Informal Institute for National Security Thinkers and Practitioners


Quotes of the Day:


"Common sense is seeing things as they are; and doing things as they ought to be."
- Harriet Beecher Stowe

"Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd."
- Bertrand Russell


Characteristics of the American Way of War (6 of 13)


6. Technology-dependent. The exploitation of machinery is the American way of war. One may claim that airpower is virtually synonymous with that way of war, and that its employment as the leading military instrument of choice has become routine. So at least it appeared in the 1990s, during the warm afterglow of airpower's triumph in the First Gulf War. America is the land of technological marvels and of extraordinary technology dependency. It was so from early in the 19th century when a shortage of skilled craftsmen--they had tended to remain in Europe--obliged Americans to invent and use machines as substitutes for human skill and muscle. Necessity bred preference and then excellence, and the choice of mechanical solutions assumed a cultural significance that has endured. The watershed, unsurprisingly, was the experience of the Civil War. The way of war that succeeded in that most bloody of America's struggles was logistical, having been enabled by an exploitation of raw industrial power that foreign observers found awesome. American soldiers say that the human being matters most, but, in practice, the American way of war, past, present, and prospectively future, is quintessentially and uniquely technology-dependent. The Army's transformation plans are awash with prudent words on the many dimensions of future conflict, but at its core lies a drive to acquire an exceedingly expensive Future Combat System, consisting of a network of vital technologies.


Given the range of potential demands that foreign policy may place on the Army, the only sound plan for the future has to be one that is flexible and adaptable. The enemies of tomorrow are at least as likely to take regular as irregular forms. The issue is not technology, nor is it any particular set of weapons and support systems. Instead, the difficulty lies in the fact that the American armed forces are culturally attuned to favoring technological solutions over other approaches, while irregular enemies pose problems of a kind where technology typically offers few real advantages. Indeed, machines and dependence upon them are apt to have negative value, because although they can save some American lives, they tend to isolate American soldiers from the social, and even the military, context which is the decisive battleground in irregular conflict. Contrary to appearances, perhaps, this is to condemn neither machines nor technology in principle. Whatever technology can do that is useful in COIN and for counterterrorism certainly should be done. It is the use, or misuse through overuse, of technology that is at issue, not technology itself. The experience of several countries demonstrates unambiguously that there is no correlation between technical sophistication and success in the conduct of warfare against irregulars. Remember the proposed "McNamara Fence" during the Vietnam War and such like extravagant follies.
- Colin Gray, 2006



1. N. Korea approves war deterrent steps against S. Korea-U.S. drills at key party meeting: KCNA

2. Biden asks Yoon to lead plenary session in upcoming democracy summit

3. N.Korea warns to offensively use ‘war deterrent’ ahead of S. Korea-US military exercise

4. Ball in Japan's court after Korea's gesture on forced labor issue

5. [ANALYSIS] Why is AMCHAM donating to fund for Korean victims of Japan's forced labor?

6. Korea, US to kick off joint military drill Monday

7. Artificial intelligence and the future of the Korean economy

8. South Korean Objectives in the Final Frontier

9. [Column] Putting Korea back in the diplomatic game

10. UNC committed to role in allies' 'defensive' drills for mission to guard peace: deputy chief

11. North Korean Fire-Assault Drill

12. Washington’s role in turning North Korea into a garrison state

13. The US, its allies, and North Korea are one wrong move away from disaster

14. [Column] From K-pop to a ‘Hallyu economy’

15. [Editorial] K-pop’s defining moment

16. Springfield Visits Republic of Korea during Indo-Pacific Patrol




1. N. Korea approves war deterrent steps against S. Korea-U.S. drills at key party meeting: KCNA


A few points to keep in mind when we read these statements:


Kim Jong Un is smart enough to know that he cannot be successful if he attacks when the alliance is strong and the combined military is ready. He attacks these exercises for a number of reasons - one of them is to weaken the alliance, end training, and drive US forces off the peninsula to provide him with an advantage in coercing the ROK and ultimately to be able to successfully use force to achieve his objectives (dominate the peninsula to ensure regime survival).


Kim knows that all militaries have to train. Including his, and no one is talking about the culmination of the Winter Training Cycle this month when the nKPA is brought to the highest statement of readiness at the optimal time to attack the South due to the ground still being hard and the rice paddies not being flooded and planted.


We need to consider Dr. Jung Pak's timeless question: Who does Kim fear more" The US military or the Korean people in the north? (It is the Korean people especially when armed with information)


Because he fears the people, he must use these exercises to reinforce the perception of a threat from the South and the alliance in order to justify the suffering and sacrifice of the Korean people in the north to ensure Kim Jong Un not only survives but is able to live his life of comfort and luxury.


So when we hear this type of rhetoric we need to compare it to the nature, objectives, and tragedy of the Kim family regime and because we recognize and understand his strategy we need to EXPOSE it (to inoculate the Korean people in the South and Americans) and attack his strategy with a superior form of political warfare.



N. Korea approves war deterrent steps against S. Korea-U.S. drills at key party meeting: KCNA | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 김수연 · March 12, 2023

SEOUL, March 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has decided to take "important, practical" measures for the "offensive use" of war deterrents, state media said Sunday, with the United States and South Korea set to launch their joint military exercise this week.

The decision was made at an enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), presided over by leader Kim Jong-un, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Washington and Seoul are scheduled to kick off the Freedom Shield (FS) exercise Monday for an 11-day run, along with a large-scale field maneuver, called the Warrior Shield.

"The meeting discussed and adopted the important practical steps for making more effective, powerful and offensive use of the war deterrent of the country in coping with the present situation in which the war provocations of the U.S. and south Korea are reaching the red-line," the KCNA said in an English-language dispatch. It did not specify what the practical measures would be.


This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on March 12, 2023, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) presiding over a meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, where the country has decided on "important, practical" measures for the offensive use of war deterrents. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

The North is widely expected to conduct weapons tests timed with the allies' combined military exercises, which Pyongyang has long denounced as rehearsal for an invasion.

Kim inspected a "fire assault drill," simulating its attack on the enemy's airfield, last week in a bid to check the "actual war" readiness posture of its military.

His younger sister Kim Yo-jong earlier warned her country is ready to take "overwhelming" actions against military activities by the U.S. and the South.

The North also discussed issues of resolving rural problems at the key military meeting, the KCNA said.

They discussed "detailed duties for accelerating rural development, regional construction and grand socialist construction," as well as "measures for implementing them and ways for using military forces," it said.

Observers said the North appears to have discussed ways to dispatch the Korean People's Army to help with the construction of homes in rural areas and other projects aimed at improving people's lives.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by 김수연 · March 12, 2023



2. Biden asks Yoon to lead plenary session in upcoming democracy summit


Shared values.


As an aside, we should keep in mind the ideological war we are in with north Korea while north Korea aggressively works to subcvet South Korea and the ROK/US Alliance:

  • Subversion: The undermining of the power and authority of an established system or institution.
  • As in: "the ruthless subversion of democracy"
  • Ideological War – a choice between:
  • Shared ROK/US Values
  • Freedom and individual liberty, liberal democracy, free market economy, rule of law, and human rights
  • Kim family regime (KFR) “values”
  • Juche/Kimilsungism/now "KIMJONGUNISM," Socialist Workers Paradise, Songun, Songbun, Byungjin, and denial of human rights to sustain KFR power
  • nK engages in political warfare and active subversion of the ROK and the ROK/US alliance




(LEAD) Biden asks Yoon to lead plenary session in upcoming democracy summit | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 이치동 · March 12, 2023

(ATTN: UPDATES with resignation of chief of protocol in last 3 paras)

SEOUL, March 12 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Joe Biden has formally requested South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol chair a plenary session of the second Summit for Democracy, according to Yoon's office Sunday.

It made public a scanned image of Biden's recent letter to Yoon asking him to "lead one of the five plenary sessions" on March 29.

The summit is scheduled to be held on March 29-30, co-hosted by the United States, South Korea, Costa Rica, the Netherlands and Zambia. It is to assemble world leaders in a virtual, plenary format.

In the letter, Biden said Yoon's "close and tireless cooperation has helped ensure that this Summit will be a success."

Co-hosting the event "reinforces the truth that democracy is both a shared aspiration and a shared responsibility -- one that we all must uphold," Biden added.


A scanned image of U.S. President Joe Biden's invitation letter to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, in a photo released by Yoon's office on March 12, 2023 (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Meanwhile, Kim Il-bum, chief of protocol at the presidential office, tendered his resignation last week, less than a year after assuming the post, according to an official.

Speaking on the customary condition of anonymity, the official dismissed rumors of Kim having been fired.

Kim has offered to resign in a "voluntary decision" for a "personal reason," the official added amid reports that he will likely be appointed soon as head of South Korea's diplomatic mission abroad.

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by 이치동 · March 12, 2023



3. N.Korea warns to offensively use ‘war deterrent’ ahead of S. Korea-US military exercise


I guess there is always the first time, but this rhetoric has never resulted in anything more than provocations.


N.Korea warns to offensively use ‘war deterrent’ ahead of S. Korea-US military exercise

S. Korea, US revive theater-level field training exercises after five-year hiatus


koreaherald.com · by Ji Da-gyum · March 12, 2023

North Korea has determined significant, practical steps to offensively use its “war deterrent” at a key military meeting in the run-up to the longest-running military exercise between South Korea and the United States.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un convened an enlarged meeting of the eighth Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea, North Korean state media reported on Sunday without specifying the date of the meeting.

