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Slow news day in Korea due to Chuseok.
Quotes of the Day:
“What separates us from the animals, what separates us from the chaos, is our ability to mourn people we’ve never met.”
-Author David Levithan
“One of the worst days in America’s history saw some of the bravest acts in Americans’ history. We’ll always honor the heroes of 9/11. And here at this hallowed place, we pledge that we will never forget their sacrifice.”
-President George W. Bush at the Pentagon in 2008
"When Americans lend a hand to one another, nothing is impossible. We’re not about what happened on 9/11. We’re about what happened on 9/12."
-Jeff Parness
1. Artillery From Pyongyang, Drones From Tehran: Russia's Arms Acquisitions Mirror That Of Pariah 1980s Iran
2. U.N. chief Guterres 'deeply concerned' by new North Korea law on nuclear weapons -spokesman
3. 3 years after 'No Japan' boycott, sentiment toward Japan starts to thaw
4. S. Korea's COVID-19 cases fall to 2-month low amid Chuseok holiday
5. Expressway congestion eases up as S. Koreans return home following Chuseok
6. DP leader voices strong regret over N. Korea's nuclear power proclamation
7. France calls North Korea's nuclear policy a 'threat to peace'
8. Civic group pushes to erect statue honoring late US Korean War veteran
9. S. Korea likely to enjoy 5 times more economic profit than N.K. if Kaesong complex resumes: report
10. Yoon to attend funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London on Sept. 19
1. Artillery From Pyongyang, Drones From Tehran: Russia's Arms Acquisitions Mirror That Of Pariah 1980s Iran
Artillery From Pyongyang, Drones From Tehran: Russia's Arms Acquisitions Mirror That Of Pariah 1980s Iran
Forbes · by Paul Iddon · September 10, 2022
Shortly after Russia received its first batch of the "hundreds" of armed drones the White House said it is importing from Iran in August, declassified U.S. intelligence revealed that Moscow is also seeking "millions" of artillery shells and short-range rockets from North Korea. According to The New York Times, this is "a sign that global sanctions have severely restricted its supply chains and forced Moscow to turn to pariah states for military supplies". Moscow's present situation is somewhat similar to that of Iran's in the 1980s, when it too was a sanctioned pariah embroiled in a costly and depleting war of attrition against its neighbor.
Ukraine estimates that its Russian adversary has as little as 20 percent of its stockpile of mobile 9K720 Iskander short-range ballistic missiles left in its arsenal. On Sept. 9, a Ukrainian Ministry of Defense representative estimated that Russia has less than 200 Iskander SRBMs, which is one reason why it is using an increasing number of S-300 air defense missiles against ground targets.
For now, Moscow is reportedly seeking large quantities of artillery shells from Pyongyang, which makes sense. According to estimates, Russia is presently expending up to 67,000 artillery shells per day in Ukraine.
... [+]AFP via Getty Images
North Korea has an estimated 6,000 artillery systems pointed at South Korean cities, which could kill thousands of South Koreans in a mere hour if unleashed. Russia may similarly aim to use large quantities of North Korean artillery and short-range rockets to continue bombarding and devastating Ukrainian urban centers.
The Times' report mentioned above, which was the first to disclose the alleged North Korean procurement, also cited an unnamed U.S. official who said that the U.S. also expects Russia to seek other military equipment from Pyongyang. The official did not elaborate on what kind of equipment. However, it would be telling if Moscow also sought North Korean ballistic or cruise missiles to replenish its dwindling stocks. Ditto for Iranian missiles, for that matter.
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These seemingly desperate acquisitions amid a costly war of attrition bring to mind Iran's predicament in the 1980s when it was fighting a seemingly endless and costly war against Iraq, in which it had huge artillery duels and suffered enormous troop losses.
Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the subsequent takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran later that year, the U.S. imposed an arms embargo against Iran, which operated a military arsenal of predominantly American and British hardware.
The following year, Iraq invaded Iran.
The Soviet Union offered to sell Iran weapons early in that war but was rebuffed. As a result, Moscow spent the rest of the 1980s arming Tehran's adversary Baghdad instead.
