Quotes of the Day:
"Is any man afraid of change? What can take place without change? What then is more pleasing or more suitable to the universal nature? And can you take a hot bath unless the wood for the fire undergoes a change? And can you be nourished unless the food undergoes a change? And can anything else that is useful be accomplished without change? Do you not see then that for yourself also to change is just the same, and equally necessary for the universal nature?"
- Marcus Aurelius
“Wide differences of opinion in matters of religious, political, and social belief must exist if conscience and intellect alike are not to be stunted, if there is to be room for healthy growth.”
- Theodore Roosevelt, The Man In The Arena: Speeches and Essays by Theodore Roosevelt
Will Rogers suggested a plan to get rid of WW I German subs: "Boil the ocean." How you gonna do that? he was asked. "I dunno, I'm 'Plans,' that's 'Operations.'"
1. Hawks want you to think Kim Jong-un will unify Korea by force – why that’s bunk
2. Mayor Eric Adams ready to back naming street honoring Otto Warmbier
3. Blue House bigwigs blamed in Yellow Sea murder cover-up
4. [Herald Interview] Moon sided with North Korea, says wife of man shot dead by North’s troops
5. S. Korean Air Force conducts large-scale exercise to counter ‘enemy provocations’
6. Yoon's office reviewing Japan's proposal for four-way summit with Australia, NZ
7. IAEA Director General sees signs of consecutive nuclear tests
8. Seoul, Washington to discuss extended deterrence against North Korea
9. Photos of Kim Jong-un as a Teenager Revealed
10. BTS break sparks debate on activism, military exemptions
11. S. Korea, China Share Need to Respect Each Other's Maritime Interests
12. Young children die of malnutrition and suspected COVID-19 symptoms in Yanggang Province
1. Hawks want you to think Kim Jong-un will unify Korea by force – why that’s bunk
It is not the "hawks:" It is the words of the regime. Read its constitution, party documents and policy statements. Unification of the Korean peninsula, to include by force, under the rule of the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State is the necessary condition to ensure the long term survival of the Kim family regime.
But it is this kind of analysis that fully supports the regime's political warfare strategy that has as an objective to weakne military readiness and split the alliance, and ultimately to drive US forces off the Korean peninsula.
This kind of analysis is dangerous and will lead to conflict.
And ultimately we should heed Sun Tzu's advice: "Do not assume your enemy will not attack. Make yourself invincible."
Hawks want you to think Kim Jong-un will unify Korea by force – why that’s bunk
Posted on : Jun.19,2022 09:57 KST Modified on : Jun.19,2022 09:57 KST
The apocalyptic fears of North Korean nukes tend to translate into a compulsion toward intensifying the alliance with the US, which leaves us vulnerable to Washington’s more unreasonable and dangerous demands
North Korean state-run KCTV showed the above footage on May 27, 2022, of Kim Jong-un directing a rehearsal ahead of the April 25 military parade. (Yonhap News)
As North Korea barrels ahead with beefing up its nuclear weapon capabilities, some observers in South Korea and overseas are citing those arms as a basis for warning that Pyongyang may attempt a “forceful reunification” of the peninsula.In a recent interview with the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, Kookmin University professor Andrei Lankov said that North Korea has “had great success with focusing all its national capabilities on developing nuclear weapons and missiles.” He went on to say that North Korea’s plans for a forced reunification under communism are “not a dream, but a reality.”As a basis for that prediction, he explained, “If the US were to fight to protect Seoul, the US president would have to consider the possibilities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, or New York suffering multiple North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) strikes that cause countless casualties.”Citing that interview with Lankov, Chosun Ilbo editorial board member Ahn Yong-hyeon said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “dreams of subjugating South Korea with nuclear weapons.”“We don’t have much time,” he warned.People have claimed in the past that a nuclear-armed North Korea might attempt a communist reunification of the Korean Peninsula, and those predictions aren’t going to stop coming out any time soon. The people making these claims base their predictions on the following scenario.As a first step, North Korea would use less destructive tactical nuclear weapons to launch, or threaten to launch, a surprise attack on the South. As a second step, it would prevent the US from intervening by threatening an ICBM strike against a major US city.As a third step, it would neutralize the allied South Korea-US capabilities with nuclear missile strikes against major South Korean and US military bases, while sending special forces en masse to seize major South Korean facilities. Finally, it would send ground forces to complete its unification of the peninsula by force.Why the North would never attempt an invasionAt first glance, the scenario might seem plausible, but it has some fatal flaws. There are a number of questions we might ask.How would the South Korea-US alliance respond to the North’s use or threatened use of tactical nuclear weapons to attack the South? Wouldn’t it undertake a military response aimed at reducing losses?Also, how would the US react to North Korea threatening to strike its major cities with ICBMs to force it to stay out of the situation? Would it bow to those threats in order to avoid suffering its own losses?We don’t need to think too hard to find the answers. The South Korea-US alliance would respond to the North’s threat of nuclear strikes by showing their ability and willingness to retaliate forcefully. If the North actually did use tactical nuclear weapons, it would respond with massive retaliation.The alliance already has these capabilities, and it has signaled its willingness to use them. This means that the very first step described above is already unrealistic.The second step also rests on absurd assumptions. To protect its allies during the Cold War, the US extended its nuclear umbrella even in the face of the Soviet Union, which possessed as many as 40,000 nuclear weapons. This extended deterrence policy has been carried on by the US even after its Cold War with the Soviet Union came to an end.There’s scarcely any danger that the US would forsake South Korea and capitulate to a North Korean threat that is incomparably weaker than those posed by the Soviet Union in the past or by Russia and China today.If anything, the US would respond to the North’s nuclear threats against its territory by warning of “retaliation through every available means.” Indeed, it could well decide to attempt a preemptive strike. This has been clearly spelled out by the current administration of Joe Biden, the Donald Trump administration before it, and previous administrations before them.There’s also another reason bowing to the North Korean threat is not an option for Washington. Alliances are central to its global strategy, and those alliances are based on trust.That means that the second the US capitulates to North Korea’s threat, the entire basis for its global strategy comes crashing down. Believing they could no longer trust the US, South Korea and other US allies would adopt an “everyone for themselves” approach.We also can’t ignore the missile defense system that the US has put so much effort into building. Washington