This is interesting (Chosun):
The U.S. has said the question of North Korea’s frozen accounts in the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia could be resolved early if North Korea punishes counterfeiters of U.S. dollars and destroys their equipment.
Of course! It must be rogue elements in North Korea who are running a high-end printing operation without anyone in Pyongyang knowing about it.
As the piece points out, this gives Pyongyang an opportunity to save face while getting out of the counterfeiting business. The question is, will they take it?
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Sounds tempting, but I think KJI will just ask for more jet skis and leave the sanctions in place. Oh, the power of a jet ski!! Besides, the NORKS don’t print their greenbacks!
Problem is, you can’t expect the people deemed responsible by the North Korean government to get a fair trial. Given Kim Jong Il’s track record, the odds are that those fingered will have little to do with counterfeiting, but will more likely be people who have slighted him, whether they know they have or not.
So a handful of low level saps will get the firing squad and some supposed copy equipment will conveniently be blown up. Meanwhile the real movers will be sitting back with the real equipment safely hidden away for future use and they’ll step forward and say ‘Problem solved, now give us our money.’
What a joke. Let’s hope the US doesn’t actually go through with such a phoney deal. If it goes through, it will be yet another useless deal that the Norks will break once more.
Something tells me some people are going to be dragged out of the Hamgyong concentration camp, photographed holding a pile of counterfeit money, and then executed.
I’m with snow, I hope Christopher Hill is not that stupid to go for this.
Herod is right on the money.
KJI is a beggar. He cries to China, Korea and Japan and says “See, what Uncle Sam is doing to me, he froze my bank account. So, you guys have to help me.” Especially to Korea, he says, “you must pay me for the damage!”
What is the total sum? Maybe 10 million dollars? 100 million, maybe. KJI has a lot more money than that. And, SK is always willing to reimburse the loss. He is just playing a drama queen and this bank thing has been a good excuse for not going to the six-party.
KJI is just a local hoodlum. There is absolutely no need for the US to even answer this loser’s petitions. Just waste of time. Just get his big brother, China, and run his head through toilet water. China will kick KJI’s butt and get things rolling, as was the case in starting this round of the Six-idiot talk.
The US should boycott this round or the entire talk.
I think Hill/the U.S. are a bit smarter than some seem to give credit for. It’s not as if North Korea can bring in destroyed Xerox copiers and call it a day. Intaglio printing presses are unique (and should be at US$10 million each).
On the issue of scapegoats, however, hard to tell.
Well, since it seems the US is going to hand over some cash, claiming that it ‘legitimately’ came from Hyundai, I might as well make plans to stay in South Korea longer. Unless the US stays the course on financial sanctions, North Korea will not collapse in the near future with all the support they get from China and South Korea. If even the US will weaken on the fat dwarf then nothing’s going to change here in the near future. I don’t necessarily want collapse, but it’s probably the only way to get rid of the midget turd, unless they can engineer some alternative (and if they do, it won’t be in SKs favor).
No need to be rude, Snow. It’s National Defense Council Chairman Midget Turd, thank you very much.
From the story: “The U.S. has said the question of North Korea’s frozen accounts in the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia could be resolved early if North Korea punishes counterfeiters ”
comment #5 - “I hope Christopher Hill is not that stupid to go for this.”
uuhhh huh. It looks like it is Christopher Hill making the offer, actually.
The presses are unique , so having them or their pieces handed over would be meaningful. As further guarantee, the US should demand NK stop purchasing the shade of ink just beside the shade the US buys. Explanation: The US buys it’s currency ink exclusively from a Swiss firm, and has a monopoly on that shade. However, North Korea every year makes large purchases the shade beside the US’s shade (virtually identical) from the same Swiss firm, obviously for it’s counterfeiting operation. Why America has never a)demanded the Swiss firm sell to them all adjacent shades close enough to make greenback counterfeits, or b) told the greedy and untrustworthy Swiss company to stop selling any close shades to North Korea, or c) airstrike all those bastard Swiss sitting on their piles of Aushwitz tooth bullion (Ok maybe I have a problem with the Swiss…it’s all that fucking yodeling, maybe. I swear, after the nuclear holocaust there will be cockroaches eating our remains and the Swiss digging through the ruins of Fort Knox.)
