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Quotes of the Day:
"Learn what is to be taken seriously and laugh at the rest."
- Hermann Hesse
"Honor to the soldier and sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country's cause. Honor, also, to the citizen who cares for his brother in the field and serves, as he best can, the same cause."
- Abraham Lincoln
"A nation which makes the final sacrifice for life and freedom does not get beaten."
- Kemal Ataturk
1. S. Korea, U.S. closely monitoring N. Korea for signs of nuclear reactor halt
2. S. Korea stresses compliance with UNSC resolutions after report on suspicious N.K. tanker
3. S. Korea in final stages to acquire homegrown anthrax vaccine
4. ＜Inside N. Korea＞The government starts claiming that “suicide is an anti-state, traitorous act…”
5. S. Korea keeping close tabs on 'high-risk' N.K. defectors
6. Pro-N. Korea paper touts Pyongyang's nuclear force-building policy in constitution
7. North Korea halts nuclear reactor, likely to extract bomb fuel - report
8. Seoul, Tokyo reopen strategic diplomatic channels amid nuke threats
9. N. Korea's derogatory labeling of S. Korea as 'puppet' shows lack of confidence: official
10. Yongbyon nuclear reactor could yield weapon-grade plutonium
11. N. Korea's capricious actions at Asian Games are not surprise
12. Rights watchdog chief calls for active UN involvement in saving NK refugees
13. Seoul urged to pursue two-track approach with Pyongyang
14. Perpetuating division (Korea)
15. US public support for defending South Korea wanes, survey finds
16. Images of hard times long ago (Korea)
17. North Ko-beer! The Wiltshire brewery bought for £1.5 million in 2000 and shipped piece by piece to Pyongyang is hailed by Kim Jong Un's regime 'for contributing to national economic development'
1. S. Korea, U.S. closely monitoring N. Korea for signs of nuclear reactor halt
The more we focus on only denuclearization the farther away we get from unification which is the only way we will see an end to the human rights abuses and the nuclear and missile threats in north Korea.
S. Korea, U.S. closely monitoring N. Korea for signs of nuclear reactor halt | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · October 5, 2023
SEOUL, Oct. 5 (Yonhap) -- The intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States are closely monitoring North Korea for signs the reclusive regime appears to have halted operations of a nuclear reactor in its Yongbyon nuclear complex, Seoul's defense ministry said Thursday.
The Dong-A Ilbo earlier reported the allies' intelligence authorities have detected signs indicating the 5-megawatt reactor temporarily stopped operations late last month, and South Korean and U.S. officials believe the move could be related to reprocessing spent fuel rods to extract weapons-grade plutonium.
"South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are closely monitoring related movements," Jeon Ha-kyou, the ministry's spokesperson, told a regular briefing when asked about the report.
The reactor in the complex, north of Pyongyang, has shown signs of being in operation since July 2021. In April, 38 North, a U.S. website dedicated to analyzing North Korea, said North Korea appeared to be expanding and refurbishing the complex in Yongbyon, citing commercial satellite imagery.
Last week, North Korea stipulated its policy of strengthening its nuclear force in the constitution during a key parliamentary meeting.
At the meeting, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un touted the move as a "powerful political lever" to strengthen its defense capabilities, while calling the ongoing trilateral security cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan as the "worst actual threat."
This file photo, taken Jan. 31, 2023, shows the South Korean flag (C) flying outside the defense ministry complex in central Seoul. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · October 5, 2023
2. S. Korea stresses compliance with UNSC resolutions after report on suspicious N.K. tanker
And China is complicit in north Korean sanctions evasion.
S. Korea stresses compliance with UNSC resolutions after report on suspicious N.K. tanker | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · October 5, 2023
By Kim Seung-yeon
SEOUL, Oct. 5 (Yonhap) -- The foreign ministry stressed Thursday that all United Nations member states, including North Korea, have the obligation to comply with Security Council resolutions, after a news report that a North Korean oil tanker with a sanctions violation record was detected in Chinese waters.
The Voice of America (VOA) has reported the oil tanker, names Mu Bong 1, was spotted in waters east of a Chinese port on the east coast on Monday (local time), spawning suspicion of illicit maritime activities by Pyongyang in violation of U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.
The Mu Bong 1 vessel is known to have engaged in multiple illicit ship-to-ship transfers of sanctioned products in the East China Sea in 2019, according to the VOA.
"U.N. member states are responsible for faithfully implementing relevant UNSC resolutions and international standards over the course of all types of human and material exchanges, including those that have resumed after North Korea's full border reopening," foreign ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk said in a press briefing.
"Our government is closely watching North Korea for suspected sanctions evasion and suspicious movements," Lim said, vowing continued diplomatic efforts and coordination with the international community over the matter.
North Korea is banned from transporting fuel and other commodities via ships under the UNSC sanctions resolutions imposed in response to it nuclear and missile programs. Pyongyang is believed to have engaged in constant illicit ship-to-ship transfers to evade sanctions.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk speaks during a regular press briefing in Seoul in this file photo taken Aug. 22, 2023. (Yonhap)
elly@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · October 5, 2023
3. S. Korea in final stages to acquire homegrown anthrax vaccine
Holy... I recall starting the anthrax series in Korea in the late 1990s for US military personnel.
I thought the work Dr. Bruce Bennett did with the ROK/US CFC to educate all ROK and US personnel on the chemical and biological threats would have achieved better effects than only having 26,000 doses of anthrax vaccine two decades later.
I cannot believe this is all the ROK military has.
Excerpts:
South Korea has so far relied on anthrax vaccines produced by foreign companies, with the military currently possessing only 26,000 doses of such vaccines, according to Lim.
"While North Korea's nuclear and missile threats pose serious problems, biological attacks can also inflict terrible damage," Lim was quoted as saying. "Once production begins next year, it is expected to be of great help in responding to North Korea's biological terror."
S. Korea in final stages to acquire homegrown anthrax vaccine | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · October 5, 2023
SEOUL, Oct. 5 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is in the final stages of acquiring a homegrown anthrax vaccine after launching the development project more than two decades ago, a lawmaker said Thursday.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) plans to apply for the vaccine's approval later this month based on the results of clinical trials, according to Rep. Lim Byung-heon of the ruling People Power Party, citing a KDCA report.
If the vaccine against the potentially deadly infectious disease is approved, homegrown production is expected to begin next year, Lim said.
The KDCA began the project in 2001 to prepare for possible biological terror attacks after 9/11 and the anthrax mailing attacks in the United States that year amid threats posed by North Korea's chemical and biological weapons programs.
South Korea has so far relied on anthrax vaccines produced by foreign companies, with the military currently possessing only 26,000 doses of such vaccines, according to Lim.
"While North Korea's nuclear and missile threats pose serious problems, biological attacks can also inflict terrible damage," Lim was quoted as saying. "Once production begins next year, it is expected to be of great help in responding to North Korea's biological terror."
North Korea is believed to possess around 2,500 to 5,000 tons of chemical weapons and have the ability to produce biological weapons, including anthrax, smallpox and the bubonic plague, according to South Korea's Defense White Paper.
