Informal Institute for National Security Thinkers and Practitioners

Quotes of the Day:

"I am in this cause with my whole heart and soul. I believe that the Progressive movement is making life a little easier for all our people; a movement to try to take the burdens off the men and especially the women and children of this country. I am absorbed in the success of that movement."

- Theodore Roosevelt

"Every man supposes himself not to be fully understood or appreciated."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"There has never been a perfect government, because men have passions; and if they did not have passions, there would be no need for government."

- Voltaire

1. Surprise Attack on Israel Offers Lesson for Korea

2. Unification minister sees need to review military threats in deciding halt to 2018 accord with N. Korea

3. Unification ministry says to monitor conditions to resume humanitarian aid to N. Korea

4. S. Korea to hold int'l defense exhibition next week

5. Defense chief inspects unit overseeing anti-artillery operations to check readiness against N.K. threats

6. South Korea, U.S., Japan conduct first trilateral maritime interdiction drill in 7 years

7. It’s time to tighten our security (ROK)

8. Israel-Hamas conflict could nudge N. Korean issue onto back burner: experts

9. Pyongyang virtually nullified inter-Korean military pact: unification minister

10. Forgotten captives in North Korea

11. Kim Jong Un orders harsh punishment of violators of anti-reactionary thought law

12. ＜Inside N. Korea＞ The Kim Jong-un regime resumes public executions…Man executed in late September in Yanggang Province for stealing medicine

13. Is US reliable ally? (For the ROK)

14. Hamas fighters may be using North Korean weapons, experts say

15. S Korean voting system ‘vulnerable’ to N Korean hacking: spy agency

16. 'Asian NATO': Brought to you by South Korean repression

17. N. Korea’s trade ministry orders establishment of “emergency trade system” to acquire food

18. The Crimes Behind the Seafood You Eat

1. Surprise Attack on Israel Offers Lesson for Korea

Surprise Attack on Israel Offers Lesson for Korea

english.chosun.com

October 10, 2023 13:12

Israel was caught off guard by an attack from Hamas militants this weekend despite boasting top-level intelligence and air-defense capabilities. That attack teaches South Korea a valuable lesson by showing how a rudimentary offensive, if executed swiftly and determinedly, could overwhelm even the most sophisticated defense systems.

When it pulled out of Gaza Strip in 2005, Israel built 6 m-high concrete walls draped in barbed wire on the border festooned with surveillance cameras and motion sensors, and remote-controlled machine gun turrets every 2 km. But Hamas easily managed to bypass that sophisticated defense system with simple explosives, paragliders and bulldozers and by digging tunnels.

South Korea military uses robots and unmanned systems in its frontline defense, but even such cutting-edge defense systems could be compromised by North Korea, which boasts far stronger firepower than Hamas, while the North's 200,000-strong special forces could invade with low-flying gliders that are impossible to detect by radar to wreak havoc behind the lines.

Seoul must analyze closely how Israel's state-of-the-art "Iron Dome" aerial defense system was breached. It is capable of engaging hundreds of rocket and missile attacks, but Hamas lobbed more than 5,000 rockets at Israel. At this moment, hundreds of North Korean long-range artillery guns are pointed at Seoul, and Pyongyang recently deployed new ballistic missiles along its frontlines. If the North uses all of those weapons at once, the South Korean and U.S. missile-defense systems may not be enough.

On top of that, the Moon Jae-in administration signed a military pact with North Korea in 2018 that halted artillery and other military exercises and reconnaissance operations along the inter-Korean border. That severely restricted the military's readiness. The latest Middle East conflict should be a wake-up call for the government to upgrade its defenses and stay alert at all times.

Read this article in Korean

english.chosun.com

2. Unification minister sees need to review military threats in deciding halt to 2018 accord with N. Korea

The question to be asked and answered is how does the ROK and the ROK/US alliance organize forces and conduct operations to ensure deterrence and defense? And to the point of the article, does the CMA (comprehensive military agreement) help or hinder the ROK's and the alliances's ability to deter and defend? What benefits for the security of the ROK will be gained by either sustaining or withdrawing from the CMA?

(LEAD) Unification minister sees need to review military threats in deciding halt to 2018 accord with N. Korea | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · October 11, 2023

(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead; UPDATES with more details, photos throughout)

SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korea needs to comprehensively take into account the security situation in deciding whether to suspend the 2018 military tension reduction accord with North Korea, Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho said Wednesday.

Kim made the remark during a parliamentary audit of the ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs, as the defense minister called for pausing the Comprehensive Military Agreement signed on Sept. 19, 2018, citing its impact on limiting South Korea's surveillance capabilities against the North's military threats.

The accord has received fresh attention as Hamas' surprise rocket attack on Israel renewed concerns in South Korea over Seoul's capabilities to counter a potential attack from North Korea.

"Some elements of the agreement could work to South Korea's disadvantage, as it excessively limits the operation of our surveillance assets," Kim said while condemning North Korea for violating the accord multiple times.

Kim said the government has yet to decide whether to suspend or abandon the agreement, noting the issue should be prudently discussed at a National Security Council meeting.

The agreement, signed under former liberal President Moon Jae-in, called for setting up buffer zones along land and maritime borders and creating no-fly zones. Pyongyang has violated the agreement 17 times until the end of last year and 15 violations occurred last year alone, according to the defense ministry.

Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho speaks at a parliamentary audit of the unification ministry at the National Assembly on Oct. 11, 2023. (Yonhap)

Meanwhile, the unification ministry said it will review whether to resume humanitarian assistance to North Korea, after closely monitoring the progress of international organizations' preparations for aid projects.

"The government will review proper measures (to resume) humanitarian aid to North Korea, based on object assessments of the North Korean situation, once international organizations bring their staff members back to the North amid the country's border reopening," the ministry said in a report for the audit.

North Korea began opening its border with China in late August after its yearslong border closure over the COVID-19 pandemic, raising expectations that the World Food Program (WFP) and other U.N. agencies could soon be allowed to send back their field officials to the North to resume aid projects.

South Korea provided humanitarian aid to North Korea through U.N. agencies: US$151.3 million to the WFP, $66.48 million to the World Health Organization and $40.14 million to the U.N. Children's Fund from 1996 to 2022.

Separately, South Korea provided North Korea with nutritional supplies and medicines, valued at about 36 billion won (US$26.8 million), through the combination of a government fund and private organizations' funds from 2018 to 2022.

This file image, captured from footage of North Korea's Korean Central Television on Sept. 3, 2023, shows a North Korean farmer harvesting rice in a county in North Pyongan Province. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

The ministry, meanwhile, said North Korea is focusing on advancing its nuclear and missile programs while making efforts to tackle food shortages.

North Korea harvested an increased amount of corn and potatoes in August and September and boosted grain imports from China, but those efforts are still not enough to alleviate the country's chronic food shortages, it said.

North Korea imported 220,000 tons of grain from China in the first eight months of this year, compared with 137,000 tons for the whole year of 2022 and 9,000 tons in 2021, the ministry said.

With deaths from starvation reported in some regions, North Korea has reportedly been facing serious food shortages, as its prolonged COVID-19 border closure and disruptions in state-controlled food supply have aggravated the situation.

North Korea has recently amended its constitution to enshrine the policy of its nuclear weapons development in an apparent bid to stress that it will not give up its nuclear arsenal and will continue to bolster its nuclear capabilities, the ministry said.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · October 11, 2023

3. Unification ministry says to monitor conditions to resume humanitarian aid to N. Korea

As an aside, I have spoken with some escapees (defectors) from the north who are adamantly opposed to providing humanitarian aid to the north. They argue it will not get to those in need, it will be used to strengthen the regime and the military and what aid does get to those in need will be touted as a gift from Kim Jong Un in order to reinforce his legitimacy. They argue that the priority must be to undermine the regime in order to drive him out. Humanitarian aid does not help the people, it only sustains Kim Jong Un.

Unification ministry says to monitor conditions to resume humanitarian aid to N. Korea | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · October 11, 2023

SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Yonhap) -- The unification ministry said Wednesday it will review whether to resume humanitarian assistance to North Korea, after closely monitoring the progress of international organizations' preparations for aid projects.

The ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs said South Korea is ready to provide humanitarian aid to the North, as the government has the stance that it will seek such assistance regardless of the political and military situation.

"The government will review proper measures (to resume) humanitarian aid to North Korea, based on object assessments about the North Korean situation, once international organizations bring their staff members back to the North amid the country's border reopening," the ministry said in a policy report for a parliamentary audit.

This file photo, taken Sept. 5, 2023, shows Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho attending an interpellation session at the National Assembly in Seoul. (Yonhap)

The ministry, meanwhile, said North Korea is focusing on advancing its nuclear and missile programs while making efforts to tackle food shortages.

North Korea imported 220,000 tons of grain from China in the first eight months of this year, compared with 137,000 tons for the whole year of 2022 and 9,000 tons in 2021, the ministry said.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · October 11, 2023

4. S. Korea to hold int'l defense exhibition next week

A partner in the Arsenal of Democracy.

The ROK is a global pivotal state that chooses to be a peaceful nuclear power, that is a partner in the arsenal of democracy, supports a free and open Indo Pacific, is a champion of human rights, and seeks to sustain the rules based international order.

S. Korea to hold int'l defense exhibition next week | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · October 11, 2023

SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will hold an international defense exhibition next week to feature advanced homegrown military hardware and technologies, organizers said Wednesday, amid Seoul's push to become a major player in the global defense market.

The six-day Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition 2023 will kick off next Tuesday at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, involving 550 companies from 35 countries, according to the organizers.

It is expected to draw some 290,000 visitors, including over 114 military and defense officials from 55 countries, marking the largest-ever edition of the biennial event that first launched in 1996.

