Quotes of the Day:
There is a story of a Bolshevik revolutionary who was standing on a soap box speaking to a small crowd in Times Square. After describing the glories of Socialism and Communism, he said: “Come the revolution and everyone will eat peaches and cream.”
A little old man at the back of the crowd yelled out: “I don’t like peaches and cream.”
The Bolshevik thought about that for a moment and then replied: “Come the revolution, Comrade, you will like peaches and cream.”
"Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything."
— Joseph Stalin
“Cold Wars cannot be conducted by hotheads. Nor can ideological conflicts be won as crusades or concluded by unconditional surrender.”
- Walter Lippmann: The Russian-American War 1949
Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an accessible simple diagnosis of the world's ills and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all.
— John W. Gardner, No Easy Victories
1. VOA: [Washington Talk] “North Korea’s attempt to escalate tension… What is the US response?”
2. Former U.S. Envoy Yun on North Korea's Nuclear Ambitions
3. Continued activities spotted at N. Korea's main airports amid speculation on missile launch, parade: reports
4. South Korea’s New President Understands the Threat From Pyongyang
5. Yoon inspects candidate sites for relocation of presidential office
6. A North Korean Satellite Launch: What to Watch For
7. Moon, Yoon advised to meet sooner to narrow differences
8. [WHY] Is it really safe to leave valuables lying around in Korea?
9. Yoon faces growing opposition to Cheong Wa Dae relocation
10. The beauty of Korean democracy
11. 1,500 N.Koreans are at risk of being repatriated by China: UN investigator
12. Hoeryong lecturer criticizes Chinese mobile users as “tools of the enemy”
13. Two families die in succession in Hoeryong due to lack of food
14. Hyesan Coal Mine workers suffer from outbreak of tuberculosis
1. VOA: [Washington Talk] “North Korea’s attempt to escalate tension… What is the US response?”
Young Gyo Kim hosts Frank Aum and me for a very fiery exchange of views on north Korea and our recent history of relations with north Korea. Frank and I had very different views of the regime and what constitutes (and constituted) success.
Please note, as always, the primary target audience for this Voice of America broadcast is the elite in north Korea. It is also broadcast in South Korea.
[Washington Talk] “North Korea’s attempt to escalate tension… What is the US response?”
252K subscribers
Tensions are rising, with North Korea increasing its launch of ballistic missiles and resuming activities to restore the Punggye-ri nuclear test site. In a situation where South Korea is concentrating on preparations for the inauguration of a new government and the United States is focusing on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, North Korea's intention to withdraw from the 'nuclear and missile test moratorium' by attempting to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile disguised as an artificial satellite Analyze it with experts. Moderator: Kim Young-kyo / Conversation: Frank Aum (Senior Researcher, American Peace Research Institute), David Maxwell (Senior Researcher, Foundation for the Defense of Democracy)#washington talk # FLY #North Korea #denuclearization #NorthKorea #denuclearization #sanctions #nuclear #missile #WashingtonTalk #VoiceofAmerica
2. Former U.S. Envoy Yun on North Korea's Nuclear Ambitions
An 8 minute video in which Ambassador Yun explains why north Korea and Kim Jong-un want to keep nuclear weapons.
Former U.S. Envoy Yun on North Korea's Nuclear Ambitions
March 17th, 2022, 8:12 PM EDT
Joseph Yun, a former U.S. special representative for North Korea policy and now a senior advisor to the Asia program at the U.S. Institute of Peace, discusses the nuclear ambitions of Kim Jong Un’s regime. North Korea’s latest missile test on Wednesday appeared to have “failed” shortly after launch, South Korea’s military said, with the incident coming days after reports indicated that Kim’s regime was preparing to fire its first ICBM since 2017. Yun speaks on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia." (Source: Bloomberg)
3. Continued activities spotted at N. Korea's main airports amid speculation on missile launch, parade: reports
Setting the conditions to make demands for concessions.
Continued activities spotted at N. Korea's main airports amid speculation on missile launch, parade: reports | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, March 18 (Yonhap) --- Increased vehicle movement and personnel activities have been detected at North Korea's key airports in Pyongyang, according to reports based on satellite imagery, as the secretive nation apparently failed in its latest missile launch and is preparing for a large-scale military parade.
Commercial satellite imagery from March 17, just a day after the reported failed launch, showed approximately 50 vehicles positioned at both parallel runways at the Sunan International Airport and the infield in between them, 38 North, which focuses on North Korea issues, said.
The North fired a suspected ballistic missile from the airport but it blew up in mid-air shortly after liftoff, South Korea's military announced, closely monitoring the possibility of the North test-launching another one in the near future.
It also seems to be continuing preparations for staging a massive military parade on the occasion of the 110th birth anniversary of the nation's late founding leader Kim Il-sung on April 15, the Voice of America reported, citing satellite photos provided by Planet Labs.
A number of troops were seen having assembled at the parade training ground of the Mirim Airport, in imagery taken on March 16, the Washington-based news outlet said. The number is estimated to reach as many as 6,000.
(END)
4. South Korea’s New President Understands the Threat From Pyongyang
As I have said, we have the opportunity for better ROK and US alignment of strategic assumptions of the nature, objectives, and strategy of the Kim family regime.
I will make an argument that although I believe the Moon policy was in error and had no chance, that the single point of policy failure was Moon's speech to the Korean people in Pyongyang on September 19, 2018. Moon was on a roll creating the conditions for engagement in 2018 from the Olympics through the Pnamukom summit in April, and the Trump-Kim meeting in Singapore in June and the Pyong Declaration in September. Moon wanted to improve north-South relations and engagement. However, Kim Jong-un made a catastrophic error in September of 2019 when he allowed Moon to speak in Pyongyang. Although the speech was panned by South Korean conservatives for being too conciliatory, the problem for Kim Jong-un is that the Korean people in the north saw a completely different president (different from the north Korean propaganda caricature of the South Korean president). They saw a man who was articulate and charming and spoke with logic and passion for Korea. They sensed that he was a man Kim Jong-un should be able to make a deal with and who would help the north rather than attack it. The problem was that this undermined all north Korean propaganda for the past seven decades. They have always portrayed the South Korean president as a puppet of the US and someone who was inferior in all ways to the supreme leader in the north. But after this speech Kim had to counter these perceptions and recreate the long standing propaganda narrative. Paradoxically, this sunk Moon's strategy (which I very much doubt would have been successful regardless and in fact had not this speech occured Kim might have been able to exploit Moon's desire for engagement in ways that would have significantly benefited the regime, but not the Korean people in the north). From that point on all efforts at north-South engagement were scuttled. The regime treated Moon with great disrespect and rebuffed every open hand from the South to include even aid for COVID mitigation measures and then vaccines.
I mention this not to defend Moon's policies but to try to better understand the nature of the Kim family regime and its views of the South. Kim will attack the leader of the South whomever he or she is and despite the potential for receiving handouts. This is important to understand when considering offering concessions.
South Korea’s New President Understands the Threat From Pyongyang
An expert's point of view on a current event.
Yoon Suk-yeol’s victory tightens the alliance with Washington.
By Benjamin R. Young, an assistant professor at the Wilder School of Government & Public Affairs.
South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol gestures during a ceremony at the National Assembly Library in Seoul on March 10. Song Kyung-Seok/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
Populist conservative candidate Yoon Suk-yeol’s victory in the recent South Korean presidential election is a victory for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. Primarily campaigning on an effort to reduce soaring housing prices, Yoon appealed to social traditionalism and populist economics to draw in voters. For Washington, Yoon’s victory will strengthen the U.S.-South Korea alliance and reinvigorate this vitally strategic partnership. For the last five years, the leftist Moon administration in Seoul has appeased Pyongyang. Yoon’s victory will be a boon for the U.S.-South Korea alliance and strengthening South Korea’s own democratic defenses against North Korean antagonism.
