Quotes of the Day:
"Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay."
- Simone de Beauvoir
“Whether the perception, and in some cases the reality, of America pulling back from global leadership can be reversed, whether America will reassert its willingness to bear the mantle of such leadership, whether America has the will and the creativity to cope with China’s global ambitions and those of other authoritarian regimes—not to mention other international challenges—depends upon a better understanding of what constitutes American power, how to revitalize it, and how to wield it more effectively.”
— Exercise of Power: American Failures, Successes, and a New Path Forward in the Post-Cold War World by Robert Michael Gates
https://a.co/bZey3R6
Unhappy is the fate of one who tries to win his battles and succeed in his attacks without cultivating the spirit of enterprise; for the result is waste of time and general stagnation. Hence the saying: The enlightened ruler lays his plans well ahead; the good general cultivates his resources.
-Sun Tzu
1. Yoon elected president after remarkably close race
2. Yoon heralds tough stance on N. Korea as Pyongyang threatens to cross 'red line'
3. Yoon may meet Biden shortly after taking office in May
4. South Korea Turns Right
5. N.K. leader says satellite development aimed at monitoring U.S. military, its 'vassal forces'
6. Yoon vows closer cooperation with U.S. to deter N. Korea
7. North Korea to launch satellites to monitor U.S. and its allies
8. U.S. intensifies intelligence reconnaissance, missile defense around Korean Peninsula
9. Nuclear reactors in a war zone: A new type of weapon?
10. Anti-Feminism and South Korea’s Presidential Election
11. Unlikely white knight brought conservatives back to power
12. North's vessel and crew sent back after accidental crossing
13. NSC discusses cooperation with incoming gov't on key diplomatic, security issues
14. Yoon vows to open era of national unity
15. What to expect from Korean President-elect Yoon
16. Newly obtained guidelines show N. Korean security agency’s large role in the country’s “emergency quarantine efforts”
1. Yoon elected president after remarkably close race
We should see a significant shift in national security and foriegn policy (as well as domestic policy) in May.
(2nd LD) Yoon elected president after remarkably close race | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES with details, background; ADDS photos)
By Lee Haye-ah
SEOUL, March 10 (Yonhap) -- Opposition candidate Yoon Suk-yeol was elected South Korea's next president on Thursday after an unbelievably close race that underlined deep divisions along regional, generational and gender lines and hands him a daunting task to narrow those chasms.
With 99.9 percent of the vote counted, Yoon of the conservative People Power Party (PPP) had 48.56 percent of the vote against Lee Jae-myung of the liberal Democratic Party (DP)'s 47.82 percent, according to the National Election Commission.
The less than 1 percentage point gap makes this year's election the closest-ever.
"We, the people of the Republic of Korea, are one. Regardless of region, camp or class, the people of the Republic of Korea are equal people of this nation wherever they are, and must be treated fairly," Yoon said in an address before party officials at the National Assembly.
"I will consider national unity as my top priority," he said.
Yoon also described his election as a "victory of the great people."
Ruling party candidate Lee conceded defeat and congratulated Yoon.
"I did my best but failed to live up to your expectations," he said. "All responsibility lies with me. I extend my congratulations to candidate Yoon Suk-yeol."
Yoon said that he learned during the campaign "what is required in order to become a national leader and how to listen to the voices of the people."
He also thanked his competitors Lee and Sim Sang-jeung of the minor progressive Justice Party.
"Our competition is over for now," he said. "We must work together to become one for the people and for the Republic of Korea."
Yoon added that as soon as he takes office he will respect the spirit of the Constitution and the National Assembly while working together with the opposition party and serving the people.
Lee had initially led Yoon but the gap between them narrowed before Yoon overtook Lee at the point where 51 percent of the vote was counted.
This year's race was billed as an "unlikeable election" due to the public's aversion to the candidates and their negative campaigning against each other.
Yoon, 61, a former prosecutor general, rode a wave of public anger at the administration of outgoing President Moon Jae-in and his ruling party to seize on a message of fairness, common sense, principle and the rule of law.
Yoon's election could have profound impacts on the direction South Korea will take on foreign policy, including relations with North Korea, and on economic issues, such as welfare and real estate policies.
Yoon takes a hard line on national security, saying a preemptive strike may be needed to respond to an imminent threat from North Korea. He has also pledged to deploy additional units of the U.S. THAAD antimissile system in South Korea to deter North Korean aggression.
Yoon's challenges as he is handed power from a liberal administration include an opposition-controlled National Assembly, heralding a tough legislative battle to push the new administration's agenda.
Even with the addition of four PPP lawmakers through Wednesday's by-elections that were held concurrently with the presidential election, the PPP only has 110 of the total 300 seats, while the DP has 172.
Yoon is expected to make real estate policy a key focus of his presidency following criticism it was one of the biggest failures of the outgoing Moon administration.
As a candidate, he pledged to supply 2.5 million more homes over the next five years and to ease regulations while lowering real estate taxes.
One of his most controversial pledges was to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, which he accused of fomenting division between men and women.
Critics, however, viewed the move as a bid to woo young male voters resentful of the rise of feminism.
Yoon said he would instead launch a new ministry that will comprehensively handle issues related to children, families and the demographic crisis.
Public interest will also likely be high in what role Yoon's wife, Kim Keon-hee, will carve out for herself after remaining largely out of the public eye during the campaign, except to offer a public apology over allegations she lied on her resume during job applications.
With Wednesday's election, the conservative bloc reclaimed power after just five years, breaking the previous pattern of the presidency changing hands between conservatives and liberals every 10 years.
hague@yna.co.kr
(END)
Related Articles
2. Yoon heralds tough stance on N. Korea as Pyongyang threatens to cross 'red line'
The question is how many provocations (if any) Kim will conduct between now and inauguration in May?
(News Focus) Yoon heralds tough stance on N. Korea as Pyongyang threatens to cross 'red line' | Yonhap News Agency
By Choi Soo-hyang
SEOUL, March 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korean president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is expected to take a hard-line stance on North Korea, similar to approaches under the conservative Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations, after taking office in May.
He appears tempted to undo much of what the liberal Moon Jae-in administration has done over the past five years to engage Pyongyang in dialogue.
Yoon, of the conservative main opposition People Power Party, won the election at a time when the Kim Jong-un regime has shifted back to provocative mode. Pyongyang has conducted a series of ballistic missile tests in recent months and even hinted at the possibility of firing a long-range rocket. The Korea peace process is in the doldrums.
In response, the top prosecutor-turned-politician has raised the need to consider a preemptive strike on North Korea in the event of an imminent threat and the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system, called THAAD, to counter the North's growing missile threats.
From the start of his term, Yoon will likely be faced with the daunting task of handling Pyongyang's sabre-rattling and renewed brinkmanship.
Experts say Yoon's top priority in foreign policy will be strengthening the alliance with the U.S., while maintaining relations with China and Russia to use them as a leverage to resume dialogue with North Korea.
"From the beginning of his term, the new president will have to deal with the sharply deteriorated geopolitical situation on the Korean Peninsula," Cheong Seong-chang, director of center for North Korean studies at the Sejong Institute, said.
Given Yoon's campaign pledge and other statements so far, Cheong added, he is largely taking on the policy of the two former conservative presidents, Lee and Park, who sought to put pressure on the North for its denuclearization.
Yoon has accused the Moon administration of effectively helping the Kim regime buy time to advance its major weapons program and stressed "only strong deterrence" can guarantee South Korea's peace against the North's threats.
Some pundits say Yoon may tone down his hawkish stance, seen as in part aimed at winning support from conservative voters, to some extent.
"His messages going forward -- now as president-elect -- will be and should be different," Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies. "The question now is how to send a well-tailored and strategic message to North Korea to keep the situation under control."
Yoon has said he will try to resume nuclear talks with North Korea based on a predictable denuclearization roadmap under a reciprocity principle.
In particular, Seoul is facing an increasingly tricky balancing act in the face of an intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry and plunging U.S.-Russia relations amid the Ukraine crisis.
scaaet@yna.co.kr
(END)
3. Yoon may meet Biden shortly after taking office in May
Yoon may meet Biden shortly after taking office in May | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, March 10 (Yonhap) -- As South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol received a congratulatory call from U.S. President Joe Biden hours after his election victory Thursday, drawing keen attention is when they will meet.
Observers say they may hold their first summit talks as early as in late May. Biden is reportedly considering a visit to Japan in late May for a Quad summit, which will offer a chance for him to make a stopover in South Korea. Yoon is slated to be inaugurated on May 10.
If they meet before the end of the month, it would mark the earliest summit between a new South Korean president and his or her American counterpart.
The White House also stated earlier Biden was looking forward to working closely with Yoon in order to further expand the Seoul-Washington alliance.
