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Quotes of the Day;
“Withholding information is the essence of tyranny. Control of the flow of information is the tool of the dictatorship.”
― Bruce Coville
“As a nation, we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it 'all men are created equal, except negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty – to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.”
― Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln Letters
“You only have power over people as long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything, he's no longer in your power—he's free again.”
― Alexander Solzhenitsyn
1. South Korea, US to hold new round of nuclear consultation talks -Seoul
2. US pilot safely ejects in F-16 crash off South Korea
3. S. Korea's spy agency detects signs of N. Korea seeking to dispatch workers to Russia
4. Russian links with China, Iran and North Korea a threat, warns Finland
5. S. Korea to hold Pyongyang accountable over unauthorized use of Kaesong complex: minister
6. S. Korea opens probe into filmmakers over unauthorized meetings with pro-N. Korea group
7. ‘I repeatedly failed to win any awards’: my doomed career as a North Korean novelist
8. Odds Are Stacked Against Young Couples Having Kids
9. U.S., S. Korea, other allies in 'preliminary' talks over new export control regime on key technologies
10. S. Korean national included in latest U.S. sanctions against Russia's war efforts
11. S. Korea deplores N. Korea's publication of human rights white paper
12. N. Korean newspaper carries photo of ex-minister in coverage of anti-gov't rally in Seoul
13. China moves to intensify controls along border with North Korea
14. Families of some N. Korean overseas laborers are still waiting for their return
15. North Korean hackers using Log4J vulnerability in global campaign
1. South Korea, US to hold new round of nuclear consultation talks -Seoul
The press and the public will demand that concrete results be shared. The NCG must have a strong information plan to address the unrealistic expectations of the press and punists about these meetings. The majority of nuclear discussions and coordination must remain classified. And every meeting cannot have a substantive result for public release.
South Korea, US to hold new round of nuclear consultation talks -Seoul
Reuters
SEOUL, Dec 12 (Reuters) - South Korea and the United States will hold talks on nuclear deterrence on Friday as part of Washington's commitment to share more insight with Seoul into planning in the event of conflict with North Korea.
The office of President Yoon Suk Yeol confirmed on Tuesday the second Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) meeting will take place in Washington D.C., five months after the group's inaugural meeting.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Yoon announced the formation of the NCG during a summit in April as part of a new "Washington Declaration", under which Seoul also made a renewed pledge not to pursue nuclear weapons of its own.
Yoon has previously hailed the formation of the nuclear group as an upgrade of the alliance which aims to bolster "extended deterrence" against North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Kim Myung-soo held a phone call with his U.S. counterpart Charles Q. Brown on Tuesday, the JCS said in a statement.
During the talks, the two agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats and to counter Pyongyang's deepening military ties with Russia.
Kim and Brown also confirmed plans to launch a real-time data-sharing system to monitor North Korean missiles by the end of this year alongside Japan, the JCS said.
Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Ed Davies and Sonali Paul
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Reuters
2. US pilot safely ejects in F-16 crash off South Korea
Thank you to the ROK AF PJs for rescuing him.
US pilot safely ejects in F-16 crash off South Korea
airforcetimes.com · by APStaff · December 11, 2023
A U.S. Air Force pilot safely ejected on Monday before his F-16 fighter jet crashed into the sea off South Korea’s southwestern coast, U.S. and South Korean military officials said.
The unidentified pilot was recovered by South Korean maritime forces and was “awake and in stable condition,” the U.S. Air Force’s 8th Fighter Wing said in a statement. It said the pilot was being returned to Kunsan Air Base near the southwestern port city of Gunsan, where he would be evaluated further.
The pilot took off from the air base, used jointly by the U.S. and South Korean air forces, on a routine training flight and was forced to eject from the aircraft after experiencing an unspecified in-flight emergency.
The 8th Fighter Wing, which is composed of two F-16 squadrons, said the cause of the in-flight emergency is being investigated.
“We are grateful for the safe recovery of our airman by our [South Korean] allies and that the pilot is in good condition,” Col. Matthew Gaetke, the 8th Fighter Wing commander, said in a statement.
The crash marks the second public U.S. F-16 mishap in South Korea this year. In May, a pilot assigned to the 8th Fighter Wing safely ejected when their Fighting Falcon went down in an agricultural area outside Osan Air Base near Pyeongtaek, south of the capital city of Seoul.
The jet was largely destroyed, the Yonhap News Agency in Korea reported.
On average, about three American F-16s are totaled and one person is killed in Fighting Falcon accidents each year, according to Air Force Safety Center data.
The service owns more than 800 F-16C/D airframes, which have flown since the 1980s. Each jet cost $19 million in 1998 dollars, the Air Force said, or more than $30 million now.
The latest F-16 crash comes about two weeks after a U.S. Air Force Osprey aircraft crashed off southern Japan during a Nov. 29 training mission, killing all eight people on board.
Air Force Times Editor Rachel S. Cohen contributed to this story.
3. S. Korea's spy agency detects signs of N. Korea seeking to dispatch workers to Russia
I spent Chuseok in September with an escapee who spent five years in Russia as a translator working for a north Korea ``logging company." He had just arrived in South Korea six months before after spending 6 months working his way to South Korea. He said he never saw any effects of the UN sanctions on Korean labor in Russia but of course he was there since before the COVID period. Perhaps these new workers will be involved in other types of work.
(4th LD) S. Korea's spy agency detects signs of N. Korea seeking to dispatch workers to Russia | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Boram · December 12, 2023
(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead; UPDATES with more details throughout)
SEOUL, Dec. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's spy agency said Tuesday it has detected signs that North Korea is seeking to dispatch its workers to Russia in a violation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.
"As there are movements of North Korea seeking to send its workers to Russia, we are keeping close tabs on the situation," the National Intelligence Service said, without elaborating.
The move came as North Korea and Russia have been strengthening military and economic cooperation following the summit between the North's leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin in September.
There have been suspicions that North Korea is pushing to expand the illegal dispatch of its workers to Russia to earn hard currency, as Moscow is believed to be suffering labor shortages due to the mobilization of young people for its war in Ukraine.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (L) shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of their talks at the Vostochny Cosmodrome space launch center in the Russian Far East on Sept. 13, 2023, in this photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency the next day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
Earlier in the day, North Korea's state media reported that a Russian delegation, led by Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of the Russian far eastern region of Primorsky Krai that borders North Korea, arrived in Pyongyang on Monday.
He was welcomed by Ji Kyong-su, vice minister of external economic relations, at Pyongyang International Airport, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The KCNA did not provide details on the purpose of the visit.
Speaking to a Russian media outlet last month, Kozhemyako said he plans to visit North Korea this year to discuss cooperation in the fields of tourism, trade and agriculture.
But there are views their talks may discuss the possible deployment of North Korean workers to Russia, which is banned under UNSC resolutions against North Korea.
