|
Quotes of the Day:
He who dares not to offend cannot be honest.
- Thomas Paine
The people are the sea; the revolutionaries are the fish. The sea
supports the fish. It also hides them from predators. The revolutionaries
only want to show themselves when they are not themselves vulnerable.
Then they fade back into the sea, or the mountains, or the jungles.
- Mao Tse-tung
“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am chaining the things I cannot accept.”
- Angela Y. Davis
1. S. Korean military apologizes over failure to shoot down N. Korean drones
2. U.S. reaffirms commitment to defense of S. Korea after infiltration by N. Korean drones
3. N. Korea convenes key party meeting with leader Kim in attendance: state media
4. N. Korea commemorates adoption of its constitution in event joined by leader Kim
5. US earmarks $40M for radio broadcasts into North Korea in honor of Otto Warmbier
6. N.Korea Has 1,000 Military Drones
7. S.Korea Mustn't Fall into N.Korea's Provocation Trap
8. Kim Jong Un claims North Korean success as key party meeting begins
9. North Korea's record year of missile testing is putting the world on edge
10. Russia's Brutal War in Ukraine Casts a Shadow over Korea
11. Drones penetrate Korean DMZ in both directions
12. South Korea's Leader Calls for Stealth Drones to Monitor North
13. Increasing number of N. Koreans flee across border with China
14. Elderly man beaten to death for 10 kilograms of corn in N. Hamgyong Province
1. S. Korean military apologizes over failure to shoot down N. Korean drones
My recommendations for "drone" operations:
Purchase 1000 small commercial drones from Amazon with as long range as possible. Line up Korean people side by side across the DMZ and fly them en mass as far into the north as possible loaded with information to their Korean brethren in the north.
I recommend putting on a drone display similar to the 2018 Olympic opening ceremony in the ROK. Put that on display on the South side of the DMZ periodically to show the north how much more technically advanced the ROK is.
Josh Stanton responded to my tweets with this recommendation:
Or, load them up with small, cheap solar repeaters to extend a mesh network into the heavily garrisoned areas of the DMZ, then broadcast a Seoul Rose show over a spoofed Koryolink signal.
The message=peace. "Don't kill your brothers." "Live for a better day, when we're together."
(LEAD) S. Korean military apologizes over failure to shoot down N. Korean drones | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · December 27, 2022
(ATTM: UPDATES with more details from 3rd para)
SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean military offered a public apology Tuesday for its botched operation to shoot down five North Korean drones that violated the country's air space the previous day. It also vowed to redouble efforts to bolster counter-drone capabilities.
"We feel sorry that although our military detected and tracked the drones, we failed to shoot them down," Lt. Gen. Kang Shin-chul, chief director of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), said in a statement.
He noted that the military has limits in detecting and striking small surveillance drones, while it is still capable of countering threats from bigger attack drones.
"But in the end, we have caused much public concern due to insufficiency in the military readiness posture," Kang said.
To better cope with drone threats, the military plans to "aggressively" utilize strike assets, institute related regular drills and incorporate platforms capable of shooting down drones without causing any damage to civilians, according to Kang.
Kang also said the military seeks to secure "non-kinetic" strike capabilities, such as laser systems, as well as radar-evading drones to bolster overall anti-drone operational capabilities.
In addition, the military will push for an early establishment of a drone unit to carry out surveillance and reconnaissance operations to monitor key enemy military facilities.
On Monday, five North Korean unmanned aerial vehicles flew across the Military Demarcation Line separating the two Koreas, with one of them having flown all the way to northern parts of Seoul.
Meanwhile, the South's military was put on alert again earlier in the day due to the appearance of unidentified objects, which initially seemed to be North Korean drones, in its northwestern area not far away from the inter-Korean border.
The military scrambled warplanes to the scene, but the objects turned out to be a flock of birds. It did not carry out any initial counter-drone procedures, such as firing warning shots.
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · December 27, 2022
2. U.S. reaffirms commitment to defense of S. Korea after infiltration by N. Korean drones
U.S. reaffirms commitment to defense of S. Korea after infiltration by N. Korean drones | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 변덕근 · December 27, 2022
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 (Yonhap) -- The United States reaffirmed its commitment to the defense of South Korea on Monday after North Korean drones crossed the inter-Korean border.
The South Korean military said a group of five North Korean unmanned aerial vehicles had crossed the border on Monday (Seoul time), and that at least one of them was spotted flying over northern Seoul.
A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council also said the U.S. was consulting closely with South Korean allies to find the nature of North Korea's latest provocation.
"We are aware of the reported DPRK drone flights across the military demarcation line, and we are consulting closely with the ROK about the nature of this incursion," the spokesperson told Yonhap News Agency in an email, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"We recognize the need of the ROK to protect its territorial integrity. The U.S. commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea remains ironclad," the official added.
ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, South Korea's official name.
The South Korean military said they fired some 100 shots while trying to limit possible damage to civilians, but failed to shoot the drones down.
"This is a clear act of provocation by North Korea that encroached upon our territorial air," an official from South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said earlier. "Our military will respond thoroughly and sternly to such a North Korean provocation going forward."
The drone infiltration follows a record number of North Korean ballistic missile tests this year.
Pyongyang fired more than 60 ballistic missiles this year, including eight intercontinental ballistic missiles, far exceeding its previous annual record of 25.
#shorts
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 변덕근 · December 27, 2022
3. N. Korea convenes key party meeting with leader Kim in attendance: state media
Perhaps we will read a substantive statement since Kim was in attendance.
(LEAD) N. Korea convenes key party meeting with leader Kim in attendance: state media | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · December 27, 2022
(ATTN: UPDATES with more info in last 4 paras; ADDS photo, byline)
By Yi Wonju
SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Yonhap) -- A key Workers' Party meeting of North Korea opened earlier this week with leader Kim Jong-un in attendance to discuss next year's policy direction, Pyongyang's state media said Tuesday.