has cited North Korea as its biggest justification for pursuing missile defense; if it were to bow to the North’s threats, it would come under fire from people wanting to know what those hundreds of billions of dollars were sunk into the missile defense system for.But missile defense is also the goose that lays the golden eggs for the US military-industrial complex, and it’s a core part of the US government’s strategy for dominance in the 21st century. There’s no chance the US would be so cowed by the North Korean nuclear threat that it would reduce missile defense to a white elephant.There are many other grounds besides these for dismissing the predictions that North Korea might use its nuclear capabilities to attempt reunification by force.The allied South Korea-US forces are closely observing the North’s military activities in real time. South Korea has an economy over 50 times bigger than North Korea’s, and the amount it spends on defense is 1.5 times higher than North Korea’s gross domestic product.The South also vastly outstrips the North in its ability to wage war. Its stature in the international community is incomparably greater, and it also has over 2.2 million foreign residents. If North Korea were to wage nuclear war against it, it would essentially be opting to go to war with the world.Perhaps the biggest reason that North Korea would never attempt an invasion is this: if it tries using its nuclear weapons to reunify the peninsula by force, the nation that is most likely to disappear off the map would not be the Republic of Korea, but the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea — and the Kim Jong-un regime knows that all too well.It’s because of this that many have pointed out the absurdity of the notion that North Korea would opt to wage nuclear war preemptively to reunify the peninsula, when the reason it has developed nuclear weapons in the first place is for its survival.The dangerous obsession of S. Korean hard-linersIronically, the two groups that most overestimate North Korea’s nuclear capabilities are the Kim regime and certain South Korean hawks.The North Korean regime proclaims nuclear armament as a “powerful treasured sword.” Meanwhile, certain anti-North hard-liners view nuclear weapons as capable of unifying the peninsula under communist rule.Equating nuclear weapons with communist reunification isn’t just unrealistic — it’s dangerous. This sort of over-the-top persecution complex has the potential to poison us.The apocalyptic fears of North Korean nukes tend to translate into a compulsion toward intensifying the alliance with the US, which leaves us vulnerable to Washington’s more unreasonable and dangerous demands. Also, if we increase what is already an astronomical defense budget, that wastes resources that ought to be used for the public’s welfare. Furthermore, it gets in the way of a productive debate on our North Korea policies, including our response to the nuclear program.Obviously, we need to be prepared for eventualities. It’s that sort of mentality that has made South Korea’s military capabilities as strong as they are, and the alliance with the US has been strengthened as well.At the same time, we can’t overlook the dangers that can result when we allow our persecution complex to drive us toward excessively reinforcing our military capabilities and posture. The more intense the arms race and military tensions on the peninsula become, and the more one side’s deterrence collides with the other’s, the greater the risk of some kind of unintended clash occurring.This is why our diplomacy should adopt the kind of “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” attitude that this era demands.By Cheong Wook-Sik, director of the Hankyoreh Peace Institute and director of the Peace NetworkPlease direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
2. Mayor Eric Adams ready to back naming street honoring Otto Warmbier
Please remember Otto Warmbier and what the mafia-like crime family cult known as the Kim family regime did to him in north Korea.
Mayor Adams - let's get this done. Councilman Powers - introduce the bill, don't hide behind a legal assessment and remember just because the north Korean mission is in your district does not make north Korea diplomats your constituents. Do the right thing. Now.
Excerpts:
"Mayor Adams wholeheartedly condemns the human rights abuses committed by North Korea and has nothing but sympathy for the loss the Warmbier family suffered when Otto was taken from them. If the City Council chooses a street for renaming in Otto’s name, the mayor would support those efforts," the Mayor's Press Secretary Fabien Levy told Fox News.
"Otto Warmbier Way" is also endorsed by: two former U.S. Secretaries of State, Mike Pompeo and John Kerry,
Mayor Adams' predecessor Bill de Blasio, three former United States Ambassadors to the United Nations, including former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, two U.S. Senators who are members of the Subcommittee on Human Rights, two Korean American members of Congress, the current and past Manhattan Borough President, the district's Congresswoman, New York States Assemblyman, as well as human rights activists and others. But it has yet to be voted on by the New York City Council, which is responsible for the honorary street renamings, despite first being proposed in 2019.
In a tweet on Thursday, Otto's mother, Cindy, put the blame for the lack of action, despite the heavyweight support, squarely on one New York elected official.
Mrs. Warmbier tweeted: "There is a city council member in New York City who has obstructed our efforts to name street by North Korean UN Mission Otto Warmbier Way. Who can help us with this?"
...
In her tweet, Mrs. Warmbier was referring to New York City Council Member Keith Powers, a Democrat from Manhattan, whose district includes the North Korean U.N. mission location. He is the local official who would be responsible for introducing the street renaming bill, absent other City Council action. Although Council Member Powers expressed support for Otto's human rights honor when it was first raised three years ago, his office has told Fox News in the past that the proposal was sitting in the council's legal department.
Mayor Eric Adams ready to back naming street honoring Otto Warmbier
Gordon Chang calls on the New York City Council to change the address of the North Korean mission to the UN, to 'Otto Warmbier Way'
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The 27-year-old would be waking up this morning in Manhattan, a quiet Sunday off from his Wall Street investment job at the noted investment firm Guggenheim Securities, which bought the firm, Millstein investments, that gave Otto an internship the summer of 2016 and job lined up after his graduation from the University of Virginia.
Otto perhaps would be living in the Churchill Apartment building, along with similar other young professionals, on Second Avenue and 40th street, where a friend snapped a photo of him waiting on the building's curb during the summer of 2015.
Otto Warmbier seen sitting at the Churchill apartment building in Manhattan, at 40th Street and Second Avenue, just three blocks from what could be "Otto Warmbier Way." On 43rd Street and Second Avenue in front of the North Korean Mission to the U.N. (Courtesy The Warmbier family)
But the unforgiving regime of Kim Jong Un denied the young American a future when he was falsely arrested, imprisoned for a year and a half, and sent home to die, severely brain-damaged, unable to speak, see or hear, the result of his torture by his North Korean captors. He was taken off life support in a Cincinnati hospital five years ago today.
