North Korea Kills Phone Line, 1953 Armistice; Kim Jong Un's Funds Found In China

eldavojohn writes "Last week, North Korea promised a "preemptive nuclear strike" prior to a UN vote on new sanctions. Despite the threat, the sanctions were unanimously approved. North Korea has responded by killing a Red Cross hotline with Seoul and claims that it has canceled the 1953 Armistice although the UN notes this cannot be done unilaterally (North Korea attempted the same thing in 2003 and 2009). While everyone thought that Kim Jong Un would ride out the sanctions on slush funds, the United States claims to have found his funds in Shanghai and other parts of China totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. Beijing has reportedly refused to confiscate these funds despite voting for the very UN resolutions sanctioning North Korea that read: 'More specifically, States are directed to prevent the provision of financial services or the transfer of any financial or other assets or resources, including 'bulk cash,' which might be used to evade the sanctions.'"

Comments

Well, of course China wants to keep NK as it is.

[Anonymous Coward]

That way they can point to a country and say to its people: "See, you CAN do worse. Now get back to work."

for the seventh time since 1993

[Charlu]

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2009/05/28/46/0401000000AEN20090528004200315F.HTML

Re:for the seventh time since 1993

[phantomfive]

lol that one comment is enough to put everything in perspective. N Korea's upset, and that's it.

Story's closed, no more comments needed.

Re:for the seventh time since 1993

[jandrese]

North Korea is like a Facebook drama queen that has to post every other day about how some nonspecific HORRIBLE new thing just happened to them, please post on their walls to validate their existence. On Facebook the only way to deal with them is to ignore them (or unfriend) until they get the point, but I'm not sure how well this will work with an entire country. One thing is certain though, feeding the troll only makes it worse.

Re:for the seventh time since 1993

[93 Escort Wagon]

The problem is - governments outside of North Korea feel it would be a bad move to cut them totally off and let their population starve to death. So they keep going back to the bargaining table, basically offering to trade food for nukes. We give them the food, then NK realizes that their nuclear program is their *only* bargaining chip... so they find something trivial to get mad about regarding the food shipments and pull out of the agreement (after a fair amount of the food has been delivered, of course).

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Re:for the seventh time since 1993

[benjfowler]

Fuck China. They allow NK to keep hassling the world. Luckily, karma's a bitch, and when the whole edifice comes crashing down, guess whose problem all those refugees are? Not South Korea, no thanks to the DMZ.

China deserves North Korea.

Every Year

[bkmoore]

Was stationed in S. Korea many years ago. Every year, the U.S. has conducted a large-scale joint military maneuver with the ROK. Every year, N. Korea goes on a rant about the exercise. Usually their rant is just the usual propaganda about an impending invasion, and their great General Kim Il Sung foiled the Imperialists once again until next year. But now that they have a new Fuhrer, maybe he feels he needs to kick it up a notch to be noticed. N. Korea is a dangerous country, but 99% of their rhetoric is for internal propaganda purposes. Maybe the recent rebellions in the Middle East + new leader + China no longer being their unconditional ally are taking a psychological toll.

Re:Well, of course China wants to keep NK as it is

[interkin3tic]

Also because the regime would probably decide to go out in a blaze of glory (or rather bombs and chemical weapons.) Even if they didn't cause major damage in their death throes, North Korea collapsing would mean a flood of North Korean refugees coming into the country, even closer to starving than they are now and not really useful for anything other than worshiping their leader. And NK is a bargaining chip for China anyway.

This cannot be done unilaterally?

[Experiment 626]

... although the UN notes this cannot be done unilaterally ...

I'm pretty that a cease-fire CAN be broken unilaterally. All you have to do is start attacking the other side again.

Re:This cannot be done unilaterally?

[Sowelu]

Yes, that's breaking a cease-fire. What they were trying to do was cancel it in a more politically-friendly way. You've played Civilization, right?

Re:This cannot be done unilaterally?

[Gothmolly]

Otherwise they send you a strongly worded letter. Ask Mr Brix about that.

Ah diplomats

[DarkOx]

claims that it has canceled the 1953 Armistice although the UN notes this cannot be done unilaterally

Only in the imagination of diplomats is unilateral cancellation of an armistice impossible. The rest of us know what the North Koreans know; that they can start shooting anytime they want.

A lesson for Iran?

[g8oz]

The lack of concrete action against NK might be a lesson for Iran.

If you don't want to be fucked with, actually having nukes is the best bet.

Re:A lesson for Iran?

[0111 1110]

Crude, innacurate, short range nukes are not the reason NK hasn't been attacked. This is all just talk: the barking of a dog that doesn't bite. The rest of the world is aware of this. There is no reason for anyone to attack them. Aside from that there is the problem that any war with NK is likely to result in, at the very least, a Seoul that consists mostly of rubble and, again, that isn't in anyone's best interest.

Re:Oh?

[1s44c]

This kind of reminds me of Michael Keaton's character in "Multiplicity" wherein he says "You know how when you make a copy of a copy, it's not as sharp as... well... the original." Each iteration of the "<insert adjective> Leader" gets a little less stable than its predecessor. Given this one's extreme youth and actions thus far, I wonder if we will ever see round 4 of this franchise.

I somehow doubt that someone of his age and inexperience is really in charge. I suspect Kim Jong Un is really a figurehead while North Korea is being run by the top brass of their army.

Re:Well, of course China wants to keep NK as it is

[AG the other]

You are right and it should also be pointed out that one reason that China supports them is that they do not want hundreds of thousands of NK refugees coming over their border.

Re:Well, of course China wants to keep NK as it is

[bratwiz]

It's like taking a bandage off.

Nah, it's more like taking a diaper off.