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Quotes of the Day:
“Every man is guilty of all that he did not do”
- Voltaire
“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
- Plato
“It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgement.”
- Arthur Conan Doyle
1, Yoon says probes on repatriation of N.K. fishermen must be conducted in line with law
2. S. Korean gov't releases footage of two N.K. fishermen being repatriated in 2019
3. Petition filed against 2019 repatriation of 2 North Korean fishermen
4. S. Korea, U.S. stage combined high-tech training
5. Japan, South Korea foreign ministers agree to improve ties
6. Yellen says any North Korean nuclear test would be very provocative
7. Two Nampo residents arrested for consuming S. Korean TV and radio broadcasts
8. N. Korea orders party committees nationwide to closely monitor public sentiment
9. N. Korean prosthetists arrested for illegally collecting fees from patients
10. N. Korea vows to reinforce military in renewed anti-US propaganda
11. Are North Koreans South Koreans?
12. Despite COVID-19 surge in region, North Korea says it's close to 'defusing' outbreak
13. N. Korea's new suspected COVID-19 cases fall below 400: state media
14. Covid count doubles again on Sunday (South Korea)
15. Seoul expected to join Washington-led 'Chip 4' alliance
1. Yoon says probes on repatriation of N.K. fishermen must be conducted in line with law
He is absolutely right of course. This can reinforce South Korean democracy. But there can be no political witch hunt. Rule of law and due process and let all the facts come out.
Yoon says probes on repatriation of N.K. fishermen must be conducted in line with law | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 김덕현 · July 18, 2022
SEOUL, July 18 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk-yeol said Monday that probes into the previous administration's 2019 repatriation of North Korean fishermen must be conducted "in accordance with the Constitution and laws."
Yoon made the remarks upon arrival at his office in response to a question about ongoing probes by prosecutors and the spy agency into the Moon Jae-in administration's repatriation of two North Koreans to Pyongyang.
Yoon told reporters that he "has nothing else to say but the principle that all affairs of a nation should be carried out in accordance with the Constitution and laws."
In 2019, the North Koreans were captured near the sea border in the East Sea. They confessed to killing 16 fellow crew members and expressed a desire to defect to South Korea, but the then Moon Jae-in government deemed their intentions to be insincere and sent them back to the North.
The repatriation is one of the suspicious cases involving the former administration that President Yoon Suk-yeol's government is revisiting, along with the North's killing of a South Korean fisheries official near the western sea border in 2020.
Meanwhile, Yoon stopped short of giving an answer to questions about alleged hiring irregularities at the presidential office.
Last week, an internet news site, Ohmynews, reported that the presidential office hired two low-level officials who are found to be sons of Yoon's longtime friends. The two officials are not related.
kdh@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by 김덕현 · July 18, 2022
2. S. Korean gov't releases footage of two N.K. fishermen being repatriated in 2019
The 2:15 minute video is on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1k3Kj6ZcAE&t=12s. This may not be the only footage. In the video you can see someone else appearing to be holding a camera making a video. Given his location he must have been an official of the Korean government.
(LEAD) S. Korean gov't releases footage of two N.K. fishermen being repatriated in 2019 | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · July 18, 2022
(ATTN: UPDATES with more info in paras 4-5; ADDS comments from ministry official in last 5 paras)
By Yi Wonju
SEOUL, July 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's unification ministry released footage Monday showing two North Korean fishermen repatriated across the inter-Korean border in 2019.
The highly unusual move came amid a heated political controversy over whether it was right and appropriate for the then liberal Moon Jae-in administration to have sent them back to the North, where they must have faced harsh punishment.
The four-minute video, filmed by a ministry official, showed one of the fishermen physically resisting being pulled across the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) at the truce village of Panmunjom as he was handed over to North Korean authorities.
As he was taken toward the MDL, he dropped to his knees and crawled to the side before the sound of a loud bump was caught on the video, suggesting that he had attempted to hit his head on the ground.
The video clip also showed the two fishermen, both tied up and blindfolded, waiting inside the Freedom House on the southern side of Panmunjom before being repatriated.
On Nov. 7, 2019, the Moon government repatriated the two North Koreans captured a week earlier near the eastern sea border, saying they had confessed to killing 16 fellow crew members.
At issue is whether they expressed a desire "with sincerity" to defect to the South.
Critics have accused the then Moon administration of hastily kicking out the fishermen in a bid to curry favor with Pyongyang.
Last week, the ministry handling inter-Korean affairs under the conservative Yoon Suk-yeol administration unveiled 10 photos of the fishermen being handed over to the North.
In the photos, an official was spotted filming the repatriation on his mobile phone, prompting lawmakers to call for the release of the footage.
"It has been confirmed that one unification ministry official filmed the repatriation process on his personal mobile phone and the video was shared among only a few relevant officials but was not managed as an official record in the ministry," an official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
The ministry has carried out a related legal review and decided to submit the clip to the parliament and open it to the public, he said, dismissing a view that the official might have violated a regulation by filming the scene.
As the official was assisting the repatriation work, it is deemed to be within the "boundary" of his task, he added.
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · July 18, 2022
3. Petition filed against 2019 repatriation of 2 North Korean fishermen
Excerpts:
In 2020, a lawyers' group, Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea, filed a similar petition against the repatriation, but the rights watchdog dismissed the case, citing "limits" in looking into the incident.
The lawyers' group filed an administrative lawsuit against the decision, and the case is now pending at the Seoul High Court after the state commission appealed a court decision in March to take back the dismissal.
Petition filed against 2019 repatriation of 2 North Korean fishermen | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 박보람 · July 18, 2022
SEOUL, July 18 (Yonhap) -- A member of the Seoul city council filed a petition Monday asking the state rights watchdog to get to the bottom of the previous administration's 2019 repatriation of two North Korean fishermen against their will.
Lee Jong-bae, a ruling People Power Party-affiliated member of the Seoul Metropolitan Council, denounced the repatriation as human rights violations as he filed the petition with the National Human Rights Commission.
In November 2019, the North Koreans were captured near the sea border in the East Sea. They confessed to killing 16 fellow crew members and expressed a desire to defect to South Korea, but the then Moon government deemed their intentions to be insincere and sent them back to the North.
