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Quotes of the Day:
"The supreme quality of leadership is unquestionably integrity; without it, no real success as possible, no matter whether it is on a section, gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office."
- Dwight D Eisenhower.
"How I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks, as if they were great and noble."
- Helen Keller.
“I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned."
- This quote is attributed to George Carlin and Richard Feynman. So take your pick, Carlin or Feynman. Both are worthy people to quote, and both quotes are relevant in any discussion about children, questions, and thinking.”
1. Biden Administration Foreign Policy Tracker: April - KOREA
2. No sign of an imminent nuclear test from North Korea, Pentagon says
3. North Koreans Trapped in ‘State-Sponsored Slavery’ in Russia
4. UNHRC adopts resolution on N. K. human rights
5. North Korea slams U.S. for protecting raiders of Spain embassy in 2019 case
6. N. Korean hacking group Kimsuky funds Pyongyang's espionage operations through cybercrimes
7. China's new envoy to N. Korea starts duty
8. U.S. announces ICBM test launch in third week of April
9. Making Yoon’s Space Vision a South Korean Reality
10. Pyongyang still suffers from unreliable power supply
11. N. Korean restaurants in northeastern China refuse to serve S. Korean customers
12. South green-lights humanitarian aid to North Korea, first this year
13. Korea, China, Japan may resume three-way summit this year: Seoul official
14. Foreign Ministry denies Blackpink allegations
15. South Korea should not go nuclear
16. New national security adviser hopes for close communication with US counterpart
1. Biden Administration Foreign Policy Tracker: April - KOREA
Access the Korea section HERE.
KOREA
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow
Trending Neutral
Previous Trend:
Neutral
The Biden administration invited ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol to a state visit on April 26. This will be only the second state visit of President Biden’s tenure and the first for a Korean head of state in 12 years. Congress will likely also invite Yoon to address a joint session, which an ROK leader has not done since 2013.
In preparation for the visit, three South Korean officials, including Yoon’s national security adviser, resigned, reportedly due to internal conflicts over summit preparations that so far have not been made public. The current ROK ambassador to the United States has been named to replace him. This series of events likely will not have a significant impact on the visit.
The alliance’s military readiness also made further progress in March with the conclusion of Exercise Freedom Shield, the largest combined exercise in five years. It consisted of advanced field and live training on land, in the air, and at sea as well as computer simulation training at strategic and operational headquarters.
Meanwhile, North Korea conducted eight provocations in March, including an intercontinental ballistic missile test and an alleged test of what Pyongyang’s state media called an “underwater nuclear capable drone” designed to create a “radioactive tsunami.”
Yoon also visited Japan for the two countries’ first bilateral summit since 2013. He appeared to make some headway in mitigating historical conflicts related to the colonial period of 1910-1945. However, Yoon encountered unsurprising criticism at home over the trip. The backlash intensified when Japan released new textbooks that glossed over the causes of historical tensions and claimed the disputed islands of Dok Do/Takashima.
2. No sign of an imminent nuclear test from North Korea, Pentagon says
No sign of an imminent nuclear test from North Korea, Pentagon says
Stars and Stripes · by David Choi · April 4, 2023
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter observe a missile launch in this photo released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency on March 20, 2023. (KCNA)
The U.S. military “hasn’t seen any indications” of an imminent nuclear weapons test by North Korea, though it continues to monitor the communist regime’s testing facilities, a Pentagon spokeswoman said Monday.
“We continue to assess and work with our allies and partners in the region,” deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters in Washington, D.C. “Our goal and our allies' goal is the full denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
For the past year, U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials have warned that North Korea has fully prepared to conduct its seventh nuclear test. The communist regime last detonated what it claimed was a hydrogen device on Sept. 3, 2017.
The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Army Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, told reporters on March 22 that North Korea did not appear to be conducting a nuclear test soon.
“There are a bunch of different factors that play into [North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s] decision calculus on that,” he said, according to Reuters. “And there are a bunch of things that we watch in terms of indications and warning. Those two haven't aligned.”
North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency released images on March 28 of what it described as new Hwasan-31 nuclear warheads. The same report said the North had traveled a “rigorous and long road for possessing nuclear weapons."
North Korea has no plans to cease its nuclear program, according to U.S. and international agencies.
Kim “is continuing efforts to enhance North Korea’s nuclear and conventional capabilities targeting the United States and its allies,” according to the annual threat assessment released March 8 by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
"Kim almost certainly views nuclear weapons and [intercontinental ballistic missiles] as the ultimate guarantor of his autocratic rule and has no intention of abandoning those programs, believing that over time he will gain international acceptance as a nuclear power,” the report states.
The Punggye-ri site, where North Korea previously tested its nuclear devices, “remains prepared to support a nuclear test, and we continue to see indications of activity …,” according to a March 6 statement by Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
“The reopening of the nuclear test site is deeply troubling,” Grossi said. “The conduct of a nuclear test would contravene U.N. Security Council resolutions and would be a cause for serious concern.”
The September 2017 test triggered a 6.3 magnitude earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. A study by the American Geophysical Union published in 2019 estimated the explosion yielded the equivalent of 250 kilotons of TNT, or roughly 17 times the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.
David Choi
David Choi
David Choi is based in South Korea and reports on the U.S. military and foreign policy. He served in the U.S. Army and California Army National Guard. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Stars and Stripes · by David Choi · April 4, 2023
3. North Koreans Trapped in ‘State-Sponsored Slavery’ in Russia
Russia (and China as well) is complict in north Korean human rights abuses. And the sad irony is in some ways "workers" in Russia are better off than their fellow Koreans living in the the northern half of the Korean peninsula.
Excertps:
Human rights groups have compared the conditions faced by North Korean workers abroad to “state-sponsored slavery.” Still, there remains a huge backlog of North Koreans waiting to be sent abroad once pandemic restrictions are fully lifted, according to the two defectors.