“The enlarged meeting discussed and decided on important, practical steps to more effectively exercise the country’s war deterrent and use it forcefully and offensively in response to the current situation where war provocation of the US and South Korea are minutely reaching toward a serious red line,” state media said in a Korean-language report. It did not elaborate on the measures.

The outcomes of the military meeting were disclosed one day before South Korea and the US were set to begin their defense-oriented “Freedom Shield” springtime annual exercise on Monday. This year’s Freedom Shield will be staged for 11 days without a weekend break -- the longest consecutive run -- to enable South Korean and US troops to better prepare for real-world scenarios in light of the changing security environment and escalating missile and nuclear threats from North Korea.

“North Korea would determine powerful, offensive practical measures to take tit-for-tat action based on the principle of strength-for-strength during the period of military exercises between South Korea and the US,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, who also noted the connection between the meeting and the recent statement issued on March 7 by the North Korean leader’s powerful sister Kim Yo-jong.

Kim Yo-jong warned that North Korean forces “maintain a constant readiness posture to take appropriate, swift and overwhelming actions at any time” against South Korea and the US.

Yang said that “North Korea would focus on discussing launching various missiles and staging military drills in response to South Korea-US military exercises.”

Experts said North Korea would opt for military options to effectively gain the upper hand on South Korea and the US as the allies have stepped up field training exercises involving US strategic assets to enhance their deterrence and readiness against escalating North Korean threats.

Lim Eul-chul, a professor of North Korean studies at Kyungnam University in Seoul, said “there is a high possibility of North Korea demonstrating its war deterrent in fresh and much more outrageous ways so as not to lose the initiative” on the Korean Peninsula.

“In terms of important practical steps, North Korea is expected to increasingly rely on combat capabilities of nuclear forces such as newly developed strategic and tactical guided weapons that can demonstrate deterrence to the maximum with minimum cost,” Lim said, referring to the latest missile launches as one example.

North Korea fired a salvo of six close-range ballistic missiles, or CRBMs, from the western port city of Nampho toward the West Sea on March 9. This was after South Korea and the US conducted combined aerial drills in early March in South Korean airspace, mobilizing US Air Force’s B-1B strategic bomber; the MQ-9 Reaper, a hunter-killer unmanned aerial vehicle; and the B-52 nuclear-capable strategic bomber.

North Korean state media reported the following day that the country’s Hwasong artillery unit practiced simultaneously striking air bases in South Korean territory with what the country labeled as a “new-type tactical guided weapon.”

Pyongyang is widely expected to dial up its saber-rattling as South Korea and the US are set to revive theater-level field training exercises, or FTXs, after a five-year hiatus. The FTXs, dubbed Warrior Shield, will return to the scale of the now-defunct Foal Eagle exercise.

South Korea and the US have agreed to stage around 20 field training exercises, including large-scale amphibious operations drills, on the occasion of the Freedom Shield exercise.

Washington will also deploy its strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula in line with its commitment to reinforcing US extended deterrence. The allies have discussed staging maritime exercises involving a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, which is one the world’s largest warships, later in the month. South Korea, the US and Japan have also discussed their plan to conduct ballistic missile defense exercises, possibly mobilizing the US Navy’s nuclear-powered submarine armed with Tomahawk subsonic cruise missiles.

Professor Yang forecast that “powerful and aggressive practical steps stated by North Korea would be put into concrete action, especially during the period when US strategic assets are deployed for military exercises with South Korea.”



By Ji Da-gyum (dagyumji@heraldcorp.com)

koreaherald.com · by Ji Da-gyum · March 12, 2023



4. Ball in Japan's court after Korea's gesture on forced labor issue



Yes, this is where the rubber meets the road. How wil Japan react and respond?


Sunday

March 12, 2023

 dictionary + A - A 

Ball in Japan's court after Korea's gesture on forced labor issue

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/03/12/national/politics/korea-yoon-forced-labor/20230312175750401.html



Screen shots from a short-form video uploaded to YouTube by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office on Sunday stress Yoon’s “resolve” to normalize bilateral ties between Seoul and Tokyo ahead of his visit to Japan this week. [YONHAP]

As President Yoon Suk Yeol’s visit to Tokyo nears, the heat is on Japan to reciprocate following Korea's gesture on the forced labor issue.

 

Yoon’s office on Sunday stressed that its recent decision to compensate Korean victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor through a Seoul-backed public foundation was a show of “resolve” to normalize ties.

 

In a YouTube short-form video, the president's office said it was high time that Seoul and Tokyo “revitalize” relations on security, the economy and cultural exchanges, saying Yoon accepts “full responsibility” for his policy decisions.

 


In the video, a plaque that read “The BUCK STOPS here” was shown placed atop Yoon’s desk. It was gifted by U.S. President Joe Biden during his May 2022 visit to Korea.

 

Korean Ambassador to Japan Yun Duk-min put Seoul’s requests more clearly in an interview published Sunday by the Asahi Shimbun, when he was quoted as saying that in order for both countries to resolve the forced labor issue, Tokyo had to make sincere efforts to understand the victim’s standpoint and take follow-up measures.

 

“There’s a saying in Korean that if someone is getting soaked in rain, I’d rather be someone who gets soaked along with that person, than one who shares an umbrella,” Yun reportedly told the Japanese newspaper. “Japan may think that the [forced labor] issue has been legally settled, but the victims don’t share the same thought.”

 

The diplomat urged Japanese companies to contribute to the foundation, mentioning that the Korean public was finding it hard to understand why Korea was paying for something Japan did wrong.

 

On the planned summit between Yoon and his Japanese counterpart, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, on Thursday and Friday, Yun expressed hope for increased bilateral exchanges, saying there was “a lot to do” amid the rapidly changing international environment.

 

Kishida should come to Korea “whenever necessary,” Yun suggested.

 

Yoon’s visit to Tokyo was announced last Thursday by Yoon’s office, days after Korea's Foreign Ministry announced that it would compensate victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor through a public foundation established by the Korean government and voluntarily funded by private companies.

 

Missing from the plan were any contributions from Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, two companies among Japanese businesses that relied on Korean forced labor during World War II, who were ordered by Korea’s Supreme Court to compensate the victims.

 

The Foreign Ministry said it hoped Japanese companies would chip in, but neither company has so far indicated any intentions to do so.

 

Yoon’s visit to Japan, which comes at the invitation of Tokyo, will mark the first time that a Korean president has visited Japan in over a decade.

 

Former conservative President Lee Myung-bak visited Japan in December 2011. The last Japanese prime minister to visit Korea was Yoshihiko Noda in October 2011.

 

While Yoon’s office said that the summit’s agenda was being coordinated between the two countries, at least two main subjects that will receive the most media attention here are whether Japan lifts its export restrictions on Korea and the normalization of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (Gsomia). Both issues were a part of tit-for-tat responses between the two countries following Korea’s Supreme Court rulings.

 

Last week's announcement from Korea to establish a public foundation immediately drew an intense response from forced labor victims and local activists, who called the decision “insulting.”

 

In a rally hosted by a civic group on Saturday at Seoul Plaza in downtown Seoul, Democratic Party (DP) Chairman Lee Jae-myung slammed the Yoon administration for what he called a “shameful” idea, saying Tokyo has so barely made any concessions.

 

“Is there a single thing that Japan conceded other than inviting the president and his wife?” Lee rhetorically asked during the rally.

 

“Korea became a sucker to Japan.”

 

In stark contrast, the foundation has been effusively welcomed by Washington, which has long urged the neighboring countries to get along as it faces growing threats in the Northeast Asian region. The American Chamber of Commerce in Korea last week indicated plans to donate to the foundation. 


BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]




5. [ANALYSIS] Why is AMCHAM donating to fund for Korean victims of Japan's forced labor?



Hopefully a good faith effort to generate support in the ROK and Japan to move forward on these tragic issues. Mutual national security and national prosperity for all three countries will be enhanced if this tragic historical issue can be sufficiently well managed.


[ANALYSIS] Why is AMCHAM donating to fund for Korean victims of Japan's forced labor?

The Korea Times · March 12, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol, third from left, U.S. President Joe Biden, center, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, second from right, meet at a summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Nov. 13. Yonhap


US seeks to play bigger role in improving Seoul-Tokyo ties


By Nam Hyun-woo

The United States is taking on a bigger role in improving frayed Seoul-Tokyo ties, with the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM) becoming the first organization to express an intent to donate money to a South Korean public foundation that will raise funds to compensate the victims of wartime forced labor by Japan.


Experts see AMCHAM's move as an attempt by the U.S. government to help restore ties between the two neighboring countries. Strengthening trilateral cooperation is a prerequisite to combined deterrence against North Korea's nuclear threats and to curb China's rising influence.


The third-party compensation, which was agreed upon by Seoul and Tokyo earlier this month, has sparked a backlash from South Koreans due to Japan's lukewarm stance to issuing an apology for forcing Koreans to labor at its factories during World War II. Given this, the U.S. is facilitating an atmosphere to encourage more entities to chip in, in order to strengthen the trilateral relations between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo.


