Quotes of the Day:

“Probably the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton, but the opening battles of all subsequent wars have been lost there. One of the dominant facts in English life during the past quarter of a century has been the decay ability in the ruling class.”


– George Orwell

"It is never too late to be what you might have been." 

– George Eliot

Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.

– Lou Holtz

1. Satellite Images Show North Korea Boosting Arms Flow to Russia

2. Trump taps China hawk who has deemphasized North Korea for key defense post

3. Vice FM to visit U.S., Japan this week for talks on trilateral cooperation

4. Ex-intelligence commander's note reveals alleged plans to 'provoke N. Korea at NLL': police

5. Into the meat grinder: North Koreans march to slaughter in Putin’s war

6. N. Korea preparing for additional troop deployment, suicide drone supply to Russia: Seoul

7. Part I: Why we have the Voice of America

8. K-pop hits become anthems of South Korea’s protests against President Yoon

9. South Korea ramps up development of unmanned weapons

10. Ukraine's Zelenskyy says 3,000 North Koreans killed or wounded in Russia fighting

11. Elbridge Colby: the brain behind Trump's foreign policy

12. Rival party leaders meet outgoing U.S. ambassador, reaffirm bilateral alliance

13. Constitutional Court to hold pretrial hearing on Yoon's impeachment as planned

14. S. Korean military spots supply removal at now-demolished Kaesong liaison office

15. Acting President Han, new CFC commander reaffirm commitment to robust security posture

16. JCS chief, new CFC commander reaffirm S. Korea-U.S. alliance in phone talks

17. National Assembly begins confirmation hearings for Constitutional Court justice nominees

18. Editorial: Democratic Party threatens gov't with impeachment, acting like an occupying force

1. Satellite Images Show North Korea Boosting Arms Flow to Russia

The transactional alliance bears fruit.

Unfortunately we are unlikely to see missile guidance and nuclear technologies as well as hard currency flowing back into north Korea. Oil shipments and food possibly but not technology and plans that can be transmitted electronically.

Satellite Images Show North Korea Boosting Arms Flow to Russia

Pyongyang is producing and sending more arms to Russia for its war in Ukraine, deepening their alliance and giving Moscow more battlefield firepower

https://www.wsj.com/world/russia-north-korea-weapons-shipment-676d7f52?mod=hp_lista_pos2

By Dasl Yoon

Follow in Seoul and Matthew Luxmoore

Follow in Kyiv, Ukraine

Updated Dec. 23, 2024 12:16 am ET

North Korea and Russia are deepening their military cooperation, as Pyongyang ramps up the supply of arms to Moscow for the war in Ukraine and receives much needed cash and oil from the Kremlin in return.

Recent satellite images show that North Korea is shipping more munitions to Russia and is expanding arms production at home to churn out the weapons Moscow needs to feed its voracious war machine. Assistance from North Korea is allowing Russia to press its advantage against exhausted Ukrainian troops and could help it resist pressure from the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump to end the conflict.

In turn, Pyongyang is already receiving much-needed cash and oil from Russia. Western officials worry North Korea could also ask for sensitive nuclear technology and material support from Russia in case of a war on the Korean Peninsula. 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is said to be observing the test fire of a rocket launcher at an undisclosed location, in a photo released by the country’s state news agency earlier this year. Photo: Korean Central News Agency/Reuters

The deepening alliance between Russia and North Korea is alarming to the U.S. and its allies, making both countries more dangerous to their neighbors and more difficult to contain.

Millions of artillery shells from Pyongyang have allowed Russia to fill an ammunition deficit caused by almost three years of intense fighting. North Korean rockets are bombarding Ukrainian cities while Russia’s own missile production has been hobbled by Western sanctions. Military hardware, including multiple launch rocket systems, is flowing into Russia by train, with railroad traffic through the countries’ border reaching record highs.

Andriy Kovalenko, a Ukrainian army officer heading a government unit tasked with countering Russian disinformation, said 60% of the artillery and mortar shells used by Russia in Ukraine now come from Pyongyang. “North Korean ammunition is holding the Russian defenses,” he said.

North Korea’s missiles now make up nearly a third of Russia’s ballistic missile launches at Ukraine this year, according to Ukrainian officials.

Manpower has further helped Russia swing the balance. The roughly 12,000 soldiers dispatched from North Korea are now engaged in active combat, U.S. officials said on Monday. More than 100 have been killed and around a thousand injured in combat against Ukrainian units occupying parts of Russia’s Kursk region, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers in a closed-door meeting on Thursday.

North Korea has shipped some 20,000 containers of munitions to Russia, according to Washington and Seoul officials, ranging from lower-quality ammunition such as 122 mm and 152 mm artillery shells to its newer Hwasong-11 class ballistic missiles. Ukrainian officials say the provision has amounted to more than five million artillery shells and dozens of rockets, including more than 100 Hwasong-11 class missiles.

“They can be imprecise, but the range is impressive,” a senior Ukrainian intelligence official said of the North Korean missiles provided to Russia. “It’s a threat to our cities.”

More recently, Pyongyang has sent 170 mm self-propelled howitzers and 240 mm long-range multiple rocket launchers.

The artillery shells initially supplied by North Korea were decades-old, raising suspicions that the Kim regime was dumping its old ammunition. But now, Pyongyang is supplying newer munitions. For instance, the 240 mm multiple rocket launchers sent to Russia were recently equipped with new guidance and control systems.

