North Korea and the Sanctions

Two weeks after the, now confirmed nuclear test, the issue is still front page news in South Korea, of course, and still on the front page of the International Herald Tribune.

In the latest development this morning North Korea is now threatening South Korea with something, but it's not clear what:

"If the South Korean authorities end up joining US-led moves to sanction and stifle, we will regard it as a declaration of confrontation against its own people ... and take corresponding measures," the statement said.

Err, hold on guys, you are still technically at war with the South. The end of the Korean war ended in an Armistice, not peace remember?

I don't know what measures they can take against the South. It's not like they have anything South Korea can't get from somewhere else. Meanwhile the iron ore is still being trucked out of North Korea to the ever steel hungry China at the rate of 1,800 tons a day, umm, not going to get rich at that rate. (I can't find a link for that at the moment)

There are two major items the US is bitching about : The tourist centre that is Mount Kumgang and the industrial complex of Kaesong. South Korea is currently dithering about how to handle these two huge investments they have made. It's a tough one, if Hyundai Asan are forced to pull out by the government they will have lost a serious amount of money they have invested in it, but if they carry on, they are possibly funding the North Korean war effort. Likewise with the Kaesong a lot of smaller companies have invested in building factories and employing North Koreans to manufacture items. I don't have any answers but two ministers have resigned over the matter so far.