The intelligence the US had must have been indisputable because the ROK government is now admitting that they did in fact allow in shipments of North Korean coal:
Korea Customs Service Deputy Commissioner Roh Suk-hwan presents the findings of an investigation regarding illegal entry of North Korean coal and pig iron into South Korean ports at a media briefing held at the government complex in Daejeon, Friday. / Yonhap
South Korea received 6.6 billion won ($5.86 million) worth of North Korean coal and pig iron, of which the country of origin was fabricated, the nation’s customs agency said, Friday.
Cheong Wa Dae said there is no conflict between South Korea and the U.S. regarding the issue as the two countries are coordinating closely with mutual trust.
According to the Korea Customs Service (KCS), three South Korean importers brought in 35,038 tons of North Korean coal and pig iron from April through October last year.
They turned out to have used a Russian port as a transit hub, fabricating the materials as Russian coal. They brokered exports of North Korean goods to other countries via Russia, and got North Korean coal as a commission. (……..)
There is concern the confirmation may negatively affect South Korea’s alliance with the United States as well as its relations with North Korea.
“Though the United States has been moving to improve ties with North Korea, engaging in talks, it has been continuing pressure,” said Yang Moo-jin, professor at the University of North Korean Studies.
Washington has been firm that sanctions should be maintained until North Korea takes concrete steps for denuclearization.
“As it turned out that South Korea, which is a U.S. ally, violated the sanctions, there will be negative effects,” he said. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but remember these are the violations that have been provable, I have to wonder what else has been going on in violation of UN sanctions?
North Korea repatriated a South Korean citizen Tuesday through the border village of Panmunjom in a “positive humanitarian” move, Seoul’s unification ministry said.
In a message to Seoul a day earlier, Pyongyang claimed the 34-year-old, identified only by his surname Suh, illegally entered the country on July 22.
On Monday, the North’s Red Cross informed the South of a plan to send him back, and Seoul accepted the offer.
The North repatriated Suh via Panmunjom at 11 a.m. as scheduled, a ministry official told reporters.
He is under investigation by the South’s authorities into why and how he entered the North. He left for China before July 22, an informed source said.
The government views the North’s repatriation of Suh as “positive from a humanitarian perspective,” the official added.
But six South Korean nationals, including three missionaries, are still detained in the communist nation. [Yonhap]
It is interesting that President Trump was able to get all the American detainees released, but Moon Jae-in has done nothing to get ROK detainees released.
You would think this would be bigger news that the South Korean government is intentionally allowing North Korea to violate sanctions using their ports 52 times over the past year:
This file photo shows Yoo Ki-june of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party. (Yonhap)
An opposition lawmaker claimed Sunday that three more foreign vessels suspected of carrying North Korean coal, a banned item under international sanctions, entered South Korean ports 52 times since August last year.
Yoo Ki-june of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party made the claim, arguing that the Seoul government did not take due steps such as the interdiction of the suspicious vessels in line with U.N. Security Council (UNSC) mandates.
Adopted in December last year following the North’s launch of a long-range missile, UNSC Resolution 2397 allows a country to capture and look into a vessel suspected of engaging in prohibited activities with North Korea. Resolution 2371, passed in August last year, imposes a blanket ban on the overseas sale of North Korean coal, iron ore and other mineral resources.
Yoo’s argument came amid media speculation that Seoul, which has been pushing for inter-Korean rapprochement, has not been thoroughly monitoring foreign vessels that enter South Korea with North Korean coal disguised as Russian products, possibly in violation of the sanctions regime. [Yonhap]
It is bad enough that the Chinese and the Russians are helping the North Koreans to bypass the coal sanctions and new the ROK is as well. If President Trump wants to Tweet about something, this should be it.
Expect more articles like this in the future out of South Korea in an effort to try and pressure the Trump administration to drop sanctions against North Korea:
“We cannot go further,” said Moon Chung-in, an influential adviser to the South Korean president. “Why? Because of the sanctions regime.”
There is growing frustration that a slow pace on sanctions could dash renewed hopes for a connection.