On March 8, AMCHAM, a lobby group for U.S. firms operating in Korea, said it will make a donation to the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan, with its chairman James Kim saying, "The trilateral partnership between the U.S., Korea and Japan is key to the peace and prosperity of the region."


AMCHAM was the first organization to announce its intention to donate to the fund. The move came after the South Korean government announced, March 6, that domestic victims of Japan's forced labor during World War II will be compensated through the fund, without the direct involvement of responsible Japanese firms.


Both Korean and Japanese firms have yet to express their clear intention of participating in the fundraising.


South Korean firms that benefited from a 1965 treaty normalizing ties between Seoul and Tokyo are still contemplating whether to make donations to the fund. Japan claims that all reparations were settled under the treaty, which involved Japanese economic aid for South Korean firms including POSCO, KT&G and KEB Hana Bank.


Steelmaker POSCO said that it will "positively consider" making donations to the fund, while tobacco firm KT&G said it will "cooperate with the social agreement," and KEB Hana Bank said, it will "take a legal review of the case."


President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks with U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during their summit in Madrid, Spain, June 29, 2022. Courtesy of presidential office


Against this backdrop, AMCHAM's participation is interpreted as the U.S.' intention to play a role in expediting efforts to get South Korea and Japan to mend frayed ties.


"Given the prompt response from AMCHAM, it is natural to assume that there has been a certain coordination between the U.S. government and the lobby group," said Choi Eun-mi, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.


"The U.S. has been sticking to its stance that it is not the main stakeholder in South Korea-Japan relations, but has been showing interest in improvements in bilateral ties for the purpose of trilateral relations. Given this background, AMCHAM's move can be interpreted as setting up an atmosphere for more entities to join the fund."


The third-party compensation plan was a tough choice for South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, due to the negative stance among South Koreans over historical issues involving Japan. South Korea is hoping Japan will show a more sincere response, with Foreign Minister Park Jin saying, "The glass is more than half full with water and we expect that the glass will be further filled."


During an interview with Japan's Asahi Shimbun, South Korean Ambassador to Japan Yun Duk-min said Tokyo should make "follow-up measures that can heal the wounds of the victims and convince those who oppose the South Korean government's announcement (on the third-party compensation)."


If Japan demonstrates a more sincere response, it will be easier for Yoon to expedite his ongoing efforts to improve ties with Tokyo. In that case, U.S. concerns that frayed Seoul-Tokyo relations are the "weak link" in trilateral security cooperation, could be addressed, helping its efforts to contain China's assertion.


Yoon will visit Japan on Thursday for a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to seek further progress in bilateral relations.


Japanese economic daily, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, reported that the two leaders will hold a joint press conference after the summit, which will be the first joint press conference by the leaders of the two countries in 12 years. Also, Yoon is anticipated to attend a roundtable with business leaders of the two countries.



The Korea Times · March 12, 2023


6. Korea, US to kick off joint military drill Monday


Excerpt:


The drills will include field training exercises on the Korean Peninsula under the name Warrior Shield FTX, the purpose of which is to enhance military cooperation between the two countries in the air, on land, at sea, in space, cyberspace and for special operations.

Korea, US to kick off joint military drill Monday

The Korea Times · March 12, 2023

South Korean and U.S. troops conduct Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, their annual combined training involving field maneuvers, Aug. 26, 2022. Korea Times file


By Lee Hae-rin


South Korea and the United States will commence their annual large-scale joint military exercise, known as the Freedom Shield (FS) drills, on Monday.

The exercise, which is the longest-ever operational exercise conducted by the two allies, will continue until March 23, according to military authorities, Sunday.


The 11-day non-stop exercise will feature live simulations of new war scenarios, which reflect the changing security environment, such as the North's nuclear threats and the war in Ukraine, according to the military.


The drills will include field training exercises on the Korean Peninsula under the name Warrior Shield FTX, the purpose of which is to enhance military cooperation between the two countries in the air, on land, at sea, in space, cyberspace and for special operations.


The joint drill has already drawn strong opposition from North Korea, which said it will take "important, practical" measures for the "offensive use" of war deterrents via Pyongyang's state media, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Sunday.

North Korea is widely expected to conduct weapons tests when the allies conduct their combined military drills. Pyongyang has been denouncing the allies' joint military exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion.


The Korea Times · March 12, 2023




7. Artificial intelligence and the future of the Korean economy




Artificial intelligence and the future of the Korean economy

The Korea Times · March 12, 2023

By Troy Stangarone


Manufacturing has historically been one of the keys to Korea's economic success. Korean firms have moved up the value chain to become world-class manufacturers in high-value sectors such as semiconductors, automobiles, consumer electronics and shipbuilding. However, that development has come at the expense of the Korean services sector. In an age where artificial intelligence (AI) and new innovations such as ChatGPT are emerging, an underdeveloped services sector could hinder Korea's future economic growth.


According to the World Bank, manufacturing accounts for about 25 percent of Korea's GDP. In contrast, manufacturing accounts for only 17 percent of global GDP and just 11 percent for the United States. Even in Germany, another highly industrialized economy, manufacturing accounts for only 19 percent of GDP.


While Korea has seen some successes on the digital side of the economy with Naver and Kakao, neither makes the Forbes 2000 list of the largest global companies. In contrast, Samsung is the world's 14th-largest company but has yet to add a strong digital or software component to its manufacturing prowess, in spite of its potential as one of the world's largest data companies due to its success in smartphones and efforts to be a leader in the Internet of Things.


Despite how it is often presented, AI is not new. The earliest example of AI is believed to be a checkers program developed by Christopher Strachey of the University of Oxford in 1952. Since those early days, AI has been used to provide basic tasks we take for granted such as predictive text in emails and text messages, personalized feeds on social media and recommendations on Netflix.


Each of these uses of AI has helped to either improve productivity, as with predictive text, or manage tasks that could not be handled at scale by humans alone, as is the case with social media feeds.


But new breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, such as those signaled by Microsoft's uses of OpenAI's ChatGPT in its Bing search engine, hold the ability to do much more. ChatGPT is able to not only search the internet more efficiently than existing search engines, but write reports on the topics it searches as well or better than humans. It can also generate code for new software programs.

These tools still need to be refined. Early reports on Microsoft's Bing integration suggest that the AI can move towards manipulation if pushed by users in certain directions, and still need to be checked by human users for accuracy. But on the whole, it can significantly reduce workloads.


Progress from AI may also not proceed as quickly as expected. The struggles with autonomous vehicles being one example. However, the technology will increasingly underpin not just customer-facing services, but research for the development and improvement of products, as well as be integrated into traditional manufacturing products to provide services. The integration of voice assistants into automobiles is one example, but also the prospects for AI integration into more common items such as refrigerators to monitor and order food.


Korea's success in manufacturing, specifically in semiconductors, provides one advantage in for the development of part of the AI ecosystem, but its failure to develop a world leading digital services and software industry could impair its manufacturing economy as AI is increasingly integrated into manufactured products and used to improve existing products and develop new ones.


At the moment, Korean firms are in a competition with Chinese firms to become the dominant providers of EV batteries to the automotive industry. While the Inflation Reduction Act provides Korean firms an advantage in the United States, Ford is looking for ways to circumvent the law's restrictions on Chinese EV batteries. In the EU, there are no restrictions on Chinese batteries. AI could help Korean firms develop better ways to produce batteries at lower costs and with longer ranges than their Chinese competitors.


The nature of AI means that some of the tools necessary for advances in AI can be adopted from abroad and do not need to be developed domestically. Startups and other firms can access cloud computing for the development of new AI applications, for example. But to take advantage of these tools Korea will need to foster development of a broader software and data services industry that will underpin advanced technologies related to artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence enabled services.


Some of this shift has already begun. The Moon administration adopted Korea's first AI strategy, and President Yoon Suk Yeol has encouraged the government to adopt new technologies akin to ChatGPT and pledged to make Korea the third-most-competitive nation in AI. Both SK Telecom and Kakao are planning to launch their own version of ChatGPT later this year.


However, for Korea to maintain its manufacturing edge and to reap the benefits of AI, it will need to develop a more robust software industry with access to high-quality data. Some of this can be achieved through the purchase of software companies abroad, but will also require support for entrepreneurship to foster new ideas and firms. AI will be the future, the question is whether Korea can adapt its own economic model quickly enough.



Troy Stangarone (ts@keia.org) is the senior director of congressional affairs and trade at the Korea Economic Institute.


The Korea Times · March 12, 2023


8. South Korean Objectives in the Final Frontier


Conclusion:


While it is admirable that President Yoon aspires to see Koreans land on the Moon and Mars, South Korea will need to think carefully as it considers how to contribute to the development of space, for scientific and economic activities. But while the final frontier still presents large challenges, South Korea should be confident that it can find ways to overcome these obstacles. “The door is open for whatever Korea would like to do,” said Dr. Pace.

South Korean Objectives in the Final Frontier - Korea Economic Institute of America

keia.org · by Troy Stangarone · March 8, 2023

The Peninsula

South Korean Objectives in the Final Frontier

Published March 8, 2023

Author: Terrence Matsuo

Category: South Korea


In early February, advancing cooperation in space was one of the topics discussed between Korea and the United States. “We agreed that space is the next frontier in our expanding partnership,” said Foreign Minister Park Jin after meeting with his counterpart on February 3rd in DC. His remarks built on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s vision for the domain outlined last November. Among his goals for Korea are using an indigenously developed rocket to reach the Moon in 2032 and land on Mars in 2045. President Yoon also said that he would fulfill his campaign promise to develop an aerospace agency to oversee space development, and also support Korea’s space industries. While Korea has set its sights on the stars, experts in Washington caution that it should be prudent in how it invests its resources in developing the space domain.

