In and Around North Korea: 11 - 17 April 2009

I've missed posting these weekly posts for the past two weeks, and for that I do apologize; however, it's been an interesting few weeks, and I think I have more than ample reasons that I could name why it's been so interesting. You know, like....Taepodong-2 ballistic missile... Six-Party Talks (or lack there of), etc.

Anyway, without further due, here's this week's wrap up...



North Korea withdraws from Six-Party Talks in Response to the UNSC presidential Statement

• Responding to the United Nations Security Council’s presidential statement condemning its recent rocket launch, North Korea announced on 14 Apr that it will resume its nuclear weapons program and will never again take part in the Six-Party Talks.

• North Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement through the state-run Korean Central News Agency “flatly rejecting” the UN statement, which was unanimously adopted at a meeting on 13 Apr.

• “[North Korea] will take the measure for restoring to their original state the nuclear facilities which had been disabled under the agreement of the Six-Party Talks and putting their operation on a normal track and fully reprocess the spent fuel rods churned out from the pilot atomic power plant as part of it,” the North Korean Foreign Ministry statement said.

• “Now that the six-party talks have turned into a platform for infringing upon the sovereignty of [North Korea] and seeking to force [North Korea] to disarm itself and bring down the system in it,” the statement continued.

• “[North Korea] will never participate in the talks any longer nor it will be bound to any agreement of the six-party talks,” it said.

• The international community, including the five Six-Party Talks participating countries, has urged North Korea to reverse its decision and return to the Six-Party Talks swiftly.

North Korea Orders IAEA and US Nuclear Monitors in Yongbyon to Leave

• On 14 Apr, North Korea ordered ordered U.S. nuclear experts engaged in disablement of nuclear facilities in Yongbyon and International Atomic Energy Agency staff monitoring the work to leave the country.

• The order was issued a day after the UN Security Council adopted a statement condemning North Korea's recent rocket launch, which prompted the North to vow to further reinforce its nuclear deterrence and withdraw from the Six-Party Talks.

• In Vienna, the IAEA announced later that its personnel have been denied further access to the Yongbyon facilities and asked to leave the country ''at the earliest possible time.''

• Pyongyang also informed the IAEA that it has decided to reactivate all facilities and go ahead with the reprocessing of spent fuel, according to the IAEA.

• On 16 Apr, the IAEA monitors departed North Korea and the US inspectors left the Yongbyon nuclear facility for Pyongyang.

Top North Korean Legislator Warns of Punishment against America and South Korea

• On 14 Apr, Kim Yong Nam, top legislator of North Korea, warned that his country would mete out "unmerciful punishment" if the United States and South Korea "start a war."

• "Grave obstacles are lying in the way of the country's reunification due to the reckless moves of the conservative authorities in America and South Korea for a war of aggression against the DPRK," Kim said.

• He warned that if the United States and South Korea ignite a war, all the DPRK people would display the invincible spirit and powerful war deterrent for self-defense and mete out "merciless punishment."

North Korea Marks Anniversary of Kim Il-sung’s Birth amid Tensions

• North Korea celebrated the 97th birthday of its late founder, Kim Il-sung, on 15 Apr as regional tensions mounted after its withdrawal from nuclear disarmament talks.

• At one of the gatherings, Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly and North Korea's ceremonial head, accused the South Korean government and the United States of attempting an invasion against the North.

• "If the US and the anti-reunification aggressor forces of South Korea ignite a war on this land in the end," Kim Yong-nam said, "all the service persons and people will display the invincible spirit and powerful war deterrent for self-defense and mete out a merciless punishment to the provocateurs and accomplish the historic cause of national reunification."

Rodong Shinmun releases Photos of National Defense Commission for the First Time

• On 16 Apr, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency obtained a copy of 10 Apr issue of the North Korean party newspaper, Rodong Shinmun, which carried, in an unprecedented move, photos of all members of North Korea’s National Defense Commission that was elected on 09 Apr.

• Rodong Sinmun ran color photos of Kim and other National Defense Commission members on its front page, in a break from its tradition in which only a few important figures were publicized. Analysts said this unprecedented move may suggest a significant rise in the Commission’s status within the North Korean regime.

• Kim Jong-il began his new term as chairman of the National Defense Commission in a parliamentary meeting on 09 Apr, when he also named 12 other members of the commission, including his brother-in-law, Chang So’ng-t’aek (Jang Song-thaek).