Snow,
You are wrong. The key isn’t the sanctions. That might “tip” over KJI. But the real tidal wave is the destruction of NK information blockade. This is unstoppable, and it’s already broken.
How much do you think the United States can give to DPRK to keep KJI around? Even at the current rate of gift giving by China and ROK, DPRK is pretty screwed. Even if US gives them a billion dollars a year, it’s too late to save KJI. What would KJI do with a billion? It won’t be for economic reforms. But I really doubt US taxpayers will agree to sending them a billion bucks.
If they have electricity, the NK people will watch South Korean tv dramas. If the NK people have some savings, then they will get “uppity” and demand more. KJI is fighting a battle he cannot win. The only concession of “real” value to KJI isn’t oil or electricity. KJI states he wants US to change it’s “attitude” towards DPRK. If we were to parse that statement, it probably means KJI wants us to shut down VOA, RFA, and help stop the flow of refugees. It ultimately means they demand that we become complicit in their human rights abuses.
Most of DPRK isn’t PyongYang loyalists. They are pretty much peasant farmers/factory workers/miners in the rural areas who have learned the price of trusing in the public distribution system. Only problem is that they don’t have guns and means to organize. But sooner or later… Even in SK Kwangju massacre, the local police force unleashed it’s armory to Kwangju citizens to fight against the military junta. It might seem like wishful thinking, but it could happen in the North.
Already we hear about protests and public dissent. We know food is still scarce, disease rampant, NK central power is clearly losing control over local officials.
This news about “save facing” I must agree with it. First, dismantling counterfeiting operation is probably a lot easier to verify. It’s also nice knowing that they are not pumping out greenbacks.
Anyway. My crystal ball says that this spring will be hard. Not just because of food (which some people claim are not in jeopardy) but also due to heating fuel. Now if that leads to uncontrollable protests, and NK decides to attack, then their only really logical time frame for attack is in Korea’s monsoon season when superior allied airforce won’t be as threatening. They’ll probably throw everything at you including chemical weapons and hope that US won’t use nukes for political reasons.
I don’t know. I’m making that stuff up, since I don’t know anything about military matters. I hope none of that happens. But I think it makes sense.
Bottom line, if you are teaching english say an hour or two south of Seoul, you are probably OK. If not, you are playing dice.
Ouch, some scary stuff virtual wonderer. I like what you say about the information blockade being broken, but the other about war and such is nerve-wracking, seeing as how I live near Seoul.
But a friend who’s knowledgable in military matters pointed out to me that there would really be no reason to attack Seoul as it would gain the Norks absolutely nothing and would guarantee their demise. About the only reason for doing it would be as a last ditch desperation ploy once they knew that they were already doomed. Though he may be right, I still feel nervous.
No need to get your underwear in a twist over any of this. These ‘talks’ are going nowhere and were never anticipated as going anywhere by ANY of the participants. They are held merely to give the impression that the various parties are actually trying to do something. They’ll stay in some nice digs, eat some very good Chinese food, maybe get laid by some REALLY gorgeous wimmin, drink some expensive booze, and then get their photos taken at the end - to prove they were ‘working’ toward peace. And the suckers will lap it up. Same-Same GI!
I don’t think the Norks will attack. After all, a military marches on it’s stomach. A possible scenario is that they might attack Seoul and hold it for ransom so to speak. Of course, they would no doubt do a lot of piliaging. I don’t know, it’s just a thought about it all…
“no reason to attack Seoul as it would gain the Norks absolutely nothing and would guarantee their demise.”