Yoon of the conservative People Power Party is likely to place more emphasis on bolstering the alliance amid a tough stance on Pyongyang, a shift from outgoing President Moon Jae-in's proactive efforts for dialogue with the recalcitrant neighbor highlighted by the now-stalled Korea peace process.
"Yoon will more actively support President Biden's Indo-Pacific Strategy in efforts to pivot to a more comprehensive alliance with the United States and subsequently join the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework," Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote in a column.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
4. South Korea Turns Right
South Korea Turns Right
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol seeks closer security ties with the U.S.
WSJ · by The Editorial Board
South Korea’s newly elected President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks at the National Assembly in Seoul, March 10.
Photo: lee jin-man/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
The narrow victory by conservative opposition candidate Yoon Suk -yeol in South Korea's presidential election can’t be called a rousing mandate. But it is an opportunity for closer security ties between Seoul and Washington.
The race was largely fought over domestic issues, including corruption and housing prices. Neither party took on the chaebol, the giant companies that dominate South Korea’s export economy and often have a cozy relationship with government. But Mr. Yoon put economic opportunity above ruling party candidate Lee Jae-myung’s focus on income redistribution.
Mr. Yoon, a former prosecutor, also offered a more hawkish foreign policy than current President Moon Jae -in, who has spent five years attempting to conciliate with North Korea's Kim Jong Un. Neither his engagement efforts nor Donald Trump’s ballyhooed summits have had much effect on the North, which is again firing missiles in violation of United Nations resolutions.
The President-elect wants South Korea to improve its deterrence by strengthening air and missile defenses, and he wants to deepen military cooperation with the U.S. Seoul needs American support for national security. But its economy is heavily reliant on China, which has used its trading leverage to oppose closer U.S.-South Korean defense ties such as the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) missile-defense system.
Mr. Yoon hasn’t ruled out additional Thaad deployments. And he has called for closer collaboration with “the Quad,” whose members—the U.S., Japan, Australia and India—all have an interest in checking China’s attempts to establish regional hegemony.
If the past is a guide, North Korea won’t take Seoul’s right turn well and it may act out with more aggressive military provocations to test the new government. Mr. Kim may also try to divide Seoul from the Biden Administration, which has made North Korea a less urgent priority but would like to reopen talks on its nuclear program.
Mr. Yoon and the U.S. should be prepared for some heavier weather from the North, especially when the U.S is preoccupied with Russia’s attempt to conquer Ukraine. That means reinforcing deterrence in the first instance and maintaining a united policy along with Japan. The Biden Administration has a chance to establish even closer ties with a stalwart ally in Northeast Asia.
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WSJ · by The Editorial Board
5. N.K. leader says satellite development aimed at monitoring U.S. military, its 'vassal forces'
The puppet or vassal narrative is a key part of north Korean propaganda. Since President-elect Yoon seeks a stronger alliance that aligns with the US on many issues we can expect north Korea to increase its propaganda to try to undermine Yoon's legitimacy.
(2nd LD) N.K. leader says satellite development aimed at monitoring U.S. military, its 'vassal forces' | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: ADDS unification ministry's reaction, more info in paras 6, 14-17)
By Choi Soo-hyang
SEOUL, March 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited the country's space agency, and said the recent development of a reconnaissance satellite is aimed at collecting information on the U.S. military in the region and its "vassal forces," Pyongyang's state media reported Thursday.
On Saturday, North Korea fired a ballistic missile in a second such test in less than a week that Pyongyang claimed was for developing a reconnaissance satellite.
"(Kim) noted that the purpose of developing and operating the military reconnaissance satellite is to provide the armed forces of the DPRK with real-time information on military actions against it by the aggression troops of the U.S. imperialism and its vassal forces in South Korea, Japan and the Pacific," the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Kim said it is the party's "important strategic and tactical policy" to "keep a close eye on and distinguish the character of hostile military actions against the DPRK" and "enhance the capability for controlling situation and improve the rapid counteraction capability of the armed forces."
He expressed "great satisfaction" over the satellite's "aerospace photographing method," "high-resolution photographing equipment and the reliability of image transmission system," according to the KCNA.
The North's state media last reported on Kim's visit to the National Aerospace Development Administration in 2015.
The development of a reconnaissance satellite is among the key defense projects that the North unveiled during its major congress of the ruling Workers' Party in January last year.
Kim described the satellite development as an "urgent project" and a "political and military priority task" to which the country's ruling party and the government attach "the most importance," and vowed "a lot of" military satellites will be put into orbit in the next five years.
The KCNA dispatch did not elaborate when the visit was made, but the North's state media usually reports on the leader's activities a day later.
Kim's remarks came hours after South Korea's opposition candidate Yoon Suk-yeol was elected the country's next president on Thursday.
Amid a prolonged deadlock in nuclear negotiations with the United States, the North has been upping the ante on the Korean Peninsula in recent months with nine rounds of missile launches, including those involving intermediate range and hypersonic missiles.
Experts worry the latest missile test could be a prelude for preparations for a long-range rocket launch after the North made a veiled threat in January to suspend its self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests.
In the past, the North claimed to have sought to put satellites into orbit as part of a "peaceful" space development program, while the U.S. and its allies viewed it as part of efforts to master the country's ICBM technology.
The Seoul government urged Pyongyang to halt all activities heightening tensions in the region, while saying it will not jump to conclusions regarding the North's intention behind the latest activities.
"We will monitor North Korea's moves in close coordination with related countries, including the U.S., and the international community and prepare for all possibilities," an official at Seoul's Ministry of Unification handling inter-Korean affairs told reporters.
In response to the North's string of missile tests, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said Wednesday it has intensified its intelligence collection activities around the Korean Peninsula, with the missile defense forces in the region ordered to increase alert.
"We have made clear our concern over the significant increase in DPRK missile testing activity, which undermines peace and security and is destabilizing to the region and the international community," the U.S. military said in a statement.
scaaet@yna.co.kr
(END)
6. Yoon vows closer cooperation with U.S. to deter N. Korea
To review the broad outline of Yoon's policies please begin with the Forieng Affairs article he published in February. "South Korea Needs to Step Up - The Country’s Next President on His Foreign Policy Vision"
I think it is interesting that both President-elect Yoon and President Biden published articles in each other's countries prior to the elections. (Candidate Lee did as well). I wonder in how many other countries they published articles? I am sure I can count on one hand but the number may not be above zero.
I just mention this because it is an indication of the importance both leaders place on the alliance as well as what I think is a pretty unique relationship.
(2nd LD) Yoon vows closer cooperation with U.S. to deter N. Korea | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with more info; CHANGES headline; COMBINES story on phone talks with Biden)
SEOUL, March 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol vowed Thursday to strengthen strategic alliance with the United States, build a strong national defense to deter North Korean provocations and pursue a future-oriented relationship with Japan, hours after winning the nation's closely contested presidential election.
Yoon of the conservative main opposition People Power Party (PPP) was elected president earlier Thursday with the smallest-ever 0.73 percentage-point gap over liberal Democratic Party (DP) candidate Lee Jae-myung.
Apparently aware of the razor-thin victory, Yoon emphasized national unity and close cooperation with the DP controlling the National Assembly in a news conference held soon after his election win.
On diplomacy, Yoon said his priority policy goal is to solidify South Korea's status as a global pivotal country to contribute to freedom, peace and prosperity, based on dignified diplomacy and strong national security.
He promised to reconstruct South Korea-U.S. alliance and strengthen comprehensive strategic relationship with Washington by sharing the core values of human rights, market economy and human rights.
Earlier, Yoon talked with U.S. President Joe Biden on the phone prior to his visit to the Seoul National Cemetery and they affirmed strong bilateral alliance and close cooperation, according to PPP officials.
Biden congratulated Yoon on his election win and invited him to visit the White House during the 20-minute conversation, they said.
Yoon emphasized the need for stronger cooperation over North Korea's provocations, while Biden said that the U.S. is closely monitoring the situation in North Korea and that close coordination among Seoul, Washington and Tokyo is important for policies on Pyongyang, they said.
Biden was the first foreign leader to personally congratulate Yoon on his election, they added.
The White House also confirmed the two leaders' phone conversation, saying they affirmed the strength of Seoul-Washington alliance and committed to maintain close coordination on addressing the threats posed by North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
Yoon also mentioned his phone talks with Biden in the news conference, saying the U.S. leader expressed a wish for a summit meeting soon after his inauguration to discuss further development of the bilateral relationship.
"I cannot disclose all the details of my conversation with the U.S. president here. I received his congratulations on my election win," Yoon said.
Yoon said he is determined to build a future-oriented relationship with Japan.
"In relations between South Korea and Japan, it is important to find out what will be beneficial to both countries and to the people of both countries in the future rather than in the past," the president-elect said.
South Korea and Japan have long been at odds over territory and other historical disputes stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
On relations with China, Yoon said he will promote a bilateral relationship of mutual respect.
