Joe Biden's North Korea pretend policy will fail gettyimagesbankBy Harry J. Kazianis For roughly 30 years, the United States has maintained a policy that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) ― known in most circles as North Korea ― should never be able to research, create, deploy, or proliferate nuclear weapons. Clearly, by any reasonable measure, that policy has failed miserably, and now, North Korea is on the cusp of ― or already has ― the capability to strike the U.S. homeland with a nuclear weapon. So why does America stick to the same old failed policy year after year, no matter who sits in the White House, regardless of who they are, what party they are from or what their foreign policy perspective is? How can the world's most powerful nation seemingly stick with a policy that ensures that a rogue regime like Pyongyang continues to build ever more powerful nuclear weapons? These nuclear weapons soon could be deployed on submarines or, even far more worrisome, be sold in some capacity to the highest bidder? Harry Kazianis, senior director at Center for the National Interest / Korea Times fileSimple: no U.S. presideFeb 2, 2021
Energy ministry unveils document to calm dispute over North Korea reactor plan South Korea's energy ministry disclosed its document about the possibility of building a nuclear power plant in North Korea, Monday. Courtesy of Ministry of Trade, Industry and EnergySouth Korea's energy ministry on Monday made public an internal document about the possibility of building a nuclear power plant in North Korea to defuse "unnecessary" political turmoil sparked by a report on the paper's existence. A TV station reported earlier that documents on a nuclear power project in the North were among hundreds of computer files that industry and energy ministry officials deleted ahead of the state audit agency's inspection of atomic energy policies.The report triggered speculation that the Moon Jae-in administration may have pushed for a secret plan to build an atomic power plant in the North and that Moon may have delivered the proposal to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their summit in April 2018. Kim Chong-in, the interim leader of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), called the alleged plan an "act benefiting the enemy."The energy ministry said it unveiled theFeb 2, 2021
Ex-North Korean diplomat says Pyongyang cannot seek denuclearization Former North Korean ambassador to Kuwait Ryu Hyun-woo speaks in an interview with CNN on Feb. 1. Korea Times fileA former acting North Korean ambassador to Kuwait has said that Pyongyang won't give up its nuclear weapons because the arsenal is the key to the survival of leader Kim Jong-un's regime, a CNN report showed Monday.Ryu Hyun-woo, who defected to South Korea in September 2019 while serving as acting chief of mission at the North's embassy in Kuwait, made the remark in an interview with CNN. His defection was made public only last week."North Korea's nuclear power is directly linked to the stability of the regime ― and Kim likely believes nuclear weapons are key to his survival," Ryu was quoted as saying.Ryu also said that North Korea may be willing to negotiate a reduction in its nuclear weapons but that it is unlikely to ever give them up entirely, according to CNN.Nuclear talks have been stalled since a no-deal summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and then-U.S. President Donald Trump in early 2019 as they failed to find common ground over how to match Pyongyang's Feb 1, 2021
North Korean envoy says strengthening of defense capabilities aimed at opening peace era Concert is held in celebration of the party congress at the Pyongyang Gymnasium. YonhapNorth Korea's top diplomat to Geneva has argued that Pyongyang's push toward strengthening its military capabilities was aimed at opening an era of peace, according to the North's foreign ministry Friday.According to Pyongyang's foreign ministry, Han Tae-song, North Korea's ambassador to Geneva, said via videoconference at the meeting of the United Nations Disarmament Conference in Geneva on Tuesday that the reason his country was building up its war deterrent capabilities was to defend itself and open a "genuine era of peace with eternally no wars.""We need to strengthen national defense power without a halt to deter military threats and to achieve peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula," Han said. Earlier this month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un convened a rare congress of the ruling Workers' Party and called for enhancing the country's "nuclear war deterrent" and building "the most powerful military strength."Kim held three meetings with former U.S. President Donald Trump, but denuclearJan 29, 2021
Controversy erupts over Seoul's possible push to build nuke plant in North Korea GettyimagesbankA political controversy appears to be brewing over the Seoul government's possible attempt years ago to help North Korea build a nuclear power plant, after a local broadcaster on Thursday disclosed the existence of relevant government documents.SBS TV, citing prosecutors investigating the destruction of government documents related to the closure of an aging nuclear reactor by some officials of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in 2019, reported that a number of files on inter-Korean energy cooperation, including the planned construction of a nuclear plant in the North, were among the deleted documents.Last month, prosecutors in the central city of Daejeon indicted three energy ministry officials on charges of destroying 530 kinds of computer documents linked to the closure of Wolsong-1, the country's second-oldest nuclear reactor, right before the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) requested the submission of the documents in December 2019.The BAI had opened an audit into the closure of Wolsong-1, in southeastern South Korea, as it emerged as a hot-button isJan 29, 2021
