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1. How Do You Solve a Problem Like North Korea?
2. U.S. lawmakers send letter to Blinken, Austin to reaffirm alliance ahead of democracy summit in S. Korea
3. N. Korean leader guides military drills of paratroopers, calls for war preparations
4. Why Did North Korea’s Deputy Foreign Minister Visit Ulaanbaatar?
5. The China-Russia-North Korea Partnership: A Triple Threat That Can't Be Ignored
6. Congresswoman submits resolution urging US gov't to protect NK defectors in China
7. What can still be done about widespread human rights abuses in North Korea
8. N. Korean leader uses car gifted by Putin in public event: KCNA
9. Dodgers and Padres in Seoul: Here's what you need to know
10. Nursing homes for North Korean war heroes are becoming resorts
11. While Seoul talks of commando hits, North Korea’s Kim drives a tank
12. ROK-US Alliance: 70 for 70 - Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies
1. How Do You Solve a Problem Like North Korea?
With all due respect to Professor Delury, this sounds like more of the same. If only we can get the right envoy of sufficient stature.
I am all for being realistic about north Korea. That starts with a deep understanding of the nature, objectives, and strategy of the Km family regime. Unless we start from that point of understanding we are only applying what we think works in theory and not what works when dealing with the reality of north Korea.
Unfortunately the recommendations below will allow Kim to assess his political warfare and blackmail diplomacy strategies as a success and he will continue to pursue those strategies while continuing to modernize his military capabilities with he ultimate objective to dominate the Korean peninsula.
Excerpts;
The key to any new overture to North Korea is how it is framed. The White House won’t like to hear this, but success will probably depend on Mr. Biden putting his fingerprints all over the effort, by, for example, nominating a new White House envoy with the stature of someone like John Kerry and announcing a sweeping policy on North Korea and an intelligence review. Only the president can get through to Mr. Kim, and only Mr. Kim can change North Korean policy.
Mr. Biden also would need to use radically different language in framing a new overture as an effort to improve relations and aid North Korea’s economy — not to denuclearize a country that in 2022 passed a law declaring itself a nuclear weapons state. Yes, that would be a bitter pill for America to swallow: Denuclearization has been a guiding principle of U.S. policy toward North Korea for decades. But it is unrealistic to pretend that Pyongyang will surrender its nuclear weapons anytime soon. Disarmament can remain a long-term goal but is impossible if the two sides aren’t even talking.
Mr. Biden’s Republican opponents might accuse him of appeasement by engaging with Mr. Kim, but that is precisely what Mr. Trump tried. Mr. Kim, likewise, might mistake boldness for weakness. But it would be easy enough for the United States to pull back from diplomacy if it goes nowhere.
The United States must be realistic. The world is very different from when the United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas came together in the 2000s for negotiations to denuclearize North Korea. The country is now a formidable nuclear power, and its leader sounds increasingly belligerent. The president needs to get the wheels of diplomacy turning before it’s too late.
How Do You Solve a Problem Like North Korea?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/16/opinion/north-korea-kim-jong-un-peace.html?searchResultPosition=2
March 16, 2024, 7:00 a.m. ET
Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times
By John Delury
Dr. Delury is a professor of Chinese studies and an expert on North Korea.
How do you solve a problem like North Korea?
Since the end of the Cold War, it seems that every formula, from threatening war to promising peace, has been tried. And yet, despite being under more sanctions than just about any other country, North Korea developed a nuclear arsenal estimated at 50 warheads and sophisticated missiles that can, in theory, deliver those weapons to targets in the continental United States.
President Biden’s administration has taken a notably more ambivalent approach toward North Korea than his predecessor Donald Trump, who alternately railed at and courted its leader, Kim Jong-un. But we shouldn’t stop trying to come up with bold ways to denuclearize North Korea, improve the lives of its people or lessen the risks of conflict, even if that means making unpalatable choices. On the contrary, there is more urgency now than there has been for years.
As the analyst Robert Carlin and the nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, two experienced North Korea watchers, warned in January, Mr. Kim has shifted away from pursuing better relations with the United States and South Korea and closer to President Vladimir Putin of Russia and may be preparing for war. Just days after the two experts issued their warning, Mr. Kim disavowed the long-cherished goal of peaceful reconciliation between the two Koreas, and he called for “completely occupying, subjugating and reclaiming” the South if war breaks out.
It might seem preposterous, even suicidal, for Mr. Kim to seek war. But many people in Ukraine doubted that Mr. Putin would launch a full invasion, right up until the rockets began landing in February 2022, and Hamas caught Israel completely by surprise in October. Both conflicts have had devastating human tolls and are severely taxing America’s ability to manage concurrent crises. The people of both Koreas certainly don’t need war, and neither does the United States.
Mr. Kim’s grandfather started the Korean War, and his father was a master of brinkmanship. Mr. Kim is cut from the same cloth and could instigate a limited conflict by, for example, launching an amphibious assault on South Korean-controlled islands in disputed waters of the Yellow Sea, less than 15 miles off North Korea’s coast. North Korea shelled one of the islands in 2010, killing two South Korean military personnel and two civilians and triggering an exchange of artillery with the South. Just two months ago, Pyongyang fired more than 200 shells into waters near the islands.
Mr. Kim may believe he can manage escalation of such a crisis — threatening missile or even nuclear attack to deter retaliation, perhaps taking the islands, then spinning it as a great propaganda victory and demanding a redrawing of maritime boundaries and other security concessions.
If anything like that scenario came to pass, Mr. Biden would have to explain another outbreak of war on his watch to weary American voters. And it would provide Mr. Trump an opportunity to trumpet his willingness to engage with Mr. Kim.
The mutual distrust between Washington and Pyongyang has only deepened under Mr. Biden, making a breakthrough seem unlikely. Yet there are two underappreciated dynamics at play in North Korea where the United States might find leverage.
The first is China. Despite the veneer of Communist kinship, Mr. Kim and President Xi Jinping of China are nationalists at heart, and they watch each other warily. I have made numerous visits to both nations’ capitals and met with officials and policy shapers. The sense of deep mutual distrust is palpable. Many Chinese look down on neighboring North Korea as backward and are annoyed by its destabilizing behavior. Many North Koreans resent China’s success and resist its influence; Pyongyang could allow much more Chinese investment but doesn’t want to be indebted to Chinese capital. And Mr. Kim seems to delight in timing provocations for maximum embarrassment in Beijing, including testing weapons — prohibited by U.N. sanctions — in the lead-up to sensitive Chinese political events.
Mr. Kim waited six years after becoming the paramount leader in 2011 before making a trip to Beijing to meet Mr. Xi. When Covid emerged, North Korea was among the first countries to shut its borders with China, and ties atrophied during those nearly three years of closure. Last year Mr. Kim chose Mr. Putin, not Mr. Xi, for his first postpandemic summit, skipping China to travel to Russia’s far east. Mr. Kim’s distrust of China is an opening for the United States.
The second point is Mr. Kim’s economic ambitions. For every speech mentioning nukes, he talks at much greater length about the poor state of his nation’s economy while promising to improve it. It was the prospect of American-led economic sanctions being lifted that persuaded him to make the 60-hour train ride from Pyongyang to Hanoi to meet then-President Trump for their second summit in 2019. Mr. Kim explicitly offered to dismantle his main nuclear weapons complex, but Mr. Trump demanded the North also turn over all of its nuclear weapons, material and facilities. The talks collapsed, and Mr. Trump seemed to lose interest in dealing with Mr. Kim. A rare opportunity was wasted, leaving Mr. Kim embittered.
