Quotes of the Day:

"All ideas need to be heard, because each idea contains one aspect of the truth. By examining that aspect, we add to our own idea of the truth. Even ideas that have no truth in them whatsoever are useful because by disproving them, we add support to our own ideas."

- John Stuart Mill

"And where is the Prince who can afford to so cover his country with troops for its defense, as that ten thousand men descending from the clouds, might not in many places do an infinite deal of mischief, before a force could be brought together to repel them?"

-Benjamin Franklin

"After the demise of the best Airborne plan, a most terrifying effect occurs on the battlefield. This effect is known as the rule of the Little Group of Paratroopers (LGOP). This is, in its purest form, small groups of pissed-off 19 year old American paratroopers. They are well trained. They are armed to the teeth and lack serious adult supervision. They collectively remember the Commander’s intent as “March to the sound of the guns and kill anyone who is not dressed like you” – or something like that." 

- Rule of the LGOPs

1. North Korea Makes First Public Comments About Detained U.S. Soldier Travis King

2. North Korea Claims U.S. Soldier Fled ‘Maltreatment’ in Army

3. North Korea says U.S. soldier was sick of ‘unequal American society’

4. North Korea’s Kim, in letter to Putin, vows solidarity with Russia

5. KCNA Report on Interim Findings of Investigation into American Solider

6. DPRK leader receives greetings from Russian counterpart

7. Amid Rising Fear of Communist China, South Korea and Japan Seek To Overcome Historic Enmity and Make Common Cause With America

8. China should play larger role in getting North Korea to scrap nuclear program

9. Everything we know about the US soldier detained in North Korea

10. Yoon says S. Korea open to extended deterrence talks with U.S., Japan: interview

11. U.S. ambassador to S. Korea to skip trilateral summit over health issue

12. North Korea’s Message to the World: Hundreds of Nuclear Weapons, Coming Soon

13. Unification minister calls on Beijing not to repatriate N. Korean defectors staying in China

14. S. Korea, UAE hold combined high-tech military training

15. Two buses detected crossing into China from N. Korea

16. S. Korean Navy to join multinational Indo-Pacific humanitarian exercise

17. Travis King Case Highlights North Korea's Long, Complicated History of Citing U.S. Racism

1. North Korea Makes First Public Comments About Detained U.S. Soldier Travis King

Luck is when opportunity (or necessity) meets preparation.

The Kim family regime has been trying to figure out how to exploit Pvt King. They have turned to their old playbook - play the "race/discrimination/evil nature of the US" card. This week turns out to be the right time to try to exploit Pvt King. This is likely intended to counter the US led initiative for the UN Security Council to address north Korean human rights this Thursday.

North Korea Makes First Public Comments About Detained U.S. Soldier Travis King

King allegedly told investigators he harbored ill will toward the U.S. over inhuman mistreatment and racial discrimination

By 

Timothy W. Martin

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Updated Aug. 15, 2023 9:05 pm ET

https://www.wsj.com/articles/north-korea-makes-first-public-comments-about-detained-u-s-soldier-travis-king-48ace148?utm

American soldier Travis King willfully entered North Korea last month. PHOTO: AHN YOUNG-JOON/ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEOUL—North Korea, commenting publicly for the first time on its nearly monthlong detainment of a U.S. soldier, claimed the American serviceman had said he faced inhuman mistreatment and racial discrimination from the U.S. Army and sought haven in the Kim Jong Un regime.

In a Wednesday state media report, North Korea said Pvt. Second Class Travis King, while under investigation by Pyongyang authorities, had expressed a desire to “seek refuge” in North Korea or a third country.

King, who is Black, allegedly told North Korean investigators that he “harbored ill feeling” against the U.S. Army and had become “disillusioned at the unequal American society,” state media said.

North Korea said King had illegally entered North Korea, though didn’t specify what punishment the 23-year-old American serviceman could face. The report didn’t mention King’s health status or make any reference to a timeline about his potential release. North Korea’s investigation remains ongoing, state media said. 

Pyongyang had previously acknowledged to the U.S. over a military hotline that it was holding King. On July 18, King willfully entered North Korea by crossing over the military demarcation line separating the two Korean states while on a tour of the Joint Security Area.

“We can’t verify these alleged comments,” a Pentagon official said. “We remain focused on his safe return. The department’s priority is to bring Pvt. King home, and we are working through all available channels to achieve that outcome.”

King was the first U.S. service member to voluntarily enter North Korea in decades. In prior such instances, Pyongyang has coerced confessions from American captives, forcing them to admit to being spies or to crimes they didn’t commit. 

North Korea has often used detained U.S. soldiers as propaganda tools. Pyongyang chooses to view their defections as demonstrating the superiority of the Kim regime’s socialist system, while illustrating what it says are the evils of the U.S. 

According to North Korea’s account, King was detained around 3:30 p.m. on July 18, at a spot located between a border building where officials from the two Koreas have met and the restroom for North Korean soldiers.

The U.S.-led United Nations Command has had limited contact with North Korea. But U.S. officials have said those interactions weren’t substantive. Washington lacks direct diplomatic ties with Pyongyang. As a result, the U.S., as it has done before, has turned to Sweden for assisting with outreach.

King had faced assault allegations in South Korea and spent nearly seven weeks in a detention facility there. He was set to board a flight back to the U.S. where he faced disciplinary actions and a potential discharge.

He had been escorted to Incheon Airport on July 17, though he somehow managed to leave and board a tour bus to the inter-Korean Demilitarized Zone, one of South Korea’s biggest tourist attractions. King’s situation has raised questions about the security measures at the tourist site.

Write to Timothy W. Martin at Timothy.Martin@wsj.com

2. North Korea Claims U.S. Soldier Fled ‘Maltreatment’ in Army

It took awhile, but the regime has figured out how to try to exploit Pvt King. I wonder if they also had to "convince" Pvt King to go along with this. They will need to make him into a good propaganda model.

North Korea Claims U.S. Soldier Fled ‘Maltreatment’ in Army

The New York Times · by Choe Sang-Hun · August 15, 2023

The statement was the first public acknowledgment by the country that it has the soldier, Pvt. Travis King, in its custody.

A file image of a news program on the American soldier Travis King at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul last month.Credit...Ahn Young-Joon/Associated Press

By

Reporting from Seoul

Aug. 15, 2023

North Korea said on Wednesday that Pvt. Travis T. King, the American soldier who fled across the inter-Korean border into its territory on July 18, wanted to seek refuge in the isolated Communist country or a third country, according to a state media report.

The report by the Korean Central News Agency is the first time the North has commented on Private King’s case.

During an investigation by North Korean officials, Private King “confessed that he had decided to come over to the DPRK as he harbored ill feelings against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army,” the Korean Central News Agency said, using the abbreviation of the country’s official name, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Private King “admitted that he illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK,” saying that he did so because he “was disillusioned at the unequal American society,” the news agency said.

