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Quotes of the Day:
“It is your Day of Thanksgiving, and when we feel the truth of the facts which are before us, that in three or four years the peaceful, peace-loving people of the United States, with all the variety and freedom of their life in such contrast to the iron discipline which has governed many other communities—when we see that in three or four years the United States has in sober fact become the greatest military, naval, and air power in the world—that, I say to you in this time of war, is itself a subject for profound thanksgiving…
But there is a greater thanksgiving day, which still shines ahead, which beckons the bold and loyal and warm-hearted. And that is when this union of action which has been forced upon us by our common hatred of tyranny, which we have maintained during those dark and fearful days, shall become a lasting union of sympathy and feeling and loyalty and hope between all the British and American peoples, wherever they may dwell. Then, indeed, there will be a Day of Thanksgiving, and one in which all the world will share.”
- Winston Churchill, November 23, 1944 at the Royal Albert Hall in London
"'Knowledge dominance' does scare us as Marines. General George Armstrong Custer probably thought he had knowledge dominance, too. Any time you think you're smarter than your adversary, you're probably about a half-mile from the Little Big Horn."
- Colonel Art Corbett, USMC
“Cold Wars cannot be conducted by hotheads. Nor can ideological conflicts be won as crusades or concluded by unconditional surrender.” Walter Lippmann: The Russian-American War 1949
1. Press Statement of Kim Yo Jong, Vice Department Director of C.C., WPK
2. North Korea’s Next Nuclear Test Is A Matter of ‘When,’ Not ‘If’
3. Kim Jong-un’s Daughter and the ICBM
4. N. Korean leader's sister lambasts Yoon Suk-yeol gov't over talk of sanctions on Pyongyang
5. S. Korea's unification ministry expresses strong regret over 'deplorable' statement by N. Korean leader's sister
6. (Yonhap Interview) Ukraine vice speaker says N. Korean role in war with Russia can't be ruled out
7. Yongsan Locals Complain About Constant Protests
8. Drills aren't driving North's missile tests, says defense minister
9. Pyongyang cuts Jungkook's song at World Cup opening
10. North Korea tries to sow seeds of doubt on US extended deterrence
11. Symbolism or succession clues? Debut of Kim Jong-un’s daughter sparks speculation over North Korea’s future
12. North Korea are streaming the World Cup - despite 'not buying rights'
13. N. Korea may be producing munitions for export to Russia
14. North Korea imports Russian food and petroleum products by train
15. Human Rights Watch publishes analysis on N. Korea’s border blockade
16. The US wants China to curb North Korea. But can it? And would Beijing even want to?
17. North Korea: a female heir to Kim’s throne?
18, Legitimizing North Korean Hereditary Succession Harms the Korean People
1. Press Statement of Kim Yo Jong, Vice Department Director of C.C., WPK
Dr. Duyeon Kim's tweet provides a description of how insulting this statement is.
Dr. Duyeon Kim
@duyeonkim
Must read in Korean. Awkward Eng translations don't do justice how vulgar, unsophisticated and unprofessional her speech is. NK has wanted to be regarded as a normal state but official statements show it still doesn't understand international relations and diplomatic speak.
What also caught my eye are these excerpts:
I wonder why the south Korean people still remain a passive onlooker to such acts of the "government" of Yoon Suk Yeol and other idiots who continue creating the dangerous situation.
Anyhow, Seoul had not been our target at least when Moon Jae In was in power.
We must never forget that the regime is conducting political warfare against the South and this includes active subversion as is obviously indicated in the excerpt. There should be no doubt the regime is trying to contribute to the political divide in the South.
However ,the second sentence regarding Moon is a blatant lie. While this may be intended to give the conservatives ``ammunition" to say Moon is a sympathizer or collaborator with the regime, the fact is following Moon Jae-in's speech in Pyongyang in September 2018, the regime embarked on a sustained propaganda campaign to discredit Moon. Kim Jong Un erred in allowing Moon to speak to a large audience of Korean people from the north in Pyongyang and he really impressed them. This undermined seven decades of propaganda that was intended to make the South out to be weak, incompetent, decadent, and a puppet of the US. From that point for the rest of the Moon administration the Propaganda and Agitation Department consistently vilified Moon and his administration and all of South Korea. Kim Yo Jong conveniently misremembers her statements of June 2020 with her threats against Moon and the regime over the leaflet issue.
Press Statement of Kim Yo Jong, Vice Department Director of C.C., WPK
Date: 24/11/2022 | Source: KCNA.kp (En) | Read original version at source
https://kcnawatch.org/newstream/1669241533-67034281/press-statement-of-kim-yo-jong-vice-department-director-of-c-c-wpk
Pyongyang, November 24 (KCNA) -- Kim Yo Jong, vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), released the following press statement on Nov. 24:
On Nov. 22, the foreign ministry of south Korea described the DPRK's exercise of the right to self-defence as "provocation", announcing that it is examining its additional "independent sanctions" as the "provocation" continues.
As soon as the U.S. talked about its "independent sanctions" against the DPRK, south Korea parroted what the former said. This disgusting act shows more clearly that the south Korean group is a "faithful dog" and stooge of the U.S.
Such frequent acts of the south Korean stooges dumbfound me.
I wonder what "sanctions" the south Korean group, no more than a running wild dog on a bone given by the U.S., impudently impose on the DPRK. What a spectacle sight!
If the master and the servant still attach themselves to the useless "sanctions", we will let them do that one hundred or thousand times.
If they think that they can escape from the present dangerous situation through "sanctions", they must be really idiots as they do not know how to live in peace and comfort.
I wonder why the south Korean people still remain a passive onlooker to such acts of the "government" of Yoon Suk Yeol and other idiots who continue creating the dangerous situation.
Anyhow, Seoul had not been our target at least when Moon Jae In was in power.
We warn the impudent and stupid once again that the desperate sanctions and pressure of the U.S. and its south Korean stooges against the DPRK will add fuel to the latter's hostility and anger and they will serve as a noose for them. -0-
www.kcna.kp (Juche111.11.24.)
2. North Korea’s Next Nuclear Test Is A Matter of ‘When,’ Not ‘If’
Yes it is coming. Kim must test to advance his nuclear program. The question is will he test at a time to maximize what he believes are his influence objectives. How can he use a nuclear test to best support his political warfare and blackmail diplomacy strategies?
North Korea’s Next Nuclear Test Is A Matter of ‘When,’ Not ‘If’
Foreign Policy · by Robbie Gramer · November 23, 2022
But Russia and China block any U.N. action against the Hermit Kingdom.
By Robbie Gramer, a diplomacy and national security reporter at Foreign Policy.
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North Korean soldiers attend a mass rally to celebrate the declaration that it had achieved full nuclear statehood in Pyongyang.
North Korean soldiers attend a mass rally to celebrate the declaration that it had achieved full nuclear statehood in Pyongyang on Dec. 1, 2017. Kim Won-Jin/AFP via Getty Images
U.S. officials and their allies in East Asia have assessed that there is little, if anything, they can do to prevent North Korea from carrying out a seventh nuclear missile test, following years of diplomatic deadlock and a raft of recent ballistic missile tests.
“Kim [Jong Un]’s next nuclear test is a matter of ‘when,’ not ‘if,’” said one South Korean official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, referring to the North Korean dictator. “We unfortunately have to plan as if it is a done deal.”
Since taking office in January 2021, the Biden administration has repeatedly said it is open to talks with North Korea as it stubbornly develops a nuclear weapons program, despite sweeping international sanctions. Those overtures, however, have been met with radio silence. All the while, North Korea has steadily continued testing and expanding its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
“We’ve all been hearing there could possibly be another nuclear test. That in itself just raises concern for everyone,” Bonnie Jenkins, the Biden administration’s top arms control envoy, said in an interview on the sidelines of the Halifax International Security Forum this week. “We’ve been very clear with North Korea that we are open to dialogue with them. Once again, it’s a case where they have not really responded,” she said.
U.S. and South Korean officials have conceded that they don’t have an exact idea on the timing of a new nuclear weapons test from North Korea, given both countries’ extremely limited access and insight into one of the most closed-off dictatorships in the world. Officials said that North Korea’s next nuclear test would most likely occur at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, in the northern part of the country.
