Informal Institute for National Security Thinkers and Practitioners

Quotes of the Day:

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.

- Rumi

“The truth is like a lion. You don't have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself.”

- Augustine

"When people talk listen completely. Don't be thinking about what you're going to say Most people never listen. Nor do they observe."

- Ernest Hemmingway

1. Yoon to meet with Biden, Kishida on margins of G-7 summit

2. Experts: Seoul-Tokyo Detente Helps Washington Counter Beijing

3. G-7 summit spotlights Japan’s growing role as strategic link for East Asia security

4. Rewards for quality information suggest rise in defection by elite N. Koreans

5. S. Korea-US-Japan to hold summit in Hiroshima without joint statement

6. The Liberty Times Editorial: Seoul’s China shift offers lessons

7. 4 ex-labor union officials indicted for alleged espionage at N. Korea's instruction

8. Why South Korea Won’t Build Nukes Despite the Threat From North Korea

9. Pressured by China, South Korean NGO Stands Firm on Rights Award

10. Japan Prime Minister touts greater trust with South Korea

11. South Korea alleges spies messaged North Korean handlers via YouTube comments

12. Al Gore calls on S. Korea to prioritize investments in clean energy

13. [Lee Kyong-hee] History matters in Korea-US-Japan relations

1. Yoon to meet with Biden, Kishida on margins of G-7 summit

The Biden administration's alliance foreign policy continues in a positive direction. Improved trilateral cooperation was the 7th of 10 lines of effort in the White House's INDOPACIFIC strategy. Who would have thought that ROK-Japan relations could have made this much progress in such short a time? I guess we have to thank north Korea and China for their actions to drive the ROK and Japan closer together.

(LEAD) Yoon to meet with Biden, Kishida on margins of G-7 summit | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 이해아 · May 14, 2023

(ATTN: UPDATES with details of Yoon's visit, other planned summits)

By Lee Haye-ah

SEOUL, May 14 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol will attend a Group of Seven (G-7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan, later this week and hold a trilateral meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on its sidelines, his office said Sunday.

Yoon will attend the three-day G-7 summit starting Friday as the leader of an invited country, as South Korea is not a member of the G-7.

This combined file photo taken Nov. 13, 2022, shows South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (L), U.S. President Joe Biden (C) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida posing for a photo during their summit at a hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (Yonhap)

He will address an expanded session of the G-7 summit, which will involve the G-7 members and eight guest nations, to speak on food and energy issues.

The other seven invited countries are Australia, Brazil, Comoros, the Cook Islands, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

"Our selection as a G-7 invited country this year confirms our status as a global partner," Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo said during a press briefing. "The trend we're seeing is a strengthening of relations with key friendly nations such as the United States and Japan, and an expansion of bilateral diplomacy, where we have built trust, to multilateral diplomacy."

Yoon will be the fourth South Korean president to attend a G-7 summit. He will be accompanied by first lady Kim Keon Hee.

The Yoon-Biden-Kishida meeting will come on the heels of Yoon's summit with Biden during a state visit to Washington last month and a summit with Kishida in Seoul last week.

The three leaders are expected to discuss strategic cooperation measures, including their response to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, the energy crisis and other common challenges, according to Kim.

Chief among the agenda items will be their agreement in Cambodia last November to share missile warning data in real time to counter growing North Korean missile threats.

"Rather than a new agreement being reached, I think the three leaders will be briefed on progress made so far and the three countries will each announce a coordinated outcome," a presidential official said.

The meeting will likely be held in the "latter half" of the G-7 summit period, given the first and second days are packed with G-7-related events, the official added.

Bilateral meetings with other G-7 leaders are also being planned on the sidelines.

Separately, Yoon and Kishida will pay a joint visit to a memorial dedicated to Korean victims of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, according to Kim.

It will be the first visit to the memorial by a South Korean president and the first joint visit by the leaders of the two countries.

Yoon is also scheduled to hold summits with visiting leaders before and after his trip to Japan.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will make an official three-day visit to South Korea starting Tuesday to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties.

On Wednesday, Yoon and Trudeau will hold a summit, followed by a joint press conference and an official dinner.

Immediately after returning from Japan, Yoon will hold a summit with German Chancellor

Olaf Scholz in Seoul, which will also be followed by a press conference and a working dinner.

The next day, Yoon will hold a summit with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

hague@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by 이해아 · May 14, 2023

2. Experts: Seoul-Tokyo Detente Helps Washington Counter Beijing

Excerpts:

South Korea-Japan reconciliation offers a chance for them "to work together, and in conjunction with the United States, to make clear to Beijing that they will not accept [its] attempt to achieve regional dominance," he said.

China has increasingly become aggressive in the region, with South Korea, Japan and Taiwan all claiming that Beijing has been intruding into their territorial waters and airspaces.

...

The restoration of ties between Washington's staunchest allies in Asia also provides opportunities for the Biden administration to form a united front against China, which seeks to undermine the international rules-based order in its quest to dominate the region vis-a-vis the U.S., according to experts.

"The Biden administration [has been] pushing very hard for both to restore normal functioning of their relationship to make it easier to facilitate trilateral security cooperation” on such issues as making supply chains more resilient and slowing the transfer of advanced electronics technology to China, said Daniel Sneider, a lecturer in East Asian studies at Stanford University.

"The more that the three countries can cooperate together on everything from missile defense to maritime security, the easier it is for the U.S. to be able to fulfill its broader" security goal, he said.

Experts: Seoul-Tokyo Detente Helps Washington Counter Beijing

May 14, 2023 3:04 AM

Christy Lee

voanews.com

washington —

China’s bid for dominance in East Asia appears to have achieved what years of U.S. efforts could not – prompt a reconciliation between feuding American allies Japan and South Korea.

The leaders of South Korea and Japan came together officially this week for the second time this year, emphasizing that security situations in the region compelled them to work together.

"Grave international circumstances" and a "complex set of global crises" necessitate cooperation between South Korea and Japan, said South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol without naming specific countries at his second bilateral summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on May 7-8.

After 12 years of strained relations stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial occupation of Korea, the two countries opted to mend fences when Yoon visited Tokyo in March.

While North Korea and its missile threats were their most immediate focus, "there is no doubt that China and [its] regional assertiveness weighed heavily on the minds of both countries," said Evans Revere, who served as acting assistant secretary for East Asia and Pacific affairs during the George W. Bush administration.

FILE - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shake hands following a joint news conference Tokyo, March 16, 2023.

South Korea-Japan reconciliation offers a chance for them "to work together, and in conjunction with the United States, to make clear to Beijing that they will not accept [its] attempt to achieve regional dominance," he said.

China has increasingly become aggressive in the region, with South Korea, Japan and Taiwan all claiming that Beijing has been intruding into their territorial waters and airspaces.