The previous day, Kim presided over the sixth enlarged plenary meeting of the party's eighth Central Committee to review last year's policies and discuss tasks for 2023 amid "unpredictable difficulties constantly threatening the existence and development" of the North, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
Five major agenda items were unanimously approved at the meeting, including the review of major state policies for this year, as well as the work plan and draft state budget for next year.
Kim urged major goals to be attained in key industrial sectors next year, including the metal, chemical, electric power, coal and machine industries.
He stressed that the national power of the North has "remarkably increased in all fields of politics, military, economy and culture" and "successes and progress have been made in carrying out the gigantic tasks" set forth at the previous plenary meetings.
Kim also emphasized the need to "lay out more exciting and confident struggle policies" based on the experiences gained through "persevering all difficulties."
The meeting will continue, the KCNA said, without providing further details. Previous plenary meetings were held for four to five days.
Kim could deliver a major speech at the meeting to unveil his country's domestic and foreign policy directions in lieu of his New Year's Day address, usually presented on Jan. 1. Kim has skipped the address since 2020 and has instead delivered a speech at a plenary session of the party at the end of the year.
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · December 27, 2022
4. N. Korea commemorates adoption of its constitution in event joined by leader Kim
If only they lived up to their constitution and protected all the freedoms enumerated in it. But the leader's will takes precedence over the constitution.
N. Korea commemorates adoption of its constitution in event joined by leader Kim | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · December 27, 2022
SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended a meeting to mark the anniversary of the promulgation of its Socialist Constitution half a century ago, according to Pyongyang's state media Tuesday.
It took place at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang on Monday evening to mark the 50th anniversary of North Korea's institution of the Socialist Constitution, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
It marked the first time Kim attended an event to commemorate the country's adoption of the constitution since he took power in 2011.
Choe Ryong-hae, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, made a report at the meeting, saying the constitution will "as ever successfully carry out its historic mission as a weapon powerfully propelling the cause of building a powerful country."
He added that the ruling Workers' Party has clinched a "miraculous victory" in putting an end to the history of the United States' "nuclear blackmail" against the North.
The KCNA said the constitution has "successfully discharged its mission as a powerful weapon for realizing the people-first politics in the new era of the Juche revolution in which the dignity and prestige of the DPRK are being demonstrated all over the world in the face of the most grave challenges and difficulties."
Pyongyang celebrates Constitution Day on Dec. 27 to commemorate the country's adoption of its Socialist Constitution in 1972.
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · December 27, 2022
5. US earmarks $40M for radio broadcasts into North Korea in honor of Otto Warmbier
A good effort. This is not being reported in other media.
This is in line with our recommendations in sa oon to be published monograph on information warfare (which will now be updated with this information):
Frankly the U.S. response to north Korean information warfare has been nearly non-existent except in two areas. The first is deterrence. Again, the ROK/U.S. alliance has successfully deterred war for 69 years by demonstrating strategic reassurance and strategic resolve to defend South Korea with a combined military force: the ROK/U.S. Combined Forces Command. But this has bred complacency and combined with a lack of will for employing information warfare, has allowed the north to execute a political warfare campaign that keeps the regime in power and create security dilemmas for the alliance and the region.
The one positive influence activity is the work done by the Korean Services of Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. They have long down yeoman’s work trying to penetrate the north with news and practical information. With increased resourcing they could significantly expand their work to provide the Korean people in the north with facts, knowledge, and the truth to help the people gain understanding of Korea and the outside world.
- Resource the Korean Services of Voice of American and Radio Free Asia to increase broadcasts to a level that optimizes access and coverage.
US earmarks $40M for radio broadcasts into North Korea in honor of Otto Warmbier
New law authorizes funding through 2027 and requires Biden to submit strategy for combating DPRK censorship next year
https://www.nknews.org/2022/12/us-earmarks-40m-for-radio-broadcasts-into-north-korea-in-honor-of-otto-warmbier/?utm_source=pocket_reader
Ethan Jewell December 26, 2022
SHARE
The U.S. Capitol, July 10, 2021 | Image: Caleb Fisher (Unsplash)
The U.S. has earmarked an extra $40 million to get outside information into North Korea over the next four years in honor of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who died in 2017 after more than a year in DPRK custody.
U.S. President Joe Biden signed the bill, dubbed the Otto Warmbier Countering North Korean Censorship and Surveillance Act of 2022, into law over the weekend as part of an annual defense spending package.
“Under the brutal rule of Kim Jung Un … the North Korean regime has tightened controls on access to information, as well as enacted harsh punishments for consumers of outside media,” the law states, authorizing an additional $10 million per year through 2027 to increase radio broadcasts into North Korea.
The funds will go to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which operates several information networks active in the Asia-Pacific region, including Radio Free Asia and Voice of America.
The Warmbier bill also aims to foster the development of “internet freedom tools” and other novel approaches for getting foreign media into the DPRK, and requires President Biden to submit a strategy to Congress for combating North Korea’s “repressive information environment” in the next six months.
In March 2017, North Korea’s highest court sentenced Warmbier to 15 years of hard labor after he confessed to taking down a political slogan from a staff-only area of the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang. The DPRK released him in a comatose state about 17 months later, and he died shortly after returning to the U.S. with what doctors described as “severe” neurological injuries.
Otto’s parents Cindy and Fred Warmbier have sought to hold North Korea to account for their son’s death ever since. In 2018, a U.S. district court ordered Pyongyang to cough up over half a billion dollars in damages, but the country simply ignored the decision.
Instead, the Warmbiers have worked with authorities to liquidate North Korean assets in U.S. custody, including a North Korean cargo ship and nearly a quarter million dollars in cash from a North Korean bank. In August, the Warmbiers gave $15,000 to a high-profile North Korean defector to study at Columbia University in New York.
NK News could not immediately reach the Warmbier family for comment.
Edited by Bryan Betts
6. N.Korea Has 1,000 Military Drones
N.Korea Has 1,000 Military Drones
english.chosun.com
December 27, 2022 11:21
North Korea has an estimated 1,000 unmanned aerial vehicles capable of reconnaissance and attack missions.
