Category Archive: China

Jan 28

Kim Jong-Il initially opposed hereditary succession

Categories:

China, Kim Jong-Il, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Succession

January 28, 2011

jong-nam-2011

Kim Jong-Nam, the often outspoken eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, has once again made public statements about North Korea’s upcoming 3rd generation hereditary succession. Jong-Nam, long believed by Pyongyang observers to be the favourite for eventually replacing his father but fell out of favour with North Korea after getting caught entering Japan with a fake passport to visit Tokyo Disneyland in 2001, has previously commented on his negative views of the succession process. Now the disowned son has some clarifications on those comments, including the new revelation that Kim Jong-Il himself disagreed with the anti-socialist concept of another hereditary succession:

[Hereditary succession] “does not fit with socialism, and my father was against it as well… My understanding is that [succession] was to stabilize the internal system. An unstable North Korea leads to instability in the region.”

Regarding his younger half-brother Kim Jong-Un, the favoured choice for the succession:

“I want him to take over the great works my father has done. I want him to enrich people’s lives… Those are my honest wishes for my brother. They did not mean to challenge or criticize him.”

Kim Jong-Nam currently has two wives and 3 children among them, and presumably visits between them in northern Beijing and Macau. He is apparently an avid gambler, enjoys living a life of luxury, and may have once been the target of an attack by North Korean agents for speaking too openly about the DPRK’s policies.

Source: Associated Press / Tokyo Shimbun

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/761

Jan 24

Talks to soon resume between North and South Korea

Categories:

China, Military, North Korea, Nuclear, South Korea, USA, War

January 24, 2011

panmunjom

After several months of declining a return to the negotiation table, South Korea has warmed up to resuming conditional talks with North Korea. The announcement, from the South’s Unification Ministry, comes shortly after a much publicized meeting between US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao, in which Obama warned Jintao that a larger American military presence may be required in South Korea if China was unable to reign in the belligerent North Korea.

The talks will mark the end of a 2 year hardline stance taken by South Korea’s Lee Myung-Bak and the Obama administration to enforce strict economic sanctions, deprive the North of essential foreign food aid and refusals to return to Six Party Talks which North Korea originally walked out on in April 2009. Initial talks between high level military officials on either side will determine the path forward for future discussions and the possible resumption of the 6PT and the denuclearization of North Korea.

My own opinion is that this is a rotten idea. This follows North Korea’s tried and true pattern of creating an emergency through increased provocation, taking international condemnation, rattling the nuclear weapon saber and then returning to talks and aid resumption in exchange for a short duration of “good behaviour”.

Source: Reuters

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/758

Jan 24

Public executions in North over South Korean leaflets

Categories:

China, Defection, Kim Jong-Il, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Propaganda, South Korea, Succession

January 24, 2011

Leaflet dropping via balloons released from South Korea to float into residential areas of the North have been commonplace for years in North Korea. The leaflets are often released by human rights groups from Seoul and contain details of the more comfortable lifestyle of South Koreans, truths about North Korea’s leadership, and sometimes money and shortwave radios. North Korean authorities dispatch teams to collect and destroy many of these leaflets, and encourage people who have found them to turn them in without reading them, and report anyone who is seen reading them. Often the punishment for being caught will be time spent in a “re-education” camp, or a lighter sentence may be imposed if bribes are accepted.

In a clear example to North Koreans that reading these leaflets or pocketing their contents is unacceptable, officials in Sariwon in North Hwanghae Province gathered 500 people to witness the execution of a 45 year old woman accused of reading the pamphlets and a high ranking soldier for pocketing money from a balloon. The families of both executions were then sent to labour camps.

Recently, North Korean soldiers killed 5 and wounded 2 defectors, chasing them right across the Chinese border and shooting them on Chinese soil. The increased punishment for dissidence may be seen as a warning to those opposing the 3rd generation succession process, as son Kim Jong-Un slowly gets his feet wet under father Kim Jong-Il’s tutelage in Pyongyang.

Source: The Chosun Ilbo (2)

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/755

Jan 13

Analysis: Escalated provocations from North Korea in 2011

Categories:

China, Diplomacy, Economy, Kim Jong-Un, Military, North Korea, Nuclear, South Korea, Succession, USA, War

January 13, 2011

Famed North Korea analyst Andrei Lankov has an interesting analysis of the events that unfolded on the Korean peninsula in 2010, and what this may lead to in the new year. In a nutshell: in response to a more hard line stance from the US and South Korea, North Korea has spent the last 3 years manufacturing hostility on the Korea peninsula. A ramped up nuclear programme complete with detonation tests, the sinking of the Cheonan in March 2010 and the artillery shelling of Yeonpyeong Island this past November are all major events aimed at getting the US/SK to warm up to a return to diplomatic discussions. These talks historically result in the North receiving food and construction supplies from their enemies – their primary survival strategy.

However, this strategy didn’t work this time. The US is still not willing to negotiate, and the South has demonstrated that they can enact elaborate military exercises without reprisal from the DPRK (despite countless threats of war if they proceeded). As war would likely quickly devastate either side, North Korea has backed down from its threats, perhaps to execute a counter-offensive at a time of its own choosing. Relations with China remain stable, but aid from their only real ally may not be enough to boost the economy enough to bolster support for future president Kim Jong-Un. 2011 may be the year North Korea really pushes the envelope; a potential third nuclear test fire, development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, and border skirmishes are all possibilities to increase the stakes in a calculated (and perhaps desperate) attempt to get everyone back around the negotiation table.

