Quotes of the Day:

"All mistakes teach us something, so there are, in reality, no mistakes."

- Nikki Giovanni

"Once you realize that you can do something, it would be difficult to live with yourself if you didn’t do it."

- James Baldwin

“It is a journey.

No one is ahead of you or behind you.

You are not more advanced or less enlightened.

You are exactly where you need to be. It’s not a contest…

It’s life. We are all teachers and we are all students.”

-Unknown

1. Expel North Korean diplomats to send a message to Kim Jong Un 

2. North Korea Raises the Nuclear Stakes

3. Trappings of North Korean leader’s lavish lifestyle visible by satellite

4. N. Korea issues nationwide order to recruit additional soldiers

5. Many N. Koreans give up preparing kimchi for the winter citing rising cost of red pepper powder

6. The goal of N. Korea’s missile and nuclear development is to perpetuate the rule of the Kim family…The regime is ignoring the existence of its starving population

7. S.Korea, U.S. Kick off Massive Maritime Exercises in West Sea

8. Thanking S.Korean People for the Gift of a Wall of Remembrance in Washington

9. N. Korea likely to conduct nuclear test, but U.S. prepared for all contingencies: State Dept.

10. U.S. ground forces change main wartime aim in Korea, says JoongAng

11. North fulminates over broadcasts that aren't happening

12. Bracing for the North’s multi-front provocations

13. How Kim could use his nukes

14. US ambassador highlights alliance role in face of 'unprecedented' global threats

15. S. Korea holds bilateral talks with U.S., Japan on N.K. threats amid nuke test speculation

1. Expel North Korean diplomats to send a message to Kim Jong Un

A thoughtful essay from Professor Lee, one of our nation's true experts on north Korea.

Expel North Korean diplomats to send a message to Kim Jong Un

In face of DPRK weapons tests and UN inaction, throwing out top envoys will pave way for stronger sanctions enforcement

https://www.nknews.org/2022/10/expel-north-korean-diplomats-to-send-a-message-to-kim-jong-un/

Sung-Yoon Lee October 25, 2022

                                                                                                              SHARE                                                                                                               

Kim Jong Un attends a "tactical guided" nuclear weapon test | Image: Rodong Sinmun (April 17, 2022)

The following article is an opinion piece by Sung-Yoon Lee, a professor of Korean studies at Tufts University. Views expressed in opinion articles are exclusively the author’s own and do not represent those of NK News.

Since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, Western governments have expelled hundreds of Russian diplomats in protest of Moscow’s war and out of concern that they operate as spies. A recent op-ed argued countries should even go further and expel all Russian diplomats because they act as propagandists for the war.

But while the Kremlin’s invasion has spurred global action, Russia is far from the only country trampling on international norms. This year alone, North Korea has tested over 40 missiles, including six intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) systems, in what the U.N. Panel of Experts has called an “open breach” of sanctions.

Despite this, the U.N. Security Council has

repeatedly failed to penalize Pyongyang due to Chinese and Russian opposition. With Putin’s war in Ukraine and deepening U.S-China competition, DPRK leader Kim Jong Un must assume that his regime is now impervious to new sanctions or symbolic acts of diplomatic rebuke — even if he soon conducts a seventh nuclear test as expected.

The world must prove him wrong. Following Pyongyang’s next nuclear test, the approximately 50 nations where North Korea maintains a diplomatic mission or a trade representative office should expel the chief of mission or the senior-most official, sending a clear message of opposition to Kim Jong Un and laying the groundwork for more sustained sanctions enforcement.

Kim Jong Un inspects a nuclear warhead at the country’s Nuclear Weapons Institute | Image: Rodong Sinmun (Sept. 3, 2017)

NORTH KOREA’S ‘BRILLIANT VICTORY

The brutish leader Kim Jong Un is having a smashing second half of 2022, despite what he called the “great upheaval” of a COVID-19 outbreak earlier this year.

In June, Kim’s military fired eight short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast, a barrage the likes of which it had not repeated since its seven- rocket salute to mark America’s 230th birthday in 2006. In July, Kim threatened a preemptive nuclear attack on South Korea and the U.S.

once again.

In August, he declared a “brilliant victory” over the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, his doting, discourteous sister Kim Yo Jong threatened “deadly vengeful response” against South Korean human rights activist who she alleged spread COVID-19 in the country via leaflets and threatened

to exterminate ROK “authority bastards.” Days later, she belittled South

Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s engagement plan as “absurd” and “nauseating.”

Then came a major escalation. In September, Kim Jong Un promulgated a new “law on the state policy on the nuclear forces” that in effect declared his right to consider the preemptive use of his ultimate weapons whenever he deems it necessary.

Supporting evidence of North Korea’s ability to act on that right came later the same month. From late September to early October, Kim Jong Un led

an unprecedented, 15-day drill of nuclear missile attacks on his enemies, stressing the leader himself oversaw the tests by the nation’s “tactical nuclear operation units.”

Now that the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th congress is over and Chinese leader Xi Jinping has secured a third term, Kim can and likely will escalate further with a nuclear test or even a series of tests to prove his nuclear capabilities beyond a shadow of a doubt. He expects there will be few serious repercussions for this as the U.N. Security Council remains split on penalizing Pyongyang for its weapons development.

But it’s clear that North Korea’s activities cannot go unpunished despite Beijing and Moscow’s continued opposition to new sanctions.

Kim Yo Jong delivers a speech at a national meeting to review anti-epidemic work on Aug. 10, 2022 | Image: KCTV (Aug. 11, 2022)

NO MORE BUSINESS AS USUAL

There’s strong, recent precedent for countries taking unilateral action against DPRK provocations, irrespective of what the UNSC does.

In the wake of North Korea’s last nuclear test in Sept. 2017, Portugal, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Peru all expelled DPRK diplomats. Egypt declared it would cut military ties with Pyongyang.

The Philippines and Singapore also further complied with U.N. sanctions on North Korea, suspending trade relations with it. Even Uganda, with its decades-old history of military cooperation with Pyongyang, suspended military ties for a while.

However, by mid-2018, after Kim Jong Un launched his diplomatic blitz toward South Korea and the U.S. and met with Xi Jinping, the modest wind of sanctions enforcement had fizzled to business as usual — apathy by many, if not most, U.N. member states.

The world must come together and not fall for this trap again the next time Kim Jong Un shifts into a post-provocation placation mode. But first, like before, it must come together diplomatically.

The nations that maintain ties with North Korea can do that by expelling Pyongyang’s chief officials from their countries. Russia and China will not be alone in refusing to take even this mild gesture. But the collective rebuke of, say, over 25 nations — galvanized by diplomatic and economic pressure from the U.S., EU, South Korea, Japan and their partners — will resonate and go a long way toward improving sanctions enforcement.

A considerable number of countries could be leaned on to speak as one, in a voice of the world’s conscience. These include Austria, Cambodia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Malaysia, Kuwait, Mexico, Mongolia, India, Indonesia, Italy, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the UAE, the U.K. and Vietnam.

Flags being prepared for a U.N. General Assembly debate on Sept. 17, 2017 | Image: United Nations Photo via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

Unlike Russia and some other states, North Korea is not actively engaged in war crimes or genocide, but it certainly is guilty of crimes against humanity, including the state of food insecurity and collective misery that the

U.N. human rights investigators have attributed to “the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation.”

While Pyongyang will not be deterred from its nuclear path or

systematic abuse of its own people, such a united diplomatic stand around the globe will give further momentum to U.N. member states to investigate North Korea’s illicit activities and call the Kim regime out on its human rights violations.

Foreign diplomatic missions in Pyongyang could also close shop indefinitely until DPRK at least reverts to its peace ploy phase, which will come in due course.

For once, the law-abiding, self-respecting nations of the world must call out North Korea’s ruler, in a way that goes beyond casting an ephemeral, feel- good vote at the U.N. General Assembly.

Collectively downgrading North Korea’s diplomatic standing in the world may not instill in Kim’s courtiers anytime soon thoughts of tyrannicide. Nor will it stamp out Kim’s nuclear and missile policies.

Yet it will temper the North Korean tyrant’s unbridled impulse to escalate further under the presumption he can manhandle Seoul and Washington — as the world has allowed him throughout the year — by being a constant and irreversible nuclear threat to them.