The exhibition will showcase various homegrown aircraft and ground-based equipment, including the KF-21 fighter jet under development, FA-50 light attack aircraft, K2 main battle tanks and K9A1 self-propelled howitzers.

The U.S. military will also feature F-22 and FA-18G aircraft during the exhibition to mark the 70th anniversary of the South Korea-U.S. alliance this year. Organizers said they are also in talks for the U.S. military to send a strategic bomber for the event.

The exhibition is also expected to be attended by defense chiefs from nine countries, including Malaysia, Australia and Iraq, and serve as a venue for security talks.

Last year, South Korea unveiled the goal of becoming the world's fourth-largest defense exporter by 2027.

This undated file photo, provided by the Air Force, shows FA-50 and T-50 aircraft. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · October 11, 2023

5. Defense chief inspects unit overseeing anti-artillery operations to check readiness against N.K. threats

Deterrence and defense. The message to the north is that once those artillery units emerge from their UGFs (underground facility) they will be targeted and destroyed by counterfire and air power.

Defense chief inspects unit overseeing anti-artillery operations to check readiness against N.K. threats | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · October 11, 2023

SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Yonhap) -- Defense Minister Shin Won-sik called Wednesday for "completely destroying" enemy firepower capabilities in case of a provocation as he inspected an Army unit tasked with overseeing operations to neutralize North Korean artillery.

Shin made the remarks during his visit to the Ground Operations Command in Yongin, 42 kilometers south of Seoul, after Hamas' surprise rocket attack on Israel renewed concerns in South Korea over Seoul's capabilities to counter a potential attack from North Korea.

"If the enemy provokes, punish them immediately, strongly and until the end," He was quoted as saying. "I call on you to push for developing and deploying an operational system that can completely destroy the enemy's long-range artillery capabilities within hours of an enemy provocation."

This file photo, taken Oct. 7, 2023, and provided by the defense ministry, shows Defense Minister Shin Won-sik speaking at the ministry compound in central Seoul. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

North Korea is known to operate some 1,000 artillery pieces along the heavily fortified border that separates the two Koreas.

Shin also reiterated his pledge to push for the suspension of the 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction agreement, noting that it has "greatly" limited Seoul's surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.

"I will suspend areas of the agreement that urgently need to be restored as soon as possible," he said.

The agreement, signed under former liberal President Moon Jae-in who sought inter-Korean reconciliation, includes setting up no-fly zones near the border to prevent accidental clashes and other land and maritime buffer zones, restricting military drills and artillery firing.

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · October 11, 2023

6. South Korea, U.S., Japan conduct first trilateral maritime interdiction drill in 7 years

Drills are good. But now let's shift to actual interdiction operations targeting north Korean sanctions evasion and proliferation activities.

Tuesday

October 10, 2023

dictionary + A - A

Published: 10 Oct. 2023, 18:01

South Korea, U.S., Japan conduct first trilateral maritime interdiction drill in 7 years

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2023-10-10/national/defense/South-Korea-US-Japan-conduct-first-trilateral-maritime-interdiction-drill-in-7-years/1886735

The USS Ronald Reagan, a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered super carrier, in this file photo dated Aug. 31, 2015. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

South Korea, the United States and Japan held a maritime interdiction drill in the high seas southeast of Jeju on Tuesday, marking the first trilateral drill of its kind in seven years.

“The training focused on improving the deterrence and response capabilities of South Korea, the United States, and Japan against North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats, and enhancing trilateral maritime operation capabilities to respond to maritime security threats and establish a rules-based international order,” the South Korean Navy said in a statement Tuesday.

Yoon says 'robust' trilateral cooperation to lower risks from North

Korea, Japan, U.S. commit to immediate consultations on common threats at trilateral summit

‘Abnormal flight’ detected in second-stage flight of North’s botched satellite launch: Defense minister

A follow-up to the trilateral summit in Camp David in August, when the three countries agreed to launch a series of joint programs on defense and technology, the drill ran from Monday to Tuesday. It was joined by the destroyer ROKS Yulgok Yi I, combat support ship ROKS Cheonji, the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, the Aegis-equipped destroyer USS Shoup and Japan’s helicopter destroyer JS Hyuga.

The last trilateral maritime interdiction drill was held in 2016.

Capt. Jang Hoon, commander of the Maritime Task Squadron 72, said the training was an opportunity to strengthen the trilateral ability “to respond to North Korea’s maritime transportation of weapons of mass destruction.”

The latest exercise also included a counter-piracy drill, the first trilateral drill of that kind since 2017.

According to the Ministry of Defense, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan is scheduled to enter the operational base in Busan on Thursday to highlight U.S. extended deterrence in the region and mark the 70th anniversary of the Korea-U. S. alliance.

Earlier on Sunday, naval commanders from Korea, the United States and Japan met on the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in the high seas southeast of Jeju.

Following the meeting with Vice Adm. Karl Thomas, commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet, and Vice Adm. Saito Akira, commander of the Japanese Self-Defense Fleet, South Korea’s fleet commander, Vice Adm. Kim Myung-soo, stressed the importance of trilateral security cooperation to counter the North’s maritime and nuclear threats.

“It will serve as an opportunity to strengthen the joint defense posture for an immediate, overwhelming, and decisive response to North Korea’s continued provocations, such as the recent launch of North Korea’s new submarine and North Korea’s declaration of relaunching its claimed space launch vehicle,” Kim said in a statement released by the Defense Ministry on Tuesday.

North Korea has announced plans for a third attempt to launch a military spy satellite into space in October. The North’s previous attempts in May and August failed.

“The space development including military reconnaissance satellite is an indispensable strategic option for guaranteeing the security interests and right to existence of the DPRK,” said Ri Song-jin, a researcher of the National Aerospace Technology Administration of North Korea, in an English statement printed by state media Korea Central News Agency on Tuesday.

The DPRK is the acronym of North Korea’s full name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]

7. It’s time to tighten our security

The Hamas attack on Israel is a wake up call.

Tuesday

October 10, 2023

dictionary + A - A

Published: 10 Oct. 2023, 20:09

It’s time to tighten our security

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2023-10-10/opinion/editorials/Its-time-to-tighten-our-security/1886969

The three-front attack on Israel on Saturday by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, has left about 1,500 dead on both sides. Since its foundation in 1948, Israel has invested heavily in securing cutting-edge defense systems — such as the Iron Dome and the smart fencing system along the border — to defend itself from hostile neighbors and terrorist forces. But even such high-tech defense systems proved to be vulnerable to the surprise attack by the Hamas by land, sea and air.

Watching Israel’s failed response in the initial stages, we cannot but worry about the current status of our security systems in confronting North Korea’s conventional weapons like the long-range rocket launchers, not to mention the nuclear threats. Thousands of rockets Hamas fired at Israel on the first day of the attack caused hundreds of casualties in Israel. But North Korea’s long-range rocket launchers are more powerful than Hamas’ as they can fire up to 16,000 rockets to South Korea per hour.

In the legislature’s regular audit of the Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday, new Defense Minister Shin Won-shik vowed to invalidate the Sept. 19, 2018 military agreement with North Korea as soon as possible, citing a security threat from our limited surveillance on signs of military provocation from the North. The military agreement the dovish Moon Jae-in administration struck with North Korea to facilitate dialogue shows many loopholes, including our exposure to the North’s drone attacks.

As a result of the agreement, our Army’s field exercises of regiments and artillery firing drills stopped entirely. The dismantling of 11 guard posts in the southern section of the demilitarized zone also made it difficult to detect any signs of aggression from the North. That’s not all. After a flight ban was enforced over certain areas of the Military Demarcation Line, South Korea and the United States’ capabilities to surveil North Korea were critically restricted. Such security holes must be fixed quickly.

We must learn lessons from the Mossad’s failure to detect any signs of aggression by Hamas due to Israel’s domestic political conflict. After former President Moon and his Democratic Party revised the National Intelligence Service Act to deprive the spy agency of its authority to investigate pro-North activities in the South, a serious security vacuum appeared.

Israelis demonstrate strong patriotism in times of crisis. While pilgrims and tourists to sacred places in Israel are hurriedly fleeing the country, Jews are flocking to their homeland to defend against enemies. The time has come to tighten our security after the South was deceived by the North’s feigned peace offensives.

8. Israel-Hamas conflict could nudge N. Korean issue onto back burner: experts

Of course it could. As one of my many great CSMs used to say, the house that is not burning does not make the news.

But this is also an opportunity for ROK and US policy makers to quietly implement a new strategy while sustaining deterrence and defense. Let even the regime think the alliance is distracted. But negin the execution of a new strategy based on human rights upfront approach, a sophisticated information campaign, and the pursuit of a free and unified Korea.

An information campaign is low cost and potentially will have a high payout in the future. We should consider north Korea a laboratory for psychological operations. At a mnium we should be sending in information to challenge the regime's control of information and forced isolation of the Korean people. But there is so much we can with information if only we have the will.

Israel-Hamas conflict could nudge N. Korean issue onto back burner: experts

The Korea Times · October 11, 2023

US President Joe Biden speaks about the Palestinian militant group Hamas' attacks on Israel as Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken look on in the State Dining Room of the White Houses in Washington, DC, Oct. 10. AFP-Yonhap

The reigniting of the Israel-Hamas conflict, coupled with Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, could shift the United States' attention further away from North Korea's nuclear quandary, analysts said Tuesday.

The conflict flared up following the Palestinian militant group's deadly surprise attack on Israel on Saturday, as Washington's stated commitment to diplomacy with Pyongyang has fallen on deaf years amid the North's unceasing drive for nuclear armament.

