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Quotes of the Day:
"True ignorance is not the absence of knowledge, but the refusal to acquire it."
- Karl Popper
"Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions."
- Primo Levi
"Success is not achieved by the impractical who merely contemplate, but by the individuals who face reality head-on and take purposeful action."
- Plato
1. What Are North Korea’s Nuclear-Weapon Capabilities and Is the Threat Expanding?
2. Yoon gov't will 'never' pursue end-of-war declaration: unification minister
3. No progress made on U.S. soldier in N. Korea: state dept.
4. Alliance between Korea and Japan may prove difficult
5. Clarify roles of the Unification Ministry and NIS
6. Park Jin likely to retain FM post amid Cabinet reshuffle
7. ＜Investigation＞100 soldiers surround farming community of 500 farmer to prevent stealing of crops…Military-Farmer relations improved
8. Travis King's sister says US soldier who crossed into North Korea is 'not the type to just disappear'
9. Korea considers joining Saudi-hosted talks about Ukraine: source
10. China Holds the Key to Halting North Korea’s 7th Nuke Test
11. Ordinary N. Koreans forced to provide food to construction teams in Yanggang Province
12. Kunming steps up efforts to prevent defectors from heading to S. Korea
1. What Are North Korea’s Nuclear-Weapon Capabilities and Is the Threat Expanding?
Video at the link.
A useful overview of the regime's nuclear and missile programs.
What Are North Korea’s Nuclear-Weapon Capabilities and Is the Threat Expanding?
Kim Jong Un has vowed to never surrender his nuclear weapons, which have the potential to hit anywhere in the U.S.
By Timothy W. Martin
Updated Aug. 3, 2023 4:19 am ET
https://www.wsj.com/articles/north-korea-nuclear-weapons-missiles-explained-11610712018?mod=Searchresults_pos2&page=1
Delegations from China and Russia attended a military parade in Pyongyang on Thursday, marking the first foreign visits to North Korea since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. WSJ’s Dasl Yoon explains the growing ties between the three countries. Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images
North Korea sees its nuclear program as essential to regime survival, serving to deter a U.S.-led invasion. Decades of denuclearization talks, economic sanctions and diplomacy have done little to slow Pyongyang’s advance to becoming a self-declared nuclear state.
The Kim Jong Un regime has been on a historic pace of weapons tests in recent years. In 2023 alone, North Korea has carried out at least four launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. Pyongyang developed its weapons program brazenly, flouting sanctions and breaking promises to halt nuclear production. In 2003 it withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the main global commitment to stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.
What nuclear weapons does North Korea have?
The U.S. Army in July 2020 said North Korea might now have 20 to 60 nuclear bombs and the ability to manufacture six bombs each year. In May 2023, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley said North Korea’s weapons testing and development “pose real threats to our homeland as well as allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific,” according to written testimony provided to U.S. lawmakers.
Pyongyang has yet to show it can reliably strike the U.S. with a nuclear weapon. That requires developing a warhead that can survive the enormous pressure and heat of re-entering the atmosphere. And in its tests the North has launched ICBMs at a steep angle—in part to keep them from splashing down in U.S. territorial waters—which leaves doubts about whether the technology could traverse an actual flight, with its flatter trajectory. It also needs to develop and test a reliable targeting system.
Many of the Kim regime’s shorter-range weapons are also believed to be nuclear capable.
North Korea has conducted six nuclear tests. The most recent one, in September 2017, produced an estimated yield as high as 100 kilotons, according to a South Korean lawmaker—or roughly five times that of the atomic bomb the U.S. dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945. Kim, as part of the country’s five-year strategic weapons policy, wants to develop an ability to put multiple nuclear warheads on a single missile.
North Korea has finished preparations to conduct its first nuclear test in nearly six years, U.S. and South Korean officials have said.
What is an ICBM?
ICBMs—short for intercontinental ballistic missile—have existed for decades and gained prominence during the Cold War. They are designed to travel from one continent to another, generally having a minimum range of roughly 3,400 miles, or about 5,500 kilometers. But some ICBMs can travel more than 10,000 miles, allowing more circuitous routes. Only a handful of countries, including the U.S., Russia and China, possess land-based ICBMs, with a broader group able to launch them from submarines.
The massive missiles can travel up to 15,000 miles an hour. ICBMs take a suborbital path, traveling out of the Earth’s atmosphere then descending on a target. ICBMs can carry nuclear warheads, among other types of weaponry.
Can North Korea’s missiles reach the continental U.S.?
The Hwasong-15 missile, launched in November 2017, could potentially strike anywhere in the U.S., according to an assessment by the U.S. Forces Korea, which oversees the roughly 28,500 American personnel in South Korea.
North Korea’s test in 2017 of an intercontinental ballistic missile demonstrated it had the potential to reach anywhere in the U.S. PHOTO: /ASSOCIATED PRESS
Missile experts estimate its range at 8,100 miles, and say a North Korean ICBM could hit the U.S. mainland less than 30 minutes after launch. Pyongyang is more than 5,000 miles away from the U.S. West Coast.
In January 2021, Kim outlined a goal of extending the flight range to about 9,300 miles. The March 2022 full-range ICBM test—its first in more than four years—showed that potential range, South Korea’s military told lawmakers.
North Korea made another leap in April 2023, showcasing a new Hwasong-18 ICBM that used an engine using solid, rather than liquid, fuel, a shift that makes it more mobile and often quicker to deploy. Three months later, North Korea test-fired the Hwasong-18 again and kept it airborne for around 74 minutes, the longest flight time for any of its ballistic-missile launches to date.
