6/2/2020 News & Commentary - Korea

News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Duncan Moore.

1. Kim is back, but North Korea still isn't stable

2. North Korea denies US hacking accusations

3.  North Korea's police state hints at virus victory

4. N. Korea's main paper highlights leader Kim's love for people

5. North Korea: bombshell evidence shows Kim Jong-un's sister 'will rule hermit state'

6. Kim Jong-un fury: how North Korean leader's 'executed' girlfriend reappeared

7.  Burden-sharing talks are distracting Washington and Seoul from the North Korean threat

8. Donald Trump should switch to cooperation as Kim Jong Un emphasizes confrontation

9. After containing covid-19, South Korea primed for Israeli innovation

10. S. Korea expects to become formal member of expanded G7: Cheong Wa Dae

11. Yoon pressures North Korean defectors to return to North Korea

12. Who Is Park Eunmi? North Korean woman smuggled herself to China in search of better future

 

1. Kim is back, but North Korea still isn't stable

Foreign Policy · by Duyeon Kim and Leif-Eric Easley · June 1, 2020

We must continue to observe the indicators and discern the relative stability within North Korea, because if it suffers from internal instability the effects could be catastrophic. No one should wish for collapse, but we had better be prepared to deal with it. The authors are correct here: it is internal politics that will drive Kim Jong-Un’s decision making and it is imperative the ROK/US alliance be strong and prepared to respond to what happens next in Pyongyang. And I would add we need to be proactive through our own superior form of political warfare to influence internal decision making.

 

2. North Korea denies US hacking accusations

Cyberscoop.com · by Jeff Stone · June 1, 2020

Admit nothing, deny everything, and make counteraccusations. North Korea doth protest too much.

 

3.  North Korea's police state hints at virus victory

Asiatimes.com · by Andrew Salmon · June 1, 2020

Has it "beaten" the virus or has it just used its extraordinary population and resources control measures and specifically the ability to control information and prevent any knowledge of an outbreak from getting to the outside world?

 

4. N. Korea's main paper highlights leader Kim's love for people

En.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · June 2, 2020

The words of all dictators. Somehow I do not think Kim Jong-un is a benevolent dictator. I suppose he expresses his "love" through Songbun, the social classification system that divides the people into 51 classes. Perhaps he does "love" those who demonstrate personal loyalty to him (because that is the only way to survive and "advance" as well as any can advance within that society). Or perhaps he expresses his love through the "rule of threes" - if anyone demonstrates disloyalty to the regime that person and three of his or her generations will be sent to the gulags (or worse). I am just not seeing a "whole lotta love" (apologies to Led Zeppelin) from Kim Jong-un and the mafia-like crime family cult known as the Kim family regime.

 

5. North Korea: bombshell evidence shows Kim Jong-un's sister 'will rule hermit state'

Express · by Josh Saunders · June 2, 2020

Spoiler alert: the author thinks it is because she heads up the Propaganda and Agitation Department. That does not sound like bombshell evidence to me, though I suppose that it is the type of headline that might come from Kim Yo Jong's organization.

 

6. Kim Jong-un fury: how North Korean leader's 'executed' girlfriend reappeared

Express · by Charlie Bradley · June 1, 2020

Typical North Korea. Whenever you hear about the execution or purge of North Koreans, you need to take it with a grain of salt. They could very well be "resurrected" or rehabilitated at some future date.

 

7. Burden-sharing talks are distracting Washington and Seoul from the North Korean threat

The Washington Post · by Ami Bera and Victor Cha · June 1, 2020

We have to fix this. But I fear our transnational alliance relationships are here to stay and that is not good for our alliance structure and US national power.

But we have to understand that neither the US nor the ROK will be successful in dealing with North Korea unless their actions rest on the foundation of strong ROK/US alliance. And our demands on burden sharing are undermining the alliance. Transaction-based or an alliance built on shared interests, shared values, and shared strategy?

And we can never forget that the North poses an existential threat to the ROK and that it is a US national interest to deter a war on the peninsula. 

 

8. Donald Trump should switch to cooperation as Kim Jong Un emphasizes confrontation

The National Interest · by Doug Bandow · June 1, 2020

Cooperation is code for lifting sanctions. Cooperation is a one-sided with North Korea getting all the benefits while providing no reciprocal actions. And an arms control regime is exactly what Kim Jong-un would like to secure victory for his blackmail diplomacy strategy (provocations and increased tension to gain political and economic concessions). Kim would like arms control negotiations because that would be an admission that the North is a nuclear power (and it enhance his reputation and make him feel he is a co-equal to the US like the USSR was during the Cold War). This would mean his long con, supported by his political warfare with Juche characteristics, will achieve his short term and interim goals of lifting sanctions and keeping his nuclear weapons (while of course his long term goal remains to dominate the peninsula and bring it under the rule of the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State).

 

9. After containing covid-19, South Korea primed for Israeli innovation

Algemeiner.com · by Allon Sinai / CTech · June 1, 2020

 

10. S. Korea expects to become formal member of expanded G7: Cheong Wa Dae

En.yna.co.kr · by Lee Chi-dong · June 2, 2020

I wonder if there is going to be any friction within the G7 about "growing it." There certainly is over the proposal to bring Russia back into it. But will the addition of South Korea and other countries be accepted? Usually, before such announcements are made, there is diplomatic coordination behind the scenes to prepare the environment for the action. Has that happened in this case or are we shooting from the hip?

 

11. Yoon Pressures North Korean Defectors to Return to North Korea

One Korea Network · June 2, 2020

It is impossible for me to imagine anyone in South Korea who would pressure an escapee to return to the North. This truly saddens me. Yoon Mi-hyang is a real piece of work.

 

12. Who Is Park Eunmi? North Korean Woman Smuggled Herself to China in Search of Better Future

Ibtimes.sg · by Bhaswati Guha Majumder · June 1, 2020

Another incredible person and story. Video included.

 

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