Otto Warmbier was 22 years old.
In death, Otto has become an international symbol of human rights and of the struggle for the North Korean people, and those seeking human dignity and freedom elsewhere. He was honored at the 2018 State of the Union when his parents, Cindy and Fred, sister Greta and brother Austin were given an emotional standing ovation by the packed House chamber in honor of Otto's memory.
The U.S. Senate recently passed a bill named after Otto Warmbier. The bill provides $10 million annually to counter North Korea's surveillance state and censorship. (The Warmbier Family)
On Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed the Otto Warmbier North Korea Censorship and Surveillance Act, sponsored by Senators Rob Portman R-Ohio., Sherrod Brown D-Ohio., and Chris Coons D-Del. which "provides $10 million annually for the next five years to counter North Korea's repressive censorship and surveillance state, while also encouraging sanctions on those who enable this repressive information environment both in and outside of North Korea."
"This legislation will help ensure that his memory lives on and that the brutal regime responsible for his unjust death is held accountable for this and its myriad of other human rights abuses," says Sen. Portman.
"Otto Warmbier's treatment by North Korean authorities that ended in his death remains a powerful reminder of the brutality of Kim Jong Un's regime," says Sen. Brown. "This legislation reaffirms our commitment to combating North Korea's human rights violations against its own people and others who have been held captive."
But another honor has been in the works, three blocks from where Otto was pictured waiting outside on that hot Manhattan summer day.
"Otto Warmbier Way" is the proposal to name the street in front of the North Korean Mission to the United Nations on Second Avenue and 44th street, in front of 820 Second Avenue, where Kim Jong Un's diplomats have their offices, just one block from the United Nations. The honorary street renaming, seen as a defiant, moral message to Kim's diplomats and a compelling reminder of the regime's harsh realities to the international community, has impressive bi-partisan support, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Mayor Eric Adams is ready to support the street honoring Otto Warmbier, saying he had "nothing but sympathy for the loss the Warmbier family suffered when Otto was taken from them." (YouTube/ New York City)
"Mayor Adams wholeheartedly condemns the human rights abuses committed by North Korea and has nothing but sympathy for the loss the Warmbier family suffered when Otto was taken from them. If the City Council chooses a street for renaming in Otto’s name, the mayor would support those efforts," the Mayor's Press Secretary Fabien Levy told Fox News.
"Otto Warmbier Way" is also endorsed by: two former U.S. Secretaries of State, Mike Pompeo and John Kerry, Mayor Adams' predecessor Bill de Blasio, three former United States Ambassadors to the United Nations, including former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, two U.S. Senators who are members of the Subcommittee on Human Rights, two Korean American members of Congress, the current and past Manhattan Borough President, the district's Congresswoman, New York States Assemblyman, as well as human rights activists and others. But it has yet to be voted on by the New York City Council, which is responsible for the honorary street renamings, despite first being proposed in 2019.
In a tweet on Thursday, Otto's mother, Cindy, put the blame for the lack of action, despite the heavyweight support, squarely on one New York elected official.
Mrs. Warmbier tweeted: "There is a city council member in New York City who has obstructed our efforts to name street by North Korean UN Mission Otto Warmbier Way. Who can help us with this?"
Otto Warmbier and his mother Cindy enjoy a family vacation. (The Warmbier Family)
She was responding to the naming of the Washington, D.C. street outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy "Jamal Khashoggi Way,' after the Washington Post Columnist who was murdered inside the Kingdom's Istanbul embassy, allegedly on the orders of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has denied it.
Following the renaming of a Washington D.C. street after Jamal Khashoggi, Cindy Warmbier tweets in support of proposal to rename Manhattan street after her son. (Cindy Warmbier Twitter)
In her tweet, Mrs. Warmbier was referring to New York City Council Member Keith Powers, a Democrat from Manhattan, whose district includes the North Korean U.N. mission location. He is the local official who would be responsible for introducing the street renaming bill, absent other City Council action. Although Council Member Powers expressed support for Otto's human rights honor when it was first raised three years ago, his office has told Fox News in the past that the proposal was sitting in the council's legal department.
The street renamings traditionally honor police officers and firefighters who have died in the line of duty, as well as members of the military who have given the ultimate sacrifice as well as local community activists and other local notables. But plenty of other names have made it to the street signs ...some with no connection to the location… and have included rock and roll, rap and bee-bop music groups, foreign dignitaries, and Major League baseball players and beloved restaurant and bar owners, among others.
In 2018 the naming of a Brooklyn street "Jean-Jacques Dessalines Boulevard," after the Haitian revolutionary who led his nation to independence against France sparked controversy. Dessalines is blamed for ordering the massacre of up to 10,000 white French residents in 1804.
Cindy and Fred Warmbier, Otto's parents, have become human rights activists on behalf of the North Korean people. (REUTERS/Leah Millis)
The current package of 79 names that was approved at the City Council meeting on June 16th, include the Beastie Boys (Beastie Boys Square,) the R & B vocal group The Force MD's (The Force MD's Way,) as well as signs honoring local communities such as "Ukrainian Way," "Little Bangladesh Way," and "Little Thailand Way."
The official renaming of a Bronx street that was approved last December after former Albanian prime minister Fan Noli, "Fan Noli Way," was briefly delayed earlier this year by a council member change. Noli served as Albania's prime minister in 1924.
Last year 199 names were approved, including honoring the late media billionaire Sumner Redstone, the late Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, "Ibrahim al-Hamdi Way" for the former president of Yemen who was assassinated in 1977, a Napalese Mountain sherpa, U.S. Navy victims of Pearl Harbor, Tin Pan Alley songwriters from the early 1920's, as well as famed New York Yankee Phil "Scooter" Rizutto.
"New York City should still use this opportunity to rename the street and thumb our nose at the North Korean dictatorship. Otto's life could matter even more as a strong sign against totalitarianism," says New York City Council Member Joe Borelli, a Republican from Staten Island, who raised the issue and met with the Warmbiers in 2019, as did Council Member Powers.
