North Korea Demands Increasing as Overture Towards the South Turns Sour
Since the meeting that took place between representatives from the North, itself preconditioned on the delay of a scheduled cooperative military exercise between the US and the South, the North’s demands are becoming increasingly unpalatable.
The demands initiated with the call for South Korea to bear the burden of the cost of the entire DPRK’s olympic delegation, set to exceed 500 people including olympians, staff and even DPRK state media reporters.
It has recently turned uglier, with the demand that the South return at least 13 female defectors to the North to face their likely punishment. This runs in contravention to South Korean law, and appears to be a non-starter. The DPRK has already reported that they will suspend all goodwill family reunions if this demand is not met.
The North has already threatened to pull out of further talks if their demands are not met, calling for a “permanent halt” to all drills.
In a humiliating blow, the hosts of the Olympics, South Korea, has agreed to forgo any displays of national identity during the opening games, rather marching together with the athletes from the North, and spurning their own flag for a ‘reunification flag,’ salt in the wound for a country that has been invaded by its northern counterpart, and whose weapons development plan some say could potentially used against them in the future, although recently, the North has rejected that notion.
The 2018 Winter Olympics will be held February 9th to 26th, after which the cooperative military exercise, involving 30,000 American troops and upwards of 200,000 South Korean troops, will likely be held, potentially raising the ire of the North once again.
Contributor: Staff Writer, Ari B
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/01/16/north-korean-demands-grow-talks-south-korea-over-olympics/1038074001/