Quotes of the Day:

“No totalitarians, no wars, no fears, famine, or perils of any kind can really break a man's spirit until he breaks it himself by surrendering. Tierney has many dread powers, but not the power to rule the spirit.” 

- Edgar Sheffield, Brightman

“If the world were a band right now, I'd say that everyone thinks they have a solo and no one practiced.” 

- The 13th chair.

“All that is gold, does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes, a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade, that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.” - J.R.R. Tolkien

1. HRNK Message on the International Day or the Abolition of Slavery

2. North Korea's Satellite Launch: Part of a Bigger Problem for Kim Jong-un?

3. South Koreans want their own nukes. That could roil one of the world’s most dangerous regions

4. Koreas' spy satellite launches heat up arms race in space

5. South Korea to develop stealth submarines

6. National security advisers of Korea, US, Japan to meet in Seoul next week

7. N. Korea vows to take countermeasures against organizations that impose sanctions

8. Poland buys more K9 howitzers from South Korea in $2.6 billion deal

9. N. Korea bristles at US over comments about possible disabling of spy satellite

10. Time for nuclear buildup (ROK nuclear powered submarines)

11. North Korea says interference in its satellites would be declaration of war

12. Opinion | Is South Korea Disappearing?

13. S. Korea, US, Japan, Australia jointly announce sanctions on NK

14. Students invent IV bag that doesn't rely on gravity. It could be game-changing at disaster sites.

1. HRNK Message on the International Day or the Abolition of Slavery

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https://mailchi.mp/a553a83b69d4/intl-day-abolition-2023?e=46d109134b

HRNK Message on the International Day

for the Abolition of Slavery

December 2, 2023

On the occasion of the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, HRNK condemns modern slavery and calls attention to the continued use of slave, forced, and child labor in North Korea.

Slavery-like practices are pervasive in North Korea. The North Korean people are frequently compelled to participate in public mobilization campaigns, and even children are not exempt. Prisoners in North Korea’s detention system, including the kwan-li-so political prison camps and the kyo-hwa-so prison labor facilities, are subject to forced labor under brutal conditions.

The problem extends beyond North Korea’s borders. North Korean refugee women often fall victim to human trafficking in China, where they are coerced into forced marriages or sexual slavery. Thousands of North Korean workers continue to be officially dispatched overseas, where they are exploited by the regime. This past October, HRNK provided congressional testimony on the dispatch of North Korean workers to Chinese seafood processing plants.

Today, we express our solidarity with the victims of all contemporary forms of slavery and call for the cessation of these inhumane practices.

HRNK also calls upon the international community to hold the North Korean regime accountable for the way that it exploits its people, at home and abroad. It is imperative to raise awareness, advocate on behalf of North Korean victims of slavery and forced labor, and ensure that products tainted by North Korean forced labor do not end up in international supply chains.

Greg Scarlatoiu

Executive Director

2. North Korea's Satellite Launch: Part of a Bigger Problem for Kim Jong-un?

Interesting specialization. Not sure if satellites will give him what he wants unless it is to try, as Dr. Bennentt surmises, to turn off all information coming in from the outside through his HUMINT. He will learn the hardway you cannot replace HUMIMT with all technical means but if that prevents him from "myth busting " information then I guess he will be "successful right up until the regime collapses under the weight of its own contradictions.

We need to focus on Kim Jong Un's failed strategy and internal challenges. Information is an existential threat to the regime.  

Recall that Kim fears the Korean people in the north more than he fears the US military.

We should use all of this to our advantage.

North Korea's Satellite Launch: Part of a Bigger Problem for Kim Jong-un?

Is it possible that Kim hopes to replace his intelligence agents around the world with satellites that collect similar information but do not provide regime myth-busting information to members of the elite?

The National Interest · by Bruce W. Bennett · December 1, 2023

On November 21, North Korea made its third attempt of 2023 to launch a reconnaissance satellite. The North did so despite this launch violating multiple UN Security Council resolutions and despite the urging of many other countries. While the North has not explained the whole logic behind the launch, a broader view of North Korea suggests that it may well have been a desperate move by North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un.

After all, why does North Korea need reconnaissance satellites? According to a news bulletin, “The North defended the latest launch as its ‘legitimate’ right to strengthen ‘self-defensive capabilities.’” Kim further said the satellite was needed to “curb dangerous invasion moves by the hostile forces.” This is consistent with the North’s constant refrain that the United States is an inveterately hostile enemy anxious to invade—conveniently justifying the sacrifices of the North Korean people to fund huge military budgets (estimated between 20 and 30 percent of GDP). The regime also uses U.S. hostility to explain its many failures as a government.

But why would the United States ever want to invade North Korea? The United States would have very little to gain and yet would pay an incredible price in treasure and lives by invading the North before even considering North Korean nuclear weapons. Indeed, over the years, the United States has consistently sought to de-escalate North Korean military attack provocations, fearing that retaliation in kind would risk an escalatory spiral into a major, unwanted war.

Moreover, North Korea appears to have agents (spies) placed in the ROK and many other parts of the world who already collect many of the kinds of information that a reconnaissance satellite might seek. Of course, North Korea is in the process of recalling its personnel from foreign locations, probably concerned by their exposure to outside information that really scares Kim.

The North has depended upon its elites to take overseas assignments, hoping their loyalty to the regime will insulate them from being “corrupted” by what they see and hear in the outside world. According to a North Korean defector, “Frankly speaking, those who have worked abroad for an extended period understand that the North Korean regime and the country are not a normal state and system.” Exposure to the outside world significantly undermines the regime’s propaganda myths, and according to North Korean escapees with whom I have spoken, some of this external information is carefully passed on to friends and family when those overseas return home. Still, other defectors claim that “months of ‘reeducation’ sessions, or even forced labor, await thousands of overseas North Koreans when they return home for the first time in over three and a half years.”

How worried is Kim? A few years ago, he claimed that even K-pop is a “vicious cancer,” degrading the morals of his younger generation. State media went on to say that unless it was stopped, it could cause the regime to “collapse like a damp wall.” And nothing is more scary to Kim than a regime collapse. Kim’s fear of outside information is so great that the regime imposes prison sentences of ten years or more of hard labor for those caught even watching a South Korean movie.

Is it possible that Kim hopes to replace his intelligence agents around the world with satellites that collect similar information but do not provide regime myth-busting information to members of the elite? Unfortunately for Kim, many of his overseas personnel are workers earning hard currency for the government. Rather than eliminate these personnel, the regime plans to replace them to retain the hard currency flow.