President Joe Biden pledged "full support" for Israel. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin deployed the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean while Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed the U.S.' "solidarity" with Israel.

The U.S.' apparent reapportioning of diplomatic and security resources for conflicts in the Middle East and Eastern Europe has raised speculation that it would be harder for the U.S. to pay more attention to addressing the North Korean conundrum.

"With the president being the only commander-in-chief, the focus on security on the Korean Peninsula could weaken as a new front has emerged," Nam Chang-hee, a political science professor at Inha University, said.

"As the contours of global security have gotten more complicated, chances are that Washington could try to manage the status quo, seeking to ensure that the overall situation on the peninsula would not further deteriorate," he added.

The U.S. is expected to focus its foreign policy attention on the Israel-Hamas conflict for the time being as it has led to at least 11 American deaths. Washington has also been striving to maintain a prominent presence in the Middle East, where China has apparently been eyeing greater influence, particularly in the wake of America's withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

Biden told his team to "do everything we can" to ensure that Israel has what it needs, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told reporters, though Kirby noted there is "no intention to put U.S. boots on the ground" in Israel.

The U.S.' support for Israel was on full display when Austin ordered the deployment of the carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean, while the defense department also decided to jack up support for Israeli air defenses and additional munitions.

"The versatility and mobility of the strike group, which can conduct a full spectrum of missions, from intelligence collection, maritime dominance, to long-range strike, will ensure the U.S. is postured to respond to any contingencies and minimize the risk of a wider spread conflict that would threaten stability," a senior U.S. defense official told reporters.

Washington's attention pivoted to Israel just as it has been heavily consumed with supporting Ukraine's fight to repel Russian invaders -- an undertaking that has slowed amid partisan wrangling in Congress.

The two crucial military fronts raised concerns that the North Korean issue could be put on the back burner.

Smoke rises following an Israeli air strike in Al-Ramal neigbourhood in Gaza City, Oct. 10. EPA-Yonhap

"Of course, but North Korea doesn't just pause their activities because there are other things going on in the world," Jenny Town, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, said. "If anything, it goes to show why we need a full time special envoy to keep working on this issue while the administration's attention is divided."

The U.S. has repeatedly signaled its desire to restart diplomacy with the North, but skepticism has persisted over whether the two sides can resume dialogue, particularly when the reclusive regime has been seeking closer ties with its traditional partners, Russia and China.

Amid the absence of dialogue with the U.S., Pyongyang has enshrined a policy, which fortifies its nuclear capabilities, in the constitution and doubled down on various defense projects, including its push to develop tactical nuclear arms and put a spy military satellite into orbit.

In recent months, North Korea's place in the Biden administration's key diplomatic agenda appears to have diminished though Washington has cranked up diplomacy with China under its "de-risking" mantra and sought a degree of interaction with Iran as seen in its recent prisoner swap deal.

"The Biden administration wasn't interested in taking any diplomatic risks with North Korea prior to Ukraine and Israel and it's even less interested after Ukraine and Israel," Frank Aum, a senior expert at the United States Institute of Peace, said.

Amid the reemergent questions over America's will to tackle the North Korean nuclear issue, Washington has decided to deploy USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, to South Korea for a five-day visit, starting Thursday (Korea time), in a major show of force.

Direct diplomatic talks between the U.S. and the North have been stalled since the two countries held working-level nuclear talks in Sweden in October 2019 in the wake of the bilateral no-deal summit in Hanoi in February that year.

The pandemic-driven border closures further darkened the prospects of reengagement between the two countries. However, the North reopened its borders last month, fueling hopes that it could set out to engage in more diplomatic exchanges with the outside world.

The North's unconditional release of Pvt. Travis King, detained for crossing the inter-Korean border into the North in July briefly raised cautious hopes for the resumption of dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang, but Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesperson, has dismissed the notion that the release could be a potential sign of breakthrough in the two countries' fraught relationship.

Patrick M. Cronin, Asia-Pacific security chair at the Hudson Institute, dismissed concerns that two conflicts at hand would make it difficult for the U.S. to refocus on the North Korean issue as he noted the readiness of American diplomats to engage in diplomacy with Pyongyang.

"More realistically, we should be examining North Korea's military support for Hamas, Russia and other aggressors," he said.

Radio Free Asia, a Washington-based media outlet, reported on the suspected use of North Korean weapons by Hamas fighters, citing a video shared by on the X, formerly Twitter, account @War Noir.

Andrew Yeo, a senior fellow and the SK-Korea Foundation chair at the Brookings Institution's Center for East Asia Policy Studies, said that although the Hamas attack will take up the U.S.' diplomatic bandwidth, Washington will continue to monitor any new development on the peninsula closely.

But he added, "I don't expect any proactive diplomatic engagement on North Korea for the rest of this year." (Yonhap)

The Korea Times · October 11, 2023

9. Pyongyang virtually nullified inter-Korean military pact: unification minister

Other than the changes at the JSA, I do not think the north has in any way substantively implemented the CMA while the ROK did so in good faith. There is a lesson there for the appeasers.

And this should be used as part of the information campaign.

Pyongyang virtually nullified inter-Korean military pact: unification minister

The Korea Times · October 11, 2023

Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho speaks during a parliamentary inspection of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration at the National Assembly in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap

Accord excessively weakens Seoul’s reconnaissance capabilities, Kim says

By Jung Min-ho

Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho said on Wednesday that the inter-Korean accord designed to reduce military tensions has been practically nullified by Pyongyang and stressed that it is “wrong” for Seoul to continue to adhere to it alone.

Speaking at the National Assembly's audit of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, Kim said North Korea violated the 2018 agreement 17 times, which he believes clearly demonstrate that it has no intention to comply with the accord.

Asked about the security risk of formally suspending or revoking the agreement first, he said, “Even though North Korea did not announce it (the termination of the agreement), its actions have undeniably violated its spirit.”

The agreement, inked by the previous Moon Jae-in administration on Sept. 9, 2018, amid a thaw in cross-border relations, includes setting up no-fly zones near the heavily-armed border as well as a system for communication to prevent accidental clashes.

Speaking of Hamas's surprise attack on Israel, in which an intense rocket barrage overwhelmed the country’s defense system, Kim said it would be critical for South Korea’s military to be equipped with reconnaissance capabilities to be ready to respond to such an attack from the North.

“North Korea’s long-range artillery pieces near the border are capable of firing 16,000 shells per hour,” Kim said. “The military agreement makes it very difficult for our military to detect such attacks in advance.”

After two fruitless Washington-Pyongyang summits between 2018 and 2019, North Korea began to violate the accord. On Nov. 23, 2019, the North conducted artillery drills on an island near the border, ― its first violation just a year after signing the pact.

North Korea’s second violation occurred on May 3, 2020, when its soldiers fired gunshots at a South Korean guard post near the inter-Korean border.

In 2022, North Korea ratcheted up tensions by carrying out 15 other provocations, including an incursion into South Korean airspace using drones, which prompted South Korea’s military to scramble fighter jets and attack helicopters in response.

However, Kim took a more cautious approach toward the immediate suspension of the agreement, saying that top decision makers should conduct a thorough review of the security situation before proceeding.

His remarks were met with criticism from opposition lawmakers, who see the agreement as a safeguard reducing the risks of catastrophic miscalculations for both sides.

“If we suspend or revoke the agreement, it would give an excuse for another provocation by North Korea,” said Rep. Park Byeong-seug of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea. “It would inevitably lead to increased tensions between South and North Korea.”

On the same day, Shin Won-sik, the newly-appointed defense minister, visited the Ground Operations Command in Yongin, where he reiterated his pledge to push for the suspension of the military agreement, amid growing worries about North Korea’s possible emulation of Hamas’s strategy.

“If the enemy provokes, punish them immediately, resolutely and until the very end,” he said, ordering chief officers there to push to develop a system that can “completely destroy the enemy’s long-range artillery capabilities within hours of a provocation.”

The Korea Times · October 11, 2023

10. Forgotten captives in North Korea

We need to take a holistic approach to the human rights upfront approach and include these captives, along with Japanese and South Korean abductees, the 93,000 Korean-Japanese "returnees," the 78,000 ROK POWs who were kept in the north against their will, the overseas slave labor, the forced repatriation of Koreans from China, as well as the myriad atrocities being committed in the gulags and political prison camps and through the entire north Korean territory.

This article also highlights the threat to the regime from religion. Religion in north Korea will be very important after the removal of the Kim family regime and the exposure of the Juche lie. The people will need something to replace the ideology and they will be hungry for faith based religion.

Forgotten captives in North Korea

The Korea Times · October 11, 2023

Kim Jung-wook, a South Korean missionary, speaks during a press conference in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this Feb. 27, 2014, file photo. This week marks 10 years since his arrest. Yonhap

This week marks 10 years since arrest of Christian missionary Kim Jung-wook

By Jung Min-ho

North Korea has been a merciless land for Christian missionaries over the decades. But for South Korean believers, it has been even more so.

Since the early 2010s, several pastors and other religious people from the United States, Canada and Australia were convicted of spying and other “anti-state crimes” in North Korea. But through diplomatic negotiations, all of them were eventually freed.

However, this has not been the case for six South Korean nationals, including Kim Jung-wook, a Baptist missionary who was arrested 10 years ago this week for such charges.

“Our family is still praying and hoping that he is alive and will be able to return home soon,” Kim Jung-sam, his elder brother, told The Korea Times on Tuesday.

For more than five years before the arrest, he was on a humanitarian mission in Dandong, a Chinese border city where he provided food and other necessities for North Korean visitors and escapees.

After sentencing the missionary to hard labor for life several months later, the authorities in North Korea have refused to reveal any information about him, including whether he is alive ― a rule applied only to South Korean captives. For American Kenneth Bae and Canadian Lim Hyeon-soo, the North permitted visits by diplomats through the Swedish Embassy there.