The key to any new overture to North Korea is how it is framed. The White House won’t like to hear this, but success will probably depend on Mr. Biden putting his fingerprints all over the effort, by, for example, nominating a new White House envoy with the stature of someone like John Kerry and announcing a sweeping policy on North Korea and an intelligence review. Only the president can get through to Mr. Kim, and only Mr. Kim can change North Korean policy.
Mr. Biden also would need to use radically different language in framing a new overture as an effort to improve relations and aid North Korea’s economy — not to denuclearize a country that in 2022 passed a law declaring itself a nuclear weapons state. Yes, that would be a bitter pill for America to swallow: Denuclearization has been a guiding principle of U.S. policy toward North Korea for decades. But it is unrealistic to pretend that Pyongyang will surrender its nuclear weapons anytime soon. Disarmament can remain a long-term goal but is impossible if the two sides aren’t even talking.
Mr. Biden’s Republican opponents might accuse him of appeasement by engaging with Mr. Kim, but that is precisely what Mr. Trump tried. Mr. Kim, likewise, might mistake boldness for weakness. But it would be easy enough for the United States to pull back from diplomacy if it goes nowhere.
The United States must be realistic. The world is very different from when the United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas came together in the 2000s for negotiations to denuclearize North Korea. The country is now a formidable nuclear power, and its leader sounds increasingly belligerent. The president needs to get the wheels of diplomacy turning before it’s too late.
More on North Korea
Opinion | Jeffrey Lewis
It’s Time to Accept That North Korea Has Nuclear Weapons
Oct. 13, 2022
Opinion | Dan Leaf
I Know How Nuclear War Is Waged, So I’m Calling for Peace With North Korea
March 29, 2023
Opinion | Haeryun Kang
North and South Korea Drift Farther Apart Every Day
July 26, 2023
John Delury (@JohnDelury) is a professor of Chinese studies at Yonsei University in Seoul, the Tsao fellow at the American Academy in Rome and the author of “Agents of Subversion: The Fate of John T. Downey and the CIA’s Covert War in China.”
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A version of this article appears in print on March 17, 2024, Section SR, Page 10 of the New York edition with the headline: Biden’s Next Crisis Might Be in North Korea. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
2. U.S. lawmakers send letter to Blinken, Austin to reaffirm alliance ahead of democracy summit in S. Korea
A photo of the letter is at the link: https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20240316000600315?section=national/diplomacy
The alliance has always benefited from bipartisan congressional support.
U.S. lawmakers send letter to Blinken, Austin to reaffirm alliance ahead of democracy summit in S. Korea | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · March 16, 2024
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, March 15 (Yonhap) -- A group of U.S. lawmakers sent a bipartisan letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday to reaffirm the South Korea-U.S. alliance ahead of the third Summit for Democracy to be hosted by Seoul next week.
Reps. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Gerry Connolly (D-VA), along with Korea Caucus Co-Chairs Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Ami Bera (D-CA), delivered the letter as Seoul is set to host the summit, a U.S.-led initiative to promote solidarity among democracies, from Monday to Wednesday.
The letter has 13 signatories, including the four lawmakers and other members of Congress.
"We write to recognize the United States' continued dedication to the U.S.-Korea alliance, an alliance forged in blood over 70 years ago and based in shared democratic values," they wrote in the letter.
"We commend and applaud the ROK for hosting the important gathering ... We fully support the Republic of Korea (ROK)'s initiative and encourage the administration to continue its work with counterparts in Korea to ensure the summit's success," they said. ROK is South Korea's official name.
In the letter, the lawmakers said that Seoul is hosting the summit against the backdrop of "ongoing destabilizing provocations" by North Korea, as they pointed out that Pyongyang has recently unleashed a barrage of "hostile and aggressive threats" against the South and conducted a series of weapons tests, including the launch of a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile in December.
"These actions pose a serious risk for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, in the Indo-Pacific and beyond," they wrote.
They also reiterated their "grave concern" over the deepening military partnership between the North and Russia, saying that they continue to work to pass the North Korea-Russia cooperation sanctions act.
"We look forward to working with you to stop North Korea from providing material support for Russia's illegal and unprovoked war in Ukraine," they said.
They, in addition, highlighted security commitments in the Washington Declaration, which President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed to during their summit in April last year.
The commitments include the establishment of the Nuclear Consultative Group, a key mechanism designed to strengthen America's extended deterrence commitment to using its full range of military capabilities, including nuclear, to defend its Asian ally.
"These critical commitments underscore the importance of maintaining a ready posture for the ironclad alliance between the United States and the Republic of Korea to confront any present and future threat," they said.
They pledged to work together with the government and their colleagues in Congress to seek "every avenue" to "grow, deepen and strengthen" the alliance.
This image shows a letter that a group of U.S. lawmakers sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to reaffirm the South Korea-U.S. alliance ahead of the third Summit for Democracy. The image was captured from the letter posted on the website of Rep. Joe Wilson. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · March 16, 2024
3. N. Korean leader guides military drills of paratroopers, calls for war preparations
The nKPA winter training cycle concluding? Are these events really in response to alliance exercises or is this part of nKPA annual training?
Excerpts:
Seoul and Washington wrapped up the annual Freedom Shield exercise on Thursday after staging it for 11 days to strengthen deterrence against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.
In response, the North's leader guided military exercises, including artillery firing drills and training involving tank units.
The North's leader has defined inter-Korean ties as relations between "two states hostile to each other" and vowed to control the South Korean territory in the event of war.
Meanwhile, the North Korean leader attended a ceremony marking the completion of building a greenhouse farm with his daughter on Friday, according to a separate dispatch by the KCNA.
(2nd LD) N. Korean leader guides military drills of paratroopers, calls for war preparations | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · March 16, 2024
(ATTN: UPDATES with more details in paras 12-14)
SEOUL, March 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has guided military drills involving the country's paratroopers and called for full preparations for war, state media said Saturday, in an apparent protest of the latest joint military exercise staged by South Korea and the United States.
The training of air-borne military units held Friday was aimed at inspecting paratroopers' readiness to be mobilized for any military operation plan in "surprise wartime circumstances," according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Kim stressed that the "primary duty" of the Korean People's Army (KPA) is to make full preparations for war.
"He underlined the need for all the service personnel of the KPA to firmly arm themselves with the strong will against the enemy and thoroughgoing outlook on war that they have to change history without fail if a war breaks out," the KCNA said.
This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on March 16, 2024, shows the North's leader Kim Jong-un (L) and his daughter, believed to be named Ju-ae, guiding military drills of air-borne units of the Korean People's Army the previous day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on March 16, 2024, shows the North staging military drills of paratroopers, guided by its leader Kim Jong-un, the previous day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
Photos carried by the KCNA showed Kim being accompanied by his teen daughter, believed to be named Ju-ae, in inspecting the drills.
Seoul and Washington wrapped up the annual Freedom Shield exercise on Thursday after staging it for 11 days to strengthen deterrence against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.
In response, the North's leader guided military exercises, including artillery firing drills and training involving tank units.
The North's leader has defined inter-Korean ties as relations between "two states hostile to each other" and vowed to control the South Korean territory in the event of war.
Meanwhile, the North Korean leader attended a ceremony marking the completion of building a greenhouse farm with his daughter on Friday, according to a separate dispatch by the KCNA.
The Kangdong Greenhouse Farm, built on the site of a military airfield near Pyongyang, is the third modernized farm built in recent years to grow vegetables amid a chronic food shortage. North Korea built similar greenhouse farms in Hamgyong Province in 2019 and 2022.