Similarly, North Korea’s largest 600 mm rocket launchers, or KN-25, were upgraded earlier this year with the support of Russian technicians, according to SI Analytics, a satellite imagery firm. The weapon, first tested in 2019, blurs the distinction between a multiple launch rocket system and a short-range ballistic missile.

KN-24 ballistic missile

Origin: North Korea

Class: Short-range ballistic missile (SRBM)

Min. launch weight: 3,682 lbs

Range: 255 miles

Max. payload: 1,102 lbs

Max. length:

18.2 ft.

6 ft.

Source: Center for Strategic and International Studies

Andrew Barnett/WSJ

More weapons are coming, by ship and train, to resupply Russian troops burning through huge quantities of arms, U.S. and South Korean officials say. Around 200 munitions factories in North Korea are operating at full capacity to produce weapons, and Russia is transferring fuel and equipment to support Pyongyang’s arms manufacturing, Seoul officials said. 

A missile manufacturing complex producing the North Korean short-range ballistic missiles fired at Ukraine is expanding as well, according to satellite imagery. North Korea’s Hwasong-11 class missiles, dubbed KN-23 and KN-24 in the West, are produced at a plant on North Korea’s eastern coast. New construction appeared to be progressing rapidly, including a new building apparently aimed at concealing loading operations of the factory, SI Analytics said. Kim has visited the factory several times, during which he ordered the mass production of tactical missiles. 

North Korean factories are capable of producing new Hwasong missiles in just months, said Damien Spleeters, the director of expeditionary operations at Conflict Armament Research. “The North Korean missiles are being made on demand,” he said.

Satellite images show the factory on the east coast of North Korea that produces the Hwasong-11 class missiles.

Airbus satellite imagery/SIA SuperX

A satellite image of rail traffic at the border crossing between North Korea and Russia. Photo: Airbus satellite imagery/SIA SuperX

At a defense expo last month, North Korea featured eight different types of drones. Some weapons experts say North Korea appears to be making improvements to Russian drones that would then be exported back to Russia to replace rapidly depleting stocks. 

“North Korea continues to showcase its munitions-production capabilities, and Russian technical support will accelerate its exports,” said Hong Min, a senior researcher on North Korea at the Korea Institute for National Unification, a state-funded think tank in Seoul.

Russian Telegram channels have been posting clips of North Korean howitzers trundling along railcars in Russia. Railroad traffic reached record highs this year at the Tumangang-Khasan crossing at the Russia-North Korea border, with the number of railcars tripling this year since a meeting between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin last September. 

Kim Jong Un, center, at a defense expo in Pyongyang, North Korea, in November. Photo: Korean Central News Agency/Associated Press

Neither the Kremlin nor the Russian Defense Ministry responded to requests for comment. In November, North Korea’s foreign minister said Pyongyang would stand by Moscow’s side “until the day of victory.” 

The cooperation goes both ways. Moscow is transferring air defense systems and sending technicians to support North Korea’s spy satellite efforts, Seoul officials said. Pyongyang’s outdated air defense system needs significant improvements to match Seoul and Washington’s superior air forces, weapons experts say. South Korean officials said North Korea is likely also seeking help from Russia on intercontinental ballistic missile technology.

North Korea has also received more than a million barrels of oil since March, twice the annual cap imposed under United Nations sanctions, according to the London-based Open Source Centre. 

The arms deals with Russia could have earned up to $5.5 billion for North Korea since the start of the war in Ukraine, according to Olena Guseinova, a researcher at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, who analyzed intelligence reports, leaked documents and ammunition prices from previous North Korean arms deals. Russia could pay Pyongyang up to $572 million annually for the troops North Korea has supplied. That is more than double the peak trade between Russia and North Korea, which reached around $233 million in 2005, Guseinova estimated.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is shown at an unidentified defense-industry site, in an undated photo released by the state news agency. Photo: KCNA/AFP/Getty Images

When the North Korean soldiers initially deployed to the Kursk region in the fall, they focused on observing the Russians and learning how to use electronic-warfare systems and deploy drones in guiding artillery and mortar strikes on enemy positions, a Ukrainian intelligence official said. 

But since the North Korean soldiers have been deployed to fight, Ukrainian officials say Russia is seeking to conceal their involvement in combat, removing dead and wounded from the battlefield even as Russian bodies are often left behind. The wounded North Koreans are transported in trains to Russian hospitals far from the front, where they are kept apart from Russian soldiers, the Ukrainians say.

The effort to conceal the identities of North Korean casualties could be an attempt to hide Pyongyang’s troop deployment from the international community, given that neither Russia nor North Korea have officially acknowledged the move. Seoul officials said the North Korean soldiers were given fake identities upon arriving in Russia. 

North Korea has denied supplying arms to Russia on multiple occasions. In October, a North Korean representative dismissed its troop deployment as “groundless rumors” at the U.N. General Assembly. 

On Wednesday, Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service posted audio of what it said was an intercepted phone call in which a Russian nurse says more than 200 wounded North Koreans are being treated at her hospital near Moscow, where whole sections have been set aside for them. Russian translators are struggling to mediate between the troops and the hospital staff, she says.

“A train came in yesterday, around 100 people, today 120 more, that’s 200. God only knows how many more are there” in the Kursk region, the woman said in a conversation with her husband, according to the SBU. The Wall Street Journal wasn’t able to verify the conversation.