2. North Korea Raises the Nuclear Stakes

Deterrence and defense must be the foundation of our alliance and all diplomatic actions (that should go without saying of course).

But the challenge is how to continue to enhance deterrence?

Excerpts:

A less provocative option could be for the United States to introduce “nuclear sharing” as it currently does with NATO allies. The United States has long had such arrangements with several NATO states, which involve stationing U.S. nuclear weapons on their territories to be delivered by aircraft and pilots from those countries in the event of a conflict. If a major war were to break out, NATO’s Nuclear Planning Group has to give its explicit approval to deploy these weapons; the U.S. president and British prime minister would have to provide authorization as well. Only then would B-61 bombs be delivered by European aircraft.

One could imagine a similar arrangement being developed with South Korea, one of the United States’ most important non-NATO allies. The Pentagon may well be correct that, from a strictly military standpoint, such a policy may not have much to recommend it. It could, however, help to bolster deterrence and reassure the South Korean public in the face of North Korea’s looming threat.

It is obvious why none of the options to bolster South Korean deterrence have yet been implemented: all come with major drawbacks. But there is a strong sense in South Korea that something needs to be done to address its heightened security concerns. The threat from North Korea is growing, and since Trump’s presidency, U.S. security guarantees appear less sturdy. The Biden administration needs to act to bolster the alliance as it comes under increasing strain.

A task force convened by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations offered some useful recommendations, including bringing South Korea, along with Japan and Australia, into an Asian Nuclear Planning Group, which would foster greater understanding of U.S. nuclear policies. South Korea could also be included in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, the alliance that unites the United States with Australia, India, and Japan. The problem, of course, is that whatever Biden does today, a future president could undo. Still, these moves could provide a measure of reassurance to South Koreans that they will not be abandoned.

North Korea Raises the Nuclear Stakes

The Kim Regime’s Dangerous New Capabilities and Doctrine

By Sue Mi Terry

October 25, 2022

Foreign Affairs · by Sue Mi Terry · October 25, 2022

Over the past few months, many Western analysts have been deeply concerned about the possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin might deploy a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine. But Putin is not the only autocrat who could resort to weapons of mass destruction. Look no further than North Korea. In the past year, the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile, a train-mounted ballistic missile, a new surface-to-air defense missile system, a long-range strategic cruise missile, and multiple hypersonic missiles. And there are indications that North Korea is preparing its seventh nuclear test, possibly to showcase a more compact, next-generation tactical nuclear weapon.

The fact that North Korea has had nuclear weapons for so long (its first nuclear test was in 2006) has inured analysts and policymakers to the gravity of the threat. The North can now credibly threaten the continental United States with nuclear weapons. But the threat goes beyond U.S. domestic security: North Korea’s development of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) could spark an arms race in northeast Asia. Kim’s saber rattling has increased public support in South Korea for that country to acquire its own nuclear capability, something that previously would have been regarded as implausible. A South Korean decision to go nuclear would prod China and Japan to augment their own weapon arsenals. With no easy solutions, the Biden administration has failed to articulate a policy response to these developments. It needs to get more engaged to prevent another crisis from spinning out of control.

Missile Man

Kim has been flexing his military muscle in provocative ways. In 2017, North Korea crossed the twin thresholds of developing a thermonuclear weapon and flight-testing an intercontinental ballistic missile, and it is now focused on developing tactical nuclear weapons intended for use against targets on or near the peninsula, which could include ports, airfields, command-and-control facilities, and missile defense installations belonging to both South Korean and U.S. forces. In April 2022, the North tested eight nuclear-capable missiles with different ranges from five different launch sites to demonstrate its capability to hit a variety of targets in South Korea. Similar tests followed in September and October to simulate showering South Korea with tactical nuclear weapons.

Even as Kim has been expanding his WMD arsenal, he has also been threatening to launch a preemptive attack. These threats are not new, but the fact that Kim is publicly reserving the right to mount a first strike is nevertheless concerning. On September 9, at a meeting of North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament, Kim announced five conditions under which North Korea would launch a preemptive nuclear strike, effectively unveiling a new “first use” doctrine. The conditions are not only when a nuclear attack against North Korea is imminent but also when a nonnuclear strike on the country’s leadership or “national nuclear force command body” has been carried out; when a military attack on important state targets has occurred; or when the regime deems that only nuclear weapons can prevent the expansion of a conventional war. Kim also introduced legislation to enshrine North Korea’s nuclear status and asserted that he will never again engage in talks about denuclearization.

Kim is intent on sundering the U.S.–South Korea alliance.

Kim is clearly signaling that if a conventional strike is launched preemptively or is imminent against North Korea’s leadership or nuclear forces, he reserves the right to respond with nuclear weapons. In doing so, he is addressing a plausible scenario: as recently as 2017, U.S. policymakers discussed the possibility of a “bloody nose”—or preemptive—strike against North Korea. By threatening first use, Kim is also positioning North Korea to be able to employ nuclear blackmail against South Korea to coerce it into political concessions, perhaps ultimately with the aim of getting some kind of unification arrangement on North Korean terms.

Whatever he does, Kim is intent on sundering the U.S.–South Korea alliance by making it too costly and risky for Washington to come to Seoul’s aid in a crisis. He may well calculate that the United States will not respond to a North Korean attack on South Korea because it will be too concerned about a North Korean nuclear attack on U.S. bases in Asia or even against the United States itself. Kim could be encouraged by Putin’s nuclear saber rattling to imagine that the United States can be forced to back off with such threats. To be sure, the United States hasn’t stopped arming Ukraine and has even increased its supply of weapons, but the Biden administration has drawn sharp limits on this support; for example, the U.S. military has not provided longer-range weapons and has not sent any U.S. troops to Ukraine, even as trainers.

An Ominous Global Climate

This North Korean buildup is occurring in an international climate that is favorable for North Korea. Washington’s mounting animosity with both China and Russia means that those countries are less likely than ever to cooperate with the United States and its allies in strengthening sanctions on North Korea. Consider what happened when North Korea sent an intermediate-range missile flying over Japan on October 4, 2022. The missile flew 4,500 kilometers—farther than any other missile previously launched by North Korea—before landing in the Pacific Ocean, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres decried the bellicose move as a “reckless act.” But China and Russia blocked the UN Security Council from condemning the attack. The U.S. representative to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, decried how “two permanent members of the Security Council have enabled Kim Jong Un.” In addition to Russian and Chinese intransigence to holding North Korea accountable at the UN, those two countries are the focus of U.S. policymakers, which leaves the Biden administration with less bandwidth to focus on the North Korea threat.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, moreover, has underlined for the North the importance of having nuclear weapons. Kim no doubt questions whether Putin would have launched his invasion if Ukraine had not given up its nuclear weapons in 1994. The war reinforces the lessons Kim has drawn from Iraq and Libya, where strongmen who gave up WMD programs were overthrown and killed. Only WMDs, it seems, can guarantee regime survival.

All of these developments have understandably unsettled South Korea—a nuclear-free state that is now facing a nuclear-armed neighbor. South Korea has traditionally relied on the American nuclear deterrent to stay safe, but U.S. President Donald Trump flirted with removing U.S. troops from South Korea if Seoul did not dramatically increase the amount of money it paid to support them. South Korea, and other U.S. allies, have good cause for concern about what would happen if Trump or another “America First” candidate were to win the presidency in 2024 or beyond. It is unclear whether they could still rely on the U.S. nuclear umbrella, especially with the United States’ growing vulnerability to a North Korean nuclear attack.

South Koreans are increasingly debating how their country can strengthen its deterrence. They may press Washington for the rotation of more nuclear-capable U.S. weapons systems, such as B-52s or F-35s, to their country. They could ask for the introduction of NATO-style sharing of nuclear weapons between the United States and South Korea or the redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear systems, which were pulled out of South Korea in 1991. And then there is the most radical option of all: namely, South Korea itself could go nuclear. In a recent poll, 55 percent of the population supported such a move. That is an increase of ten points in one year, indicating South Koreans’ accelerating alarm about North Korea’s WMD buildup.