The most prolific drones are the Banghyon I and II, which are modified versions of the Chinese D-4 UAV. The North has around 300 for deception missions or target practice. They are 3.23 m long and can travel up to 50 km for two hours at an altitude of more than 3 km. Some of them can even be mounted with bombs weighing 20-30 kg and travel at a speed of 160 km/h.
The South Korean military suspects they have been deployed in frontline North Korean bases.
The North also smuggled U.S. MQM-107D Streaker drones through Syria and modified them to carry small munitions. The Streaker can fly at a speed of 925 km/h and hit targets 600 km to 800 km away. It also bought Russian Pchela 1-T and VR-3 short-range drones that can travel 60 km to 90 km on surveillance missions lasting up to two hours.
A drone (left) found in Paju, Gyeonggi Province in March 2014 and another found on Baeknyeong Island the same month.
Other North Korean UAVs have been found after they crashed near Cheong Wa Dae, Paju and Baeknyeong Island in 2014 and another one flew over Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province to film surveillance of a THAAD anti-missile battery the U.S. has stationed there.
Chung Ku-youn of the Korea Institute for National Unification said in a 2017 report, "North Korea's air force is considerably weaker than South Korea's, while the absence of military satellites makes intelligence-gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance missions difficult. In order to offset this, North Korea is focusing on developing drones."
Is Seoul Vulnerable to a Drone Attack?
N.Korean Drone Made from Parts from 7 Countries
N.Korean Drone Took Hundreds of Photos of THAAD
N.Korean Drone 'Too Small' for S.Korean Radars to Detect
N.Korean Drone Spied on THAAD Site
N.Korean Drone Found Near Border
N.Korean Drone Flies Across DMZ
Wrecked N.Korean Drone Found Near Baeknyeong Island
More Evidence Linking Drones to N.Korea
N.Korean Drones Invade S.Korean Airspace
- Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com
english.chosun.com
7. S.Korea Mustn't Fall into N.Korea's Provocation Trap
I concur with this conclusion:
Pyongyang will continue provocations targeting places where we least expect them and with new methods. That is a way of testing South Korea's military response and public reaction. South Koreans must not fall into this trap. They must respond firmly but stay calm.
S.Korea Mustn't Fall into N.Korea's Provocation Trap
english.chosun.com
December 27, 2022 12:47
Five North Korean drones invaded South Korean airspace on Monday and buzzed around Gimpo and other places in Gyeonggi Province surrounding Seoul. The invasion started at around 10:25 a.m. and continued for more than five hours despite warning broadcasts and live rounds fired by the South Korean military. The drones flew over residential areas and one apparently reached a suburb of Seoul. This can only be perceived as a calculated provocation aimed at heightening cross-border tensions.
Several North Korean drones have crashed and been discovered on South Korean territory since 2014, but this is the first time a small flotilla invaded South Korean airspace and remained on this side of the border. Aviation authorities were forced to ground all civilian aircraft at Incheon and Gimpo airports for an hour, and around 30 flights were delayed. North Korea's provocation ended up impacting people's everyday lives.
The provocations have reached fever pitch this year. On Nov. 2, the North fired 25 short-range ballistic missiles and surface-to-air missiles toward South Korean waters, the first time it launched so many missiles in one day, and one of them flew across the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border, into South Korean waters. That led to air raid sirens blaring on Ulleung Island for the first time since the 1953 armistice between the two Koreas. North Korea later claimed it had also fired a cruise missile toward waters off the southern port city of Ulsan, which the South Korean military denied. But the incident shows that North Korea now brazenly touts its violations of the border. On Dec. 18, the North tested a rocket engine that will deliver what it claims to be a spy satellite into space, and on Dec. 23 it launched a short-range ballistic missile. North Korea is widely expected to conduct a seventh nuclear test soon.
Pyongyang will continue provocations targeting places where we least expect them and with new methods. That is a way of testing South Korea's military response and public reaction. South Koreans must not fall into this trap. They must respond firmly but stay calm.
Read this article in Korean
- Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com
english.chosun.com
8. Kim Jong Un claims North Korean success as key party meeting begins
My essay on Kim's failed strategy is coming.
Kim Jong Un claims North Korean success as key party meeting begins
The North Korean leader opened a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party, state media said, after carrying out a record number of missile tests this year.
NBC News · by The Associated Press · December 27, 2022
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for stronger effort to overcome hardships and challenges facing his country as he opened a key political meeting after carrying out a record number of missile tests this year.
A plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party was convened in Pyongyang on Monday to review past projects and discuss next year’s work plans, the official Korean Central News Agency said Tuesday.
Kim will most likely use the meeting to reaffirm his resolve to expand his nuclear arsenal and introduce high-tech weapons targeting the U.S. and South Korea while laying out projects to revive pandemic-battered public livelihoods, some experts say.
In his opening comments, Kim compared hardships and challenges since a bigger party meeting in early 2021 to “the 10-year struggle of the revolution.” But he claimed North Korea has reported some successes “in the arduous course” and that his country’s power has “remarkably” increased in political, military, economic and cultural areas.
“He stressed the need to lay out strategies to launch more exciting and confident struggles based on valuable facts that the country has achieved practical advance after enduring all difficulties,” the official Korean Central News Agency said. It said Kim reviewed the “splendid” achievement made this year and clarified “the strategic and tactical” tasks to achieve North Korean-style socialism.
KCNA did not elaborate on the achievement Kim claimed and the tasks he set, and his claims of achievement could not be independently confirmed.
Dec. 26, 202203:09
Kim may need such propaganda-driven claims to draw greater public loyalty to push difficult projects to bolster his weapons arsenal and address economic troubles while facing U.S.-led sanctions and pressure campaigns to curb his nuclear ambitions, some observers say.
The Workers’ Party meeting is expected to last several days, and Kim is likely to address issues such as his arms buildup, relations with the United States and the economy in later sessions.
This year, Kim’s military test-launched a record number of missiles, many of them nuclear-capable weapons capable of reaching the U.S. mainland and its allies South Korea and Japan. He has said he will not return to talks with the United States unless it withdraws its hostile policies, in an apparent reference to U.S.-led sanctions and its regular military drills with South Korea.
