Quotes of the Day:

“But to my surprise no studies have looked at the [Civil Rights] Movement through the prism of its similarity to military operations. A search of the American Historical Association’s database of doctoral dissertations in recent decades found more than 250 that studied the American Civil rights movement, but none that looked at the movement in this way.

Given that the civil rights movement relied heavily on nonviolent approaches, it may seem surprising or even jarring to think of it in military terms. Yet participants in the Movement often invoked the analogy. James Lawson, a key figure in developing the Movement’s philosophy and tactics and in training a cadre of influential leaders, once commented, “Protracted struggle is a moral struggle that is like warfare, moral warfare.” Another activist, Charles Sherrod of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, in looking back, said, “It was a war. Though it was a non-violent war, but it was indeed a war.” Cleveland Sellers said of the 1964 Freedom Summer campaign in Mississippi, it was almost like a shorter version of probably the Vietnam War.” And remember that the central tactic of the Movement – the march – is also the most basic of military operations. Indeed, even in war, marching sometimes is the more decisive than violence. For example, Napoleon observed that his great victory at Ulm in 1805 was achieved not by arms but by legs, as his foot soldiers outmaneuvered his Austrian foe.”

-Thomas E. Ricks in Waging A Good War – A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968 (2022)

"All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force."

-George Orwell

"The harshest tyranny is that which acts under the protection of legality and the banner of justice." 

- Montesquieu 

1. N. Korea threatens to take 'overwhelming' military steps against S. Korea, U.S.

2. North Korea claims missile tests were simulated attack on U.S. and South Korean targets

3. North Korea says recent missile tests were just practice for "mercilessly" hitting South Korean and U.S. targets

4. Analysis: Sanctions fail to halt North Korea's accelerating weapons programs

5. North Korea makes no mention of ICBM in report on more than 80 missile tests

6. N.Korea Stole Billions from Crypto Accounts

7. Confronting the North Korean Question in a Post-Unipolar World

8. Global Sanctions Must Punish N.Korea for Crypto Theft

9. North Korea expected to launch another ICBM before Nov. 29

10. Itaewon tragedy sparks debates on digital ethics

11. Senior diplomats of S. Korea, US, Japan hold phone talks over NK missile provocation

12. Managing potential conflict on Korean Peninsula

13. Experts see growing chances for arms control talks amid NK's rising belligerence

14. North Korea: Missile Tests Were Practice to Attack South, US

15. Philippines to urge peaceful resolution of Korean row

16. S. Korea's Navy retrieves suspected debris of NK missile that flew over NLL last week

17.  K-Peace Festival - Peaceful Unificaiton Advsory Commitee

1. N. Korea threatens to take 'overwhelming' military steps against S. Korea, U.S.

We must not be duped by the regime's Propaganda and Agitation Department. Kim's focus on exercises is not about his desire for "security guarantees." It is about driving a wedge in the ROK/US alliance, weakening the defensive capabilities of the alliance, and ultimately driving US forces off the peninsula. It is also designed to play to the ill-informed pundits who agitate for an end to readiness exercises and withdrawal of US troops in order to gain trust and cooperation from Kim Jong Un.

(LEAD) N. Korea threatens to take 'overwhelming' military steps against S. Korea, U.S. | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · November 7, 2022

(ATTN: UPDATES with more info throughout; ADDS photo, byline)

By Yi Wonju

SEOUL, Nov. 7 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's military said Monday it will take "sustained, resolute and overwhelming" practical military measures in response to joint military drills of South Korea and the United States amid speculation that Pyongyang may carry out another nuclear test just before or after the U.S. midterm elections this week.

In a "report" carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) also said it conducted a four-day "military operations" last week against the allies' Vigilant Storm exercise, claiming to have fired two strategic missiles just 80 kilometers off the southeastern coast of Ulsan.

"The recent corresponding military operations by the KPA are a clear answer of the DPRK that the more persistently the enemies' provocative military moves continue, the more thoroughly and mercilessly the KPA will counter them," the KPA said in the English-language statement. The DPRK is the acronym for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The KPA slammed the recent Vigilant Storm exercise as an "open provocation aimed at intentionally escalating the tension in the region."

"The KPA General Staff once again clarifies that it will continue to correspond with all the anti-DPRK war drills of the enemy with the sustained, resolute and overwhelming practical military measures," it added.

On Monday, South Korea kicked off its annual computer-simulated Taegeuk training to enhance operational capabilities against North Korean threats.

In an unusual move, the KPA gave a detailed account of a set of military operations conducted from Nov. 2 to 5. On Wednesday morning, it said missile units in North Pyongan Province fired "four tactical ballistic missiles loaded with dispersion warheads and underground infiltration warheads at a desert island off the West Sea Barrage."

The North's air force on the east and west coastal areas also fired "23 ground-to-air missiles while staging an exercise to annihilate air targets at different altitudes and distances," it added.

The North then fired two strategic cruise missiles with the shooting range of 590.5 km at the open sea around 80 km off the coast of Ulsan in South Korea from North Hamgyong Province in response to Seoul's firing of air-to-surface guided missiles and gliding guided bombs, according to the report.

The military response came after Pyongyang fired about two dozen missiles, including a short-range ballistic missile that landed near South Korea's territorial waters for the first time since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The KPA claimed it conducted on Thursday "important test-fire of ballistic missile to verify the movement reliability of a special functional warhead paralyzing the operation command system of the enemy."

The North appears to be referring to its latest launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, which the South's military presumed to have ended in failure.

The report said Pyongyang also fired five super-large multiple launch missiles, and tactical ballistic missiles of various missions and 46 long-range multiple launch missiles into the East Sea.

On Friday, it staged a "large-scale all-out combat sortie operation" of the air force for 3 hours and 47 minutes involving around 500 fighters, and fired two tactical ballistic missiles as well as two super-large multiple launch missiles the following day, according to the report.

Seoul and Washington staged a large-scale combined air exercise from Monday through Saturday involving hundreds of military aircraft, including stealth fighter jets and two B-1B supersonic bombers.

In protest, the North fired more than 30 missiles into the East Sea and the Yellow Sea last week alone.

The intelligence communities of South Korea and the U.S. say the secretive Kim Jong-un regime has completed preparations for a seventh nuclear test.

They say it may choose an exact timing in consideration of the U.S. midterm elections, slated to be held Tuesday (local time), in a bid to maximize the effects of the experiment.

julesyi@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · November 7, 2022

2. North Korea claims missile tests were simulated attack on U.S. and South Korean targets

The third line of effort of the regime's strategy (after political warfare and blackmail diplomacy) is the development of advanced warfighting capabilities. And what are those capabilities intended for? To fight a war. To execute a campaign plan that is designed to neutralize the alliance military forces before the ROK can complete mobilization and the US can reinforce the peninsula. No one should be surprised that the nPKPA would be practicing hitting critical targets. And of course the north Korean reports and explanations of this type of training also support political warfare and blackmail diplomacy. These three lines of effort are mutually supporting and reinforcing.

North Korea claims missile tests were simulated attack on U.S. and South Korean targets

Axios · by Rebecca Falconer · November 7, 2022

North Korea's military claimed Monday its spate of missile launches in recent days were "simulating the attack" on South Korean and U.S. targets in response to the two countries' joint drills.

The big picture: North Korea's military launched a series of missiles, including an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), as the U.S. and South Korea conducted the largest-ever air exercises in a six-day operation that ended Saturday.

• Officials in Seoul reported last Wednesday that North Korea's military fired a missile that crossed the disputed maritime border with South Korea for the first time since the countries' division in 1948.
• South Korea's Navy said Monday it had "recovered what is presumed to be the debris of the North's short-range ballistic missile" that landed some 50 miles from the South Korean coastal city of Ulsa, according to Seoul's Yonhap news agency.

Details: "As part of the countermeasures to smash the continued frenzy of war provocations of the enemy, our army launched to the east sea the super-large multiple launch rocket system, five tactical ballistic missiles of different kinds and 46 long-range missiles of multiple launch rocket system," the North Korean military said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency.

• It claimed to have test-fired a "special functional warhead paralysing the operation command system of the enemy" and the "mobilization of 500 fighters."

Yes, but: South Korean military spokesperson Kim Jun-rak disputed some of Pyongyang's claims, noting no cruise missile had been detected and that the North Korean military's statement didn't mention the "abnormal flight" of the ICBM that officials in Seoul had identified, per AP.

Between the lines: Joseph Dempsey, a defense researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, tweeted that the North Korean military's claims of 500 fighter aircrafts "seems exaggerated or at least misleading."

• KCNA released photos of what appeared to be a new type of ICBM that was not previously known, though analysts pointed out that some of the images appeared to be "recycled from launches earlier in the year," Reuters reports.

What they're saying: "Any nuclear attack against the United States or its allies and partners, including the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, is unacceptable and will result in the end of the Kim regime," said U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-Sup in a joint statement Thursday condemning Pyongyang's barrage of launches.