In addition, Kim has historically used his missile test launches and nuclear weapons to demonstrate his power to his people—one of the few areas where Kim has had relatively consistent success. To avoid questions about his accomplishments, he has tried to cover up major missile test failures, such as his ICBM launched on March 16, 2022, that exploded just north of Pyongyang, apparently sending down a shower of missile debris. It was, therefore, surprising that the North admitted its failed satellite launches in May and August this year. Is it possible that it did so because Kim recognized that sensitive outside news information was getting to at least some of the North Korean elites, who would then catch him in a deception? Is the North actually more porous to outside information despite Kim’s efforts to keep such information out of the North? If true, this would significantly undermine the North’s myths and could give the ROK-U.S. some leverage on the regime.

Of course, Kim’s prestige likely dropped once the regime admitted the failures of its first two satellite launches this year. Elites may even see him as weak—something he cannot allow. Kim had made such a big deal about launching a satellite that he needed success. When North Korean expertise and technology failed to yield that success, Kim turned to Russia for assistance, as his family has done with missiles in the past. Kim’s trip to meet Putin at Russia’s own spaceport gave him a chance to bring along North Korean scientists who could seek advice from the Russian space experts. The North has even provided space launch vehicle blueprints to Russian scientists, apparently getting their feedback. Two weeks later, “a Russian military plane flew directly from Moscow to Pyongyang,” likely delivering components and scientists needed to fix the North Korean space launch vehicle. The same plane flew from Vladivostok to Pyongyang again on November 7 and November 22, probably bringing further Russian help for the space launch and likely helping to get satellite operations working.

Of course, depending on Russian help is a far cry from the North Korean philosophy of “Juche”—roughly meaning “self-reliance.” North Korea claims to be a powerful country, at least to domestic audiences, and should, in theory, be able to accomplish almost anything independently. But now, at least some elites—and maybe many if outside information is reaching the elites—know that Kim abandoned Juche to achieve a successful space launch, making him look diminished.

Kim Jong-un’s record of paranoia suggests he likely feels that some of his myths are unraveling. That presents not only an opportunity to influence North Korea but also a considerable danger if Kim begins fearing that he is losing control.

About the Author

Bruce W. Bennett is a senior international/defense researcher at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. He works primarily on research topics such as strategy, force planning, and counterproliferation within the RAND International Security and Defense Policy Program.

The National Interest · by Bruce W. Bennett · December 1, 2023

3. South Koreans want their own nukes. That could roil one of the world’s most dangerous regions

Nukes are not the answer. A human rights upfront approach, a sophisticated information campaign, and the pursuit of a free and unified Korea resting on a foundation of deterrence and defense should be the way ahead.

South Koreans want their own nukes. That could roil one of the world’s most dangerous regions

AP · November 30, 2023

BY FOSTER KLUG

Updated 12:42 AM EST, November 30, 2023

CHEORWON, South Korea (AP) — To the steady rat-tat-tat of machine guns and exploding bursts of smoke, amphibious tanks slice across a lake not far from the big green mountains that stand along the world’s most heavily armed border.

Dozens of South Korean and U.S. combat engineers build a pontoon bridge to ferry tanks and armored vehicles across the water, all within easy range of North Korean artillery.

For seven decades, the allies have staged annual drills like this recent one to deter aggression from North Korea, whose 1950 surprise invasion of South Korea started a war that has technically yet to end.

The alliance with the United States has allowed South Korea to build a powerful democracy, its citizens confident that Washington would protect them if Pyongyang ever acted on its dream of unifying the Korean Peninsula under its own rule.

Until now.

With dozens of nukes in North Korea’s burgeoning arsenal, repeated threats to launch them at its enemies, and a stream of tests of powerful missiles designed to pinpoint target a U.S. city with a nuclear strike, a growing number of South Koreans are losing faith in America’s vow to back its longtime ally.

The fear is this: That a U.S. president would hesitate to use nuclear weapons to defend the South from a North Korean attack knowing that Pyongyang could kill millions of Americans with atomic retaliation.

Frequent polls show a strong majority of South Koreans — between 70% and 80% in some surveys — support their nation acquiring atomic weapons or urging Washington to bring back the tactical nuclear weapons it removed from the South in the early 1990s.

It reflects a surprising erosion of trust between nations that like to call their alliance an unshakable cornerstone of America’s military presence in the region.

“I think one day they can abandon us and go their own way if that better serves their national interests,” Kim Bang-rak, a 76-year-old security guard in Seoul, said of the United States. “If North Korea bombs us, we should bomb them equally in retaliation, so it would be better for us to have nukes.”

Underscoring those fears: Just hours before the U.S.-South Korean tank drills began in Cheorwon, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw two ballistic missile test launches meant to simulate “scorched earth” nuclear strikes on South Korean command centers and airfields.

At the heart of South Korean unease is a broader debate over who gets to have nuclear weapons, a question that has anguished nations since two U.S. nuclear bombs flattened Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

The sharp rise in support for South Korean nuclear weapons is not occurring in a vacuum. Nonproliferation experts say a vibrant global nuclear arms race shows little sign of slowing.

Nine countries — the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel — spent nearly $83 billion in 2022 on nuclear weapons, according to a recent report by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. That’s an increase of $2.5 billion from 2021, with the United States alone spending $43.7 billion.

How South Korea deals with the nuclear question could have major implications for Asia’s future, potentially jeopardizing the U.S.-South Korean alliance and threatening a delicate nuclear balance that has so far kept an uneasy peace in a dangerous region.

___

Ironclad. That’s how the United States has long described its commitment to South Korea should a war begin. U.S. officials are adamant that any attack on Seoul by North Korea’s 1.2 million-member military would be met with an overwhelming response.

The United States, bound by treaty to defend Seoul and Tokyo, stations 28,500 troops in South Korea and another 56,000 in Japan. Tens of thousands of Americans live in greater Seoul, a sprawling area of 24 million people about an hour’s drive from the inter-Korean border.

“The ironclad commitment is not just words; it’s a reality. We’ve got thousands of troops right there,” Gen. Mark Milley, who was then the top U.S. military officer, recently told reporters in Tokyo. An attack, said the now-retired Milley, “would spell the end of North Korea.”