On Monday, animosities on the Korean Peninsula rose further after South Korea accused North Korea of flying drones across their tense border for the first time in five years and responded by firing warning shots and scrambling warplanes.
It was not known whether any of the North Korean drones were shot down.
South Korea said it also sent its own surveillance assets, in an apparent reference to unmanned drones, across the border.
NBC News · by The Associated Press · December 27, 2022
9. North Korea's record year of missile testing is putting the world on edge
Despite all the missile launches, Kim has not achieved any of his political warfare and backamil diplomacy strategic objectives.
North Korea's record year of missile testing is putting the world on edge | CNN
By Carlotta Dotto, Brad Lendon and Jessie Yeung, CNN
Published 8:22 PM EST, Mon December 26, 2022
CNN · by Carlotta Dotto,Brad Lendon,Jessie Yeung · December 27, 2022
Seoul, South Korea CNN —
In 2020, North Korea conducted four missile tests. In 2021, it doubled that number. In 2022, the isolated nation fired more missiles than any other year on record, at one point launching 23 missiles in a single day.
North Korea has fired more than 90 cruise and ballistic missiles so far this year, showing off a range of weapons as experts warn of a potential nuclear test on the horizon.
Though the tests themselves aren’t new, their sheer frequency marks a significant escalation that has put the Pacific region on edge.
“The big thing about 2022 is that the word ‘test’ is no longer appropriate to talk about most North Korean missile launches – they are hardly testing missiles these days,” said Ankit Panda, a nuclear policy expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Everything we’ve seen this year suggests that Kim Jong Un is dead serious about using nuclear capabilities early in a conflict if necessary.”
The attention-grabbing tests also threaten to set off an arms race in Asia, with nearby countries building up their militaries, and the United States promising to defend South Korea and Japan by the “full range of capabilities, including nuclear.”
Here’s a look back at a year of weaponry and warnings – and what could come next.
Ramping up missile tests
Of the more than 270 missile launches and nuclear tests by North Korea since 1984, more than a quarter came this year, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Missile Defense Project.
Of that total, more than three quarters were recorded after Kim Jong Un came to power in 2011, reflecting the dictator’s ambitions – of which he made no secret, vowing in April to develop the country’s nuclear forces at the “highest possible” speed.
That lofty goal was reflected in a flurry of testing, with North Korea firing missiles on 36 days this year, according to a CNN count.
“For missiles, they set daily, monthly and yearly records,” said Bruce Klingner, senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center.
The majority of these tests were cruise and ballistic missiles. Cruise missiles stay inside the Earth’s atmosphere and are maneuverable with control surfaces, like an airplane, while ballistic missiles glide through space before reentering the atmosphere.
Pyongyang has also fired surface-to-air missiles and hypersonic missiles.
“North Korea is literally turning into a prominent operator of large scale missile forces,” said Panda. He pointed to recent instances where North Korea fired missiles in response to military exercises or diplomatic talks by the US and its regional allies, adding: “Anything that the US and South Korea will do, North Korea can proportionately demonstrate that it has capabilities to keep up as well.”
Among the ballistic missiles tested was the Hwasong-12, which traveled more than 4,500 kilometers (about 2,800 miles) in October – flying over Japan, the first time North Korea had done so in five years. Another notable missile was the Hwasong-14, with an estimated range of more than 10,000 kilometers (more than 6,200 miles).
To put those distances in context, the US island territory of Guam is just 3,380 kilometers (2,100 miles) from North Korea.
But one particular weapon has drawn international attention: the Hwasong-17, North Korea’s most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to date. It could theoretically reach the US mainland – but there are still a lot of unknowns about the missile’s ability to deliver a nuclear payload on target.
North Korea claimed to have successfully launched the Hwasong-17 in March for the first time. However, South Korea and US experts believe the test may have actually been an older and less advanced missile.
The Hwasong-17 was tested again in November, according to North Korean state media, with Kim warning afterward that the country would take “more offensive” action in response to “enemies seeking to destroy peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula and region.”
Nuclear fears
Since early this year, the US and international observers have been warning that North Korea appears to be preparing for an underground nuclear test – which would be its first since 2017.
Satellite imagery has shown new activity at North Korea’s nuclear test site, where the country has previously conducted six underground nuclear tests. It claimed its most recent test was a hydrogen bomb, the most powerful weapon Pyongyang has ever tested.
That 2017 nuclear test had an estimated yield of 160 kilotons, a measure for how much energy the explosion releases.
For comparison, the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in Japan, yielded just 15 and 21 kilotons respectively. The US and Russia have performed the most explosive tests in history, yielding upwards of 10,000 kilotons.
It’s not clear exactly how many nuclear weapons North Korea possesses. Experts at Federation of American Scientists estimate it may have assembled 20 to 30 nuclear warheads – but its ability to detonate them accurately on the battlefield is unproven.
Rising tensions
Though there had once been hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough in 2019 after landmark meetings between Kim and then-US President Donald Trump, those were dashed after both leaders walked away without having struck any formal denuclearization agreements.
US-North Korea relations have nosedived since then, with Kim in 2021 announcing a sweeping five-year plan for modernizing the North’s military, including developing hypersonic weapons and a nuclear-powered submarine.
This year is an extension of that vision, with North Korea working toward developing its own strategic nuclear deterrent as well as nuclear options in any conflict on the Korea Peninsula.
A television screen at Seoul Station shows on Oct. 6, 2022, news that North Korea fired two ballistic missiles earlier in the day from near Pyongyang toward the Sea of Japan. (Photo by Kyodo News/Sipa USA)
Kyodo News/Sipa USA
Why is North Korea firing so many missiles -- and should the West be worried?
There are a few possible reasons why this year has been so active. Some experts say Kim could have felt empowered to act while the West was preoccupied with the war in Ukraine. Panda, the nuclear expert, added that tensions tend to flare when South Korea has a conservative government – which has been the case since May.
North Korea’s aggressive acceleration in weapons testing has sparked alarm in the region, pushing its exposed neighbors – Japan and South Korea – closer to Western partners.