An official at South Korea's unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, hinted at the possibility of dispatching North Koreans to Russia, noting the two sides have demand for it and signs of such deployment have been detected overseas.
Oleg Kozhemyako (center L), governor of the Russian far eastern region of Primorsky Krai that borders North Korea, shakes hands with North Korean officials during his visit to Pyongyang in this photo taken from the website of the Korean Central News Agency on Dec. 12, 2023. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
In November, North Korea and Russia signed a bilateral protocol on expanding cooperation on the economy, science and technology, just four weeks after the visit to Pyongyang by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
"Considering the series of events, it is assumed that some kind of cooperation between Russian and North Korea is taking place," the ministry official said.
A foreign ministry official in Seoul said the suspected dispatch of North Korean workers to Russia is a violation of two specific U.N. Security Council sanctions resolutions that banned giving North Koreans a work permit and required all North Korean workers in Russia to be sent back home by the end of 2019.
"We are closely monitoring the North Korea-Russia activities believed to be taking place in various areas," the official said.
mlee@yna.co.kr
elly@yna.co. kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Boram · December 12, 2023
4. Russian links with China, Iran and North Korea a threat, warns Finland
Good to see that Korea is not an afterthought. Or is it?
Russian links with China, Iran and North Korea a threat, warns Finland
Reuters
HELSINKI, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Russia's increasing cooperation with China, Iran, North Korea and its other global allies is a serious, long-term threat to European countries, Finland's Defence Minister Antti Hakkanen said on Tuesday.
Finland and Estonia are investigating the destruction in October of the Balticconnector gas pipeline and telecom cables on the Baltic seabed and have named a Hong Kong registered container vessel as their main suspect for the damage.
"While these issues are not public, what Russia does at the moment together with China, Iran, North Korea and its other allies, also from the global south, constitutes a very serious prospect in the long term," Hakkanen said in a speech.
As the NATO military alliance's newest member, which shares a 1,340-km (830-mile) border with Russia, Finland and its intelligence services are monitoring Russia's action globally, Hakkanen said.
He called Russia's new cooperation with its global allies "a weather system of security policy that is unfortunately troublesome".
Reporting by Anne Kauranen; editing by Barbara Lewis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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5. S. Korea to hold Pyongyang accountable over unauthorized use of Kaesong complex: minister
No rule of law in north Korea (only the rule BY Kim's law). No protection for businesses. Who in their right mind would want to invest in north Korea under the current regime?
S. Korea to hold Pyongyang accountable over unauthorized use of Kaesong complex: minister | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · December 12, 2023
By Lee Minji
SEOUL, Dec. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's point man on North Korea said Tuesday the government will hold Pyongyang accountable for using South Korea-owned facilities at a now-shuttered inter-Korean joint industrial park in the North without permission.
Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho made the remark in a meeting with foreign correspondents in Seoul, as North Korea appears to be illegally running some 30 facilities at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, sharply up from 10 earlier this year, in the namesake border city.
"The government has filed a compensation suit over the North's explosion of the joint liaison office," Kim said, referring to the lawsuit the ministry filed with a Seoul court in June over the 44.7 billion won (US$34.2 million) in damages incurred on the South Korean-built joint liaison office.
"Likewise, we will accurately determine the situation and also seek to hold North Korea accountable," he added.
South Korea shut down the industrial complex, once a symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation, in February 2016 in response to the North's nuclear and long-range missile tests.
Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho attends a Cabinet meeting at the government complex in Seoul on Dec. 12, 2023. (Yonhap)
Still, Kim said the government will deal with North Korea in a "restrained" manner despite heightened inter-Korean tensions following the scrapping of a 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction agreement.
Following Seoul's partial suspension of the military accord in protest of Pyongyang's spy satellite launch in November, the recalcitrant regime has vowed to restore all military measures halted under the agreement and has been refortifying its border.
"Our government will sternly respond to North Korea's escalation of tensions," Kim said. "At the same time, we will manage the situation in an extremely restrained attitude so that such tensions would not lead to provocation."
Against such a backdrop, Kim urged China and Russia, both permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, to play more proactive roles in keeping check on Pyongyang.
"China and Russia appear to be very passive on introducing additional sanctions against the North," Kim said. "I believe China should play a more constructive role for peace on the Korean Peninsula as well as Northeast Asia."
The minister warned North Korea against the possibility of carrying out the third hereditary power succession, saying the biggest victims will be its own people.
At the same time, Kim said the North's move to put leader Kim Jong-un's daughter, known as Ju-ae, at the "main stage at an early phase" is a sign of its ongoing difficulties.
"It is probably aiming to strengthen internal unity by boasting its determination for a fourth-generation succession," Kim said.
mlee@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · December 12, 2023
6. S. Korea opens probe into filmmakers over unauthorized meetings with pro-N. Korea group
Who runs these "pro-north Korean groups?" The United Front Department or the Cultural Engagement Bureau (old 225th Bureau)?
(LEAD) S. Korea opens probe into filmmakers over unauthorized meetings with pro-N. Korea group | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · December 12, 2023
(ATTN: ADDS minister's remarks in paras 12-14)
By Lee Minji
SEOUL, Dec. 12 (Yonhap) -- The unification ministry handling inter-Korean affairs said Tuesday it has launched a probe to verify details of unauthorized meetings between South Korean filmmakers and members of a pro-North Korea group in Japan.
The move came as the ministry has been seeking to tighten the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act amid heightened inter-Korean tensions.
Under the law, South Korean nationals are required to file prior notification with the government before contacting members of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan.
Among those who have been requested by the ministry to clarify why they did not file a prior notification are documentary director Kim Ji-woon and producer Cho Eun-sung, who respectively took part in films shedding light on discrimination facing members of the pro-North Korea group in Japan.
Currently, hundreds of thousands of Koreans live in Japan, many of them descendants of Koreans forcibly brought to Japan as laborers during Tokyo's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
The ethnic Korean community, however, was later divided into two separate groups, with each supporting South and North Korea, respectively.
An official walks down a corridor of the unification ministry at the government complex in Seoul in this file photo taken July 28, 2023. (Yonhap)
The ministry said the probe is aimed at verifying the details of their meetings and promoting inter-Korean exchange in an orderly manner rather than fundamentally blocking all exchange.
"The issue was raised in a recent parliamentary audit and we are in the stage of verifying the details," a ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
"It is true that the law had been loosely applied in the past but the government's stance is to establish order and a system for exchange and cooperation based on law and principle," the official said.
When asked about recent cases in which prior requests to meet members of the pro-North Korea group for academic purposes were denied, the official attributed the rejection to grim inter-Korean relations.
"We are managing the system in a prudent manner, (permitting) only essential humanitarian cases," the official said, citing "grave" circumstances stemming from North Korea's provocations.
Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho reaffirmed the stance but also hinted at taking a more flexible approach depending on changes in inter-Korean relations.
"Given inter-Korean situations, the unification ministry is taking an extremely prudent stance on contact that is neither essential nor pressing," Kim said in a meeting with foreign correspondents stationed in Seoul.
"I would like to say that measures will be taken in a slightly more proactive direction should the situation improve to a certain extent," he added.
Critics have raised concerns that the latest measure could hamper all forms of civilian inter-Korean exchange and cooperation.
In a separate case, the ministry is in the process of imposing a penalty on independent lawmaker Youn Mee-hyang for attending an event organized by the pro-North Korea group without notifying the government in advance.
mlee@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · December 12, 2023
7. ‘I repeatedly failed to win any awards’: my doomed career as a North Korean novelist
At a civil society workshop on a free and unified Korea here in Manila last evening we discussed the huge number of artists (from musicians, to painters, to dancers, to sculptors) who slave away only to glorify the regime. I guess we can include writers as well. What will happen to them during the unification process? All they are allowed to do is promote Kim's cult of personality.
‘I repeatedly failed to win any awards’: my doomed career as a North Korean novelist
The Guardian · by Kim Ju-sŏng · December 12, 2023
Since its founding, North Korea has always had an elaborate bureaucracy for artistic production, organised within the Korean Workers party’s agitation and propaganda department. This framework was set up in emulation of the Soviet system under Stalin. Over time, this artistic bureaucracy has been increasingly adapted to promote the cult of personality surrounding the first leader Kim Il-sung and his descendants.
Among the many cultural products designed to promote the regime, one of the most important is literature. Aspiring writers in North Korea must register with the Korean Writers’ Union and participate in annual writing workshops. The KWU has offices in every province in the country. KWU editors evaluate each work on its ideological merits before allowing its publication in one of the party’s own literary journals. There are particularly strict rules regarding how the leaders and the party may be depicted in literature.
A writer’s life is highly competitive. Literary success means becoming a “professional revolutionary” with lots of perks: a three-month “creativity leave” every year, permission to travel freely around the country and special housing privileges.
Kim Ju-sŏng was one such aspiring writer. A “zainichi” (Japan-born ethnic Korean), he “returned” to North Korea in 1976 at age 16 as part of a wave of emigration encouraged by pro-North Korean groups in Japan and lived in the country for 28 years before defecting to South Korea. The zainichi returnees were an important propaganda tool as well as a source of income and foreign technology for the North Korean regime. Due to their foreign connections they enjoyed a relatively higher standard of living, but they also faced suspicion from the regime and prejudice from ordinary North Koreans.
Below are three excerpts from Kim’s memoir, Tobenai kaeru: Kitachōsen sennō bungaku no jittai (The Frog that Couldn’t Jump: The Reality of North Korea’s Brainwashing Literature), translated by Meredith Shaw. In it, he describes working at his local KWU branch as an office assistant. The first excerpt begins as he is meeting with his superior shortly after starting the job.
“By the way, how are you managing with the 100-copy collection?”
“Huh? What do you mean, the 100-copy collection?”
“The books in the safe. Don’t neglect your library duties. It’d be a disaster if anything leaked to the outside.”
I set off for the library at a run. There were books in that safe? I had no idea. I figured, at best, it would be a stash of treatises by the leaders on literary theory, or else records of secret directives for KWU eyes only. It turned out that the 100-copy collection was where the union stored translated copies of foreign novels and reference books that writers could access.
With the speed of a bank robber, I yanked out my key, turned the lock and opened the safe. Inside, tightly packed together, were nearly 70 translated copies of foreign novels. Seeing them, I crumpled to the floor in shock.
The first title to jump out at me was Seichō Matsumoto’s Points and Lines, a Japanese psychological thriller published in 1970. With growing excitement, I fumbled through the stack. There was Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, O Henry’s The Last Leaf, Alexandre Dumas fils’ The Lady of the Camellias, Takiji Kobayashi’s Crab Cannery Ship, Dante’s Divine Comedy, Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron, Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind; and, most exciting of all for me, Seiichi Morimura’s Proof of the Man, a Japanese detective novel that tells the story of a manhunt from Tokyo to New York.
I had joined the KWU in the late 1980s. At that time, the only foreign literature ordinary North Koreans could access was that of other socialist nations, chiefly the USSR and China. I had read Russian writers like Maxim Gorky, Anton Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy, as well as the Chinese classic The True Story of Ah Q by Lu Xun. Occasionally, translations of classics like Shakespeare’s works were published. But nobody even dreamed of seeing literature from enemy countries such as the US and Japan.
Some zainichi returnees like myself had brought books from Japan, which we passed around secretly. One of these was Proof of the Man. Upon finding a Korean-language copy in the 100-copy collection, I was struck by the quality of the translation. I later learned that it had been done by a zainichi acquaintance of mine who worked as a translator.
“Those sneaky bastards. If we ordinary citizens were to read this we’d be put away for political crimes, but they get to enjoy it all in secret,” my zainichi friend grumbled when I showed him.
“You can’t tell anyone about this. I’d get arrested.”
“Hey, they don’t have any graphic novels, do they? I’d love to see Golgo 13, Blackjack, or Captain Tsubasa again.”
A street in Pyongyang, 2018. Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
Having stumbled upon this windfall, I devoured the contents of the 100-copy collection. My favourite was Guy de Maupassant. I was deeply impressed by his short stories The Necklace and Boule de Suif and used them as models for my own work.
Any mismanagement of the 100-copy collection would be prosecuted as a political crime, since it would in effect be distributing capitalist reactionary materials to the public. I don’t understand the logic, but I’ve heard that the Narcotics Control Law deems it a greater crime to sell or transport illegal materials than to consume them.
Use of the 100-copy collection was restricted exclusively to our writers, and lending to civilians was illegal. But somehow a rumour got out, and I was besieged with requests. Most came from party bureaucrats or their children, and it was hard to refuse them. The most popular request was for Proof of the Man. The three-volume set was ragged and dog-eared with use.
One time a funny thing happened. A big shot from the KWP administration bureau asked to borrow the book. His section controlled party advancement and appointments, so I wasn’t about to refuse him. (Of course, it also didn’t hurt that he passed me a carton of Mild Seven cigarettes.)
More than a month passed and I hadn’t got it back. To my increasingly pointed reminders, he always asked for “just a little more time”. The 100-copy collection had to undergo an annual inspection, at which time all the books had to be in order. An inspector was dispatched from the central KWU organisation, and if even one volume was missing, there could be dire consequences. If I was unlucky, I might be expelled from the KWU or even face legal prosecution.