Asked about the South Korean public’s support for creating its own nuclear force, Milley said, “The United States would prefer nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. We think they’re inherently dangerous, obviously. And we have extended our nuclear umbrella to both Japan and South Korea.”

South Korean Defense Minister Shin Wonsik said recently that he and his U.S. counterpart signed a document in which Washington agreed to mobilize its full range of military capabilities, including nuclear, to defend the South from a North Korean nuclear attack.

Many in Seoul, however, would prefer nuclear weapons of their own.

North Korea’s only advantage over the South’s high-tech military is nuclear bombs, Kim Taeil, a recent university graduate, said in an interview.

“So if South Korea gets nuclear weapons, we’ll secure an advantageous position where North Korea can’t rival us.”

___

While the idea of South Korea pursuing its own nukes has been around for decades, it was rarely mentioned in public by senior government officials. That changed in January when conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol said that his nation could “acquire our own nukes if the situation gets worse.”

“It would not take long,” he said, while also raising the possibility of requesting that the United States reintroduce nuclear weapons into South Korea.

At an April summit in Washington, Yoon and President Joe Biden took steps to address such South Korean worries. The result was the Washington Declaration, in which Seoul pledged to remain in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a nonnuclear weapons state, and the United States said it would strengthen consultations on nuclear planning with its ally. It also said it would send more nuclear assets to the Korean Peninsula as a show of force.

Not long after the meeting, the USS Kentucky became the first nuclear-armed U.S. submarine to visit South Korea since the 1980s.

Opponents of South Korea obtaining nuclear weapons said they hope the declaration will reassure a nervous public.

“No one can tell 100% for sure” whether a U.S. president would order nuclear strikes to defend Seoul if it meant the destruction of an American city, Wi Sung-lac, a former South Korean nuclear envoy, said in an interview at his Seoul office.

That’s why the greater consultations called for between the allies in the Washington Declaration are needed to “manage the situation (so) we can tone down public anger and frustration,” he said.

Part of the worry in Seoul can be traced to the presidency of Donald Trump — and to his possible reelection in 2024.

Trump, as president, repeatedly suggested that the alliance, far from “ironclad,” was transactional. Even as he sought closer ties with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump demanded South Korea pay billions more to keep American troops on its soil and questioned the need for U.S. military exercises with South Korea, calling them “very provocative” and “tremendously expensive.”

“No matter how strong of a security commitment President Biden makes now, if someone who espouses isolationism and an America-first policy becomes the next U.S. president, Biden’s current commitment can become a mere scrap of paper overnight,” Cheong Seong-Chang, an analyst at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea, said in an interview.

___

South Korean support for nuclear bombs can also be linked to North Korea’s extraordinary weapons advancements and to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

North Korea first tested an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland in 2017. While the North is still working to overcome technological hurdles with its ICBMs, the weapons have fundamentally changed the region’s security calculus.

One of the poorest countries on Earth, North Korea may now have an arsenal of 60 nuclear weapons and has declared that it is deploying “tactical” missiles along the Korean border, implying its intent to arm them with lower-yield nuclear weapons.

While the Koreas have avoided major conflict since the end of the Korean War in 1953, deadly skirmishes and attacks in recent years have killed dozens.

If future violence escalates, some observers believe that North Korea, outmatched by U.S. and South Korean firepower and fearing for the safety of its leadership, could resort to using a tactical nuclear bomb.

“There is probably no conventional-only scenario in Korea anymore,” according to Robert Kelly, a political science professor at Pusan National University in the South. “North Korea would rapidly lose a conventional conflict. Pyongyang knows this, dramatically raising the likelihood it will use nuclear weapons first, at least tactically.”

Russia’s war against Ukraine may also be showing South Koreans that even friendly nations may hesitate to fully help a country battling a nuclear-armed enemy. Kim’s visit earlier this year to Russia, where he met President Vladimir Putin and toured weapons facilities, has raised fears that North Korea could receive technology that would boost its nuclear program.

“We absolutely need nuclear weapons. Basically, peace can be maintained only when we have equal power to (our enemy’s),” Kim Joung-hyun, a 46-year-old office worker in Seoul, said. “If you look at the Russian-Ukraine war, Ukraine can’t handle the Russian invasion on its own, other than begging for weapons from other countries.”

___

Opponents of a nuclear-armed South Korea point out that the strong public support for nukes likely doesn’t calculate the high costs, nor the damage to ties with ally Washington and to crucial trade with neighbor China. Seoul going nuclear could lead to sanctions targeting South Korea’s export-dependent economy.

There’s also concern it could encourage sometimes-rival Tokyo to consider developing its own atomic weapons program.

Some are pushing for a less drastic solution to South Korea’s unique security worries.

“We don’t have other options except inviting American tactical nukes to the Korean Peninsula,” Cheon Seong-whun, a former presidential adviser to a past conservative government, said in an interview. This, he said, would allow South Korea to use those weapons if North Korea uses its tactical nukes, but wouldn’t harm the alliance with Washington.

John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser from 2018 to 2019, has written that redeploying U.S. tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea would also “buy valuable time for Seoul and Washington to evaluate fully the implications of South Korea becoming a nuclear-weapons state.”

The Washington Declaration and follow-up high-level meetings between the allies have reassured many in Seoul, according to Richard Lawless, a former senior U.S. State Department and Central Intelligence Agency official dealing with nuclear proliferation in Asia.

“The (South Korean) nuclear option genie is not yet back in the bottle, but it is being successfully contained,” he told The Associated Press via email.

Still, Lawless said, there remains “the deeply felt conviction among some senior politicians and among many in the populace” that the only real way to deter nuclear-armed North Korea is for South Korea to have its own nuclear weapons capability. “That concern is now mostly below the waves, but it remains and would be awakened with some passion.”

However the debate ends up, many in Seoul, on all sides of the issue, share another strong conviction.

“There’s a 100% certainty that the North Korean threat will grow,” said Cheon, the former presidential adviser. “North Korea will definitely not stay silent.”

___

AP journalist Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.

___

Foster Klug is AP news director for the Koreas, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific and has covered nuclear issues on the Korean Peninsula and in Asia since 2005.

___

The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

AP · November 30, 2023

4. Koreas' spy satellite launches heat up arms race in space

​Korea takes the "Uber " or "Lyft" of space veshinales to space.