At a meeting in January, the U.S. and Japan expressed concern about China's attempts "to reshape the international order to its benefit and employ China's growing political and economic, military and technological power to that end."

The two nations also said they opposed "China's intensified attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force in the East China Sea."

Trilateral ties

The restoration of ties between Washington's staunchest allies in Asia also provides opportunities for the Biden administration to form a united front against China, which seeks to undermine the international rules-based order in its quest to dominate the region vis-a-vis the U.S., according to experts.

"The Biden administration [has been] pushing very hard for both to restore normal functioning of their relationship to make it easier to facilitate trilateral security cooperation” on such issues as making supply chains more resilient and slowing the transfer of advanced electronics technology to China, said Daniel Sneider, a lecturer in East Asian studies at Stanford University.

"The more that the three countries can cooperate together on everything from missile defense to maritime security, the easier it is for the U.S. to be able to fulfill its broader" security goal, he said.

Soo Kim, a former CIA analyst and currently Policy Practice Area lead at LMI Consulting, said via email, "The outcome of the Yoon-Kishida summit puts the three countries one step closer towards the direction of strengthening their efforts to counter Chinese aggression in the region."

Though the leaders of South Korea and Japan did not mention China by name, the areas in which they agreed to cooperate align with U.S. goals in the region.

The Biden administration has been trying to limit the flow of advanced technologies like semiconductors into China to prevent Beijing from using the components in military applications.

Andrew Yeo, the SK-Korea Foundation chair in Korea studies at Brookings Institution's Center for East Asia Policy Studies, said, "The two sides' decision to strengthen security and economic cooperation are in part a response to greater Chinese assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region, and not just North Korean threats."

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, second left, dine with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife, Yuko Kishida, at the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, May 7, 2023. (South Korea Presidential Office via AP)

Military and economy

As Kishida said at the post-summit joint news conference on Sunday, Seoul and Tokyo have been discussing how to link their radar with that of the U.S. so all can share data on North Korea's missile activities in live time.

Derek Grossman, a senior defense analyst focusing on security issues in the Indo-Pacific region at RAND Corporation, said in a telephone interview, "They're all going to talk about how it's related to North Korea, but we know that under the surface, what you can do against North Korea, you can also try to do against China.

"So when Japan and South Korea say, 'We're going to share information on missile defense,' China immediately thinks, 'That must be about us, too.' "

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Tuesday at a press briefing that the allies' efforts to integrate their radar systems to track North Korea's missiles "hurt the strategic security interests of other countries" and criticized the trilateral military cooperation of Washington, Seoul and Tokyo.

At the meeting of the Group of Seven countries next week in Hiroshima, the leaders of the U.S., Japan, the U.K., Canada, France, Germany and Italy are expected to discuss China's economic practices. Yoon has been invited to attend.

voanews.com

3. G-7 summit spotlights Japan’s growing role as strategic link for East Asia security

Excerpts:

NATO invited Japan and South Korea, along with Australia and New Zealand, to attend its Madrid conference last year. Japan and South Korea, due to their defense treaties with the U.S. and the presence of thousands of American troops in their territory, already use many U.S.- and NATO-standard systems.

That enables NATO forces to work smoothly with Japanese and South Korean counterparts. Small contingents of British troops, including marine commandos and paratroops, have already drilled with Japanese and South Korean forces this year.

Crucially, the increasing interoperability also allows the two Asian manufacturing powerhouses to sell arms and equipment to the armed forces of NATO members.

South Korea last year announced a major arms sale to Poland, worth as much as $18 billion, that includes combat aircraft, fleets of tanks and self-propelled and rocket artillery. Seoul is also sending a reported 500,000 155 mm artillery shells to the Pentagon.

As Tokyo ramps up its defense sector, Japan’s Mitsubishi has entered a commercial alliance with NATO members Italy and Britain to jointly design and build next-generation stealth fighters by 2035. The three have agreed to merge their separate stealth-fighter programs into one.

G-7 summit spotlights Japan’s growing role as strategic link for East Asia security

washingtontimes.com · by Andrew Salmon

People pass by a TV screen showing South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, left, during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, May 7, 2023. The leaders … more >

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As it prepares to host a high-stakes G-7 summit next week, Japan‘s expanding role as a strategic hub — both across East Asia and in the growing links between the Atlantic and Pacific — is coming into ever sharper focus

Japanese media reported this week that the missile defense radar networks of Japan and South Korea are to be interlinked via the United States. The connection signals the emergence of tangible, U.S.-sponsored trilateral defense cooperation bloc off China’s eastern flank.

Separately, Tokyo’s foreign minister revealed this week that NATO is discussing the establishment of a new liaison office in Japan, a tightening of ties between the Western military alliance and Europe and the budding East Asian defensive coalition.

Both moves are likely to generate high-fives in the Pentagon. Not only do they signal that the push to build an effective partnership between the often-squabbling East Asian democracies is bearing fruit, they also mark milestones in Japan‘s incremental but unmistakable evolution from a pacifist nation to an active security partner with Washington.

In 2015, Tokyo amended its post-World War II constitution to expand the role for its military and allow the defense of allies. Since 2018, Japan has been mobilizing expeditionary assets beyond its borders, notably with marine brigades and F-35 aircraft carriers. In 2022, it announced the acquisition of long-range cruise missiles and plans to double the defense budget by 2027.

Japan has not acted in a vacuum. The arguments of Tokyo hawks have been empowered by the actions of potential adversaries: China’s ongoing arms buildup, North Korea’s ever-expanding arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles, and Russia’s status quo-shattering invasion of Ukraine.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hosts President Biden and the leaders of the other G-7 industrial democracies for three days starting May 19 in his constituency, Hiroshima. That city was obliterated by the U.S. atomic strike in 1945, but the anti-nuclear message that G-7 leaders hope to project now is aimed squarely at Moscow.

“While Russia implied the use of nuclear weapons in its aggression against Ukraine, the 77 years of history since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, during which time no nuclear weapons have been used, must not be ignored,” Mr. Kishida wrote on the Japanese Foreign Ministry website.

Thin red line of radars

In a widely noticed article earlier this month, Tokyo’s Yomiuri newspaper reported that Japan, South Korea and the U.S. are to link their missile-defense radar networks via Hawaii’s Indo-Pacific Command, allowing real-time data sharing on such threats as North Korean ballistic missile tests.

Seoul’s Defense Ministry spokesman Jeon Ha-gyu told reporters only that discussions are ongoing, but there are already reports that the plan could be agreed to by June.

South Korea and Japan have a long, fraught political, cultural and diplomatic relationship. No alliance unites Seoul and Tokyo, forcing Washington to step in. The proposed trilateral linkage would eliminate blind spots in radar coverage, as well as the time lag in transferring and sharing data.