Outgoing President Moon Jae-in’s inter-Korea policy was premised on the naive belief that dialogue with Pyongyang would yield tangible peacebuilding measures. His party’s candidate in the 2022 election, Lee Jae-myung, would have continued this approach. Moon continuously sought to sign a peace treaty with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that would ostensibly end the Korean War.
Many progressives saw a peace treaty as an important step in restoring goodwill between the two Koreas. In actuality, this peace treaty would have removed any rationale for the continued presence of U.S. troops on South Korean soil and, more importantly, endangered the internal stability of the South with a constitutional crisis. For their part, the family-run autocracy north of the Demilitarized Zone saw these engagement efforts from Seoul as important legitimacy-building measures.
Populist conservative candidate Yoon Suk-yeol’s victory in the recent South Korean presidential election is a victory for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. Primarily campaigning on an effort to reduce soaring housing prices, Yoon appealed to social traditionalism and populist economics to draw in voters. For Washington, Yoon’s victory will strengthen the U.S.-South Korea alliance and reinvigorate this vitally strategic partnership. For the last five years, the leftist Moon administration in Seoul has appeased Pyongyang. Yoon’s victory will be a boon for the U.S.-South Korea alliance and strengthening South Korea’s own democratic defenses against North Korean antagonism.
Outgoing President Moon Jae-in’s inter-Korea policy was premised on the naive belief that dialogue with Pyongyang would yield tangible peacebuilding measures. His party’s candidate in the 2022 election, Lee Jae-myung, would have continued this approach. Moon continuously sought to sign a peace treaty with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that would ostensibly end the Korean War.
Many progressives saw a peace treaty as an important step in restoring goodwill between the two Koreas. In actuality, this peace treaty would have removed any rationale for the continued presence of U.S. troops on South Korean soil and, more importantly, endangered the internal stability of the South with a constitutional crisis. For their part, the family-run autocracy north of the Demilitarized Zone saw these engagement efforts from Seoul as important legitimacy-building measures.
Despite the often repeated stereotype of North Korea as an isolated government, Pyongyang wants to be accepted as a member of the international community. However, it wants to do this under its own terms. That would mean the unequivocal acceptance of North Korea as a nuclear-armed state and a recognition of the North as the legitimate Korean government. Under Moon, Seoul often turned a blind eye to North Korea’s human rights violations and nuclear provocations.
The North Korean government’s goal on the peninsula is not a mere peace treaty but eventual reunification of the two Koreas under Pyongyang’s terms. North Korea is not in the business of peacebuilding but rather militarism and belligerence. It seeks the slow withering away of South Korean political institutions and democratic norms. South Korean engagement with the North will not stem the nuclear provocations of the Kim family regime but rather embolden Kim Jong Un to push for more conciliations from Seoul.
The Kim family regime will keep moving the goal posts for inter-Korean dialogue until the progressives in Seoul are stretched so far that they start undermining their own political institutions in service of a hereditary dictatorship. Moon’s Democratic Party already has a history of appeasing the North Korean leadership. After furious remarks from Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong, South Korean lawmakers—led by the Democratic Party—voted in 2020 to ban the flying of leaflets toward North Korea by South Korean human rights activists.
This fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the North Korean regime has long hampered the South Korean left. The left views North Korea from an ethnonationalist lens and emphasizes the ethnic kinship between the two Koreas. This nativist perspective emphasizes anti-Japanism, a distrust of great powers, and the purity of the Korean people. South Korean leftists view the North Korean government as wayward brothers more than a dangerous enemy.
During his campaign, Yoon pledged to meet Kim Jong Un only if working-level talks preceded a diplomatic summit. Meanwhile, Moon met the North Korean leader, without preconditions, three times in 2018 alone and did little to address human rights abuses in talks with the North Korean leadership. Yoon compared Moon’s summit diplomacy to a “show” that worked well for media coverage but yielded no real results in securing peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Yoon also said he would launch a preemptive strike on North Korea’s recently developed hypersonic missiles in the event of a military conflict. This strong language may seem inflammatory, but the realists in Pyongyang only understand hard power and military strength. It seems that Yoon understands North Korea for what it is: a pro-reunification revolutionary regime that violates the personal freedoms of its citizens on an unprecedented scale and is hellbent on developing its military capabilities. Yoon has already identified the Kim family regime as South Korea’s “main enemy” and signaled that he will prioritize human rights in inter-Korean relations.
Yoon’s victory is also important for realigning U.S. and South Korean security interests. Yoon has promised “strategic clarity” in declaring South Korea’s pro-American stance on matters of U.S.-China relations. The president-elect has also spoken of the importance of liberal democracy and human rights in Seoul’s foreign policy. Compared with Yoon’s stance that South Korea needs to rise to the status of a “global pivotal state,” the Moon administration was often hesitant in condemning Chinese human rights violations in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. In an era of authoritarian resurgence and great-power competition, Moon failed to assert South Korea’s global commitment to the rule of law and democratic norms.
Fearing an economic backlash from China, Moon simply eschewed raising human rights in talks with Beijing. Despite his background as a human rights lawyer, Moon’s moral weakness toward confronting authoritarian aggression was recently on display when his administration decided to not issue unilateral sanctions on Russia after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The incumbent administration’s softhanded approach to authoritarianism was shortsighted and signaled to the world that Seoul was not ready to play a leading role in the international liberal order.
Putin’s war on Ukraine may embolden the autocrats in Beijing and Pyongyang to carry out their own military adventurism in the Asia-Pacific region. For the past five years, a China-backed Pyongyang has viewed the leadership in Seoul as weak and easily manipulated. South Korea is geographically located in a complex security theater, and the Yoon administration will have to be strong against the rising tide of authoritarianism. It is imperative that Yoon follow through on his campaign promises to take a principled stand on human rights and combating authoritarianism in South Korea’s foreign policy.
Benjamin R. Young is an assistant professor at the Wilder School of Government & Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the author of Guns, Guerillas, and the Great Leader: North Korea and the Third World.
Five years after Park Geun-hye’s expulsion, a narrow win for the Korean right.
5. Yoon inspects candidate sites for relocation of presidential office
Imagine how the Yongsan area will change if the Yoon Administration moves into the MND compound. I will also make a bold recommendation based on this.
I would reverse the erroneous decision to move the ROK/US CFC headquarters to Camp Humphreys and instead I would keep it in Seoul. I would have the main area of Yongsan become a ROK military base butting up against the Korean National War Museum complex and I would keep the ROK/US CFC in what we have always affectionately called the "white house." I can provide a long list of reasons on why this is good and how it will facilitate OPCON transition, combined military planning strategy, ROK/US coordination, and in the worst case, warfighting or contingency operations in the north.
(LEAD) Yoon inspects candidate sites for relocation of presidential office | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES with more info in paras 2-4, photo)
SEOUL, March 19 (Yonhap) -- President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Saturday visited the foreign ministry building and the defense ministry compound, which are candidate sites for his planned relocation of the presidential office.
He met with ministerial officials there and discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the two places as locations for the next presidential office, according to Yoon's secretariat.
Yoon was briefed by Defense Minister Suh Wook and Second Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-moon at the respective ministries.
"President-elect Yoon and the participants inspected the candidate sites to review which location is more suitable in terms of communication with the people and national security, as well as whether it brings any inconvenience to the people and whether it provides a good working environment for the staff and experts," Yoon's spokesperson, Kim Eun-hye, said after his visit.
"We will listen attentively to the voices of each and every citizen," she added.
