South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attend a luncheon in Pyongyang, North Korea, September 19, 2018. Pyeongyang Press Corps/Pool via REUTERS
Reuters: Korea summit economic pledge raises sanctions-busting fears
A pledge by the leaders of North and South Korea to foster economic ties has heightened worries among skeptics that Seoul’s push to revive nuclear talks could undermine the sanction regime credited with bringing Pyongyang to the negotiating table.
Speaking at a joint news conference in Pyongyang on Wednesday, South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to the normalization of the Kaesong joint border industrial park and tours to North Korea’s Mount Kumgang.
The two projects, which were suspended amid tensions between the rivals under Moon’s two conservative predecessors, had been lucrative sources of cash for the impoverished North.
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Update: Proposed Inter-Korean Projects Could Violate UN, US Sanctions -- VOA
WNU Editor: South Korea is already sending goods to North Korea that are sanctioned .... South Korea sends sanctioned material to North Korea, politician says (Reuters). And while today's announcement can be interpreted as a violation of current UN sanctions .... no one is going to complain if it brings peace to the peninsula.
3 comments:
At some level we need to give in as they make consessions, we just need to make sure progress keep moving.
The shipping of goods is in response to changed behavior by North Korea. South Korea would not have done this had such changes not occurred. Unlike much of America's leadership class, these people are actually quite savvy.
As such, in substance this is not a violation of sanctions, and, while no one should complain, someone probably will. Criticism of Trump, the man the media and the American political elite despise, is a favorite pastime of such people.
As I recall, when tensions were at their highest between the US and SK the media focus and criticism was on Trump. His rhetoric was causing friction they told us. What they did not bother to tell us was his response was in response to the North Korean threat to annihalte us. They assured us the problem was Trump and not North Korea or its leaders. North Korea was not a threat. The threat is Trump. Our all knowing superiors assured us of this.
Then when tensions cooled, the topic changes. Then we are treated to breathless reports of North Korea not complying with the spirit of Singapore, China and Russia busting sanctions, or whatever else they came up with. Now North Korea suddenly became a threat. These people are so full of hatred that they have lost all ability to think rationally. They can't even get or keep their stories straight!!
Would hatred of Trump and his team cause these people to take steps to undermine these very important efforts? Unfortunately from what has been observed the answer is probably yes it would. Trump hatred trumps everything. No pun intended. So I would expect complaints from the usual sources.
We also should keep track of the fact that we need to renegotiate our trade terms with China. If the North Korean situation is solved, this becomes allot easier to do.
Michael (6:01PM),
Spot on!! There's little that can be added. A major concern of mine has always been that North Korea would make minor/token concessions that they can easily go back on, in return we would be expected to make major concessions, and after several rounds of this we would have given up a great deal and they would have given up virtually nothing. Fortunately it seems, at least to date, Trump and his team along with South Korea seem to have resisted this.
Another concern I have had is that South Korea would betray us. While we cannot "know" unless we have access to inside information that is in real time, it appears to me that the South Korean leadership respects team Trump more than they have past presidents and their teams. As such, betrayal, while still certainly possible and not something we should dismiss, seems less likely.
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