The coordinated radar cordon, while ostensibly aimed at North Korea, looks likely to unsettle China, which reacted furiously to the 2017 deployment of a U.S. THAAD anti-missile battery in South Korea as a threat to Beijing’s own nuclear deterrence capability.

That year, then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in floated the “three nos” to Chinese President Xi Jinping in an effort to calm the diplomatic waters: no more THAAD; no signing up with a U.S.-led missile defense system; and no joining a trilateral alliance with Japan.

The formality of the “Three Nos” remains unclear, but last year, Beijing warned Seoul that it expects the Moon pledges to be honored. Conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol, who succeeded Mr. Moon in 2022, apparently does not feel bound by his predecessor’s offer.

The development is the fruit of warming ties between Seoul and Tokyo, largely pushed by Mr. Yoon. The South Korean president visited Tokyo last month, and Mr. Kishida came to Seoul earlier this month.

Tokyo and Brussels

On another front, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi confirmed in a May 10 interview with CNN that Tokyo’s plans to invite NATO to open the organization’s first Asian office, saying that discussions are underway but the details have not been fully worked out.

Mr. Hayashi said, “The reason why we are discussing this is that since the aggression by Russia to Ukraine, the world [has] become more unstable.”

According to Japanese media, the liaison office was first discussed between Mr. Kishida and NATO Secretary General Jans Stoltenberg during the latter’s Asia tour in January. Japan also plans to open a mission to NATO, led by an official at the ambassador level.

European and East Asian security ties already extend to joint cybersecurity, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had diplomatic and military reverberations that are being felt in both theaters.

NATO invited Japan and South Korea, along with Australia and New Zealand, to attend its Madrid conference last year. Japan and South Korea, due to their defense treaties with the U.S. and the presence of thousands of American troops in their territory, already use many U.S.- and NATO-standard systems.

That enables NATO forces to work smoothly with Japanese and South Korean counterparts. Small contingents of British troops, including marine commandos and paratroops, have already drilled with Japanese and South Korean forces this year.

Crucially, the increasing interoperability also allows the two Asian manufacturing powerhouses to sell arms and equipment to the armed forces of NATO members.

South Korea last year announced a major arms sale to Poland, worth as much as $18 billion, that includes combat aircraft, fleets of tanks and self-propelled and rocket artillery. Seoul is also sending a reported 500,000 155 mm artillery shells to the Pentagon.

As Tokyo ramps up its defense sector, Japan’s Mitsubishi has entered a commercial alliance with NATO members Italy and Britain to jointly design and build next-generation stealth fighters by 2035. The three have agreed to merge their separate stealth-fighter programs into one.

• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.

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Rewards for quality information suggest rise in defection by elite N. Koreans | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 장재순 · May 14, 2023

SEOUL, May 14 (Yonhap) -- A record 64 North Korean defectors received financial rewards last year in exchange for providing valuable information about their former homeland, data from the unification ministry showed Sunday.

The figure, the highest since 2014, suggests that defection by elite North Koreans holding quality information, such as overseas-based diplomats, could have risen, as the total number of North Korean defectors came only to 67 last year amid pandemic border closures in the North.

A total of 398 million won (US$296,459) was paid to the 64 defectors as rewards for providing worthwhile information last year, according to the ministry data submitted to Rep. Kim Sang-hee of the main opposition Democratic Party.

The biggest reward was 148 million won while the lowest was 3 million won.

Such rewards are separate from housing and other subsidies that all North Korean defectors receive upon arrival in South Korea.

This year alone, a total of 15 North Korean defectors received 163 million won in such rewards.

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by 장재순 · May 14, 2023

5. S. Korea-US-Japan to hold summit in Hiroshima without joint statement

We have made enough joint statements. We need to execute all the items in the joint statements. We will struggle to find something new to put in a statement.

Not issuing a joint statement in Hiroshima is a testament to how thorough all the recent joint statements have been. Again ,we need to focus on execution rather than working new joint statements.

S. Korea-US-Japan to hold summit in Hiroshima without joint statement

koreaherald.com · by Shin Ji-hye · May 14, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol will hold a meeting with US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the sidelines of the upcoming Group of Seven summit to be held in Hiroshima, Japan, to discuss ways to cooperate on North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, according to the presidential office on Sunday.

The trilateral summit comes six months since the three leaders' meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in November last year. It marks the third such meeting since Yoon took office in May last year.

The three leaders are expected to discuss strategic plans to “upgrade Korea-US-Japan cooperation to the next level in response to common challenge such as North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, regional supply chain instability and energy crisis,” according to Kim Tae-hyo, first deputy director of the National Security Office, at a press briefing in the afternoon.

The summit is anticipated to be hold on May 21, the last day of the summit.

When asked about the extent of trilateral security cooperation during the talks, a high-ranking official said anonymously that military officials from the three countries have been engaged in working-level discussions since the information sharing on North Korean missiles were specified in the joint statement as an outcome of the previous summit in Phnom Penh.

“At the Hiroshima summit, the three countries are expected to each announce the results of what has been reported, confirmed and coordinated, rather than coming up with new agreements,” the official said.

The G-7 meeting will be exclusively attended by member countries and an expanded meeting that includes inviting countries and international organizations. During the expanded meeting, leaders will engage in discussions on various topics, including food, health, climate and energy development. Kim said Yoon will attend and speak at the expanded meeting without mentioning specific topics.

Yoon and Kishida will possibly jointly visit the memorial stone dedicated to Korean victims who died from atomic bombs in Hiroshima in the Peace Memorial Park, tentatively scheduled for May 21. Yoon will become the first Korean president to visit the memorial park.

Kim said the visit of the two leaders will serve as a gesture of comfort to the Koreans who lost their lives in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in the past, and to prepare for a future of peace and prosperity together.

Right after returning home on May 21, Yoon will hold a summit with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. There will be a joint press conference and dinner. The following day, he will have a Korea-EU summit with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, followed by a joint press release and an official dinner. Before departing for Japan, Yoon will hold a summit with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)

koreaherald.com · by Shin Ji-hye · May 14, 2023

6. The Liberty Times Editorial: Seoul’s China shift offers lessons

Excerpts:

South Korea has also put an end to its own version of “strategic ambiguity” by tilting toward the US and away from China, while relinquishing its appeasement policy for North Korea, which reinforces the idea that peace can only be achieved through strength.

Seoul’s shift in foreign and economic policy has become a model for Taiwan to follow.

The two nations share quite a few similarities: Both are under the threat of communist neighbors, were positioned on the front line of the Cold War, are endowed with a political regime that has gone from an autocracy to a democracy and have export-driven economies.

However, relations between them have soured as economic competition intensified, under which not only profits, but also the status and prestige of a country were at stake.

South Korea had adopted a “Nordpolitik” policy to reach out to socialist countries such as North Korea, China and Russia. It also regarded China as its most favorable partner, an “open and reformed” country that promised huge market potential and offered counterbalancing with influence over North Korea.

