The United States begins to push China to punish North Korea for its torpedoing of a South Korea warship last March. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Dai Bingguo, a China state councilor in charge of foreign affairs and also who has raised the South Korea report of official accusation that the North had torpedoed the ship, killing 46 sailors. Meanwhile, China is showing extreme cautious steps, digesting the findings of the investigation backed by the United Nation and other countries as “the historic ties between the two countries would make that difficult,” a government official pressed.
At the same time, this three-day high level of economic and security meeting of Mrs. Clinton also goes with seeking China’s support for heavier sanctions on Iran. Even though China had joined the other four permanent members of the Security Council and Germany last Tuesday to extend more punishments on Iran’s nuclear program, there is some hold-back relating to China’s extensive investment in Iran’s oil and gas industries.
The meeting also observes the States’ encouragement of China’s openness in its economy.
Submitted by Yen Do.
Showing posts with label North Korea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label North Korea. Show all posts
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Israel’s Prime Minister dropped out of the Nuclear Summit meeting.
Benjamin Netanyahu – Prime Minister of Israel – cancelled his trip to the Nuclear Summit meeting held in Washington DC next week, and placed another minister for this event this past Thursday April 8. The meeting between leaders of nearly four dozen countries is to focus on the weapons of North Korea, the nuclear program of Iran, as well as possible sanctions against Iran. The cancellation was left with silence but Israel’s media believed that the Prime Minister feared of the scenario where this meeting would be an occasion for Muslim states and other countries to question about Israel’s suspected nuclear armament and its refusal to sign the nonproliferation treaty.
This last-minute cancellation has also placed a backlash on the terms of restarting peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians of the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government which has already been a tension.
Read more athttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/world/middleeast/09mideast.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fworld%2Fmiddleeast%2Findex.jsonp
by Yen Do.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Thinking outside the box with North Korea
by Jeff Gimm
Foreign Policy recently wrote an article detailing the futility of continuing negotiations with North Korea in the same manner as the past 15 years. Ever since the Framework of '94, North Korea has been backing out of most of the deals made with the United States. However, the United States is not alone in talking with North Korea. Japan, South Korea and China, as the North's neighbors, have all played a major role in any negotiations. This precipitates some of the problems in dealing with North Korea. China wants to keep the Government of the North afloat so there isn't a refugee crisis pouring over its borders. The U.S. can't take an extremely tough stance with the North as Seoul is not that far from the 32nd parallel. Japan is adamant in getting answers from the Northerners over a number of Japanese citizens supposedly kidnapped by Northern agents 30 years ago. All of these make coherent negotiations with the North near impossible. The author suggests a radical change in dealing with the North. He suggests that all relations be normalized, a peace treaty between the Koreas( there was no official treaty ending the Korean War, only a ceasefire) and a large economic package for the North. All this in exchange for the North to give up its nuclear ambitions and to remove some of the leverage that the North currently has.
This plan however will be nearly impossible to implement, as many in Washington, as well as the rest of the world would see little benefit in giving the North all of these things relying that the North would become more open instead.
While this plan may not be the best one, the author is correct in that the world needs a new way to negotiate with the North. The current method is clearly not getting anywhere.
Foreign Policy recently wrote an article detailing the futility of continuing negotiations with North Korea in the same manner as the past 15 years. Ever since the Framework of '94, North Korea has been backing out of most of the deals made with the United States. However, the United States is not alone in talking with North Korea. Japan, South Korea and China, as the North's neighbors, have all played a major role in any negotiations. This precipitates some of the problems in dealing with North Korea. China wants to keep the Government of the North afloat so there isn't a refugee crisis pouring over its borders. The U.S. can't take an extremely tough stance with the North as Seoul is not that far from the 32nd parallel. Japan is adamant in getting answers from the Northerners over a number of Japanese citizens supposedly kidnapped by Northern agents 30 years ago. All of these make coherent negotiations with the North near impossible. The author suggests a radical change in dealing with the North. He suggests that all relations be normalized, a peace treaty between the Koreas( there was no official treaty ending the Korean War, only a ceasefire) and a large economic package for the North. All this in exchange for the North to give up its nuclear ambitions and to remove some of the leverage that the North currently has.
This plan however will be nearly impossible to implement, as many in Washington, as well as the rest of the world would see little benefit in giving the North all of these things relying that the North would become more open instead.
While this plan may not be the best one, the author is correct in that the world needs a new way to negotiate with the North. The current method is clearly not getting anywhere.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
North Korean defectors stunned by Southern Society
By Jeff Gimm
"Everyone who defects has adjustment problems, said Ko Gyoung-bin, director-general of a settlement center called Hanowan." This quote from a recent Washington Post article may in face be an understatement about North Korean defectors living in South Korea. The article writes that teenagers usually have the hardest time with junk food giving them indigestion and believing that when the lights go out in a theater that someone may kidnap them. The South now holds about 14,000 former North Koreans. That being said, the South does not encourage Northerners to defect for the sake of keeping the peace. However when defectors make it to the South the government "quietly grants them citizenship, gives them an apartment and tries to teach them how not to sink in an education-obsessed capitalist culture."