Source: Asia Times Online

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/745

Dec 31

North Korean shipping vessel sinks in Yellow Sea

Categories:

China, Economy, North Korea

December 31, 2010

kongbong

A North Korean cargo ship with 20 crewmembers sank today, with 2 sailors confirmed dead, 15 missing and 3 rescued. The ship, called Kang Bong, sank in gale force winds just 120 nautical miles east of Lianyungang Port, China. A Chinese rescue ship is inbound, as well as two helicopters, but the intense winds make rescue operations difficult.

Source: XinhuaNet

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/737

Dec 18

North Korea vows harsh retaliation if Yeonpyeong drills begin

Categories:

China, Military, North Korea, Russia, South Korea, USA, War

December 18, 2010

sk_soldiers_yeonpyeong

South Korea this Saturday has delayed planned artillery drills from Yeonpyeong Island, the contested island near the Northern Limit Line battered by North Korean artillery on November 23rd. The cause of the delay is “bad weather”, however South Korea has been under a lot of foreign pressure from Russia and China to scrap the drills in order to ease tensions on the peninsula. The North has been very vocal over their protesting of the drills, but despite military threats, the drills are said to be proceeding regardless sometime before Tuesday.

The citizens who haven’t already evacuated Yeonpyeong are understandably nervous; if South Korea goes through with these drills, there can be no saying if North Korea won’t stick to its words and attack again. North Korea’s state news mouthpiece, KCNA, accused the US of using the remaining civilians on the island as a “human shield” against a North Korean attack. Such a provocation could ignite further disputes and potentially lead to all out war between the Koreas. Both sides have a lot to lose from a rekindled war.

Source: Associated Press / Yonhap News / KCNA

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/722

Dec 16

Bill Richardson arrives in Pyongyang

Categories:

China, North Korea, USA

December 16, 2010

New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who has made several diplomatic trips to North Korea in the past, has arrived in Pyongyang with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer tagging along. In an interview at Beijing airport, Richardson said the following:

“We are heading to North Korea in hopes of bringing peace. My message is that we need to persuade them to stop some of the aggressive actions that North Korea has taken… I hope I can help out. I hope I can make a difference… Whenever the North Koreans contact me, they always want to send a message of some kind. My hope is that they provide messages that can lessen tensions on the Korean peninsula.”

Blitzer, a seasoned reporter who has not been to North Korea in the past, will be providing press coverage of Richardson’s talks and travels. Richardson was invited to North Korea by Kim Kye-Gwan, DPRK’s top nuclear negotiator. The trip begins today and is scheduled to end on the 20th. 

Source: Associated Press / CNN

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/719

Dec 15

North Korean restaurants abroad

Categories:

China, North Korea, Offbeat, South Korea, Tourism

December 15, 2010

nangmyonWith the defection of a North Korean restaurant manager from Nepal to India, The Chosun Ilbo has a nice article about the profitability of North Korea managing restaurants abroad. These restaurants are known as Okryugwan, originating in Pyongyang and spreading to nearby countries. North Korean specialty foods such as cold noodles and steamed crab are popular in South Korea and other Asian countries. As a result, North Korea sends some of its most educated people abroad to run and wait restaurants serving their native cuisine. Such restaurants are typically run following the ideological values of North Korea, sending most of their profits to their home country, often 100 000-300 000 won per year. However, since exposure to the outside capitalist world inevitably sets in, most North Koreans working abroad do so for a maximum of 3 years before they are returned home. In the case of the North Korean restaurant owner in Nepal, he is believed to have “taken the money and run” to India, on the run as a defector from the North Korean iron fist.

Source: The Chosun Ilbo / AFP

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/717

Dec 10

Lee Myung-bak: "Reunification is drawing near”

Categories:

China, North Korea, Reunification, War

December 10, 2010

lee-myung-bak

South Korean president Lee Myung-Bak, on a trip to Malaysia to discuss a possible free trade agreement between the two countries, denounced North Korea as “one of the most belligerent nations in the world”. He also made a cryptic comment twice on his trip: “Reunification is drawing near”. Certainly with escalating tensions between the warring states, rampant military exercises and shows of force on both sides, and a proposed Reunification Tax, Myung-Bak’s administration may be readying itself for an inevitable war.

However, if such a war were to be reignited, there would be many years of fallout (figuratively, we hope) on what to do with a 24 million strong population of malnutritioned and ideologically unsound North Koreans. Regime change seems a logical direction for the South, with the rogue state attempting to weaponize it’s nuclear capabilities, an inexperienced son being prepared to succeed his deteriorating father as leader, and a crippled economy still reeling from last year’s currency reform. Would China step in to defend the DPRK? Would Seoul, as has been predicted for decades, become flattened immediately by a barrage from the North? The implications are far reaching, and I’m sure most South Korean citizens would be perfectly content to maintain the “status quo”.

Source: Associated Press

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/714

Dec 10

China’s foreign policymaker meets KJI in Pyongyang

Categories:

China, Kim Jong-Il, North Korea, South Korea

December 10, 2010

12-9-231-06

Dai Bingguo, a senior foreign policymaker for China, met with Kim Jong-Il in Pyongyang on Thursday. Both Chinese and North Korean media has had little to report on the meeting, only to state that the discussions were to boost friendly relations between the allies, and address mutual concerns over tensions on the Korean peninsula.

China is playing its old hand of supporting the North by not openly denouncing their military actions against the South. Perhaps the lack of condemnation, and recent meetings between the countries is to diffuse the excitement over the recently released Wikileaks cable, suggesting that China has little clout with North Korea, and would accept a Seoul-led unified Korea.

Source: AFP / KCNA

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/707

Older posts «

» Newer posts