The regime’s apparent neglect of the South Koreans also suggests even more vicious, rights-violating treatment, said Lee Kyu-chang, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, a state-funded think tank.

“There is a possibility that Kim has been suffering from the aftereffects of torture,” Lee said. “South Korean citizens are believed to be under harsher conditions.”

The human rights situation is terrible for everyone in North Korea, not to mention the life of a prisoner. But the regime tends to show some restraint with foreign prisoners as they are potential diplomatic bargaining chips, according to experts.

This is why the government in Seoul should continue to raise the issue, said Shin Hee-seok, a legal analyst at Transitional Justice Working Group, a Seoul-based NGO.

“This issue has largely been overlooked by the government, which I believe could affect how North Korea treats our citizens there as well as the prospect of their release,” he said.

“Over the past two decades, the Japanese government has consistently raised the issue of North Korean abductions of its citizens at the U.N. General Assembly, while the government here has not … What message would its inaction and silence send to North Korea in regard to the detainees?”

As the release of foreign missionaries shows, bringing the South Koreans back is not entirely impossible, he said.

“North Korea has little incentive to keep them, which makes it a relatively more negotiable issue,” he said. “This could bring about a new phase of the inter-Korean relations ― but only if the South Korean government demonstrates its will.”

Christian missionaries and activists offer food and other types of support for North Koreans near its border, putting their own lives at risk. The North Korean constitution protects conditional religious freedom. But in reality, it is non-existent as the regime considers religious activities as an attempt to sabotage its rule.

The Ministry of Unification issued a statement calling for the regime to immediately free all six South Korean captives. The five others include two other missionaries arrested in 2014 ― Kim Kuk-gi and Choe Chun-gil ― and three North Korean escapees who were arrested in 2016 after obtaining South Korean citizenship.

The Korea Times · October 11, 2023

11. Kim Jong Un orders harsh punishment of violators of anti-reactionary thought law

A thinking Korean people in the north is an existential threat to the Kim family regime. This is why we must plan and execute a sophisticated and comprehensive information campaign.

Kim Jong Un orders harsh punishment of violators of anti-reactionary thought law

The order said that even violators with relatives who have won special favor from the Workers' Party, such as pilots or "heroes," must be sternly punished and exiled with their families

By Jong So Yong - 2023.10.11 2:05pm

https://www.dailynk.com/english/kim-jong-un-orders-harsh-punishment-violators-anti-reactionary-thought-law/

A clip from a video showing North Koreans being called up to face a public criticism. (Daily NK)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently ordered that violators of the anti-reactionary thought law be sternly punished, with serious violators subject to exile to rural areas with their families, Daily NK has learned.

“In late September, a No. 1 order [an order signed by Kim Jong Un] was issued to mercilessly punish people who commit crimes against the party or state, regardless of their status, age or job. The order also said that the violators be exiled their families,” a source in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“A regular monthly meeting of the executive committee of South Pyongan Province’s party committee, which discusses party policy, conveyed the order to the party committee’s security committee, which deals with law enforcement matters.”

In the past, families were punished only when a relative was sent to a political prison camp run by the Ministry of State Security. However, the latest No. 1 order said that even family members of criminals sent to reeducation camps run by the Ministry of Social Security can now face exile depending on the nature and severity of the crime committed.

The order instructed officials to break with past practice of overlooking violations of the anti-reactionary thought law if the violator’s family included somebody who had won special favor from the Workers’ Party, including government-recognized “heroes,” pilots or people who met the nation’s supreme leader. Instead, the order instructed that these people must be sternly punished and exiled with their families, regardless of the reasons behind the crime.

Moreover, the order instructed that any siblings or children in the military be immediately discharged and sent into exile with their families.

The source explained: “In conveying the No. 1 order to the security committee, the executive committee of South Pyongan Province’s party committee instructed that it [the security committee] reflect the order in executing the law. In particular, the executive committee said that among the criminals arrested under the anti-reactionary thought law, people caught for crimes related to impure videos from South Korea shall face particularly severe punishment and that their families should also be dealt with mercilessly.”

The provincial party committee’s executive committee also urged the security committee to work closely with local police, security officials and military security forces to prevent problems, such as ensuring that people facing punishment or their families are unable to cause “disturbances,” such as sensing their impending exile and running away.

“The No. 1 order has been delivered to all the municipal and county-level Unified Commands on Non-socialist and Anti-socialist Behavior in the province, as well as to local branches of the Ministry of State Security and Ministry of Social Security. The families of people who are currently under investigation or who are under suspicion [of violating the law] are fearful about being exiled.”

Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.

Daily NK works with a network of sources who live inside North Korea, China and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.

Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.

12. ＜Inside N. Korea＞ The Kim Jong-un regime resumes public executions…Man executed in late September in Yanggang Province for stealing medicine

Why did the man have to steal medicine? Because the socialist workers paradise is no longer a paradise.

＜Inside N. Korea＞ The Kim Jong-un regime resumes public executions…Man executed in late September in Yanggang Province for stealing medicine

asiapress.org

North Korean soldiers in a military parade held in February 2023. Screen capture from KCTV.

On September 25, a man was executed by firing squad in Hyesan, Yanggang Province, in the northern region of North Korea. The execution was made public, with locals mobilized to watch the proceedings. This is the second report of a public execution in Hyesan this year, following the execution of nine people on August 30. A reporting partner in the city gave the following report. (KANG Ji-won)

◆ Nine people were executed by firing squad in August

The reporting partner said that he found out about the public execution during the morning of September 25. The authorities had handed down an order for people to gather that afternoon at Hyesan Airfield, which was where nine people had been executed by firing squad on August 30. The reporting partner said that he had been very shocked after seeing the August execution, so he did not go to the September execution with the excuse that he did not feel well. The reporting partner said he heard about the execution after it was carried out from people mobilized to watch it.

“At first, the authorities said that two people would be executed by firing squad. One was a woman who had attempted to murder her husband. Ultimately, the only person executed was a man. He was accused of selling medical supplies, considered ‘war-time materials,’ to a medicine seller. The authorities said he had earned a lot of money when Chinese medicines had not been entering the country due to COVID-19. At the execution site, he was sentenced to a grave legal punishment for his selfishness in selling off the state’s medicines.”

While the man’s execution is a far too heavy punishment for having sold off some medicines, the Kim Jong-un regime told its people that it would eliminate private sales of medicines and privately-run medical practices starting in August. This suggested that the regime would strongly crackdown on such activities.

◆ People who refuse to listen will not be forgiven

The reporting partner explained:

“In July, the (COVID-19) Emergency Quarantine Headquarters conducted an investigation that found empty bottles of medicine in a (wartime supplies) storage facility, leading to four arrests. However, three people escaped, with only one person being executed by firing squad. The authorities used the recent execution by firing squad to tell people to voluntarily turn in those who illegally sell or distribute medicines.”

Just like in August, the recent execution took place in Hyesan, which is on the border with China. The authorities conducted the execution with the knowledge that information about it would quickly seep to the outside world. ASIAPRESS received an unconfirmed report recently that public executions also took place in Chongjin and Hamhung after the start of August.

The restart of public executions – the most extreme form of crime prevention – appears to be due to a decision by the Kim Jong-un regime to rule over the country with fear. The reporting partner told ASIAPRESS that “the authorities don’t forgive people for doing things that are illegal. They say that people should just work hard on the things they’re told to do. Given that the government is really conducting executions by firing squad, people are telling each other to be careful.”

The reporting partner also said that he had heard from a police official that seven people are set to be executed by firing squad in Hyesan for murder, violent behavior, and fleeing (from the police) in a group. The seven are currently awaiting the final decision on their cases, and their relatives are doing all they can to prevent them from being executed.

On September 29, the US-based Radio Free Asia reported in detail about the September 25 execution by firing squad.

※ ASIAPRESS communicates with reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.

Map of North Korea ( ASIAPRESS)

asiapress.org

13. Is US reliable ally? (For the ROK)

Conclusion:

Concerns about U.S. reliability are understandable given the current state of the world, but U.S. support for Israel and Ukraine demonstrates continued U.S. reliability. U.S. public support for South Korea also remains relatively robust. In the long run, the best way to maintain that support and address potential concerns among Republicans is for Korean officials to talk to Republican voters. Republican voters don’t always agree with Trump, so making Korea’s case to the American public is critical.

Is US reliable ally?

The Korea Times · October 11, 2023

Seoul may need to address some GOP voters

By Troy Stangarone

Is the United States a reliable ally? It’s a question that seems to increasingly be on the minds of South Koreans. Even with the creation of the Nuclear Consultative Group, questions linger about whether South Korea should take steps toward developing an independent nuclear capability or continue to depend on the U.S. nuclear umbrella.

With the prospect of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Hamas’ brazen attack on Israel, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and North Korea’s growing weapons capabilities, questions about U.S. capabilities and reliability are bound to arise. They may also seem more salient with polling in the United States suggesting that Americans are also less willing to defend South Korea, but U.S. policy to date should ease some of those concerns.

Despite not being a formal ally, the U.S. has a long security relationship with Israel and that has come into play with Hamas’ recent invasion. The U.S. is sending air defense systems and munitions to support Israel’s defense against Hamas. It has also dispatched the Ford carrier group to provide support. Politically, it is working to dissuade Iran and Hezbollah from becoming directly involved in the conflict. The U.S. has and will continue to stand by Israel during this difficult time.

