DPRK Forum

This should come as no surprise whatsoever. According to the Chosun Ilbo:

North Korea claims that nuclear fuel and a cooling tower are not subject to disablement of nuclear facilities under a six-nation agreement signed in February, it emerged Saturday. According to diplomatic sources in Washington, a U.S. delegation of nuclear experts has visited North Korea several times, demanding the North dispose of unused nuclear fuel and destroy the nuclear cooling tower during the disablement stage.

(Emphasis and link mine) I had a feeling something would come along such as this. North Korea is always on this cat and mouse game, and on top of not coming clean with the uranium enrichment found on the tubes, now this. I am wondering how Washington and the other six-party members are going to react on this. At this stage of the game, it is too early to say, but one thing is crystal clear: The deadline is ticking down to the wire, and North Korea balks at the last second despite all the promises made before. When are people going to learn that Kim Jong Il cannot be trusted?

But the North is refusing to comply on grounds that these two facilities should be disposed of in return for benefits during the dismantlement stage, after the disablement is completed. In bilateral talks with the U.S., North Korea reportedly demanded South Korea and the other participating countries in the six-nation nuclear talks buy fresh nuclear fuel reserved for the 5-MW atomic reactor at Yongbyon during the dismantlement process.

Ah, so Kim wants more goodies. No surprise there either. I bet this is going to be longer than expected (as usual). Thu, the regime is arguing semantics. Just another ploy in my opinion.

[...]

Washington is refusing to strike the North from the list of state sponsors of terrorism and lifting sanctions imposed on it under the Trading with the Enemy Act unless the North declares all nuclear programs at this stage. The stalemate over the issue could be prolonged. The Bush administration and hardliners in Congress want more pressure on the North, including re-implementing UN Resolution No. 1718, adopted in the wake its nuclear test last year, unless it properly disables all nuclear facilities and declares its nuclear programs.

The question is, will they fold under the pressure and give in? That I do not know, but this is getting uglier by the second.

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In other news, a you may ave heard, there is some sticky issues to resolve on the commuter train service between Musan and kaesong:

Commuter train service between South and North Korea will begin next year to help employees working at a joint industrial site in Gaeseong, North Korea, according to the Ministry of Unification Sunday.

The agreement was struck at a two-day meeting of the Gaeseong complex cooperation committee which ended Saturday.

Cheap labor, more money for the regime. I get it. However, there are some extra issues:

The official added the two Koreas will determine how and when to operate the train through further negotiations.

[...]

Under the agreement, Seoul will construct dormitories to lodge about 15,000 North Korean workers to help provide the industrial park with labor forces at the appropriate time.

As the industrial complex is expected to achieve growth, more workers will likely be required on the scene.

Seoul plans to retrieve the money spent on building the lodgings over a long period of time by receiving rent fees from companies stationed at the site.

[...]

Hm, interesting. How much does Kim Jong Il get again?

The two Koreas also agreed to adopt an electronic admission system to cut time of immigration control, the ministry said.

It will take about five seconds to allow workers to pass the border with the new system using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, which is currently taking at least 30 seconds, it said.

Freight process will be reduced from sixty seconds to fifty seconds, it added.

The two sides will operate the RFID system from the first half of next year.

Yes, that is going to be an issue on how people will not smuggle people or things on the train. I am sure the security will be tighter than a drum, but people in desperate situaitons will try a lot of things. I am going to wait for news on that. On the other hand, if caught, people can face some serious punishment. The main idea i to get workers to work on time and to find a way to expand the complex to get more labor. With that said, there eems to be some things to be ironed out:

In previous talks, the two sides agreed to cooperate in solving three problems regarding boarder passing, telecommunication and customs procedure.

Good luck with that one, but something will be worked out, because this is good for both sides, unfortunately, not very good for normal North Koreans.

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And finally, North Korea is not saying much about Lee’s victory:

North Korea has kept silent on the Wednesday victory of conservative President-elect Lee Myung-bak though it had responded to the result of presidential elections briefly through its state-run media.

Experts regard the silence as a wait-and-see strategy because the advent of Lee, who stresses more reciprocity than engagement with North Korea, basically ushers in a challenging era, ending the 10-year “sunshine policy.”

“North Korea is probably watching the situation with concern over the conservative President-elect,” said Paik Hak-soon, director of the North Korean studies program at Sejong Institute in Seoul.

Paik said North Korea is worried about how Lee and his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush, who is also conservative, will cooperate on North Korean issues considering their recent phone talks and Lee’s position on North Korea.

I do not know of the Sunshine Policy or it derivatives will “end”, but it may be different. I say different because as reported on One Free Korea, Lee had some other plans in mind. Now if that will come to fruition or not remain to be seen, but what i good news is Lee promises to get a little tougher with North Korea and address the poor human rights situation. Again, what is promised and what happens are two different things. Moreover:

Lee repeatedly said he will reconsider agreements reached at the inter-Korean summit in October and relations between the two Koreas.

He meant that the South is not so much interested in developing inter-Korean relations unless the North gives up its nuclear weapons and reforms its system.

“I’ll say what I have to say regarding North Korea,” Lee said. “For example, we need to pay attention to poor human rights in North Korea.”

Sounds pretty promising, and I hope it does happen. However, it may be easier said than done to say the least. Also, there is some interesting history regarding the KCNA and reporting timley and accurate news (heh):

In 2002, the North Korean media reported two days after the presidential election that Roh Moo-hyun of the New Millennium Democratic Party defeated those who opposed the June 15 Joint Declaration.

Some resources (here, here and here)

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In 1997, North Korea reported three days after the election that an opposition leader won the presidency but didn’t provide any comment on winner Kim Dae-jung, even his name.

That is odd, but then again, this is North Korea we are talking about.

When Kim Young-sam was elected president in 1992, North Korea claimed that the United States maneuvered the election result, saying that Kim’s presidency would be just an extension of his predecessor Roh Tae-woo’s rule.

That I did not know about and Will have to read about this further. If readers have more information on this, please let me know. Otherwise, I will simply Google it.

Kwon Ho-ung, a senior Cabinet minister of North Korea, echoed the view by saying Sunday that Lee’s win will not change the basic frame of inter-Korean cooperation despite his conservatism.

“The mood of inter-Korean cooperation will remain intact,” Kwon was quoted as saying by a source at the opening of the inter-Korean economic cooperation office in Gaeseong.

Well, it may remain intact, but I have a feeling it may have a different tone. That is why North Korea is not too keen on conervatives:

Kwon’s remark, which is the first response as senior North Korean official to Lee’s victory, suggested that Pyongyang hopes to maintain inter-Korean cooperation though it doesn’t like the President-elect’s conservatism.

Yawn. That is as obvious as the jumpsuit on the Dear Leader. Wake me up when things change.