North Korea: Rhetoric or Action?
North Korea: Kaesong to close. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported,
"Secretary
of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea Kim Yang Gon
visited the Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ) Monday to size up the
situation….
"Kim
Yang Gon was accompanied by officials concerned of the Secretariat of
the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea and the General
Bureau for Central Guidance to the Development of the Special Zone."
"Kim
Yang Gon toured the Kaesong Industrial Zone office of the General
Bureau, Kaesong Industrial Zone combined supporting center and other
units and production sites inside the zone.
He also
went to the checkpoint in the zone and the central line separating the
north-south road along the Military Demarcation Line. …
"It has become impossible to operate the zone as usual due to the south Korean warmongers' reckless acts, Kim Yang Gon said. "
"He
held a consultative meeting on the spot and entrusted relevant fields
with detailed tasks, urging them to get fully ready to cope with
whatever development in the zone."
Later the Korean Central Broadcasting Station carried a statement by Secretary Kim Yang Gon,
"…Under
the condition in which the South Korean authorities are showing
animosity in return for our generosity and compatriotic affection, it
has become inevitable for us to make an important decision regarding the
issue of the KIZ."
"Upon authorization, I declare the following important steps with regard to the crisis in the KIZ:
1. We will withdraw all our employees who worked at the Kaesong Industrial Zone.
2.
Under the circumstances in which the South Korean authorities and
military warmongers are defaming our dignity and attempting to turn the
KIZ into a hot spot of confrontation between compatriots and provocation
for a war of northward aggression, we will temporarily suspend business
in the industrial zone and examine whether it will be maintained or
closed."
"The
General Bureau for Central Guidance to the Development of the Special
Zone will be responsible for executing the working business related to
the important steps including the withdrawal of our employees and the
temporary suspension of the business of the industrial zone."
South
Korea: During this Watch, the BBC reported information from the South
Korean Unification Ministry that North Korean workers, some 53,000 of
them, failed to show up for work on the morning of 9 April. The Ministry
said 479 South Koreans remain on site.
Comment: Kim Yang Gon is the party secretary who oversees Kaesong. His was a combined Party and government inspection party.
The
North Koreans cited as justification the remarks last week by the South
Korean National Defense Minister about making plans to rescue the South
Korean workers still at Kaesong, should they be held hostage. The
North's reasoning is that closure of the zone will prevent it from
becoming a zone of fighting.
The
North Korean authorities have not expelled, yet, the South Koreans but
that should occur by 10 April. Closure of Kaesong will impose an
incalculable hardship on over 100,000 Korean family members. Jobs at
Kaesong were considered among the best paying available for Korean
workers.
The
closure and departure of the South Korean workers will eliminate a
significant security problem in the middle of the North Korean Second
Army Corps.
In the Rear.
Planting has begun. According to Daily NK sources, all reserve forces
have been sent back to their places of work and the annual drive to
gather manure for fertilizer is well underway, as of 8 April.
According
to one source, "The reserves who had been mobilized for combat
exercises over the past few months all returned their weapons to their
local Ministry of People's Safety (the police) office arms store on the
1st (of April) and went back to work. Having carried out public and
enterprise rallies in accordance with decisions made at the Party
Central Committee plenum last month, each province, county and city is
now working on producing fertilizer."
The
source added, "Until last month there were Worker and Peasant Red Guards
and other reserves on the streets, all in uniform with their backpacks
and guns, but now there are only workers with shovels and hoes,
mobilized to produce manure for the farms. Even those soldiers who were
living underground in the mountains have returned to normal life in the
barracks."
"Posters
about war have been replaced with posters about the economy or slogans
about this or that 'March Party Central Committee decision'."
Comment:
Information from North Korea continues to be split between actions that
enhance national readiness and actions that show normality. At this
time, South Korean and US intelligence should be able to confirm whether
North Korean soldiers have begun planting. Even the North Korean Army
Corps immediately north of the Demilitarized Zone must grow their own
food.
If planting is not taking place, then readiness in the four army corps is high and the situation is not normal.
North
Korea-Japan: For the record. North Korea warned Japan that it could be
the target of a North Korean missile attack if it does not stop
following the hostile US policy by extending Japanese sanctions against
North Korea.
Comment:
Japanese sanctions are the harshest of any imposed on North Korea.
Japan has deployed Aegis-equipped destroyers with ballistic missile
defense systems and activated land-based systems to safeguard against a
North Korean attack.
China and Russia are the only neighbors North Korea has not yet threatened.
Pakistan:
Former president and chief of army staff Pervez Musharraf's application
to run for parliament in the 11 May elections is running into trouble.
He applied as a candidate in four jurisdictions, but only one has
accepted his application, but on condition that he is not arrested for
treason. That jurisdiction is Chitral in far northwestern Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa Province along the Afghan border.
Meanwhile
a two-judge panel of the Supreme Court of Pakistan has agreed to hear
five petitions against Musharraf to have him tried for treason for
usurping the constitution when he was president.
Comment:
Musharraf returned to Pakistan on 24 March more or less declaring
himself its savior. He seems to have indulged a delusion of his
essentiality to the future of Pakistan. His slogan is "save Pakistan."
The
reality is that he has drawn no crowds of supporters and the general
population blames him for the US drone campaign and for compromising
Pakistan's independence by supporting the US operations in Afghanistan.
He could end up hanged for treason because he did suspend the
constitution without authority in November 2007 and detained judges of
the Supreme Court, including the current Chief Justice.
For now he is under a Sindh Province High Court ban from leaving the country.
End of NightWatch
###
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