A new nuclear test would rattle U.S. allies in the region, chief among them South Korea and Japan, and put new pressure on the Biden administration to revamp its North Korea policy, which has taken a back seat to other major world crises including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Yet the Biden administration has few tools left in its toolbox to bring North Korea to the negotiating table, said Victor Cha, an expert on North Korea at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
North Korea has already weathered crippling international sanctions, meaning adding more would do little to deter it, and the toxic state of U.S.-China relations leaves U.S. President Joe Biden little room to work with Beijing to try to quell tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
“Many of the tools that we’ve had in the past are either no longer available or have been rendered irrelevant,” Cha said.
North Korea has conducted a record-shattering 63 ballistic missile tests this year (eight of them intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs), ratcheting up tensions on the Korean Peninsula and far outpacing its previous annual record of 25. North Korea’s latest ICBM test on Nov. 17 prompted an outpouring of sharp criticism from Washington and its allies abroad.
But so far, U.S. efforts to drive home a unified condemnation at the United Nations have run aground. The U.N. Security Council (UNSC) on Monday failed to pass a resolution condemning Pyongyang’s latest ICBM test after Russia and China vetoed the measure. It was the 10th such UNSC meeting on North Korea this year, none of which produced any significant action in condemning Kim or hitting the country with new sanctions. The meeting highlighted the diplomatic impasse the United States faces over North Korea’s nuclear program on the world stage.
“How many more missiles must get launched before we respond as a unified council?” fumed Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, at the meeting. She pinned the blame for the impasse squarely on the shoulders of Russia and China.
“Two veto-wielding members of the council are enabling and emboldening the DPRK,” she said, referring to North Korea through the acronym of its formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “These two members’ blatant obstructionism puts the Northeast Asian region and the entire world at risk. You simply cannot be considered a responsible steward of nuclear weapons if you condone this behavior.”
Russia, which launched an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine earlier this year that has resulted in an estimated 200,000 battlefield casualties, accused the United States of confrontational military activity over North Korea.
“It is obvious that Pyongyang’s missile launches are the result of the short-sighted confrontational military activity of the United States being carried on around the DPRK, which harms both its partners in the region and the situation in Northeast Asia as a whole,” Russia’s deputy U.N. envoy, Anna Evstigneeva, told reporters after the meeting, speaking through an interpreter.
North Korea, meanwhile, dismissed Western criticism and said it was simply exercising self-defense after a series of joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises. In October and November, the U.S. and South Korean militaries conducted major joint air exercises.
“The UNSC has turned blind eyes to the very dangerous military drills of the U.S. and South Korea and their greedy arms buildup aiming at the DPRK and taken issue with the DPRK’s exercise of its inviolable right to self-defense,” said Kim Yo-jong, the leader’s sister, in a statement released by North Korean state media.
Robbie Gramer is a diplomacy and national security reporter at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @RobbieGramer
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A television is seen in a ferry cabin with file footage of a North Korean missile test, in the waters off South Korea's island of Ulleungdo (top back), on Nov. 4.
Washington and Seoul need to be careful not to accidentally trigger war.
A person walks past an image of Kim Jong Un on a screen.
The United States is warning that a nuclear strike would be game over for Kim Jong Un.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is shown on a television screen at a train station in Seoul on Sept. 9.
With a new law, Kim Jong Un takes a page from the Soviet nuclear playbook to ensure payback.
Foreign Policy · by Robbie Gramer · November 23, 2022
3. Kim Jong-un’s Daughter and the ICBM
This is quite the analysis and assessment. By showing us his daughter Kim wants to avoid war and escalation. That is certainly a hopeful assessment. If accurate perhaps it is meant to make us complacent. But I am skeptical.
Conclusion:
North Korea’s logic has long asserted that nuclear missiles are needed to protect the system. Given its lack of a missile defense system, North Korea would be helpless in the face of an attack by the United States or South Korea. The logic has been for Pyongyang to ensure retaliatory capacity against its enemies, to act as a deterrent. By introducing his daughter, Kim Jong-un has informally sent a message, for both domestic and international consumption, saying that he wants to avoid war and unnecessary escalation.
Kim Jong-un’s Daughter and the ICBM
North Korea’s leader debuts his offspring, and sends a message.
thediplomat.com · by Atsuhito Isozaki · November 24, 2022
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The November 19 issue of Rodong Sinmun carried a surprise. The newspaper published photographs of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hand-in-hand with his daughter, as they witnessed missile tests.
North Korean media had not even reported the fact that Kim Jong-un has children. There have been reports in South Korean media saying that Kim and his wife Ri Sol-ju have three children, but the only confirmation of a girl called Ju-ae came from Dennis Rodman, the former NBA star, who said that Kim personally had introduced his daughter when Rodman was invited to Pyongyang in 2013. The girl in the published photographs looks like she is around ten years old. Her name was not made public, but it is highly likely that she is Ju-ae.
The Rodong Sinmun article was reporting the successful test launch on November 18 of the Hwasong-17, a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), and is titled “WPK Solemnly Declares Its Immutable Will to React to Enemy’s Nuke and Full-Frontal Confrontation in Kind.” The uncompromising piece goes on to strongly criticize the United States and South Korea.
This hardline stance combined with photos that contrast father and daughter against the massive missile are surreal. North Korean missile launches have failed many times and there are risks associated with bringing family members to the test site. Nevertheless, Kim Jong-un “came out to the site for the historic major strategic weapon test-fire together with his beloved daughter and wife to personally guide the whole course of the test-fire.” It is important to note that Kim’s “beloved daughter” was given more attention than Ri Sol-ju, who is well-known for her role center-stage during the Pyongyang visits of Chinese President Xi Jinping and the former Korean President Moon Jae-in.
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To date, no one has been able to affirm any tentative decision on a successor to Kim Jong-un, so it will be worth carefully watching to see if his daughter appears in North Korean media in the future.
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However, it cannot be denied that the girl’s presence at the missile launch may be highly significant, given that the North Korean propaganda machine is already running claims that Kim Jong-un himself provided local guidance to military units when he was only 15 years old.
Kim was a student in Switzerland from 1996 to 2000, but this fact remains concealed from the people of North Korea. Perusing Rodong Sinmum for the day when Kim first provided guidance to a military unit, one finds reports of a visit by then leader Kim Jong-il to a naval unit. In short, we may assume that Kim Jong-un had temporarily returned home from school in Switzerland to accompany his father on official visits. This is still hailed as an important achievement for the younger Kim.
North Korea is a male-dominated society where women are frowned upon even for smoking a cigarette. Even so, it would not be especially surprising if the fourth-generation leader was a woman. As is evident from the unofficial appointment of Kim Jong-un as successor when he was in his early 20s, and the dying instructions of his father to appoint him Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of North Korea at 27, the most important issue is to continue the Mangyongdae Family and the Baekdu lineage, which links back to Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, as this represents the height of legitimacy. The issue of a successor is the sole prerogative of the supreme leader and there is no question of opposition by the inner circle, even less by the nation.
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Kim Jong-un is only 38, and there are no suggestions of major issues with his health. Nevertheless, he is taking extra precautions to perpetuate the system. A good example is the new post of First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea as deputy to the General Secretary, which was established when the Constitution of the Korean Workers’ Party was revised in January 2021. This post remains unoccupied, but should something happen to the Supreme Leader, there are legal guarantees in place that would allow the advisors to the post to promptly appoint a deputy.
The Rodong Sinmun, which was the first media outlet to report the existence of Kim’s daughter, concludes the article with the “determination” to perpetuate the system and “to defend the Party and the revolution, the country and the people forever.” The Kim family is a symbol, and a reminder to the nation that weapons like the new type of ICBM are vital to protecting both the family and the nation.
North Korea’s logic has long asserted that nuclear missiles are needed to protect the system. Given its lack of a missile defense system, North Korea would be helpless in the face of an attack by the United States or South Korea. The logic has been for Pyongyang to ensure retaliatory capacity against its enemies, to act as a deterrent. By introducing his daughter, Kim Jong-un has informally sent a message, for both domestic and international consumption, saying that he wants to avoid war and unnecessary escalation.
Atsuhito Isozaki is a professor at Keio University.
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Atsuhito Isozaki
Atsuhito Isozaki is a professor at Keio University.
thediplomat.com · by Atsuhito Isozaki · November 24, 2022
4. N. Korean leader's sister lambasts Yoon Suk-yeol gov't over talk of sanctions on Pyongyang
Again, Kim Yo Jong has such an evil look on her face which I guess tells us of her evil ways. . See her photo at the link: https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20221124000652325?section=nk/nk
(2nd LD) N. Korean leader's sister lambasts Yoon Suk-yeol gov't over talk of sanctions on Pyongyang | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · November 24, 2022
(ATTN: ADDS comments from unification ministry in paras 10-12)
By Yi Wonju
SEOUL, Nov. 24 (Yonhap) -- The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday lashed out at South Korea's Yoon Suk-yeol administration for seeking more independent sanctions on Pyongyang, calling it a "faithful dog" to Washington.
Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, harshly criticized the South for labeling the North's military exercise as a "provocation" and pushing to slap additional sanctions on Pyongyang.
"As soon as the U.S. talked about its 'independent sanctions' against the DPRK, South Korea parroted what the former said," she said in an English-language statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), using the acronym for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"This disgusting act shows more clearly that the South Korean group is a 'faithful dog' and stooge of the U.S," she added.
Kim took aim at the conservative Yoon administration's approach toward the North, saying the South had not been its "target" at least when the preceding liberal Moon Jae-in government was in power.
"I wonder why the South Korean people still remain a passive onlooker to such acts of the 'government' of Yoon Suk Yeol and other idiots who continue creating the dangerous situation," she said.
Kim warned that the "desperate" sanctions and pressure against the North will add fuel to the regime's hostility that will only "serve as a noose" for Seoul and Washington.
"If they think that they can escape from the present dangerous situation through 'sanctions,' they must be really idiots as they do not know how to live in peace and comfort," she added.
She also described Seoul as a "running wild dog on a bone given by the U.S." and a "servant" attached to its "master."
Hours later, South Korea's unification ministry voiced "strong regret" over Kim's statement. It denounced Pyongyang for attempting to "shift the blame" to Seoul despite having caused tensions on the Korean Peninsula with its back-to-back missile launches.
"We consider it very deplorable that Vice Director Kim Yo-jong criticized the leader of our country today using vulgar language without showing even the most basic level of decency," the ministry said in a press release.
"We also strongly condemn the (North's) impure attempt to incite anti-government struggles among our people and to destabilize our system ... not a single person in our country will fall for such an attempt," it added.
Earlier this week, Seoul's foreign ministry said it was considering imposing independent sanctions in response to the North's provocations, including the launch of its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the entire U.S. mainland.
Kim's latest statement comes two days after she bristled at a U.N. Security Council meeting on the recent ICBM launch, accusing the council of applying "double standards."
She is known for her influence on inter-Korean affairs in the Kim regime and other external issues.
#shorts
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · November 24, 2022
5. S. Korea's unification ministry expresses strong regret over 'deplorable' statement by N. Korean leader's sister
I wish the MOU would add that while it regrets the deplorable statement, it also reveals the true nature of the Kim family regime. It is important for the public (in the north and South) to understand the nature and mindset of the regime as well as its objectives and strategy.
S. Korea's unification ministry expresses strong regret over 'deplorable' statement by N. Korean leader's sister | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · November 24, 2022
SEOUL, Nov. 24 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean government voiced strong regret Thursday over biting criticism of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration by the North Korean leader's sister, describing it as "deplorable."
"We consider it very deplorable that Vice Director Kim Yo-jong criticized the leader of our country with vulgar language today without showing even the most basic level of courtesy," the unification ministry said.
Hours earlier, Kim issued a harshly worded statement lashing out at the Yoon administration for seeking more independent sanctions on Pyongyang for its provocations.
She criticized Yoon by name and called the president and his aides "idiots." She even accused Seoul of serving as a "faithful dog" of Washington.
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · November 24, 2022
6. (Yonhap Interview) Ukraine vice speaker says N. Korean role in war with Russia can't be ruled out
(LEAD) (Yonhap Interview) Ukraine vice speaker says N. Korean role in war with Russia can't be ruled out | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 이민지 · November 24, 2022
(ATTN: ADDS photo)
By Lee Minji, Kim Na-young and Kim Dongho
SEOUL, Nov. 24 (Yonhap) -- Military cooperation between North Korea and Russia cannot be ruled out, the first deputy chief of Ukraine's parliament said Thursday, amid U.S. allegations the North is providing Russia with artillery shells for use in the war against Ukraine.
Oleksandr Kornienko, first deputy chairman of the Ukraine parliament of Verkhovna Rada, made the remark during an exclusive interview with Yonhap News Agency, saying Iran has been supplying weapons to Russia and the situation could be similar with North Korea.
"Because we know what Russia is like, we cannot rule out the possibility," Kornienko said through an interpreter during the interview held at a hotel upon his arrival in Seoul for meetings with South Korean parliamentary leaders.
"There have been media reports on Russia and North Korea's military and civilian cooperation and we have heard that the North may take part in restoration efforts. Based on this, we assess that military cooperation may take place, though we don't have concrete evidence," he said.
Earlier this month, the White House raised allegations that North Korea is covertly supplying a "significant number of artillery shells" to Russia while trying to obfuscate the real destination of its shipments by funneling them through third countries.
The North has since denied the report, accusing the U.S. of spreading "groundless" rumors against Pyongyang in an attempt to tarnish its image, and saying the country has "never had 'arms dealings' with Russia and that we have no plan to do so in the future."
"We have shot down many Iranian drones and their parts have shown they were made in Iran. But we don't have proof like this in North Korea's case," Kornienko said.
The vice assembly speaker, who visited South Korea for a meeting with Deputy National Assembly Speaker Chung Woo-taik and other lawmakers, said Ukraine wants South Korea to help rebuild war-ravaged cities and provide humanitarian aid.
He said that one of the Ukrainian government's biggest goals is to recover the quality of life for residents affected by Russia's attacks and resultant water and power disruptions.
"What we anticipate from South Korea is humanitarian support. South Korea's support is also crucial in rebuilding infrastructure," he said, mentioning how the country can help reconstruct temporary and permanent residential facilities that have been destroyed.
Kornienko also called for Seoul's support in pushing for stronger international sanctions against Russia.
"South Korea's cooperation is needed in pushing for and developing U.N. resolutions. And I believe there is a need for a resolution by the Korean government condemning Russia's actions," he said, stressing the need to bolster a sanctions mechanism against the country.
While voicing concerns over the war that is lasting longer than expected and grave circumstances at home, Kornienko anticipated that Ukraine will recover more of its territory with international support.
"We have recovered 56 percent of the territory that had been invaded by Russia. I believe this trend will continue because the world and South Korea is supporting Ukraine," he said.
"Our goal is not just restoring Ukraine to pre-war stage but building a new country after victory. South Korea is a country that has a lot of experience and we believe it could help Ukraine going forward," he said.
mlee@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 이민지 · November 24, 2022
7. Yongsan Locals Complain About Constant Protests
Yongsan Locals Complain About Constant Protests
english.chosun.com
November 24, 2022 12:22
One unintended consequence of the move of the presidential office to Yongsan is that the area has become a focal point for weekend rallies for one cause or another.
Store owners are complaining that incessant rallies and protests in front of the presidential office, which draw between 20,000 and 30,000 people at a time, are bad for business.
When the presidential office was in Cheong Wa Dae, protesters converged on Gwanghwamun and marched north towards the presidential palace, which was off-limits. But that is mainly an office district, while Yongsan is a mixture of residential and commercial areas.
There are nine apartment complexes for some 1,738 households within 500 m of the new presidential office.
People rally near the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul on Nov. 12. /Newsis
One owner of a beauty shop near Samgakji subway station, who has been doing business there for 14 years, said, "Nothing has improved here since lockdown. I used to have regular customers every weekend, but now they won't drive here because of the constant protests."
"One out of two customers cancel their bookings on weekends, and the ones who come here say they won't come again."
A resident of an apartment in Samgakji plans to move elsewhere in two months because it has become difficult to go for walks and the noise has gotten intolerable. "I've been living here for six years and the neighborhood became too noisy practically overnight," he said.
Angry store owners are complaining to the police, but officers say their hands are tied.
Police are in a bind. The roads around the presidential office are not subject to a law that allows them to regulate or restrict traffic in residential areas, and while they would like to change regulations they must also recognize the public's right to demonstrate.
Police have tried to use noise regulations to crack down on the protests, but they are difficult to enforce. All police can do is issue small fines.
No Progress on Name for New Presidential Office
President to Move out of Historic Cheong Wa Dae
- Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com
english.chosun.com
8. Drills aren't driving North's missile tests, says defense minister
Good statements from Minister Lee. We need more officials to make this point. It is especially good tat he is pushing back on the Chinese who are complicit in north Korean malign activities.
