AMAC Exclusive – By Ben Solis
While news of the Israel-Hamas war continues to dominate headlines, a series of alarming developments in North Korea present another area of mounting concern for the United States and the world.
On Monday, South Korean military sources revealed that North Korea has begun restoring border fortifications it dismantled five years ago following an agreement with South Korea orchestrated with help from former President Donald Trump.
Under the agreement, both North and South Korea said they would demolish guard posts within roughly 0.6 miles of the border. The two countries also agreed to stop all military drills near the border, establish a no-fly zone, and implement other measures to ease military tensions.
But South Korea’s Defense Ministry said photos showing a guard post and soldiers carrying heavy weapons inside the Demilitarized Zone indicate that North Korea had broken the pact and was restoring its troop presence near the border.
The setback added to news just a few days earlier that Pyongyang had successfully launched a spy satellite into orbit. The Pyongyang Times, a state propaganda outlet, reported that “respected Comrade Kim Jong Un oversaw the launch,” further revealing that North Korea plans to add more “reconnaissance satellites in a short span of time.”
The propaganda also claimed that Kim viewed images taken above the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam of U.S. military infrastructure, including the Andersen Air Force Base, as well as images of Hawaii. However, South Korea’s Defense Minister dismissed those claims, saying that it was impossible for the newly launched satellite to provide photos on the first day.
Nevertheless, Japan’s Defense Minister Minoru Kihara confirmed that an object launched by North Korea’s rocket was orbiting the Earth, initiated from the North Korean launch center at the Sohae Satellite Ground in North Pyongan Province. “Even if North Korea calls it a satellite, the firing that uses ballistic missile technology is a clear violation of related United Nations Security Council resolutions,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.
During the launch, Japan’s government briefly issued a J-Alert missile warning for Okinawa, urging residents to take shelter inside buildings or underground.
While the satellite itself may pose only a limited threat to the security interests of the United States, the precedent it sets should be worrying for American military leaders. As Indo-Pacific specialists and experts have pointed out, the rockets used to propel the satellite into space could easily be weaponized against the West, and the launch marks an unnerving level of advancement for the Hermit Kingdom’s missile program.
Adding to these concerns, on the same day it became clear that North Korea’s satellite had indeed entered orbit, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported “a strong water outflow” from the cooling system at the Yongbyon nuclear research center – the site where Pyongyang enriches and reprocesses weapons-grade uranium. Last month, South Korean news sources reported that North Korea had halted activity at the complex “probably to extract plutonium that could be used for weapons by reprocessing spent fuel rods.”
Rafael Grossi, Director-General of the IAEA, said that there are now “indications of the ongoing operation of the reported centrifuge enrichment facility and its annex,” adding that the Punggye-ri site, where the North has conducted all six nuclear tests, remains “prepared to support a new nuclear test.”
Just five days after the North Korean satellite launch, the United States, Japan, and South Korea held trilateral naval drills in response to an incident off the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula. South Korea’s Defense Ministry characterized exercises that took place in international waters southeast of Jeju Island as a simulated response to a North Korean missile launch.
But drills will hardly quiet tensions in the Indo-Pacific that have escalated throughout three years of Biden’s misguided policies.
Throughout his 2020 campaign, Biden and his allies constantly touted the career politician’s supposed diplomatic acumen, insisting that he would make America respected on the world stage and bring about a more peaceful future.
That fantasy was soon shattered by the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and then the start of the Russia-Ukraine war just a few months later. Now Biden’s weakness and haphazard policy has rekindled tensions with North Korea as well after President Trump’s historic meetings with Kim Jong Un and a ratcheting down of hostile rhetoric and military build-up.
“Not even one ally could imagine how amateurish, naive, and dangerous Biden’s policy would be,” one former high-ranking Japanese official, who requested anonymity since he still advises the government, told this author. When asked how effective Biden’s broad alliance building was, he compared it to “a collective effort of putting down fires that the White House ignites.”
In 2021, Biden’s first year in office, North Korea conducted six tests, which included a cruise missile with a range of 932 miles. A year later, Kim ordered a barrage of missile launches that by Christmas amounted to more than 90 cruise and ballistic missiles, with one test involving 23 missiles. This year, at least 18 ballistic missiles were tested, including four tests of the Hwasong-18 missile with a range of more than 9,000 miles – more than enough to reach American cities.
Professor Moo Jin Jang, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told this author that after North Korea restores its military presence near the border, the likelihood of unfortunate incidents triggering armed conflict will increase.
Biden’s failed presidency has already emboldened Russia to take direct action in Ukraine and Iran to release its proxies to wreak havoc and destruction in Israel. North Korea is now gearing up to take advantage of Biden’s weakness as well.
Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.
Failed foreign policies aside, can anyone point me to ANY policy Biden has been successful with? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone?
Every foreign policy under Biden has been bad
I think his old man came in a flower pot, and raised a bloomin IDIOT….