Kate Vtorygina contributed to this article.

Write to Dasl Yoon at dasl.yoon@wsj.com and Matthew Luxmoore at matthew.luxmoore@wsj.com

2. Trump taps China hawk who has deemphasized North Korea for key defense post

​China hawk is correct. It is China and only China for Bridge Colby. This does not bode well for the ROK/US alliance as he places the defense of Taiwan ahead of the defense of Korea and is an advocate for Korea going it alone as well as for Korea to develop its own nuclear weapons. I would argue that the Korean people are much more committed to their own defense than Taiwan and that in fact our strategic dilemma with Taiwan is that we want to defense Taiwan more than the Taiwan people. That is not the case with Korea.

Here is my discussion with him on Voice of America last February. I noted that this expressed public view that we should not trade an American city for Seoul plays right into Kim Jong Un's political warfare strategy to undermine the ROK/US alliance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z0DM_M_mHc

Trump taps China hawk who has deemphasized North Korea for key defense post

Elbridge Colby has called for Seoul to do more to counter Pyongyang and expressed openness to South Korean nukes

https://www.nknews.org/2024/12/trump-taps-china-hawk-who-has-deemphasized-north-korea-for-key-defense-post/?utm

Shreyas Reddy December 23, 2024

Official U.S. government photo of Elbridge Colby | Image: U.S. Department of Defense, edited by NK News

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated China hawk Elbridge Colby as the next undersecretary of defense for policy, a move that may signal plans to deemphasize North Korea issues and place greater onus on Seoul to counter Pyongyang.

A former defense official during Trump’s first term, Colby has argued that U.S. troops stationed on the peninsula need to focus more on threats from China and has suggested that Washington should even consider allowing South Korea to develop its own nuclear weapons to achieve parity with its nuclear neighbors.

Trump announced the pick on his personal social media platform Truth Social on Sunday, alongside the nomination of billionaire investor Stephen Feinberg as deputy secretary of defense.

“A highly respected advocate for our America First foreign and defense policy, Bridge will work closely with my outstanding Secretary of Defense Nominee, Pete Hegseth, to restore our Military power, and achieve my policy of PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH,” Trump wrote, referring to Colby by his nickname.

Colby responded to his nomination by thanking Trump on social media and expressed his desire to work with Hegseth to implement the president-elect’s “vitally necessary agenda.”

“As the President has rightly made so clear, it is vital to focus our defense policy on restoring peace through strength and always putting America first,” he said.

Colby previously served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development from 2017 to 2018, during Trump’s first term, and the incoming president hailed his leading role in developing Washington’s 2018 National Defense Strategy.

The document positioned the “revisionist powers” China and Russia as the primary challenges for the U.S., with “rogue regimes” including North Korea and Iran as the next greatest focus.

After leaving the Pentagon, the China hawk continued emphasizing Beijing’s growing influence as the greatest threat to U.S. interests in his role as co-founder of The Marathon Initiative, a Washington-based think tank focusing on competition with other great powers.

Colby reemerged as a prominent pro-Trump voice during the 2024 presidential campaign, and media reports earlier this year identified him as a possible national security adviser pick.

That role eventually went to Rep. Mike Waltz, another vocal China hawk, but Trump has now rewarded Colby’s support for his policies on Beijing and other adversaries by appointing him undersecretary of defense.

“Colby is trying to impress Trump by saying those things, and his strategy has worked because Trump appointed him,” Yang Uk, a military analyst at Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies, told NK News.

DEPRIORITIZING DPRK THREATS

Colby has consistently called for Washington to prioritize action against China, but this also holds indirect implications for the U.S.-ROK alliance and deterrence against North Korea.

In an interview with South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency in May, Colby reiterated that the U.S. must conserve its resources to counter the “heavyweight boxing champion” China rather than getting caught in the midst of South Korea’s “middle-weight fight” against North Korea.

“The fundamental fact is that North Korea is not a primary threat to the U.S.,” he said. “It would not be rational to lose multiple American cities to just deal with North Korea.”

He instead called for a more realistic plan in which South Korea would be expected to take “overwhelming responsibility” for its own defense against the DPRK, with the U.S. only wading into the conflict if China gets involved.

“If you are assuming that the United States is going to break its spear, if you will, fighting North Korea, that is an imprudent assumption for us to make or for you to make,” he said.

Colby also stated that the large number of U.S. troops deployed to the ROK should be focusing on the defense of South Korea from possible Chinese attacks rather than being “held hostage to dealing with the North Korean problem.”

Daniel Pinkston, a Seoul-based lecturer in international relations at Troy University, agreed with Colby’s assessment of China as Washington’s greatest threat, but told NK News that the U.S. network of alliances “is a great strength that American adversaries can’t match.”

He added that the defense undersecretary nominee should be careful with his statements as they could fuel allies’ “fears of entrapment and abandonment” and also create openings for enemies.

“Depending on the substance and context, adversaries could interpret them to be a new ‘Acheson Line,’ which could increase the risk of miscalculation and conflict,” he said, referring to Washington’s East Asia defense line established in Jan. 1950 that excluded South Korea and may have emboldened North Korea to invade.

However, Pinkston said the onus should not be solely on Washington to maintain the alliance.

