"If he uses remarks and expressions that heat up the atmosphere of confrontation again at such a critical moment as now, it would be deemed that he is in dotage," Choe was quoted as saying.

(LEAD) Senior N.K. official warns Pyongyang could resume war of words against U.S. | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 최수향 · December 5, 2019

(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead; ADDS more quotes, background throughout)

SEOUL, Dec. 5 (Yonhap) -- A senior North Korean official said Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump's recent remarks hinting at the use of military force against Pyongyang will be a "very dangerous challenge" if they were not made in error.

North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui made the remarks in a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, warning that Pyongyang could resume the tit-for-tat name-calling against the U.S. if similar expressions are used again.

"If he uses remarks and expressions that heat up the atmosphere of confrontation again at such a critical moment as now, it would be deemed that he is in dotage," Choe was quoted as saying.

While attending a NATO summit in Britain on Tuesday, Trump said Washington could use force if it must, urging North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-un to honor their agreement to denuclearize.

Choe said what is more displeasing is that Trump referred to Kim as "Rocket Man," an expression the U.S. leader used when they exchanged barbed remarks against each other amid heightened tensions.

In 2017, Trump and Kim exchanged threats and insults against each other, with Trump belittling Kim as "Little Rocket Man" and the North calling Trump the "mentally deranged U.S. dotard."

"If Trump's remarks on use of force and metaphor were a mistake it would be a relief, but if they were a calculated provocation intended against us, that makes things different," she said.

Yet, in an apparent effort to prevent the situation getting worse, Choe added at the end of the statement that Kim has not used any harsh words against Trump.

Choe's statement came one day after Pak Jong Chon, chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army, lashed out at Trump in a separate release, saying that Pyongyang will also take "prompt corresponding action at any level" if the U.S. uses force against the North.

The nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea remain stalled since the two leaders' summit in Hanoi ended without a deal in February.

The two sides held their last working-level talks in October in Stockholm, but the meeting ended without much progress, with Pyongyang accusing Washington of failing to come up with a new proposal.

Amid the deadlock, North Korea said it will convene a key meeting of the ruling Workers' Party later this month to decide on "crucial issues," raising speculation that a major policy change could be forthcoming, possibly with regard to nuclear negotiations with the United States.

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(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by 최수향 · December 5, 2019

"He definitely likes sending rockets up, doesn't he? That's why I call him 'Rocket Man'," Mr Trump said on Tuesday (Dec 3).

"We have the most powerful military we've ever had, and we're by far the most powerful country in the world," he added. "And, hopefully, we don't have to use it, but if we do, we'll use it. If we have to, we'll do it."

...

On Thursday, satellite images emerged indicating North Korea may be preparing to conduct rocket engine tests at the Sohae Launch Facility, which Mr Kim once said had been dismantled in a concession to President Trump.

"Looks like North Korea is going to resume rocket engine testing at Sohae. This isn't the 'Christmas gift' the North Koreans have promised, but it is a lump of coal in Trump's stocking," tweeted Dr Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Programme at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

WASHINGTON - Increasingly bellicose rhetoric from North Korea has raised the spectre of a long-range ballistic missile or atmospheric nuclear test by Pyongyang, perhaps as early as the New Year as it tries to force concessions from the United States in return for steps towards denuclearisation.

Earlier this week in London, President Donald Trump was distinctly less effusive about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un than he has been since they met and, in Mr Trump's words, "fell in love" in Singapore in June 2018 - and twice subsequently.

"He definitely likes sending rockets up, doesn't he? That's why I call him 'Rocket Man'," Mr Trump said on Tuesday (Dec 3).

"We have the most powerful military we've ever had, and we're by far the most powerful country in the world," he added. "And, hopefully, we don't have to use it, but if we do, we'll use it. If we have to, we'll do it."

North Korea, which has been regularly testing shorter-range missiles, had earlier warned of  an undefined "Christmas present" for the United States.

After Mr Trump's remarks, a North Korean official fired back swiftly, saying should President Trump call Mr Kim "Rocket Man" again, that  would represent a "very dangerous challenge".

On Thursday, satellite images emerged indicating North Korea may be preparing to conduct rocket engine tests at the Sohae Launch Facility, which Mr Kim once said had been dismantled in a concession to President Trump.

"Looks like North Korea is going to resume rocket engine testing at Sohae. This isn't the 'Christmas gift' the North Koreans have promised, but it is a lump of coal in Trump's stocking," tweeted Dr Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Programme at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

In April, North Korea gave the United States  a year-end deadline to pitch for a deal on denuclearisation - a deadline the US has dismissed.