Former Manhattan Borough President and current Democratic city council member, Gale Brewer noted that "Manhattanites –and all New Yorkers –have always cared about the larger world because so many of us came from elsewhere. So it’s personal for us to always seek justice on the global stage…and co-naming Second Avenue from 43rd to 44th Streets is one small way we can keep Otto’s memory alive."
Council Member Powers' office did not respond to a request for comment regarding Mrs. Warmbier's tweet or the councilman's current position on honoring the memory of Otto Warmbier.
Follow Eric Shawn on Twitter: @EricShawnTV
3. Blue House bigwigs blamed in Yellow Sea murder cover-up
One of the black marks against the Moon administration.
Monday
June 20, 2022
Blue House bigwigs blamed in Yellow Sea murder cover-up
Kwon Young-mi, widow of Lee Dae-joon, a South Korean fisheries official shot dead by North Korea after his disappearance while on duty near the inter-Korean maritime border in the Yellow Sea, cries at a press conference in Seoul on Friday. [YONHAP]
The family of a South Korean fisheries official killed by North Korean soldiers in 2020 intend to file criminal complaints against high-ranking members of the Moon Jae-in administration for allegedly forcing the Korea Coast Guard to say he was trying to defect.
The Blue House officials in their crosshairs are Suh Hoon, former National Security Office chief, Kim Jong-ho, former senior secretary to the president for civil affairs, and Lee Kwang-cheol, former civil affairs secretary.
The family's decision came after the Defense Ministry and Coast Guard admitted at a joint press briefing last Thursday that there was no evidence that the 47-year-old Lee Dae-joon, an official at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, was trying to defect on Sept. 22, 2020 while on duty near Yeonpyeong Island in waters south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto inter-Korean maritime border in the Yellow Sea.
Lee somehow drifted across the NLL and was shot dead by North Korean soldiers upon capture. Seoul’s defense ministry said his killers burnt his corpse out of fear of possible Covid-19 contamination. Pyongyang claimed its soldiers only burnt his belongings.
Lee’s family said they will file a criminal complaint on Wednesday with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office against the three former Blue House officials, accusing them of obstructing the Coast Guard from properly carrying out its duties by instructing it to base its investigation on the idea that Lee was trying to defect — a conclusion the agency did come to in its report on his gruesome death.
In an interview with Channel A on Saturday, Lee’s widow Kwon Young-mi spoke of the shame of being labelled the family of an alleged defector to North Korea.
“Because the state branded us the family of a defector, we hardly left the house unless there was a special occasion,” Kwon said.
Kwon said she decided to file a criminal complaint against the former Blue House officials after reading a statement made by her husband’s colleague, which seemed to contradict the Coast Guard’s finding that Lee intended to defect.
In the statement, the colleague wrote, “To defect North, Lee would have had to wear a diving suit, but he left it in his room.”
He added, “The current at the time [of his disappearance] was flowing east, so I don’t think it’s possible to go north against the flow.”
The South Korean government denounced the killing of Lee, prompting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to issue a rare apology for the fatal shooting on Sept. 25, 2020.
The Moon administration however said Lee had been killed in the process of “voluntarily” attempting to defect to North Korea out of panic over a gambling debt, and that the North Koreans seemed to have killed and burned him out of fear of Covid-19 infection.
A high-ranking official in the current presidential office told the JoongAng Ilbo on Sunday that Moon administration officials’ alleged instructions to the Coast Guard amounted to a “cover-up” even as “the burning to death of a South Korean was basically broadcast live.”
While Moon mentioned the incident as an important reason for restoring an inter-Korean communication line, his administration did not request an official explanation from the North regarding the circumstances of Lee’s murder even after the line was reopened in late July 2021, according to his brother Lee Rae-jin. Lee contacted the Unification Ministry several times for confirmation that Seoul sought an explanation, but never received one.
Aside from the Coast Guard’s report, the Moon administration also did not disclose any documents that could explain the circumstances of the incident, saying they would endanger military intelligence assets.
The documents are now part of presidential records, which are normally sealed for 30 years, while other related documents from the National Security Office are sealed for 15 years.
For such records to be made public, the National Assembly — currently controlled by the former president’s liberal Democratic Party (DP) — must approve their disclosure by a two-thirds vote. Another way would be by an order from the chief judge of the Seoul High Court.
People Power Party (PPP) floor leader Kwon Seong-dong blasted the DP over the issue in a Facebook post over the weekend, accusing it of turning its back on justice and human rights on issues where its own members and North Korea is concerned.
The PPP has set up a task force to investigate the death of the fisheries official.
The DP responded by saying the PPP is taking a McCarthyistic approach to the incident and imperiling the country’s intelligence assets.
“If [the PPP] intends to compromise our intelligence network, we should indeed hold a vote [to unseal records of the incident],” the DP’s interim leader Woo Sang-ho said during a press conference at the National Assembly on Sunday.
Woo also suggested on Friday that the question of whether Lee intended to defect or not was a moot one because North Korean leader Kim had apologized, and that bread-and-butter issues related to rising inflation and cost of living should take priority.
BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
4. [Herald Interview] Moon sided with North Korea, says wife of man shot dead by North’s troops
Excerpts:
After the Coast Guard and the Ministry of Defense on June 16 said there was “no evidence” that the missing official tried to defect to North Korea, reversing their earlier announcements, Kwon agreed to disclose her name and show her image to news outlets.
In a tearful news conference held the following day at the Seoul Bar Association office, she said she “feel(s) safer” about speaking up because the current administration was supportive.
Despite a correction from the maritime and military authorities, she said the family has yet to receive an apology from them. She said she believes the family was owed an apology from Moon and the lawmakers about the mischaracterization. “I want to ask, ‘If this has happened to your loved one, would you say the same?’”
[Herald Interview] Moon sided with North Korea, says wife of man shot dead by North’s troops
Democratic Party leadership “victim blaming”
Published : Jun 20, 2022 - 15:22 Updated : Jun 20, 2022 - 18:11
Kwon Young-mi gave a tearful news conference Friday after the South Korean maritime and military authorities reversed their earlier announcement and said they found no evidence her late husband, Lee Dae-jun, tried to defect to North Korea. (Yonhap)
The widow of Lee Dae-jun, a South Korean fisheries official killed and burned by North Korean troops in 2020 at sea, said the Moon Jae-in administration seemed more sympathetic toward the North than the bereaved family.