This undated file photo shows a Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency building. (Yonhap)
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · October 5, 2023
4. ＜Inside N. Korea＞The government starts claiming that “suicide is an anti-state, traitorous act…”
Reflect on this. A person commits a selfless act to reduce the burden on his or her family and then they are punished.
＜Inside N. Korea＞The government starts claiming that “suicide is an anti-state, traitorous act…” Warns that bereaved relatives will face punishment…People wonder whether committing suicide due to starvation is considered a traitorous act
asiapress.org
A secretly photographed political study session held by a Workers’ Party of Korea organization. A cadre is at the front conducting a lecture. Taken by ASIAPRESS in the summer of 2013 in a city near the northern border.
Over the past several years, many North Koreans have chosen to commit suicide either individually or with their families due to the desperately poor economic conditions they faced. Concerned over the impact of these suicides, the authorities have called “suicide a traitorous act of betrayal against the State,” and has even called for the punishment of bereaved families and relatives. Workers’ Party cadres are going to workplaces to lecture laborers about suicide and the punishments that await the relatives of those who commit suicide. (KANG Ji-won)
◆ Unmarried mother commits suicide with three-year-old child in September
North Korea’s government has long considered suicide to be an act of opposition toward the regime and society. The regime believes that unhappy people do not exist in a society under the rule of the Workers’ Party and the Monolithic Leadership System.
In early September, ASIAPRESS was informed through a reporting partner in Yanggang Province about an unfortunate event that occurred in Unhung County: A mother committed suicide along with her three-year-old child. The mother could no longer feed her thin, weak child, who was suffering from malnutrition. She was unable to get medical care for her child, either. Ultimately, the mother attempted suicide by digesting opium. Her child was found dead four days after their mother committed suicide.
After the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, North Korea’s economic situation deteriorated quickly, leading urban dwellers to commit suicides individually and along with their families. The authorities responded to this spate of suicides by saying that “spreading information about starvation deaths and suicides is a traitorous act,” even mentioning that people could be punished. Nonetheless, the suicide of the mother and her child in September spread like wildfire.
◆ Authorities openly warn laborers that “suicide is an anti-state act” and that “relatives as far away as fourth cousins will face political disadvantages”
Perhaps upset over the continued suicides, the authorities moved to have Workers’ Party cadres visit factories and other workplaces in September to conduct lectures harshly criticizing suicides as “traitorous acts.” “A,” a reporting partner in Yanggang Province, gave ASIAPRESS an account of one of these lectures held at a major company in the province:
“A cadre from the party’s propaganda department told us that ‘suicide is committed by those who have no hope that socialism will achieve victory given they are corrupt, selfish people who believe in the ideology of capitalism.’”
“A” provided an even more detailed account of what the official told those attending the lecture:
・Despite the fact that laborers at the company have attained great achievements through devoted efforts and struggles to protect the DPRK, the last bastion of socialism, and that socialism is gaining in stature, the phenomenon of desperate suicides is something that must never happen in our country and is considered a serious anti-State and traitorous act.
・Suicide is an act that goes against the State, and amounts to abandoning not only one’s physical life but also one’s political life. Anyone who attempts suicide faces punishment not only for themselves but also places limits on their relatives - up to their fourth cousins - to become cadres and the development of their social status.
・Those who commit suicide believe that ending their lives will solve everything and do not consider the development of their remaining family and relatives, and is thus similar to a poison that creates social unrest and spreads defeatism.
・If you are considering suicide, you must go to your party committee and receive assistance in regards to your problems with a view to resolve them.
◆ Nobody tried to commit suicide when they were able to conduct business activities
“A” provided a picture of how laborers responded to the lecture.
“The cadre (conducting the lecture) talked about why people committed suicide and claimed that nobody committed suicide due to life’s challenges. Instead, he talked a lot about family disharmony and depravity. There were laborers who murmured amongst themselves ‘whether people who committed suicide due to starvation have been murdered.’
“(After the lecture) one laborer said angrily that ‘anyone who committed suicide did so because they were facing a tough time. There was even a mother who committed suicide because she had nothing to eat and was forced to watch her child starving. Is she really a traitor against this country?’”
The reporting partner said ordinary people who heard about the lecture responded as follows:
“The government claims that suicide is a traitorous act and an act of defeatism. However, many people thought that those who committed suicide did so because their lives were hard, and that there was no one who committed suicide when they could conduct business activities in the past. People couldn’t say this out loud and simply murmured amongst themselves.”
After the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kim Jong-un regime placed severe restrictions on private business, forcing many urban dwellers to fall into poverty because they had no way to earn money.
At the time of this article’s publication, ASIAPRESS was unable to confirm whether government propaganda saying that suicide is a traitorous act was limited to just the northern part of the country.
※ ASIAPRESS communicates with reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.
asiapress.org
5. S. Korea keeping close tabs on 'high-risk' N.K. defectors
Korea must do better. These 6000 need more than just "close tabs." Though the first step in solving problems in recognizing that there is one and these 6000 surely indicate that there is one big problem.
S. Korea keeping close tabs on 'high-risk' N.K. defectors | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · October 5, 2023
SEOUL, Oct. 5 (Yonhap) -- The unification ministry said Thursday it is closely monitoring some 6,000 vulnerable North Korean defectors considered at a high risk of suicide attempts and lonely deaths due to financial difficulties and other hardships.
The move is part of the ministry's efforts to overhaul the resettlement system for North Korean defectors as it seeks to better protect such people who might be living in so-called welfare blind spots.
Since November last year, the ministry has selected around 6,000 vulnerable North Koreans who warrant close monitoring by utilizing 39 "crisis indicators," such as whether the supply of electricity, water and gas was suspended for their households or there was any previous attempt to commit suicide.
The government also said it is pushing for a law revision to allow government officials to do a house search with police for the North's defectors in the high risk group when they are out of contact.
The move follows a spate of tragic deaths of North Korean defectors in recent years. A North Korean woman who came to the South in 2002 was found in a "skeleton" state in Seoul in October 2022. The case has served as a wake-up call for the government to overhaul the system to protect North Korean defectors.
A North Korean defector receives a dental treatment at a medical facility in Hanawon, a resettlement education center for the North's defectors, in Anseong, southeast of Seoul, on July 10, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
The government has also expanded its support for medical expenses by 1 million won (US$740) for North Korean defectors since January, according to the ministry.
The annual amount of medical support was raised to 3 million won for general illness and to 8 million won in the case of serious diseases, including cancer.
The North's defectors who earn less than 120 percent of the median income are eligible to receive the government's medical support.
The total number of North Korean defectors coming to South Korea reached 33,981 at the end of June, up 99 from the end of last year. The number of such incoming people has begun increasing this year after sharply dwindling due largely to North Korea's tight border closure over the COVID-19 pandemic.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · October 5, 2023
6. Pro-N. Korea paper touts Pyongyang's nuclear force-building policy in constitution
"On message." The Propaganda and Agitation Department does a good job of "coordinating" with its overseas media mouthpieces.