The report did not provide any further details about his fate, including his health condition or whether North Korea planned to accept him as a refugee or send him along to a third country. North Korea said that its investigation was continuing, indicating that it had yet to decide on Private King’s fate.

The Pentagon has said that Private King crossed into the North “willfully and without authorization” after he dashed across the inter-Korean border while he was on a group tour of the Joint Security Area, or Panmunjom, which lies in the middle of the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South.

A Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday that the Defense Department could not verify the comments that North Korea said had been made by Private King.

“We remain focused on his safe return,” said the spokesman, Lt. Col. Martin J. Meiners. “The department’s priority is to bring Private King home, and that we are working through all available channels to achieve that outcome.”

Until now, North Korea had kept mum on Private King’s case.

In the past, the North had accepted American soldiers who had deserted and arrived in the country as political defectors, allowing them to live there and even start a family. But civilian Americans accused of illegal entry were held in detention and sometimes released and expelled, or prosecuted and sentenced to hard labor.

North Korea has used such American soldiers as propaganda tools against the United States. In the cases of some civilian Americans accused of illegal entry, it has used them as bargaining chips in negotiations with Washington, with which it has no formal diplomatic ties.

Private King, 23, had been assigned to South Korea as a member of the First Brigade Combat Team, First Armored Division. After he was released in July from a South Korean detention center, where he had spent time on assault charges, he was escorted by U.S. military personnel to Incheon International Airport outside Seoul on July 17 to board a plane bound to the United States, where he was expected to face additional disciplinary action.

He never boarded the plane. Instead, he took a tour bus to Panmunjom the next day.

Helene Cooper contributed reporting from Washington.

Choe Sang-Hun is the Seoul bureau chief for The Times, focusing on news in North and South Korea. More about Choe Sang-Hun

A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 5 of the New York edition with the headline: Soldier Fled Injustice, North Korea Says

The New York Times · by Choe Sang-Hun · August 15, 2023

3. North Korea says U.S. soldier was sick of ‘unequal American society’

Timing.

Excerpts:

North Korea’s comments about King came ahead of a United Nations Security Council meeting on the Kim regime’s human rights abuses later this week, called at the request of the United States, sparking angry protests from Pyongyang.

North Korea’s vice foreign minister Kim Son Gyong on Tuesday criticized the U.S. for politicizing human rights and its “hostility.” Kim accused the U.S. of its own violations, citing “racism, gun violence, child abuse and forced labor” in the United States.

North Korea says U.S. soldier was sick of ‘unequal American society’

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/15/travis-king-north-korea-status/

By Min Joo Kim

Updated August 15, 2023 at 9:22 p.m. EDT|Published August 15, 2023 at 7:05 p.m. EDT

SEOUL — The U.S. soldier who fled into North Korea last month did so because he was disillusioned with the “unequal American society,” Pyongyang said Wednesday in its first public acknowledgment of the incident.

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Pvt. 2nd Class Travis King, who had been punished for misconduct while serving in South Korea and was being sent home to the United States, joined a civilian tour of the Joint Security Area in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea last month.

He bolted across the line to the Northern side, and has not been seen or heard from since.

King told North Korean investigators, according to the North’s state-run Korea Central News Agency, that he decided to cross into North Korea because of his “ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army.”

He also expressed his willingness to seek refuge in North Korea or a third country, the report said.

King admitted to “illegally” intruding into the North, KCNA said, without mentioning any resulting punishment of the soldier.

The state media report did not specify King’s health status or plans for his release, and its version of events could not be independently corroborated.

The U.S. Defense Department said it could not verify North Korea’s comments on King.

“We remain focused on his safe return,” Pentagon spokesman Martin Meiners said. U.S. defense officials have previously said that the American serviceman “willfully and without authorization” crossed into the North.

U.S. soldier detained after intentionally crossing into North Korea

King crossed into the North on July 18 after skipping the flight back to the United States. The 23-year-old had just completed almost two months of a hard labor sentence in South Korea for assault charges. He enlisted in 2021 and served as a cavalry scout with the 1st Armored Division.

The United States has no formal diplomatic relations with North Korea, and has been working with Sweden to help secure King’s return. Sweden has an embassy in Pyongyang but its diplomats have not returned to North Korea since they were ordered to leave during the covid-19 pandemic.

North Korea has only briefly responded to an inquiry about the detained serviceman, which was a mere “acknowledgment call,” the Pentagon said earlier this month.

South Korean soldiers stand guard in the Joint Security Area (JSA) of the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea. American serviceman Travis King bolted across the dividing line into North Korea last month. (Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images)

King is the first U.S. national known to be detained in North Korea in nearly five years. North Korea has a history of detaining foreign nationals for charges including espionage and using them as propaganda tools.

Analysts said the Kim Jong Un regime could use King’s detention as a bargaining chip to win concessions from the Biden administration. Disarmament talks between Pyongyang and Washington have been stalled for years due to disagreements over sanctions relief.

How North Korea’s thought police hunt down foreign influences

The Kim regime in recent years ramped up its weapons testing to a record level and criticized Washington for expanding its military exercises with South Korea. The militaries of the two allies will kick off a new round of large-scale military drills next week to bolster joint deterrence against the North’s threats.

North Korea’s comments about King came ahead of a United Nations Security Council meeting on the Kim regime’s human rights abuses later this week, called at the request of the United States, sparking angry protests from Pyongyang.

North Korea’s vice foreign minister Kim Son Gyong on Tuesday criticized the U.S. for politicizing human rights and its “hostility.” Kim accused the U.S. of its own violations, citing “racism, gun violence, child abuse and forced labor” in the United States.

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By Min Joo Kim

Min Joo Kim is a reporter for The Washington Post in Seoul. She covers news from South and North Korea. Twitter

4. North Korea’s Kim, in letter to Putin, vows solidarity with Russia

​But is there love in those letters?

North Korea’s Kim, in letter to Putin, vows solidarity with Russia

By Min Joo Kim

Updated August 16, 2023 at 2:16 a.m. EDT|Published August 16, 2023 at 1:14 a.m. EDT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/16/north-korea-russia-kim-putin-friendship/

SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to strengthen relations with Russia so the two countries could continue to “smash the imperialists’ arbitrary practices and hegemony,” according to a state media report.

Kim made the promise in a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, in the latest sign that Pyongyang and Moscow are deepening their bonds.

Kim said the North’s relations with Russia will be “further developed into a long-standing strategic relationship” in his message to Putin. He said the two countries are “fully demonstrating their invincibility and might” in their struggle against “imperialists,” according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Putin told Kim that Russia will “strengthen the bilateral cooperation in all fields for the two peoples’ well-being and the firm stability and security of the Korean Peninsula and the whole of Northeast Asia,” according to KCNA.