Recent years have seen Washington and Seoul deepen their partnership in reaching the stars. In May 2021, South Korea became the tenth country to sign the Artemis Accords, an American initiative to return to the Moon. They also collaborated on the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, or “Danuri,” which was jointly developed between NASA and Korea Aerospace Research Institute. The payload entered into lunar orbit in December 2022, after leaving the Earth in August. As CNN reported in January, images captured by Danuri will be used to identify locations suitable to land for missions launched under Artemis.

The U.S. has also said it would support South Korea in the development of the Korean Positioning System. “There are only a few countries in the world that have their own navigation satellites,” said Sam Wilson, a senior policy analyst at The Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy. “South Korea developing its own positioning navigation timing satellites would be pretty significant.” It would be a regional system like the Chinese BeiDou Navigation Satellite System and Japanese Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), and unlike the American Global Positioning System (GPS), Russian GLONASS, and European Galileo systems which provide global coverage. The KPS was announced in 2018, and aims to supplement access to GPS, which North Korea has been a target of North Korea. In May 2021, the U.S. said in a joint statement that is supported the creation of KPS, and would help ensure its compatibility with the American GPS.

Some experts caution that the KPS may not necessarily be something Korea will want to focus on. Regional positioning systems are particularly useful, as their position over the target area provides coverage despite interference from tall buildings in urban environments. Such targeted coverage would provide benefits, whether its greater accuracy when hailing a rideshare or ensuring information is available during a contingency. But Dr. Pace says looking for ways to partner with others in the region, like with Japan, may be more useful. “That is, of course, politically difficult, and we all know the reasons,” he said. But a joint project “would make more sense than a completely separate, independent Korean system that is trying to carve a space for itself against competition from QZSS and BeiDou and GPS.”

An indigenous space launch vehicle, key to President Yoon’s aim of reaching the Moon independently, is another difficult goal. Experts say it may be a costly endeavor that South Korea will need to realize on its own. “The launch business, which everybody likes to focus on, is actually a terrible business because it’s like a lot of transportation systems, e.g., rail, canals, shipping, [and] airlines,” said Dr. Scott Pace, the director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. In his analogy, many governments subsidize the private sector because of its high costs and to ensure connectivity abroad. But building and operating aircraft is an extremely expensive undertaking that many countries struggle with, a challenge that exists for space launch capabilities. Dr. Pace added that South Korea cannot expect foreign assistance in developing this technology, as the U.S. and other members of the Missile Technology Control Regime will be concerned about the proliferation of ballistic missiles, which have a similar design. “My sense is that South Korea doesn’t need a space launch vehicle,” said Dr. Brian Weeden, the director of Program Planning at the Secure World Foundation. “This is one of those complicated issues where South Korea’s probably not going to see an economic return on investment.”

Human spaceflight is an area where the U.S. and South Korea may collaborate, but maybe not directly in the public sector. There has been only one Korean astronaut, Yi So-yeon, who spent a total of 261 hours in space back in 2008. “You can do these kinds of one-off launches, and maybe Korea will do it again,” said Dr. Pace. “But flight opportunities are so limited and are relatively expensive.” However, the growth of the private sector means that maybe the next Korean astronaut may not be flying on a government built space shuttle. With the decommissioning of the International Space Station expected at the end of the decade, private companies have announced plans for their own structures. “Maybe a Korean company, supported by the government, would want to take an equity position in one of those projects,” said Dr. Pace. “And that would in turn, earn an opportunity to put Korean astronauts in space aboard a private platform, not NASA platform.”

Data collection on space may be an area where South Korea can contribute to space development without having to leave the Earth. “We have a growing field of what’s called space situational awareness, which is the ability to look up into the skies and just understand what is there,” said Jonathan Cham, a policy analyst at the RAND Corporation. Expanding the pool of data on objects in orbiting the Earth makes it easier to avoid collisions in space, whether it’s satellites or space stations. Dr. Weeden says South Korea’s proximity to China and North Korea makes it a good candidate to contribute data for this critical area of space policy. “Korea offers some interesting geographic location to host some of those sensors to help with some of this tracking,” he said. Korea watchers may recall the difficulties in deploying radars associated with the Terminal High Altitude Defense system, but Dr. Weeden points out that commercial radar has become sophisticated enough to contribute to this area of information collection. “That’s an example of something that is probably much less likely to spark diplomatic blowback from China or for North Korea,” he said.

The South Korean government will need to find a balance between identifying areas where it needs to independently develop its own technology and finding partners among other governments or the private sector. “There’s potential for any space actor — which could be anything from a commercial entity to a nation-state — to establish a foothold and make contributions to the broader areas of space sustainability or space security,” said former Brigadier General Bruce McClintock, a senior policy researcher at RAND. Even a major space power like the U.S. doesn’t always go it alone when it comes to space. Mr. Wilson points to the Norwegian launch of a Space Force communication system scheduled for this year. By hitching a ride with the Scandinavians, the U.S. is projected to save over $900 million. “If you’re developing capabilities jointly, you can be more cost effective, and you can extract more from space than if you have to do everything by yourself,” he said.

While it is admirable that President Yoon aspires to see Koreans land on the Moon and Mars, South Korea will need to think carefully as it considers how to contribute to the development of space, for scientific and economic activities. But while the final frontier still presents large challenges, South Korea should be confident that it can find ways to overcome these obstacles. “The door is open for whatever Korea would like to do,” said Dr. Pace.

Terrence Matsuo is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Korea Economic Institute of America. The views expressed here are the author’s alone.

Photo from Shutterstock.

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9. [Column] Putting Korea back in the diplomatic game


Excerpts:


The initiation of the trilateral U.S.-Korea-Japan economic security dialogue at the end of February demonstrates that the two technology powerhouses in the Western Pacific will steadily align strategies with the United States and other like-minded states around supply chains, semiconductor technology controls and other critical areas of the new geopolitical game. As President Yoon put it on March 1: “Japan has transformed from a militaristic aggressor of the past into a partner that shares the same universal values with us.” This is both true and politically brave, given distrust of Japan among many of Yoon’s fellow citizens.


The Japan puzzle will be more difficult than the other pieces of Yoon’s successful strategy. Tokyo and Seoul were wise to decouple economic and security cooperation from the contentious issues surrounding history and accountability for the past. The Blue House would ideally like to settle these issues once and for all with a compensation scheme for victims that would allow face-saving for Tokyo, but the skepticism in Japan runs very deep. Japanese corporate leaders want good relations with Korea, but are loathe to put any funds voluntarily into a settlement.


Legally, this runs the risk of opening them up to further pressure from other wartime victims’ descendants across Asia and the United States. They also worry that the far-right extremists in Japan will target them with sound trucks and social media attacks. And they will note that the Moon government reversed previous agreements made by the Park Geun-hye government with Japan so how can they be sure this will not just happen again?

Kishida’s relatively low level of public support also narrows Tokyo’s room for maneuver. So, despite the impressive progress in bilateral relations, the Japan piece of the strategy will take delicate diplomacy and political wisdom going forward. But if Yoon sticks to his strategy, he will get help from the United States and others and the common cause with Japan will steadily yield results in bilateral relations.

Sunday

March 12, 2023

 dictionary + A - A 

[Column] Putting Korea back in the diplomatic game

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/03/12/opinion/columns/Korea-US-China/20230312195632309.html


Michael Green


The author is CEO of the U.S. Studies Centre at the University of Sydney and Henry A. Kissinger Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).


One of the great anomalies of the previous five years was the disappearance of Korea from the great game of geopolitics that had emerged with China’s new bellicosity and Russian revanchism. From Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” to the announcement of the U.S.-U.K.-Australia Aukus agreement, the elevation of the Quad to a summit, and the proliferation of Indo-Pacific strategic approaches from Europe to Southeast Asia, there has been an explosion of diplomatic activism all around Korea.


And what did Korea, the country with the world’s ninth largest GDP, do over this same period? Basically nothing. Under the self-defeating rubric of “strategic ambiguity,” the government of Moon Jae-in stayed away from everybody and everything. While the other major and middle powers that should be Korea’s peers were building deep ties through minilateral and multilateral arrangements, the Moon government remained myopically fixated on using diplomacy with third countries to try to convince the Americans to make concessions to Pyongyang.



Thus European or Australian diplomats eager to engage with Seoul on the fluid geopolitics of the region were instead treated to requests that they pressure Washington to relax pressure on Pyongyang. Naturally, these close allies reported these diplomatic entreaties to Washington, steadily decreasing confidence among all the major democracies in Korea’s seriousness about shaping the contested geopolitical environment emerging around them all.


The Foreign Ministry would be quick at this point to explain that Seoul participated in the Mikta (Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey, Australia) grouping, but what exactly has Mikta achieved? The meetings largely consist of comparing the diverse experiences diverse middle powers — an interesting discussion perhaps but hardly the concerted action by like-minded countries one sees with the Quad, Aukus, or other minilaterals.