Or is this outlet out ahead of the propaganda?
Excerpts:
"It is specified in Article 58 of Chapter 4 that nuclear weapons development should be advanced to guarantee the nation's right to survive and develop, suppress war and shield the peace and stability of the region and the world," it said.
The North's state media outlets, which reported on the key parliamentary meeting, had not specified in which part of the constitution the nuclear policy was stipulated.
Pro-N. Korea paper touts Pyongyang's nuclear force-building policy in constitution | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · October 5, 2023
SEOUL, Oct. 5 (Yonhap) -- A pro-North Korean newspaper said Thursday that Pyongyang's status as a nuclear state has become "irreversible" with the recent stipulation of a nuclear force-building policy in its constitution.
In a key parliamentary meeting attended by leader Kim Jong-un last week, the North stipulated the policy of strengthening its nuclear force in the constitution, a year after it enacted a new nuclear law authorizing the preemptive use of nuclear arms and called its status as a nuclear state "irreversible."
"The status as a nuclear state has become irreversible," said the Choson Sinbo, a pro-North Korea newspaper in Japan, whose articles are considered to reflect Pyongyang's positions. "A move to advance and improve nuclear weapons will be carried out powerfully."
The newspaper said the decision made at the ninth session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly was based on the "stern strategic assessment" that Pyongyang's status as a nuclear state should never be compromised but further strengthened.
"It is specified in Article 58 of Chapter 4 that nuclear weapons development should be advanced to guarantee the nation's right to survive and develop, suppress war and shield the peace and stability of the region and the world," it said.
The North's state media outlets, which reported on the key parliamentary meeting, had not specified in which part of the constitution the nuclear policy was stipulated.
The newspaper denounced the strengthening security cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan, claiming they are scaling up military provocations against the North.
It is a "mission" for a "responsible nuclear state" to accelerate the development of nuclear weapons in such circumstance, it added.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) claps during the ninth session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly held on Sept. 26-27 in Pyongyang, in this photo captured from Pyongyang's official Korean Central Television on Sept. 28, 2023. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
mlee@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · October 5, 2023
7. North Korea halts nuclear reactor, likely to extract bomb fuel - report
North Korea halts nuclear reactor, likely to extract bomb fuel - report
Reuters
SEOUL, Oct 5 (Reuters) - North Korea has halted the nuclear reactor at its main atomic complex, probably to extract plutonium that could be used for weapons by reprocessing spent fuel rods, a South Korean news report said on Thursday, citing a government source.
The operation of the 5 megawatt nuclear reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear complex has been suspended since late September, according to intelligence assessment by U.S. and South Korean authorities, the report said.
"South Korea and the U.S. believe this could be a sign of reprocessing work being done to obtain weapons-grade plutonium," the Donga Ilbo newspaper quoted a government source as saying.
Reprocessing of spent fuel rods removed from a nuclear reactor is a step taken before plutonium is extracted. The Yongbyon nuclear complex is the North's main source of plutonium that it likely has used to build nuclear weapons.
North Korea has also operated uranium enrichment facilities, which is a separate source of material that could be used for nuclear weapons.
"The possibility of a nuclear test by North Korea is not ruled out," Donga Ilbo quoted a senior government official as saying, without elaborating on what analysis pointed to the assessment the move may be related to a nuclear test.
South Korea defence ministry spokesman Jeon Ha-gyu declined to comment on the details of the report but said U.S. and South Korean intelligence authorities are closely monitoring related developments.
North Korea has previously halted the operation of the reactor before restarting it and public confirmation of the purpose of such a move, whether it is for maintenance or for fuel extraction, is usually unavailable.
North Korea claims itself a nuclear state but has kept how many nuclear weapons it may have built or deployed a secret. Independent estimates of the North's plutonium range as high as 70 kg, which could be enough to build 20 or more weapons.
U.S. nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, who visited the Yongbyon complex in 2010, said despite the time North Korea has spent on the project, its capacity for producing plutonium and also the stock of fissile material itself are still limited.
Russia President Vladimir Putin, who recently hosted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for a summit and pledged closer military cooperation with Pyongyang, could offer the North much needed help with all aspects of its nuclear programme, Hecker said.
"For the shorter term, what concerns me most is Russia clandestinely supplying plutonium directly," Hecker, a former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, said in comments published on the 38 North project.
North Korea has conducted six underground nuclear tests and there have been concerns since last year that it may be about to conduct another test as part of efforts to develop miniaturised nuclear warheads.
North Korea's parliament adopted a constitutional amendment last week on its policy of nuclear force. Kim has also ordered the production of nuclear arms to increase "exponentially" and to diversify its nuclear capabilities.
Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Lincoln Feast
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Reuters
8. Seoul, Tokyo reopen strategic diplomatic channels amid nuke threats
Excerpts:
During the U.S.-South Korea-Japan trilateral summit at Camp David in August, Yoon indicated that the cooperation is poised to expand its hi-tech industries. “In the fields of artificial intelligence, quantum, bio, next-generation information and communication, and space, ROK-US-Japan cooperation has great synergies,” Yoon said.
Kishida also echoed Yoon in the press conference: “In the area of economic security, there was consensus on promoting cooperation in key emerging technologies and cooperation related to strengthening supply chain resilience,” Kishida said, indicating that Tokyo’s cooperation with Seoul would create a foundation for continued and stable strengthening of trilateral cooperation.
The real game now is bringing specific measures into strengthening the cooperations, pointed out Cheon Seong-whun, a former security strategy secretary for South Korea’s presidential office.
“The devil is in detail,” Cheon said. “It’s essential to identify specific methods to enhance collaboration. One approach could be establishing a committee dedicated to fostering direct cooperation.”
“The focus now should be on achieving tangible outcomes. Operating the current framework without producing meaningful results is futile,” he added.
Seoul, Tokyo reopen strategic diplomatic channels amid nuke threats
Thursday’s meeting extends collaboration beyond military and finance.
By Lee Jeong-Ho for RFA
2023.10.05
Seoul, South Korea
rfa.org
The foreign ministries of South Korea and Japan held their first “strategic dialogue” in nine years, and agreed to strengthen ties to deal with the common threat of Pyongyang’s nuclear provocations, a development indicating that the bilateral collaboration is extending beyond the military, finance to diplomacy.
South Korea’s first vice minister for foreign affairs Chang Ho-jin and his Japanese counterpart Masataka Okano met in Seoul on Thursday, where the agenda centered around bilateral, regional and global issues, including the Indo-Pacific strategy and geopolitics of East Asia, according to the South’s foreign ministry statement.
The two also jointly condemned North Korea’s nuclear provocations during the talks, the statement added. They concurred that the United States, South Korea, and Japan must “collaborate to spearhead a resolute and unified international response,” vowing that the three nations will put efforts towards improving human rights in North Korea.