One big incentive the workers have over their starving compatriots is enough food to eat. They were also exposed to the internet, watching South Korean dramas out of view of their supervisors.
After a life in the totalitarian North, the 50-year-old defector said the smartphone he bought in secret while working abroad helped him realize that North Koreans lived like “frogs trapped in a deep well.”
Now in Seoul, he is recuperating from recent cancer surgery. He said he wants to find work in construction in the South so he can save enough money to help smuggle his family.
His smartphone’s screen saver flashed a photo of his smiling teenage daughter, still living in North Korea.
North Koreans Trapped in ‘State-Sponsored Slavery’ in Russia
The New York Times · by Choe Sang-Hun · April 3, 2023
Despite sanctions and the pandemic, laborers from the country remain abroad, earning desperately needed cash for the regime, according to a new report.
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North Korean workers in 2019 waiting for their flight at an airport in Vladivostok, Russia. Under a United Nations Security Council resolution, countries were required to expel all North Korean workers by the end of 2019.
By
April 3, 2023
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SEOUL — For more than three decades, North Korea has sent workers abroad to make money for its regime.
These workers have toiled in logging camps in Russia, factories and restaurants in China and farms and shipyards in Eastern Europe. They have sweated in construction sites in the Middle East and worked as doctors in African hospitals.
They left their children or parents behind as hostages, their passports confiscated for fear that they may flee to South Korea.
Under the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, the number of workers sent abroad to raise money for the regime increased to tens of thousands, making billions of dollars a year, according to South Korean estimates. A United Nations Security Council resolution required countries to expel the workers by the end of 2019.
But thousands still remain in China and Russia, according to former workers and a new report on North Korean human rights published by the South’s Unification Ministry over the weekend. With borders closed during the pandemic, many have been trapped, with no choice but to continue toiling away for their government.
China and Russia, which have sought to make the North a more useful partner in their rivalry with the United States, have become loopholes in enforcing the U.N. ban, helping the North earn badly needed cash as it deals with the fallout of international sanctions and the pandemic.
A North Korean worker at the entrance of a restaurant in one of China’s largest Korea towns, in Shenyang, in March. Thousands of North Korean workers remain in China and Russia, despite the sanctions.
On Thursday, the White House also accused Moscow of discussing a deal in which Pyongyang would ship weapons for Russia’s war in Ukraine in exchange for food and other commodities.
“North Korea has found various ways to evade sanctions and continue to send workers to Russia and China, including sending them out on student and tourist visas,” the report said.
Uriminzokkiri, a North Korean website, called the new report “slander and fabrication.”
The report was based on a survey of more than 500 North Koreans who defected to South Korea between 2017 and 2022, providing one of the most up-to-date assessments of the human rights conditions of North Koreans, including those working overseas.
It did not reveal the identities of those who participated in the survey. But two North Koreans who worked in Russia before defecting to the South last year confirmed key details in interviews with The New York Times.
The defectors spoke on condition of anonymity for fear that North Korean authorities would find and retaliate against their relatives back home.
One of the defectors, 50, worked as a construction hand in Moscow from 2017 to last year. He and his colleagues lived in shipping containers at construction sites or on the ground floor of apartment buildings still under construction.
What we consider before using anonymous sources. Do the sources know the information? What’s their motivation for telling us? Have they proved reliable in the past? Can we corroborate the information? Even with these questions satisfied, The Times uses anonymous sources as a last resort. The reporter and at least one editor know the identity of the source.
Learn more about our process.
They were alerted in advance of the local police arriving for inspections so they could hide, he said.
The workers were each required to earn $7,000 to $10,000 a year for their government. They also had to make various “loyalty” donations, including chipping in for funds purportedly being raised to renovate the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a mausoleum in Pyongyang where Mr. Kim’s father and grandfather lie in state.
Supervisors kept the workers’ earnings until it was time for them to return home, giving them only 300 rubles ($38) a month to buy cigarettes, said a 41-year-old defector who worked in construction in Sakhalin, an island off the Russian Far East.
After toiling for years, many of these workers remain broke with no savings. Others take home as much as $20,000 to $30,000 — an unimaginable amount in the hunger-stricken North.
North Koreans are not free to travel abroad. An average worker’s monthly salary — worth just 25 cents — can barely pay for a kilogram of rice. The Unification Ministry report also cited widespread human rights violations within North Korea, such as the shooting of people accused of trying to cross the border into China during the pandemic.
Working abroad has become such a coveted privilege that bribes are often paid to officials throughout the selection process. Workers also bribe supervisors to extend their stay rather than be sent home.
To Mr. Kim’s regime, which is increasingly pinched for foreign currency while pouring resources into a growing nuclear arsenal, these workers are a crucial source of cash.
North Korean workers awaiting a flight to Pyongyang at an airport in Beijing, in 2019. North Korea sends its workers abroad to earn desperately needed cash. Some have been stuck abroad since the pandemic.
Before being sent abroad, the government carefully vets each person for political loyalty. People with relatives who have defected to the South are ineligible. So are people who have served in submarine and missile units with access to sensitive information.
Political minders follow the workers abroad, inspecting their letters for signs of disloyalty. When the workers are allowed to travel outside their dormitories to go shopping, they have to move in groups of three or four so they can spy on each other.
Last week, President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea vowed to reveal “every detail” of the North’s human rights abuse, as his government struggles to find diplomatic leverage to force Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.
Human rights groups have compared the conditions faced by North Korean workers abroad to “state-sponsored slavery.” Still, there remains a huge backlog of North Koreans waiting to be sent abroad once pandemic restrictions are fully lifted, according to the two defectors.
One big incentive the workers have over their starving compatriots is enough food to eat. They were also exposed to the internet, watching South Korean dramas out of view of their supervisors.
After a life in the totalitarian North, the 50-year-old defector said the smartphone he bought in secret while working abroad helped him realize that North Koreans lived like “frogs trapped in a deep well.”