After Seoul ended diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1992 to form diplomatic relations with China, the wrangling led to the downgrading of each other’s trade status and bitter sentiment.

In response to the recent US-China rivalry, South Korean leaders before President Yoon Suk-yeol mostly favored China over Japan, which complicated Washington’s efforts to build a stronger alliance in the Indo-Pacific region to better cope with rising Chinese influence.

However, the events of the past few years have triggered a series of shifts.

Thu, May 11, 2023 page8

https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2023/05/11/2003799568

The Liberty Times Editorial: Seoul’s China shift offers lessons

As members of the Asian Tigers, Taiwan and South Korea have long been rivals vying for the region’s top seat.
Although South Korea was an important stronghold for pushing back communist forces during the Cold War, it has long adopted a middle course of not picking sides between the US and China.
However, Seoul has recently undergone a major transformation.
Taiwan’s GDP per capita has surpassed South Korea’s for the first time since 2004, which has ramped up economic pressure on the country.
South Korea has also put an end to its own version of “strategic ambiguity” by tilting toward the US and away from China, while relinquishing its appeasement policy for North Korea, which reinforces the idea that peace can only be achieved through strength.
Seoul’s shift in foreign and economic policy has become a model for Taiwan to follow.
The two nations share quite a few similarities: Both are under the threat of communist neighbors, were positioned on the front line of the Cold War, are endowed with a political regime that has gone from an autocracy to a democracy and have export-driven economies.
However, relations between them have soured as economic competition intensified, under which not only profits, but also the status and prestige of a country were at stake.
South Korea had adopted a “Nordpolitik” policy to reach out to socialist countries such as North Korea, China and Russia. It also regarded China as its most favorable partner, an “open and reformed” country that promised huge market potential and offered counterbalancing with influence over North Korea.
After Seoul ended diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1992 to form diplomatic relations with China, the wrangling led to the downgrading of each other’s trade status and bitter sentiment.
In response to the recent US-China rivalry, South Korean leaders before President Yoon Suk-yeol mostly favored China over Japan, which complicated Washington’s efforts to build a stronger alliance in the Indo-Pacific region to better cope with rising Chinese influence.
However, the events of the past few years have triggered a series of shifts.
As South Korea’s security jitters have risen since North Korea test-fired dozens of missiles last year, China seems to have turned a blind eye, if not acquiesced to North Korea’s saber rattling. Ever since signing the China–South Korea Free Trade Agreement in 2015, Seoul thought it had secured its economic interests, but then for the first time in almost 30 years, South Korea quietly recorded its largest trade deficit with China in May last year.
Taiwan, worried about being marginalized when South Korea and China signed the agreement, has had an average annual economic growth of 3.2 percent for the past decade, outpacing South Korea’s 2.6 percent. Taiwan’s GDP per capita was US$32,811 last year, more than South Korea’s US$32,237, which marks the first time Taiwan’s GDP per capita has surpassed South Korea since 2004.
Meanwhile, China’s growing military footprint in the Indo-Pacific region with increasing drills and muscle-flexing has put South Korea further on edge.
All of these factors have contributed to South Korea’s massive shift in policy, which had Yoon patching up relations with Japan despite the countries having been at odds with each other over the course of history. Yoon also made a clear stance of siding with the US-led alliance system, the opposite camp of China.
In view of these, how does South Korea’s swerve become a model for Taiwan?
For one, South Korea used to be fairly tolerant with its bellicose northern neighbor, previously signed the Sino–North Korean Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance and Joint Declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Further, South Korea’s once proactive efforts of enhancing ties with China were carried out in the hopes that Beijing could help reign in North Korea by playing the role of mediator and police in the region.
However, the efforts proved to be futile as North Korea showed no signs of slowing the expansion of its nuclear arsenal with medium and long-range missiles, sending tremors not only throughout South Korea, but also Japan and the US. China’s pursuit of “national rejuvenation” has echoed North Korea’s expansionism.
In view of a new axis of autocrats bringing China into ever tighter collaboration with North Korea, South Korea has had such a rude awakening that it turned its back on Beijing and joined the democratic camp.
Yoon has been a contrast to the pro-China supporters in Taiwan, who spread skepticism of the US and promote appeasement, saying “bargained peace is still a kind of peace.” Instead, on the day of the South Korea-US summit, Yoon and US President Joe Biden adopted a joint statement called the “Washington Declaration” and underscored the notion that the two countries can “achieve peace through the superiority of overwhelming forces and not a false peace based on the goodwill of the other side.”
Addressing a joint session of the US Congress, Yoon said that his country’s 70-year alliance with the US has been “the linchpin safeguarding our freedom, peace and prosperity,” and paid tribute to the US soldiers who fought in the Korean War for helping his country defend its democracy.
Had South Korea not had the US’ help in fighting the communist forces in the north back then, it would have disappeared from the map altogether. As history never fails to provide lessons, Seoul’s trust in Washington has ensured its survival and existence.
South Korea’s wishful thinking of tapping into the Chinese market has not worked wonders on its economic development, and it is now forced to endure the consequences. In contrast, the Sunflower movement against the government’s handling of a cross-strait service trade agreement in 2014 has not impeded Taiwan’s economic growth.
South Korea recorded a trade deficit — meaning it imported more than it exported — of US$5.1 billion with China in January and February, whereas it enjoyed a US$55.6 billion trade surplus with China in 2018. As South Korea logs the biggest fall in exports, data showed that its exports to China suffered the biggest drop.
As the slump shows no sign of easing, commentators have said that the deficit was due to South Korea’s overreliance on the Chinese market, while its major competitive edge of exporting intermediate goods has been overtaken by Chinese firms.
As South Korea reels from structural issues in its trade relations with China, the irreversible trend is highly similar to Taiwan’s predicament with China.
As Taiwan’s GDP exceeds South Korea’s, new challenges have emerged. Imports in March fell 20.1 percent from a year earlier and exports to China dropped 30 percent, indicating that Taiwan shares similar structural issues with South Korea. Both countries had to bear the ramifications of China’s shrinking market.
China has also continued to use economic coercion, blocking imports of seafood products and agricultural products from Taiwan since March 2021. On April 12, Beijing initiated a trade barrier investigation involving 2,455 types of products from China, which undermined Taiwan’s chances of making an economic recovery.
As exports account for 70 percent of Taiwan’s GDP, it has had a succession of seven deficits, leading to negative growth in two consecutive quarters. In the first quarter, it deteriorated to minus-3.02 percent, which would greatly increase the difficulty of maintaining economic growth of 2 percent.
Meanwhile, cross-strait tensions have become more acute than ever. As peace between Beijing and Taipei concerns global trade and the continued existence of democracy in Taiwan, the free world should come together to address the issue, while the public should be wary of pro-China voices spreading anti-US narratives and appeasement sentiments, which are designed to weaken their will and morale to push back against China. Given Seoul’s major transformation, it is high time for Taiwan to learn a thing or two from its long-term rival.
Translated by Rita Wang

7. 4 ex-labor union officials indicted for alleged espionage at N. Korea's instruction

The Kim family regime conducts political warfare against the South to try to subvert the ROK government and society.

