North Korea, you're up next

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Re: North Korea, you're up next

Postby SonicG » Sun Jun 18, 2017 10:44 am

Otto Warmbier?! wtf...

Gratton says he and Warmbier were among the last people to go through security at Pyongyang International Airport on that morning. Two security officials stopped and took Warmbier to a private room.

“That was it. That was the last physical time I saw Otto, ever,” Gratton said. “I was also the only person to see Otto taken away. Otto didn’t resist. He didn’t look scared. He sort of half-smiled.”

The group landed in Beijing Capital International Airport, but when their tour guide called a colleague, who was with Warmbier still in North Korea, he said he couldn’t travel because he felt ill.

The University of Virginia student was later sentenced to 15 years of prison and hard labor for allegedly stealing a political propaganda poster from his Pyongyang hotel in Jan. 2016.

North Korea reportedly told a U.S. official that Otto contracted botulism while detained and slipped intothe coma after taking a sleeping pill. He suffered a “severe neurological injury,” a University of Cincinnati Medical Center spokeswoman revealed Thursday.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/otto-warmbie ... 30543.html
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Re: North Korea, you're up next

Postby 82_28 » Mon Jun 19, 2017 12:24 am

Something is fishy about USS Fitzgerald story we are getting from the media :shrug: :shrug: :shrug:

Under no circumstances should a US Navy vessel possibly be damaged by a container ship at sea. Multiple systems exist to prevent this. Even CNN is noticing how little we know about the catastrophe that took the lives of seven sailors and almost caused a powerful warship to founder.

The USS Fitzgerald, an anti-ballistic missile destroyer that was part of the USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group, will no longer be ready to defend the carrier and other ships from missile attacks launched from North Korea, should push come to shove in the current confrontation with the rogue regime on the threshold of the capability to attack New York, Los Angeles, and our power grid with nuclear missiles. This is an incident that could affect the outcome of a nuclear confrontation of historic moment.

Brian Joondeph yesterday noted how the media have distorted what really happened, by reporting a “collision,” as if the ships randomly bumped each other in the fog or something. The truth is that the ACX Crystal, a ship with somewhat murky provenance, rammed into the Fitzgerald with calamitous results:

[Vice Adm. Joseph P. Aucoin of the 7th fleet] described the damage as "extensive," adding that there was a big puncture and gash below the waterline on one side of the ship. He also said three compartments were severely damaged.

"The ship is salvageable ... [it] will require some significant repair," Aucoin said. "You will see the USS Fitzgerald back ... It will take months, hopefully under a year."

Retired Rear Admiral John Kirby describes for CNN the extent of the chaos unleashed:

First, we know the crew fought heroically to save their ship and the lives of their shipmates. We know that from early reports by Navy officials but also from the images that flashed across our screens, our tablets and our phones after the incident happened early Saturday.

One look at the crushed, twisted starboard side, the hoses flaked about, the water being discharged, the frantic work being done tells you all you need to know about the stuff you can't see in those same images: a fiercely brave crew working together to staunch the flooding, to rescue their shipmates and to save their ship.

You can be certain they ended up drenched, exhausted, scraped and bruised -- but not broken. They kept that ship from foundering for 16 brutal hours. And they brought her back into port.

We received an email from a Navy Mother that raises serious questions. We will redact her name, while the rumors (and that’s how they must be categorized for now) reported by her son aboard the Fitzgerald are checked out. Here is what she wrote to us:

My son is assigned to the USS Fitzgerald. I am unable to share his rate with you.

The information is short and not so sweet. The implications are disturbing.

The ship is registered in the Philippines. We do not know who the owner is. The container ship neither had its running lights or transponder on. That is an action taken willfully. Furthermore, for the container ship to strike with such accuracy is troublesome. Given what some have done with cars in Europe, what a feather in the cap it would be to sink a U.S. Navy warship. Think on that.

My son missed being washed out to sea by the blink of an eye. He was on his way to one of the berthing areas that was rammed.

Yes, language is important. "Rammed" is the perfect word.

Loving and Concerned Navy Mother

If there is any substance to this – that the ACX Crystal disabled protective systems and rammed the Fitzgerald at high speed aimed at crtical facilities (evident from the damage)

…we have to consider the possibility of an asymmetric warfare attack designed to disable missile defense of a carrier strike group, as North Korea demonstrates the ability to make exactly such attacks on a multibillion dollar warship carrying thousands of sailors.


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Re: North Korea, you're up next

Postby Iamwhomiam » Mon Jun 19, 2017 9:18 am

I think that's propaganda, 82. According to a navy Captain, the US ship should have yielded right of way to the cargo vessel. Also, he failed to keep a lookout stationed or the lookout was incapacitated.

See rules 15, 16 & 17. (Port is left, Starboard is right)

https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=navRulesContent#rule15
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Re: North Korea, you're up next

Postby SonicG » Wed Jun 21, 2017 6:10 am

Yeah...collisions happen like that...but fatalities are a bit rare because they are usually slow-moving....That should go in the Japan thread though..