The country’s shorter-range weapons have repeatedly shown the North has ample ability to hit South Korea and Japan—each home to overseas U.S. military bases. On Oct. 4, 2022, the Kim regime flew an intermediate-range missile over Japan that traveled about 2,800 miles on a lofted trajectory. The American military bases in Guam, for instance, are roughly 2,000 miles from North Korea.
What type of missiles does North Korea have?
North Korea has a diverse arsenal of ballistic missiles. In early 2021, Kim outlined his country’s top strategic weapons priorities, including a nuclear-powered submarine, hypersonic missiles, more powerful ICBMs and spy satellites.
Most of North Korea’s weapons tests in recent years sought to strengthen shorter-range missiles, much of which can become nuclear capable, weapons experts say. Pyongyang has claimed successes firing weapons from submarines and train cars, plus an ability to maneuver missiles to dodge U.S. or South Korean defenses.
Many of the newly unveiled, shorter-range missiles rely on solid fuel. For the ICBMs, using a liquid-fuel engine meant having to send a caravan of vehicles for transportation and fueling before launch—making it easier to spot and potentially thwart.
Kim “almost certainly views nuclear weapons and ICBMs as the ultimate guarantor of his autocratic rule and has no intention of abandoning those programs,” according to an annual threat assessment from the U.S. intelligence community, which was released in March 2023.
When was the last time North Korea fired missiles?
North Korea has been conducting weapons tests with near impunity.
Kim, in an overture to peace talks in April 2018, had promised to refrain from nuclear or ICBM tests. By the start of 2020, the dictator revealed he no longer felt bound by the self-imposed moratorium. But an actual return to major provocations didn’t occur for more than two years after that pronouncement.
North Korea has accelerated the country’s weapons development throughout Kim’s more-than-decade rule. Of the country’s more than 190 missile launches and nuclear tests, more than 150 have been conducted since Kim took power in late 2011, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank with a database going back to 1984.
What has the U.S. response been to North Korea’s missile tests?
Washington and Pyongyang have held denuclearization talks since President George H.W. Bush was in the White House and North Korea was still led by founder Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Un’s grandfather. Prior deals sought to freeze production, allow on-site inspections or dismantle facilities in return for aid or other resources. But the arrangements broke down after the North refused to comply or engaged in a military provocation.
Then-President Donald Trump took a different approach, shifting negotiations customarily left to working-level officials to leader-level diplomacy. The Trump administration played down North Korea’s resumption of weapons tests in spring 2019, because they didn’t include ICBMs or nuclear bombs. The absence of long-range tests, Trump and senior officials said, was a sign the U.S. approach was successful. Others, like former U.S. national security adviser John Bolton, said the tests violated United Nations restrictions.
North Korea has ignored repeated offers by the Biden administration to meet without preconditions at any time and anywhere.
Without a nuclear deal that eases sanctions—which limit the North’s access to foreign banks and global trade—Kim can’t deliver on his promise to revitalize a North Korean economy that has crumbled during the pandemic. The country is facing one of its worst food crises in decades, with widespread hunger and deaths from starvation.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, a conservative who took office in May 2022, backs a more confrontational stance against North Korea’s weapons tests and human-rights violations. That is a break from his predecessor, the left-leaning Moon Jae-in, who pursued a pro-engagement policy.
Under Yoon, South Korea has routinely labeled North Korea’s missile tests as provocations, sought to improve ties with Japan and resumed large-scale field drills with the U.S. after a nearly four-year hiatus.
What is President Biden’s stance on North Korea?
President Biden has referred to North Korea as the U.S.’s greatest foreign-policy threat. He has advocated mixing pressure with what he calls principled diplomacy. He has declared an end to holding leader-to-leader summits without preconditions, which he said amounts to embracing a thug. Biden said he would sit down with Kim only if Pyongyang were sincere and pledged to reduce its nuclear arsenal.
Biden hosted Yoon during a state visit to the White House in April 2023, where the two countries struck the so-called Washington Declaration. As part of that pact, South Korea reaffirmed its commitment to not developing its own nuclear weapons. In return, the U.S. promised to dispatch to the region strategic assets, such as nuclear-capable submarines and B-52 bombers. The creation of the nuclear-consultation group was intended to give Seoul, for the first time, a larger say in deliberations about potential American nuclear use in response to a North Korean attack.
Any nuclear attack by North Korea would result in the end of the Kim regime, Biden said during Yoon’s visit.
According to Seoul’s spy agency, North Korea’s demands to come back to talks include relaxing sanctions, so the Kim regime can export minerals and import more refined fuel. But the must-have list includes fine suits and premium liquor, too, according to the August 2021 assessment, shared in a briefing with South Korean lawmakers.
North Korea’s Expanding Missile Arsenal Unpacked
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From a more powerful intercontinental ballistic missile to hypersonic ones, North Korea has been displaying new weapons alongside its nuclear bombs and submarines. WSJ takes a look at the regime’s growing arsenal to see what message it sends to the world. Composite: Diana Chan
Write to Timothy W. Martin at timothy.martin@wsj.com
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2. Yoon gov't will 'never' pursue end-of-war declaration: unification minister
Good. This is the right thing. We must not be duped by the activists who support Kim Jong Un's political warfare strategy.
Yoon gov't will 'never' pursue end-of-war declaration: unification minister | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · August 3, 2023
By Kim Soo-yeon
SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new unification minister said Thursday the Yoon Suk Yeol administration will "never" seek the declaration of a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, saying the move would hamper the resolution of the issue of abductees and detainees in North Korea.
