News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Daniel Riggs
1. Germany accuses Russia, China of stalling over North Korea fuel sanctions
2. Gov't Tightens Lockdown in Seoul
3. Biden keeps Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in check
4. Engaging North Korea Anew by Victor Cha
5. North Korea border closure continues amid global surge of COVID-19
6. Commentary: This country holds the key to unlocking the North Korea problem
7. N. Korea seen following social distancing measures at theaters
8. Readout for Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Miller's Phone Call With Republic of Korea Minister of National Defense Suh
9. Moon's problematic aide returns to public service
10. Japan, Australia Forge Closer Military Ties to Counter China
11. Satellite Images Suggest North Korea Is Training Kamikaze Dolphins
12. Suh, Miller reaffirm efforts to strengthen Korea-US alliance
13. Alleged Creep Claims He Used Steaks and Ponies to Spy on North Korea
1. Germany accuses Russia, China of stalling over North Korea fuel sanctions
Reuters · by Michelle Nichols · November 17, 2020
China and Russia are enabling north Korean sanctions evasion and protecting the regime at the UN. Glad to see Germany calling them out.
2. Gov't Tightens Lockdown in Seoul
english.chosun.com· November 18, 2020
3. Biden keeps Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in check
donga.com· November 18, 2020
Just imagine if we had remained in TPP.
4. Engaging North Korea Anew by Victor Cha
Foreign Affairs · by Victor Cha · November 17, 2020
A political strategy will not defeat the Kim family regime's political warfare strategy. We need a superior form of political warfare.
A wise Korea hand once said to me that just about everything that could be tried with north Korea has been tried and all we can do is keep repackaging previous actions in new ways to try to achieve some kind of progress.
However, we need to thoroughly assess the nature, objectives, and strategy of the Kim family regime, and then develop a new strategy that will result in a new acceptable, durable political arrangement that will protect, serve, and advance US and ROK.US alliance interests.
We need to answer my 5 big questions:
1. What do we want to achieve in Korea?
2. What is the acceptable durable political arrangement that will protect, serve, and advance US and ROK/US Alliance interests on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia?
3. Who does Kim fear more: The US or the Korean people in the north? (Note it is the Korean people armed with information knowledge of life in South Korea)
4. Do we believe that Kim Jong-un has abandoned the seven decades old strategy of subversion, coercion-extortion (blackmail diplomacy), and use of force to achieve unification dominated by the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State in order to ensure the survival of the mafia like crime family cult known as Kim family regime?
5. In support of that strategy do we believe that Kim Jong-un has abandoned the objective to split the ROK/US Alliance and get US forces off the peninsula? Has KJU given up his divide to conquer strategy - divide the alliance to conquer the ROK?
The answers to these questions should guide us to the strategy to solve the "Korea question" (para 60 of the Armistice) and lead to the only acceptable durable political arrangement: A secure, stable, economically vibrant, non-nuclear Korean peninsula unified under a liberal constitutional form of government with respect for individual liberty, the rule of law, and human rights, determined by the Korean people. In short, a United Republic of Korea (UROK)
Lastly there can be no doubt the root of all problems in Korea is the existence of the mafia- like crime family cult known as the Kim family regime that has the objective of dominating the Korean Peninsula under the rule of the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State.
5. North Korea border closure continues amid global surge of COVID-19
upi.com· by Elizabeth Shim· November 17, 2020
Yes Kim is deathly afraid of a COVID-19 outbreak. But he also is using COViD-19 to impose great controls on the population rein in the "freedoms" that have been developed ove the past two decades through balck market activities and the failure of the public distribution system as well as the availability of foreign currency and foreign goods.
6. Commentary: This country holds the key to unlocking the North Korea problem
channelnewsasia.com · by Jeffrey Robertson
Wow! It is interesting that someone would even ask this question. Somehow I do not think there are many Koreans who would respond in the affirmative.
But I absolutely agree with the author's conclusion that we cannot neglect South Korea. I would say that success on the Korean peninsula for both the South and the US can only come through a strong ROK/US alliance.
Excerpts:
“Should South Korea accede to China’s regional dominance?”
“The argument that South Korea should accede to China’s regional dominance sparks the hottest debate.”
7. N. Korea seen following social distancing measures at theaters
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · November 17, 2020
Perhaps they should not be going to theaters.
8. Readout for Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Miller's Phone Call With Republic of Korea Minister of National Defense Suh
defense.gov· November 17, 2020
Oh to be a fly on the wall for this conversation. :-)
9. Moon's problematic aide returns to public service
The Korea Times · By Kang Seung-woo · November 17, 2020
I guess rehabilitation happens in the South as well.
10. Japan, Australia Forge Closer Military Ties to Counter China
WSJ · by Alastair Gale
Excerpt:
“Reflecting Australia’s close ties with Japan, Mr. Morrison was the first foreign leader to meet Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in person since Mr. Suga took office in September.
The two released a joint statement that indirectly criticized China’s government on several issues and expressed “grave concerns over the situation in Hong Kong,” where Beijing this month forced the expulsion of pro-democracy lawmakers as part of its crackdown on dissent.
Japan, Australia Forge Closer Military Ties to Counter China
U.S. allies smooth way for more joint training and quick military support.”
11. Satellite Images Suggest North Korea Is Training Kamikaze Dolphins
Popular Mechanics · by Kyle Mizokami · November 17, 2020
12. Suh, Miller reaffirm efforts to strengthen Korea-US alliance
koreaherald.com · by The Korea Herald · November 18, 2020
Note really any more details than was in the official statement.
13. Alleged Creep Claims He Used Steaks and Ponies to Spy on North Korea
The Daily Beast · by Adam Rawnsley · November 17, 2020
Bizarre. There is no other word for this.
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"Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none."
- William Shakespeare
"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear."
-Marcus Tullius Cicero (42B.C)
“This is a political war and it calls for discrimination in killing. The best weapon for killing would be a knife, but I'm afraid we can't do it that way. The worst is an airplane. The next worst is artillery. Barring a knife, the best is a rifle - you know who you're killing."
- John Paul Vann