Now in Seoul, he is recuperating from recent cancer surgery. He said he wants to find work in construction in the South so he can save enough money to help smuggle his family.
His smartphone’s screen saver flashed a photo of his smiling teenage daughter, still living in North Korea.
The New York Times · by Choe Sang-Hun · April 3, 2023
4. UNHRC adopts resolution on N. K. human rights
Good news for the human rights upfront approach.
We should keep in mind that the action (or non-action) in this excerpt did not work.
Excerpt:
South Korea, however, did not co-sponsor such a U.N. resolution from 2019 to 2022 under the previous Moon Jae-in administration that apparently sought to avoid tensions with the North and resume inter-Korean dialogue.
UNHRC adopts resolution on N. K. human rights | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 박상수 · April 4, 2023
GENEVA, April 4 (Yonhap) -- The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Tuesday adopted a resolution on North Korea's gross rights violations.
The resolution, co-sponsored by South Korea and adopted at the 52nd regular session of the UNHRC, urged the North to ensure freedom of speech both online and offline, allow the establishment of independent media, and reconsider its law on blocking cultural content from outside the reclusive country.
In 2020, North Korea adopted a new law on "rejecting the reactionary ideology and culture" that bans people from distributing or watching media originating from South Korea, the United States and other countries.
The latest resolution also called on Pyongyang to disclose all relevant information, including the whereabouts, of foreigners detained or kidnapped in the North to the families of the victims.
It appears to reflect the Seoul government's demand for the North to clarify the death of a South Korean fisheries official who was fatally shot by the North's coast guard near the Yellow Sea border between the two Koreas in 2020.
The UNHRC has adopted a resolution condemning North Korea's human rights abuses every year since 2003.
South Korea, however, did not co-sponsor such a U.N. resolution from 2019 to 2022 under the previous Moon Jae-in administration that apparently sought to avoid tensions with the North and resume inter-Korean dialogue.
sam@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by 박상수 · April 4, 2023
5. North Korea slams U.S. for protecting raiders of Spain embassy in 2019 case
I wonder if the regime fears this opposition group "in exile." Is it perceived as a threat to the regime? If the Korean people in the north were aware of these efforts would it influence them?
My thoughts from 2019: "A Revolution Against North Korea’s Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State"
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2019/03/29/a_revolution_against_north_koreas_guerrilla_dynasty_and_gulag_state_114294.html
Excerpt from the above:
Free Joseon may be worthy of assessment and examination to determine if its interests are sufficiently aligned with the ROK/U.S. alliance. The excitement over the existence of this organization must be tempered with caution and objective analysis. Their stated goals are worthy, namely the elimination of the Kim family regime. Is it the organization that can “out-revolution” the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State? Perhaps, but if so, there has to be agreement on the only long-term solution to the “Korea question” – a United Republic of Korea – and it may require a revolution in the North to defeat the revolutionary leadership of Kim and his Juche ideology to achieve this. If that is not an objective, then I would be hard-pressed to recommend support as much as I too long to see a Free Korea.
North Korea slams U.S. for protecting raiders of Spain embassy in 2019 case
Reuters · by Hyonhee Shin
SEOUL, April 4(Reuters) - North Korea criticized the U.S. for refusing to extradite a man who was accused of staging a break-in at North Korea's embassy in Spain in 2019, saying Washington was protecting terrorism, state media KCNA reported on Tuesday.
The North Korean embassy in Madrid issued a statement marking the fourth anniversary of the raid, during which a group of men bound and gagged staff for hours before driving off with computers and other devices.
Pyongyang denounced the incident as a "grave breach of sovereignty and terrorist attack" but accused the U.S. of not investigating the group thoroughly and refusing to extradite its leader, Christopher Ahn, calling it a violation of international law.
Ahn, a former U.S. Marine who had worked as a human rights activist, was arrested in Los Angeles in April 2019 but freed on $1.3 million bail three months later.
"Ahn must be severely punished as he inflicted severe mental, physical and material damage on the members of the diplomatic staff and their families," the embassy said in a statement carried by KCNA.
"But the U.S. is openly protecting and encouraging acts of terrorism against our citizens abroad based on groundless claims," it added.
The embassy called Washington's behaviour "daylight robbery" and "gangster," demanding it provide a formal apology and compensation and arrest and extradite the raiders.
Spanish authorities identified the intruders as members of a group called Cheollima Civil Defense, or Free Joseon, which seeks the overthrow of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and sought Ahn's extradition.
The group had acknowledged it was behind the break-in but said its members were invited inside.
U.S. court documents showed that the raiders took computers, hard drives and a mobile phone from the embassy and handed them over to the FBI after fleeing to the U.S. The FBI gave the items to Spanish authorities who eventually returned them to the embassy.
Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; editing by Jonathan Oatis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Reuters · by Hyonhee Shin
6. N. Korean hacking group Kimsuky funds Pyongyang's espionage operations through cybercrimes
The all purpose sword is one of the most important tools/weapons of the regime.
N. Korean hacking group Kimsuky funds Pyongyang's espionage operations through cybercrimes | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 김보람 · April 4, 2023
By Kim Boram
SEOUL, April 4 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean hacking group known as Kimsuky has hacked cryptocurrency to fund the country's espionage operations related to its nuclear program, Mandiant, Google's cybersecurity unit, said Tuesday.
In a recently published report, Mandiant said it has tracked the state-backed hacker group, classified as APT43, over the past five years and found out that Kimsuky has committed cybercrimes to financially support Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.
"This is a group that has done some cybercrime particularly targeting cryptocurrency," said Luke McNamara, principal analyst at Mandiant, in an online press conference for South Korean media. "We believe their primary mission is cyber espionage, gathering secrets for the North Korean government, particularly around nuclear policy."