Last month, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made a rare trip to Pyongyang to meet the North Korean leader. They attended a military exhibition that displayed the North’s nuclear-capable missiles. The Kim regime’s nuclear and missile developments are banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions.

North Korea’s latest ballistic missile is its most powerful yet

Shoigu said on Tuesday that the military cooperation between Russia and North Korea “meets the fundamental interests” of the two countries and “does not pose a threat to anyone.”

“Neither the international isolation nor economic sanctions have been able to stop the development” of North Korea, he said at a security conference in Moscow.

Russia, a Cold War ally of North Korea, is one of a handful of countries with which the Kim regime maintains friendly relations. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the growing global isolation of Moscow is pushing the Kremlin closer to the Kim regime, analysts say. Both countries face heavy sanctions imposed by U.S.-led global coalitions.

“Russia is in need of friends or at least partners right now,” said Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a Korea expert at King’s College London. “North Korea is one of the countries fully behind Russia, and can also provide weapons to support its invasion of Ukraine.”

Signs are mounting that Russia is seeking weapons from North Korea to provide for its war in Ukraine, which Moscow and Pyongyang have both denied. Just days after the Russian defense minister’s trip to Pyongyang last month, a Russian military plane flew to North Korea, suggesting possible arms transactions between the two countries.

Washington said Shoigu used his trip to request munitions supplies from North Korea. “This is yet another example of how desperate Mr. Putin has become because his war machine is being affected by the sanctions and the export controls,” U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said earlier this month.

“Any arms deal between North Korea and Russia would, of course, directly violate a series of U.N. Security Council resolutions,” he said.

Signs of North Korean arms supply to Russia also surfaced on the battlefield in Ukraine. Ukrainian soldiers were using North Korean weapons that Kyiv suggested were captured from Russians, the Financial Times reported last month. Ukrainian troops were observed firing the Soviet-era rockets from North Korea against Russian positions, according to the newspaper.

North Korea says U.S. soldier was sick of ‘unequal American society’

Letters on Tuesday between the leaders of North Korea and Russia did not mention any weapons sales, although Kim stressed “the militant friendship and solidarity established between the armies and peoples of the two countries.”

The growing defense partnership between Russia and North Korea could go beyond cooperation on Ukraine, said Pacheco Pardo. “We can expect Moscow to transfer know-how, technology and potentially weapons to the Kim Jong Un regime once it recovers from the Ukraine invasion.”

He said this is a worrying development for the United States and its allies, as Russia could expedite North Korea’s nuclear and missile pursuits.

The United States will discuss security cooperation concerning North Korea and Ukraine, among other issues, at a summit with Japan and South Korea at Camp David later this week.

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By Min Joo Kim

Min Joo Kim is a reporter for The Washington Post in Seoul. She covers news from South and North Korea. Twitter

5. KCNA Report on Interim Findings of Investigation into American Solider

Here is the KCNA report (I wonder if they misspelled Soldier in the Korean version),

Just as an aside. Notice how they write south Korea with the lower case "s'. We used to do that for "north Korea." Now I am the only one who uses "north Korea" with a lower case "n". But editors think I do it just to torment them.

KCNA Report on Interim Findings of Investigation into American Solider

https://kcnawatch.org/newstream/1692137170-858202507/kcna-report-on-interim-findings-of-investigation-into-american-solider/

Date: 16/08/2023 | Source: KCNA.kp (En) | Read original version at source

Pyongyang, August 16 (KCNA) -- KCNA issued the following report:

In the joint security area of Panmunjom on July 18, Juche 112 (2023), there happened an incident in which Travis King, a private 2nd class of the U.S. Army in south Korea, illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK.

At 15:30 on July 18, King, who accompanied tourists to the joint security area of Panmunjom, came to be kept under control by soldiers of the Korean People's Army on duty as he deliberately intruded into the area of the DPRK side between the room for the DPRK-U.S. military contacts and the rest room of security officers along the Military Demarcation Line.

According to an investigation by a relevant organ of the DPRK, Travis King admitted that he illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK.

During the investigation, Travis King confessed that he had decided to come over to the DPRK as he harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army.

He also expressed his willingness to seek refugee in the DPRK or a third country, saying that he was disillusioned at the unequal American society.

The investigation continues. -0-

www.kcna.kp (Juche112.8.16.)

6. DPRK leader receives greetings from Russian counterpart

DPRK leader receives greetings from Russian counterpart

https://kcnawatch.org/newstream/1692137170-858202507/kcna-report-on-interim-findings-of-investigation-into-american-solider/

Date: 16/08/2023 | Source: Pyongyang Times | Read original version at source

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory message to Kim Jong Un, president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, on August 15.

In the message the Russian President extended heartfelt congratulations to the DPRK leader on the occasion of the anniversary of Korea’s liberation.

Describing the holiday as a symbol of bravery and heroism of the Red Army soldiers and Korean patriots who fought together to liberate Korea from Japanese colonial rule, he said that the tradition of friendship and cooperation established in the grim period of the struggle formed the solid basis for the development of good neighbourly relations between the Russian Federation and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

He expressed his belief that bilateral cooperation would continue to be boosted in all fields in the future, too, for the well-being of the peoples of the two countries and for consolidating the stability and security on the Korean peninsula and in the whole region of Northeast Asia.

7. Amid Rising Fear of Communist China, South Korea and Japan Seek To Overcome Historic Enmity and Make Common Cause With America

De facto Allies? - should consider "JAROKUS" - Japan - ROK - US

"Live-ammunition wargames?" That is a new one to me. I guess we are now doing force on force training with live ammunition?

Excerpts:

A sure sign of the shift in policy under Mr. Yoon is that Korean and American forces have resumed live-ammunition war games. Next Monday, they’re opening 10 days of exercises featuring air, ground, and naval forces — training his liberal predecessor, Moon Jae-in, had barred. Mr. Moon, having met Kim Jong-un in three summits in 2018, dreamed of reconciliation on the Korean peninsula, but was rebuffed by the North.

China saw the show of trilateral cooperation as a bid by Washington “to create a ‘mini NATO,” a regional alliance similar to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization binding America and 30 other countries. The English-language organ of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, Global Times, warned that such a grouping “would pose a huge threat to regional peace and stability.”

The Chinese, meanwhile, were playing games of their own. China’s defense minister, Li Shangfu, has left for “the Moscow Conference on International Security” and then a visit to Belarus, Moscow’s close ally, winding up on Saturday, the day after Messrs. Biden, Kishida, and Yoon are to meet at Camp David.