(News Focus) Koreas' spy satellite launches heat up arms race in space | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · December 2, 2023

By Kim Eun-jung

SEOUL, Dec. 2 (Yonhap) -- Space has emerged as an extended battlefield for the rival Koreas as they have successfully launched their own spy satellites into orbit and are gearing up to send more to better monitor each other amid an intensifying arms race, analysts said Saturday.

South Korea's first homegrown spy satellite was launched from U.S. Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Friday (local time). It successfully entered orbit and communicated with a ground station a little over an hour after launch, the defense ministry said.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying South Korea's first indigenous spy satellite lifts off from U.S. Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Dec. 1, 2023 (local time), as seen in SpaceX's webcast.(PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Beginning with the electro-optical and infrared satellite, South Korea plans to launch four more synthetic apertures radar satellites by 2025 under a 1.2 trillion-won (US$918.2 million) project.

As South Korea has relied on U.S. commercial and military assets for high-resolution imagery, it has been pushing to establish an independent military satellite network to gather information on North Korea.

When operated together, the five satellites are expected to provide regular coverage at about two-hour intervals, according to analysts.

Military officials expressed hope that the reconnaissance satellites will serve as an "eye" for South Korea's Kill Chain preemptive strike system as they will enable the prompt detection of signs of North Korea's potential nuclear and missile attacks.

The Kill Chain system is a pillar of South Korea's three-pronged deterrence system that also includes the Korea Air and Missile Defense system and the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation, an operational plan to incapacitate North Korean leadership in the event of a major conflict.

"It will help pave the way for South Korea's military capability in space and accumulate know-how in the domestic satellite development to better respond to the expanding security domain in space," the ministry said.

In the long term, the ministry said it aims to integrate the spy satellites network with "left of launch," a strategy using electromagnetic, cyber and other technologies to disrupt and defeat a missile launch at a prelaunch stage.

In addition to the satellites, the South Korean military is also set to conduct a second round of testing of an indigenous solid-fuel rocket designed to put small satellites into low Earth orbit later this month. Such smaller, solid-fueled launch vehicles are considered as simpler and more cost-effective to launch compared with liquid-fuel rockets.

South Korea's satellite-based reconnaissance surveillance program is seen in this image provided by the state-run Agency for Defense Development. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

The South's satellite launch came days after North Korea sent the Malligyong-1 spy satellite atop of the Chollima-1 rocket into orbit on Nov. 21 following two failed attempts earlier this year and vowed to launch several more in a short span of period.

While Seoul and Washington condemned Pyongyang's satellite launch as a violation of U.N. Security Resolutions that ban its use of ballistic missile technology, leader Kim Jong-un lauded the launch as an eye-opening event of deploying a "space guard" monitoring enemies' military activities.

Pyongyang has claimed the spy satellite took photos of the White House, the Pentagon, major military facilities in South Korea and the U.S. territories of Guam and Hawaii. But the North has not released related satellite photos.

Although Seoul and Washington have confirmed the Malligyong-1 is in orbit, experts question whether the satellite can carry out a reconnaissance mission, given the poor quality of imaging systems retrieved from the wreckage of North Korea's first botched test in May.

Seoul officials believe the North may have made progress in its space program with technological assistance from Russia following the rare summit between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin in September.

North Korea's Chollima-1 rocket carrying a reconnaissance satellite called the Malligyong-1 lifts off from the launching pad at the Sohae satellite launch site in Tongchang-ri in northwestern North Korea at 10:42 p.m. on Nov. 21, 2023, in this photo released the next day by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

Analysts say the North's homegrown satellite launched ahead of the South's has already served leader Kim's intention to boost morale for its people amid prolonged economic crisis.

"Pyongyang has already obtained domestic and international prestige and propaganda value from orbiting the satellite, including by beating South Korea to the punch, but the Malligyong-1's substantive contribution to North Korea's military capabilities will depend on the resolution of its imaging system and how many such satellites the North eventually maintains in orbit simultaneously," 38 North, a U.S. website dedicated to analyzing North Korea, said in a report.

Cha Doo-hyun, a researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, questioned the North Korean satellite's military value, but took note of its engine system's potential for ballistic missile program and advancement in satellite development with Russian assistance in the future.

"The fact that North Korea has secured an engine thrust to launch an object weighing around 300 kg into orbit has implications for its future missile development. It means that the North has acquired the capability to carry nuclear warheads without having to making them too small," Cha said.

ejkim@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · December 2, 2023

5. South Korea to develop stealth submarines

South Korea to develop stealth submarines - UPI.com

By Jeong Hyeon-hwan & Kim Tae-gyu, UPI News Korea

upi.com

A model of a prototype for a stealth submarine developed by South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean is displayed. Photo courtesy of Hanwha Ocean

SEOUL, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- South Korea, which is still technically at war with North Korea, is planning to develop stealth submarines.

Hanwha Ocean announced Wednesday the shipbuilding giant has signed a contract with the government agency Korea Research Institute for Defense Technology Planning and Advancement toward fulfilling such a goal.

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Under the agreement, the company will concentrate on developing stealth technology, aiming to begin production of a prototype submarine by May 2028.

The focus will be on new degaussing devices designed to cut down on the magnetic field generated by submarines so they can better avoid detection.

To enhance stealth capabilities, Hanwha Ocean plans to develop customized technologies for component coils, power supplies, control units and magnetic sensor designs.

Hanwha Ocean is the only South Korean company to boast a full range of submarines, with its midsize vessels in commission under Korea's and Indonesia's navies.

"With the submarines being hidden under water, there has been less of an interest in their stealth technology than, for say, fighter jets. We feel, hence, that there is actually a big room for growth," a Hanwha Ocean official told UPI News Korea.

"Our aim is to develop submarines equipped with the world's best stealth technology, an effort that will help us improve our leadership in the global maritime defense market, including the United States and Europe," he said.

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In October, the Agency for Defense Development designated the company as the preferred negotiator for developing energy source systems for unmanned submarines, with its mission being the development of multipurpose modular submarines that can be powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

upi.com

6. National security advisers of Korea, US, Japan to meet in Seoul next week

Sending the US NSA to Korea during this time of chaos and conflict around the world should be an indicator of the priority the US still places on Korea. Personnel is policy.

National security advisers of Korea, US, Japan to meet in Seoul next week

The Korea Times · December 1, 2023

National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong, right, is seen posing for a photo with his U.S. counterpart, Jake Sullivan, left, and Japanese counterpart, Takeo Akiba, during a three-way meeting in Tokyo in this June 15 file photo. Korea Times file

The national security advisers of South Korea, Japan and the United States will meet in Seoul next week, government sources said Friday, amid escalating threats from North Korea following its launch of a military satellite.