“People need to remember that the U.S. and South Korea have a mutual defense treaty,” he told NK News. “It works both ways.”

STRENGTHENING ROK DEFENSES

Colby’s position on reconsidering U.S. deployments to South Korea partly aligns with Trump’s repeated calls for Seoul to pay more for U.S. forces’ presence or risk their withdrawal.

The current ROK and U.S. governments hammered out a last-minute deal earlier this year to ensure the troops’ continued presence in South Korea, but Trump’s election and the recent impeachment of South Korea’s president have created uncertainties on both sides.

Yang warned that Trump’s threat to withdraw troops over payment could adversely impact the U.S. response to Chinese threats as South Korea’s proximity to China offers significant advantages, a benefit Colby has also emphasized.

The expert added Seoul will have to “wait and see” whether the incoming administration follows through on its threats, but said Colby’s deprioritization of South Korea’s needs could create friction.

“Either he doesn’t know the concept of the alliance or he is crazy,” he said. “He’ll do what Trump wants to do, even if that harms the alliance.”

To empower South Korea to independently defend itself from the DPRK, Colby called for an expedited transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) from Washington to Seoul in his Yonhap interview earlier this year.

Amid concerns that Donald Trump could withdraw U.S. forces from the Peninsula, Colby added that “all options” should remain on the table for ROK defenses, including nuclear weapons.

“It would be self-defeating and foolish for us to simultaneously not provide South Korea with a viable defense umbrella and then threaten to sanction it when it decides with us to take measures that provide for security in the face of a tremendous nuclear buildup by North Korea and China,” he said.

Colby stated that the complete denuclearization of North Korea appears to be an “impossibly far-fetched” idea, and instead called for more “attainable” policy goals like arms control with a focus on limiting the range of North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The incoming undersecretary for defense argued in his 2021 book “The Strategy of Denial” that the U.S., South Korea and Japan would benefit “if Washington can confidently deny North Korea the ability to hit the U.S. with a nuclear weapon,” demonstrating the credibility of U.S. extended deterrence.

However, he stated that the high costs of missile defense systems would create issues for the U.S. as Pyongyang expands and upgrades its military capabilities, adding that “independent” nuclear arsenals in South Korea and Japan would be more useful in deterring DPRK threats.

“Selective nuclear proliferation might, rather than supplant the anti-hegemonic coalition’s defense, strengthen it,” he said. “Nonetheless, the perils of proliferation make this option a last resort.”

Edited by Bryan Betts

3.Vice FM to visit U.S., Japan this week for talks on trilateral cooperation

​ I will be hearing him speak at an event later this afternoon.

Vice FM to visit U.S., Japan this week for talks on trilateral cooperation | Yonhap News Agency

m-en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · December 22, 2024

SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Yonhap) -- A senior diplomat will visit the United States and Japan this week to discuss cooperation between the three countries and North Korea-related issues, Seoul's foreign ministry said Sunday.

First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun will embark on the five-day trip later Sunday that will first take him to Washington for talks with his U.S. counterpart on bilateral ties, trilateral cooperation with Japan, and North Korea, according to the ministry.

He will then visit Tokyo for vice ministerial-level talks on the three-way cooperation with the United States and preparations for the 60th anniversary of the normalization of relations between South Korea and Japan next year.

The trip comes after President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment on Dec. 14 over his short-lived imposition of martial law, which has raised concerns over Seoul's policy coordination with Washington and Tokyo, especially with the incoming U.S. administration of Donald Trump, set to take office next month.

Under Yoon, South Korea has sought to deepen trilateral security cooperation with the United States and Japan amid evolving nuclear and missile threats posed by North Korea.

To address uncertainties posed by the incoming Trump administration, the foreign ministry has set up a task force to come up with response measures to the new administration's foreign policy.

view larger image

This file photo, taken Oct. 16, 2024, shows First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun speaking at a press conference at the government complex in central Seoul. (Yonhap)

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr

(END)

Keyword

• #vice FM
• #US
• #Japan
• 
  
• Chae Yun-hwan

m-en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · December 22, 2024

4. Ex-intelligence commander's note reveals alleged plans to 'provoke N. Korea at NLL': police

​I find this an incredible allegation on the surface. It is hard for me to believe any competent official in the South would advocate for conducting a deliberate provocation. On the other hand, in the past we have heard accusations about the "northern wind" to influence elections and politics in the South.

("The "rally-'round-the-flag effect" sparked by North Korea (the so-called 'Northern Wind') has been an important part of South Korean domestic politics." https://muse.jhu.edu/article/860749/pdf)

Ex-intelligence commander's note reveals alleged plans to 'provoke N. Korea at NLL': police | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · December 23, 2024

By Kim Seung-yeon

SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Yonhap) -- A notebook belonging to a former military intelligence commander arrested in a martial law probe had details about plans to "provoke North Korea into an attack" at the de facto inter-Korean sea border, police said Monday.

Police said the memo, spanning 60 to 70 pages, was found in a notebook belonging to former Army Maj. Gen. Noh Sang-won, former chief of the Defense Intelligence Command (DIC), during a raid on his residence in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, south of Seoul.

Noh has been arrested for his suspected involvement in the botched Dec. 3 martial law imposition by President Yoon Suk Yeol. Yoon is now impeached and awaiting a top court decision on whether to remove him from office or reinstate him.