Yoon is expected to announce his choice as early as Sunday, sources said.
The former prosecutor general was elected president on March 9. During the campaign, he promised to "return" Cheong Wa Dae to the public in a move intended to demonstrate his commitment to removing the office of the president from its high pedestal.
He pledged to move the presidential office to the main government complex in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul. But his transition team later found the plan infeasible in terms of security.
The team is now weighing an annex building currently used by the foreign ministry and the defense ministry compound in Yongsan.
The team estimates that relocating to the defense ministry compound and to the foreign ministry building will cost 40 billion won (US$33 million) and 80 billion won, respectively.
President Moon Jae-in also pledged to move the presidential office but withdrew the plan over logistical and security issues.
(END)
6. A North Korean Satellite Launch: What to Watch For
Photos and imagery at the link below.
Key points:
Something that is likely to remain unchanged from previous launches is the way North Korea frames the event and how the international community responds.
North Korea takes efforts to make its satellite launches appear like those of civilian space programs elsewhere in the world, especially, as mentioned, with warnings about where the rocket will fly and splash down into the ocean. This is a key difference with its missile launches.
But no matter the framing, the launch will almost certainly be criticized by the US and other nations as nothing more than a test of ICBM technology. The Department of Defense had already aired this complaint in reaction to the two recent tests when it said they were “likely to evaluate this new system before conducting a test at full range in the future, potentially disguised as a space launch.”
A North Korean Satellite Launch: What to Watch For
It’s been six years since North Korea last launched a satellite, but now there are increasing signs that a new launch is in the works.
In the last two weeks, North Korea reported conducting two tests of military reconnaissance satellite technology. Another launch was reported by American and South Korean intelligence to have been conducted on March 16, although it is unclear whether satellite components were also part of that testing. Last week, Kim Jong Un visited the Sohae Satellite Launch Center, the country’s showcase space launch facility, and the National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA), giving guidance on further site development.[1]
The country’s space program has been largely out of the limelight since launches in 2012 and 2016 successfully put satellites into low Earth orbit, although those satellites failed to function. In January 2021, however, at the Eighth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Kim Jong Un disclosed that the design of a military reconnaissance satellite was complete, and the next step would be launching it.[2]
The Timing
North Korea hasn’t said when it plans to launch a satellite, but there is precedent for a launch in the runup to the 110th anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birth (Day of the Sun) on April 15. North Korea often schedules events that can be seen as national triumphs around major anniversaries as part of a propaganda campaign. Moreover, on April 13, 2012, ahead of the 100th anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birth, the country attempted to launch the Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite, although the launch was unsuccessful.
While North Korea doesn’t announce missile launches in advance, it has given prior notice of satellite launches in the past. This is usually done through navigation warnings to aviators and mariners submitted to the International Maritime Organization. It is part of North Korea’s assertion that its space program is like that of other countries and that it plays by the same rules.
The Space Launch Vehicle
North Korea’s three satellite launches in the last decade have used Unha-3 rockets. While it is possible a new launch could use the same Unha-3 rocket, recent actions suggest a more likely alternative.
Unlike normal missile test activity, North Korea did not release photos or video footage of the February 27 or March 6 launches but only reported on the satellite technology tested. However, about a week later, the US Department of Defense said the launches used the North’s new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The Hwasong-17 (화성포-17) ICBM was first unveiled at a military parade in Pyongyang on October 10, 2020, and was seen again at the “Self Defense-2021” expo in Pyongyang in October 2021. This missile is larger than the previous two ICBM designs, the Hwasong-14 and -15, which were flight tested in 2017, and is able to carry heavier payloads, including potentially multiple warheads and presumably, a military reconnaissance satellite.
Figure 1. The Hwasong-17 unveiled at the October 10, 2020 military parade.
(Source: KCTV)
The Satellite
North Korean media has yet to provide any details on the planned “military reconnaissance satellite.” In the past, the state has shown off civilian satellites ahead of launch, but military satellites aren’t usually revealed by any nation. North Korea might choose to show it anyway, to prove it has a satellite to launch and make the case this isn’t just a cover for ICBM testing.
The satellite will likely be placed into a sun-synchronous orbit, which means it will pass over a given point at the same local solar time each day. That’s a typical orbit for an observation satellite, but the planned orbit should become clear once launch details are known.
It’s unclear what resolution images the satellite will capture, but state media provided a clue in photographs taken during Kim’s visit to NADA. On large screens in front of Kim, there appeared to be an image taken during the February 27 test launch. State media censors had blurred the image, but the image appeared to show Anju, a medium-sized town approximately 70 km (45 miles) north of Pyongyang. The resolution is difficult to determine from the blurred image but likely falls into the medium resolution range (see figure below for comparison).
Figure 2. Inside the National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA).
(Source: KCNA)
Figure 3. A comparison of the image released by North Korean media (above) with images from Sentinel-2 at 10 m resolution (bottom left), Planet Scope at 3 m resolution (bottom center) and Planet SkySat at 0.5 m resolution (bottom right).
(Sources: KCNA, European Space Agency and Planet Labs)
The Launch Site
North Korea’s first two space launches, in 1998 and 2009, took place from the Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground (also referred to as Musudan-ri) in the east of the country, but since 2012 all launches have been from the Sohae Satellite Launching Center (Tongchang-ri) on the west coast, and significant improvements have been made at Sohae over the years to increase capabilities at this site. This includes a larger launch tower, processing and checkout buildings on the launch pad, and a direct rail link to the launch pad, making it easier to conceal launch preparation activities. There is also a VIP observation facility and the NADA administration buildings at Sohae, allowing for optimal viewing for the leader and other VIPs.
The site has been largely quiet for the past few years, but changes might be afoot. Kim Jong Un visited Sohae on March 11 and gave instructions for its modernization, including the launch site and support buildings, the engine test stand and a grandstand to observe launches.[3]
Figure 4. Kim Jong Un at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground on March 11, 2022.
(Source: KCNA)
State media said all of this is required so that “various rockets could be launched to carry multi-purpose satellites, including a military reconnaissance satellite, in the future.”[4]
But if that statement was referring to the expected upcoming military reconnaissance satellite launch and it is indeed scheduled around April 15, there is no sign of any construction urgency at Sohae. A week after Kim Jong Un’s visit, the site is still quiet, with no observable work underway. This could mean the work won’t start until after the upcoming launch, the expectations for an imminent launch are wrong, or a different site will be used.
North Korea’s recent tests of satellite technology on the Hwasong-17 have taken place from Sunan International Airport near Pyongyang. There is no dedicated satellite launch facility at Sunan, but the Hwasong-17 can be launched off the back of a transporter-erector-launcher (TEL), opening the possibility that Sunan or another site could be used.
The Reaction
Something that is likely to remain unchanged from previous launches is the way North Korea frames the event and how the international community responds.
North Korea takes efforts to make its satellite launches appear like those of civilian space programs elsewhere in the world, especially, as mentioned, with warnings about where the rocket will fly and splash down into the ocean. This is a key difference with its missile launches.
But no matter the framing, the launch will almost certainly be criticized by the US and other nations as nothing more than a test of ICBM technology. The Department of Defense had already aired this complaint in reaction to the two recent tests when it said they were “likely to evaluate this new system before conducting a test at full range in the future, potentially disguised as a space launch.”
Brief Timeline of North Korean Space Program
- August 31, 1998: Launch of Kwangmyongsong-1 satellite from Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground on a Paektusan-1 rocket. The US said the satellite failed to reach orbit.
- April 5, 2009: Launch of Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite from Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground on an Unha-2 rocket. The US and South Korea reported the launch failed, and the rocket and satellite crashed into the ocean.