I'll just cross-post this here:

MinM » Wed Jun 21, 2017 5:32 am wrote:Image
@haaretzcom Jun 17

Otto Warmbier, American freed from North Korea, visited Israel, had ties to Jewish community
Image

They are building quite the elaborate back-story in order to cover up the Israeli spying: tweet (Alex Griswold) (secret society initiation stunt!):

"Larry Wilmore: "It’s just tough for me to have much sympathy for this guy and his crocodile tears.""

http://xymphora.blogspot.com/2017/06/warm-beer.html


There is apparently a blurry video of him in a restricted area grabbing some banner but...who the fuck knows what's going on here...

It was unclear whether Mr Warmbier's release had anything to do with Rodman's arrival, and the state department denied his arrival was connected to Mr Warmbier's release.


Image

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ba ... story.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06 ... man-lands/

And never forget...
North Korea holds a further three Americans - detaining several academics for offenses to the president.

The most recent two - Kim Hak-song, an employee of the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, and Kim Sang-dok, an accounting instructor at the same university, were arrested last month in the space of a week.


So the US flew some bombers around.... :yay :whisper: :partydance: :shrug: :angelwings:
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Re: North Korea, you're up next

Postby conniption » Mon Jun 26, 2017 5:08 am

counterpunch

June 23, 2017

If North Korea Didn’t Exist US Would Create It


by Nizar Visram

In its latest move early June 2017, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) unanimously adopted a resolution drafted by the United States to expand the scope of sanctions against Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) over its latest missile tests.

Prior to this the UNSC slapped the North Korea with six rounds of sanctions, but Washington and its allies have been pushing for more powerful and crippling sanctions in an attempt to halt the increasing wave of missile tests by Pyongyang.

Meanwhile, President Trump said “all options are on the table” (implying military solution), while his Vice President Pence declared the “end of strategic patience.” Pence added:

“The patience of the United States in this region has run out …………The world has witnessed the strength and resolve of the US in actions taken in Syria and Afghanistan.”

Pence was alluding to the 59 cruise missiles the US launched at a Syrian military airfield, and the 22,000-pound “mother of all bombs,” the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat by the United States, dropped in Afghanistan.

US War Games

Right after striking Syria, President Trump dispatched a giant armada led by an aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson, to the Korean peninsula as a show of force. The US also dispatched a nuclear-powered guided missile submarine, the USS Michigan, to the region, capable of launching up to 150 Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of about 1,000 miles. The 6,900-tonne USS Cheyenne arrived in the South Korea port of Busan.

The US also has nearly 80,000 US military personnel in South Korea and Japan, as well as military aircraft and other hardware on a high state of alert in South Korea. The USS Ronald Reagan and its carrier strike group are based at the Japanese port of Yokosuka, while the US 7th Fleet, armed with tactical nuclear weapons, patrols the region.

The US nukes are also based in South Korea and Guam, while US heavy B-1 and B-52 bombers can fly from North America to Korea. In the event of war with North Korea, the US military take over the South Korean military with some 625,000 personnel as well as naval, air and anti-missile systems.

To top it all, U.S. performs, twice annually, the largest war games in the world with South Korea, in which it practises an assassination of the North Korea’s top leadership, the invasion and occupation of North Korea, and a nuclear first strike against North Korea with imitation armaments.

The Foal Eagle war games include 300,000 South Korean soldiers and 15,000 US troops. This year, the exercises also feature Navy SEAL Team Six, which is best known for assassinating Osama bin Laden on Obama’s orders.

Moreover, an American plan was made public last September proclaiming that “the North’s capital city will be reduced to ashes and removed from the map if it shows any signs of using a nuclear weapon”.

THAAD Provokes Anger

The US also installed an advanced missile system in South Korea, known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD). This provoked strong opposition from China and Russia who consider it a provocative move and a threat to their national security. Chinese Foreign Ministry said:

“The THAAD deployment by the US severely disrupts regional strategic balance, undermines the strategic security interests of regional countries, including China, and does no good to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,”

THAAD system has also enraged the people of South Korea. The government there deployed 8,000 riot police to forcibly remove the residents and Buddhist monks protesting near the THAAD site. Over 900 shaved their heads in protest. They expressed concerns about the electromagnetic waves emitted by the radar and their long-term impact on their health and agricultural.

Police evicted the protestors to clear a path for 38 US military vehicles carrying THAAD parts and equipment. A total of 12 protesters sustained injuries and were taken to the hospital.

Under such condition, any military action, however limited, would trigger a conflict that could draw in neighboring countries. American administrations have been contemplating the idea of pre-emptive strike against North Korea, but were quickly restrained, knowing that it would prompt a counter-reaction. They couldn’t justify military action that would endanger lives of millions of Koreans, with 28,500 U.S. soldiers and 230,000 Americans living there.