"The forced repatriation constitutes illegal deprivation of life and violations of personal liberty, including the rights to be considered innocent and stand trial," Lee said, calling for a thorough investigation.
In 2020, a lawyers' group, Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea, filed a similar petition against the repatriation, but the rights watchdog dismissed the case, citing "limits" in looking into the incident.
The lawyers' group filed an administrative lawsuit against the decision, and the case is now pending at the Seoul High Court after the state commission appealed a court decision in March to take back the dismissal.
pbr@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 박보람 · July 18, 2022
4. S. Korea, U.S. stage combined high-tech training
Excellent. It is gratifying to see the ROK and US governments and military so well aligned on the necessity for sustained readiness training.
We need to keep telling the stories of training. It is an important narrative. And every kind of training is important - high-tech, low-tech, live fire, maneuver, computer simulation, joint (air land, and sea), special operations, missile defense, defense against WMD, etc. Lost of stories to tell that show Kim Jong Un his political warfare and war fighting strategies will not be successful,
S. Korea, U.S. stage combined high-tech training | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · July 18, 2022
By Song Sang-ho
SEOUL, July 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States have been conducting combined military drills, involving a high-tech training system, Seoul official said Monday, amid the allies' stepped-up efforts to sharpen deterrence against North Korea's evolving security threats.
The 11-day training got under way at the Army's Korea Combat Training Center (KCTC) in Inje, 165 kilometers east of Seoul, on July 11. It involved 4,300 South Korean troops from the 51st Brigade of the 12th Division and 81st Brigade of the 28th Division, as well as 300 U.S. troops of the 1st Armored Brigade.
It marked the first time that U.S. troops have been assigned to the South's two separate brigade combat teams fighting against each other under a KCTC training program, according to Army officials.
During the troops, the South Korean and U.S. militaries mobilized some 100 pieces of battle equipment, including tanks, armored vehicles, self-propelled howitzers, attack helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles.
"Through high-intensity combat training, I have felt a sense of comradeship," a South Korean participant was quoted as saying. "I will continue to engage in training programs to build strong combat capabilities to be able to fight and win right away in a battle against the enemy."
The Army has dispatched its personnel with a high command of English to ensure combined drills can proceed smoothly, according to its officials.
The high-tech training center harnesses the "multiple integrated laser engagement system" that allows soldiers to engage in simulated combat scenarios against hostile forces without using live ammunition.
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · July 18, 2022
5. Japan, South Korea foreign ministers agree to improve ties
We can be cautiously optimistic. Actions will speak louder than words.
Japan, South Korea foreign ministers agree to improve ties
AP · by YURI KAGEYAMA and HYUNG-JIN KIM · July 18, 2022
TOKYO (AP) — The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan reaffirmed Monday the importance of bilateral ties and the three-way relationship with the United States as they renewed efforts to mend relations amid the war in Ukraine and other global tensions.
Park Jin, South Korea’s top diplomat, and his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi agreed to work together on the nuclear threat from North Korea and on the need to resolve a dispute over Japan’s colonial-era forced mobilization of Korean laborers, according to the two foreign ministries.
The countries’ ties have been strained mostly over historical issues, including forced labor leading up to and during World War II.
At the heart of the dispute are South Korean court rulings in 2018, which ordered two Japanese companies, Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, to compensate forced Korean laborers. The Japanese companies have refused to comply with the rulings, and the former laborers and their supporters responded by pushing for the forced sale of corporate assets of Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi.
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The ministers shared a view that the disputes over the forced laborers must be resolved at an early date, the South Korean Foreign Ministry statement said. It quoted Park as saying South Korea would seek a resolution of the dispute before the sales of the two Japanese companies are made in South Korea.
According to the Japanese statement, Hayashi told Park that both sides need to build a constructive relationship based on the normalization of relations in 1965. Tokyo has long maintained that all compensation issues had been settled by then.
Since taking office in March, South Korea’s new conservative government led by President Yoon Suk Yeol has been pushing to improve ties with Japan and bolster a trilateral security cooperation with Washington and Tokyo to better deal with North Korean nuclear threats.
At the start of the talks in Tokyo, Park and Hayashi bumped elbows and posed for cameras at the official guest house as they conversed softly in English. Both have attended schools in the U.S., and Park has also studied in Japan.
The visit, the first by a South Korean foreign minister since November 2019, comes after the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, considered an influential figure in shaping Japan’s foreign policy.
Park expressed his condolences on Abe’s death. Park is scheduled to stay in Japan through Wednesday, and may meet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Park and Hayashi had also met ahead of the South Korea presidential inauguration in Seoul in May, as well as in Bali, Indonesia, for the Group of 20 meeting earlier this month.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry in July launched consultations with lawyers and activists representing the Korean forced laborers and other experts to collect opinions on how to resolve the dispute.
Besides painful history, the two nations also share a long-running territorial dispute over islands that are controlled by Seoul but also claimed by Japan. Tokyo calls them Takeshima and South Korea calls them Dokdo.
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President Joe Biden’s administration has tried to bring the two Asian democracies to work closer together on security and regional issues amid the war in Ukraine and tensions including threats from North Korea and saber-rattling from China.
North Korea this year stepped up missile and artillery tests in what is seen as an attempt to pressure Washington and Seoul to relax international sanctions against Pyongyang.
Park also expressed support for Tokyo’s efforts to bring back Japanese abducted by North Korea decades ago, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
About 20 years ago, North Korea reversed years of denial and acknowledged it had kidnapped Japanese citizens and returned some to Japan. But Japan believes more are still in North Korea.
___
Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea.
___
Hyung-jin Kim is on Twitter https://twitter.com/hyungjin1972
Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
AP · by YURI KAGEYAMA and HYUNG-JIN KIM · July 18, 2022
6. Yellen says any North Korean nuclear test would be very provocative
Yes it would be. But it is also an opportunity for the alliance to demonstrate that his political warfare and war fighting strategies will not work. The alliance will not give in to blackmail diplomacy under any circumstances and with each provocation the alliance strengthen readiness and its military capabilities.
