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Quotes of the Day:
“With patient and firm determination we will press on until every valley of despair is exalted to new peaks of hope, until every mountain of pride and irrationality is made low by the levelling process of humility and compassion; until the rough places of injustice are transformed into a smooth plane of equality of opportunity; and until the crooked places of prejudice are transformed by the straightening process of bright-eyed wisdom.”
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence, when it helps us to see the enemy’s point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition.”
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Six Principles of Nonviolence are:
Principle one: Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people. It is active nonviolent resistance to
evil. It is aggressive spiritually, mentally and emotionally.
Principle two: Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding. The result of nonviolence is
redemption and reconciliation. The purpose of nonviolence is the creation of the Beloved
Community.
Principle three: Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice, not people. Nonviolence recognises that
evildoers are also victims and are not evil people. The nonviolent resister seeks to defeat evil, not
people.
Principle four: Nonviolence holds that suffering can educate and transform. Nonviolence accepts
suffering without retaliation. Unearned suffering is redemptive and has tremendous educational
and transforming possibilities.
Principle five: Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate. Nonviolence resists violence of the spirit as
well as the body. Nonviolent love is spontaneous, unmotivated, unselfish and creative.
Principle six: Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice. The nonviolent resister
has deep faith that justice will eventually win. Nonviolence believes that God is a God of justice.
1. Yoon, Biden not quite in step on nukes for South Korea
2. ‘Forced labor issue will be resolved before summer,’ says S. Korea
3. S. Korea's COVID-19 cases down to lowest Mon. tally in 12 weeks
4. S. Korea, India agree in high-level dialogue to strengthen special strategic partnership
5. [Editorial] Normalize Korea-Japan relations before it’s too late
6. Population Decline Threatens Major Crisis (South Korea)
7. Chongjin cuts opening hours of markets to push people into national manure production campaign
8. Guard who deserted Kim Jong Un’s Pyongsong villa turns up as a wandering beggar
9. China eases visa rules for S. Korea, Japan amid spat
1. Yoon, Biden not quite in step on nukes for South Korea
What both presidents really mean is what Admiral Kirby is saying here. There are just saying it different ways:
Excerpt:
“What we are going to seek, jointly together with them [South Korea], are improvements in extended deterrence capabilities,” Kirby said the press briefing.
But if there is going to be a South Korean domestic paradigm shit on how to deal with north Korea I hope that it means a shift from denuclearization first then unification to reunification first then denuclearization.
Excerpt:
But Yoon’s comments about nuclear armaments have raised concerns that South Korea is on the brink of a domestic paradigm shift on how to deal with the North Korean nuclear threat that could push it out of step with the U.S.
I say again:
Although denuclearization of the north remains a worthy goal, it must be viewed as aspirational as long as the Kim family regime remains in power. The conventional wisdom has always been that denuclearization must come first and then unification will follow and that there should be no discussion of human rights out of fear that it would prevent Kim Jong Un from making a denuclearization agreement. Today even a blind man can read the tea leaves and know that Kim Jong Un will not denuclearize despite the fact that his policies have been an abject failure. His political warfare and blackmail diplomacy strategies completely failed in 2022 because Presidents Yoon and Biden, like their predecessors, refused to make the political and economic concessions he demanded just to come to the negotiating table: namely to remove sanctions. It is time for the U.S and the ROK/U.S. alliance to execute a political warfare strategy that flips the conventional wisdom and seeks unification first and then denuclearization. Everyone must come to the understanding that the only way to end the nuclear program and the human rights abuses is through unification of the Korean peninsula. The ROK and U.S. must continue to maintain the highest state of military readiness to deter war and then adopt a human rights upfront approach, a comprehensive and sophisticated information and influence activities campaign, and focus all efforts on the pursuit of a free and unified Korea- ultimately a United Republic of Korea (UROK).
Monday
January 16, 2023
dictionary + A - A
Yoon, Biden not quite in step on nukes for South Korea
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/01/16/national/northKorea/Korea-South-Korea-North-Korea/20230116173319989.html
President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks at a joint briefing by the foreign and defense ministries at the Blue House in Jongno District, central Seoul on Wednesday morning. [YONHAP]
President Yoon Suk Yeol's comments about nuclear weapons as a potential option for Seoul have run into headwinds from Washington, which insists its goal is the total denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The debate over how to bolster South Korea’s defenses has turned unusually public as the allies express subtle disagreement over Seoul’s options in the face of escalating military threats from Pyongyang.