In a phone interview with The Korea Herald on Sunday, Lee’s widow Kwon Young-mi said the family had often felt the previous administration was “siding with North Korea.”
Over the weekend, the Democratic Party of Korea’s leadership hit back at the recent criticisms of the government’s response to Lee’s killing by North Korea at the time, saying the criticisms were an attempt to “make the Moon administration out to be pro-North Korea.”
Kwon said the Moon administration’s statements, public acts and overall response had left the family feeling that “our government is sympathizing with the North’s regime more than the victim, who was a South Korean government official,” she said. “It was a horrible sense of abandonment.”
The former president and politicians were “fawning all over” a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, revealed by Cheong Wa Dae’s Office of National Security three days after Lee was killed, she said, “which hurt.”
“No amount of letters can make that OK. Our government did nothing to hold the perpetrators accountable,” she said.
She said the North Korean leader “has never apologized to the family.”
“For one thing, it was addressed to Moon and the South Korean public, not the family,” she said. “Then about a month after the letter was sent, North Korea said the South was to blame for what happened, which is the opposite of an apology.”
On Sunday Rep. Woo Sang-ho, interim chair of the Democratic Party, said that with the apology from North Korea, Lee’s case had already been “put to rest.” He argued that the last government under Moon had “brought North Korea to its knees” by getting an apology out of Kim.
On Woo’s remarks, Kwon said Moon’s Cheong Wa Dae and the Democratic Party were “so smitten with the North Korean leader and his so-called apology” that they “threw the family under the bus.”
“I don’t think Woo, or anyone else for that matter, should be accepting apologies on our behalf,” she said. “As far as we’re concerned, that does not count as an apology, and we have never forgiven Kim Jong-un.”
Kwon called on the Democratic Party to “come up with an acceptable explanation or proof” that indicates her husband had sought to defect to North Korea.
The main opposition’s Rep. Youn Kun-young, who served as Moon’s state affairs monitoring director, rejected the latest conclusion from the maritime and military authorities that no evidence pointed to a defection. “We said the official appeared to have tried to defect to North Korea from a comprehensive investigation,” he said, standing firm by his original conclusion.
Youn shut down calls for declassifying records, which are barred from public access as part of Moon’s presidential records, saying their rehashing amounted to a “strategic attempt to smear the last administration.”
Kwon said that until recently, the Democratic Party, as well as security and other top authorities, based the claims of defection on a wiretapped conversation between North Korean soldiers alone. The conversation revealed the soldiers had knowledge of Lee’s personal information, such as his height and hometown.
“It was puzzling to me that the arbitrary things North Korean soldiers said was deemed so credible in the absence of other evidence, like an actual admission or confession from my husband,” she said.
She said her family has faced animosity online for being “a wife or children of a traitor.”
“Surely Democratic Party lawmakers understand what it means to be branded a defector in this country. All South Koreans know the gravity of that label and the stigma associated with it,” she said.
And yet they were “continuously pushing the defection narrative,” she said. “They’re egging on their supporters.”
She went on, “I hope they realize what they’re doing is victim-blaming.”
Kwon shared a letter her son wrote to Woo, the Democratic Party leader. “Mr. Woo, you say it matters little whether it’s a defection or not. Then what made you accuse my father of that crime?” the 20-year-old wrote in the letter.
“Not only did my children lose their father, they’re having to deal with this serious accusation thrown at him, which turned out to be baseless,” she said.
She said it was only recently that her 9-year-old daughter learned about the death of her father. “I didn’t think we could keep it from her any longer,” she said.
After the Coast Guard and the Ministry of Defense on June 16 said there was “no evidence” that the missing official tried to defect to North Korea, reversing their earlier announcements, Kwon agreed to disclose her name and show her image to news outlets.
In a tearful news conference held the following day at the Seoul Bar Association office, she said she “feel(s) safer” about speaking up because the current administration was supportive.
Despite a correction from the maritime and military authorities, she said the family has yet to receive an apology from them. She said she believes the family was owed an apology from Moon and the lawmakers about the mischaracterization. “I want to ask, ‘If this has happened to your loved one, would you say the same?’”
5. S. Korean Air Force conducts large-scale exercise to counter ‘enemy provocations’
Good work ROKAF.
S. Korean Air Force conducts large-scale exercise to counter ‘enemy provocations’
Soaring Eagle open to public for first time since 2017 amid North Korea’s continuing ballistic launches
Published : Jun 20, 2022 - 15:05 Updated : Jun 20, 2022 - 17:14
South Korea’s F-15K Slam Eagle fighter jets taxi at an air base in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, as the Air Force on Monday kicks off the five-day, independent air combat Soaring Eagle exercise. (Republic of Korea Air Force)
South Korea’s air force on Monday kicked off a large-scale aerial military exercise to enhance combat readiness and prepare for possible “enemy provocations,” including a surprise invasion.
The theater-level “Soaring Eagle” combat training exercise is being staged over five days through Friday at the 29th Tactical Fighter Weapons Group located at an air base in the central city of Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province.
South Korea’s air force has conducted the Soaring Eagle exercise twice a year since 2008 with the goal to maintain a firm defense posture in airspace and prepare combat-ready pilots for potential future contingency missions.
The aerial drill is staged in a simulated, high-threat combat environment, which puts fighter pilots and support personnel through scenarios such as a “large-scale, surprise invasion by enemy’s air forces,” the air force said Monday in a statement.
During the Soaring Eagle exercise, South Korea’s virtual friendly force “Blue Air” fights against the virtual enemy, “Red Air.”
The air force explained that pilots are able to “master combat skills to effectively respond to aerial threats posed by the enemy through experiencing the enemy’s tactics” in the simulated environment.
The air force stages various types of military drills, including defensive counter-air operations to detect, identify and intercept enemy air targets as well as large-scale, offensive counter-air operations led by an airstrike package to “punish and strike the core of enemy military forces and the origin of provocations.”
Exercise participants also practice battlefield air interdiction, which is an air operation conducted to destroy an enemy’s military potential such as missile bases and supplies en route to the battlefield, in a simulated combat environment.