Yellen says any North Korean nuclear test would be very provocative
Reuters · by Andrea Shalal
SEOUL, July 18 (Reuters) - The United States has further sanctions it could adopt against North Korea, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Reuters on Monday, adding that any nuclear test by Pyongyang would be seen as very provocative.
Concern is growing that North Korea could be preparing to test a nuclear weapon for the first time since 2017 following a record number of missile tests this year, including that of its largest intercontinental ballistic missile. read more
Yellen declined to give specifics of what further sanctions Washington could impose on North Korea, or when, but said there were options for doing so.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
The U.S. Treasury generally will not discuss sanctions it could put in place before any announcement, Yellen said in an interview on her military aircraft en route to Seoul, the South Korean capital.
But she said more potential sanctions were available to increase pressure on Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear program, and such measures would probably be discussed during her meetings on Tuesday with senior South Korean officials in Seoul.
Washington would view any nuclear test as very provocative, she said. read more
Yellen will meet South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, Deputy Prime Minister Choo Kyung-ho, and other senior officials as she wraps up her first visit as secretary to the Indo-Pacific region, the Treasury said. read more
She visited Japan last week before traveling to the Indonesian island of Bali for a meeting with finance officials from the Group of 20 major economies.
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Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Clarence Fernandez
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Reuters · by Andrea Shalal
7. Two Nampo residents arrested for consuming S. Korean TV and radio broadcasts
As my Korean friends from the north tell me, please do not let the perceived moral hazard dissuade us from providing information. The Korean people want the information and know the risks.
Information is an existential threat to the regime. And it is information that will set free the Korean people in the north.
Two Nampo residents arrested for consuming S. Korean TV and radio broadcasts - Daily NK
“People often get nabbed nowadays for watching ‘impure recordings,’ but it’s rare to hear of someone being arrested for tuning into South Korean broadcasts for several years," a source told Daily NK
By Kim Chae Hwan - 2022.07.18 3:08pm
dailynk.com · by Kim Chae Hwan · July 18, 2022
FILE PHOTO: Portable "notel" media player popular in North Korea. (Daily NK)
Two young people in Nampo were arrested by the North Korean authorities for consuming South Korean television and radio broadcasts, Daily NK has learned.
A source in North Korea told Daily NK last Wednesday that a man and woman in their late twenties were taken into custody in mid-June after the municipal branch of the Ministry of State Security learned that they had been consuming South Korean television and radio for a number of years.
The young man had told a close friend several times about what he had heard on South Korean television and radio programs and about how to access those programs. The friend passed that information along to the Ministry of State Security, leading to the young man’s arrest, the source explained.
Following their arrest, the two young people, who said they were in a romantic relationship, admitted to ministry interrogators they had started to consume South Korean television and radio programs after stumbling on the signals by chance while fiddling with a “notel” (also called “notetel”) that they had bought in 2018.
A notetel, short for “notebook and television,” is a type of portable media player produced in China.
The two young people told their interrogators they had only tuned in to South Korean media programs when they were alone given they knew that not only they themselves but also their families could be punished if they were caught, the source said.
Even as North Korea seeks to tighten ideological controls on young people through the Youth Education Security Act and wages an intense campaign against anti-socialist and non-socialist ideas, some North Koreans continue to tune in to South Korean broadcasts. That has led the authorities to closely scrutinize the southern border and other areas that are close to South Korea.
“Following this incident, the authorities are carrying out extensive inspections of areas where South Korean broadcasts are easy to pick up, including Nampo, South Hwanghae Province, North Hwanghae Province, Kaesong, and the border area of Kangwon Province. As part of those inspections, agents from Unified Command 82 branches in each province are going around to people’s houses to check whether they have a notetel, whether it can be tuned to pick up South Korean broadcasts, and whether those channels are among the presets. The agents are also under orders to confiscate the devices,” the source explained.
At the same time, Unified Command 82 is concerned about the consequences of letting people know that South Korean television and radio signals can be accessed from Chinese notetels. As such, the authorities have claimed that the inspections are a response to the South Korean government recently cranking up signal strength in an attempt to block the message the party wants to send to the people.
“People often get nabbed nowadays for watching ‘impure recordings,’ but it’s rare to hear of someone being arrested for tuning in to South Korean broadcasts for several years. The two young people as well as their families are being harshly interrogated by the Ministry of State Security,” the source said.
North Korea’s Ministry of State Security has reportedly notified all local offices about the incident and instructed them to strengthen the public surveillance network, and Unified Command 82 has ordered the heads of local offices to crack down on watching “impure recordings” and check the preset stations in each household.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com · by Kim Chae Hwan · July 18, 2022
8. N. Korea orders party committees nationwide to closely monitor public sentiment
This is about population and resources control measures to prevent resistance. As Dr. Jung Pak always reminds us, the regime fears the Korean people more than it fears the Bioned ROK/US military.
N. Korea orders party committees nationwide to closely monitor public sentiment - Daily NK
With the country facing difficult economic circumstances, the instructions appear aimed at ensuring party committees try and prevent "abnormal events," such as defections or unrest
By Kim Chae Hwan - 2022.07.19 8:09am
dailynk.com · by Kim Chae Hwan · July 18, 2022
Kim Jong Un in January 2022 (Rodong Sinmun-News1)
North Korea’s central government recently ordered party committees across the country to closely monitor how people are faring under the country’s difficult economic conditions and promptly take measures where required.
According to a Daily NK source in North Hamgyong Province, instructions were issued from the central government on July 12 for party organizations to “fully understand public trends and sentiment, get ahead of problems that could influence popular opinion and take countermeasures, and go among the people to find out precisely what people are thinking and promptly resolve their difficulties.”
Furthermore, the instructions emphasized that the party committees should “conduct efforts to educate the citizenry to ensure that absolutely no abnormal phenomena arise.”
North Koreans currently face economic difficulties due to the protracted border closure aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19. Given these circumstances, the instructions appear to be focused on ensuring regional party committees carefully monitor public sentiment and prevent abnormal events from occurring, such as defections or unrest.
Additionally, the instructions ordered party organizations and party officials to conduct party-related affairs more effectively by eliminating the overly formalistic elements and tendencies that arise in party-related work, including the lofty, unrealistic language in their work-related plans.