Eyes on Washington

The U.S. government is unlikely to support any of these possible South Korean policy responses aside from occasional rotations of nuclear-capable U.S. aircraft and ships to South Korea. Washington is particularly opposed to the redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea or the South Korean government developing its own nuclear weapons. Many in the U.S. military simply do not see the need for such steps since the United States can hit any target in North Korea using highly precise conventional weapons. If the conflict escalates and a nuclear strike is necessary, the weapons can be launched from secure U.S. platforms such as ballistic-missile submarines or long-range bombers that do not need to be based on the peninsula.

American military experts fear that if U.S. nuclear weapons were stationed in South Korea, they could make tempting targets for a preemptive North Korean attack. From the U.S. perspective, South Korea should trust that having 28,500 American troops in South Korea is evidence of the deep U.S. commitment to its defense. But these arguments do not convince many skeptics in South Korea, who fear that North Korea’s nuclear arsenal could deter U.S. intervention and that the election of an isolationist president in the United States could put the alliance at risk.

South Korea President Yoon Suk-yeol is unlikely to take the most radical step—starting a nuclear weapons program—because South Koreans remain divided on the issue (the liberal opposition party, which is in the legislative majority, is firmly opposed), and it would come with many pitfalls. For one thing, it would risk creating a rift with the United States—as previously happened in the 1970s when then-President Park Chung-hee launched a clandestine nuclear program but abandoned it in exchange for security guarantees from the United States. To pursue nuclear weapons legally, South Korea would need to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty or risk international sanctions. In the aftermath of such a decision, South Korea could be isolated internationally—as Pakistan was initially after it went nuclear— and the U.S.–South Korea alliance could come under fresh strains. (It is true, however, that Israel and India are hardly international pariahs despite their nuclear weapons programs.) Such a step would, moreover, raise the risk of a preemptive North Korean attack before South Korea could make its weapons program operational. And, of course, Japan and China could respond by augmenting their own weapons programs. Japan could go nuclear; China could expand its already substantial nuclear arsenal.

South Koreans remain divided on starting a nuclear weapons program.

A less provocative option could be for the United States to introduce “nuclear sharing” as it currently does with NATO allies. The United States has long had such arrangements with several NATO states, which involve stationing U.S. nuclear weapons on their territories to be delivered by aircraft and pilots from those countries in the event of a conflict. If a major war were to break out, NATO’s Nuclear Planning Group has to give its explicit approval to deploy these weapons; the U.S. president and British prime minister would have to provide authorization as well. Only then would B-61 bombs be delivered by European aircraft.

One could imagine a similar arrangement being developed with South Korea, one of the United States’ most important non-NATO allies. The Pentagon may well be correct that, from a strictly military standpoint, such a policy may not have much to recommend it. It could, however, help to bolster deterrence and reassure the South Korean public in the face of North Korea’s looming threat.

It is obvious why none of the options to bolster South Korean deterrence have yet been implemented: all come with major drawbacks. But there is a strong sense in South Korea that something needs to be done to address its heightened security concerns. The threat from North Korea is growing, and since Trump’s presidency, U.S. security guarantees appear less sturdy. The Biden administration needs to act to bolster the alliance as it comes under increasing strain.

A task force convened by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations offered some useful recommendations, including bringing South Korea, along with Japan and Australia, into an Asian Nuclear Planning Group, which would foster greater understanding of U.S. nuclear policies. South Korea could also be included in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, the alliance that unites the United States with Australia, India, and Japan. The problem, of course, is that whatever Biden does today, a future president could undo. Still, these moves could provide a measure of reassurance to South Koreans that they will not be abandoned.

• SUE MI TERRY is Director of the Asia Program and the Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy at the Wilson Center. A former CIA analyst, she served on the National Intelligence Council in 2009-10 and the National Security Council in 2008-9.

Foreign Affairs · by Sue Mi Terry · October 25, 2022

3. Trappings of North Korean leader’s lavish lifestyle visible by satellite

Images at the link: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/yachts-islands-10212022160256.html

It is good to see RFA broadcast this information into the north. Along with Kim prioritizing nuclear weapons and missiles over the welfare of the Korean people in the north, Kim alos prioritizes the elite and himself. This needs to be part of the key themes and messages for an information and influence campaign (and RFA and VOA need to just keep doing what they do well like this report).

Trappings of North Korean leader’s lavish lifestyle visible by satellite

Satellite expert Bruce Songhak Chung investigates Kim Jong Un’s fleet of yachts and private island getaways.

By Jungmin Noh for RFA Korean

2022.10.22

rfa.org

Bruce Songhak Chung is the deputy director of the Geo Satellite Information Research Institute at Kyungpook National University in South Korea. Using Google Earth, he identified as many as 30 luxury villas and several private islands used by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his family on vacation. He also spotted a fleet of five supersize yachts, one of which has a four-lane, Olympic-sized swimming pool.

The extravagance of the Kim family lifestyle is a stark contrast to the living conditions of the majority of North Koreans, who struggle to make ends meet in an economy devastated by international sanctions and a lengthy trade pause with China due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The sanctions, imposed in response to North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, are supposed to prevent imports of luxury goods into the country, but, as Chung’s research shows, they have not prevented the first family from continuing to live the high life.

Chung recently presented his findings to RFA’s Korean Service. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

RFA: How many of Kim Jong Un’s luxury villas have you identified through satellite images?

Chung: There are 20 to 30 exclusive luxury villas in North Korea used by the family of General Secretary Kim Jong Un. Among them, General Secretary Kim is particularly fond of his villa in Wonsan, Kangwon province, his hometown. The Wonsan facility, as seen from the satellite images, is equipped with luxurious cruise ships, a marina, a horse-riding range, a shooting range, a water play area and many other splendid entertainment facilities. In 2013, Dennis Rodman, a former basketball player from the United States, was invited there twice, in February and September, as Kim showed off his luxurious pleasure facilities.

North Korean leader’s villa in Wonsan, as well as one of his yachts, can be seen in this January 2022 image. Credit: Maxar Technologies

RFA: What does the Wonsan facility look like in the latest satellite imagery? What facilities can you see?

Chung: There is a long, soft, white sand beach in front of the Wonsan villa. The sandy beach is famous for its outstanding scenery. His father, [former leader] Kim Jong Il, also enjoyed fishing and swimming here. The length of the white sand beach is 530 meters (0.3 miles), and there about 10 large and small villas located on the beach, and they have good views. If you look at the satellite image taken in January 2022, you can see the 50-meter (164 ft) long cruise ship with a blue roof in front of the villa. In front of the beach, you can also see a building where Secretary Kim had lunch with Rodman. The walking trails and gardens are well maintained. At a glance, you can tell that it is a large-scale villa complex.

RFA: You also were able to identify Kim Jong Un’s cruise ships. Is it true that one of them has an international standard-sized swimming pool and a waterslide?

Chung: Yes, General Secretary Kim owns luxurious cruise ships. We identified four cruise ships so far at the Wonsan villa. The lengths of cruise ships are 50, 55, 60 and 80 meters (262.4 feet). Besides these, he owns many smaller luxury boats. On the deck of the 80-meter cruise ship, we can see a 2.5-meter wide pool that has four 50-meter lanes. That makes international standard size and four people can compete at the same time. We can also see four circular slides. Recently, the 55-meter long cruise ship has been refurbished. Its roof deck has been expanded from 20 meters to 40 meters and freshly painted.

Three of Kim Jong Un’s yachts can be seen at the port of Wonsan in this Dec. 2019 image. Credit: CNES/Airbus

RFA: Was it confirmed that one of Kim’s luxury cruise ships disappeared?

Chung: Yes. So far, a total of five luxury cruise ships have been identified in the satellite images. One of them has now been retired, and only four remain. That one was 60 meters long and nine meters wide, and it disappeared in November 2017. According to foreign media reports, the cruise ship had reached the end of its lifespan and it was dismantled and decommissioned. General Secretary Kim's cruise ships were all generally introduced in the 1990s. Each ship’s life expectancy is estimated to be about 30 years.

RFA: Has anything in these luxury ships violated U.N. sanctions against North Korea? Do we have any satellite evidence of sanctions violations?