“The goals of the exercise are to have the ability to quickly respond to enemy provocations and the best operational capabilities by verifying our ability to strike high-threat targets,” said Col. Lee Chul-woo, head of the 29th Tactical Fighter Weapons Group.
“We will maintain a flawless defense posture in the airspace through intensive and realistic training so that we can immediately and quickly respond to any kind of enemy provocations.”
The Air Combat Maneuver Instrumentation training systems that help fighter pilots accurately understand the battlefield situation and improve their air combat capabilities are also applied to this year’s first Soaring Eagle exercise.
The training systems, which were introduced in late March, provide real-time information such as altitude, direction, location and speed of aircraft flying in the air, and notify of aircraft launching an armed attack.
The air force also seeks to test aerial tactics incorporating fourth-and fifth-generation fighters and their interoperability by operating the fighter jets with different platforms together during the air combat training.
The Soaring Eagle exercise includes approximately 200 military personnel from 19 air force units as well as around 70 aircraft, including the F-35A stealth fighters, F-15K, KF-16, FA-50, F-4E, F-5 fighter jets, KA-1 light attack aircraft, E-737 Peace Eye airborne early warning and control aircraft and CN-235 transport aircraft.
The Soaring Eagle exercise is open to the public for the first time since 2017, although the air force has conducted the large-scale exercise regularly in that time.
The South Korean military had stopped publicly sharing information on the aerial drill in 2018 when the two Koreas thawed relations and established an atmosphere for reconciliation.
The air force has decided to publicly announce the beginning of the Soaring Eagle exercise in around five years in light of the changing security environment on the Korean Peninsula, according to an unnamed air force official. However, the air force did not officially provide the reason for the policy change when asked by The Korea Herald.
Under the Yoon Suk-yeol government, the military expects to publicize standalone and combined military exercises as a counteraction to North Korea’s record-breaking flurry of missile launches.
The South Korean, US and Japanese defense chiefs this month also committed to regularizing and publicizing trilateral warning and ballistic missile search and tracking exercises that have been conducted regularly but at a low profile until now. The decision aims to send a message to the Kim Jong-un regime, which has launched 31 ballistic missiles in less than six months just this year, surpassing the record of 25 in 2019.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry last week announced that the Navy will join the Pacific Dragon multilateral ballistic missile defense exercise in August and separately conduct a live-fire drill to test the ability and performance of surface-to-air missile interceptors in July.
6. Yoon's office reviewing Japan's proposal for four-way summit with Australia, NZ
Yoon's office reviewing Japan's proposal for four-way summit with Australia, NZ
President Yoon Suk-yeol takes reporters' questions as he arrives at the presidential office in Seoul's Yongsan District, June 20. Yonhap
The presidential office is reviewing Japan's proposal for a four-way summit with the leaders of Australia and New Zealand on the sidelines of a NATO gathering in Spain next week, an official said Monday.
President Yoon Suk-yeol is scheduled to attend a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Madrid, June 29 and 30 on his first overseas trip as president.
Korea is not a member of the military alliance but has been invited as a partner nation, along with countries including Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Yoon's office has received Japan's proposal for a four-way summit, and the presidential National Security Office is reviewing it, the presidential official told reporters.
Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun carried a report the same day saying the Japanese government is considering holding such a summit as a way to express the four countries' opposition to China's assertiveness in the East and South China Seas, among other matters. (Yonhap)
7. IAEA Director General sees signs of consecutive nuclear tests
WIll he or won't he and if he decides to do so, when?
IAEA Director General sees signs of consecutive nuclear tests
Posted June. 20, 2022 07:44,
Updated June. 20, 2022 07:44
IAEA Director General sees signs of consecutive nuclear tests. June. 20, 2022 07:44. weappon@donga.com.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi (photo) commented as of Thursday (local time) that North Korea is repairing the road peripheral to Tunnel 4 at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North Korea and added that the recent activities show signs of consecutive nuclear tests.
During the video interview with The Dong-A-Ilbo, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi mentioned that it will take about two months for North Korea to re-open Tunnel 4, and the recent North Korean activities clearly represent the level of preparations for any type of nuclear tests. In succession to the recovery of Tunnel 3 in Punggye-ri which is a completion of the preparation for the 7th round of nuclear test, the circumstantial signs of consecutive nuclear tests in Tunnel 4 have been identified. It is the first time that IAEA openly disclosed the possibility of successive nuclear tests in North Korea.
Tunnel 4 is assumed to serve the purpose of hydrogen bomb test. He also said that there are concerns of North Korea diversifying its nuclear weapons including tactical nuclear weapons and that there are signs of new activities and signs which support such concerns. Both the United States and South Korea consider that North Korea is deemed capable of conducting nuclear tests for tactical nuclear weapons targeting South Korea. Director General Rafael Grossi also added that North Korea is expanding its nuclear facility in Yongbyon of which the exterior of the extended facility is already complete.
8. Seoul, Washington to discuss extended deterrence against North Korea
A number of important issues to discuss (and solve).
Seoul, Washington to discuss extended deterrence against North Korea
President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden pose alongside senior military officers from both countries during their visit to the Korean Air and Space Operations Center at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, May 22.By Kang Seung-woo
South Korea and the United States are discussing holding senior-level defense talks, next month, according to the defense ministry, Monday, during which the allies are expected to discuss how to strengthen extended deterrence against North Korea's growing threats.
"The two countries are in talks over holding the Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) in Washington, D.C.," Army Col. Moon Hong-sik, the ministry's deputy spokesperson, said during a press conference without elaborating on the meeting's date or specific agenda.
KIDD is an umbrella framework encompassing various defense dialogue mechanisms between the two countries. It was launched in 2011 out of the Security Consultative Meeting and since then, the meeting has been held twice a year. It was supposed to take place in May, but the absence of a South Korean official to be in charge of the meeting has pushed it back to July.
The envisaged meeting comes as tensions have been running high on the Korean Peninsula due to concerns over North Korea's possible nuclear test, according to South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities.
In addition, if fixed, the meeting will be held on the heels of the May 21 summit between President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden, in which the two heads of state agreed on extended deterrence so as to deter North Korea's escalating missile and nuclear threats.
The defense ministry did not give details about the KIDD meeting or how to improve extended deterrence, however, the combined defense posture is likely to be high on the agenda.