Axios · by Rebecca Falconer · November 7, 2022

3. North Korea says recent missile tests were just practice for "mercilessly" hitting South Korean and U.S. targets

Kim thinks we will be afraid of his capabilities. Instead we need to respond just as SECDEF Austin and Minister Lee have responded. If Kim employs WMD against the ROK, our allies, or the US, the regime will cease to exist.

We must never show fear and we must never back down.

We also need to remind the regime leite, the military, and the Korean people in the north that Kim has wasted $170 million in resources for the recent missile tests. These funds could have gone a long way toward reducing the suffering of the Korean people in the north. We need to respond with a human rights upfront approach and instead of focusing on missile launches and a potential nuclear test we need to emphasize that Kim remains in power by denying the human rights of the Korean people in the north.

North Korea says recent missile tests were just practice for "mercilessly" hitting South Korean and U.S. targets

CBS News

Seoul, South Korea — North Korea's military said Monday its recent barrage of missile tests were practices to "mercilessly" strike key South Korean and U.S. targets such as air bases and operation command systems with a variety of missiles that likely included nuclear-capable weapons.

The North's announcement underscored leader Kim Jong Un's determination not to back down in the face of his rivals' push to expand their military exercises. But some experts say Kim also used their drills as an excuse to modernize his nuclear arsenal and increase his leverage in future dealings with Washington and Seoul.

North Korea fired dozens of missiles and flew warplanes toward the sea last week - triggering evacuation alerts in some South Korean and Japanese areas - in protest of massive U.S.-South Korean air force drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal.

U.S. and South Korean officials responded by saying they would further enhance their joint training events and warned the North that the use of nuclear weapons would result in the end of Kim's regime.

"The recent corresponding military operations by the Korean People's Army are a clear answer of (North Korea) that the more persistently the enemies' provocative military moves continue, the more thoroughly and mercilessly the KPA will counter them," the General Staff of North Korea's military said in a statement carried by state media.

It said the weapons tests involved ballistic missiles loaded with dispersion warheads and underground infiltration warheads meant to launch strikes on enemy air bases; ground-to-air missiles designed to "annihilate" enemy aircraft at different altitudes and distances; and strategic cruise missiles that fell in international waters about 50 miles off South Korea's southeastern costal city of Ulsan.

The North's military said it also carried out an important test of a ballistic missile with a special functional warhead missioned with "paralyzing the operation command system of the enemy." This could mean a simulation of electromagnetic pulse attacks, but some observers doubt whether North Korea has mastered key technologies to obtain such an attack capability.

The North's military statement didn't explicitly mention a reported launch Thursday of an intercontinental ballistic missile aimed at hitting the U.S. mainland, though its main newspaper published a photo of an ICBM-like missile as one of the weapons mobilized during last week's testing activities.

Some experts say many other North Korean missiles launched last week were short-range nuclear-capable weapons that place key military targets in South Korea, including U.S. military bases there, within striking range.

Later Monday, South Korea's military disputed some of the North's accounts of its missile tests. Spokesperson Kim Jun-rak said South Korea didn't detect the North's cruise missile launches and that it's also notable that North Korea didn't mention what Seoul assessed as an abnormal flight by an ICBM.

This year's "Vigilant Storm" air force drills between the United States and South Korea were the largest-ever for the annual fall maneuvers. The drills involved 240 warplanes including advanced F-35 fighter jets from both countries. The allies were initially supposed to run the drills for five days ending on Friday but extended the training by another day in reaction to the North's missile tests.

On Saturday, the final day of the air force exercises, the United States flew two B-1B supersonic bombers over South Korea in a display of strength against North Korea, the aircraft's first such flyover since December 2017.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the participation of the B-1Bs in the joint drills demonstrated the allies' readiness to sternly respond to North Korean provocations and the U.S. commitment to defend its ally with the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear.

After their annual meeting Thursday in Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-Sup issued a joint statement strongly condemning the North's recent launches and carrying Austin's warning that any nuclear attacks against the United States or its allies and partners "is unacceptable and will result in the end of the Kim regime." South Korea's military has previously warned the North that using its nuclear weapons would put it on a "path of self-destruction."

Recent North Korean missile tests are pictured in this undated combination photo taken at undisclosed locations and released on November 7, 2022 by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA via Reuters

Both defense chiefs also agreed on the need to enhance combined exercises and training events to strengthen readiness against North Korean nuclear and missile threats.

Even before the "Vigilant Storm" drills, North Korea test-launched a slew of missiles in what it called simulated nuclear attacks on U.S. and South Korean targets. In September, North Korea also adopted a new law authorizing the preemptive use of its nuclear weapons in a broad range of situations.

South Korean and U.S. officials have steadfastly maintained their drills are defensive in nature and that they have no intentions of invading the North.

U.S. and South Korean militaries have been expanding their regular military drills since the May inauguration of conservative South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has promised to take a tougher stance on North Korean provocations. Some of the allies' drills had been previously downsized or canceled to support now-stalled diplomacy on North Korea's nuclear program or to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.

For months, South Korean and U.S. officials have said North Korea has completed preparations to conduct its first nuclear test in five years. On Monday, South Korean Unification Minister Kwon Youngse told lawmakers that North Korea could carry out the nuclear test at any time but there were still no signs that such a test explosion was imminent.

CBS News

4. Analysis: Sanctions fail to halt North Korea's accelerating weapons programs

Sanctions alone cannot change north Korean behavior. Sanctions alone do not provide sufficient pressure on the regime - even if we were able to more effectively enforce them (and we could better enforce them if we would implement secondary sanctions and go after the entities in China and Russia that are complicit in sanctions evasion - especially banks.). We need a holistic strategy that includes human rights and an information campaign.

Sanctions are important but we cannot be a one trick pony. They have to part one line of effort as part of a more comprehensive strategy. (Maximum Pressure 2.0 0  A Plan for North Korea  https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2019/12/3/maximum-pressure-2/)

Excerpts:

Anthony Ruggiero, who headed North Korea sanctions efforts under former President Donald Trump, said they were only pursued vigorously enough from the last year of the Obama administration to early in Trump's second year. They then dropped off in the ultimately vain hope of progress in summit negotiations between Trump and Kim.

Some critics like sanctions expert Joshua Stanton fault both the Trump and Biden administrations for failing to exert maximum pressure to stop China allowing North Korea's sanctions evasion. They point to the powerful option of imposing sanctions on big Chinese banks that have facilitated this.

"The sanctions we don't enforce don't work, and we haven't been enforcing them since mid-2018," Stanton said, noting that history had shown a correlation between stronger enforcement and North Korea willingness to engage diplomatically.

Analysis: Sanctions fail to halt North Korea's accelerating weapons programs

Reuters · by David Brunnstrom

WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Economic sanctions, the primary means the United States has used for years to try to exert pressure on North Korea, have abjectly failed to halt its nuclear and missile programs or to bring the reclusive northeast Asian state back to the negotiating table.

Instead, North Korea's ballistic missile program has become stronger and it has carried out a record-breaking testing regime of multiple types of weapons this year - including of intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to reach the U.S. mainland. Expectations are that it may soon end a self-imposed five-year moratorium on nuclear bomb testing.

Now, U.S. policy makers and their predecessors can do little more than pick through the wreckage and seek to determine what went wrong, and who might be to blame.

"We've had a policy failure. It's a generational policy failure," said Joseph DeThomas, a former U.S. diplomat who worked on North Korea and Iran sanctions and served in the administrations of Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

"An entire generation of people worked on this. It's failed ... so alright, now we have to go to the next step, figure out what we do about it."

Biden administration officials concede that sanctions have failed to stop North Korea's weapons programs - but they maintain they have at least been effective in slowing North Korea's nuclear program.

"I would disagree with the idea that sanctions have failed. Sanctions have failed to stop their programs - that's absolutely true," a senior administration official told Reuters. "But I think that if the sanctions didn't exist, (North Korea) would be much, much further along, and much more of a threat to its neighbors to the region and to the world."

In response to a request for comment, a State Department spokesperson said, in apparent reference to China and Russia: "The U.N. Security Council has passed multiple resolutions to establish a robust sanctions regime intended to impede these unlawful weapons programs. It is incumbent upon all member states to fully implement these resolutions, and we will continue to call upon them to do so."

Former officials and experts say sanctions were never imposed and enforced robustly enough for long enough and blame faltering U.S. overtures to North Korea as well as pressures like Russia's war in Ukraine and U.S-China tensions over Taiwan for making them ineffective and easy for North Korea to circumvent.

North Korea has long been forbidden to conduct nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches by the U.N. Security Council.

The Security Council has imposed sanctions on North Korea since 2006 to choke off funding for it nuclear and ballistic missile programs. They now include exports bans coal, iron, lead, textiles and seafood, and capping imports of crude oil and refined petroleum products.

However U.N. experts regularly report that North Korea is evading sanctions and continuing to develop its programs.

Russia and China backed toughened sanctions after North Korea's last nuclear test in 2017, but it is not clear what U.N action - if any - they might agree to if Pyongyang conducts another nuclear test.

