Has anyone asked President Moon what he thinks about his new best friend locking away whole families in prison camps?:
Kim Ok
Former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s secretary Kim Ok, once rumored to be the late ruler’s secret fourth wife, appears to have been sent to a prison camp, a local government official exclusively told the JoongAng Ilbo on Wednesday.
South Korean intelligence authorities concluded that Kim Ok was imprisoned after Kim Jong-il died in December 2011, according to the source, who requested anonymity. Kim Ok appears to have been sent to a prison camp for political criminals in 2014 for her links to Jang Song-thaek, the uncle of current North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Jang was once considered the second most powerful man in the regime.
Jang was executed on Dec. 12, 2013, nearly two years after Kim Jong-un took power following his father’s death. At the time, Jang served as vice chairman of the Workers’ Party’s Central Military Commission and chief of the Central Administrative Department. He was apprehended in November 2013 along with his close aides, kicked out of the party and tried in a special military tribunal. He was found guilty of “anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts in a bid to overthrow the leadership of the party and state and the socialist system,” in the words of North Korea’s official media.
Kim Ok is still alive, the South Korean government official said. Her close family members were all imprisoned as well, according to the source, but it is not known whether they’re still alive.
Kim Ok, who is 53, was seen shadowing Kim Jong-il inside and outside North Korea wherever he went. This caused local analysts to believe she was the late leader’s fourth wife, though North Korean media identified her as his secretary. She was so close to Kim Jong-il that when he visited China in May 2011, she sat next to him in his private vehicle. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
I would love to see someone in the media interview a victim’s family member from the Cheonan attack about this protest in support of Kim Jong-un in downtown Seoul:
South Koreans stage a rally praising North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in front of the KT building in Gwanghwamun Square, central Seoul, on Sunday. The rally was organized by the Paektu Praise Committee, a radical activist group. Participants in the rally wear flower headpieces as they hold up signs welcoming Kim’s possible visit to Seoul. [NEWS1]A pro-North Korean group staged a rally praising North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Gwanghwamun Square, central Seoul, on Sunday, despite being reported multiple times for violating the National Security Act.
The rally was organized by the Paektu Praise Committee, a radical activist group. It was not stopped by police even after conservative groups filed complaints against the organization for praising the North Korean leader, which is a violation of South Korea’s National Security Law.
About 50 members of the Paektu Praise Committee participated in Sunday’s rally. During the protest, members praised Kim in speeches and dedicated a dance performance in his name. Some of the speakers were children and teenagers. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but what a disgrace the Korean far left is praising a ruthless killer like Kim Jong-un.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits the Taegwan Glass Factory in North Pyongan Province, in the country’s northwest, in these photos published by the Rodong Sinmun on Nov. 18, 2018. The plant was put on South Korea’s sanctions list in 2016 for producing lenses for military use. (Yonhap)
This October 2018 file photo shows President Moon Jae-in patting a female dog named Gomi, one of the two Pungsan-breed dogs given to Moon by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after their third summit in Pyongyang in September. Moon said in a Twitter message on Nov. 12, 2018, that Gomi gave birth to six white puppies — three male and three female — on Nov. 9 and all look healthy. (Yonhap)
#MoonJaein working hard for #KimJongun again. Said "I'd appreciate the National Assembly issuing a statement welcoming chairman Kim." Also want Kim to address the Natl Assembly. Meanwhile, he shirks his presidential duties, like meeting foreign leaders.https://t.co/VRrBKysJM0
What I would not be surprised to see happen is that Kim Jong-un cancels the visit to Seoul because sanctions are not dropped by the US:
President Moon Jae-in told parliamentary floor leaders Monday that it is unclear whether North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will visit Seoul within this year as promised because the visit is linked closely to a second summit between the North and the United States, officials said.
Moon also said during a meeting with the floor leaders of the ruling and opposition parties that the government is thinking about whether Kim’s visit should take place before or after the North-U.S. summit that has been postponed until early next year.
“For now, we’re making preparations on the assumption that it’s going to take place within this year,” Moon said during the meeting, according to participants from the parties.
Moon said he hopes Kim’s visit to Seoul will be realized so that it can serve as a dramatic turning point in relations between the two sides. Moon also said he hopes the National Assembly will release a statement welcoming Kim’s visit. [Yonhap]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits the construction site of the Wonsan-Kalma resort area on the country’s east coast in this photo capture from the North’s Central TV on Nov. 1, 2018. The country’s media said Kim berated the international sanctions on his country during the visit, blaming them for standing in the North’s “way toward the promotion of people’s wellbeing and development” and for forcing its submission. (Yonhap)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un tours a township construction site in Samjiyon County in northeastern North Korea in this combined photo carried by the Rodong Sinmun, the North’s ruling party organ, on Oct. 30, 2018. It marks his third visit to the site this year. (Yonhap)
President Moon Jae-in said Sunday that he could give North Korea’s Kim Jong-un a tour of Mount Halla, South Korea’s tallest mountain, on the southern island of Jeju, if the leader comes for a visit.
Moon made the remarks in response to a reporter’s question about what he would show Kim should the communist leader reciprocate his own visit to Pyongyang last month for the third inter-Korean summit aimed at fostering inter-Korean rapprochement and cooperation.
“As we have an expression like ‘from Mount Paekdu to Mount Halla,’ I could give him a tour of Mount Halla if (he) wants,” Moon said during talks with reporters after climbing up to a peak of Mount Bukak just behind the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul. [Yonhap]
It looks like Kim Jong-un may be heading off to Russia in the near future:
Valentina Matviyenko, chairwoman of Russia’s Federation Council,shakes hands with Seoul’s National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong at the presidential office in Seoul on Friday. Yonhap
Pyongyang and Moscow are working to arrange an official visit to Russia for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, a top Russian politician revealed Friday.
“(I) attended North Korea’s 70th foundation anniversary event on orders from President Putin,” Valentina Matviyenko, chairwoman of Russia’s Federation Council, told Seoul’s National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong ahead of her meeting with President Moon Jae-in. “There was a meeting with Chairman Kim Jong-un. (Moscow and Pyongyang) are negotiating on the dates and location of the Chairman Kim Jong-un’s visit to Russia.”
Matviyenko’s comments confirm rumors that have been circulating for some time, regarding the possibility that Kim might be planning to travel to Moscow in the near future. [Korea Herald]
You can read more at the link, but this could just be more optics to make Kim Jong-un look more like a legitimate world leader by visiting Russia. The timing of this will be interesting to see if he visits Putin before meeting with President Trump if a second Trump-Kim summit does in fact happen.