 


President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers an address on the 104th anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement in Seoul. In the speech, he said, “Japan has transformed from a militaristic aggressor of the past into a partner that shares the same universal values with us.” [YONHAP]


The Moon government can also point to the New Southern Policy (NSP) announced in 2017, but this too was more labelling than actual strategy. Samsung and other Korean conglomerates were already well into their own diversifying of production and supply chains away from China and towards countries like Vietnam. Korea has an excellent diplomatic toolkit — the Korea International Cooperation Agency (Koica) — but the NSP did not add much new to what Koica was already doing.


Fearful of offending China, the Moon government kept the NSP unilateral and thus lost opportunities for alignment with other like-minded states beyond explaining what Korea itself was doing. Perhaps in its final months, the Moon government realized the folly of this approach because Moon did have a visit to Australia that signaled the kind of diplomatic activism and alignment required in the new environment. But it was too little too late.


In its first ten months in office, the Yoon government has shown that Korea is back. His team of veteran foreign policy strategists quickly escaped from two flawed assumptions behind the Moon government’s approach to the world. The first flawed assumption by the previous government was that ignoring regional and global geopolitics would put Korea in a better position to deal with North Korea. Yoon’s team knows that the opposite is true — that building strategic partnerships in a time of perilous geopolitics expands Korea’s options to deal with Pyongyang’s provocations.


The second flawed assumption by the previous government — and many in the Park government before that — was the belief that Asia has become a bipolar theater in which the major strategic decisions will be made by Beijing and Washington as the other powers sit by hedging or hiding. The United States and Beijing are the two most powerful countries in military and economic terms, to be sure, but the Indo-Pacific is increasingly also a multipolar theater in which concerted action by major and middle powers like Korea, Japan, India or Australia can shape the environment. The bipolar assumption of Moon gave Korea no agency. The multipolar recognition of Yoon gives Korea new options to secure its future and reinforce stability.


Yoon’s government has seized on these opportunities, beginning with his participation with the leaders of Japan, Australia and New Zealand in the June 2022 NATO Summit. Because Yoon and his Asian colleagues took the security of Europe seriously after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Europe is now looking more seriously at how developments on the Korean peninsula or China impact them. The December 2022 Indo-Pacific Strategy of the Yoon government then signaled that Seoul will align with the other maritime democracies to make the region more resilient — for the first time in three administrations.


Some have noted that China was barely mentioned in Seoul’s new strategy, but the same was true of the White House Indo-Pacific Strategy announced in early 2022. Korea and other like-minded states do not have to be “against” China: they can be “for” the Indo-Pacific and, with those diplomatic, security and development investments, help to blunt China’s coercion or revisionist advances.


Now Yoon’s government is showing real progress with the most important and most difficult Gordian knot at the center of this game — Japan. In November, Presidents Biden and Yoon and Prime Minister Kishida of Japan met in Cambodia and announced the trilateral partnership for the Indo-Pacific, building on a steady resumption of trilateral diplomatic coordination on North Korea and defense cooperation started at the beginning of the Yoon administration.


The initiation of the trilateral U.S.-Korea-Japan economic security dialogue at the end of February demonstrates that the two technology powerhouses in the Western Pacific will steadily align strategies with the United States and other like-minded states around supply chains, semiconductor technology controls and other critical areas of the new geopolitical game. As President Yoon put it on March 1: “Japan has transformed from a militaristic aggressor of the past into a partner that shares the same universal values with us.” This is both true and politically brave, given distrust of Japan among many of Yoon’s fellow citizens.


The Japan puzzle will be more difficult than the other pieces of Yoon’s successful strategy. Tokyo and Seoul were wise to decouple economic and security cooperation from the contentious issues surrounding history and accountability for the past. The Blue House would ideally like to settle these issues once and for all with a compensation scheme for victims that would allow face-saving for Tokyo, but the skepticism in Japan runs very deep. Japanese corporate leaders want good relations with Korea, but are loathe to put any funds voluntarily into a settlement.


Legally, this runs the risk of opening them up to further pressure from other wartime victims’ descendants across Asia and the United States. They also worry that the far-right extremists in Japan will target them with sound trucks and social media attacks. And they will note that the Moon government reversed previous agreements made by the Park Geun-hye government with Japan so how can they be sure this will not just happen again?


Kishida’s relatively low level of public support also narrows Tokyo’s room for maneuver. So, despite the impressive progress in bilateral relations, the Japan piece of the strategy will take delicate diplomacy and political wisdom going forward. But if Yoon sticks to his strategy, he will get help from the United States and others and the common cause with Japan will steadily yield results in bilateral relations.



10. UNC committed to role in allies' 'defensive' drills for mission to guard peace: deputy chief


I wonder if this article was published in the Korean language press. The UNC is one of the most misunderstood commands among  the Korean public (and among press and pundits). It is looked on with suspicion by the Korean people. It has also long been a lightning rod for north Korean rhetoric.


UNC committed to role in allies' 'defensive' drills for mission to guard peace: deputy chief

The Korea Times · March 12, 2023

Lt. Gen. Andrew Harrison, the deputy commander of the U.N. Command (UNC), speaks during an interview with Yonhap News Agency at the UNC headquarters in Camp Humphreys, a U.S. military base in Pyeongtaek, 65 kilometers south of Seoul, on March 10. Yonhap


The deputy commander of the U.N. Command (UNC) stressed the significance of the upcoming South Korea-U.S. military exercise for peace on the peninsula, dismissing North Korea's pugnacious rhetoric coupled with blatant threats of taking provocative acts in response.


Lt. Gen. Andrew Harrison pointed out that the Freedom Shield (FS) set to kick off Monday for a 11-day run is a routine training to "retain peace" with "very tight oversight," speaking in an exclusive interview with Yonhap News Agency.


Tensions have been running high, as Pyongyang has threatened "overwhelming" measures to counter what it claims to be "preparations for a war of aggression" by the allies. The North has been highly sensitive to Washington's deployment of such strategic assets as high-profile bombers, stealth fighter jets and aircraft carriers as well as the allies' combined field maneuver.


"This routine training exercise is incredibly important for readiness," he said during the interview held last Friday at the UNC headquarters in Camp Humphreys, a major U.S. military base in Pyeongtaek, located 65 kilometers south of Seoul. "I've heard (the North's criticism), and I just fundamentally disagree."


In that regard, Harrison emphasized the role of the UNC with a mission to secure a lasting peace on the peninsula by enforcing the 1953 Armistice Agreement that effectively ended the Korean War.


During the FS exercise, personnel from the command and the "sending states," which sent troops or other forms of support during the Korean War, plan to practice crisis management and other contingency procedures ― in line with the command's primary role to maintain the armistice.


"In the early stages of an exercise, we look at the challenge to the armistice that might occur, and we always try and de-escalate back to a sort of pre-crisis position," he said. "If crisis turns to conflict, we're looking at how the sending states could operate together in whatever scenario."


In particular, the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC) is poised to ensure the exercise will proceed in a "visibly fair" manner, he added. The NNSC is an impartial entity observing the implementation of the armistice.


"They have been tasked to observe us and ensure that everything we're doing is defensive, and is there to apply deterrence rather than anything offensive," he said.

 "That should give anyone, who has concerns from anywhere about the exercise, confidence that this isn't simply something that is happening unilaterally. It's got very tight oversight."


He noted that "every defense force in the world" trains in some way to make sure that it stands ready in case "the worst happens."


"It doesn't breach any international rules, any international law, any U.N. Security Council resolutions," he emphasized. "I think this is what militaries do to retain peace and security."


A table used during the signing of the armistice that halted the 1950-53 Korean War is on display at the U.N. Command's headquarters in Camp Humphreys, a U.S. military base in Pyeongtaek, 65 kilometers south of Seoul, on March 10. Yonhap


Harrison highlighted the importance of dialogue in order to promote regional stability.


"I think communication gives opportunity into the future. If one can't communicate, then you can't solve problems," he said. "I'm proud that the UNC is currently doing that and has consistently done that."


Earlier this year, the UNC got into the spotlight as it launched a special investigation into the North's Dec. 26 drone infiltrations and the South's subsequent step to send its own drones into the North in a "corresponding" step.

The UNC concluded both sides violated the armistice although the South Korean government maintains that its "counteraction" was a legitimate exercise of its "right to self-defense not restrained by the armistice."


"If we're mandated to enforce the armistice, and the armistice is breached or broken, then of course, it's a concern to me and to the commander," he said. "The commander will say we play the ball as we see it ... There is no bias."


Emphasizing that he does not want to be "drawn into any opinion on any government," Harrison said, "I hope we don't need to have any more armistice violations that lead to reports."


Meanwhile, Yonhap was given rare media access to the "Armistice Room" at the UNC headquarters, where one of the three tables used for the signing of the armistice is on display, along with books containing lists of Korean War deaths.


This year marks the 70th anniversary of the signing of the armistice in July. It was signed by the representatives of the U.S.-led UNC, North Korea and China.


"That peace was bought by the blood of our servicemen and women who are memorialized in this room," the general said. "We must never forget that if we ever breached that peace again, we risk more names, more families being represented in this room, and none of us want that."


Describing the armistice as the "longest standing" one in the history of the world, Harrison underscored the role of the armistice to keep at least "relative levels of peace" despite persistent cross-border tensions.