Amid Rising Fear of Communist China, South Korea and Japan Seek To Overcome Historic Enmity and Make Common Cause With America

Increasingly strident rhetoric from North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has made it all the easier for Korea and Japan to work as de facto allies.

https://www.nysun.com/article/overcoming-historic-enmity-south-korea-and-japan-move-closer-to-making-common-cause-at-summit-with-biden-amid-rising-fear-of-communist-china

South Korea's president, Yoon Suk Yeol, celebrates the 78th anniversary of Korean Liberation Day from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, at Seoul, August 15, 2023. AP/Lee Jin-man, pool

DONALD KIRK

Tuesday, August 15, 202314:34:10 pm

SEOUL — A sense of impending crisis is deepening in Northeast Asia 78 years after the Japanese surrender ended the bloodiest war in the region’s history.

This time, in a role reversal to friendship from enmity, Japan and South Korea, though still simmering with grievances, share common cause against the danger of a new conflagration far worse than the war that ravaged the region between the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the Japanese surrender on August 15, 1945, after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

It’s with memories of World War II, “the Pacific War” to Japanese, that the American, Japanese, and Korean leaders will be meeting Friday at the congenial surroundings of Camp David, northwest of Washington, D.C., for a strategy session that should be much more than a love-in among friends.

The confab will undoubtedly wind up with a statement of unity and total cooperation against North Korea and the North’s prime benefactor, Communist China, but there should be much more to the occasion than backslapping and happy talk. In one day they should lay out mutual strategic aims that would have appeared impossible just a few years ago.

President Yoon, anxious to head off domestic criticism of his pro-Japan policy, observed the holiday marking “liberation” by proclaiming South Korea and Japan as “partners who share universal values and pursue common interests.” Together, he said, they can “cooperate on security and the economy” and “contribute to peace and prosperity across the globe.”

That’s a message that millions of Koreans have difficulty accepting while at odds with Japan on issues ranging from payment for Koreans forced to work in Japanese factories in World War II to compensation for “comfort women” who served Japanese soldiers. Other festering issues cover the cruelties of Japanese colonial rule of Korea, between 1910 and the Japanese surrender.

Against all these memories, though, Mr. Biden appears confident he can draw Mr. Yoon and Prime Minister Kishida together in a show of “trilateral” interests. The relationship comes close to alliance, which all sides recognize is impossible considering the long history of hostility between Japan and Korea.

Increasingly strident rhetoric from North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has made it all the easier for Korea and Japan to work as de facto allies. Mr. Kim in recent days has done his best, it seems, to convince South Korean and Japanese leaders of the need to forget the constraints of the past and join forces against a foe that could easily rain down missiles on military targets in both countries.

Most recently, Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency has reported Mr. Kim as setting “an important goal to drastically boost the existing missile production capacity.” The newspaper of the North’s ruling Workers Party, Rodong Sinmun, ran a photograph showing Mr. Kim at the wheel of a “newly developed utility combat armored vehicle” during a tour of a munitions factory.

Mr. Yoon in his remarks took a swipe at his critics, both at home and abroad, particularly among leftist activists in America, who have opposed the direction he’s taken Korean foreign policy since his election to a five-year term in March of last year. “We must never succumb to the forces of communist totalitarianism,” he vowed. “We must not be deceived by those who follow and serve them.”

A sure sign of the shift in policy under Mr. Yoon is that Korean and American forces have resumed live-ammunition war games. Next Monday, they’re opening 10 days of exercises featuring air, ground, and naval forces — training his liberal predecessor, Moon Jae-in, had barred. Mr. Moon, having met Kim Jong-un in three summits in 2018, dreamed of reconciliation on the Korean peninsula, but was rebuffed by the North.

China saw the show of trilateral cooperation as a bid by Washington “to create a ‘mini NATO,” a regional alliance similar to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization binding America and 30 other countries. The English-language organ of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, Global Times, warned that such a grouping “would pose a huge threat to regional peace and stability.”

The Chinese, meanwhile, were playing games of their own. China’s defense minister, Li Shangfu, has left for “the Moscow Conference on International Security” and then a visit to Belarus, Moscow’s close ally, winding up on Saturday, the day after Messrs. Biden, Kishida, and Yoon are to meet at Camp David.

DONALD KIRK

Mr. Kirk, based in Seoul and Washington, has been covering Asia for decades for newspapers and magazines and is the author of books on Korea, the Vietnam War and the Philippines.

Commenting is available to Sun Readers, Sun Members and Sun Founders only. Comments are reviewed and, in some cases, edited before posting. Chances of a comment being posted are increased if the comment is polite, accurate, grammatical, and substantive or newsworthy.

8. China should play larger role in getting North Korea to scrap nuclear program

​Should but...

Unfortunately I think the CCP believes it benefits from the dilemmas that north Korea creates for the ROK. Japan, and US alliances.

China should play larger role in getting North Korea to scrap nuclear program

washingtontimes.com · by The Washington Times https://www.washingtontimes.com

By Joseph R. DeTrani - - Tuesday, August 15, 2023

OPINION:

In Track 2 (former government officials and academics) discussions with the Chinese, when North Korea is discussed, the 2003-2009 Six-Party Talks are cited by the Chinese participants as a model for resolving the nuclear issue with North Korea.

Here’s some background, and why China should again play a leading role in getting North Korea to agree to complete and verifiable denuclearization, despite North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s stated goal of building more nuclear weapons.

China hosted, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi was the first chairperson for the Six-Party Talks negotiations with North Korea, with the U.S., South Korea, North Korea, China, Japan and Russia all participating.

After two years of working group meetings and plenary sessions, on Sept. 19, 2005, at the fourth plenary session, a Joint Statement was signed that stated, among other things, that “the six parties unanimously reaffirmed that the goal of the Six-Party Talks is the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner and the DPRK (North Korea) committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and returning, at an early date, to the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons and IAEA safeguards.”

“The U.S. affirmed it has no nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula and has no intention to attack or invade the DPRK with nuclear or conventional weapons … and the Six Parties undertook to promote economic cooperation in the fields of energy, trade and investment, bilaterally and/or multilaterally.” And “the Six Parties agreed to take coordinated steps to implement the aforementioned consensus in a phased manner in line with the principle of ‘commitment for commitment, action for action.’”

Despite this Joint Statement, in July 2006, North Korea launched ballistic missiles. On Oct. 9, 2006, North Korea conducted its first nuclear test, all ostensibly because the U.S. sanctioned a Macao bank, Banco Delta Asia, as a primary money laundering concern working with North Korea, pursuant to Section 311 of the Patriot Act.

When North Korea eventually had access to the $25 million that the bank initially froze, in February 2007, North Korea agreed to shut down and seal, for eventual abandonment, the Yongbyon nuclear complex. In July 2007, International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors arrived and confirmed the shutdown of the five nuclear sites in Yongbyon, applying seals and other surveillance and monitoring equipment.