Luke McNamara, principal analyst at Mandiant, is shown in this photo provided by Mandiant (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
He said APT43 is part of the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB) in the North Korean government, along with other secret operations groups like APT38, Temp Hermit and Andariel, which are widely called Lazarus.
Those groups are believed to share malware and hacking codes to carry out their mission to bring in money for the North Korean government to fund the weapons program.
"APT43 carries out a variety of different financially motivated activity, primarily focused on stealing cryptocurrency within this category of activity," he said. "And one of the things they do to try to make that cryptocurrency that they have stolen more difficult to trace by law enforcement is by rolling that into or using that to pay for cloud mining or hash rental services."
They laundered the stolen cyber money through cloud mining services, allowing the country to disrupt the trail of those stolen funds.
He noted that North Korea has used the laundered money to collect information about nuclear weapons by sending spear-phishing emails targeting policymakers or researchers in South Korea and the United States to ask for in-depth analysis of North Korean issues.
"They didn't even send any malware. They simply asked someone who was working on policy matters to provide their strategic analysis of what was going on," he said. "And a lot of targets who had been sent emails like this have freely responded and given responses to APT43, which as we know is North Korea's RGB."
This image provided by Mandiant highlights the North Korean hacker group APT43, also known as Kimsuky. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
APT43 has also approached global pharmaceutical firms to get information on COVID-19 vaccines and treatment during the pandemic.
"Particularly since 2020, they targeted pharmaceuticals when the pandemic started and when there was a lot of work on vaccine treatments and other treatments for COVID-19," he said.
North Korea's cybercrimes will be more active and versatile from now on as they are playing a crucial role in giving financial support to the North Korean government, which is currently intensifying military provocations amid signs of a looming nuclear test.
"We expect APT43 will continue to be very prolific and very active, carrying out its mission of espionage," he said. "As North Korea continues its weapons program and as North Korea continues its missile tests, we expect APT43 to continue carrying out its operations because this is a key part of what this group is supporting."
brk@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by 김보람 · April 4, 2023
7. China's new envoy to N. Korea starts duty
China's new envoy to N. Korea starts duty | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 김수연 · April 4, 2023
SEOUL, April 4 (Yonhap) -- China's new ambassador to North Korea began his official activities Tuesday, according to China's Embassy in Pyongyang, after his arrival was delayed for years due to the North's COVID-19-related border restrictions.
Amb. Wang Yajun submitted a copy of credentials to the North's foreign ministry Monday when he arrived in Pyongyang, according to the embassy.
In February 2021, China appointed Wang as Beijing's top envoy to the North to replace his predecessor, Li Jinjun.
But his departure to Pyongyang was delayed due to the North's tight border control over the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wang vowed his efforts to develop traditional ties between China and North Korea, and seek bilateral cooperation in various fields, according to the Chinese embassy.
North Korea has been deepening its ties with China, the North's traditional ally and economic benefactor, amid global sanctions on its nuclear and missile programs, and stalled denuclearization talks with the United States.
This photo, captured from the website of China's Embassy in North Korea on April 4, 2023, shows China's new ambassador to North Korea, Wang Yajun (R), submitting a copy of credentials to a senior official at the North's foreign ministry, as he arrived in Pyongyang to start his official activities. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 김수연 · April 4, 2023
8. U.S. announces ICBM test launch in third week of April
Will the missile technicians write Kim Jong Un on the side of the missile?
Excerpts:
The Minuteman III is an ICBM with a range of 13,000 kilometers (8,078 miles).
It can hit Pyongyang within half an hour of its launch from the continental United States.
Tuesday
April 4, 2023
dictionary + A - A
U.S. announces ICBM test launch in third week of April
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/04/04/national/defense/korea-us-icbm/20230404174059056.html
Air Force Global Strike Command launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile with a test reentry vehicle from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California on Feb. 9. Photo provided by Airman 1st Class Landon Gunsauls. [U.S. AIR FORCE]
U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command, responsible for the country’s three intercontinental ballistic missile wings and the Air Force’s entire bomber force, announced Monday that it will test a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in the third week of April.
“This test launch will validate the ability of the Airborne Launch Control System [ALCS] to provide a secondary launch platform for our nation’s ICBM force,” said Lt. Col. Brian Lane, 625th Strategic Operations Squadron commander, in a statement.
“The ALCS is routinely used in test launches to validate the backup launch capability provided by the weapon system and guarantee that an adversary cannot carry out a paralyzing first strike on the United States.”
The ALCS is a control system for ICBMs and ballistic missiles operated from the air, in case nuclear contingencies prevent the military from conducting operations from the ground.
The test launch will take place around the time that North Korea celebrates several important national holidays, which are often accompanied by military actions often criticized by South Korea as provocative.
The birthday of North Korea's late founder Kim Il Sung falls on April 15 and the 91st anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army falls on April 25.
The regime had already announced that it will complete its development of a spy satellite by April.
The Minuteman III is an ICBM with a range of 13,000 kilometers (8,078 miles).
It can hit Pyongyang within half an hour of its launch from the continental United States.
Test launches are held around four times a year and scheduled at least a year in advance, though U.S. forces usually issue a statement only a day before a launch or immediately afterwards.
Monday's extraordinary warning, coming weeks in advance, may be a strategic statement to not only Pyongyang, but also to Beijing.
One of the suspected Chinese spy balloons that entered American airspace earlier this year was spotted over Montana, home to Malmstrom Air Force Base, where the Minuteman III launch facility is located.
For its part, North Korea has engaged in a string of provocative actions since last year, firing over 90 missiles in 2022 alone, and passing a law last September announcing its readiness to launch pre-emptive nuclear strikes against any country that poses an imminent threat to North Korea and its leadership.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will meet U.S. President Joe Biden at the end of April, too.
Marking the first Korean presidential state visit to Washington in 12 years to mark the 70th anniversary of the two countries’ alliance, Yoon and Biden are expected to discuss extended U.S. deterrence and the U.S. nuclear umbrella.