The US, South Korea and Japan have held a number of joint exercises and fired their own missiles in response to Pyongyang’s tests. The US stepped up its presence in the region, redeploying an aircraft carrier into waters near the peninsula, and sending top-of-the-line stealth fighter aircraft to South Korea for training. Meanwhile, the Quad countries – a grouping of the US, India, Japan and Australia – have deepened military cooperation, with their leaders meeting in May.
A Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force Kawasaki P-1 patrol aircraft fires flares during an International Fleet Review commemorating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force at Sagami Bay on November 6 off Yokosuka, Japan.
Issei Katto/Pool/Getty Images
Individual governments have also taken dramatic action, with Japan saying it will double its defense spending, the pacifist nation’s biggest military buildup since World War II.
But experts have warned that this rapid militarization could fuel instability across the region. And there’s no clear end in sight; the US and South Korea have more joint exercises planned in the spring, which could propel North Korea to continue firing tests “just to show their displeasure,” said Klingner.
He added that negotiations are unlikely until Kim has further developed his weapons, when “in his mind, he’d be coming back to the table in a position of strength.”
“Each of the lanes of the road, they’ve been improving their capabilities, both nuclear and missile,” he said. “It’s all very, very worrisome.”
CNN · by Carlotta Dotto,Brad Lendon,Jessie Yeung · December 27, 2022
10. Russia's Brutal War in Ukraine Casts a Shadow over Korea
Frankly, Putin's War in Ukraine has not reached the level of brutality we will see if Kim Jong Un attacks South Korea.
Russia's Brutal War in Ukraine Casts a Shadow over Korea
19fortyfive.com · by Robert Farley · December 26, 2022
The impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will reverberate across the international system for years and possibly for decades.
(Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel Here. Check out More 19FortyFive Videos Here)
While the Korean Peninsula sits on the opposite side of the continent, the prospects for war and peace are nevertheless affected by the continued fighting in the Donbas. How has the war changed the Republic of Korea’s security environment, and what might the future hold for the geopolitics of Northeast Asia?
Wars Still Happen
The biggest legacy of the Russia-Ukraine War is that, apparently, countries still invade one another with large mechanized armies in an effort to conquer territory and impose political outcomes.
Much of the post-Cold War settlement – and indeed much of the second half of the Cold War – seemed to suggest that such wars were a thing of the past. It now seems that this was overly optimistic. If Russia succeeds in holding onto even part of Ukraine, it could offer a precedent for other, wars to follow, up to and including a different territorial settlement on the Korean Peninsula.
Mass and Maneuver
Russia’s war on Ukraine has seen any number of profound technological innovations, but it has also demonstrated that the core aspects of the modern combined arms military system remain sound. Infantry, armor, and artillery have all played critical roles in the conflict thus far, with artillery seeming to resume the primacy of place it established in the First World War. While North Korea has undoubtedly allowed its conventional military to decay, it still retains huge artillery and tank inventories and an enormous infantry arm.
Perspectives that saw massive combined arms offensives as a thing of the past need to at least reckon with the continued existence of North Korea’s army.
The New Strategic Situation
Korea’s neighborhood has also changed. We don’t yet know the outcome of Russia’s war on Ukraine, but we do know that Russia has effectively been closed out of many of its traditional theaters of operation in the West. The Baltic is now a NATO lake. The battered Black Sea Fleet may face additional attrition before the war is over, and could even lose its base at Sevastopol. Finnish accession to NATO has put Russia’s Arctic bases under even tighter NATO surveillance. Together, this could force Russia to re-orient its military and strategic attention to the Pacific. Worse, the apparently tight relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang could lead to broader cooperation to reinvigorate North Korea’s economy and make its conventional forces more lethal. Of course, such a relationship would take some time to pan out given Russia’s difficulties in Ukraine, but it does open up space for the Pyongyang regime.
The Nuclear Equation
The war may also change the nuclear equation on the Korean Peninsula. It is no secret that Russia’s attack on Ukraine has unsettled the global non-proliferation regime, representing a direct assault by a nuclear power upon a non-nuclear power that had given up its nuclear assets in return for broad security considerations. Moreover, Russia’s various nuclear threats have re-opened the discussion of tactical nuclear warfighting. Under these conditions, it is hardly surprising to find voices in Korea and in the United States arguing for a rethink of the RoK’s policy on nuclear weapons. Developing nukes would represent a monumental step for Seoul, with repercussions across the region, but Seoul may nevertheless feel the need to proceed with a nuclear program if it feels the U.S. security guarantee has weakened.
What Next?
It is perhaps excessive to claim that the Russia-Ukraine War has changed everything everywhere. However, the security of the international systems remains deeply interlocked; when war stresses a network of relationships in one part of the world, it is felt across the rest of the globe. Northeast Asia has yet to suffer from many effects the war has had on Europe, including inflation and energy shortages.
Still, the conflict has nevertheless redefined how Seoul will navigate its security environment.
Author Expertise and Experience
A 19FortyFive Contributing Editor, Dr. Robert Farley has taught security and diplomacy courses at the Patterson School since 2005. He received his BS from the University of Oregon in 1997, and his Ph. D. from the University of Washington in 2004. Dr. Farley is the author of Grounded: The Case for Abolishing the United States Air Force (University Press of Kentucky, 2014), the Battleship Book (Wildside, 2016), Patents for Power: Intellectual Property Law and the Diffusion of Military Technology (University of Chicago, 2020), and most recently Waging War with Gold: National Security and the Finance Domain Across the Ages (Lynne Rienner, 2023). He has contributed extensively to a number of journals and magazines, including the National Interest, the Diplomat: APAC, World Politics Review, and the American Prospect. Dr. Farley is also a founder and senior editor of Lawyers, Guns and Money.
19fortyfive.com · by Robert Farley · December 26, 2022
11. Drones penetrate Korean DMZ in both directions
I missed this reporting elsewhere:
South Korea on Monday deployed a series of drones northward over the Demilitarized Zone separating the two nations – a countermove to the earlier intrusion of five North Korean drones into Southern airspace.