Ukraine is a more complex story. The existing U.S. security ties with Ukraine were much looser than those with Israel prior to Russia’s invasion, but Washington has been Kyiv’s strongest supporter in the war. It has rallied together a stronger NATO while providing Ukraine with $75 billion in aid, including $42.1 billion in military aid ― by far the largest amount. According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy’s Ukraine aid tracker, the second largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine is Germany which has only provided $17.1 billion. Despite strong U.S. support to date, the efforts of some Republicans in Congress to end U.S. support for Ukraine raises doubts about U.S. staying power.

Neither Israel nor Ukraine has mutual defense treaties with the U.S., so there is no obligation for Washington to provide troops in these conflicts. This is different from the U.S. security relationship with South Korea. However, what they do demonstrate is the U.S. commitment to support its friends abroad.

Both conflicts also show that nuclear weapons do not deter all types of conflict. While undeclared, Israel’s nuclear weapons did not deter the largest attack on Israel in decades and neither the U.S. nuclear umbrella nor a South Korean nuclear weapon will deter small-scale North Korean attacks. Russia has consistently threatened nuclear strikes on Ukraine, but that has not deterred Ukraine or its supporters from providing it the means to defend itself.

If governmental support is strong, public opinion could be a factor that weakens that support on a political level. Recent polling by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs shows a majority of Americans willing to defend South Korea against North Korean invasion, but also down since last year and only at 50 percent. This level of support is higher, however, despite the decline, than any year prior to 2015. To an extent, the question is not so much why support for defending Korea has declined, but why it grew above historical levels during the late Obama years and the Trump administration.

If the shift in American support for defending South Korea in a historical context still looks strong, it could be concerning that there is a small majority of Republicans who are against doing so. Context may explain this change as well. U.S. political parties have been undergoing a shift in supporters with more working-class voters shifting to the Republican Party and more upper-middle-class and highly educated voters shifting to the Democratic Party. This trend has been accelerated by Trump and may help explain why Democratic support has strengthened and Republican views declined since 2020.

Other polling numbers also suggest strong Republican support for the alliance. In polling that I oversee for the Korea Economic Institute that was in the field just before the Chicago Council poll, 75 percent of Republicans believe that the U.S.-Korea alliance is in the interest of the U.S. In addition, 70 percent of Republicans believe that the U.S. should maintain or increase the current level of troops in South Korea. While these questions differ from the Chicago Council’s question, they do suggest that public support for South Korea among Republicans is relatively strong.

Concerns about U.S. reliability are understandable given the current state of the world, but U.S. support for Israel and Ukraine demonstrates continued U.S. reliability. U.S. public support for South Korea also remains relatively robust. In the long run, the best way to maintain that support and address potential concerns among Republicans is for Korean officials to talk to Republican voters. Republican voters don’t always agree with Trump, so making Korea’s case to the American public is critical.

Troy Stangarone is senior director and fellow at the Korea Economic Institute of America.

The Korea Times · October 11, 2023

14. Hamas fighters may be using North Korean weapons, experts say

Based on the research I have read by Dr. Bruce Bechtol, I would say it is highly likely.

Hamas fighters may be using North Korean weapons, experts say

Video shows Palestinian militant holding a rocket-launcher resembling a North Korean weapon.

By Park Jaewoo for RFA Korean

2023.10.10

rfa.org

Experts say that Hamas militants may be using North Korean weapons after footage emerged of a fighter from the Palestinian group carrying a rocket-launcher suspected to originate from the communist nation.

The video, recorded shortly after deadly attacks on Israel started last weekend and shared widely on social media, shows several men sitting in the back of a pickup truck brandishing weapons above a face-down, partially clothed woman.

A rocket-launcher held by one of the fighters was identified as North Korean in origin by a military and weapons blogger with the handle War Noir in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“A recent video recorded today shows members of the Al-Qassam Brigades (#HAMAS) in #Gaza Strip,” War Noir wrote on Oct. 7. “One of the members can be seen with an uncommon F-7 HE-Frag rocket, originally produced in #NorthKorea (#DPRK).”

RFA was not able to conclusively determine if the weapon was North Korean, but its shape closely resembles the F-7 as depicted in the North Korean Small Arms and Light Weapons Recognition Guide published in May by the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey research project.

Experts said that Palestinians have historically used North Korean weapons, which may have been first purchased by Iran or Syria, and then smuggled to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, circumventing an Israeli-Egyptian embargo that has been in place since 2005.

“The Syrians deal with Hezbollah a lot and Hezbollah deals with Hamas a lot,” said Bruce E. Bechtol Jr., a former intelligence officer for the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.

“A lot of the trade that North Korea does with both Hamas and Hezbollah is deals that they make through the IRGC, the Iranian Republican Guard Corps,” he said.

Used in the region

In its recent attacks on Israelis, Hamas used weapons originating in a wide range of current and former states, including the United States, the Soviet Union, and North Korea, said N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of the Armament Research Services intelligence consultancy, or ARES.

A preliminary analysis of images reviewed by this consultancy shows “a militant armed with an RPG-7 type shoulder-fired recoilless gun, loaded with an F-7 series high explosive fragmentation (HE-FRAG) munition, produced in North Korea,” Jenzen-Jones said. “These have previously been documented in the region, including in Syria, Iraq, and in the Gaza Strip."

Other images showed militants using what appeared to be a North Korean Type 58 self-loading rifle, a derivative of the well-known AK series, he said.

"North Korean arms have previously been documented amongst interdicted supplies provided by Iran to militant groups, and this is believed to be the primary way in which DPRK weapons have come into the possession of Palestinian militants,” he said.

“North Korean arms have previously been identified in the hands of the militant factions of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, amongst other groups,” he added.

Bechtol said that a North Korean arms shipment was intercepted in Thailand in 2009. A U.N. panel of experts determined the 35 tons of conventional arms and munitions was headed to Iran, and Israeli intelligence believed it was ultimately bound for Hamas and Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

Bechtol said the shipment contained rocket propelled grenades, larger rockets, and the F-7.

“The North Koreans have also sold the 'BULSAE' antitank system to Hamas. It's a very good antitank system and they could be firing that at Israeli tanks when they're entering the Gaza Strip here within the next day or two,” said Bechtol. “So North Korea has given them some capabilities that are interesting.”

The woman whose body was seen in the video was identified by her family as 22-year old German-Israeli citizen Shani Louk, who was abducted by Hamas militants when they attacked a music festival in Israel close to the Gaza border.

She is believed to be alive, but in critical condition at a hospital in Gaza, according to Palestinian sources her mother told German outlet Bild on Tuesday.

But Israeli, German or Palestinian officials have not yet confirmed her status or whereabouts.

North Korea blames Israel

North Korean media, meanwhile, blamed the recent violence on Israel’s “ceaseless criminal acts” against the Palestinian people.

According to a report in the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Tuesday, “a large-scale armed conflict broke out between Palestine’s Islamic resistance movement and Israel.”

“The international community called the conflict the result of Israel’s ceaseless criminal acts against the Palestinian people,” and said that the “fundamental” way to end the bloody conflict is to create an independent Palestinian state.

That Hamas is using North Korean weapons is not surprising, Bruce Bennett, a defense researcher at the RAND Corporation think tank, told RFA.

“North Korea is selling things wherever it can to make hard currency,” said Bennett. “Whether North Korea directly provided it to Hamas or provided it through a third party, I don't know. But the fact that there is North Korean equipment there does not surprise me at all.”

‘Commercial relationship’

Bennett said the F-7 rocket is an anti-personnel weapon and causes maximum casualties.

“It's not intended to, like, penetrate a tank,” he said. “It's intended to cause fragmentation, like a terrorist bomb, and maximize the effect against people.”

Even though Hamas appears to be using North Korean weapons, it would be inaccurate to describe them as allies, he said.

“It's a commercial relationship which is fed by the politics as well by North Korea being anxious to hurt the United States and anything associated with the United States,” said Bennett.

“The scary part of this though is as you think about the future, does North Korea have people on the ground with Hamas watching them do what they're doing?” he said.

“Is North Korea thinking about doing this kind of thing to South Korea? We clearly don't know at this stage, but I don't think we can ignore that possibility.”

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Additional reporting by Eugene Whong. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

rfa.org

15. S Korean voting system ‘vulnerable’ to N Korean hacking: spy agency

This should be such an obvious action of the regime's political warfare campaign. To conduct subversion of the ROK government, political process, and society.

S Korean voting system ‘vulnerable’ to N Korean hacking: spy agency

The agency warned Pyongyang could penetrate the election watchdog’s network ‘at any time.’

By Taejun Kang for RFA

2023.10.11

Taipei, Taiwan

rfa.org

The voting and ballot counting systems at the state-run election watchdog remain susceptible to potential cyberattacks by North Korea, South Korea’s spy agency warned on Tuesday.

North Korea could breach the National Election Commission’s (NEC’s) network “at any time” due to its weak security system, although no such infiltration has been identified, according to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS).

The announcement came after the NIS and the country’s internet safety watchdog, the Korea Internet and Security Agency, jointly conducted a cybersecurity audit of the NEC in response to criticism that it did not adequately secure its system against hacking attempts.

The probe found that the commission’s election-management network, which oversees voter registration, ballot counting, and early voting systems, had several cybersecurity weaknesses.

These vulnerabilities could have allowed potential hackers to breach the system and tamper with registered voter data and election results, said the NIS.

The agency added that the NEC has failed to take adequate precautions against North Korean cyber attacks on the emails and other information of its officials despite its warning.

The NIS said in May that it had warned the NEC multiple times its network was exposed to North Korean hackers and should undergo a cyber security check from the agency. At that time, the election watchdog allegedly refused the request, saying such inspection from a government agency could hurt its “political neutrality.”