Since then, signals from North Korea - including successive visits, the latest just days ago,  to the sacred Mount Paektu by Mr Kim on a white horse - indicate that the enigmatic leader may be preparing for a major event, potentially coinciding with his traditional New Year speech on Jan 1.

President Trump faces three options before the year is out, Dr Duyeon Kim, senior adviser for North-east Asia and nuclear policy at the International Crisis Group, wrote in a Nov 28 article for CNN.

"He could try to buy time by sending another 'love letter' to Kim Jong Un; hold another summit with the North Korean leader; or insist on continuing with negotiations at the working level," she wrote.

"Each option comes with risks. The third option is the best, but Trump should intervene with another letter if a breakthrough or progress can't be made next month, in order to keep diplomacy open."

"Another letter from Trump to Kim would give both sides some time to iron out how to advance  their June 2018 Singapore summit statement on achieving a new relationship, peace, and denuclearisation and prevent a possible North Korean provocation," Dr Kim wrote.

The North Korea issue is thus once again heading towards the edge of a cliff. But that depends on the perspective.

A North Korean official said that should US President Donald Trump call Mr Kim Jong Un "Rocket Man" again, that would represent a "very dangerous challenge". PHOTO: AP

"It's headed in a wonderful direction - for North Korea," says Dr Sung-Yoon Lee, professor of Korean Studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

North Korea's messaging about a new path in 2020 if the United States does not come up with an offer conducive to starting denuclearisation, may indicate that a missile test over Japan, or a medium or intermediate-range ballistic missile test, may be on the way, he said.

But an atmospheric nuclear explosion may be more likely, since North Korea's foreign minister had made that explicit threat in September of 2017.

"I take that threat seriously, because there's a need to demonstrate to the world, and particularly the United States, that it has the capability to do that, that it is a continual, credible nuclear threat to the US mainland," Dr Lee said.

Dr Go Myong-Hyun, research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, told The Straits Times North Korea was likely to conduct a test, possibly of a long-range missile, but would be careful not to provoke President Trump to the extent that he would have no other option but to retaliate militarily.

"He (Mr Kim) will always leave two options for President Trump to choose from - one military, one dialogue," Dr Go said. "North Korea is very crafty, very calculating with risk. Despite the fact that North Korea is making all these threats, at the end of the day they will try to moderate."

"The chances of a major catastrophic provocation breaking out in the Korean peninsula is actually lower than perceived," he said.

"If any language and expressions stoking the atmosphere of confrontation are used once again on purpose at a crucial moment as now, that must really be diagnosed as the relapse of the dotage of a dotard," Choe Son Hui, first vice-minister of foreign affairs, was quoted Thursday as saying by the state's official Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea Turns Up Heat on Trump, Calls Him 'Dotard' Again

Bloomberg · by Jon Herskovitz · December 6, 2019

Photographer: Alexander Demianchuk/TASS via Getty Images

Photographer: Alexander Demianchuk/TASS via Getty Images

North Korea may be preparing to conduct engine tests at a long-range rocket launch site, stepping up pressure on President Donald Trump ahead of a year-end deadline it imposed to get a better deal from the U.S. in nuclear disarmament talks.

A satellite image from Thursday shows activity at its Sohae Launch Facility, which leader Kim Jong Un had once said he  dismantled in a concession to Trump. The move comes as the two sides have revisited old insults -- "Rocket Man" from Trump and "dotard" from North Korea -- while Pyongyang said Washington's behavior will determine what "Christmas gift" it gets from Kim.

The commercial satellite image shows activity at the Sohae facility that includes what appears to be a newly arrived shipping container at the engine test stand, according to Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, who works with the U.S.-based imaging company Planet Labs.

"This isn't the Christmas gift that North Korea promises, but it is a lump of coal in Trump's stocking," said Lewis, a specialist in analyzing in satellite imagery. He added "this is one more sign that we've reached the end of diplomacy and a return to missile testing."

North Korea's deadline puts one of Trump's biggest foreign policy achievements on the line just as he gears up for re-election. Kim has demanded Trump ease up on sanctions choking his country's paltry economy and end what Pyongyang sees as Washington's "hostile intent" toward it.

South Korea's Defense Ministry didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the satellite imagery. Engine testing helps North Korea develop weapons of a more threatening nature to the U.S. and regional allies including South Korea and Japan.