US Shreds Peace Pact

In 1994 President Clinton entered a framework agreement under which North Korea would end its efforts to develop nuclear weapons, while the U.S. would cut down its hostile acts.

It worked as, up to 2000, North Korea abandoned its nuclear weapons programs. Enter George W. Bush and he immediately launches an assault on North Korea, with his “axis of evil” mantra and explicit aim of regime change. North Korea in turn reverted to its erstwhile nuclear programme.

Once again, the two countries entered an agreement in 2005 and once again Bush shredded it and reverted to sanctions. North Korea backed off, and resumed its nuclear program. As Noam Chomsky said:

“If you like it, one can say it’s the worst regime in history, whatever you like, but they have been following a pretty rational tit-for-tat policy”.

DPRK not Suicidal

Ex-US president and Korean War old hand, Jimmy Carter once spoke about American militarism, saying since World War II, the country has been at war. He added that he “could not think of any place on earth today where the United States is working to promote peace”.

In the early 1990s, Carter met the North Korean leader Kim II Sung who expressed the desire for a peace treaty with the United States. The result was a successful treaty that ended the Korean nuclear weapons program and economic embargo, allowing Americans to search for the remains of Korean War veterans.

While Bush dismantled that agreement, Obama intensified war games with South Korea, including a simulated nuclear attack on North Korea, and tightened the economic stranglehold.

In his address Carter said: “I’ve been there two or three times since the 1994 agreement, and I can tell you what the North Koreans want is a peace treaty with the United States and they want the 60-year economic embargo lifted against their people, so they can have an equal chance to trade. ……….. They make a lot of mistakes, but if the United States would just talk to the North Koreans…I believe…we could have peace, and the United States would be a lot better off in the long run.”

In fact North Korea has threatened to retaliate only in response to a U.S. pre-emptive military strike. In the 7th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea, its leader Kim Jong Un affirmed that his country “would not use nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty was violated.”

Former US Secretary of Defense William Perry, who helped negotiate a freeze of North Korea’s nuclear program during the Clinton administration, agrees: “I believe that the danger of a North Korean ICBM program is not that they would launch an unprovoked attack on the United States. They are not suicidal.”

Lesson from Gaddafi

Perhaps it would be suicidal for them to give up their nuclear arsenal, after what happened to Gaddafi of Libya.

Undoubtedly, Kim Jong Un knows only too well how Gaddafi ended his days, the way he was overthrown and then lynched under US/NATO command. By surrendering his military weaponry, he signed his death warrant. He submitted his weapons and deposited some $ 200 billion of Libyan national wealth in Western banks. Yet in the end the West took its skin.

In the West it is rarely brought to light that the US has repeatedly turned down North Korea offers to end nuclear weapon development. Offers have been put forward by North Korea back to the Clinton administration in the 1990s but were then rejected by the US.

The most recent proposal was made in 2015 when North Korea offered to “halt nuclear testing if the United States would cancel an annual spring military exercise with South Korea”, but Washington rejected the proposal.

War Crime

It is hardly surprising that North Koreans want peace, for they remember the war in the fifties when the US Air Force carpet-bombed their country with incendiaries and explosives, dropping 635,000 tons of explosive bombs and up to 40,000 tons of napalm.

They remember the worst atrocities carried out by South Korean police, who took part in prostitution rings, racketeering, blackmail and the execution of thousands of political prisoners, and routine execution of prisoners of war, including old men, women and children. Western reporters who revealed these atrocities had US censorship imposed on them.

North Korea was carpet bombed for three years by US bombers, destroying every town and village. In the words of Air Force General Curtis LeMay: “We burned down every town in North Korea …. Over a period of three years or so we killed – what – 20 percent of the population”.

To quote Senator John Glenn, a Korea war veteran who ended up as an astronaut, “We did a lot of napalm work …. You could strafe them, bomb them, napalm them, flying in low. Quite a variety of weapons.”

And in the final stages of the war, mass bombing (1,514 sorties) of hydro-electric and irrigation dams was done, flooding and destroying huge areas of farmland and crops. Five reservoirs were hit, flooding thousands of acres of farmland, inundating whole towns and laying waste to the essential food source for millions of North Koreans.

Quoting Professor Charles Armstrong, Director of the Centre for Korean Research (Columbia University):

“The physical destruction and loss of life on both sides was almost beyond comprehension, but the North suffered the greater damage, due to American saturation bombing and the scorched-earth policy of the retreating UN (read US) forces”.


Chief Justice William O. Douglas visited Korea in the summer of 1952 and declared, “I had seen the war-battered cities of Europe; but I had not seen devastation until I had seen Korea.”

One can thus barely blame North Korea if today it is highly militarised, displaying deep antipathy towards the state that rained death and destruction on its people, towns and villages. That mass killing and destruction of civilians was war crimes never brought to any court of justice.