North Korea's recent behavior has swayed public opinion in the South, with more South Koreans calling on their country to develop its own nuclear weapons.
BY BY LEE KEUN-PYUNG,ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]
9. Making Yoon’s Space Vision a South Korean Reality
Making Yoon’s Space Vision a South Korean Reality
Seoul has ambitious plans, but can the Yoon administration spark interest and investment that will outlast his presidency?
By Jennifer Hong Whetsell and Alice Cho
April 03, 2023
thediplomat.com · by Jennifer Hong Whetsell · April 3, 2023
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These were the words of South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol on June 30, 2022, after the country launched its first domestically-built rocket, the Nuri (KSLV-II), into orbit, becoming the seventh state in the world to successfully launch a payload greater than one ton. This milestone, Yoon hopes, is the first of many on South Korea’s path to becoming a major space power.
In space, Yoon believes, lies South Korea’s future prosperity. And he’s not wrong. According to McKinsey, the global space industry is set to grow to 1 trillion dollars by 2040, and many nations and businesses are already buying in.
But behind Yoon’s vision lies the real challenge. He needs to solidify programs, institutions, and funds to last beyond his time in office, while he has the power to spearhead such efforts. But simultaneously, Yoon must overcome the capability gap facing South Korea and generate lasting public support.
Shoot for the Moon
In December 2022, the Yoon government released its 4th Basic Plan for Promotion of Space Development that set the following milestones: a moon landing by 2032; a Mars landing by 2045; and the ability for South Korea to make up 10 percent of the global space industry by 2045. The administration also announced the establishment of the Korea Space and Aeronautics Administration (KOSA) by 2023.
Establishing a dedicated space agency is a truly momentous step for South Korea. Creating an agency consolidates the existing research capability of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute with policymaking authorities. By giving such authority to a new, action-oriented organization like KOSA, South Korea will be able to coordinate and mobilize different parts of its government to implement space policy, ensuring that Yoon’s goals will be achieved even beyond his years in office.
Even If You Miss…
However, even with an agency dedicated to space research and policy, the current level of investment may be insufficient to bridge the gap in technology, infrastructure, and institutional knowledge between South Korea and its neighboring space powers — Japan and China — which have decades of experience. One report estimates that it will take over 10 years for South Korea to catch up with the next leading space powers. The scale of the gap also requires an equally massive budget to fill it. Despite Yoon’s ambitious investment plan of $1.2 billion by 2045 — almost double the current investment level — the ROK’s 2022 budget for space is still only one-fifth of Japan’s, whose space program is as aspirational as South Korea’s.
But the biggest sustainer of South Korea’s space development will be public interest. Recently, the ROK Ministry of Science and ICT conducted a survey to gauge people’s opinions on whether KOSA is necessary. Of the 1,000 respondents, 79.6 percent were positive toward the establishment of KOSA, 15.3 percent were neutral, and 5.1 percent were negative. When asked about the most likely setbacks to KOSA, 28.6 percent of respondents answered bureaucratic self-interest, 18.3 percent said the government’s lack of will, 17.1 percent answered the National Assembly’s inability to cooperate, and 11 percent responded cautious established aerospace groups.
Strong leadership, communication, and bureaucratic transparency will be the keys to addressing the concerns of the public. To continue investing in South Korea’s space development, the public must be equally starry-eyed in its vision for South Korea’s future.
…You’ll Land in the Stars
There is undeniable momentum in South Korea’s space sector. South Korea has already made key investments in satellite data, navigation, medicine, energy, and sources associated with space. From 2017 to 2021, the number of jobs in the domestic space industry rose from 6,708 to 7,317. Over 300 private space companies were involved in Nuri’s launch — a number that will only grow with further government investment.
South Korea is also claiming its stake in international space cooperation. In 2019, it became one of 10 signatories of the U.S.-led Artemis program, one of the biggest undertakings of international space cooperation. In the past two years alone, South Korea signed security agreements and Memorandums of Understanding on space cooperation with the United States, Australia, Luxembourg, and the United Arab Emirates.
Yoon must continue to nurture the Korean public’s curiosity and desire for space, imparting a vision that can come to fruition past his time as president. The Yoon administration has charted a strong foundation for South Korea’s domestic space architecture. But now, South Korea must make it a reality.
GUEST AUTHOR
Jennifer Hong Whetsell
Jennifer Hong Whetsell is senior director at the Project 2049 Institute.
GUEST AUTHOR
Alice Cho
Alice Cho is a research assistant at the Project 2049 Institute.
thediplomat.com · by Jennifer Hong Whetsell · April 3, 2023
10. Pyongyang still suffers from unreliable power supply
if they cannot power Pyongyang consistently imagine how the Korean people in the countryside are faring.
But I am sure that the regime has its own dedicated generators and is never without power.
Pyongyang still suffers from unreliable power supply
The shortage of electricity continues to create inconveniences for people who live in high-rise buildings, a reporting partner told Daily NK
dailynk.com
Pyongyang's Ongryu Bridge. (DPRK Today)
Pyongyang may be described in North Korean propaganda as the “capital of the revolution,” but it does not have a steady supply of electricity. In fact, local authorities are charging city residents the full price of electricity despite the inconveniences caused by the unreliable power supply, which even impact the heart of the metropolis.
“Residents in the Jung District in central Pyongyang had access to electricity for an average of four hours a day in March. Neighboring districts typically had power for an hour or an hour and a half, sometimes in ten-minute spurts, though the supply varies with the importance of organizations based nearby,” a reporting partner in Pyongyang told Daily NK on Mar. 31, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
In 2019, Daily NK reported that Pyongyang’s central districts had power for about five hours, while satellite districts only had electricity for about an hour or two. That suggests that the power supply has not improved over the past five years; if anything, it has deteriorated.