However, the instructions did not make mention of bureaucratism, corruption or graft on the part of party cadres. This suggests that the authorities have no intention to soothe public sentiment by blaming cadres for the current circumstances.
In early July, Hoeryong’s municipal party committee held a working-level policy meeting to implement the central government’s recent instructions.
The meeting’s attendees discussed having elementary party committees take action to help households most in need of government help. However, the meeting did not conclude with plans to provide material support to families requiring assistance.
In fact, the source told Daily NK that one Hoeryong factory’s elementary party secretary recently went on a morale-boosting visit to the home of an employee unable to come to work due to lack of food. During the visit, the secretary simply told the family that “the party is worried, so let’s work together to overcome our current difficulties.” With that, he left without providing any food supplies or similar material assistance.
It is standard practice for party cadres to bring at least a little bit of rice when they visit families facing difficulties. Yet, not only did the elementary party secretary show up empty-handed but he also imposed on the family for lunch before leaving, to the great scorn of local residents.
“Every year the government hands down instructions to party and political organizations to thoroughly monitor popular sentiment and resolve the problems at hand, but since the country’s granaries are empty, cadres lower down the party structure can’t do anything except tell people to ‘hang on and endure,’” the source said. “The way blame gets pushed onto lower officials can only be seen as a tactic [by the central government] to try to placate people who are suffering.”
Translated by Rose Adams
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com · by Kim Chae Hwan · July 18, 2022
9. N. Korean prosthetists arrested for illegally collecting fees from patients
This is the result of the regime: Corruption in almost every aspect of society.
N. Korean prosthetists arrested for illegally collecting fees from patients - Daily NK
Prosthetists with private practices typically charge USD 10 per tooth and USD 80-200 for a set of dentures, a source told Daily NK
By Lee Chae Un - 2022.07.18 10:00am
dailynk.com · by Lee Chae Un · July 18, 2022
The Ryugyung Dental Hospital (Seogwang)
Several prosthetists at a state-run oral disease prevention center in South Hamgyong Province were recently arrested for allegedly pocketing fees from patients, Daily NK has learned.
“Three prosthetists at the oral disease prevention center in Hamhung were arrested by agents from the provincial police agency in early July. The arrests occurred after [a patient] reported that the prosthetists were pocketing fees from the dental patients they were supposed to be treating [for free],” a source in the province told Daily NK on Monday.
According to the source, a man in his 60s visited the prosthetics department at the provincial oral disease prevention center in mid-June to have some work done on his dentures. Seeing his shabby clothing, the prosthetists assumed he was a pauper and hesitated to process the patient, waiting for someone else to treat him.
Finally, one of the prosthetists went up to the man and asked if he had brought any money: “It’s 15 bucks per tooth; how many teeth do you want done?”
“If I had any money, I’d have gone to a private practice. Why do you think I came to a [public] hospital?” the man retorted. “When a patient comes in, you’re supposed to ask them what’s ailing them, rather than squeezing them for money. Is this a capitalist country?”
The man later reported the incident to the provincial party committee and provincial police agency, the source said.
Neither the party committee nor the provincial police bothered to respond initially, but the man refused to give up. Instead, he kept visiting both offices for ten days until he managed to arrange meetings with the committee secretary and the head of the provincial police agency. He then proceeded to tell them about the prosthetists’ behavior and the humiliation he had suffered at the oral disease prevention center.
His persistence must have paid off because the police then arrested the prosthetists at the oral disease prevention center and is currently carrying out an investigation into the man’s claims.
Skillful prosthetists in North Korea can make good money if they quit their hospital jobs and treat individuals at home. Prosthetists with private practices typically charge USD 10 per tooth and USD 80-200 for a set of dentures, the source said.
As a result, most struggling North Koreans cannot afford treatment at private practices and are forced to visit state-run clinics.
“Due to this incident, people have learned that prosthetists at state-run clinics are profiting [by forcing patients to pay for nominally free services]. For that reason, I don’t think the individuals who were arrested by the police will be let off the hook,” the source said.
The provincial party committee is also carrying out an in-depth investigation into the anti-socialist and non-socialist behavior taking place inside the provincial oral disease prevention center, the source added.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com · by Lee Chae Un · July 18, 2022
10. N. Korea vows to reinforce military in renewed anti-US propaganda
And counterintuitively the regime needs the US military and the threat from the South in order to survive. It needs the justification of the threats to be able to demand the sacrifices from the Korean people in the north and to be able to oppress them to such a high degree.
N. Korea vows to reinforce military in renewed anti-US propaganda
koreaherald.com · by Ji Da-gyum · July 18, 2022
N. Korean state media outlets step up anti-US sentiment, indoctrination
By Ji Da-gyum
Published : Jul 18, 2022 - 18:00 Updated : Jul 18, 2022 - 18:13
This footage, released by North Korea's state Korean Central Television on June 26, shows an anti-American rally at a garden in front of the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum, held in Pyongyang the previous day, to mark the anniversary of the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War. The rally was the first to have taken place in five years as Pyongyang did not hold such rallies in 2018 amid a thaw in relations with the Untied States. (Yonhap)
North Korea should further reinforce its military strength against mounting threats and pressure from the US, the state-run media said Monday, in line with North Korea’s recent move to step up anti-American propaganda.
The Rodong Sinmun, an organ of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, said that “a series of fierce confrontations with enemies has continued” for 70 years after the 1950-53 Korean War in a front-page political essay.
The political essay, which in North Korea is called a “jongron,” delineated the alleged damage inflicted by the US on North Korea during the Korean War. It claimed that US forces “massacred around 1,230,000 personnel just in the northern part” of North Korea for three years and schemed to use atomic bombs.
The newspaper underlined that the war would have never begun in 1950 if North Korea had had a “powerful war deterrent” as it has today, claiming that the “war is an armed conflict that can only be waged against an opponent who can be conquered.”
“The conclusion is that the invincible power to protect oneself is an essential guarantee for preventing war and a powerful treasured sword for safeguarding peace,” said the article titled “Let us strengthen our invincible power ten million times.”
The party organ said North Korea would have fought countless wars if North Korea had not chosen the “path to strengthen self-defense capabilities.”
