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Quotes of the day:
"I would hope that all educated citizens would fulfill this obligation—in politics, in Government, here in Nashville, here in this State, in the Peace Corps, in the Foreign Service, in the Government Service, in the Tennessee Valley, in the world. You will find the pressures greater than the pay. You may endure more public attacks than support. But you will have the unequaled satisfaction of knowing that your character and talent are contributing to the direction and success of this free society."
- John F. Kennedy
“James Lawson, a key figure in developing the Movement’s philosophy and tactics and in training a cadre of influential leaders, once commented, “Protracted struggle is a moral struggle that is like warfare, moral warfare.” Another activist, Charles Sherrod of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, in looking back, said, “It was a war. Though it was a non-violent war, but it was indeed a war.””
- Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968 by Thomas E. Ricks
"The greatest enemies of success and happiness are negative emotions of all kinds."
- Brian Tracy
1. S. Korea discusses policy blueprint to improve N. Korea's human rights situation
2. U.S. envoy for N. Korea holds rare talks with Chinese counterpart over recent provocations
3. N. Korean nuclear threat poses serious challenge to U.S. extended deterrence: Campbell
4. Kim Jong-un reshuffles top officials more often to secure loyalty, tighten power grip: ministry
5. Ex-national security adviser indicted over slain official case
6. U.S. Commits to Keeping Troop Strength in Korea
7. N.Korean Workers Party Vows to Stay in Power for 8,000 Years
8. Workers’ Party school staffer arrested for anti-socialist activity
9. South Korea Passes New Law Making Everyone a Little Younger
10. Polish president personally welcomes delivery of Korean weapons
11. North hackers used Itaewon tragedy as Trojan Horse
12. Unification ministry seeks power to investigate North Korean defectors
1. S. Korea discusses policy blueprint to improve N. Korea's human rights situation
Human rights upfront. This is an excellent step in the right direction. Great to see the ROKG moving forward on this. Maybe with all the human rights organizations beating the drum on this, such as the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, it is having a positive impact on the ROKG. I know HRNK has been doing a lot of work reaching out and providing advice, recommendations, and assistance. Of course, it could be that the ROKG is doing this simply because it is the right thing to do. - do the right thing because it is the right thing to do as Kant said.
(2nd LD) S. Korea discusses policy blueprint to improve N. Korea's human rights situation | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · December 9, 2022
(ATTN: ADDS more info in last para)
SEOUL, Dec. 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's vice unification minister said Friday the government plans to map out a three-year blueprint to improve North Korea's human rights situation by taking into account its policy stance and the North's rights conditions.
Vice Unification Minister Kim Ki-woong made the remarks at an interagency meeting on North Korea's human rights situation to discuss ways to establish the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's first basic policy plan to enhance the North's rights conditions.
"We expect the establishment of the envisioned basic plan will help (the government) systemically pursue its policy (on the North's human rights) in a bid to improve the quality of North Korean people's lives and their human rights," Kim said.
He said the government will comprehensively take into account the universal value of human rights, the Yoon government's policy stance and rights situations in North Korea.
Under the North Korean Human Rights Act, which passed the National Assembly in 2016, the government should establish a basic plan to enhance the North's human rights situations every three years in a bid to outline its policy goals on the rights issues and help improve the North's rights conditions.
The latest meeting marked the second of its kind after the conservative Yoon government resumed such a gathering in August for the first time in more than two years in line with its proactive stance in dealing with the North's rights issues.
South Korea co-sponsored a U.N. draft resolution condemning North Korea's human rights conditions this year, in a shift from a low-key approach for four years under the preceding liberal Moon Jae-in government.
Next year, the ministry will also make public its annual report on the human rights situation in North Korea for the first time in six years.
"We plan to release a report on the status of North Korean human rights in the form of a white paper to help our citizens better understand the overall rights situation in the North," the ministry's deputy spokesperson, Lee Hyo-jung, said at a regular press briefing.
The paper will be released as early as next March, she added.
Since first drafting the North Korea Human Rights Report in 2017, the ministry has not opened it to the public, citing the risk that personal information of defectors could be leaked.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · December 9, 2022
2. U.S. envoy for N. Korea holds rare talks with Chinese counterpart over recent provocations
Despite global communications I have seen the advantage to having Ambassador Kim being permanently in the region. Having him in nearly the same timezone as his Korea, Japanese, and Chinese counterparts makes coordination easier and of course proximity makes face to face meetings easier (particularly with Korean and Japanese counterparts). There is a lot to be said for having a diplomatic presence in the region for big issues (while Ambassadors still maintain bilateral relations).