4 ex-labor union officials indicted for alleged espionage at N. Korea's instruction

The Korea Times · May 10, 2023

A prosecutor gives a press briefing at the Suwon District Court, May 10. Yonhap

Prosecutors on Wednesday indicted four former officials of South Korea's biggest umbrella union, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), on charges of using labor activities as a cover for espionage at the instruction of North Korea.

The Suwon District Court indicted the four former senior KCTU officials, aged 54, 52, 51 and 48, respectively, under physical detention on charges of espionage, communicating and meeting with North Korean spies and other violations of the National Security Act. The identities of all of them have been withheld.

The four allegedly formed an underground organization with an aim to gain control of the labor union and spearheaded labor protests on key political and social issues all at the instruction of North Korea, according to prosecution investigations.

Adopted in late 1948 amid the Cold War, the National Security Act criminalizes praising or propagating activities of "anti-state" organizations or their members, notably from North Korea. Producing or possessing "enemy-benefiting" materials is also punishable under the law.

Of those indicted, the 52-year-old man who served as a senior organization official at the KCTU is suspected of contacting three North Korean spy agents in Cambodia in September 2017 and meeting another North Korean agent in China in September 2018 to receive instructions regarding activities in South Korea.

From late 2018 to late last year, he was allegedly given written instructions from North Korea on a total of 102 occasions and collected information regarding elections for the top KCTU leadership and photo images of the American military base in Pyeongtaek, Air Force facilities in Osan and other military equipment.

The other three men are also accused of meeting North Korean secret agents in Cambodia or Vietnam in 2017 or getting instructions from the North Korean side.

The Cultural Exchange Bureau under North Korea's United Front Department, which handles issues with South Korea, was found to have been in charge of commanding the four men, prosecution officials said.

Working for North Korea, the four had allegedly tried to win other key KCTU figures over to their side and bring the labor union under their control. They are also accused of staging anti-U.S. and anti-Japan protests after getting instructions from the North to "take advantage of public resentment ... to have the public explode in anger."

The prosecution, the National Intelligence Service and the National Police Agency together seized 90 written instructions by North Korea in the probe into the case, and some of them ordered the collection of data for the purpose of paralyzing the electricity supply to Cheong Wa Dae and other main state institutions. Collection of other secrets regarding the Navy's 2nd Fleet Command and other power supply facilities was also demanded.

All of the four indicted are denying their charges and refusing to speak in prosecution investigations. (Yonhap)

The Korea Times · May 10, 2023

8. Why South Korea Won’t Build Nukes Despite the Threat From North Korea

Conclusion:

The Washington Accord is a win for everyone. South Korea and Japan don’t have to build their own nuclear arsenals, an expensive and politically risky proposition. The United States does not have to worry about South Korea or Japan unilaterally using their own nukes in a preemptive attack, a move that could trigger North Korea retaliating against American cities. The bottom line is, the fewer nuclear powers in the world, even if they’re on our side, the better.

Why South Korea Won’t Build Nukes Despite the Threat From North Korea

Popular Mechanics · May 9, 2023

The U.S. and South Korea have struck an important deal that will keep much of East Asia nuke-free.
South Korea has agreed not to build nukes as long as the U.S. rotates nuclear-capable forces into the country and agrees to include it in nuclear planning.
Spurred on by tensions with nuclear-capable North Korea, South Korea was considering building its own nuclear weapons.

The United States and South Korea have signed a major accord that will keep the latter from developing and deploying its own nuclear weapons. Known as the “Washington Declaration,” the agreement will see the U.S. deploy nuclear delivery systems to the Korean peninsula and bring South Korea deeper into contingency planning in the event of a North Korean nuclear crisis. In return, South Korea will refrain from developing its own nuclear weapons.

A Swift, Overwhelming, and Decisive Response

A U.S. Air Force B-52H and South Korean F-15K Slam Eagle fly over Osan Air Base, January 2016. This B-52H lacks fins on the fuselage that designate it as nuclear-capable; future B-52 deployments to South Korea will definitely involve nuclear-capable bombers.

Getty Images

The accord was formalized in late April during a state visit by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. In remarks at the White House, Yoon stated: “Our two countries have agreed to immediate bilateral presidential consultations in the event of North Korea’s nuclear attack and promised to respond swiftly, overwhelmingly, and decisively using the full force of the alliance including the United States’ nuclear weapons.”

Yoon also said that the two countries would “share information on nuclear and strategic weapons operation plans,” and that “planning and executing combined joint operations together” will take place on a regular basis.

No South Korean Nukes

A South Korean Hyunmoo-2 short-range ballistic missile, 2017. The Hyunmoo-2 could probably be modified to carry a nuclear warhead, but that worry is off the table for now.

Getty Images

South Korea’s recommittal is by far the most important part of the deal, not only for Washington, but the rest of East Asia. Its government is under increasing pressure to match North Korea’s nuclear arms buildup with nukes of its own, with 70 percent of its citizens wanting nuclear arms. South Korea is also building a triad of conventional weapons, including land-based missiles, air-launched cruise missiles, and sea-based missiles, a possible forerunner for a nuclear triad.

Dive Deeper

South Korea Is Building an American ‘Arsenal Ship’

The issue is not just that South Korea would have its finger on the nuclear button, but that Seoul going nuclear could prompt Japan to also build weapons of its own. Although avowedly a non-nuclear power, Japan is also threatened by North Korean nuclear weapons. It is also a military rival, though not a hostile rival, of South Korea. If both countries went nuclear, that would mint two new countries capable of initiating a nuclear war, and would leave Taiwan as the last non-nuclear power in East Asia—for now anyway.

The Catch

The ballistic-missile submarine USS Nevada departs its base at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Washington for a scheduled patrol on December 16, 2021. As a Pacific-oriented missile submarine, Nevada could be the sub that will make a port visit in South Korea.

U.S. Navy

In order to reassure South Korea that U.S. nuclear forces are available in a crisis, part of the deal involves American nuclear forces boosting their profile on the Korean peninsula. President Yoon stated that the “deployment of US strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula” will “be done regularly and continuously.” According to the Pentagon, this will include an upcoming visit to South Korea by a U.S. Navy ballistic-missile submarine.

In addition to the visit, the U.S. will also likely increase the number of visits of nuclear-capable bombers to South Korea. The U.S. typically rotates four heavy strategic bombers to Europe and Asia, with the Asian bomber contingent temporarily basing at Guam. In the past, the flights have included B-1B bombers, but the B-1B fleet has been stripped of its nuclear weapons capacity, leaving B-52 and B-2 bombers to fill the role. It also likely means the bombers will actually operate from U.S. bases in Korea.

