Tag: Libya

Unlike the last hostage crisis the ROK was involved in, the Moon administration cannot blame this one on the United States:

President Moon Jae-in ordered the use of Korea’s “utmost abilities” and resources to rescue a Korean citizen who has been held by unidentified armed militants in Libya for nearly a month, according to the Blue House Thursday. Three Philippine nationals are also being held.

An anti-piracy unit operating in the Gulf of Aden, which is on a 4,400-ton Korean Navy destroyer, has been deployed to North African waters to lend support.

On July 6, an unidentified armed group entered lodgings for foreign workers at a local water management plant in Jabal Hasouna, western Libya, and abducted the Korean and three Filipinos. They took off with goods as well. A video clip of the hostages was circulated on Facebook on Wednesday, and the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially confirmed later that day that a Korean national was among the four men held in Libya.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but really long time ROK Heads may remember when the Korean missionaries were taken hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan back in 2007, South Korea’s leftists blamed the US for the incident.  The Chief of Staff of the left wing Roh Moo-hyun administration in power during this time was current ROK President Moon Jae-in.

The Blue House is now letting it be known that North Korea is not serious about denuclearization:

Libya’s process of denuclearization, in which rewards were provided after the regime made an instantaneous decision and completely dismantled its nuclear program, cannot be applied to resolving the North Korea nuclear issue, a Cheong Wa Dae official said Friday.

He hinted at solutions through phrased disarmament and verification, which is somewhat different from hard-line U.S. officials’ preference for a package settlement similar to the Libya disarmament process

Libya gave up its nuclear and other destructive weapons in 2003, in return for normalization of relations with the U.S. and easing of economic sanctions. Attention has grown over the Libyan case as the White House’s newly appointed national security adviser, John Bolton, has backed this model as a means to address North Korea.

“I believe it is impossible to apply the Libyan process to North Korea,” the senior official told reporters on condition of anonymity.  [Korea Times]

This based off of Kim Jong-un’s comments during his trip to China that North Korea would only denuclearize on a step-by-step basis.  In other words nothing has changed from past nuclear negotiations where the Kim regime seeks major concessions for little to nothing in return and then tear up the agreement at a time of their choosing.  Some how I do not see the Trump administration signing up for any deal like that.

Mr. Bolton just needs to make sure that no one brings up what happened to Libya after the nuclear deal:

Washington’s newly appointed national security advisor John Bolton may seek a comprehensive denuclearization deal with North Korea as the U.S. used to disarm Libya in the early 2000s.

Bolton has referred to the Libya case as a means to denuclearize Pyongyang. The remark was made as leaders of North Korea and the U.S. are set to meet in May to discuss the North’s denuclearization.

In 2003, Libya agreed to destroy all of its chemical, nuclear and biological weapons stockpiles, and its nuclear weapons program equipment was shipped to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in the U.S. the following year.

The dismantlement was made in exchange for the normalization of Libya’s relations with the U.S. and Europe and the easing of economic sanctions it had been under.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, however unlike Libya, if North Korea does give up its nuclear weapons they have a large enough conventional military capability to threaten Seoul that any future regime change attack is unlikely.

2 Killed In Attack On South Korean Embassy In Libya.