U.S. envoy for N. Korea holds rare talks with Chinese counterpart over recent provocations | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 변덕근 · December 9, 2022
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim held talks this week with his Chinese counterpart to discuss North Korea's increasingly provocative behavior, the state department said Thursday.
The rare meeting was held virtually on Wednesday, according to department spokesperson Ned Price.
"Special Representative for the DPRK Sung Kim held a video conference on December 7 with PRC Special Representative on Korean Peninsula Affairs Liu Xiaoming to discuss the DPRK's increasingly destabilizing and escalatory behavior," Price said in a released statement, referring to North Korea and China by their official names, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the People's Republic of China, respectively.
"Kim expressed concern about the unprecedented number of ballistic missile launches carried out by the DPRK this year, including eight intercontinental ballistic missiles," the spokesperson added.
Pyongyang has fired a record 63 ballistic missiles this year, far outnumbering its previous annual record of 25.
The Kim-Liu conference come about two weeks after Beijing, together with Moscow, blocked a U.S.-led effort to have the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) condemn North Korea's missile provocations.
The UNSC meeting, held in New York on Nov. 21, marked the 10th of its kind to be held on the North this year that ended with no immediate outcome.
China and Russia, both veto power-wielding permanent members of the Security Council and friendly neighbors of North Korea, expressed opposition to condemning or holding North Korea accountable in all 10 UNSC meetings.
Kim stressed the need for all U.N. members to fully implement U.N. sanctions on North Korea in his call with Liu, according to the state department spokesperson.
"Kim emphasized that maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula is an important shared goal and reaffirmed that the United States is committed to diplomacy and is prepared to meet with the DPRK at any time," said Price.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 변덕근 · December 9, 2022
3. N. Korean nuclear threat poses serious challenge to U.S. extended deterrence: Campbell
Wow. I wonder if the groundwork is being established to acknowledge the real possibility that South Korea at least may try to develop its own nuclear deterrent. Or is the threat alone meant to influence China to pressure north Korea. Unfortunately, I do not think it will.
N. Korean nuclear threat poses serious challenge to U.S. extended deterrence: Campbell | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 변덕근 · December 9, 2022
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's nuclear tests and its potential use of nuclear weapons against the U.S. and its allies present a serious challenge that requires the U.S. to further enhance its extended deterrence, a White House official said Thursday.
Kurt Campbell, National Security Council (NSC) coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs, noted keeping U.S. allies from developing their own nuclear capabilities may also be a "big challenge" for the U.S. going forward.
"I would suggest that one of the enormous achievements in the Indo-Pacific, in Asia for decades has been the stability and reassuring quality of our extended deterrence of our nuclear umbrella," Campbell said in a security forum hosted by the Aspen Institute, a non-profit think tank based in Washington.
"That is being challenged now," he added.
Campbell named the potential for another nuclear test by North Korea and its nuclear threats as major challenges facing the stability in the region, along with what he called Russia's public threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine and China's ongoing efforts for a "major nuclear upgrade."
U.S. and South Korean officials have noted that Pyongyang may conduct what will be its seventh nuclear test "at any time."
North Korea published a new law in September that it says will allow the launch of an "automatic nuclear strike" when the country is attacked.
"We have made very clear to North Korea, China, other countries that these moves would see responses from the United States, Japan and South Korea," said Campbell. "But it is undeniable that this public threat...has created some anxiety in Northeast Asia."
The NSC official suggested such an anxiety may change the dynamics in Asia where many countries, "who have the potential to build nuclear weapons have chosen not to," thanks to the U.S. extended deterrence.
"And so for the United States, that means not only taking the necessary steps in terms of our conventional forces, but with our public doctrine, with our deployments, we have got to make clear to Japan, to South Korea, to other countries that our nuclear deterrent remains robust and that we remain deeply committed, again, to nuclear deterrence in the Indo-Pacific," said Campbell.
"That's going to be a big challenge going forward, and I think it will be important," he added.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 변덕근 · December 9, 2022
4. Kim Jong-un reshuffles top officials more often to secure loyalty, tighten power grip: ministry
The real threat that Kim fears the most is internal.