With the inspector’s visit just a week away, I grew concerned enough to visit the official’s home. However powerful he may be, the 100-copy collection fell under the purview of the party’s propaganda and agitation department, and thus was beyond the reach of local cadres. If I let things get out of control, I could forget about becoming a writer – I’d be lucky if I wasn’t sent to some remote farm for the rest of my days. Summoning my courage, I arrived at the party officials’ exclusive apartment block and knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” a young woman’s voice chirped at the same instant the door opened. The delicious aroma of roasting meat assailed me. Before my eyes was a pale young beauty in her 20s.
“I’m from the KWU. Is the comrade director at home?”
“Ah, you’re here about the book? Come on in. My father’s not home yet. He’s gone to Pyongyang on business.”
“In that case, I’ll come another time. If you could get the book back within a week, I’d be much obliged.” But my feet just kept right on moving into the entryway.
I’d heard that the official had a daughter attending the University of Fine Art, but I’d never met her before. I forgot all about the book, enchanted by her radiant beauty and smile, and allowed her to draw me into the home.
“I heard your union has many diverting books. I’m a great lover of books myself, my father is always bringing them for me.”
It was the first time I’d ever been inside a party official’s home. Emboldened by my curiosity, I looked around as she chattered. It was equivalent to a four-bedroom, quite luxurious by North Korean standards of the time. In the parlour was a leather sofa, a Hitachi colour TV with a VCR and impressive speakers – in other words, posh digs. I was always hearing that party cadres lived incredibly well, but I’d never imagined it was this fabulous.
Suddenly, three more beauties appeared in the entryway. They were all friends of the director’s daughter from the university. The sight of them arrayed around me was quite breathtaking.
“You are a novelist? But you’re so young, and tall.”
“Oh, no. I’m just a common citizen who hopes to become a novelist someday.”
They giggled in unison as I joined them on the sofa.
“What’s so funny? Do I have something on my face?”
At my side, the director’s daughter punched me lightly on the shoulder. “La, ‘citizen’… There’s no need to use such stuffy terms. Do we look like peasants to you?” She punched the remote control, and a South Korean music video appeared on the screen.
A cup of coffee appeared before me. The scent of Nescafé Gold Blend filled my nostrils. Sitting there, watching the South Korean singer Kim Jong-hwan belt out the ballad Reason for Existence, I felt like questioning my own existence. What are these people? Is this still North Korea?
Nowadays, whenever people ask my nationality, I always reply that I’m an alien from the planet Baltan. But the elites of North Korea are from a completely different galaxy.
Traffic police officers in Pyongyang. Photograph: Wong Maye-E/AP
Feeling like a man bewitched, I suddenly wanted to get the hell out of there. It was terrifying to sit there blithely doing things that under ordinary circumstances would get me shot.
“Listen, about that book … Do you have it here?”
“Yes, it’s here. We’ll be finished by tonight actually. I was just about to return it.”
It shortly became clear what she meant by “finished”. The beautiful girls all took out their school notebooks, and in each one I saw Proof of the Man written out word for word.
“Hold on – have you been copying this book?”
“Oh, the story’s just so moving and lovely. These two are in the drama department and they wanted to show it to all their friends. And it’s just so complicated getting books from the 100-copy collection.”
“Maitta!” I swore in Japanese without thinking.
“Huh? What’s that mean?”
“Nothing. But this is a real mess you’ve made. If you’re found out, we’re all screwed.”
“Oh, nonsense. We’re all daughters of party officials, they won’t arrest us. But why is it wrong to read such a wonderful book? It’s the same with songs, too. Isn’t it natural for a frog in a well to want to see the wider world?”
“A frog in a well … Really, you tadpoles are something else. Look, just keep this whole thing under wraps, and try to get it all done tonight, OK?”
The beautiful tadpoles kept their promise and protected the secret. Proof of the Man was returned in good order. As for the hand-written copies, I have no idea what became of them. I can only imagine they went some way toward changing the mindset of the younger generation and fertilising a new revolutionary consciousness.
I believe the reason my writing received poor evaluations lay primarily in my choice of genre. All of my stories took place in Japan, or had zainichi as the main characters. In North Korea these were dismissed as “foreign works”, the catch-all term for anything about the wider world. Like anywhere, in North Korean literary circles there is a fair amount of specialisation, and each writer has his or her own style and character.
The most highly regarded genre, it goes without saying, is No 1 literature – that is, works about members of the ruling Kim family. This is not a genre that just anybody can write. In order of esteem, the genres of North Korean literature are:
1) No 1 works: stories about the achievements and personalities of the Kim family.
2) Anti-Japan partisan works AKA revolutionary works: stories set within the colonial-era independence movement.
3) War works: stories set during the Korean war.
4) Historical works: stories set during the Yi, Koguryo or Koryo dynasties.
5) Real-life works: stories about ordinary society from the postwar to the present.
6) South Korean works: stories set in South Korea.
7) Foreign works: stories set anywhere outside Korea.
I was involved with foreign works. Aside from No 1 works, writers had free choice of any genre, and we were also free to move around and experiment between genres. But only the most elite, accomplished writers were permitted to produce No 1 works.
Of course, writing is not limited to fiction; there were writers specialising in poetry, children’s literature, plays, translation and film scriptwriting. I produced many works of fiction, but all fell within the “foreign” genre, and thus were considered ideologically and politically inferior to, say, partisan or real-life works.
A book shop in Pyongyang, North Korea. Photograph: Benoit Cappronnier/Alamy
As an aside, I’d like to briefly describe the KWU organisation. At the top is the chairman, followed by the vice-chairmen in charge of fiction and poetry, respectively. Below that are separate divisions for fiction, poetry, theatre, foreign literature in translation, children’s literature and production for the masses. From the 1980s, a new renaissance came to North Korea, known as the “film revolution”, which brought big changes to the KWU as well. It was reorganised under the General Literary Arts Union with separate but equal divisions for Korean Literature Production and Korean Film Literature Production. This was based on Kim Jong-il’s policy of encouraging competition by putting literature and film on equal footing.
I entered the KWU at a time when this competition between film and literature was at its peak. Because Kim Jong-il was such a passionate film buff, the literature writers were always treated as doormats by the screenwriters. From then on, film and literature developed separately as instruments of state persuasion.
At any rate, I repeatedly failed to win any literary awards – the key to career advancement – despite diligently carrying out my KWU assignments. I waited patiently for my chance at admission to the main university writing program.
That chance came and went twice as I worked at the KWU. Both times I received recommendations and was permitted to take the entrance exam, but both times I failed. Why I failed, despite receiving good marks and being highly recommended, was something I came to understand later.
Japan is known as a country of bibliophiles, with detective novels and historical fiction particularly popular. North Korea also has many books, though they are not what you would call popular. The overwhelming majority – indeed, almost all of them – are books glorifying the Kim family.
Aside from the many books and treatises attributed to Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il themselves, there are also “morality testimonies” idolising the two Kims.
These are first-person accounts by individuals who have had personal encounters with the leaders.