CHINESE AND RUSSIAN INFLUENCE

The senior Biden administration official told Reuters Washington believes China and Russia have leverage to persuade North Korea not to resume nuclear bomb testing. But the Biden administration has accused China and Russia of enabling North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Anthony Ruggiero, who headed North Korea sanctions efforts under former President Donald Trump, said they were only pursued vigorously enough from the last year of the Obama administration to early in Trump's second year. They then dropped off in the ultimately vain hope of progress in summit negotiations between Trump and Kim.

Some critics like sanctions expert Joshua Stanton fault both the Trump and Biden administrations for failing to exert maximum pressure to stop China allowing North Korea's sanctions evasion. They point to the powerful option of imposing sanctions on big Chinese banks that have facilitated this.

"The sanctions we don't enforce don't work, and we haven't been enforcing them since mid-2018," Stanton said, noting that history had shown a correlation between stronger enforcement and North Korea willingness to engage diplomatically.

"The Biden administration's most significant failure is its failure to prosecute or penalize the Chinese banks we know are laundering Kim Jong Un's money," he said.

Some experts like DeThomas argue that taking what some call the "nuclear option" of going after Chinese banks could exclude huge Chinese institutions from the international financial system and have catastrophic consequences not just for the Chinese, but for the U.S. and global economies - something Stanton considers unfounded.

"Going full bore against the Chinese over North Korea is always a possibility, but it's a high-risk option," said DeThomas, arguing that such a measure should be reserved for an even more pressing scenario, such as deterring any move by China to all-out support for Russia's war in Ukraine.

"You want them to be thinking about that. And you can't fire that gun twice," he said. "And even if you sanctioned the Chinese banks, you wouldn't get the North Koreans to change."

Some U.S. academic experts argue that Washington should recognize North Korea for what it is - a nuclear power that is never going to disarm - and use sanctions relief to incentivize better behavior.

"I do think we can buy things other than disarmament with our economic leverage," Jeffrey Lewis, a non-proliferation expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, told a conference in Ottawa on Wednesday.

The senior Biden administration official said maintaining sanctions was not just punitive, but about the international community showing it is united.

He rejected the idea that Washington should recognize North Korea as a nuclear-armed state.

"There is an extraordinarily strong global consensus ... that the DPRK should not, and must not, be a nuclear nation," he said. "No country is calling for this ... the consequences of changing policy, I think would be profoundly negative."

Additional reporting by Steve Holland and Michelle Nichols; Editing by Alistair Bell and Daniel Wallis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Reuters · by David Brunnstrom

5. North Korea makes no mention of ICBM in report on more than 80 missile tests

Does this confirm the ICBM failure? Surely if it was a success (or if they could spin it as a success) they would be emphasizing this as a threat to the US to support political warfare and blackmail diplomacy. And LTG Chun is exactly correct: the regime cannot allow the Korean people in the north to kno of a regime failure.

Excerpts:

During a briefing on Monday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea’s failure to mention the ICBM hadn’t changed its assessment that the missile was an ICBM that “did not fly normally.”

Retired South Korea Lt General Chun In-bum told CNN the omission of the ICBM from Monday’s state media report suggested Pyongyang doesn’t want to publicize its failure to North Koreans.

“It seems it had failed at the third phase, so whatever North Korea claims, they neglected the UN resolutions and peace overture of the alliance and conducted a provocative test of an ICBM and it seems it didn’t achieve its intended goal,” he said.

“I think we should focus on the facts not on what North Korea claims.”

North Korea makes no mention of ICBM in report on more than 80 missile tests | CNN

CNN · by Yoonjung Seo,Hilary Whiteman · November 7, 2022

Video Ad Feedback

See the moment an air raid siren interrupts a live TV broadcast in South Korea

02:34 - Source: CNN

Seoul CNN —

North Korean state media has released images purporting to show last week’s missile launches with a warning that the so-called “reckless military hysteria” of the United States and its allies is moving the Korean peninsula towards “unstable confrontation.”

But it made no mention of the suspected failed launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Thursday, and the information released was too incomplete for experts to gain any real insight into what, if anything, the tests achieved.

According to a Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) report published Monday, Pyongyang fired more than 80 missiles between November 2 and 5, and conducted air force drills involving “500 fighters … to show the will to counter the combined air drill of the enemy.”

The report said the maneuvers were a direct response to “open provocation” of the US-South Korea “Vigilant Storm” drills that took place in the region last week, which the allies extended by one day in response to North Korea’s volley of missile tests.

The KCNA report said missiles had been launched to simulate strikes on enemy air bases and to annihilate air targets at different altitudes and distances. It summarized the numbers of missiles fired each day but didn’t specify what models had been tested.

And it provided very little detail about the missile fired on Thursday that Japan and South Korea surmised to be ICBM, only referring to a ballistic missile that it tested at the request of the Academy of Defense Science.

North Korea accused the United States and South Korea of provoking tensions on the peninsula.

KCNA

Too low, too slow

During a briefing on Monday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea’s failure to mention the ICBM hadn’t changed its assessment that the missile was an ICBM that “did not fly normally.”

Retired South Korea Lt General Chun In-bum told CNN the omission of the ICBM from Monday’s state media report suggested Pyongyang doesn’t want to publicize its failure to North Koreans.

“It seems it had failed at the third phase, so whatever North Korea claims, they neglected the UN resolutions and peace overture of the alliance and conducted a provocative test of an ICBM and it seems it didn’t achieve its intended goal,” he said.

“I think we should focus on the facts not on what North Korea claims.”

North Korea didn't release information about the specific missile models test fired last week.

KCNA

South Korea’s JCS said the ICBM – potentially a North Korean-made Hwasong-15 or Hwasong-17 – reached a maximum altitude of less than 2,000 km and a top speed of about Mach 15, which means that it traveled 15 times the speed of sound – not fast enough, according to Park Won-gon, professor in North Korean Studies at Ewha Woman’s University in Seoul.

“ICBMs need to reach the speed of Mach 20 or higher for the missile to go to the atmospheric space and travel far using its inertia, but in this test, it is believed that such propulsion didn’t happen,” Park said.

Thursday’s launch followed a previous one in May, suspected to be a Hwasong-17, fired on the heels of US President Joe Biden’s first presidential trip to Asia.

North Korea missile launches, unknown location, North Korea, November 2022.

KCNA/KCNA/KCNA

Too opaque

Kim Dong-yub, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, a former commander of South Korea’s Navy, said the lack of information made it difficult to decipher progress between the two tests – and that success also depends on North Korea’s objectives.

“What if North Korea conducted tests to obtain certain data it wanted to verify during the missile development?” Kim asked. “The experiment may be intended to look at the separation, or it may be to check the flight distance of the missile … depending on the purpose of the test, (the outcome) will be different.”

Monday’s KCNA report referred to a ballistic missile test on Thursday – the one presumed to be the ICBM – but said it was used “to verify the movement reliability of a special functional warhead paralyzing the operation command system of the enemy.”

Kim, from the University of North Korean Studies, said that could point to missile used to test a potential EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) attack. “EMP missiles need to go very high above the ground to be effective,” Kim said.

North Korea says it launched more than 80 missiles between November 2 and 5.

KCNA

A EMP attack at a high altitude would deliver an intense burst of electromagnetic energy powerful enough to take out electronic grids, circuitry or communications.

“If the EMP missile is detonated at an altitude of 1,000 km or more, it can take the power out of the area and as a result paralyze (the command system).”

But other experts disagree that North Korea was testing a potential EMP missile. Shin Jong-woo, an analyst at South Korea’s Defense and Security Forum, said EMP missiles are normally only fired to a height of hundreds of kilometers, not thousands.

South Korean military experts are continuing to examine the images and data to determine the status of North Korea’s weapons program, but experts caution that claims in state media need to be treated with skepticism.

Shin said the multiple launches could be a sign that North Korea is racing to prove its capabilities.

“In the past, when North Korea launched a certain missile, it showed off by presenting specific data, but today’s announcement seems to have a lot of fictional content.

“North Korea conducted a nuclear test after demonstrating its ability to strike the US mainland,” Shin said. “But Hwasong-17 tests are failing, so it seems that North Korea is launching so many missiles because it is in a desperate situation and in a hurry to prove itself.”

CNN · by Yoonjung Seo,Hilary Whiteman · November 7, 2022

6. N.Korea Stole Billions from Crypto Accounts

We need to go on the offensive against Kim Jong Un's illicit activities, both physical and cyber.

N.Korea Stole Billions from Crypto Accounts

english.chosun.com

November 07, 2022 09:53

North Korea stole more than W1.7 trillion worth of cryptocurrencies this year alone by hacking into accounts, intelligence agencies believe (US$1=W1,419).

"South Korean and U.S. intelligence officials verified that North Korea stole at least W1.7 trillion from Bitcoin and Ethereum accounts," an intelligence source here said Sunday. "This is the reason why North Korea has been able to launch so many provocations despite its moribund economy."

North Korea spent hundreds of billions of won over the past week alone firing around 30 missiles and 160 artillery shells.