At a press briefing on Thursday, White House National Security Council (NSC) Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said that U.S. President Joe Biden remains dedicated to achieving the peninsula’s complete denuclearization.
“What we are going to seek, jointly together with them [South Korea], are improvements in extended deterrence capabilities,” Kirby said the press briefing.
Those comments were in response to President Yoon’s suggestion last Wednesday that South Korea could look into developing its own nuclear weapons or request the United States redeploy tactical nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula.
Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, made similar comments the same day, saying the United States seeks denuclearization of the region and that South Korea “falls under that extended deterrence umbrella.” He added that extended deterrence “has worked very well to date.”
Kirby said the South Korean government made clear that it is not pursuing nuclear weapons, quickly adding that Seoul and Washington are discussing expanding extended deterrence.
But Yoon’s comments about nuclear armaments have raised concerns that South Korea is on the brink of a domestic paradigm shift on how to deal with the North Korean nuclear threat that could push it out of step with the U.S.
Domestic opinion surveys over the years have found that a majority of South Koreans support the redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to the South or the country developing its own nuclear weapons.
In a February 2022 report, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs issued a finding that 71 percent of South Korean survey respondents supported the development of a domestic nuclear weapons program, suggesting that despite their apparent indifference to the North, the South Korean public is strongly dissatisfied with the status quo and lacks confidence in deterrence through the U.S. nuclear umbrella.
In a Chosun Ilbo interview published Jan. 2, Yoon initially said that South Korea is in talks with the United States “to operate U.S. nuclear forces under the concept of joint planning and joint exercises to respond to North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles.”
Biden quickly denied such a plan was in the works when asked by a Reuters reporter at the White House the same day.
Some experts have pointed out that while it is not inconceivable that South Korea could legally exit the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), which bans the country from developing nuclear weapons, it would face myriad questions and additional problems from such a withdrawal.
“While Article 10 of the NPT allows a signatory state to give notice of its intent to withdraw in the face of an extraordinary threat or change of circumstances, South Korea would need to consider how to invoke that clause in a way that is both legal and doesn’t risk sanctions from its key trading partners and allies before it decides to withdraw from the treaty,” says Antoine Bondaz, director of the Korea Program at the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS).
“Seoul would also have to figure out how to manage reactions from China and North Korea, and not to imperil the international non-proliferation regime,” he added.
BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
2. ‘Forced labor issue will be resolved before summer,’ says S. Korea
Too optimistic? I hope this comes true.
‘Forced labor issue will be resolved before summer,’ says S. Korea
donga.com
Posted January. 16, 2023 07:40,
Updated January. 16, 2023 07:40
‘Forced labor issue will be resolved before summer,’ says S. Korea. January. 16, 2023 07:40. sanghun@donga.com,journari@donga.com.
On Saturday (local time), Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, “We have reached an agreement with Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and have been engaging in communications with South Korea’s diplomatic authorities to swiftly resolve the ongoing issue of compensating victims of forced labor during Japan's colonization of Korea. We’re committed to restoring healthy relations between the two countries.”
In his earlier speech at Johns Hopkins University in the U.S. on Friday, he emphasized, “We will swiftly resolve pending issues between Japan and South Korea. We will strengthen security cooperation with South Korea and the U.S. in response to the North Korean threat.” This statement is interpreted as his will to resolve the forced labor issue quickly. The Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun interpreted this, “Kishida expressed expectations for a solution of the South Korean government.”
An official of the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said regarding Prime Minister Kishida's remarks, “During the Korea-Japan summit last year (November), both leaders had confirmed their commitment to promptly resolve pending issues and improve relations between the two nations.”
In light of recent developments, Seo Min-jeong, Director General of the Asian and Pacific Bureau of the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited Japan on Sunday to hold a high-level meeting with Takehiro Funakoshi, Director General of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday. The South Korean government has already outlined a solution for the forced labor issue and will urge Japan to take "sincere measures" in response.