In South Korea, I am sometimes asked if I ever met Kim Il-sung or Kim Jong-il. I reply: “If I had, I would not have left the country.”
“Why?” they ask. “Are such people monitored more closely?”
“Not at all. In fact, they receive special benefits. In one fell swoop their lives become rose-coloured – rainbow-coloured, even. In North Korea, the Kims are gods. If you receive the favour of the gods, your whole life changes, doesn’t it?”
As for precisely how one’s life changes, that varies from case to case, but it is never short of miraculous.
I believe the Kim dynasty’s formula for governing basically boils down to “extreme contrasts”. Put simply, by singling out one person as a sacrificial lamb, you train 10,000 others to behave. And by bestowing miraculous good fortune on to one, you draw the devotion of another 10,000. It’s the classic carrot-and-stick approach.
The sticks can take many forms, but most notable are the countless purges. But what of the carrots?
A propaganda mosaic in Pyongyang, 2016. Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
As leaders of the nation, the Kims have always travelled the country conducting “on-the-spot guidance”. During these tours, individuals who encounter the leaders are divided into two categories: witnesses and interviewees.
A witness might be someone who saw the leader up close or got included in a group photo with him. Out of countless witnesses, a few are blessed to become interviewees – meaning people who actually exchanged words with the leader. In other words, one’s level of treatment depends on whether or not one actually “spoke with God”.
For example, suppose the leader visits a factory somewhere. The local party organisation will have decided beforehand which people will be granted an audience with the great man – typically the factory managers and model workers – and these become witnesses. Should one of those witnesses manage to converse with Kim, that person becomes an interviewee. The rest of the factory workers are usually sent home early or shuttled somewhere out of the way during the encounter. Some factories leave people working during guidance visits, but those workers would be told: “The general is coming through here, don’t you dare turn around.”
I’ve heard of factories that shoved workers into a storage locker when one of the Kims dropped by unexpectedly. So it’s not like just anybody can become a witness.
For those who do, the rewards are various, but a commemorative photograph with the leader is standard. This photograph serves as the interviewee’s “license”; it is beautifully framed and hung prominently in the home like a family heirloom. If you acquire such a portrait, from that moment on the local party takes special care of your family. This can mean more rapid promotion at work, a bigger home or permission to send your kids to better schools.
For interviewees, the rewards are several degrees greater. It varies depending on the content of the conversation, but the greatest reward I’ve heard of included a permit to move to Pyongyang, a luxury apartment and a Mercedes-Benz.
The witnesses and interviewees who receive such miracles are thus spread throughout the country, fervently proselytising about the largesse of the Kim family to their friends and neighbours. These encounters with the godlike Kims are memorialised through those “morality testimonies”.
These stories take two basic forms: those written by the witnesses themselves, and those recounted by one of us writers.
I’ll give you an example.
Late one night, a car braked suddenly on the streets of Pyongyang.
“What is it, General?” the cadre riding shotgun turned with concern to Kim Jong-il in the back seat.
“That light in that apartment window over there. I wonder who’s still awake at this late hour. Let’s go find out.”
“But General, your guards are not with us, and we haven’t cleared it with the events bureau. Why don’t I at least check it out first, while you wait in the car?”
“You’re saying I need protecting from something, at this late hour? Will you not be satisfied unless you wake up a bunch of people and make a big fuss for my benefit? Like the Great Leader Kim Il-sung always said, ‘A leader who does not trust his people is a leader who does not trust himself.’ The Great Leader’s government is a just government that gives everything for the people.”
With that, the General left the car and headed toward the still-lit apartment. His faithful aide looked after him with misty eyes, moved by the sight of the Leader carrying on his late father’s motto, “Serve the people as heaven”.
“Who is it?” said the woman who answered the door at his knock.
“I am Kim Jong-il. I saw that your light was on so very late and wondered what you were doing.”
Suddenly confronted by the general, the lady of the house was unable to move. Sensing her sudden change in mood, her husband rushed over, followed by their two daughters, a twentysomething and a 10-year-old. Everyone promptly burst into tears of joy.
Kim Jong-il tried to calm them. “Hush, now, your neighbours are sleeping. If it’s not too much of an intrusion, might I enter and have a word with you?”
And so the general joined this very ordinary family at their table. “Now, tell me what on earth you are all doing up so late?”
Nobody answered; they all just sat with downcast eyes, fighting back tears. Just as the general was wondering if perhaps someone had died or there’d been some calamity, the younger daughter spoke up.
“General, Father’s going to become a party member tomorrow. We’re all just so happy we can’t possibly sleep.” Then, as if pulled by an invisible trigger, the whole group burst into tears at once. Realising that these were tears of joy, the general sighed with relief.
Kim Jong-un with female soldiers after the inspection of a rocket-launching drill in 2014. Photograph: KCNA via KNS/AFP/Getty Images
He looked about the room. In one corner someone had been ironing a suit, and the elder daughter held a card case that she had been embroidering with colourful nylon thread, clearly meant for the father to carry his party membership card in.
“And what were you doing?” he asked the younger daughter, gesturing for her to sit on his lap.
“It’s a secret, I haven’t told anybody yet.”
“Will you share your secret just with me? I promise not to tell.”
“Really? Then let’s go to my room. Everybody else keep out!”
“Hey munchkin, you’re being rude to the general. Get back here,” her father said, trying to stop her.
But Kim Jong-il just waved him off with a smile. “That’s all right, I’ve got kids of my own, you know.”
Entering the girl’s room, the general found a colourful bouquet of azaleas lying on a chair. “And what have we here?”
“They’re the flowers I’m going to put at the Great Leader’s statue tomorrow. For the past 10 days I’ve been wishing for them to bloom, and they did!”
“Where did you find them?”
“Outside the city, with my friends. We had to walk really far, way up in the mountains.”
“And why did you choose to offer azaleas?”
“As a thank you for my father becoming a party member. Since there’s not much else I can do, I thought I could at least offer the Great Leader his favourite flowers. But …”
“But what? You can tell me.”
“I don’t know what else to offer him!” And she burst into tears.
Inside the bizarre, bungled raid on North Korea’s Madrid embassy
Read more
The general held her tightly and stroked her hair. “That’s all right, your thoughtfulness is enough. These azaleas that you made bloom with the warmth of your feeling are the most beautiful treasure in the world.”
The story ends there. There may be an epilogue stating that a few days later the family received several new appliances and pieces of furniture as gifts from Kim Jong-il. The father got rapidly promoted, and the younger daughter grew up to become a high-level party official.
That should give you some idea of a typical “morality testimony”. In fact, I just made it up, deploying the particular creative skills that are unique to North Korean writers. But there are countless others following this basic pattern.