Anything the “biden/obama” unlawful “presidency” does is unlawful and a complete disaster. The actor(s) playing the deceased biden are following the Obama/WEF script to destroy this country. Only God can fix this mess that we’ve allowed ourselves to get into….
Can we even begin to count the number of failures that this administration has committed.Election consequences are so overwhelming for our great republic under this administration of impostors. Can we ever get back to a strong respected America after these leftist leaders are finally kicked to the curb ,where they so much belong. How many hundreds of terrorists are inside our country now after three years of open borders?Praying that another year of this will not end our great country beyond repair. All this because of stolen election. God bless the USA and hopefully President Trump will have another term to drain the swamp.
Jie Biden is the King Midas of Failure.
Another excellent article Ben!
The one thing we can always count on is that the marxist democrat party will take a position that is NOT good for America.
They truly wish to transform Our Country into a third world failure.
THROW THEM OUT
China will allow NK to initiate conflicts with SK and Japan is the US continues to retreat from world affairs. Mark my words.
Rocketman will push the nuclear button, he has absolutely nothing to lose.
Russia, Iran, Hamas, North Korea all saw an opportunity with ole Joe at the helm to start saber rattling and even start a war. For they all know our military is not prepared because we have given all our equipment and munitions to the Ukraine or left them to the Taliban. Ole Joe has brought us to the brink of a third world war if not that at least an attack on America itself. Is there any person in America that believes the rhetoric ole Joe and his minions are spouting. Division at home, overrun with migrants unknown of their intentions, wars we pay for and draining our resources. Inflation going on and on which they blame on Trump. BS but that is their only excuse they can come up with to appease their base. I have been saying this for years but it bears repeating. WAKE UP AMERICA. OLE JOE HAS TO GO BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.
I thought Obama was the biggest Marxist fool in the world, until I met Creepy Joe Biden
Everything was fine when President Trump had N. Korea stop missile testing and building more nuclear weapons.
President Trump developed a peaceful relationship with N. Korea and the ONLY President that had the guts to meet with N. Korea’s leader.
Then Dictator Beijing biden comes along and makes things WORSE and N. Korea is right back building nuclear weapons and testing. Here we are on the brink of WWIII thanks to Dictator Beijing biden.
Just another wonderful thing our “fearful leader” learned from his butt brother Obummer. When anything happens that is against his wishes, pass the blame and stick your head in the sand, and spread your butt cheeks. Americahas seen too much of this posture throughout Obummer’s’reign and it is continued in O’bidon’s reign.
Both Ukraine & Israel wars are present today vs. when Biden was elected. And throw in pull out of Afghanistan & it appears USA is in totally different water than 2020. Will always wonder what Trump meant when he said something like this “Will know the fire & fury like the world has never seen” & how did that impact NK and Iran?
Once again, we are left to wonder whether Joe Buyden’s actions are simply the result of his idiocy, or are, in fact, caused by Communist Chinese blackmail or bribes. The current occupant of The White House is this country’s most existential threat. On another matter, FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, HAMAS MUST CEASE TO BE! HEY, HEY, HO,HO, HAMAS HAS GOT TO GO!
Can anyone possibly suspect North Korea may be restoring the facilities near the cease fire zone in reaction to the silly war games the US Navy held with South Korea not that long ago? Can you blame them for being wary when it is obvious that the American head of state simply is not all there and that despite being the purported leader of a powerful nation, that nation is not simply broke but is in debt beyond comprehension yet still invents money from whole cloth to play Navy with the South Koreans off of North Korean waters. Reverse the situation and tell me South Korea wouldn’t be beefing up its presence near the demilitarized zone. OH, wait……….it already has.
Time to stop the forever wars and to start looking after the American citizenry. For goodness sake we already lost in Korea once, why do it again?
So this is completely amazing how many more Nuke or missiles do we need in this world , and now we have another mad man at large be sides the one’s sitting in the white house sooner or lator this world is gonna erupt in major war because of the stupidity from the leaders of the world . We already have two wars going on because of the treasonist stupidity morons in the white house why they are still running this country is beyond me , how much more crap do we have to put up with this administration until something is done . Everything that the Biden administration has gotten away with just blows me away he should have been taken out of office right after the Afghanistan junk along with his administration.
We must surely pray that those Democrats and Independents realize and stop voting for the now Socialist Leftist Democrat Politicians. They are working hard to surrender our economic and military superiority to the Communist. They work to overthrow freedom, to bankrupt and destroy our great nation. If the vast majority do not vote in support of conservative ideals 2024 sure destruction will be our fate. The former Democratic Party is now a Socialist Democrat Party and must fell if our nation is to recover from four years of Leftist disasters. Absolutely every indicator economic, military, social are now more negative than at any point in the last half century. America must turn back, the world looks to us. This is urgent.
trump is a kkk nazi
What will Biden do? AH!! He will have a memo crafted using STRONG WORDS and tell Pyongyang to settle down or he’ll sic Corn Pop on them.