In response to the spy agency’s latest findings, the NEC said that even if it is technically possible to hack into the election system, that does not necessarily lead to a rigged election, as it is nearly impossible to manipulate the outcome of an election without the help of commission insiders.

“The inspection results prove that it is possible to hack into the NEC’s internal network by using common hacking techniques widely used by international hacking organizations, including the North Korean ones,” said Yoo Sang-beom, a spokesperson of South Korea’s ruling People Power Party. “A thorough investigation into the gross failures of the commission’s security management system should be conducted, and appropriate measures should be put in place that the public can trust.”

In July, the spy agency reported that 1.37 million cyberattacks against South Korea, on average, were detected daily in the first half of the year. That’s roughly 15% more than the daily average of 1.18 million last year.

Some 70% of those attacks were believed to be carried out by North Korea. China followed with 4% and Russia 2%.

Edited by Mike Firn and Elaine Chan.

rfa.org

16. 'Asian NATO': Brought to you by South Korean repression

I think you can tell by the headline and the subtitle that the author is not a fan of Camp David or the ROK/US alliance in general. This is quite a spin job with a bit of revisionist history.

'Asian NATO': Brought to you by South Korean repression

The budding Japan-South Korea-US (JAKUS) trilateral alliance minted at Camp David is a dream come true for Washington in the New Cold War. And it wouldn’t be happening without South Korean President Yoon’s war on labor and the opposition.

BY JU-HYUN PARK

OCTOBER 10, 2023

therealnews.com · by Ju-Hyun Park · October 10, 2023

While largely unnoticed by the US public, the trilateral summit between Japan, South Korea, and the US that took place at Camp David this August sent shockwaves throughout East Asia.

US President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio punctuated the end of the three-day summit by releasing a joint declaration rife with the kinds of diplomatic ambiguities and appeals to vague principles typical of this sort of affair. The three leaders pledged their support for a “free and open Indo-Pacific,” for an international “rules-based order,” and for “peace and stability” around the world. But, of course, the historic significance of the summit had less to do with the rhetoric and more to do with the concrete commitments made by the three governments.

The Pacific today looks a lot like Europe on the eve of the First World War—a hotbed of military powers sharply divided into opposing blocs driven by irreconcilable interests, ready to be pulled into war at a moment’s notice.

For the first time, South Korea, Japan, and the US pledged to share data on North Korean missiles, coordinate joint military responses to threats in the region, and host a new annual trilateral military exercise.

These outcomes indicate a realignment of forces in East Asia that significantly raises the risks of potential major power conflict with China. Japan and South Korea have been individual allies of the US for decades—but the three have never before been part of a shared military structure. Now, with an agreed-upon “commitment to consult,” tighter military integration and coordination between the three countries than ever before is assured.

While there is no treaty to bind this budding alliance together yet, the unprecedented “trilateral security cooperation” born from the Camp David summit is a sure step towards achieving one of Washington’s long-standing goals: establishing an Asian equivalent to NATO as a bulwark to protect US interests in the Pacific. The result, which is already manifesting, is a much more divided and hostile region than existed before—where the possibility of great power conflict between nuclear states seems to be more a matter of time than a mere hypothetical.

Wrangling South Korea

Roping South Korea into an alliance with Japan has been an aim of US policymakers since the Korean War, when then-Secretary of State Dean Acheson sought to weld South Korea and Japan together into an economic bloc that could revive Japanese industry post-World War II and ward off communist influence in Asia. In recent years, however, the rise of China as an economic powerhouse, coupled with the nuclearization of North Korea, has brought renewed urgency to this long-sought objective.

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For years, Seoul proved to be a slippery fish in Washington’s net. Yoon’s predecessor, Moon Jae-In, delicately navigated support for US military expansion in Korea without making ironclad commitments to insert South Korea into an anti-China bloc.

To put it simply, the US needs South Korea to succeed in containing China far more than South Korea needs to participate in this conflict.

The reasons for South Korea’s previous ambiguity lay in a divergence of interests between Seoul and Washington in light of a rapidly changing world. China overtook the US as South Korea’s primary trade partner almost 20 years ago, and South Korea’s largest corporations depend on China for labor, production, and markets. While South Korea’s capitalists also benefit from the US military occupation of the peninsula, there are few benefits to them in picking sides in a zero-sum conflict between the US and China.

This is all rather inconvenient for those in Washington intent on preserving US hegemony indefinitely. South Korea is not only geostrategically important in a conflict against China—it also has the largest military of any US ally in the region, and is also a crucial producer of advanced technologies which US corporations and the Pentagon depend on. To put it simply, the US needs South Korea to succeed in containing China far more than South Korea needs to participate in this conflict.

Then there’s the other, far thornier issue of Japan’s 35-year colonization of Korea and the deep imprint it has left—and continues to have—on Korea. Japan has yet to fully acknowledge, apologize for, or offer satisfactory compensation for its many colonial crimes against the Korean people. This matter remains an open wound on the Korean psyche, and a thorn in the side of Tokyo and Washington.

The litany of Japanese atrocities in Korea are too many to name here, but the most prominent issue at the moment concerns Japan’s forced conscriptions of Koreans during WWII. From 1939 to 1945, Japan forcibly conscripted hundreds of thousands of Koreans to fight its wars, and mobilized more than 3 million Koreans as forced laborers throughout its empire. Among the most heinous and best known of these crimes was the conscription of an estimated 200,000 Korean women into sexual slavery for Japan’s military—a program euphemistically known as the “comfort women” system.

In 2018, the South Korean Supreme Court ordered Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi, which profited from wartime forced labor, to pay reparations to their surviving victims. This incident set off a diplomatic row that escalated to the level of a trade dispute that lasted for years.

For Washington, the renewed push to force Japan to address and atone for these historical injustices could not have come at a more inconvenient time. Just a year before, in 2017, India, Australia, Japan, and the US had revived the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or the Quad—a military alliance intended to serve as the main axis of a new anti-China bloc.

The Trump administration was keen to rope South Korea in as a fifth member of the Quad, but this goal never materialized. Entering any kind of explicit alliance with Japan was, and still is, politically toxic in South Korea. Moreover, as the world enters a new era where the US is losing its footing as the globe’s preeminent military and economic power, South Korea, among other nations, was quite sensibly reading the room and attempting to hedge its bets.

Upon entering office, Biden’s administration set achieving a trilateral partnership between the US, Japan, and South Korea as a high priority, seeking to accomplish what its predecessor could not. The Camp David summit represents a major step towards achieving this goal. While the White House and its cheerleaders have already claimed this as a victory for deft diplomacy, there is another cause that deserves significantly more credit: For the past year, current South Korean President Yoon Seok Yeol has waged a ruthless war on the sections of South Korean civil society standing in the way of Washington’s agenda, attacking labor, peace groups, and the general public.

Enter Yoon Seok Yeol

Despite less than 18 months in office, Yoon has earned the dubious distinction of being South Korea’s least popular head of state ever—not to mention one of the most maligned leaders in the world. His administration has been pilloried by civil society groups and the main opposition Democratic Party for its corruption and ineptitude, while simultaneously characterized as a “prosecutor’s dictatorship” where escalating abuses of executive power are interpreted by many as signs of backsliding towards South Korea’s days of autocratic rule.

Domestically, the Yoon administration has declared war against its political enemies, particularly against the labor movement. In January of this year, hundreds of police officers raided the offices of multiple progressive organizations, including the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, which represents over 2 million workers.

Yoon’s domestic crackdown isn’t taking place in a vacuum separate from the formation of the trilateral alliance. These repressive measures are the necessary internal complement to an international agenda primarily determined not in Seoul, but in Washington.

Wielding trumped-up charges ranging from racketeering to spying on behalf of North Korea, the Yoon administration has weaponized law enforcement to continue its crackdown on labor and progressive organizers throughout this year. Over 1,000 members of the Korean Construction Workers Union alone are currently under federal investigation, and more than 30 are now in jail. One local KCWU leader, Yang Hoe-dong, died by self-immolation in protest of these charges—transforming himself into a martyr for the movement to rally around.

It’s not just labor unions that have found themselves in Yoon’s crosshairs. The 6.15 Committee has also been the target of official persecution. Originally founded in 2000, the 6.15 Committee has chapters on both sides of the Korean peninsula and overseas that work towards building support for Korean peace and reunification through people-to-people exchanges. At the same time that the KCTU’s offices were raided, members of the 6.15 Committee in Jeju province were arrested on espionage charges. The evidence? They had previously hosted a public screening of a North Korean film.

Perhaps most brazenly, the Yoon administration has also escalated attacks on the media. Two news outlets, Newstapa and the Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Company, were raided by prosecutors on Sept. 14, 2023, for publishing a story in 2022 spotlighting Yoon’s alleged participation in an illegal loan scheme. Press freedom has never stood on firm ground in South Korea, even after the supposed era of “democratization” in the 1990s. Ousted former President Park Geun-hye notoriously maintained a blacklist banning thousands of artists considered unfriendly to her government. Yet no other president since the days of military dictatorship ever dared to use state security forces against a media office, until Yoon.

Yoon’s domestic crackdown isn’t taking place in a vacuum separate from the formation of the trilateral alliance. These repressive measures are the necessary internal complement to an international agenda primarily determined not in Seoul, but in Washington.

Old autocracy, New Cold War

As president, Yoon has overseen several dramatic changes in South Korean foreign policy that benefit US interests and require the repression of internal dissent to achieve: scuttling relations with North Korea, joining US attempts to technologically isolate China, and reconciling with Japan to clear the way for the Camp David summit.

Since coming into office, Yoon has overseen a drastic escalation in the frequency and intensity of joint military exercises between South Korea and the US. These military exercises began in the 1970s as annual affairs—now, there are more than 20 planned for 2023 alone. These war drills routinely rehearse invasions of North Korea within miles of the DMZ, the de facto border that has divided Korea since the 1953 armistice.