On North Korea, Yoon said he will "sternly" respond to any illegal or unreasonable behavior by the country "in accordance with principles," but the window of conversation with Pyongyang will "be always left open."
He then vowed to build a strong national defense that can reliably deter any provocations from the North in order to protect the people's safety and property and his nation's territory and sovereignty.
"We also face the task of strengthening our global diplomatic capabilities amid the North Korean nuclear threats and growing tensions over U.S.-China strategic competition," Yoon said.
Yoon also made comments on domestic political situations, saying he will only trust and follow the will of the people.
"I will solely trust the people and follow their will," he said.
"(The election results) constitute a call for reform, and the restoration of justice and common sense as well as the people's desperate appeal to do politics of unity, not division," Yoon said.
Yoon faces a daunting challenge of how to work with an unfriendly National Assembly controlled by the DP and heal deep national divisions laid bare in one of the most bitter political campaigns in recent memory.
Including the DP, the liberal bloc holds some 180 seats in the 300-seat Assembly. Without their help, Yoon's presidency could end up in a "vegetative" state unable to pass key agenda items until the next parliamentary elections in 2024.
Yoon said the current National Assembly controlled by the DP may offer an opportunity for the nation's democracy and politics to become much more mature.
He again stressed cooperation with the DP during a disbandment ceremony for the PPP's election committee at the National Assembly in the afternoon.
Regarding the economy, the president-elect promised to turn away from a government-led economy toward a human-oriented one so as to create jobs and beef up the middle class.
"I will keep away from any forces or ideologies that threaten the free democracy and adhere to the common sense of the people in running the nation," he noted.
(END)
Related Articles
7. North Korea to launch satellites to monitor U.S. and its allies
Excerpts:
While inspecting North Korea's National Aerospace Development Administration, Kim said "a lot" of military reconnaissance satellites would be put into sun-synchronous polar orbit in the period of a five-year plan announced last year, state news agency KCNA reported.
"He noted that the purpose of developing and operating the military reconnaissance satellite is to provide the armed forces of the DPRK with real-time information on military actions against it by the aggression troops of the U.S. imperialism and its vassal forces in south Korea, Japan and the Pacific," the news agency said.
North Korea to launch satellites to monitor U.S. and its allies
SEOUL, March 10 (Reuters) - North Korea will launch a number of reconnaissance satellites in coming years to provide real-time information on military actions by the United States and its allies, state media on Thursday reported leader Kim Jong Un as saying.
While inspecting North Korea's National Aerospace Development Administration, Kim said "a lot" of military reconnaissance satellites would be put into sun-synchronous polar orbit in the period of a five-year plan announced last year, state news agency KCNA reported.
"He noted that the purpose of developing and operating the military reconnaissance satellite is to provide the armed forces of the DPRK with real-time information on military actions against it by the aggression troops of the U.S. imperialism and its vassal forces in south Korea, Japan and the Pacific," the news agency said.
North Korea appears to be preparing to launch a reconnaissance satellite, which could prove as controversial as the nuclear-armed country's weapons tests because they use the same banned ballistic missile technology, experts say. read more
North Korea says it conducted two tests of satellite systems on Feb. 27 and March 5. Authorities in South Korea, Japan, and the United States says the tests involved launches of ballistic missiles.
The launches drew international condemnation and the U.S. military said on Thursday it had increased surveillance and reconnaissance collection in the Yellow Sea.
The United States also said it had heightened its ballistic missile defence readiness after a "significant increase" in North Korean missile tests. read more
Kim defended the satellite work as not only about gathering information but protecting North Korea's sovereignty and national interests, exercising its legitimate rights to self-defence, and elevating national prestige, KCNA reported.
"He stressed that this urgent project for perfecting the country's war preparedness capacity by improving our state's war deterrent is the supreme revolutionary task, a political and military priority task to which our Party and government attach the most importance," KCNA said.
The United States and its allies have condemned previous North Korean space launches as violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions that have imposed sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programmes.
1/4
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects North Korea's National Aerospace Development Administration after recent satellite system tests, in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this photo released on March 10, 2022 by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).KCNA via REUTERS
'MILITARY SIGNIFICANCE'
North Korea has not tested a nuclear weapon or its long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) since 2017, but has suggested in could resume such tests because talks with the United States are stalled.
Its latest flurry of missile launches could be groundwork for a return to ICBM and nuclear bomb tests this year, the U.S. Directorate of National Intelligence (DNI) said in its annual Worldwide Threat Assessment released this week.
A satellite launched into orbit would be the first since 2016.
Recent sub-orbital launches, which likely used road-mobile medium-range ballistic missiles, appeared designed to "pop the key components of an imagery reconnaissance satellite up to operational altitudes for a few minutes of testing", 38 North, a U.S.-based monitoring group, said in a report.
Such components, including satellite stabilisation, the imaging payload, and data transmission may have failed in previous tests and therefore required additional testing, the group said.
"It remains to be seen how capable any North Korean imagery satellite would be, the frequency of launches, or how many such satellites might be maintained in orbit at any one time—all key indicators of the actual military significance of such satellites," 38 North said.
Regardless, North Korea clearly sees this capability as having propaganda value and showcasing its technological prowess and effective leadership, it added.
A launch could make technical contributions to North Korea’s ICBM capability, depending on what type of rocket booster is used, 38 North said.
"It may also be the precursor to other more provocative developments mentioned by Kim, such as the testing of multiple-warhead missiles, solid-propellant ICBMs, and ICBM-range solid-propellant submarine-launched ballistic missiles," it said.
Reporting by Josh Smith; Editing by Grant McCool, Robert Birsel
8. U.S. intensifies intelligence reconnaissance, missile defense around Korean Peninsula
We are not letting Putin's war in Ukraine distract us from our security interests around the world.
(LEAD) U.S. intensifies intelligence reconnaissance, missile defense around Korean Peninsula | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES with reports of statement from US INDOPACOM, additional information in paras 2-4; CHANGES headline, lead; RESTRUCTURES)
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, March 9 (Yonhap) -- The United States has intensified its intelligence collection activities around the Korean Peninsula, while its missile defense forces in the region have also been ordered to increase alert amid an increase in North Korean missile activities, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) said Wednesday.
The move follows nine rounds of North Korean missile tests, including seven in January that marked the largest number of missile tests conducted by North Korea in a single month.
"The United States condemns the recent series of ballistic missile launches by the DPRK," the Hawaii-based Indo-Pacific Command said in a released statement.
"In light of this, on March 7, 2022, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command ordered intensified Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance collection activities in the Yellow Sea, as well as enhanced readiness among our ballistic missile defense forces in the region," it added.
The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence said Tuesday in its Annual Threat Assessment report that North Korea may be poised to resume nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile testing in the year.
"Our commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remains ironclad," the statement said. "The United States remains committed to serious and sustained diplomacy toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson John Kirby reiterated U.S. concerns over North Korean missile activities.
"We've made clear our concern over the significant increase in DPRK missile testing activity, which we continue to believe undermines peace and security and is destabilizing the region, as well as the international community," the Pentagon press secretary said during a press briefing.
"So again, I think in our case here, actions are speaking louder than words," Kirby said. "We have made clear what our concerns are, and we're acting on those concerns," he added.
Kirby also highlighted the close relationship between the U.S. and South Korea, while praising Seoul for imposing sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
His remarks come after Moscow listed South Korea, along with the U.S. and dozens of other countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia, as "unfriendly" nations.
"We are grateful that the South Koreans, our allies, have also levied sanctions and (are) being willing to offer support," he said.
"I think that's indicative of our close friendship and partnership but also more indicative of ... their concerns about what Russia is doing."
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
9. Nuclear reactors in a war zone: A new type of weapon?
Yes this threat must be considered. Where else could this be a problem? South Korea has some 23 nuclear power plants and Japan has a number as well (and we saw what happened at Fukushima due to a natural disaster). WHo needs nuclear weapons when you can bomb the enemy's nuclear power plants (that is easier said than done but still we must consider it). What are the contingency plans and defensive measures for each nuclear power plant in a potential combat zone?
Excerpts:
Finally, it is possible to make a connection between a nuclear weapon and a nuclear reactor in terms of fission product production. A 20-kiloton weapon, slightly larger than the atomic bomb used against Hiroshima, produces the same amount of energy as a 1,000 megawatt-electric nuclear reactor that operates for one day. Since the energy production is proportional to fission product production, a nuclear reactor accumulates a fission product inventory that rapidly surpasses that produced by a nuclear weapon. Each reactor holds a large inventory of fission products, and any act that releases this highly radioactive inventory creates an environmental bomb.
Despite international agreements to exclude nuclear power plants from war zones, Russia has recklessly attacked these facilities. Although nuclear power plants are designed to operate safely, in a war zone there are no guarantees. Nuclear power plants have become a new instrument for making war and laying waste to the land.
Nuclear reactors in a war zone: A new type of weapon? - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Nuclear reactors in a war zone: A new type of weapon?