“The vice-ministerial strategic dialogue is a part of the close communication between ROK and Japan, and we expect it to further strengthen our cooperation on issues of common interest based on this communication,” said Lim Soo-suk, South Korea’s foreign ministry spokesperson in a regular briefing, referring to South Korea by its formal name.
Seoul’s ties and communication with Tokyo were improving at both bilateral and multilateral levels, she added.
The meeting between the two key U.S. allies took place for the first time since 2014, after the two leaders of the countries, Yoon Suk Yeol and Kishida Fumio agreed to mend ties during a summit in March.
The meeting was first held in 2005, with the aim of expanding bilateral strategic cooperation to tackle regional challenges, but was suspended as relations between Seoul and Tokyo soured over disagreement surrounding Japan’s colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.
Most notable is the issue of compensating forced laborers and ‘comfort women,’ a Japanese euphemism for wartime sex slaves. As the dispute showed no signs of reaching a resolution, its implication has extended to other areas, affecting military and economic security.
The discord between Tokyo and Seoul ran against the interests of Washington to reunite allies in addressing challenges posed by China. South Korea’s conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol, who took office last year, made steps to reconcile the dispute, and had proposed measures to compensate the wartime victims using South Korean funds, despite the domestic backlash.
Expanding cooperation
Thursday’s meeting signals South Korea and Japan’s effort to expand their scope of cooperation – a move that could aid U.S. President Joe Biden’s Asia strategy to unite regional allies.
Initial indications of reconciliation have appeared in the military sector, with the navies of South Korea and Japan actively and openly participating in drills in waters that divide the Koreas and Japan.
The scope of cooperation then extended to the finance sector, with the two countries agreeing to revive their financial cooperation earlier this week, in the face of heightened geopolitical risks including those that could potentially stem from China’s unstable property market.
During the U.S.-South Korea-Japan trilateral summit at Camp David in August, Yoon indicated that the cooperation is poised to expand its hi-tech industries. “In the fields of artificial intelligence, quantum, bio, next-generation information and communication, and space, ROK-US-Japan cooperation has great synergies,” Yoon said.
Kishida also echoed Yoon in the press conference: “In the area of economic security, there was consensus on promoting cooperation in key emerging technologies and cooperation related to strengthening supply chain resilience,” Kishida said, indicating that Tokyo’s cooperation with Seoul would create a foundation for continued and stable strengthening of trilateral cooperation.
The real game now is bringing specific measures into strengthening the cooperations, pointed out Cheon Seong-whun, a former security strategy secretary for South Korea’s presidential office.
“The devil is in detail,” Cheon said. “It’s essential to identify specific methods to enhance collaboration. One approach could be establishing a committee dedicated to fostering direct cooperation.”
“The focus now should be on achieving tangible outcomes. Operating the current framework without producing meaningful results is futile,” he added.
rfa.org
9. N. Korea's derogatory labeling of S. Korea as 'puppet' shows lack of confidence: official
This is a good statement from the anonymous official. Simply call out the regime without resorting to a tit for tat exchange.
Excerpts:
While Pyongyang has frequently used sharp-worded expressions to denounce the South on political and military issues, the use of such a derogatory term for a sporting event was seen as unusual.
"North Korea has generally used the term South Korea in sports games. But the regime has revealed its own lacking confidence by using such an extremely belittling expression and overreacting even in a sporting event," an official at the unification ministry told reporters on condition of anonymity.
In response to the incident, a presidential official said Tuesday the government does not read into all the different terms Pyongyang uses to refer to the South as they continuously vary.
N. Korea's derogatory labeling of S. Korea as 'puppet' shows lack of confidence: official | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · October 5, 2023
By Lee Minji
SEOUL, Oct. 5 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's recent use of the term "puppet" to describe South Korea while televising a women's football match between the two sides is an apparent sign of lacking confidence, a government official said Thursday.
A score bug on North Korean state TV referred to South Korea as such during a quarterfinal match during the Asian Games on Sunday. The official Korean Central News Agency also said the country's women's football team advanced into the semifinals following a 4-1 match with "the region of south Korean puppets."
While Pyongyang has frequently used sharp-worded expressions to denounce the South on political and military issues, the use of such a derogatory term for a sporting event was seen as unusual.
"North Korea has generally used the term South Korea in sports games. But the regime has revealed its own lacking confidence by using such an extremely belittling expression and overreacting even in a sporting event," an official at the unification ministry told reporters on condition of anonymity.
In response to the incident, a presidential official said Tuesday the government does not read into all the different terms Pyongyang uses to refer to the South as they continuously vary.
The Hangzhou Asian Games is the first international multisport competition for Pyongyang since the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia. The North skipped the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, citing concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.
This footage, captured from the North's Korean Central Television, shows a women's football match between South Korea and North Korea at the Asian Games at Wenzhou Sports Centre Stadium in Wenzhou, some 300 kilometers southeast of the main host city of Hangzhou in China, on Sept. 30, 2023. The subtitle beside the score for the South Korean team reads "puppets." (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
mlee@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · October 5, 2023
10. Yongbyon nuclear reactor could yield weapon-grade plutonium
The calls will come to double down on denuclearization efforts or recommend lifting sanctions and appeasing the regime to reduce tensions.
We must focus on the bottom line: The only way we are going to see an end to the nuclear program and military threats as well as the human rights abuses and crimes against humanity being committed against the Korean people living in the north by the mafia-like crime family cult known as the Kim family regime is through achievement of unification and the establishment of a free and unified Korea that is secure and stable, non-nuclear, economically vibrant, and unified under a liberal constitutional form of government based on individual liberty, rule of law, and human rights as determined by the Korean people. A free and unified Korea or in short, a United Republic of Korea (UROK).
Yongbyon nuclear reactor could yield weapon-grade plutonium
donga.com
Posted October. 05, 2023 08:23,
Updated October. 05, 2023 08:23
Yongbyon nuclear reactor could yield weapon-grade plutonium. October. 05, 2023 08:23. by Jin-Woo Shin niceshin@donga.com. The South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities have reportedly detected signs that a 5-megawatt reactor at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear facility has been recently suspended. The two authorities are closely monitoring the situation, believing that it may be related to reprocessing spent fuel rods to extract plutonium for nuclear weapons.
According to sources for The Dong-A Ilbo on Wednesday, Seoul and Washington have used various reconnaissance assets to detect that the 5MW reactor in Yongbyon was suspended late last month. The active operations of the reactor, which was confirmed to be restarted in July 2021, were detected by US reconnaissance satellites, but its operations reportedly stopped in late September.
"The U.S. and South Korean authorities believe it could be a sign of reprocessing work to obtain weapons-grade plutonium," a South Korean government source said. Reprocessing involves shutting down a reactor for several weeks or longer, removing the spent fuel rods from the reactor, and transporting them to a radiochemical laboratory. And eventually reactors should be underwent a chemical process to extract weapons-grade plutonium.