The KCTU and other labor groups have provided some of the most stalwart opposition to these war games. Last year, in response to the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, the KCTU joined hands with the more moderate Federation of Korean Trade Unions to deliver a joint statement denouncing war maneuvers—a statement that was, significantly, also signed by their union umbrella counterpart in North Korea.

Predictably, Yoon and Biden’s acts of aggression have prompted parallel North Korean shows of force, which then provide the pretext for Washington, Seoul, and, increasingly, Tokyo to escalate in turn. The Biden administration deployed two US nuclear submarines to Korea for the first time in 40 years this summer, and the US and South Korea warned in a joint statement that “Any nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies is unacceptable and will result in the end of that regime.”

Labor repression within South Korea also plays a significant role in facilitating Washington’s aims to technologically and economically isolate China, a crucial pillar of National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s “New Washington Consensus.” Here, the intersection of technological and military power are key. US domination of tech patents is one of the pillars of its premiere position in the global economy—a position it can only hold so long as Chinese attempts to develop domestic tech production capacity are foiled.

South Korean labor is one of the only organized obstacles within the US-led bloc to Washington’s economic offensive against China. Crushing the unions means clearing the way for the unhindered reengineering of South Korea’s economy in Washington’s vision.

Maintaining US dominance of the tech market also has more obvious military implications for Washington, which depends on semiconductors produced in South Korea and Taiwan to operate its weapons of mass destruction. Gregory C. Allen, an analyst with the hawkish Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, describes Washington’s tech offensive against China as “actively strangling large segments of the Chinese technology industry—strangling with an intent to kill.”

Attempts to “strangle” Chinese tech have escalated sharply under the Trump and Biden administrations. Two of the clearest and highest-profile examples of this have been US attempts to sanction Huawei, going as far as to coordinate the arrest of the company’s CFO during a visit to Canada, as well as the push to ban TikTok, which culminated in a bizarre and ridiculous Senate hearing earlier this year.

But the war on Chinese tech goes beyond targeting individual Chinese conglomerates. Under Biden, a strategy has slowly taken shape to attempt to bring as much high tech production back to the US as possible while simultaneously taking measures to exclude China from existing international supply chains that rely heavily on production in Taiwan and South Korea. Two of Biden’s biggest legislative wins, the Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS and Science Act, contain provisions that effectively force South Korean companies to abandon their investments in China in favor of building electric vehicle and semiconductor factories in the US. South Korean EV battery makers have already committed $13 billion to build new plants and expand existing ones in seven US states.

This has all come at a steep cost to South Korea. South Korean technology exports to the Chinese market plummeted in the wake of the CHIPS and Inflation Reduction Acts. From 2022 until June 2023, South Korea suffered the most severe trade deficit in its history, hemorrhaging some $47.5 billion in 2022 alone. By far, the leading cause of this deficit was the sudden reversal in trade with China.

Squeezed between rising inflation and spiraling economic prospects, South Korea’s workers are bearing the brunt of this economic realignment. At the same time, the Yoon government is scrambling to find some way to reverse its poor economic performance without making concessions to workers. Hence, Yoon’s war on trade unions—the only vehicles available for the working class to organize independently and fight back. As President Yoon himself put it, the crackdown on unions is necessary “so that corporate value can rise, capital markets can develop, and many jobs can be created.” South Korean labor is one of the only organized obstacles within the US-led bloc to Washington’s economic offensive against China. Crushing the unions means clearing the way for the unhindered reengineering of South Korea’s economy in Washington’s vision.

Amid this political and economic chaos, Yoon was able to broker a new understanding with Tokyo that put an end to years of diplomatic and economic clashes. In a move many critics described as unconstitutional, the Yoon administration unilaterally modified the 2018 Supreme Court decision ordering restitution from Japanese companies for Korean survivors of wartime forced labor. Instead, the survivors will now be compensated from a fund paid into by South Korean corporations, letting their Japanese counterparts off the hook. Despite being opposed by some 60% of South Koreans, this arrangement allowed for a thaw in Seoul and Tokyo’s relations, which, in turn, set the stage for the summit at Camp David this August.

Analysts have also warned of the possibility that the trilateral alliance could be used as a mechanism to draw South Korean forces into US wars abroad—including in the Taiwan Strait.

The specter of North Korean nuclearization was presented as the primary justification for the Camp David summit and the resulting trilateral security cooperation alliance. But the outcomes of Camp David were not exclusively military in nature. Japan and South Korea also pledged to share data on critical supply chains with the US.

Domestically, Yoon’s participation in the Camp David Summit was widely lambasted as a betrayal of South Korea’s interests. The summit has not only heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula; it has also done significant damage to South Korean relations with Russia and China, although China’s Xi Jinping seems determined to maintain cordial relations. Analysts have also warned of the possibility that the trilateral alliance could be used as a mechanism to draw South Korean forces into US wars abroad—including in the Taiwan Strait.

The Camp David Summit has only brought more darkness to the political climate in South Korea. Days before he left for the US, Yoon gave a national address for Liberation Day, which marks the anniversary of the end of Japanese colonial rule in Korea. Rather than offer reflections on the human toll of the colonial period or the legacy of the Korean independence movement, Yoon fixated on a different target: “The forces of communist totalitarianism have always disguised themselves as democracy activists, human rights advocates, or progressive activists while engaging in despicable and unethical tactics and false propaganda,” he said. “We must never succumb to the forces of communist totalitarianism.”

In South Korea, anticommunism and state repression have gone hand-in-hand since the “Republic of Korea” was first established in a widely opposed, US-sponsored election process in 1948. Before the Korean War officially began in 1950, a mass uprising on the island of Jeju against Korea’s division ended in the slaughter of between 30,000 and 60,000 people. In the early days of the Korean War itself, the South Korean government massacred between 100,000 and 200,000 political dissidents that had previously been forced to register in the so-called National Guidance League.

Throughout the long night of South Korea’s military dictatorships, which lasted from the end of WWII to the 1990s, strikes were broken, activists tortured and disappeared, and families of the massacred and vanished were silenced and surveilled in the name of suppressing the communist threat. When the city of Gwangju took up arms in 1980 to demand democracy and appealed to the US to intervene, President Jimmy Carter greenlit the deployment of South Korean paratroopers from the DMZ to butcher as many as 2,000 of the city’s residents. In the aftermath, the Chun Doo Hwan regime blamed the events in Gwangju on North Korean infiltrators and communists.

For now, the Yoon administration has limited the scale and brutality of its crackdown to incarcerations and prosecutorial witch hunts. But the echoes of Korea’s recent history leave many wondering if, or when, the bloodletting will return. For its part, the Biden administration has followed in the footsteps of every previous administration by refusing to acknowledge the political repression unfolding under Yoon’s South Korea. Corporate media, in turn, has largely ignored the outcry against the Camp David summit by South Koreans themselves.

Dividing Korea, dividing the Pacific

The joint statement delivered at Camp David cast the new US-Japan-South Korean axis in terms of a partnership based on a mutual desire for global peace and prosperity. But the immediate consequences of the summit strongly indicate that things are, in fact, moving in the opposite direction.

Rather than deescalating military tensions and breaking down barriers to international cooperation, the Camp David Summit signals an escalation of military threats coinciding with the tightening of a US-led hegemonic bloc in the Pacific. Every action has a reaction, and the reaction here is coming in the form of a consolidated counter-bloc between Pyongyang, Moscow, and Beijing.

For the time being, the two Korean states have aligned with opposing global interests. The possibility of reunification and reconciliation, which seemed so tantalizingly close just a few years before, now appears to be far out of reach.

The reestablishment of cooperative relations between North Korea, China, and Russia has been a long time coming. Relations between the three countries turned cold after the destruction of the Soviet Union. For decades, Russia and China acquiesced to UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea—something which they no longer are willing to abide.

In recent years, Beijing and Moscow have increasingly turned to each other, and to Pyongyang, as fellow targets of US sanctions, military encirclement, and propaganda. For all its bombastic proclamations about protecting peace and freedom around the world, Washington has created the conditions for a new unity of interests to emerge among those states it names as its enemies.

Pyongyang, Beijing, and Moscow were all united in their alarm and rejection of the Camp David Summit—and not without reason. All three countries were explicitly named in the Camp David Principles and Joint Statement as problems to be managed by the self-appointed triumvirate. China and Russia also share borders with Korea, which will be the primary site of military escalation by Washington, Tokyo, and Seoul. Beijing and Pyongyang swiftly denounced the new bloc. Moscow even suggested the start of trilateral naval exercises between the three countries as a counter to US-led military maneuvers.

On Sept. 12, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un boarded an armored train for the Russian Far East in his first foreign visit as head of state since 2019. In a meeting with Vladimir Putin, Kim expressed his government’s full support for Russia in its conflict against NATO, and received pledges to assist with developing space technologies from Moscow.

For the time being, the two Korean states have aligned with opposing global interests. The possibility of reunification and reconciliation, which seemed so tantalizingly close just a few years before, now appears to be far out of reach. Yet even as the currents of world politics pull Korea apart once again, opportunities for a different future remain.

South Korea, which ascended economically for decades on Washington’s coattails, now finds itself on the side of a declining power. Already, Seoul is being forced to choose between its objective interests in closer ties with its neighbors and Washington’s contravening political preferences. The result appears to be a declining trend in South Korea’s fortunes—something key stakeholders in the country may not tolerate forever.

North Korea, isolated and encircled for so long, now has a wide and reliable rearguard of support in Moscow and Beijing. As the center of economic gravity pivots towards China, opportunities for North Korea’s advancement will only proliferate. The unintended result in the not-too-distant future could well be two Koreas that can stand on truly equal footing and finally become one, ending the division of Korea and the centrality of that division in manufacturing regional conflict.