Rodney C. Ewing
As the tragedy in Ukraine unfolds before the world with each day darker than the next, Russian saber rattling with nuclear weapons is only a part of the nuclear concern. Reported increases in radiation levels at Chernobyl and fires at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Europe, with six VVER Russian reactors, are in the headlines. In fact, Ukraine has 15 reactors at four nuclear power plants, which provided about half of its electricity. As war spreads, each of these plants is at risk.
Nuclear reactors and nuclear bombs share a common source of energy—fission of uranium and plutonium. Nuclear fission produces radioactive, fission-fragment elements and excess neutrons that propagate the nuclear chain reaction, releasing huge amounts of energy with each fission event. For a nuclear weapon, the chain reaction of fission events is nearly instantaneous, and the energy released can be on the scale of megatons of TNT. The destructive energy is released as a shock wave that can be felt at distances of tens of kilometers, heat than can burn at distances of kilometers, visible light that can been seen for many kilometers, and finally, ionizing radiation.
Nuclear reactors are different in that the chain-reactions are controlled, the tremendous amounts of energy generated by fission and radioactive decay is removed by a coolant, and the generated steam is used to drive turbines that generate electricity. The main safety challenge with nuclear reactors is the continuous removal of heat that otherwise can lead to meltdown events. Nuclear power plants are monitored and controlled, either by active measures or passive safety designs. Of critical concern is the fate of uranium and plutonium in the fuel and the highly radioactive fission fragment elements that have half-lives that can be as short as seconds or minutes—or extend to millennia.
What are the vulnerabilities of a nuclear reactor in a war zone? Clearly, a nuclear reactor is not a nuclear bomb—reactors are designed to avoid runaway chain reactions. However, there are three vulnerabilities that can have serious consequences. First, an assault on an operating reactor can disrupt critical operations, such as the pumps that drive the coolant through the reactor. Loss of coolant, from an electrical grid shutdown, for example, can lead to meltdowns, chemical explosions, and the release of radioactivity, such as at Fukushima Daiichi. Second, a breach of containment structures and structural barriers can expose the nuclear fuel, leading to fires, explosions, meltdown, and the release of radioactivity, as happened at Chernobyl. Finally, used fuel is often stored on site in pools and dry casks. If these storage facilities are breached or the storage pools drained, then fires can lead to the release of radioactivity. This is the most probable mechanism for the release of radioactivity, as spent fuel remains highly radioactive for many decades after removal from a reactor core, but the storage facilities, particularly pools, are not well hardened against attack.
To understand how serious these three scenarios are, one must realize the size of the highly radioactive fission product inventory in nuclear fuels. On one hand, the inventory is small relative to the amount of fuel, only about 4 to 5 percent in irradiated fuel; however, a typical reactor will contain 100 tons of fuel, so the absolute amounts are significant. Importantly, the small inventory of fission products results in a nearly million-fold increase in the level of radioactivity (as compared with the activity prior to irradiation). At one meter distance, a person exposed to a spent fuel assembly (one year after removal from the reactor) will receive a lethal dose in less than a minute. Spent fuel assemblies or even small spent fuel fragments are an immediate threat to people and a very long-term threat to the environment—requiring exclusion zones on the scale of thousands of square miles.
Finally, it is possible to make a connection between a nuclear weapon and a nuclear reactor in terms of fission product production. A 20-kiloton weapon, slightly larger than the atomic bomb used against Hiroshima, produces the same amount of energy as a 1,000 megawatt-electric nuclear reactor that operates for one day. Since the energy production is proportional to fission product production, a nuclear reactor accumulates a fission product inventory that rapidly surpasses that produced by a nuclear weapon. Each reactor holds a large inventory of fission products, and any act that releases this highly radioactive inventory creates an environmental bomb.
Despite international agreements to exclude nuclear power plants from war zones, Russia has recklessly attacked these facilities. Although nuclear power plants are designed to operate safely, in a war zone there are no guarantees. Nuclear power plants have become a new instrument for making war and laying waste to the land.
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10. Anti-Feminism and South Korea’s Presidential Election
Complex domestic issues for the new President.
Excerpts:
What does this mean for President-elect Yoon? Exit polls showed a stark contrast in support among young men and women, with roughly 58 percent of men in their 20s backing Yoon compared to a similar rate of women for Lee. Meanwhile, our regression models suggest that there is no significant correlation between men who claim gender discrimination and voting for the more conservative Yoon. This may be an indirect result of both Yoon’s and Lee’s use of anti-feminist messaging during their campaigns or indicate that young men, rather than identifying explicit personal discrimination, perceived a broader environment that they viewed as discriminatory.
The increased male backlash to gender equality efforts will likely lead Yoon to attempt to follow through on his effort to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and continue to claim that women do not face “structural discrimination.” The result of shifting to emphasize perceived job discrimination may also have the unintended consequences of shifting attention away from broader gender discrimination and harassment in a country whose defamation laws already create an environment for legal backlash against harassment and assault claims.
Anti-Feminism and South Korea’s Presidential Election
Exploring new survey data on perceptions of gender discrimination in South Korea, which became a major cleavage point in Wednesday’s election.
By Timothy S. Rich, Erika Puhakka, Josie Coyle , and Alexis Mayne
March 10, 2022
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Leading up to the March 9 presidential election, South Korea witnessed an anti-feminist backlash, a backlash that now appears to have aided in the victory of the People Power Party (PPP)’s candidate Yoon Suk-yeol.
In 2017, President Moon Jae-in campaigned on a promise of becoming a “feminist president,” promoting gender equality policies. Such efforts to alleviate gender inequity gained greater attention following South Korea’s own #MeToo movement, which emphasized women’s lived experiences, such as dealing with new age technology (including spycam or molka videos) and increasing occurrences of femicide. Yet the rise of feminist discourse quickly sparked a backlash. Conservative pundit and current chairman of the conservative PPP Lee Jun-seok described feminism under Moon’s Democratic Party as having a “totalitarian tendency.”In 2021, Lee called for the abolishment of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, claiming that it is biased against men.
Survey research similarly shows a growing tendency, especially among younger men, to view gender equality efforts as discriminatory and equate them with preferential treatment toward women. For example, a 2019 survey by Sisain found men in their 20s were twice as likely to believe discrimination against men to be more severe than discrimination against women (68.8 percent vs. 33.6 percent).
The electoral consequences of these shifts are hard not to notice, with a January Gallup Korea poll finding a clear divergence in approval rating for Moon by gender among those in their 20s and 30s. Meanwhile, both of the main candidates, the PPP’s Yoon Suk-yeol and the Democratic Party’s Lee Jae-myung, pushed anti-feminist messages, although Lee course-corrected later on in order to woo female voters.
The anti-feminist backlash coincides with changes in the South Korean workplace. Although women are now entering the workforce at higher rates – over 70 percent of Korean women between the age of 25 and 34 work – South Korea maintains the largest gender pay gap out of all OECD countries. Workplace harassment remains a persistent problem, as existing laws often are poorly enforced. For example, 2019 South Korean laws state that businesses must “establish a workplace harassment prevention/ countermeasure system,” yet companies are not reprimanded nor fined for lack of compliance. Moreover, existing survey research suggests differences in perceptions of what constitutes harassment.
A key part of the debate is state-perpetuated gender discrimination, rooted in traditional concepts of gender roles. For instance, in January 2021 the Seoul City Government released pro-natalist, “1950s style” pregnancy guidelines, though these have since been taken down due to intense opposition. South Korea also has remarkably strict abortion laws, with the procedure only decriminalized in 2021.
We wanted to identify how the South Korean public was viewing gender discrimination leading up to the presidential election. We surveyed 945 South Koreans during February 18-22 via Macromill Embrain and asked two interrelated questions: “Do you believe that gender discrimination is commonplace in South Korea?” and “Have you been the victim of gender discrimination?”
Unsurprisingly, we found females more likely to agree with both statements, with 83.76 percent seeing discrimination as commonplace compared to 61.36 percent of males, and 63.92 percent of females stating they have been a victim of discrimination compared to 36.08 percent of males. We generally see similar patterns across ideological groups (progressive, moderate, and conservative). Regressions controlling for other demographic and attitudinal factors find women were more likely to state discrimination as commonplace, while political ideology negatively corresponds with this view. Additional models find no difference among parties once controlling for ideology and other demographic factors. In terms of being a victim, regressions find that being a female, education, and income all positively correspond with stating one has been a victim, while age negatively corresponds with this.
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Next, we broke down responses by gender and age. We found that at least 86.5 percent of women across most age groups believe gender discrimination is commonplace, but there is not a consistent trend for men across age groups. This finding may be a result of different interpretations of what “gender discrimination” means. Women across all age categories may have broader views of what constitutes gender discrimination and are also more likely to interpret it as negatively impacting women. In contrast, men across varying age categories may be split as to whether “gender discrimination” applies to both men or women and may also have narrower definitions of it.