• Analysts in South Korea said Chang’s advance to the commission, which was previously dominated by senior military officers, indicated the North Korean leader has groomed the husband of his only sister Kim Kyong-hi as a “number two man.”

• Seoul officials said Kim has considerably bolstered the National Defense Commission, increasing the number of its members to 13 from eight and bringing in new members from outside the military.

Japan, US Call For Freezing Assets of 14 North Korean Entities

• Japan and the US submitted their respective lists of entities that should be subject to the UN sanctions.

• All of the 14 groups are already subject to sanctions implemented by either or both of the countries on their own.

• Of the 14 North Korean organizations, 11 were named by both Japan and the United States, including exporters of equipment related to ballistic missiles, the sources said - the three other entities were named only by Japan.

• The 11 entities that were on the US list were Korean Mining Development Trading Corp., Korea Yongbong General Corps, Tanchon Commercial Bank, and eight subsidiaries of Korean Mining Development Trading Corps. and Korea Yonbong General Corp.

• The Sanctions Committee is set to designate target North Korean entities based on the Japanese and US lists.

• It remains to be seen whether the committee can obtain consent to the Japanese and US lists from all of its members, including representatives from China and Russia.

• Once the designation is agreed, all UN member states will be obliged to freeze assets of target organizations.

UNSC Unanimously Condemns North Korea Launch in Presidential Statement

• The U.N. Security Council adopted a nonbinding presidential statement on North Korea's 05 Apr rocket launch, which unanimously ''condemns'' the action as a ''contravention'' of a resolution banning North Korea from all missile-related activities.

• The statement was a weaker response to the rocket launch, which was seen widely as a disguised test-firing of a long-range ballistic missile, than a binding Security Council resolution Japan had intensely lobbied for but failed to persuade other council members to support in the wake of strong opposition from China and Russia.

• The presidential statement said the Security Council ''condemns'' the launch and the action is ''in contravention of Security Council Resolution 1718."

• That wording is stronger than the expression of regret China had earlier insisted on using in the statement.

• The statement said North Korea “must comply fully with its obligation under Resolution 1718,” adopted in October 2006 following its nuclear test - it also demands North Korea ''not conduct any further launch."

• It "calls upon all member states to comply fully with their obligations under Resolution 1718," which bans North Korea from all ballistic missile activity and calls for the international community to stop trading weapons and luxury goods with North Korea.

• The statement requests that the Security Council sanctions committee established to deal with Resolution 1718 designate additional goods subject to a trade embargo against North Korea and entities whose assets are to be frozen due to suspected activities related to nuclear weapons and missile development.

• It asks the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against North Korea to report to the council by 24 Apr on the companies, items, and technologies to be added to the list.

• If the committee fails to act, it says the security council itself will then come up with a list by 30 Apr.

• The statement also calls for an early resumption of the Six-Party Talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

• Beijing had initially proposed a nonbinding press statement, which is even weaker than a presidential statement as it is read out only to the press by the Security Council president.

• In the wake of the stalemate with Japan, China proposed a presidential statement, which is read out inside the global body's chamber.

• The Security Council issued a press statement after North Korea test-fired an intermediate-range Taepodong-1 ballistic missile in Aug 98.

• The council adopted a resolution demanding that North Korea suspend all missile-related activities after it launched seven ballistic missiles including a Taepodong-2 missile in Jul 06.

• Countries involved in the Six-Party Talks, with the exception of China, were supportive of the statement.

• In response to the UNSC presidential statement, on 14 Apr, North Korea announced that it will withdraw from the Six-Party Talks and restart its nuclear development programs.

South Korea says Nine North Korean Ships Subject to PSI in International Waters

• A total of nine North Korean ships are subject to possible inspection if they pass through international waters, as they are registered with countries affected by a US-led anti-proliferation drive, Seoul officials said on 14 Apr.

• Among ships operated by North Koreans, only nine of them are registered with applicable nations - Belize and Mongolia - and thus are subject to PSI operations in international waters, government officials said.

• North Korea's other internationally-registered vessels are checked in with Cambodia, China and Honduras, which are not PSI members and do not have ship-boarding pacts with the US, the officials said.

• In territorial waters, however, PSI participants may examine any suspicious North Korean ship regardless of its registration.

• The PSI has 94 member states, including 15 core countries – Russia and Japan are full participants.