This all ended abruptly when on April 16, 2009, all IAEA inspectors were told to leave North Korea. North Korea made this decision when the IAEA inspectors had asked to visit undeclared suspect nuclear sites in North Korea, a routine request that North Korea should have approved if it had nothing to hide.

But apparently, North Korea did have something to hide: its highly enriched uranium sites for nuclear weapons.

That was the end of the Six-Party Talks, after six years of negotiations and some progress, with a comprehensive Joint Statement committing North Korea to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and progress with the dismantling of the Yongbyon nuclear complex, including the public destruction of its 60-foot cooling tower.

We all know what followed: North Korea’s five other nuclear tests and the incessant launching of short-range, intermediate range and intercontinental ballistic missiles, in addition to cruise, hypersonic and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

So far in 2023, North Korea has launched three ICBMs, the latest, on July 12, was a successful launch of a Hwasong-18 solid fuel ICBM with a range of 15,000 kilometers (9,320 miles). A seventh nuclear test could be imminent.

At an Aug. 9 Central Military Commission meeting, Chairman Kim Jong Un announced the removal of Gen. Pak Su il, the chief of general staff of the Korean People’s Army, after seven months in the job. He was replaced by Gen. Ri Yong Gil, the former chief of general staff.

In an official Korean Central News Agency announcement, Mr. Kim ordered the military to step up war preparations “in an offensive way,” while discussing plans against its unnamed enemy.

The Sept. 19, 2005, Joint Statement’s first sentence states: “For the cause of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia at large, the Six Parties held, in the spirit of mutual respect and equality, serious and practical talks concerning the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

This would be an appropriate time for China to seek U.S. support to reconstitute the Six-Party Talks. China did this in 2003, at the request of the U.S., and it can do this in 2023, taking the initiative to ensure that intentional or accidental war doesn’t erupt on the Korean Peninsula.

Indeed, China is North Korea’s only ally, and North Korea relies on China for its economic survival. Getting North Korea to return to these talks while halting all missile launches, nuclear tests, and the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons would be a significant contribution to lowering tension on the Korean Peninsula.

It would also demonstrate to the international community that the U.S. and China can and will collaborate on issues for the common good.

• Joseph R. DeTrani is the former special envoy for Six-Party Talks with North Korea and the former director of the National Counterproliferation Center. The views are the author’s and not those of any government agency or department.

Copyright © 2023 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

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9. Everything we know about the US soldier detained in North Korea

Everything we know about the US soldier detained in North Korea

USA Today · by Claire Reid

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

North Korea has detained a U.S. soldier from Wisconsin for crossing its borders without authorization.

After 23-year-old Travis King was released from a South Korean prison, he made his way to North Korea.

Here is what is known about King and the situation so far.

Who is private Travis King?

U.S. Army Pvt. 2nd Class Travis King is a 23-year-old cavalry scout with the 1st Armored Division. USA Today reported that King joined the Army in January 2021.

King graduated from Park High School in Racine in 2020, and has family who live in Racine, including his mother.

King's maternal grandfather, Carl Gates, said his grandson joined the Army because he "wanted to do better for himself," and he was drawn to service because he has a brother who is a police officer and a cousin in the Navy, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

What happened to Travis King before he was detained in North Korea?

Prior to entering North Korea, King served a 47-day sentence in a South Korean prison for assault after he allegedly kicked and damaged a South Korean squad car.

King was released on July 10 and was due to be sent home to Fort Bliss, Texas. There, he could have faced additional military discipline and discharge from the service.

King’s stint in prison was not the first time he faced legal trouble in South Korea.

In February, a court fined him 5 million won ($3,950) after he was convicted of assaulting an unidentified person and damaging a police vehicle in Seoul last October, according to a transcript of the verdict obtained by The Associated Press.

The ruling said King had also been accused of punching a 23-year-old man at a Seoul nightclub, though the court dismissed that charge because the victim didn’t want King to be punished.

How did Travis King get into North Korea?

Upon his release from prison, King was escorted as far as customs but left the airport before boarding his plane. Instead, the following day, King joined a tour in the border village of Panmunjom, inside the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone, which separates North and South Korea.

During the tour, King was seen running across the border. One woman who was on the tour with King said she initially thought this was some kind of stunt — and that she and others in the group couldn’t believe what happened.

According to USA Today, King was last seen entering a van and being whisked away by officials from North Korea, U.S. officials said.

It's not clear how King spent the hours before joining the Panmunjom tour. The Army released his name and limited information after King’s family was notified.

What is the U.S. government saying about Travis King's detention in North Korea?

United Nations Command said Tuesday that King was in North Korean custody and it was working to "resolve the incident," USA Today reported.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the U.S. government was working with its North Korean counterparts to "resolve this incident."

North Korea has not acknowledged or commented on the situation.

What is Travis King's family saying about his detention in North Korea?

Army Col. Isaac Taylor said Tuesday that a U.S. service member "willfully and without authorization" crossed into North Korea. However, King's mother, Claudine Gates, told ABC News she couldn't see her son intentionally entering North Korean territory.

On Wednesday, Claudine Gates made a plea for King's safe return from her porch in Racine.

King's grandfather, Carl Gates, said he hoped his grandson could come home and receive help.

Are people allowed to leave North Korea?

North Korea is one of the most heavily restricted countries in the world. In October, the U.S. Department of State reissued a Level 4 travel advisory, telling U.S. citizens not to travel to North Korea.

The Department of State warns: "Do not travel to North Korea due to the continuing serious risk of arrest and long-term detention of U.S. nationals. Exercise increased caution to North Korea due to the critical threat of wrongful detention."

According to the organization Human Rights Watch, North Korea's authoritarian regime maintains tight control over the country's citizens "through threats of execution, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, and forced hard labor in detention and prison camps."

The border between North and South Korea is one of the most heavily fortified in the world. It runs for about 150 miles and divides the Korean Peninsula roughly in half along the "38th parallel" — the cease-fire line of demarcation between the two nations that has existed since the end of the Korean War in 1953, USA Today reported.

However, Bruce Klingner, a former CIA deputy division chief for South Korea, told USA Today that it is relatively easy to cross from South Korea into North Korea via the so-called Joint Security Area of the Demilitarized Zone ― which is where King crossed ― because there's no formal barrier, and the border consists of a line of raised concrete blocks.

Hundreds of North Koreans attempt to flee to South Korea each year, where they seek better economic opportunities and an escape from political oppression and famine. But cases of defections across the demilitarized zone are extremely rare ― and even rarer for Americans and South Koreans going the other way, USA Today reported.

Have other Americans been held captive in North Korea?

Yes, but King is the first American known to have been held in North Korea in almost five years.

In recent years, some American civilians have been arrested in North Korea on allegations of espionage, subversion and other anti-state acts, but were released after the U.S. sent high-profile missions to secure their freedom.