But I wonder why this assessment is coming from the Ministry of Unification and not the National Intelligence Service? The MOU must focus on the deep planning required for unification to include a sophisticated influence campaign (internal to north Korea and external to the international community to gain support for unification). It should not be "competing" with the NIS or MOFA ro stray into their lanes of responsibility.
Kim Jong-un reshuffles top officials more often to secure loyalty, tighten power grip: ministry | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 김수연 · December 8, 2022
SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has carried out reshuffles of senior party and military officials more frequently this year in an apparent bid to elicit their loyalty and tighten his grip on power, according to Seoul's unification ministry Thursday.
The ministry published an update of the who's who book, titled "Information on Key Figures in North Korea."
The book contains details of changes in key organs and information of major figures in the North that were compiled based on reports from its state media for one year from October 2021.
It showed a sweeping replacement of key officials at the political bureau and secretariat of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).
The Kim regime is seen as having constantly used personnel reshuffles, particularly often in the fields of discipline and military, as a means to make ranking officials take responsibility for fulfilling party orders and tasks, a ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
The number of the WPK's political bureau members declined to nine in the cited period from 11 the previous year. Ri Son-gwon, the head of the United Front Department tasked with handling inter-Korean relations, was demoted to an alternate member from a member of the bureau.
Two of highest-level officials in the military were replaced in June, while the defense minister retained the post.
Ri Thae-sop, former social security minister, was appointed chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA), and Jong Kyong-thaek, former state security minister, as director of the KPA General Political Bureau.
#shorts
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 김수연 · December 8, 2022
5. Ex-national security adviser indicted over slain official case
(LEAD) Ex-national security adviser indicted over slain official case | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 이민지 · December 9, 2022
(ATTN: RECASTS lead, ADDS details)
SEOUL, Dec. 9 (Yonhap) -- Former National Security Adviser Suh Hoon was indicted Friday on charges of irregularities surrounding the 2020 death of a South Korean government official at the hands of North Korea in the first indictment of a ranking official in the preceding Moon Jae-in government.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office has been investigating the death of the fisheries official, who was fatally shot by North Korean coast guard members near the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea, a day after going missing while on duty on board a fishery inspection vessel.
The former Moon Jae-in government had concluded the official was attempting to defect to the North. But the Coast Guard and the military reversed that conclusion in June after President Yoon Suk-yeol took office, saying there was no evidence to suggest an attempted defection took place.
Suh is accused of being involved in the previous Moon government's conclusion without sufficient evidence that the official was killed while attempting to defect to the North.
Suh is also suspected of having ordered key security officials to delete internal intelligence reports that contradicted the conclusion that the South Korean official was planning to defect.
Suh has denied allegations that he attempted to cover up the shooting death and claimed the conclusion that he attempted to defect was an assessment made based on intelligence reports in a limited time.
The indictment did not include allegations that Suh ordered relevant ministries to delete intelligence reports. The prosecution cited the need to further probe the issue.
The former national security adviser has been under arrest since Saturday, when a Seoul court issued an arrest warrant for him, citing the seriousness of the case and the possibility of Suh trying to destroy evidence.
The prosecution also indicted former Coast Guard Commissioner General Kim Hong-hee, who was accused of manipulating evidence to reach the conclusion that the fisheries official voluntarily attempted to defect to the North.
Following the indictment of Suh and Kim, the prosecution is expected to question former National Intelligence Service chief Park Jie-won and former Defense Minister Suh Wook on allegations they deleted and edited intelligence reports upon the former adviser's order.
Moon has voiced deep concerns over the investigation, saying a "matter of national security" should not be a "subject of political strife."
mlee@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 이민지 · December 9, 2022
6. U.S. Commits to Keeping Troop Strength in Korea
Congress demonstrating strength and resolve.
U.S. Commits to Keeping Troop Strength in Korea
english.chosun.com
December 09, 2022 09:39
U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday unveiled a compromise bill that maintains the presence of U.S. troops in South Korea at 28,500 and reaffirms the commitment to "extended deterrence."
The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2023 budgets US$857.9 billion for defense and security next year and is being put to the vote in the House of Representatives this week and in the Senate next week.
"The Secretary of Defense should continue efforts that strengthen United States defense alliances and partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region so as to further the comparative advantage of the United States in strategic competition with [China]," the bill says.
That includes "maintaining the presence of approximately 28,500 members of the United States Armed Forces deployed to [South Korea] and affirming the United States commitment to extended deterrence using the full range of United States defense capabilities, consistent with the Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States and [South] Korea... in support of the shared objective of a peaceful and stable Korean Peninsula."