According to recent reports, the South Korean government is considering the possibility of President Yoon’s visit to Japan for a Korea-Japan summit in February, if early. The Japanese government is reportedly contemplating inviting President Yoon to the G7 summit scheduled to be held in Hiroshima in May. However, it is reported that specific coordination has not been made between the two countries.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden held a summit with Kishida at the White House on Friday and expressed strong support for the revision of Japan’s national security strategy, which stipulates Japan’s ability to attack enemy bases (counterattack ability). “We are modernizing our military alliances, building on Japan's historic increase in defense spending, and new national security strategy,” said Biden. “Let me be crystal clear: The United States is fully, thoroughly, completely committed to the alliance, and importantly ... to the defense of Japan.”
“To make sure that extended deterrence will remain unwavering, we concurred to keeping close touch, including on the ministerial level, between our two countries,” said Biden and Kishida in a joint statement. “The Indo-Pacific faces growing challenges, from actions inconsistent with the rules-based international order by China to provocations by North Korea. We strongly oppose unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion.”
한국어
donga.com
3. S. Korea's COVID-19 cases down to lowest Mon. tally in 12 weeks
Some good news. This is why Chinese travelers need to be strictly tested. Otherwise these numbers will go back up.
(LEAD) S. Korea's COVID-19 cases down to lowest Mon. tally in 12 weeks | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 강재은 · January 16, 2023
(ATTN: ADDS additional info in last 4 paras)
SEOUL, Jan. 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell to the lowest Monday tally in 12 weeks, as the government continues to make efforts to contain the inflow from China.
The country reported 14,144 new COVID-19 infections, including 64 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 29,821,035, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
Daily caseloads on Mondays tend to be lower than other days of the week due to fewer tests over the weekend.
The tally is down by around 5,000 from a week earlier and marked the lowest for any Monday since Oct. 24, when the country reported 14,296 cases
Of the imported cases, 41 cases, or 64 percent, were from China, the KDCA said.
South Korea added 35 deaths, bringing the death toll to 32,984. The number of critically ill patients stood at 510, up from the previous day's 499.
The South Korean government has been closely watching overseas visitors amid the recent surge in infections in China following Beijing's lifting of its zero-COVID-19 policy in December.
Earlier this month, South Korea began requiring arrivals from China to present a negative PCR or antigen test for the coronavirus before boarding and undergo a post-entry PCR test in a move to slow the overseas inflow of the virus.
Travelers from Hong Kong and Macao also have to show a negative pre-entry virus test.
In a regular briefing held earlier in the day, Jung Ki-suck, chair of the government advisory committee for COVID-19, said South Korea's infection trend has shown "significant" signs of subsiding.
South Korea's COVID-19 infections over the past seven days had declined 27 percent from a week earlier, Jung said. The weekly death toll and the number of critically ill patients also dropped 11 percent and 17 percent, respectively, from the previous week.
Jung said South Korea is "not too far" from lifting the indoor mask mandate, as he expects the country's infection trend to maintain the status quo even after the mask-free policy is implemented.
The advisory committee is set to discuss on Tuesday the detailed adjustments to the country's indoor mask mandate, the last remaining antivirus rule after the government lifted tough social distancing, such as business hour curfews and private gathering limits.
Jung Ki-suck, chair of the government advisory committee for COVID-19, talks to the press at a regular briefing held on Jan. 16, 2023. (Yonhap)
fairydust@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 강재은 · January 16, 2023
4. S. Korea, India agree in high-level dialogue to strengthen special strategic partnership
I think the South Korea-India relationship is generally overlooked.
S. Korea, India agree in high-level dialogue to strengthen special strategic partnership | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 장동우 · January 16, 2023
SEOUL, Jan. 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and India held high-level discussions Monday on ways to further develop bilateral relations by bolstering their "special strategic partnership," as the two sides celebrate the 50th anniversary of forging diplomatic ties this year, according to Seoul's foreign ministry.
During a foreign policy dialogue held in Seoul, South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong and his Indian counterpart, Saurabh Kumar, agreed to strengthen the formal relationship, established in 2015, through cooperation in various fields, including defense, development assistance and culture.
The two sides also shared the view that North Korea's provocations post a security threat to both the region and other parts of the world, and stressed the need for a united and resolute response from the international community, the ministry added.