US Strategy

Instead, the US carries on with its threats of regime change and gun-boat diplomacy. Dennis Etler of Cabrillo College in California, says the US refuses to deescalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula in order to maintain its network of military bases in East Asia and contain China.

“There is only one reason why US seeks to quarantine the DPRK. It allows the US to maintain a military presence in East Asia. If not for tensions on the Korean peninsula, the US would lose its rational for its network of military bases in the region, which are primarily meant to threaten and contain China” he adds.

James R. Lilley puts it succinctly when he says: “At the end of the Cold War, if North Korea didn’t exist we would have to create it as an excuse to keep the Seventh Fleet in the region.”

He is talking of the forward-deployed U.S. fleets, with 70 to 80 ships and submarines, 300 aircraft and approximately 40,000 Navy and Marine Corps personnel

Lilley speaks as an insider, having been member, together with his close friend, George H.W. Bush, of the infamous Yale University Skull & Bones secret society. He served some three decades at the CIA along with Bush. Both Lilley and Bush were US Ambassadors to China.
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Re: North Korea, you're up next

Postby BenDhyan » Mon Jun 26, 2017 6:33 am

I doubt South Korean President Moon Jae-in will ultimately prevail on either issue....

South Korea Stops THAAD: Strategic Misstep?

June 22, 2017

Explain the rationale behind South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s decision to temporarily suspend THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) deployment.

Ostensibly, Moon’s decision to halt THAAD deployment is based on the rationale of environmental safety, transparency, and accountability to the South Korean public. His administration contends that the Ministry of National Defense failed to inform the incoming president on the arrival of four of the six launchers that are already in-country – which is difficult to fathom, as all THAAD batteries have six launchers. If we suppose that Moon was truly caught off-guard by this information, this just underscores his limited understanding of security and consequently adversely places his competency under question.
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What’s actually going on is posturing. From a domestic and international standpoint, Moon’s presidency has yet to become stable. He is pressed to deliver on his promises to the South Korean public within a reasonable time. In Moon’s case, the timeframe might be truncated, as the circumstances in which he was elected to office were unique and abbreviated. Moon also appears to be more sensitive to China’s dissatisfaction with THAAD and willing to concede to Beijing’s economic pressure on Seoul – a factor of consideration that conflicts with the trajectory of the U.S.-South Korea alliance.
-snip-

What signal does Moon’s move send to Pyongyang?

Moon’s decision to delay THAAD deployment suggests South Korea’s veil of a hardline approach toward Pyongyang may soon be lifted, bringing a redux of the former Roh administration’s pro-engagement policy. It downplays the gravity of the North Korea threat, conveying a message that the new Blue House does not take Pyongyang’s provocations to be a serious imposition on South Korea’s security and that of its regional neighbors. In so doing, Seoul is signaling a more conciliatory, pliant posture toward Pyongyang.

It’s worth noting, however, that the Kim Jong-un regime had anticipated this window of opportunity long before Moon came into office. In Seoul, the discovery of former president Park Geun-hye’s deep entrenchment in a corruption scandal created a leadership vacuum; in Washington, a new presidential administration quick to respond meant an easily provoked adversary. The stars are aligned for the Kim regime to extract as many concessions as possible from not only Seoul, but Washington and Beijing, as well.

Assess the consequences of THAAD’s termination on South Korea’s security policy and implications for U.S.-ROK relations.

THAAD’s termination sends a powerful yet undesirable message about South Korea’s security policy and prioritization of alliances. In creating a vacuum in Seoul’s defensive preparations against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, it perpetuates the perception of ROK vulnerability to the DPRK. In addition, the THAAD symbolizes a joint U.S.-South Korea resolve against a shared adversary – removing this emblematic defense system could thus send the message that Seoul no longer views Washington as its most important alliance partner. From a long-term security perspective, this makes South Korea more susceptible and vulnerable to North Korea’s incursions and provocations, as it essentially gives Pyongyang greater reign to force Seoul, no longer buttressed by its American ally, to make concessions and accommodate the DPRK.

Explain the dynamic between domestic politics and geopolitics in Moon’s decision-making.

President Moon has been in office for just a little over a month now. His purported landslide victory notwithstanding, note that the May presidential by-election was a truncated election cycle – candidates had much less time to campaign, and more importantly, South Korean voters also decided on their leader in a short time span. Domestic political atmospherics in Seoul are still unsettled, and on top of this, South Korea has had to deal with an onslaught of North Korean provocations and China’s pressure. President Moon is pressed to prove his legitimacy as a transparent and accountable leader to the South Korean public while fending against the DPRK’s nuclear and missile tests and choosing a course of action that is perceived as being mindful of Beijing’s interests. Moon’s recent THAAD decision is demonstrative of the push-pull dynamic between domestic and geopolitical factors at play in his decision-making.


http://thediplomat.com/2017/06/south-korea-stops-thaad-strategic-misstep/

S. Korea president invites N. Korea to 2018 Winter Olympics

PanArmenian.Net - Sunday 25th June, 2017

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Saturday, June 24 invited North Korea to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, saying sports could serve as a peace maker, AFP reports.