Foreign Minister Park Jin and U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken have agreed to reactivate regular meetings of the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group (EDSCG), a high-level consultative mechanism to achieve North Korea's denuclearization through steadfast deterrence. The defense ministers of the two countries have also agreed to dispatch strategic assets to the peninsula in the event of a nuclear test by Pyongyang. Strategic assets refer to long-range bombers, nuclear-powered submarines or aircraft carriers.
The allies are also expected to discuss expanding combined military drills, which had been scaled back under the administrations of President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Additionally, how to normalize the operation of the U.S. THAAD missile defense unit here, which has had the status of a "temporary installation," pending an environmental impact assessment, is likely to be discussed.
9. Photos of Kim Jong-un as a Teenager Revealed
Excerpt:
The notoriously corpulent dictator is already hamster-cheeked and soft around the middle.
Photos of Kim Jong-un as a Teenager Revealed
June 20, 2022 13:32
North Korea's state media have published more photos of leader Kim Jong-un as a teenager.
State TV broadcast a documentary recently on the life of Kim’s mentor Hyon Chol-hae, who died last month, that included several stills of the North Korean leader spending time with Hyon.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (left) poses for a photo with Army Marshal Hyon Chol-hae in childhood photos released by [North] Korean Central Television.
One shows a young Kim, apparently in his early teens, holding Hyon's hand, while others show him in his late teens at an on-site inspection with his father Kim Jong-il, his sister Yo-jong and Hyon.
The notoriously corpulent dictator is already hamster-cheeked and soft around the middle.
"The aim seems to be to encourage North Koreans to emulate Hyon, who was absolutely loyal to the leader even when Kim was a child," a South Korean intelligence source speculated.
- Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com
10. BTS break sparks debate on activism, military exemptions
Do your duty boys. Show the world what it is to be a good citizen and serve your country despite your popularity and wealth. Elvis did.
Excerpts:
“Obviously, there’s a looming military enlistment so they might have thought it’d be good to do something individually before it’s too late and that’s why I think military enlistment was the biggest factor,” said Lee Dong Yeun, a professor at Korea National University of Arts.
There have been calls — including from South Korea’s former culture minister — for an exemption for BTS because of their contribution to heightening South Korea’s international reputation. But critics say that such an exemption would be bending the conscription rules to favor the privileged.
Jin, 29, is expected to enlist this year unless he receives an exemption.
Military enlistment of members has always been a headache for HYBE; BTS once accounted for 90% of the label’s profit. Currently, the group makes up 50%-60% of the label’s profit according to a report from eBest Investment & Securities.
The eBest report noted that the rapid stock plunge might have resulted from an “anticipation that the activities as the whole group might be uncertain after being discharged from the military.”
BTS break sparks debate on activism, military exemptions
AP · by JUWON PARK · June 20, 2022
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The surprise announcement by BTS last week that they were taking a break to focus on members’ solo projects stunned their global fanbase, shaking their label’s stock price and leaving many questions about the K-pop supergroup’s future.
HYBE, the company behind the band, denied the group was taking a hiatus — a word used in a translation of the group’s emotional dinnertime video announcement. In the days since, band members have remained active on social media, continuing the stream of posts, photos and assurances that the band wasn’t breaking up.
Despite the immediate impacts — HYBE’s stock initially dropped more than 25% and has yet to fully recover — several factors may still affect BTS’ future. One is looming military enlistment for older BTS members, as well as how engaged the group and their devoted fans, known as ARMY, will continue to be in social issues.
In 2020, at the height of BTS’ success, the South Korean government revised the country’s military law that requires able-bodied South Korean men to perform approximately two years of military service. The revised law allows top K-pop stars — including Jin, the oldest member of BTS — to defer their military service until they turn 30 if they’ve received government medals for heightening the country’s cultural reputation and apply for the postponement. All BTS members meet the criteria as recipients of government medals in 2018.
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“Obviously, there’s a looming military enlistment so they might have thought it’d be good to do something individually before it’s too late and that’s why I think military enlistment was the biggest factor,” said Lee Dong Yeun, a professor at Korea National University of Arts.
There have been calls — including from South Korea’s former culture minister — for an exemption for BTS because of their contribution to heightening South Korea’s international reputation. But critics say that such an exemption would be bending the conscription rules to favor the privileged.
Jin, 29, is expected to enlist this year unless he receives an exemption.
Military enlistment of members has always been a headache for HYBE; BTS once accounted for 90% of the label’s profit. Currently, the group makes up 50%-60% of the label’s profit according to a report from eBest Investment & Securities.
The eBest report noted that the rapid stock plunge might have resulted from an “anticipation that the activities as the whole group might be uncertain after being discharged from the military.”
HYBE has been attempting to diversify its portfolio by debuting new K-pop bands, making online games, and rolling out Korean language tutorials.
As the most successful K-pop band to date with hits like “Dynamite” and “Butter,” BTS has for years commanded tremendous attention on social media and with each new music release. They recently performed several sold-out shows in the United States, became the first K-pop act to get a Grammy Award nomination, released an anthology album, “Proof,” and channeled their global influence with an address at the United Nations and a trip to the White House to campaign against hate crimes directed at Asians.
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“Once you achieve success like BTS achieved success, then it means there’s a constant expectation to continue doing something that is connected to what you’ve already done, where you’ve already been. In the most recent releases that BTS has brought out, also we can see how they continually reflect back on where they have been,” said CedarBough Saeji, professor of Korean and East Asian Studies at Pusan National University.
She said Tuesday’s announcement signaled the band’s intention to figure out “where they are going for themselves without interference from other people” and “being able to choose their own path forward as artists.”
Last week’s announcement also leaves in doubt the group’s social justice efforts, which have included vocal support for the Black Lives Matter movement and anti-violence campaigns. BTS’ legions of fans have embraced the causes, matching a $1 million donation to Black Lives Matter after George Floyd’s death.
But the group has faced mushrooming questions about why it isn’t as vocal about discrimination in their own country.
A leading South Korean newspaper recently published a column in which the author mused why South Korea, despite having BTS — “the ambassador of anti-discrimination and human rights” — has struggled to enact an anti-discrimination law for 15 years.