Chung: I believe that these cruise ships were introduced in the 1990s under Kim Jong Il. The U.N. sanctions against North Korea were implemented from the mid-2000s because of North Korea's continuous missile and nuclear tests. Therefore, these cruise ships must have been introduced before that. Luxury goods are prohibited items from trade with North Korea by U.N. sanctions, but North Korea secretly purchases luxury items such as cars, boats and expensive whiskey, so they seem to be able to find a way to purchase these items.

RFA: After Rodman visited the area, he had a lot to say about some of the surrounding islands. Are they visible on the satellite photos as well?

Chung: There are three beautiful islands. Their names are Sa-do, Tongdok-do and Chon-do. Each island has ship berthing facilities and their own villas too. Rodman, who visited North Korea twice in 2013, said in an interview with The Sun, a British daily, that the luxury villa on one of those islands was like a seven-star luxury hotel. If you look down on the island, the villa is situated in a forested area. Rodman said it was more fantastic than a luxury vacation in Hawaii or Spain. Even the richest people in the U.S. would not have been able to enjoy such luxury. I can't imagine how big the interior [of the villa] is. However, if you look at the satellite image, you can see that each island has well-established recreational facilities and is well organized.

RFA: Kim Jong Un's villas, luxury cruise ships and fantasy islands seem to be a grave departure from the lives of ordinary North Koreans today. Would you agree?

Chung: I have analyzed Kim's villas and luxury cruise ships for a long time. They are always kept in pristine condition. I believe a lot of resources and money go into maintaining them. The villas and cruise ships of the Kim family are so splendid that ordinary residents cannot even imagine [what they are like]. On the other hand, I heard that North Koreans who do not know anything [about the resorts] are worried about General Secretary Kim, saying ‘Our great leader worries about the people so much that he suffers in sacrifice by eating only rice balls and sleeping for just a few hours [each day].’ I feel scared of how propaganda works so well for Kim that North Koreans idolize him to the extent that they do.

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

rfa.org

4. N. Korea issues nationwide order to recruit additional soldiers

Gosh, is the nKPA having recruiting problems? It could not be because it is too "woke." (note sarcasm)

Excerpts:

The source said young people nowadays think entering the army is “worse than death” under the belief that the experience robs them of their youth for no good reason.

“[Young people] are avoiding military duty even more because they saw how soldiers who completed their military duty are not sent home, but rather forcefully sent to difficult-to-live areas of the country,” he explained.

N. Korea issues nationwide order to recruit additional soldiers

Rumors have recently been circulating inside North Korea that the authorities might lengthen the term of military service

By Kim Chae Hwan - 2022.10.25 6:00pm

dailynk.com

Kim Jong Un at the leadership podium during the Party Foundation Day military parade in Pyongyang on Oct. 10, 2020. (KCNA)

North Korea issued an order to army mobilization departments nationwide on Oct. 12 calling for the recruitment of additional troops, a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK last Friday.

The source said the order likely aims to supplement shortages of manpower in the military.

North Korea carried out its regular autumn recruitment in August and September. Following the latest order, however, army mobilization departments nationwide are reportedly going “on-site” take part in recruiting additional soldiers.

Rumors have recently been circulating inside North Korea that the authorities might lengthen the term of military service, too.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service had reported that North Korea shortened the period of military service last year by about two years — from nine to 10 years to seven to eight years for men, and from six to seven years to five years for women.

However, with word going round that the period of service might increase again, many more young people are reacting negatively to recruitment efforts or avoiding enlistment altogether.

In fact, Chongjin’s army mobilization department dispatched guidance officers to factories and other workplaces to carry out initial surveys for additional recruitments, but the surveys reportedly yielded little.

Most young people who were interviewed flatly refused to enlist in the military by offering a variety of excuses, including illness and only-child status, according to the source.

The source said one young person in Chongjin’s Ponam District was exempted from the additional recruitment efforts after he gave the city’s army mobilization department a note saying he required over three months of “stabilization treatment” after stepping in front of a passing car on Oct. 14.

In Hoeryong’s Nammun-dong neighborhood, one young person caused a local uproar when he disappeared for several days after hearing news of the additional recruitment efforts.

The source said young people nowadays think entering the army is “worse than death” under the belief that the experience robs them of their youth for no good reason.

“[Young people] are avoiding military duty even more because they saw how soldiers who completed their military duty are not sent home, but rather forcefully sent to difficult-to-live areas of the country,” he explained.

Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.

Read in Korean

dailynk.com

5. Many N. Koreans give up preparing kimchi for the winter citing rising cost of red pepper powder

I do not think we, as non-Koreans, can ever grasp how important Kimchi is to the Korean people.

Excerpt:

Kimchi accounts for so great a portion of the people’s sustenance that North Koreans call it “food for half the year.” However, the source said as economic troubles deepen, more and more people are giving up on making kimchi, so many people are just frustrated when kimjang season arrives.

Many N. Koreans give up preparing kimchi for the winter citing rising cost of red pepper powder

“People barely make KPW 5,000 a day working, and they use that money to buy rice or firewood that they need right now," a source told Daily NK

By Lee Chae Un - 2022.10.25 3:00pm

dailynk.com

FILE PHOTO: Examples of kimchi made by North Koreans in Yanggang Province. (Daily NK)

The kimchi making season, or kimjang, has arrived, but many North Koreans have given up on preparing kimchi for the winter due to economic distress, Daily NK has learned.

A source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK last Thursday that although the kimjang began in Hyesan on Oct. 15, few families are taking part.

“This is because even though cabbages aren’t expensive this year, many families cannot make kimchi because of financial troubles,” he said.

According to the source, locals began the kimjang sooner than last year with the weather growing colder earlier.

Cabbages and radishes cost KPW 1,000 a kilogram each as of Oct. 18, some KPW 500 less than last year. They are cheaper than last year because many have been eaten by insects, and they suffer internal imperfections.

However, the price of red pepper powder has skyrocketed since last year. A kilogram of whole red peppers currently costs KPW 35,000 to KPW 40,000 in Hyesan, while red pepper powder reportedly costs KPW 45,000, about triple last year’s prices.

The source said the prices appear to have spiked due to droughts, torrential rains and typhoons causing a poor harvest this year, and because merchants have been buying up much of the crop.

“It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the rise in pepper prices is one of the reasons people have given up on kimjang,” said the source. “Unable to make a proper day’s living, people can’t imagine making kimchi in their circumstances.”

In fact, most people in Hyesan suffering economic distress are putting off making kimchi. Inminban, similar to neighborhood watch units, usually consist of about 25 to 30 households, but only two or three are making kimchi, based on the Yanggang Province-based source’s account.

PEOPLE FACE BIGGER CONCERNS THAN KIMCHI

The source said with cold weather arriving earlier this year, many people feel gathering firewood is more urgent than making kimchi.

“With people having trouble not only dealing with immediate food insecurity but also putting together the money to buy firewood for the winter, many households cannot do kimjang,” he explained.

In years past, people received at least a bit of cabbage and radish from their workplaces, so hard up families could make white kimchi – that is, kimchi without the red pepper powder. However, the source said that since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, workplace provisions of vegetables for the kimjang have ceased, and the number of households unable to make kimchi is growing every year.

“Before COVID-19 started, no matter how poor your were, you could make at least a little kimchi with the cabbage or radish you got from work, but since last year, making kimchi has proven difficult, unless you’re a cadre or a well-off household,” said the source.

“People barely make KPW 5,000 a day working, and they use that money to buy rice or firewood that they need right now,” he continued, adding, “So they can’t even think of making kimchi.”

Kimchi accounts for so great a portion of the people’s sustenance that North Koreans call it “food for half the year.” However, the source said as economic troubles deepen, more and more people are giving up on making kimchi, so many people are just frustrated when kimjang season arrives.

Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.

Read in Korean

dailynk.com

6. The goal of N. Korea’s missile and nuclear development is to perpetuate the rule of the Kim family…The regime is ignoring the existence of its starving population

​Here it is again. Do not take my word for it, just listen to ISHIMARU Jiro​.

This conclusion explains it all:

North Korea can immediately improve the devastatingly low level of nutrition suffered by its people by opening up its borders, allowing people to conduct economic activities freely, reducing its overreaching military expenditures and putting the money into medical care for its people, modernizing its agricultural industry, and importing food from abroad. Unfortunately, the interests of ordinary North Koreans are at odds with those held by the Kim family.