- April 13, 2012: Launch of Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite from Sohae Satellite Launching Center on an Unha-3 rocket. The rocket broke up a minute into flight.
- December 12, 2012: Launch of the Kwangmyongsong 3-2 satellite from Sohae Satellite Launching Center on an Unha-3 rocket. The launch successfully placed the satellite in orbit, and North Korea declared it a success, but signals have never been independently observed.
- April 1, 2013: The 7th session of the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) adopted a new law on space development and announced plans to form the National Aerospace Development Administration as the country’s space agency.
- May 2, 2015: Kim Jong Un visited the newly-built General Satellite Control Centre near Pyongyang.
- February 7, 2016: Launch of the Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite from Sohae Satellite Launch Center on an Unha-3 rocket. The rocket delivered the satellite into orbit, but signals were never detected, leading to a conclusion that it had malfunctioned.
- January 9, 2021: State media reported Kim Jong Un announced plans to launch a military reconnaissance satellite.
- February 27, 2022: Test launch of surveillance satellite technology from Sunan International Airport.
- March 5, 2022: Test launch of surveillance satellite technology from Sunan International Airport.
- March 9, 2022: Kim Jong Un visited the National Aerospace Development Administration.
- March 10, 2022: Kim Jong Un visited the Sohae Satellite Launching Center.
- March 16, 2022: North Korea conducted a further rocket test from Sunan International Airport, but it ended in failure, according to reports.
- [1]
Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un Inspects Sohae Satellite Launching Ground,” KCNA, March 11, 2022.
- [2]
“On Report Made by Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un at 8th Congress of WPK,” KCNA, January 9, 2021.
- [3]
“Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un Inspects Sohae Satellite Launching Ground,” KCNA.
- [4]
Ibid.
7. Moon, Yoon advised to meet sooner to narrow differences
Moon, Yoon advised to meet sooner to narrow differences
Posted March. 19, 2022 07:22,
Updated March. 19, 2022 07:22
Moon, Yoon advised to meet sooner to narrow differences. March. 19, 2022 07:22. .
Commenting on his meeting with President-elect Yoon Seok-youl, which was cancelled indefinitely, President Moon Jae-in said Friday, “I don’t think the two sides need any coordination,” adding, “Meeting with each other without reservation as soon as possible is our obligation to the public.” Mentioning mutual trust and close communications, Yoon responded to Moon’s remarks by saying “I will try hard to bring about outcomes desirable from people’s perspective.” The situation seems to be shifting to solution mode four days after their first meeting was cancelled.
The fact the two sides cancelled the meeting just four hours before the event after publicizing the schedule to the public is unprecedented. Both sides apparently felt burden about the recent situation wherein the income and outgoing presidents were seen on a collision course. On Friday, the Presidential Transition Committee also was officially launched nine days after the presidential election. The two sides should put side bad feelings or differing views and meet with each other sooner rather than later to narrow differences.
Officials on both sides including presidential staff, aides to the president-elect, and leaderships of the ruling and opposition parties showed behaviors that are pitiful at best after the cancellation of the original meeting. They took turns to blast each other, with one side saying “stop appointing posts (on final days)” over the incumbent administration’s appointment of its officials to high-paying or key posts including executives at state-run companies and the Bank of Korea’s next governor,” with the other saying, “Stop critiquing the President’s right to personnel affairs.” The two sides also exchanged disparaging words over the issue of presidential pardon of former President Lee Myung-bak and South Gyeongsang Provincial Governor Kim Kyung-soo.
Tak Hyun-min, the presidential secretary for protocol, also criticized the president-elect’s bid to relocate the presidential office by making a social media post. “If you don’t want to use this (the Cheong Wa Dae), I want to ask if we can continue using this place. When Japanese imperialists transformed the Changgyeong Palace into a zoo, they said they would return it to subjects (people),” he said, making a mockery of the new government. President Moon warned his aides, saying “Refrain from disclosing your personal opinions,” as if he realized the seriousness of the situation.
The outgoing administration, which has to hand over power five years after inauguration, and the incoming one, would have completely different sentiment and interests. The public is well aware that Moon and Yoon are in uncomfortable relationship. People want to see the two sides achieve more smooth and harmonious transition of power. How smoothly and efficiently incoming and outgoing administrations are transitioned is a barometer of the level of a country’s democracy.
Apart from presidential pardon and right to personnel appointments, there could be various other critical issues to address. The two sides can never resolve all different issues at their first meeting. It is truly uncomfortable for the public to see the two sides lock horns over details on the agenda even before getting together. The very moment when the two sides come together to meet and exchange words of blessings would help appease the sentiment of the public, which was severely divided into two in the course of the presidential election. Even though Moon and Yoon became unfriendly with each other, they would have something to say to each other. Their meeting should not be just once. If the two sides build up trust, they could meet anywhere, be it at the presidential office or a place of choice by the president-elect.
8. [WHY] Is it really safe to leave valuables lying around in Korea?
Spoiler alert: Yes.
Saturday
March 19, 2022
[WHY] Is it really safe to leave valuables lying around in Korea?
Parcels are left in front of a door. In Korea, packages are left generally outside to avoid unnecessary contact during the Covid-19 pandemic. [SHUTTERSTOCK]
Leave a package on your doorstep in Korea and see what happens — nothing, it will still be waiting for you untouched a week later.
The idea that parcels can be left outside unattended without any risk in Korea isn't new, but the practice has increased dramatically during the Covid-19 pandemic as companies ditched direct deliveries.
Delivery workers no longer ring people’s doorbells and hand over packages. Instead, most e-commerce and logistics companies including Coupang, CJ Logistics, Hanjin Transport and Lotte Global Logistics have changed to a contact-free delivery system.
Simply leaving packages on people’s doorsteps means the delivery is finished, limiting unnecessary contact that might spread Covid-19.
Other countries have changed their delivery policies during the pandemic, but their solutions aren’t as simple as Korea.
Rather than directly delivering packages, Singapore’s SingPost now puts small items inside recipients’ letterboxes. If a package doesn’t fit, delivery workers ring the doorbell and tell people to collect their packages after they leave. If no one is there, the packages won’t be left on the doorstep, but will be delivered the next day.
But Koreans aren't worried that leaving a package outside for a few days might be a bit risky. In fact, parcels aren’t the only thing safe to leave lying around, with people often opting to save their seat in a cafe or restaurant by leaving their phone, laptop or wallet on the table while they go and order.
Leaving bags on the overhead racks on the subway is another thing people don't have to worry about, with petty theft considered to be extremely uncommon here.
In fact, the lack of theft in Korea has become so well known that YouTube is littered with thousands of videos showing social experiments where people leave out their valuables to see if it really is as safe as everybody says. Invariably, it is.
So, why do people rarely steal valuables in Korea?
To try and work out why petty theft is such a minor issue in Korea, some experts look to the country's recent history, especially the tendency of living in close-knit communities as recently as the 1970s and '80s.
Koreans used to have a close relationship with their neighbors and often lived with or near their extended family. Knowing almost everyone in the neighborhood meant that stealing something off someone’s porch or taking valuables at a public place was less likely because the chances of getting caught were high, and humiliation would follow.
“People [didn't steal] in the '70s and '80s even when there was no CCTV,” said Han Min, a professor teaching psychology at Woosong University and author of "Cultural psychology." “We frequently had power blackouts but people didn't care and would still leave their homes and rest outside with their neighbors.
“If blackouts were to happen in countries like the United States, stores would immediately be robbed."
Although people no longer live in close-knit communities, those characteristics tend to be passed on from generation to generation and still live within society today.
Some also say Korean psychology is based on a high level of trust in others.