In his first official schedule since the inauguration, Kim Yung-ho made the remarks during a meeting with chiefs of civic groups dedicated to addressing the long-pending issue and a family member of a South Korean pastor detained in the reclusive country.
"What I can clearly say is that conditions for the end-of-war declaration have not been met. If such a declaration is carried out, the issue of abductees, prisoners of war and detainees in the North will be overshadowed," he said.
"I can promise that the Yoon Suk Yeol administration will never pursue the end-of-war declaration," Kim said.
Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho speaks at a meeting with chiefs of civic groups seeking to resolve the issue of South Korean abductees and detainees in North Korea at his office in Seoul on Aug. 3, 2023. (Yonhap)
The former liberal government of President Moon Jae-in was supportive of such a declaration, as it regarded it as the first step of what could be a long process toward a peace treaty. The two Koreas technically remain at war, as the Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
But President Yoon has been critical of it, saying in June that "anti-state forces" had significantly undermined South Korea's security by begging for the lifting of U.N. sanctions on the North and pushing for an end-of-war declaration with Pyongyang.
At Thursday's meeting, Kim stressed the government's "firm" stance to make efforts to resolve the issue of those detained in the North.
"The issue is a matter of human rights of South Korean nationals abused by North Korea," he said.
Kim took office as South Korea's new point man on unification Friday, with a pledge to pursue a principle-based inter-Korean policy amid frozen ties with North Korea caused by Pyongyang's provocations. He is a conservative professor known to be a vocal advocate of human rights.
Since 2013, six South Koreans, including three pastors, have been detained in North Korea on charges of committing what the North called anti-North Korea crimes.
Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho (L) meets with chiefs of four civic groups seeking to resolve the issue of South Korean abductees in North Korea, and a family member of a pastor detained in the secretive North at his office in Seoul on Aug. 3, 2023. (Yonhap)
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · August 3, 2023
3. No progress made on U.S. soldier in N. Korea: state dept.
No progress made on U.S. soldier in N. Korea: state dept. | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Duk-Kun Byun · August 3, 2023
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has yet to offer any substantive response to requests from United Nations Command (UNC) to confirm the safety of a U.S. service member in its custody, a state department spokesperson said Wednesday.
In addition, Pyongyang remains unresponsive to such requests from the United States, according to the department spokesperson, Matthew Miller.
His remark comes after a Department of Defense spokesperson said the North has responded to UNC requests to confirm the whereabouts of Pvt. Travis King, who crossed the inter-Korean border into North Korea on July 18.
State Department Press Secretary Matthew Miller is seen answering questions during a daily press briefing at the department in Washington on Aug. 2, 2023 in this captured image. (Yonhap)
"It was my understanding ... that it was a call to the U.N. Command at the demilitarized zone that came just in the last 48 hours," Miller told a daily press briefing.
"It was not a substantive call. It was an acknowledgement call," he added. "That wasn't substantive and so because it wasn't substantive, we certainly don't see it as progress."
Shortly after the U.S. soldier crossed into North Korea last week, the state department spokesperson said the U.S. had a "number of diplomatic channels" through which it can communicate with North Korea.
"The outreach that we have made to North Korea through diplomatic channels has still not been answered," Miller told the press briefing.
When asked about North Korea's withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) 20 years ago in 2003, the state department spokesperson called on Pyongyang to stop its "continued pursuit of ballistic missile technology and nuclear weapons."
"As we have made clear from the outset of this administration, we are open to conversations, we would welcome conversations with North Korea about these issues, and they have refused to engage meaningfully with us," said Miller.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Duk-Kun Byun · August 3, 2023
4. Alliance between Korea and Japan may prove difficult
Yes a trilateral alliance is a long way off. But we should also keep in mind that it is something that China has expressed a deinitate opinion about. It was the 3d of the 3 no's that Xi demanded of Moon in 2017 - no more THAAD deployment, no integrated missile defense and no trilateral alliance.
But at the Camp David Summit they could do something like announce the Camp David Consensus: a pledge the three leaders will make a pledge to pursue a free and unified Korea.
Wednesday
August 2, 2023
dictionary + A - A
Published: 02 Aug. 2023, 19:17
Alliance between Korea and Japan may prove difficult
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/08/02/national/defense/korea-japan-us/20230802191726037.html
The U.S. Navy Arleigh-Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur launches a harpoon surface-to-surface missile during Pacific Vanguard (PACVAN) quadrilateral exercises between Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea, and U.S. Naval forces in the Philippine Sea May 26, 2019. [REUTERS]
Support is slim in South Korea for a military alliance with Japan, an idea the U.S. government reportedly wants to float during an upcoming trilateral summit later this month.
While Washington hasn’t made any formal announcements, U.S. President Joe Biden and his team may push their Korean and Japanese counterparts to agree to consult each other “in the event of an attack,” according to a Financial Times report on Tuesday.
Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that there have been ongoing trilateral consultations regarding the content of a joint statement but “nothing has been set.”
Biden will be meeting with President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Camp David on Aug. 18. The trilateral summit has been touted in Korea as a first of its kind, taking place independently and not on the sidelines of a multilateral forum.
The trilateral summit was arranged following a recent thaw in Korea-Japan ties that were largely frozen over the past few years over diplomatic disputes on compensation for Korean victims of Japanese wartime forced labor.
Korea and Japan have a military security intelligence-sharing pact, the General Security of Military Information Agreement (Gsomia), which took four years to negotiate and establish due to constant opposition within Korea.
The agreement, formally established in 2016, was nearly revoked in 2019 when bilateral relations soured over the Korean Supreme Court’s rulings in favor of Korean victims of Japanese wartime forced labor.