Unsurprisingly, women aged 18-29 see gender discrimination as common, more than any other gender or age group, at 91.1 percent. Women of ages 18-49 claim that they have been victims of gender discrimination at higher rates than older women, and at higher rates than men across all age categories. Consistent with previous survey work, we also found that young men, particularly those 18-29, claim that they have been victims of gender discrimination at higher rates than men in succeeding age categories. This may suggest that younger men are more likely to harbor anti-feminist sentiments as they believe that they themselves have been the victims of gender discrimination. Our survey may also be picking up young men focusing on perceived job discrimination rather than broader forms of discrimination.
Finally, we categorized responses by gender and political ideology. There is no significant difference between the breakdown of responses across progressives and moderates. Interestingly, the largest gap between men’s and women’s perceptions of gender discrimination occurs among conservatives: just 49.6 percent of men versus 77.1 percent of women who identified as conservatives believed gender discrimination is common in South Korea. Regression analysis finds that moving from left to right on an ideology scale corresponds negatively with viewing discrimination as commonplace.
The strongest correlations, however, are associated with being a woman and having been a victim. Thus, the apparent gap between men and women who claim they have been victims of discrimination may also drive the gender gap observed in believing it is commonplace, overpowering the effect of ideological categorization. Surprisingly, our findings indicate that conservative men were less likely than their progressive and moderate counterparts to claim they have been victims of gender discrimination, suggesting that anti-feminist backlash among younger Korean men may be redefining conceptions of what constitutes discrimination.
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What does this mean for President-elect Yoon? Exit polls showed a stark contrast in support among young men and women, with roughly 58 percent of men in their 20s backing Yoon compared to a similar rate of women for Lee. Meanwhile, our regression models suggest that there is no significant correlation between men who claim gender discrimination and voting for the more conservative Yoon. This may be an indirect result of both Yoon’s and Lee’s use of anti-feminist messaging during their campaigns or indicate that young men, rather than identifying explicit personal discrimination, perceived a broader environment that they viewed as discriminatory.
The increased male backlash to gender equality efforts will likely lead Yoon to attempt to follow through on his effort to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and continue to claim that women do not face “structural discrimination.” The result of shifting to emphasize perceived job discrimination may also have the unintended consequences of shifting attention away from broader gender discrimination and harassment in a country whose defamation laws already create an environment for legal backlash against harassment and assault claims.
11. Unlikely white knight brought conservatives back to power
Excerpts:
Now that he has won the election, it remains to be seen whether Yoon will continue seeking his own path within the PPP.
In a victory speech early Thursday, Yoon urged his supporters to "join our forces together for the people and the nation," suggesting the former political outsider may have embraced the conservatives' cause as his own.
Thursday
March 10, 2022
Unlikely white knight brought conservatives back to power
President Moon Jae-in, left, walks beside then-prosecutor general Yoon Suk-yeol in the Blue House on July 25, 2019. Yoon was elected president on Thursday. [YONHAP]
Former prosecutor general Yoon Suk-yeol was an unlikely figure to lead the conservative People Power Party (PPP) back to power just five years after the impeachment of the party's last president, Park Geun-hye.
After all, it was Yoon himself who led the investigation of Park that led to her removal from office — and the PPP's banishment to the political wilderness.
Once reviled by conservatives for leading corruption probes against not only Park but also former president Lee Myung-bak, the heads of Samsung and Hyundai and a chief justice of the Supreme Court, Yoon's willingness to go after President Moon Jae-in's political allies just a few years later — and his front-page power struggles with key figures in the Moon administration — transformed him virtually overnight into the great right-wing hope.
Come May, the former prosecutor general will move into the Blue House, riding an electoral shift driven by dissatisfaction with the Moon administration's failure to curb runaway real estate prices, widening socioeconomic inequality, corruption tied to land development — and with its battle with Yoon and his entire prosecutorial agency, which was seen as arrogant, ruthless and petty all at the same time.
While Yoon is not the first president to have made his name by facing down his predecessors, his path to the Blue House was undeniably unusual.
Yoon was born on Dec. 18, 1960 in Seoul. He hails from a family of academics. His father, Yoon Ki-jung, is a retired Yonsei University professor who established the Korean Statistical Society and is now a member of the National Academy of Sciences. His mother, Choi Jeong-ja, was a lecturer in at Ewha Womans University before leaving the position after getting married.
After graduating from Chungam High School in 1979, Yoon studied law at Seoul National University. He passed only the first part of the bar in his fourth year, and failed the notoriously difficult second portion nine times — a setback that made him older than his peers at the Judicial Research and Training Institute once he passed the bar in 1991.
Yoon made up for lost time by building a reputation as an independent-minded public prosecutor with little regard for partisan allegiances or political backers of his targets.
After successfully prosecuting the National Police Agency's intelligence chief Park Hee-won for bribery in 1999, Yoon scored a one-year jail sentence in 2004 for Ahn Hee-jung, a former aide to President Roh Moo-hyun and later governor of South Chungcheong, on charges of taking illegal campaign donations from businessmen.
He put Hyundai Chairman Chung Mong-koo behind bars for bribery and breach of fiduciary duty in 2007, and won a conviction in 2013 for Lee Sang-deuk, brother of former president Lee Myung-bak, for accepting illegal slush funds.
Yoon's entry into the national spotlight, however, came when he investigated allegations that the National Intelligence Service attempted to manipulate public opinion through comments on online articles and social media supporting conservative presidential candidate Park Geun-hye in the 2012 election.
"I don't owe my loyalty to anyone," Yoon famously said during a National Assembly hearing in 2013, when he exposed pressure from Park's Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn to not go after the spy agency.
The probe into the NIS came at a cost: Yoon was transferred in 2014 to the Daegu District Prosecutors' Office, a common destination for prosecutors deemed meddlesome by politicians. It was effectively exile from the prestigious Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, which often handles politically sensitive cases.
However, Yoon was recalled to the Seoul branch to work on the investigation of President Park over allegations of a corrupting influence by her confidante Choi Soon-sil, the scandal that led to Park's downfall.
He also led the probe into Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong paying money to foundations controlled by Choi and implicitly asking the president to use her power to enable his smooth succession as the head of the conglomerate — an investigation that led to a two-year jail sentence for Lee, for which he was paroled in August.
Yoon's status as a fearless defender of the public interest — and in the eyes of his conservative critics, a political lackey — was cemented when he was appointed chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office when Moon came to power in May 2017, and as Prosecutor General in June 2019.
Ironically for Moon and key figures in his administration, it was from this position that Yoon's star began to rise — at the expense of their own, and the reputation of liberals as a whole.
Yoon's conflict with the president began with his decision to initiate a probe into Cho Kuk, Moon's selection for justice minister, and allegations that the nominee and his wife fabricated academic credentials for their daughter, which she used to successfully apply to Korea University and Pusan University's graduate medical school.
Cho was forced to resign as justice minister just 35 days after his appointment, a downfall that triggered a spiral of increasing animosity between Yoon and the ruling Democratic Party (DP).
Over the course of the following year, Yoon faced an increasingly bitter power struggle with Cho's successor, Choo Mi-ae, who made clear she would rein in what the ruling party increasingly cast as a politicized and overreaching state prosecution service.
Shortly after her appointment in January 2020, Choo abruptly reassigned prosecutors investigating abuse of power and corruption allegations involving key members of the Moon administration and effectively demoted Yoon's closest aides. Then she attempted to suspend Yoon from his position twice in November and December 2020, leading him to overturn both administrative orders through legal challenges.
Tensions between the embattled prosecutor general and the Moon administration further escalated as the president and the DP pushed a series of aggressive measures to weaken the prosecution's powers. Yoon became a star among conservatives who once blamed him for imprisoning former presidents Park and Lee, who were convicted in April and October 2018 in separate corruption cases.
He was also nothing less than a martyr to prosecutors who saw him as defending the service's powers to investigate high and low officials alike.
Yoon finally broke with the president who appointed him last March, resigning from his post when the ruling party announced a plan to launch a so-called Serious Crimes Investigative Agency under the Ministry of Justice, which would strip the state prosecution service's authority to investigate corruption, among five other crimes, and give that power to the new agency.
Having built his brand as a warrior against Moon's administration, the prospect of Yoon joining the opposition party to run on its presidential ticket became not a question of if, but when.
However, his entry into the PPP as an outsider was not without friction, particularly with its newly-elected leader, 36 year-old Lee Jun-seok.
Early last summer, as Yoon was preparing his own team of supporters drawn from the academic and political sectors to look into the viability of a Blue House bid, Lee urged the would-be presidential hopeful to join without delay.
In a widely circulated comment made in a June radio interview, Lee said the party's campaign "bus" would "depart in August without exceptions," implying Yoon would not receive special treatment as a contender for the party's presidential ticket.