Higher trust doesn’t mean that Koreans are gullible or blindly believe people, but that they believe doing good to others will make others do so in return. Because of this, people don't even consider the possibility that someone might try to steal their valuables, because it would never cross their mind to do so to somebody else.
“In psychology, we say that one's trust forms during their infancy," said Han. "Korean parents tend to be more hands-on than in other countries and this helps children build more trust toward their parents, which then influences them in the future to trust other people as well.”
A wallet and phone are left unattended at a cafe. [SHUTTERSTOCK]
Is it purely cultural and psychological?
No, people say there are also other reasons as well. Another factor that is known to play a role is the huge amount of surveillance cameras, or closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, active in Korea.
There were 83,557 surveillance cameras in Seoul as of December 2021. Considering the city had a population of 9.83 million at that time, Seoul has 8.5 cameras to every 1,000 people.
According to U.K.-based market tracker Comparitech, that puts Seoul at No. 44 out of 150 cities globally. Surprisingly that's not that high on the list for number of cameras per person, but when looking at cameras per square mile, it jumps up to 11th place, with 331.94 cameras per square mile.
Delhi ranks first, followed by London and Chennai in India. Six of the remaining seven cities in the top 10 are in China.
"If something is lying on the ground, no one touches it," said Park Hee-bong, a professor teaching social science at Chung-Ang University and the author of "Social Capital." "One explanation is that Koreans have an overall understanding that people shouldn't touch others’ things and they also know that taking someone else's belongings and getting caught on CCTV could leave them with a huge fine."
Accessing surveillance camera footage is not particularly difficult in Korea. There are always surveillance cameras at stores, in building elevators and out on the street. If something is lost at a store or restaurant, people can ask the employee to check the surveillance cameras.
"Many Koreans live in apartments, which are safer for contact-free deliveries, and there is normally a lot of CCTV," said a spokesperson for a logistics company who wished to remain anonymous. "Even before the pandemic, about one-third of deliveries in Seoul were left on people's doorsteps because people living alone or dual-income households won't be there when delivery workers arrive."
Another logistics company said parcels do occasionally get lost or stolen, but the number is insignificant.
Surveillance cameras do help, but some experts say they are more effective at catching thieves than preventing crime.
“Theft and robbery in Korea has been decreasing in the past 10 years, but it's not because of CCTV preventing crime, it is because there are less people carrying around and using cash,” said Han Min-kyung, a professor teaching criminology at the Korean National Police University. “Now, the possible benefits of stealing valuables like wallets don't outweigh the cost and risk of being caught.”
“Theft and robbery is also declining in rural areas, where there is less CCTV.”
If I lose my belongings, is it easy to find them in Korea?
A bag is left on a subway seat. Lost bags are collected by passengers and employees and sent to the subway lost and found center. [SEOUL METRO]
Not only is theft of valuables not seen as much of an issue, but people also tend to go to great lengths to try and reunite lost belongings with their owners.
There were 101,523 items handed in to Seoul Metro's lost and found center last year. Wallets were the most common item, making up for 24 percent. Mobile phones, bags and clothes followed.
Lost items are kept at the center for a week and then handed over to a local police station. Of the 101,523 items, 66,426, or 65 percent, were returned to their owners within that week.
"Our employees regularly collect items that are still lying around even when the subway arrives at the last stop, but there are a lot of passengers who bring lost items in themselves," said Yoon Kang-jae, a spokesperson for Seoul Metro. "Taking others' things, even if they've been left behind, breaks the Act on Embezzlement of Lost Articles, but the majority of people bring items to the lost and found because they think it’s the right thing to do and really want to help find the owner."
Providing compensation for people who find lost objects is another factor that motivates people to keep lost items safe and return them to the owner.
According to the Lost Articles Act, the owner of an item must pay 5 to 20 percent of the value of the item to the person who returned it to them.
While most people return valuables because they feel it is the right thing to do, they do have the legal right to go to court and claim their reward if they want to do so.
Lost items are stored at a lost and found center in Chungmuro Station in central Seoul. [SEOUL METRO]
To what extent can people leave their valuables lying around?
People always say it’s safe to leave your possessions lying around in Korea, but the Korea JoongAng Daily wanted to reach out to some people living here to hear their experiences and thoughts.
One of them is 27-year-old Chae Ji-won. She ordered a pair of shoes from a U.S. website because she couldn't find the model in Korea. Getting the shoes shipped from the United States, the order took a long time and it was impossible to pin point an exact date for delivery.
Unfortunately for Chae, the parcel arrived while she was on vacation.
“Based on the parcel tracking information, it looked like an international order I made weeks ago was set to be delivered when I was still vacationing in Jeju Island,” said Chae. “I worried that the parcel might be stolen when I was away, but it was still there sitting in front of my apartment when I got home.”
Chae said the parcel sat in front of her door for a full day before she got home.
"I did think about calling a friend to pick up the package for me, but as it was only a day before I was set to land in Seoul, I figured it would be okay."
Finders keepers is a phrase not used in Korea that often, according to Park A-yeong, a graduate student in her 20s.
“I used to have a part-time job at an art museum ticket office, and so many people returned lost items they found in the bathroom or souvenir shop that we even had a designated lost-and-found bin,” said Park. “There were wallets, earphones, credit cards, someone’s makeup pouch and honestly the list goes on and on.”
Park Ju-yeon, an office worker in her 30s, had a similar experience.
“I had just moved and wrote the wrong delivery address for an order I placed online, so my parcel wasn’t at my house even though the tracking service said it was delivered,” said Park. “I realized I wrote the wrong address and went to the place to check, but my package wasn't there either.”
Park thought she had lost her parcel, but the person living at the address had taken the package to the apartment's security guard office.
"I went to check just in case, and the guard said there was a package a resident left at the office because it wasn't theirs," said Park. "He asked me my name and what I ordered to check it was mine and gave it back to me.”
So, does theft ever happen?
Theft tends to happen less in Korea, but that doesn’t mean the country is entirely safe.
There were 180,067 cases of theft reported to police in 2020. Among the total, 27,298 happened at stores, 1,557 at train stations and 540 on the subway.
Logistics companies don't disclose the number of their parcels that were lost or stolen, but there were 277 requests for compensation regarding deliveries to the Korea Consumer Agency (KCA) in 2021. Among them, stolen packages accounted for 95 cases, or 34.3 percent, the second-most frequent complaint.
The first on the list was parcel damage with 126 cases, or 45.5 percent.
There are bound to be more parcels that were actually stolen considering some people directly contact logistics companies instead of the KCA, but the number is still small considering there were 3.6 billion packages delivered in Korea last year.
An office worker living in southern Seoul surnamed Kim said she had experienced parcel theft in the past.
“I was living in a goshiwon back then, and deliveries were all kept in front of the goshiwon manager’s office,” said Kim, referring to a residential building with small individual rooms that are rented out. “The delivery tracking app said my parcel was delivered, but it was nowhere to be found so I asked the manager to check the CCTV and found my package.”
BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]
9. Yoon faces growing opposition to Cheong Wa Dae relocation
No matter what he does he will face opposition. Perhaps this is useful to make a significant transition of Korean governance. This will be his first leadership test.
Yoon faces growing opposition to Cheong Wa Dae relocation
Six lawmakers of the Democratic Party of Korea hold a press conference in front of the defense ministry in Seoul, Friday, urging President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol to scrap his plan to relocate the presidential office to the ministry compound. Yonhap
By Kang Seung-woo
With the defense ministry compound emerging as the most likely site for the new presidential office and residence, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's office relocation plan is facing a strong backlash, due to concerns that the move would compromise national security and waste taxpayers' money.