South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong (R) and his Indian counterpart, Saurabh Kumar, shake hands ahead of high-level consultations at the Seoul foreign ministry on Jan. 16, 2023. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 장동우 · January 16, 2023
5. [Editorial] Normalize Korea-Japan relations before it’s too late
It seems that some in Korea are pushing harder for this than many in Japan.
Monday
January 16, 2023
dictionary + A - A
[Editorial] Normalize Korea-Japan relations before it’s too late
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/01/16/opinion/editorials/Korea-Japan-relations/20230116195651173.html
Korea and Japan are accelerating an effort to resolve the wartime forced labor compensation issue, one of the biggest obstacles in normalizing their icy relations. Since the Yoon Suk Yeol administration first extended its hands to Japan for dialogue, Tokyo seems to welcome it after maintaining cold attitude during Moon Jae-in’s five-year presidency. As both governments are aggressively tackling the challenge, they must put the frozen bilateral relations back on track as soon as possible.
On Monday, senior diplomats from the two countries discussed possible solutions to the tricky issue at a meeting in Tokyo. In that meeting, Seo Min-jung, director general for Asia and Pacific affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained to her Japanese counterpart about a convincing solution presented in a public debate in Seoul last Thursday. The solution is primarily based on compensation by a foundation for wartime laborers first on behalf of Japanese companies, which will be reimbursed by Korean companies which had benefited from the package deal in 1965 between Seoul and Tokyo. Based on the novel compensation by “a third-party,” the Korean government reportedly urged Tokyo to take a corresponding step in a sincere manner.
After Seoul announces a final solution next month after fixing it, Tokyo is expected to announce forward-looking measures such as collecting donations from Japanese companies doing business in Korea. After Tokyo lifts export restrictions on Korea soon, the two countries will most likely restore their shuttle diplomacy, too.
Optimism can be felt by recent remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who raised the possibility of meeting with President Yoon over the thorny issue. Diplomats in Seoul said that President Yoon may visit Tokyo by the end of February followed by Kishida’s invitation of Yoon to the G7 Summit in Hiroshima in May. Those are certainly good signs for a successful settlement of the wartime forced labor issue.
The issue has gone beyond the level of the bilateral relations. After a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington last Friday, Kishida reiterated an intention to address pending issues between Seoul and Tokyo. Diplomatic circles linked it to Biden’s apparent request for a successful resolution of the problem given the need for joint security cooperation among the three countries to check China.
No matter how urgent the settlement of the issue, our government must not rush. It must first persuade surviving victims about the solution until the last minute while encouraging Japan to do its share, including issuing a sincere apology. Both governments must do their best to jointly deal with the North Korean nuclear threats.
6. Population Decline Threatens Major Crisis (South Korea)
A national security issue.
Population Decline Threatens Major Crisis
english.chosun.com
January 16, 2023 13:19
Korea's population declined by around 200,000 last year with a fertility rate of only 0.81 child per woman last year, ranking at the bottom the OECD. The population decline is now a firmly established trend and is unlikely to be reversed any time soon.
Many countries' birthrates are declining, but they usually hover above one child. In Japan, where the population started to decline 15 years ago, the fertility rate has edged up from 1.26 to 1.3 children. Korea is alone in the world with such a sharp rate of decline. Social pressures that hinder couples from having babies have grown serious enough to suppress the basic human instinct to procreate. There is no future for the country unless this urgent issue is addressed.
The elderly population, meanwhile, surpassed 9 million last year to account for 18 percent of the total population, and among women alone the country is already a "super-aged" society with over 20 percent of the population over 65. Korea turned into an aged society in 2018 with 15 percent of the population and will become super-aged in 2025. In Japan it took 11 years. Another 8.61 million people who are now in their 50s will join the ranks of senior citizens soon. That will further strain the financial resources of the working-age population as welfare expenses skyrocket and cause the economy to lose steam.
The government announced plans to deal with the low birthrate and aging society in 2006 and poured in W280 trillion over the last 16 years into them, but nothing worked (US$1=W1,241). This is not a problem that can be solved simply by giving people money. Soaring housing prices and declining quality jobs plus exorbitant childcare expenses are making young couples reluctant to have kids.