Despite the embargo, Iran kept many of its Western-origin weapons operational, including its fleet of highly-sophisticated F-14A Tomcat heavyweight air superiority fighter jets, which required a lot of maintenance.
Iran managed to expel Iraqi forces from its territory and go on a counteroffensive by mid-1982. The war became an increasingly bitter one of attrition that lasted another six years and led to no lasting territorial gains for either side. Throughout this time, Baghdad had the advantage of importing large quantities of Soviet and French armaments.
Tehran's options were much more limited.
In 1984, a team of Iranians led by the so-called "father of the Iranian missile" Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam (a fascinating in-depth profile of whom is available on New Lines Magazine) were trained in Syria to maintain and use Soviet Scud missiles. But Syria did not provide any of the missiles to the Iranians since the Soviet Union controlled its arsenal.
Similarly, when Iran received some Scud missiles from Libya, Libyan military personnel were only allowed to launch them, even though those missiles ostensibly belonged to Iran.
Finally, Moghaddam acquired copies of Scud missiles, the Hwasong-5, from North Korea as part of a deal that included building a factory in Iran to assemble more locally.
Iran also bought Chenghu F7 fighter jets, a copy of the ubiquitous Soviet MiG-21 Fitter, from China during the war but never used them in combat. The jets were far inferior and less sophisticated than the advanced American fighters such as the F-14 Iran had received before the revolution.
Despite these notable efforts this embargoed pariah made to obtain weaponry, it was not nearly enough for Iran to prevail in its war with Iraq. In 1988, Iran's military leadership made a list of equipment it estimated it needed to win the war that, as one official recalled, "included huge numbers of planes, tanks and missiles."
Iraqi forces bombarding Iran's Khorramshahr early in the Iran-Iraq War, October 1980.
Zuheir Saade—AP/REX/Shutterstock.com
"No one would sell us arms. In any case, we didn't have the money," Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, then Speaker of the Iranian Parliament and later president, later recounted.
Consequently, the expedient decision to accept a ceasefire, which Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini equated to "drinking a chalice of poison", with Iraq was made. The war ended in August 1988 after killing at least a million.
There are huge distinctions between these two wars and periods, such as Ukraine, for one, not initiating the present war nor being anything like Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
However, many other factors are indeed comparable. For one, there is Russia's loss of tens of thousands of troops and depletion of vast quantities of munitions with little discernible gain, either strategic or tactical. Also comparable are the few fellow pariah countries Moscow can presently turn to for assistance as it faces wide-ranging sanctions.
As the Russia-Ukraine War continues into the coming months, or possibly even years, there will likely be more, albeit imperfect, analogies one can draw from the Iran-Iraq War.
Forbes · by Paul Iddon · September 10, 2022
2. U.N. chief Guterres 'deeply concerned' by new North Korea law on nuclear weapons -spokesman
As he should be. But we should also take some solace that now we can jettison all the delusions about the north's willingness to negotiate decnulcearizaiton of the north. We should now be able to align our assumptions about the nature, objectives,and s tragedy of the Kim family regime and develop our policies and strategy from there.
U.N. chief Guterres 'deeply concerned' by new North Korea law on nuclear weapons -spokesman
Reuters · by Reuters
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends a news briefing in the sea port in Odesa after restarting grain export, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, Ukraine August 19, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
WASHINGTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is "deeply concerned" by North Korea's new law enshrining a right to use pre-emptive nuclear strikes to protect itself, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday. read more
Guterres calls on Pyongyang to resume talks with key parties to achieve sustainable peace and the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Dujarric told reporters.
Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Doina Chiacu;
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Reuters · by Reuters
3. 3 years after 'No Japan' boycott, sentiment toward Japan starts to thaw
Some slightly positive signs.
3 years after 'No Japan' boycott, sentiment toward Japan starts to thaw
Published : Sept 11, 2022 - 11:01 Updated : Sept 11, 2022 - 11:01
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20220906000840&np=1&mp=1
The frozen relationship between South Korea and Japan seems to be thawing, at least among the general public.