The 5 MW reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear facility is North Korea's only weapon-grade plutonium production site. After the reactor is shut down, its spent fuel rods are removed and reprocessed to produce high-purity weapons-grade plutonium. Experts estimate that six to eight kilograms of weapon-grade plutonium can be obtained annually from the spent fuel of the Yongbyon 5 MW reactor. Since the reactor, whose operation restarted in July 2021, have been operated for more than two years, it could yield 12 to 16 kilograms of weapon-grade plutonium. This is a volume enough to make three to four 15-kiloton (kiloton is the destructive power of 1,000 tons of TNT) nuclear bombs, which were dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II. Given North Korea's advanced nuclear technology, it could actually produce a larger number of warheads.
North Korea's recent brazen display of signs of nuclear material production to South Korea and the United States, as well as the North’s detailed constitutional guarantee to upgrade its nuclear arsenal, could be explained by its intention to blatantly strengthen its nuclear arsenal in the context of the ‘South Korea-U.S.-Japan vs. North Korea-China-Russia’ neo-Cold War.
"We cannot rule out the possibility that North Korea will soon make a stronger provocation, such as a nuclear test, in an attempt to reverse the situation if there is no clear technical guarantee for the military reconnaissance satellite, which failed twice this year," a Seoul official said.
한국어
donga.com
11. N. Korea's capricious actions at Asian Games are not surprise
Excerpt:
North Korea's recent unpredictable actions are accompanied by unchanging intentions. During the United Nations General Assembly on September 26, Secretary Kim In Chol of the North Korean Permanent Mission to the United Nations made a statement, saying, "The dog barks, but the caravan moves on. We will respond firmly to any threats and carry out the necessary actions." This statement was a threat indicating that North Korea would persist in its development of nuclear weapons and ICBMs. The phrase "even if the dog barks" was previously used by Kang Song Ju, North Korea’s representative, in 1993 during negotiations with the U.S. representative Robert Gallucci regarding North Korea’s withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It resurfaced in 2017 during the peak of tensions between North Korea and the U.S. when North Korea conducted nuclear tests and ICBM launches. At that time, then-U.S. President Donald Trump referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as "rocket man" and threatened to "completely destroy North Korea." In response, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho retorted, "There is a saying that the procession goes on even if the dogs bark. If you were thinking of scaring us with barking dogs, you were just dreaming."
N. Korea's capricious actions at Asian Games are not surprise
donga.com
Posted October. 04, 2023 08:02,
Updated October. 04, 2023 08:02
N. Korea's capricious actions at Asian Games are not surprise. October. 04, 2023 08:02. by Yong Park parky@donga.com.
The behavior and actions of the North Korean delegation at the Hangzhou Asian Games may appear unfamiliar compared to the unity displayed by North and South Korean athletes at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games in Indonesia. During the 2018 Games, they displayed happiness, hugging each other while competing as a unified team. However, over the past five years, there has been a noticeable change. North Korean athletes, who earned silver medals in shooting, were reluctant to take pictures with our athletes on the podium. The North Korean women's basketball players, who once considered their South Korean counterparts as sisters and brothers, now exhibited coldness. A North Korean team official even requested that reporters refer to the team by its official name. Simultaneously, in broadcast videos meant for North Korean viewers, they referred to us as 'puppets.'
The recent change in North Korea's behavior and posture should not be a source of disappointment, as it appears to be a deliberate strategy. It is a form of 'defamiliarization' aimed at erasing the image of North Korea's cooperation with South Korea during the previous competition held five years ago, which coincided with North Korea-U.S. negotiations. This change emphasizes the division between South and North Korea in the Asian Games, drawing international attention to the tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Requesting that South Korea use the official name of the country instead of 'North Korea' is a tactic meant to create a sense of intimidation and make people see themselves as 'strangers' rather than as the same people.
North Korea's recent unpredictable actions are accompanied by unchanging intentions. During the United Nations General Assembly on September 26, Secretary Kim In Chol of the North Korean Permanent Mission to the United Nations made a statement, saying, "The dog barks, but the caravan moves on. We will respond firmly to any threats and carry out the necessary actions." This statement was a threat indicating that North Korea would persist in its development of nuclear weapons and ICBMs. The phrase "even if the dog barks" was previously used by Kang Song Ju, North Korea’s representative, in 1993 during negotiations with the U.S. representative Robert Gallucci regarding North Korea’s withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It resurfaced in 2017 during the peak of tensions between North Korea and the U.S. when North Korea conducted nuclear tests and ICBM launches. At that time, then-U.S. President Donald Trump referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as "rocket man" and threatened to "completely destroy North Korea." In response, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho retorted, "There is a saying that the procession goes on even if the dogs bark. If you were thinking of scaring us with barking dogs, you were just dreaming."
North Korea's three-decade old persistent stance, encapsulated by sayings such as "even if the dog barks, the carriage moves on," has been enabled by the changing policies of South Korea and the United States toward North Korea, which have shifted with each change of leadership. With the possibility of the return of former President Trump, who values the ROK-U.S. alliance in monetary terms, in the U.S. presidential election next November, there may be a hidden reason why North Korea is trying to return the Korean Peninsula to the state of tension it experienced in 2017 by sticking closely with Russia. While the term "change in words and actions" is often used to describe the beautiful transformation of a tiger's fur in the fall, North Korea's willingness to abandon even its own people when necessary is far from beautiful.
한국어
donga.com
12. Rights watchdog chief calls for active UN involvement in saving NK refugees
Excerpts:
Meanwhile, lawmakers are preparing for a joint move against the rights-violating practice of Beijing. So far, four proposals for resolution have been submitted at the National Assembly, including one containing the signatures of two defector-turned-lawmakers ― Ji Seong-ho and Tae Yong-ho ― and 32 others. After the Standing Committee’s review, lawmakers are expected to vote on the proposals soon.
“The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea urges China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and a member of the U.N. Human Rights Council, to grant refugee status to the North Korean escapees who meet the requirements and permit them to move to where they want,” the proposal says.
“The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea resolutely oppose detention and forcible repatriation of any North Korean escapees and will try its best to protect the their basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution and international laws.”
Rights watchdog chief calls for active UN involvement in saving NK refugees
The Korea Times · October 5, 2023
North Korean athletes wave their national flags ahead of the opening of the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Sept. 22. South Korea’s human rights watchdog chief urged the U.N. refugee agency to “take more proactive measures” in protecting North Korean refugees in China where they tremble with the constant fear of deportation, according to a letter obtained by The Korea Times on Wednesday. Yonhap
Resolution proposals under parliamentary review to stop China’s forced deportations
By Jung Min-ho
South Korea’s human rights watchdog chief has urged the U.N. refugee agency (UNHRC) to “take more proactive measures” to protect North Korean refugees in China where they tremble with the constant fear of deportation, according to a letter obtained by The Korea Times on Thursday.
In the letter sent on Sept. 13 to UNHRC chief Filippo Grandi, Song Doo-hwan, chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, asked him to formally request the Chinese government to permanently stop repatriating North Korean escapees against their will.
“At this very moment, North Korean defectors in China are desperately hoping for a helping hand to save them from the immediate threats of torture and punishment,” he wrote.