A Korean War monument is on display at the U.N. Command's headquarters in Camp Humphreys, a U.S. military base in Pyeongtaek, 65 kilometers south of Seoul, on March 10. Yonhap"We must do all we can to retain the armistice and the peace that these young men and women fought and died for," he said.

"Historically, tensions have gone up and down, but it's never fallen apart."


Touching on the ongoing efforts by the South Korean government and the UNC to update the command, Harrison said any organization that "stands still" will decline in authority and responsibilities.


"We have to be dynamic to match the situation of the day," he said without elaborating on details of the updating process. "We will do the task more efficiently and hopefully with fewer resources if we reflect the changes that are going on in the broader environment."


Harrison assumed duty as the UNC deputy commander in late 2021, having participated in challenging peace operations in conflict zones, including in Iraq, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone. (Yonhap)



The Korea Times · March 12, 2023


11. North Korean Fire-Assault Drill



14 photos at the link: https://www.nationalreview.com/photos/north-korean-fire-assault-drill/


North Korean Fire-Assault Drill

March 11, 2023 8:06 PM


North Korean forces conduct a fire-assault-drill at an undisclosed location.


1 | 14


View of a fire-assault drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea, March 10, 2023, in a photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency.

KCNA via Reuters

2 | 14


View of a fire-assault drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea, March 10, 2023, in a photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency.

KCNA via Reuters

3 | 14


View of a fire-assault drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea, March 10, 2023, in a photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency.

KCNA via Reuters

4 | 14


View of a fire-assault drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea, March 10, 2023, in a photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency.

KCNA via Reuters

5 | 14


View of a fire-assault drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea, March 10, 2023, in a photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency.

KCNA via Reuters

6 | 14


View of a fire-assault drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea, March 10, 2023, in a photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency.

KCNA via Reuters

7 | 14


View of a fire-assault drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea, March 10, 2023, in a photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency.

KCNA via Reuters

8 | 14


View of a fire-assault drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea, March 10, 2023, in a photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency.

KCNA via Reuters

9 | 14


View of a fire-assault drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea, March 10, 2023, in a photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency.

KCNA via Reuters

10 | 14


View of a fire-assault drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea, March 10, 2023, in a photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency.

KCNA via Reuters

11 | 14


View of a fire-assault drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea, March 10, 2023, in a photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency.

KCNA via Reuters

12 | 14


View of a fire-assault drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea, March 10, 2023, in a photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency.

KCNA via Reuters

13 | 14


North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watches fire assault drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea, March 10, 2023, in a photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency.

KCNA via Reuters

14 | 14


North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and daughter Kim Ju-ae watch fire assault drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea, March 10, 2023, in a photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency.

KCNA via Reuters




​12. Washington’s role in turning North Korea into a garrison state



Mr. Wight has an uninformed view (or maybe half informed view) of the Korean peninsula and north Korea. Although he does acknowledge the authoritarian nature of the regime and its human rights abuses, he places blame on the US for creating the threats against the north which in turn justify north Korea as a "garrison state."


But anyone who credits Kim Il Sung with "liberating" Korea is misinformed about history.


But was Korea one of the largest US foreign policy blunders at the end of WWII? What would the author have wished for? The entire Korean peninsula under communist domination?


Excerpts:


Overall, the sharp deepening of tensions in the Korean Peninsula and surrounding region constitutes one of the most grievous US foreign policy failures and blunders since the end of the Second World War, which given the catalogue of such failures and blunders on the part of Washington, is saying something.
It is high time that serious efforts were made to bring about a peaceful resolution to this ongoing crisis. Such a resolution can only come about with the negotiation of a formal peace treaty officially ending hostilities, one that involves lifting economic sanctions, ending the militarisation of the region, and serious dialogue with the ultimate objective of normalising relations between North and South.
Confrontation and aggression have failed and will only continue to intensify tensions, enhancing the threat of direct military confrontation that has hung over the lives of the people of the Korean Peninsula for far too long.




John Wight

Mar 11

·

5 min read

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Member-only

·

Listen







Washington’s role in turning North Korea into a garrison state

https://johnwight1.medium.com/washingtons-role-in-turning-north-korea-into-garrison-state-7713ea3a1341


Amid the ocean of analyses of North Korea produced over the years, you will struggle to find one that identifies US foreign policy as a key factor in the country’s regressive development.

This is the point consistently abstracted when it comes to arriving at an accurate rendering of a state consistently depicted as a veritable hell on earth, in which its 25 million citizens are kept in a state of permanent fear and terror, a state and society in which human rights are non-existent, along with any vestige of freedom of expression or conscience.

While this is certainly part of the story when it comes to North Korea, it is by no means the whole story. For that we need to understand the concrete historical conditions that have largely, though not solely, been responsible for its current mode of existence as a garrison state.

Referred to in the West pejoratively as the hermit kingdom, North Korea emerged from the Second World War along with South Korea as symptoms of a cold war that pitted the capitalist West, led by Washington, against the communist East, led by Moscow. The Korean Peninsula had been brutally occupied and colonised by the Japanese during the war. In the process of defeating the forces of Imperial Japan, Soviet forces penetrated into the north and US forces moved into the south, agreeing a demarcation line along the still extant 38th parallel. In contravention of a UN plan to hold all-Korean Peninsula elections, South Korea was formally established in May 1948, followed by the creation of North Korea in September 1948.


Korean War

The newly established state of North Korea was led by Kim Il-sung. He had achieved high status as a result of his role in resisting the Japanese occupation of China and Korea throughout the 1930s and during the war years. Meanwhile, South Korea was initially ruled by Syngman Rhee, an authoritarian leader whose credibility was compromised by the fact he had sat out the war in the United States before being parachuted into the peninsula at war’s end by the Americans with the objective of creating a fact on the ground in the form of a US-supported and pliant South Korean state.

One of the most devastating wars ever waged took place between North and South Korea between 1950 and 1953. It began when Kim Il-sung, on his own initiative, mounted an armed incursion across the 38th parallel with the objective of toppling Ree and reuniting Korea as an independent state.

Though no accurate agreed figure has ever been produced when it comes to the number of people killed in the conflict, it is known to have been anywhere between 2.5 million and 5 million soldiers and civilians. The Korean War involved the participation of thousands of US and UN troops, with 21 UN-member states backing South Korea and the Soviet Union and China supporting North Korea. The end result was a military stalemate and return to the status quo of the 38th parallel. Hostilities between north and south were never formally ended. Instead both sides have maintained an uneasy armistice and ceasefire from then to now.

North Korea in 2023 remains a relic of a Cold War which ended withthe triumph of capitalism over communism. However the deep scars wrought by decades of colonialism and imperialism, along with the huge destruction and death wrought by the 1950–53 war — with North Korea still today threatened by hostile neighbours to its south, troops, and thousands of missiles, including nuclear, which if launched are capable of reaching every part of its territory — has been responsible for the country and society turning inwards. Its social and economic development has been retarded and dislocated as a consequence of this inverted existence.

Along with the existential threat of nuclear and military annihilation, economic sanctions have combined with natural disasters to render a deleterious effect on the country, reflected in an ever more authoritarian leadership that has found itself under increasing internal and external pressure.

When George W. Bush included North Korea as part of his infamous ‘axis of evil’ along with Iran and Iraq in 2003, preparatory to launching the war on Iraq, it set in train North Korean efforts to develop nuclear weapons. The result over a decade later has been a recent round of nuclear tests carried out by the DPRK, creating panic in Washington and among its regional allies, specifically South Korea and Japan, over the prospect of a state they have done their utmost to isolate obtaining a viable nuclear deterrent.

Regardless, North Korea’s nuclear sabre rattling is counter-productive given the desperate straits of its economy — and economy which despite the official state ideology of juche (self-reliance) is undeniably reliant on positive diplomatic relations with its neighbours, given the catalogue of natural disasters to engulf the country previously mentioned.

As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov opined in April 2016 on North Korea’s ongoing attempts to develop a nuclear arsenal:

Just as China does, we see North Korea’s nuclear ambitions as inappropriate. We have stated our position on this issue more than once, including to Pyongyang. We believe that North Korea’s actions in this sphere contradict the interests of strategic stability, efforts to maintain the non-proliferation regime and, of course, North Korea’s commitments sealed in UN Security Council resolutions. We respect North Korea’s sovereign right to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, including in space, and we understand and accept as justified Pyongyang’s concern over regional developments posing a regional security threat to North Korea. But while recognising North Korea’s security concerns, we don’t accept its claims on the status of becoming a nuclear state and reject the nuclear proliferation philosophy, which our North Korean neighbours are openly advocating.

Overall, the sharp deepening of tensions in the Korean Peninsula and surrounding region constitutes one of the most grievous US foreign policy failures and blunders since the end of the Second World War, which given the catalogue of such failures and blunders on the part of Washington, is saying something.

It is high time that serious efforts were made to bring about a peaceful resolution to this ongoing crisis. Such a resolution can only come about with the negotiation of a formal peace treaty officially ending hostilities, one that involves lifting economic sanctions, ending the militarisation of the region, and serious dialogue with the ultimate objective of normalising relations between North and South.

Confrontation and aggression have failed and will only continue to intensify tensions, enhancing the threat of direct military confrontation that has hung over the lives of the people of the Korean Peninsula for far too long.

End.