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“It’s an irony,” the writer said. “South Korea needs their force for good.”
Jumin Lee, the author of the book “Why Anti-Discrimination Law?” told the Associated Press that there’s a dire need for the anti-discrimination law in the country.
“South Korea is in essentially the same situation legally as America’s Jim Crow South. Equal protection exists as a constitutional concept, but there is no implementing legislation that allows the government to force private businesses to comply,” Lee said. “What that means in practice is that if I’m a business owner, I could post a sign on my door tomorrow that says ‘no gays’ ‘no blacks’ or ‘no old people,’ and absent extraordinary intervention by the Constitutional Court, there’s very little the law can do to stop me.”
Lee recently expressed disappointment in the band for not speaking up about the important domestic issue.
“BTS and their business folks know that speaking up in the US is profitable but doing the same back home would be more trouble than it’s worth. So they don’t,” tweeted Lee after the band’s visit to Washington.
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Despite that, Lee said the band’s silence is understandable, stating that BTS would be met with “indifference at best and hostility at worst” from politicians if they did speak up.
Some South Korean celebrities like singers Harisu and Ha:tfelt have been speaking out on touchy subjects such as the anti-discrimination law and feminism, despite backlashes.
After speaking out about the 2014 sinking of the Sewol ferry, which killed 304 people in one of the country’s worst disasters, Cannes-winning actor Song Kang-ho and director Park Chan-wook were blacklisted by the administration of the ousted President Park Geun-hye, noted Areum Jeong, a scholar of Korean pop culture.
“So, although many idols might be politically conscious, they might choose not to discuss social issues,” Jeong said.
Several BTS members said during last week’s announcement that they were struggling with the group’s successes and having trouble writing new songs.
“For me, it was like the group BTS was within my grasp until ‘On’ and ‘Dynamite,’ but after ‘Butter’ and ‘Permission to Dance,’ I didn’t know what kind of group we were anymore,” member RM said. “Whenever I write lyrics and songs, it’s really important what kind of story and message I want to give out but it was like that was gone now.”
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“They’re meeting the fans with that same honesty and saying to them, ‘You had my help when I needed it. And now I need my help,’” she said. “‘I need to be on my own. To think for myself, to know what I want to write a lyric about, to understand my own mind, to become inspired on my own.’”
AP · by JUWON PARK · June 20, 2022
11. S. Korea, China Share Need to Respect Each Other's Maritime Interests
Chinese lawfare and media or public opinion warfare.
I believe there was just another reported Chinese fishing boat incursion into South Korean waters as this meeting took place.
Do South Korean fishing vessels encroach on CHinese waters for fishing? Respecting each others' interest is translated by the CHinese as kowtowing to their demands.
S. Korea, China Share Need to Respect Each Other's Maritime Interests
Written: 2022-06-17 10:45:55 / Updated: 2022-06-17 14:33:31
Photo : YONHAP News
The foreign ministries of South Korea and China convened a meeting on Thursday of their consultative body on marine policy cooperation.
The foreign ministry said during the virtual meeting, the two sides exchanged views on the need to stably manage maritime order by observing related international laws and mutually respecting each other’s maritime interests.
The two sides also agreed on the importance of preventing accidental conflicts at sea and boosting trust through closer bilateral communication and cooperation.
To this end, the two countries decided to continuously discuss ways to elevate cooperation in building and expanding communication channels, including establishing a working-level consultative body between their coast guards.
The two sides also conferred on Japan’s plan to release radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.
South Korea and China established their consultative body on marine policy cooperation in December 2019. Thursday's meeting was the second to be held by the organization followed by the first meeting in April of last year.
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12. Young children die of malnutrition and suspected COVID-19 symptoms in Yanggang Province
More tragedy from the evil Kim family regime. Will this lead to the loss of the party's central governing effectiveness?
Again this is the result of the "COVID paradox" - Kim's attempts to contain and defend against COVID while he exploits COVID as an excuse to further repress the Korean people in the north to prevent any resistance to his rule.
Young children die of malnutrition and suspected COVID-19 symptoms in Yanggang Province - Daily NK
People in Yanggang Province are suffering greatly from lack of medicine, not to mention food shortages from the border closure and travel bans, a source told Daily NK
FILE PHOTO: In this July 2018 photo, North Korean children play on a playground in Namyang, North Hamgyong Province. (Daily NK)
Young children in agricultural regions of Yanggang Province are dying of malnutrition and suspected COVID-19 symptoms, Daily NK has learned.
A source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK on Wednesday that there has been a string of deaths in some of the province’s regions, including Samsu County.
“A growing number of people are suffering from high fever, on top of poor nutrition because they haven’t eaten properly,” he said.
In particular, young children aged three to five figure prominently in the death rolls. The source said with children suffering malnutrition and symptoms of COVID-19, many are dying because they receive no medication.
North Korea imposed a nationwide ban on inter-regional travel after officially declaring a domestic outbreak of COVID-19 on May 12. In some China-North Korea border regions, people have even been banned from leaving their homes for certain periods.
Some people say that in logistically disadvantaged agricultural regions, these measures are essentially death sentences.
Above all else, the continued lockdown of Hyesan, the commercial hub of Yanggang Province, is reportedly preventing medicine and foodstuffs from reaching agricultural regions.
This is to say, residents of agricultural villages survive on goods purchased from specialized merchants in the cities, but with continued lockdowns disrupting the flow of goods, the lives of children in agricultural villages are now at risk.
According to the source, a total of eight children between the ages of three and five have died this month in certain agricultural regions, including Samsu County, Kapsan County and Pungso County. The source said a growing number of children are dying of malnutrition and fever amid slow or non-existence distributions of food and medicine.
“The government is saying that the COVID-19 numbers are stabilizing, but in fact, there are continuous deaths in agricultural villages due to malnutrition and high fever,” said the source. “It seems the government is providing drugs only to Pyongyang residents, and doesn’t care about the health of people in the provinces.”
The source further reported that people in Yanggang Province are suffering greatly from lack of medicine, not to mention food shortages from the border closure and travel bans.
“Because of this, locals are waiting for the government to quickly lift the border closure,” he added.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Senior Advisor, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