The latest inspection marked Ju-ae's third public activity in the economy-related sector since she first made a public appearance in November 2022. She mostly accompanied her father to military events.
The North's media used the rare expression of "the great persons of guidance" in an apparent reference to Kim Jong-un and Ju-ae.
"If the expression means Kim and his daughter, it would be the first time that she been given the status of a great guide (of the country)," said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies.
"But given that there has been no personality cult about her and her name has not been publicly mentioned, it does not appear that she has been ultimately anointed as Kim Jong-un's successor," he added.
The National Intelligence Service, South Korea's spy agency, said it sees Ju-ae as Kim Jong-un's "most likely successor," citing her public activities and the level of the North's respect toward her.
This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on March 16, 2024, shows the North's leader Kim Jong-un (L) and his daughter, believed to be named Ju-ae, attending a ceremony marking the completion of building the Kangdong Greenhouse Farm the previous day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · March 16, 2024
4. Why Did North Korea’s Deputy Foreign Minister Visit Ulaanbaatar?
north and South Korea are trying to move their stones around the Go/Baduk board.
Excerpts:
Pak’s visit to Ulaanbaatar should be considered significant news, indicating that Pyongyang is attempting to re-engage with the international community – and not just with Russia and China – through various means. North Korea has even reportedly been using Mongolian channels to make contact with Japan, a staunch U.S. ally, in recent months. With that in mind, it’s perhaps not a coincidence that a few days before Pak’s arrival, the political and military security dialogue between Mongolia and Japan was held in Ulaanbaatar.
Further adding to Mongolia’s relevance for the Korean Peninsula, South Korea is also actively promoting relations with Ulaanbaatar. South Korea’s Indo Pacific Strategy, published in 2022, specifically mentioned Mongolia as strategic partner “with whom we share values.”
Recently, South Korea announced plans to establish a Rare Metal Cooperation Center with Mongolia to produce key minerals used in semiconductors, part of global efforts to diversify supply chains.
On the soft power front, young Mongolian people influenced by the Korean Wave are more inclined to study and work in South Korea. Currently, there are around 5,000-8,000 Mongolian students studying abroad in South Korea. Meanwhile, there are now over 20 universities in Mongolia offering Korean language majors, which is quite a large number for a country with only 3.3 million people.
Seoul apparently took notice of Pak’s visit to Mongolia. While North Korea’s deputy foreign minister was holding talks Ulaanbaatar, South Korea announced it would provided $200,000 in emergency humanitarian assistance to Mongolia to help overcome the worst dzud – a snow disaster that decimates livestock in particular – in 30 years.
Why Did North Korea’s Deputy Foreign Minister Visit Ulaanbaatar? – The Diplomat
thediplomat.com
Read The Diplomat,
Why Did North Korea’s Deputy Foreign Minister Visit Ulaanbaatar?
The first visit to Mongolia by a North Korea official in five years is part of a broader diplomatic gambit from Pyongyang.
By Sumiya Chuluunbaatar
March 16, 2024
North Korea’s Deputy Foreign Minister Pak Myung Ho (left) shakes hands with Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa during a meeting in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, March 11, 2024.
Credit: Office of the President of Mongolia
After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea implemented a strategy of strict prevention that involved a full closure of the border. As a result, Pyongyang significantly reduced its diplomatic activities.
After Pyongyang decided to relax its epidemic control measures last year, Mongolia was one of the four countries allowed to rotate its diplomatic personnel in North Korea. The other three countries are China, Russia, and Cuba.
It’s well known that North Korea is looking to strengthen relations with Russia and China, especially amid the context of the Russia-Ukraine war. Less attention goes to the fact the the ambassadors of Mongolia, Cuba, and other countries in Pyongyang are also actively promoting bilateral relations. For example, Choe Ryong Hae, chair of the North Korean Supreme People’s Assembly’s Standing Committee, held talks with new Mongolian Ambassador to North Korea Erdenedavaa Luvsantseren after receiving his credentials in late January.
Now, for the first time in five years, North Korea has sent an official to visit Mongolia. On March 10 and 11, Foreign Deputy Foreign Minister Pak Myung Ho of North Korea was in Ulaanbaatar, meeting with not only his direct counterpart but also Foreign Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh. What’s more, Pak was feted with an elaborate banquet and received a highly anticipated meeting with Mongolia’s leader, President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa, who called him “an old friend.”
North Korea has been invited to send representatives to attend the Ulaanbaatar Dialogue scheduled to be held later this year, as well as the World Women’s Congress to be held in Ulaanbaatar. Last year, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui was invited to participate in an international event with Mongolia, but she did not attend. Instead, North Korean Ambassador to Mongolia O Sung Ho delivered a speech on her behalf.
Pak’s visit to Ulaanbaatar should be considered significant news, indicating that Pyongyang is attempting to re-engage with the international community – and not just with Russia and China – through various means. North Korea has even reportedly been using Mongolian channels to make contact with Japan, a staunch U.S. ally, in recent months. With that in mind, it’s perhaps not a coincidence that a few days before Pak’s arrival, the political and military security dialogue between Mongolia and Japan was held in Ulaanbaatar.
Further adding to Mongolia’s relevance for the Korean Peninsula, South Korea is also actively promoting relations with Ulaanbaatar. South Korea’s Indo Pacific Strategy, published in 2022, specifically mentioned Mongolia as strategic partner “with whom we share values.”
Recently, South Korea announced plans to establish a Rare Metal Cooperation Center with Mongolia to produce key minerals used in semiconductors, part of global efforts to diversify supply chains.
On the soft power front, young Mongolian people influenced by the Korean Wave are more inclined to study and work in South Korea. Currently, there are around 5,000-8,000 Mongolian students studying abroad in South Korea. Meanwhile, there are now over 20 universities in Mongolia offering Korean language majors, which is quite a large number for a country with only 3.3 million people.
Seoul apparently took notice of Pak’s visit to Mongolia. While North Korea’s deputy foreign minister was holding talks Ulaanbaatar, South Korea announced it would provided $200,000 in emergency humanitarian assistance to Mongolia to help overcome the worst dzud – a snow disaster that decimates livestock in particular – in 30 years.
Recently, the political atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula has become increasingly tense. North Korea took radical measures earlier this month by announcing the abandonment of all economic cooperation agreements with South Korea. This decision marks North Korea’s intention to completely sever ties with South Korea, following its public abandonment of the goal of reunification and closure of government agencies that promote inter-Korean relations.
However, South Korea was not shaken by this move and instead adopted an unexpected strategy, establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba and bringing new dynamics to international relations. Seoul announced that on February 14, the South Korean Permanent Mission to the United Nations and the Cuban Permanent Mission to the U.N. reached an agreement in New York to establish bilateral diplomatic relations.
Since then, North Korean media have stopped reporting news about Cuba, indicating Pyongyang’s dissatisfaction. Prior to this, Cuba was one of the countries with the most media coverage in North Korea, second only to China and Russia.
North Korea’s response has been to actively seek contact with other countries beyond Russia and China. Pyongyang is hoping not to lose any more “old friends” to South Korea. In addition to strengthening relations with Mongolia through Pak’s visit, Pyongyang is also trying to improve relations with Japan. This strategic shift has two goals: to break the current diplomatic isolation and to attempt to undermine the unity of countries such as the United States, South Korea, and Japan.
