Category: Inter-Korean Issues

This meeting makes me wonder why it was hastily announced at the last minute? It seems likely that with the letters the two leaders sent each other that they knew this meeting was a possibility. The only reason I can think of to delay announcing the meeting is either for security concerns or to prevent the U.S. news media from having time to create a negative narrative before the meeting. Since this happened so quick all the U.S. news media had time to do is report the news which is something they are not used to:

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed at a brief, hurriedly arranged meeting on the inter-Korean border Sunday that deadlocked denuclearization talks will resume. 

“We’ve agreed that we’re each going to designate a team. The teams will try to work out some details,” Trump said after talks with Kim behind closed doors in the truce village of Panmunjom. Trump and Kim sat down for nearly an hour, their first face-to-face meeting since a second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February ended prematurely and without a deal. 

U.S. negotiators will be led by Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, according to Trump. He said the United States and North would start working over the next two to three weeks for a comprehensive deal – but that he does not want a rushed agreement. “We’re not looking for speed,” he said. “We’re looking to get it right.” 

Trump repeatedly stressed that tensions were rapidly reduced since he took office, and that the North is not conducting nuclear or long-range ballistic missile tests. 

“We are in a very good path,” Trump said. Asked if the United States will lift sanctions on the North, Trump said they will remain for now, but he looks forward to taking them off when progress is made. 

Before sitting down for the 50-minute private talks, Trump and Kim met each other at the military demarcation line, the de facto land border between the two Koreas that bisects the Joint Security Area of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). After a handshake, Trump crossed the line to join Kim on the northern side, becoming the first U.S. president to step on North Korean soil while in office. U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed at a brief, hurriedly arranged meeting on the inter-Korean border Sunday that deadlocked denuclearization talks will resume.  (……..)

“You are the first U.S. president in history to set foot on our soil,” Kim told Trump before the meeting. “It is an extraordinary decision to settle the unfortunate past and pioneer a great future.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but here is a CBS News video of the historic meeting:

I have to believe that during the 50 minute meeting that ROK President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un did the best sales job they could to get President Trump on board with allowing the Kaesong Industrial Park and Mt. Kumgang Tours to reopen in return for “Pretend Denuclearization“.

It will be interesting to see where this meeting leads to.

Via a reader tip comes news that the North Koreans that arrived undetected by the ROK authorities in Samcheok may not have been fishermen as claimed:

Mystery continues to shroud the defection of two North Korean sailors earlier this month after their wooden boat entered a South Korean harbor completely undetected, which set off a scandal over the lack of alertness by the South’s military. 

Jeon Dong-jin, a South Korean fisherman who saw the North Korean boat enter Samcheok Harbor in Gangwon on June 15 told the JoongAng Ilbo on Wednesday that he was first filled with curiosity at seeing North Koreans for the first time, but soon became afraid.  

“It reminded me of the time an armed North Korean squad infiltrated Gangneung in 1996,” he said, in reference to an incident in which 26 North Korean reconnaissance agents covertly landed near Gangneung, Gangwon, on a submarine but were hunted down by the South Korean army after being spotted. In the ensuing series of firefights that lasted from September to November that year, 12 South Korean soldiers and four civilians were killed, as well as 24 of the North’s agents. 

“If the North Koreans on the wooden dinghy had been armed agents, we would have all been killed,” said Jeon. 

Four North Koreans were on the boat at sea for six days – four in South Korean waters – until it moored at Samcheok. The first person to report the North Koreans did not belong to the military, but was instead a resident of the harbor city. After questioning, two of the crew defected to the South, while the other two returned to the North through the border village of Panmunjom on June 18. 

Many residents of the city are upset with the military’s inability to detect the boat’s infiltration. 

“In their words, [the military] said they were closely monitoring the [maritime border] with cutting edge technology, but in reality they did nothing while the dinghy entered the harbor,” said one resident, Jang Hyung-baek. “I can’t help but think we were tricked.” 

According to Captain Jeon, Samcheok residents remain particularly dubious about the claim that the North Korean sailors had been marooned on their vessel for almost a week. 

“Except for one of them, who looked like he was deliberately growing a beard, the North Koreans were clean-shaven,” he said. “I’ve never heard of a case where people set adrift at sea shave themselves.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but just looking at how they are dressed in the picture indicates to me that this was a failed spy operation. They are clearly dressed to try and blend in with the ROK population, not as fishermen. The Moon administration will definitely want to continue to claim these are fishermen in order not to spoil the so called reconciliation mood that is going on right now.

I do find it interesting that the ROK repatriated two of the North Koreans right away while the other two stayed. If they were on a spy mission and were compromised and it is interesting that two of the spies took the chance to defect instead of going back to North Korea.

#MoonJaein admin sends ~$100 million to #KimJongUn regime. How? By sending 1.3 M sacks (40 kg each, total 50,000 tons) of #SouthKorean rice to NK via WFP. Its on top of $8 million already given to nK via WFP recently.
Moon is persistent.https://t.co/nINGdccBXb

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) June 20, 2019

Does anyone really think the North Koreans are going to allow ROK military personnel to see any sensitive training events much less dismantle their artillery and missile systems targeting South Korea?:

President Moon Jae-in expressed anticipation Wednesday that the two Koreas will exchange military information and observe each other’s exercises if their existing accords on building mutual confidence are fully implemented.

He put forward a two-track approach to reducing border tensions on the peninsula: through denuclearization as well as via the disarmament of conventional weapons. He was taking part in a joint written interview with Yonhap News Agency and six major foreign news agencies, days ahead of the Group of 20 summit in Japan and U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit here.

The two Koreas signed a comprehensive military agreement last September during Moon’s visit to Pyongyang for his third summit with the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un.