The South and nuclear-armed North Korea are separated by one of the world's most heavily armed borders and remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

But the centre-left Moon is known to favour engagement with the North to bring it to the negotiating table in a break from his conservative predecessors who took a hardline stance.

"I believe in the strength of sports that has been brokering peace," Moon said.

"If a North Korean delegation takes part in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, I believe it will greatly contribute to realizing the Olympic values of friendship and peace," he said, according to a script of his remarks released by the presidential Blue House.

Moon also suggested the two countries pool their athletes to form joint teams for the games to achieve better performances.

The president was speaking at the opening of the World Taekwondo Championships in the southern county of Muju.

Also on hand was North Korea's top sports official Jang Woong, the country's sole IOC member, together with a North Korean delegation of athletes.

In March, Jang reportedly said in Japan that there was no reason for the North to stay away from the Olympics, but that the games would be hosted by South Korea.

In Seoul on Friday he said he would discuss the idea of co-hosting the Winter Games with Olympic chief Thomas Bach when he meets him in South Korea next week.

He was speaking after South Korea's sports minister Do Jong-Hwan was quoted as saying some skiing events for the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics could be held in North Korea, although officials insist he was misunderstood.

However, Do does plan to raise the idea of inviting North Korean players to join South Korea's women's ice hockey team for the Pyeongchang Olympics, a spokesman of the ministry said.

South Korea considered sharing some events at the Seoul 1988 Olympics with the North, but talks broke down and the North boycotted the Games.


http://www.northkoreatimes.com/news/253722706/s-korea-president-invites-n-korea-to-2018-winter-olympics
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Re: North Korea, you're up next

Postby BenDhyan » Mon Jun 26, 2017 7:31 am

Iamwhomiam » Mon Jun 19, 2017 11:18 pm wrote:I think that's propaganda, 82. According to a navy Captain, the US ship should have yielded right of way to the cargo vessel. Also, he failed to keep a lookout stationed or the lookout was incapacitated.

See rules 15, 16 & 17. (Port is left, Starboard is right)

https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=navRulesContent#rule15


Since this seems the only thread where this event is in mentioned, here's the latest...

Exclusive: U.S. warship stayed on deadly collision course despite warning - container ship captain

Mon Jun 26, 2017
A U.S. warship struck by a container vessel in Japanese waters failed to respond to warning signals or take evasive action before a collision that killed seven of its crew, according to a report of the incident by the Philippine cargo ship's captain.

Multiple U.S. and Japanese investigations are under way into how the guided missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald and the much larger ACX Crystal container ship collided in clear weather south of Tokyo Bay in the early hours of June 17.

In the first detailed account from one of those directly involved, the cargo ship's captain said the ACX Crystal had signaled with flashing lights after the Fitzgerald "suddenly" steamed on to a course to cross its path.

The container ship steered hard to starboard (right) to avoid the warship, but hit the Fitzgerald 10 minutes later at 1:30 a.m., according to a copy of Captain Ronald Advincula's report to Japanese ship owner Dainichi Investment Corporation that was seen by Reuters.

The U.S. Navy declined to comment and Reuters was not able to independently verify the account.

The collision tore a gash below the Fitzgerald's waterline, killing seven sailors in what was the greatest loss of life on a U.S. Navy vessel since the USS Cole was bombed in Yemen's Aden harbor in 2000.

Those who died were in their berthing compartments, while the Fitzgerald's commander was injured in his cabin, suggesting that no alarm warning of an imminent collision was sounded.

A spokesman for the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet in Yokosuka, the Fitzgerald's home port, said he was unable to comment on an ongoing investigation.


http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-navy-asia-exclusive-idUSKBN19H13C?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Top+News%29
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Re: North Korea, you're up next

Postby stillrobertpaulsen » Fri Jun 30, 2017 5:01 pm

Perhaps Trumpstag will be permanently shelved. The thought occurred to me today when, in the midst of the possibility of blackmail being added to the money laundering, obstruction of justice and other assorted crimes Trump is being investigated over the tawdry Brzezinksi/Scarborough National Enquirer story, Trump took the time to excrete this turd, which goddamn CNN polished with salivation:

Trump: US patience with the North Korean regime 'is over'

By Jeremy Diamond, CNN

Updated 1:31 PM ET, Fri June 30, 2017

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump, speaking alongside South Korean President Moon Jae-in, declared Friday US patience with the North Korean regime "is over."

"The era of strategic patience with the North Korean regime has failed," Trump said in a statement from the Rose Garden. "And, frankly, that patience is over."

The remarks were the latest sign that Trump is growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress in curbing North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, which top US officials have eyed with increasing concern in recent months.

The South Korean President's visit to the White House came after Trump approved a series of measures designed to ratchet up pressure on North Korea -- while also sending signals to China about the US' shrinking patience.