Thanks for taking the time to read my work. If you enjoy my writing and would like to read more, please consider making a donation in order to help fund my efforts. You can do so here. You can also grab a copy of my book, ‘This Boxing Game: A Journey in Beautiful Brutality’,from all major booksellers, and my novel, ‘Gaza Weeps’, from Amazon.



13. The US, its allies, and North Korea are one wrong move away from disaster



I do not think Mr. Kunkle has enough experience to see the patterns of the Korean security situation. everytime we see regime rhetoric and provocations attack alliance exercises people come out of the woodwork to inform us of how dangerous it is.


That said there is a lot to worry - yes as the author notes miscalculation is always possible and we must never assume the regime will not attack, but we need to take a longer term and broader view of the nature, objectives, and strategy of the Kim family regime. And what I am becoming increasingly concerned about is the potential for internal instability due to the policy decisions of Kim Jong Un.



The US, its allies, and North Korea are one wrong move away from disaster

Business Insider · by Chad Kunkle, Defense Priorities


People at the Seoul Railway Station watch a TV broadcast about a North Korean ICBM test in November 2017.

Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images



  • North Korea continues to test missiles while the US and South Korea hold high-profile exercises.
  • Both sides say they are conducting defensive actions in the face of aggressive adversaries and will continue to do so.
  • But conducting that activity amid rising tensions means one wrong move could turn into a full-on war.

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The situation on the Korean Peninsula seems to be deteriorating. In 2022, North Korea launched a record number of missile tests, aiming to demonstrate its capabilities in delivering conventional or nuclear payloads to more distant targets, potentially including the US mainland.

This trend has continued into this year, including in late February, with North Korea launching another ICBM and cruise missiles, and the US and South Korea holding a nuclear-themed tabletop exercise and conducting a joint air drill over the peninsula.

On Thursday, Pyongyang fired another ballistic missile. The tit-for-tat scenario shows no signs of de-escalation, as both sides claim they are conducting defensive actions in the face of aggressive adversaries and have pledged to continue these operations.

The potential for this scenario to spiral out of control due to some line-crossing incident, even an unintentional one, carries a risk that far outweighs any potential benefit that could be gained by continuing down the current path.


North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter at the site of a missile launch in Pyongyang in November.

Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via Associated Press

North Korea errantly firing missiles near their neighbors carries the inherent danger that there could be a misfire that kills civilians or military personnel. A comparable situation could arise if one side mistakes the other's military exercise for an act of war. Either of these circumstances would likely entail a response by the afflicted nation and possibly unfreeze the Korean War.

The world recently experienced a scare similar to these hypothetical scenarios when a Ukrainian anti-air missile accidentally killed two civilians in Poland, sparking fears that Russia had attacked a NATO member and that Article 5 would be invoked. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed, the error was revealed, and World War III was averted. There's no guarantee that a similar situation in Korea would play out that way.

Renewed conflict in Korea would radically alter the geopolitical status quo in East Asia, undoubtedly rattle China, and push the US, South Korea, and possibly Japan, to spend a great deal of resources in a war that would result in massive military and civilian casualties.

This prospect should prod US policy makers to consider why they are choosing to push forward with the current approach to North Korea. One does not have to sympathize with the Kim regime to realize that the costs of a war are not worth the unrealistic goal of denuclearizing North Korea. The results of past decades spent toppling unsavory governments should have made clear that these adventures never go as planned.

The threat that North Korea does pose to American interests can be diminished by reducing the risk of unnecessary conflict by de-escalating the situation on the peninsula.


US Air Force F-16s and B-1B bombers with South Korean F-35As during an exercise over the Korean Peninsula in November.

US Air Force/Staff Sgt. Dwane Young

The US currently houses 28,500 military personnel in South Korea, along with some of the most advanced aircraft and hardware available. The presence of these forces on the peninsula, along with the drills they participate in, are at the forefront of Pyongyang's justification for their continued provocative missile tests.

Making moves to reduce or even completely remove US military presence and action in Korea would help de-escalate the situation by denying North Korea this talking point, and, despite objections, would not leave South Korea defenseless to North Korean invasion nor the US mainland any more vulnerable to its missiles.

South Korea maintains a large and modern military that has kept its eyes focused on the 38th parallel since the fighting stopped and has the economic power to ensure that it can develop or purchase top-level military equipment.

Japan has recently embarked on a major military expansion, aiming to turn its Self-Defense Forces into a military better equipped to handle regional threats by increasing defense spending, readiness, and deterrence capabilities. The US would also remain safe from North Korea.


Kim, his daughter, and other North Korean officials watch sports in Pyongyang in a photo released on February 17.

KCNA via REUTERS

Considering that the Kim regime's main goal is self-preservation, it is unlikely that North Korea would be any more motivated to self-immolate by launching a war against at least one, possibly two wealthy neighbors that are shoring up their own defenses while Tokyo and Seoul are under the US nuclear umbrella. Stronger militaries in South Korea and Japan would strengthen regional resolve against Chinese provocation.

There are already actions being taken by the Biden administration that show how maintaining a massive force in South Korea is not a top priority for the US, such as the recent decision to transfer artillery ammunition from South Korea to resupply Ukrainian stockpiles.

Building off this move towards a troop drawdown would not put the US or its allies at an increased risk of attack by North Korea and may reopen their desire to engage in dialogue that could result in a reduction or cessation of missile tests.

The path of de-escalation can do far more to ensure peace on the Korean peninsula than continuing a status quo that incurs unnecessary risk and prevents the US from focusing on matters more pressing to its national security interests.

Chad Kunkle is a recipient of a bachelor's degree and master's degree in international affairs from Florida State University and a former intern at the Hudson Institute.


Business Insider · by Chad Kunkle, Defense Priorities


14. [Column] From K-pop to a ‘Hallyu economy’





Sunday

March 12, 2023

 dictionary + A - A 

[Column] From K-pop to a ‘Hallyu economy’

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/03/12/opinion/columns/Kpop-Kculture-Hallyu/20230312200322387.html


Lee Young-ryeol


The author is a professor at Seoul Institute of the Arts.


“K-content, a relief pitcher on the export front.”


That was the title of a report by the Ministry of Culture and Sports for the fourth Export Strategy Meeting hosted by President Yoon Suk Yeol in his office on Feb. 23. During the meeting, the ministry promised to elevate K-content to the ranks of global Top 4 by further promoting it around the world. K-content exports hit $12.45 billion in 2021 thanks to the global popularity of Hallyu, or the Korean wave. The sum swelled 4.4 percent from 2021 even amid the Covid-19 pandemic.



Exports of K-pop, K-dramas, K-movies, K-games and K-webtoons have grown powerful enough to exceed the combined exports of traditional products like TVs, refrigerators and washing machines. Content exports also affect related items. For instance, if K-content exports increase by $100 million, exports of consumer goods, like cosmetics, fashion and food, increase by $180 million. The president’s underscoring of the need to link K-content and fashion, tourism, food and IT also can be understood in such a context.


Cultural content is effective in creating jobs. In 2019, the employment inducement coefficient of the industry — or the number of direct or indirect hires per one billion won ($755,858) in final demand — was 12.4, higher than that for cars (6.8) and chips (3.0). The cultural content industry is a boon in the era of jobless growth from automation in the manufacturing sector.


K-content has expanded to beauty, fashion and food products beyond the earlier genres of song, drama, film, games and webtoons, spurring a craze for Korean cuisines and language around the globe today.


Hallyu noticeably took off on YouTube and Netflix during the pandemic. K-pop sold more than 80 million albums around the world in 2022, and the number of global Hallyu fans soared to 156.6 million in 116 countries in December 2021, a 17-fold increase from 2011. After the successful debuts of “Squid Game” (2021) and boy band Kingdom on Netflix, K-drama and K-entertainment continue to rank at the top.


That’s not all. As seen in three Michelin-starred Korean restaurants in New York last year alone, K-food is creating a sensation mostly thanks to Hallyu’s power to lift the country’s image as a cultural powerhouse.


News reports about the Hallyu phenomenon on foreign media outlets attract more attention in other countries than in Korea. The sharp dispute over the management rights of SM Entertainment also was treated as top news by CNN and the Wall Street Journal.


Does the popularity of Hallyu really help induce foreigners to visit Korea, boost our exports to foreign countries or draw investment from them? Could the Korean wave give strong momentum for the struggling Korean economy to rebound from its sluggish export and frozen demand at home?


There are some clues to answering the questions. In a four-day performance in Las Vegas last April, BTS raked in 131.5 billion won through concerts and other promotional events. The sales of cheer sticks alone topped 15.3 billion won. A three-course meal of gimbap, tteokbokki and steamed galbi was priced at more than 60,000 won. Las Vegas city officials were excited about the job-boosting effect of the BTS performance, while Democratic Senator Catherine Masto of Nevada extended her heart-felt thanks to the boy band on Twitter.


What would have happened if such a glitzy performance had been staged in Korea? According to the estimates by the Korea Culture & Tourism Institute, BTS will create a maximum 1 trillion won in economic value per performance if the boy band performs in Korea.


Beside BTS, Korea has an army of K-pop bands, such as Blackpink, Twice, Stray Kids, NCT and Seventeen. Regrettably, though, nearly all of them announce plans to perform overseas.


