North Korea and South Korea are ‘belligerents’, US is ‘armistice negotiator’, decapitation operation separates US and South Korea
North Korea continues to bombard the West Sea with its strategy of 'North and South belligerents', and before separating South Korea from the US, which signed the armistice agreement, the US launched a beheading operation to 'separate Korea', and in North Korea's two coast strategy of separating the West and East Seas, Japan divided the East Sea and Dokdo into one. This showed progress in establishing diplomatic relations with North Korea.
Kim Yo-jong, who has been at the forefront of propaganda against South Korea in the North Korean regime, used the official title of ‘Korean People’s Army’ in the ‘West Sea artillery launch’, and Chairman Kim Jong-un officially announced that it was ‘a belligerent country with the Republic of Korea’ at the previous Workers’ Party plenary meeting.
The U.S. State Department restricted 'Korean Peninsula peace negotiations', and the U.S. Department of Defense repeatedly announced from the beginning of the year that there was "no hostile intent toward North Korea" regarding the 'beheading operation of the North Korean leader' that occurred during military training with the South Korean military, and the Ministry of Defense said that there was 'no beheading operation'. As part of the inquiry briefing, ‘Korea’ was removed from ‘regional stability’.North Korea's belligerent strategy is attempting to change the security landscape of the Korean Peninsula by isolating the border with South Korea and separating the parties to the armistice agreement with the United States and China in the West Sea and the post-World War II system negotiations between Russia and Japan in the East Sea.
Japan, a defeated country in World War II, failed to sign a peace agreement with the Soviet Union and lost the initiative in the dispute over the four occupied islands (Kuril Islands). Russia recently declared Dokdo as its own territory, forcing Dokdo to be included in strategic negotiations outside of Russia. The importance of diplomatic relations negotiations with North Korea has increased.
On the 8th, Vice-Minister of the Workers' Party Kim Yo-jong said, "I make it clear once again that the trigger safety device of the North Korean People's Army has already been removed. As already declared, the Korean People's Army will immediately launch a military strike if the enemy makes the slightest provocation." A statement was issued under its official name, Reuters reported.
In a speech at the party convention late last year, Chairman Kim Jong-un said, “Unification is impossible and North Korea is fundamentally changing its policy toward South Korea, which it currently regards as an enemy country.”
North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency said, “The General Staff of the Korean People’s Army conducted a naval artillery exercise in which 88 shells were fired on the 7th.”
The Joint Chiefs of Staff stated, “The North Korean military fired more than 90 rounds in the northern part of Yeonpyeong Island from 4 p.m. to 5:10 p.m. on the 7th.”
South Korean media reported that North Korea fired about 60 artillery shells at the Gaemori position northwest of Yeonpyeong Island the previous day, and also fired about 200 coastal artillery shells in the Baengnyeong Island and Yeonpyeong Island areas on the 5th.
Reuters reported, “The North Korean Army General Staff said that the coastal defense unit fired 192 rounds as part of training,” and the Korean Central News Agency said, “It is our military’s natural response to the military actions of South Korean military thugs.”
Reuters said, “The statement claimed that the exercises did not affect South Korean islands near the maritime border as South Korea claimed, and that it was an ‘attempt to mislead public opinion.’”
In a briefing on the 5th, the U.S. State Department said, “We urge North Korea (DPRK) to refrain from further provocative and destabilizing actions and to return to diplomacy,” adding, “In particular, we urge North Korea to manage military risks and establish permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.” “We encourage the DPRK to engage in substantive discussions on identifying ways to manage military risks and create lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula,” he said in the ‘Korean Peninsula Peace Negotiations’. .
The U.S. Department of Defense's Voice of America (VOA) broadcast on January 2, 2024, saying, "The U.S. Department of Defense reiterated its previous position that it has no hostile intentions toward North Korea when a 'decapitation operation' to remove the North Korean leader was mentioned." did.