The Treasury Department on Thursday imposed new sanctions on a Chinese bank and several Chinese nationals while the State Department approved a $1 billion arms deal with Taiwan. Both moves appeared aimed at unsettling China, which the US has repeatedly urged to pressure North Korea into changing its behavior, with little success.

Trump on Friday warned that the US is facing "the threat of the reckless and brutal regime in North Korea" that "has no regard for the safety and security of its people or its neighbors" and vowed the US would continue to act to defend US interests and allies in the region.

Moon, who was elected on a platform of increased engagement with North Korea, also warned that "threats and provocations from the North will be met with a stern response" and vowed South Korea and the US will "strengthen" their joint deterrence capabilities.

But he also urged the North Korean regime "to promptly return to the negotiating table" to achieve a peaceful end to its nuclear program.

Beyond its ongoing nuclear and ballistic missile activity, the sense of alarm in the US has also grown after American student Otto Warmbier fell into a coma while in North Korean custody and died days after he was returned to the US.

"The North Korean dictatorship has no regard for the safety and security of its people or its neighbors and has no respect for human life -- and that's been proven over and over again," Trump said, before also thanking Moon for expressing his condolences over Warmbier's death.

The two men did not take questions, marking the second consecutive foreign visit where Trump has not taken questions alongside a world leader he is hosting at the White House.

Moon first arrived at the White House Thursday night where he and his wife dined with Trump and the US first lady.

Moon returned to the White House on Friday morning for a series of meetings after first laying a wreath at the Korean War memorial with Vice President Mike Pence.

Trump and Moon's discussions went beyond ways to confront the North Korean regime, also centering on the trading relationship between the US and South Korea, following Trump's criticism of the bilateral free trade deal between the two countries, which Trump has called a bad deal for the US.

"We are renegotiating a trade deal right now as we speak with South Korea and hopefully it will an equitable deal, a fair deal to both parties," Trump said as he greeted Moon in the Oval Office on Friday morning. "It's been a rough deal for the United States but I think that it will be much different for the United States."

Trump added in the Rose Garden that he was "encouraged by President Moon's assurances that he will work to create a level playing field so that American workers and businesses and especially automakers can have a fair shake at dealing with South Korea."

But even on trade, China appeared to be at the forefront of the administration's mind.

In remarks during the bilateral meeting between the US and South Korean sides, National Economic Director Gary Cohn knocked China's "predatory practices" on trade and said the Trump administration hopes to partner with South Korea to jointly tackle Chinese trade abuses that impact both countries.


If there's one thing Trump learned with Syria, it's that if he wants the Radical Establishment Media fawning over him and crowing about how "presidential" he's acting, he needs to bomb the shit out of whoever they say the enemy is.
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Re: North Korea, you're up next

Postby SonicG » Fri Jun 30, 2017 10:17 pm

No doubt that NorKor and Syria are his chest-thumpers...the whole "They better not do that chemical attack they are thingking of....See we a-scared them" routine in Syria while Russia, Syria and Turkey are busy hammering out terms to end conflict there...And more nose-tweeking of China also with arm sales to Taiwan...
The fact of Russia stepping in to help NorKor cam up a while ago but now the admin. is talking about it...

U.S. says Russia could help N. Korea evade sanctions in lieu of China
Remarks follow designations of Russian companies for helping DPRK evade sanctions

The U.S. is concerned Russia could step up sanctions breaking activities with North Korea following stricter implementation from Beijing, Washington’s Ambassador to the UN said on Tuesday.

Speaking in Washington DC, Nikki Haley said the U.S. needs to keep pressure on Beijing while also warning Moscow could support Pyongyang in lieu of China.

“I’m concerned that Russia may backfill North Korea… We don’t have proof of that, but we are watching that carefully,” Haley said.

“We just need to keep the pressure on China, we need to keep our eyes on Russia, and we need to continue to let the North Korea regime know we are not looking for regime change.”

The remarks come after the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated several Russian entities and individuals in early June.

A Russian oil producer and a Moscow-based bearings company were both named as having helped North Korea circumvent sanctions.

“U.S. sanctions on IPC suggest the Trump administration is concerned that Russia could backfill some areas where China may eventually restrict exports to North Korea,” Anthony Ruggiero, a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told NK News.

“North Korea’s operations in China are vulnerable to U.S. sanctions and could lead Pyongyang to diversify elements of its sanctions evasion to Russia.”

Russia came up several times in the most recent UN Panel of Experts (PoE) report on the DPRK.

https://www.nknews.org/2017/06/u-s-says ... -of-china/


Something Trump and Putin can discuss over tea when they meet next week.
"a poiminint tidal wave in a notion of dynamite"
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Re: North Korea, you're up next

Postby conniption » Sat Jul 08, 2017 9:11 pm

consciousbeingalliance

Posted on March 21, 2017

THE KOREA PROBLEM
This is What Democracy Looks Like


First published: 21 March 2017
Dissident Voice: 22 March 2017
Expanded herein: 27 March 2017
Edited / clarified: 28 March 2017


keith harmon snow

Dateline: SOUTH KOREA


The United States and its allies have embarked on a dangerous path of aggression against the government of North Korea and its allies China and Russia.

