It looks like the Moon administration better come up with a Plan B because their effort for an “ethnic exemption” to sanctions appears to not be getting traction in the US:
The U.S. Congress may pass a bill calling for additional sanctions on North Korea as early as May, according to multiple diplomatic sources Tuesday, a move to pressure Pyongyang to take meaningful denuclearization measures.
Despite analysis by Seoul officials that Washington was unlikely to implement new sanctions on North Korea in the near future, the sources indicated that preparations for new legislation are already finished.
“Following the collapse of the second North-U.S. summit, the Republicans and Democrats are considering introducing legislation to strengthen sanctions on North Korea,” said one diplomatic source in Washington. “Because they have been preparing the bill for a year, there is plenty of possibility it may be introduced in May or June.”
The source said that the push to strengthen sanctions on the North is centered around the Senate’s committees on armed services, finance and foreign relations.
Another overseas source said, “If North Korea doesn’t show steps toward meaningful denuclearization measures by next month, it will be a matter of time that sanctions will be strengthened, rather than eased.”
The source added, “I met with a key U.S. administration official in charge of sanctions following the Hanoi summit who clearly said that they are not considering sanctions relief to allow the resumption of Mount Kumgang tourism or the reopening of the Kaesong Industrial Complex.”
Predictably the North Koreans have stormed out of the joint liaison office at Kaesong:
North Korean officials withdrew from the inter-Korean liaison office in the border city of Gaeseong on Friday.
Seoul’s Unification Ministry said that North Korean officials held a meeting with their South Korean counterparts in the morning to announce the decision.
The North Koreans are said to have cited what they called an order from the upper levels of leadership.
The 15 or so North Korean officials left with only their documents, while leaving behind equipment, noting they didn’t care whether South Korea continues to maintain its office and that they would be in contact with the South to resolve working-level matters.
The responses on these surveys are dependent on what the question is. What do people think the response would have been if they respondents were asked if South Korea should restart the Kaesong Industrial Park and Gumgang Mountain tours if the money is used by North Korea to develop their nuclear and missile programs?:
More than 60 percent of South Koreans are supportive of the resumption of two suspended cross-border projects, saying they could contribute to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, a survey of a presidential consultative body showed Tuesday. According to the survey conducted by the National Unification Advisory Council on 1,000 adults, 62.4 percent said that restarting an industrial park in the North’s border town of Kaesong and a tour program to Mount Kumgang on the North’s east coast will help achieve denuclearization and boost the local economy. South Korea closed the Kaesong park in 2016 in retaliation for the North’s nuclear and missile provocations. The tour program to Mount Kumgang was halted in 2008, when a South Korean tourist was killed by a North Korean soldier. Seoul is seeking to resume the two symbolic projects on the belief that more cross-border exchanges could create a peace mood and help move the stalled denuclearization talks forward following last month’s summit breakdown between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump. Their resumption, however, requires sanctions relief on North Korea and Washington has balked at it, worrying that the global sanctions regime could be undermined at a time when the denuclearization process remains stalemated. The survey showed 54 percent supported easing sanctions in association with progress in nuclear talks, with 41.6 percent saying that sanctions should remain in place until complete denuclearization.
You can read more at the link, but this is clearly just another attempt by the Moon administration to shape public opinion to support their efforts to restart the two cross border projects. They need the public support in order to pressure the US to allow their “ethnic exemption” to sanctions.
People who pretend the North cares about peace get excited at minor incremental things. (“OMG a US-NK summit! Historic! Historic!”). NK always wanted a US sunmit.
3 SK presidents have visited P’yang.
Wake me when an NK leader finally does that “reciprocal visit” to Seoul. https://t.co/F1iXGwkJ9f
LKP lawmaker Na Kyeong-won said at the National Assembly, "Pres Moon should stop acting like KJU's spokesperson."
Democratic Party lawmakers demanded an apology. Its leader, Lee Hae-chan, said Na could be charged with contempt of the Head of State. https://t.co/tTD6e6Zffj
— John Lee (The Korean Foreigner) (@koreanforeigner) March 12, 2019
South Korea's new nominee to replace Cho Myoung-gyun as unification minister, Kim Yeon-chul, wrote this for @nknewsorg back in 2017: "Why reopening the Kaesong Industrial Complex won’t violate sanctions" 👇https://t.co/EfaU5bnbUO
It is pretty clear that the South Korean left really dislikes John Bolton now that they resulted to racist name calling which probably means he is doing a good job protecting America’s interests:
Former Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun speaks during a seminar at the National Assembly, Tuesday, on the second summit between North Korea and the U.S. and prospects for inter-Korean economic cooperation. Yonhap
Former Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun claimed Tuesday that the abrupt ending of the summit in Hanoi between U.S. President Donald trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was “intentional” and engineered by National Security Adviser John Bolton.
Calling Bolton a “big hurdle” with regard to issues related to the Korean Peninsula, Jeong alleged the security adviser persuaded Trump to walk away from the talks with Kim.
“Bolton, a North Korea hawk, reminds me of a white cavalry leader in an old Western movie who doesn’t feel guilty about killing Native Americans,” Jeong said while meeting with lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). “I believe the breakdown was intentionally brought about by the U.S. side, and Bolton was the villain in this.”
You can read more at the link, but here is a good Tweet from One Free Korea that calls out Jeong for his past appeasement of North Korea:
Jeong Se-hyun, who when asked in 2003 whether his gov't would speak out against North Korea's gulags & crimes against humanity, said, "Political freedom is a luxury, like pearls for a pig." https://t.co/6n42DG5KJE Expect more of this sort of inflammatory rhetoric from Seoul. https://t.co/Kgok0QDaNG