“It’s so stressful that the United States is so controlling,” said Song Young-gil, a South Korean politician who recently inspected North Korea’s railways for the president’s office. (……)
But while a west coast railroad would connect political capitals, an east coast line through Jejin would be important for two key areas of Moon’s plans for cooperation with North Korea: trade and tourism.
Following existing tracks, this line would start at Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city and one of the world’s busiest seaports. Train service would run through Jejin and on into North Korea, passing through the Mount Kumgang tourist zone and then Wonsan, a weapons-industry hub converted into a beach resort. The service would continue to Hamhung, an industrial city and the second largest in North Korea.
Eventually, it would reach Rason, an ice-free seaport close to North Korean natural resources. From there, travelers would go on to the Russian border, where there are links to the Russian seaport of Vladivostok and beyond. In theory, a train could continue to Europe on what’s been dubbed the “Iron Silk Railroad. [Washington Post]
You can read more at the link, but this is why South Korea wants the sanctions dropped. North Korea has a number of tourism projects on their East Coast ready for ROK investment and tourists to create a cash cow for the Kim regime. The only thing stopping this are the sanctions. In the article South Korean politicians say that if the US drops the sanctions this will give Kim Jong-un the leverage he needs to get his military to give up its nukes.
Probably the most laughable line in the article is that South Korea experts told the Washington Post that the train line could open up North Korea politically. The Kim regime is not going to agree to do anything that will threaten the stability of their regime. Any tours into North Korea will be highly controlled just like all the other foreign tours into North Korea currently are.
I guess we will see what happens, but expect the South Korean government and their media allies to continue to put pressure on the Trump administration to drop the sanctions on the Kim regime for little to nothing in return.
Considering that Hyundai was used to help pay the original $500 million bribe to the Kim regime to secure the first Inter-Korean summit, I can understand why North Korea has fond memories of working with the former chairman Chong Mong-hun:
In this photo provided by Hyundai Group, its chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun pays respect to late chairman Chung Mong-hun during a memorial service at Mount Kumgang on Aug. 3, 2018. (Yonhap)
A North Korean media outlet reported in detail on a South Korean firm’s devotion to inter-Korean cooperation Friday, apparently trying to create a favorable mood for resumption of the company’s now suspended tour program.
Uriminjokkiri, the North’s external propaganda website, shed light on Hyundai Group’s work and its relations with Pyongyang in time for a trip by group officials to Mount Kumgang to attend a memorial service for late chairman Chung Mong-hun.
Chung spearheaded the now suspended tour program to the North Korean mountain. His wife and current chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun was among the visitors.
The ceremony was attended by some 20 North Korean officials and 30 Hyundai officials, according to the company.
“We have expectations to resume the tour program within this year. That’s what the North was thinking too,” Hyun told reporters after her visit.
Yet the chairwoman said she did not have detailed discussions on the possible resumption of inter-Korean projects with the North Korean officials.
During a meeting with Hyun in 2005, the website said that the North’s then leader Kim Jong-il delivered condolences for the death of Chung, emphasizing that the North began its “first love” with Hyundai in terms of improving inter-Korean relations way ahead of its cooperation with the Seoul government.
Kim also praised Chung for his devotion to advancing relations between the two Koreas, calling him a “patriotic business person” who followed in the footsteps of his late father and group founder, Chung Ju-yung, according to the website. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but for those that don’t remember Chong Mong-hun committed suicide back in 2003 by jumping off of a building after he was indicted for his role in paying the bribe to North Korea.
There has been a John Feffer sighting in the Hankyoreh. For those that don’t know who Mr. Feffer is, he is a long time North Korea apologist who once equated Kim Jong-il to former President George Bush. Feffer even incredibly once claimed that Kim Jong-un was not responsible for the Great Famine in North Korea that needlessly killed hundreds of thousands of his own citizens. Now Feffer is advocating for the Moon administration’s request for the US to approve exemptions on sanctions on North Korea:
John Feffer
North Korea has not pushed forward with denuclearization as quickly as some observers hoped. It hasn’t taken any steps to reduce its nuclear arsenal. In fact, according to a recent U.S. intelligence assessment, North Korea continues to produce highly enriched uranium for additional nuclear weapons.