​

The goal of N. Korea’s missile and nuclear development is to perpetuate the rule of the Kim family…The regime is ignoring the existence of its starving population　ISHIMARU Jiro

asiapress.org

A young Kim Jong-un (to the left). The photograph appears to be taken when he accompanied his father on an on-the-spot inspection. The image was grabbed from a KCTV broadcast in May 2022 following the death of General Hyun Chul-hae.

Starting in late September, North Korea fired off a succession of ballistic missiles. The Japanese and South Korean media reported in detail about the firing range and other details about the missiles, but my upmost concern was focused on how the North Korean people viewed the launches. People in the country’s provinces are suffering from untold impoverishment, meaning that the government’s massive infusion of funds into the missile launches is essentially leading to the neglect of ordinary people’s lives and suffering.

◆ "When will our country’s food shortages be resolved?”

In mid-October, one of ASIAPRESS’s reporting partners living in the northern region of North Korea contacted me, saying:

“Most people have no interest in missile launches or things like that because they’re worried about putting food on the table. Is there discontent? Yes, of course. The government has long talked about us completing our nuclear weapons and missiles so that we can win in a war, but people are wondering when our food shortage problems will be resolved. People can’t say this aloud because they’re scared. All they can do is complain among those close to them.”

“The authorities have spread so much propaganda about how nukes and missiles are needed to protect socialism and the country’s autonomy – and that the American imperialists’ confrontational policies are causing people’s difficulties – that people without access to information from other countries just believe it.”

◆ The worst food shortages since the mass famine of the 1990s

The poverty suffered by North Koreans presently is the worst since the mass famine of the late 1990s. While the number of deaths by starvation are not as widespread as during that time, elderly people, children, and the sick are continuing to lose their lives due to the lack of food and medicine.

Following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020, North Korea shut down its borders, stopping trade and preventing people from coming and going. Private business activities have been so restricted that people in cities without as much cash income as before are joining the ranks of the “food-short households.”

The following reports give us a glimpse of the tragedy unfolding in the country:

“Urban dwellers sent to farms are starving there during the fall harvest season”

“I’ve seen a lot fewer elderly people on the streets over the past two years”

“There was a family that, having exhausted all other options, committed suicide by eating rat poison”

◆ The UN estimates that more than 40% of North Koreans suffer from malnutrition

According to statistics released by five UN agencies (including FAO and UNICEF) in July, there have been more than 10 million North Koreans, or 41.5% of the country’s total population, suffering from malnutrition from 2019 to 2021. This figure is similar to Yemen, which is embroiled in a civil war. It also shows that North Korea is Asia’s poorest country.

The Kim Jong-un regime, meanwhile, continues to plow money into nuclear and missile weapons development despite knowing that its citizens are starving. Some experts claim that the country’s military expenditures exceed 30% of its GDP. Given that people are dying of starvation and disease, the Kim regime’s logic of developing nuclear and missile technology to guarantee the security of the state is falling apart. The survival of ordinary people, it seems, is not of much interest to the country’s leaders.

North Korea was deeply transformed after Kim Il-sung established his monolithic leadership system in 1967. This system has been continued through the succession of his sons Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un coming into power, and the regime has come to require complete loyalty and obedience toward the Kim family from its people. There is little doubt that the development of nuclear weapons and missiles - while allowing ordinary people to starve - is aimed at perpetuating the rule of the Kim family.

North Korea can immediately improve the devastatingly low level of nutrition suffered by its people by opening up its borders, allowing people to conduct economic activities freely, reducing its overreaching military expenditures and putting the money into medical care for its people, modernizing its agricultural industry, and importing food from abroad. Unfortunately, the interests of ordinary North Koreans are at odds with those held by the Kim family.

※ ASIAPRESS communicates with its reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.

asiapress.org

7. S.Korea, U.S. Kick off Massive Maritime Exercises in West Sea

Sustaining readiness for deterrence and defense.

S.Korea, U.S. Kick off Massive Maritime Exercises in West Sea

english.chosun.com

October 25, 2022 11:43

The South Korean military kicked off four days of large-scale maritime drills in the West Sea on Monday, amid a series of recent North Korean provocations.

The Navy, Army, Air Force and Coast Guard are all participating alongside the U.S. Forces Korea. The drills are part of an annual defense exercise that ends on Friday.

The Navy is mobilizing about 20 warships, including Aegis destroyers and frigates, as well as maritime patrol aircraft and helicopters. The Army's Apache helicopters and the Air Force's F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets are also taking part.

They are joined by U.S. Army Apache helicopters and U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt attack aircraft.

A South Korean warship and U.S. helicopters participate in a joint exercise in the West Sea in June 2017. /News1

The drills aim to practice responding to North Korean provocations near the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border, and conducting maritime interdiction operations, as well as conducting joint maritime counter-special operations to quickly detect and annihilate amphibious enemy commandos in hovercraft attempting to infiltrate any of South Korea's five northwesternmost islands in the West Sea just south of the NLL.

Meanwhile, the South Korean military has joined a U.S.-led multinational exercise on cyber operations dubbed Cyber Flag, which lasts from Monday to Friday. The U.S. Cyber Command has conducted the annual event since 2011 to enhance joint cyber readiness with allies and friendly countries.

Some 25 countries including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.K. as well as South Korea and the U.S. are taking part in this year's exercise.

Hundreds of Warplanes to Participate in U.S.-S.Korea Air Drills

S.Korea Nudges U.S. to Share Tactical Nukes

N.Korean Warplanes Stage Show of Force

U.S. Nuclear Aircraft Carrier Forced Back by N.Korean Missile Launches

S.Korea, U.S. Start Massive Naval Exercise

Korean General Commands Joint Drills with U.S.

S.Korea, U.S. Resume Massive Military Drills

S.Korea, U.S. to Stage Massive Drill Amid Global Instability

USFK Conducts 1st Live-Fire Drill in 3 Years

U.S. Fighter Jets Arrive for Joint Exercises

S.Korean, U.S. Fighter Planes Stage Show of Force Against N.Korea

S.Korea, U.S. Fire Missiles After N.Korean Launches

USFK Launches New Apache Helicopter Squadron

USFK Practice Seizing Underground Nuclear Facility

S.Korea-U.S. War Simulation Exercises Kick off

Top Korean, U.S. Brass Board American Aircraft Carrier

Nuclear-Powered U.S. Aircraft Carrier to Join Drills with S.Korea

S.Korea, U.S. Stage Drills in Warning to N.Korea

S.Korea, U.S. Could Resume Massive Bomber Drills

• Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com

english.chosun.com

8. Thanking S.Korean People for the Gift of a Wall of Remembrance in Washington

Thank you Senator Sullivan for writing our nation's thank you message to Korea.

Thanking S.Korean People for the Gift of a Wall of Remembrance in Washington

english.chosun.com

October 25, 2022 13:23

Dan Sullivan

In America, we love our memorials -- particularly ones that are dedicated to the men and women who have fought and laid down their lives in conflicts across the globe. In Washington D.C, the three most-visited memorials on the National Mall are the World War II, Vietnam War, and Korean War Veterans Memorials, one of the most moving memorials that I regularly visit.

Members of the U.S. Marine Corps, myself included, study the battles of the Korean War intently to absorb the many lessons from that conflict. But I think there is so much we all can learn from the Korean War -- lessons that transcend warfighting and the battlefields. In our country, historians have called the Korean War the "Forgotten War," because it's so little talked about or understood. However, I think it should be called the "Noble War," because it epitomized the nobility of service. The 19 large statues of the memorial -- soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines -- grunts on patrol, with a cold, wet wind whipping their ponchos, their faces full of fear but also pride and determination -- capture what nobility looks like in action.

I did not think that the Korean War Memorial on our National Mall could be improved. I was wrong. On July 27, along with thousands of Americans, fellow members of Congress, Biden administration officials and, importantly, top officials from the South Korean government, I attended the dedication of the Wall of Remembrance that was added to the Korean War Memorial. Thanks to the generosity of the people of South Korea, who funded most of the costs of the $22 million Wall of Remembrance, the names of 36,573 Americans who were killed in action during the Korean War are now engraved here. Importantly, intermixed with the names of the Americans are the more than 7,200 KATUSA soldiers -- the South Korean Army personnel who served alongside American forces. These names are now are etched into marble and held in our nation's memory forever as American and South Korean brothers who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of freedom.

