Informal Institute for National Security Thinkers and Practitioners


Quotes of the Day:


“It’s an universal law — intolerance is the first sign of an inadequate education. An ill-educated person behaves with arrogant impatience, whereas a truly profound education breeds humility.’ 
- Aleksander Solzhenitsyn 

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.
- Sun Tzu

Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.
-Saint Francis de Sales


​1. N. Korea hails its pandemic response as greatest achievement this year

2. U.S. designates N. Korean border guard bureau, others for corruption, human rights violations

3. Korea sets new yearly exports record amid gloomy market conditions

4. S. Korea calls for Pyongyang to return to Northeast Asian economic body

5. ​British peacemaker presents idea to break stalemate in Korea

6. North Korea: A land of dynastic decay and limitless death

7. President Yoon’s futile war on the press

8. N.K. dogs gifted to Moon find new home in Gwangju zoo

9. Google says North Korea targeted an Internet Explorer zero-day vulnerability

10. U.S. House passes legislation in Otto Warmbier’s name. Here’s what it does





1. N. Korea hails its pandemic response as greatest achievement this year


I guess if the Propaganda and Agitation Department says it is so it must be so. Of course the response they are talking about might be their "information response." That is a great propaganda achievement.


I also wonder if this is a slap in China's face as the regime is showing how much better they are than the CCP in repsonsind.




N. Korea hails its pandemic response as greatest achievement this year | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · December 10, 2022

SEOUL, Dec. 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's main newspaper on Saturday lauded the country's "victory" over the coronavirus pandemic as its greatest achievement for this year amid ongoing efforts to highlight the leadership of Kim Jong-un.

The Rodong Sinmun, an organ of the ruling Workers' Party, praised Kim's guidance in presenting "timely and scientific" quarantine policies and effectively controlling the COVID-19 pandemic.

"With great foresight and strong determination, he built up the country's quarantine barriers by taking preemptive and strict measures since the first outbreak of the malicious virus," the paper said.

The paper also carried an article the previous day highlighting the North's antivirus efforts in an apparent call for loyalty to the leader.

In August, Kim declared victory over COVID-19 and ordered the lifting of Pyongyang's "maximum emergency anti-epidemic" measures, claiming an end to the pandemic three months after announcing its first case.


julesyi@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · December 10, 2022


2. U.S. designates N. Korean border guard bureau, others for corruption, human rights violations



​Good.


Human rights upfront.


Now do more.



(LEAD) U.S. designates N. Korean border guard bureau, others for corruption, human rights violations | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 변덕근 · December 10, 2022

(ATTN: UPDATES with reports of a joint press conference by U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in last 5 paras)

By Byun Duk-kun

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (Yonhap) -- The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on a number of individuals and entities, including North Korea's border guard bureau, for serious human rights violations and other crimes.

The move came as part of the designation of over 65 individuals and entities in 17 countries by the U.S. to mark International Anti-Corruption Day, which falls on Friday, and Human Rights Day, observed annually on Dec. 10.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the designations partly aim to disrupt and deter "the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's role in restricting freedom of movement, mistreating asylum seekers, and exploiting laborers to generate revenue for the state," referring to North Korea by its official name.

To this end, the Department of Treasury said it has designated North Korea's State Security Border Guard General Bureau (BGGB).

"People inside the DPRK reportedly are subjected to forced labor, torture, and other human rights violations and abuses at the hands of the government," the treasury department said in a press release.

"Due to their dire circumstances, tens of thousands of North Koreans have fled the country in the past two decades," it added. "The journey to leave the DPRK is particularly treacherous due to attempts by state security agencies, including the BGGB, to thwart escapes through tight border controls, including land mines and shoot-on-sight orders that have resulted in the deaths of numerous North Koreans.

The department also designated two individuals -- a North Korean national based in Paris, Kim Myong-chol, and a foreign national based in India, Deepak Jadhav -- and seven entities related to a North Korean state-run animation studio, SEK Studio, which it said has utilized animation workers located in North Korea and China to provide low-cost labor.

"DPRK nationals are also often forced to work in foreign countries to generate foreign currency that is utilized to support the DPRK's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programs," the treasury department said.

"Foreign entities that are involved in the use of DPRK labor enable the continued poor treatment that these workers endure, which includes constant surveillance, being forced to work long hours, and having a significant portion of their wages confiscated by the regime," it added.

SEK, which itself was designated in December 2021, has "also evaded sanctions targeting the DPRK government using front companies," according to the department.

The designated entities are Everlasting Empire Limited, based in Hong Kong; Tian Fang (Hong Kong) Holding Limited, based in Hong Kong; Fujian Nan'an Import and Export Company, based in China; Limited Liability Company Kinoatis, based in Russia; Funsaga Pte Ltd, based in Singapore; Yancheng Three Line One Point Animation Co., Ltd, based in China; and Quanzhou Yiyangjin Import and Export Trade Co., Ltd., based in China.