It also authorizes a $67.76 million budget for the operation of the U.S. Forces Korea.
U.S. soldiers attend a ceremony at Camp Casey in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province on Wednesday. /Yonhap
The U.S. government is also obliged to increase propaganda efforts targeted at North Koreans by providing "the people of North Korea with access to a diverse range of fact-based information" and "to develop and implement novel means of communication and information sharing that increase opportunities for audiences in North Korea to safely create, access, and share digital and non-digital news without fear of repressive censorship, surveillance, or penalties under law."
That follows up on the Otto Warmbier Countering North Korean Censorship and Surveillance Act, which was enacted in memory of Otto Warmbier, an American student who died after incarceration by the North Korean regime.
But the new cold war with China dominates the bill. In other new provisions, Congress wants a $10 billion budget over the next five years to help modernize "Taiwan's security capabilities to deter and, if necessary, defeat aggression by [China]." This envisions the State Department supporting Taiwan with $2 billion a year from 2023 to 2027 so that it can buy U.S. weapons.
After tense negotiation between Democrats and Republicans, Congress decided not to ban the U.S. government and contractors from using Chinese computer chips straight away, and to delay the measure for five years amid pushback from some U.S. companies that use Chinese-made chips.
U.S. Mulls Pulling out Troops Unless Korea Coughs up More
U.S.-Korea Defense Cost Talks Break down
U.S. Defense Cost Negotiator Returns to Seoul
U.S. Military Chief Piles on Pressure Over Cost-Sharing
U.S. Demands 'Reimbursement' for Defense Costs
Washington Wants W5 Trillion Upkeep for USFK
U.S. Defense Cost Negotiator Visits Seoul
USFK Threatens to Send Korean Staff on Unpaid Leave
Korea, U.S. to Continue Talks on Defense Cost Sharing
Trump Accuses Korea of Ingratitude
Korea, U.S. to Start Defense Cost Sharing Talks
Trump Claims Korea Agrees to Pay More for Defense
U.S. to Keep Pushing Seoul Over Defense Cost Sharing
Trump Keeps Harping on About USFK Upkeep Costs
- Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com
english.chosun.com
7. N.Korean Workers Party Vows to Stay in Power for 8,000 Years
You cannot say the KWP are not long term planners.
N.Korean Workers Party Vows to Stay in Power for 8,000 Years
english.chosun.com
December 09, 2022 10:54
The North Korean Workers Party has declared it will stay in power for another "8,000 years" after a year of "groundbreaking changes."
When he took the helm, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made the relatively modest claim that the party could stay in power for 700 to 7,000 years, but a decade later he seems to feel emboldened to add another millennium.
The official Rodong Sinmun daily said in a front-page article on Thursday that this year marks a "groundbreaking milestone" where Kim "clarified the direction of building a party for a new age" paving the way for the party's "80-year leadership to continue for 8,000 years."
In fact the claim sounds like a commitment to total stagnation, but the regime apparently feels in a stronger position now it has perfected a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile launched last month.
There is speculation that Kim's birthday on Jan. 8 will become an official holiday next year, hence the obsession with the number 8.
N.Korea Puffs up Kim Jong-un Ahead of Anniversary
Kim Jong-un Inherits Grandfather's 'Great Leader' Title
New Kim Jong-un 'Biography' Aims to Polish Leader's Halo
- Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com
english.chosun.com
8. Workers’ Party school staffer arrested for anti-socialist activity
Reciting the lines of a South Korean film is a threat to Kim Jong Un (according to the regime).
Workers’ Party school staffer arrested for anti-socialist activity
The woman allegedly imitated the speaking style of South Korean women, reenacting lines in South Korean films in view of her neighbors
dailynk.com
FILE PHOTO: Slogans on display at the Wonsan-Kalma Shore Tourist Zone construction site in Gangwon Province. (Daily NK)
A staffer at a Workers’ Party school in Gangwon Province was recently arrested for allegedly engaging in “anti-socialist and non-socialist activity,” including hoarding food and watching South Korean films.
According to a Daily NK source in Gangwon Province on Monday, “a woman who worked as the financial director of a Workers’ Party school in Gangwon Province was arrested by the anti-socialist and non-socialist task force [Unified Command 82] for engaging in several kinds of non-socialist behavior. The arrest came after adamant complaints from school staff members.”