However, this series of actions and countermeasures all demonstrate a profound truth: On the chessboard of international relations, friendship and hostile relations between countries can change at any time, while only national interests remain unchanged. Every diplomatic decision is carefully considered with the aim of maximizing the protection of national interests.
In this seemingly unsolvable diplomatic game, each country is striving for the most favorable position for itself, and the ultimate result may be a new situation that no participant can fully predict. Only time can reveal the answer to this complex and ever-changing challenge in international relations.
Authors
Guest Author
Sumiya Chuluunbaatar
Sumiya Chuluunbaatar is an economist and expert on international issues. Sumiya is currently working as a non-resident fellow at the Institute of International Studies, Mongolian Academy of Sciences.
thediplomat.com
5. The China-Russia-North Korea Partnership: A Triple Threat That Can't Be Ignored
Excerpts:
China, North Korea, and Russia each pose a significant threat to regional stability, cybersecurity, and the international financial system. For that reason alone, Indo-Pacific and European nations should enhance their own defenses and coalesce with other like-minded democracies to develop more effective multilateral responses. The growing solidarity among the three rogue nations only adds impetus to the need for a rapid and coordinated counter-strategy.
While a firm military and security response is the most immediate need, Indo-Pacific and European nations should also accelerate efforts to reduce their energy and financial reliance on Russia and China to minimize either nation’s ability to coerce and intimidate its trading partners. This requires dedicated multilateral efforts to develop alternative raw material suppliers and manufactured goods producers.
The China-Russia-North Korea Partnership: A Triple Threat That Can't Be Ignored
China, North Korea, and Russia each pose a significant threat to regional stability, cybersecurity, and the international financial system. For that reason alone, Indo-Pacific and European nations should enhance their own defenses and coalesce with other like-minded democracies to develop more effective multilateral responses.
The National Interest · by Bruce Klingner · March 15, 2024
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 led to international condemnation, sanctions, and shunning of Moscow. But its heinous actions also led to a surge in support from fellow rogue nations China and North Korea. Misery loves company, and now all three countries, saddled with international sanctions for their transgressions against the global order, are enhancing their economic, diplomatic, and security ties.
Beijing and Pyongyang differ in their support, but both benefit from their engagement with their increasingly isolated and beleaguered Russian partner. Yet the China-North Korea-Russia relationship appears to be more of a series of mutually beneficial bilateral transactions rather than a solid trilateral partnership or alliance.
Growing Chinese-Russian Solidarity
Hit with strong sanctions, departing foreign business partners, and freezing of Russian funds overseas after its 2014 and 2022 invasions of Ukraine, Russia desperately turned to China for economic help. Bilateral trade subsequently expanded, allowing Moscow to mitigate the impact of international punitive measures.
Russian President Vladimir Putin now describes Chinese-Russian relations as at their “highest point in history.” At the same time, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping characterized Putin as his “best, most intimate friend.” The two leaders have met with each other more than forty times since 2012.
Yet, despite Putin’s and Xi’s laudatory descriptions, the “no limits” bilateral relationship is not a formal alliance, nor do the two countries have a mutual defense commitment to each other. Instead, China and Russia have a mutually beneficial marriage of convenience based on a converging alignment of strategic interests and objectives. It is a partnership of interconnected independence.
In fact, there are great differences between Chinese and Russian objectives and tactics (as has historically been the case). While Russia seems determined to blow up its relations with the United States and the European Union, China strives to continue economic trade and diplomatic engagement to overcome its growing economic problems at home and expand Beijing’s influence overseas. Beijing’s support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine risks straining relations with China’s trading partners, secondary sanctions imposed on Chinese banks and businesses, and undermining the regime’s attempts to divide its Western opponents.
Resumption of Russian-North Korean Engagement
Ties between Moscow and Pyongyang had largely languished after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed that. North Korea has supported Russia’s war both through diplomatic support and by providing over a million artillery shells and dozens of modern short-range ballistic missiles.
Kim Jong-un’s September 2023 trip to Russia and summit meeting with Putin were breakthroughs in bilateral relations and confirmed the growing military and diplomatic entente between the two countries. However, what Pyongyang has or will receive in return for its military largesse remains unclear.
Moscow could provide financial, economic, or energy benefits. Some experts speculate that Russia might hand the crown jewels of cutting-edge military technology, such as designs for nuclear warheads, reentry vehicles, or assistance on ICBMs. However, it is more likely that Russia will provide second-tier weapon technology such as military reconnaissance satellites or advanced conventional weapon designs—still a worrisome prospect.
Reasons for Hope Amongst the Darkness
Despite the deterioration in the Indo-Pacific security environment, there is also great cause for confidence. The threatening actions of Russia, China, and North Korea led to an epiphany for the Indo-Pacific nations about the need for enhanced security measures and greater defense cooperation. To paraphrase Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, it is the worst of times and the best of times for responding to these threats.
Bold actions by the South Korean and Japanese leaders enabled a rapprochement between their countries over difficult historical issues, facilitating greater trilateral security cooperation with the United States. The three countries resumed military exercises in 2022 to repair the degradation in allied deterrence capabilities.
In December 2022, South Korea and Japan published national security documents that greatly resembled those of the United States. The trilateral Camp David Summit in August 2023 solidified unprecedented trilateral military, diplomatic, and economic policy coordination cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.
That said, much work remains ahead for the United States, South Korea, and Japan to embed current and future progress against potential reversals by future administrations. The three countries should create an interconnected missile defense system rather than just a rapid exchange of North Korean missile alerts. Trilateral military operation plans should strive towards developing trilateral combined air and naval capabilities beyond current anti-submarine and missile-defense exercises.
The Path Ahead
China, North Korea, and Russia each pose a significant threat to regional stability, cybersecurity, and the international financial system. For that reason alone, Indo-Pacific and European nations should enhance their own defenses and coalesce with other like-minded democracies to develop more effective multilateral responses. The growing solidarity among the three rogue nations only adds impetus to the need for a rapid and coordinated counter-strategy.
While a firm military and security response is the most immediate need, Indo-Pacific and European nations should also accelerate efforts to reduce their energy and financial reliance on Russia and China to minimize either nation’s ability to coerce and intimidate its trading partners. This requires dedicated multilateral efforts to develop alternative raw material suppliers and manufactured goods producers.
About the Author
Bruce Klingner is a Senior Research Fellow for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation. He previously served 20 years with the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency, including as CIA’s Deputy Division Chief for Korea.
Image: Shutterstock.
The National Interest · by Bruce Klingner · March 15, 2024
6. Congresswoman submits resolution urging US gov't to protect NK defectors in China
Congresswoman submits resolution urging US gov't to protect NK defectors in China
The Korea Times · March 16, 2024
A North Korean defector, center, who asked to be identified only by her surname, Kim, attends a weekly rally near the Embassy of China in Seoul, in this undated photo. Kim’s daughter was detained in China and faced repatriation to North Korea. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
A Korean American lawmaker has submitted a bipartisan resolution calling on the U.S. government and its allies to protect North Korean defectors in China, who it said face "humanitarian and human rights crises."
On Wednesday, Rep. Michelle Park Steel (R-CA), along with several fellow lawmakers, introduced the resolution, stressing that defectors from the North face forced labor, arbitrary detention, human trafficking and forcible repatriation.
The resolution encouraged the U.S. president and secretary of state to pressure China to protect North Korean defectors and use the influence of the United Nations to protect North Korean asylum seekers, prohibit any goods produced with North Korean labor, and halt the flow of foreign capital to the North Korean regime.