Korean people’s positive sentiment toward Japan bounced back to levels last seen in 2019, before Japan imposed trade sanctions on Korea over historical conflicts and S. Koreans responded with the “No Japan” boycott of anything Japanese.
According to a report jointly released by Korean think tank East Asia Institute and Japan-based Genron NPO on Sept. 1, 30.6 percent of Koreans said they feel favorable toward Japan, the second-highest since the survey was first carried out in 2013. The highest was 31.7 percent recorded in 2019.
The 2022 figure also marked a big jump from 20.5 percent and 12.3 percent tallied in 2021 and 2020, respectively.
The survey was conducted with 2,028 people -- 1,028 Korean nationals and 1,000 Japanese.
Tension between the two countries intensified after Japan placed export curbs on key high-tech materials crucial for Korean tech firms in July 2019. It was widely viewed here as an act of retaliation against the South Korean top court, which ordered the seizure of local assets of a Japanese company after it refused to compensate several victims of forced labor during World War II. Korea was a colony of Japan at that time.
In response, Korean people voluntarily boycotted Japanese brands such as clothing retailer Uniqlo and Tokyo-based brewery Asahi.
Almost three years after the flare-up of tensions, a growing number of people from both countries hope for an improvement in ties, the latest survey also showed.
Those who said the two nations should mend ties accounted for 81.1 percent of Korean nationals, up 10 percentage points from a year earlier. Some 53.4 percent of Japanese respondents wanted a better relationship, up 6.7 percentage points.
Japanese who harbor positive views of Korea also increased to 30.4 percent this year from 25.4 percent last year.
The report referred to diplomatic conflicts that have continued between the neighbors over the past decade, including a suspension of bilateral talks on Korean women who were forced into wartime sexual slavery for the Japanese military and Korea’s decision to terminate a military intelligence-sharing agreement with Japan.
Japan still has in place trade restrictions targeting Korea, and the Korean court has not changed its stance on the force labor compensation issue.
“However, public opinion in both countries showed a clear positive pattern this year,” the report said.
Reflecting warming sentiment, Uniqlo, which closed over 50 stores here in the aftermath of the boycott campaign, swung back into the black last year. Asahi also resumed advertisements on social media and YouTube.
Korea has warmer sentiment toward Japan than it does toward China, a separate survey showed.
In a survey of Koreans by Hankook Research on Aug. 21, China was the second least popular country among five major countries: the United States, Japan, North Korea and Russia.
By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)
koreaherald.com · by Park Han-na ·
4. S. Korea's COVID-19 cases fall to 2-month low amid Chuseok holiday
Again, what we will need to see is if there is a coming surge in cases following Chuseok.
(LEAD) S. Korea's COVID-19 cases fall to 2-month low amid Chuseok holiday | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 유지호 · September 11, 2022
(ATTN: UPDATES with latest figures in last 3 paras)
SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Yonhap) -- New COVID-19 cases fell to about a two-month low on Sunday due largely to fewer tests conducted over the Chuseok holiday amid the gradual slowdown of the spread of the virus in recent weeks.
The country reported 28,214 new COVID-19 infections, including 228 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 24,004,887, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
Sunday's tally marked a sharp decrease from the previous day's 42,724 amid the Chuseok holiday, or the Korean fall harvest celebration. The holiday started Friday and runs through Monday.
It was also the lowest daily count since July 18, when the figure came to 26,275. For any Sunday, it marked the lowest since July 10, when the figure stood at 20,383.
South Korea added 47 COVID-19 deaths Sunday, compared with 48 the previous day. The death toll came to 27,476.
The number of critically ill patients stood at 532, up from the previous day's 525.
Daily infections have been on a steady decline after peaking at around 180,000 in mid-August in the latest virus resurgence.
But South Korea saw a slight uptick in the midnight-9 p.m. period Sunday, reporting 35,625 new cases, up by 8,460 from the same timeframe Saturday. Daily cases are counted until midnight and announced the following morning.