The government must design jobs, education, welfare and other policies to promote childbirth. The Yoon Seok-youl administration has rolled up its sleeves to reform labor, education and pensions, and these efforts must focus on boosting the fertility rate. A rapid recovery will not come easy. The government must extend the retirement age and look for ways to get more older people to join the workforce to brace for the coming troubles.
Read this article in Korean
- Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com
english.chosun.com
7. Chongjin cuts opening hours of markets to push people into national manure production campaign
Another regime policy that is full of s**t (Apologies. I could resist the sarcasm even if it is accurate sarcasm in this case).
But seriously these markets are the people's lifeline and have provided the foundation for their resiliency for the past 2 plus decades. And the regime is doing its best to take that away and make the people suffer even more in the name of preventing the ability of the people to resist the regime. Some irony but I suppose if you are dead you cannot resist. However, this could be the time where these actions lead to internal instability that the regime can no longer control. This bears watching.
Chongjin cuts opening hours of markets to push people into national manure production campaign
Local police crack down on street commerce amid people’s daily struggles to feed their families
By Lee Chae Un - 2023.01.16 9:00am
dailynk.com
FILE PHOTO: North Korean sellers peddle goods on the fringes of a market in Sunchon, South Pyongan Province, in October 2018. (Daily NK)
North Korean authorities have cut market operation hours as part of a strategy to push people into manure production, which is the first national campaign of the new year. The move has resulted in an outpouring of complaints from people in the country.
“Since the new year, the market hours in Chongjin have been changed for the sake of manure production,” a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Jan. 9. “The markets used to be open for three hours between 2 PM and 5 PM, but now it’s been reduced to two hours.”
According to the source, the markets in Chongjin are only operating for two hours a day between 3 PM and 5 PM. For people who are already struggling to earn a living, the reduced market hours only further threaten their livelihoods.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, North Korea has drastically reduced the operating hours of markets as part of the country’s pandemic prevention measures. Before COVID-19, the markets in Chongjin were actually open for eight hours between 1 PM and 9 PM. After the spread of COVID-19 however, the market’s hours of operation were reduced to five hours in summer (2 PM to 7 PM) and three hours in winter (2 PM to 5 PM).
The division of market hours into “summer hours” and “winter hours” is connected to North Korea’s pandemic period ban on people traveling at night, with those hours varying between summer and winter.
For market sellers, one of the most frustrating aspects of the change in market hours is the timing. Winter is a particularly profitable period for vendors, and the change in hours represents fewer opportunities to sell their wares.
“When the market was open for three hours a day, people just barely managed to maintain their livelihoods. But with manure production being used as an excuse to cut market hours even further, people don’t know how they’re going to survive,” the source said. “Even the people who have [stalls] inside the markets [as opposed to selling out in the streets near markets] are turning to selling on the streets in order to survive.”
The source went on to say that, “Frankly speaking, people can only participate in mobilization campaigns if they make enough money to survive. Yet the North Korean authorities are cutting market hours and pushing starving people into manure production as if they’re cattle. For those who are in desperate need of something to eat right away, there ends up being no other choice except to go out and sell on the streets.”
As more and more people engage in street commerce, the city of Chongjin is mobilizing a large number of officers from the municipal police force to conduct severe crack downs on street sellers.
“In Chongjin, the number of security agents on the streets is steadily increasing, and they are cracking down on street sellers,” the source explained. “Those street sellers in the most dire need of food are staking their lives on making sales while dodging the police.”
The source further reported that this situation has caused friction between police officers and vendors, leading to cat-and-mouse chases throughout the city.
“It’s truly painful to see the way that people are struggling to make ends meet,” the source said. “Women in particular are struggling with the incredible challenge of selling goods on the street to feed their families, and, on top of that, they still have to take part in mobilization campaigns.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say they are the most miserable women in the world right now,” he added.
Translated by Rose Adams. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com
8. Guard who deserted Kim Jong Un’s Pyongsong villa turns up as a wandering beggar
A wandering beggar is a better life than a villa guard? Note that he had blank ammunition.
But everything and everyone is a threat to Kim Jong Un.