“Even beyond the application of the Refugee Convention, I earnestly request your agency to take more proactive measures in these matters from a humanitarian perspective that upholds universal human values, protects human rights, and guarantees the lives and basic rights of North Korean defectors.”
Song conveyed the message at a time when rights advocates were criticizing the UNHRC and other U.N. agencies for their lack of action and silence despite signs of North Korea easing border restrictions after three years of extreme pandemic isolation. They said Beijing could resume its practice of deporting North Korean escapees soon, adding that as many as 2,000 such people were currently detained in China.
Under the Constitution, Song said his organization is responsible for improving human rights for all citizens regardless of where they live on the Korean Peninsula.
“Although due to division, the effective authority of the Republic of Korea does not extend to the North Korean region, we engage in activities to improve the human rights of North Korean residents and defectors,” he wrote.
Given the limitations, Song asked Grandi for his “active involvement and ongoing interest,” saying that assistance of international institutions, such as the HNHRC, is “urgently needed.”
Despite being a signatory to international treaties, such as the Refugee Convention and the Convention against Torture, China has violated them while prioritizing its bilateral deals with North Korea, which demands the return of all “fugitives and criminals.”
In the letter, Song said the situation regarding the issue is even worsening in China, in which authorities are “strengthening inspections and searches in border areas, conducting special crackdowns and arrests of North Korean defectors.”
During his last visit to Seoul last November, Grandi had a meeting with Song, who promised his organization’s cooperation in protecting and promoting the rights of refugees.
Before sending the letter, Song issued a statement in June to urge both Seoul and Beijing to work together to resolve the repatriation issue.
Meanwhile, lawmakers are preparing for a joint move against the rights-violating practice of Beijing. So far, four proposals for resolution have been submitted at the National Assembly, including one containing the signatures of two defector-turned-lawmakers ― Ji Seong-ho and Tae Yong-ho ― and 32 others. After the Standing Committee’s review, lawmakers are expected to vote on the proposals soon.
“The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea urges China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and a member of the U.N. Human Rights Council, to grant refugee status to the North Korean escapees who meet the requirements and permit them to move to where they want,” the proposal says.
“The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea resolutely oppose detention and forcible repatriation of any North Korean escapees and will try its best to protect the their basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution and international laws.”
The Korea Times · October 5, 2023
13. Seoul urged to pursue two-track approach with Pyongyang
I think Professor Park gets it wrong here. While yes we have to to focus on deterrence, we are all willing to talk.
That said perhaps the dual track approach should be deterrence and the pursuit of a free and unified Korea.
Excerpts:
Last year, the government unveiled its so-called "Audacious Initiative" for Pyongyang, which promises the North Korean government an unprecedented level of economic support in exchange for the country giving up its nuclear weapons.
The government also said it will adhere to the so-called 3Ds policy: deterrence, dissuasion ― of nuclear development through sanctions and pressure ― and dialogue.
Park said, "All I can see from the current measures is deterrence. Even the Ministry of Unification, whose task it is to coordinate inter-Korean dialogue, is also taking a 'deterrence-only' approach."
Seoul urged to pursue two-track approach with Pyongyang
The Korea Times · October 5, 2023
Gettyimagesbank
Japan makes room for dialogue with N. Korea
By Lee Hyo-jin
The South Korean government should pursue a dual-track approach with North Korea, local analysts said, stressing the need to combine openness for dialogue with strong deterrence.
They also viewed that the Yoon Suk Yeol administration should take into account that Japan seems to be making room for dialogue with North Korea despite strengthened security cooperation between Seoul, Tokyo and Washington against Pyongyang's growing nuclear threats.
The Japanese government had several informal engagements with North Korea earlier this year, according to Japanese media outlets, reporting last week that Japanese officials held secret talks with the North Korean side in March and May in a Southeast Asian country.
Addressing the media, Monday, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida refrained from commenting on the issue, but neither denied nor confirmed the reports. It is also notable that Kishida had renewed his desire for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a speech during the United Nations General Assembly in New York two weeks earlier.
"The Japanese leader has been calling for a summit with Kim without any preconditions, while forging stronger military ties with South Korea and the United States against North Korea," said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies.
"We (South Korea) should also pursue a two-track approach similar to that of Japan and carry out a more balanced strategy to resolve North Korea's nuclear threats."
Nevertheless, Yang viewed that it is highly unlikely for the talks between Japan and North Korea to make tangible progress.
"What Japan wants from North Korea is to resolve the abductee issue, but North Korea does not want to talk about that," he said.
The Kishida administration has been demanding that the Kim regime resolve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, but negotiations have stalled as the North continues to insist the abduction issue was resolved when it permitted five Japanese nationals to leave the country in 2002.
Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University, echoed the sentiment, saying, "I don't expect them to hold discussions on a formal level any time soon because the two sides do not seem to have a common agenda on the table."
However, that does not mean that such diplomatic efforts taken by Japan are meaningless, Park added.
"Since taking office, the Yoon administration has been sticking to its hardline stance on North Korea, leaving few chances for dialogue. Of course, the current situation, in which Pyongyang is blatantly advancing its nuclear capabilities, is not an easy environment for talks, but I think it's time for the government to implement its 'Audacious Initiative' plan in earnest."
Last year, the government unveiled its so-called "Audacious Initiative" for Pyongyang, which promises the North Korean government an unprecedented level of economic support in exchange for the country giving up its nuclear weapons.
The government also said it will adhere to the so-called 3Ds policy: deterrence, dissuasion ― of nuclear development through sanctions and pressure ― and dialogue.
Park said, "All I can see from the current measures is deterrence. Even the Ministry of Unification, whose task it is to coordinate inter-Korean dialogue, is also taking a 'deterrence-only' approach."
The Korea Times · October 5, 2023
14. Perpetuating division (Korea)
Excerpts:
As things stand now, Koreans will unlikely hear words like dialogue or negotiation, at least while Yoon is in office ― or unless Donald Trump returns to office. Nor will North Korean leader Kim Jong-un move first until Beijing or Moscow push him, an unlikely development for now.
Korea’s reunification, if possible, will be a long process. Lee Myung-bak, a conservative former president and the incumbent’s benchmarking model, was wrong when he said, “Unification will come like a thief.” The North will not crumble easily. Nor will China and Russia let it implode. The next best thing to reunification is peaceful coexistence, not “peace by force,” but instead, gradual integration.
Yoon must know progressive former presidents ― Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in ― spent amounts of GDP on defense buildups than conservatives ― Lee and Park Geun-hye. The difference between them was the efforts and lack thereof to solve Korean problems on their own.
Without such endeavors, both Koreas will remain puppets of superpowers for a very long time.
Perpetuating division
The Korea Times · October 5, 2023
Should Koreas remain puppets to each other for good?
Athletic competitions between South and North Korea reveal their relationship at a specific moment in time.
Nothing demonstrates this better than the ongoing Asian Games in China.