According to the reporting partner, Pyongyang streetlights are only on from 8 to 11 PM. But the statues and monuments that serve the regime’s propaganda are illuminated all night by dim bulbs. In effect, the regime continues to power the tools of propaganda despite the limited supply of electricity.
“Electricity has always been less reliable in the winter. People are expected to pay their full electricity bills to their people’s committee whether the power comes on for an hour or just for ten minutes each day,” the reporting partner said.
Electricity bills in Pyongyang’s central districts are reportedly divided into a basic fee and an extra usage fee. That is to say, local residents have to pay extra when their electricity usage exceeds the amount covered by the basic fee.
A 2023 calendar published by North Korea’s Foreign Languages Publishing House. Luxury apartments in the Pyongyang neighborhood of Kyongru-dong were featured on the November page. (Daily NK)
But in neighboring districts, many houses do not have electricity meters installed. In that case, the electricity bill is calculated according to the number of appliances in the house.
People are very frustrated that the authorities are charging power bills regardless of how much power was actually used, the reporting partner said.
The shortage of electricity continues to create inconveniences for people who live in high-rise buildings, he added.
Numerous high-rise apartments have been built in new districts of Pyongyang, including Songsin and Songhwa, since the regime announced a plan to build 50,000 homes in the capital during the Eighth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea in 2021.
“Assuming the power comes on, the taps run once every couple of days. That sets off a battle to draw water in every apartment in Pyongyang,” the reporting partner said.
North Korea uses a gravity-fed water system, in which treated water is first pumped up to a water tank at a high level and then supplied to families by gravity. But the pump doesn’t have enough electricity to function properly, leaving tenants without a regular supply of water.
When no water is available, tenants have to descend to the river to draw some, which puts a particular burden on those living on the higher floors, the reporting partner said.
“Tenants on the higher floors pull up [buckets of] water with a pulley installed on their window. Several complaints have come in after the water buckets have tipped over, spilling their contents on the heads of passersby,” the reporting partner said.
“Tenants can’t rely on the elevator [because of the power shortage]. Elderly people on the high levels are left to gaze down from their windows, like cooped up chickens, and many of them haven’t set foot on the ground in a long time.”
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of reporting partners who live inside North Korea. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com
11. N. Korean restaurants in northeastern China refuse to serve S. Korean customers
Political tensions? Caused by who? Kim Jong Un.
Excerpts:
Considering this, North Korea appears to have ordered North Korean restaurants to turn away South Korean guests on the pretext of political tensions stemming from joint US-South Korean military drills.
Daily NK reported last month that North Korea restricted inter-regional travel inside North Korea during the period of the military drills.
Along these lines, North Korea appears focused on bolstering ideological control of not only people living in North Korea, but also North Korean workers overseas, while intensifying hostility toward South Korea and the US – all under the pretext of “international political tensions.”
However, Daily NK was unable to confirm whether North Korean restaurants in Southeast Asia and other regions have similarly been ordered to refuse South Korean guests.
South Korea’s Dong-a Ilbo and Hankook Ilbo reported in mid-March that North Korean restaurants in the Beijing area were turning away South Korean customers.
N. Korean restaurants in northeastern China refuse to serve S. Korean customers
A North Korean cadre who manages female restaurant workers said "political tensions" is behind the refusal of service, a reporting partner told Daily NK
dailynk.com
FILE PHOTO: This July 2018 photo shows the interior of a Dandong restaurant that employs North Koreans. (Daily NK)
Following the start of US-South Korean military drills in early March, North Korean restaurants in Dandong, Liaoning Province, have been refusing entry to South Korean customers, according to a Daily NK reporting partner in China, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
If a restaurant identifies a customer as South Korean, the North Korean restaurant worker at the entrance who seats guests stops them from entering.
North Korean authorities appear to have ordered all North Korean restaurants in China to refuse service to South Koreans sometime in early to mid-March.
However, given that restaurant workers are not checking passports or IDs, they are not stopping South Koreans if they speak Chinese or are visiting restaurants with Chinese guests.
In fact, when South Koreans have visited North Korean restaurants with Chinese people, the North Korean restaurant staff has been unaware of them and provided the same service as usual. Moreover, even if groups of South Koreans visit, the restaurants fail to distinguish their nationality if they use Chinese instead of Korean.
Although North Korean authorities appear to have ordered North Korean restaurants to refuse South Korean customers, it seems they provided no precise standards or means to determine if guests are, in fact, South Koreans.
When asked why South Korean customers were being refused service, one North Korean cadre who manages female restaurant workers said, “Because of political tensions.”
Considering this, North Korea appears to have ordered North Korean restaurants to turn away South Korean guests on the pretext of political tensions stemming from joint US-South Korean military drills.
Daily NK reported last month that North Korea restricted inter-regional travel inside North Korea during the period of the military drills.
Along these lines, North Korea appears focused on bolstering ideological control of not only people living in North Korea, but also North Korean workers overseas, while intensifying hostility toward South Korea and the US – all under the pretext of “international political tensions.”
However, Daily NK was unable to confirm whether North Korean restaurants in Southeast Asia and other regions have similarly been ordered to refuse South Korean guests.
South Korea’s Dong-a Ilbo and Hankook Ilbo reported in mid-March that North Korean restaurants in the Beijing area were turning away South Korean customers.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of reporting partners who live inside North Korea. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com
12. South green-lights humanitarian aid to North Korea, first this year
Has the regime agreed to accept them? It is hardly interested in receiving humanitarian aid.
Tuesday
April 4, 2023
dictionary + A - A
South green-lights humanitarian aid to North Korea, first this year
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/04/04/national/northKorea/South-Korea-humanitarian-aid-North-Korea/20230404155808053.html
Unification Minister Kwon Young-se takes questions from lawmakers at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Monday. [NEWS1]
The South Korean government gave the green light to private humanitarian assistance deliveries to North Korea amounting to 240 million won ($183,000), according to the Unification Ministry on Tuesday, the first aids package approval for Pyongyang this year.