The three-way meeting is set to be held for two days starting next Friday, they added. It will be held between South Korea's Cho Tae-yong, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Japan's National Security Secretariat Secretary-General Takeo Akiba.

Cho and Sullivan had agreed to push for a trilateral meeting during their bilateral phone call on Nov. 9.

"I understand the three countries have agreed to hold a three-way national security advisers' meeting as agreed before," an official said, while speaking on condition of anonymity.

The meeting, if held, will be the first of its kind since June when the top security advisers held three-way talks in Tokyo.

Next week's meeting is widely expected to discuss ways to jointly deal with North Korean provocations.

Pyongyang successfully launched its first military reconnaissance satellite last month following its two failed attempts in May and August.

The recalcitrant state has also scrapped a 2018 inter-Korean military agreement aimed at easing tension along the inter-Korean border after Seoul partially suspended the agreement in response to the North's space launch in violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions that prohibit any ballistic missile launches by Pyongyang.

According to informed sources, the national security advisers will likely issue a joint statement at the end of their trilateral meeting here next week.

They are also expected to hold bilateral meetings, followed by a joint press conference, they noted. (Yonhap)

The Korea Times · December 1, 2023

7. N. Korea vows to take countermeasures against organizations that impose sanctions

In the immortal words of President George W. Bush: "Bring it on."

Note the leather coats.

N. Korea vows to take countermeasures against organizations that impose sanctions

The Korea Times · December 2, 2023

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, rear, alongside his daughter believed to be named Ju-ae, center, watches a demonstration flight by the country's airmen during his visit to a flight regiment of the North Korean Air Force, Nov. 30, to mark Aviation Day that fell on the previous day, in this photo released by the North's Korean Central News Agency. Yonhap

North Korea said Saturday that it will take countermeasures against individuals and organizations that impose sanctions against the regime.

On Thursday, the United States sanctioned a North Korean cyber espionage group and eight foreign-based agents of the reclusive regime in response to Pyongyang's spy satellite launch last week. The new designations were conducted in coordination with South Korea, Japan and Australia.

"It is the sovereign right of the DPRK to firmly defend the state's sovereignty, security and interests from hostile forces' encroachment," North Korea's foreign ministry said in an English-language statement carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). DPRK refers to North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Pyongyang said it will apply countermeasures to individuals, institutions and organizations of the U.S. and its vassal forces involved in the drawing up and execution of the sanctions policy toward the regime, according to the KCNA. (Yonhap)

The Korea Times · December 2, 2023

8. Poland buys more K9 howitzers from South Korea in $2.6 billion deal

Full speed ahead with the Arsenal of Democracy.

Poland buys more K9 howitzers from South Korea in $2.6 billion deal

Reuters

WARSAW, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Poland signed a $2.6 billion deal to buy more than 150 more South Korean K9 howitzers, Poland's State Armament Agency said on Friday.

Under the agreement with Hanwha Defence, Poland will acquire another six self-propelled K9 howitzers in 2025, and 146 self-propelled howitzers of the K9PL version in 2026-2027, the agency said.

A howitzer is a type of artillery that fires a shell in a high arc.

The contract also includes a training and logistics package and delivery of a significant stock of 155mm ammunition, numbering tens of thousands of rounds, it said.

Poland will also receive technical documentation on the guns. In addition, a maintenance, renovation and modernization works will be set up, and selected howitzer parts will be produced by the Polish defence industry.

In July 2022, Poland signed a framework agreement to buy 672 K9 howitzers in two different versions, the agency said.

Reporting by Marek Strzelecki; editing by Jonathan Oatis

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9. N. Korea bristles at US over comments about possible disabling of spy satellite

Yep. Kim Jong Un should be afraid. Very afraid.

N. Korea bristles at US over comments about possible disabling of spy satellite

The Korea Times · December 2, 2023

A new type of Chollima-1 rocket carrying a reconnaissance satellite called the Malligyong-1 lifts off from the launch pad at the Sohae satellite launch site in Tongchang-ri in northwestern North Korea at 10:42 p.m., Nov. 21, in this photo released the next day by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. North Korea said it has successfully placed the spy satellite into orbit and will launch several more "in a short span of time" to secure its reconnaissance capabilities against South Korea. Yonhap

North Korea lashed out at the United States on Saturday after a U.S. space official hinted at possible disabling of the North's military spy satellite launched last week, saying that it will take it as "a declaration of war" against the regime.

A spokesperson of the North's defense ministry issued the statement after Sheryll Klinkel, a strategic communicator at the U.S. Space Command, told a media program in reference to the North's spy satellite that "a variety of reversible and irreversible means" can be employed to "deny" an adversary's space and counterspace capabilities.

Appearing on Radio Free Asia earlier this week, Klinkel also said that joint force space operations can reduce the effectiveness and lethality of adversarial forces across all domains.

"The U.S. Space Force's deplorable hostility toward the DPRK's reconnaissance satellite can never be overlooked as it is just a challenge to the sovereignty of the DPRK, and more exactly, a declaration war against it," read the English-language statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

Citing an article on the U.N. treaty on principles governing space activities, the official said that its Malligyong-1 spy satellite, launched Nov. 21, falls under the jurisdiction of the launcher state and that it is part of its own territory, "not a space weapon."

If the U.S. regards the spy satellite as a "military threat," all of the U.S. spy satellites "flying above the Korean Peninsula every day" should be deemed primary targets of destruction, the spokesperson added.

"In case the U.S. tries to violate the legitimate territory of a sovereign state by weaponizing the latest technologies illegally and unjustly, the DPRK will consider taking responsive action measures for self-defense to undermine or destroy the viability of the U.S. spy satellites by exercising its legitimate rights vested by international and domestic laws," the official said. (Yonhap)

The Korea Times · December 2, 2023

10. Time for nuclear buildup (ROK nuclear powered submarines)

​I never thought I would read something like this from John Merrill. But a nuclear powered submarine is a vanity project and I do not believe it would contribute to deterring Kim Jong Un in any way.

Would France provide fuel to the ROK because of AUKUS and how the agreement was an affront to France?

John is stirring the pot all over the map here.