Thursday
November 24, 2022
dictionary + A - A
Drills aren't driving North's missile tests, says defense minister
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/11/24/national/defense/korea-china-defense/20221124142746823.html
Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, left, shakes hands with Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe during a meeting on the sidelines of an Asean Defense MInisters' Meeting in Cambodia on Wednesday. [NEWS1]
Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup rejected the idea that joint military exercises between Washington and Seoul were the cause of North Korea's military provocations in a meeting with the Chinese defense minister.
“North Korea has secretly developed nuclear weapons and missiles even as the two Koreas and the U.S. and North Korea were engaged in dialogue in the past several years,” Lee was quoted by his ministry as having told Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe in Cambodia on Wednesday.
“The argument that North Korea is further developing its nuclear and missile capabilities in response to U.S.-Korea joint military exercises is not valid.”
The two defense ministers were meeting on the sidelines of the Asean Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM)-plus meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia, this week. The ADMM-plus group involves non-Asean countries including Korea, the United States and Japan.
In the meeting Wednesday, Wei told Lee that China does not want escalation of tensions or insecurities on the Korean Peninsula, adding that Beijing has “continuously and actively played a constructive role” in the security of the region, according to the Korean Defense Ministry.
North Korea has fired more than 60 ballistic missiles this year including the launch of an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) last Friday.
The Chinese and Russian ambassadors to the United Nations have blamed the United States for the North’s provocations, and called on Washington to ease sanctions on Pyongyang and end joint military exercises with Seoul.
Washington and Seoul have been conducting joint military trainings, including a 240-aircraft exercise earlier this month and a trilateral anti-submarine warfare exercise between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo in September.
"North Korea's expansion of its nuclear and missile capabilities will only strengthen unity between South Korea and the U.S., as well as between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, and will be met with strengthened pressure from the international community," Lee said in the meeting.
The ministers agreed to resume ministerial visits that have not been held since 2015, as well as vice-ministerial meetings on defense halted since 2019.
Citing a recently started navy and air force hotline between Beijing and Seoul, the two ministers agreed the hotline should be “utilized actively” to prevent any miscommunications.
BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]
9. Pyongyang cuts Jungkook's song at World Cup opening
The north is illegally broadcasting the World Cup but is strictly controlling what the Korean people see. A simple action for the escapee groups would be to send the entire clips that were censored to the north.
Wednesday
November 23, 2022
dictionary + A - A
Pyongyang cuts Jungkook's song at World Cup opening
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/11/23/sports/worldcup/Korea-World-Cup-BTS/20221123181355346.html
BTS member Jungkook sings "Dreamers" at Sunday's opening ceremony of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, a performance that was edited out of Pyongyang's state-controlled Korean Central Television (KCTV) coverage of the event. [YONHAP]
North Korea's delayed broadcast of the 2022 Qatar World Cup opening ceremony omitted BTS member Jungkook's performance.
The North rarely broadcasts major international sporting events live, instead showing only shortened versions or snippets of matches.
The editing out of Jungkook singing “Dreamers” — a song recorded as part of a promotional album for the 2022 World Cup — from the hour-long Monday broadcast of Sunday’s opening ceremony confirms that Pyongyang’s state media doesn't want anything shown domestically that makes Seoul look good.
While the state-controlled Korean Central Television (KCTV) has aired game highlights from the English Premier League since 2014, South Korean professional footballer and Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min is never clearly visible in its edited footage of matches, despite his winning the Premier League Golden Boot in May.
It remains to be seen whether the North’s censorship of individual South Koreans from its international sports coverage will be extended to exclude the South Korean national team’s matches altogether.
After airing a total of less than three minutes from the tournament’s inaugural match between Qatar and Ecuador a day later on Monday, KCTV broadcast shortened, hour-long versions of Monday’s matches on Tuesday.
But on Wednesday, the state television channel did not air any footage from the Tuesday match between the United States and Wales, nor from the game between Mexico and Poland the same day.
According to Oh Gyeong-seob, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, Pyongyang’s process for choosing what to air from the World Cup is not entirely clear, but it is likely that the state of the North’s external relations weighs on decisions to broadcast matches featuring teams from its foes.
“Given the current inter-Korean stand-off, I imagine it would not be easy for Pyongyang to air footage of the South Korean team’s game, especially since the North Korean team failed to advance to the group stage of the tournament.”
He speculated that it could become even harder for the regime to release footage of South Korea’s matches if the South Korean team performs well.
After North Korea’s narrow 2:1 loss against Brazil at the 2010 World Cup, Pyongyang allowed KCTV to air its team’s next match against Portugal live and in full for the first time ever.
But that match ended in a painful 7:0 defeat for the North Korean side.
BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
10. North Korea tries to sow seeds of doubt on US extended deterrence
Political warfare.
And we must deter war/resumption of hostilities and nuclear/WMD attack. Our exercises will not stop provocations and we must not be under any illusion that they will. Yet every time there is a provocation I receive questions from the media asking has deterrence failed? No it has not. We have successfully deterred war for nearly seven decades.
North Korea tries to sow seeds of doubt on US extended deterrence
The Korea Times · November 24, 2022
By Kang Seung-woo
North Korea's ceaseless missile launches, despite the deployment of more powerful U.S. military assets on the Korean Peninsula, are aimed at raising concerns in South Korea and Japan about the credibility of the U.S.' extended deterrence for its allies, according to Victor Cha, senior vice president for Asia and head of the Korea division at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Victor Cha / Korea Times file
The Kim Jong-un regime has ratcheted up tensions on the Korean Peninsula by launching ballistic missiles on 31 occasions this year, including eight rounds of intercontinental ballistic (ICBM) missile launches. Plus, the self-proclaimed nuclear state has been preparing for its next nuclear test, which would be its first since 2017 and seventh overall.
"By threatening the United States homeland with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, North Korea also wants to try to raise doubt in the minds of Japanese and South Koreans about the credibility of U.S. extended deterrence commitments to its allies in the region, such that South Korea will be weaker," Cha said during an interview on the U.S. public radio station NPR, Tuesday (local time).
Despite the U.S.' firm assurance of the extended deterrence ― a commitment to use a full range of capabilities, including nuclear weapons, to deter attacks on allies ― there are growing questions as to whether Washington will keep its word in the event of a North Korean attack on the continental U.S.
In addition, North Korea launched ballistic missiles even though South Korea and the U.S. held combined aerial and naval exercises recently involving U.S. strategic assets, including an aircraft carrier and strategic bombers, raising concerns over the effectiveness of the U.S.' extended deterrence in stopping the North's increasing military provocations.
"I think the increased exercising is important for defense and deterrence, but it's not going to stop the missile testing and the missile launching," Cha said, adding that the only thing that stopped North Korea's provocations previously was talks between the U.S. and North Korea.
However, he also said the North Korean regime was not interested in any negotiations, as evidenced by the Joe Biden administration's unsuccessful attempts to reach out and initiate dialogue.
Currently, the North Korean nuclear issue is not high on the agenda of the Biden administration's foreign policy because it is now preoccupied with the Ukraine-Russia war and fierce economic competition with China. This paves the way for Pyongyang to test-fire its ballistic missiles, which is in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions banning the country from testing ballistic missile technologies.
"North Korea sees an opportunity there to carry out these tests because they know the Chinese and the Russians are not going to support U.N. Security Council resolutions as they have in the past," he said.
"I think, for the North Koreans, they see opportunity whenever U.S.-China and U.S.-Russia relations are not going well. They see opportunity in drawing closer to China and Russia. When relations are better between the United States and China, they constantly fear abandonment. They constantly fear that the United States and China ― the two big powers ― are going to cut a deal that sells North Korea down the river."
The Korea Times · November 24, 2022
11. Symbolism or succession clues? Debut of Kim Jong-un’s daughter sparks speculation over North Korea’s future
More speculation.
Excerpts:
But the state media’s focus on symbolism did little to dampen speculation that Kim, who is in his late 30s and has battled bouts of poor health, is beginning to think about his successor.
...
Ju Ae’s surprise outing should be seen as a demonstration of the stability and continuity that underpins the Kim dynasty, according to Soo Kim, a former CIA analyst now with the Rand Corporation, who said Kim may have more than one son.
“It may not be the case that he is introducing Ju Ae as his official heir, but since she, along with her male siblings, will carry on Kim’s legacy, it makes sense for Kim to introduce one of his children to the public,” she said.
“From a succession standpoint, Kim’s children are still quite young and – at least from the public eye – probably not ready to ‘take over’ the country. And considering Kim’s age, his health concerns notwithstanding, he is probably not ready to hand over the reins to his young children.”