The fresh U.S. sanctions came as the U.S. and 30 other countries, including South Korea, Japan, Britain, France and Germany, called on the U.N. Security Council to "publicly" address human rights violations in North Korea.

"The human rights violations and abuses of the DPRK's repressive government are well documented," they said in a joint statement, delivered by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield on their behalf in New York.

"The country's repressive political climate allows a coercive system of governance that diverts resources to weapons development," they added. "Forced labor -- both domestically and overseas -- also plays a key role in sustaining the government and generating the revenue it uses to fund its weapons programs."

The diplomats called for a public Security Council meeting to discuss North Korean human rights, calling the North Korean government "one of the worst violators" of human rights.

"These human rights violations threaten international peace and security, and it is time for the Council to address it publicly. We urge all Security Council members to support an open briefing in 2023 where we can discuss the human rights violations and abuses committed by the DPRK, the implications for peace and security, and explore ways to incorporate human rights into the peace and security diplomacy in the Korean Peninsula," they said.

bdk@yna.co.kr

(END)


en.yna.co.kr · by 변덕근 · December 10, 2022



3. Korea sets new yearly exports record amid gloomy market conditions



Korea sets new yearly exports record amid gloomy market conditions

The Korea Times · December 10, 2022

Containers for exports and imports are stacked at a pier in Korea's largest port city of Busan on Oct. 11 In this file photo. Korea's exports slipped 20.2 percent year-on-year in the first 10 days of October mainly due to sluggish overseas sales of semiconductors, according to data from the Korea Customs Service. Yonhap 


Korea has posted a new record high in annual exports for this year amid worsening market conditions caused by global inflation and hawkish monetary policy in major countries, government data showed Saturday.


Korea's cumulative exports exceeded the previous year's record high of US$644.4 billion as of 7 a.m., according to the data from the industry ministry.


The annual exports recorded until early in the day was up 6.8 percent from the same period a year earlier.


The ministry expects the figure could rise to as high as $680 billion by the end of the year.


The new record has been set amid worries that exports, a major growth engine for Korea, are losing steam in the face of growing worries over a global economic recession.


China's strict virus curbs have also been cited as a heavy drag on the export-driven economy as access to one of the world's largest markets has been hampered by lockdowns in major cities.


Korea's exports shrank 5.7 percent year-on-year in October, the first contraction downfall in two years. Outbound shipments also dropped 14 percent November, according to earlier government data.


This is the first time that exports have contracted for two straight months since early 2020, when the coronavirus was spreading rapidly. (Yonhap)


The Korea Times · December 10, 2022



4. S. Korea calls for Pyongyang to return to Northeast Asian economic body




S. Korea calls for Pyongyang to return to Northeast Asian economic body

The Korea Times · December 9, 2022

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's armored train crosses the Yalu River, Friday, heading home after his trip to China where he met President Hu Jintao to discuss economic development in the North, May 27, 2011. YonhapSouth Korea called for Pyongyang to return to an economic cooperation body in Northeast Asia to make joint efforts to establish peace in the region, the finance ministry said Friday.

The remark came during a virtual meeting of the Greater Tumen Initiative (GTI) held on the previous day. The body involving South Korea, China, Russia and Mongolia aims to develop areas near the Tumen River between China and North Korea.


North Korea quit the intergovernmental cooperation mechanism in 2009 to protest economic sanctions against the reclusive regime.


"South Korea plans to play an active role by taking a comprehensive approach to emerging issues in and out of the region, including climate change and food security," Kim Seong-wook, the deputy minister for international affairs, said during the meeting.


South Korea plans to serve as the director for a three-year term starting July 2023. (Yonhap)




The Korea Times · December 9, 2022


5. ​British peacemaker presents idea to break stalemate in Korea



Peaceful unification will be the most complex and difficult path to unification and not because Kim Jong Un will not go quietly into the night. It is unlikely he will ever acquiesce to a real peaceful unification process that does not leave him in complete control of the peninsula.


But leaving that aside, peaceful unification is most complex because it will require the complete integration of the two countries at every level, economic, political, military/security, as well as reconciliation of differences in culture, language, and other areas as caused by the division since 1945.


And this is why it should be the most detailed planning effort of all the potential paths to unification. The reason is that all the planning for peaceful unification will have application if unification is achieved through the other pasts (war, regime collapse, or new emerging leadership that does seek peaceful unification to ensure the survival of the people in the north).


Trying to negotiate peaceful unification may be a fool's errand due to the nature, objectivess, and strategy of the Kim family regime. However, trying to negotiate peaceful unification can help buy time (even as Kim thinks it will be an opportunity to subvert the ROK and the ROK/US alliance) It can provide the opportunity for engagement, for shaping the information environment, for learning about the conditions in the north, and more. And pursuing peaceful unification is not only the morally right thing to do since it provides credibility and legitimacy (even though it will be attacked by the regime's Propaganda and Agitation Department. 