They have “completely” halted hostile acts along their border, pulled out guard posts from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), agreed on the joint excavation of war remains and endeavored to establish joint use of the Han River estuary.

The liberal president described the measures as “rudimentary.”

“If the inter-Korean agreement in the military domain is properly implemented, it will allow us to proceed to the stage of further enhancing transparency concerning military postures by exchanging pertinent information through the inter-Korean joint military committee and observing military drills and training,” Moon said, revealing his mid-term vision for the Korea peace process.

What’s also possible in tandem with progress in denuclearization is to “advance to the point of disarming threatening weapons such as the long-range North Korean artillery targeting our capital, Seoul, and the short-range missiles that both Koreas possess,” he added.

Yonhap

Dismantling their artillery and missile systems would take away the North’s ability to extort South Korea. This is like asking mobsters extorting neighborhood businesses to give up their guns. If they did what business owners would be afraid of them anymore?

I think what President Moon is really saying is that the ROK military will allow North Korea to see their training, dismantle their artillery and missiles first and then hope the North Koreans respond in kind.

This is concerning that a North Korean boat is able to pull right into the harbor at Samcheok and the crew able to get out, walk around, and ask to use phone with no authorities there to detain them:

The South Korean military failed to detect a North Korean boat that freely sailed in its waters for four days – even after its crew moored in an eastern harbor and asked to use a phone, the JoongAng Ilbo learned Wednesday. 

The military also faced fire for an obviously false initial announcement about how the wooden boat and its four crews were discovered in Samcheok Harbor in Gangwon on Saturday. After questioning, two of the crew defected to the South, while the other two returned to the North through the border village of Panmunjom on Tuesday. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but also keep in mind that Samcheok is not a South Korean community adjacent to the DMZ. It is pretty far south from the maritime border between the two countries.

Moon Jae-in gave a speech in Swedish parliament. He denied #NorthKorea invaded #SouthKorea by saying "South&North never invaded another country in 5000- year history..only a sad history of pointing guns at each other." NKorea invaded SKorea on 1950-6-25.https://t.co/NKuOCzsfHK

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) June 15, 2019

Alternative headline: 6150 South Korean citizens want to give their money to an enemy regime that enslaves millions of their fellow kinsmen because they want to take selfies at a mountain. https://t.co/dBk6hsUvmg

— John Lee (The Korean Foreigner) (@koreanforeigner) June 14, 2019

It looks like there may be a fourth Inter-Korean Summit before President Trump visits South Korea on June 30th:

A senior presidential aide said Thursday that discussions are underway with officials from Pyongyang regarding another inter-Korean summit, before U.S. President Donald Trump’s planned meeting with President Moon Jae-in, June 30.

“It’s evident that the U.S. president didn’t rule out the possibility of another meeting between President Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ahead of his planned visit here at the end of June. President Moon earlier raised this idea at his April summit with Trump in Washington. South Korea and the U.S. are united on that idea,” the official told reporters in a briefing.

“My understanding is that the U.S. president didn’t say anything on the usefulness and necessity of another inter-Korean summit,” the senior aide said, adding announcements will be made once the discussions are completed.

Moon renewed his call late Wednesday (KST) for a fourth summit with Kim Jong-un ahead of his meeting with Trump.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I am not sure what they would talk about? Are they going to coordinate how they plan to persuade President Trump into signing a “pretend denuclearization” deal? Talk about how to avoid international sanctions?

Anyone else have any guesses on what they could possibly talk about?

Kim Won-bong is basically the Benedict Arnold of South Korea. I think it is okay to record his military contributions as part of the historical record, but his treason should be part of the historical record as well instead of just receiving praise for his anti-Japanese activities:

The Ministry of National Defense said Monday it was reviewing a request from its research arm to include details of Kim Won-bong’s fight for Korea’s independence in the historical records of the Korean military on its official website.

Kim was the leader of a secret society fighting for independence. He and his associates became undercover operatives for the Korean provisional government in China from the late 1930s to early 1940s. But Kim later went to North Korea, where he earned commendations from Pyongyang for his efforts in the Korean War.

“The ministry understands there is a need to record the late Kim Won-bong’s activities if they turn out to be based on historical facts,” ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo told reporters in a briefing at the ministry’s headquarters in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. 

A request was made last year by the Institute for Military History for the current history on the ministry website to be revised to include some facts about Kim’s activities including his creation of the anti-Japanese Korean Volunteer Corps in 1938 in Wuhan, China. Kim was later appointed deputy commander of the Korean Liberation Army in 1942 and served until 1945. 

Currently, the ministry’s records only state certain facts such as those on the late independence activist Ahn Jung-geun and his assassination of then-Japanese Resident-General Hirobumi Ito in 1909, or the foundation of the provisional government in 1919, in the history before the 1945 liberation of Korea from colonial rule.

The historical assessment on Kim, however, remains controversial as he became a North Korean military commander in 1948 and fought against South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War. He was said to have helped strengthen Kim Il-sung’s regime in North Korea before being purged in 1958.

Controversy surrounding Kim has recently resurfaced following President Moon Jae-in’s June 6 Memorial Day speech at Seoul National Cemetery, where he gave credit to him for his activities. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The Moon administration is not going to like this news:

Eight out of ten South Koreans think economic issues are more important than unification with North Korea, according to a new government survey.

The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs released on Friday the results of their survey of three-thousand-873 South Korean adults, which indicates that 77-point-one percent of respondents would choose the economy over unification if only one of the two problems could be solved.

In the survey, 55-point-nine percent agreed with the proposition that South Korea and North Korea don’t necessarily have to form a unified country.

A full 53-point-two percent answered negatively when asked if they were willing to partially give up their quality of life for unification with North Korea.

KBS World Radio

You can read more at the link.