Symbolism or succession clues? Debut of Kim Jong-un’s daughter sparks speculation over North Korea’s future
Reveal of Ju Ae raises questions over whether Kim, who is in his 30s and has battled poor health, is starting to think about his successor
The Guardian · by Justin McCurry · November 23, 2022
Kim Jong-un’s carefully crafted image as a man of the people, armed with nuclear weapons, came full circle at the weekend with his daughter’s surprise appearance at the launch of a long-range missile.
Images showing Kim holding the hand of the young girl eclipsed the test-firing of a Hwasong-17, the regime’s biggest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to date, and sparked speculation about the future of the dynasty that has ruled North Korea for more than seven decades.
What do we know about Kim’s companion, and is there any substance to theories that she could one day succeed her father?
South Korean intelligence officials identified her as Ju Ae, who was first mentioned by the former American basketball player Dennis Rodman after he visited the Kim family in 2013. Ju Ae, who is rumoured to be the second of three children – including a boy and another girl – is aged about 10, according to South Korea’s intelligence agency. Others have said she is 12 or 13.
On Saturday, she was seen holding her father’s hand as the ICBM left its launch site, accompanied by her mother, Ri Sol-ju. Everything about her public debut was carefully choreographed, right down to a white, black and red outfit that matched the colours of the missile.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, walks away from an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with his daughter Ju Ae. Photograph: 朝鮮通信社/AP
State media said her appearance – the first official confirmation that Kim has children – underlined that the regime’s nuclear deterrent was intended to “protect our children”, from a US attack, describing its stockpile as “monuments to be passed down to our descendants for generations”.
What’s behind the sudden increase in missile tests from North Korea?
Read more
But the state media’s focus on symbolism did little to dampen speculation that Kim, who is in his late 30s and has battled bouts of poor health, is beginning to think about his successor.
Some analysts, however, believe the chances of North Korean political elites accepting a woman as leader – even the great-granddaughter of the country’s founder Kim Il-sung – are remote.
“It is unlikely that any of the Kim clan’s female members will be enthroned to rule North Korea,” said Leonid Petrov, a North Korea expert at the International College of Management in Sydney. If that were to happen, Petrov added, the most likely successor would be Kim’s influential sister, Kim Yo-jong, who on Wednesday warned the US that it would face “a more fatal security crisis” if it continued to push the UN to condemn the North’s recent ICBM test.
“If Kim Jong-un does not have a male successor, that would leave open the possibility for Kim Yo-jong to inherit the top role in the North Korean leadership,” said Petrov, adding that it was impossible to confirm how many children he has. “However, I think it’s more likely that a collective leadership would succeed Kim, with some of his female relatives added to the circle of decision makers for the sake of giving them added legitimacy.”
“Kim Jong-un is still relatively young, so to project his image as a caring father and benevolent ruler, he took his little daughter for a photo opportunity at the ICBM launch site.”
Ju Ae’s surprise outing should be seen as a demonstration of the stability and continuity that underpins the Kim dynasty, according to Soo Kim, a former CIA analyst now with the Rand Corporation, who said Kim may have more than one son.
“It may not be the case that he is introducing Ju Ae as his official heir, but since she, along with her male siblings, will carry on Kim’s legacy, it makes sense for Kim to introduce one of his children to the public,” she said.
“From a succession standpoint, Kim’s children are still quite young and – at least from the public eye – probably not ready to ‘take over’ the country. And considering Kim’s age, his health concerns notwithstanding, he is probably not ready to hand over the reins to his young children.”
Kim is believed to have as many as three children, two girls and a boy, experts say. Photograph: KCNA/Reuters
North Korea’s deeply patriarchal political culture does not automatically disqualify women from becoming leader, said Michael Madden, director of North Korea Leadership Watch.
Barring a sudden health problem that leads to his incapacitation or death, Kim has ample time to decide the identity of leadership candidates who share the family’s mythical Mount Paektu lineage. He has already promoted his sister to senior positions in the regime and appointed Choe Son-hui as North Korea’s first female foreign minister.
“If it is a long-term, planned hereditary succession then there is plenty of time for the regime to create conditions through which a female successor can assume power,” Madden said. “This would happen through building up a political support base of North Korean elites across the regime and through publicity efforts and ideological indoctrination.”
Kim Jong-un’s own rise to power demonstrated that the regime can be flexible when it comes to selecting an heir apparent. Kim Jong-nam, Kim Jong-il’s eldest son, fell out of favour in 2001 when he was arrested at Narita airport for attempting to enter Japan on a forged passport. He was assassinated in 2017, allegedly on Kim Jong-un’s orders. Kim Jong-il’s second son, Kim Jong-chol, was reportedly considered too “effeminate” for a leadership role.
Above all, Kim’s decision to associate his daughter with his ballistic missile programme was designed to send a message – to the North Korean people and to the rest of the world – that a nuclear armed North Korea is here to stay, according to Soo Kim.
“Whoever has to deal with Kim IV, Kim Jong-un wishes to make it known that they will also have to deal with the missiles and nuclear weapons.”
The Guardian · by Justin McCurry · November 23, 2022
12. North Korea are streaming the World Cup - despite 'not buying rights'
A mafia-like crime family cult is the Kim family regime.
North Korea are streaming the World Cup - despite 'not buying rights'
sportbible.com
Screenshots of North Korean television airing the 2022 World Cup have emerged online - despite the country reportedly not 'buying rights' to air it.
This year's tournament kicked off on Sunday, with hosts Qatar falling to a 2-0 defeat against Ecuador.
Two goals from Enner Valencia were enough to ensure Qatar made history as the first host nation to lose their opening group game.
Interesting tidbits about the opening few games of the tournament have started to spread. One, on Twitter, has got everyone talking.
Loading…
Korea Central TV [KCTV] Qatar versus Ecuador live on their station via a pirated signal, according to @Fekerfanta on Twitter.
Like a typical dodgy stream on the internet, the original broadcaster's logo was blurred out in the top left corner.
It's seen images of other games, including England's 6-2 win over Iran on Monday, hit the internet.
KCTV is aired from Pyongyang and used to be dominated by propaganda programmes before diversifying into locally produced shows.
North Korea has been run by one of the longest-standing dictatorships in the world. Three generations of the Kim family have overseen the country.
La Copa del Mundo también está siendo retransmitida en Corea del Norte.
Ni compra de derechos ni nada, señal completamente pirateada pic.twitter.com/EMtakmcKPa
— Feker (@Fekerfanta) November 21, 2022
Kim Jong-un is their current Supreme Leader and is a football fan, with his team of choice Manchester United.
North Korea participated in two World Cups, in 1966 and 2010.
Last week, FIFA president Gianni Infantino sensationally claimed he would like to host a World Cup in North Korea.
While addressing the controversy regarding Qatar hosting the tournament, Infantino said any nation should be allowed to host the event.
Infantino during a media brief last week. (Image Credit: Alamy)
He explained: "Any country can host an event. If North Korea wants to host something.
"I actually went to North Korea some years ago to ask the North Koreans if they were ready to host part of a Women’s World Cup with South Korea.
"Well, I was not successful, obviously, but I would go another 100 times if it would help.
"Only engagement can bring real change. We’re a global organisation and want to remain an organisation that unites the world."
sportbible.com
13. N. Korea may be producing munitions for export to Russia
N. Korea may be producing munitions for export to Russia
A recent order called on factories to produce a variety of shells, including grenades, rockets, and anti-aircraft shells
dailynk.com
FILE PHOTO: A construction site in Russia photographed in June 2019. North Korean workers were reportedly working there at the time. (Daily NK)
North Korea issued an order to munition factories in late October to produce additional conventional artillery shells, Daily NK has learned.
Facing a new production order with the big end-of-year reviews approaching, munition factories are reportedly responding with bewilderment.
According to a Daily NK source in North Korea on Thursday, North Korea issued the order to produce additional conventional artillery shells to shell-producing munitions factories nationwide at the end of October.
Daily NK determined that leading shell and warhead producing factories such as Kanggye General Tractor Plant and the Changjagang Machine Tools Factory in Manpo received the order.
The order called on the factories to produce a variety of shells, including grenades, rockets, and anti-aircraft shells.
It is fairly unusual to issue a new production task ahead of the end-of-year review. The period from late October to December — when factories prepare for the end-of-year review — is typically a time for them to engage in last-minute production to hit their annual goals, not a time for new production tasks.
Moreover, the munitions factories ordered to make the additional munitions usually produce half-finished products. But this time, they were tasked with producing finished shells in just a month or two.