For more on North Korea:

• Trump Revives Threat of Force Against North Korea's 'Rocket Man'
• North Korea Gives Trump 'Christmas' Choice in Veiled Threat
• Kim Jong Un Bolsters Nuclear Threat to U.S. as Trump Talks Stall
• Keeping Up With Plot of the Trump-Kim Nuclear Show: QuickTake

Kim placed a moratorium about two years ago on the testing of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles that could deliver a warhead to the U.S. to help his talks with Trump.

But the bonhomie has been tested this week, with Trump reviving his derisive "Rocket Man" nickname for Kim and again threatening to use military force against North Korea. One of Pyongyang's top nuclear envoys, who once praised the  "mysteriously wonderful" chemistry between the leaders, slammed Trump for using words that had prompted "waves of hatred" among the North Korean people. She also dusted off an old insult the state has used for Trump.

"If any language and expressions stoking the atmosphere of confrontation are used once again on purpose at a crucial moment as now, that must really be diagnosed as the relapse of the dotage of a dotard," Choe Son Hui, first vice-minister of foreign affairs, was quoted Thursday as saying by the state's official Korean Central News Agency.

Return of Rocket Man

Missile tests under Kim Jong Un

Sources: South Korea Ministry of Defense and Center for Nonproliferation Studies

Any shift by Kim could come as soon as the North Korean leader's annual New Year's address, which he has previously used to ratchet tensions up and down. The ruling Workers' Party announced a rare meeting in Pyongyang later this month "to discuss and decide on crucial issues" due to the "changed situation at home and abroad."

While Trump and Kim have held three face-to-face meetings since June 2018 and lavished praise on each other over the past two years, they've achieved little beyond a vague promise to "work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." North Korea has continued to expand a nuclear weapons program that it sees as a vital deterrent against the threat of American invasion.

Still, North Korea may not want to push Trump too far even as they pressure him for more concessions, according to Yoo Hoyeol, who teaches North Korean studies at Korea University and formerly advised South Korea's unification ministry and defense ministry. He described the comments from Choe, the North Korean foreign ministry official, as "moderated."

"Trump may be the most favorable U.S. president for North Korea," Yoo said. "So the North probably doesn't intent to go further to the very extreme."

- With assistance by Kanga Kong

Bloomberg · by Jon Herskovitz · December 6, 2019

Inaction and silence would be reckless.The totalitarianism of North Korea and its human rights abuses are inextricably  linked to the government's weapons proliferation. Furthermore, most council members agree that North Korea represents an ongoing threat of instability that undermines international peace and security. As the UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, Tomas Ojea Quintana, recently  told the UN General Assembly: "This is not an agenda that can be deferred."

No Free Pass for North Korea's Abuses

UN Security Council Should Confront Atrocious Rights Record

hrw.org · by John Sifton Asia Advocacy Director johnsifton · December 5, 2019

Expand

Kim Jong-Un watches a performance in Pyongyang, North Korea, on February 23, 2017.

© 2017 Reuters/KCNA

The United Nations Security Council has an opportunity this month to refocus attention on  North Korea's abysmal human rights record after giving it a pass last year.

If all goes according to plan, on December 10 - Human Rights Day - at least 9 of the council's 15 members will vote to hold a debate to discuss the regime's abuses.

Last year, when a similar debate was under consideration,  the council dropped the ball. This may have been due, in part, to summits in 2017 and 2018 between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the presidents of the United States and South Korea, which focused on weapons proliferation issues, not human rights. The council's inaction sent a message to North Korea's leadership that rights had reverted to a second-tier issue, which was probably music to Kim Jong Un's ears.

It's time to correct that mistake. In the years since a historic UN Commission of Inquiry (COI)  report in 2014, which documented a litany of North Korea's crimes against humanity and other serious rights violations, the UN system has been intensifying its attention to the regime's record. The UN Human Rights Council has mandated a UN office to collect evidence of abuses for possible use in future prosecutions. And in Security Council debates in December 2014, 2015, and 2016, the council considered proposals by member states -unfortunately blocked by China - to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

This December 10, it is crucial that the council sends Kim Jong Un the message that most of the world is appalled by his government's abuses and will continue to seek justice.

