Archive for the 'Other Regimes' Category

A dry run across the DMZ

Published
by
Jack
on September 18, 2007
in News, North Korea, Nukes, Other Regimes, ROK, Speculation and United States
. 0 Comments

This is truly a milestone in my opinion for a South Korean leader to cross the DMZ to Pyongyang. It looks a dry run is happening before showtime for the 2nd summit sometime next month:

It was the first time a South Korean presidential vehicle had crossed the heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone border since the 1950-53 Korean War, which followed the division of the peninsula at the end of World War Two.

“We will be checking the president and the first lady’s routes so that their movement is safe,” a security official at the presidential Blue House said before the trip, which will take them 168 km (104 miles) from the border to North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang.

This should be interesting. Too bad there will most likely be little footage of the event, but I am sure it will be gigantic news once Roh actually crosses the DMZ. Also, it does not surprise me Kim Jong Il did not want to meet in South Korea. There is nobody to worship him and could be a risk to his safety (from what I read before).

Roh has said he would discuss beginning talks for a permanent peace treaty to replace the fraying truce that ended the Korean War. He also said the meeting will help the Cold War foes develop common economic interests by trying to build “an economic community”.

It looks like a race against the clock to take advantage of any chance for a soft landing, and the window of opportunity is closing fast. Also, the growing concern of the possible nuke problem with Syria is not helping matters either. Of course South Korea does not think that is so. I guess they are erring on the side of caution, and will take time to see if Pyongyang is actually helping Syria. The thing is, we really do not know 100%. Better hurry up…

In all, it seems to me a lot of important developments are happening in North Korea and the region, and things should get even more interesting as more of these things unfold such as Kim Jong Nam’s position, the six-party talks outcomes, what the hell is going on in Syria and the 2nd summit.

We are all watching closely.

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Al-Jazeera Video: Israel’s Syria raid - 16 Sept 07 - Part 1 and Part 2

Published
by
Jack
on September 17, 2007
in Diplomacy, North Korea, Nukes, Other Regimes and Video
. 3 Comments

Inside Story looks at the mysterious Israeli air raid in Syria and the theories as to its purpose - was it a rehearsal for a strike on targets in Iran? Or an attack, as some are claiming, on a joint nuclear venture between North Korea and Syria?

This should supplement the excellent posts by ROK Drop and One free Korea (See this DPRK Forum Blurb)


Part 1


Part 2

Also see the postponement of the six party talks:

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Li Bin a spy?

Published
by
Jack
on September 13, 2007
in Diplomacy, Kim Jong Il, News, North Korea, Nukes, Other Regimes, Politics and ROK
. 0 Comments

Here is an interesting story about a man named Li Bin who allegedly had close ties to Kim Jong Il and leaked information to South Korea:

Some reports said he was quartered at a foreign affairs think tank through this spring, others that he was at some point put into full-time police custody. Asked about his fate, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that Li no longer is associated with the ministry and its officials have no idea where he is. The government has made no announcement about the case.

What were the charges?

Former People’s Republic of China Ambassador to Seoul Li Bin (51) had been under investigation by the Chinese Public Security Department up until early this year. He was charged with providing the United States and South Korea information about North Korea-Chinese relations as well as North Korean internal affairs, including the current status of North Korea’s National Defense Committee Chairman Kim Jong Il.The Washington Post reported on September 13 that “Former Ambassador Li’s case is believed to be the most damaging state secrets case in China since 1994, when an army general was discovered to be a spy for Taiwan,” quoting an anonymous Chinese official. Former Ambassador Li was serving as deputy mayor of Weihai City in Shandong Province when he was summoned to Beijing last December for a Public Security Department investigation. This first surfaced early this year, but this is first time the specific allegations of his investigation have been disclosed.

The Washington Post also reported that Li was charged for regularly providing South Korea with information on Kim, and North Korea-China during a tour as China`s ambassador to Seoul from 2001 to 2005. Former Ambassador Li also seems to have been questioned on whether he has been handing over information on the six-party talks and the North Korean nuclear issue. The newspaper added that Li was alleged to have been providing related information to the United States as well, but it is not clear whether Li provided the information through Korean officials, or directly.

Sounds like pretty serious charges to me, but what I am interested in is what this man knows about the regime. What kind of information may have been leaked about the secret state? I am sure little people like me will probably never know, but it is still interesting to wonder.? Also, he was a Kim Il Sung University graduate? Interesting indeed.