The memo read, "Provoke the North's attack at the NLL," most likely referring to the Northern Limit Line, the western maritime border with Pyongyang in the Yellow Sea.

Police said they have not yet confirmed if any actions were actually carried out to induce an attack from Pyongyang.

This photo, provided by an anonymous Yonhap reader, shows the residence of former Defense Intelligence Commander Noh Sang-won, where he runs his "fortune-telling" studio, in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, south of Seoul, on Dec. 22, 2024. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

But the memo was consistent with the opposition's claims that former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun had attempted to elicit a military action from the North to justify the short-lived martial law.

Noh is known as a close aide of Kim.

The main opposition Democratic Party has accused Kim of ordering the military to directly strike the trash-carrying balloons sent from the North and to deploy South Korean drones over Pyongyang's airspace.

Noh's notebook also contained details about "sealing off the National Assembly" and mentioned politicians, journalists, religious figures, labor unions and judges as "targets for collection," apparently implying arrests.

No details, however, about the martial law decree were found in Noh's notebook, the police said.

Noh is one of the former and incumbent military officers arrested in the widening investigation into the failed martial law attempt by Yoon.

Noh is accused of sharing the martial law plans with his subordinates at a burger franchise two days before the plans were executed.

Noh was dishonorably discharged in 2018 over a sexual harassment case and opened a "fortune-telling" business at his home and has worked as a psychic.

elly@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · December 23, 2024

5. Into the meat grinder: North Koreans march to slaughter in Putin’s war

Into the meat grinder: North Koreans march to slaughter in Putin’s war

thetimes.com · by George Grylls, Sumy

GEORGE GRYLLS | DISPATCH

On a Ukrainian battlefield near Kursk, soldiers in a ‘suicidal assault’ make no attempt to seek cover as they plough into no man’s land

George Grylls

, Sumy

Friday December 20 2024, 7.05am, The Times

The North Koreans were thrust into no man’s land on a bright morning in December, afforded neither the cover of darkness nor apparently the concern of their generals.

On one of the most surveilled battlefields anywhere in the world, about two dozen fighters who had made the long journey from Kim Jong-un’s hermit regime clustered together, then simply jogged out towards the Ukrainian lines.

Wearing the green fatigues of the Russian army, the Koreans made no attempt to seek cover and were quickly spotted crossing the snow-covered field by a Ukrainian drone. Following a live feed on his monitor, Vitaliy, 35, recognised the tactics behind the Koreans’ apparent death wish.

North Korean troops suffer ‘significant losses’ fighting Ukraine

A veteran of the battle of Bakhmut, the special forces officer had seen waves of Russian murderers and rapists sent to their deaths in the Donbas. “The Wagner group had a simple order: advance or die. It looked like exactly the same thing for the Koreans,” he said.

The assault was one of many that took place along the Ukrainians’ left flank in Kursk on the morning of December 15. The young Koreans, no doubt seeing the outside world for the first time, died in their hundreds, according to the Pentagon.

“Seeing such a big group moving together was like a dream for our mortars and machinegunners,” said Vitaliy, a few hours after watching the first battle. “I don’t know if they all died. But put it this way, the attack was stopped pretty quickly.”

Grisly pictures of waxen corpses lying in the snow were quickly posted online. One video appeared to show a Russian soldier trying to burn the face off a dead North Korean to disguise his ethnicity — further evidence, according to President Zelensky, of Putin’s barbarism.

“There is not a single reason for North Koreans to fight and die for Putin,” he said on X. “And even after they do, Russia has only humiliation for them.”

Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, at an inspection of the army’s command in 2017. Putin’s biggest advantage over Ukraine is numerical

GETTY IMAGES

A turning point

Despite the carnage, there is a grim logic to these human wave assaults, intended to press home Putin’s most glaring advantage: his superiority in numbers.

Approaching the third anniversary of the war, Putin has boasted of recruiting another 430,000 troops this year and bullishly declared his intent to conquer the entirety of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in 2025. The overall strength of the Russian army is 1.5 million, Ukrainian sources said.

President Zelensky presents medals to soldiers in Zaporizhzhia. Russia has vowed to retake the region next year

ALAMY

Thousands of ex-convicts died in the battle for Bakhmut and the city eventually fell to the Russian onslaught. A similar result in Kursk, aided by North Korean troops, would deprive Zelensky of his strongest bargaining chip in the peace talks that Donald Trump has promised to initiate upon entering the White House on January 20.

Given the diplomatic significance of this otherwise unremarkable sliver of Russian land, Putin appears unconcerned by the staggering losses, provided he recaptures all Russian territory before Trump’s inauguration.

While Russia has suffered its steepest casualty rates of the war so far in recent weeks, it has succeeded in weakening Zelensky’s grip on the Kursk oblast and inched towards capturing Pokrovsk, a Donbas garrison town that could unlock further advances.

“We are seeing a turning point on the front line,” the Russian president declared this week.

Russian forces fire rockets at Ukrainian positions in Kursk, which is Zelensky’s strongest bargaining chip in the peace talks that Donald Trump has promised to begin on his return to the White House

AP

In Kursk there are an estimated 11,000 North Koreans soldiers ready to enter the fray, part of a combined Russian force of 50,000 troops. In return for their sacrifice, Kim will reportedly receive MiG-29 and Su-27 Russian fighter jets.

