“The director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency stated the launch (DPRK’s Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4 satellite) was not a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.” Vice Admiral James Syring, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency
In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), over 53,000 workers woke up Friday morning without a job. Compare that sudden shock to what happened this week at the Carrier Air Conditioner plant which told their 1,400 workers they would be out of work in a year or so. It’s not good news anyway you cut it, but at least the Carrier employees have a little time to make adjustments. In North Korea, such considerations were not made available to the workers.
Before you jump to cliched conclusions about what communist states really think about their workers, process this little tidbit of information: the DPRK did not close the facilities where these people worked and earned the incomes they and their families depend on… the South Koreans did that at the behest of Barack Obama and Sec. of State Kerry.
On the western tip of the border between North and South Korea there rests something called the Kaesong Industrial Region.
It was started in 2002 when the DPRK was trying to improve relationships with South Korea.
They got together with the Ministry of Unification (South Korean government institution dedicated to the reunification of the two Koreas) and came up with the idea of a shared industrial zone where South Korean businesses could take advantage of cheaper North Korean labor in order to make various products for the global market that could compete with inexpensive Chinese labor.
They thought that by having a shared business interest, the two nations would inch a little closer to normalized relations and in the end that would bring them closer to unification.
In 2003 the Ministry signed a 50-year lease on the property with the DPRK and several South Korean companies came in and started building the industrial zone. Work was completed late in 2004.
By April of 2013 there were 123 companies from South Korea doing business in the zone employing 53,000 DPRK workers with about 8oo South Koreans working there as well.
US economic sanctions prohibit the production of various high-end electronics in the zone like computers and cell phones.
In 2009, the DPRK demanded a raise for their employees working in the zone. They had been making $75 a month and the North demanded it be increased to $300. A settlement was reached and their salary was increased to about $160.
Given the nature of the project, there have been a number of times in the past when work was suspended due to relations between the north and south. The Cheonan incident did not, however, effect production though I am sure Hillary wished it had.
Thursday night, South Korea shut off water and electricity to the zone due, they said, to the DPRK’s testing of a ballistic missile last weekend. Several media outlets are still reporting, mistakenly, that North Korea launched a ballistic missile in order to test a new rocket that could be used to strike the mainland of the United States.
That’s propaganda. The north launched a satellite into orbit. It had nothing to do with ballistic missile tests. And that conclusion comes directly from our official sources, not theirs.
“The director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency stated the launch (DPRK’s Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4 satellite) was not a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.” Vice Admiral James Syring, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency
Regardless of that fact, President Obama rushed to make contact with South Korea in order to ratchet up tensions between the two nations. Never let a good manufactured crisis go to waste. He will meet with South Korea next week to discuss an even bigger provocation:
“U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with the leaders of South Korea and Japan by phone on Monday night and reassured them of Washington’s support, while also calling for a strong international response to the launch, the White House said.
Obama will also address North Korea’s “provocations” when he hosts the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in California early next week, aides said.” Reuters
“South Korea will begin talks with Washington as early as next week on deploying an advanced U.S. missile defense system following North Korea’s rocket launch, an official said on Friday, as Seoul cut power to a factory park run jointly with the North” Reuters
As you can see, President Obama was calling for “strong international reactions” from South Korea to the “launch” of this satellite and 3 days later, South Korea provides that strong reaction he was calling for with the cutting of power and water to the Kaesong Industrial Region. It is unrealistic to imagine Obama’s demand fell on deaf ears in South Korea given the timing of these events.
The provocation of these acts is unprecedented in the long history of the Kaesong Industrial Region especially when you consider the manufactured crisis which preceded them.
The DPRK has every right to launch the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4 satellite into orbit. The act does not pose a threat to our national security or that of South Korea. According to international law, they complied by informing the global community of the launch and provided tracking data to all relevant agencies. It never posed one single threat to the United States or South Korea nor did the rocket debris as it fell harmlessly back to earth.
It is an earth observation satellite with no military applications:
“Earth observation satellites are satellites specifically designed for Earth observation from orbit, similar to spy satellites but intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, meteorology, map making etc.”Wiki
They used a Unha delivery system rocket to get the satellite into orbit. They have used this system in the past with varying degrees of success. In 2009 they tested the rocket in an attempt to get something into orbit and it failed. In 2012, they successfully put a satellite into orbit using the same system, but it tumbled out of control.
Last weekend they tried again and this time, the satellite, though initially reported as tumbling again, is reportedly stable and performing as planned (though US intel says it’s not transmitting)
What this success represents, the real threat that it presents to global interests, is the progress of another nation reaching satellite deploying capabilities. They are breaking into a field that we and a very few other nations hold a monopoly on.
That is too say nothing of the symbolic importance of the successful launch to the people of the DPRK.
During the Republican Primary debate last week, a moderator continued to ask questions of the candidates regarding whether or not they would have unilaterally bombed the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4 satellite as it sat ready for launch on the pad in North Korea.
She seemed miffed when several of them refused to say he would have committed an act of war against a nation for such behavior.
President Obama, not to be outdone, has now inflicted a terrible wound on the reconciliation process that was underway in Korea.
By asking the South Koreans to cut power and water to the Kaesong Industrial Region for this perceived provocation from the north, Obama has set back relations between the two nations 12 to 13 years all because North Korea adhered to international law and launched an earth observation satellite into orbit without the master’s permission.
Doing so, Barack Obama has not only set back relations between the two countries and forced 53,800+ Koreans from both sides into unemployment, but he has also knee-capped over 220 South Korean businesses… all for nothing other than further destabilizing that region to go along with the destabilization he created in places like Libya, Syria and Ukraine.
Unfortunately, the only real “liberal” voice we have out there right now, candidate Bernie Sanders, recently said that North Korea poses the greatest threat to the United States because it’s run by a “crazy man”.
That is totally absurd. North Korea couldn’t care less about what we are doing so long as we aren’t ruining their efforts to mend ties with South Korea or putting offensive weapon systems on their borders… like Obama is planning to do after meeting with South Korean officials next week.
Had I been asked what I thought was the greatest threat to the American way of life during a “debate” with Killary Clinton, I would have said the TPP, the TTIP and the neocon Project for a New American Century. After all, the oath of office includes defending the nation from enemies both foreign AND domestic, doesn’t it?
Or maybe I would have cited whatever magical process it was that suspended the laws of physics on Sept. 11th, 2001. Or maybe the agency that sent some anthrax to congressmen who voted against the Patriot Act.
I guess any number of those would suffice in regards to things that pose a greater threat to the US than the DPRK and their little satellite does. But that’s just me.
I am deeply disappointed in Bernie Sanders for tacitly supporting the latest Obama regime change propaganda targeting North Korea but then again… when hasn’t Bernie supported Obama’s regime change programs?
By Mr. Scott Creighton
https://willyloman.wordpress.com/2016/02/12/provocation-south-korea-under-obamas-guidance-cuts-power-and-water-to-the-dprks-kaesong-industrial-region/