This piece first appeared in issue 10 of the Dial
Photograph: The Guardian
The best stories take time. The Guardian Long Read magazine compiles the finest longform journalism the Guardian has to offer: from politics to technology, food to cosmology, literature to sex, there is something for everyone. Beautifully bound, this 100-page special edition is available to order from the Guardian bookshop and is on sale at selected WH Smith Travel stores.
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The Guardian · by Kim Ju-sŏng · December 12, 2023
8. Odds Are Stacked Against Young Couples Having Kids
I have had some interesting discussions about demographics in north and South Korea this week in Manila. We are wondering if unification will cause a cultural shift that could increase the birthrate of the Korean peninsula. Will Korean women from the north be more likely to marry men from the South and have children in a unified Korea? Or will the rates worsen due to the issues outlined here?
Odds Are Stacked Against Young Couples Having Kids
english.chosun.com
December 12, 2023 10:42
There are now fewer than 1 million couples in Korea who got married over the last five years, a record low, and no surge is expected in the three weeks that remain of 2023.
Other signs bode ill for the country's birthrate too. The proportion of recently married couples with children fell to just over half last year, while couples who just tied the knot shouldered a record amount of debt.
According to Statistics Korea on Monday, their number has fallen rapidly from 1.44 million in 2015, and this year only 190,000 couples newly got married.
Only 53.6 percent of these relatively young couple have kids, down another 0.6 percentage point compared to last year, while the average number of kids per young couple fell by 0.01 to 0.65 child.
/News1
The trend is largely due to the financial burden they shoulder. Last year, their average debt stood at a record W164 million, up 7.3 percent, while nine out of 10 were in debt (US$1=W1,317).
The proportion of double-income couples who were married less than five years rose from 54.9 percent in 2021 to 57.2 percent in 2022, but the proportion of double-income couples with kids fell from 59.4 percent to 49.8 percent.
"That shows just how hard it is to balance work and childcare, prompting more newlywed couples to choose work over having kids," a Statistics Korea official said.
9. U.S., S. Korea, other allies in 'preliminary' talks over new export control regime on key technologies
Excerpts:
Speaking at a forum, Alan Estevez, under secretary of commerce for industry and security, stressed that a new regime on those technologies is needed as existing multilateral regimes do not operate at the current pace of a rapid technological change.
"We and our allies talk about how we develop a regime that can act at that speed to protect ourselves and manage the technology so that we can protect ourselves from our adversaries," he said. "Those are discussions that are ongoing within the (U.S.) government and with our allies."
U.S., S. Korea, other allies in 'preliminary' talks over new export control regime on key technologies | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · December 13, 2023
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (Yonhap) -- The United states, South Korea and other allies are in "preliminary" talks over the idea of creating a new export control regime to prevent cutting-edge technologies, including semiconductors and quantum computing, from being transferred to potential adversaries, a U.S. official said Tuesday.
Speaking at a forum, Alan Estevez, under secretary of commerce for industry and security, stressed that a new regime on those technologies is needed as existing multilateral regimes do not operate at the current pace of a rapid technological change.
"We and our allies talk about how we develop a regime that can act at that speed to protect ourselves and manage the technology so that we can protect ourselves from our adversaries," he said. "Those are discussions that are ongoing within the (U.S.) government and with our allies."
Alan Estevez, under secretary of commerce for industry and security, speaks during a forum in Washington on Dec. 12, 2023. (Yonhap)
Taking quantum space as an example, Estevez said that existing regimes, especially the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA), do not proceed at the speed of technological shifts. WA is designed to promote responsibility in transfers of conventional arms and dual-use goods to prevent the acquisition of those items by terrorists.
"I need to be able to act at the speed of quantum," he said. "That is the speed by which we need to act and so we need to get together."
Asked to elaborate on the ongoing discussions on a new regime, the official said they are "preliminary," but noted the importance of South Korea partaking in such a regime.
"I don't think we could do it without Korea being involved," he said.
The forum was jointly hosted by the Korean Security Agency for Trade and Industry under South Korea's Trade, Industry and Energy, the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies D.C. Office, and the Strategic Trade Research Institute.
Among the panelists was Gonzalo Suarez, deputy assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation.
Suarez highlighted the need for South Korea to ensure its sensitive technologies and products will not be used in China's military modernization efforts.
"We also cannot ignore the bullying and militarized nature of Chinese foreign policy," Suarez said.
"It is important for countries in the region, like Korea, to ensure that Korean-origin sensitive items do not end up in Chinese military modernization programs because that will be a source of instability," he added.
The official called attention to China's "military-civil fusion" strategy aimed at eliminating barriers between civilian commercial research sectors and military sectors to build a technologically advanced military.
"So, this really makes it incredibly difficult for export controllers to have any kind of confidence that an item is going to go to a legitimate end use in China," Suarez said.
Expounding on the need for export controls, Suarez said that emerging technologies hold "tremendous promise" for humanity, but could potentially be used for purposes of instability and human rights violations.
Also present at the forum was Kim Young-jae, economic minister at the South Korean Embassy in Washington.
Touching on the Biden administration's recently announced guidance on "foreign entities of concern (FEOC)" under the Inflation Reduction Act, Kim said that the FEOC rule "does not seem to fully reflect the reality of the business."
Under the rule, beginning in 2025, an EV eligible for tax credits may not contain any critical minerals that were extracted, processed or recycled by an FEOC. Starting next year, an eligible EV may not contain any battery components that were manufactured or assembled by an FEOC.
"Once this provision takes effect, the likely outcome will be that a number of eligible electric vehicles will be significantly reduced," Kim said. "We believe it will be better for us to make more realistic approaches or else stakeholders may simply give up and continue to depend on China for sourcing cheap minerals."
The strict FEOC rule appears aimed at reshaping EV supply chains away from China amid an intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry, observers said. The rules are expected to affect the South Korean EV industry that relies on China's supply chains.
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · December 13, 2023
10. S. Korean national included in latest U.S. sanctions against Russia's war efforts
(2nd LD) S. Korean national included in latest U.S. sanctions against Russia's war efforts | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · December 13, 2023
(ATTN: UPDATES with details, more info in lead, paras 6-9)
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (Yonhap) -- The United States on Tuesday slapped sanctions on more than 250 individuals and entities, including a South Korean national, the Department of the Treasury said in the latest effort to stymie Russia's military procurement efforts amid its war in Ukraine.
The Treasury Department imposed sanctions on more than 150 individuals and entities in various countries, including China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), for supplying Russia's military-industrial base. The State Department concurrently sanctioned over 100 entities and individuals.
"Today's action once again underscores Russia's utilization of Turkiye, the UAE, and the People's Republic of China as well as the use of complex transnational networks and third-country cut-outs, to acquire much-needed technology and equipment for its war economy," the Treasury Department said in a press release.