Since international sanctions were imposed in 2016, North Korea has stolen cryptocurrencies from exchanges around the world. A senior government official here said, "As the cryptocurrency ecosystem evolved quickly, North Korean hacker groups... run by the General Reconnaissance Bureau focused on hacking into exchanges, and the money was used to fund the development of nuclear missiles."

/Newsis

U.S. blockchain firm Chainalysis said in a report in August that around 60 percent of cryptocurrency theft this year or US$1 billion was committed by North Korean hackers.

North Korea has switched its criminal activities to hacking cryptocurrency accounts as international sanctions and the total border lockdown in the coronavirus pandemic made it difficult for the reclusive state to earn hard currency through traditional methods like counterfeiting or drug dealing.

Many cryptocurrency exchanges have relatively weak security despite the exponential growth of their ecosystem in recent years.

South Korea and the U.S. are expected to announce more sanctions as soon as North Korea limbers up to another nuclear test. In August, the two allies formed a working group to respond to North Korean cyber threats and discussed ways to block the North from raising money to fund its nuclear weapons and missile programs.

N.Korean Hackers 'Work out of Chinese Hotels'

U.S. to Seize N.Korean Hackers' Bitcoin Accounts

N.Korea 'Hacked $400 Million in Cryptocurrency'

N.Korea 'Relies on Bitcoin to Fund Nuclear Weapons'

N.Korea Behind Massive Bitcoin Heists

U.S. Wants Bitcoin Trade Data from 6 Korean Banks

Tokyo-based Cryptocurrency Exchange Hacked, $530 Million Lost

N.Korea Mining for Cryptocurrency

• Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com

english.chosun.com

7.  Confronting the North Korean Question in a Post-Unipolar World

​The sooner we accept the "inconvenient truth" and offer arms control negotiations, the sooner Kim Jong Un will assess his strategy as a success. We will never achieve the effects the arms control advocates expect.  And we will put the security of the ROK and the region in greater danger.

Conclusion:

The sooner we accept the “inconvenient truth,” the better we will be equipped with realistic policies toward the North. That there is no choice but to live with a nuclear-armed North Korea for the time being, along with all those measured risk management plans, and that the favorable time when the U.S. was a unipole freely shaping the Korean Peninsula’s strategic milieu and imposing liberal norms on others has come to an end are now unhappy but inevitable realities. Now China’s (and maybe Russia’s) interests ought to be seriously calculated to manage geopolitical issues in the region. As George Kennan later lamented, “we were too timid to negotiate.” The United States and its capitalist allies wanted “unconditional surrender” in the late 1940s, not serious talks about geopolitical settlements with the “evil empire,” which led to an unnecessary and dangerous forty-year-long confrontation. At this historical juncture, I hope we will be audacious enough to bargain and compromise with the “rogue state” so as to achieve stability on the peninsula.

​

Confronting the North Korean Question in a Post-Unipolar World

Under new strategic circumstances, the rise of the realist arms control school inside the Beltway could present a new approach to the North Korean enigma. 

The National Interest · by Taesuh Cha · November 6, 2022

Under the shadow of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s threat of nuclear weapons use in Ukraine, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) recently carried out a flurry of missile launches. The tests were a response to joint military exercises by South Korea, the United States, and Japan and aimed to test the DPRK’s capability to strike the Republic of Korea (ROK) with tactical nuclear weapons. In this dire context of security dilemma, there needs to be a rethink of what strategic objectives on the Korean Peninsula should look like, and whether there has been a fundamental paradigm shift in the North Korean question—a realist turn in the wake of the unipolar moment.

One thing to reconsider in deciphering today’s denuclearization puzzle is structural changes that have occurred since the post-Cold War period. There are two important transformations surrounding the North Korean issue: one, the emergence of a multipolar system in global power distribution, and two, the DPRK’s status as a de facto nuclear state. To be specific, the nature of the nuclear conundrum has profoundly altered, as we face an era of renewed great power competition. During the last three decades of U.S. hegemony, North Korean nuclear pursuit was defined as the problem of a rogue state against the U.S.-led world order.

Pyongyang was regarded as an outsider, a pariah beyond the pale of international society. Thus, the “evil” communist regime had to be disciplined for violating the core norms of the liberal international order. Punishment measures, involving economic sanctions and regime change, were adopted to socialize the international troublemaker. However, in the coming multipolar system, the nature of the nuclear security issue has partly shifted from the enforcement of liberal international rules, such as preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction and protecting the system created by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, to part of the geopolitical chess game between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (and arguably the Russian Federation).

In a nutshell, the North Korean nuclear issue is rapidly changing into a subject of political conflict and bargaining between powerhouses in East Asia. To illustrate, the Kim Jong-un regime has profoundly revised its grand strategy, emphasizing the advent of a “new cold war” or “the change from a unipolar world advocated by the US into a multipolar world.” Pyongyang is demonstrating its active will to take initiative in participating in this nascent realpolitik play. There are some signs that North Korea is aligning itself with China and Russia in opposition to the United States amid growing tensions in the Taiwan Straits and the Russo-Ukrainian War. Elites in Pyongyang might have concluded that instead of sticking to futile negotiations with a distracted and polarized Washington, which they have been attempting for almost three decades in vain, their interests would be better served by betting on Russia and China in the new strategic environment. It is noteworthy in this regard that even though the DPRK resumed launching intercontinental and intermediate-range ballistic missiles—breaking its own moratorium this year—the UN Security Council has repeatedly failed to pass a resolution condemning the authoritarian regime, mainly due to opposition from Beijing and Moscow. The Kim regime can now expect the weakening of the international sanctions system amid the intensifying power struggle in the Indo-Pacific.

Next, it seems that after the breakdown of the 2019 Hanoi summit between Kim and his American counterpart Donald Trump, the North has taken a decisive step far from the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. The so-called “head-on breakthrough battle” declared in 2019 is ongoing, and strong offensives against both Seoul and Washington continue. Pyongyang has been conducting a series of missile tests throughout this year, making clear its uncompromising posture to gain nuclear power status. And finally, on September 8, the Supreme People’s Assembly promulgated a “Law on Policy of Nuclear Forces,” declaring a gravely provocative nuclear doctrine, involving preemptive nuclear attacks and presumably asymmetric escalation strategies.

In addition, North Korea recently witnessed how the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 was easily scrapped by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which likely further convinced the North of the need to maintain its nuclear arsenal. All in all, irrespective of the ​​Yoon government’s “Audacious Initiative” or the Biden administration’s “calibrated practical approach,” the space for diplomatic engagement with the DPRK is narrowing. Again, in September, the young dictator defined nuclear weapons as the “nation’s dignity and honour” and argued that they could not be bargaining chips, suggesting that serious denuclearization talks are hardly feasible in the near future. Therefore, North Korea is likely to seek an advantageous position in arms control negotiations, not denuclearization negotiations, while stepping up “the deployment of cutting-edge strategic and tactical weapon systems for combat.”

Under such new strategic circumstances, the rise of the realist arms control school inside the Beltway could present a new approach to the North Korean enigma. Although conventional wisdom usually associates realism with violence and war, the old theory as statecraft can play a stabilizing role in practice. Since power political thinking promotes crucial virtues, including self-restraint, prudence, and respect for other countries’ national interests, realist maneuvers can facilitate a series of dialogues, negotiations, and finally compromises among states, as the historical case of the Concert of Europe famously demonstrated in the nineteenth century. Certainly, the realists’ solution to the North Korean problem is not a pleasant one. Basically, they advise that, as the West did live together (albeit precariously) with the Soviet Union during the Cold War and with China during the post-Cold War period, it can also coexist with a nuclear North Korea. This arguably unsatisfying situation would be manageable through the balance of terror (under the mechanism of mutually assured destruction). In other words, realist thinkers believe that conventional liberal interventionist or neoconservative goals—including comprehensive, verifiable, irreversible dismantlement (CVID); final, fully verifiable denuclearization (FFVD); and regime change—are simply impossible in the current strategic environment and that North Korea will keep its nuclear stockpiles for a while. Also, the arms control school insists that the United States, as a much stronger power in this bilateral diplomacy, should make certain concessions, such as declaring an end to the Korean War and halting the joint military drills with the South, to show its conciliatory motives.

This emerging realist voice is a pill hard to swallow, of course. Indeed, if a South Korean politician even slightly insinuates, “now it’s time to give up our three-decades-long project of denuclearization,” it would be political suicide for them. Although how to approach the Marxist-Leninist state across the demilitarized zone is a highly charged divisive topic in Seoul, both progressives and conservatives on their campaign trails always promise that their methods (dovish or hawkish) can denuke Pyongyang in the end.

However, given the fundamentally altered strategic context, there must be Plan B or a new policy paradigm regarding the North at this point, especially in academia or policy circles. One suggestion would be to separate a long-term and ultimate goal from a short-term and realistic roadmap. As an analogy, complete reunification has been the national principle in the ROK since its founding. Even its Constitution (in Article 3) explicitly stipulates that the whole peninsula is defined as the national territory, which means the Kim dynasty is designated as an illegal occupant. Still, successive administrations in Seoul have practically pursued peaceful coexistence between the de facto two sovereign states after joining the UN in 1991. Likewise, it is time to consider pursuing a tentative, interim solution of nuclear arms control negotiations and Cold War-style deterrence and containment in the mid to short term, while leaving the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as the long-term blueprint. Of course, in order to maintain the balance of terror, the U.S. commitment to extended deterrence and ROK’s strong military capabilities should be firmly secured.