During his election campaign, Yoon vowed to open the "new Gwanghwamun era" by working out of the Seoul Government Complex so as to depart from the country's legacy of imperial presidencies and thereby communicate better with the people and press. However, his transition team has since had second thoughts, citing the lack space for required security personnel in the complex ― and have been considering the foreign ministry building and the defense ministry compound, with the latter seen as offering certain advantages in terms of security.
The foreign ministry building, located next to the Government Complex in Jongno District, is occupied solely by the ministry, while the defense ministry sits next to U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan.
"The presidential relocation to the defense ministry could cost over 1 trillion won ($825 billion), but the transition team does not seem to have figured that out," Rep. Kim Byung-joo of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said during a radio interview, Friday. Kim is a retired four-star Army general who served as a deputy commander of the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command.
The government estimates that relocating the presidential office and residence to the defense ministry compound would cost 50 billion won ($41 million), while relocating it to the foreign ministry building would cost double that, 100 billion won.
"The government estimate might be the costs covering mainly the remodeling of his office. There are 10 military units, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), inside the compound. Constructing a new building for the JCS could cost up to 300 billion won, as it also needs to set up advanced security facilities, such as an underground bunker. The relocation of the defense ministry is also estimated to require over 100 billion won in funds. In addition, if the military units are relocated, their housing and welfare facilities will need to be set up again as well," Kim said.
"The President-elect said he wants to move out of Cheong Wa Dae for better communication, but moving into a military fortress means deepening the lack of communication," he said.
Six DPK lawmakers who belong to the National Assembly's National Defense Committee held a press conference in front of the defense ministry later in the day, urging Yoon to withdraw his relocation plan.
"The chain of relocations of the defense ministry and the JCS, caused by the commander-in-chief, could hurt military readiness. In addition, the possible security vacuum will trouble him throughout his entire presidency," they said.
The relocation plan comes as North Korea is expected to test an intercontinental ballistic missile on the occasion of its founder Kim Il-sung's 110th birthday on April 15, prompting fears that the South Korean military may not be able to deal with Pyongyang's provocation properly because the defense ministry and the JCS will be preoccupied with moving out.
In addition, the South Korean and U.S. militaries are scheduled to hold an annual combined exercise next month, so the relocation to the defense ministry is feared to disrupt the exercise, which the President-elect has stressed the importance of in terms of strengthening deterrence against Pyongyang's growing nuclear threat.
"There are obvious reasons that military facilities have been concentrated in the ministry compound. It is unpredictable what fallout could take place after the facilities are scattered," a ministry official said.
Lee Jae-oh, a standing adviser of Yoon's People Power Party, said, also on Friday, that the abrupt emergence of Yongsan as the most likely site for the relocation may be based on geomancy, a set of ancient theories guiding the auspicious placement of buildings based on topography, known as "pungsu-jiri" in Korean.
Presidential transition committee members inspect the foreign ministry building in Seoul, Friday, as it is being considered as one of the candidate sites for hosting the new presidential office. Yonhap
"Until earlier this month, Yoon had been pledging to usher in the 'new Gwanghwamun era,' but now he is planning to move to Yongsan out of the blue, which is ridiculous," Lee said in another radio interview. Lee is a close confidant of conservative former President Lee Myung-bak.
"At this critical moment in terms of security, he is seeking to kick out the defense ministry and occupy its site. We cannot figure out the reason for his decision other than his belief in geomancy," he added.
Kim Chong-in, the former chief of Yoon's election committee, told Yonhap News that it did not make sense that Yoon was wasting energy on such an insignificant issue.
"Rather than moving his residence, he should prioritize how to help small business owners who were hit hard during the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.
Amid growing criticism of Yoon's unilateral pursuit of moving the presidential residence and office to the defense ministry compound, his spokesperson Kim Eun-hye said that there should be a consensus on the issue because it was one of his most important pledges.
"We will go through the process of collecting various opinions and holding debates and discussions," she told Friday's briefing.
The transition committee carried out on-site inspections of the two ministries on Friday afternoon.
Rep. Kwon Young-se, vice chairman of Yoon's transition committee, told reporters at the defense ministry that they will take various factors into consideration before making a final determination, including whether the facilities are suitable for the work of the presidential office, and continuity in the work of the foreign and defense ministries.
"We'll also look at cost issues, and whether it will be convenient for nearby residents and the public," Kwon said.
10. The beauty of Korean democracy
Conclusion:
South Korea is not a perfect society. It has many faults and flaws. But its democracy is beautiful. And so is its cleanliness, infrastructure, public transport, health system and, most importantly, its people. People that share different ideas, values and beliefs but who all live by the democratic process. An alternative to this, no matter how much you might disagree with others, would be tragic in my estimation.
The beauty of Korean democracy
gettyimagesbankBy David A. Tizzard
Many of us take democracy for granted, believing it to be the natural state of man or the logical progress of all and every society and culture around the world. Such beliefs, however, do not always conform to reality. Backsliding, single-party states, dictators and a whole host of other factors demonstrate that democracy is a variable rather than a fixed phenomenon. What was considered democratic practice in the past is no longer held so today. In the current age, states also differ in their degree of democracy.
So how do we measure democracy? How do we know if we are living in a democratic society today? How and when did South Korea transition from a feudal slave society, through colonization and authoritarian military rule, to a country that has some of the OECD's finest democratic practices today in just over a century? It's an important yet obviously very difficult question. Nevertheless, while platitudes and stereotypes remain somewhat ingrained in many, I would suggest that in 2022 South Korea's democracy is a marvelous thing and now superior in "some" ways to even that of its erstwhile political and economic supporter, the United States.
First, what is democracy? One of the most important characteristics of democracies is that rather than power, it is the protection of rights that is of prime concern: freedom of speech and the press, freedom of religion and conscience, freedom of assembly and association and the right to due process and fair trial. There also has to be competition for government positions and fair elections carried out without force. Citizens should participate in selecting their leaders. Those elected must then be responsive and accountable to the citizens. Civil and political liberties must exist to ensure safety and integrity.
How does democracy come about? Why, for example, is South Korea a democracy and North Korea not? And China? Russia? First, the historical period in which the transition comes as well as the type of regime it replaces matters. Early democratization took place in capitalist economies in which the rich (rather than other social groups) held power. Research also confirms that richer countries are "more likely" to be democratic. Some scholars, influenced by Marx, believe that the middle class is the carrier of democracy: "No bourgeoisie, no democracy." But it is not necessarily wealth that brings about democracy; instead, economic development reduces the likelihood of democratic breakdown. Beyond this, there is a correlation between education and democracy. Culture and the effects of colonialism play a role. As does the presence (or absence) of natural resources. Democratic neighbors and participation in international organizations can also help.
Why is South Korea a democracy? There is no simple answer to this, but broadly one could point to three factors: 1) Civil society and public consciousness expanding; 2) economic development and the rise of the middle class; and 3) the international environment and historical circumstance. This narrative includes, but is not exclusive to, the class conscious rise of the "minjung," the importance of Gwangju, the millions of people that took part in 1987 demonstrations moving the narrative from beyond students and activists to middle class workers, and the 88 Olympics which brought international attention. Women, workers, students, journalists, Christians and professors. Moreover, it was not always peaceful or achieved solely by candles. People rallied behind the symbols of Park Jong-cheol and Lee Han-yeol in their pursuit of freedom. There was suffering, violence, and death. Disruptive tactics in protests played a big role in the 1980s. The point is to suggest that you need people capable of democracy, a state ready for democracy, and an environment in which it can take place.