• North Korea has warned it would regard South Korea's entrance into the PSI as a declaration of war.

• Seoul and Pyongyang signed a bilateral shipping treaty in 2005 to allow commercial ships to use their territorial waters.

• Under the agreement, they may stop and interdict ships suspected of carrying illegal materials but can only expel them in case of violation – the PSI grants the right to seize violators.

North Korea Eliminates Symbolic Agency

• A North Korean agency dealing with inter-Korean economic cooperation appears to have been removed.

• Following North Korea's cabinet reshuffle at the first session of the Supreme People's Assembly on 09 Apr, most ministers and heads of government agencies were retained during the opening session of the assembly.

• But the National Economic Cooperation Federation was not on the list of ministries and agencies.

South Korea says North's detention of South Korean Worker 'Serious'

• South Korean government views North Korea's prolonged detention of a South Korean worker as "serious" and will consider taking action should North Korea continue to refuse access to him, a spokesperson said on 13 Apr.

• North Korea detained the employee of Hyundai Asan Corp. on 30 Mar in Kaesong, where a joint industrial complex developed by the South Korean company is located.

• South Korean officials said the detained worker should not remain isolated and that he has the right to be represented by an attorney under inter-Korean accords on joint economic ventures. The accords guarantee "basic rights" for South Korean workers detained by the North.

South Korean Activist send Leaflets to North Korea

• North Korean defectors floated leaflets across the inter-Korean border into North Korea on 15 Apr, calling for the ousting of leader Kim Jong-il as North Korea marked the 97th anniversary of Kim Il-sung’s birthday.

• Nine defectors shouted "Down with Dictator Kim Jong-il!" as they released ten huge balloons carrying 100,000 flyers at Imjingak in South Korea, just south of the Demilitarized Zone.

North Korea Lacks Financial and Technological Abilities to Build Light Water Reactor

• North Korea has threatened to build light-water nuclear reactors again but most experts believes Pyongyang is bluffing to gain an advantage in negotiations with the United States. This is because the North has no economic or technological capacity to build such a reactor on its own.

• Jun Bong-keun, a professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security in Seoul, told Dong-A Ilbo on 14 Apr, "North Korea has no capacity to build a light-water nuclear reactor on its own. It is also impossible in many respects for the North to purchase and operate light-water reactor parts from other countries."

• Above all, the construction of such reactors requires state-of-the-art technology, something which the North sorely lacks, Jun said. Only the US, Japan, Russia, France, and South Korea has the technological capacity to build light-water reactors, he added.

South Korean Media Criticize Repeated PSI Delay, Claim Moderates Prevail

• On 16 Apr, South Korean dailies across the political spectrum chided the government for putting off the announcement of its full participation in the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) for the third time since North Korea's 05 Apr rocket launch, with some raising concerns about the negative impact it may have on the government's image.

• The South Korean government's official stance was that the announcement was put off to "finish internal procedures and consultations with related countries." However, most dailies speculated that it actually owed to concerns over further aggravation of inter-Korean relations, the safety of the US and South Korean nationals detained in North Korea, the possibility of Pyongyang restricting or closing the Kaesong Industrial Complex, and the significance of 15 Apr for North Korea.

South Korean War Ship begins Convoy Duties off the Coast of Oman

• The 4,500-ton Munmu the Great, carrying a crew of 300, started escorting a 12,000-ton South Korean cargo vessel, Pine Galaxy, in the Gulf of Aden, said Col. Lee Hyoung-kook of the South Korean JCS overseas troop deployment bureau.

• The destroyer is able to protect up to six vessels at a time but will normally escort one to three ships, he said.

• About 500 South Korean cargo ships sail throughout the piracy-stricken Gulf of Aden every year, and some 150 of them are categorized as vulnerable to hijacking given their size and speed, he added.

• Last month, South Korean dispatched the Cheonghae Unit to the coast off Somalia, the first-ever overseas naval deployment.

• The Korean contingent consists of the KDX-II destroyer, a Lynx anti-submarine helicopter, rigid inflatable speedboats and 30 UDT/SEAL forces and an explosive ordinance disposal team among its personnel.

• The KDX-II destroyer is equipped with a Mk. 45 127mm gun, Harpoon ship-to-surface missiles, RAM Mk 31 ship-to-air guided missiles, a 30mm Goalkeeper system for engaging sea-skimming anti-ship missiles and torpedoes.