While military cooperation between Seoul and Tokyo to address growing security threats from North Korea has been frequently discussed between the two administrations, taking it to the next level of a military alliance will not fly well with the Korean public, said some experts in Seoul.
“The United States would be willing to institutionalize security cooperation between South Korea and Japan to strengthen the trilateral cooperation,” said Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University.
“But such a stipulation of security cooperation between Korea and Japan would in fact be a precursor to a treaty alliance, which would be difficult to actually realize, and would face strong domestic opposition as it would then raise the question of whether Japanese Self Defense Forces should ever be allowed to enter the Korean Peninsula.”
Flags of Korea, left, and Japan placed on the table as the two countries' defense ministry chiefs met in Singapore on June 4 [YONHAP]
South Korea defines North Korean territory as constitutionally South Korean, complicating matters in a military contingency whereby a foreign power attacks North Korea in a counterattack or pre-emptive strike.
Seoul and Tokyo also regularly engage in disputes regarding the territorial sovereignty of the Dokdo islets, a group of small islets in the East Sea, which are another painful reminder of Japan's imperialistic past and its 1910-45 colonial rule over the peninsula.
Korea denies that a territorial dispute even exists as the Dokdo islets are historically, geographically and under international law an integral part of Korean territory.
Japan calls them Takeshima and claims them as its "inherent territory" in its official documents, including its national security strategy. It has been arguing that Korea illegally occupies the islets in diplomatic blue papers issued since 2018.
The two countries may bring up the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement, which would regulate bilateral arms exchanges, at the summit meeting in the United States this month. The agreement was once discussed alongside Gsomia from 2012 but dropped during the negotiations due to domestic opposition in Korea to arms deals with Japan.
“For the trilateral cooperation to be extended beyond the immediate region to be applied to threats in the greater Indo-Pacific region, and even against threats from China, it would indeed require closer security cooperation between Korea and Japan,” said Sohn Yul, president of the East Asia Institute.
“However, considering the sensitivity of Korea-Japan relations, it is necessary to be cautious as security cooperation with Japan always factors in diplomatic and political aspects altogether.”
BY JEONG JIN-WOO,ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]
5. Clarify roles of the Unification Ministry and NIS
Yes there is interesting competition and friction between the Ministry and NIS.
Thursday
August 3, 2023
dictionary + A - A
Published: 03 Aug. 2023, 09:27
Updated: 03 Aug. 2023, 16:10
Clarify roles of the Unification Ministry and NIS
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/08/03/opinion/columns/Clarify-roles-of-the-Unification-Ministry-and-NIS/20230803092741113.html
Wi Sung-lac
The author is a former South Korean representative to the six-party talks and head of the diplomacy and security division of the JoongAng Ilbo’s Reset Korea campaign.
An American soldier fleeing across the heavily armed inter-Korean border into North Korea has unexpectedly focused attention on possible talks between Washington and Pyongyang.
The attention is understandable as there has been little contact between Pyongyang and either Washington or Seoul for the last four years. But what matters is the will of the North Korean regime and what process it takes in renewing contacts.
To understand Pyongyang’s move, North Korea’s latest actions and circumstances should be studied. Externally, North Korea has been ratcheting up saber-rattling and provocations. Internally, it is struggling with worsening economic woes. The Covid-19 lockdown has aggravated livelihoods on top of lengthy sanctions. Strategically, Pyongyang should work up its leverage by flaunting its nuclear and missile capabilities before it condescendingly agrees to dialogue. But realistically, it must reach out for outside exchanges and help to help people survive. On the surface, Pyongyang maintains a cool face. But a closer look discovers busy footwork under the table. Signals have been going to and from Pyongyang and Tokyo. When North Korea officially ends its self-imposed Covid-19 isolation, Japan could be the country’s contact. North Korea entertained Chinese and Russian officials with a military parade on its 70th anniversary of the “Victory Day” commemorating the end of the 1950-1953 Korea War on July 27. They were first outsiders since the pandemic. It is unclear whether North Korea is fully reopening its borders. If so, it could send athletes to the Asian Games in Hangzhou in September. The developments and movements indicate North Korea renewing contact with the outside world. The crossing by an American soldier amidst the background could persuade Pyongyang to renew dialogue with Washington.
How the inter-Korean relationship fits into this new dynamic is uncertain. While talking with Washington and Tokyo, Pyongyang could stay cool towards Seoul. The conservative government in Seoul also may not be that eager to renew talks, given its hardening policies towards North Korea and external affairs.
But renewed dialogue between Pyongyang and Tokyo as well as Washington while Seoul is pushed to the sidelines could not be good for Korea’s diplomatic maneuvering room. The government, with its hardline position towards Pyongyang, may not be happy about the renewed dialogues, but it cannot expect Washington and Tokyo to care. At the end of the day, Seoul also would have to reach out to Pyongyang. The pattern had been common under past conservative governments.
So, who will break the ice between the two Koreas? Will the Unification Ministry be in charge? Most think the overture task would fall on the National Intelligence Service (NIS), since the spy agency had led talks with the North under the long-kept tradition since the military regime.
The Unification Ministry is being targeted for intensive reform for its past support to the North. The divisions in charge of dialogue, exchanges, and cooperation could face disciplinary actions. Such move could weaken the ministry’s role in communicating with the North as well as its overall rank and position. The ministry’s function in inter-Korean affairs could diminish. The intelligence agency could take over some of the Unification Ministry’s function to regain the past authority in inter-Korean affairs.
