By Lee Min-hyung
North Korea has praised its highest-ranking Olympics delegation (click here) for its recent visit to South Korea where it built momentum for peace on the Korean Peninsula.
"The North Korean delegation helped improve relations between the two Koreas, paving the way for establishing a peaceful environment on the peninsula," the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said Monday.
This came a day after the delegation - led by Kim Yong-nam, the ceremonial head of the regime - returned to Pyongyang after ending its three-day visit to Seoul and PyeongChang on the sidelines of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
This is the first time since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un took office in 2011 that the regime has expressed a strong willingness to enhance bilateral ties with the South through sports diplomacy.
The state-run news agency noted that a group of highest-ranking South Korean officials enjoyed music performances by the regime's 140-member Samjiyon Orchestra.
"President Moon Jae-in and the first lady watched the performance by our art troupe on Sunday, and the concert won explosive applause from the audience," it added.
Kim Yo-jong, younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, also watched the performance with the South Korea dignitaries, the KCNA reported. They included Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon....
Washington — The Trump administration, (click here) scrambling to avoid a rift with an ally, has told South Korea it is open to holding preliminary talks with North Korea, according to two senior administration officials and a spokesman for the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in.
The decision, which came after Vice President Mike Pence attended the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and met with Mr. Moon, reflects how thoroughly the diplomatic channel between the North and South has upended the administration’s calculations.
For months, the White House has rejected the idea of meeting with North Korea unless it took measurable steps toward giving up its nuclear stockpile and curbing its provocative behavior. Now, though, with Mr. Moon determined to engage with the North, these officials said the administration has decided on a course correction.
The decision was a victory for South Korea. “The United States, too, looks positively at South-North Korean dialogue and has expressed its willingness to start dialogue with the North,” Mr. Moon said on Tuesday, according to his spokesman, Kim Eui-kyeom....
Conservative, White America simply cannot stand for the idea of peace on the Korean Peninsula. Trump and his unilateral political game playing is proving to be an unreliable peace partner.
February 28, 2018
By Steve Holland, Christine Kim
Washington/Seoul (Reuters) - The United States (click here) said on Friday it was imposing its largest package of sanctions against North Korea, intensifying pressure on Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons and missile programmes....
...“We imposed today the heaviest sanctions ever imposed on a country before,” Trump said in an address to a conservative activist group in Washington. “And ... hopefully something positive can happen, we will see.”...
...Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the conservative Center for the National Interest, said, “Cumulatively speaking, the sanctions imposed on North Korea in total since 2017 are some of the biggest ever imposed on a nation state.”
Tougher sanctions may jeopardise the latest detente between the two Koreas, illustrated by the North’s participation in the Winter Olympics in the South, amid preparations for talks about a possible summit between North Korea’s Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in....
By jeopardizing the peace process on the Koran Peninsula, it creates artificial pressure on allies that should be involved jointly in the process. Peace on the Korean Peninsula has to include the region, which means Japan has a stake in the outcome as well.
February 21, 2018
By Tom O'Connor
North Korea (click here) has urged South Korea to join forces in rejecting Japan’s claims to a tiny set of disputed islets in the Sea of Japan, called the East Sea by the Koreas.
Both Koreas consider the two islands and their surrounding rocks—known collectively as Dokdo in Korean, Takeshima in Japanese and the Liancourt Rocks in the U.S.—as part of the Korean Peninsula’s territory, while Japan claims them as their own. The islets are administered by South Korea, but the dispute once again made local headlines when the Olympic International Committee omitted a tiny blue dot signifying the islets from the Korean Unification Flag jointly held by the North and South Korea teams at the ongoing 2018 Winter Olympics.
North Korea quickly blamed “Japanese reactionaries” attempting to discredit Korean claims to the islets. On Wednesday, official North Korean Cabinet newspaper Minju Joson published a commentary calling on South Korea to stand up to fellow U.S. ally Japan on one of the very few issues the Korean Peninsula foes agree on.
“The south side should come to its senses, raise its voice for defending the sovereignty and dignity of the nation and categorically reject the foreign forces’ imprudent interference in the above-said issue,” the article said, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency....
All these issues should be part of a peace process that would bring regional peace and stability; and not cause greater tensions between countries in the region. Trump is neglecting his responsibility to allies engaged with North Korea and quite possibly China to bring about peace, rather than divided loyalties. I don't believe Mnuchin's sanctions will do anything, quite frankly. There are larger stakes today than before.