Even after Yoon joined the PPP in late July and won the party's primary over longtime PPP establishment figures, such as former presidential candidate Hong Joon-pyo and Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong, Lee and Yoon continued to feud, almost publicly, over Yoon's campaign appointments and responses to various controversies involving Yoon's wife, eventually leading to the party leader's temporary withdrawal from campaign activities in the winter.
Yoon also alienated Kim Chong-in, known as a kingmaker in Korean electoral politics, over the campaign's direction, pushing Kim to resign as campaign chief after a few weeks in the post.
Yoon's campaign eventually came back together after he reconciled with Lee, but only after weeks of polls showing him losing ground to DP rival Lee Jae-myung.
Now that he has won the election, it remains to be seen whether Yoon will continue seeking his own path within the PPP.
In a victory speech early Thursday, Yoon urged his supporters to "join our forces together for the people and the nation," suggesting the former political outsider may have embraced the conservatives' cause as his own.
BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
12. North's vessel and crew sent back after accidental crossing
Wednesday
March 9, 2022
North's vessel and crew sent back after accidental crossing
The crew of a North Korean vessel that crossed the inter-Korean maritime boundary west of the peninsula on Tuesday has been returned to the North, South Korean military authorities reported Wednesday.
The North Korean ship crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), which marks the de facto boundary between South and North Korean territorial waters, approximately 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) east of Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea around 9:34 a.m. Tuesday, despite warning messages broadcasted from the South.
The Defense Ministry said it confirmed that the ship crossed the NLL “due to navigational errors and mechanical issues,” and that “the entire crew expressed their desire to return to the North.”
The ministry added that the South Korean military “respected their wishes and returned the vessel, with its seven crewmembers, back to the North near the NLL around 2 p.m. on Wednesday.”
While the exact nature of the North Korean vessel has not been confirmed, its entry into the South’s waters on Tuesday led to a near-altercation between South and North Korean patrol ships.
Fifteen minutes after the North Korean boat crossed the NLL, a North Korean coastal patrol boat also crossed the boundary in apparent pursuit of the first vessel, leading the South Korean Navy patrol boat that had been dispatched to the site to issue four warning messages telling it to retreat.
In its radio communications, the North Korean patrol responded, “Send [that ship] back. It is a fishing boat. If you refuse, you are responsible for everything that happens and we cannot guarantee your safety.”
The South Korean Navy patrol fired three warning shots using a 40 millimeter gun once the North Korean patrol had traveled 1 kilometer past the NLL, leading it to retreat after spending a total seven minutes in South Korean territorial waters, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
Afterwards, the South Korean Navy seized the first ship and its crew, six of whom were wearing military suits, and towed it to Baengnyeong Island for investigation.
According to the JCS, the South sent two messages to the North about the incident through a commercial line and a military communication line.
The incident marks the first time a North Korean military vessel has crossed the NLL since the two countries signed a 2018 military agreement meant to reduce tensions in the area.
The NLL, which extends into the sea from the land-based military demarcation line that divides the Korean Peninsula, was set up by the United Nations after the 1950-53 Korean War to prevent an outbreak of hostilities between the North Korean mainland and five South Korean-controlled islands, including Yeonpyeong Island and Baengnyeong Island.
However, the North does not recognize the NLL, and the area has long been a flashpoint for tensions between South Korean patrol boats enforcing the boundary and North Korean fishing boats whose activities take place close to, or over, the line.
The cash-strapped North Korean government also sold fishing rights in the area to Chinese fishing companies, who have also clashed repeatedly with South Korean patrols in recent years.
BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
13. NSC discusses cooperation with incoming gov't on key diplomatic, security issues
It will be interesting to see how the transition proceeds. And how will Kim act during the transition period?
NSC discusses cooperation with incoming gov't on key diplomatic, security issues | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, March 10 (Yonhap) -- The presidential National Security Council (NSC) held a meeting Thursday and discussed the need to cooperate with the incoming government of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol to ensure it can respond "swiftly" to key diplomatic and security issues, Cheong Wa Dae said.
In its first standing committee session following Yoon's win in Wednesday's presidential election, the NSC also agreed to work closely with the international community to respond swiftly to urgent security issues until the new government takes office, the presidential office added.
Yoon's election came as South Korea faces a raft of security and diplomatic issues, including North Korea's continued saber-rattling and convoluted geopolitics stemming from a Sino-U.S. rivalry and the armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
Members of the NSC session also discussed Seoul's plan to provide aid to Ukraine, the multinational sanctions drive to hold Russia accountable for its invasion of Ukraine and other pending issues, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
14. Yoon vows to open era of national unity
Best tweets on the South Korean election. Democracy rules!
Jacco Zwetsloot
@JaccoZed
DEMOCRACY ALERT
Almost 33mn votes cast. Presidency changed hands from one party to the other. The margin was less than 1%.
And yet:
all votes counted, losing candidate gave an accession speech & congratulated the winner-
all within 12 hours of polls closing.
#democracy #korea
Jacco Zwetsloot
@JaccoZed
I'd say that's quite encouraging!
Jacco Zwetsloot
@JaccoZed
In fact I'll go further and say we can't overestimate the value of this. It's something those who have only lived in Korea 30 years or less might take for granted, but we must cherish it every time it happens.
Yoon vows to open era of national unity
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during a press conference at the National Assembly, Thursday. Joint Press Corps
President-elect seeks to restore values in democracy, market economy
By Nam Hyun-woo
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol of the conservative People Power Party (PPP) vowed Thursday to rebuild the nation based on justice and common sense and open an era of national unity. Yoon was elected as the 20th President of Korea by a razor-thin margin in Wednesday's election.
He also vowed to strengthen democracy and fight corruption to get the nation back on what he called the right track.
During a news conference held at the National Assembly on Yeouido, Seoul, Thursday, Yoon said the Korean public chose him to be their next president because they pin hopes on his 26 years of experience as a prosecutor who fought for justice to bring back fairness despite the odds.
"People are calling on me to rebuild the nation based on fair competition and common sense and work to achieve unity instead of dividing the country," he said. "The Yoon Suk-yeol administration will restore values in democracy and market economy, and open an era of unity and prosperity."
To integrate the nation, he vowed to end partisan politics and put national interests first.
Yoon has achieved the conservative bloc's long-cherished wish of ousting the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) from power, but daunting tasks await the former prosecutor general because the country remains sharply divided between those who support the People Power Party (PPP) and the DPK, amid social, economic and diplomatic challenges which will test the novice politician's capabilities.
Yoon clinched his victory after staging the closest presidential race in Korea's history. He secured 48.56 percent of ballots in Wednesday's presidential election to outpace Lee who won 47.83 percent. The gap between the rivals was 0.73 percentage point or 247,077 ballots.
The smallest gap before Wednesday's election was the 15th presidential election in 1997, in which National Congress for New Politics candidate Kim Dae-jung beat Hannara Party candidate Lee Hoi-chang by 390,557 ballots or 1.53 percentage points.
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, center, salutes to the national flag during his visit to Seoul National Cemetery in Dongjak District, Seoul, Thursday. Joint Press Corps
Since it was a neck-and-neck race, the result was uncertain until nearly 98 percent of total votes were counted at 3:50 a.m. Just minutes before Yoon was confirmed as the winner, the DPK's Lee Jae-myung conceded his defeat and asked Yoon to pave the way for national unity.
Yoon vowed to reach out to the public through the media and strengthen communication with the National Assembly which is dominated by the DPK with 172 out of 300 parliamentary seats.
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during a call with the U.S. President Joe Biden at the former's home in Seocho District, Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of People Power Party
Yoon started his first day as president-elect by receiving congratulatory phone calls from President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Joe Biden.
Yoon said he told Moon that he will visit the President "as soon as possible" and ask for his advice in running state affairs. According to Presidential Spokeswoman Park Kyung-mee, Moon said, "It is important to get away from the national conflicts and disputes during the campaign period and seek public unity."
"Even though there are differences in political views, there are many state affairs that continue in administrations, and there are things that Presidents need to transfer between themselves," Moon said. "I will assist the president-elect to ensure a smooth transition of office without a vacuum."
Yoon told reporters that Biden said he is looking forward to meeting the President-elect after his inauguration and wants to have discussions for the further development of Korea-U.S. relations.
According to the PPP's campaign team, Yoon expressed his respect for the U.S.' role of leading the international response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and Biden said Korea is also playing a key role in the issue.
Biden was also quoted as saying that the U.S. is closely monitoring developments in North Korea, and stressed the importance of close coordination between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo in responding to Pyongyang's recent ballistic missile provocations.
During the call, Biden asked Yoon to visit the White House after his inauguration, and Yoon expressed his gratitude for the invitation, according to the PPP.
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, left, poses as People Power Party Rep. Chang Je-won, right, applauds during their canvassing in Busan, Friday. Chang was named as Yoon's chief of staff. Yonhap
Also on Thursday, Yoon reportedly appointed as his chief of staff, PPP. Rep. Chang Je-won, and People's Party head Ahn Cheol-soo as the chairman of the presidential transition committee.