In a press release, Steel's office highlighted that if defectors are repatriated, they have to endure "serious human rights abuses," including torture and forced labor.
"As North Korea and the CCP aggressively hunt for defectors, innocent North Koreans searching for freedom, like my parents did so many years ago, need our help now more than ever," Steel was quoted as saying in the release. CCP stands for the Chinese Communist Party.
"The vast majority of these individuals are women and girls who are sexually abused, trafficked, and forced into 'marriages' with Chinese citizens. They are treated as less than human. We must use every tool at our disposal to end these horrific abuses," she added.
The resolution also pointed out that the governments of China and North Korea are "aggressively" seeking to locate and detain North Koreans in China, and to return them to North Korea, including offering bounties for information on defectors. (Yonhap)
The Korea Times · March 16, 2024
7. What can still be done about widespread human rights abuses in North Korea
Excerpts:
Besides getting information out of North Korea, another way to address the human rights situation is by getting information in.
Julie Turner, U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights, told NK News in an interview last month that she will also continue “to promote the free flow of information into, out of and within North Korea.”
But there are significant risks with information campaigns. The regime is paranoid about outside information and has introduced a new law stipulating severe punishment for those caught consuming or distributing foreign materials. It could also view efforts by foreign countries to get information into the country as an act of war.
Still, North Korean escapees have repeatedly emphasized the importance of getting information inside the country to make people aware of values like freedom, human rights and democracy.
What can still be done about widespread human rights abuses in North Korea
Little has changed since UN detailed crimes against humanity, but experts see ways to build on success raising awareness
Gabriela Bernal March 14, 2024
https://www.nknews.org/2024/03/what-can-still-be-done-about-widespread-human-rights-abuses-in-north-korea/?utm
North Korean people sit in front of their house in May 2010. | Image: Eric Lafforgue
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the U.N.’s groundbreaking investigation on North Korean human rights, which found that the scale of abuses in the DPRK “reveal a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world.”
Yet a decade after the Commission of Inquiry (COI) report was published, little has changed.
Human Rights Watch just last week described North Korea as “one of the most repressive countries in the world” in a new report, a line that might have been plucked out of any number of human rights investigations over the years.
The U.N. argues that gains have been made since the COI, particularly in raising international awareness of North Korean human rights violations.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Seoul told NK News that the office, opened in 2015, “has strengthened monitoring and documentation, provided regular up-to-date information on the human rights situation in the DPRK to the international community and raised awareness of the situation.”
But it’s clear that there are still widespread abuse in the DPRK, and experts told NK News that there’s much more the international community can still try to do for the people of North Korea, from novel ways to pursue justice for victims in international courts to diplomatic strategies to break through China and Russia’s effort to protect Pyongyang from accountability.
UN Office in Geneva | Image: konferenzadhs via Pixabay
ACCOUNTABILITY: SUE NORTH KOREA?
One of the main issues of concern regarding human rights abuses is the problem of accountability. The 2024 report of the U.N. special rapporteur on North Korean human rights to the Human Rights Council particularly emphasized this topic, stating that it is the “responsibility of states to investigate and prosecute human rights violations that amount to crimes under national or international law.”
Youngsoo Yu, assistant professor at the University of North Korean Studies, told NK News that the lack of accountability for grave human rights abuses committed by various countries, such as Syria and Myanmar, strongly “undermines international human rights cooperation” and inhibits an effective response by the international community.
The special rapporteur’s report highlighted the difficulties of bringing the DPRK situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC) due to the court’s lack of jurisdiction and other restraints.
Instead, it suggests the possibility of a U.N. member state bringing the case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding human rights abuses committed in violation of human rights treaties to which North Korea is a party. The report cited the 2019 example of Gambia’s case against Myanmar and the more recent 2024 case of South Africa against Israel.
Such a case against North Korea would bring global attention to the country’s human rights abuses and mark a step toward real accountability, but it would also greatly anger Pyongyang and would require a significant investment of political capital.
It’s also unclear what country would be best positioned to pursue such a case. The U.S. and South Korea may worry that suing the DPRK would raise tensions on the peninsula and distract from their efforts to address Pyongyang’s nuclear program.
A European country, perhaps a U.N. Security Council member like France, might be a better option, but it’s still unclear what they would have to gain by taking such a dramatic, unilateral step, as opposed to supporting a referral to the ICC.
In lieu of criminal prosecution, other options also exist to hold the DPRK accountable.
Hanna Song, executive director of the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB), emphasized the need for “a true victim-centered approach.”
“‘This might mean that non-judicial approaches such as memorialization, compensation and rehabilitation through psycho-social support are stronger paths for accountability,” she said.
Former U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea Tomás Ojea Quintana speaking at a U.N. event in New York City on Oct. 23, 2018 | Image: U.N. Web TV
DIPLOMACY: BREAKING CHINA AND RUSSIA’S SHIELD
Beyond the issue of accountability, another major obstacle standing in the way of improving North Korean human rights is the role of China and Russia in “shielding North Korean human rights abuses” in the UNSC, Yu said.
Song told NK News that China’s main concern is to maintain stability on the Korean Peninsula and prevent North Korea’s collapse, adding that Beijing views any attempt to refer North Korea to the ICC as “interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states.”
Meanwhile, “Russia has strategic interests in maintaining diplomatic and economic ties with North Korea, which further complicates efforts to mobilize Security Council action on human rights,” she said.
Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director at the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, suggested that a “coalition of like-minded U.N. member states” — including South Korea, Japan, the EU and the U.S. — can still “press for significant measures at the U.N” despite Chinese and Russian opposition.
South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol administration has elevated North Korean human rights in its inter-Korean policy and has worked to push DPRK human rights issues as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council starting this year.
But Scarlatoiu also emphasized the importance of involving U.N. member states from the Global South to address the North Korean human rights situation. Bringing more countries on board could indeed go a long way toward making North Korean human rights a bigger priority at the U.N., while increasing pressure on China and Russia to change their positions.
Still, this approach is not guaranteed to work as Global South nations have their own concerns. U.S. efforts to foster a coalition with such states on issues like Ukraine and Israel, for example, have also met with resistance.
Image: Fifaliana Joy via Pixabay
THE FIGHT FOR INFORMATION
It has never been easy to get information about the situation on the ground in North Korea, but it has become even more difficult since the start of the pandemic after international U.N. and NGO workers left the country.
Even though the U.N. named a new resident coordinator for North Korea on March 1, he still cannot enter the country due to ongoing border restrictions. Seoul’s OHCHR told NK News that U.N. and human organizations should be allowed to return as soon as possible.
Song of NKDB stressed that getting details about the situation inside the DPRK is also important for addressing human rights and sustaining global interest in the issue. “Just because we do not see or hear what is happening does not mean it’s not happening,” she explained.
In light of this, convincing North Korea to allow international workers back into the country represents one of the first steps to addressing the country’s human rights abuses. Success will likely depend on sustained efforts to engage the DPRK in any way possible, in particular on arranging the provision of humanitarian aid.
Besides getting information out of North Korea, another way to address the human rights situation is by getting information in.
Julie Turner, U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights, told NK News in an interview last month that she will also continue “to promote the free flow of information into, out of and within North Korea.”
But there are significant risks with information campaigns. The regime is paranoid about outside information and has introduced a new law stipulating severe punishment for those caught consuming or distributing foreign materials. It could also view efforts by foreign countries to get information into the country as an act of war.
Still, North Korean escapees have repeatedly emphasized the importance of getting information inside the country to make people aware of values like freedom, human rights and democracy.