His five phase eplan reminds me of my writing here: respect, reconciliation, reforming, rebuilding reunifying.  Should The United States Support for Korean Unification And If So, How? http://icks.org/n/data/ijks/1482467285_add_file_7.pdf



​British peacemaker presents idea to break stalemate in Korea

The Korea Times · December 8, 2022

Michael Schluter, president and CEO of Relational Peacebuilding Initiatives (RPI), speaks during a meeting on a peacebuilding project for Korea at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, May 17. Courtesy of RPI'


Denuclearization is unfeasible ― for now ― but peace can still be achieved'


By Jung Min-ho

After two Pyongyang-Washington summits that ended without an agreement, North Korea has refused to talk over the last three years, while intensifying its efforts to develop nuclear weapons.


This situation paints a bleak future for the Korean Peninsula and the world. The chances of a conflict escalating into a nuclear catastrophe in the region are greater than ever before and seem to be only increasing as North Korea appears to have lost interest in developing any other types of weapons. By 2030, the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, a Seoul-based think tank, warns North Korea could develop as many as 300 nuclear warheads and more advanced delivery means.

Shifting the ruinous course is still possible, but only through a deal that would be acceptable to the North. Michael Schluter, the U.K. social entrepreneur who was behind forging a path to help overcome apartheid in South Africa and other peacebuilding efforts in the continent, reckons the South has not proposed such a deal yet.


"My view is that Pyongyang has not yet received any proposal which it sees as meeting its two criteria, which it made clear through North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations in New York in September 2020. They said any proposal for talks must make possible economic modernization and show them respect," Schluter, a development economist and president of Relational Peacebuilding Initiatives (RPI), a Geneva-based organization promoting peace, said in a recent interview.


The Audacious Initiative proposed by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration offers modernization but does not show the North respect, as it is effectively another form of aid package, he said.


Just as South Korea rejected aid offers from North Korea in the 1950-60s, when its economy was smaller, on the same grounds, in his view, the last thing Pyongyang wants is to put itself in a lesser position to receive unilateral "help" from Seoul.

Schluter understands this situation because RPI has been working with various countries over the last few years to facilitate a process of consultations involving both South and North Korea, as well as its direct conversations with both parties.


What his organization is proposing is an incremental bilateral free trade agreement between the two Koreas, initially for trade in agriculture products and then to extend it step-by-step to other sectors over a period of 10 years. It is a peacebuilding model that proved to be successful in Europe, in which the European Coal and Steel Community was established by France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in 1951 to pool their production of the essential materials for war. The single-sector trade agreement for peace in Europe was extended over the next six years to include all economic sectors and became the European Economic Community, paving the way for a peaceful and united Europe after an endless series of armed conflicts on the continent.


Seminar participants, including members of Relational Peacebuilding Initiatives (RPI), talk about the feasibility of RPI's peacebuilding proposals for the Korean Peninsula at the University of Cambridge in England in October 2019. Courtesy of RPI


The objective of the first of Schluter's five-phase model for a peaceful and united Korea is to expand intra-Korean collaboration and relieve humanitarian hardship in the North. In doing so, the two parties can build trust, which would be required for higher levels of economic, social and political partnerships in later stages. The details of the vision are explained in his recently published 600-page book, "No Other Way to Peace in Korea? A Practical Path to Reunification," which is expected to be released also in Korean in April.


Many South Koreans remain skeptical of signing another joint economic project with North Korea after the failure of the Gaeseong Industrial Region, which had operated for more than 10 years before its abrupt shutdown in 2016. But Schluter said it was destined to failure because of disproportional benefits and the lack of a long-term vision.


"The problem of Gaeseong was probably that it used cheap North Korean labor and gave returns to South Korean capital, in socialist categories. Put another way, from a long-term point of view, the major benefits seemed to go mainly to South Korea. It did not contribute to modernizing the whole North Korean economy, and therefore was not ambitious enough to sustain North Korean interest and involvement," Schluter said. "It is important that the purpose of the next proposal is not being humanitarian to the North, but economic modernization of the North."


"Ideally, what the proposal says must not give the impression that South Korea is making or controlling the process. Otherwise, North Korea will be suspicious of it. It also should appear to be coming from a neutral third party to both North Korea and South Korea, and both will need to decide to engage with it or not," he added.

An obvious challenge to the idea is international sanctions imposed on the regime. Speaking to reporters last month, however, a high-ranking official at the Unification Ministry said he was highly optimistic that a partial lifting of sanctions for humanitarian reasons "won't be a problem" as the ministry was giving North Korea the offer for returning to talks.


