This is all part of North Korea’s strategy to pressure the U.S. to drop sanctions:
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during an event to celebrate the 76th anniversary of the country’s Workers’ Party in Pyongyang, North Korea Sunday, Oct. 10, 2021. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: “KCNA” which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea said Monday leader Kim Jong Un urged officials to overcome a “grim situation” facing the country and make stronger efforts to improve the food and living conditions of his people.
But state media didn’t mention any specific comments toward Washington and Seoul while reporting on Kim’s speech marking the 76th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party’s founding.
Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled for more than two years over disagreements in exchanging the release of crippling U.S.-led sanctions against North Korea and the North’s denuclearization steps.
The country has ramped up its missile testing activity in recent weeks while making conditional peace offers to Seoul, reviving a pattern of pressuring South Korea to get what it wants from the United States.
You can read more at the link, but Kim Jong-un is inferring that the U.S. is responsible for the poor living conditions of his people. He is trying to make the case that dropping sanctions is a humanitarian issue. However all of us who follow North Korea issues know when sanctions were dropped in the past it was used to further develop their ballistic missile and nuclear programs. Why would this time be any different?
Even though the Blue House is saying this summit negotiations are not true, I still believe there is something back channel going on to explain the good behavior of the Kim regime in recent months:
South Korean President Moon Jae-in (R) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in a file photo provided by Yonhap News TV
The office of President Moon Jae-in dismissed a news report Wednesday that the two Koreas are in talks to arrange another summit.
Quoting unnamed government sources, Reuters reported that the two sides are seeking to hold summit talks between Moon and the North’s leader Kim Jong-un. One of the sources was quoted as adding that a virtual summit could be an option due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The foreign news report is not true,” Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee said in a brief statement. “There has been no (relevant) discussion.”
N.K. leader joins photo session with cell secretaries North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (front) attends a group photo session in Pyongyang on April 13, 2021, with cell secretaries of North Korea’s Workers’ Party from across the nation who received lectures from April 9-11, in this photo captured from the North’s Korean Central Television the next day. (Yonhap)
This could be the Kim regime preparing their people for an upcoming provocation cycle and whatever repercussions come from it:
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a closing speech at the Sixth Conference of Cell Secretaries of the Workers’ Party of Korea in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, April 8, 2021.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for waging another “arduous march” to fight severe economic difficulties, for the first time comparing them to a 1990s famine that killed hundreds of thousands.
Kim had previously said his country faces the “worst-ever” situation due to several factors, including the coronavirus pandemic, U.S.-led sanctions and natural disasters last summer. But it’s the first time he publicly drew parallel with the deadly famine.
Just noticed, while DPRK made big show about no covid DPRK and zero cases and also Kim not wearing mask at the parade. I just noticed he had face mask at hand briefly visible on podium next to his papers. pic.twitter.com/wOJvLqcWjD
You can tell that President Trump loves taking shots the intellectual elites in the U.S. government:
The photo, released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (front, second from L) speaking to former NBA star Dennis Rodman (front, R) while watching a friendly basketball game between North Korean players and ex-NBA players in Pyongyang on Jan. 8, 2014.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday acknowledged that he had considered sending former Chicago Bulls basketball player Dennis Rodman to North Korea to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
“He really does like Dennis Rodman, I will tell you. It’s sort of great. I always said Dennis would be better than some of these staffs that they used to send over to get to know him (Kim),” Trump said in an interview with Fox Sports Radio.
The sudden revelation came after the show’s host asked if Trump and Kim had ever talked about basketball.
Trump and Kim held three meeting between June 2018 and June 2019.
“He really did like Dennis Rodman. And they said we should maybe use him instead of somebody that graduated No. 1 at Harvard. Maybe we should use that and so I thought about that,” said Trump.
It will be interesting to see if there is any North Korean reaction to this latest news from Woodward’s book:
Kim Jong-un’s deceased uncle Jang Song-take.
The headless body of Kim Jong Un’s executed uncle was displayed to senior North Korean officials, US President Donald Trump told the author of an upcoming book on the US president.
Jang Song Thaek, the North Korean leader’s uncle by marriage and a hugely powerful figure within the regime, was purged for treason and corruption in 2013, in what was widely seen as Kim mercilessly asserting his authority.
Kim “tells me everything. Told me everything,” Trump told the Washington Post investigative journalist Bob Woodward, according to his forthcoming book “Rage”.
“He killed his uncle and he put the body right in the steps,” Trump said, in an apparent reference to a building used by senior officials.
“And the head was cut, sitting on the chest,” he added in excerpts from the book seen by AFP.