A score of K-dramas have entertained foreigners on Netflix in the past, but the country rarely tries to attract foreign tourists to their filming locations. Given the 1 million foreign tourists in 2019 who traveled to Nami Island — the backdrop for the 2002 romance drama series “Winter Sonata” — it would be perfect if K-content and K-tourism can be combined.


The declaration of 2023-24 as “Korea Visit Year” by the Korea Tourism Organization in December — and its ambitious plans to integrate K-culture and K-tourism and improve services for foreign tourists after the pandemic — also reflects a close connection between culture and tourism. But our tourism industry is sitting on its hands.

 


 

In January alone, 434,000 foreigners visited Korea. But more than four times the figure — or 1.78 million Koreans — traveled to foreign countries. Despite the explosive demand for tourism after the end of the pandemic, the industry is engrossed in dealing with outbound tourists.



If the country wants to ride the Korean wave to boost inbound tours and multiply Hallyu product sales exponentially, an incremental improvement by each government ministry is not enough. I propose the Yoon administration to push it under the greater banner of the “Hallyu economy” and merge its cultural, economic and diplomatic policies into one at national levels.


The “Hallyu economy” is a growth policy aimed at creating jobs and achieving economic growth at the same time by integrating the global cultural phenomenon to the economic sphere based on three axes: reinforcing our cultural content industry; boosting inbound tours and drawing foreign investments; and amplifying our cultural export. The move is in the same context as former president Lee Myung-bak’s championing of clean energy and eco-friendly policy under the flag of “green growth.” This time, we can ride the popularity of K-content and find a promising growth engine.


To achieve the goal, the government must serve as a command center that can incorporate the Hallyu-related activities dispersed in the private and public sectors. For instance, the government can create a platform like “Hallyu Valley” — where all information on the Hallyu culture or economy can be shared — and where not only K-pop or K-drama or K-game creators but also travel agencies, hotels, general trading companies, food companies, central and local governments all can exchange their information and collaborate to escalate the efficiency of their business.


Above all, the government must draw up a farsighted masterplan to turn the country and K-content into a hub for global cultural content over the next 100 years. The government must provide financial support and tax incentives for creators involved, including art teachers at elementary schools, and for creative fusion in the fourth industrial revolution. I hope the government can create jobs and achieve economic growth by taking advantage of the power of K-culture.


Korea can learn lessons from France, an industrial power and cultural powerhouse, as manifested by its advanced nuclear reactors, high-speed trains, aviation and automobile industries, as well as its unrivaled strength in tourism, fashion, luxury brands and food sectors. France attracted 90 million foreign tourists in 2019, No. 1 in the world. The fashion industry’s contribution to the GDP amounts to 3 percent, larger than from its car and aviation industries. Nearly a half of the 270 global luxury brands come from France.


The French government consistently consolidated the linkage between culture and economy, as seen in the presentation of a joint report in January 2014 by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Culture on economic benefits from culture. In a Cabinet meeting on tourism strategy in June 2021, French President Emmanuel Macron declared to permanently establish France as No.1 tourist destination in the world. Paris, the capital of world tourism and global luxury brands, was not built in a day.


Britain is no exception. After former prime minister Gordon Brown declared to build “Creative UK” in 2008, 13 creative industries, including fashion and games, grew at double its GDP growth rate between 2011 and 2019. Current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is accelerating the transition by transferring digital affairs of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in January to foster its creative industry.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.



15.  [Editorial] K-pop’s defining moment






Sunday

March 12, 2023

 dictionary + A - A 

[Editorial] K-pop’s defining moment

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/03/12/opinion/editorials/Kpop-SM-HYBE/20230312200642343.html

The ferocious battle to purchase SM Entertainment between Kakao and HYBE has ended with Kakao’s victory. As the acquisition race was heated, SM’s stock price skyrocketed. Whoever won the war had to pay excessive costs. Fortunately, the shareholders reached a dramatic agreement at the last minute to avoid the winner’s curse.


But all parties involved in the mud fight must not brush off the criticism that they alienated K-pop bands and their fans, inadvertently or not. In the face of deepening public disappointment, the entertainment companies reflected on what they did. Kakao promised to honor the integrity of SM’s executives and staffers, members of its K-pop bands and their fans. Kakao also pledged to guarantee the autonomous operation of SM Entertainment, along with a vow to accelerate their global promotion. In reaction, SM made a commitment to elevate itself to global entertainment company respecting fans and shareholders.


The battle over the management rights of SM exposed the shades of K-pop success. Though the market cap of SM snowballed to billions of dollars, the problem was its opaque business operation by a top producer intervening in all decision-making processes of the company. For instance, SM annually gave 10 billion won ($7.6 million) as “producing cost” to CTP, a Hong Kong-based company 100 percent owned by SM founder Lee Soo-man. The issue was first raised by activist fund Align Partners. Investment funds in Korea already pointed out the problem, but SM didn’t move until the hedge fund raised issue with the shady practice.



Though K-pop seems to enjoy its heyday, insiders started expressing their concerns. Despite the popularity of K-pop, the combined sales of the top four entertainment companies in Korea account for only two percent of the global market dominated by Universal (31.9 percent), Sony (21.9 percent) and Warner Brothers (16.3 percent).


Album sales are dwindling fast. K-pop sold albums worth $231.4 million last year, the largest ever, but grew at less than five percent. There are no powerful boybands on par with BTS, either. Even Bang Si-hyuk, board chair of HYBE, recently worried about “many dangers ahead if K-pop is left unattended.”


The time has come for industry insiders to look back. They must wonder if they were intoxicated with the success of K-pop too much. All parties involved must review their K-pop strategy. No success lasts forever. To help extend the success, they must raise transparency befitting its bigger size while moving forward through the multi-label strategy. Otherwise, K-pop will follow in the sad path J-pop took before.

16. Springfield Visits Republic of Korea during Indo-Pacific Patrol





Springfield Visits Republic of Korea during Indo-Pacific Patrol

pacom.mil

BUSAN, Republic of Korea -- The Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Springfield (SSN 761) departed Busan, Republic of Korea (ROK) following a scheduled port visit as part of its routine operations in the Indo-Pacific, March 1.


During their time in port, Springfield hosted multiple ship tours for members of the U.S. and ROK navies, and participated in a day of cultural outreach at local Korean Buddhist temples.


“Pulling into Busan in the milestone year of the 70th anniversary of the ROK-U.S. Alliance is a privilege for this hardworking crew,” said Cmdr. Andy Domina, Springfield’s commanding officer. “Springfield is America’s submarine—a group of Sailors dedicated to the mission and proud ambassadors of our country!”


Springfield hosted multiple tours for distinguished visitors during their port visit.


ROK Navy Vice Adm. Kim Myung-soo, commander, Republic of Korea Fleet, toured with members of his staff, learning about the Los Angeles-class platform and capabilities.


Additionally, Rear Adm. Mark Schafer, commander, Naval Forces Korea and his wife toured the submarine, meeting with Sailors and learning more about their work, training and experiences.


ROK Navy sailors from the Type 209-class diesel-electric attack submarine ROKS Lee Jong Moo (SS-066) toured, as well. Based in Chinhae, Lee Jong Moo was the designated host ship for Springfield's visit. The two crews combined on outings, meetings, and events which furthered interoperability and understanding between the two countries submarine forces.


Springfield coordinated with Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Korea to plan a day of cultural learning, which included trips to two of Busan’s most notable Buddhist Temples– Temple Tongdosa and Temple Hongbeobsa– where 20 Springfield Sailors learned about Korean culture and history; and ate traditional Korean foods.


For many aboard the submarine, this is their first time visiting Busan.


“I was pretty excited when I heard we would have the opportunity to visit Korea,” said Sonar Technician 3rd Class Nicholas Young. “I joined the Navy to see the world, and port visits like this one make all the work while underway worth it!”


Springfield is one of four submarines forward deployed to the island of Guam and has a crew of approximately 140 officers and enlisted. Los Angeles-class submarines make up the backbone of the U.S. Navy’s submarine force. Sixty-two submarines of this class have been completed, 41 are still in active service.


Alliances and partnerships are vital to regional stability. Since its establishment in 1953, the U.S./ROK Alliance has proven strong and durable in the face of new global conditions and is among the most interoperable, capable, and dynamic bilateral alliances in the world.


Springfield is the fourth ship in U.S. Navy history to bear the name.


Measuring more than 360 feet long and weighing more than 6,900 tons when submerged, Springfield is one of the stealthiest, most technologically advanced submarines in the world. Los Angeles-class submarines support a multitude of missions to include anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface ship warfare, surveillance and reconnaissance, and strike warfare.


For more information on Springfield, please visit https://www.csp.navy.mil/springfield.

pacom.mil






De Oppresso Liber,

David Maxwell

Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy

Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation

Editor, Small Wars Journal

Twitter: @davidmaxwell161

Phone: 202-573-8647

email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com



De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647


If you do not read anything else in the 2017 National Security Strategy read this on page 14:

"A democracy is only as resilient as its people. An informed and engaged citizenry is the fundamental requirement for a free and resilient nation. For generations, our society has protected free press, free speech, and free thought. Today, actors such as Russia are using information tools in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of democracies. Adversaries target media, political processes, financial networks, and personal data. The American public and private sectors must recognize this and work together to defend our way of life. No external threat can be allowed to shake our shared commitment to our values, undermine our system of government, or divide our Nation."
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