There are two engravings that stand out to me on the memorial. One of them says, "Freedom is not free," a saying we use often in the United States. Indeed, the freedoms that we enjoy in America and so many countries, like South Korea, are because of consequential battles that we have fought and won alongside our allies. In the Korean War, over 37,000 Americans were killed in action, over 8,000 are still listed as missing in action, and over 103,000 were left wounded. And, of course, the number of killed or wounded South Korean veterans and military and civilians from that war is in the millions -- an unimaginable sacrifice of South Korean people.

The men and women we lost during those battles are wounds that will never fully heal. But what also resonates are the very tangible results of the war in terms of freedom, no better depicted than the famous satellite images at night taken over the Korean Peninsula -- the dark and cold-looking North, and the South bursting with life and light.

The other inscription on the memorial that I believe holds great significance is this: "Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met."

Indeed, we knew little about each other's respective countries before the war. But the blood and treasure that our nation's troops expended alongside South Korean soldiers solidified our mutual bond -- a bond that has, through the eras, continued to strengthen and was further cemented by the generosity of South Korean people manifested in the beautiful and moving Wall of Remembrance that was recently dedicated in Washington, D.C.

It is for these reasons that my colleague, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, and I introduced and were able to unanimously pass a resolution in the United States Senate celebrating our countries' mutual alliance and thanking South Korea for their generosity.

Among other sentiments, the resolution states that "the Senate deeply appreciates and sincerely thanks the government and [South Koreans] for their generosity in funding the Wall of Remembrance, reflecting the shared sacrifice and common values of the U.S.-[South Korea] alliance."

The memorial does indeed reflect that sacrifice. But it also reflects the human costs, the sorrow, and the pride inherent in each of these sacrifices. Now, because of this new Wall of Remembrance, all Americans, and in particular those who lost friends or family members during the Korean War, have a sacred place to visit the names of their heroic loved ones. To South Korean people, thank you once again for such a beautiful and important gift to my country.

By Dan Sullivan, a Republican, represents Alaska in the United States Senate. He is a Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.

english.chosun.com

9. N. Korea likely to conduct nuclear test, but U.S. prepared for all contingencies: State Dept.

And this should also include internal instability and regime collapse and more.

Big 8 Contingencies

1. Provocations to gain political and economic concessions

2. nk Attack – execution of the nK campaign plan to reunify the peninsula by force

3. Civil War/Chaos/Anarchy

4. Refugee crisis

5. Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster relief

6. WMD, loss of control – seize and secure operations

7. Resistance to foreign intervention (e.g., insurgency)

8. How to handle the nKPA during regime collapse short of war

Contingencies for State, DOD, and ROK/US Alliance

•NEO – Korea, Japan, Taiwan – Afghanistan Lessons

•Ukraine - Impact of Putin’s War

•Learning that KJU is no longer in power – how to engage?

•Regime Instability and Collapse

•Conflict/War – Taiwan and Korean Peninsula - sequential or simultaneous – Can we do both?

•Post-collapse and post-conflict in north Korea

•Unification

•Chinese intervention in Korea

•COVID response throughout Asia

•From the 1990’s military planning for instability and collapse

•HA/DR

•Provocations

•Refugee flows

•Hostages

•WMD

•Civil War

(LEAD) N. Korea likely to conduct nuclear test, but U.S. prepared for all contingencies: State Dept. | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 변덕근 · October 25, 2022

(ATTN: UPDATES with remarks from NSC spokesperson John Kirby in last 6 paras)

By Byun Duk-kun

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is believed to be continuing preparations for a nuclear test while the U.S. is set to face any threat posed by the recalcitrant country, a state department spokesperson said Monday.

Department Press Secretary Ned Price said the U.S. also remains open to engaging in dialogue with Pyongyang.

"Our concern regarding the potential for another North Korean nuclear test, which would be its seventh, has been consistent for some time now. We assess that the DPRK is preparing its Punggye-ri test site for what would be its seventh test," Price said in a daily press briefing, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"We are preparing for all contingencies in close coordination with our partners and allies around the world," he added.

The spokesperson noted steps to be taken by the U.S. may include "adjustments" to U.S. defense posture.

"We are prepared to make both short- and longer-term adjustments to our military posture as appropriate in responding to DPRK provocation and as necessary to strengthen both defense and deterrence to protect our allies in the region," he said.

The remarks came as Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman began a three-day visit to Japan earlier in the day for bilateral and trilateral talks with her South Korean and Japanese counterparts.

Price said much of Sherman's ongoing trip to Tokyo will be "dedicated to discussing the challenge that the DPRK poses to the region."

The department spokesperson also reiterated U.S. commitment to engage in dialogue with the North.

"We have made consistently clear that we harbor no hostile intent towards the DPRK. We remain open to dialogue. We remain open to diplomacy," he said.

"At the same time, our commitment to the security of our personnel in the region, of our treaty allies is ironclad," added Price.

John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council (NSC), expressed concerns over North Korea's recent provocations, while highlighting the possibility of a potential nuclear test.

"We have been consistently concerned about North Korean provocations. It's not just because they have accelerated missile launches, for instance, in the last few weeks. It's been a consistent concern of ours, which is why several months ago, again, we added some intelligence capabilities off the Korean Peninsula to help us get a little bit better insight," he said in a telephonic press briefing.

North Korea fired nearly a dozen ballistic missiles in just three weeks from late September, bringing the total number of ballistic missiles it launched this year to 44, the largest number of ballistic missiles fired in a single year, according to U.S. officials.

"We have said that the North Koreans could conduct the nuclear test at any time. We still believe that's the case," said Kirby.

The NSC strategic communications coordinator also reaffirmed U.S. commitment to engage in dialogue with Pyongyang, saying the U.S. has offered to sit down with the North "without preconditions."

"And that offer stands today. No preconditions. We are willing to sit down and start to have a dialogue."

bdk@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by 변덕근 · October 25, 2022

10. U.S. ground forces change main wartime aim in Korea, says JoongAng

Hmmm....

Tuesday

October 25, 2022

 dictionary + A - A 

U.S. ground forces change main wartime aim in Korea, says JoongAng

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/10/25/national/northKorea/korea-north-korea-pyongyang/20221025192003785.html

An armored fighting vehicle of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team arrives in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi on Oct. 8. [YONHAP]

The main mission of U.S. ground forces in South Korea in case a war breaks out with the North will be to eliminate weapons of mass destruction in North Korea.

South Korean government sources exclusively told the JoongAng Ilbo on Tuesday that Washington relayed its shift in priority to Seoul earlier this year.

In the past, the core mission of U.S. ground forces stationed in the South was to repel North Korean aggression alongside South Korean troops.

According to multiple government sources who spoke with the paper on the condition of anonymity, Washington broke the news to Seoul before the end of June as it was explaining the major tasks of the Stryker brigade combat team (SBCT) ahead of the team’s arrival in Korea.

Washington was said to have told Seoul that in case of war, the SBCT would be directed to infiltrate North Korea to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear weapons; help evacuate over 200,000 American citizens from the Korean peninsula; and reception, staging, onward movement and integration, also known as RSOI, which refers to the process of transforming personnel and equipment into mission-capable forces.

After that explanation, the U.S. Department of Defense announced on June 30 that beginning in the fall, the Korea Rotational Force will transition from an armored brigade combat team (ABCT) to an SBCT, adding that the transition was meant to “enable the U.S. to maintain capabilities on the Korean peninsula to rapidly respond to any acts of aggression.” 

“The SBCT is an infantry-centric unit with over 4,400 Soldiers who offer speed, efficiency, increased mobility and strategic flexibility to senior commanders,” the Defense Department statement read.

“The existing ABCT equipment, which includes M-1 Abrams tanks and M-2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, will be maintained on the Korean peninsula in a ready state to further ensure a robust defense capability.”

The SBCT started arriving in Korea from Oct. 7 and is scheduled to officially assume responsibility as the 12th rotational brigade to Korea during a transfer of authority ceremony on Nov. 9.

But even as Washington stressed its commitment to South Korea, some experts express doubt about the SBCT’s role, saying that it appears the United States is actually weakening its military presence on the peninsula by replacing a team best known for war tanks with one that’s mainly equipped with armored carrier vehicles.