The government had earlier called for vigilance against the virus, as the country is experiencing heavy travel during the Chuseok holiday, when Koreans normally head back to their hometowns for family reunions. This is the first long holiday weekend without social distancing restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
South Korea has averaged 62,267 cases over the past seven days.
graceoh@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 유지호 · September 11, 2022
5. Expressway congestion eases up as S. Koreans return home following Chuseok
Never travel during Chuseok in Korea if you are a foreigner.
(3rd LD) Expressway congestion eases up as S. Koreans return home following Chuseok| Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 유지호 · September 11, 2022
(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; UPDATES last 4 paras)
SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Yonhap) -- Congestion on most highways and roads across the country eased up Sunday night, as people were heading back home on the third day of the four-day Chuseok holiday.
Chuseok, the Korean autumn harvest celebration, is one of the country's biggest traditional holidays and serves as a chance for family members to get together. Chuseok is celebrated on Aug. 15 in the lunar calendar, which fell on Saturday this year.
According to Korea Expressway Corp., major highways, particularly Seoul-bound ones, were clogged with vehicles for most of Sunday before traffic jams eased later in the day.
As of 9 p.m., the estimated travel time to Seoul was four hours and 50 minutes from the southern port city of Busan, about three hours and 50 minutes from the southeastern city of Daegu, and two hours and 50 minutes from the central Daejeon city.
The congestion for Seoul-bound traffic will likely ease up starting around 2 a.m. Monday, per Korea Expressway Corp.
Some 5.43 million vehicles were expected to hit the roads on Sunday, with another 4.67 million to follow them on Monday, according to the authorities.
graceoh@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 유지호 · September 11, 2022
6. DP leader voices strong regret over N. Korea's nuclear power proclamation
Frankl DP policies contributed to this - or its failure to understand this allowed the regime to continue on its strategic path. North the previous administration did eh
lped to change the upward trajectory of north Korean nuclear development. But I am sure the DP will try to blame the current administration for its political purposes.
DP leader voices strong regret over N. Korea's nuclear power proclamation | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 오석민 · September 11, 2022
SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Yonhap) -- The chief of South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party (DP) expressed strong regret Sunday over North Korea's declaration of a nuclear weapons state and vowed bipartisan efforts for peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Lee Jae-myung's comment in a Facebook message came as the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Friday that the country has passed a new law declaring itself a nuclear weapons state and enshrining a right to use preemptive nuclear strikes for self-protection, a move leader Kim Jong-un called "irreversible."
"It is very shocking and worrisome ... Such a move does not help peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula at all. It will rather make things worse only to cause fatal damage to both South and North Korea and bring tragic results," Lee said.
Pyongyang's latest move shows that sanctions and pressure cannot resolve the matter, the chief said, calling on the Seoul government to lead practical action in a proactive manner to achieve peace.
"The DP will make bipartisan effort to improve the inter-Korean relations and to achieve the peaceful resolution of the North's nuclear weapons program," he added.
graceoh@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 오석민 · September 11, 2022
7. France calls North Korea's nuclear policy a 'threat to peace'
France calls North Korea's nuclear policy a 'threat to peace'
wionews.com
Kim Jong Un ordered the relaxation of the maximal anti-pandemic measures. However, he insisted that North Korea must maintain a "steel-strong anti-epidemic barrier and intensifying the anti-epidemic work until the end of the global health crisis." Photograph:( Reuters )
Story highlights
After North Korean state media earlier on Friday claimed that Pyongyang had enacted a law allowing for preventative strikes, including in the face of conventional warfare, the foreign ministry made its announcement.
As a "threat to international and regional peace and security," France denounced North Korea's passage of a legislation announcing its preparedness to conduct nuclear strikes on Friday.
After North Korean state media earlier on Friday claimed that Pyongyang had enacted a law allowing for preventative strikes, including in the face of conventional warfare, the foreign ministry made its announcement.
"This new escalation on the part of the North Korean authorities represents a threat to international and regional peace and security," said a ministry spokeswoman.
France "notes with great concern the increasingly aggressive declarations from North Korea", she added.
Since North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un has declared that the country's nuclear status is now "irreversible," Pyongyang's move practically ends the chance of denuclearization discussions.