The sooner we accept the “inconvenient truth,” the better we will be equipped with realistic policies toward the North. That there is no choice but to live with a nuclear-armed North Korea for the time being, along with all those measured risk management plans, and that the favorable time when the U.S. was a unipole freely shaping the Korean Peninsula’s strategic milieu and imposing liberal norms on others has come to an end are now unhappy but inevitable realities. Now China’s (and maybe Russia’s) interests ought to be seriously calculated to manage geopolitical issues in the region. As George Kennan later lamented, “we were too timid to negotiate.” The United States and its capitalist allies wanted “unconditional surrender” in the late 1940s, not serious talks about geopolitical settlements with the “evil empire,” which led to an unnecessary and dangerous forty-year-long confrontation. At this historical juncture, I hope we will be audacious enough to bargain and compromise with the “rogue state” so as to achieve stability on the peninsula.

Taesuh Cha (Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University) is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Sungkyunkwan University. He holds a B.A. and an M.A. in international relations from Seoul National University. He has served as a full-time instructor at the Republic of Korea Air Force Academy, a researcher at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, and a senior research fellow at Chung-Ang University. His works on American foreign policy and international relations theory have been published in numerous journals, such as European Journal of International Relations, Political Studies Review, International Politics, Korean Journal of Defense Analysis, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Globalizations, and The Washington Quarterly.

The National Interest · by Taesuh Cha · November 6, 2022

8. Global Sanctions Must Punish N.Korea for Crypto Theft

Yes, this should be one line of effort in a comprehensive strategy

Global Sanctions Must Punish N.Korea for Crypto Theft

english.chosun.com

November 07, 2022 13:26

North Korea fired four short-range ballistic missiles on Saturday when South Korea and the U.S. were conducting massive aerial exercises. On Nov. 2, the North launched 25 missiles in a single day, and the following day it fired an intercontinental ballistic missile. The North has fired about 100 missiles so far this year, a quarter of them this month. That is equal to all the missiles it launched from 2011, when leader Kim Jong-un took power, until last year.

One U.S. military expert estimates that North Korea spent up to US$75 million on the missile launches on Nov. 2 alone. The international community managed to block most of the North's funding sources through sanctions since 2016, and even though China and Russia are reluctant to support them, the reclusive state has been severely hampered in its traditional methods of making money from coal, slave labor exports, illegal drugs and weapons and counterfeiting money. But the money for its provocations keeps coming.

South Korea and the U.S. point to hacking as North Korea's new means of keeping up the cash flow. Pyongyang has been stealing money from banks around the world since sanctions began to intensify. It started with hacking and pilfering tens of millions of dollars from vulnerable institutions like the central bank of Bangladesh. More recently the North expanded its targets to cryptocurrency exchanges. Intelligence agencies believe North Korea stole more than W1.7 trillion this year alone through hacking into crypto exchanges (US$1=W1,419). The White House said North Korea funded up to one-third of its missile development with the stolen money.

Blocking North Korea from hacking into more cryptocurrency exchanges is an urgent task, but the UN Security Council, which should be discussing this agenda, is being hobbled by China and Russia, which blatantly protect the North. Instead South Korea and the U.S. are preparing their own sanctions. Some sanctions being discussed target firms and individuals that were involved in hacking and money laundering, or seizing cryptocurrencies that the North stole. But a stern warning to China is also needed. Chinese companies are clearly involved in laundering the cryptocurrency stolen by North Korean hackers, and they too must be stopped.

Read this article in Korean

• Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com

english.chosun.com

9. North Korea expected to launch another ICBM before Nov. 29

Yes it could happen. DId they correct the issues that may have caused the last launch to fail? They will have to test to overcome their deficiencies. 

[ANALYSIS] North Korea expected to launch another ICBM before Nov. 29

The Korea Times · November 7, 2022

This combined photo, released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, Monday, shows the North Korean military firing missiles into the East Sea and the West Sea from Nov. 2 to Nov. 5 corresponding to a South Korea-U.S. joint air exercise. Yonhap

Nuclear test could be postponed: ex- and current government officials

By Kang Seung-woo

Undeterred by the failed test of what is suspected to have been a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) last week, North Korea is expected to push ahead with another launch of its largest and most powerful missile ahead of a holiday marking its successful nuclear-capable missile test, according to diplomatic observers, Monday.

North Korea designated Nov. 29 as "Rocket Industry Day" commemorating the anniversary of test-firing a Hwasong-15 nuclear-capable ICBM on Nov. 29, 2017. The missile is believed to be theoretically capable of hitting targets anywhere in the U.S. mainland. Afterwards, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared the completion of "the state nuclear force."

On Thursday, the totalitarian state test-fired a Hwasong-17, but it failed while in flight, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

"Ahead of conducting a nuclear test, North Korea needs to vindicate that it has mastered nuclear-strike capability by being able to deliver a nuclear warhead anywhere in the continental United States, so it is highly expected to launch an ICBM like it did in 2017," said Shin Jong-woo, a senior researcher at the Korea Defense and Security Forum.

"The ICBM would definitely be a Hwasong-17," Shin added.

Analysts believe the Hwasong-17 may be capable of carrying multiple warheads and traveling up to 15,000 kilometers, putting any place in the U.S. mainland within range. The missile was unveiled in October 2020.

Fueling such speculation is the fact that North Korea has resorted to large-scale military shows of force in years ending with a five or zero. This year marks the fifth anniversary of the successful launch of the Hwasong-15.

This year alone, North Korea has test-fired the so-called "monster missile" on five occasions between February and November. But all of the test launches ended in failure, raising speculation that the country is still short of completing the development of the missile.

However, Shin said North Korea will not be mindful of its past failures.

"Despite a series of failures, North Korea has test-fired the missile," Shin said. "It is still under development and the North may have acquired some data from the failed launches. In that sense, it is ready to test-fire another Hwasong-17," he said.

Earlier in the day, the General Staff of the North's Korean People's Army (KPA) said it fired two cruise missiles from North Hamgyong Province in protest against Vigilant Storm, a combined air exercise between South Korea and the U.S. that came to an end, Saturday. The missiles landed in international waters about 80 kilometers off South Korea's southeastern coastal city of Ulsan as part of North Korea's four-day military operations between Nov. 2 and Nov. 5.

A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows a new Hwasong-17 missile displayed in a military parade held to celebrate the 90th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 25. Yonhap

However, the JCS said the North Korean announcement was different from the truth, adding that there was nothing detected by South Korean and U.S. surveillance and reconnaissance assets.

North Korea is believed to have fully prepared for another nuclear test since May, according to South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities. Seoul's National Intelligence Service (NIS) predicted that Pyongyang may conduct its next nuclear test before the U.S. midterm elections, scheduled for Tuesday (local time).

But incumbent and former government officials think that the test may be postponed further.

"If North Korea remains quiet tonight, I expect that North Korea will not carry out a nuclear test for the time being," Park Jie-won, a former NIS chief wrote on Facebook, Sunday.

Vice Defense Minister Shin Beom-chul also said during a radio interview, Monday, "Unless North Korea's nuclear test takes place before the U.S. midterm elections, it would be difficult to fix another date in the short run."

Meanwhile, South Korea kicked off its annual computer-simulated Taegeuk training, Monday, to enhance operational capabilities against North Korean threats.

The Korea Times · November 7, 2022

10. Itaewon tragedy sparks debates on digital ethics

There were some graphic videos on social media.

Itaewon tragedy sparks debates on digital ethics

The Korea Times · November 7, 2022

Flowers and objects of condolences, including soju bottles, fruit and snacks, are placed at the police line in an alley leading to the site of a deadly crowd accident in central Seoul's Itaewon, Monday. The tragic event claimed 156 lives, including 26 foreign nationals from 14 countries, during Halloween celebrations on Oct. 29. Yonhap

By Lee Hae-rin

A Gyeonggi Province-based nurse surnamed Choi f

irst saw the video of the deadly crowd crush on social media on Saturday night.

"The video of the crowd crush was traumatic. My job is to do CPR on people. Even with the best resources under a highly controlled environment, the moment of resuscitating a patient is one of the most impending and serious moments for medical personnel," she told The Korea Times on condition of anonymity.

"The video showed dozens of people doing CPR simultaneously on unconscious people in the middle of the street, while others dance to rhythmic club music in the background. I feel nauseous just thinking about it again," Choi said, underscoring that such videos should not be circulated online.

A 30-year-old elementary teacher based in Seoul who wished to be identified only by her surname Kim, was also traumatized by the footage of the disaster and worried that young children could be exposed to it.

"Even for a grown-up like me, watching the 10-second video brings me back a sense of horror and trauma. As an educator, I'm afraid that young children might see it on their smartphones and I hope that all related videos and photos are taken down from online platforms," she said.