“The U.S. is a country that projects its military force throughout the entire world,” said Park Won-gon, a North Korean studies professor at Ewha Womans University, “so the Korean peninsula isn’t the only thing that’s on its mind.”

Park said the U.S. might be focusing more on containing China while pressuring the South to contribute more to the allies’ defense of the peninsula.

The transition of the Korea Rotational Force comes as Pyongyang has been raising tensions by launching ballistic missiles, firing shells into maritime buffer zones and crossing the Northern Limit Line, the de-facto inter-Korean sea border in the Yellow Sea.

South Korean government officials have for months warned that a seventh nuclear test from Pyongyang could come any time.

BY LEE CHUL-JAE, LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]

11. North fulminates over broadcasts that aren't happening

The Korean people in the north, armed with information, are an existential threat to the regime. The regime is deathly afraid of information.

Tuesday

October 25, 2022

 dictionary + A - A 

North fulminates over broadcasts that aren't happening

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/10/25/national/northKorea/Korea-loudspeaker-propaganda/20221025182423051.html

South Korean soldiers remove loudspeakers from the Odusan Unification Observatory in Paju, Gyeonggi, on June 16, 2004. [YONHAP]

The North Korean military on Monday accused South Korea of provoking it with propaganda broadcasts over loudspeakers, which were halted at the border in 2018.

Some analysts say North Korea may be bluffing just to ensure the broadcasts aren't resumed by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.

“The Korean People's Army [KPA] General Staff once again sends a grave warning to the enemies ... in the wake of such provocations as the recent artillery firing and loudspeaker broadcasting on the ground front,” the KPA General Staff said through a statement on Monday.

The statement was released after an exchange of warning shots following a North Korean ship crossing the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea, the de facto maritime border, on Monday.

Loudspeakers on the inter-Korean border were dismantled after the Panmunjom Declaration was signed between the two Korea leaders in 2018.

“During the Moon Jae-in administration on May 4, 2018, a total of 51 loudspeakers were dismantled, and there are currently none in the Demilitarized Zone [DMZ],” the South Korean military said Tuesday.

“On Oct. 18, a helicopter entered the Civilian Control Line to transport an emergency patient, and at that time we used broadcasting equipment installed at front-line guard posts,” it added.

Experts say that North Korea has exaggerated or distorted the South's actions in the past as an excuse for provocations. Yet they say it's unusual for the North to make up something that has never happened.

“North Korea has been extremely sensitive to loudspeaker broadcasts in the past,” said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification. “They’re claiming that South Korea may break its promise to stop broadcasting, which is stipulated in the Panmunjom Declaration, and in that case, it may have to take full responsibility.”

The South Korean government reinstalled loudspeakers and resumed anti-Pyongyang broadcasts in response to serious provocations by the North, including the sinking of the Cheonan warship in 2010, a landmine incident in 2015 and its fourth nuclear test in 2016.

The South could resume propaganda broadcasts if North Korea conducts a seventh nuclear test.

“What’s more feared than nuclear weapons are loudspeaker broadcasts into the North,” said Rep. Tae Yong-ho of the People Power Party (PPP), a defector who once served as North Korea's deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom.

“They’re a means of shaking up the North Korean military and its people,” Tae said. “In the past, whenever the South chose to resume loudspeaker broadcasts — after the Cheonan warship sinking, the landmine incident and the nuclear test — North Korea was in great pain.”

Former Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo, who participated in high-level inter-Korean talks after the North fired projectiles towards a South Korean loudspeaker in August 2015, noted, “North Korea's concern was solely the suspension of loudspeaker broadcasts, and they only focused on the loudspeakers and barely brought up other issues [during the talks.]”

South Korea agreed to stop broadcasting propaganda via loudspeakers in 2015, with Pyongyang promising to express regret for a landmine attack that severely injured two South Korean soldiers.

North Korea has been very touchy about the loudspeakers in the past. 

According to a document Rep. Tae received from the Unification Ministry, Pyongyang blasted the South Korean side of the broadcasts in April 2012, saying “the group of traitors talked slanderous verbal attacks day and night,” and threatened to “start military action if the anti-North Korea broadcasts aren’t stopped in 48 hours.” 

In 2016, the North said “the anti-North Korea broadcasts which persistently spew out anti-socialism and anti-republicanism ... are the ugly minds of the puppets to turn the DMZ into a new bombshell of a war.” 

Responding to North Korea’s recent provocations with anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts would run counter to a law and the inter-Korean agreement made during the Moon administration.

South Korea’s anti-leaflet law, or the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act, which was passed in December 2020 stipulates, “No person shall harm the lives or bodies of the people or cause serious danger by loudspeaker broadcasting toward North Korea in areas along the Military Demarcation Line.”

The 2018 Panmunjom Declaration states, “All the hostile acts including the loud-speaker broadcasting in the areas along the Military Demarcation Line will be stopped.”

12. Bracing for the North’s multi-front provocations

Provocations are nothing to be afraid of. They are part of Kim's failing strategy. We should make sure Kim knows that.

Tuesday

October 25, 2022

 dictionary + A - A 

Bracing for the North’s multi-front provocations

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/10/25/opinion/editorials/North-Korea-infiltration-vessels/20221025193934057.html

A North Korean vessel infiltrated the Northern Limit Line (NLL) — a maritime border South Korea set in the Yellow Sea — and retreated upon warning fire from the South Korean navy.

According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, North Korean merchant vessel Mupo crossed the NLL around 3:42 AM Monday, about 27 kilometers ($17 miles) northeast of Baengnyeong Island in the South Korean waters. The ship was pushed back after a South Korean naval ship fired several rounds of shells as a warning. It is the first time a North Korean vessel invaded South Korean waters since January 2017.

In June 2001, North Korean vessels bluntly pushed their way into South Korean waters after crossing the maritime demarcation line. A fleet of 10 were as bold as to go as far as the Jeju Strait. The slack response from the South Korean navy at the time caused a public uproar. The Korean navy responded according to the manual this time.

The NLL violation is an extension of the North’s latest series of ballistic missile launches and artillery drills. Pyongyang has blatantly violated the Sept. 19 inter-Korean military agreement in Pyonyang in 2018. In relation to the latest incident, North Korea claimed the South intruded into its maritime border after firing 10 artillery shots into a buffer zone, which is also a violation of the inter-Korean agreement.

North Korea has been employing various military means to raise tensions and build up the environment for its seventh nuclear test and launch of inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM). It aims to provoke South Korea to the extent of the country bolting out of the military agreement so that it can launch a bigger military action by blaming Seoul for the conflict.

The NLL violation came after the Communist Party congress ended in China. Since Chinese President Xi Jinping has earned a third term, Pyongyang can ratchet up provocations. Experts predict a seventh nuclear test or ballistic missile launch from a submarine or the launch of an ICBM. Pyongyang could demonstrate its strategic nuclear weapons and threaten the U.S. with a ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

North Korea’s provocation cannot help the survival of the Kim Jong-un regime or the livelihoods of North Koreans. Even with nuclear weapons, North Korea cannot defeat South Korea. The more offensive the North becomes, the stronger alliance between the South and the U.S. will be. With North Korea ready to detonate a nuclear device, some are arguing for redeployment of tactical nukes in South Korea, or sharing nuclear weapons as with NATO members, or South Korea independently arming with nuclear weapons. Pyongyang must stop provocations. Authorities must strengthen readiness against the North’s offensive.

13. How Kim could use his nukes

Conclusion:

And yet, there is no time to wait. Foreign and security officials know well that redeployment of tactical nukes is impossible. But we are facing a situation so desperate that we have to raise the issue. When South Korea is in economic crisis, North Korea can shake the currency and stock markets with just one missile. If redeployment of tactical nukes is impossible, we must demand the U.S. show some progress in sharing nuclear weapons. We should have done that before.

Tuesday

October 25, 2022

 dictionary + A - A 

How Kim could use his nukes

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/10/25/opinion/columns/Putin-Kim-Jongun-tactical-nukes/20221025193503953.html

Chae Byung-gun

The author is the international, diplomatic and security news director of the JoongAng Ilbo.

