Open Sources
The Obama Administration’s China policy has come full circle from its deferential beginnings.
President Lee wants to bring North Korea to the Security Council over its uranium enrichment program.
Well, this story is rich in revelations. Apparently, Iran has sent payments to North Korea from the previously sanctioned Hong Kong Electronics to the Seoul branch of Iran’s Bank Mellat. Less shocking are more reports of China’s assistance to North Korea’s ballistic missile program. If you’re keeping count, that would violate at least three U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Yonhap profiles Joseph Bermudez, who may be America’s foremost expert on the North Korean military. He lives in Colorado, the lucky man.
North Korean soldiers, including its special forces, are said to be freezing from a shortage of uniforms.
Skepticism about North Korea’s latest predictions of prosperity.
The North said it spent $570 million on its military in 2009, but the real amount, calculated on an exchange rate based on purchasing power parity terms, was $8.77 billion, the state-run Korea Institute of Defense Analyses (KIDA) said in a report. The North’s gross national income stood at 28.6 trillion won ($25 billion) in 2009, compared with South Korea’s 1,068 trillion won ($958 billion), it said.
Roads to Pyongyang are reportedly being blocked to help control spread of FMD. I suspect there may other reasons as well. Interesting that this news is being confirmed by ROK and US intelligence sources and not just some unnamed North Korea defector.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2931127
China cut off oil supplies to North Korea following the North’s shelling of Yeonpyeong Island to prevent Pyongyang from carrying out its threats to retaliate against the South, a Japanese expert on North Korea said.
“China halted heavy fuel oil provisions to North Korea after the artillery shelling of the Yeonpyeong,†Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor of international relations at Waseda University in Tokyo, told The Korea Times, citing sources who recently visited North Korea.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/01/117_79966.html
jhpigott,
I saw that story too. It seems promising, but there needs to be more corroborating sources. Certainly someone besides a professor in Japan with a contact in Pyongyang would know if oil were shut off. There are oil workers on both sides of the border, diplomats, and others who should be able to confirm that story. If true, such an action would not be without precedent. IIRC China used a similar tactic a few years back to cajole Pyongyang into returning to the Six Party Talks, but I don’t recall all the details.
Per our previous discussion about the JST purge: I’ve been keeping track of KJI’s on-the-spot guidance tours (henceforth: OTSGT) during the course of the month. During the month to date, there have been four reported OTSGTs to six locations. All were factories specializing in light industry with the exception of the January 18th General Machine Factory, which is said to produce missile parts and related military machinery. One OTSGT was in Nampo, four took place in Pyeonganbuk-do (exact locations unknown), and one in Kaecheon, Pyeongannam-do. Some combination of ten individuals accompanied KJI, two of whom were local party officials. The only officials who have been on all four OTSGTs were Kim Kyung-hui, Central Committee Secretary and Alternate Politburo Member Pak Do-chun, and Alternate Politburo Member and Chairman of the Worker’s Party Mechanical Industry Department Ju Gyu-chang. KJU has two appearances.
Jang Song-taek thus far has zero. JST was the number one or number most frequently-seen official last year. More data points are needed, but seems is fishy.
If China was really ready to become an influential World Power alongside with the United States then Beijing would have done it’s homework. No matter how much Debt the Americans seek China to recieve, the fact is that the Americans Pay for China to Survive! … Unless China stops propping up North Korea, Russia,Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia will have no other option than to ban PRC made products. China will officially be landlocked and left to deal with herself in Isolation again. And all Debts by the United States to China WILL BE VOID.