A TV screen shows a file image of a North Korean military exercise during a news program at Seoul Station in central Seoul, Oct. 14. AP-Yonhap


Perhaps a greater challenge is accepting the reality that North Korea will not give up nuclear weapons, at least in the foreseeable future. Schluter thinks denuclearization of the North is not impossible but it will take more time than many would want.


"In RPI's view, total denuclearization of North Korea is not possible without reunification of the peninsula. Unilateral disarmament by North Korea is simply too risky [for the regime]. However, steady progress to economic modernization of North Korea in parallel with steady steps toward denuclearization will dramatically lower the risk of nuclear war and reduce the urgency of North Korea's nuclear ambitions," he said.


Peaceful unification is not just a policy of one administration in South Korea. Its Constitution requires it. Yet, after decades of botched attempts, many have become doubtful, questioning the feasibility of doing so. Schluter remains hopeful. The current geopolitical environment presents a good opportunity for Koreans to take one more shot in the coming years, he said.


"Both China and the U.S. do not want the spread of nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula, so they are both likely to support RPI's proposals as first steps toward their shared objective. However, if there is no progress soon, the risk is that superpower competition could well lead to confrontation in East Asia, with the DMZ becoming the new 'Berlin Wall' of a cold war between them," he said.

After spending decades on peace initiatives in South Africa, Rwanda and between South and North Sudan, Schluter was about to retire a few years ago. But a Korean man he met led him eventually to the Korea project.


"Speaking personally, my reason for embarking five years ago on spending the major part of my life now focusing on peace and the reunification of the Korean Peninsula was simply a sense of calling from God. For those who are not Christians, this will be difficult to understand and may even be rejected as self-delusion," Schluter said. "However, many may understand that the same sense of inner conviction led to those who founded important education and health institutions in the late 19th century in South Korea and in North Korea before their occupation in 1910, to come to the peninsula and seek to make a contribution to the well-being of the society."



The Korea Times · December 8, 2022


6. North Korea: A land of dynastic decay and limitless death



​Another brilliant OpEd from Professor Lee. But instead of Shakespeare, he uses Poe.


We need to execute a sophisticated influence campaign to expose the Kim family regime and what it is doing to the 25 million Korean people in the north.


Excerpt:


How about with some propaganda of their own? South Korea should resume loudspeaker broadcasts into the North along the border. Ask North Korean soldiers and border-town dwellers some pointed questions — for example, why did their “great leader” roll out his daughter and not his older son? Does the boy’s face resemble more Hyon Song Wol, Kim’s old girlfriend, than his wife? Is it true that Hyon was pregnant with Kim’s son in 2012? Do they know that Kim’s late mother was born in Japan, a nation reviled by the Kim dynasty, and that she was a mere mistress to his father, Kim Jong Il? Do they know that Kim Jong Un, as much as he tries to evoke images of his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, never met the original Great Leader because of his illegitimate birth? Do they know that Kim has declined repeated offers of food, vaccines and medicine during the pandemic? Drape the speakers with big photos of Kim Jong Un and North Korean soldiers would not dare shoot at them.  
The final line of Poe’s story ends thus: “And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.” If ever there were a real-life land that matched this macabre fictional landscape, it’s North Korea in the pandemic era. Shed some light on this dreadful domain. 





North Korea: A land of dynastic decay and limitless death

BY SUNG-YOON LEE, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 12/08/22 9:30 AM ET

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/3764219-north-korea-a-land-of-dynastic-decay-and-limitless-death/



With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020, Kim Jong Un revived a family tradition: castellated his nation in a hermetic lockdown. As if to imitate Prince Prospero, the fictional protagonist in Edgar Allan Poe’s 1842 short story, “The Masque of the Red Death,” Kim sealed the northern border, blocking ingress and egress. Like Prospero and his 1,000 fellow noblemen who hurriedly retreated into a fortified abbey and welded the doors shut as a deadly plague swept over the nation, Kim took extreme measures. Calling disease containment a matter of “national survival,” Kim tried his best to ensure the preservation of himself and his Pyongyang cohorts, while leaving millions of fellow North Koreans to fend for themselves.  

But unlike the gruesome fate of Prospero and his fellow revelers, who all fell victim to the plague, the North Korean nobility has fared quite well. Throughout the first two years of grappling with COVID, while Kim, his family and courtiers exhibited few signs of nutritional diminution, the rest of the kingdom was exposed to progressively bizarre directives: to kill pigeons and catsshoot on sight anyone who approached within 1 kilometer of the Sino-North Korean border; to eat black swans, as if they were readily available to the hungry people; and to eat less until 2025. 

In mid-May 2022, Kim called the spread of the virus in his capital a “great upheaval” to befall his nation. But just three months later, at a party gathering on Aug. 10, he declared “victory” over COVID. This purported victory, the state news agency assured the outside world, was in fact a “great” feat. Perhaps it was so for the few thousands of the top class in Pyongyang, but for most North Koreans, life since the lockdowns has been “great” only in the degree of suffering. 