The Rodong Sinmun repeatedly underscored the legitimacy of pushing forward its military buildup against the US, despite the socioeconomic challenges that North Koreans have faced due to the decision.
“Only our people, who keep the noble view of life proposed by the great party in their bosoms, can go the full distance in the path to strengthen self-defense capabilities,” the newspaper said, adding people who expect immediate benefits and prosperity will never be able to move forward on this path.
The party organ also argued that “North Korea, with powerful strength, has become a cause of great anxiety and concern for the US imperialists.”
“The word ‘war’ no longer exists in this land due to our reliable and effective nuclear deterrence for self-defense, and the future of our country will be firmly and perpetually guaranteed,” the Rodong Sinmun said. “But we must become stronger.”
The newspaper underlined that North Korea must continue military and nuclear buildup as long as “imperialism” exists, underscoring that “imperialists are still carrying out all kinds of brutalities and abusing their power around the world.”
“Our enemies are frantic with military exercises which give off a heavy smell of gunpowder to plunge this land into the ravages of war,” the newspaper said. “The threat and pressure by imperialists to restrain our development and plunder our country have been amplified at every moment.”
The Rodong Sinmun published another separate article on Monday, highlighting the US nuclear threat against North Korea and claiming that the US had considered using atomic bombs during the Korean War.
“Since the US imperialists’ schemes to conduct nuclear war provocations against the DPRK have not stopped even for a moment after the war and continued through the centuries to this day.”
The Rodong Sinmun’s reports were part of North Korea’s recent move to reinforce anti-American propaganda and sentiment on the occasion of the “month of anti-US joint struggle,” which the country designates as the period between June 25 and July 27.
North Korea has claimed the Korean War broke out, followed by the US invasion, while celebrating July 27 as the “Day of Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War.”
The resumption of the anti-US ideological campaign notably comes as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has repeatedly pledged to expeditiously reinforce national defense capabilities while remaining silent to the US offer for talks without conditions.
Pyongyang had suspended anti-American events held during the month and toned down anti-US rhetoric in 2018 in the wake of the first US-North Korea summit.
But the Kim Jong-un regime in June resumed politically charged events, including nationwide anti-American rallies and art exhibitions for the first time in five years.
Since then, North Korea has stepped up its anti-US indoctrination, publishing articles in internal- and external-oriented media outlets fostering anti-American sentiment and highlighting its claim of victory in the Korean War.
For instance, lecturers at the Sinchon Museum -- which displays pictures and sculptures showing alleged US atrocities during the Korean War and is located in South Hwanghae Province -- have provided anti-American ideological education for officials and workers at local cooperative farms, the Korean Central News Agency reported on July 10.
The KCNA said the lectures have made North Korean people harbor “thoughts of revenge against the US imperialist aggressors and class enemies.”
(dagyumji@heraldcorp.com)
11. Are North Koreans South Koreans?
Yes they are (in my opinion). I thought the South Korean Constitution is pretty clear. But this article provides some important analysis.
This excerpt reinforces why I was taught long ago to use north Korea (lower case 'n" for north. It has fallen out of fashion in the South (and certainly with editors who constantly correct me because it is such a force of habit. But it was based on the idea that the north is not a legitimate government recognized by the South.
Excerpt
Yoon again on Monday called for approaching the case “as per the Constitution and the laws.” So what does the law say?
The Constitutional Research Institute said in a 2019 report that the question of how to legally treat North Koreans comes down to whether or not North Korea has the legitimacy to be respected as a nation.
The report said while widely accepted mainstream theories do not recognize North Korea as a nation, the fact remains that South Korea is restricted from administering and enforcing laws in North Korea. The report concluded that in defining the legal status of North Koreans, the primary consideration should be their self-determination.
Similarly, as early as in 2008 the Ministry of Government Legislation noted in its report the “dual nature” by which North Korea and its people are construed by South Korea’s laws.
South Korea has long regarded North Korea as an “anti-government organization,” the rights of whose people are protected under the Constitution as South Korean nationals, the report said. At the same time, North Korea has been deemed as a partner in negotiations and economic and other exchanges.
But more importantly they will be citizens of a free and unified Korea, A United Republic of Korea (UROK). Tis is what the South and all of us should be working toward because only then will these questions be put to rest (along with the nuclear and missile threats and crimes against humanity).
Are North Koreans South Koreans?
koreaherald.com · by Kim Arin · July 18, 2022
2019 repatriation of fishermen sparks legal debate
By Kim Arin
Published : Jul 18, 2022 - 18:36 Updated : Jul 18, 2022 - 18:49
In this photograph released by the Ministry of Unification, North Korean fishermen are apparently dragged by officials to be handed over to North Korea via the Military Demarcation Line.
South Korea’s decision in 2019 to forcibly repatriate two North Korean fishermen suspected of murder is spurring debate over whether North Koreans can be treated as people of South Korea, and under what circumstances.
President Yoon Suk-yeol, vowing to reopen the case of two North Koreans deported by his predecessor, has said the Constitution “dictates that defectors are our people.”
The administration of then-President Moon Jae-in had described the men as “violent criminals” who murdered 16 of their fellow crew members on their fishing boat to flee their country, and viewed their intentions to defect to the South to be “insincere.”
Yoon again on Monday called for approaching the case “as per the Constitution and the laws.” So what does the law say?
The Constitutional Research Institute said in a 2019 report that the question of how to legally treat North Koreans comes down to whether or not North Korea has the legitimacy to be respected as a nation.
The report said while widely accepted mainstream theories do not recognize North Korea as a nation, the fact remains that South Korea is restricted from administering and enforcing laws in North Korea. The report concluded that in defining the legal status of North Koreans, the primary consideration should be their self-determination.
Similarly, as early as in 2008 the Ministry of Government Legislation noted in its report the “dual nature” by which North Korea and its people are construed by South Korea’s laws.
South Korea has long regarded North Korea as an “anti-government organization,” the rights of whose people are protected under the Constitution as South Korean nationals, the report said. At the same time, North Korea has been deemed as a partner in negotiations and economic and other exchanges.
“There are views that the legal interpretations of North Korea and its people should be renewed to reflect the changes in the landscape,” the report said.
Should defectors with possible past criminal activities have been allowed into the country?