According to the reports obtained by Rep. Jang Kyung-tae of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), over 100 requests have been filed to the Korea Communications Standards Commission to take down videos and pictures related to the Itaewon tragedy.

From the moment disaster struck, social media and online platforms have been flooded with unfiltered images and live videos showing dozens of victims lying unconscious in the street in various states of undress, while receiving CPR. Some images showed victims with their faces exposed without a blur to protect their identities.

The Korean Neuropsychiatric Association issued a statement on Oct. 30, the day after the disaster to warn the public of the psychological damage of being exposed to such imagery.

The statement read that spreading unfiltered footage of the accident could defame and victimize people affected by the disaster and called upon the public to stop sharing photos and videos.

Also, the association said watching such videos and photos could "trigger trauma in a majority of people," including those who were not at the site of the tragedy. "The association recommends refraining from watching related videos or news reports excessively and repeatedly, as it could harm one's health," the group said.

Meanwhile, online platforms have come up with countermeasures to control the circulation of such footage.

In related search results and video recommendations, YouTube has been prioritizing videos by reliable news channels. Some videos have been taken down or were given a raised age limit according to YouTube's content policy, the company said.

Twitter also asked its users to refrain from posting or sharing and to report sensitive content related to the Itaewon tragedy. According to the company's guidelines, users may be ordered to remove violent or sensitive content, and user accounts may be permanently suspended if the user violates the content policy again.

Experts emphasized the need to establish disaster-related ethics guidelines on digital content.

"For now, there are almost no guidelines on posting and sharing disaster footage on online platforms. Considering their far-reaching power of influence, these platforms should fulfill their social responsibility to come up with a manual," said Koo Jeong-woo, a professor of sociology at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul.

"Those who upload such content as well as those who consume it should also take efforts to keep a sense of ethics and consume digital content responsibly."

The Korea Times · November 7, 2022

11. Senior diplomats of S. Korea, US, Japan hold phone talks over NK missile provocation

Senior diplomats of S. Korea, US, Japan hold phone talks over NK missile provocations

The Korea Times · November 7, 2022

South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong, left, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori, center, and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman attend a joint press conference at the Iikura Guest House in Tokyo, Oct. 26. Yonhap

Senior diplomats of South Korea, the United States and Japan strongly condemned North Korea's latest missile launches in their phone talks Monday, calling them a "serious threat" to the security of the Korean Peninsula and beyond, according to Seoul's foreign ministry.

Last week, the North launched a barrage of ballistic missiles into the East Sea and the Yellow Sea, including an intercontinental ballistic missile, apparently in protest against a South Korea-U.S. joint air force drill called "Vigilant Storm."

In their consultations, First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong and his American and Japanese counterparts ― Wendy Sherman and Takeo Mori, respectively ― pointed out the North's recent ballistic missile launches were in violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions, and posed a serious threat to the peace and stability of the peninsula and the international community as a whole, added the ministry. (Yonhap)

The Korea Times · November 7, 2022

12. Managing potential conflict on Korean Peninsula

A renewed call for an end of war declaration.

Fantasy land here:

Moreover, demilitarization in the form of gradual troop withdrawals from their borders should be initiated. They should enhance bilateral trade, communications and negotiations to amplify cooperation. The Inter-Korean Summit of 2018 ameliorated the strained relations between the rival states. At this summit, they declared an official end of the war between them. Instead of every few years, such Korean Peace summits should be held annually.

To conclude, it is an opportune time for the Korean War to end and for the two parts of Korea to unite and create prosperity together as they did for thousands of years. For this purpose, the major powers, which are responsible for dividing the Korean Peninsula and leading to it to civil war, should play their part in peace-building measures now. The confidence-building measures between the two states need to be fueled to integrate the two Koreas.

Managing potential conflict on Korean Peninsula

The Korea Times · November 7, 2022

By Simon Hutagalung

Korea, once a united and culturally enriched country, was colonized by Japan in 1910. Even though World War II liberated Korea from 35 years of Japanese colonial oppression, the country was soon invaded by the U.S.S.R in the North. This led to American fears that the USSR would control the whole peninsula. They made an offer to the USSR to demarcate the country into two parts and split it between them. Stalin accepted this offer and on Aug. 17, 1945, Korea was divided into two parts. Even after 70 years of war, relations between North Korea and South Korea are still at a stalemate.

The ties between the totalitarian, nuclear, dynasty of North Korea and the affluent and democratic South are hostile. North Korea's nuclear weapons are seen as a threat to the security of South Korea as well as its allies i.e. the United States and Japan. Owing to its threat of nuclear proliferation and subsequent blackmail to get concessions, North Korea had to face numerous economic sanctions at the hands of the United Nations Security Council since 2006. On the other hand, the regular joint military drills conducted by South Korea in collaboration with the U.S. and Japan are seen as a challenge to North Korea. These circumstances pose a threat to the stability and progress of the Korean Peninsula as well as a hazard to global peace.

Thus, South Korea, Japan, and the U.S. are strengthening their defense posture, instead of trying to amend the situation, which has the potential to turn into a nuclear war. In addition to putting them on the edge of war, this situation also puts an economic burden on the parties to the conflict and reduces their chances of collaboration. Thus, there is a dire need to reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

To achieve the integration of the two Koreas, the role of international and regional powers cannot be overestimated. For example, the role of North Korea's strategic partners like China and Russia in bringing the two hostile states together is significant. China has agreed with South Korea to scale up communications for peace on the Korean Peninsula in addition to improving regional and multilateral cooperation. China and Russia both have a lot of sway over North Korea as well. They should use their influence to bring the two parties to the negotiation table.

Similarly, South Korea's allies particularly the U.S. and Japan help shape its policy on North Korea. North Korea's nuclear strategy also revolves around the U.S.' involvement in the region. They have tried to dissuade Pyongyang's efforts to develop nuclear power by force, but it's all been in vain. It is a suitable time for them to change their strategy. Moreover, it is detrimental to international peace and regional prosperity. Thus, instead of provoking North Korea to accelerate its nuclear mission by conducting military drills with South Korea, the U.S. should urge both parties to come to the negotiating table.

Japan's economic interests and security are also at stake in the prevalent hostile atmosphere. It should play its part in diminishing the tensions in the region. Instead of provoking North Korea, the U.S and Japan should reduce their military involvement in the peninsula. They should encourage the parties to resolve their issues through dialogue and diplomacy. Only then can the Korean Peninsula can achieve its true potential and stability can be ensured in this era of increasing regional integration.

In addition to efforts by international actors, North Korea and South Korea should themselves strive to integrate back into one Korea. Diplomatic, cultural, political, economic and military confidence-building measures should be employed to reduce tensions between the two states. The two culturally similar states with a shared history and language have multiple opportunities to present a common front. For example, North Korea and South Korea marched together at the 2018 Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony. This united front should be exercised in other areas as well.

Moreover, demilitarization in the form of gradual troop withdrawals from their borders should be initiated. They should enhance bilateral trade, communications and negotiations to amplify cooperation. The Inter-Korean Summit of 2018 ameliorated the strained relations between the rival states. At this summit, they declared an official end of the war between them. Instead of every few years, such Korean Peace summits should be held annually.

To conclude, it is an opportune time for the Korean War to end and for the two parts of Korea to unite and create prosperity together as they did for thousands of years. For this purpose, the major powers, which are responsible for dividing the Korean Peninsula and leading to it to civil war, should play their part in peace-building measures now. The confidence-building measures between the two states need to be fueled to integrate the two Koreas.

Simon Hutagalung is a graduate of the City University of New York.

The Korea Times · November 7, 2022

13. Experts see growing chances for arms control talks amid NK's rising belligerence

We could be going down a very dangerous path if we follow the advice of these experts.

However, based on the statements I have heard from ROK and US government officials I am confident we are not going to fall into the arms control trap. Our officials know better.

Yes, the north will not denuclearize as long as the Kim family regime is in power. Yet it will also not negotiate in good faith and achieve the kind of effects arms control advocates fantasize about.

This is why we need a new strategy that rests on the foundation of the highest state of military readiness to ensure deterrence and defense and consists of three lines of effort: a human rights upfront approach, a comprehensive influence campaign, and the pursuit of a free and unified Korea.

[ANALYSIS] Experts see growing chances for arms control talks amid NK's rising belligerence

The Korea Times · November 7, 2022

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-Sup participate in a news conference at the Pentagon on November 3, 2022 in Arlington, Virginia. Following North Korea's launch of three short-range ballistic missiles into the oceans off its east coast, South Korea's Lee Jong-Sup is meeting with the United States' Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. AFP-Yonhap 

Developing nukes will be politically difficult path for Seoul

By Kim Yoo-chul

The skies over the Korean peninsula came within inches of becoming the scene of a supersonic dogfight last week after 80 South Korean fighter jets, including an unspecified number of F-35A stealth fighters, were scrambled to intercept 180 North Korean warplanes that flew dangerously close to the inter-Korean border.