In May 2018, North Korea released three American detainees who returned to the United States on a plane with then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a short period of warm relations. Later in 2018, North Korea said it expelled American Bruce Byron Lowrance. Since his deportation, there have been no reports of other Americans detained in North Korea before Tuesday.

Those releases stood in striking contrast to the fate of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who died in 2017, days after he was released by North Korea in a coma following 17 months in captivity. His parents said he had been tortured and suffered brain damage.

Will Travis King be released from North Korea?

King's detention comes at a time of elevated animosity between the U.S. and North Korea. On July 19, North Korea test-fired two ballistic missiles into the sea in an apparent protest of the deployment of a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine in South Korea for the first time in decades.

Tae Yongho, a former minister at the North Korean Embassy in London, said North Korea is likely pleased to have "an opportunity to get the U.S. to lose its face" after the submarine arrived in South Korea.

Tae, now a South Korean lawmaker, said North Korea was unlikely to return King easily because he is a soldier from a nation technically at war with North Korea, and he voluntarily went to the North.

USA Today and Journal Sentinel reporters Bill Glauber and Drake Bentley contributed to this report.

USA Today · by Claire Reid

10. Yoon says S. Korea open to extended deterrence talks with U.S., Japan: interview

JAROKUS

Yoon says S. Korea open to extended deterrence talks with U.S., Japan: interview | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · August 16, 2023

SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol has said South Korea is open to holding trilateral consultations with the United States and Japan on extended deterrence, according to an interview published Wednesday.

Yoon made the remark in a written interview with Bloomberg days before he is set to hold a trilateral summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.

"Regarding extended deterrence, we are also open to separate consultations among the Republic of Korea, the United States and Japan," Yoon was quoted as saying, referring to South Korea by its formal name.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (R) speaks with U.S. President Joe Biden (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ahead of their three-way talks in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 21, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

Extended deterrence refers to the U.S. commitment to defending an ally using all of its military capabilities, including nuclear weapons.

South Korea and the U.S. recently launched the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) to strengthen the credibility of U.S. extended deterrence as part of an agreement reached by Yoon and Biden during their summit in Washington in April.

Yoon told Bloomberg he expects Friday's trilateral summit will lead to agreement on ways to enhance the three countries' capabilities to respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. The discussions will cover ways to increase trilateral defense exercises, he said, and the three countries will work to operationalize their sharing of missile warning data on North Korea in real time within this year.

"The complete denuclearization of North Korea is a clear and consistent goal of the international community, including the Republic of Korea and the United States," Yoon was quoted as saying. "The international community will never accept North Korea as a nuclear power under any circumstances."

In a notice to reporters, the presidential office clarified that Yoon's remark on being open to trilateral consultations on extended deterrence was in line with the government's "basic stance" until now.

"The issue is not currently under discussion among the three countries, and is not included on the agenda of the Camp David trilateral summit," it said, adding the government is currently focused on firmly establishing the NCG at an early date.

When asked what he hopes to see from the summit in terms of economic cooperation, Yoon said the three countries plan to "further solidify the framework for our cooperation to strengthen the resilience of supply chains."

"Also, we will conduct joint research and enhance cooperation in AI, quantum, space and other key critical and emerging technologies, which will become future growth engines, and we will work together to set global standards," he added.

hague@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · August 16, 2023

11. U.S. ambassador to S. Korea to skip trilateral summit over health issue

Oh no. I hope the Ambassador is okay.

U.S. ambassador to S. Korea to skip trilateral summit over health issue | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Chang Dong-woo · August 16, 2023

SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg said Wednesday he won't be able to travel to an upcoming trilateral summit between South Korea, the United States and Japan in his home country due to a health issue.

U.S. President Joe Biden is set to host South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for the trilateral summit at Camp David on Friday (local time).

"I regret that a health issue will prevent me from traveling for the historic trilateral meetings at Camp David," Goldberg wrote on social media without elaborating on his condition. The ambassador said he will "continue to be engaged on preparations and monitor progress in consultations with senior U.S. counterparts in Washington."

"I look forward to working with President Yoon and the ROK government to fulfill shared commitments made at this week's summit," Goldberg said, referring to South Korea by an acronym of its official name, the Republic of Korea.

Per diplomatic custom, an ambassador usually accompanies the leader of the state of where he or she is posted when the leader travels to the envoy's home country.

During Yoon's state visit to the U.S. in April, Goldberg received the South Korean president upon his arrival and accompanied Yoon on key itineraries in Washington, including visits to Arlington National Cemetery and the U.S. Department of Defense.

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg gives a special lecture during a forum at a hotel in Seoul in this file photo taken June 29, 2023, to discuss the geopolitical situation on the Korean Peninsula, as the South Korea-U.S. alliance marks its 70th anniversary. (Yonhap)

odissy@yna.co.kr

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en.yna.co.kr · by Chang Dong-woo · August 16, 2023

12. North Korea’s Message to the World: Hundreds of Nuclear Weapons, Coming Soon

What is behind this? Political warfare and blackmail diplomacy.

North Korea’s Message to the World: Hundreds of Nuclear Weapons, Coming Soon

What’s behind Kim Jong Un’s plans for a major boost in missile production?

Published 08/15/23 03:52 PM ET|Updated 16 hr ago

Joshua Keating

themessenger.com · August 15, 2023

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been giving the world a rare glimpse of his secretive country’s growing missile capabilities. Over the weekend, Kim made his second publicized tour of missile and rocket factories in less than a month and ordered his defense industry to “drastically boost” missile production. The images from the visits, in which Kim was shown touring factory floors and talking to workers, showed off North Korea’s short-range missile and long-range artillery–the type of systems that would be used in a potential war with South Korea.

Jeffrey Lewis, expert on nuclear nonproliferation at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said it was clear that Kim and his country are emphasizing the production of what are commonly called tactical nuclear weapons, smaller and shorter-range nukes designed for battlefield use. He described the tours as a “victory lap” for North Korea’s defense industry, showing that years of isolation and sanctions haven’t prevented the country from building up a formidable arsenal.

“What they’re telling us is that this isn’t going to be a nuclear force of ten nuclear weapons,” Lewis said. “This is going to be a nuclear force of hundreds of nuclear weapons. Where they’re going to get the material for the warheads, I don’t know, but they are building a lot of launchers and a lot of missiles.”

An even harder line

Rachel Minyoung Lee, a former U.S. government intelligence analyst who is now a nonresident fellow at the Stimson Center, told The Messenger that Kim’s factory tours “reflect the North’s shift to an even harder-line foreign policy.”

North Korea conducted a record number of missile tests in 2022, and has continued at a steady clip this year, including a recent ICBM test timed to coincide with a meeting between the leaders of South Korea and Japan.