Time for nuclear buildup

The Korea Times · November 29, 2023

Seoul needs nuclear subs for “Blue Water” Navy

By John Merrill

Earlier this month, Admiral Kim Myung-soo, the new chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs, called for South Korea’s acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines, reviving a debate about their inclusion in the country’s submarine fleet.

Former President Moon Jae-in first raised the issue in 2017 when he endorsed the idea as part of his plans to create an independent military force less reliant on the United States.

South Korea currently operates a mix of conventional diesel-electric and air independent propulsion (AIP) submarines, most of them of German design. AIP technology makes it possible to build low-cost, highly-capable submarines well suited for coastal defense. But they also need to resurface after a few weeks to recharge their batteries.

Supporters of nuclear submarines note that they can stay underwater for months to avoid detection. Nuclear submarines can also go faster, reaching speeds of up to 40 knots at depth, twice that of diesel-electric submarines.

They would also help turn the ROK Navy (ROKN) into a true “blue water” fleet able to project power at greater distances around the world and support its growing diplomatic interests.

South Korea would become the ninth country in the world to operate nuclear submarines, following the U.S., Russia, France, the U.K., China, India, Brazil and Australia.

The proposal has encountered controversy, however, due to the high cost of developing and constructing the nuclear submarines, which could impact the entire defense budget. AIP submarines are much cheaper to buy, although the operational cost of nuclear submarines is considerably lower as they rarely need to be refueled.

Another main obstacle is that South Korea would have to find a reliable, long-term fuel supplier. Seoul has nuclear fuel supply agreements with the U.S., but for civilian applications only. It is unlikely that Washington would provide highly enriched nuclear fuel for military purposes since it poses a non-proliferation threat.

Nonetheless, several recent developments could bring a South Korean nuclear submarine closer to reality. One is that there appears to be growing bipartisan support for the project. A majority of South Koreans believe that their country should have some form of nuclear capability. The liberal opposition shares Moon’s vision of a more self-reliant military force, while the ruling conservatives see nuclear submarines as an effective countermeasure to the growing threat of North Korea’s submarine fleet.

North Korea recently unveiled a heavily modified Sinpo-class submarine allegedly capable of carrying four submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Supporters claim that nuclear submarines would allow the ROKN to better track North Korean submarines and help block their deployment in the coastal waters surrounding South Korea.

Seoul might hope to persuade Washington to supply nuclear fuel by arguing that the ROKN nuclear submarines would be a useful asset to counter North Korea, China and Russia, which also pose a direct threat to the U.S. But the U.S. is likely to decide to refuse to sell nuclear fuel, since it believes that a nuclear ROKN force could destabilize the geopolitical balance in Northeast Asia.

One alternative source of nuclear fuel, however, has emerged: France. The NATO country is viewed as a potential partner since its nuclear submarines made a transition years ago from highly enriched to low enriched uranium fuel for their reactors, which obviates many nuclear proliferation concerns.

Paris was livid when Australia, in 2021, canceled a $66 billion contract for a French-built fleet of AIP submarines. Canberra instead decided to buy up to eight nuclear submarines from the U.S. and U.K. as part of the new AUKUS defense alliance.

France would no doubt be happy to thumb its nose at the U.S. if it was able to win a submarine order from one of Washington’s closest defense allies and it might be willing to offer a competitive price to South Korea to seal the deal.

Cooperation with France, however, would likely mean that South Korea would have to give up its own plans to develop a domestic nuclear submarine. Seoul had been considering modifying several of its latest Dosan Ahn Chang-ho class submarines, the first to largely use local technology, into nuclear ones.

A template for Franco-Korean cooperation would be one that France has concluded with Brazil. France is providing the technology for Brazil’s first submarine, which will be built near Rio De Janeiro.

But even if a deal with Paris is signed soon, it will take at least a decade -- and probably more -- before South Korea operates its first nuclear submarine due to long lead times. It is thus essential that Seoul makes a decision as soon as possible on the issue.

John Merrill (jmerrill05@gmail.com) is a visiting scholar at the Institute of Korean Studies at George Washington University.

The Korea Times · November 29, 2023

11. North Korea says interference in its satellites would be declaration of war

North Korea says interference in its satellites would be declaration of war

Reuters · by Heekyong Yang

SEOUL, Dec 2 (Reuters) - North Korea said on Saturday it would consider any interference with its satellite operations a declaration of war and would mobilise its war deterrence if any attack against its strategic assets were imminent.

Pyongyang would respond to any U.S. interference in space by eliminating the viability of U.S. spy satellites, state media KCNA reported, citing a statement from North Korea's defence ministry spokesperson.

"In case the U.S. tries to violate the legitimate territory of a sovereign state by weaponizing the latest technologies illegally and unjustly, the DPRK will consider taking responsive action measures for self-defence to undermine or destroy the viability of the U.S. spy satellites," the statement said.

DPRK are the initials of the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

North Korea says it successfully launched its first military spy satellite on Nov. 21, transmitting photos of military installations in the U.S. mainland, Japan and the U.S. territory of Guam.

[1/4]North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looks on as a rocket carrying a spy satellite Malligyong-1 is launched, as North Korean government claims, in a location given as North Gyeongsang Province, North Korea in this handout picture obtained by Reuters on November 21, 2023. KCNA via REUTERS/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

A U.S. Space Command spokesman, asked if Washington had the capability to interrupt the North Korean satellite's reconnaissance operations, said the U.S. could deny an adversary's space capabilities using a variety of means, according to U.S. broadcaster RFA.

In a statement issued later on Saturday, North Korea's foreign ministry said it will take countermeasures against individuals and organisations of the U.S. and "its vassal forces" that impose and enforce sanctions against North Korea, adding that U.S. sanctions violate international law.

The United States on Thursday targeted North Korea with fresh sanctions after the launch, designating foreign-based agents it accused of facilitating sanctions evasion to gather revenue and technology for its weapons of mass destruction programme.

South Korea on Friday blacklisted 11 North Koreans for involvement in the country's satellite and ballistic missile development, banning them from financial transactions.

North Korean state media issued a commentary by a North Korean international relations analyst, who argued "the United States, the world's biggest satellite possessor," should face the United Nations Security Council if sending satellites is considered a crime.

"In case an unexpected clash happens in the Northeast Asian region around the Korean peninsula, the U.S., which has continuously put pressure on the security space of the DPRK by escalating military threat and blackmail, will be held wholly accountable for the catastrophic situation," the commentary said. It also blamed the United States for joint military exercises with Japan and South Korea, as well as for displaying its nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

Reporting by Heekyong Yang, Josh Smith, Jack Kim; Editing by Lincoln Feast, William Mallard and Toby Chopra

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12. Opinion | Is South Korea Disappearing?