Edited by Bryan Betts
8. N. Korean leader uses car gifted by Putin in public event: KCNA
(LEAD) N. Korean leader uses car gifted by Putin in public event: KCNA | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · March 16, 2024
(ATTN: UPDATES with more details in paras 4-5; ADDS photos)
SEOUL, March 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un used a Russian-made private car, gifted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a public event for the first time this week in "clear proof" of the two nations' friendly ties, his sister said Saturday.
Last month, North Korea said Putin sent a Russian-made car for personal use to the North's leader as a gift demonstrating special bonds between the two leaders. Russia said the car is the Aurus Senat limousine.
Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North's leader, said the North's leader used the car during an open event Friday, without elaborating, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
This image, captured from footage of North Korea's state-run Korean Central Television on March 16, 2024, shows the Aurus Senat limousine that the North's leader Kim Jong-un used to attend a ceremony marking the completion of building a greenhouse farm on the previous day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
Footage aired by North Korea's state-run television station showed Kim riding the Aurus Senat on his way to attend a ceremony marking the completion of building a greenhouse farm near Pyongyang the previous day.
Russia's sending of a luxury car to North Korea is a breach of United Nations Security Council resolutions that ban the supply, sale and transfer of luxury goods, including automobiles, to Pyongyang.
"I am very pleased that the supreme leader of our Party and state uses the special private car sent by the head of state of Russia as a gift," Kim's sister said in a statement carried by the KCNA.
She said the special function of the private car is "perfect and can be thoroughly trusted," noting that the gift is clear proof showing the North Korea-Russia friendship developing "in a comprehensive way on a new high stage."
Putin showed his presidential Aurus Senat limousine to Kim in September last year, when the North's leader visited Russia's Vostochny spaceport for summit talks, and offered him the opportunity to take a seat in the Russian-made luxury vehicle.
North Korea and Russia have deepened military cooperation amid suspicions that Pyongyang has provided munitions and artillery to Moscow for use in Russia's war in Ukraine.
This image, captured from footage of North Korea's state-run Korean Central Television on March 16, 2024, shows the Aurus Senat limousine that the North's leader Kim Jong-un used to attend a ceremony marking the completion of building a greenhouse farm on the previous day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
This file image, captured from footage of North Korea's state-run Korean Central Television on Sept. 20, 2023, shows the North's leader Kim Jong-un (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin taking a seat in Putin's presidential Aurus Senat limousine at Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East on Sept. 13. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · March 16, 2024
9. Dodgers and Padres in Seoul: Here's what you need to know
Saturday
March 16, 2024
dictionary + A - A
Published: 16 Mar. 2024, 11:34
Updated: 16 Mar. 2024, 17:59
Dodgers and Padres in Seoul: Here's what you need to know
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-03-16/sports/Baseball/Dodgers-and-Padres-in-Seoul-Heres-what-you-need-to-know/2003895
Kim Ha-seong [AFP/YONHAP]
The 2024 Major League Baseball season will begin in Seoul next week as the Los Angeles Dodgers take on the San Diego Padres in the first regular season games ever to be held on Korean soil.
The two-game series, on Wednesday and Thursday, will be preceded by a series of exhibition games pitting the Dodgers against stadium hosts Kiwoom Heroes and the Korean national team, while the Padres take on reigning KBO champions the LG Twins and the Korean squad.
Related Article
The Padres have also brought some familiar faces back to Seoul: Gold Glove winner Kim Ha-seong, who started his career with the Heroes, and new closer Goh Woo-suk, who signed with the club over the offseason after playing a crucial role in the Twins’ title-winning campaign last year.
The Dodgers, meanwhile, roll up with perhaps the biggest name in baseball: Shohei Ohtani. Arriving with his new wife by his side, ShoTime himself will likely be making his first regular season appearance in a Dodgers’ uniform here in Seoul.
Here’s everything you need to know about the 2024 Seoul Series.
What’s the schedule?
Both the Dodgers and Padres have already arrived in Seoul and are set to begin training Saturday. The exhibition games will be held on Sunday and Monday, with the regular season openers on Wednesday and Thursday.
Sunday, March 17, 12:07 p.m.: Dodgers vs. Heroes [first pitch at 8:07 p.m. PT on Saturday]
Sunday, March 17, 7:07 p.m.: Team Korea vs. Padres [first pitch at 3:07 a.m. PT on Sunday]
Monday, March 18, 12:07 p.m.: Padres vs. Twins [first pitch at 8:07 p.m. PT on Sunday]
Monday, March 18, 7:07 p.m.: Team Korea vs. Dodgers [first pitch at 3:07 a.m. PT on Monday]
Wednesday, March 20, 7:07 p.m.: Dodgers vs. Padres [first pitch at 3:07 a.m. PT on Wednesday]
Yu Darvish (SD) vs. Tyler Glasnow (LAD)
Thursday, March 21, 7:07 p.m.: Padres vs. Dodgers [first pitch at 3:07 a.m. PT on Thursday]
Joe Musgrove (SD) vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (LAD)
A full schedule including batting practice and interview schedules can be found at the bottom of the page.
The venue
All six games will be played at west Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome, home of the Heroes.
Gocheok is the KBO’s only covered dome stadium and is one of the newest stadiums in the league. It was completed in 2015, and can hold just under 17,000 spectators.
The newly revamped Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul provided. The Seoul Metropolitan Government said the domed baseball stadium has been refurbished ahead of Korea's first-ever opening of the MLB regular season on March 20 and 21. [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]
Gocheok has already played host to the first round of the 2017 World Baseball Classic and the 2019 WBSC Premier 12. In 2020, it provided a safe-haven for the KBO after the Covid-delayed season pushed too far into the winter, hosting all post-season games that year.
In preparation for the Seoul Series, the turf in the stadium has been relayed with a new two-tone design. G-max shock absorbers have been newly installed and the ground lighting has been updated. Other facilities, including the player lockers, cafeteria and sky boxes, have been refurbished.
Who to watch out for
The return of Kim Ha-seong to a KBO stadium is obviously a huge attraction for Korean fans, but the excitement of seeing Ohtani in a Dodgers shirt is also not lost on anybody here.
San Diego Padres' Kim Ha-seong adjusts his glasses in the dugout during a spring training baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Peoria, Arizona on March 9. [AP/YONHAP]
Kim left Korea at the end of 2020 after a phenomenal career in the KBO, but he arrived in the majors in a difficult spot.
Neither a pitcher nor a slugger, quick-footed Kim is a versatile infielder who’s defensive prowess easily matches his skill at the plate — a crucial role for any baseball team, but not one that Korean players are known for filling.
Kim had to work hard to prove his potential and returns to Korea with the ultimate proof of his success — as the reigning utility National League Gold Glove winner, the first Korean player ever to win an MLB Gold Glove.
Despite the longstanding historic tension between Korea and Japan, the popularity of Ohtani is also not lost on baseball fans here.
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani faces the Seattle Mariners during a spring training game in Phoenix, Arizona on March 13. [USA TODAY/YONHAP]
Already established as baseball’s answer to Lionel Messi, Ohtani is already considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time, and he hasn’t even turned 30 yet.
The Japanese two-way star joined the Dodgers over the offseason on an unprecedented 10-year, $700 million contract, the largest contract in professional sports history, and got married a couple of weeks ago to Japanese former professional basketball player Mamiko Tanaka.
