Author: China National News
Posted: Tuesday 9th May, 2017
North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un is said to be playing a sinister game in this ongoing saber rattling by all the players in the region, including America.
According to experts, Kim Jong Un is detaining American citizens as human shields amid fears of a U.S. preemptive attack.
This, they believe is part of a new form of «hostage diplomacy,” in response to the international calls being made on the reclusive nation to give up his nuclear and missile program.
Earlier, under the current dictator’s father Kim Jong Il, North Korea detained U.S. citizens to use as bargaining chips.
However, analysts now believe that Kim Jong Un’s moves, that come in stark contrast to his fathers’ policy, is aimed at using prisoners to protect himself rather than as a tool to bring the U.S. to the negotiating table.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency reported last week that on Saturday, U.S. citizen Kim Has Song was detained for «hostile acts against the republic.”
The report on KCNA noted that Song had been working at Pyongyang Science and Technology University.
The move comes merely days after North Korea stopped a U.S. Citizen, identified as Kim Sang-duk, or Tony Kim at Pyongyang Airport.
Sang-duk had been preparing to leave the country and had also been teaching at that university before he was taken into custody.
As tensions between North Korea and the United States mount, Dr. An Chan Il, president of the World Institute for North Korea Studies and a former defector explained in a statement, “Kim Jong Un is using hostage diplomacy as a part of his military and defense strategy with focus on preventing the U.S. from removing him from power as well as to prevent the U.S. from taking military options against North Korea.”
Further, Dr. Koh Yu Hwan, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, said that taking hostages remained worth its while for North Korea.
He added, “Although such hostage talks don’t usually lead to negotiation over missile or nuclear weapons … the added numbers can certainly hamper and limit options the U.S. can take over North Korea.”
Meanwhile, a senior research fellow in the Asia program at the London-based Chatham House think tank, John Nilsson-Wright, agreed that Kim Jong Un’s actions could be part of an effort to stop the U.S. military from attacking North Korea.
He, has, however, said it was more likely such moves were «grandstanding,» and not about bringing the U.S. to the negotiating table.
Nilsson-Wright added, “The current situation is not a bad one for Kim Jong Un. He’s had a lot of airtime and the more he continues to test missiles and move forward with militarization, he can demonstrate his independence to the international community and present himself to his people as unbowed.»
He further noted that «It’s poking a stick in [President] Donald Trump’s eye in a signal of defiance.»
Earlier, reports revealed that two other Americans, identified as Kim Dong Chul, a businessman born in South Korea with U.S. citizenship and Otto Warmer were also being detained in North Korea since 2015.
Chul is currently serving a sentence of 10 years for espionage.
Further, a 21-year-old University of Virginia student from suburban Cincinnati, Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in prison.
He had confessed to trying to steal a propaganda banner from a hotel.
the SAFIA Blog 