South Korea’s nuclear development is considered taboo in Korea-U.S. relations. No ally of the United States, whether it be South Korea or Japan, can develop nuclear weapons. Redeployment of tactical nuclear nukes is another issue that cannot be raised easily. Their redeployment is a thorny issue for the U.S., which promotes nonproliferation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are directly challenging the common sense that mankind must not use nuclear weapons and nuclear proliferation must be stopped. Putin is threatening a nuclear strike in Ukraine and Kim is making a blunt threat with nuclear weapons.

Putin shows how serious a threat North Korea’s nuclear program is. In June, The Atlantic proposed four possible scenarios of how Putin might use tactical nuclear weapons: a detonation over the Black Sea causing no casualties but demonstrating a resolve to cross the nuclear threshold and signaling that worse may come; a decapitation strike against the Ukrainian leadership, attempting to kill President Volodymyr Zelensky and his advisers in their underground bunkers; a nuclear assault on a Ukrainian military target, perhaps an air base or a supply depot, which is not intended to harm civilians; and the destruction of a Ukrainian city, causing mass civilian casualties and creating terror to precipitate a swift surrender.

Putin is fiddling with a nuclear card because he thinks a nuclear attack will spread fear in Ukraine, ending the people’s will to fight and forcing them to surrender. At the same time, it can create a rift in the western world over how to retaliate against Russia.

Putin’s scenario can be used to predict Kim’s scenario of using a tactical nuke.

First, North Korea may fire a nuclear missile in the East Sea. Until now, a nuclear test and a ballistic missile launch were done separately, but the North can strike a target on the East Sea to show the world that it is a nuclear power that can undertake a nuclear strike at any time.

Second, North Korea may conduct a decapitation strike against the South Korean leadership by striking the presidential office or presidential residence using a nuclear weapon.

Third, North Korea may conduct a nuclear assault on key military targets including the U.S. air base in Osan.

Fourth, the North may launch short-range nuclear missiles at Seoul. After the North uses both nuclear and non-nuclear missiles, the South and the United States will intercept most of them with Patriot missiles, but one or two tactical nuclear missiles destroy Seoul. Casualties and damages will be high and Seoul will lose its role. When the country is small, like South Korea, there is no differentiating a tactical nuke from a strategic nuke.

What Kim aims to achieve is unifying the two Koreas by overturning economic and military levels with a preemptive tactical nuclear attack. In the second, third and fourth scenarios, the South’s government and military leadership will disappear instantly and any response system will collapse. The U.S. will hesitate, fearing an all-out nuclear war, and miss the timing for retaliation. In this case, Kim’s nuclear gamble will become a huge success. Without any fight, the North will win. The South’s financial and assets markets will collapse.

Putin cannot easily start a nuclear assault because of the possibility of retaliation from the Western world, including Uncle Sam. Just like Putin, Kim must have been calculating the possibility of whether the regime would collapse due to the U.S. military retaliation or not. Furthermore, the U.S. troops in South Korea are serving as a tripwire, unlike in Ukraine, so the nuclear attack against the South can be considered a nuclear attack against the United States.

And yet, there is no time to wait. Foreign and security officials know well that redeployment of tactical nukes is impossible. But we are facing a situation so desperate that we have to raise the issue. When South Korea is in economic crisis, North Korea can shake the currency and stock markets with just one missile. If redeployment of tactical nukes is impossible, we must demand the U.S. show some progress in sharing nuclear weapons. We should have done that before.

14. US ambassador highlights alliance role in face of 'unprecedented' global threats

US ambassador highlights alliance role in face of 'unprecedented' global threats

The Korea Times · October 25, 2022

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg speaks at a conference on the South Korea-U.S. alliance held at a hotel in central Seoul, Oct. 25. Yonhap

The top U.S. envoy in South Korea on Tuesday stressed the importance of broadening the two countries' alliance to encompass "shared values" while voicing concerns over "unprecedented" threats from the "authoritarian" countries of North Korea, China and Russia.

Amb. Philip Goldberg made the remarks at a forum amid Pyongyang's continued saber-rattling, Moscow's much-criticized war in Ukraine and Beijing's assertiveness under President Xi Jinping, who has secured an unprecedented third term in power.

"We face unprecedented threats and challenges in the world today, largely from authoritarian states ― Russia, China and North Korea," he said during the forum co-hosted by the Korea-U.S. Alliance Foundation and the Korea Defense Veterans Association.

"We're redefining and reinforcing the future of our shared security with joint initiatives that are modern, forward-looking and inclusive," he added.

The ambassador also pointed out South Korea's role in promoting the allies' shared values of democracy and freedom under their joint pursuit of a "global strategic partnership."

"It's important for future generations to understand our history, and to learn how to partner and how to expand beyond the military alliance to encompass our shared values," he said.

He went on to say: "That's what we're doing more and more. For Korea, that will mean taking a place in the world that the U.S. is encouraging, that will be equal to its economic significance, its economic weight, and its ability to help us in our pursuit of democracy and freedom around the world."

Goldberg called attention to the allies' new efforts to broaden their ties beyond security matters, such as South Korean companies building semiconductor factories in the U.S. to secure global supply chains.

"Part of the reason that we have to secure those supply chains is to make sure that the semiconductors that are used for advanced applications, like artificial intelligence, and supercomputers are in the right hands, not the wrong hands," he said, describing semiconductors as the "oil" of the 21st century.

In addition, the envoy said the allies can still do "much more" to address global challenges, like climate change and pandemics, while stressing that security remains central to the alliance.

"We will also face the challenges that we do every day from the North, and we will address those very important issues at the same time," he said.

The conference, which commemorates the alliance and features discussions on ways to strengthen ties between Seoul and Washington, was also attended by former U.S. Forces Korea commanders Gen. Robert Abrams, Gen. Vincent Brooks and Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti. (Yonhap)

The Korea Times · October 25, 2022

​15. S. Korea holds bilateral talks with U.S., Japan on N.K. threats amid nuke test speculation

S. Korea holds bilateral talks with U.S., Japan on N.K. threats amid nuke test speculation

The Korea Times · October 25, 2022

South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong, right, shakes hands with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman during their meeting at the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo, Oct. 25. Yonhap

South Korea on Tuesday held high-level bilateral consultations with the United States and Japan on North Korea's saber-rattling amid speculations that Pyongyang may soon conduct another nuclear test.

Cho Hyun-dong, Seoul's vice foreign minister, met with his U.S. counterpart, Wendy Sherman, at the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo to discuss ways to deal with North Korea's evolving threats highlighted by a series of ballistic missile launches in recent weeks.

"The two countries will solidify our deterrence against North Korea with overwhelming capabilities through a firm South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture and security cooperation," Cho told reporters at the outset of the meeting.

He also reiterated a warning that North Korea will face an "overwhelming and decisive response" when it uses a nuclear weapon.

Sherman characterized North Korea's continued provocations as being "deeply irresponsible, dangerous and destabilizing."

"We will use the full range of U.S. defense capabilities to defend our allies, including nuclear, conventional and missile defense capabilities," she said.

South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong, left, poses with his Japanese counterpart, Takeo Mori, at a hotel in Tokyo ahead of a bilateral meeting on Oct. 25. Yonhap

This week's session comes amid growing concerns that the North's Kim Jong-un regime may soon conduct another nuclear test and carry out additional provocative acts.

Officials in Seoul say the secretive North is apparently all set for its first nuclear test since September 2017.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service said the North may carry out its seventh nuclear test between Oct. 16 and Nov. 7, after the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and before the U.S. midterm elections.

Cho and Sherman also exchanged views on China's role in regional and global issues following the end of China's key party congress meeting, and other issues surrounding Ukraine, Southeast Asian and Pacific Island countries.

Later in the day, Cho held a separate one-on-one meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Takeo Mori, at a Tokyo hotel.

According to the Seoul foreign ministry, the two sides shared grave concerns about the recent nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, and exchanged views on the need to continuously strengthen cooperation between South Korea and Japan, as well as among Seoul, Washington and Tokyo.

The two sides also discussed the protracted row over wartime forced labor and other areas of mutual concern, and agreed to consult each other on pending issues "with a sense of tension and speed," the ministry added. (Yonhap)

The Korea Times · October 25, 2022

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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