The latest incident illustrated just how tensions continue to escalate on the Korean Peninsula, with military and security experts voicing concerns that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is veering closer to a high-level demonstration of his regime's military strength amid geopolitical uncertainty represented by deepening conflicts between the United States, China and Russia.

The North's rare display of airpower came as Operation Vigilant Storm, which continued from Oct. 31 to Nov. 5, brought out a total of 240 South Korean and U.S. fighter jets with heavy opposition from North Korea. During the joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States, North Korea fired 30 missiles.

Now, the North is feared to extend its most intense period of missile testing.

Intelligence officials and security experts in the United States and South Korea said a seventh nuclear test conducted by Pyongyang would increase the likelihood of Washington and Seoul taking stern actions against the North. Ned Price, a U.S. State Department spokesperson, told reporters that there would be profound costs and consequences if North Korea conducts another nuclear test, although he did not elaborate.

The latest situation warrants an analysis of the broader strategies behind the recently escalated shows of missile development from Pyongyang. Some say the North Korean nuclear issue should be approached from an arms control standpoint.

Arms control talks with N. Korea: one feasible scenario

One lesson learnt from the 2018 Hanoi summit, where the leaders of North Korea and the United States met but failed to yield any results, was that the Kim Jong-un regime wants its nuclear program to be regarded as undeniable and irreversible, said experts.

A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. AP-Yonhap

 "I strongly doubt complete denuclearization of North Korea is possible. After the midterm elections, the U.S will have no options but to start arms control talks with North Korea based on the North's commitment to the non-proliferation of its nuclear weapons as it's unlikely for the United States to be in sync with the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's 'pricey hope' for the U.S.' regular rotational deployment of strategic assets including bombers and carrier strike groups," Chung Se-hyun, a former unification minister under the Moon Jae-in administration, told The Korea Times.

"The Yoon administration should not rule out the possibility of the United States restarting negotiations with North Korea. The government has to be prepared to pursue an inclusive mediation process with Washington because Pyongyang wants direct talks with Washington, if the discussion process is renewed, which I think will happen sometime after the U.S. midterm elections."

Pursuing arms control talks with North Korea is not an easy process, as it would mean the recognition of the North as a nuclear state under the international Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). North Korea became a state party to the NPT in 1985, but withdrew in 2013 and began developing nuclear weapons.

Any engagement in arms control talks with Pyongyang would signify the U.S.' policy change toward North Korea, because Washington has long stressed that the North Korean nuclear program is illegal and subject to United Nations sanctions. Washington said its commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula has not changed and added that it is ready to meet the North Koreans without preconditions.

"Despite Washington's repeated commitment to pursuing the complete denuclearization of the peninsula, I would say pursuing complete denuclearization is something that can't be achieved at all. That's why it's a very realistic idea to develop discussions with North Korea from an arms control standpoint," said Kim Jeong-dae, a former South Korean defense official and a visiting professor at Yonsei University.

"If the peninsula sees a further increase in tensions, it's very feasible for the international community to move forward with arms control talks with the North. South Korea has to articulate ideas and suggestions actively and present deliverables when it comes to risk reduction on the peninsula," Kim added.

North Korea is anticipated to increase its nuclear arsenal to between 151 and 242 nuclear weapons by 2027 with the country having the capacity to manage between 30 kilograms to 60 kilograms of plutonium, and 175 kilograms to 645 kilograms of highly-enriched uranium (HEU) by then, according to estimates by Asan Institute and RAND Corporation, a U.S.-based nonprofit think tank.

The former Moon Jae-in administration had asked the United States to persuade North Korea to follow the Kazakhstan model, but the request was refused as Washington opposes accepting the North as a nuclear state. In return for sovereignty guarantees from major nuclear powers, Kazakhstan, formerly a test site for Soviet nuclear weapons, abandoned its nuclear weapons in the wake of the Soviet collapse.

This handout photo taken on November 5, 2022 and released by Japan's Ministry of Defense shows members of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) and the US participating in a bilateral military exercise in the skies over Kyushu island. North Korean forces said they would respond to joint exercises by the US and South Korea with "sustained, resolute and overwhelming" military measures, its state media reported on November 7, 2022. The warning came following a spate of missile tests by North Korea last week, including four ballistic missiles on November 5, while the US and South Korea conducted their biggest-ever air force drills. AFP-Yonhap 

"As even China, the North's economic lifeline, doesn't want to see a further escalation of geopolitical tensions on the peninsula, given Pyongyang's nuclear strengths, it would be a logical course of action for the United States to review the Kazakhstan model by having the North as a responsible nuclear non-proliferation state, eventually. As its law makes denuclearization negotiations a non-starter, Pyongyang won't repeat its failure in Hanoi by retaining its nuclear program," a presidential security adviser under the former Moon administration said by telephone.

US doesn't want South Korea to become 'nuclear state'

Because it is apparent that North Korea was able to have secured some degree of sanctions relief through China and Russia's non-enforcement of sanctions, some political analysts are asking the Biden administration to impose more extensive sanctions on China and Russia including the imposition of sanctions on leading Chinese commercial banks.

But an expansion of areas of sanctions aimed at pressuring China would cost a lot for the United States as inter-Korean relations are already in jeopardy. Within that context, there are calls from the ruling People Power Party (PPP) politicians for the country to have its own nuclear weapons. Additionally, the reliability of the American nuclear umbrella is being questioned as North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles are capable of striking the U.S. mainland.

A March poll conducted by Asan Institute found some 70.2 percent of South Koreans hoped Seoul would build up its nuclear capability, while another poll in June by the South and North Development (SAND) institute also found that some 74.9 percent Koreans favor a nuclear capability with more than half in support even if it violates the NPT.

"South Korea has to explore self-defense measures. Because we can't counter nuclear threats by using conventional weapons, now it's time to think about asking the United States to redeploy tactical nuclear weapons here, or having our own nuclear capability. I think we have to pursue methods of building our own nuclear weapons, eventually," Rep. Kim Ki-hyun, a PPP lawmaker and one of the leaders in the race for the party chairman post, said in a recent local radio interview.

His suggestion, which aims to reach an "equilibrium" of nuclear force with North Korea, has been shared by other PPP lawmakers, while the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) strongly opposes the idea of South Korea building its own nuclear capability.

While more South Korean citizens and experts are increasingly joined by politicians, who doubt whether Washington will come to Seoul's defense as North Korean missiles could possibly reach any major U.S. city, U.S. experts said developing nuclear weapons would be a politically difficult path for South Korea.

"It would be better for Washington and Seoul to work together on extended deterrence arrangements. The United States needs to ensure that South Korean leaders are confident in U.S. extended deterrence guarantees. That may require closer integration, more information sharing, and perhaps even new strategic mechanisms ― but I think that would be better for both sides than South Korea developing its own nuclear capabilities," Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), told The Korea Times.

"The United States and South Korea need to avoid spending too much time debating the division of spending between the two allies and devote more time to the division of responsibilities," he said.

The Korea Times · November 7, 2022

14. North Korea: Missile Tests Were Practice to Attack South, US

Again, for north Korean to successfully execute its campaign plan to dominate the peninsula under the rule of the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State, it must achieve victory before the ROK can mobilize and before the US can reinforce the peninsula. These targets are likely to support that.

North Korea: Missile Tests Were Practice to Attack South, US

military.com · by 7 Nov 2022 Associated Press · November 7, 2022

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea’s military said Monday its recent barrage of missile tests were practices to “mercilessly” strike key South Korean and U.S. targets such as air bases and operation command systems with a variety of missiles that likely included nuclear-capable weapons.

The North’s announcement underscored leader Kim Jong Un’s determination not to back down in the face of his rivals’ push to expand their military exercises. But some experts say Kim also used their drills as an excuse to modernize his nuclear arsenal and increase his leverage in future dealings with Washington and Seoul.

North Korea fired dozens of missiles and flew warplanes toward the sea last week — triggering evacuation alerts in some South Korean and Japanese areas — in protest of massive U.S.-South Korean air force drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal.

U.S. and South Korean officials responded they would further enhance their joint training events and warned the North that the use of nuclear weapons would result in the end of Kim’s regime.

“The recent corresponding military operations by the Korean People’s Army are a clear answer of (North Korea) that the more persistently the enemies’ provocative military moves continue, the more thoroughly and mercilessly the KPA will counter them,” the General Staff of North Korea’s military said in a statement carried by state media.

It said the weapons tests involved ballistic missiles loaded with dispersion warheads and underground infiltration warheads meant to launch strikes on enemy air bases; ground-to-air missiles designed to “annihilate” enemy aircraft at different altitudes and distances; and strategic cruise missiles that fell in international waters about 80 kilometers (50 miles) off South Korea’s southeastern costal city of Ulsan.

The North’s military said it also carried out an important test of a ballistic missile with a special functional warhead missioned with “paralyzing the operation command system of the enemy.” This could mean a simulation of electromagnetic pulse attacks, but some observers doubt whether North Korea has mastered key technologies to obtain such an attack capability.