The government approved a private organization's application last month for the provision of aid to the North through sending nutritional supplies, an official from Seoul's Unification Ministry said, without disclosing further details.
This marks the sixth approval of humanitarian aid for the North since the launch of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration in May last year.
The ministry did not disclose the name of the group providing aid or the recipient organization in the North, taking into consideration the need for privacy in order for the project to succeed.
The group is expected to provide the supplies to the North through China.
"Our government will continue to approve deliveries of humanitarian goods to North Korea at the private level if there are requests from civic groups and all requirements are met," the official told reporters.
Last year, the Korean government approved 12 rounds of humanitarian aid deliveries to North Korea, amounting to a total of 5.52 billion won, after applications by private organizations, of which five projects were approved after the launch of the Yoon government.
One week ago, President Yoon said the South Korean government will not be giving anymore handouts to the North so long as it continues to develop its nuclear weapons program.
During the Cabinet meeting on March 28, Yoon instructed Unification Minister Kwon Young-se not to give "even a single penny" to the North in a situation where the regime continues its nuclear pursuit.
This was an apparent shift away from the previous Moon Jae-in administration's initiatives to provide economic aid to the North to promote denuclearization and inter-Korean cooperation.
Instead, the Yoon government has pursued a more hard-line Pyongyang policy, such as coming down on its human rights abuses, while pursuing its so-called "audacious initiative" meant to help North Korea's economy if the regime takes significant steps toward denuclearization.
BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]
13. Korea, China, Japan may resume three-way summit this year: Seoul official
Korea, China, Japan may resume three-way summit this year: Seoul official
The Korea Times · April 4, 2023
Foreign Minister Park Jin gives a speech at the foreign ministry building in central Seoul, March 6. Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon
A trilateral summit between Korea, China and Japan could take place this year if there are no "major obstacles," a senior Seoul foreign ministry official said Tuesday.
The remarks are seen as further raising prospects of the resumption of three-way summit diplomacy following a recent attempt to mend long-strained ties between Seoul and Tokyo.
The official told reporters the ministry was "in consultations with relevant countries" over the summit and added that "positive signals" on the matter were delivered during a recent foreign ministerial meeting between Beijing and Tokyo.
Three-way summits among the regional neighbors, first held in December 2008, were suspended after the eighth gathering held in December 2019 following a dispute between Korea and Japan over forced labor compensation rulings and the pandemic.
Talks on the need to revive tripartite summit diplomacy have surfaced following a summit between Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last month. (Yonhap)
The Korea Times · April 4, 2023
14. Foreign Ministry denies Blackpink allegations
Tuesday
April 4, 2023
dictionary + A - A
Foreign Ministry denies Blackpink allegations
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/04/04/national/diplomacy/korea-blackpink-US/20230404153537910.html
National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong, left, attends a cabinet meeting at the presidential office in central Seoul on Tuesday. [YONHAP]
The Foreign Ministry refuted allegations that a performance by girl group Blackpink initially scheduled for the president’s state visit to Washington later this month was canceled after the U.S. government asked Korea to pay for the event.
“The cultural performance was raised as one of many different ideas, and we were not at the stage of discussing costs,” the ministry said in its statement Monday.
“As already announced by the presidential office, the current schedule for the visit to the United States includes no cultural performance.”
With the Yoon Suk Yeol administration rather exceptionally replacing key foreign policy advisers and policymakers less than a month before Yoon’s state visit to the United States, speculation has grown regarding what the individuals in question did to deserve their fate.
Yoon’s visit to the United States marks the first state visit by a Korean president to the United States in 12 years. It also celebrates the 70th year of the alliance between the two countries.
Various media outlets reported that National Security Adviser Kim Sung-han omitted a report to the president on the scheduling of joint cultural events, namely a U.S. offer to invite Korean girl group Blackpink to perform at a state dinner hosted by Biden alongside American singer-songwriter Lady Gaga.
The idea for the joint cultural event was reportedly proposed by U.S. first lady, Jill Biden.
Blackpink and Lady Gaga [YG ENTERTAINMENT/AP/YONHAP]
YG Entertainment also confirmed on March 28 that it had received an offer for the group to perform at the state dinner on April 26.
Kim resigned from his post on March 29, expressing his hope that the controversy he caused “will no longer be a burden on diplomacy and state administration.”
His resignation followed a string of replacements in Yoon's foreign policy team, including that of Lee Moon-hee, presidential foreign affairs secretary, who was also a key official handling the upcoming U.S. visit; and that of Kim Il-bum, chief of protocol, who resigned on March 10 just ahead of Yoon's visit to Japan for a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The presidential office confirmed last Friday that the Blackpink concert will not happen.
Former Korean Ambassador to the United States Cho Tae-yong was named as the next national security adviser on the same day of Kim’s resignation.
Cho on Monday had his first call with Jake Sullivan, the U.S. national security adviser, to discuss the upcoming state visit and other bilateral issues.
Sullivan expressed his deep appreciation for Cho's significant contributions made to strengthening Korea-U.S. relations and said he hopes to work closely with Cho to “further strengthen the strong Korea-U.S. alliance,” said the presidential office in a statement Monday.
Cho praised the close communication and cooperation between the national security councils of the two countries in the process of restoring the bilateral alliance since the inauguration of the Yoon administration, the presidential office said.
BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]
15. South Korea should not go nuclear
South Korea should not go nuclear | East Asia Forum
eastasiaforum.org · by Chung-In Moon · April 4, 2023
Author: Chung-in Moon, Global Asia
The North Korean nuclear predicament has haunted South Koreans for more than 30 years — yet the problem has gotten worse. While Seoul has always been uncertain about Washington’s commitment to extended nuclear deterrence, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol recently released an unprecedented and dangerously misguided level of support for nuclear weapons.
