DPRK Forum

Hwang Jang Yop, as you know, is a well-known staple on the DailyNK. On my usual travels to the DailyNK, I read what the guy has to say. To be honest, I sometimes do not understand his mindset. Perhaps it is because I do not understand the full nature of the DPRK while he does. A column regarding Kim Jong Il’s nuclear activities is no exception. According to this entry:

Regarding North Korea’s demolition show at the Yongbyon nuclear reactor on June 27, Hwang Jang Yop, President of the Committee for the Democratization of North Korea, said that Kim Jong Il used the already useless Yongbyon nuclear complex in his negotiations with the U.S.

Emphasis mine. I do not really understand the jist of the opening paragraph, and the only thing I can glean from this is perhaps Yongbyon is a used up card in the negotiations with the United States? I doubt it reading the article further, and I think Hwang is trying to say North Korea only uses the crappy Yongbyon complex as a front. So it appears North Korea gets to keep the nukes via HEU while getting goodies for “cooperation”. According to Hwang:

“North Korea refers to the Yongbyon nuclear complex only when it talks about freezing nuclear facilities.” He said, “The Yongbyon nuclear reactor was used to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons. Indeed, it has already produced enough [nuclear weapons].”

He said, “In 1996, I heard the secretary in charge of the munitions industry saying, ‘We do not need plutonium any more. We can now produce nuclear weapons with Uranium-235.’ North Korea must have subsequently produced nuclear weapons using its uranium enrichment program.”

So this implies Yongbyon was past its usefulness a long time ago. That is not surprising. What I noticing in the negotiations process, North Korea shows a veneer of cooperation to get aid while at the same time doing the HEU program in secret. The thing is, the HEU program is highly suspected and of course, North Korea denies such a program. This is not a surprise either, and is not news:

Hwang said, “The North Korea nuclear problem gives the impression of having been resolved at the Six Party Talks. However, North Korea still refuses to admit that it cooperated with Pakistan to develop nuclear weapons using enriched uranium.” He stressed that North Korea must declare and destroy its HEU programs in accordance with the February 13 Agreement.

From what I have been reading, the United States is very skeptical about the declaration and feels it is incomplete. Hwang in this article does not talk about the removing North Korea from the blacklist of state sponsors of terror, but this does go to show just how much work is left to de-nuclearize the secretive state. Also, this agreement does not even cover the suspected chemical/biological weapons, human rights abuses, illicit trade, or funny money. On the other hand, the United States does want more information about possible cooperation with others such as Syria among other things. If North Korea does declare such things is another thing. As we all know, Kim Jong Il is all about stop and go. In the meantime, next comes the very difficult process of verification. In North Korea, verification is probably the most difficult in the world and is not called the most secretive state for nothing. So my question is, in the light of all of this, why does the United States remove North Korea from the blacklist when it has not cooperated fully? Perhaps for legacy, a “better than nothing” approach or heaven knows what else. All I know it is a joke in my opinion.

Hwang Jang Yop believes Kim Jong Il will not use nukes:

Hwang also said, “Kim Jong Il is a selfish coward. He would never use nuclear weapons because he knows that he would lose his life if he does.”

I do agree North Korea will not use nukes, and I also believe North Korea does not have the means to use them in an efficient manner. I am utterly convinced North Korea only uses the nukes as a card of political survival. The issue is, this card is starting to fade with all the pressures mounting on the regime such as serious economical shocks. I am also utterly convinced the entire scope of North Korea’s activities will only be known once Kim and his regime is gone. With the aid coming, this will be delayed longer. However, as I said a thousand times, it is only a matter of time before the regime does implode. I think no outside intervention is needed for that to happen. Eventually, the aid will not help and the regime will come crashing down. North Korea brought severe isolation on itself, and the extreme paranoia is starting to show signs of extreme wear.