According to the source, the person in question had spent the seven years since being named to her post pilfering some of the food supplied to the school every quarter for her own use. This caused anger among the school staff, some of whom informed the provincial party committee.
Students at the Gangwon Province party school, a feeder school for provincial party officials, live in dormitories during the weekdays, so the provincial party committee ensures there are rations for the school’s staff and students, no matter how difficult things are in the province.
After receiving the complaint from school staff, provincial prosecutors searched the woman’s house. They found not only a house overflowing with food, but also 10 mobile storage devices with South Korean movies and music, a South Korean electric rice cooker and a stack of US dollars.
In particular, the rice cooker’s voice navigation featured a female voice speaking in a South Korean tone, saying, “I will now start cooking delicious rice.”
Prosecutors were reportedly flabbergasted when they heard it, wondering how in the world an employee of a party school could shamelessly use such a device.
In fact, prosecutors are taking even bigger issue with how — even in her daily life — the woman allegedly imitated the speaking style of South Korean women, reenacting lines in South Korean films in view of her neighbors.
The source said the authorities are taking an even dimmer view of the incident than usual because the crime emerged as the authorities strengthen discipline at party schools and review the activities and lives of staff members after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s “historic” commemorative lecture earlier this year at the Central Cadres Training School.
The woman was reportedly taken to the provincial branch of the Ministry of State Security, where she is undergoing a preliminary examination. Preliminary examinations refer to the entire interrogation process prior to suspects being indicted.
The Ministry of State Security’s investigation is currently focused on how she imported the South Korean films, rather than on the illicitly amassed rice and money. Investigators are questioning her about where she got the “impure” recordings and from whom, how much she watched them, how much she distributed them, and to whom.
“The woman committed a lot of crimes, so nobody knows when the preliminary examination will end,” said the source. “Among the investigators, the feeling is that she’s unlikely to come out of this alive due to the political nature of her crimes.”
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com
9. South Korea Passes New Law Making Everyone a Little Younger
Does this change the actuary tables for South Korean insurers?
South Korea Passes New Law Making Everyone a Little Younger
Country’s president had promised to do away with the custom of recognizing Korean ages, which deem everyone to be 1 year old on the day they are born
https://www.wsj.com/articles/south-korea-passes-new-law-making-everyone-a-little-younger-11670572863?mod=lead_feature_below_a_pos1
By Dasl Yoon
Dec. 9, 2022 3:01 am ET
SEOUL—As the rest of the world ages, South Koreans are getting younger.
South Korea’s parliament passed laws Thursday abolishing the traditional method of determining ages, which will officially make everyone in the country a year or two younger starting in June 2023.
Unlike in most of the world, people in South Korea turn 1 as soon as they are born and gain another year every New Year’s Day. In everyday life, South Koreans typically cite their “Korean age,” which is also reflected on many government documents.
The new laws will switch everyone to the international standard—which starts people at zero on the day they are born—on official documents when the law takes effect. The shift was a campaign promise by South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who said the country’s continued use of Korean ages caused unnecessary social and economic costs.
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Since the 1960s, South Korea has used the international standards for calculating ages for medical and legal documents. But the Korean-age system is used to determine who is old enough to drink or smoke or be conscripted into the army. When the law takes effect, the legal drinking age of 20 will change to 19, effectively remaining the same but reflecting the switch to international age standards.
The change will prevent confusion for Koreans, particularly when it comes to providing some medical and administrative services. For example, many South Koreans were confused by Covid-19 rules, as age brackets for vaccinations were based on international ages rather than the Korean ages that people are used to.
“The revision is aimed at reducing unnecessary socio-economic costs as legal and social disputes along with confusion persist due to the different ways of calculating age,” ruling party lawmaker Yoo Sang-bum, who proposed the bill, told parliament on Thursday.
Lee Yoo-jin, who is set to graduate from university next year, is 26 based on her Korean age. She is eager to tell people that she is 24.
South Korean society has designated ages for when a person should graduate from a university, find a job and get married and shifting to the global age standards feels like she has gained time, Ms. Lee said.
“Now if I find a job within the next two years, I’ll be 26 instead of 28,” she said.
Calculating age based on calendar years rather than birth dates is seen as a remnant of ancient culture in East Asian countries like China, Japan and South Korea. A child born on Dec. 31, for example, would be considered a year old and then would turn 2 on New Year’s Day, even though the baby had been born days earlier.