Because shells are not used in peacetime, factories produce them in a half-completed state so they can be stored for long periods of time. This time, however, they were ordered to quickly produce completed shells.
The final production process reportedly differs from the ordinary production process, too. Munitions are usually moisture-proofed after they are produced; this time, however, that process is being omitted.
Because of this, workers at the factories are reportedly saying that the shells “don’t look like they’ll be stored for long.”
FACTORIES HIRE NEW PERSONNEL TO HANDLE ADDITIONAL WORK
In the course of its investigation into this story, Daily NK learned that munitions factories — facing labor shortages with the new order to expand production — are mobilizing new work personnel.
A munitions factory usually operates on three shifts, but the plants in question need more personnel to complete the latest task. They are responding by temporarily hiring people with past experience in munitions factories on a three-to-four month basis.
In a statement announced through state-run media on Nov. 8, North Korea’s Defense Ministry denied rumors that it was exporting weapons to Russia. North Korea has never engaged in arms deals with Russia, said the ministry, and had no plans to do so in the future.
However, US Defense Department spokesperson Patrick Ryder said in a briefing on Nov. 8 that “the information we have is that the DPRK is covertly supplying Russia with a significant number of artillery shells,” and that Washington “will continue to monitor that situation.”
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com
14. North Korea imports Russian food and petroleum products by train
Will they eventually return to Russia with munitions?
North Korea imports Russian food and petroleum products by train
The trains brought no North Korean exports back to Russia, however
dailynk.com
FILE PHOTO: A train can be seen travelling in an area of Chagang Province near the Sino-North Korean border. (Daily NK)
North Korea has used the freight train service restarted in early November with Russia to import foodstuffs and petroleum products, Daily NK has learned.
Observers are wondering why North Korea and Russia — which had long used ships to conduct their mutual smuggling operations — have suddenly restarted bilateral freight train service.
According to a source in North Korea on Monday, North Korea used trains to import mostly foodstuffs such as wheat, cooking oil and cheese, as well as energy products such as gasoline, diesel and LPG.
Some of the imported whole wheat was transported to grain processing centers. North Korea imported wheat from Russia in July as well. Indeed, wheat has been a favorite import item in North Korea’s recent under-the-table transactions with Russia.
Since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for improving the people’s food situation by doubling the acreage for wheat during a speech before the Supreme People’s Assembly last September, North Korean authorities have been expanding wheat imports rather than doubling the acreage for wheat as directed.
N. KOREA IMPORTS ALL SORTS OF ITEMS, FROM COOKING OIL TO WOOD
One noteworthy food item imported from Russia this month is cooking oil. The source told Daily NK that North Korea had never imported cooking oil from Russia before.
The cooking oil imported from Russia comes in transparent plastic 4.5 kilogram containers, but with no brand names on the front. North Koreans thus cannot check the oil’s date of manufacture or its ingredients.
This month’s imported Russian foodstuffs included dairy products such as cheese and butter, but they were of low quality. The military received all of the cheese and butter as rations. The source told Daily NK that military personnel really like rice topped with a spoonful of “butter oil.”
In the case of oil products, North Korea imported a substantial amount of oil from Russia by ship in September, too. Diesel oil accounted for the largest share of imported energy this month. The country imported lots of gasoline and LPG as well.
One item that had been missing from previous seaborne imports — but included in this month’s imports by train — was wood. The source said the wood entered the country as thick lumber rather than logs, with most of it likely to be used as construction material.
Meanwhile, North Korea exported nothing to Russia by freight train. Trains were reportedly always empty when they departed North Korea’s Rason Station for the Russian city of Khasan.
North Korea had been importing lots of items by ship, with the use of ships being highly successful at avoiding detection by the international community. With the country restarting freight train service despite this, some North Koreans speculate that the country is preparing to send North Korean workers to Russia.
Previously, Daily NK reported that North Korean authorities have already selected new workers to send to Russia and completed preparations to dispatch them.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com
15. Human Rights Watch publishes analysis on N. Korea’s border blockade
The report can be accessed here: https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/11/17/north-korea-covid-19-used-pretext-seal-border
HRW perfectly describes the COVID Paradox we have been talking about for the past two years here in this statement:
“The North Korean government used purported Covid-19 measures to further repress and endanger the North Korean people,” said Lina Yoon, senior Korea researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The government should redirect its energies to improving access to food, vaccines, and medicine, and respecting freedom of movement and other rights.”
Human Rights Watch publishes analysis on N. Korea’s border blockade
HRW recently posted satellite images of the area around Hoeryong that were taken in March 2019 and April 2022 to its website
By Ha Yuna - 2022.11.23 10:00am
dailynk.com
FILE PHOTO: North Korean soldiers seen constructing fences along the China-North Korea border in 2020. (Daily NK)
Human Rights Watch (HRW), an international NGO advocating for human rights, has published the results of its initial analysis of satellite images of the North Korean border taken before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The group’s analysis found that North Korea has reinforced and expanded barbed wire, guard posts and patrol roads in the border region since the outbreak of COVID-19.
On Nov. 17, HRW published on its website a comparison of North Korea’s border security facilities before and after the pandemic based on an analysis of satellite imagery of about 300 km of the border, which runs for a total length of 1,300 km.
“Preliminary analysis indicates that, since early 2020, the authorities have constructed new primary fences in several areas, set up secondary layers of fencing, upgraded preexisting primary fences, improved or widened patrol paths, and built new garrisons, watchtowers and guard posts along the border,” HRW said.
HRW focused on satellite imagery of a 7.4 km stretch of the border near Hoeryong, a North Korean city on the banks of the Tumen River, opposite China’s Jilin Province.
“In 2019 [prior to the pandemic], the area around [Hoeryong] was already almost fully fenced and had five watch towers. Images taken in April 2022 show that, since then, authorities have built another 169 guard posts, 9.2 kilometers of new secondary fencing, and 9.5 kilometers of improved primary fencing,” HRW said.
HRW posted satellite images of the area around Hoeryong that were taken in March 2019 and April 2022 to its website so that readers could intuitively see how more fences and guard posts had been built since the outbreak of COVID-19.
“[Hoeryong] already had tight security before the pandemic started, built along the reconstructed riverbank,” HRW said, but observed that “the river’s relatively shallow depth facilitated illegal crossings, smuggling and unofficial trade, particularly following the collapse of the state-run economy in the 1990s.
“Five North Korean former traders and smugglers who worked in [Hoeryong] city and two former government officials who left after 2013 said that security in [Hoeryong] increased after Kim Jong Un came to power in 2011, and that by 2013, many small-scale traders had been forced to stop smuggling.
“Three organizations that previously helped North Koreans flee the country told Human Rights Watch in recent months that new border controls have made their work impossible since 2020. Five North Korean escapees involved in smuggling goods in and out of North Korea said that since February 2020, they have been unable to smuggle any products at all. The five escapees said that out of 10 money brokers they knew who had been sending money into the country previously, only one was still able to do so.
“The North Korean government has substantially increased security along its northern border, using COVID-19 as the justification, further restricting travel and trade,” HRW said.
“The increased border security has almost entirely stopped unauthorized cross-border economic activity, which has contributed to severe shortages of food, medicine and other necessities. They have also greatly reduced attempts by North Koreans to seek asylum abroad, violating the right to freedom of movement,” the NGO added.
Lina Yoon, a senior Korea researcher for HRW, said, “The North Korean government used purported COVID-19 measures to further repress and endanger the North Korean people. The government should redirect its energies to improving access to food, vaccines and medicine, and respecting freedom of movement and other rights.”
HRW plans to release the results of a comprehensive analysis of satellite imagery of other areas along North Korea’s northern border early next year.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com
16. The US wants China to curb North Korea. But can it? And would Beijing even want to?
As many of us have said: We should not expect any help from China to solve South Korean and US security challenges.
The US wants China to curb North Korea. But can it? And would Beijing even want to?
- Washington thinks ‘Beijing has a role to play’ in curbing Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions by using its influence over the hermit state
- Yet observers are doubtful that China has the power – or inclination – to rein in an old ally it has long seen as a useful buffer to the US
Reuters
+ FOLLOW
Published: 3:15pm, 23 Nov, 2022
https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3200672/us-wants-china-curb-north-korea-can-it-and-would-beijing-even-want?utm_source=rss_feed
US President Joe Biden last week asked his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, if he could try to talk North Korea out of a new nuclear weapon test – but he acknowledged that he did not know if China had the capacity to do so.