At the same festive political event, Kim’s outspoken sister, Yo Jong, averred that South Koreans had purposefully transmitted into North Korea the coronavirus; she threatened “deadly vengeful response” against the South, including “extermination” of its government. Such brazen scapegoating echoes other two big lies often told by the Kim siblings: First, blame the U.S. for North Korea’s glaring deficiencies as a nation state; and second, blame “U.S. hostile policy,” which North Korea defines as anything from criticism of its deplorable human rights violations to the U.S. stationing troops in the South, for the regime’s disproportionate investment in the development of expensive weapons of mass destruction.  

These two regime pathologies — gross negligence in feeding its hungry people and wanton spending on weapons programs — are related. They constitute the core characteristics of the so-called “Mount Paektu Bloodline,” the Kim dynasty. They are ruthlessly enforced. Keeping the people perpetually hungry and listless while depriving them of the means to secure food only enhances the regime’s power over them, rendering the populace ever more dependent on the state. And blaming the U.S. for such vast misery, in the regime’s view, explains the people’s cursed lives and justifies its lavish spending on inedible weapons.  

The state has dealt its people each year since the mid-1990s one of the most serious food insecurity situations in the world. In the COVID era, the situation has only worsened. Reports of starvation and famine-like conditions surfaced in mid-2021. As much as North Korea tries to blame “U.S. sanctions” for the perennial hunger, it is the Kim regime that has implemented the strictest and most devastating sanctions policy on its people.  

During North Korea’s bluster barrage in 2017, punctuated by three intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests and a hydrogen bomb test, the U.S. tried its best to galvanize the world to enforce sanctions on North Korea. As a result, even China drastically decreased trade with the North. That December, China’s imports from North Korea fell by 81.6 percent from the previous December. 

However, in 2020, according to 2021 Chinese customs data, total North Korean exports to China totaled only $89 million, 5 percent of the total for 2017. For the same year, 2020, total imports from China amounted to $774 million, just 20 percent of $3.778 billion total in 2017. Moreover, the sealing of the border has vastly restricted border crossings (that is, escaping North Korea). According to the South Korean Ministry of Unification, the number of North Koreans entering South Korea has fallen dramatically in the pandemic era — from 1,047 persons in 2019 to 229 in 2020, dipping even more drastically to only 63 in 2021. The most current number, as of September 2022, is 42 persons.  

Even in the best of times, North Korea is a nation of hunger and darkness. In the COVID world, the North Korean people have suffered intensified poverty, hunger and human rights abuses, including the right to food, medical care, movement, information — even the right to life. But rather than importing food and distributing it equitably, Kim Jong Un recently rolled out his minor daughter at an ICBM blast event last month. It was the ultimate Great Leader gloat, a message to his adversaries that, while those who come and go via elections will be forgotten in just a few years, he, a dynastic monarch, is here to stay.  

As if to rub it in even further, Kim turned up the psychological manipulation dial the following week by releasing photos of his daughter clothed in the style of her mother, beaming smiles next to him at a different ICBM celebration. What’s the subconscious message in the juxtaposition of a powerful missile that can hit the U.S. with nuclear warheads and a wholesome parent-daughter ensemble intended for the U.S. and South Korea? “Maybe Kim’s not that bad a guy, after all. He cares for his kid. He’ll be careful and, in time, become a responsible custodian of his nukes and missiles.” 

The North Korean military this month fired about 130 artillery shells into the sea off its east and west coasts; some shells landed in the buffer zone between the North-South sea border. Another barrage of some 100 artillery shells into the sea ensued the next day. How should Washington and Seoul respond to these psychological and military operations?  

Pop goes the antitrust bubble

With new Twitter files, Musk forces a free-speech reckoning for politicians and pundits

How about with some propaganda of their own? South Korea should resume loudspeaker broadcasts into the North along the border. Ask North Korean soldiers and border-town dwellers some pointed questions — for example, why did their “great leader” roll out his daughter and not his older son? Does the boy’s face resemble more Hyon Song Wol, Kim’s old girlfriend, than his wife? Is it true that Hyon was pregnant with Kim’s son in 2012? Do they know that Kim’s late mother was born in Japan, a nation reviled by the Kim dynasty, and that she was a mere mistress to his father, Kim Jong Il? Do they know that Kim Jong Un, as much as he tries to evoke images of his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, never met the original Great Leader because of his illegitimate birth? Do they know that Kim has declined repeated offers of food, vaccines and medicine during the pandemic? Drape the speakers with big photos of Kim Jong Un and North Korean soldiers would not dare shoot at them.  

The final line of Poe’s story ends thus: “And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.” If ever there were a real-life land that matched this macabre fictional landscape, it’s North Korea in the pandemic era. Shed some light on this dreadful domain. 