The NIS’s role in the past had been justified under the ceasefire status quo. The Unification Ministry inevitably had to stay in the back seat and could not take charge in overall inter-Korean affairs. Pyongyang, being well aware of the status quo, also has not taken the Unification Ministry seriously, influencing inter-Korean negotiations. The practice has not helped the NIS that much. The agency, too, suffered distortion in its function, which is understandable as the office spying on North Korean officials were addressing them in talks. In advanced countries, an espionage agency does not directly negotiate with other governments.
For a country invited to Group of Seven summits to continue with such abnormal practice serves neither the Unification Ministry nor the intelligence office well. Since the Unification Ministry is regarded as a reform target, whether such abnormalities should be retained should also be studied. The role of the Unification Ministry should be normalized by clarifying the division of tasks with the intelligence office. Whether it renews talks with Pyongyang on goodwill or confrontation, the Unification Ministry should take charge of inter-Korean affairs. Other offices should cooperate with intelligence and other support so that the ministry can be maneuver inter-Korean relationship effectively.
The overhaul on the Unification Ministry should be addressed from a micro perspective, leaving aside the issue of fundamental authority. Reform or overhaul should be carried out, while respecting the original function of the ministry. Such common sense action would help the Unification Ministry, NIS and inter-Korean relationship. The move would be regarded as normalization of the abnormal at home and abroad.
Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
6. Park Jin likely to retain FM post amid Cabinet reshuffle
Park Jin likely to retain FM post amid Cabinet reshuffle
The Korea Times · August 3, 2023
Foreign Minister Park Jin speaks during a briefing at the foreign ministry building in Seoul, March 6. Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hun By Lee Hyo-jin
The future of Foreign Minister Park Jin ― whether he would retain his ministerial position or return to the National Assembly ― is drawing keen attention in diplomatic circles here as President Yoon Suk Yeol mulls another Cabinet reshuffle.
However, Park is unlikely to be replaced in the near future due to tough competition in the ruling People Power Party's (PPP) candidacy nomination and President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval of the top diplomat's performance in office, according to political sources, Thursday.
Yoon, who went on a weeklong summer vacation from Wednesday, is expected to replace some of his ministers after he returns so as to tighten his grip on state affairs.
While details of the Cabinet lineup change remain unknown, some speculate that the foreign minister, who is a four-term PPP lawmaker might be on the list, especially after Yoon recently replaced the unification minister in an apparent signal to refresh his foreign policies.
In a wide-ranging Cabinet reshuffle carried out in late June, Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho replaced his predecessor Kwon Young-se. Kwon, a four-term lawmaker of the conservative ruling People Power Party (PPP) is now expected to play a key role in the upcoming general election slated for April 10, 2024.
Speculations rose that Park, who is also a political heavyweight of the ruling party, would also be contemplating returning to the National Assembly as his party gears up for the general election.
Park, who is a four-term lawmaker of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), would face a tough bid in the party's candidacy nomination, if he were to run for re-election in next year's parliamentary race representing his Gangnam-B district. The affluent Gangnam district has traditionally been the conservative camp's home turf, and thus a popular constituency among PPP candidates.
"It may be too early to talk about whether Park can be nominated, but there are a lot of politicians wanting to run in the Gangnam district. The constituency guarantees an easy win, and I'm not sure if the party would give it to Park," said a political source with knowledge of the matter, Thursday.
The source commented that chances might be slim for Park to secure the Gangnam constituency.
Moreover, Park is deemed a credible minister by the president, according to the source, making it less likely for Yoon to replace the foreign minister.
Kim Yeoul-soo, chief of the Security Strategy Office at the Korea Institute for Military Affairs, viewed that at this point of time, there is little reason for the Yoon administration to replace the top diplomat who is doing well in his job.
"Park has done very well in carrying out the foreign policy goals of the incumbent government. "In particular, he has played a key role in strengthening relations with the U.S. and Japan," he said.
"He has also demonstrated his diplomatic skills when it comes relations with China by representing national interests and maintaining healthy relationships with the neighboring nation," Kim added. "And considering that there are some major diplomatic events such as the trilateral summit with the U.S. and Japan, it would be best for the minister to keep his position for the continuity of policies."
The Korea Times · August 3, 2023
7. ＜Investigation＞100 soldiers surround farming community of 500 farmer to prevent stealing of crops…Military-Farmer relations improved
We must be observant for indicators of internal instability.
It does appear from recent reports that there could be difficulty with supplying the military.
Excerpt:
“It felt like the military is laying siege on the farming village.”
＜Investigation＞100 soldiers surround farming community of 500 farmer to prevent stealing of crops…Military-Farmer relations improved
asiapress.org
Young soldiers bathing and washing their clothes on the banks of the Yalu River. All of them are underweight. Taken by ISHIMARU Jiro on the Chinese side of the border across from Sakju, North Pyongan Province, in July 2017.
“It felt like the military is laying siege on the farming village.”
This is what a reporting partner who visited a collective farm in North Hamgyung Province to survey conditions there told ASIAPRESS in mid-July. Military units were mobilized to farms throughout the country starting in early spring to help with the spring planting, but now soldiers seem to be focusing on preventing the stealing of harvested crops. (KANG Ji-won)
◆ 100 soldiers stationed at a village of 500 farmers
The collective farm visited by the reporting partner, who lives in a city in North Hamgyung Province, has around 500 employees and mainly cultivates corn. It is slightly smaller than the average farm in the province.
Starting in July, the Kim Jong-un regime has shifted the remit of military units mobilized to farms from farmwork to security and crackdowns, and is making efforts to improve the military’s relations with farmers. The following is an interview with the reporting partner about the farm he surveyed.
―― How big is the military unit at the farm?