The Takeaway

The Washington Accord is a win for everyone. South Korea and Japan don’t have to build their own nuclear arsenals, an expensive and politically risky proposition. The United States does not have to worry about South Korea or Japan unilaterally using their own nukes in a preemptive attack, a move that could trigger North Korea retaliating against American cities. The bottom line is, the fewer nuclear powers in the world, even if they’re on our side, the better.

Kyle Mizokami

Kyle Mizokami is a writer on defense and security issues and has been at Popular Mechanics since 2015. If it involves explosions or projectiles, he's generally in favor of it. Kyle’s articles have appeared at The Daily Beast, U.S. Naval Institute News, The Diplomat, Foreign Policy, Combat Aircraft Monthly, VICE News, and others. He lives in San Francisco.

Popular Mechanics · May 9, 2023

9. Pressured by China, South Korean NGO Stands Firm on Rights Award

Don't give in to the bully.

Pressured by China, South Korean NGO Stands Firm on Rights Award

May 12, 2023 11:10 AM

voanews.com

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA —

A South Korean human rights group has condemned what it calls inappropriate pressure from the Chinese government, after the organization selected a jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy activist as the winner of its annual human rights award.

The May 18 Foundation — an organization based in South Korea's southwestern city of Gwangju — earlier this month named labor activist and lawyer Chow Hang-tung as the recipient of its 2023 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights.

Chow is serving 22 months in prison for attending and helping organize vigils to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. She faces up to 10 more years in jail after being charged with "inciting subversion" under Hong Kong's far-reaching National Security Law.

FILE - Pro-democracy activists raise up candles during a candlelight vigil to mark the 30th anniversary of the crackdown of China's pro-democracy movement at Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, at Victoria Park in Hong Kong, June 4, 2019.

A day after Chow was announced as the winner, the Chinese consulate in Gwangju demanded a meeting with the May 18 Foundation and later dispatched three officials in an attempt to get the award rescinded, the group told VOA.

It is the latest instance of China attempting to control conversation about its policies and silence critics in South Korea, a trend also seen globally.

Japan Prime Minister touts greater trust with South Korea

americanmilitarynews.com · by Asia News Network · May 13, 2023

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Monday he had succeeded in deepening the trust between himself and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at a dinner with Yoon the previous evening.

“We had a very significant conversation on a wide range of topics, including personal matters. It helped us deepen our trust in each other,” said Kishida. “I’d like to strengthen that trust with the president further and work together to pave the way for a new era.”

Kishida met Monday in Seoul with members of a bipartisan group at the South Korean National Assembly who have interacted with Japanese lawmakers. He expressed his appreciation for their efforts to bolster friendship between the two countries.

“The historic Japan-Korean Parliamentarians’ Union and the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians’ Union have served as bridges between the two countries even under very difficult circumstances in the bilateral relations. I wish to express my gratitude to you,” Kishida said in his meeting with Chung Jin-suk, president of the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians’ Union.

“I look forward to further active exchange by lawmakers,” Kishida said.

Chung praised Kishida’s remarks, made on Sunday, regarding the lawsuits related to former requisitioned workers from the Korean Peninsula. “Your warm message was very impressive,” Chung said.

After the meeting with Chung, the prime minister also met with South Korean business officials.

During Sunday’s summit, Kishida and Yoon agreed that South Korea will send a delegation of experts on May 23 to inspect the treated water that is expected to be released from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Regarding issues of wartime requisitioned workers, Yoon said there is no change in his stance of steadily implementing the solution that Seoul announced in March.

“We must get away from the belief that we can’t take any steps toward future cooperation unless we completely settle historical issues,” the president said.

Yoon mentioned the Washington Declaration, which he released with U.S. President Joe Biden during his visit to the United States in April. The president said “we don’t exclude Japan’s possible participation” regarding the measures in the declaration to strengthen nuclear deterrence against North Korea.

___

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

11. South Korea alleges spies messaged North Korean handlers via YouTube comments

But this is not all about politics (even though that is the dominant context for both parties). The very real fact is north Korea is conducting active subversion against the South and exploits everything from useful idiots to recruited agents from among the Korean people in the South.

This very real threat cannot be dismissed as simply conservative versus progressive politics.

Excerpts:

The charges risk inciting political controversy in South Korea, where the conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol’s administration has been seen to be increasing investigations of alleged links between senior opposition figures and North Korean intelligence.

The KCTU, which has more than a million members in South Korea, is generally considered to be politically aligned with the center-left Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), which had been in government until last year.

During the presidential elections in 2022, Yoon Suk-yeol received 48.56% of the vote against his DPK opponent, Lee Jae-myung, who received 47.83% — the thinnest margin in South Korea’s history.

The DPK has described the charges against the NCTU executives as being politically motivated and compared them to the policies of Gen. Chun Doo-hwan, the right-wing military dictator who governed South Korea until 1987.

When in government, the DPK pursued an “anti-corruption campaign” into the country’s National Intelligence Service that led to several of the agency’s former directors being convicted of diverting clandestine budget funds to the president at the time, conservative Park Geun-hye, for bribes.

South Korea alleges spies messaged North Korean handlers via YouTube comments

therecord.media

South Korea has charged four trade union leaders with spying for North Korea in a plot that involved the accused allegedly communicating with their handlers by leaving coded comments on obscure YouTube videos.

Prosecutors on Thursday alleged that senior members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) had been instructed to photograph military bases and use their union positions to foment anti-American and anti-Japanese sentiments.

According to South Korean cable television news channel YTV, the alleged spies — who have not yet been named but were described as former and current executives of the KCTU — used elaborate tradecraft to signal for meetings with their handlers.

Prosecutors say the suspects have been accused of several violations of the country’s strict National Security Act. The act states that providing military or state secrets to North Korea is punishable by either capital punishment or imprisonment for life.

The men, aged between 48 and 54, allegedly met with North Korean operatives in Cambodia and Vietnam between 2017 and 2019 where they were given instructions to wait in front of landmarks before signaling whether a contact would be made.

The signals included opening a water bottle and taking a sip at exactly 10 o’clock to confirm that everything was OK. If their North Korean contact was seen lighting a cigarette, it was a warning they were being tailed, prosecutors said.

The meetings were arranged via a YouTube video titled “Tutorial: How to open Yamaha NVX 155 without key,” according to NK News. The union executives’ comments would include key words to covertly describe their situation, for instance including the word “uphill” to indicate they were struggling to contact their handlers.

Political backdrop

The charges risk inciting political controversy in South Korea, where the conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol’s administration has been seen to be increasing investigations of alleged links between senior opposition figures and North Korean intelligence.

The KCTU, which has more than a million members in South Korea, is generally considered to be politically aligned with the center-left Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), which had been in government until last year.