Sung-Yoon Lee is Kim Koo-Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Studies and assistant professor at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and faculty associate at the U.S.-Japan Program, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University. Follow him on Twitter @SungYoonLee1.




7. President Yoon’s futile war on the press


Please stop the madness.




[Lee Kyong-hee] President Yoon’s futile war on the press

koreaherald.com · by Korea Herald · December 7, 2022

President Yoon Suk-yeol’s pushback against the news media is unproductive. Tough media questions accompany the job of leading a democratic state. State leaders cannot muzzle reporters or throw them in prison like a dictator. Nor should they think the silent treatment will work. Questions will only continue and likely sharpen the more a leader hunkers down.

During and after his recent diplomatic trips, Yoon resorted to less access and information for the media. If that modus operandi continues, it will invite louder and louder accusations of withholding explanations to the public and hiding accountability on policy decisions.

Obviously, Yoon needs some competent media advisers and quick-stepping spokespersons. Without them, he will be exposed further to faulty decisions. Case in point: his wife’s unannounced visit to the home of a Cambodian boy suffering from a heart ailment last month. The unscripted departure from other first ladies during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings in Phnom Penh almost completely overshadowed Yoon’s activity in Cambodia and at the subsequent Group of 20 summit in Indonesia.

Photos of Kim Keon-hee cradling the sick Cambodian boy went viral immediately after the presidential office released them. She was widely chided for emulating the late Audrey Hepburn, who did philanthropic work in Somalia in the 1990s. It’s hard to deny that Kim’s clothing and pose evoked the famous UNICEF shot of Hepburn holding a starving child in her arms and looking in the distance. Some believed that Kim in another photo, taken with the boy on her lap, copied the Virgin Mary in Pieta.

The reaction also included an opposition lawmaker accusing the first lady of “poverty porn.” The presidential office denied using professional lighting to take what appeared to be conceptual photos, rather than press photos, and filed a complaint with police against the lawmaker. But everybody knows that the crux of the matter is not whether the first lady’s photographers used lighting. It was not the first time that photos of Kim’s "unofficial activities" have ignited controversy.

Given the significance of the multilateral diplomatic events held amid the realigning international order and the Yoon administration’s attempts at reorienting the nation’s foreign policy, the loud dispute about Kim’s media appearances was utterly frustrating. Even before leaving for Cambodia, Yoon’s trip was on thin ice.

In an abrupt notice, the presidential office banned the crew of public broadcaster MBC from the press pool on the presidential plane, alleging distorted reporting on diplomatic issues. Yoon had accused the network of damaging South Korea’s alliance with the United States and risking the Korean people’s safety by releasing video of his hot mic gaffe.

The footage contained what was widely regarded -- but denied by Yoon’s spokesperson on awkward grounds -- as vulgar language insulting US Congress members. It happened after a brief chat with President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September. Yoon has yet to clarify what he said.

Reporters and crew members of MBC and two newspapers -- Kyunghyang Shinmun and Hankyoreh, which voluntarily boycotted seats on the presidential plane to protest an “undemocratic attempt at media control” -- traveled on commercial planes. That led to difficulties in keeping pace with summit events, which effectively stifled their access.

But it wasn’t easy for reporters who were included, either. They were particularly frustrated with incomplete information about Yoon’s much-awaited talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The content of the Yoon-Xi meeting was separately released by Korea’s presidential office and China’s official news agency. The Korean readout focused on Yoon’s request that China play a more constructive role in North Korea’s denuclearization. The Chinese report dealt mostly with Xi’s remarks on bilateral economic and security relations, without mentioning North Korea. As a result, the overall picture of the summit remains elusive. As for the Korea-Japan summit, Prime Minister Kishida held a post-summit briefing for Japanese press, but Yoon did not do likewise.

Journalists of democratic countries who travel with their president’s official entourage naturally expect briefings by the president or his staff. Yoon rejected this norm during his latest trip. Instead, he picked two reporters “who have personal relations with him” for an hourlong “private chat” in his cabin midair.

A greater shock came during Yoon’s first daily meeting with reporters after returning from the trip. Asked why he had banned the MBC crew from boarding the presidential plane, Yoon replied that it was “inevitable to protect the Constitution.”

He said, “They threatened national security by attempting to drive a wedge between South Korea and the United States through fake news reported with malicious intentions.” An MBC reporter asked what was “malicious” about his organization’s reporting. Yoon walked off without an answer.

A presidential public relations official subsequently criticized the reporter for “a lack of courtesy.” And Yoon punched back even harder; he suspended his near-daily informal press briefings three days later, after the presidential office set up a wall in the lobby area where Yoon met reporters on his way to work.