As unpredictable North Korea builds its arsenal of nuclear weapons and the missiles to fire them across Asia and at the United States, the question of China’s ability to rein in its old ally has taken on particular urgency.
But with tension simmering between the US and China, especially over Taiwan, the issue may not only be if China has the ability to influence North Korea’s behaviour, but to what extent it is in Beijing’s interests to tame a neighbour it has long seen as a useful buffer to the US.
“From China’s … perspective, North Korea can serve as a force multiplier to challenge America’s position in the Pacific,” said Craig Singleton, a former US government official now with the Foundation for Defence of Democracies. “Simply put, the more countries willing to challenge or complicate the US-led security order in the Indo-Pacific, the better.”
Raising the stakes: How North Korea became a nuclear state
North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday last week, just as leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum were gathering in Bangkok.
It was the latest in a series of missile tests, raising fears that the isolated country is about to test a nuclear weapon for the first time since 2017.
Even before Friday’s missile launch, Biden raised the stakes when he told Xi at last week’s G20 gathering in Indonesia that North Korea’s development of weapons would lead to an enhanced US military presence in the region.
China does not want to see a nuclear-armed North Korea, nor does it want to see US nuclear weapons in the region, but the prospect of an expanding US military footprint raises other priorities for China, said Jenny Town of 38 North, a Washington-based North Korea project.
“They see the United States, South Korea and Japan forming as a security bloc, creating a need for a counter bloc, which would include North Korea,” Town said, referring to China.
“So any decision to be tough on North Korea has to be weighed against what they see as a growing incentive to deepen relations with security partners.”
China fought beside the North in the 1950-53 Korean war and has backed it economically and diplomatically ever since but its influence over the resourceful regime is limited.
“Americans have perennially overestimated China’s influence over North Korea,” said John Delury, professor of Chinese studies at Yonsei University in Seoul.
The whole point is China doesn’t control North Korea
John Delury, Chinese-studies professor
North Korea has for years showed a willingness to endure sanctions to develop the weapons it regards as vital to defend itself from the US, which it believes is bent on regime change.
Even during years of self-imposed pandemic isolation, North Korea kept up the work on its weapons.
“What is China going to do?” Delury asked. “Sanction North Korea, which cut itself off from the world for three years because of Covid and continued testing missiles? The whole point is China doesn’t control North Korea.”
Nevertheless, a senior US administration official said Washington was in regular contact with Beijing in the hope it can help persuade Pyongyang to stop alarming the region with displays of its nuclear ambitions.
“We do think that Beijing has a role to play,” the US official said. “It will definitely be part of our diplomacy to try to get China to … use its influence.”
China’s foreign ministry has referred to North Korea’s “reasonable concerns” and called for a “balanced solution” in accordance with what it calls a “two-track approach” of promoting denuclearisation and establishing a peace mechanism on the Korean peninsula.
“China has always been committed to maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula … It is willing to work with all parties,” it said this week in response to a question about its policy.
Tong Zhao, a visiting research scholar at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, said if North Korean leader Kim Jong-un feels compelled to conduct a nuclear test to develop his prized deterrent he is unlikely to be put off.
“If North Korea has an inherent technical need to do the test, then I don’t think China has real leverage to stop those activities. The most China may be able to do is to delay those tests,” he said.
“I don’t think China has leverage to fundamentally change Kim Jong-un’s decision-making.”
17. North Korea: a female heir to Kim’s throne?
Game of thrones?
North Korea: a female heir to Kim’s throne?
Recent reveal of Kim Jong Un’s young daughter sparked succession speculation but many sense a secret young son will be revealed next
asiatimes.com · by Andrew Salmon · November 24, 2022
SEOUL – A world transfixed by North Korean bizarreness has gone bonkers with speculation about the recent reveal of Kim Jong Un’s daughter, Kim Ju Ae, whose first public appearance took place on the occasion of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test launch on November 19.
North Korean state media images showed Kim accompanied by his daughter – unnamed in North Korean state media – at the test launch of a Hwasong-17 ICBM. The location was Sunan, on the outskirts of Pyongyang and the site of the capital’s airport. Kim’s wife, Ri Sol Ju, also appeared in the reports.
While much chatter has focused on succession, the Kims are already deeply entrenched as de facto, third-generation monarchs. There is no known opposition to their rule, nor to the continuation of generational succession. With Kim believed to be 38, and his daughter 9, 10 or possibly even 12, succession looks a long way off.
Hence, the reason for the unveil may simply be – shockingly for pundits and reporters who often focus on the oddity of the Kims – a sign of normalcy.
Kim Jong Un, the third member of his family to rule the state, has been far more public relations-savvy and media-friendly than his father or grandfather. In this sense, the reveal of his daughter to the North Korean public is a continuation of a trend that encompasses the high media profile of his wife and the high party profile of his sister, Yo Jong.
However, the messaging in North Korean state media is far less about a pre-teen Kim and far more about the awesome martial power that her dynasty has bequeathed to future generations.
Kim Jong Un his presumed secret daughter Kim Ju Ae. Photo: Twitter
‘Kim the Normal’
Nobody needs to venture far online to encounter tabloid stories and outlandish rumors about the Kims, the closest thing 21st-century geopolitics has to 007 villains.
Though she currently plays a rottweiler role in state media, lambasting South Korea and the US, Kim’s astute younger sister Yo Jong is known to be a master of media messaging and is believed to be her brother’s image manager.
His first major televised event was the funeral of their father when he appeared as a pallbearer at a brilliantly managed state funeral. His outward image – including his chubbiness – has been widely assessed to be modeled on his revered grandfather, Kim Il Sung.
He has appeared in propaganda shots and a TV segment visiting awed and delighted military units, overseeing missile launches and riding a white horse through the snows of Mount Paekdu – the near-sacred mountain where his grandfather supposedly undertook guerilla operations against Imperial Japan.
All this suggests a carefully managed image – common to dictatorial leaders who control media access. But there is nuance.
In addition to his tunics, Kim also appears in Western suits. And as well as royal waves from the balcony overlooking Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang – the scene of military parades, both day and night – he has delivered “fireside chat-style” televised addresses to his people.
He has empowered a number of state bodies that atrophied under his father’s rule, “normalizing” state governance. And many pundits say Kim – who was educated in Switzerland – is seeking to present a more normalized public image to the world.
Experts say that Kim Jong Un is both normalizing state governance bodies, and normalizing his own image. Photo: AFP
Such normalcy is “highly unusual,” compared to the behaviors of Kim’s father and grandfather, said one expert.
“Kim Jong Un basically began to show his wife off a few months after the beginning of his rule,” said Andrei Lankov – noting the difference from his father, a notorious womanizer, and his grandfather. “It took 15 years before North Koreans learned that Kim Il Sung had a wife, and she briefly enjoyed prominence.”
The current Kim has the advantage of a Swiss education. “He grew up in Europe and saw how European rulers and their families behaved and does not see a reason why he should hide his family,” Lankov said.
“Kim Jong Un is different to his father or grandfather – he has shown a more public style of leadership,” added Kim Jeong-ro, vice president of civic group the Council on Diplomacy for Korean Unification. “He is the first North Korean leader to have his wife join, appear in public at formal ceremonies and during trips to facilities – he wants to be me more like a leader in the Western mold.”
This explains his public appearances with his wife, Ri Sol Ju, and now his daughter. It also suggests how he sees himself.
“Any dictator would be very sensitive in posing with his heir at an early stage, as that would put the heir in danger,” said Kim. “But it is normal to show a first family to the public – like other world leaders.”
Yet the massive Western media focus on the young girl was not replicated north of the DMZ.
“The North Korean media did not reveal her name, it just mentioned Kim was there with his dear wife and his offspring,” said Go Myong-hyun, a research fellow who follows North Korean affairs at Seoul’s Asan Institute.
While North Koreans may not know her name, it had previously been revealed to Western audiences after US basketball star Dennis Rodman visited North Korea in 2013, spending several days with the leadership and meeting then-baby daughter, Kim Ju Ae.
A wag in Seoul, discussing Kim Ju Ae’s reveal, joked, “It was taking daughter to work day.” Joking aside, Go agrees: “In North Korean media, it was more of a family occasion.”
The fact that the “family occasion” was the launch of an ICBM capable of hitting the continental US with a nuclear bomb suggests the real importance of the young princess’ presentation to her people.
Ju Ae “was just a prop to symbolize something else,” said Go. “Clearly, the central figure was not her, even though the attention has focused on her.”