During the presidential elections in 2022, Yoon Suk-yeol received 48.56% of the vote against his DPK opponent, Lee Jae-myung, who received 47.83% — the thinnest margin in South Korea’s history.

The DPK has described the charges against the NCTU executives as being politically motivated and compared them to the policies of Gen. Chun Doo-hwan, the right-wing military dictator who governed South Korea until 1987.

When in government, the DPK pursued an “anti-corruption campaign” into the country’s National Intelligence Service that led to several of the agency’s former directors being convicted of diverting clandestine budget funds to the president at the time, conservative Park Geun-hye, for bribes.

Alexander Martin

Alexander Martin is the UK Editor for Recorded Future News. He was previously a technology reporter for Sky News and is also a fellow at the European Cyber Conflict Research Initiative.

therecord.media

12. Al Gore calls on S. Korea to prioritize investments in clean energy

Al Gore calls on S. Korea to prioritize investments in clean energy

koreaherald.com · by Kim So-hyun · May 14, 2023

Former US vice president, businessperson and environmentalist Al Gore expressed caution over South Korea’s plan to increase its generation of nuclear power to over 30 percent of its total energy creation by 2030.

“While nuclear can and should continue to play a role in South Korea, it would be a mistake to deprioritize proven and cost-effective solutions like wind and solar energy, which are not only necessary to hit our climate goals, but they allow countries like South Korea to avoid unpredictable fluctuations in the price of imported fossil fuels,” Gore said in an interview with The Korea Herald, ahead of Herald Corp.’s May 24 forum to celebrate the newspaper’s 70th anniversary.

Nuclear accounted for 27 percent of the country’s total energy mix in 2021, while renewables’ contribution was 7.5 percent. South Korea’s nuclear expansion plan comes with a cut in its target for alternative energy – from 30 percent to 21.6 percent by 2030.

“I'm supportive of keeping existing nuclear plants running, assuming it can be done safely in each case, and I would be thrilled to see a new breakthrough that allows new nuclear technologies to play an increased role. But I am not overly optimistic that this will prove possible,” said Gore, who jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for their efforts to increase public knowledge about human-caused climate change. He will give a keynote speech at the forum on "The Role of the Korea-US Alliance and Partnership in Response to the Global Crisis."

Gore also noted how nuclear energy is among the most expensive sources of power in many countries, often with cost overruns and long delays in plant construction, while the cost of producing wind and solar energy have plunged in recent years.

Whereas solar and wind power generation were less expensive than new coal and gas plants in only 1 percent of the world in 2014, they were the cheapest sources of new electricity in over two-thirds of the world in 2019, and will be cheaper in virtually all of the world in the next few years, he said.

Citing a study released by Oxford University, Gore stressed that investing in wind and solar power is “by far the fastest and cheapest way to decarbonize electricity generation.”

“A transition in which nuclear energy played a dominant role would cost tens of trillions more than a transition dominated by wind, solar, batteries, and possibly green hydrogen made with the surplus renewable electricity,” he said in the email interview.

He said he is not “anti-nuclear,” but is “pro-realism,” and would therefore encourage South Korean leaders to prioritize investments in clean energy technologies that allow the country to make the fastest cuts in emissions at the lowest cost to its citizens.

He also warned that failure to address the climate crisis with the appropriate speed and scale would increase geopolitical tensions worldwide.

“The climate crisis is already fueling inflation and threatening supply chains,” he said, mentioning how last year’s unprecedented drought damaged supply chains on waterways, particularly in Europe, and led to temporary factory closures in China.

He also mentioned the Russian invasion of Ukraine from the same perspective.

“In Ukraine, we have seen how our continued reliance on fossil fuels has empowered a petrostate to fund a protracted war of aggression. As world leaders strive to facilitate peace in Ukraine, they must not compromise on issues of democracy. They must also focus on building long-term global stability by reducing global dependence on oil, gas, and coal.”

Gore backs several environmental groups, including Climate Trace, which runs an AI-powered greenhouse gas emission tracker using satellite imagery.

“Climate TRACE harnesses data from 300 satellites, over 11,100 sensors, as well as publicly and commercially available datasets to produce an independent and highly detailed emissions inventory that covers every country in the world, and identifies the most significant individual sources of greenhouse gas emissions, from power plants to steel mills to landfills,” he said.

“Incidentally, two of the top five most-emitting power plants in the world are located in South Korea, as are two of the top five most-emitting steel plants, and three of the top seven most-emitting refineries in the world.”

At the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference that begins Nov. 30, Climate Trace will cover roughly 70 million individual sites, allowing anyone to identify all the worst emitters in their country, state, province or city, Gore said, adding that the number of South Korean sources on its inventory will also increase significantly.

With a goal to significantly raise transparency in emissions monitoring and drive real climate action, the data provided by Climate Trace will guide businesses in making decisions in favor of cleaner sources in their supply chains and help investors identify which companies in their portfolios are making progress on climate goals and which are falling behind, Gore said.

He is optimistic that further progress will be made on the Loss and Damage Fund aimed at providing financial assistance to nations most vulnerable and impacted by the effects of climate change.

“I also personally support efforts such as the one UN Secretary-General (Antonio) Guterres has proposed: a windfall tax on oil and gas profits to fund loss and damage. It is the morally right thing to do,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the fossil fuel industry still holds incredible influence in the US and in governments around the world, which makes such a proposal extremely difficult to enact.”

He stressed that developed nations which contributed most to the climate crisis must play a substantial role in speeding up the transition to net zero in a just and equitable way.

“That means rapidly accelerating financing, both public and private, to developing nations – not just to respond to the impacts of the climate crisis, but to deploy renewable energy and other climate solutions that will lead to greater economic opportunity,” he said.

As the world is in the early stages of a Sustainability Revolution, with rapid cost-reduction curves for clean solar and wind electricity, batteries and electric vehicles among other dramatic efficiency improvements, companies that make the boldest, earliest commitments will have huge opportunities, Gore said.

“ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) and sustainability are not simply boxes to be checked. Companies that pledge to adopt sustainable approaches but fail to dedicate the necessary time and resources to these efforts are doing nothing more than ‘greenwashing,’” he said.

As for the Korea-US alliance marking its 70th anniversary this year, Gore said he hopes the expanded cooperation agreed upon during the recent summit between South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol and US President Joe Biden will create many new jobs and more prosperity by focusing on solutions to the climate crisis.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)

koreaherald.com · by Kim So-hyun · May 14, 2023

13. [Lee Kyong-hee] History matters in Korea-US-Japan relations

Excerpts:

At a joint press conference after his summit talks with Yoon in Seoul on May 7, Kishida again remained tactfully ambiguous. He said, “My heart aches when I think of the many people who endured terrible suffering and grief under the difficult circumstances of the time.” He avoided saying who he was referring to. And he said his feelings were “personal,” suggesting that he was not speaking on behalf of his government. He thus dealt another blow to Yoon and his administration’s naive wishes that Tokyo would “fill up the half-filled water cup” offered to reboot bilateral ties.

