Open Sources, October 14, 2013

IT’S CALLED AN ARMISTICE, STUPID. We learned today that our Secretary of State has been busy begging North Korea for Agreed Framework III, offering them a “Non-Aggression Pact” if they give up their nukes.

Where to begin with this? First, the North Koreans reacted to that idea about as favorably as I did. Second, would this be like the non-aggression pact that North Korea signed in 1953, only to violate in 1968, 2002, 2010–and most of the years before and since–and renounce in 2009 and 2013? Third, since when is Joachim Von Ribbentrop our Secretary of State? It’s not as if the concept of a “non-aggression pact” evokes comforting historical precedents. Maybe this another example of State’s historical amnesia, like North Korea’s sponsorship of terrorism.

One thing I’ve learned about the State Department is the danger of underestimating its incompetence, although it’s nothing that couldn’t be cured with some box cars and a salt mine.

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WAAAAAH, SANCTIONS: That’s how the reader who forwarded me this link summarized it, which may be just as good a response as the lengthy comment I posted below.

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SO, NORTH KOREA WAS BUYING MiGs FROM CUBA after all, just like I called it from the start. Opponents of North Korea sanctions–the ones who say that by blocking and confiscating Swiss banks accounts, we’re going to starve babies–never really talk about where North Korea’s money actually goes:

Musical equipment was also imported, with subsequent TV and radio broadcasts suggesting it was for the use of the Moranbong Band and Unhasu Orchestra, while high-ranking cadres are known to have received medium-size Japanese and Chinese cars.

Last year also saw increasing imports of televisions, computers and other electronics ($371m), spirits and wine ($30.1m), perfume and makeup ($6.3m), leather goods including handbags ($6.75m), fur clothing ($7.8m) and luxury watches ($8.1m).

These luxury items are typically given as gifts to high-ranking party members and cadres, or are sold to the relatively affluent classes via Pyongyang department stores and foreign currency-only outlets.

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I THINK I ACTUALLY HIT IRONY OVERLOAD ON THIS ONE: North Korea claims that Switzerland’s refusal to sell Kim Jong Un lift equipment for his own personal ski resort is a human rights violation, which has to be the dumbest thing I’ve heard since Jimmy Carter last visited Pyongyang. I suppose the responses, including a list of abuses that seem objectively more compelling, are just too obvious.

His concern for human rights does not appear to extend with the same enthusiasm to, for example, the ability of his own people to consistently feed themselves. That’s not a major revelation, obviously, but it’s rare to see such a pointed example of what the regime cares about and what it doesn’t care about. How many people could that $7.7 million feed? [Max Fisher, WaPo]