An increased level of animosity exists between the North and the South at the time of the announcement.
As well as conducting a record number of weapons tests this year, Pyongyang has blamed Seoul for the COVID-19 outbreak in its territory.
(With inputs from agencies)
WATCH WION live TV here:
wionews.com
8. Civic group pushes to erect statue honoring late US Korean War veteran
Civic group pushes to erect statue honoring late US Korean War veteran
koreaherald.com · by Choi Jae-hee · September 8, 2022
By Choi Jae-hee
Published : Sept 10, 2022 - 11:00 Updated : Sept 10, 2022 - 11:00
The late US Army Major Gen. John K. Singlaub, a Korean War veteran who died on January 29 at the age of 100 in Franklin, Tennessee. (Yonhap)
A South Korean civic group is pushing to erect a statue to honor the late US Army Major Gen. John K. Singlaub to mark the 70th anniversary of the Seoul-Washington alliance next year, the group said Monday.
The Korea-US Alliance Foundation, which was established in 2017, is in talks with the deceased general’s bereaved family in the US, as well as officials from the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs in Seoul for the project, officials at the group said.
Details on the envisioned monument, including its possible location, are not yet decided, they added.
Gen. Singlaub, who passed away on Jan. 29 at the age of 100 in Franklin, Tennessee, served as a CIA deputy station chief in Seoul before the Korean War and commanded a battalion during the 1950-53 conflict.
But he is more widely remembered here for having stood up against former US President Jimmy Carter who sought to withdraw American troops from South Korea.
In 1977, while serving in Seoul as the chief of staff of the UN Command, he told the Washington Post that Carter’s plan would provoke then-North Korean leader Kim Il-sung to start a war as a previous drawdown of American forces had done in 1950. This cost Singlaub his highly-celebrated career and he retired from the US Army after 35 years of service.
By Choi Jae-hee (cjh@heraldcorp.com)
9. S. Korea likely to enjoy 5 times more economic profit than N.K. if Kaesong complex resumes: report
S. Korea likely to enjoy 5 times more economic profit than N.K. if Kaesong complex resumes: report | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · September 11, 2022
SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is likely to gain an economic profit of 22 trillion won (US$15.9 billion) should the now-shuttered inter-Korean industrial complex in North Korea's border city of Kaesong reopen, according to a recent report Sunday.
The resumption of the Kaesong industrial complex will bring an economic profit of 4.58 trillion won over a period of five years for the North, while South Korea will gain 22.26 trillion won, researchers estimated in a report released by the Institute for National Security Strategy.
Although the estimated profit for Pyongyang is significantly less than that of the South, the "intangible benefit," such as the transfer of technology and expertise from Seoul, will be considerable, the report said.
The Kaesong complex, once hailed as a symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation, was suspended in February 2016 amid tensions over the North's nuclear and missile provocations.
Efforts to reopen the factory complex have since made little progress amid a protracted stalemate in Pyongyang's denuclearization talks with Washington.
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · September 11, 2022
10. Yoon to attend funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London on Sept. 19
As an aside, the Queen's funeral is going to be a security nightmare. The gathering of so many heads of State/dignitaries/ officials is going to be one of the most difficult targets to defend.
(LEAD) Yoon to attend funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London on Sept. 19 | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 오석민 · September 11, 2022
(ATTN: RECASTS lead to specify funeral date; ADDS more details in paras 3-5, photo)
SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk-yeol plans to attend the funeral of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II set to be held in London next week, the presidential office said Sunday.
Queen Elizabeth II died Thursday at the age of 96 after reigning for 70 years.
The state funeral for her will take place on Sept. 19 at Westminster Abbey in London, and Yoon will attend the funeral, according to a press release by Kim Eun-hye, senior presidential secretary for public affairs.
Yoon is largely expected to visit London ahead of his envisioned trip to New York for the Sept. 13-27 U.N. General Assembly.
On Friday, Yoon expressed condolences over her passing, saying, "She had a strong belief in the cause of human freedom and left great legacies of dignity. Her kind heart and good deed will remain in our memories."
graceoh@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 오석민 · September 11, 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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