No surprises here since I would not be surprised that the Chinese and Russian operatives are actively helping them smuggle the oil:
China and Russia have reportedly put the brakes on the United States for trying to persuade the international community to stop selling refined oil to North Korea this year.
According to international news agencies, including the Associated Press and Reuters, Beijing and Moscow on Thursday blocked Washington from getting the United Nations to publicly blame the North for smuggling more petroleum products beyond the limit imposed by UN sanctions.
Their actions and claim that time is needed to investigate the U.S. allegations automatically delay any U.S. action for six months.
Last week, the U.S. requested the UN Security Council’s North Korea sanctions committee to publicly rebuke the North for violating the quota and enact a ban so countries could not export more petroleum products to the regime for the rest of the year.
U.S. documents sent to the UN committee claim that refined oil was illegally shipped to North Korea through at least 20 ships on 89 occasions between January and May, allowing the regime to secure at least 759-thousand-793 barrels so far this year, above the annual limit of 500-thousand barrels. [KBS World Radio]
The United States on Friday welcomed the U.N. Security Council’s united support for the fully verified denuclearization of North Korea and pressed China and Russia to strictly enforce U.N. sanctions to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused North Korea of violating an array of tough sanctions imposed by the council. He warned that ”when sanctions are not enforced, the prospects for the successful denuclearization of North Korea are diminished.”
Nonetheless, Pompeo told reporters after meeting behind closed doors with the 15 council members that President Donald Trump ”remains upbeat about the prospects for denuclearization” following his historic summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. ”So do I, as progress is happening,” he added without elaborating.
The Trump administration hopes that one day North Korea will be at the United Nations ”not as a pariah but as a friend,” Pompeo said. But ”it will take full enforcement of sanctions for us to get there” as well as Kim following through ”on his personal commitments” to Trump. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but I have to hand it to Secretary Pompeo, he is doing everything possible to not be seen as the belligerent whenever the breaking point with North Korea’s foot dragging on denuclearization happens.
North Korea likely had no plans of giving up their nukes, but were willing to pretend for a while to string the US along. However, the sharp rebuke they gave this weekend to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit may be linked to the China trade issue:
Senator Lindsey Graham
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) suggested on Sunday that China may have pressured North Korea to take a harder line against U.S. negotiators during a recent visit to the isolated country by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“I see China’s hands all over this,” Graham told “Fox News Sunday,” citing an ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China as Beijing’s possible motivation. “We’re in a fight with China.”
You can read more at the link, but if China continues to violate sanctions to support the Kim regime I wonder if at some point the Trump administration will consider sanctions on China as well.
I hope no one is surprised by this because this has always been one of the long game end states:
Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to work toward the eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea during their third summit in China, according to a Japanese press report.
The Asahi Shimbun reported Thursday the two leaders agreed to cooperate strategically on a shared objective of the removal of the 28,500 U.S. soldiers in the South, following the summit in Singapore where President Donald Trump described joint drills as “very provocative” and costly.
The Asahi’s source, described as well versed in China-North Korea affairs, said Beijing and Pyongyang also agreed to bide their time and not rush negotiations with Washington.
The report comes a day ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo‘s visit to Pyongyang, his third known trip to North Korea.
China and North Korea see an opportunity to ask U.S. troops to leave if and when a peace treaty is signed. [UPI]
You can read more at the link, but you can add the Russians and South Korean leftists to this list as well that want US troops off of the peninsula. Despite claims in the media that Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in want US troops to stay after any peace deal is reached, this is just all rhetoric to prevent energizing South Korean conservatives against Moon.
Remember Moon is a very skilled politician that needs to keep the Korean right at bay and public anxiety down. If he advocated openly for a USFK withdrawal that would give the South Korean right an issue to strongly attack him with and cause much public anxiety after decades of security guarantees provided by US forces. That is why I think the Moon administration will publicly say they support USFK staying, but will then have their surrogates do things to make life difficult for USFK.
Possibly the future of USFK after a peace treaty could look a lot like the current THAAD site in Seongju. President Moon will say all the right things that he supports USFK, just like he supposedly supports the THAAD site, but will set conditions to make it difficult for its continued existence and cause the US to withdraw troops on its own accord.
I read this article and it left me wondering why is the Korean government subsidizing Chinese electric buses and not domestically made ones?:
BYD eBus-12 / Courtesy of Ezwelfare
Concerns have grown over electric buses made in China, which are set to hit the Korean roads within a few months, taking advantage of the handsome subsidy given by the Korean government.
Industry officials point out the government policy may allow Chinese companies to take the lead in the Korean electric vehicle and battery markets, given that the buses are equipped with batteries made in China, the country which has remained reluctant to subsidize batteries produced by Korean companies.
According to industry officials, Wednesday, the Ministry of Environment decided last month to subsidize the eBus-12 made by BYD, China’s largest electric vehicle maker.
The 11-meter-long low-floor bus is powered by a 324-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack also made by BYD.
The subsidized bus is attracting clients with a more competitive price.
Because the environment ministry, the land ministry and local governments are giving subsidies to the bus maker, the subsidized bus costs 200 million won ($179,000) less than it would without the subsidies. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but the Chinese government is not subsidizing Korean made buses in China. So is the ROK government subsidizing these buses as part of some larger deal perhaps to get China to withdraw some of is economic sanctions caused by the phony THAAD controversy?
Part II of the third summit between Xi and KJU. Here's the same NK general who created controversy, defense minister Roh Gwang-chol, doing the same military salute at another summit. This is a big entourage: about twice the hangers-on that accompanied KJU to the 1st & 2nd summits pic.twitter.com/3O67f0f8jo
It looks like Kim Jong-un is getting his next marching orders from Chinese Emperor President Xi:
A vehicle forming part of the convoy believed to be that of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is seen in Beijing June 19, 2018, in this still image taken from Reuters TV footage.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has touched down in Beijing, marking his third visit to China in as many months.
In a rare move, Chinese state media have already confirmed Kim is visiting from June 19 to 20. Kim’s arrival in Beijing, just one week after his summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore, signifies the importance North Korea is placing on its close neighbor and historic ally.
The North Korean leader touched down on Tuesday morning with reporters spotting Kim’s $1 million armored Mercedes at the airport before a motorcade entered Beijing’s streets.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also visited Beijing last week during which China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke of “the importance of China being a constructive participant in the next steps.” [Business Insider]
You can read more at the link, but something else to keep in mind is that Kim Jong-un must be feeling very secure at home considering the amount of trips he has been taken outside of the country.
This is pretty audacious whoever is committing these attacks on US diplomats:
The State Department is evacuating several Americans from China amid health concerns about mysterious symptoms arising after unusual noises detected by U.S. diplomats and their families working in the consulate in Guangzhou. U.S. DEPT OF STATE
The State Department is evacuating several Americans from China amid health concerns about mysterious symptoms arising after unusual noises detected by U.S. diplomats and their families working in the consulate in Guangzhou.
After initial screenings by a medical team dispatched last month when the first incident was reported, the State Department has sent “a number” of affected people to the United States for further evaluation, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.
The evacuation was the first sign that the unexplained ailments previously known to have afflicted only one U.S. government employee in China has now broadened and threatens to become a full-blown health crisis like the one that affected at least 24 U.S. diplomats and their families in Cuba.
The latest round of evacuations began Wednesday in China, which was still Tuesday in the United States. More diplomats and their dependents are expected to be sent home in coming days. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but it is believed that the sonic attacks in Cuba were caused possibly by a flawed spying device. So whatever the spying device being used in Cuba was maybe it came from China and this same device malfunctioned while spying on US diplomats in Guangzhou as well?