On the latest Treasury sanctions list was a South Korean national surnamed Lee, which the department described as a key procurement agent for AK Microtech, a Russia-based firm specializing in transferring foreign semiconductor technology to Russian microelectronics production companies. AK Microtech was designated by the U.S. in July.
"Lee has directed a system of front companies and complex payment networks to acquire equipment and technology for AK Microtech, including technology critical for semiconductor production, from South Korean, Japanese, and U.S. manufacturers," the department said in a press release.
In a separate release, the State Department said its latest sanctions target "Russia's future energy export and production capabilities, Russia's metals and mining sector, and third-country networks facilitating sanctions evasion and circumvention."
The department, in particular, designated several shipping companies and associated vessels that have been involved in the transfer of munitions between North Korea and Russia.
The sanctions list included Maria, which has been identified via imagery and multiple press reports as being part of a group of commercial vessels that have completed multiple deliveries of military equipment and munitions provided by the North to Russia, according to the department.
Included in the Treasury list were Beijing Yunze Technology Co., Ltd. and Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co., Ltd. -- China-based commercial satellite imagery companies that provided high-resolution observation satellite imagery to Wagner, a Russian state-funded military company.
In a press release, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen pointed out that Russia's war machine cannot survive on domestic production alone.
"Our sanctions today continue to tighten the vise on willing third-country suppliers and networks providing Russia the inputs it desperately needs to ramp up and sustain its military-industrial base," she said.
This image, captured from the website of the Treasury Department, shows a press release on new Russia-related sanctions. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · December 13, 2023
11. S. Korea deplores N. Korea's publication of human rights white paper
I am a broken record: Admit nothing, deny everything, and make counter accusations. It is what the Kim regime excels at.
S. Korea deplores N. Korea's publication of human rights white paper | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · December 12, 2023
By Kim Seung-yeon
SEOUL, Dec. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's foreign ministry said Tuesday it is "deplorable" that North Korea has published a white paper accusing the West of violating human rights, urging Pyongyang to "look back on itself."
The North announced the publication of the white paper on human rights Monday on the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations, dismissing international criticism of North Korea's egregious human rights situation.
"We find it deplorable that North Korea has published the so-called white paper on human rights. North Korea does not respect even the most basic rights," foreign ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk said in a briefing.
"We express deep regrets, in particular, that North Korea is making far-fetched claims about the human rights situations in the West, including the United States, and using human rights to propagate its cause of nuclear and missile provocations," Lim said.
"On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we hope that North Korea will listen to these voices of the international community and reflect on itself," he added.
In the white paper, the North said the dignity and rights of its people are "ruthlessly being violated" in the U.S. and other Western countries. It accused the U.S. of attempting to topple the regime by taking issues with the human rights conditions.
elly@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · December 12, 2023
12. N. Korean newspaper carries photo of ex-minister in coverage of anti-gov't rally in Seoul
An information campaign can make this backfire on the north by showing that there are freedoms in the South. The freedom to assemble and speak against the government.
N. Korean newspaper carries photo of ex-minister in coverage of anti-gov't rally in Seoul | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · December 12, 2023
SEOUL, Dec. 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's main newspaper on Tuesday published a rare photo of a former South Korean justice minister attending an anti-government rally in Seoul as part of apparent propaganda coverage criticizing the South.
The photo of former justice minister and liberal politician Choo Mi-ae appeared on the Rodong Sinmun alongside 11 other photos of a candlelight protest held near the presidential compound in central Seoul last week.
The photo, carried without a source, showed a smiling Choo as she held up a picket sign calling for a special prosecution investigation against first lady Kim Keon Hee.
While Pyongyang has often used its main newspaper for a domestic audience to carry articles on anti-government protests in South Korea, it has rarely published a photo of a prominent politician in South Korea.
From May to early November this year, the Rodong Sinmun carried some 40 articles on anti-government protests in South Korea, according to government data.
An official at South Korea's unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, earlier said such coverage appeared to be an attempt to "distort and emphasize a negative image of South Korea and prevent North Koreans from developing positive expectations."
This photo, taken from the web site of the North's main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, shows former justice minister Choo Mi-ae attending an anti-government rally in Seoul. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
mlee@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · December 12, 2023
13. China moves to intensify controls along border with North Korea
What is China seeing inside north Korea? Is this an indicator of growing internal instability? Is this only to stop smuggling/
China moves to intensify controls along border with North Korea
"People say if China installs more surveillance cameras, smuggling will become even more impossible," a source told Daily NK
By Seulkee Jang - 2023.12.12 10:00am
dailynk.com
China moves to intensify controls along border with North Korea | Daily NK English
A marker delineating the border between China and North Korea (Wikimedia Commons)
China has recently begun intensifying control over its border with North Korea, which suggests that cross-border smuggling is unlikely to return to pre-COVID levels in 2024.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a Daily NK source in China said Friday that China’s border patrol plans to install additional CCTVs and infrared sensors along the border with North Korea. The move appears aimed at stopping rampant defections and smuggling in the region.
“With the recent forced repatriation of North Korean defectors, the Chinese government is taking measures to prevent unfortunate incidents connected to North Korea, such as defections and smuggling,” the source said.
China recently faced criticism from the international community for repatriating hundreds of North Korean defectors from prisons in Liaoning and Jilin provinces.
Article 33 of the UN’s “Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees” states: “No Contracting State shall expel or return [“refouler”] a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” However, China regards North Korean defectors as illegal immigrants, not refugees.
China’s position is that the defectors were repatriated to their homeland through legal procedures, but following the international community’s criticism, Beijing now aims to bolster control of the border to stop the defection issue at the source, according to the source.
Food for export to China rots in warehouses
Currently, rumors are spreading among North Koreans in the China-North Korea border region that China plans to intensify control over the frontier. This has led many people to worry that even the intermittent smuggling going on will completely vanish, the source said.
“Products meant to be sold to China this autumn are rotting. People say if China installs more surveillance cameras, it will become even more difficult to smuggle things into the country.”
The source told Daily NK that smuggling took place from time to time last year despite the closure of the border, but border controls have grown even tighter this year. As a result, many people lament that food that could fetch high prices in China is simply rotting away in warehouses when it could fetch high prices in China.
Many North Koreans are also saying that the North Korean and Chinese government’s intensifying controls over the border will make it hard to expand smuggling activities next year, the source said.
“Even if you’ve already sold expensive agricultural products like pine nuts, wild greens, red beans and medicinal herbs to China, you’d have leftovers, but deals with China haven’t gone as well as last year. They say the [North Korean] government imports and exports more, but this doesn’t mean that individuals can participate in smuggling activities. People are gloomy about how they’ll make money next year.”
Daily NK recently reported that the Chinese government has moved to crackdown on the import of seafood products caught in North Korean waters by intensifying surveillance and inspections of Chinese fishing vessels operating in the border region.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources who live inside North Korea, China and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
Seulkee Jang
Seulkee Jang is one of Daily NK’s full-time journalists. Please direct any questions about her articles to dailynk@uni-media.net.
dailynk.com
14. Families of some N. Korean overseas laborers are still waiting for their return
"Investigation for some kind of issue?"