That's why I would respectfully disagree with former President Kim Dae-jung who once argued in his influential piece in Foreign Affairs that democracy was Korea's destiny. He got much else correct in that piece but his argument that South Korean democracy was inevitable does not quite sit right with me personally. It was hard fought and made ever more beautiful considering the periods of darkness from whence it arose, but it was not the only possibility this country faced. The people of South Korea have brought about democracy and a host of factors have contributed. Considering the country to north of the DMZ is yet to experience democracy, one might think of what particular aspects of South Korea's rise have not taken place there yet. Is it the lack of a middle class? The lack of a figure behind which to rally? The lack of consciousness, education, or political opposition?
As late as the mid-1990s, the streets of Seoul could be seen filled with tear gas and flaming Molotov cocktails as protestors and riot police engaged in violent clashes.
Today, whatever your thoughts of the political candidates, South Korean politics is carried out without such dangers. Moreover, power changes hands (relatively) peacefully between opposition parties who have diametrically opposed views on North Korea and other issues. The voter turnout in the recent presidential election was over 77 percent. The young, the old, the rich, the poor, women and men, all turned out in great numbers. There was no apathy or stepping away from democracy believing it to be useless. People demonstrably believed in the process and the fairness. Automatic registration, early voting, national holiday, and polling places everywhere made it easy for people to vote rather than try to prevent them from doing so. Now that the results are in, with some groups vocally unhappy about the winner, there is no narrative that the opposition's victory was not fair or legal. The process is being respected, as it should.
Professor Ra Jong-il wrote a fabulous Korean-language piece recently in which he asserted that one's political opponents should not be seen as one's enemy. Instead, they are co-workers or colleagues with whom you disagree but nevertheless must work with in order to make the lives of the citizens better. The focus should never be solely on one's own party nor on working to hinder the progress of the opposition: it should be on the people. When the parties fight, the people suffer. If they can somehow work together despite their differences, the people will benefit.
South Korea is not a perfect society. It has many faults and flaws. But its democracy is beautiful. And so is its cleanliness, infrastructure, public transport, health system and, most importantly, its people. People that share different ideas, values and beliefs but who all live by the democratic process. An alternative to this, no matter how much you might disagree with others, would be tragic in my estimation.
Dr. David A. Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) has a Ph.D. in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He is a social/cultural commentator and musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He is also the host of the Korea Deconstructed podcast, which can be found online. The views expressed in the article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.
11. 1,500 N.Koreans are at risk of being repatriated by China: UN investigator
I know I am beating the dead horse but China is complicit in north Korea's human rights abuses. We need to pressure China to allow these Koreans refugee status and allow them to go to the country of their choice.
1,500 N.Koreans are at risk of being repatriated by China: UN investigator
Human rights situation in N.Korea has deteriorated over the last six years
Published : Mar 18, 2022 - 14:49 Updated : Mar 18, 2022 - 15:01
Tomas Ojea Quintana, UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, speaks at a press conference in Seoul. (Yonhap - File Photo)
The United Nations’ independent investigator on human rights in North Korea urged China and Russia to stop forcibly repatriating North Korean refugees and abide by the requirements of UN conventions forbidding refoulement.
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, expressed his concerns over the perennial but weighty issue in his report which will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council on Mar. 21.
Around 1,500 North Korean individuals “are estimated to be detained in China as ‘illegal migrants’ and are at risk of being repatriated to their country once the border reopens,” Ojea Quintana said in his final report before his term ends this July.
The UN special rapporteur has also received reports that three North Korean people, who seek asylum, are being confined at the North Korean consulate in Vladivostok, Russia.
Ojea Quintana said he made some progress in preventing the forced repatriation of North Korean refugees through his constant efforts including “regular engagement” with China, South Korea, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
But the UN special rapporteur still “remains concerned that the relevant parties have not agreed on a comprehensive solution to ensure protection and to provide safe passage to escapees.”
Ojea Quintana specifically called for China and Russia to apply the “principle of non-refoulement” under international human rights law to North Korean refugees, who are “at risk of serious human rights violations upon repatriation.”
The principle of non-refoulement guarantees that no one should be returned to a country where they would face retribution including “torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and other irreparable harm,” according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The principle “applies to all migrants at all times, irrespective of migration status.”
The UN special rapporteur underscored that China and Russia are required to comply with the UN Convention against Torture (UNCAT) as well as the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, which prohibit refoulement, as States Parties.
Ojea Quintana pointed out “serious human rights violations on repatriation” have continued in North Korea, citing the OHCHR report.
Deteriorating human rights situation
In the report, the UN expert said he has “witnessed a further deterioration of the human rights situation” inside of North Korea “during the six years carrying out his mandate” since 2016.
The COVID-19 pandemic, “regular natural disasters,” and the adverse impact of economic sanctions are the factors that have worsened the human rights abuse, but “these events can also be viewed as a symptom of the failure of the (North Korean) government to instigate meaningful reform.”
Ojea Quintana emphasized that the Kim Jong-un regime’s “political will” is essential to “take action to implement the recommendations from the United Nations human rights system,” including universal periodic review.
The UN special rapporteur said Pyongyang should “urgently invest the maximum available resources, including through international cooperation, to ensure that basic needs are met.” At the same time, he voiced his concerns over Pyongyang’s move to divert “resources from social and economic priorities” to defense spending.
The UN special rapporteur also pointed out North Korea’s draconian lockdown measures have further exacerbated the human rights situation, food crisis and people’s livelihood in North Korea and tightened the Kim Jong-un regime’s control over the population.
In particular, the report emphasized the “utmost priority, for now, is that the United Nations Country Team, diplomats and humanitarian organizations can return to the country” to resume providing humanitarian aid on the ground.
The World Food Programme (WFP)’s food assistance to North Korea has been halted since March 2021. Medications to treat tuberculosis, which is a highly infectious disease and results in 16,000 deaths each year in North Korea, are “at risk of stocking out, as are polio vaccines.”
Against that backdrop, Pyongyang should review whether its COVID-19 lockdown restrictions are in line with international law and “necessary, proportionate, non-discriminatory, time-bound and transparent.”
Provision of vaccines as a gateway
Ojea Quintana said the Kim Jong-un regime should gradually reopen its borders and discuss ways to “ensure the full COVID-19 vaccination for the entire population” with the international community and UN agencies.
The UN expert has repeatedly proposed that the international community could provide 60 million doses of vaccinations for the entire North Korean population to support the border reopening and the resumption of in-person interactions.
Ojea Quintana also said a “new way of thinking” is needed to improve the North Korean human rights situation, highlighting that the offer of vaccines can be the “gateway to broader conversations” with the North Korean authorities.
“This will require vision and initiative, driven by the needs of the North Korean people rather than any other agenda. It requires proactive steps of engagement.”
In the report, Ojea Quintana also criticized that the international community and UN member states “have demonstrated a sustained collective lack of political will to pursue leverage on human rights in a consistent, principled and effective manner.”
The UN special rapporteur underlined that the international community should renounce the current widespread conviction that “human rights concerns can be addressed only after a process of denuclearization and trust-building opens up opportunities for such sensitive issues to be broached.”
“This approach has been, and will remain, a recipe for deadlock and ensuring the status quo on the dire human rights situation,” Ojea Quintana said. “The North Korean people deserve better.”
12. Hoeryong lecturer criticizes Chinese mobile users as “tools of the enemy”
Information and communications is an existential threat to the regime. The Korean people in the north are hungry for information and willing to take the risks to access it.
Hoeryong lecturer criticizes Chinese mobile users as “tools of the enemy”
People continue to communicate with the outside world, prompting the authorities to lay down the law once again
A scene from Hoeryong taken in 2013 (Flickr, Creative Commons, Raymond Cunningham)
A source says North Korean authorities are intensifying their criticism of users of Chinese-made mobile phones in regions along the country’s border with China, labeling them “tools of the enemy.”
