* North Korea is now eleven days past the April 13th deadline by which it agreed to shut down and seal the Yongbyon reactor, make a meaningful showing at another session of six-party talks, begin discussions about the full extent of its nuclear programs, and invite U.N. inspectors back in. As of today, it has failed to fulfill any of those conditions. I just wanted to point that out in case Chris Hill is reading or Kim Jong Bill drops in for a status update on that “breakthrough” he claims to have brokered.
* Power Comes by the Barrel.
China, North Korea’s main benefactor of energy resources, did not export any oil to its impoverished neighbor for the second straight month in March, Chinese customs figures showed Monday. The zero shipment in March put the total of China’s crude oil exports to the country in the first three months of this year at 52,089.93 tons, down 48.4 percent from a year earlier, the General Administration of Customs said. [Kyodo]
Treat this with the same suspicion you’d treat anything else the ChiComs say. They want us to think they’re playing ball.
* … And by the Bushel?
Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung on Monday said Seoul will start sending rice aid to Pyongyang once North Korea starts meeting its obligations under a Feb. 13 six-nation agreement. He indicated the North can get rice aid if it honors just one of the requirements — shutting down its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon or readmitting inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. [Chosun Ilbo]
Treat this with the same suspicion you’d treat anything else the Unification Ministry says. They, too, want us to think they’re playing ball.
* Kremlinology Update:
According to reports, Kim Kyok-sik, a former general, was promoted to the chief of the general staff of the Korean People’s Army, and Kim Yong-chun, the former chief of the general staff, was promoted to vice chairman of the National Defense Commission. [Chosun Ilbo]
* Like several of the world’s most tyrannical regimes, China is a member of the U.N. Human Rights Council, which means that, in the U.N.’s view, it “upholds the highest standards in the protection of human rights.” If so, and if you believe that the U.N. really does speak with great moral authority, then this story should tell you just how grave the condition of humanity has become:
Authorities in China’s southwestern Guangxi region have forced dozens of pregnant women to a hospital in Baise city to undergo abortions, the women and their relatives said [….] “They said they were giving me an injection to induce labor. But they injected it into the fetus, and when the baby was born, it was already dead,” a woman who had been seven months pregnant told RFA reporter Fung Yat-yiu. [RFA]
This is an absolute atrocity, and you’ll never see it reported anywhere else, with the possible exception of the Epoch Times or other niche media. I wonder whether “pro-choice” groups in other nations taken this issue on, and if not, why not.