This projection is just plain scary.

Is South Korea the bow wave for advanced countries' population declines?

The solutions (in addition to increasing the birth rate) have to be immigration for advanced countries as well as for South Korea, unification. But what about the implications of the changing culture (e.g., the feminist revolt)?

Excerpt::

But I do believe the estimates that project a plunge to fewer than 35 million people by the late 2060s — and that decline alone may be enough to thrust Korean society into crisis.

...

Another is the distinctive interaction between the country’s cultural conservatism and social and economic modernization. For a long time the sexual revolution in South Korea was partially blunted by traditional social mores — the nation has very low rates of out-of-wedlock births, for instance. But eventually this produced intertwining rebellions, a feminist revolt against conservative social expectations and a male anti-feminist reaction, driving a stark polarization between the sexes that’s reshaped the country’s politics even as it’s knocked the marriage rate to record lows.

...

So the current trend in South Korea is more than just a grim surprise. It’s a warning about what’s possible for us.

Opinion | Is South Korea Disappearing?

The New York Times · by Ross Douthat · December 2, 2023

Ross Douthat

Is South Korea Disappearing?

Dec. 2, 2023, 7:00 a.m. ET

By

Opinion Columnist

For some time now, South Korea has been a striking case study in the depopulation problem that hangs over the developed world. Almost all rich countries have seen their birthrates settle below replacement level, but usually that means somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5 children per woman. For instance in 2021 the United States stood at 1.7, France at 1.8, Italy at 1.3 and Canada at 1.4.

But South Korea is distinctive in that it slipped into below-replacement territory in the 1980s but lately has been falling even more — dropping below one child per woman in 2018, to 0.8 after the pandemic, and now, in provisional data for both the second and third quarters of 2023, to just 0.7 births per woman.

It’s worth unpacking what that means. A country that sustained a birthrate at that level would have, for every 200 people in one generation, 70 people in the next one, a depopulation exceeding what the Black Death delivered to Europe in the 14th century. Run the experiment through a second generational turnover, and your original 200-person population falls below 25. Run it again, and you’re nearing the kind of population crash caused by the fictional superflu in Stephen King’s “The Stand.”

By the standards of newspaper columnists I am a low-birthrate alarmist, but in some ways I consider myself an optimist. Just as the overpopulation panic of the 1960s and 1970s mistakenly assumed that trends would simply continue upward without adaptation, I suspect a deep pessimism about the downward trajectory of birthrates — the kind that imagines a 22nd-century America dominated by the Amish, say — underrates human adaptability, the extent to which populations that flourish amid population decline will model a higher-fertility future and attract converts over time.

In that spirit of optimism, I don’t actually think the South Korean birthrate will stay this low for decades, or that its population will drop from today’s roughly 51 million to the single-digit millions that my thought experiment suggests.

But I do believe the estimates that project a plunge to fewer than 35 million people by the late 2060s — and that decline alone may be enough to thrust Korean society into crisis.

There will be a choice between accepting steep economic decline as the age pyramid rapidly inverts, or trying to welcome immigrants on a scale far beyond the numbers that are already destabilizing Western Europe. There will be inevitable abandonment of the elderly, vast ghost towns and ruined high rises, and emigration by young people who see no future as custodians of a retirement community. And at some point there will quite possibly be an invasion from North Korea (current fertility rate: 1.8), if its southern neighbor struggles to keep a capable army in the field.

For the rest of the world, meanwhile, the South Korean example demonstrates that the birth dearth can get much worse much faster than the general trend in rich countries so far.

This is not to say that it will, since there are a number of patterns that set South Korea apart. For instance, one oft-cited driver of the Korean birth dearth is a uniquely brutal culture of academic competition, piling “cram schools” on top of normal education, driving parental anxiety and student misery, and making family life potentially hellish in ways that discourage people from even making the attempt.

Another is the distinctive interaction between the country’s cultural conservatism and social and economic modernization. For a long time the sexual revolution in South Korea was partially blunted by traditional social mores — the nation has very low rates of out-of-wedlock births, for instance. But eventually this produced intertwining rebellions, a feminist revolt against conservative social expectations and a male anti-feminist reaction, driving a stark polarization between the sexes that’s reshaped the country’s politics even as it’s knocked the marriage rate to record lows.

It also doesn’t help that South Korea’s conservatism is historically more Confucian and familial than religious in the Western sense; my sense is that strong religious belief is a better spur to family formation than traditionalist custom. Or that the country has long been out on the bleeding edge of internet gaming culture, drawing young men especially deeper into virtual existence and further from the opposite sex.

But now that I’ve written these descriptions, they don’t read as simple contrasts with American culture, so much as exaggerations of the trends we’re experiencing as well.

We too have an exhausting meritocracy. We too have a growing ideological division between men and women in Generation Z. We too are secularizing and forging a cultural conservatism that’s anti-liberal but not necessarily pious, a spiritual-but-not-religious right. We too are struggling to master the temptations and pathologies of virtual existence.

So the current trend in South Korea is more than just a grim surprise. It’s a warning about what’s possible for us.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.

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Ross Douthat has been an Opinion columnist for The Times since 2009. He is the author, most recently, of “The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery.”

A version of this article appears in print on , Section SR, Page 2 of the New York edition with the headline: South Korea Could Be Disappearing

2

The New York Times · by Ross Douthat · December 2, 2023

13. S. Korea, US, Japan, Australia jointly announce sanctions on NK

​A different "quad"

S. Korea, US, Japan, Australia jointly announce sanctions on NK

koreaherald.com · by Ji Da-gyum · December 1, 2023

By Ji Da-gyum

Published : Dec. 1, 2023 - 14:40

A new type of the Chollima-1 rocket carrying a reconnaissance satellite called the Malligyong-1 lifts off from the launching pad at the Sohae satellite launch site in Tongchang-ri in northwestern North Korea at 10:42 p.m. on Nov. 21, in this photo released the next day by the state-run Korean Central News Agency. (Yonhap)

In an unprecedented move, South Korea, the United States, Australia and Japan collectively and consecutively declared the imposition of unilateral sanctions on North Korea on Thursday and Friday.