Western officials calculate that Ukraine has already lost about 40 per cent of the Russian land conquered during its surprise offensive this summer. This month Russian troops even managed to fight their way back across the border near the village of Plekhovo, according to Deep State, a group with links to the Ukrainian military that produces frontline maps.

Already braving barrages of glide bombs and swarms of FPV drones, the Ukrainians must now withstand suicidal charges from North Koreans fighting more than 4,000 miles from home.

Apocalypse Now

The Ukrainians have nicknamed their new adversaries “gooks”, a racial epithet used by US troops during the Vietnam War. The term was borrowed from Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film about the mind-altering horror of war.

In Sumy, where entire buildings have been cratered by glide bombs, Vitaliy chattered late into the night about the parallel universe on the other side of the border as he prepared to return to Russia.

To many western eyes North Korea appears like a dystopia, where a brainwashed population suffers the cruelty of a peevish despot. According to Vitaliy, the evidence collected by Ukrainian troops in Sudzha, a town on the other side of the border, suggests that Russia increasingly resembles its weird and hermetic neighbour.

The promise of troops sealed the alliance between Kim Jong-un and President Putin

AP/

Scrolling through pictures on his phone, he described school textbooks venerating Stalin, icons of Putin lovingly kept on bedside tables and volumes of black magic recovered from the house of an FSB intelligence officer.

To add to the sense of the uncanny, the town of Sudzha is stalked by a cane corso, an enormous Italian breed of dog, which was set free by its Russian owners when Kursk was overrun and has somehow survived the months of shelling since.

‘We can hold on for a month’

There may be worse to come for those defending Kursk if Putin receives the maximum 100,000 North Korean troops that Ukraine believes could be made available to him.

Thankfully for the Ukrainian defenders, there is little sign of these extra troops being mobilised yet and it would take three months to send them to the front lines. By that point, the fighting in Kursk may have come to an end.

“We can hold on to Kursk for at least a month, hopefully much longer,” Lieutenant General Serhii Nayev, one of Kyiv’s top commanders, said. “It all depends on the resources.”

President Biden is sending about $1 billion of military aid to Ukraine before he leaves the White House. Another $5.6 billion approved by Congress will be left unspent, which means that Trump, who has threatened to withdraw all support, will have the final say on whether to continue the shipments.

“It has got to stop,” was Trump’s not very reassuring message this week. “Everyone is being killed, it’s the worst carnage that this world has seen since World War II.”

‘We are tired’

Sheepishly smoking cigarettes near the Russian border, Ukrainian recruits this week watched their instructors pull a thick net over a Swedish CV90 armoured vehicle. “I try not to get too nervous about going in,” said Sasha Haisin, 49, a grower of mushroom compost from Ternopil in western Ukraine.

Like many caught up in Zelensky’s recruitment drive, Haisin was pulled over while driving to work in early September and deposited at an enlistment office, where he was told to join the infantry despite his national service in Soviet air defence. “I haven’t seen my family since,” he said.

As Russia pours Korean troops into Kursk, many of the Ukrainians preparing to meet them on the battlefield are middle-aged and lacking in the motivation that was evident among those who fought at the beginning of the war.

“All the people who wanted to sign up have already done so,” said Moryachok, 45, a grizzled gunner in the 21st Brigade known only by his call-sign, as he surveyed the latest recruits.

Moryachok runs a gauntlet of drones when carrying supplies to Ukrainian forces

GEORGE GRYLLS FOR THE TIMES

When not training soldiers, Moryachok is part of a three-man team that goes into Russia on a Swedish armoured vehicle, delivering ammunition, food and water to Ukrainian soldiers and evacuating their injured comrades under drone-filled skies.

The net that is thrown over the CV90 protects its vulnerable turret from Russian drones. The cramped interior smells of sweat and, bouncing across exposed fields, the vehicle is rocked by the explosions of drones as they become entangled in the net.

Under the drifting snow, Moryachok said he would be happy to kill as many North Koreans as necessary to defend Ukraine. But he expressed a growing reluctance to run the gauntlet of Russian drones again, knowing that one day a Lancet drone, Russia’s largest loitering munition, would find its mark and this time there would be no escape.

“If Biden had given us all the weapons a year ago, the situation would be very different,” he said. “Now we have Trump instead. People at home say Ukraine cannot do a deal. But we are the ones fighting. And the truth is, we are tired.”

Additional reporting by Vika Sybir

6. N. Korea preparing for additional troop deployment, suicide drone supply to Russia: Seoul

(LEAD) N. Korea preparing for additional troop deployment, suicide drone supply to Russia: Seoul | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · December 23, 2024

(ATTN: ADDS details in paras 6, 9, 13-14, photo, byline)

By Lee Minji and Chae Yun-hwan

SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Yonhap) -- North Korea appears to be preparing to deploy additional troops and military equipment to Russia, possibly including suicide drones, in support of Moscow's war against Ukraine, South Korea's military said Monday.

The assessment came as North Korea is believed to have sent thousands of troops to fight for Russia in its war against Ukraine, with the number of casualties estimated to be around 1,100, according to the South's spy agency.