During the press conference, Yoon said he has yet to consider detailed staff appointments, denying a news report that he had already picked Chang and Ahn. But he described Chang as his "chief of staff" during a meeting with Moon's Chief of Staff Yoo Young-min after the conference.
Chang is regarded as one of the closest aides to Yoon. The lawmaker has played a pivotal role in breaking a deadlock in the coalition between Yoon and Ahn, in which the rival gave up his presidential bid to endorse Yoon as the unified candidate.
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, left, shakes hands with former People's Party presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo after the former confirmed his victory in the presidential election at the National Assembly on Yeouido, Seoul, Thursday. Ahn gave up his presidential bid to support Yoon. Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-keun
When Yoon takes office on May 10, major changes are expected in the government's structure, economic policies and diplomatic strategies.
Yoon has pledged that his administration will focus on "rebuilding" the alliance between Seoul and Washington so it can serve as a strong deterrent against Pyongyang's threats.
"We are taking on the task of improving [South] Korea's diplomatic capability amid North Korea's growing nuclear threats and intensifying U.S.-China competition," Yoon said during the press conference. "To protect the people's safety and the country's sovereignty, I will build a strong national defense capability which can deter any provocation. … I will rebuild the Korea-U.S. alliance and strengthen it further by sharing the value of liberal democracy, free market and human rights."
Yoon also said he will firmly respond to North Korea's provocations, but added that the window for dialogue will remain open.
Large-scale government restructuring is also expected.
Yoon pledged to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and rebrand it to focus on gender equality rather than its current function of concentrating on women's rights.
Yoon also promised to move the presidential office from Cheong Wa Dae to the Government Complex in Gwanghwamun, Seoul. He said his administration will determine what to do with Cheong Wa Dae through public discussions.
Turning to economic growth, Yoon said he will make sure that the country's economy is not swayed by government-led policies but determined by market principles. He also stressed the importance of the virtuous cycle between growth and welfare.
"Without growth, welfare cannot be sustained," Yoon said. "Through comprehensive assistance for technological innovation, I will put the country's slow-growth economy back on track for growth."
15. What to expect from Korean President-elect Yoon
Excerpts:
Still, the locomotive of Korea’s economy is big business. A phrase much discussed in the 1990s and early 2000s, “conglomerate restructuring” is rarely heard now. Yoon is unlikely to tinker with the established practices of such world-class brands as Samsung, Hyundai, SK hynix or LG, despite a widespread belief that these massive companies abuse their power.
But Yoon might surprise.
“He had no agenda for chaebol reform in his campaign promises,” Park said, referring to Korea’s family-run conglomerates. “But as a prosecutor, he had a record of prosecuting chaebol businessmen for fraud and corruption and has been very tough on business crime.”
This record could influence the near-endless corruption court cases against Samsung’s de facto leader and heir, Lee Jae-yong, which are likely to conclude during Yoon’s term. While courts are, de jure, firewalled from politics, justice ministers wield influence and presidents have special powers.
“I don’t know what the courts will decide, or whether Yoon will give Lee a presidential pardon,” Park said. “That will be the real litmus test.”
For Korea’s globally-integrated economy, the wild card is the Ukraine war. Korea, a net-energy importer, faces soaring energy and commodity costs – particularly given the won’s current weakness against the dollar. In February, inflation rose 3.7% year on year, the fifth consecutive month that inflation topped 3%.
What to expect from Korean President-elect Yoon
Newly elected leader expected to cozy with America, reset with Japan and take a tough line on North Korea
SEOUL – Sighs of relief emanating from Tokyo and Washington vied with grunts of disapproval echoing through Beijing and Pyongyang after news broke that Yoon Seok-yeol had narrowly won South Korea’s presidential election.
The conservative candidate, who on the campaign trail has signaled a more pro-Japan, pro-US policy, was swiftly congratulated by leaders of those nations.
After a gutter-fighting campaign marked more by low blows than high politics, Koreans hit polling booths on Wednesday to vote in their leader for the next five years. The result: Yoon beat leftist firebrand Lee Jae-myung after a down-to-the-wire vote count on Thursday morning.
The conservative former prosecutor is expected to install more pro-business, free-market mechanisms in what has customarily been a successfully policy-led economy. During his career as a prosecutor, Yoon was tough on white-collar crime, which may hold negative implications for the legally compromised leader of national flagship Samsung.
But the leader who wants to reset Korea’s relations with Japan, upgrade its ties with Washington and toughen its stance against China and North Korea will stand on a shaky platform.
A modest mandate
For one thing, Yoon’s margin of victory was razor-thin at less than 0.7% of votes cast. For another, he is counterbalanced by the National Assembly, where Lee’s Democratic Party of Korea will hold an outright majority (barring by-elections) until April 2024.
While Yoon can push policies and regulations downstream from the presidential Blue House through the line ministries, he will likely face legislative pushback in Korea’s unicameral parliament.
Voting in Korea’s administrative capital, Sejong City, sent a signal. While Korea’s bureaucracy may be loyal, it voted overwhelmingly against Yoon, who strides into the Blue House on May 10.
Yoon will be constitutionally limited to one five-year term and restrained by Korea’s rich and powerful corporate sector. Like the proverbial helmsman on the supertanker unable to shift course swiftly, he will have limited wriggle room to implement far-sighted and deep-reaching policies.
Questions already hang over many of his campaign trail promises – not least because Yoon, who spent his career as a prosecutor, is a political virgin.
“We don’t know his true colors yet: He has been in politics only eight months and has spent almost all that time campaigning,” Park Sang-in, a professor at the elite Seoul National University, told Asia Times. “During a campaign, candidates promise a lot of things that do not mean anything later.”
Yoon’s failure to outline a broad vision, however, may prove a strength.
“This campaign was not run over huge policy or philosophical differences – there was no big theme,” said Michael Breen, Seoul-based author of “The New Koreans. “Expectations are low, as many who voted for him did not like him – they just liked Lee less. As long as he keeps expectations modest, he might do well.”
Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung lost the election by a paper-thin margin. Photo: Andrew Salmon / Asia Times
Hello, America
Yoon has a strongly pro-Washington stance, which is no surprise for a conservative in a country that relies on its alliance with the US for its security. Counterintuitively, this means that some of the expeditionary assets that outgoing President Moon Jae-in’s independently-minded leftist administration sought could be ditched as Yoon cleaves more closely Washington.
One likely casualty is a mooted aircraft carrier. During a press conference with Yoon early in the campaign, an accompanying lawmaker told Asia Times that the party saw no point in possessing one.
Yoon has been blurry when it comes to the Quad security partnership that links Australia, Japan, India and the US. He has said Korea should upgrade its participation but has been less clear on actually seeking membership, which would be frowned upon by China.
More surprising are Yoon’s attitudes toward China and Japan, which may reflect public opinion. Two surveys – one by local pollster Sisa-in in May 2021, and one conducted in January this year by Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute – found that South Koreans hold significantly more negative sentiments toward China than toward Japan.
If this trends over the long term, it is potentially seismic.
Goodbye, China
Since establishing relations with China in 1992, Koreans have traditionally had positive attitudes toward a nation to which they are culturally close, and which has become their key economic partner. Conversely, there remains a powerful sense of national victimhood and a sense that Japan refuses to acknowledge its colonial and Pacific War crimes.
But Koreans have grown suspicious about the increasingly assertive Xi Jinping administration, particularly after the events of 2017.
That year, Beijing – angered by the emplacement of a US anti-missile battery in South Korea which it claimed could snoop far into China with its powerful radars – retaliated.
Sanctions included halting Chinese tour groups – key suppliers to Korea’s service economy – hammering Lotte Group’s investments and closing the door on Korean cultural exports, including games, TV dramas and K-pop.
There was an emotive outcry during the Beijing Winter Olympics when netizens led politicians – Yoon included – in accusing China of appropriating Korean national dress in the opening ceremony.
Strikingly, Yoon has said that he will acquire a THAAD anti-missile battery for domestic defense – the same asset that ignited Beijing’s 2017 furies.
A THAAD interceptor is test-launched in Kodiak, Alaska, on July 11, 2017. Photo: Leah Garton / Missile Defense Agency / Handout
None of this changes China’s centrality to Korean trade. In 2020, Korea shipped US$136 billion worth of goods across the Yellow Sea – almost double the amount shipped to the number two export destination, the United States, worth $73 billion, according to database Global Edge.
“If Yoon becomes too pro-American and disregards China, it will bring about two major consequences,” said Moon Chung-in, who heads think tank the Sejong Institute – adding that there are also deep value-chain interconnectivities.
Another factor mitigating against big change in China policy is Beijing’s influence over Pyongyang. “If China supports North Korea militarily, with arms and logistics including oil it will pose a major conventional threat to us,” Moon warned.
