U.S. Treasury Imposes Sanctions on Companies in Russia and China Exploiting North Korean Forced Labor

The U.S. Treasury Department employed sanctions against two companies in Russia and China for violating United Nations Resolution 2397 passed in 2017, for which they each voted. In the resolution, all countries employing forced North Korean laborers must repatriate them by December 2019. A year after the deadline, several countries have yet to comply fully. […]

U.N. Report Reveals North Korean Surreptitious Efforts to Evade U.N. Sanctions With Help From Others

An August 2020 U.N. report revealed North Korean efforts to bypass sanctions with significant help from its own diplomats in other countries. North Korean embassies in Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, and Poland leveraged local businesses on its premises to facilitate the transfer of weapons, goods, and materials in violation of sanctions imposed due to their nuclear […]

New South Korean Security Team’s Ties to Pyongyang

When South Korean Presidential candidate, Moon Jae-in, was interviewed by the Asian edition of Time back in 2017, he presented himself a negotiator seeking to build a bridge between the U.S. and North Korea. He was well-received by the U.S., who viewed him as someone who could potentially make progress with North Korea while aligning with the […]

North Korea Circumvents Sanctions by Hacking Crypto Currency Exchange

With all the noise in the media about the Democratic Primary and the Corona Virus, we’ve seen very little news on North Korea. Sure, they’ve fired off a few more missile tests, mostly shorter-range stuff, but for the most part, things have been quiet – or have they? North Korea is dealing with its harsh […]

Japan and South Korea Need to Synchronize Military Cooperation

There is a little bit of generational animosity and a little adversarial history between South Korea and Japan. Although the previous dispute was long ago, the mistrust continues today. Currently, there is a bit of a trade issue going on as Japan and South Korea do not consider each other ‘white list’ trading partners anymore. […]

North Korea Benefits As Tensions Increase Between Seoul and Tokyo

There is still historical animosity between the peoples of South Korea and Japan. This rift is a left-over from 1910 to 1945 when Japan colonized Korea. Last year South Korea’s Supreme Court demanded two Japanese companies pay a total of $352,000 to four plaintiffs for forced-labor during that period. Japan’s government dismissed the suit claiming […]

Kim Jong Un’s Speech Reminds the U.S. to Keep Pressure on North Korea

As Kim Jong Un speaks on the world stage, whether at the United Nations or to the global media we should be careful not to misread his intentions. The North Korean leader said he will give President Trump until the end of the year to complete a deal or else, or else what? Well, […]

Is the US expecting too much from South Korea?

It has been almost 66 years since the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement. This agreement brought the Korean War into the status of a ‘cease-fire,’ an ordinarily uncomfortable and sometimes strenuous status which has continued since 1953. For nearly seven decades the alliance between the United States and the Republic of Korea has provided […]

North Korean Slave Labor Will Keep Sanctions Going

Despite U.S. President Trump’s best efforts to convince North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to dismantle his country’s nuclear weapons program, the administration may be severely limited in how much it can curtail economic sanctions for an agreement to work. North Korean use of slave labor and other severe human-rights violations pose an immovable obstacle […]

Keeping the North Korean Sanctions Going

In the wake of significant steps taken by the North Korean government to scale back its nuclear weapons program the U.S. might begin lifting economic sanctions levied against the totalitarian regime. However, FDD.org also known as Foundation for Defense of Democracies has stated that the bar for leniency shouldn’t be any lower than a total […]