Tag: Kang Kyung-wha

I have never heard of a park that can stop invading troops and tanks. Too bad Syngman Rhee did not know about this back in 1950:

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Thursday that turning the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that bisects the two Koreas into a global peace zone will serve as a “physical guarantee of security” and solidify peace in the region.

She made the remark as Seoul was marking the 74th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations, referring to President Moon Jae-in’s proposal to the U.N. General Assembly in New York last month. 

“When the DMZ is turned into such a peace zone with the participation of the international community, it will surely serve as a physical guarantee of security of both Koreas, cement the foundation for lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and contribute to greater peace and stability in Northeast Asia,” Kang told a U.N. Day ceremony held in Seoul.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I wonder what the U.S. government’s definition of a “certain limit” is compared to the Moon administration’s?:

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said her country and the United States determined that North Korea’s short-range missile launches in May did not “deserve” suspending talks with the regime.
Speaking Friday at a security forum in Bratislava, Slovakia, Kang said South Korea and the U.S. analyzed the launches in early May and “decided to take a cool headed approach about this.”
“We said this doesn’t deserve breaking the momentum for dialogue,” she told the forum in English, according to an AP transcript. “But if it reaches, the provocation reaches a certain limit and that cannot be tolerated, clearly it goes back to more pressure.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest diplomatic spat between Japan and the Moon administration:

South Korea voiced strong regret Tuesday about the Japanese foreign minister’s reported comments on soured bilateral relations in another sign of a deepening rift over history issues.

South Korea’s top diplomat, Kang Kyung-wha, earlier said she’s considering a visit to Japan, although no schedule has been set, in a bid to mend fences.

Her counterpart, Taro Kono, however, said in a meeting with Japanese lawmakers that Kang does not need to come to Japan without a “proper” response to his government’s demands, according to NHK.

Late last month, South Korea’s Supreme Court ordered a Japanese steelmaker to compensate four Korean men for their wartime forced labor.

Seoul also announced a decision to disband a Tokyo-funded foundation on Korean women forced into sexual slavery by Japanese troops during World War II.  (……)

A senior South Korean official expressed concern about Kono’s reported remark on Kang’s possible trip there.

“If it’s true, I think it’s undiplomatic and inappropriate as a foreign minister in charge of diplomatic relations,” the official told reporters, saying his statement reflects Seoul’s formal view on the matter.

He added the government is very concerned that Japan’s leaders continue provocative rhetoric with regard to the Seoul court’s ruling in ignorance of the fundamental problem.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

I still can’t think of one thing the Kim regime has done to really denuclearize or even pose less of a threat to the ROK.  The North Korean artillery and troops are still forward deployed on the DMZ.  Why doesn’t the Moon administration at least demand they withdraw North Korean troops 50 kilometers north of the DMZ for example before considering dropping sanctions?:

South Korea is reviewing whether to lift its sanctions against North Korea, Seoul’s top diplomat said Wednesday, amid a summit-driven reconciliatory mood.

“A review (of the issue) is under way” in consultation with other related government agencies, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told lawmakers during an annual parliamentary audit of the ministry. She did not elaborate.

The Ministry of Unification, which handles inter-Korean affairs, is in charge of the issue.

Kang was responding to a question about whether the government is willing to lift the sanctions, called the May 24 Measure, imposed after the North’s deadly torpedo attack on a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, in 2010.

The previous conservative administration of Lee Myung-bak introduced the sanctions to prevent almost all inter-Korean ties except for humanitarian assistance.

Despite some cross-border exchanges this year, the main elements of the sanctions, such as a ban on trade and investment, remain valid, overlapping with the U.N.-led punishments of Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile programs.

Kang indicated that the government is considering the removal of the May 24 Measure largely as a symbolic step meant to help improve the Seoul-Pyongyang relations.

“It’s an important executive order. (We) have constantly reviewed it,” she pointed out. “As there are many (bilateral) sanctions overlapping the U.N. ones, it won’t necessarily mean the substantive lifting (of sanctions on the North).”  [Yonhap]

The dropping of the sanctions by the ROK just further signals to other countries that it is okay to trade with North Korea.  We already see various countries helping North Korea cheat on sanctions and South Korea is just giving them further reason why it is okay to cheat.

We could all see this coming, the leftists in the Moon administration want to get special exceptions to the international sanctions on North Korea:

South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Monday rejected concerns about Seoul’s alleged move to ease international sanctions on Pyongyang, saying it is seeking an “exception” to facilitate cross-border exchanges.

Kang made the remarks upon arrival from her visit to the United States, amid media speculation that she stressed the need for an easing of the sanctions during her meetings with the U.N. Security Council member states.

“Now is not a phase when sanctions are being eased. … It is not an easing of sanctions,” the minister said. “(What I stressed) was to get exceptions from the sanctions, which are needed for inter-Korean projects.”

Since early this year, concerns have persisted that Seoul’s push for an increase in cross-border exchanges could contribute to an unraveling of the sanctions regime, which analysts said has helped Pyongyang change its calculus on its nuclear program.

Asked about whether her visit to the U.S. this time was aimed at playing a role as an intermediary between Washington and Pyongyang, Kang stressed the importance of communication between the allies.  [Yonhap]

If the Trump administration allows the easing of sanctions that would allow the reopening of the Kaesong Industrial Complex and the joint-tourism projects in North Korea they might as well scrap the sanctions all together.  These former joint-projects were major generators of foreign revenue for the Kim regime that gave them the resources necessary to develop their nuclear program in the first place.

Wouldn’t it be great if when Secretary of State Pompeo meets with Kang Kyung-wha he instead briefs her on a plan to introduce new sanctions due to nothing significant having been reaching on North Korea’s denuclearization?

Even if Kim Jong-un supposedly gave his word to seek denuclearization he could still very easily blame the ROK and the US for some made up reason to scrap any denuclearization deal that is made:

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha expressed confidence in North Korea’s commitment to abandon its nuclear weapons program, saying the regime’s leader gave “his word.”

This month North Korean leader Kim Jong-un conveyed in a verbal message to U.S. President Donald Trump that he is committed to denuclearization and would stop all nuclear and missile tests. He also invited Trump to a summit, and the U.S. president accepted the offer.

“He has given his word,” Kang told U.S. broadcaster CBS in an interview filmed Saturday and aired Sunday. “But the significance of his word is quite weighty in the sense that this is the first time that the words came directly from the North Korean supreme leader himself. And that has never been done before.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Pyongyang calls Moon Jae-In's Foreign Minister a "dolt." Who can find the Korean version? What word does it use?https://t.co/1kVrV7AMFU pic.twitter.com/lCfwPJfQ4S

— Joshua Stanton (@freekorea_us) July 2, 2017

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha is aboard an Apache helicopter during a visit to the U.S. Forces Korea’s Camp Red Cloud in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, on June 25, 2017, the 67th anniversary of the Korean War. (Yonhap)