After matches, many North Korean athletes would not even exchange nods with their southern counterparts. Some even refused to shake hands. A North Korean coach told South Korean journalists not to call his country North Korea or the northern side. He urged them to use the North’s official name: the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
However, while announcing the results of an inter-Korean soccer match, the North's state-run Korean Central Television described the South as a puppet instead of the Republic of Korea (ROK) or even South Korea. In the 1960s and ‘70s, South Koreans called North Korea the northern puppet.
It was a far cry from the Asian Games in Indonesia in 2018 when the two Koreas fielded unified teams in certain events, including table tennis. It appears that the inter-Korean relationship has regressed several decades in just five years.
Granted, the situation on this divided peninsula has fluctuated, as political power changed hands in Seoul ― and, more importantly, in Washington. Pyongyang has seldom changed since its foundation, be it the hereditary regime’s anti-imperialist slogans or its nuclear weapons program more recently. That means South Korea and the U.S. can take the lead in changing the status quo if they want. The allies must also be more consistent.
The question is which way should the consistency go. Many, both here and across the Pacific, ostensibly agree on the need for the peaceful reunification of Korea. However, a closer look into the two contrasting camps ― progressives and conservatives or doves and hawks ― reveals such a wide gap in their strategies as to cast doubt regarding their professed goals. The two extremes, of the far left and far right, are not helpful at all. Only when cold-headed centrists take the helm can the Korean Peninsula find a solution.
President Yoon Suk Yeol and his administration cause concern in this regard.
While South Koreans recently enjoyed a six-day "Chuseok" or Thanksgiving holiday, Yoon was busy. Seoul and Pyongyang also exchanged harsh words.
On Sunday, during Armed Forces Day and the 70th birthday of the Korea-U.S. alliance, the president said, “If North Korea uses nuclear weapons, the two allies will end the regime by responding to it overwhelmingly.” On Veterans’ Day, Wednesday, Yoon attacked the previous Moon Jae-in government’s “fake peace,” reemphasizing his “peace by force” strategy. Even on the Day for the Elderly, Tuesday, the president said the ROK is what it is today thanks to older Koreans’ “fight against communists.”
North Korea did not just sit and watch. After Yoon delivered a speech at the U.N. General Assembly, the North ridiculed it as the “hysterical folly of a political novice and diplomatic dunce.” Pyongyang also stipulated the policy of strengthening its nuclear force in the constitution at the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly on Tuesday and Wednesday. In response, the U.S. Defense Department said North Korea can use nuclear weapons at any stage of a military confrontation. South Koreans might be feeling some hawks are making the North’s nuclear provocation a fait accompli.
As things stand now, Koreans will unlikely hear words like dialogue or negotiation, at least while Yoon is in office ― or unless Donald Trump returns to office. Nor will North Korean leader Kim Jong-un move first until Beijing or Moscow push him, an unlikely development for now.
Korea’s reunification, if possible, will be a long process. Lee Myung-bak, a conservative former president and the incumbent’s benchmarking model, was wrong when he said, “Unification will come like a thief.” The North will not crumble easily. Nor will China and Russia let it implode. The next best thing to reunification is peaceful coexistence, not “peace by force,” but instead, gradual integration.
Yoon must know progressive former presidents ― Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in ― spent amounts of GDP on defense buildups than conservatives ― Lee and Park Geun-hye. The difference between them was the efforts and lack thereof to solve Korean problems on their own.
Without such endeavors, both Koreas will remain puppets of superpowers for a very long time.
The Korea Times · October 5, 2023
15. US public support for defending South Korea wanes, survey finds
Not good news but we should not overreact. This is part of the larger and growing populist influence.
US public support for defending South Korea wanes, survey finds
m.koreaherald.com · by Moon Ki Hoon · October 5, 2023
National Foreign Affairs
Oct. 5, 2023 - 18:06 By Moon Ki Hoon
(123rf)
A growing number of Americans are reluctant to use US troops to defend South Korea from a North Korean invasion, according to a recent survey by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, a nongovernmental research institute. The survey, conducted from Sept. 7-18 among 3,242 US adults, shows that only half of the respondents agreed with the idea of committing US troops to defend South Korea, marking a significant decrease from the previous year, when 63 percent were in favor.
The shift in public opinion comes amid heightened geopolitical uncertainties, underscored by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and reflects a growing partisan divide in the United States over foreign military intervention. Republicans, who have historically supported a US military presence overseas, now exhibit a pronounced opposition, with less than a majority (46 percent) backing the defense of South Korea.
By contrast, European conflicts were shown to command more American support. The survey found 57 percent of Americans would support the use of US troops if Russia invades a NATO ally like Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia, and 64 percent if Germany faced invasion, indicating a geographic bias in Americans’ willingness to intervene.
Support for US military bases in East Asia was shown to be similarly in decline, with 64 percent supporting long-term bases in South Korea and 63 percent in Japan -- a decrease of 6 and 4 percentage points, respectively. Again, the drop was markedly steeper among Republicans, aligning with the “America First” ethos propagated by former President Donald Trump, who criticized transnational alliances and repeatedly accused South Korea of freeloading off of the US' military support.
As the 2024 US presidential election looms with Trump far ahead of other Republican presidential candidates in polls, a resurgence of such isolationist foreign policies remains a real possibility in the near future.
Currently, 28,000 US service members are stationed in the Korean Peninsula under the 1953 South Korea-US Mutual Defense Treaty. However, unlike NATO, this treaty lacks a collective defense principle, leaving the extent of US intervention in potential conflicts ambiguous.
South Korea’s Yoon Seok Yeol administration has sought to strengthen military ties with the US of late in the face of threats from nuclear-armed North Korea. Maintaining the country’s alliance with the US remains popular, with a recent Gallup Korea poll indicating that over half of South Koreans support stronger ties.
16. Images of hard times long ago (Korea)
Excerpts:
The title of the book and exhibition, “The War That Still Has Not Ended,” does more than evoke the tragedy of those dark days. It’s also a warning of the flames that might again envelop the country, undoing the civilization, culture, business and industry that has burst into bloom during the past 70 years of peace, prosperity and finally democracy in the South since the signing of the armistice.
The latest outbursts from Kim Jong-un north of the demilitarized zone are reminders of the fragility of the truce that emerged from those talks in Panmunjeom. The faces of stern-looking generals in some of the photographs in this remarkable book betray the frustrations ― and the danger of the country again plunging into chaos. The next time, if Kim lives up to his threats of a nuclear holocaust, the tragedy will be infinitely worse, the ruins far more devastating.
Not least, Fowler’s camera caught scenes that reveal the mood of a people who had seen and heard the sights and sounds of war. The Koreans in these pictures are serious, unsmiling. Nobody is waving, mugging for the camera. The children, girls in rough hanbok, boys in baggy pants, look as grim as their parents. Occasional traces of fun shine on their faces, but mostly they reveal the hardships of a time when food was scarce and death never far away.
Nobody is smiling other than occasional American officers, feigning politeness in breaks from talks that stopped the bloodshed but not the war.