China, Japan and even North Korea shifted to the global standard decades ago. In China, age is counted from zero for legal and official matters, but in everyday life some people add one year to their actual age, gained on the Lunar New Year. Japan implemented the international age system in 1950 and in recent decades it has become the standard in informal usage as well. North Korea abandoned the Korean-age system in the 1980s.
Despite being used to Korea’s age customs, the majority of South Koreans supported the shift to international standards. More than 80% of South Koreans supported unifying the age-counting system, according to a September poll by the Ministry of Government Legislation. It is difficult to pinpoint the origin of South Korea’s age-counting system, which has persisted due to the country’s “rank-based society,” a spokeswoman for the ministry said.
In South Korea’s hierarchical society, age influences how people interact. For office workers like Cho Min-yeong, the change isn’t necessarily a positive one. He turns 30 according to his Korean age next year, but with the legislative change his legal age will be 28. Age is one of the first things South Koreans ask each other at work and in social situations, and suddenly becoming two years younger will likely cause confusion in the way people perceive each other’s social status, Mr. Cho said.
“There are social expectations and milestones based on age and personally the new legal system creates confusion for me,” he said.
Write to Dasl Yoon at dasl.yoon@wsj.com
10. Polish president personally welcomes delivery of Korean weapons
A member of the Arsenal of Democracy at work.
Polish president personally welcomes delivery of Korean weapons
donga.com
Posted December. 08, 2022 07:52,
Updated December. 08, 2022 07:53
Polish president personally welcomes delivery of Korean weapons. December. 08, 2022 07:52. by Min Kim kimmin@donga.com.
The first shipment of K2 Black Panther tanks and K9 Thunder howitzers was delivered to Poland. The Associated Press reported that on Dec. 6, at the Polish navy base at the nation’s northern port city Gdynia, President Andrzej Duda of Poland and Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak personally took delivery of heavy weapons delivered from South Korea. The delivery was made after four months after signing the deal.
As a member nation of NATO and the European Union, Poland has been giving military assistance to Ukraine. It has stressed the importance of quickly enhancing its military strength. “An expedient delivery of weapons was critical when facing Ukraine's Russian aggression. It is essential that the Polish military is weaponized with modern equipment for self-defense,” President Duda said.
Minister Eom Dong-hwan of Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration said in the welcome ceremony of the delivery of weapons that the delivery of the first shipment of South Korean weapons is significant in the relationship between the Republic of Korea and Poland. “I believe Korean-made tanks and howitzers will serve a huge role in a quickly evolving security landscape,” Minister Eom said. The Polish government signed an 8.7-billion-dollar (about 11 trillion won) deal with South Korea to purchase 980 K2 tanks, 648 K9 howitzers, 3 FA-50 squadrons (a total of 48 fighter jets), and 288 units of K239 Chungmoo by 2025.
한국어
donga.com
11. North hackers used Itaewon tragedy as Trojan Horse
The evil nature of the Kim family regime and its "all purpose sword."
Thursday
December 8, 2022
dictionary + A - A
North hackers used Itaewon tragedy as Trojan Horse
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/12/08/national/northKorea/Korea-North-Korea-hacking/20221208154232004.html
00:0004:17
A screen grab of the North Korean hackers' fake Central Disaster Management Headquarters report on the Itaewon crowd crush tragedy after being opened in Microsoft Word. [THREAT ANALYSIS GROUP]
North Korea exploited public interest in the deadly crowd crush in Seoul in October to conduct cyber attacks on South Korean targets, Google said on Thursday.
According to a report by the company’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG), the North Korean hacking organization APT37 embedded a malicious code in a Microsoft Word file that resembled a report from South Korea’s Central Disaster Management Headquarters (CDMH) on the Oct. 29 crowd crush, in which 158 people died.
The document followed the format of official CDMH reports and had accurate details of the Halloween celebration tragedy in Itaewon, central Seoul, such as casualty figures, emergency response measures and other details of the disaster.
The suspicious document was submitted to TAG by multiple users in South Korea via cybersecurity services website VirusTotal on Oct. 31. VirusTotal is owned by Chronicle, a subsidiary of Google.
TAG said the document was intentionally designed as a CDMH document to tempt users to open it.
“The [Itaewon] incident was widely reported on, and the lure takes advantage of widespread public interest in the accident,” the TAG report said.
Pyongyang did not offer its condolences over the Itaewon tragedy, instead firing several missiles during Seoul’s week-long period of national mourning.