All of this should remind the West of several things. First, that despite the North's progress in the field of ballistic missiles, their society is that of an impoverished country. Many of these defectors arrive malnourished and their growth stunted as evidence of this condition. Second, many of these people come alone or in small groups. This is because of the Northern governments harsh security measures. "The state practices extensive surveillance of its inhabitants. . . . Authorities have bred a culture of pervasive mistrust." says the Washington Post article. These defectors, more often than not, did not cross the 38th parallel to get to South Korea but rather took detours through China, Burma and Thailand that took many years.
The last thing that this story should remind the West of is that while the focus of foreign policy, for the moment, is focused on Kim Jong Il and his nuclear ambitions, we cannot forget that there is a large population of people being held captive and starving, under his rule. So the next time you envision North Korea, don't merely think of "Team America" or Kim Jong Il, remember that a country is made up of people as well as leaders.
"Everyone who defects has adjustment problems, said Ko Gyoung-bin, director-general of a settlement center called Hanowan." This quote from a recent Washington Post article may in face be an understatement about North Korean defectors living in South Korea. The article writes that teenagers usually have the hardest time with junk food giving them indigestion and believing that when the lights go out in a theater that someone may kidnap them. The South now holds about 14,000 former North Koreans. That being said, the South does not encourage Northerners to defect for the sake of keeping the peace. However when defectors make it to the South the government "quietly grants them citizenship, gives them an apartment and tries to teach them how not to sink in an education-obsessed capitalist culture."
All of this should remind the West of several things. First, that despite the North's progress in the field of ballistic missiles, their society is that of an impoverished country. Many of these defectors arrive malnourished and their growth stunted as evidence of this condition. Second, many of these people come alone or in small groups. This is because of the Northern governments harsh security measures. "The state practices extensive surveillance of its inhabitants. . . . Authorities have bred a culture of pervasive mistrust." says the Washington Post article. These defectors, more often than not, did not cross the 38th parallel to get to South Korea but rather took detours through China, Burma and Thailand that took many years.
The last thing that this story should remind the West of is that while the focus of foreign policy, for the moment, is focused on Kim Jong Il and his nuclear ambitions, we cannot forget that there is a large population of people being held captive and starving, under his rule. So the next time you envision North Korea, don't merely think of "Team America" or Kim Jong Il, remember that a country is made up of people as well as leaders.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
North Korea Finally Calls the Bluff
Post by Bri Roozen
Sunday morning was an exciting day for the North Koreans, who took their first step towards the 'peaceful launch of a satellite', that flew not into space, but right over Japan. Outraged reactions by South Korea, Japan, and America were instantaneously heard, and caused an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Despite the calls for immediate action on North Korea, who were in obvious violation of the 2006 Security Council, the emergency meeting ended with no greater reaction than acknowledgment of the occurrence. This was a grave disappointment to many political leaders including our own President Obama. The launch was not seen as a provocation by all countries, however, as the communist party of the Soviet Union as well as the Czech Republic applauded the show of disregard for international law. http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/04/05/nkorea.worldreax/index.html
Saturday, April 4, 2009
North Korea: 'Satellite will be launched soon'
Joe Kain
(Click here to read article)
North Korea has finished its preperations for launching a rocket that is supposedly a new experimental communications satellite. KCNA reports that the satellite will be launched soon. While no one is quite sure when it will be launched US military officials predict theat the launch can be as early as Saturday but strong winds predicted could delay that. The U.S. Navy has four ships in the region monitoring the launch.
On Friday, President Obama reiterated the United States strong opposition to having the rocket launch. This is because western countries fear that North Korea is not planning to launch a satellite but that this launch is really a ballistic missle test. Stephen Bosworth, special envoy to the Six-Party talks says that if there is a launch the U.S. will participate in UN deliberations to impose new sanctions on North Korea.
(Click here to read article)
North Korea has finished its preperations for launching a rocket that is supposedly a new experimental communications satellite. KCNA reports that the satellite will be launched soon. While no one is quite sure when it will be launched US military officials predict theat the launch can be as early as Saturday but strong winds predicted could delay that. The U.S. Navy has four ships in the region monitoring the launch.
On Friday, President Obama reiterated the United States strong opposition to having the rocket launch. This is because western countries fear that North Korea is not planning to launch a satellite but that this launch is really a ballistic missle test. Stephen Bosworth, special envoy to the Six-Party talks says that if there is a launch the U.S. will participate in UN deliberations to impose new sanctions on North Korea.
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