Int'l pressure intensifying on anti-North Korea leaflet-sending ban Activists prepare to send anti-Kim Jong-un regime propaganda leaflets to North Korea from the border city of Paju, Gyeonggi Province, in this photo from April 2, 2016. YonhapBy Jung Da-minThe international community's move against South Korea's ban on sending anti-Kim Jong-un regime propaganda leaflets to North Korea is intensifying. Since the National Assembly, which is dominated by the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), passed a bill to implement the ban last December, criticism has continued to grow internationally that the law undermines freedom of speech, with members of the U.K. Parliament and the U.S. Congress raising the issue and planning to hold a debate and hearing session, respectively.The DPK passed the law claiming it is needed to protect the lives of South Koreans living in the border region, although critics claim it is caving into North Korea's demands in the hope of keeping bilateral relations alive. Rep. Tae Yong-ho and Rep. Ji Seong-ho, defectors-turned-lawmakers with the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) and members of the National Assembly Foreign AfJan 29, 2021
South Korea keen on providing vaccine aid to North Korea gettyimagesbankBy Kang Seung-wooThe South Korean government is enthusiastic about providing coronavirus vaccines to North Korea as part of its efforts to get stalled inter-Korean relations back on track. Since the Hanoi summit between the United States and North Korea failed to produce a nuclear deal in February 2019, inter-Korean ties have consequently been deadlocked. In order to break the impasse, the Moon Jae-in administration has floated a variety of ideas to bring the Kim Jong-un regime back to the dialogue table, with vaccine aid emerging as a fresh option.The latest senior government official to pitch the vaccine supply offer was Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, who told foreign correspondents in Seoul, Wednesday, that South Korea was willing to share COVID-19 vaccines with North Korea. “The South Korean government has set its sights on inoculating 70 percent of the population by September and achieving herd immunity by November. Even afterwards, if we still have additional vaccines, we can share them with North Korea and other countries having difficulty securing vaccineJan 29, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
Will Korea Golf Association hold tournament in North Korea? Korea Golf Association President Lee Jung-myung speaks during his inauguration ceremony at a hotel in Seoul, Tuesday. YonhapBy Do Je-hae Korea Golf Association President Lee Jung-myung has announced that he will seek to host an international tournament at a golf course on Mount Geumgang in North Korea, during a recent general assembly of the association.Lee, who was appointed as the new chief of the association on Jan. 26, said that he was working to assess the viability of holding the International Golf Federation's (IGF) World Amateur Team Championships at the Ananti Golf Club ― a golf course his company owns on the scenic mountain in the North ― in 2025. The head of Emerson Pacific Group, which operates several golf courses including the Ananti Golf Club on Mount Geumgang, also said that he is talking with the Ministry of Unification about his idea.Led by golf legend Annika Sorenstam, the IGF has held the tournament every two years since 1958. The venue for the 2025 event will be decided at the general assembly of the IGF in Paris in September 2022. “The realization of the tJan 29, 2021By Do Je-hae
Defections of high-level North Korean officials are telltale symptoms of internal difficulties People hold a campaign in Pyongyang, North Korea, to uphold the decisions made at the 8th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, Jan. 20. / YonhapBy Do Je-hae The arrival in South Korea of a former acting ambassador at the North Korean Embassy in Kuwait just over a year ago has renewed attention to a series of defections to the South by high-level diplomats under Kim Jong-un's rule. Some South Korean media reports said that Ryu Hyun-woo, who led the North Korean mission in Kuwait since the 2017 expulsion of former Ambassador So Chang-sik, arrived in the South in September 2019 and has settled here. The authorities have yet to confirm these reports, although Ryu's arrival was relayed to the media by other former North Korean diplomats who defected, such as Rep. Tae Yong-ho, a former minister at the North Korean Embassy in the U.K. and now representative of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP). Ryu's case is the most recent in a series of high-profile defections, following Jo Song-gil, a former acting North Korean ambassador to Italy, who entered South Korea in July 2019Jan 28, 2021By Do Je-hae
Biden stresses need for complete denuclearization of Korean Peninsula: White House U.S. President Joe Biden / ReutersU.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday highlighted the need to completely denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.Biden made the remarks in a call with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, according to the White House."They discussed regional security issues, including China and North Korea," a White House readout of the call said."They together affirmed the necessity of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and the early resolution of the abductions issue," it added.Biden has repeatedly said his administration will work with U.S. allies, including South Korea and Japan, to denuclearize North Korea.Still, it marked the first time for the new U.S. president to reaffirm his commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula since he took office a week ago.North Korea has boycotted denuclearization negotiations since leader Kim Jong-un's second summit with former U.S. President Donald Trump ended without a deal in Hanoi in February 2019. The first Trump-Kim summit was held in Singapore in June 2018.U.S. Secretary of State AntonJan 28, 2021