The informal question-and-answer sessions had been touted as a signature fixture of the Yoon administration. He claimed that the Q&A opportunity was his primary reason to relocate the presidential office, as he wanted to shed the “imperial presidency” and enhance communication with the public. But the sessions had increasingly ended abruptly with Yoon avoiding uncomfortable questions and angrily scolding reporters.

Reporters are paid to ask questions, not be friends. Yes, oftentimes the questions are unsettling. And yes, reporters often appear to be too abrupt and intrusive. But anyone seeking public office should not be so naive as to think they will be excluded. It is pitiable that Yoon, already fighting on many fronts, is estranged from the press.

A confrontational stance will only stiffen the press corps more. A better understanding of the boundaries would benefit Yoon and the nation.

Lee Kyong-hee

Lee Kyong-hee is a former editor-in-chief of The Korea Herald. -- Ed.



By Korea Herald (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

koreaherald.com · by Korea Herald · December 7, 2022



8. N.K. dogs gifted to Moon find new home in Gwangju zoo




N.K. dogs gifted to Moon find new home in Gwangju zoo

koreaherald.com · by Yonhap · December 9, 2022

By Yonhap

Published : Dec 9, 2022 - 22:36 Updated : Dec 9, 2022 - 22:36

Pungsan dog Songkang (Cheong Wa Dae)


A pair of dogs that were gifted to former President Moon Jae-in by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have found a new home at a public zoo in the southwestern city of Gwangju, officials said Friday.


Moon returned the dogs to the government early last month, citing legal grounds and a lack of support.


The indigenous North Korean Pungsan-breed dogs, one male named Songkang and a female named Gomi, were given by the North‘s leader after an inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang in 2018.


Despite the Presidential Records Act that mandates government property, such as the North Korean dogs, to be returned to the Presidential Archives after retirement, the pair had stayed with Moon after his tenure due to an absence of facilities to breed them and views it will be better for animal welfare.


Moon, however, returned the dogs to the government claiming the current administration is not amending an enforcement ordinance of the Act that would allow him to raise the dogs with necessary support, as promised.


On Friday, Gwangju city government officials said the Presidential Archives has requested Songkang and Gomi to be relocated to Uchi Park Zoo in Gwangju, 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul, where their puppy, Byul, is residing.


The zoo run by the municipal government has begun preparations to welcome the dogs, such as making their den and selecting a zookeeper to take care of them. The zoo plans to relocate the dogs as soon as ongoing preparations are complete, according to officials.


The zoo plans to place the dogs under special management to prevent issues, like theft, and allow limited viewings for visitors even after their initial transition period. (Yonhap)




9. Google says North Korea targeted an Internet Explorer zero-day vulnerability




Google says North Korea targeted an Internet Explorer zero-day vulnerability


Internet Explorer was retired...or was it?

techradar.com · by Sead Fadilpašić · December 8, 2022


Cybersecurity researchers from Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) have discovered a zero-day vulnerability in the Internet Explorer (IE) browser (opens in new tab) being exploited by a well-known North Korean threat actor.

In a blog post (opens in new tab) detailing its findings, the group said it spotted the APT37 (AKA Erebus) group, targeting individuals in South Korea with a weaponized Microsoft Word file.

The file is titled “221031 Seoul Yongsan Itaewon accident response situation (06:00).docx”, which is a reference to the recent tragedy that took place in Itaewon, Seoul, during this year’s Halloween celebration, where at least 158 people lost their lives, with another 200 injured. Apparently, the attackers wanted to take advantage of the public and media attention the incident got.

Abusing old flaws

After analyzing the document being distributed, TAG found it downloading a rich text file (RTF) remote template to the target endpoint, which then grabs remote HTML content. Microsoft may have retired Internet Explorer and replaced it with Edge, but Office still renders HTML content using IE, which is a known fact threat actors have been abusing since at least 2017, TAG said.

Now that Office renders HTML content with IE, the attackers can abuse the zero-day they discovered in IE’s JScript engine.

The team found the flaw in “jscript9.dll”, the JavaScript engine of Internet Explorer, which allowed threat actors to execute arbitrary code when rendering a website under their control.

Microsoft was tipped off on October 31 2022, with the flaw labeled CVE-2022-41128 three days later, and a patch being released on November 8.

While the process so far only compromises the device, TAG did not discover to what end. It did not find the final APT37’s payload for this campaign, it said, but added that the group was observed in the past delivering malware such as Rokrat, Bluelight, or Dolphin.

Via: The Verge (opens in new tab)


techradar.com · by Sead Fadilpašić · December 8, 2022




10. U.S. House passes legislation in Otto Warmbier’s name. Here’s what it does


Human rights upfront.


And we must never forget what the evil regime did to Otto and continues to do to 25 million Koreans living in the north.



U.S. House passes legislation in Otto Warmbier’s name. Here’s what it does

fox19.com · by Brian Planalp

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed legislation named in honor of Otto Warmbier that takes aim at North Korea’s regime of censorship and surveillance.