A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Wednesday that the authorities recently held a lecture in Hoeryong on the theme, “Users of Chinese-made Mobile Phones are Anti-State Criminals and Cat’s Paws of the Enemy.” He said a district security guidance officer conducted the lecture.
Daily NK previously reported that North Korea had been encouraging users of Chinese-made mobile phones to turn themselves in and confess, even as it poured scorn on them, referring to them as “human trash.”
North Korea has been conducting sweeping “mop-up operations” and “wars of extermination” against people who communicate with the outside world since the country closed the China-North Korea border in January 2020 following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, people have continued to communicate with the outside world, apparently prompting the authorities to lay down the law once again.
In fact, at the lecture, the speakers said the people are marching together as one to achieve the “lofty goals presented during the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee,” but “human trash” continues to emerge who — like “thieving cats” — hide and use foreign mobile phones.
The lecturers said these people are “failing to come to their senses,” even though the authorities have conducted several “political efforts for the public” to get individuals who continue to use or hide illegal mobile phones to turn themselves in and confess.
In particular, the authorities used the lectures to drum up hostility towards users of Chinese-made mobile phones.
Specifically, the lecturer said such individuals unreservedly engaged in acts of treason that betray their country and the people, “seduced by a few dollars thrown their way by enemies.” They called on people to wage an “uncompromising” struggle against users of foreign-made mobile phones, and to wage an “intense public struggle” so that the “human trash” can no longer show their faces.
Even as the lecture once again stressed “voluntarily turning yourself in,” it also stressed the duty to report on other people, pointing to the need to “awaken relatives and comrades.” This is a typical North Korean agit-prop method that calls on everyone to take part in ideological education efforts while emphasizing hostility toward the enemy.
The lecturer also made an effort to generate fear, too.
The source said the lecturer ended with threats, namely, that there was no coming back for the countless people who were busted by “legal agencies” for using Chinese-made mobile phones, and that the “mop-up operation” would continue until it has caught every last offender.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
13. Two families die in succession in Hoeryong due to lack of food
But all the party has to offer is ideology. You cannot eat ideology.
Two families die in succession in Hoeryong due to lack of food
City party authorities emphasized that local officials are fostering a "betrayal of socialism" by failing to prevent incidents of people dying due to the lack of food
Border region of North Hamgyong Province as seen in early June 2019. / Image: Daily NK
Recently, a family in Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province, starved to death while another family chose to commit suicide as they, too, were facing starvation.
A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Wednesday that two families died one after the other on Mar. 6 and Mar. 7 in Hoeryong.
Although Hoeryong is located in a mountainous area, because it is so close to the Chinese border, people living there have long been able to engage in trade and smuggling. This is why the city was not affected as badly as other areas during the famine of the 1990s.
However, the closure of the border over the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic has forced Hoeryong residents into extreme difficulties since they can no longer earn money or receive goods across the border.
As a result of the dire circumstances the residents of the city are facing, one family starved to death earlier this month while another, also facing starvation, decided to collectively commit suicide by burning charcoal (when burned in a closed space, charcoal can cause death as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning).
The incidents were immediately reported to Hoeryong’s party committee.
Before reporting the situation to the provincial party committee, however, the municipal party committee convened an enlarged meeting on Mar. 8 with the main officials from Hoeryong’s party committee, people’s committee, Ministry of State Security, Ministry of Social Security, and Public Prosecutor’s Office to better understand the current living conditions of local residents.
“The municipal party committee had told officials at district offices, organizations, and companies to be on the lookout for people not attending work or school due to starvation and to write up daily reports on such cases,” the source said, adding that the municipal party committee had summoned all these officials who, according to the committee, failed to do their job properly in preventing the deaths.
During the meeting, the municipal party committee said that it already warned local officials about upcoming food shortages in the spring and emphasized the need for preparations to be made beforehand. It blamed local officials for these terrible incidents, saying they neglected their duties, the source added.
The municipal party committee blamed the deaths of the two families on “irresponsible officials,” saying that they chose to focus on “ideological issues” while ignoring the people, even while they knew that people “could not go outside because they had nothing to eat.”
Moreover, they also raised the question to the officials of why it is that ordinary people are the only ones starving while there are no such food shortage problems among the households of cadres.
The municipal party committee also emphasized that officials are fostering a “betrayal of socialism” among people who “can be saved by the party” when people die of malnutrition or commit suicide due to food shortages, adding that officials should “never neglect” such cases.
After this, discussions were held during the meeting on how to make sure that there are no more starving households while also emphasizing the need for urgent measures to be taken to deal with the situation. However, no active measures to deal with the problem were drawn up, according to the source.
“Officials say that more than 30% of the people are facing extremely dire circumstances, so there’s a need for active measures to counter this problem, but [the authorities] are only questioning the head of the inminban [people’s unit] or us [local officials] while just handing out a few kilos of rice [comparable to] chicken feed to the people,” the source said.
Translated by Gabriela Bernal
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Jong So Yong is one of Daily NK’s freelance reporters. Questions about her articles can be directed to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
14. Hyesan Coal Mine workers suffer from outbreak of tuberculosis
TB is one of the worst medical conditions in the north (among many). But this has real implications for unification. This is why medical engagement in the north could be so productive if more medical organizations could get access to the north now. But of course Kim will not allow very much (the Linton brothers being one exception) because he prioritizes nuclear and missile development over the welfare of the Korean people.
Hyesan Coal Mine workers suffer from outbreak of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis patients need to undergo more than six months of intensive treatment, but hospitals provide nothing more than the diagnosis
By Lee Chae Un - 2022.03.18 2:35pm
There has been a recent outbreak of tuberculosis among workers at Hyesan Coal Mine in Yanggang Province, Daily NK has learned.
A Daily NK source in Yanggang Province said Thursday that workers continue to emerge who are unable to work because they have caught tuberculosis. He said most of them are miners who work underground digging coal.
According to the source, 17 mine workers have been diagnosed with tuberculosis so far. Eight were diagnosed last month, with an additional nine emerging during the first half of March alone.
Why the prevalence rate has risen remains unknown, but it appears increased work hours due to calls for “self-reliance” are a major factor.
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by the tubercular bacillus. Given that it is spread by droplets from coughing, sneaking and phlegm, your chances of being infected naturally increase the longer you are exposed.
However, locals point more to economic difficulties for the rise in cases.
Miners who inhale a lot of dust used to regularly drink alcohol to wash away coal dust from their lungs, though this practice is not grounded in science.
From last year, however, the authorities suspended food provisions to the miners. Meals are no longer provided in the mine shafts, and coal production has plummeted as well.
With miners facing intensified inspections whenever they enter or leave the mines, pilfering a bit of coal has grown more difficult, too. The miners could say they no longer have the financial wherewithal to buy even the booze to wash the coal dust out of their throats.
In fact, at the mine, workers claim that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, workers drank every day to wash away the coal dust, but they can no longer do so when they cannot even have proper meals. They say the aftermath of this is the growing number of tuberculosis patients.
Tuberculosis patients need to undergo more than six months of intensive treatment, but hospitals provide nothing more than the diagnosis. Patients are left to provide for their own treatment.
The source said most of the sick workers cannot receive normal treatment due to economic difficulties and simply suffer with their disease. He said despite this, “pathetic” cadres at the mine simply tell workers with serious symptoms to get proper treatment while taking no measures to enable such treatment.
The source expressed concern that if the authorities continue to ignore the food problem affecting miners and fail to provide them with proper medical treatment, the number of tuberculosis patients will grow.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
V/R
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Phone: 202-573-8647
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
FDD is a Washington-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
