death of his father. Mr Jang was executed in December 2013 on charges including “gnawing at the unity and cohesion of the party” and “dreaming different dreams”.

[Daily Mail]

North Korea starts off the year with a blast

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North Korea on Wednesday celebrated what it called a successful hydrogen bomb test — a milestone that, if true, marks a colossal advancement for the reclusive regime and a big test for leaders worldwide to determine what to do about it.

“Make the world … look up to our strong nuclear country … by opening the year with exciting noise of the first hydrogen bomb!” read a document signed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on state television.

Pyongyang has been very vocal about its nuclear ambitions, pressing on despite widespread condemnation, sanctions and other punishments. Having a hydrogen bomb — a device far more powerful than the plutonium weapons that North Korea has used in three earlier underground nuclear tests — ups the ante significantly.

The purported underground test corresponded with a magnitude 5.1 seismic event.

[CNN]

Experts speak out on Kim Jong Un seeking economic development amid sanctions

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s New Year’s speech shows the young leader is placing a high priority on the economy, analysts in Seoul said. In a 30-minute address Friday, Kim appeared to stress economic development over military power.

Cheong Seong-chang, director of unification strategy at the Sejong Institute, noted that Kim has been focusing less on the military-first policy in his annual speech since he took power in late 2011. The change shows Kim is gaining confidence in his power, according to Cheong.

“Politically, Kim appears to believe he has stabilized his grip on power. With submarine-launched ballistic missile tests, he might feel his country has secured deterrent against the United States and South Korea militarily,” Cheong said.

Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, said Kim appears to be seeking economic self-reliance in anticipation of prolonged international sanctions. “The North Korean regime isn’t expecting international sanctions to be lifted anytime soon, so it has been focusing its efforts on creating foundation for self-reliance. Related policies have been introduced during the last four years,” Lim said.

Yang Moon-soo, a professor at the University of North Korea Studies, expects Kim to pursue pragmatic economic policies this year.

[VoA]

North Korean delegation to Davos?

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North Korea may send a delegation to the World Economic Forum meeting in Switzerland for the first time in 18 years, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Monday, a sign that it sees international engagement as a way to bolster its economy.

The annual event in the Swiss town of Davos, which attracts heavyweights from the worlds of business and politics, is scheduled for January 20-23.

Yonhap said the North Korean delegation would be led by Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong, who spent two decades in Switzerland as ambassador and representative at the United Nations in Geneva.

Ri acted as surrogate father to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un when Kim was a student at a Swiss school.

Kim, believed to be in his early 30s, focused on development of the economy during a New Year’s Day speech.

[Reuters]

Aunt of Kim Jong Un no longer appears on list of ruling North Korean elites

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Kim Jong Un’s once powerful aunt is no longer included on a list of top Pyongyang officials, six months after speculation swirled the North Korean leader had ordered her execution.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry stated in an annually issued directory that Kim Kyong Hui‘s name was not on the list of cabinet members, the list of Workers’ Party secretaries or the Party’s Politburo. She was previously a top official: a chairwoman of the Politburo of the Workers’ Party, secretary of the Party’s Secretariat, a member of the Party’s Central Committee and a senior delegate of the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly. She also held positions in the military.

Kim, 69, is the wife of executed North Korean official Jang Song Thaek. In May, a high-level defector had said Kim Jong Un had had her poisoned, but sources in North Korea said she was alive and recovering from an alcoholism-related illness at Pyongyang’s Bonghwa Clinic.

Kim Kyong Hui also has been absent from public events since late 2013, when her husband Jang was executed on charges that included treason and corruption.

“It has been most likely confirmed that Kim Kyong Hui resigned from all official posts following Jang Song Thaek,” a South Korean government official said.

South Korea also stated in the report that Kim Jong Un is believed to have been born on Jan. 8, 1984. In previous statements, Seoul had said Kim’s date of birth ranged between 1982 and 1984.

[UPI]

Kim Jong Un claims North Korea has Hydrogen Bomb

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North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un says his country has developed a hydrogen bomb, but senior defense and intelligence officials poured cold water on that claim.

There is no evidence that North Korea has made such a weapon, they said. And while the communist country has some level of nuclear capability, that does not mean they have succeeded in building a working atomic bomb.

Also known as a thermonuclear bomb, a hydrogen bomb produces a much stronger blast than the atomic bombs that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

North Korean female dance troupe on diplomacy tour of China

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Kim Jong-un has dispatched his all-female dance troupe on a six-day mission to China in an effort to rebuild relations with their northern neighbor.

Relations between North Korea and China have been strained since Kim Jong-un decided to test new ballistic missiles and detonate a nuclear bomb in a secretive underground bunker in defiance of a request from Beijing.

According to North Korean newspaper the Rodong Sinmun: “The DPRK State Merited Chorus and Moranbong Band will pay friendship visit to China to give performances from December 10 to 15.”

[Daily Mail]  

North Korean top brass trembling in their boots

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North Korean top military officials often look nervous and uneasy on state broadcasts as they face leader Kim Jong-un, well aware of his sometimes brutal struggle to bring the unruly military under control.

In one scene broadcast last week, Kim Jong-un can be seen sitting in the podium, when he gestures to Armed Forces Minister Pak Yong-sik to sit down. Pak, the North’s No. 2 military official … stares at Army politburo chief Hwang Pyong-so, the top-ranked military official. Kim then gestures Hwang to sit as well, but Hwang also appears too nervous to sit next to the leader. Eventually he sits down awkwardly after saluting Kim and Pak follows suit, also visibly nervous.

As the officials gather for a commemorative photo, Hwang stands next to Kim … but then suddenly steps aside, apparently mindful of being spotted standing next the leader for an extended period. Hwang was also pictured accompanying Kim at a military ceremony in June and suddenly back-stepping after realizing he had ended up walking ahead of the leader.

“Kim Jong-un’s reign of terror appears to have made officials very cautious,” a researcher at a South Korean state-run think tank said. “The atmosphere seems to have worsened after Kim’s key aide Choe Ryong-hae was demoted again and sent to a reeducation camp.”

Kim has carried out sweeping purges since he came to office, tacitly killing his father Kim Jong-il’s “military-first” doctrine that led to the army becoming a voracious and belligerent state within the state.

[Chosun Ilbo]

Rumor that Kim Jong Un avoids assassination attempt

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Rumors have circulated that Kim Jong Un narrowly avoided death after explosives were found at an airport he was due to visit last October.

A stack of explosives was reportedly found hidden inside the roof of Kalma Airport a day before Jong-Un was scheduled to arrive.

The TNT was discovered by North Korea’s State Security Department (SSD) just hours before the visit. The device had apparently been missed during an earlier sweep of the airport by Jong Un’s personal Supreme Guard Command bodyguards.

A source told Radio Free Asia: “The explosives found at the desk was a box of TNT which North Koreans use to blast through mines. The explosives were planted inside the roof of the airport’s information desk.”

South Korean commentators have suggested the incident was a stunt aimed at winning support for the security services. Jeong Jin-man, formerly of the South Korean Special Forces, said: “It might have been an SSD setup to win Kim Jong Un’s favour by setting up the TNT and pretending that they found it after the Supreme Guard Command had already swept the site.”

This comes as North Korean officials are said to be growing increasingly disenchanted with Jong Un’s iron-fisted rule.

[Daily Express]