In January 2021, Kim Jong-un declared that North Korea had successfully developed tactical nuclear weapons. On 8 September 2022, North Korea formally legalised its nuclear armaments and altered its nuclear doctrine to include both defensive deterrence based on ‘no-first use’ and pre-emptive strikes if its security is seriously threatened.
Pyongyang’s nuclear threats are no longer theoretical — they pose an existential threat to Seoul. Three schools of thought have emerged to cope with them: extended deterrence, bargaining and acquiring independent nuclear arms.
Extended deterrence — which is the South Korean government’s official position — emphasises strengthening conventional and extended deterrence with the United States. This includes improving ROK–US combined war-fighting capabilities, increasing the frequency and intensity of joint military exercises and joint planning, information-sharing, and even joint execution of nuclear weapons. According to this view, redeployment of tactical weapons, nuclear sharing and independent nuclear arms are not necessary as long as the US commitment to extended deterrence is credible.
Some conservative politicians and opinion leaders have raised doubts about the US commitment. This nuclear sharing school reasons that, because the United States will not sacrifice Los Angeles for Seoul, South Korea must redeploy US tactical nuclear weapons that were withdrawn in 1991 or pursue a NATO-style nuclear-sharing arrangement with the United States.
Despite the pleas of some South Korean conservatives, the US government has strongly opposed the idea of redeploying tactical nuclear weapons because of their unavailability and the strategic vulnerability associated with their redeployment. Prospects for a nuclear-sharing arrangement — similar to that pursued by the US and NATO members during the Cold War — faltered due to insufficient attention from the United States and the South Korean public.
The chances of the US Senate ratifying such a nuclear-sharing program with South Korea are effectively nil. The proponents of these views know that neither redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons nor nuclear-sharing are plausible, but they advance such arguments to secure a credible US commitment to extended deterrence for South Korea. Their logic is that if the United States guarantees a credible nuclear deterrent, there is no need to redeploy tactical nuclear weapons or seek NATO-style nuclear-sharing.
But the third school argues that if the United States fails to ensure extended deterrence or agree on redeployment or nuclear-sharing, there is no choice but to pursue an independent nuclear path. This school advocates an independent nuclear path in the name of nuclear sovereignty and the logic of nuclear-for-nuclear. For its proponents, nuclear weapons are the symbol of national independence and an end in itself. They argue that a nuclear balance of terror is the only way to deal with North Korea and avoid becoming enslaved by its nuclear weapons.
This option has been gaining public support after President Yoon recently broke a long taboo on discussing the independent acquisition of nuclear weapons. He said that ‘If the problem becomes more serious, South Korea could have tactical nuclear weapons deployed or secure its own nuclear weapons’. He added that ‘if things turn out this way, we will be able to acquire [nuclear weapons] quickly thanks to our science and technological capabilities’.
South Korean public opinion on going nuclear has varied depending on North Korea’s behaviour but after Yoon’s remarks, support for the idea rapidly increased.
National security aims to ensure the survival of the state, the prosperity of the country and the prestige of the nation. But the path toward acquiring nuclear weapons could have paradoxical results, not only jeopardising South Korea’s survival and endangering its prosperity but also severely damaging its prestige in the international community.
The case for acquiring nuclear weapons is based on the argument that US extended deterrence is unreliable and that South Korea should counter North Korea’s nuclear weapons with nuclear weapons of its own. But South Korean nuclear armament would set off a nuclear arms race on the Korean Peninsula, provoke a nuclear build-up in China and Russia and potentially rupture South Korea’s alliance with the United States.
The move towards nuclear armament would also cause the international community to impose sanctions on South Korea’s export-oriented economy which it could not withstand, deal a crushing blow to its nuclear power industry and seriously weaken its international image.
Many nuclear armament advocates talk as if South Korea is doomed to helpless subservience unless it chooses to go nuclear, but that choice would have a fatal impact on its survival, prosperity and prestige. Doesn’t Washington place more strategic value on East Asia than ever before? Hasn’t it repeatedly affirmed that it would provide South Korea with extended deterrence?
The ROK–US combined force structure remains healthy and there is still a path to a diplomatic solution through dialogue and negotiation. Given these circumstances, it is puzzling why so many insist on the self-defeating approach of nuclear armament.
Chung-in Moon is Vice Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament and Editor-in-Chief of Global Asia.
This article is a shortened version of the author’s article in Global Asia.
eastasiaforum.org · by Chung-In Moon · April 4, 2023
16. New national security adviser hopes for close communication with US counterpart
New national security adviser hopes for close communication with US counterpart
The Korea Times · April 4, 2023
New National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong speaks to reporters at the presidential office in Seoul, March 30. Yonhap
National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong voiced hope for close communication with his U.S. counterpart, Jake Sullivan, as they held their first phone conversation since Cho took office last week, the presidential office said Tuesday.
During Monday's call, Cho noted that the two countries' National Security Councils have maintained close communication and cooperation in the process of restoring the Korea-U.S. alliance since the inauguration of the Yoon administration.
He also "expressed hope to continue to closely communicate at every level, given that the two countries' foreign affairs and national security authorities have been preparing for the Korea-U.S. summit in close consultation, and suggested he and National Security Adviser Sullivan consult frequently for the development of Korea-U.S. relations as global and comprehensive strategic allies," the presidential office said.
The summit is scheduled to take place April 26 during President Yoon Suk Yeol's state visit to Washington.
Sullivan expressed his deep gratitude to Cho for greatly contributing to strengthening the Korea-U.S. relationship as Seoul's ambassador to the United States.
Cho was the ambassador until last week, when he was appointed by Yoon to replace Kim Sung-han as the national security adviser.
Sullivan also said he "hopes to closely communicate with National Security Adviser Cho to further strengthen the solid Korea-U.S. alliance, starting with President Yoon's successful upcoming state visit to the United States this month, based on the trust and friendship they have built so far," the presidential office said. (Yonhap)
The Korea Times · April 4, 2023
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
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