That’s not a call that should have been made by Cheong Wa Dae or the National Intelligence Service, according to Jhe Seong-ho, a professor of international law at Chung-Ang University.
Jhe argued in a July 15 forum that the repatriation resulted from “a series of decisions made by parties that were not theirs to make.” “It’s up to the court to decide if the two men committed crimes, as well as the extent of those crimes, and up to the Ministry of Justice to either acknowledge or relinquish their South Korean citizenship,” he said.
Choi Jin-nyoung, a senior attorney at Seoul-based law firm, agreed that it was “questionable” whether it was within the authorities of the officials to expel North Koreans seeking defection “without due procedure of law.”
“People accused of crimes have the rights to access to a lawyer and court proceedings, which the two men did not have,” he said at the same forum.
South Korean courts, in principle, can exercise jurisdiction over the murders that are alleged to have been committed by the two fishermen over North Korean waters, according to Kang Dong-beom, a professor of criminal and criminal procedure codes at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
“Criminal acts that took place within South Korea’s territory -- which, according to the Constitution, includes North Korea -- can be tried at courts here,” he said in a phone call with The Korea Herald.
There were also legal grounds for holding accountable South Korean authorities who were involved in the repatriation, said Kim Woong-ki, a lawyer at the Korean Bar Association’s center providing legal support to North Korean defectors.
“It is possible to be charged for aiding people accused of criminal activities to avoid being located or investigated for one thing. The fishing boat where the supposed murder took place was cleaned up and returned to North Korea, which may amount to destruction or concealment of evidence,” he said.
At the core of the controversy surrounding the repatriation “lies South Korea’s dismissal of North Korea’s sovereignty,” according to Jang Kyung-wook of Lawyers for a Democratic Society, known more widely as Minbyun.
“Had we recognized North Korea as a sovereign state and the judicial powers that it has over its own people, there wouldn’t be a controversy,” said Jang, a lawyer who had worked with North Koreans who ended up in South Korea as a result of displacement or other reasons.
“It’s cold war thinking on South Korea’s part that continues to disavow North Korea as a separate country,” he said.
The main argument adopted by activists concerns the potential human rights violations.
The Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea on Monday characterized the repatriation as an “anti-humanitarian act” that could constitute human rights violations-related crimes.
The lawyer group’s President Kim Tae-hoon told reporters that it is “extremely unlikely that South Korean authorities repatriated the North Koreans without being aware of the what they were being returned to.”
The Transitional Justice Working Group pointed out in a report that the ambiguity of South Korea’s legal order “make possible such egregious human rights violations against North Korean escapees.”
The report said the legal status of North Korean escapees “can be worse than that of non-South Korean nationals who are entitled to due process rights.”
Although South Korean courts have “consistently held that North Koreans are entitled to the South Korean citizenship,” they were denied protection until a Ministry of Unification recommendation.
“This legal limbo enables various human rights violations and abuses, as witnessed in the deportation of the two fishermen,” said Shin Hee-seok, an international law scholar with the group.
Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korea studies at Ewha Womans University, said that while there “inherently existed legal gray zones,” this particular repatriation was “no doubt outside of convention.”
“Rejecting North Korean defectors, and repatriating them despite having expressed their desire to settle in South Korea is certainly unheard of, and without a documented precedent,” he said.
By Kim Arin (arin@heraldcorp.com)
12. Despite COVID-19 surge in region, North Korea says it's close to 'defusing' outbreak
Despite COVID-19 surge in region, North Korea says it's close to 'defusing' outbreak
By Thomas Maresca
upi.com
North Korean state media claimed the country is on its way to "completely defusing" its COVID-19 outbreak, even as nearby countries are experiencing new surges. File Photo by KCNA/EPA-EFE
SEOUL, July 18 (UPI) -- North Korea is on its way to "completely defusing" its outbreak of COVID-19 on Monday, according to state media, even as cases surge in nearby countries.
Health officials reported 310 new cases of an unspecified fever on Monday, to bring the isolated country's total to over 4.7 million since its first official COVID-19 infections were announced in mid-May.
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Efforts are being intensified "for completely defusing the epidemic crisis and restoring the anti-epidemic stability," the Korean Central News Agency said.
Case counts have declined steadily since peaking at nearly 400,000 on May 15, days after officials reported an "explosive" outbreak of COVID-19 and declared a national emergency.
Some 99.9% of patients with fever cases have recovered, according to officials. State media have not updated the disease's death toll since earlier this month, when it stood at just 74 -- a fatality rate far lower than anywhere else in the world and one that experts doubt, as North Korea's population is believed to be almost entirely unvaccinated.
Most of Pyongyang's assertions about the pandemic have drawn skepticism from outside observers, starting with its claim of having zero infections for more than two years until the May outbreak.
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The World Health Organization said last month that it believed the situation was getting worse in North Korea, not better, despite the falling case numbers.
North Korea said Monday its health agencies have taken "foresighted measures to establish a system of scientific test and treatment for COVID-19 variants and other pandemic diseases," according to KCNA, including a "guide for collecting and delivering the sample of monkeypox virus."
Neighboring South Korea, meanwhile, is seeing a surge in new COVID-19 cases driven by the highly contagious BA.5 strain of the Omicron variant. Daily infections surpassed 40,000 last week, a two-month high, and health officials have projected that new cases could spike to over 200,000 per day next month.
On Monday, South Korea lowered the eligibility age for a second COVID-19 vaccine booster shot from 60 to 50 years old.
Japan topped 100,000 cases on Sunday for the first time since February as it also faces a new wave. And China, which has been quick to impose citywide lockdowns and mass testing requirements as part of its "zero COVID" strategy, has seen a recent rise as well, with locally transmitted infections hitting a nearly two-month high of 580 on Saturday.
North Korea earlier this month blamed its COVID-19 outbreak on balloons and other items from South Korea being sent across the border.
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13. N. Korea's new suspected COVID-19 cases fall below 400: state media
north Korea is making the propaganda work for its successful COVID narrative.
(LEAD) N. Korea's new suspected COVID-19 cases fall below 400: state media | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · July 18, 2022
(ATTN: UPDATES with more info from 4th para)
By Yi Wonju
SEOUL, July 18 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's new suspected COVID-19 cases dropped below 400, according to its state media Monday.