Images of hard times long ago
The Korea Times · October 5, 2023
By Donald Kirk
A photo exhibit on the first floor of Seoul City Hall provides graphic evidence of how Seoul and the area up to Panmunjeom looked in that bleak period before the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed on July 27, 1953. The exhibit is all the more remarkable because the images were taken on old-fashioned Kodachrome film that’s long since fallen into disuse in an era of digital cameras and mobile phones.
These images were shot by a U.S. Navy officer named George Fowler while he was with the U.N. Military Armistice Commission during the two years the Americans, North Koreans and Chinese were negotiating the truce. South Korea’s President Rhee Syngman wanted no part in talks that he believed would result in the permanent division of the peninsula. Fowler died after returning to the States, leaving his rolls of undeveloped film to Navy friends, who eventually gave them to his long-lost Japanese girlfriend, Kimi Nagai. Eventually, she contacted Koichi Yamamoto, a Japanese photo journalist, who in turn got in touch with a Korean, Shin Kwang-soo, then with the Japanese news agency Jiji Press.
Fowler took many of the pictures from lumbering helicopters that were introduced for the first time in warfare in Korea. Shin and Yamamoto, getting the film developed decades after Fowler's death, have put them together in a sumptuous picture book as well as the exhibit in City Hall. The book includes black-and-white images that the late Horace Underwood of Yonsei University fame, an interpreter at the negotiations, gave Shin as well as images that Yamamoto shot during visits to North Korea. Among these are scenes from the April 1995 Pyongyang Sports and Cultural Festival that I also attended. One shot shows the Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki fist-pumping the boxer Muhammad Ali, crippled by Parkinson’s disease, whom I had spied high in the stands.
These are not gruesome portrayals of war. Instead, they capture negotiators amid the tents and flimsy structures on the line at Panmunjeom and of Korean life as Fowler observed it from the air and on the ground. Among the most arresting shots are rows of ramshackle shacks from which office buildings and apartment blocks have miraculously sprung. Beyond the modern structures, trees now cover what then were ugly splotches of barren red-brown dirt.
A familiar sight is Tapgol or Pagoda Park, birthplace of the March 1, 1919, uprising against Japanese rule. The circular park, with the multi-sided pavilion at the center and the spire-like Wongak Temple monument on one side, remains a memorial to lives lost in a bloody revolt against imperialism. Surrounded by rows of shops and homes as seen from Fowler’s helicopter, Tapgol survives as an oasis of reverence in a sea of soaring skyscrapers. Not far away, the ponderous Japanese governor-general’s building, built in neo-classical Greek or Roman style and torn down in the 1990s, is shown blocking the view of Gyeongbok Palace ― another reminder of Japanese rule.
The title of the book and exhibition, “The War That Still Has Not Ended,” does more than evoke the tragedy of those dark days. It’s also a warning of the flames that might again envelop the country, undoing the civilization, culture, business and industry that has burst into bloom during the past 70 years of peace, prosperity and finally democracy in the South since the signing of the armistice.
The latest outbursts from Kim Jong-un north of the demilitarized zone are reminders of the fragility of the truce that emerged from those talks in Panmunjeom. The faces of stern-looking generals in some of the photographs in this remarkable book betray the frustrations ― and the danger of the country again plunging into chaos. The next time, if Kim lives up to his threats of a nuclear holocaust, the tragedy will be infinitely worse, the ruins far more devastating.
Not least, Fowler’s camera caught scenes that reveal the mood of a people who had seen and heard the sights and sounds of war. The Koreans in these pictures are serious, unsmiling. Nobody is waving, mugging for the camera. The children, girls in rough hanbok, boys in baggy pants, look as grim as their parents. Occasional traces of fun shine on their faces, but mostly they reveal the hardships of a time when food was scarce and death never far away.
Nobody is smiling other than occasional American officers, feigning politeness in breaks from talks that stopped the bloodshed but not the war.
Donald Kirk (www.donaldkirk.com) has covered war and peace in Asia for years.
The Korea Times · October 5, 2023
17.North Ko-beer! The Wiltshire brewery bought for £1.5 million in 2000 and shipped piece by piece to Pyongyang is hailed by Kim Jong Un's regime 'for contributing to national economic development'
Sigh... Only in north Korea.
North Ko-beer! The Wiltshire brewery bought for £1.5 million in 2000 and shipped piece by piece to Pyongyang is hailed by Kim Jong Un's regime 'for contributing to national economic development'
- Taedonggang Beer Factory was bought in 2000 by North Korea's government
PUBLISHED: 01:52 BST, 5 October 2023 | UPDATED: 02:38 BST, 5 October 2023
Daily Mail · by Katherine Lawton · October 5, 2023
A Wiltshire brewery shipped piece by piece to Pyongyang has been hailed for its success by Kim Jong Un's regime.
The Taedonggang Beer Factory, which opened in the North Korean capital 21 years ago, was commended for its contribution to the 'five-year plan for national economic development' - alongside other firms including a pharmaceutical factory.
The brewery had been situated in Wiltshire and was owned by Ushers, a specialist in regional bitters, The Telegraph reported.
It was bought for £1.5million in the year 2000 by North Korea's government, which deconstructed the historic property and shipped it to Pyongyang to be rebuilt.
The sale of the brewery could only go ahead after the British government received confirmation that the machinery could not be adapted to create chemical weapons.
The Taedonggang Beer Factory, which opened in the North Korean capital 21 years ago, had been situated in Wiltshire and was bought for £1.5million in 2000 by North Korea's government
The Wiltshire brewery, previously owned by Ushers, was sold, deconstructed and shipped to Pyongyang to be rebuilt
Meanwhile, a delegation of North Koreans travelled to the UK for several months of training by brewer Gary Todd.
Mr Todd, who was the head brewer at the factory until it shut, said: 'I had to effectively give them the crash course in brewing and we spent a lot of time going over the basics, but it seems that they got it because they are up and running there now.'
The brewer added that he was able to assess the brewery's progress a few years ago, when a British journalist gave him a bottle of beer after a trip to North Korea.
Mr Todd said: 'I would have to say that I was pleasantly surprised because I was not sure what they were using for their brewing materials.
'The flavour was pretty good, it was quite nice.'
The brewery's beers are stronger than most of those produced in East Asia, with an alcohol content of 5.7 per cent.
A waitress draws a jug of beer to serve before the opening of the Pyongyang Taedonggang Beer Festival in August 2016
The brewery's beers are stronger than most of those produced in East Asia, with an alcohol content of 5.7 per cent
The Taedonggang Beer Factory celebrated 20 years of operations in July 2022.
It was reported at the time that it had been 'built under the care of chairman Kim Jong-il', who was the leader of North Korea when the factory's reconstruction started.
He was believed to have chosen the location for the brewery on the banks of the Taedong River.
After Kim passed away in 2011, his son and heir Kim Jong-un has been a keen supporter of the factory.
He visited the brewery on multiple occasions to 'encourage its officials and workers to further improve the flavour and quality of the beer and thus exalt the honour of the factory as one popular among the people'.
Daily Mail · by Katherine Lawton · October 5, 2023
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