It comes two days after North Korea executed two teenagers for the crime of watching and distributing South Korean movies, according to a Fox News report citing Radio Free Asia.

The act bearing Otto’s name was included in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, a compromise version of a Senate bill passed in June. The Senate is expected to vote on the measure next week.

It authorizes $10 million annually over the next five years for the Biden Administration, in general terms, to develop a strategy “on combating North Korea’s repressive information environment.”

The funds are specifically appropriated to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, an independent agency considered an arm of U.S. diplomacy that broadcasts news and information around the world “in support of freedom and democracy.”

USAGM supervises Voice of America and Office of Cuba Broadcasting as well as Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe, Middle East Broadcasting Networks and more. It also fights internet censorship in China, North Korea, Russia and other countries.

A 2018 typhoon caused extensive damage to 15 USAGM broadcast antennas in Asia, resulting in reduced programming to North Korea. So far, five of the antennas are rebuilt. The appropriation will restore the remaining 10.

It also targets the following purposes (quoted in full from the legislation text:)

  • To promote the development of internet freedom tools, technologies, and new approaches, including both digital and non-digital means of information sharing related to North Korea;
  • To explore public-private partnerships to counter North Korea’s repressive censorship and surveillance state; and
  • To develop new means to protect the privacy and identity of individuals receiving media from the United States Agency for Global Media and other outside media outlets from within North Korea.


“Otto Warmbier was the best of America, the Midwest, and Cincinnati,” said U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio). “This legislation will help ensure that his memory lives on and that the brutal regime responsible for his unjust death is held accountable for this and it’s myriad of other human rights abuses. With the five year anniversary of Otto’s unjust death earlier this year, I look forward to this legislation becoming law very soon.”

REMEMBERED | Ohio hometown says goodbye to Otto Warmbier

The legislation passed out of the U.S. House four days before Otto’s 27th birthday. The late Wyoming High School graduate died on June 19, 2017 after 17 months in North Korean captivity.

Otto entered North Korea eighteen months prior as part of a guided tour. He was waiting for his departing flight on Jan. 2, 2016 at Pyongyang International Airport when he was arrested on accusations that he had tried to steal a propaganda poster from his hotel. The North Korean government convicted and sentenced him in March to 15 years imprisonment with hard labor.

Not long into his sentence, Otto suffered a severe neurological injury and fell into a coma. The cause remains unknown. North Korean authorities ascribed it to botulism and a sleeping pill when they disclosed the coma in June 2017, days before he was freed.

Otto never awoke. He died at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center six days after his return to the U.S. The coroner’s report found he died from an unknown injury that caused oxygen deprivation to the brain.

The incident provoked a strong public response, including trenchant criticism of the Obama Administration for its perceived failure to secure Otto’s release. U.S. Senator John McCain called Otto’s death a “murder,” while U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley described it as a “singular case” that “touches the American heart like no other.”

The U.S. Department of State relisted North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism later that year. A U.S. government ban on travel to North Korea issued a month after Otto’s death remains in effect today.

President Donald Trump invoked Otto’s death several times during his presidency with the outspoken support from Fred and Cindy Warmbier, Otto’s parents. The Warmbiers were particularly supportive of a Trump-brokered summit between the nations held in 2018. But a small rift formed at the summit’s second installment the following year, when Trump said he took North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “at his word” when he said he didn’t know about Otto’s treatment.

“We have been respectful during this summit process. Now we must speak out. Kim and his evil regime are responsible for the death of our son Otto. Kim and his evil regime are responsible for unimaginable cruelty and inhumanity. No excuse or lavish praise can change that,” the Warmbiers said.

A U.S. federal district court judge in December 2018 handed down a default judgement in the Warmbiers’ suit accusing North Korea of torture and murder in Otto’s death. The North Korean government, which did not defend the case, was ordered to pay $501 million in damages.

North Korea has so far declined to pay, and there’s no real mechanism that could compel it to. Nonetheless, the Warmbiers are entitled to file for asset seizures of North Korean property, such as a cargo ship seized by the U.S. Coast Guard in 2019 that was then sold to compensate them. Similarly, in January 2022, a federal judge in New York ordered $240,000 seized from a North Korean bank paid to the Warmbiers.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please include the title when you click here to report it.

Copyright 2022 WXIX. All rights reserved.

fox19.com · by Brian Planalp











De Oppresso Liber,

David Maxwell

Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation

Senior Advisor, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy

Editor, Small Wars Journal

Twitter: @davidmaxwell161

Phone: 202-573-8647

email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com


V/R
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Phone: 202-573-8647
Personal Email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
Web Site: www.fdd.org
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Subscribe to FDD’s new podcastForeign Podicy
FDD is a Washington-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

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

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

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