More than 310 people showed symptoms of fever over a 24-hour period until 6 p.m. the previous day, the official Korean Central News Agency said, citing data from the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters.
It did not provide information on whether additional deaths have been reported. As of July 5, the death toll had stood at 74, with the fatality rate at 0.002 percent.
The total number of fever cases since late April came to over 4.77 million as of 6 p.m. Sunday, of which 99.98 percent had recovered and at least 710 others are being treated, it added.
The North's daily fever tally has been on a downward trend after peaking at over 392,920 on May 15.
The KCNA said the North is ramping up its antivirus measures "as the good circumstance of the anti-epidemic campaign is improved to finally defuse the epidemic crisis and completely restore the anti-epidemic stability."
"Researchers and specialists in the fields of epidemic prevention, public health and science and education draw up a guide for collecting and delivering the sample of monkeypox virus and a guide for treating the virus, and technically perfect the checking method," the KCNA said in an English-language report.
The health authorities have also taken measures to establish a test method and system for COVID-19 variants and other pandemic diseases, it added.
Pyongyang disclosed its first COVID-19 case on May 12 after claiming to be coronavirus-free for over two years and implemented nationwide lockdowns.
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · July 18, 2022
14. Covid count doubles again on Sunday (South Korea)
Monday
July 18, 2022
Covid count doubles again on Sunday
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/07/18/national/socialAffairs/korea-covid-virus/20220718181807023.html?detailWord=
A line of people wait in the rain to be tested for the coronavirus in Daegu on Monday. [NEWS1]
Korea’s daily count of new coronavirus cases once again doubled from a week before.
Health authorities on Monday morning announced that a total of 26,299 people nationwide tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday, a two-fold increase from a week earlier's 12,681 people. Compared to two weeks earlier, when 6,248 people tested positive, Sunday’s figure was a four-fold increase.
It was the highest figure for a Sunday in 12 weeks, and the first time in 10 weeks that more than 20,000 people tested positive on a Sunday.
Sunday’s figure was still markedly smaller than Saturday's 40,342 who tested positive, mainly due to less testing on Sundays and Saturdays. Fewer test sites are open on weekends in general, which means that people who come down with Covid-19 symptoms on weekends are likely to get tested Monday through Wednesday.
Over the past week, Korea has seen an average of 37,660 new Covid-19 patients each day. Health officials have blamed the recent spread of Omicron variants for driving up cases, warning that the nation was entering its sixth wave of the pandemic.
Among Sunday’s 26,299 new cases, Seoul topped the list with the most cases with 4,896, followed by Incheon's 1,944, Busan's 1,250, South Gyeongsang's 1,164, North Gyeongsang's 1,068 and Daegu's 1,022.
There were 81 people in critical or serious condition. Eleven people died.
Starting Monday, the government lowered eligibility requirements for fourth doses of coronavirus vaccines, essentially allowing people in their 50’s to get second booster shots. Others who have been permitted to get their fourth dose include people 18 or older with underlying illnesses and employees and residents in facilities for the handicapped and in homeless shelters.
Previously, fourth doses were offered to people over 59 and residents or workers at hospitals or facilities for the elderly.
Although the vaccines currently in use cannot entirely prevent infection with the fast-spreading Omicron variants, local health officials said studies have shown they can prevent infected patients from deteriorating into severe illness.
In a report, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said that the effectiveness of a fourth dose turned out to be 20.3 percent against infection, far lower than the third dose, which ranged between 64 and 81 percent earlier this year.
Health officials acknowledged that vaccine effectiveness was overall waning with the advent of new coronavirus variants, but stressed that fourth doses were still over 50 percent effective against deaths and serious illness.
BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]
15. Seoul expected to join Washington-led 'Chip 4' alliance
[ANALYSIS] Seoul expected to join Washington-led 'Chip 4' alliance
The Korea Times · July 18, 2022
Korea still needs US support for country's chip ecosystem to evolve
By Kim Yoo-chul
Modern history tells us that economics and politics are inseparable, yet over the last few decades, the world has witnessed something of a sideshow in terms of the two. Such political shortsightedness leads to weakened economies, with the brewing U.S.-China tech cold war being a vivid example of this.
The impact of COVID-19 on backbone industries in the United States has been huge, as the automobile and technology sectors, among others, have been hit hard by the severe shortage of essential manufacturing components such as semiconductors and batteries. This scene has been interpreted as an important reminder of the significance of understanding the high-degree of vulnerability in today's inter-connected world.
Of note is that the COVID-19-triggered semi-conductor component supply chain issues have caught the attention of top U.S. policymakers, as the severity of the shortage could gravely impact emerging technologies that Washington has identified as key strategic growth engines: AI, quantum computing, 5G and the internet of things. These technologies all require highly-advanced chips.
The White House actively responded to this situation with U.S. President Joe Biden signing an executive order to review supply chains for semiconductors, aimed at advocating further for more investment on U.S. soil and strengthening onshore manufacturing with the help of its Asian allies. Additionally, Washington's aim to build stronger global component value chains with a focus on semiconductors is aimed at seeking "partial technological decoupling" from China.
As the pandemic has strongly awakened nations to the huge necessity of having a solid semiconductor supply chain, given their vast usage in items such as cars, electronic devices and a wide range of next-generation technologies, the United States thinks that becoming more resilient is a necessity in the current environment. Within that context, South Korea and Taiwan, as well as Japan, have emerged as the linchpin for the Washington-led semiconductor alliance, known in Korea as the "Chip 4."
"The global semiconductor shortage has led to an increase in support among Asian partners. Taiwan-based foundry chip-making king TSMC is hoping to win more support from the United States in the Taiwan Strait, while global memory chip manufacturer Samsung is hoping to boost its foundry business with U.S. assistance. From the U.S. perspective, Seoul's participation in the Chip 4 initiative is very necessary," said a high-ranking diplomatic source in Seoul by telephone. Beijing views democratically governed Taipei as a breakaway state from mainland China that should be taken back by force, if necessary.
