This is a follow-on article from the recent Kim/Trump summit in Hanoi, which you may want to read first if you have not. This becomes a rather interesting story of cloak and dagger when we look at the events leading up to the summit. On 22 Feb 19 a gang of 10 thugs raided the North Korean embassy in Madrid, Spain. This was five days before the summit in Hanoi. As the story now reads, the talks were subsequently torpedoed by Bolton and Pompeo, probably based in information gained from the raid on the embassy.
Both Spain and North Korea were justifiably outraged by the raid, which will have long carry-on effects. Embassies are supposed to be sovereign territory of the states they represent. Something about diplomatic immunity and peaceful coexistence. That is, unless the embassy happens to be one of a pariah state or of interest for the information they might have. Apparently anything goes, then.
The raid itself may have been an effort to scupper the talks in Hanoi. Actually, there is a long list of incidents at embassies worldwide since the 19th century, and these have accelerated in recent decades. The most recent ones besides to one just mentioned were the Khashoggi incident, the 2016 attack on the Saudi Mission in Tehran and the attack on the US embassy in Benghazi, among those better known. But to the present one, it was perpetrated by a group of Korean expats from both the South and possibly the North, calling themselves the Free Joseon group, who are now working to topple the Kim dynasty in North Korea. The reason the raid took place in Spain is because the lead negotiator for the DPRK was expelled from Spain in 2017, one Kim Hyok Chol. The embassy in Spain would still have had valuable information about him.
The break-in took place at around 4:30 PM local time. We’ll have more on the actual events after looking at the chart, below (bigger):
The two most obvious things that stand out, and which strongly support the 4:30 time, are the square of Mars to the horizon axis from the 10th house, indicating the military style of the attack, and the Pluto square to the meridian axis, indicating the covert nature of the operation and the subversion of sovereignty, both of Spain (4th house) and of North Korea (10th house). Further, Pluto is placed in the 6th house, showing military connections. The Free Joseon group has connections with the South Korean secret service (NIS) and the CIA. Immediately after the raid the group of assailants flew to the US, which is rather telling.
The Sun is applying to the square of Ceres, showing a turning point in relations, with Ceres in the 5th house (ambassadors), and with the Sun in the 8th, which shows the intent to transform a situation, to kill the upcoming summit. The 8th house also rules overthrows. Further, the Sun rules the Leo Ascendant, the latter representing the intent of the raid.
From the standpoint of the attacker, the Sabian symbol for the degree of the Ascendant carries a double meaning: A conservative, old-fashioned lady is confronted by a “hippie” girl”, 6th degree or Leo. The most obvious meaning is that the old regime/old order in terms of the Korean standoff with the US is being confronted by a new dynamic, one not beholden to the old rules. The game is being changed. This will have another meaning, later. The Sabian symbol for the degree of the Descendent (the attackers) is of interest: “A masked figure performs ritualistic acts in a mystery play.” 6th degree of Aquarius. The operation was well planned and executed, as if according to a time-honored ritual. Of course, we don’t have an exact time, but the placements of Mars, Pluto and the degree symbols would point to a time very near 4:30 if not exactly on the half-hour itself.
The fact that it was a well-planned operation is confirmed in the Mars/Asc=Mercury/Jupiter midpoint. Further confirmation is the sextile between the Sun and Mars. The Uranus rulership of the 7th house points to the surprise attack, and Uranus was in the 10th house, “a daring raid in broad daylight”, as quoted by various news sources. That is also confirmed by the Leo rising. And then there are the ambassadors, the targets of the raid.
Ambassadors and embassy staff are co-ruled by the 5th house and Jupiter. Jupiter is in the 5th house of the chart, square to Mercury, that square being bisected by the horizon axis, forming the aforementioned midpoint. They were terrorized by the attackers, with some of them having been badly beaten during the incident, which lasted for several hours. Theft and losses are governed by Saturn. And this brings us to the title of this piece. What exactly were they after and what did they take with them?
The main thing the raid was intended to do was to gain control of a situation, namely the attempt at rapprochement between the North and the South and between the North and the US. This is indicated by the Pluto/Ascendant midpoint, which has Uranus at the MP. That is reinforced by the Leo rising, the dramatic nature of the raid. Aside from that, they were after information. The raid was originally hoped to scupper the summit, as mentioned previously, but since that failed, the attackers fled with information they hoped would be useful to them for the same purpose. As for what they found and stole form the embassy, that would involve Saturn, Saturn ruling thefts and losses.
Saturn is squared by the Moon in the chart, Saturn being in the 6th house, the house it rules. This was a covert operation, and those are ruled by the 12th house – Cancer and the Moon in this case. Covert operations often involve the military (6th house) and intelligence services (3rd and 6th houses). The operatives took hard drives and telephones from the embassy and staff with them. Some of those hard drives were thought to have encryption codes on them, including possibly their vital ‘transformation computer’, which had their codes on it, as well as sensitive information and emails. The Moon is in the 3rd house – communications and information in general. The Moon square to Saturn shows the theft and in what area. The chart is quite descriptive and would seem in general to confirm the 4:30 time of the event. But what does it all mean? And what did it accomplish? The attack and the attackers have been more than adequately covered in previously linked articles. The timing of the raid – just days before the summit – shows the intent of it, especially with what happened at the summit, but there is a wider picture emerging.
The Sun square to Ceres in this chart shows a change of direction, possibly. Referring to our previous article, the Sun in that chart also shows the Sun square to Ceres, also, another change of tack. But the main point there is the Neptune placement square the meridian on the 7th house cusp. Looking in retrospect there was a deception involved in that meeting, hence the lack of any progress. Neptune can mean many things, most of which are only revealed after the fact, such as we are finding here. Trump tried to spin the failure of the summit on the supposed intractability of the North Koreans. The opposite was actually true. It was the North Koreans who actually walked out.