When asked on December 21 last year whether the ultimate goal of the allies was to behead Kim Jong-un, U.S. Department of Defense spokesman Patrick Ryder said, "We remain committed to a diplomatic approach and continue to urge North Korea to engage in dialogue." “We have no hostile intentions toward North Korea and have made this very clear,” he said. said.
In a briefing, spokesperson Ryder said about ‘stability within the year’, “our okay and Japanese allies, as well as other allies and partners in the region to ensure that everyone in that region can live peacefully and safely.” “We are working closely with our ally Japan and other allies and partners in the region,” he said, leaving out ‘Korea’.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff announced on December 19 last year that special operations forces from South Korea and the United States are conducting joint special operations training somewhere in Korea.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff participated in training conducted at special warfare school training centers and other locations, and personnel from the U.S. Special Operations Forces participated in the training, and prior to the training, personnel from the U.S. Army Special Operations Command were pre-deployed to the Korean Peninsula.
U.S. VOA said, “In this training, special operations combat techniques, such as combat shooting and internal clearing tactics in key areas, are being shared between special operations forces from both sides, and the focus is on increasing interoperability,” adding, “U.S.-ROK special operations training is a regular joint exercise, but the details of the training are not disclosed.” It is unusual, and is said to be a response measure following North Korea's launch of the Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile yesterday (18th),” it was reported on the 19th.
On December 18, Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik was asked on MBN's 'News 7', 'Can we conduct additional decapitation training or strategic assets, which Kim Jong-un fears the most?', and responded, "It is difficult to talk publicly about decapitation (operational training). There are two things. “We are considering all of them as options,” he said. “Today, the ROK-US Special Operations Forces training was revealed on the US Forces Korea website. This week, the ROK-US Special Operations Forces are training in aerial maneuvers, raids on key facilities, and internal clearing.”
‘Chosun Ilbo’ reported on December 19, “If you look at the training video released by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, agents with pixelated faces infiltrated the inside of the building and fired at human targets,” adding, “Based on this method of training, South Korea and the U.S. are expected to attack North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.” “There are also speculations that they may have been training in preparation for a so-called beheading operation to eliminate North Korean leaders,” he said.
North Korean Chairman Kim addressed Japanese Prime Minister Kishida as "Your Excellency" in a cable dated the 5th, released on the 6th, and said, "I express my deepest sympathy and condolences to you and through you to the bereaved families and victims."
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a press conference that day, "I have received condolence messages from various countries regarding the damage from the Noto Peninsula earthquake, and I would like to express my gratitude to Chairman Kim Jong-un's message," adding, "Including the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, North Korea's highest leader has been in Japan." “There has been no recent example of sending a consolation message to the Prime Minister regarding earthquakes, etc.,” he said.
Minister Shin spoke about the Dokdo disputed area in March of last year when he was a member of the National Assembly, interviewed Yomiuri in August, and published a military textbook at the end of the year with his nomination as Minister of National Defense in September. Japan expanded negotiations with North Korea in the Dokdo dispute diplomacy.
The Korean War began in 1953, when the United States, North Korea, and China signed the armistice resolution, and the Syngman Rhee regime fell into opposition. Yoon Seok-yeol's regime is attempting to support the Republican presidential election at the end of the year by excluding armistice negotiations from the Syngman Rhee government's founding system and applying the U.S. Republican Reagan regime's strategy of breaking the backbone of the socialist economic system through extreme military build-up in the 1980s to North Korea.
As for North Korea's North Korea-China-US trajectory and North Korea-Russia-Japan dual axis strategy, the US Democratic Party's strategy is 'diplomacy first', with diplomatic relations with Japan taking precedence over negotiations with the US, and the Republican Party's strategy of 'establishing diplomatic relations with Japan taking precedence by overthrowing the socialist system based on force'. There is fierce competition this year, with the US presidential election at stake.
<Progress in North Korea-Japan negotiations, North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un’s ‘Excellence’ to Prime Minister Kishida, January 7, 2024>