As usual, the western propaganda system presents a near unified front showing how horrible and atrocious the North Korean government is purported to be, and how murderous and ruthless and amoral their intentions are purported to be, and how their military objectives and missile programs--now allegedly targeting the 'free' world--are out to dominate the rest of the world, starting with their deadly missiles being launched against the United States and our ally Japan. So goes the propaganda.

Let's look again....

http://www.consciousbeingalliance.com/2 ... -in-korea/
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Re: North Korea, you're up next

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Aug 08, 2017 5:17 pm

North Korea Can Put a Nuclear Weapon on a Missile, Officials Believe
by KEN DILANIAN

WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence agencies have made an assessment that North Korea has constructed a nuclear weapon small enough to fit on a missile, according to a U.S. official briefed on the assessment.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/north-korea ... ve-n790871



Washington (CNN)
President Donald Trump issued an extraordinary ultimatum to North Korea on Tuesday warning Pyongyang not to make any more threats against the United States or they will "face fire and fury"
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/08/politics/ ... index.html


and the generals are running the White House

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Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: North Korea, you're up next

Postby BenDhyan » Sun Aug 13, 2017 11:44 pm

Is Trump Spear-Heading a Bluff on North Korea?

Sat, Aug 12, 2017

With the entire world on pins and needles about North Korea, it is useful to step back and look at the big picture. President Trump has said from the beginning that he wants a different dynamic in U.S. relations with China, and not just on trade.

Ratcheting up the rhetoric and putting Kim Jong Un in an ever-tighter noose is a game of brinksmanship that worries many, including me. But, it’s only under extreme pressure do catastrophic (in the evolutionary biology/mathematical sense) events occur.

If you want to radically change the dynamic then you have to apply extreme pressure. I feel this is what Trump and his advisors are doing. They are appearing to “have the strength to force the moment to its crisis” to quote T.S. Eliot.

And that strength or purpose is creating large movements. Trump is a bully. It’s what he does, at least publicly. The response so far from China has been to denounce the idea of regime change in Pyongyang.

The response from Russia, through Foreign Minister (and top diplomat in the world right now), Sergei Lavrov was to announce a deal brokered between it, North Korea and China to get what Trump wants; no potential for nukes in North Korea.

"Russia together with China developed a plan which proposes 'double freezing': Kim Jong-un should freeze nuclear tests and stop launching any types of ballistic missiles, while US and South Korea should freeze large-scale drills which are used as a pretext for the North’s tests."

While also getting China what it wants, no regime change. Lavrov also insists that this is also academic as Russia insists that North Korea does not have a nuclear weapon.

I don’t think that matters much to Trump. I think he sees this as the start to a global draw-down on nuclear weapons going forward. But, it would also mean that he has to put paid his promise at his inauguration that the U.S. would no longer seek to change the government it doesn’t like.

Here is his golden opportunity to then make a deal to do just that.

The unanimous vote of the U.N. Security Council to put on greater sanctions is your clue that this time it’s serious. Russia and China are willing to assist Trump in getting North Korea, and, by extension, Iran to give up its ambitions for a nuclear weapon but only with certain other guarantees.

And, the first of which is to back off on any military intervention on the Korean peninsula.

But, Trump is going to have to give up something else to make this work. Just threatening everyone with the prospect of ICBM’s flying does not the framework for a deal make. It’s the opening offer.

It’s not the final one. China and Russia will demand then that Trump back off in one or two of Iran, Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan, four places where U.S. intervention is the proximate cause for the chaos we are all dealing with.

My guess is that Afghanistan is the bargaining chip he’s dangling. He’ll have to add in Iran in some fashion. The sanctions bill doesn’t give him much leeway with Ukraine. Syria is pretty much a mop-up operation.

North Korea needs to be reunited with the rest of the global economy. However, given the last sixty years of U.S. foreign policy it is right to assume that having nuclear weapons makes one immune to regime change operations except the half-hearted ones we fling at Putin which he swats away like gnats during a fishing trip.

Winning this battle would change the dynamic not only of U.S./Chinese/Russian relations but it would also change the dynamic between Trump and the U.S. Deep State he’s been fighting a pitched battle against.

Because if he does pull this off, he will have the neocons by the proverbial throat to continue undoing the damage they’ve done to the world.


http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/trump-spear-heading-bluff-north-korea/ri20665
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Re: North Korea, you're up next

Postby BenDhyan » Sun Sep 03, 2017 12:30 am

I imagine this was a hydrogen bomb.....

North Korea shaken by strong tremor, with South's officials reportedly saying it could be a nuclear test

Leslie Shaffer | @LeslieShaffer1 Published 31 Mins Ago | Updated 2 Mins Ago

North Korea was struck by a strong tremor on Sunday, with the South's officials reportedly saying it could be due to a nuclear test.