In a recent report from Reuters, it was revealed that on the morning the summit was abruptly ended, Trump handed Kim a document, which outlined the following:
The English version of the document, seen by Reuters, called for “fully dismantling North Korea’s nuclear infrastructure, chemical and biological warfare program and related dual-use capabilities; and ballistic missiles, launchers, and associated facilities.”
Aside from the call for the transfer of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and bomb fuel, the document had four other key points.
It called on North Korea to provide a comprehensive declaration of its nuclear program and full access to U.S. and international inspectors; to halt all related activities and construction of any new facilities; to eliminate all nuclear infrastructure; and to transition all nuclear program scientists and technicians to commercial activities.
All of this was supposed to happen before there was to be any lifting of sanctions. This is what the US means by “full and complete denuclearization” in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. This was the very plan that Bolton had put forward as his ‘Libya model’ in 2004. In 2011 Libya was reduced to a failed state by a Western coalition after it gave up its nuclear program. Kim watched that and will have no part of such terms. Trump professes to be on good terms with Kim, but if he had fully known the contents of the document he presented to Kim, he is either too inept to be engaged in such negotiations, or too cowed by neocon interests, or in effect is lying about his professed relationship with Kim. The North would never agree to such terms. Naturally, the North Koreans walked out of the meeting. There has been nothing further on another summit. Trump, for his part, is ‘hopeful’.
The North Korean perspective on the talks in Hanoi is quite different from what we hear in the West. According to North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui:
US President Donald Trump reportedly had a positive perspective on relaxing sanctions on North Korea provided that there was a “snapback” clause that would reinstate sanctions if the North failed to implement its agreement.
Further, about Bolton and Pompeo:
“because of their continuing hostility and mistrust, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House National Security Advisor John Bolton created obstacles to the two leaders’ efforts to have constructive negotiations, and ultimately the summit didn’t produce meaningful results.”
This goes back to the intractability of the parties, represented by the Mars/Pluto midpoint cited in the previous article. If Bolton and Pompeo were in possession of information obtained during the embassy raid, then it may have contributed to their intractable stance and why they sabotaged the summit, knowing that Kim would never accept the terms.
Since the raid on the embassy it has been revealed that the FBI is in possession of some of the material taken from the embassy. The North has threatened to resume nuclear tests. This is typical of behavior on both sides in the past. But there is a difference now. Kim’s popularity in South Korea has soared. He has shown the world that he can negotiate in good faith, having halted nuclear and ballistic missile tests. China is urging the lifting of sanctions as a result. This will be cited to the US in any further talks, if any. Russia and China are in much stronger positions to help the North and to push back against American sanctions now than they were even a few years ago. They also have a big interest in seeing the North halt its nuclear ambitions and eventually denuclearize, and also to keep stability in the North. And now there is the Belt and Road, to which the North is keen to be connected. It is also more than happy to receive Russian gas and oil if things can be worked out. It is not difficult to see where the situation is headed.
Kim has his own contingency plans in case there are no further talks or a reversion to the old status. There is a planned satellite launch in the near future, which will be used to pressure Trump back to the negotiating table. It will be used as propaganda in the West as a demonstration of a ballistic missile test, but it is actually within the bounds of the current agreements. Kim is set to visit Russia soon. He already has cordial relations with China. Both Russia and China recognize the potential of North Korea as an economic power, also as a hedge against US interests in the region. The South recognizes the potential of eventual reunification, too. Trump does, too, which is why he is trying so hard to make a deal with Kim. But unless he fires Bolton and Pompeo, or at least pulls them into line, talks will go nowhere. The military-corporate sector in the US sees the ongoing standoff in the Korean as one of their cash cows, as do conservatives in South Korea, and perhaps surprisingly, the military-industrial complex in the North. It basically amounts to a protection racket.
Bolton’s aim in this is to force new sanctions onto North Korea in hopes that it will produce regime change. But given current developments in the Far East, such behavior is likely to have the opposite effect, in that it may force the North into a cooperative agreement with China and Russia in spite of sanctions, which would completely cut off negotiations with the US and scuttle any deal Trump may have made.
Going back to the symbol for the Ascendant, who is the old lady in this picture and who is the hippie girl? We could say the old is the old standoff, and that the raid represents the rebellious perpetrators of the raid. But taking a wider view, the raid is likely to represent a more lawless approach to diplomatic relations in the future. The Free Joseon group has threatened/forecast a bigger or more events to take place in the coming months, whether or not that is simply propaganda. But there are also European interests who wish to see all talks between the parties to halt, and who have been active in sabotaging such efforts. There are also attempts at manufacturing evidence hoping to show that the North is reactivating its nuclear testing. Another regime change effort, similar to what we are seeing in Venezuela, appear to be in the works.
Thus, we have another developing situation to watch in the emerging multipolar world. The North has everything to gain, no matter if they manage to make a deal with Trump, or if they turn to their neighbors. The Russians, the Chines and the South Koreans all have an interest in friendlier relations with the North. The North has just suffered crippling weather which has severely disrupted its food supply, which is another reason we see efforts at pressuring the North ramped up. It is also another reason Kim is moving quickly to make some sort of arrangement, no matter with whom. Given the past behavior of Washington and conservative factions elsewhere, Kim is far more likely to look to Russia and China for help than to Washington. And he will keep his nukes. Count on it.
Featured pic from GlobalNews