"A comprehensive assessment of multiple intelligence shows that North Korea is preparing to rotate or increase the deployment of troops (in Russia), while currently supplying 240 millimeter rocket launchers and 170 mm self-propelled artillery," the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

"There are also some signs of (the North) moving to manufacture and supply suicide drones, first unveiled during Kim Jong-un's on-site inspection in November," the JCS said, attributing the move to the North's efforts to gain practical warfare experience and modernize its conventional weapons system.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R) inspects a performance test of suicide drones, produced by an affiliated institute of the Unmanned Aerial Technology Complex and businesses, on Nov. 14, 2024, in this file photo provided by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

Last month, the North's state media reported that Kim observed an on-site test of various types of suicide attack drones and called for the full-scale production of the weapons that are increasingly becoming important in modern warfare due to their cost effectiveness.

The military is monitoring the situation following signs that the North has expressed its intent to provide loitering munitions to Russia, a JCS official told reporters, without providing further details.

The JCS said no specific signs of provocation have been detected from the North, adding that the country is focusing on expanding its military cooperation with Russia and stably managing its domestic environment ahead of a key year-end plenary party meeting.

The military, however, did not rule out the possibility of the North staging a surprise military provocation timed around the major political event, such as launching an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) tipped with a hypersonic warhead.

In April, North Korea said it successfully launched a new IRBM tipped with a hypersonic warhead, a claim that Seoul assessed as "unsuccessful," although it acknowledged that Pyongyang appears to have made some progress in its hypersonic weapons program.

North Korean soldiers test an electric barbed-wire fence using an animal that appears to be a goat in this photo provided by South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff on Dec. 23, 2024. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Going forward, the JCS projected the North to continue with "gray zone" provocations next year, such as launching trash-carrying balloons and carrying out GPS jamming attacks.

"As the North has to concentrate on supporting Russia next year, it is likely to feel burdened by (the possibility of) causing military tension or conflicts that could lead to the creation of a new war front," the JCS said.

"But the need for cooperation on information sharing with the U.S. as well as establishing a firm readiness posture are vital as there is also the possibility of the North attempting various provocations, such as an intercontinental ballistic missile launch or a nuclear test to enhance its bargaining power against the U.S."

The JCS also noted that the North's construction activities to reinforce border security are still under way, unveiling photos of North Korean troops testing electric barbed-wire fences with what appeared to be goats.

Since April, the North has mobilized thousands of soldiers to reinforce roads and install anti-tank barriers.

North Korean soldiers deployed for border construction activities are seen in this photo provided by South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff on Dec. 23, 2024. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

mlee@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · December 23, 2024

7. Part I: Why we have the Voice of America

​No one knows more about Voice of America and public diplomacy and psychological warfare than Matt Armstrong.

I also would like to note that the Korean Service of Voice of America (and Radio Free Asia) provides the most factual reporting on Korean events than any other new source (though I admit my bias since I support their work).

We need Voice of America (and Radio Free Asia, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) to support US national security.

I would venture to guess that most critics of VOA, et. al, have never really watched, listened to, or read their reports. They only parrot words of pundits who criticize their work for political purposes. Yes, there have been issues with vetting and political views inserted into some of the services but that does not mean we should throw the baby out with the bathwater.  It is important that critics of VOA read this thoroughly before making uninformed criticism. 

Introductory excerpt:

Let me start by putting my cards on the table: USAGM has been and continues to be poorly managed, and similar poor management at VOA. Both have long been unfairly attacked by people whose motivations range from sincere to ignorant to malice. Leadership at various levels, starting at the top, has failed to address valid criticism and concerns about the agency and its operations. I have personal, first-hand experience of severe unpublicized problems as well as significant unpublicized successes. I also firmly believe the agency is more important to US national security than it was from the 1970s through the 1990s.

I write this based on my experience as a Governor on the Broadcasting Board of Governors, USAGM’s prior name, including my extensive interactions with the networks’ chiefs and the operations of the networks in the field, my time in an oversight & advocacy role for international broadcasting operations as the executive director of the Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, and the twenty years I’ve spent examining, writing about, speaking on, and assisting the US international information activities of several government agencies, including this one, often from inside the respective operations.

Conclusion:

In short, you just read a mere glimpse into the discussions around establishing VOA. Are you aware of any serious and inclusive inquiry on remaking the network and its parent agency today? I’m not.7

I would be remiss not to note that it doesn’t take many aggrieved VOA personnel to change the network and umbrella organization radically. Senator Joseph McCarthy’s attacks on VOA relied heavily on one disgruntled VOA employee. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles used this to eagerly eject the broader information service, which Secretary of State Dean Acheson placed within a semi-autonomous organization within the department called International Information Administration. At the time, IIA included half of the State Department’s personnel and more than 40% of the department’s budget. The result was the US Information Agency, “an organization with fewer authorities and less integration than what it replaced.” Dulles believed the information function distracted from his and the department’s diplomacy. We may be on the same track today.

Part I: Why we have the Voice of America

Recalling the realization that delivering factual news & information was a matter of national security

https://mountainrunner.substack.com/p/part-i-why-we-have-the-voice-of-america?r=7i07&utm

Matt Armstrong

Dec 23, 2024

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Network map of VOA shortwave and medium broadcast capabilities in 1952. VOA transmitted 49 hours daily in 42 languages.