Both the United States and China are betting heavily on boosting their semiconductor industries. However, in terms of focus and the specifics of growth metrics, the two countries are showing differences. By chip production, China leads the global market with a 24-percent share, followed by Taiwan (21 percent), South Korea (19 percent) and Japan (13 percent). Only 10 percent of chips are made in the U.S., according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo speaks during an address at Brown University, March 15. The Biden administration and congressional Democrats are warning of dire ramifications for the economy and for national security if Congress fails to pass a bill by the end of July that is designed to boost semiconductor manufacturing in the United States. AP-Yonhap
While China is the world's consumer market, Beijing is pursuing "semiconductor self-sufficiency" because the country is focusing more on wafer fabrication, assembly, testing and packaging, which are segments that are labor- and capital-intensive. The United States is seeking to advance knowledge-focused activities along with chip design, manufacturing equipment and core intellectual property (IP), which are segments that require solid infrastructure and skilled workforces. The White House said semiconductor firms including Samsung announced nearly $80 billion in U.S. investments through 2025.
Both Samsung and TSMC are operating massive foundry chip plants in the United States. Samsung and its cross-town rival, SK, have wafer fabrication, assembly and testing facilities in mainland China. TSMC and Samsung are the only global players in manufacturing chips using below-7-nanometer processing nodes. This status means that they support top-tier U.S. technology companies including Apple, Qualcomm, NVIDIA, AMD, Broadcom and Xilinx.
"Samsung and TSMC have become the top beneficiaries after the U.S.' imposition of restrictions on Huawei suppliers over security concerns. The point is that, because the United States is pursuing partial semiconductor decoupling from China, more assistance programs will be available to South Korean and Taiwanese companies," said a former executive at Samsung. As an illustration of the U.S. crackdown on Chinese technology companies, Huawei's global mobile market share, for example, dropped to 3 percent in 2021 from 15 percent in 2020, said data collected by Omdia, a market research firm.
Korea unwilling to fully decouple from China
The South Korean presidential office has said it's in discussions with the United States about ways to strengthen cooperation in semiconductors after local reports said the United States had asked South Korea to inform it whether or not it will join the Chip 4 alliance by August of this year.
Japan and Taiwan have said yes to joining the United States-led chip alliance, said officials. Samsung Electronics representatives in Seoul have declined to comment.
But given South Korea's participation of the United States' launch of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and President Yoon Suk-yeol's desire to upgrade the Washington-Seoul partnership into an "economic and security alliance based on cooperation in supply chains and advanced technology" ― about which a statement was made during U.S. President Joe Biden's recent summit in South Korea ― officials and analysts have said that South Korea will follow Taiwan and Japan to join the alliance.
"South Korea will join the alliance because receiving U.S. support is very important in terms of building a high-level chip ecosystem from wafer fabrication to software and semiconductor equipment. As seen in Washington's imposition of sanctions on Huawei, it's very possible for the United States to grant access for the use of U.S. technologies exclusively to its allies," said Kim Yang-paeng, a researcher at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET).
On a related note, the world's top semiconductor equipment maker, Applied Materials, agreed with Gyeonggi Province to construct a next-generation semiconductor research center. The agreement came after Netherlands-based ASML, U.S.-based Lam Research and Japan's Tokyo Electron confirmed their plans to build semiconductor research centers in the province, which also houses cutting-edge Samsung and SK chip plants.
Because Washington doesn't want to pursue a full-pledged decoupling with Beijing in semiconductors and its allies also don't want to cut off their trade with China, chances are low for the United States to apply imminent actions for tougher semiconductor export controls or secondary sanctions.
This illustration shows U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, left, and an actual view of LG Science Park, western Seoul. Korea Times file "
Washington officials don't have any question about the fact that the cost of complete U.S.-China chip decoupling will be huge. As the Chip 4 alliance isn't something that could immediately threaten China's national security, chances are low that China would take retaliatory actions against South Korea even after Seoul joins the Chip 4. Samsung and SK are two of the top foreign investors there and their partnerships with top Chinese officials are quite solid," said a high-ranking government official asking not to be named.
The second phase of Samsung Electronics' NAND flash-chip production line in Xi'an, in northwestern Shaanxi Province, a result of its $25-billion investment there, includes two wafer fabrication plants and a packaging and testing facility. It became operational in 2021 and the plant is assigned to produce over 40 percent of Samsung's total NAND flash production capacity. SK operates a DRAM wafer fabrication plant and packaging and testing facility in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, and Chongqing, Sichuan Province, respectively.
SK's C2 plant in Wuxi, its first 12-inch wafer fabrication line that started operations in 2006, has been expanded with an additional $780-million investment and began mass production in mid-2019, said the company.
China is South Korea's biggest trade partner. Out of the country's $69-billion memory chip-driven exports back in 2021, exports to China accounted for 48 percent, data by Korea International Trade Association (KITA) showed. Korean companies in China reported massive losses upon the Chinese economic retaliation to the Korea-U.S. deployment of a THAAD missile defense system.
"That's because China had viewed the THAAD system as a direct and imminent threat to its national security. With chips, China is far behind the United States when it comes to the technology level and focus segments," said a senior industry executive.
Plus, because emphasis has been focused on the significance of developing domestic battery supply chains for electric vehicles (EVs) and even energy storage, by the Biden administration, with the United States highly reliant on imports, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen plans to highlight why maintaining a solid partnership between South Korea and the United States in batteries matters the most in terms of solidifying supply chains.
Yellen plans to visit LG's technology research center in Seoul on the sidelines of her scheduled two-day visit, here, from July 19. "During Yellen's visit to LG Science Park, she will be briefed on the strengths of LG's battery technologies," said an official. LG Chem is the largest shareholder of LG Energy Solution (LGES), which operates a joint venture with General Motors (GM) in the United States.
Yellen will likely advance policies that will strengthen and grow the U.S. economy and its middle class and highlight why maintaining a supply chain that is stronger and more resilient matters a lot in terms of avoiding costly disruptions that have driven up inflation not only in the Unites States but globally.
South Korea is also home to the world's leading battery makers including LGES, Samsung SDI and SK.
The Korea Times · July 18, 2022
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
VIDEO "WHEREBY" Link: https://whereby.com/david-maxwell
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
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