Several people who knew Li during his years in Seoul expressed doubt that he would take money for information, saying he had a promising future in the Communist Party and thus had little motive to enter into an overt relationship with South Korean intelligence.

“His problem was that he loved drinking too much,” said another observer who knew Li in Seoul. “And when you drink too much, you make mistakes. You become a blabbermouth.”

I guess loose lips do sink ships.

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North Korea selling nuclear material to Syria? I have my doubts (Update: I could be wrong!)

Published
by
Jack
on September 13, 2007
in North Korea, Nukes, Other Regimes, Speculation and United States
. 2 Comments

I have my doubts because of the huge risks involved, but knowing North Korea, anything is possible. With that said, there has been speculation on North Korea’s possibility of selling nuclear material, weapons and other illicit goodies with other regimes including terrorist organizations. After all, Kim Jong Il needs hard cash in a real hurry.

What is bothering me is the cooperation with Iran which is the country who very famously stated they wanted to “wipe Israel from the map”. I kind of doubt North Korea and Iran are discussing what was on TV the other day. Perhaps one can connect the dots that somehow Iran, Syria and North Korea are in some kind of odd agreement to scratch each others’ backs to help attack Israel or another part of the region (which could lead to big headaches), but that may be getting into conspiracy theory territory.

Continue reading ‘North Korea selling nuclear material to Syria? I have my doubts (Update: I could be wrong!)’

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Some interesting declassified info and pictures on the Korean War/Cold War

Published
by
Jack
on September 12, 2007
in History, Interesting reading, Kim Il Sung, Korean War, North Korea, Other Regimes, ROK, The region and United States
. 0 Comments

I am a fan of the Woodrow Wilson School videos and the insight is very interesting. Beside the videos are the Cold War archives at Woodrow Wilson Virtual Archive. If you have never seen it before, this is more than worth the look to see the war from Kim Il Sung, Stalin and Mao’s point of view. Here is the link for North Korea. Also, Kimsoft has a lot of interesting declassified stuff including psychological warfare. Yes, if you have not read them before, it will have you sifting around the pages for days on end.

Also, make sure to check out some pictures and video about the early days of North Korea and the war:

Waiting for the Soviets
Pyongyang citizens waiting for the arrival of the 25th Corps of the 1st Far Eastern Front. Note that South Korean flag [was] used in North Korea at the time. (Source)

Continue reading ‘Some interesting declassified info and pictures on the Korean War/Cold War’

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Peace treaties, Iran and other news (Update 2 with link to video)

Published
by
Jack
on September 7, 2007
in Diplomacy, Economy, Korean War, News, North Korea, Other Regimes, ROK, The region and United States
. 3 Comments

Looks like President Bush is offering a formal peace treaty with North Korea if it disarms:

“We’re looking forward to the day when we can end the Korean War. That will happen when Kim Jong-il verifiably dismantles his weapons programme,” Bush told reporters after meeting South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun as Asia-Pacific leaders gathered for a summit in Australia.

“If you could be a little clearer,” Roh urged the president after his initial comment.

Bush said he thought he had been as clear as he could be, then said more directly that he was referring to a formal peace agreement. Fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War was halted with an inclusive truce.

Bush said he was “optimistic” about the progress of the effort to get North Korea to give up its weapons, but said there was still more work to be done.

There’s news of the century. Now will North Korea accept it? There may be, if we pay up. North Korea likes money. It makes Kim happy. We shall see what comes of that little offer. Developing…

Update: Looks like there was a lot of tension at the meeting which cleared the “If you could be a little clearer,” part. I only read this article, and it seems more of the meeting was a tad more unfiltered in others. Thanks to DPRK Studies, ROK Drop, and One Free Korea for clearing that mystery for me.

Here is a video. I cannot directly embed it here, but once I find it, I will do it.

See DPRK Studies as well.

Continue reading ‘Peace treaties, Iran and other news (Update 2 with link to video)’

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Who cares about North Korea?

Published
by
Jack
on September 6, 2007
in Kim Jong Il, North Korea, Nukes, Other Regimes, ROK, The region and United States
. 0 Comments

This is an older article, but is interesting anyway.

Since the article was written, some other developments have taken place such as the rumors of North Korea getting off the terror list. While Washington denies it right now, chances are, once everything is said and done, it will happen (Unless Pyongyang does something to stop the process, which has happened before). I hope it will not be taken off the list because of the other things North Korea has done (along with other things we may not know about). I do not hear anything about those things, and I have no idea the bombing of the South Korean jetliner killing hundreds of innocent people had a statute of limitations. Whatever the case may be, North Korea wants to be off the list and is causing a lot of ruckus particularly with Japan. I do not blame them.