Yoon has only himself to blame. At a press interview before his departure for a state visit to Washington on April 26, he effectively invited Japan’s impudence, his magnanimity obviously based on his ignorance of history.

“Europe has experienced several wars for the past 100 years and despite that, warring countries have found ways to cooperate for the future,” he said. “I can’t accept the notion that because of what happened 100 years ago, something is absolutely impossible [to do] and that they (Japanese) must kneel (for forgiveness) because of our history 100 years ago. And this is an issue that requires decision … In terms of persuasion, I believe I did my best.”

[Lee Kyong-hee] History matters in Korea-US-Japan relations

koreaherald.com · by Korea Herald · May 10, 2023

On the cusp of World War II, Syngman Rhee warned Americans about Imperial Japan’s expansionist ambitions. “To review the past is to preview the future,” wrote the future president of Korea in his 1941 book, “Japan Inside out: The Challenge of Today.” Months after the book’s release, Japanese planes bombed US naval ships at Pearl Harbor.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Korea-US alliance and mutual defense treaty, hailed as a historic success. Yet, the challenge to peace is undiminished. The flurry of summit talks in Tokyo, Washington and Seoul in the past two months clearly points to the urgency of the geopolitical situation unfolding in this region. Korea faces greater security challenges than ever.

The leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan will meet again next week in Hiroshima, Japan, on the sidelines of the G-7 summit. Their agenda reportedly will include solidifying tripartite security cooperation.

The host city, of course, will remind attendees about its mass death and devastation from a single US atomic bomb in the final days of World War II. Its native son, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and President Yoon Suk Yeol are expected to jointly pay respects at the Cenotaph for Korean Atomic Bomb Victims in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. It would be the first such visit by the leaders of the two countries. And it also would be an opportune time for the two leaders to alleviate the misgivings among the South Korean public about how they view contentious historical issues between their nations.

An estimated 20,000-30,000 Koreans, many of them forced laborers, were killed in the United States’ atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. They were among the hundreds of thousands of Koreans forcibly mobilized to work at Japanese mines and factories, as well as military brothels, to assist Japan’s war efforts in the Pacific. However, Japan has persistently denied the use of forced labor.

At a joint press conference after his summit talks with Yoon in Seoul on May 7, Kishida again remained tactfully ambiguous. He said, “My heart aches when I think of the many people who endured terrible suffering and grief under the difficult circumstances of the time.” He avoided saying who he was referring to. And he said his feelings were “personal,” suggesting that he was not speaking on behalf of his government. He thus dealt another blow to Yoon and his administration’s naive wishes that Tokyo would “fill up the half-filled water cup” offered to reboot bilateral ties.

Yoon has only himself to blame. At a press interview before his departure for a state visit to Washington on April 26, he effectively invited Japan’s impudence, his magnanimity obviously based on his ignorance of history.

“Europe has experienced several wars for the past 100 years and despite that, warring countries have found ways to cooperate for the future,” he said. “I can’t accept the notion that because of what happened 100 years ago, something is absolutely impossible [to do] and that they (Japanese) must kneel (for forgiveness) because of our history 100 years ago. And this is an issue that requires decision … In terms of persuasion, I believe I did my best.”

Yet, there is little evidence that Yoon tried to persuade the general public and government branches on how to thaw relations with Japan. The “decision” has the unilateral markings of a feudal king, not the head of a democratic state representing the majority of citizens.

It is widely assumed that the hectic fence-mending between Korea and Japan stems from Washington’s pressure to bring its two key Asian allies closer in the US strategizing against China. Kishida’s hurried visit to Seoul was the first by a Japanese prime minister in 12 years. In March, Yoon visited Tokyo for the first Korea-Japan summit in as many years, and a couple of weeks ago he went to Washington.

The summit between Yoon and US President Joe Biden produced the Nuclear Consultative Group, as part of the Washington Declaration that reassured US extended deterrence while shackling South Koreans’ growing aspirations for nuclear arms of their own. If Kishida seeks to put Japan in the group, he should expect a cold shoulder. Already, the touted three-way security cooperation with Tokyo as a partner unnerves most Koreans. They do not find the Japanese trustworthy enough yet to be privy to the nation’s vital security information, let alone joint strategic planning.

In his book, Rhee lamented how “the act of international banditry and outlawry was perpetrated by Japan with the full sanction and approval of the civilized nations of the world.” Korea signed the first of its treaties of amity and commerce with the US in 1882. In 1905, Rhee deplored, the US used its “good offices,” not for Korea, according to the treaty covenants, but for Japan, which was dealing “unjustly and oppressively” with Korea in open violation of its promise.

Rhee apparently was referring to the Taft-Katsura agreement of July 1905. While at war with Russia, Japan’s Prime Minister Katsura Taro met with US Secretary of War William H. Taft and explained Japan’s reason for making a protectorate of Korea, saying Japan had no interest in the Philippines, a US territory at the time.

The war ended in September 1905, with Japan’s unexpected victory. In November of that year, Japan forced the waning court of the Korean Empire to sign the Protectorate Treaty, depriving Korea of its diplomatic rights ahead of its colonization. In February of that year, Japan “incorporated” Dokdo, making the group of islets in the East Sea the first casualty of its lust for hegemony over Korea.

Tokyo still asserts its territorial rights over the islets, Korea’s inherent territory, which had been recognized by Japan up until its imperial aggression. Washington must first nudge Japan to drop its unjust claim on Dokdo, instead of tacitly condoning, before it can expect highly functional tripartite security cooperation involving Tokyo and Seoul.

Lee Kyong-hee

Lee Kyong-hee is a former editor-in-chief of The Korea Herald. -- Ed.

By Korea Herald (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

koreaherald.com · by Korea Herald · May 10, 2023

De Oppresso Liber,

David Maxwell

Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy

Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation

Editor, Small Wars Journal

Twitter: @davidmaxwell161

Phone: 202-573-8647

email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com

De Oppresso Liber,

David Maxwell

Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy

Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation

Editor, Small Wars Journal

Twitter: @davidmaxwell161

Phone: 202-573-8647

email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com

If you do not read anything else in the 2017 National Security Strategy read this on page 14:

"A democracy is only as resilient as its people. An informed and engaged citizenry is the fundamental requirement for a free and resilient nation. For generations, our society has protected free press, free speech, and free thought. Today, actors such as Russia are using information tools in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of democracies. Adversaries target media, political processes, financial networks, and personal data. The American public and private sectors must recognize this and work together to defend our way of life. No external threat can be allowed to shake our shared commitment to our values, undermine our system of government, or divide our Nation."

Access NSS HERE