TAG said that they had not yet uncovered the malware that was delivered in APT37’s latest hacking campaign, or what its purpose was.
According to TAG, the fake disaster report was used by the North Koreans as a vehicle for malware using a previously-known Internet Explorer vulnerability, called the 0-day exploit.
“The document downloaded a rich text file (RTF) remote template, which in turn fetched remote HTML content,” TAG wrote, explaining that “because [Microsoft] Office renders this HTML content using Internet Explorer (IE), this technique has widely been used to distribute IE exploits via Office files since 2017.”
TAG noted that “this is not the first time APT37 has used Internet Explorer 0-day exploits to target users,” adding that the group “has historically focused their targeting on South Korean users, North Korean defectors, policy makers, journalists and human rights activists.”
The same North Korean group, which has been active since 2012, was behind other malicious codes delivered to South Korean users such as ROKRAT, BLUELIGHT and DOLPHIN, according to TAG.
TAG said they reported the latest Internet Explorer vulnerability to Microsoft on Oct. 31 and that the vulnerability was fixed on Nov. 8.
“TAG is committed to sharing research to raise awareness on bad actors like APT37 within the security community, and for companies and individuals that may be targeted,” the researchers said. “By improving understanding of the tactics and techniques of these types of actors, we hope to strengthen protections across the ecosystem.”
While the purpose of the latest hacking campaign is not yet clear, the North has ramped up its cyber heists in the last two years, with the regime accused of stealing as much as $1 billion worth of cryptocurrencies and hard currency through cyber heists to fund its nuclear and missile programs, according to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas in October.
BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
12. Unification ministry seeks power to investigate North Korean defectors
Unification ministry seeks power to investigate North Korean defectors
Proposal follows uproar over Moon administration’s past repatriation of two DPRK fishermen accused of killing crewmates
https://www.nknews.org/2022/12/unification-ministry-seeks-power-to-investigate-north-korean-defectors/?utm_source=pocket_reader
Ifang Bremer December 9, 2022
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Repatriation of North Korean men through Panmunjom, Nov. 2019 | Image: Ministry of Unification
Seoul has proposed changing a law on North Korean defectors to require the unification ministry to investigate refugees suspected of having committed “severe crimes,” after the forced repatriation of two DPRK fishermen in 2019 became a major controversy this year.
The proposed amendment to the North Korean Refugees Protection and Settlement Support Act aims to “strengthen the protection and settlement support of North Korean defectors,” the unification ministry wrote in a notice Wednesday.
The ministry would also be involved in evaluating whether North Korean escapees’ intention to defect is genuine under the proposed changes.
The North Korean Refugees Protection and Settlement Support Act, passed in 1997, stipulates that defectors receive protection and support from the South Korean government after they enter the country, such as financial aid and education.
But under the current version of the law, defectors accused of committing crimes before they entered South Korea are exempted from that support.
The ministry’s proposed changes come months after photos and video emerged of one of two North Korean fishermen appearing to resist repatriation to the DPRK after they were apprehended at sea by South Korean authorities in Nov. 2019. The images sparked outrage from the Yoon administration, human rights activists and those in the defector community.
Seoul officials said at the time that the two killed several crewmembers before reaching ROK waters and did not demonstrate a “sincere” and coherent intention to defect.
South Korea’s special envoy on North Korean human rights Lee Shin-wha said the repatriation of the two fishermen went “against both domestic and international law” in an interview with NK News, citing the principle of nonrefoulement under the Convention on the Prevention of Torture.
South Korean domestic law entitles North Korean escapees to trials as ROK citizens “in accordance with the presumption of innocence.”
Ethan Shin of the NGO Transitional Justice Working Group voiced skepticism that the ministry’s proposed changes would prevent a repeat of the 2019 case.
“[In the new law,] there is no codification of the principle of nonrefoulement and there are also no due process guarantees like the right to remain silent,” he told NK News.
Shin also suggested the proposed changes are less about protecting North Korean escapees and more about expanding the unification ministry’s power. He questioned the merits of the ministry being involved in criminal investigations.
“The will of North Korean escapees should be determined by independent judges, not Ministry of Unification officials,” he said.
The ministry will gather public opinions on the revised bill by Jan. 16 of next year. The final version of the new law “will come into force 6 months after promulgation,” according to the unification ministry.
Edited by Arius Derr
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David Maxwell
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