Families of some N. Korean overseas laborers are still waiting for their return
Family members have been told that if their relatives have "returned to the country but not come home, they may be under investigation for some kind of issue"
By Jong So Yong - 2023.12.12 4:00pm
dailynk.com
Families of some N. Korean overseas laborers are still waiting for their return | Daily NK English
FILE PHOTO: North Korean women leaving a customs office in Dandong, Liaoning Province, China. (Daily NK)
Many of North Korea’s overseas workers became stranded abroad after their country shut down its borders in January 2020. While the majority of these workers returned after the government reopened some transportation routes into the country in August, not everyone has been accounted for. The family members of these “missing people” are searching everywhere for news of the whereabouts of their relatives.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a source in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK last Thursday that “while most of the workers who went to China to earn foreign currency have returned home, a few women from Pyongsong still haven’t come back. Their family members are filing complaints and petitioning the provincial people’s committee [for information], but they are at a loss with no news yet [about the missing relatives].”
The source told Daily NK that the majority of women who had left Pyongsong to earn foreign currency in China have now returned home. The family members of the women who have yet to return home were initially told by government officials that their relatives had re-entered the country, but months have since elapsed with no news.
The family members then proceeded to ask about the missing women through various channels, but when their inquiries turned up no additional information, they filed complaints and sent petitions to their municipal and provincial people’s committees in mid-November. However, party officials offered no specific information about the whereabouts of the women, simply telling the family members to just “wait and stop running around everywhere asking about [where your relatives are].”
“Party officials told families to wait and that ‘[workers] who didn’t have any issues have all returned home. If [your family member] has returned to the country but not come home, they may be under investigation for some kind of issue. We’ll look into it for you.’ But without any updates or word from the missing women, their family members can’t just sit around waiting and are going out everyday to try to find answers,” the source explained.
The family members even visited the homes of officials and Ministry of State Security agents that they had initially bribed to secure the women’s jobs in China. They gave these officials money and asked them to investigate their missing family members on their behalf.
“Last month, the family members heard that ‘if the women are still missing after everyone and their belongings have returned home, the [missing] women must have criticized the Workers’ Party or the DPRK, or committed some political crime while in China and were dragged off by the Ministry of State Security to be investigated.’ However, the family members are largely brushing off this explanation.
“Even members of the Ministry of State Security can’t give the families specific information and are just saying a lot of nothing while telling the families to give up since it’s been a few months already. Family members continue to suffer in silence. [Many of the] families have decided to visit the offices of party offices everyday for a year, three years, ten years, or however long it takes to find out why the missing women haven’t returned home.”
Translated by Rose Adams. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources who live inside North Korea, China and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
Jong So Yong
Jong So Yong is one of Daily NK’s freelance reporters. Questions about her articles can be directed to dailynk@uni-media.net.
dailynk.com
15. North Korean hackers using Log4J vulnerability in global campaign
We must go after the all purpose sword.
North Korean hackers using Log4J vulnerability in global campaign
Jonathan Greig
December 11th, 2023
therecord.media
Hackers connected to North Korea’s Lazarus Group have been exploiting the Log4j vulnerability in a campaign of attacks targeting companies in the manufacturing, agriculture and physical security sectors.
Known as “Operation Blacksmith,” the campaign saw Lazarus hackers use at least three new malware families, according to researchers at Cisco Talos who named one of the malware families “NineRAT.”
Remote access trojans (RATs) are malware designed to allow an attacker to remotely control an infected computer.
In a blog post, the researchers said they also observed overlaps between Lazarus and another North Korean group – known as Andariel or Onyx Sleet — widely considered to be a subsidiary of Lazarus.
“Operation Blacksmith involved the exploitation of CVE-2021-44228 also known as Log4Shell of vulnerable systems exposed to the Internet, and the use of a previously unknown DLang-based RAT utilizing Telegram as its [command-and-control] channel,” the researchers said.
They found that NineRAT was built in May 2022 and then first used nearly a year later, in March, against a South American agricultural organization. It was then used again in September against a European manufacturer.
Cisco Talos said their research into the campaign confirmed previous reports that when cybersecurity agencies and experts refer to Lazarus Group they are often actually including an umbrella of sub-groups run out of North Korea.
The sub-groups operate “their own campaigns and develop and deploy bespoke malware against their targets, not necessarily working in full coordination.”
The group behind Operation Blacksmith — Andariel — typically focuses its work on initial access, reconnaissance and establishing long-term access for espionage in support of the North Korean government’s national interests.
They noted that Andariel has in the past been seen launching ransomware attacks against healthcare organizations.
Cisco Talos tied Operation Blacksmith to Andariel because of the use of a complex tool called “HazyLoad,” which was found in the compromise of a European company and the American subsidiary of a South Korean physical security and surveillance company in May 2023, according to Cisco Talos.
Andariel is connected to North Korea’s intelligence office, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, which also houses Lazarus Group, according to the FBI.
Andariel was sanctioned in 2019 by the U.S. Treasury, which said the group “consistently executes cybercrime to generate revenue and targets South Korea’s government and infrastructure in order to collect information and to create disorder.”
Telegram’s role
What stood out most from the campaign was the hackers’ use of Telegram as a channel for command-and-control communications. The malware used Telegram as its main channel for “accepting commands, communicating their outputs and even for file transfer, both inbound and outbound.”
“The use of Telegram by Lazarus is likely to evade network and host based detection measures by employing a legitimate service as a channel of C2 communications,” they said.
The researchers explained that NineRAT is built from three separate components. One component will add the other two parts to a device before deleting itself. The other tools allow the hackers to establish persistence on a victim device.
In addition to the HazyLoad backdoor, the NineRAT malware is the main way the hackers communicate with the infected device.
The campaign involved attacks that targeted Log4Shell on public-facing VMWare Horizon servers. The hacker conducted reconnaissance activities after breaching organizations before downloading more malware that allowed them further access into victim organizations.
Cisco Talos said the Lazarus umbrella of APT groups has used Log4Shell to “deploy a multitude of malware, dual-use tools and conduct extensive hands-on-keyboard activity.”
In some instances the hackers created administrator accounts in order to give them greater network access.
Log4Shell continues to cause widespread issues two years after it was discovered on December 9, 2021.
A report from Veracode released last week said more than one-third of applications currently use vulnerable versions of Log4j.
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Jonathan Greig is a Breaking News Reporter at Recorded Future News. Jonathan has worked across the globe as a journalist since 2014. Before moving back to New York City, he worked for news outlets in South Africa, Jordan and Cambodia. He previously covered cybersecurity at ZDNet and TechRepublic.
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