Inaction and silence would be reckless. The totalitarianism of North Korea and its human rights abuses are inextricably  linked to the government's weapons proliferation. Furthermore, most council members agree that North Korea represents an ongoing threat of instability that undermines international peace and security. As the UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, Tomas Ojea Quintana, recently  told the UN General Assembly: "This is not an agenda that can be deferred."

hrw.org · by John Sifton Asia Advocacy Director johnsifton · December 5, 2019

Meanwhile, South Korea's diplomacy has lost all of its presence in the current situation on the Korean Peninsula. It's been long since the country lost its right to voice opinions as a mediator and conversation facilitator between the North and the U.S. South Korea has been completely ignored by North Korea while trying to please the North and ended up increasing the U.S.' bill for military cost share while being stubborn. South Korea's diplomacy cannot be found anywhere. Are we going to simply talk about how "there's nothing we can do" and insist on a narrative about "peace," to which nobody pays attention, while just waiting around for a fluke? I cannot help but wonder if there is any contingency plan in place.

In short, signals from both the U.S. and North Korea show that the denuclearization charade has dragged on long enough. There are two possibilities. Kim never intended to scrap his nuclear weapons, and he will show his true face soon. He will probably resume full-fledged provocations and force the U.S. to respond with tougher sanctions. There is no telling what Trump will do then.

There is therefore always a chance of Trump accepting Kim's pretense and ease sanctions to package the whole thing as an achievement. This would end up virtually acknowledging North Korea as a nuclear power. It would be far better for this charade to end so that the world can prepare for what comes next. South Korea faces mountains of diplomatic and defense-related tasks that need to be addressed.

Trump seems to have no concerns for the security of South Korea and views everything from the perspective of his own political interests. He said discussions of the value of keeping U.S. troops in South Korea "can go either way," presumably depending on how much more the South is willing to pay for them. A major crisis is approaching.

Time to End the N.Korean Denuclearization Charade

english.chosun.com

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened North Korea with military force on Monday. "We have the most powerful military we have ever had and we are by far the most powerful country in the world, and hopefully we do not have to use it," he told reporters. Until now, the U.S. president supported Kim even though the North has conducted more than a dozen multiple launch rocket and short-range missile launches. But when North Korea threatened to escalate its provocations, Trump raised the possibility of using a military option against it. Although the U.S. leader still claimed he has a "good relationship" with Kim, the comments suggest that his attention is wandering to other achievements he could tout in next year's presidential election.

In response, Kim once again climbed Mt. Baekdu on horseback, flanked this time by his top military brass. The photo ops on the mountain, which is considered sacred in the North, are often staged as a preliminary to momentous decisions, including the execution of his uncle and eminence grise Jang Song-thek early in Kim's tenure. This time, Kim stressed the importance of "unbending will" in the face of sanctions. He also ordered an extraordinary Workers Party Central Committee meeting to convene. There is a strong chance that Kim will announce an even more hardcore path now the U.S. looks unlikely to meet his year-end deadline for fresh talks and the lifting of sanctions. Satellite images show that North Korea has been building concert platforms for mobile missile launchers at scores of locations.

In short, signals from both the U.S. and North Korea show that the denuclearization charade has dragged on long enough. There are two possibilities. Kim never intended to scrap his nuclear weapons, and he will show his true face soon. He will probably resume full-fledged provocations and force the U.S. to respond with tougher sanctions. There is no telling what Trump will do then.

Still, it cannot be ruled out that Trump and Kim will indulge in more photo ops. The U.S. leader knows Kim has no real intention of relinquishing his nuclear weapons, but he needs a diplomatic achievement he can take credit for.

There is therefore always a chance of Trump accepting Kim's pretense and ease sanctions to package the whole thing as an achievement. This would end up virtually acknowledging North Korea as a nuclear power. It would be far better for this charade to end so that the world can prepare for what comes next. South Korea faces mountains of diplomatic and defense-related tasks that need to be addressed.

Trump seems to have no concerns for the security of South Korea and views everything from the perspective of his own political interests. He said discussions of the value of keeping U.S. troops in South Korea "can go either way," presumably depending on how much more the South is willing to pay for them. A major crisis is approaching.

Read this article in Korean

english.chosun.com

Against this backdrop, if the next plenary meeting is held eight months after the previous one without any progress on the working-level negotiations between the U.S. and the North, harsh criticism as well as provocations against South Korea and the U.S. are expected to be raised during the meeting. "North Korea is highly likely to strongly condemn the U.S.' attitude to negotiations and South Korea's attitude towards the North while publicly announcing the suspension of denuclearization talks and its stance to strengthen its position as a nuclear state," said Jung Sung-jang, head of Research and Planning Department at Sejong Institute.