There is one company of soldiers there. Two platoons in the company are helping out with farm-related activities, but the focus has been on managing the village’s water supply and strengthening river levies as part of efforts to prevent damage from monsoon rains. One platoon has been focusing on security and crackdowns.
※ Korean People’s Army companies are typically made up of three platoons. One platoon is generally made up of around 35 soldiers.
―― It seems there’s a lot of soldiers at the farm, despite its small size.
It’s almost like the soldiers are laying siege, which made it hard to enter the farm. All the soldiers stand guard at checkpoints to make sure no crops are stolen. They are far more focused on crackdowns and security than on farming.
In any case, they put a lot of effort into preventing the stealing of crops. The soldiers are even preventing farmers from taking out potatoes grown on private plots of land. It’s really annoying. I tried to leave the village after buying some potatoes from a farmer I know, but the soldiers suspected me of stealing them and I was only allowed past once they confirmed which house I had gotten the potatoes from.
※ When the harvest season approaches, farmers and police were mobilized to farm fields all night to prevent anything from being stolen.
◆ Military makes efforts to improve relations with farmers
―― Soldiers starting fights and stealing from others is a problem in urban areas.
The military is really focused on improving relations between farmers and soldiers. If a soldier causes an issue at a farm, their superior is relieved of duty, from what I’ve heard. I’ve also heard that there was an order at a military base to “steal things from other farms. Don’t ever steal anything from the village you are stationed in.”
At the collective farm the reporting partner visited, a soldier who stole and ate a chicken in May was demoted, and the platoon he was a part of was sent back to its home base. Soldiers know that they will face food shortages if they go back to their home base, so almost none of them steal anything anymore. That’s because they know it’s better to be able to eat at least vegetables at farms, which have laxer rules than military bases, according to the reporting partner.
―― Are soldiers stationed at the farm eating enough?
No. Even the military doesn’t have enough food. The military unit at the collective farm was surviving off wheat and barley, but the soldiers were hungry, so they fished at the river or went to gather mountain greens. Even the farm put together side dishes for the soldiers.
―― Are farmers scared of hungry soldiers?
The soldiers are trying to help out where they can. They help with cutting logs for firewood, picking weeds in farm fields, and other tasks, so the relationship between them and the farmers seemed to be alright. The soldiers help prevent people from coming into the farming area and provide security for harvested crops, so one farmer told me that ‘we won’t have to worry about people stealing crops this year if the soldiers can just refrain from stealing what’s been harvested.’
The authorities have deployed military units to farming areas to prevent food from being stolen from collective farms. The corn harvest starts in late August, so the authorities are putting systems into place to prevent food intended for use by the government from being siphoned off.
Despite efforts to confirm whether military units have been deployed in areas outside of North Hamgyung Province, including Yanggang and North Pyongan provinces, ASIAPRESS was unable to confirm whether military units have been deployed in farms nationwide.
※ ASIAPRESS communicates with its reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.
Map of North Korea ( ASIAPRESS)
asiapress.org
8. Travis King's sister says US soldier who crossed into North Korea is 'not the type to just disappear'
Travis King's sister says US soldier who crossed into North Korea is 'not the type to just disappear' | CNN Politics
CNN · by Piper Hudspeth Blackburn · August 3, 2023
CNN —
Family members of US Army Pvt. Travis King said Wednesday night that they had no reason to believe the soldier, who last month crossed the border between North and South Korea in the demilitarized zone separating the two nations, would defect from the US military.
Jaqueda Gates, King’s sister, told Laura Coates on “CNN Primetime” that the family has not received more information about her brother’s whereabouts, but said that he is “not the type to just disappear.”
“So, that’s why I feel like the story is deeper than that,” she said, adding: “I don’t I don’t believe that you just do vanished and ran away.”
King – who the US military said “willfully and without authorization” crossed into North Korea while taking a civilian tour of the Joint Security Area, a small collection of buildings inside the DMZ that has separated North and South Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953 – is believed to be the first US soldier to cross into North Korea since 1982.
As CNN previously reported, he had a history of assault, was facing disciplinary action over his conduct and was meant to go back to the US the day before the incident.
Myron Gates, King’s uncle, told Coates that while the family has reached out to a variety of elected officials’ offices, the family has not heard from the Biden administration and wishes the White House would do more.
“We wish they would come to our house to talk to us, and let us know something,” he said.
The family, he said, has been contacted by family members of Otto Warmbier, who urged them to act. Warmbier, a US college student, had been detained in North Korea for 17 months after visiting in 2016 and died less than a week after returning to the United States in 2017.
Jaqueda Gates detailed the toll her brother’s situation has taken on the family, saying it’s been hard to sleep as they wait for updates and that King’s absence has devastated their mother.
“This is really, really hard on my mom, you know, that’s her baby boy,” Gates said.
State Department spokesperson Matt Miller confirmed to CNN earlier Wednesday that the North Koreans had reached out to the United Nations Command in the last 48 hours about King, but said “it was not a substantive call” and there not seen “as progress in any way.”
“The outreach that we have made to North Korea through diplomatic channels has still not been answered,” Miller said at a State Department briefing.
Last week the deputy commander the United Nations Command, the force which runs the southern side of the Joint Security Area, said last week that a “conversation has commenced” with North Korea over King.
In a statement sent to CNN on Thursday, UNC Director of Public Affairs Col. Isaac Taylor said: “The KPA [North Korean Army] has responded to the United Nations Command with regards to Private King. In order not to interfere with our efforts to get him home, we will not go into details at this time.”
King’s family vowed Wednesday night to push for his return.
“We’re gonna continue to fight for you and we ain’t gonna stop until you come home,” Myron Gates said.