South Korea has responded with a harder line of its own, particularly since new conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol took office last year. Yoon has referred to the North as South Korea’s “principal enemy” and worked to rally regional and international support to counter its nuclear program.

The most significant accomplishment of this approach was the “Washington Declaration,” reached during Yoon’s visit to the White House in April, in which the U.S. pledged to increase coordination on nuclear strategy and deploy American nuclear submarines on regular visits to South Korea. In exchange, the South promised not to develop its own nuclear deterrent. North Korea responded to the first of these U.S. submarine visits last month by firing short-range missiles into the sea.

While the Biden administration has avoided the two extremes that characterized the Trump approach to North Korea (“fire and fury” threats and “beautiful letters” between Trump and Kim), officials say they have offered the North nuclear talks “without preconditions.” But these offers have not gotten any response, and in the absence of any inroads with the North, the U.S. focus has been on increased cooperation with allies including South Korea and Japan, which North Korea in turn views as threatening.

“I do not think there are prospects for nuclear talks for the foreseeable future, unless the Biden administration drastically changes its approach to Pyongyang, or Pyongyang decides to suspend its weapons development,” said Lee. “Neither scenario is likely.”

People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with an image of a North Korean military parade held in Pyongyang to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, at a railway station in Seoul on July 28, 2023. JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images

Russia’s role

North Korea’s arms build-up may be intended for a new audience: the leaders in the Kremlin. The North’s deepening relationship with Russia was on display in July when Kim met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu–the first high-level foreign visitor he had received since before the pandemic–showing off North Korea’s newest ballistic missiles and drones. U.S. officials say Shoigu likely asked North Korea about selling more of its weapons to Russia.

While North Korea has denied U.S. reports that it is providing Russia with ammunition for the war in Ukraine, it has been extremely supportive of the Russian position. It was one of the very few countries to recognize the independence of two Russian-occupied enclaves in Eastern Ukraine last year. According to a United Nations report from June, Russia, which has in the past cooperated with UN sanctions targeting North Korea’s nuclear program, has begun sending oil to North Korea for the first time since 2020.

“Russia and North Korea have been mutually cultivating a strategic partnership,” Ankit Panda, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told The Messenger. “It's become supercharged since the Ukraine conflict began.”

The benefits for both sides are clear. Russia desperately needs a source of cheap Soviet-grade ammunition to replenish its fast-diminishing stocks in Ukraine. North Korea needs a source of energy and capital for its beleaguered economy.

Escalation fears

Now Kim’s own buildup has raised fears of escalation on the Korean peninsula. The next flashpoint could come as early as next week, when U.S. and South Korean forces hold ten days of joint military exercises. These exercises, a long-established tradition, were paused for several years during Trump’s talks with Kim but resumed last year by the Biden and Yoon administrations.

“Domestically, Kim’s visits to munitions factories appear to have been intended to prepare both the North Korean military and the civilian population in case the North decides to escalate tensions in the lead-up to, during, or even after the upcoming US-South Korea military drill,” said Lee.

It’s not clear exactly what form this escalation could take. North Korea could conduct yet another missile test, though these have become routine enough so that they don’t get much of a reaction. Other moves, such as firing missiles close to the U.S. military base in Guam, which North Korea proposed several years ago, or arming a missile with a nuclear warhead and firing it into the ocean, would be far more provocative.

For now, experts believe Kim is unlikely to launch a preemptive war unless he fears an invasion that would directly threaten his regime. But if a conflict were to break out, either due to miscalculation or overconfidence, what we’re learning about North Korea’s growing arsenal makes clear just how devastating such a war would be.

themessenger.com · August 15, 2023

13. Unification minister calls on Beijing not to repatriate N. Korean defectors staying in China

Hopefully China's complicity in north Korean human rights abuses will be exposed at the UN Security Council meeting on North Korean human rights tomorrow.

Unification minister calls on Beijing not to repatriate N. Korean defectors staying in China | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · August 16, 2023

SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's unification minister on Wednesday asked for China's cooperation in not repatriating North Koreans who have been arrested in China after fleeing the North, stressing that such people should be recognized as "refugees."

Minister Kim Yung-ho made the remarks during a seminar in Seoul amid concerns that China could return a huge number of North Korean defectors to their home country against their will if the secretive regime opens up its border with China after years of its self-imposed COVID-19 restrictions.

"North Korean defectors in China should be granted humane treatment in accordance with international standards, and be also able to enter countries that they are hoping to go to, including South Korea," Kim said in his congratulatory message for the forum.

The minister said such defectors should be recognized as "refugees" rather than illegal immigrants, raising the need to apply the principle of non-refoulement to them.

"We call for cooperation by the Chinese government over the issues of the detention of North Korean defectors in China and their forced repatriation (to the North)," he added.

He said the South Korean government has a "willingness" to accept all North Korean defectors who wish to come to the South.

A total of 8,148 repatriation cases of North Korean defectors have been reported and nearly 98 percent of such incidents were China's repatriation to the North, according to the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights.

Kim, who took office in late July, has said the issue of North Korea's human rights should be prioritized in terms of the government's inter-Korean policy.

Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho speaks at a forum on opposition to the forced repatriation of North Korean defectors in China on Aug. 16, 2023. (Yonhap)

sooyeon@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · August 16, 2023

14. S. Korea, UAE hold combined high-tech military training

Another example of the Global Pivotal State in action.

S. Korea, UAE hold combined high-tech military training | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · August 16, 2023

SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United Arab Emirates were staging combined high-tech military drills, Seoul's Army said Wednesday, amid efforts to bolster bilateral military cooperation.

The exercise is under way at the Korea Combat Training Center (KCTC), a facility employing cutting-edge technologies for realistic ground drills, in Inje, 165 kilometers east of Seoul, from Aug. 7-18, according to the armed service.

The drills mobilized some 2,500 troops to the facility, including a platoon of the UAE's armed forces and a unit from the 22nd Infantry Division, as well as over 200 pieces of military equipment, such as tanks, helicopters and unmanned aircraft, it said.

It marked the first time for the UAE to participate in the exercise at the facility.

The latest drills are divided into two three-day parts of separate defense and attack operations against a specialized counterforce unit and place a focus on verifying the participants' combat capabilities, the Army said.

Maj. Gen. Saeed Rashid Al Shehhi, commander of the UAE Land Forces, visited the training facility to encourage troops with Gen. Park Jeong-hwan, the Army's chief of staff, it added.

It is to run through Friday, in connection with the allies' Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, slated to kick off next Monday.

South Korea and the UAE have recently been seeking to boost bilateral ties, with the two countries signing a memorandum of understanding on strategic defense industry cooperation in January when President Yoon Suk Yeol visited Abu Dhabi for a summit.