But perhaps such predictions are too optimistic for the present moment. After all, Korea must survive intact for such a future to be possible. The Pacific today looks a lot like Europe on the eve of the First World War—a hotbed of military powers sharply divided into opposing blocs driven by irreconcilable interests, ready to be pulled into war at a moment’s notice. That war was so cataclysmic that for a generation it could only be remembered as The Great War. The war to come will be even more vicious, and so far, it’s being served to us with a smile.

by Ju-Hyun Park, The Real News Network

October 10, 2023

therealnews.com · by Ju-Hyun Park · October 10, 2023

17. N. Korea’s trade ministry orders establishment of “emergency trade system” to acquire food

Dire straits.

Now is not the time to go wobbly on sanctions.

Excerpts:

The trade ministry appears to be acknowledging the reality that sanctions against North Korea have effectively cut the country off from the international banking system. The recent trade ministry order emphasized the necessity of being able to reliably and conveniently carry out foreign currency-based transactions, including a call to drastically increase the number of North Korean-held foreign bank accounts under assumed local aliases.

In short, the trade ministry’s order is aimed at circumventing international sanctions and securing safe channels for foreign trade.

N. Korea’s trade ministry orders establishment of “emergency trade system” to acquire food

The trade ministry’s order is aimed at circumventing international sanctions and securing safe channels for foreign trade, a source told Daily NK

By Jeong Tae Joo - 2023.10.11 2:01pm

https://www.dailynk.com/english/north-koreas-trade-ministry-orders-establishment-of-emergency-trade-system-to-acquire-food/

FILE PHOTO: View into North Korea from across the Tumen River in China's Jilin Province. (Daily NK)

North Korea’s Ministry of External Economic Relations recently instructed central government-affiliated trade enterprises to establish an “emergency trade system” by the end of this year, Daily NK has learned. The emergency system would set up a “safety net” for foreign currency conversions and payments to each country engaged in trade with the DPRK.

Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a source in the country told Daily NK last Friday that the orders to establish an emergency trade system were issued on Oct. 2 alongside instructions to expand food imports from friendly nations like China and Russia.

The source said that the sudden push to establish an emergency trade system is part of plans to import large amounts of food amid predictions that North Korea’s agricultural output will fall short of expectations again this year.

“The trade ministry’s orders to establish an emergency trade system are focused on setting up a ‘safety net’ abroad so that central government-affiliated trade enterprises will be able to import grain at any time.”

Up until now, state-affiliated trade enterprises have exported items requested by overseas traders and then used the money earned from these transactions to purchase food. Alternatively, they trade companies have pooled payments of dollars or yuan inside North Korea and conducted money transfers through local banks and individual brokers to purchase food for import.

However, North Korean enterprises have often faced difficulties while trying to receive payments for exports or when converting earnings to dollars through international banks. Despite amicable political relations with countries like China and Russia, international banks in these countries and elsewhere remain party to or at least sensitive to international sanctions against North Korea.

The trade ministry appears to be acknowledging the reality that sanctions against North Korea have effectively cut the country off from the international banking system. The recent trade ministry order emphasized the necessity of being able to reliably and conveniently carry out foreign currency-based transactions, including a call to drastically increase the number of North Korean-held foreign bank accounts under assumed local aliases.

In short, the trade ministry’s order is aimed at circumventing international sanctions and securing safe channels for foreign trade.

“This order is designed to ensure that state-affiliated trade enterprises can reliably import food from anywhere at any time in accordance with the government’s demands, which goes to show that the government is keen to resolve the country’s chronic food shortage issues,” the source said.

Presently, trade officials at Pyongyang Taehung Fur Trading Company and Yonghung Trade Company have passed down orders internally to their trade representatives overseas to begin carrying out preparations to convince citizens in China and other countries to set up bank accounts for North Korean companies under their own names.

Translated by Rose Adams. Edited by Robert Lauler.

Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.

18. The Crimes Behind the Seafood You Eat

Long read.

The Crimes Behind the Seafood You Eat

The New Yorker · by Dhruv Khullar · October 9, 2023

Americans know little about how their seafood is sourced.

Much of it comes from a vast fleet of Chinese ships.

On board, human-rights abuses are rampant.

A Reporter at Large

The Crimes

Behind

the Seafood

You Eat

China has invested heavily in an armada of far-flung fishing vessels, in part to extend its global influence. This maritime expansion has come at grave human cost.

October 9, 2023

Daniel Aritonang graduated from high school in May, 2018, hoping to find a job. Short and lithe, he lived in the coastal village of Batu Lungun, Indonesia, where his father owned an auto shop. Aritonang spent his free time rebuilding engines in the shop, occasionally sneaking away to drag-race his blue Yamaha motorcycle on the village’s back roads. He had worked hard in school but was a bit of a class clown, always pranking the girls. “He was full of laughter and smiles,” his high-school math teacher, Leni Apriyunita, said. His mother brought homemade bread to his teachers’ houses, trying to help him get good grades and secure work; his father’s shop was failing, and the family needed money. But, when Aritonang finished high school, youth unemployment was above sixteen per cent. He considered joining the police academy, and applied for positions at nearby plastics and textile factories, but never got an offer, disappointing his parents. He wrote on Instagram, “I know I failed, but I keep trying to make them happy.” His childhood friend Hengki Anhar was also scrambling to find work. “They asked for my skills,” he said recently, of potential employers. “But, to be honest, I don’t have any.”

Aritonang at an airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on his way to the Zhen Fa 7.Photograph by Ferdi Arnando

At the time, many villagers who had taken jobs as deckhands on foreign fishing ships were returning with enough money to buy motorcycles and houses. Anhar suggested that he and Aritonang go to sea, too, and Aritonang agreed, saying, “As long as we’re together.” He intended to use the money to fix up his parents’ house or maybe to start a business. Firmandes Nugraha, another friend, worried that Aritonang was not cut out for hard labor. “We took a running test, and he was too easily exhausted,” he said. But Aritonang wouldn’t be dissuaded. A year later, in July, he and Anhar travelled to the port city of Tegal, and applied for work through a manning agency called PT Bahtera Agung Samudra. (The agency seems not to have a license to operate, according to government records, and did not respond to requests for comment.) They handed over their passports, copies of their birth certificates, and bank documents. At eighteen, Aritonang was still young enough that the agency required him to provide a letter of parental consent. He posted a picture of himself and other recruits, writing, “Just a bunch of common folk who hope for a successful and bright future.”

This piece was published in collaboration with the Outlaw Ocean Project.

For the next two months, Aritonang and Anhar waited in Tegal for a ship assignment. Aritonang asked Nugraha to borrow money for them, saying that the pair were struggling to buy food. Nugraha urged him to come home: “You don’t even know how to swim.” Aritonang refused. “There’s no other choice,” he wrote, in a text. Finally, on September 2, 2019, Aritonang and Anhar were flown to Busan, South Korea, to board what they thought would be a Korean ship. But when they got to the port they were told to climb aboard a Chinese vessel—a rusty, white-and-red-keeled squid ship called the Zhen Fa 7.

Satellite data from Global Fishing Watch show about a thousand ships from China’s distant-water fishing fleet on September 2, 2019.

That day, the ship set out across the Pacific.

Aritonang had just joined what may be the largest maritime operation the world has ever known.

In the past few decades, partly in an effort to project its influence abroad, China has dramatically expanded its distant-water fishing fleet. Chinese firms now own or operate terminals in ninety-five foreign ports. China estimates that it has twenty-seven hundred distant-water fishing ships, though this figure does not include vessels in contested waters; public records and satellite imaging suggest that the fleet may be closer to sixty-five hundred ships. (The U.S. and the E.U., by contrast, have fewer than three hundred distant-water fishing vessels each.) Some ships that appear to be fishing vessels press territorial claims in contested waters, including in the South China Sea and around Taiwan. “This may look like a fishing fleet, but, in certain places, it’s also serving military purposes,” Ian Ralby, who runs I.R. Consilium, a maritime-security firm, told me. China’s preëminence at sea has come at a cost. The country is largely unresponsive to international laws, and its fleet is the worst perpetrator of illegal fishing in the world, helping drive species to the brink of extinction. Its ships are also rife with labor trafficking, debt bondage, violence, criminal neglect, and death. “The human-rights abuses on these ships are happening on an industrial and global scale,” Steve Trent, the C.E.O. of the Environmental Justice Foundation, said.

It took a little more than three months for the Zhen Fa 7 to cross the ocean and anchor near the Galápagos Islands. A squid ship is a bustling, bright, messy place. The scene on deck looks like a mechanic’s garage where an oil change has gone terribly wrong. Scores of fishing lines extend into the water, each bearing specialized hooks operated by automated reels. When they pull a squid on board, it squirts warm, viscous ink, which coats the walls and floors. Deep-sea squid have high levels of ammonia, which they use for buoyancy, and a smell hangs in the air. The hardest labor generally happens at night, from 5 P.M. until 7 A.M. Hundreds of bowling-ball-size light bulbs hang on racks on both sides of the vessel, enticing the squid up from the depths. The blinding glow of the bulbs, visible more than a hundred miles away, makes the surrounding blackness feel otherworldly. “Our minds got tested,” Anhar said.

The lights on boats entice squid up from the depths.Ed Ou, for the Outlaw Ocean Project

Squid hooked on lures.Ben Blankenship, for the Outlaw Ocean Project

Workers manning automated rigs.Ed Ou, for the Outlaw Ocean Project

Squid in plastic baskets.Will N. Miller, for the Outlaw Ocean Project