Nor has North Korea even provided a list of all its nuclear-weapons-related sites or an inventory of its nuclear weapons.Still, North Korea has given several indications that it is serious about de-escalating tensions. It has maintained a moratorium on all missile and nuclear tests. It at least partially destroyed its nuclear test site at Punggye-ri (it may only have destroyed the entrances rather than the tunnels themselves). And most recently it began the partial dismantlement of its satellite-launch station.
None of these moves is irreversible. But given the Trump administration’s tendency to renege on deals – like the Iran nuclear deal – North Korea would frankly be crazy to do anything yet that it can’t later reverse. [Hankyoreh]
Notice how Feffer tries to make it out that it is all President Trump’s fault that North Korea has done nothing meaningful to denuclearize, ignoring the fact North Korea has never done anything meaningful and it has always been the US being the one making concessions in the past.
Here is where he gets into the easing of sanctions:
South Korea has also taken some important steps forward on conflict reduction. Most recently, it reported that it will reduce the number of guard posts along the DMZ and withdraw some military equipment as well. The United States, however, has not made any reciprocal moves. It canceled the summer military exercises with South Korea. But it hasn’t shown any flexibility on the issue of economic sanctions.Indeed, the Trump administration has pushed for stricter implementation of sanctions at the UN, citing North Korean violations of petroleum imports.
The United States has upped the pressure on China and Russia to enforce these sanctions. And last week, several U.S. government agencies send out an advisory that reminded businesses and individuals of the penalties of engaging economically with Pyongyang. Seoul has officially requested exemptions to the sanctions that would allow it to pursue certain economic projects with Pyongyang. It will likely have the support of both Russia and China for such exemptions.
The ball is in the U.S. court. If Trump truly wants to move forward with the deal he struck with Kim Jong Un in Singapore, then he has to put his money where his mouth is.The U.S. government can grant these exemptions while still maintaining an otherwise strict sanctions regime. It can still prevent U.S. businesses and individuals from engaging with North Korea.
It can still push for the tighter implementation of sanctions connected to critical resources, like petroleum, that North Korea needs.What South Korea is looking for, however, are exemptions that would permit the restart of joint economic programs like the Kaesong industrial zone and inter-Korean tourism operations.
The Kaesong Industrial Complex and the joint-tourism projects established by prior left-wing South Korean governments were major foreign revenue generators for the Kim regime. We heard for years about how these engagement projects would change North Korea. Well the engagers and apologists were right North Korea did change, they used the revenue to help fund their ballistic missile and nuclear programs that now can now threaten the entire region and even the US homeland.
Now the engagers and apologists want to double down on their failed ideas, but the big question is if President Trump wants to double down with them?
Like I have been maintaining, I don’t think anyone should panic unless sanctions are dropped for little to nothing in return from North Korea. This recent announcement suggests the sanctions will remain in place:
This photo, taken July 25, 2018, shows Deputy Minister for National Defense Policy, Yeo Suk-joo (R), shaking hands with Roberta Shea, acting deputy assistant secretary of defense at the 14th Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue in Seoul. (Yonhap)
South Korea and the United States agreed Thursday to keep enforcing sanctions against North Korea until it takes “concrete, verifiable” steps toward denuclearization, during their biannual working-level defense talks.
During the 14th Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) in Seoul, the two sides also shared the view that there is a need to continuously explore ways to build trust with Pyongyang as long as the communist state maintains a “good-will” dialogue.
Seoul’s defense ministry announced the outcome of the two-day talks. Deputy Minister for National Defense Policy, Yeo Suk-joo, represented the South Korean side, while Roberta Shea, acting deputy assistant secretary of defense, led the U.S. delegation.
During the talks, the two sides mentioned “meaningful progress” following two inter-Korean summits in April and May and last month’s U.S.-North Korea summit despite concerns over a perceived lack of progress in the North’s denuclearization process. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but I wonder what the Moon administration’s definition of “concrete, verifiable” steps is?
This is the kind of willful naïveté, the purposeful misrepresentation that drives me up the wall about this year’s detente w/ N Korea. Talk to them, yes; but praising Kim Jong Un? Jesus. Stop.Just stop. This is how Trump got rolled in SG. Read this first: https://t.co/USizTlr1pfhttps://t.co/0III7HLlmW