South Korean and United Arab Emirates troops take part in a combined high-tech military exercise at the Korea Combat Training Center in Inje County, 165 kilometers east of Seou, in this photo provided by the South's Army on Aug. 16, 2023. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · August 16, 2023

​15.  Two buses detected crossing into China from N. Korea

Athletes? Will the next buses carry some of the 2000 Koreans who have been detained in China to be forcibly repatriated?

(LEAD) Two buses detected crossing into China from N. Korea | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Yi Wonju · August 16, 2023

(ATTN: UPDATES with more info throughout)

DANDONG, China, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- A pair of buses were detected crossing from the North Korean border city of Sinuiju into China on Wednesday, in a rare move that was apparently made to transport its athletes to an upcoming taekwondo match.

The buses were spotted crossing a railway bridge over the Amnok River from the Chinese border city of Dandong into the North at around 10:15 a.m. (local time) and returning at around 11:20 a.m.

Sources said the North's rare border crossing into China could be related to the dispatch of its athletes to the ITF Taekwon-Do World Championships, slated for this week in Kazakhstan, though the identities of those on the buses remain unconfirmed.

On Tuesday morning, a bus and a van were also seen crossing the border and returning to Dandong later.

North Korea has imposed border lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020. Railroad freight traffic between Pyongyang and Beijing resumed in January 2021 after being halted in August the previous year.

Two buses cross a railway bridge from North Korea's northern city of Sinuiju into the Chinese border city of Dandong on Aug. 16, 2023. (Yonhap)

julesyi@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Yi Wonju · August 16, 2023

16. S. Korean Navy to join multinational Indo-Pacific humanitarian exercise

S. Korean Navy to join multinational Indo-Pacific humanitarian exercise | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · August 16, 2023

SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean Navy will participate in an annual multinational humanitarian assistance exercise in the Indo-Pacific later this month to sharpen combined operational capabilities, the armed service said Wednesday.

It plans to send its Cheonjabong landing ship as well as 180 personnel, including Marines, to the Pacific Partnership exercise, which began on Aug. 9 and will run through Nov. 21. Its contingent is set to join parts of the exercise in the Philippines and Malaysia from Aug. 21-Sept. 16.

Led by the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the exercise involves personnel from South Korea, the United States, Australia, Britain, Japan and New Zealand. It was launched in 2004 as part of an effort to overcome the damage wrought by a tsunami that hit South and Southeast Asia.

Since 2007, South Korea has sent largely medical staff to the exercise. But its contingent for this year's edition includes a warship as well as engineering personnel and civilian experts in an effort to reinforce disaster response and humanitarian aid capabilities, the Navy said.

"The exercise is a good opportunity to improve capabilities for humanitarian assistance and disaster responses in cooperation with multinational forces, and enhance military cooperation with the participating countries," a Navy official was quoted as saying in a press release.

From Aug. 21-31, the Korean personnel will join drills in the vicinity of San Fernando in the Philippines, where it will provide aid in the construction of a local school and engage in drills on treating and transporting patients and responding to infectious animal diseases.

In Malaysia from Sept. 5-16, the contingent will conduct drills on establishing a field hospital, responding to a disaster and treating combat casualties, and join a project to repair a local school, according to the Navy.

This undated photo, released on Aug. 16, 2023, by the Navy, shows the Cheonjabong landing ship. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

sshluck@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · August 16, 2023

17. Travis King Case Highlights North Korea's Long, Complicated History of Citing U.S. Racism

north Korea is probably the most xenophobic country in the world.

Travis King Case Highlights North Korea's Long, Complicated History of Citing U.S. Racism

U.S. News & World Report3 min

August 16, 2023

View Original

By Josh Smith and Soo-hyang Choi

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's claim on Wednesday that U.S. soldier Travis King fled racism and abuse in America comes as Pyongyang pushes back on Washington's criticism of the North's human rights record.

North Korea broke nearly a month of silence on King, who is Black, issuing a state media report that he had confessed to illegally and deliberately entering the North, driven by "ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army" and disillusionment with inequality in U.S. society.

King has not been directly heard from, but an uncle in United States told media this month his nephew said he experienced racism during his military service.

The state media report comes a day before the United Nations Security Council is due to meet at the behest of Washington to discuss human rights abuses in North Korea.

For decades Pyongyang has highlighted racial discrimination in the United States as what it says is an example of Washington's hypocrisy, and analysts said North Korea is likely to use King's case to resist pressure over human rights.

"North Korea will likely highlight racism in the United States and use it as a means to counter the United States' criticism of North Korea's human rights situation, rather than engaging in negotiations with the U.S.," said Lim Eul-chul, a professor of North Korean studies at South Korea's Kyungnam University.

North Korea's foreign ministry cited racial discrimination, among other ills, in a statement on Tuesday calling it a "mockery of human rights and deception on the international community" for the United States to call Thursday's meeting on human rights.

"Not content with conniving at and fostering racial discrimination, gun-related crimes, child maltreatment and forced labour rampant in its society, the U.S. has imposed unethical human rights standards on other countries and fomented internal unrest and confusion," the statement said.

In 2018, Pyongyang released a "White Paper on Human Rights Violations in the U.S.", which accused the administration of Donald Trump of aggravating the "racial discrimination and misanthropy" already "inherent to the social system of the U.S.", citing white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

During the protests after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, North Korean officials cited "extreme racists" in America and criticised authorities' response for threatening to "unleash even dogs for suppression".

In a report at the time, C. Harrison Kim, a professor at the University of Hawaii, told NK News, a Seoul-based site that monitors North Korea, that although the relationship had waned, Pyongyang's "alliance with the Black Power movement was a very real thing".

In 1969 Pyongyang hosted American author and activist Eldridge Cleaver, head of international affairs at the Black Panther Party (BPP), who wrote that North Korea and its "great leader" had "heightened our consciousness to a level that makes us equal to the task of dealing with our number one enemy, the U.S. imperialist aggressors”.

North Korean state media has its own history of issuing racially charged statements.

In 2014 the state news agency published a report calling then-U.S. President Barack Obama a "monkey".

"He looks like an African native monkey with a black face, gaunt grey eyes, cavate nostrils, plump mouth and hairy rough ears," one North Korean was quoted in the Korean-language report. A government official said Obama had a “disgusting monkey look even though he is wearing a fancy suit like a gentleman”.

A landmark 2014 U.N. report on North Korean human rights concluded that North Korean security chiefs - and possibly leader Kim Jong Un himself - should face justice for overseeing a state-controlled system of Nazi-style atrocities.

That report included allegations that North Korea conducts forced abortions on women suspected to have been impregnated by men in China, driven by an underlying belief in a “pure Korean race” in North Korea to which mixed-race children are considered a contamination of its “pureness”.

(Reporting by Josh Smith and Soo-hyang Choi. Editing by Gerry Doyle)

Copyright 2023 Thomson Reuters.

Tags: South Korea, North Korea, United States

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