The USGS reported the tremor as a 5.6 magnitude, while China's earthquake administration said it detected a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Northeastern North Korea, calling it a "suspected explosion," Reuters reported.

The report cited the USGS as saying the tremor occurred at around 12 noon North Korea time.

South Korea's Blue House, the country's equivalent of the White House, said that the North may conducted another nuclear test, its sixth, the South's official news agency Yonhap reported.

The South's President Moon Jae-in has called a National Security Council meeting, Yonhap reported.

The depth of the quake was recorded as zero kilometers, the China earthquake administration said, according to Reuters.

Previous tremors in the reclusive country have been caused by nuclear tests. The wave form signal for an explosion and an earthquake are different, allowing geologists to distinguish a man-made tremor.

A South Korean military official told NBC News that the quake was artificial, while Yonhap reported the military said the tremor was located near the North's nuclear test site.

The potential nuclear test followed North Korea saying on Sunday that it had developed a more advanced thermonuclear weapon of "great destructive power," which it would load onto an intercontinental ballistic missile, Reuters reported.


https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/02/north-korea-shaken-by-strong-tremor-which-could-signal-a-weapons-test-reuters.html
Last edited by BenDhyan on Sun Sep 03, 2017 7:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: North Korea, you're up next

Postby BenDhyan » Sun Sep 03, 2017 3:40 am

I hope Donald and Kim can find a way forward without the fire and fury part...

N. Korea tested hydrogen bomb that can be mounted on ICBM – state TV

Published time: 3 Sep, 2017 06:41

Pyongyang has successfully tested a hydrogen bomb which can be mounted on an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), the country’s state TV announced. Earlier an “artificial quake” was registered near a nuclear testing site in North Korea.

Image
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un provides guidance on a nuclear weapons program © KCNA / Reuters

The bomb test was a “perfect success” and was a “meaningful” step to complete the North’s nuclear weapons program, state television said, as cited by Reuters.

Kim watched “an H-bomb to be loaded into new ICBM,” KCNA state news agency reported, adding that all components of the device were “homemade.”

“The H-bomb, the explosive power of which is adjustable from tens kiloton to hundreds kiloton, is a multi-functional thermonuclear nuke with great destructive power which can be detonated even at high altitudes for super-powerful [Electromagnetic pulse] EMP attack according to strategic goals,” the agency said.

On Saturday, Pyongyang said it developed a new, more advanced hydrogen nuke that is small enough to be fitted on a ICBM, KCNA state media reported.

North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Institute created a “more developed nuke,” bringing about a “signal turn” in the country’s nuclear arsenal, the outlet said. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reportedly inspected the new weapon during his visit to the nuclear facility.

“Our hydrogen fuel, which can be arbitrarily adjusted from tens to hundreds of kilotons depending on the target of the nuclear strike, not only exerts enormous destructive power,” but can also explode at a high altitude, producing a “super powerful EMP [electromagnetic pulse] against a vast region,” KCNA said in the Saturday statement.

READ MORE: Pyongyang conducted nuclear test, Tokyo says after ‘artificial earthquake’ strikes N. Korea

On Sunday, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake rocked North Korea near a known nuclear test site – Punggye-ri in North Hamgyeong Province, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), as cited by South Korean Yonhap news agency.

The USGS reported the tremor as 6.3 in magnitude, while China’s earthquake administration also said it detected a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in northeastern North Korea, calling it a “suspected explosion,” Reuters reports.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry claimed that, according to its data, “it was a nuclear test.” According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the tremors in North Korea were at least 10 times as powerful as previous nuclear tests.

Witnesses in the Chinese city of Yanji, which borders North Korea, said they felt a tremor which lasted several seconds.

“I was eating brunch just over the border here in Yanji when we felt the whole building shake,” Michael Spavor, director of the Paektu Cultural Exchange, told Reuters, “It lasted for about five seconds. The city air raid sirens started going off.”

On Monday, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service warned that the North might be preparing its sixth nuclear weapon test from a test site in Punggye-ri. Pyongyang has already conducted five nuclear tests – in 2006, 2009, 2013, and in January and September 2016. Following the previous test, the North claimed it had successfully detonated a small nuclear warhead.

Image
North Korea says it has developed ‘advanced hydrogen bomb’ that can be fitted on ICBM



https://www.rt.com/news/401861-pyongyang-tested-hydrogen-bomb/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS
Last edited by BenDhyan on Sun Sep 03, 2017 7:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: North Korea, you're up next

Postby Elvis » Sun Sep 03, 2017 6:30 am

I remain unconvinced that North Korea has any viable nuclear weapons.

And I don't think there's any way North Korea or anyone else could detonate a hydrogen bomb without the U.S. instantly detecting it and knowing exactly what it was.
“The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.” ― Joan Robinson
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