CNN’s Jennifer Hansler, Kylie Atwood, Natasha Bertrand, Gawon Bae and Brad Lendon contributed to this report.
CNN · by Piper Hudspeth Blackburn · August 3, 2023
9. Korea considers joining Saudi-hosted talks about Ukraine: source
Korea considers joining Saudi-hosted talks about Ukraine: source
The Korea Times · August 3, 2023
Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, shakes hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the presidential palace in Kyiv, July 15, in this photo provided by Seoul's presidential office. Yonhap
Korea has been considering participating in multinational talks about Ukraine in Saudi Arabia this weekend, a diplomatic source said Thursday.
According to the source, the government is considering sending a senior official from the presidential National Security Office to attend the two-day meeting set to kick off in Saudi's coastal city of Jeddah on Saturday.
Foreign media outlets earlier reported that several Western nations and major developing countries, including India and China, were invited to the gathering to discuss the Ukrainian Peace Formula. Russia was not invited to the discussions, they said.
Observers say Seoul's participation in the meeting could signal its growing diplomatic involvement in the Ukrainian issue.
Last month, Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv and agreed to provide a package of security, humanitarian and reconstruction assistance under the Ukraine Peace and Solidarity Initiative.
Under the initiative, Korea will encourage key developing nations to participate in a Peace Formula Summit proposed by Zelenskyy to implement the 10 points of the Ukrainian Peace Formula, involving the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kyiv, among others. (Yonhap)
The Korea Times · August 3, 2023
10. China Holds the Key to Halting North Korea’s 7th Nuke Test
Excerpts:
Against this backdrop, China must reconsider its stance on the hiring of North Korean workers. Their repatriation – in line with U.N. Security Council resolutions – could be instrumental in curbing the North’s nuclear ambitions. While it may seem like a small measure, such repatriation would send a strong message to Pyongyang. Blocking North Korea’s most reliable source of hard currency will jeopardize its plans to advance its nuclear missile program, dealing a decisive blow to the Kim Jong Un regime, which has survived on the lifeline of Beijing’s backing.
Such intervention could also yield countless advantages for China. Not least, China’s relationship with the United States and South Korea would improve dramatically, and some of the dark clouds looming over the Asia-Pacific region would dissipate. The end of the Cold War opened the door for China to accumulate tremendous wealth and power, elevating it to the status of a global superpower. Hence, China should seriously ask itself the question of what has caused cracks to appear in this favorable global system and who is responsible.
If China’s concern for North Korea is genuine, it should rescue North Korean overseas workers from slavery-like conditions and actively provide food relief to the North Korean people who struggle daily with hunger. Undoubtedly, such humane measures would profoundly elevate China’s global standing.
China Holds the Key to Halting North Korea’s 7th Nuke Test
North Korean workers abroad provide a crucial source of funding for the regime’s nuclear program – most prominently from China.
thediplomat.com · by Min-yong Lee · August 1, 2023
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As North Korea’s missile race approaches the finish line, the regime appears to be gearing up for its seventh nuclear test. Indeed, the successful launch of the Hwasong-18 suggests that the development of its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) technology is nearing its final stage, with the only remaining step being nuclear tests aimed at lightening the weight of the missile’s nuclear warheads.
Are we going to just stand by and allow North Korea to cross the nuclear finish line? The country is already a de facto nuclear state; it is now on the verge of perfecting its ICBM technology. While the situation may at first appear dismal and without hope, we cannot afford to sit on our hands and do nothing.
To find solutions, first we must understand the internal driving force that has propelled the North’s nuclear missile program: the sacrifice of its people. North Koreans have been forced to lay down their lives to support the nuclear program, especially the overseas workers who earn hard currency for the regime. All the while, these workers endure unimaginable human rights violations. North Korean workers who recently escaped from their workplaces in Russia and Uzbekistan and defected to South Korea described horrific working conditions.
They reported that overseas North Korean workers toil more than 12 hours of physical labor per day without holidays and live in virtually uninhabitable communal housing. They are not allowed to leave the premises or contact their family, living in slave-like conditions under strict surveillance. Unable to bear such misery, some have even taken their own lives.
Up to 80 percent of their wages are forcibly appropriated under the pretext of donating to the “Loyalty Fund,” which has been used to support the Kim Jong Un regime’s nuclear missile program and the purchase of his luxury goods.
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Currently, the biggest employer of North Korean overseas workers is China, with around 80,000 estimated to be living in Dandong, a border city between China and North Korea. Disguised as Chinese nationals, some are even traveling to African countries, such as Senegal and Algeria. This is in spite of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2397, which defines sanctions against North Korea, requires all U.N. member states repatriate North Korean workers by December 22, 2019.
A closer look at the circumstances surrounding overseas North Korean labor reveals two overlapping phenomena: First, the modern-day slavery of these laborers, who have been reduced to foreign currency-earning machines and second, China’s stance of feigning ignorance when it comes to Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.
The entire world knows that China is North Korea’s closest ally. I am not concerned with singling out China for blame, but its aiding and abetting of the North’s nuclear missile program demand our unwavering attention. In fact, the intensifying hegemonic competition between the United States. and China is not unrelated to the North’s nuclear missile development. In light of this, we must seriously examine what has driven the recent reinforcement of the U.S.-South Korea-Japan security cooperation, and how NATO’s interest in Asian security will affect China’s national security.