Excerpt:
The Supreme Guard Command is treating the loss of the weapons as a direct threat to the personal safety of Kim Jong Un and putting everything into the search given that the incident involved the supreme leader’s villa.
Guard who deserted Kim Jong Un’s Pyongsong villa turns up as a wandering beggar
The soldier testified to investigators that he tossed away the automatic rifle, magazine and blank shells on a hillside near his patrol zone
dailynk.com
A scene from the second plenum of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly held on August 29, 2019. (Rodong Sinmun)
A soldier with the Supreme Guard Command who deserted his post near North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s ultra-luxurious Chamosan Villa in early January was recently captured by the authorities, Daily NK has learned.
According to a Daily NK source in North Korea last Thursday, a plain-clothed arrest squad from the Supreme Guard Command’s security department arrested the 19-year-old private — identified by his family name of Ri — in front of a soup stall near the Baesan-dong Market in Pyongyang’s Unjong District late in the evening of Jan. 4.
While being interrogated by the Supreme Guard Command’s security department, Ri said he had been planning to live as a wandering beggar, or kkotjebi, at markets in Pyongyang’s Unjong District, near where he was based as a soldier in Pyongsong. Ri believed that if he returned to his hometown, he would be immediately arrested.
As for why he deserted, Ri said he “missed sleep so much” that he was willing to become a kkotjebi if it meant getting a good night’s sleep.
“I ran, prepared for a dishonorable discharge, because I didn’t want to live any longer as a laundry soldier or a replacement patrol soldier,” he said.
The Supreme Guard Command’s security department called in the owner of the soup stall who let Ri stay at the shop in exchange for doing odd jobs like replacing briquettes to learn about how the soldier lived after he deserted.
The owner testified that the soldier handed over a military uniform and combat boots, asking the owner to sell them and help him for a couple of days.
When the owner pointed out that they were military items and asked where he got them from, the soldier said he was a vagabond and had stolen them from a soldiers’ barracks.
“He asked me to help him just for a couple of days, saying he wouldn’t ask me to hide him for free,” the owner told the investigators, according to the source. “I believed him, and fed and sheltered him for about a week, a period equal to value of the military items. I didn’t think he was a Supreme Guard Command soldier.”
Ri testified that he tossed away the automatic rifle, magazine and blank shells on a hillside near his patrol zone.
Ri’s unit – the 81st Brigade – searched for the weapon and shells, but has yet to find it, the source told Daily NK.
The Supreme Guard Command is treating the loss of the weapons as a direct threat to the personal safety of Kim Jong Un and putting everything into the search given that the incident involved the supreme leader’s villa.
The source said rumors that a soldier with the Supreme Guard Command survived for a few days as a beggar in a market by replacing briquettes at a soup stall immediately spread via the merchants of Baesan Market.
“The Supreme Guard Command’s security department immediately moved to keep the merchants quiet through the South Pyongan Province branch of the Ministry of State Security, and has mobilized government agencies, neighborhood watch units and agents of market security departments to look for the missing weapon and shells,” he said.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com
9. China eases visa rules for S. Korea, Japan amid spat
Cooler heads prevail in China?
China eases visa rules for S. Korea, Japan amid spat
koreaherald.com · by Choi Si-young · January 16, 2023
Published : Jan 16, 2023 - 21:01 Updated : Jan 16, 2023 - 21:05
The South Korean flag (center), Japanese flag (far left) and Chinese flag. (123rf)
Chinese authorities resumed issuing visas for some South Koreans and Japanese on official or nonofficial business that requires immediate attention, Kyodo News said Monday, citing Chinese sources.
The latest relaxation of rules, which China toughened only last week by ceasing the issuing of short-term visas for the two countries, came as Seoul and Tokyo complained about Beijing’s “retaliation” for stepping up their COVID-19 travel curbs on Chinese arrivals amid a fresh surge in China’s infections.
The Chinese government did not elaborate on specific terms needed for visa approval, the Japanese news agency said, citing a Chinese official who said that authorities would look at each request individually to determine the urgency.
While suspending short-term visas for Korea and Japan last week, China’s Foreign Ministry said it had prepared policy to deal with people requesting visas for official or urgent nonofficial business. It did not detail who would meet the narrower eligibility.
By Choi Si-young (siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Senior Advisor, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
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