This article points out why America does not care about North Korea in general, other than when its interests are directly threatened. I partially disagree with that, because other countries in the region directly affect Washington’s interests such as diplomatic ties and overall stability in the region which is why the talks are taking place in the first place.

This article should incite good discussion, even though I fundamentally disagree with a lot of it other than most people I know around me do not either know or care about North Korea.

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South Koreans released by Taliban and some suspicions arise (update)

Published
by
Jack
on September 2, 2007
in News, Other Regimes and ROK
. 2 Comments

I am very happy to hear these people are back home, but there is something about the story that really bothers me, and perhaps somebody could explain to me why this is so:

In response to public anger over this seeming recklessness, the South Korean government, which negotiated the hostages’ release and was reported by the Reuters news agency to have paid a $20 million ransom, is demanding that the church and families of the hostages repay some of the costs of bringing them home, including airfare, medical treatment and the transport of the bodies of two missionaries slain by their captors.

Why would somebody that was held hostage have to pay some (or all) of the ransom? Is that adding insult to injury? Perhaps I am missing something here. Then some Taliban leader says they will use that money to blow more things up:

Continue reading ‘South Koreans released by Taliban and some suspicions arise (update)’

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The Path to Succession: The Path to Collapse Part 2

Published
by
Jack
on August 31, 2007
in Cult Of Personality, Defectors, Diplomacy, Economy, History, Humanitarian Topic, News, North Korea, Nukes, Other Regimes, Policy Elites, Politics, Speculation, The region and United States
. 0 Comments

Coat of arms

Sorry for the delay in the posting. I’ll remember not to make fixed dates on postings.

In the last part of the series, I looked at the “When North Korea Falls” article. I read some reactions to the article I did not read before (See comments in the last article of the series), and gave some extra insight into this complex and highly speculative series. In this part of the series, we look further into what else could happen in a former North Korea and the challenges it could face in the country and in the region. Only this time, I would like to make this more on a further tangent into the speculative. I find this stuff very interesting, and will probably go elsewhere too as I research this thing.

But first, I will look into the argument made in the comments:

That’s the money shot. The problem is that a lot of people would die in a short time (months, a couple of years) and governments would feel responsible. As it stands, probably even more have been dying over a much longer period of time. Six in one, half dozen in the other.

That presents a very good argument, and as said in the last part of the series, reunification is going to be a painful process no matter how it is done, and the way things are handled now are too Utopian. As always with this, I present the following disclaimer:

Please be aware this is an ongoing research project, and information contained in this post may have glaring factual or missing information that I may not be aware of. If anybody has any insight that will make me better understand it, please say so in the comments and I will love to take your views into consideration and learn something. That is the whole goal of this blog.

Continue reading ‘The Path to Succession: The Path to Collapse Part 2′

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The Path to Succession: The Path to Collapse (update)

Published
by
Jack
on August 29, 2007
in Communism, Cult Of Personality, Defectors, Diplomacy, Economy, History, Humanitarian Topic, Korean War, News, North Korea, Nukes, Other Regimes, Policy Elites, Politics, Speculation, The region and United States
. 7 Comments

Coat of armsAnother very good possibility in the North Korea saga is the eventual collapse of the regime instead of the continuation of the Kim dynasty. This possibility has been speculated for the last fifteen years or so, and with all the huge events that took place that could have very well have led to collapse, the regime survived. For over 65 years, North Korea has held firm control over everything, and appears to still be in control. However, in my mind, it is not a question of if the DPRK will collapse, it is a matter of when. Today, I explore the possible scenarios on how North Korea could dissolve and what the possible outcomes could be. There are many theories and very few options. However, in my opinion, the regime will fade regardless of when the region is ready, and like many other things in life, it comes when it is least expected and the least convenient. If Eastern Europe and Russia are any indicators of how North Korea will fall apart, then it could very well be unexpected yet expected fate. On the other hand, Korea is way different from the way other Communist regimes were (and are) run.

Please be aware this is an ongoing research project, and information contained in this post may have glaring factual or missing information that I may not be aware of. If anybody has any insight that will make me better understand it, please say so in the comments and I will love to take your views into consideration and learn something. That is the whole goal of this blog.

Continue reading ‘The Path to Succession: The Path to Collapse (update)’

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