Drones penetrate Korean DMZ in both directions
The South is unable to down the North’s UAVs, meaning Seoul airports are potential hostages
asiatimes.com · by Andrew Salmon · December 27, 2022
SEOUL – South Korea on Monday deployed a series of drones northward over the Demilitarized Zone separating the two nations – a countermove to the earlier intrusion of five North Korean drones into Southern airspace.
It was the first time the South has sent unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) north of the border – or, at least, the first time it has announced it was doing so. The North’s drone flights into the South, which prompted the South’s move, were the first since 2017.
The vulnerabilities exposed by the South Korean drones have sent shockwaves through the Seoul, prompting angry outbursts from the president, and in the National Assembly.
Adding to the bad news, a South Korean-built KA-1 attack jet crashed after being scrambled to intercept the North Korean UAVs. South Korean military helicopters opened fire – unsuccessfully – on one of the North Korean machines.
Asia Times has been unable to confirm whether or not more North Korean drones crossed the DMZ on Tuesday, as is rumored. There is some confusion over whether possible spottings were drones or birds.
Regardless, Monday’s developments highlight the porousness of the air border to this small, cheap and hard-to-down new asset.
UAVs favor the offense – and also favor the economically disadvantaged North.
South Korea’s leading-edge F-35 and F-15 fighters have the advantage over the North Korean air arm in terms of both airframes and, because of fuel shortages, pilot training time. But the South’s inability to riposte successfully against the small, sneaky, economical drones suggests that North Korea has found an asymmetric sweet spot that confounds the South’s defenses.
It is a spot that offers real leverage. Monday’s intrusions caused the halt of operations at South Korea’s two largest airports, Incheon and Gimpo. Both are in the Seoul area, so close to the DMZ.
“It reminds me of three or four years ago when drones around Gatwick Airport brought everything to a halt,” Alex Neill, an independent defense consultant based in Singapore, told Asia Times. “All you need to do with a drone is to demonstrate the ability to loiter to deny civilian air traffic.”
It was a crafty tactic that, if repeated, could hold the Seoul airports hostage. That would potentially cause massive economic damage to South Korea’s air cargo sector, its status as an air hub, and its reputation as a tourism destination.
Another risk is whether or not either side will up the ante and deploy armed drones – “predator UAVs” – into the opposing airspace.
More broadly, the drone intrusion-counter intrusion is just the latest in a series of moves and countermoves on the peninsula. Worryingly for the South, it is usually the North that is the initiator of the cycle.
The departure area of Incheon International Airport, serving Seoul. The airport has been found to be highly vulnerable to flight stoppages caused by North Korean drones. Image: Wikimedia Commons
Drone duel over the DMZ
According to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), as reported by Yonhap News, five North Korean drones crossed the DMZ on Monday afternoon.
Four of them loitered around Paju, the heavily armed county immediately south of the border, and Gangwha, a strategic island off the coast, while one overflew northern Seoul.
South Korean forces fired warning shots, and scrambled fighters and attack helicopters as a defensive measure. During the operations, a KA-1 light attack fighter crashed, for unknown reasons. Both pilots ejected safely.
Seoul was also compelled to close down flight operations at the nation’s two major civilian airports, Incheon and Gimpo, both in the Seoul area, for about an hour.
The JCS did not confirm whether the North Korean drones were armed or not. None were shot down and all disappeared from South Korean radars after some five hours.
As there are no reports of any being recovered in South Korea, indications are that they successfully returned to the North.
“This is a clear act of provocation by North Korea that encroached upon our territorial air,” fumed Major-General Lee Seung-o, the JCS director of operations, at a press conference.
In what the JCS called a “corresponding step,” South Korean drones were sent over the DMZ to snoop on North Korean military positions. All returned safely, the JCS said, adding little detail.
Given that the last reported drone intrusion by the North was in 2017, Monday’s overflights are an unwelcome wake up call for South Korean defense planners.
“It is a big shock that an enemy drone flew to the center of Seoul without any restriction and also that our attack aircraft crashed,” National Assemblyman Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the ruling People Power Party, said.
President Yoon Suk-yeoul weighed in during a cabinet meeting Tuesday afternoon, blaming the lack of drone defenses on the previous Moon Jae-in administration. Yoon claimed the previous government had run no anti-drone defenses since 2017, the year Moon took office.
Moon sought to cool tensions and engage the North, though the failure of then-US president Donald Trump’s diplomacy with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in essence doomed the South’s efforts.
Binoculars overlooking the DMZ, from the South. While the land border is almost watertight, the air above it is not. Photo: Asia Times / Andrew Salmon
Drone defense: Mission impossible?
“The bomber will always get though,” politician Stanley Baldwin warned the British Parliament in 1932. All subsequent developments – from mass bomber fleets to missile salvoes – have proved that borders are dangerously indefensible against aerial intrusions.
This is especially so now that the era of the drone – which, in its smallest class, is the tiniest form of aerial vehicle – has dawned.
The world’s largest drone clash is taking place amid the Ukraine war. Russia’s vaunted air defense system has failed to halt long-range attacks by Ukrainian drones on airbases deep within Russia’s interior, while Iranian suicide drones have been a key weapon in Moscow’s offensive against the Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Both sides are also using tactical drones. Gruesome footage has been shared on social media showing small drones dropping grenades and mortar bombs into enemy trenches and foxholes.
Defenses against the relatively new weapon are nascent and problematic.
Training birds of prey to attack small UAVs has been nixed by animal-rights activists.
High-flying drones can be shot down by air-defense missiles such as the US Patriot, but that is a hugely non-economical countermeasure. A recent article from the US Naval Institute argued that Ukraine should be armed with Raytheon’s close-range SeaRAM, a naval system that uses rolling airframe missiles (RAMs) to take out subsonic missiles and drones.
Slow, low-flying drones can be shot down by conventional gunfire, but that assumes brilliant accuracy by the shooters, and/or considerable luck.
Electronic countermeasures are surer methods – either cutting the signals to the drone operator, bringing it down, or “spoofing” it with GPS signals that send it on a different flight path.