Days after the broadcast, North Korean state media said the goal of the Hwasong-17, the latest and biggest North Korean ICMB model, was “to protect future generations.” That message was reinforced by the young Kim at the launch site. Indeed, her outfit’s coloration may have been chosen to coordinate with the missile’s livery.
“It projects Kim’s view that nuclear-capable missiles are so organic and integrated into the North Korean leadership that they are inseparable,” Go said. “There is almost a filial sense of it: Like he is the father of North Korea’s nuclear weapons, the message is he loves the nukes as much as small kids.”
Kim Jong Un looks at a rocket warhead tip after a simulated test of atmospheric re-entry of a ballistic missile, at an unidentified location in this undated photo released March 15, 2016. Photo: KCNA
For impoverished, isolated and malnourished North Korea, the possession of weapons of mass destruction grants North Korea its only significance on the global stage.
“Kim styles himself as a fatherly national protector and is now presenting nuclear and missile programs as an inter-generational legacy of the family dynasty,” said Leif-Eric Easley, associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
“Given North Korea’s economic struggles, it is unclear whether a ‘let them eat missiles’ approach is sustainable for regime legitimacy, but Kim’s political attachment to these weapons does not bode well for restarting denuclearization talks,” Easley said.
A female king?
The question inevitably raised by the foreign commentariat is whether Kim Ju Ae could one day inherit her father’s kingdom.
Go reckons not.
“There are a lot of advantages to having a male heir to the throne,” said Go. “The first issue is the relationship with the military, as the military is very important in North Korea. You can patch things up and follow the command of a female leader but it would cause a lot of friction.”
Go noted that South Korean intelligence and other sources believe there is also a Kim son, who could be revealed “in due course.”
But Lankov believes there is real significance in the fact that the daughter was the first child to be made public.
“He probably has to prepare his people for the idea that the next king will be female,” he said. “He does not need to say anything about succession, as everyone has to accept it, but a woman at the helm is a bit more odd, so that is a good reason to start showing her.”
Lankov said he places “come credibility” in the rumors of son, but added, “Really, I don’t know. You could ask a gossip columnist, but there is not a single gossip columnist in Pyongyang.”
Follow this writer on Twitter @ASalmonSeoul
asiatimes.com · by Andrew Salmon · November 24, 2022
18. Legitimizing North Korean Hereditary Succession Harms the Korean People
Reupping just ot remind us that all the speculation contributes to legitimizing dynastic sucession.
Legitimizing North Korean Hereditary Succession Harms the Korean People
19fortyfive.com · by Hyun-seung Lee and David Maxwell · November 23, 2022
The international media has been drawn to the story of the possibility of a fourth-generation hereditary succession of the Kim family regime. This made headlines in global media outlets over the weekend of November 18-21. This is the second announcement of the successor hypotheses, the first occurring in April 2020 when the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s health was rumored to be worsening. This time, however, the theory of succession emerged from very different circumstances.
North Korea tested another intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on November 18th. It is believed to be the most powerful missile launched this year, and it is believed to be able to hit the U.S. mainland. While an ICBM certainly should be of main national security concern, it has now been overshadowed by a little girl holding the North Korean leader’s hand. It was Kim Jong Un’s daughter who observed the missile launch at the side of her father.
Due to her unusual first public appearance, a flood of speculation followed. Among them, bold predictions about the succession of the first daughter have been made. Clearly, this well-orchestrated propaganda event was meant to send a message. But is that message about succession? It may only be an attempt to “humanize” Kim Jong Un as he makes nuclear threats. Or perhaps he could be using his daughter as a “human shield” to deter an alliance strike, somehow thinking the ROK and U.S. would not attack the site with his daughter present at the launch site. But the focus of the media and pundits has been on succession so it must be addressed.
Former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was recognized as an official successor through a party congress in 1980 after taking the head chief post in 1973 of the Organization and Guidance Department, which controls the party and the nation. Kim Jong-un also was unveiled at the 2010 party convention after his idolization of succession in 2009.
This little girl’s appearance in the North Korean media is indeed unprecedented and symbolic. Still, it provides insufficient evidence for the nine-year-old child to be the successor to her father.
Undoubtedly, predictions about an extremely isolated and secretive society like North Korea are often wrong. There is no way to know if this is a succession process or not. However, the so-called expert and media predications could be the effect that Kim wants to achieve, making it a fait accompli that the future leader of North Korea should be the one from the Kim family. Accepted hereditary success is a key regime legitimacy and rule of the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State. If that is Kim’s desire, should the world accept it? Should the Korean people living in the north accept it? Unfortunately, no media or experts pointed out the injustice of the regime’s power succession.
It is true that one of Kim Jong-un’s children is likely to become the successor in the future, where every word of the leader is more absolute than the law, the Party Charter, and the North Korean Constitution. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the hereditary power must be the fate of the Korean people in the north. Analysis of the hereditary succession process must be focused on the future of the people living in the North, not just the legacy of the dictatorship.
Does the Korean people’s choice or desire not matter at all in the outside world’s view of North Korea? Is another hereditary succession for those dying from the oppression and hunger of 70 years of one-man dictatorship what the world wants for the Korean people?
By legitimizing hereditary succession, the international community accepts that “North Korea is the country of the Kim regime.” It is as if those outside of North Korea have also been indoctrinated by the regime’s Propaganda and Agitation Department.
North Korea took the name “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” at its founding in 1948. This should mean that the state is based on people-centered democracy and republicanism. But the true meaning of democracy or republicanism have never been explained to the Korean people and they have never experienced a political system that is based on self-government by the people. They have lived under a tyrannical political system for seven decades. The world knows that hereditary succession is not a legitimate political system, yet the media continues to chase this story, which only strengthens the regime.
The North Korean Constitution does not specify a hereditary succession in any provision. Instead, it stipulates that the supreme leader should be chosen through the elections of the Supreme People’s Assembly. Clearly, voting is a procedure that should prohibit a single individual from appointing his successor based on his decision alone.
In truth, none of the hereditary North Korean leaders have ever been elected through a legitimate democratic process. They became the supreme leaders simply because they were Kim Il Sung’s son and grandson.
North Korea should be neither the Kim family nation nor a dynastic feudal state. It is a country where sovereignty must be returned to the people in accordance with the constitution and the ideology of the national foundation. All people have the right to self-determination of government.
No one will be able to answer accurately what will change if they predict the next successor of North Korea and what the observation of North Korea’s hereditary succession means.
However, as we have seen through Kim Jong-un’s hereditary succession, nothing has changed. Rather, nuclear weapons and missiles have increased, and suffering by the country’s population has been doubled.
Those who have escaped from North Korea consider the discussion of the fourth succession a blasphemy that brutally tramples on the hopes of freedom and human rights of Koreans living in the north. They should not be told as if it were natural to live under the oppression of a fourth hereditary dictatorship in perpetuity. Any talk of hereditary succession in the north must be accompanied by an unequivocal denouncement of such a process. The international community should strive to inform the Korean people of their plight and their rights. It should provide them with practical knowledge on how to effect change from within. The world must demonstrate its willingness to stand with the Korean people as they demand change. Such change must result in a free and unified Korea.
Don’t be a voice of frustration but be the one of hope.
Hyun-seung Lee is a fellow at Global Peace Foundation and an advisor to the North Korea Human Rights Watch. He is a highly sought-after consultant specializing in North Korea affairs for a variety of think tanks and NGOs in the Washington, D.C. area. As the son of a high-ranking DPRK government official, Hyun-seung was raised in an elite environment with the most prestigious opportunities available in North Korean society. After graduating summa cum laude from Pyongyang Foreign Language School, he completed his military service as a sergeant for the 4th Corps and the General Staff Department of Korea People’s Army. He was granted membership in the Korean Workers’ Party when he was twenty years old. He also served as Chairman of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League in the Dalian, China branch while studying at China’s Dongbei University of Finance and Economics. He then worked in DPRK-China business relations in a managing role for a business entity under the DPRK regime. Despite his prestigious background and elite-level education, a series of brutal purges by Kim Jong Un forced him and his entire family to defect in 2014 and they are now settled in the United States.
David Maxwell, a 1945 Contributing Editor, is a retired US Army Special Forces Colonel who has spent more than 30 years in Asia and specializes in North Korea and East Asia Security Affairs and irregular, unconventional, and political warfare. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Small Wars Journal. He is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Senior Fellow at the Global Peace Foundation (where he focuses on a free and unified Korea), and a Senior Advisor to the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy.
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19fortyfive.com · by Hyun-seung Lee and David Maxwell · November 23, 2022
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Senior Advisor, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
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