I don’t think DPRK would concentrate it’s initial volleys at Seoul, because for every shell they are aiming at an apartment complex in Seoul, means one less military target they are hitting. (a trully crappy news if you happen to be a trully brave and dedicated servicemen) The whole purpose of a surprise attack is to catch the other guy with the pants down, and this probably isn’t the best way to do this. Especially considering allied forces will quickly figure out where they are firing from and take them out in a counter barrage. BUT. You figure that a war will cause mass panic, and panicking citizens will be driving away from Seoul causing gridlocks everywhere making war a logistical nightmare for allied forces. Now I’m sure that allied commanders have been preparing just for this for the past 50 years, but you figure DPRK is still going to want to create this kind of chaos. So you figure they would aim couple at Seoul just to panick people. So… Anybody could die from this unlucky strike. especially if it’s carrying biological/chemical weapons. And you know they are the kind of crazy f&8kjockeys to actually do it. They are already international pariahs, so it’s not like they are losing PR war over it. Nor does KJI really care if his people die in a nuclear inferno. We on the otherhand, if we drop a tactical nuke on PyongYang, even if it’s perfectly justified–we’ll start getting hate mails from amnesty international. Even a country like Japan, which is strongly right leaning nowadays will go into seizures if they see mushroom clouds. And we are NOT going to use biological weapons on them. So would we really respond by chemical weapons? I just can’t see US responding by using WMD, and you figure that’s what KJI figures. So they attack us with Sarin and Anthrax, and we retaliate with MOABs. Until we start to invade into DPRK, at which point, he’ll probably start detonating his “small” yield nukes at our servicemen. Then we unleash armageddon and become international pariahs.
Anyway, KJI has played his cards really well. He is succeeding in a “divide and conquer” strategy. Roh has been an absolute retard, and the only reason why US is probably still in Korea is to prevent DPRK from thinking it’s “winning” by cleaving the US-ROK alliance.
My point is, even if their initial strike isn’t to obliterate Seoul, which it won’t be– enough crazy sh17 will inevitably fall upon you. All that nuclear fallout has to land somewhere… But even if you survive anthrax spores and live high enough on the apartment to be away from settling nerve gas fog over the parking lots, you will still have to eat and drink water. Think Hurricane Katrina, except like 10 times worse, because there is no huge stadium complex to shelter you.
It might not seem to make sense that KJI would actually bring on the apocalypse which will guarantee his death, but from his seat, it looks like he will inevitably go the way of Ceusceu. And you know he is the kind of annoying pr1ck who would turn the RISK board over when he is losing. We’ve already seen that they do things a little different then we in the normal world do, and that’s honest to god, not a simple caricature of what it’s like over there.
“I don’t think the Norks will attack. After all, a military marches on it’s stomach.”
I think the People’s Army is the type of genocidal a%%h01es who would come down to South Korea and “forage” goods, fuel and “live off the land.” If anything, there is probably more food sittin in South Korean super markets and warehouses then in DPRK underground bunkers. This off course means the civillians will face starvation.
KJI will attack Seoul. Actually, Seoul people, especially Kangnam people, are being hated by the rest of country as the elite of Korean society.
It makes perfect sense for KJI to carpet bomb Seoul to show that he is the “liberator” of Korean people. (Koreans are still in 20th century and this now debunked ideology make good sense to stupid Koreans including Uri pigs)
Yep, he will start the war by carpet shelling Seoul with his long-range artillery positioned near DMZ.
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[...] I reckon that not a single reader believes that anyone in North Korea possesses that degree of extra-authoritarian sophistication (at least, that seems to be the general consensus here). More, I suspect, will simply ask, “Why not permit us all to have our little fictions to remove a greater obstacle to peace?” Leave aside the fact that this peace kills more people and causes more suffering than most wars. If I believed that that entertaining such a fiction offered any more realistic prospect of bringing us to peace than, say, the pretense that North Korea isn’t in the uranium enrichment business, it might merit serious though. But of course, it’s neither American instransigence nor even North Korean incorrigibility that bars us from the face-saving exit that our great South Korean blood allies have so persistently demanded. They could have simply traded the North Koreans’ dollar plates for the necessary components to print a few tons of these: [...]