Experimental anti-drone systems include microwave guns, flying nets and anti-drone drones, which are deployed to ram the incoming UAV.
Asked if the South can fend off the North’s drones, Chun In-bum, a retired South Korean general, answered, “Not now – drones are difficult to counter.”
Current South Korean drone defenses rely on missiles and gunfire, Chun suggested.
“South Korea is unable to counter these drones in the conditions that we have right now,” he told Asia Times. “If we shoot down a drone it will fall someplace, and all our missiles and machine-gun rounds will fall some place.”
That raises the possibility of collateral damage on the ground.
“Are we going to fire a thousand rounds to bring down a UAV that will crash into a civilian building, not to mention the 9,999 rounds that will fall somewhere else?” he asked.
In that, the North wins the battle of economics. And while arms trades with North Korea are sanctioned by the UN Security Council, it seems highly unlikely that they can prevent North Korean drone ownership or production.
A report in technology outlet Wired notes that the “latest generation of drones, which can be purchased off store shelves or cobbled together using commercially available parts, are smaller, slower, and lower-flying than their military-developed counterparts” but are easily available: “Some cost as little as $15.”
Asia Times has seen both cobbled-together and commercially purchased North Korean drones.
During this writer’s last trip to North Korea in 2016, at a customs post on the Yalu River, I spotted a local carrying a boxed, Chinese-made civilian drone, apparently purchased commercially, across the border.
And in South Korea, journalists on a press tour to the National Intelligence Agency were shown a North Korean drone that had crashed in the South.
Painted sky-blue, it was about a meter in width and length, and resembled a remote-controlled aircraft. A Japanese commercial camera, facing downward, was embedded in its belly silo.
Russia has targeted Ukraine’s capital Kiev after suffering setbacks on other war fronts. Suicide drones are a key weapon. Image: NBC News / Screengrab
Tit for tat, for …
Given the low risks the current North Korean missions pose, and the high costs of countering them, Chun indicated that the status quo will continue.
“To mitigate the collateral damage you have to do a lot of things – is it worth it?” he asked. “The North Koreans spend a couple of thousand bucks, we would have to spend a couple of hundred million dollars.”
Moreover, Chun suggested that any solution would “not be 100% perfect” but that if a North Korean drone collided with a civilian aircraft or crashed into a civilian dwelling with fatal consequences, South Korea could respond by striking a North Korean UAV base.
But even unnamed drones could have deleterious effects on air traffic control operations around Seoul.
“Drones can be used as an irritant or harassment, as they are so difficult to identify,” said Neill. “Drones exploit the gray zone, and this is what North Korea is realizing it can do as an asymmetric measure.”
The duel of drones is just the latest in a series of moves and counters by both Koreas. The North Korean tests missiles, the South and its US allies conduct war games, and so on.
However, it is usually the North that is the initiator, the South the follower.
The latest example of this pattern prior to Monday was the public release, by Seoul, of high-resolution satellite photos of the North’s capital, Pyongyang, on December 22.
That was a retaliation after North Korean state media released black-and-white images of Seoul and its adjacent port/airport city of Incheon, on what it claimed were images from a military spy-satellite test.
Follow this writer on Twitter @ASalmonSeoul.
asiatimes.com · by Andrew Salmon · December 27, 2022
12. South Korea's Leader Calls for Stealth Drones to Monitor North
South Korea's Leader Calls for Stealth Drones to Monitor North
military.com · by 27 Dec 2022 Associated Press | By Hyung-Jin Kim · December 27, 2022
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s president on Tuesday called for stronger air defenses and high-tech stealth drones while the military apologized for failing to shoot down North Korean drones that crossed the border for the first time in five years.
South Korea’s military scrambled warplanes and attack helicopters on Monday, but they failed to bring down any of the North Korean drones that flew back home or disappeared from South Korean radars. It raised serious questions about South Korea’s air defense network at a time when tensions remain high over North Korea’s torrid run of missile tests this year.
On Tuesday, the military again launched fighter jets and attack helicopters after spotting suspicious flight paths at a front-line area. A local county office sent emergency text messages notifying residents of a new batch of North Korean drones. But the military later said it was a flock of birds.
“We have a plan to create a military drone unit tasked with monitoring key military facilities in North Korea. But we’ll advance the establishment of the drone unit as soon as possible because of yesterday’s incident,” President Yoon Suk Yeol said during a regular Cabinet Council meeting. “We’ll also introduce state-of-the art stealth drones and bolster our surveillance capability.”
He said that South Korea’s military needs more intensive readiness and exercises to cope with threats posed by North Korean drones.
Lt. Gen. Kang Shin Chul, chief director of operation at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a televised statement the military feels sorry because of its failure to shoot down the North Korean drones and for causing big public concerns.
Kang acknowledged South Korea lacks capacities to detect and strike small surveillance drones with a wingspan of less than 3 meters (9.8 feet) though it has assets to spot and bring down bigger combat drones. Kang said South Korea will establish drone units with various capacities and aggressively deploy military assets to shoot down enemy drones.
It was the first time North Korean drones entered South Korean airspace since 2017. The drone flights came three days after South Korea said North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles, extending its record testing activities this year.
North Korea has touted its drone program, and South Korean officials have previously said the North had about 300 drones. Advanced drones are among modern weapons systems that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to procure, along with multi-warheads, underwater-launched nuclear missiles and a spy satellite.
Since taking office in May, Yoon, a conservative, has expanded regular military drills with the United States and vowed to sternly deal with North Korean provocations. He’s offered massive support plans to North Korea if it abandons its nuclear weapons, but the North has rejected his overture.
On Monday, South Korea sent its own surveillance assets, apparently unmanned drones, across the border as corresponding steps against the North Korean drone flights. South Korea’s public confirmation of reconnaissance activities inside North Korea is highly unusual and likely reflects a resolve by Yoon’s government to get tough on North Korean provocations.
Yoon used the drone incident to hit at his liberal predecessor’s engagement policy with North Korea. He said Tuesday South Korea’s military had conducted little anti-drone training since 2017, when Moon Jae-in was inaugurated.