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Against this backdrop, China must reconsider its stance on the hiring of North Korean workers. Their repatriation – in line with U.N. Security Council resolutions – could be instrumental in curbing the North’s nuclear ambitions. While it may seem like a small measure, such repatriation would send a strong message to Pyongyang. Blocking North Korea’s most reliable source of hard currency will jeopardize its plans to advance its nuclear missile program, dealing a decisive blow to the Kim Jong Un regime, which has survived on the lifeline of Beijing’s backing.
Such intervention could also yield countless advantages for China. Not least, China’s relationship with the United States and South Korea would improve dramatically, and some of the dark clouds looming over the Asia-Pacific region would dissipate. The end of the Cold War opened the door for China to accumulate tremendous wealth and power, elevating it to the status of a global superpower. Hence, China should seriously ask itself the question of what has caused cracks to appear in this favorable global system and who is responsible.
If China’s concern for North Korea is genuine, it should rescue North Korean overseas workers from slavery-like conditions and actively provide food relief to the North Korean people who struggle daily with hunger. Undoubtedly, such humane measures would profoundly elevate China’s global standing.
Min-yong Lee
Min-yong Lee is a visiting professor at Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul, South Korea, researching North Korea issues.
thediplomat.com · by Min-yong Lee · August 1, 2023
11. Ordinary N. Koreans forced to provide food to construction teams in Yanggang Province
Conditions seem to continue to decline.
Ordinary N. Koreans forced to provide food to construction teams in Yanggang Province
“Times are so tough right now that people often say they’d die happy if they could only eat their fill," a source told Daily NK
By Lee Chae Un - 2023.08.03 5:00pm
dailynk.com
Soldiers working on the construction of homes in Hwasong District. (Rodong Sinmun - News1)
North Korean authorities are forcing ordinary people to provide food to party members mobilized for rural construction work in Yanggang Province, Daily NK has learned.
“Rice was already collected in Sinuiju at the beginning of this month for the teams of party members that are leaving for Yanggang Province to build houses in rural areas there. And now city residents are being asked once again to donate food, which is provoking discontent,” a source in North Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
According to the source, the city of Sinuiju had inminban (neighborhood watch units) instruct each family at the beginning of this month to donate two kilograms of rice for party members on the rural construction work teams. Families without rice on hand were asked to donate KPW 10,000 cash instead.
But recently, the neighborhood watch units held another round of meetings to inform families that they were expected to donate food on a voluntary basis to the construction work teams.
During this process, the leader of one neighborhood watch unit in Sinuiju got in a scuffle with local residents after calling out individual families who had not been able to make a two kilogram donation and pressuring them to donate.
“Families who are doing well and have money to spare could give a little more, but poor families who haven’t so much as seen a bowl of rice in months get stressed out whenever they’re told to donate. The argument broke out after people lost their temper over the unit head acting like families were holding back on purpose while knowing full well about their actual circumstances,” the source said.
Residents of North Hamgyong Province have also been frustrated about being coerced into making nominally “voluntary” donations of rice, which are used to support teams of party members doing rural construction work in Yanggang Province.
“Times are so tough right now that people often say they’d die happy if they could only eat their fill. So it’s no wonder people are upset that the government keeps telling them to make donations, voluntary or not. Some people gripe that the housing construction work is pointless since it’s just a way for blood-sucking bureaucrats to win brownie points,” a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK.
“Quite a few people are angry at the government for bringing party members together from all over the country to refurbish the rural areas in Yanggang Province while expecting ordinary people to provide all their provisions without covering any of the costs on its own,” the source added.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources who live inside North Korea, China and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
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12. Kunming steps up efforts to prevent defectors from heading to S. Korea
Kunming steps up efforts to prevent defectors from heading to S. Korea
The move is part of broader efforts to tighten security in the run-up to the Asian Games in Hangzhou, a source told Daily NK
dailynk.com
FILE PHOTO: In this photograph taken in June 2019, North Korean workers are seen entering a store in Dandong, China. (Daily NK)
Starting in August, police in Kunming, Yunnan Province, will be stepping up efforts to prevent defectors in the area from heading to South Korea, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a source in China told Daily NK on Monday that “from August until early October, police in Kunming will be focused on identifying those suspected of trying to cross the southern border. Orders have come down internally within China’s police agencies to concentrate efforts on North Korean defectors in China who are attempting to head to South Korea.”
Many defectors in China pass through the Southeast Asian countries of Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand on their way to South Korea, so police have been instructed to focus their efforts on cities located in southern China. Orders to crackdown on defections in these areas are currently being carried out by local police agencies, the source said.
“Public security authorities in Kunming have ordered officers to inspect the IDs of any groups of more than two or three people traveling within the city center or side streets. They have also ordered police to set up additional checkpoints or dispatch patrol vehicles to inspect the identities of all passengers in vehicles heading to neighboring Southeast Asian countries or the southern border more generally.”
According to the source, police in Kunming were instructed to “immediately arrest any North Korean nationals and detain them at the nearest precinct station, after which they will be transferred to a detention center for repatriation to North Korea.”
Many North Koreans in China have already illegally crossed the China-North Korean border, but the Chinese police have generally turned a blind eye so long as the defectors keep a low profile.
Presently, however, Kunming police are treating defectors who abandon their Chinese families and attempt another illegal border crossing to get to South Korea as unforgivable criminals who must be mercilessly repatriated back to North Korea.
China tightens security due to upcoming Asian Games
According to the source, the recent order to stop defectors from heading to South Korea is part of broader efforts to tighten security in the run-up to the Asian Games in Hangzhou, which are set to start in September.
“Defectors heading to South Korea will need to be extraordinarily careful passing through Kunming around the time of the Hangzhou Asian Games,” he said.
Translated by Rose Adams. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources who live inside North Korea, China and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
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