The return of Go to Korea will be of particular interest to Twins fans, although he has not actually been gone long enough to miss a game yet. A solid closer, Go favors his fastball and slider. It remains to be seen whether the 25-year-old (son-in-law of Korean baseball legend of Lee Jong-beom and brother-in-law of the San Francisco Giants’ Lee Jung-hoo) has done enough to earn any game time.
San Diego Padres relief pitcher Go Woo-suk jogs during spring training baseball workouts in Peoria, Arizona on Feb. 18. [AP/YONHAP]
Alongside the local favorites, the Dodgers and Padres’ rosters are a veritable who’s who of the biggest names in baseball, including stars like Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Walker Buehler, Teoscar Hernández, Tyler Glasnow, Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado, Yu Darvish, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Joe Musgrove.
Seoul style
The Seoul Series promises to offer a unique combination U.S. and Korean baseball culture, with both sides bringing different elements of the spectator experience to Gocheok over the next week.
Both big league clubs have imported some of their stadium concessions, including the famous Dodger Dog, for the week, offering Korean fans some different options to the fried chicken and dried squid that are popular at games here.
LG Twins cheerleaders fire water pistols at the crowd during a game against the Kiwoom Heroes at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul on Aug. 11, 2023. [NEWS1]
In recognition of the different supporting style here — Korean baseball is a raucous affair with loud entrance music, player-specific cheers and almost constant crowd participation — the Dodgers and Padres have also both reportedly recruited Korean cheerleaders to help the big league teams hold their own in a stadium full of rowdy Korean fans.
To really get into the Korean spirit, there will also be performances from K-pop girl groups aespa and (G)I-DLE during the Seoul Series on Wednesday and Thursday. The two teams have also been given the Korean treatment, with merchandise on sale featuring Korean-language hangul versions of both logos.
The two baseball cultures will also be bridged by the very man who brought them together in the first place — Dodgers legend and the first Korean ever to play in the MLB Park Chan-ho will throw out the ceremonial opening pitch before Game 1 between the Dodgers and Padres on Wednesday.
KT Wiz fans cheer during Game 4 of the 2023 Korean Series against the LG Twins at Suwon KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi on Nov. 11, 2023. [NEWS1]
Who will Korean fans be supporting?
That’s the million-dollar question, and the answer is not as simple as you might think.
The Padres have Kim and Go, which will obviously pull a lot of support, so there has been an assumption, particularly by some U.S. media, that this will be a San Diego crowd.
Park Chan-ho [JOONGANG ILBO]
But support for the Dodgers runs deep in Korea. Through Park Chan-ho, the Dodgers essentially got here first, embedding themselves deep in Korean fan cultures long before any big-league team. The club was then home to the likes of Ryu Hyun-jin, further cementing that support, and Dodgers caps are still visible on the streets of Seoul on a daily basis.
It could prove to be a pretty even split between the two teams at Gocheok next week, but if one team is going to edge it, it may just be the Dodgers.
Where can I watch?
If you’re in Korea, all six games will be broadcast through streaming service Coupang Play. Coupang Play is available to Coupang Wow customers, a membership service offered by the ecommerce giant.
Coupang Play has also been responsible for ticket sales, and although they all sold out initially, there are now a handful of tickets available for the exhibition games as of press time.
In the U.S., ESPN will broadcast the official season opening Seoul Series games nationwide. The four exhibition games will be available via each team's network broadcast.
Related Article
Full schedule
Saturday, March 16
2 p.m. – 5 p.m. – Dodgers workout
5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. – Padres workout
Both managers and key players from both teams will be available for interview throughout the afternoon.
Sunday, March 17
9:25 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. – Heroes batting practice
10:15 a.m. – 11:05 a.m. – Dodgers batting practice
12:07 p.m. – Dodgers vs. Heroes [first pitch will be at 8:07 p.m. PT on Saturday]
4:25 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. – Padres batting practice
5:15 p.m. – 6:05 p.m. – Team Korea batting practice
7:07 p.m. – Team Korea vs. Padres [first pitch will be at 3:07 a.m. PT on Sunday]
Monday, March 18
9:25 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. – Twins batting practice
10:15 a.m. – 11:05 a.m. – Padres batting practice
12:07 p.m. – Padres vs. Twins [first pitch will be at 8:07 p.m. PT on Sunday]
4:25 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. – Dodgers batting practice
5:15 p.m. – 6:05 p.m. – Team Korea batting practice
7:07 p.m. – Team Korea vs. Dodgers [first pitch will be at 3:07 a.m. PT on Monday]
Tuesday, March 19
2 p.m. – 4 p.m. – Padres workout
5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. – Dodgers workout
Both managers and Opening Day starters Yu Darvish (Padres) and Tyler Glasnow (Dodgers) will be available for interview.
Wednesday, March 20
4:15 – 5:05 p.m. – Padres batting practice
5:10 – 6 p.m. – Dodgers batting practice
7:07 p.m. – Dodgers vs. Padres [first pitch will be at 3:07 a.m. PT on Wednesday]
Both managers and Game 2 starters Joe Musgrove (Padres) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Dodgers) will be available for interview.
Thursday, March 21
4:15 – 5:05 p.m. – Dodgers batting practice
5:10 – 6 p.m. – Padres batting practice
7:07 p.m. – Padres vs. Dodgers [first pitch will be at 3:07 a.m. PT on Thursday]
BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]
10. Nursing homes for North Korean war heroes are becoming resorts
Nursing homes for North Korean war heroes are becoming resorts
Built to show Kim Jong Un cares about the veterans, the facilities are now catering to wealthy elite.
By Kim Jieun for RFA Korean
2024.03.15
rfa.org
Amid the many hardships and privations of life in North Korea, there are a few places that offer fairly lavish accommodations, with swimming pools, hot springs and advanced medical facilities: nursing homes for veterans of the 1950-53 Korean War.
But the soldiers who fought in the “Great Fatherland Liberation War” who are still alive today are now mostly nonagenarians, the nursing homes are becoming vacation resorts used by the wealthy elite, including young people, residents told Radio Free Asia.
And that’s generating bitterness among the public because most people can’t afford to stay in the nursing homes, meaning that only the tiny upper crust of well-connected people who hold all of the country’s wealth and power can stay there.
“A few days ago, I heard from an acquaintance of mine who is an official at a major company in Chongjin City that his college student son had visited a war veterans’ nursing home,” a resident of the northeastern province of North Hamgyong told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“I was shocked to hear that his son had booked the veterans’ nursing home and spent a few days eating and playing well with his friends there,” she said.
Pet project
The nursing homes were a pet project of supreme leader Kim Jong Un, who ordered each province to start building them in 2015. State media at the time cast Kim as a leader concerned about the elderly veterans, whose numbers have dwindled.
The North Hamgyong resident said that staying in the nursing home costs 40,000 won (US$4.40) per night for the room only, or 100,000 ($11) if the visitor uses the various amenities – a vast sum for most North Koreans who are scraping by on meager salaries and selling goods in markets.
According to her acquaintance, there were no war veterans in the nursing home at all, she said.
“There were only workers and young people in their prime working age,” she said. “They are opening the nursing home to the public so that they can earn money.”
Many of the nursing homes made the shift to temporary lodging out of necessity, she said.
The government was supposed to provide food and fuel for the residents and maintain the buildings. When that did not happen, the government left it to the nursing homes to become self-sufficient. Opening to the public became the only way to keep them afloat.
Generating resentment
Another resident, from the northwestern province of North Pyongan, told RFA that the war veterans’ nursing home there can be used by anyone with money.