The North's military statement didn’t explicitly mention a reported launch Thursday of an intercontinental ballistic missile aimed at hitting the U.S. mainland, though its main newspaper published a photo of an ICBM-like missile as one of the weapons mobilized during last week’s testing activities.

Some experts say many other North Korean missiles launched last week were short-range nuclear-capable weapons that place key military targets in South Korea, including U.S. military bases there, within striking range.

Later Monday, South Korea’s military disputed some of the North’s accounts of its missile tests. Spokesperson Kim Jun-rak said South Korea didn’t detect the North’s cruise missile launches and that it’s also notable that North Korea didn’t mention what Seoul assessed as an abnormal flight by an ICBM.

This year’s “Vigilant Storm” air force drills between the United States and South Korea were the largest-ever for the annual fall maneuvers. The drills involved 240 warplanes including advanced F-35 fighter jets from both countries. The allies were initially supposed to run the drills for five days ending on Friday, but extended the training by another day in reaction to the North’s missile tests.

On Saturday, the final day of the air force exercises, the United States flew two B-1B supersonic bombers over South Korea in a display of strength against North Korea, the aircraft’s first such flyover since December 2017.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the participation of the B-1Bs in the joint drills demonstrated the allies’ readiness to sternly respond to North Korean provocations and the U.S. commitment to defend its ally with the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear.

After their annual meeting Thursday in Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-Sup issued a joint statement strongly condemning the North’s recent launches and carrying Austin’s warning that any nuclear attacks against the United States or its allies and partners “is unacceptable and will result in the end of the Kim regime.” South Korea’s military has previously warned the North that using its nuclear weapons would put it on a “path of self-destruction.”

Both defense chiefs also agreed on the need to enhance combined exercises and training events to strengthen readiness against North Korean nuclear and missile threats.

Even before the “Vigilant Storm” drills, North Korea test-launched a slew of missiles in what it called simulated nuclear attacks on U.S. and South Korean targets in protests of its rivals’ other sets of military exercises that involved a U.S. aircraft for the first time in five years. In September, North Korea also adopted a new law authorizing the preemptive use of its nuclear weapons in a broad range of situations.

South Korean and U.S. officials have steadfastly maintained their drills are defensive in nature and that they have no intentions of invading the North.

U.S. and South Korean militaries have been expanding their regular military drills since the May inauguration of conservative South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has promised to take a tougher stance on North Korean provocations. Some of the allies’ drills had been previously downsized or canceled to support now-stalled diplomacy on North Korea’s nuclear program or to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.

For months, South Korean and U.S. officials have said North Korea has completed preparations to conduct its first nuclear test in five years. On Monday, South Korean Unification Minister Kwon Youngse told lawmakers that North Korea could carry out the nuclear test at any time but there were still no signs that such a test explosion was imminent.

___

Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung contributed to this report.

military.com · by 7 Nov 2022 Associated Press · November 7, 2022

15. Philippines to urge peaceful resolution of Korean row

A lot of countries are concerned with the Korean peninsula. I am actually traveling to the Philippines at the end of this month (after attending a conference in Poland) to attend a conference and give a presentation to Filipinos and international participants on the pursuit of a free and unified Korea.

Philippines to urge peaceful resolution of Korean row

philstar.com · by Helen Flores

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines will renew its call for a peaceful resolution of the disputes in the Korean peninsula during President Marcos’ participation at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia this week, officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.

Assistant Secretary Nathaniel Imperial of the DFA’s Office of the Asian and Pacific Affairs said the situation in the Korean peninsula is “of paramount concern to us,” noting that a significant number of Filipinos live and work in South Korea.

“This is of paramount concern to us because we do have around 46,500 Filipinos living and working in the Republic of Korea, in close proximity to North Korea,” Imperial said at a recent Palace briefing.

He said the Philippines issued another statement on Nov. 2 condemning Pyongyang’s ballistic missile launches that have raised tensions in the region.

“This is already the fourth statement to be issued by the Philippines since early this year basically condemning the missile tests or launches,” Imperial said.

Office of the ASEAN Affairs Assistant Secretary Daniel Espiritu said North Korea has always been part of the Philippines’ agenda in all meetings of ASEAN.

“Our position on that has always been consistent and clear: we have always expressed our concern regarding the ballistic missile tests of North Korea,” Espiritu said.

The Philippines has joined other nations in calling on North Korea to abide by the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions on this issue and urged parties in the Korean peninsula to return to the negotiating table to find a peaceful resolution on this dispute, the DFA officials said.

Marcos will attend the 40th and 41st ASEAN summits and related meetings from Nov. 10 to 13 – the first to be conducted in person since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020.

Marcos is expected to hold bilateral meetings with several world leaders during his trip to Phnom Penh, including Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, Imperial said.

Held twice a year, the ASEAN Summit serves as a venue for discussion and policy deliberations on various developments and global issues affecting the Southeast Asian region and beyond.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

SC seeks unified video conference protocols

A unified protocol for conducting video conference hearings (VCHs) among Southeast Asian countries handling parties and witnesses outside their own jurisdiction but still belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is being sought by the Philippine Supreme Court (SC).

Underscoring the importance of common guidelines and principles for the conduct of VCHs, Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo told ASEAN chief justices that the Philippines’ high court would be submitting a concept note that proposes such a protocol.

“Seeing the benefits we have reaped from VCHs, we will submit a concept note to propose, as a possible area for ASEAN collaboration under the Working Group on Future Work, the adoption of common principles and guidelines for the conduct of video conference hearings involving parties and witnesses outside the territory of a state where the action is pending, but still within the ASEAN,” Gesmundo said during the 10th Council of ASEAN Chief Justices (CACJ) in Kuala Lumpur over the weekend.

“In the interest of consistency, efficiency and mutual protection, therefore, a CACJ-ASEAN protocol on the conduct of video conference hearings would be ideal,” he added.

In early 2020, the SC allowed trial courts and appellate courts to hear cases in a fully remote capacity through teleconferencing platforms.

The policy temporarily allowed the high court some reprieve in addressing the urgent issue of decongesting court dockets, as well as the absence of court space or facilities for some judges.

While more courts have opted to hear cases in person, the SC is currently pushing for the institutionalization of VCHs as part of its push for a technology-driven judiciary.

Since 2020, over a million VCHs have been conducted by courts nationwide, recording at least an 89-percent success rate for over 1.1 million VCHs as of Oct. 13.

“Due to this high success rate, the Supreme Court is presently updating its guidelines on VCH to transition the use of the rule to a post-pandemic world, making it a permanent device and option in every Filipino judge’s trial toolkit, especially for the best interests of child witnesses, for enhanced victim protection and prevention of re-victimization, for easier access to counsel and even family for detained witnesses and parties; and, in general, for greater time and cost efficiency,” Gesmundo said.

Associate Justice Midas Marquez earlier said 60 percent of all courts nationwide have been provided with platforms to conduct VCHs, and that the SC has allotted funds to provide a P5,000 monthly communication allowance to court branches for internet utility.

The high court is currently drumming up support from judges, court personnel, lawyers and other stakeholders for the judiciary’s five-year innovation plan dubbed the Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovation 2022-2027 (SPJI), which is intended to provide Filipinos “equal access to justice real-time.”

Stressing that the SPJI is anchored on timely and fair justice, transparent and accountable justice, equal and inclusive justice, and technologically adaptive management, Gesmundo said it would help review and assess the organizational structure and operations of the various offices of the judiciary, and develop and establish an information and communications technology infrastructure for the Philippine judiciary. – Neil Jayson Servallos

philstar.com · by Helen Flores

16. S. Korea's Navy retrieves suspected debris of NK missile that flew over NLL last week

Good work by the ROK Navy.

S. Korea's Navy retrieves suspected debris of NK missile that flew over NLL last week | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 김수연 · November 7, 2022

SEOUL, Nov. 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Navy said Monday it has retrieved what is presumed to be the debris of a ballistic missile that North Korea fired southward last week past its de facto maritime border with the South in the East Sea.

"The South's Navy on Sunday collected what is presumed to be the debris of the North's short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) in waters south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL)," Col. Kim Jun-rak, spokesperson for the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), said at a regular press briefing.

North Korea fired three SRBMs from a site in or near its eastern coastal city of Wonsan on Wednesday, including one that landed near South Korea's territorial waters after flying over the NLL for the first time since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The Navy's Gwangyang salvage and rescue ship was dispatched to areas south of the NLL from Friday through Sunday, and retrieved the suspected debris using an unmanned underwater searching device, according to the JCS.

The South's military said related authorities are analyzing the retrieved materials.

North Korea launched more than 30 ballistic missiles last week alone, including a presumed failed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), amid growing speculation it may carry out a nuclear test in the near future.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by 김수연 · November 7, 2022

17. K-Peace Festival - Peaceful Unificaiton Advsory Commitee

The Peaceful Unification Advisory Council -Washington Chapter held an event on the Washington Mall this weekend. I was honored to give a short speech.

For those who know, I outlined the UW support plan for civil society support to the Korean people in the north to help the oppressed free themselves. De Oppresso Liber.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-m8arQoUG0​ ​

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