The united front is a direct response to North Korea's launch of a purported "military reconnaissance satellite" on Nov. 21, highlighting the coordinated efforts of like-minded countries in the face of a notable absence of actions at the United Nations Security Council.

South Korea has imposed sanctions on 11 North Korean individuals involved in satellite development, procurement of related materials, as well as ballistic missile research, development and operation, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Excluding Jin Su-nam, the remaining 10 individuals marked represent the first-ever designations made by South Korea on a global scale.

Ri Chul-ju, Kim In-bum, Ko Kwan-yong and Choi Myong-su from the state-run National Aerospace Technology Administration, which is responsible for the Nov. 21 launch, along with Kang Son, a manager from the Ryongsong Machine Complex, have been identified for their involvement in satellite development and procurement of supplies.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry underscored the significance of the sanctions consecutively and concurrently imposed by the governments of South Korea, the United States, Australia and Japan in response to North Korea's launch of the alleged military spy satellite.

While instances of coordinated announcements of unilateral sanctions by the trilateral partnership of South Korea, the US, and Japan occurred in December of last year and this September, the inclusion of Australia marks the first occurrence of such collaboration.

"Australia's first-ever participation in the established framework of consecutively imposed sanctions by South Korea, the US, and Japan demonstrates the international community's strengthened commitment not to overlook North Korea's recurrent provocations," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The US was the one who took the first step in the first-ever quadruple coordinated imposition of sanctions on North Korea.

The US Treasury Department on Thursday announced unilateral sanctions on eight foreign-based North Korean agents involved in facilitating sanctions evasion such as revenue generation, and procurement of missile-related technology that contribute to North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction, or WMD, programs.

In a parallel move, the Treasury Department also has sanctioned the cyber espionage group Kimsuky for gathering intelligence in support of North Korea’s strategic objectives.

"Today's actions by the United States, Australia, Japan and the Republic of Korea reflect our collective commitment to contesting Pyongyang’s illicit and destabilizing activities," the Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said, referring to South Korea by its official name.

Tokyo has unilaterally imposed sanctions on four entities and five individuals in response to North Korea’s launch of a spy satellite, Japan's Foreign Ministry announced Friday.

Australia has also levied targeted financial sanctions on seven individuals and one entity associated with North Korea's weapons of mass destruction, missile programs, and the Nov. 21 satellite launch, its Foreign Ministry said Friday.

"Australia condemns North Korea's satellite launch on 21 November, which was a reckless act that seriously undermined security and stability in our region," Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said in a statement.

"Australia is working with our allies and partners to slow the development of North Korea's destabilizing weapons programs and increase pressure on its procurement and revenue generation networks."

The collective action followed an emergency meeting at the UNSC on Monday, convened to address North Korea’s Nov. 21 launch, which concluded without any outcome.

The launch was a clear violation of the UNSC’s resolutions prohibiting North Korea from using ballistic missile technology.

Nevertheless, China and Russia, both wielding vetoes as permanent members of the UNSC, have consistently opposed any actions against North Korea's launches, despite their clear violations of multiple UNSC resolutions.

This year alone, North Korea has conducted 29 ballistic missile launches, including four intercontinental ballistic missiles, and launched three space vehicles utilizing ballistic missile technology.

koreaherald.com · by Ji Da-gyum · December 1, 2023

14. Students invent IV bag that doesn't rely on gravity. It could be game-changing at disaster sites.

​All kinds of applications to include on the battlefield and in remote areas as well.

Kudos to these South Korean students.

Students invent IV bag that doesn't rely on gravity. It could be game-changing at disaster sites.

A team of students was presented with the James Dyson Award for their pathbreaking innovation in transporting IV fluids.

By Somdatta Maity

November 30, 2023

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Innovation is the norm for human society. Humans for thousands of years have advanced civilization using this strategy. One such development is now on the horizon from a team of South Korean students, reports Good News Network. This team is looking to improve the way IV fluids are administered to patients. Their inspiration for doing this came from witnessing the devastation that happened because of the Turkish-Syrian earthquakes in February 2023. The calamity brought with it 55,000 casualties, with a further 100,000 injured. During the rescue effort, medics were struggling to carry IV fluids to the victims. Seeing this, the team came up with the idea of consolidating the entire system into a bag to keep it clean and concise.

The team is associated with Hongik University in Seoul. According to Healthline, IV fluids need both power and gravity to work properly. It is important that the IV bag is kept in a certain position for it to properly travel through the wires into the body. In order to regulate the flow of the IV fluids, electricity is required. The team took care of both of these aspects and created an innovation that works irrespective of gravity and electricity.

They have named their innovation 'Golden Capsule'. Prior to making their idea a reality, the team interviewed many medical experts as per their interview with the James Dyson Award. They all confirmed that carrying IV fluid apparatus during a disaster was a huge hassle. The team communicated their idea to them and received a positive response. This encouraged them to work on it diligently so that they could make a difference. The device is non-powered and hands-free as it utilizes elastic forces and air pressure differences. The design would allow individuals to easily transport IV fluids to people in disasters. They wouldn't need to constantly hold it up or need electricity to alter the infusion rate of the fluid.

Representative Image Source: Pexels | cottonbro studio

“The team has identified the limitations of existing IV injection methods, which rely on gravity and electricity, in disaster zones. Their Golden Capsule offers a much more practical, hands-free solution using a pressurized bladder, which can be positioned anywhere, such as strapped to the patient’s side,” said Sir James Dyson, Founder and Chief Engineer at Dyson. “This slowly deflates, pressurizing the drip into the patient, leaving medics free to perform other life-saving work.”

via GIPHY

Certain members of the team wanted to personally be part of the project after suffering due to the inadequacies of the present IV apparatus. One of the members in the video described how her IV set-up was inconvenient during hospitalization. It restricted her movement and as a result, increased her irritability. The team's main objective now is to incorporate improvements into the prototype and collaborate with medical experts. They want to do everything to ensure the equipment's functionality in every situation. If everything goes well, they are going to begin mass production of the apparatus soon.

via GIPHY

The team's effort and commitment led to them being presented with the 2023 James Dyson Award. The James Dyson Award is given to individuals who bring forth new designs to solve problems plaguing humanity. It was evident that this award meant a lot to the team, as they seemed elated when their name was announced by Dyson in the video.

scoop.upworthy.com

De Oppresso Liber,

David Maxwell

Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy

Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation

Editor, Small Wars Journal

Twitter: @davidmaxwell161

Phone: 202-573-8647

email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com