Welcome, Japan
Highly unusual for a Korean politician, Yoon has held out an olive branch toward Japan. As well as promoting shuttle diplomacy, he has said would seek to meet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida after meeting his key target, US President Joe Biden.
There are multiple ties to repair with Tokyo.
In the first two years of the Moon administration, Seoul assailed Tokyo by binning a 2015 bilateral deal over wartime “comfort women.” It also called for the seizure of Japanese corporate assets to compensate forced laborers, contradicting the terms of a deal and multi-million dollar compensation package agreed to back in 1965.
A furious Tokyo retaliated by removing Korea from its list of favored trading nations, sparking Seoul’s retaliation and popular boycotts. The feared “trade war” never eventuated, but sentiment was poisoned.
Yet with Moon – distrusted in Tokyo – and ex-prime minister Shinzo Abe – despised in Seoul as a historical revisionist – out of office, Kishida and Yoon could feasibly improve relations.
That would suit Washington, which is endlessly frustrated by squabbles between its two Northeast Asia allies.
But Moon, again, warns of barriers. “If Yoon becomes too soft on Japan, a public outcry will arise,” Moon said. “He cannot retain his pro-Japanese stance, as he stated in the campaign.”
Under the new president, scenes like this could become less common: South Korean protesters tear a huge Japanese flag during a rally near the Japanese embassy in Seoul in 2019. Photo: AFP/Jung Yeon-je
No thanks, North Korea
The long-held aim of Washington – and Seoul and much of the wider world – is denuclearizing Pyongyang. Cynical experts have always called this a non-starter – and current developments may kill the idea.
Ukraine is reeling from invasion after abandoning its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees. One of the past guarantors is the current-day invader – Russia. Neither of the other original guarantors, the UK and US, are willing to fight for Ukraine.
This lends more weight to nuclear deterrence, and Pyongyang had earlier noted how Libya fell after ditching its atomic program. Moon, one of the leading thinkers on inter-Korean relations, admits that current dynamics are problematic.
“Generally, what is happening in Ukraine will teach Kim Jong Un not to give up his nuclear arms,” he said. “But let us see what happens on the Iranian nuclear deal. If Biden makes meaningful progress on Iran, a North Korean settlement can be a real possibility.”
Yoon has said he wants to establish a permanent dialogue channel between both the Koreas and the US, and will offer aid in synch with disarmament steps.
But he also sticks to the “denuclearization first, sanctions-relief later” approach that Pyongyang rejected at the 2019 Hanoi summit, evinces no interest in a Korean War peace treaty, and favors sharpening Seoul’s pre-emptive strike forces.
This all differs from the policies of the Moon administration, which were far kinder and gentler toward Pyongyang. But Moon Chung-in, who knows Yoon’s advisors, expects pragmatism to trump hawkishness.
“I know his staff, they are aware of the constraints and they will be much more cautious,” he predicted. But he warned that if Yoon proves hardline, North Korean ICBM and nuclear tests are likely.
Pro-market, pro-business, pro-nuclear – anti-Samsung?
Yoon inherits a beast of an economy. Last year, GDP growth hit 4% while the Bank of Korea anticipates 3% in 2022. However, Covid is lingering: The country has for the last two days suffered daily new infections north of 300,000 cases.
Yoon – in classic conservative style – is expected to push business-friendly policies of small government, deregulation and labor market flexibility. “He is a believer in Milton Friedman, so in that sense, he is business-friendly, business-minded,” said Seoul National’s Park, a corporate regulation expoert.
However, Yoon has indicated that he will continue the flow of cash to the startup economy – a program initiated during the Park Geun-hye administration (2012-2017) which reached fruition under Moon (2017-2022), with Korea now a Top 10 global incubator of “unicorns.”
Yoon will be steering Korea’s heavy industry through the stormy waters caused by the war in Ukraine. Photo: Andrew Salmon / Asia Times
Still, the locomotive of Korea’s economy is big business. A phrase much discussed in the 1990s and early 2000s, “conglomerate restructuring” is rarely heard now. Yoon is unlikely to tinker with the established practices of such world-class brands as Samsung, Hyundai, SK hynix or LG, despite a widespread belief that these massive companies abuse their power.
But Yoon might surprise.
“He had no agenda for chaebol reform in his campaign promises,” Park said, referring to Korea’s family-run conglomerates. “But as a prosecutor, he had a record of prosecuting chaebol businessmen for fraud and corruption and has been very tough on business crime.”
This record could influence the near-endless corruption court cases against Samsung’s de facto leader and heir, Lee Jae-yong, which are likely to conclude during Yoon’s term. While courts are, de jure, firewalled from politics, justice ministers wield influence and presidents have special powers.
“I don’t know what the courts will decide, or whether Yoon will give Lee a presidential pardon,” Park said. “That will be the real litmus test.”
For Korea’s globally-integrated economy, the wild card is the Ukraine war. Korea, a net-energy importer, faces soaring energy and commodity costs – particularly given the won’s current weakness against the dollar. In February, inflation rose 3.7% year on year, the fifth consecutive month that inflation topped 3%.
16. Newly obtained guidelines show N. Korean security agency’s large role in the country’s “emergency quarantine efforts”
Again this is an example of Kim's COVID paradox. He is deathly afraid of COVID yet COVID has provided him with the opportunity to implement draconian population and resources control measures to further oppress and control the population.
Newly obtained guidelines show N. Korean security agency’s large role in the country’s “emergency quarantine efforts”
The document also confirms that the "State Emergency Anti-Epidemic Command" is leading the country’s disease control efforts
A copy of the guidelines recently obtained by Daily NK from a source within the country.
Daily NK has acquired a copy of the North Korean State Emergency Anti-epidemic Command’s “Emergency Disease Control Guidelines,” which were recently handed down to authorities in each of the country’s provinces. The guidelines show that North Korea has actively prepared countermeasures to respond to COVID-19 and has made the issue its “number one national project” for this year.
The guidelines set out 15 disease control measures that provinces need to follow. One noteworthy part of the guidelines is the emphasis on the roles of the provincial Military Security Command (MSC) branches, along with municipal and county Ministry of State Security branches.
In fact, North Korean authorities have established a system to have coronavirus-related work reported to MSC branches. One example would be when somebody is found to have a fever during temperature checks.
In such cases, the municipal and county MSS branches are to receive an “accurate diagnosis” from a local hospital where the suspected COVID-19 patient resides before reporting this diagnosis to a “relevant department” or sanitation guidance officers at municipal and county MSS branches. The results are also to be reported to the provincial MSC’s Anti-Epidemic Department, which is under the Emergency Anti-epidemic Division.
These guidlines suggest that the MSS holds overall responsibility over this entire reporting process. Given that the MSS monitors the “ideological trends” of North Koreans, this development suggests that North Korean authorities have further strengthened their management and control over people in the country under the pretext of protecting them from COVID-19.
“The closure of the borders and total shutdown in movement has led many North Koreans to feel discontented and angry,” the source said. “The shift of the central government’s authority over emergency quarantine efforts to the MSS has created a shift to a kind of ‘politics of fear’ where people are treated as political criminals if they violate emergency anti-epidemic measures.”
The guidelines obtained by Daily NK also confirm that the State Emergency Anti-Epidemic Command, which has not been mentioned by North Korean media outlets such as KCTV or Rodong Sinmun, is leading the country’s disease control efforts.
North Korea elevated the Central Emergency Anti-epidemic Command to become the State Emergency Anti-epidemic Command in August of last year, but the country has so far refrained from announcing this change to the rest of the world.
“To try and uphold the image of North Korea as a normal nation, the term ‘Central Anti-epidemic Command’ is used externally,” the source explained. “Internally, however, the term State Emergency Anti-epidemic Command’ is used and it is actually the MSS at the frontlines controlling the people.”
The guidelines also include specific instructions for strengthening “disinfections,” “quarantines,” and “medical monitoring” on the local level.
The document emphasizes that disinfections and quarantines should be made part of daily life and that hygiene-related propaganda activities should be intensified. In addition, the guidelines instruct local authorities to submit reports on these activities to Emergency Anti-epidemic Divisions on the provincial level.
The guidelines place particular emphasis on the thorough implementation of disease control measures in major construction projects and activities related to sports and performing arts.
This emphasis is likely related to preliminary efforts on the part of North Korean authorities to mobilize people for the 110th anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birthday (Apr. 15) and for the large apartment construction project in Pyongyang’s Hwasong district.
The guidelines also contain instructions for local authorities to create “temporary quarantine rooms” for suspected COVID-19 patients.
“Temporary quarantine rooms should be in places where there are few people passing by, and measures should be taken to ensure there is [sufficient] bedding, along with proper heating and dietary conditions,” the document says.
Translated by Gabriela Bernal
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
V/R
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Phone: 202-573-8647
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
FDD is a Washington-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