“I think our people must have seen well how dangerous a policy relying on the North’s good faiths and (peace) agreements would be,” he said.
Moon’s liberal opposition Democratic Party accused Yoon of shifting his government’s “security disaster” to someone else. Party spokesperson Park Sung-joon called on Yoon to thoroughly disclose what he did when the North Korean drones were flying in South Korean territory.
Moon was credited with arranging now-dormant diplomacy on North Korea’s nuclear program, but also faced criticism that his appeasement policy allowed North Korea to buy time and boost its nuclear arsenal despite international sanctions. During his campaigning, Yoon described Moon’s government as “subservient” to North Korea and accused him of undermining South Korea’s seven-decade military alliance with the United States.
Earlier Tuesday, North Korea’s state media announced the start of a key ruling Workers’ Party meeting the previous day to review past policies and discuss next year's plans.
During the meeting, Kim Jong Un called for stronger efforts to overcome hardships and challenges facing his country. But he still claimed North Korea has reported some successes “in the arduous course” and said his country’s national strength has “remarkably” increased in military, economic and other areas, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
Some observers say Kim may need such propaganda-driven claims to draw greater public loyalty to bolster his weapons arsenal and address economic woes while facing U.S.-led sanctions and pressure campaigns to curb his nuclear ambitions.
The North Korean Workers’ Party meeting is expected to last several days, and Kim will likely address issues such as his arms buildup, relations with the United States and the economy in later sessions.
military.com · by 27 Dec 2022 Associated Press | By Hyung-Jin Kim · December 27, 2022
13. Increasing number of N. Koreans flee across border with China
Another indicator that bears watching.
Increasing number of N. Koreans flee across border with China
Soldiers tasked with cracking down on defections often take money to conceal defections because times are tough for them, too
By Seulkee Jang - 2022.12.27 4:00pm
https://www.dailynk.com/english/increasing-number-north-koreans-flee-across-border-china/
Despite intensified security along the China-North Korea border, an increasing number of people are trying to defect from North Korea due to economic difficulties sparked by the continued closure of the country’s borders.
According to a Daily NK source in North Korea on Friday, two men – cousins, who are both in their 20s – were caught earlier this month while trying to cross the river into China from Chunggang County, Chagang Province.
The man in his early 20s was a soldier doing his military service. Despite his status as a soldier, he was reportedly starving due to poor rations, so he planned to go to China and earn some money before returning home.
He convinced his cousin — who had no source of income even in his late 20s — to join him, but the border patrol caught them almost as soon as they entered the Yalu River, arresting them on the spot.
The authorities sent the older cousin to a forced labor camp, while the younger one who planned the defection and encouraged his older cousin to join him was sent to a political prison camp.
The source said the younger cousin was punished more severely because he was a serving soldier, and because he led the defection attempt.
MANY SUCCESSFUL ESCAPES ACROSS THE BORDER
However, many North Koreans appear to have successfully escaped across the border into China.
According to a Daily NK source in China recently, a woman in her early 40s defected from Hyesan, Yanggang Province, to Changbai, Jilin Province, in late November.
She was caught and nearly arrested by the border patrol while crossing the river, but she bribed the soldiers to let her go.
North Korean authorities are still strongly cracking down on smuggling and defections, but smugglers and defectors can reportedly bribe their way out of trouble for RMB 5,000 (around USD 718).
The source said that, depending on the situation, soldiers sometimes take even less money to turn a blind eye to defections. They often take money to conceal defections because times are tough for them, too.
Collusion between illegal border crossers and border guards may explain why smuggling operations have recently skyrocketed in the China-North Korea border region.
For example, Daily NK reported earlier this month that a North Korean patrol boat fled back to North Korea after it was fired upon by Chinese police during a smuggling operation.
Daily NK’s source said that with the border remaining shut despite North Korea’s difficult economic situation, many people are trying to defect or smuggle even at the risk of their own lives.
“[Many] soldiers are engaging in smuggling or taking bribes to overlook defections, which means that the government will have a tough time trying to stop this activity even if it intensifies crackdowns,” he said.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
14. Elderly man beaten to death for 10 kilograms of corn in N. Hamgyong Province
Another indicator of the terrible situation inside north Korea.
Is there a breaking or tipping point?
Elderly man beaten to death for 10 kilograms of corn in N. Hamgyong Province
The man's face and body were reportedly covered in dark-blue bruises, and the killer left his footprints on the victim’s clothing
https://www.dailynk.com/english/elderly-man-beaten-death-10-kilograms-corn-north-hamgyong-province/
By Lee Chae Un - 2022.12.27 1:30pm
A man in his 60s was beaten to death in Kilju County, North Hamgyong Province, in mid-December, Daily NK has learned.
A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Friday that the man, identified by his family name of Pak, was killed by an assailant on Dec. 15. “The assailant also stole 10 kilograms of corn, and people are shocked that Pak was killed, too,” he said.
According to the source, Pak’s son and daughter-in-law found him dead on the floor when they returned home from work in the market and contacted the county police.
Pak’s face and body were reportedly covered in dark-blue bruises, and the killer left his footprints on the victim’s clothing.
Pak was living at his son’s home due to economic distress, while the whole family had been living on the income his daughter-in-law earned from selling corn noodles in the market.
Thus, the corn stolen during the incident was important to the family business.
The police and bereaved family members reportedly believe Pak was killed while trying to protect the corn from being stolen. They speculate that he was beaten to death after he put up strong resistance to the burglary. If this is true, it basically means the elderly man lost his life trying to defend 10 kilograms of corn.
The murder also demonstrates how serious North Korea’s food shortages are.
Police in Kilju County have begun searching for the killer by questioning people in the area. However, their investigation is reportedly slow-going given the little evidence to go on.
News of Pak’s death amid the man’s struggles to earn a living is heightening insecurity among local residents of Kilju County, the source said.
“Some people are indirectly criticizing the government’s security measures by saying that nowadays, earning money is important, but stopping thefts is also critical,” he added.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Senior Advisor, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
| 