“Those nursing homes for war veterans are the most-up-to-date style of buildings in each province, which is what the authorities paid attention to,” she said.
The buildings were built in a folk style with traditional roof tiles, and inside there are “health facilities such as a hot spring and music room,” she said.
But news that the wealthy can pay to use the nursing homes and enjoy amenities like hot springs is generating resentment among ordinary people, she said.
“Newspapers and TV only praise veteran soldiers as heroes on certain anniversaries,” she said. “But the reality is that there is no real support for them.”
Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
rfa.org
11. While Seoul talks of commando hits, North Korea’s Kim drives a tank
While Seoul talks of commando hits, North Korea’s Kim drives a tank
Dueling military displays mirror posturing across divided peninsula
By Andrew Salmon - The Washington Times - Thursday, March 14, 2024
washingtontimes.com · by Andrew Salmon
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un drives a new-type tank in North Korea Wednesday, March 13, 2024. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed … In this photo provided by the … more >
By - The Washington Times - Thursday, March 14, 2024
The day after South Korea‘s defense minister told his country’s special forces to prepare to take out the North’s leadership in time of war, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un went for a drive in a new model of tank.
Spring is war-game season on the Korean peninsula, and with drills conducted on both sides of the DMZ, Seoul and Pyongyang have both showcased their lethal capabilities.
The joint U.S.-South Korean “Freedom Shield 2024” exercises ended Thursday with live-firing south of the DMZ. North Korea‘s drills focused on armored maneuvers and firing. The peninsula remains a tinderbox, and both sides feel the need to stress-test commanders, troops and gear, but verbal and physical posturing is also apparent.
“If Kim Jong-un starts a war, as a key unit of Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation, you must become the world’s strongest special operations unit to swiftly eliminate the enemy leadership,” South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik told elite troops of the Army Special Warfare Command in an address Wednesday.
One day later, Pyongyang state media reported that Mr. Kim had expressed “great satisfaction” after overseeing a tank competition, a concept pioneered in Russia, and armored exercises.
Official images showed Mr. Kim sporting a Soviet-style leather tank helmet and the black leather jacket he favors while visiting units. He was also seen surrounded by crews of a new model of tank, and even driving a tank, having apparently squeezed through the driver’s hatch in the vehicle’s bow.
Other images showed a line of tanks under a helicopter screen, crossing rough ground and firing a parade-style salvo.
Joseph Dempsey, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said on X that the new North Korean tanks showcase “external design elements reminiscent of — or styled on — modern U.S. and Russian [tanks].”
Tough talk
While Mr. Kim frequently stages such martial displays, some people familiar with special operations criticized Seoul‘s tough talk.
A former South Korean Special Operations Forces (SOF) soldier who asked to be identified only by his surname, Lee, derided the open discussion of assassination planning.
“I saw news of a joint South Korean-U.S. operation to get rid of the leader of North Korea. This is crazy, this is stupid!” he said. “What if China and Russia did joint military training to get rid of Biden? That would not just make the U.S. government angry, it would make the average American angry!”
During his service in the 1980s, he said, Mr. Lee‘s 12-man South Korean team of “black berets” were trained for airborne and amphibious operations against the North.
Their core mission was to take out the command center of a naval base in Wonsan, the strategic bay just north of the DMZ. Retired U.S. officers have told The Washington Times that Wonsan — though heavily defended — is a key target for an amphibious counter-attack in the event of the outbreak of a new war on the peninsula.
Another ultra-high-risk SOF mission, code-named “Rollercoaster,” recalled Israel’s Entebbe raid in 1976.
It aimed to deceive North Korean air defenses, land an aircraft at an enemy air base, where commandos would take out the control tower and other assets, before flying home.
“We were told to leave most of our gear at the base,” Mr. Lee said. “The idea was in and out.”
Black berets also built a mock-up of Pyongyang‘s Kim Il Sung Palace, and trained to storm it.
“This was kind of secret, but everyone knew,” he said. “My colleagues told me this, through word of mouth.”
“Decapitation” operations are not new on the peninsula.
In 1968, the height of Asia’s Cold War, 31 North Korean commandos infiltrated the south in a failed bid to assassinate then-President Park Chung-hee.
In response, the South created its own secret “Dirty Dozen” style unit of criminals who trained on a Yellow Sea island, Silmido, in commando skills. The plan: infiltrate Pyongyang and assassinate “Great Leader” Kim Il Sung.
However, the mission was aborted during a period of North-South detente. The commandos eventually hijacked a bus and drove for Seoul, apparently hoping to negotiate their release from service. Ambushed at a police roadblock, none survived. The story, long hushed up, only leaked out after South Korea democratized in 1987.
Tough target
The U.S. SEAL mission that killed Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in 2011 remains the most famous commando operation of recent years. Any attack on Mr. Kim would be far riskier, experts say.
“The advantages of a lone [Special Forces’] team are surprise, concentration of fire on a singular mission and violence of action,” said Michael Yon, a veteran of U.S. Army Special Forces. “Such an attack in the Korean context likely is a kamikaze mission.”
Still, it is “not beyond the realm of possibility,” he said, adding, “During a time of general warfare, I see them inserting teams all over the place.”
A person with close familiarity with South Korea‘s special operatives, speaking anonymously, said Mr. Kim would be a tougher target than any other.
“If you look at modern eliminations, they were mostly done by long range,” the source said, referring to drone strikes. “I don’t think there is a comparison to the challenge of taking down Kim: He has an entire nation protecting him.”
“Anyone ready to give his life to kill another person may be able to do it,” the source continued. “But Kim is a demigod in North Korea. … [The mission] can’t be compared to killing a man.”
Mr. Yon, currently a security analyst researching the infiltration of dangerous individuals through Panama’s Darien Gap, said his training never included assassinating a hostile nation’s leader.
“That would be more intel-type stuff,” he said. “Assassination is always an arrow in the quiver.”
Western armies have targeted and killed terrorist leaders, but the two Koreas are unusual in tasking their SOF units to kill an opposing head of state.
Even so, Mr. Yon said Seoul‘s recent announcement is more likely part of a psychological operation aimed at Pyongyang rather than a statement of imminent intent.
Mr. Lee, the ex-black beret whose own family has been divided since the Korean War, is bitter about the seasonal barrages of war talk lobbed across the DMZ.
“It’s like a gun pointing at each other,” he said.
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.
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12. ROK-US Alliance: 70 for 70 - Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies
Read James' chapter here: https://dkiapcss.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024_ROK-U.S-ALLIANCE-70-for-70_COL-MINNICH.pdf
ROK-US Alliance: 70 for 70 - Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies
dkiapcss.edu · by APCSS Editor · March 16, 2024
Read his chapter here
DKI APCSS’ Dr. James M. Minnich is featured in a new publication by the ROK-US Alliance Foundation and the Korea Defense Veteran’s Association called “ROK-US Alliance: 70 for 70.” The publication features profiles of 70 people and their experiences on the Peninsula.
“From Firebase to FAO: A Forty-Year Friendship with Korea” serves as a memoir for Minnich, who is a retired U.S. Army colonel. This chapter takes you from the rain-soaked nights at Camp Casey in 1982 to significant diplomatic strides as the UNCMAC Secretary thirty years later, offering a unique blend of personal experience and historical insight.
Dr. James M. Minnich is a professor at Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS), an academic institute of the U.S. Department of Defense based in Hawaii. The views expressed in this article only reflect his own views, not those of APCSS or the U.S. Department of Defense.
dkiapcss.edu · by APCSS Editor · March 16, 2024
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
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