Today’s US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) has a simple and essential purpose: to deliver news and information to undermine the effects of disinformation, misinformation, and the lack of information, including outright censorship, in support of US national security. As to where it does this, since the transition of the Office of War Information’s (OWI) radio broadcast operation to the State Department, directed by the President’s executive order issued before the USS Missouri sailed into Tokyo Bay and effective two weeks later, the basic parameters have been intentional, purposeful, and simple: to supplement, not replace or compete with, private and commercial press. While applicable to other elements of the US government’s international information operations, including those under the United States Information Service (USIS), there was an explicit and intentional emphasis regarding the operation of the radio broadcast element: its operations would be supplementary and facilitative to that of the US press.

There never was a time, even in the midst of war, when it was so necessary to replace prejudice with truth, distortion with balance, and suspicion with understanding... we shall not seek to compete with private agencies of communication, nor shall we try to outdo the efforts of foreign governments in this field. – Secretary of State James F. Byrnes to President Harry S. Truman, December 31, 1945

This is the first part of a (likely) three-part series discussing why we have the Voice of America (VOA) and its sister networks. Part I, what you’re reading now, examines why VOA was kept after World War II. Part II puts forward the argument that had VOA been separated from the government, as the State Department sought, an effort that began in November 1945 and lasted through the summer of 1947, there may not have been a Radio Free Europe (established 1949), Radio Free Asia (first established 1951, reestablished 1996), and Radio Liberty (established 1953). Had the radio operation been separated, the many law review analyses of the Smith-Mundt Act would have to be revised since, though they claim to speak broadly, they are narrowly focused on the unique issues that surrounded VOA. Part III examines the consequences of the disinformation, misinformation, and lack of information on why today’s USAGM continues to exist and its actual and potential value to US national security.

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The purpose of this series is to foster a better understanding of why the US had and continues to have one of the largest news agencies in the world, where it operates and why (spoiler: places where accessing or sharing news can lead to jail or death), and what is meant by telling America’s “story” (spoiler: it’s about countering disinformation, not self-promotion or encouraging tourism).

Let me start by putting my cards on the table: USAGM has been and continues to be poorly managed, and similar poor management at VOA. Both have long been unfairly attacked by people whose motivations range from sincere to ignorant to malice. Leadership at various levels, starting at the top, has failed to address valid criticism and concerns about the agency and its operations. I have personal, first-hand experience of severe unpublicized problems as well as significant unpublicized successes. I also firmly believe the agency is more important to US national security than it was from the 1970s through the 1990s.

I write this based on my experience as a Governor on the Broadcasting Board of Governors, USAGM’s prior name, including my extensive interactions with the networks’ chiefs and the operations of the networks in the field, my time in an oversight & advocacy role for international broadcasting operations as the executive director of the Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, and the twenty years I’ve spent examining, writing about, speaking on, and assisting the US international information activities of several government agencies, including this one, often from inside the respective operations.

In 1945, keeping the radio operation VOA was a tricky concept for the upcoming peacetime.1 There was a clear threat of unfair competition between the deep-pocketed government and the US’s private broadcasters in hiring talent, whether on-air talent, notably non-English editors and speakers, engineers, or anyone else needed to produce and broadcast content. During the war, private stations and broadcasting facilities were commandeered, and now, with peace on the horizon, decisions had to be made for what came after. Complicating matters was international competition for the finite radio spectrum, a looming problem that would worsen. For example, should VOA disappear from the airwaves, even briefly, for whatever reason, there were valid concerns that some other country would fill its place.

On August 31, 1945, Truman issued an executive order that transferred the international information programs of OWI and the Office of Inter-American Affairs (OIAA) to the State Department. The President gave the department until the end of the year (only four months) to figure out what elements “should be conducted on a continuing basis.”

The executive order drew from OWI’s advice, delivered two weeks earlier, regarding the “Complete liquidation of the Agency” and transferring the functions that should be kept to other agencies. OWI “emphatically” recommended keeping and placing the general information programs under the State Department, including the United States Information Service (USIS). The radio program, however, was a different beast that needed further discussion.

OWI’s memo, in turn, echoed a State Department 241-page report completed the month before that asked whether the government should have a postwar information program and, if so, what organizational, operational, and fiscal considerations should be considered. The inquiry was based on extensive discussions with offices across the government and included discussions with those in the private sector and academia.2 Archibald MacLeish commissioned it in January 1945. Just a few weeks earlier, in December 1944, MacLeish had been sworn into the newly created position of Assistant Secretary for Public and Cultural Relations (renamed in early 1946 as the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs).3 In Congress, Representative Karl E. Mundt, Republican from South Dakota, introduced a bill to promote the interchange of school teachers across the Americas on January 24.4 In short, there was a lot of thinking about the nation’s international information and broader engagement needs, and this was even before Russia’s political warfare, and specifically their disinformation efforts, took off and were recognized.

“It would not be too much to say that the foreign relations of a modern state are conducted quite as much through the instruments of public international communication as through diplomatic representatives and missions.” — ” Archibald MacLeish during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on December 12, 1944

Keeping a government radio broadcasting operation faced legitimate questions with the clear potential for direct conflicts with private industry. Challenged faced other commercial efforts to reach abroad. For example, affecting magazine, newspaper, and book publishers and the motion-picture industry, “the shortage of dollars abroad and blocked currencies are among the important barriers to the greater diffusion of information about the United States and threaten the continued or expanded selling operations of America’s mass communications industries abroad.”5

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That 241-page State Department memo suggested four post-war scenarios for the radio operation: (1) a private corporation with government funding; (2) a government-owned and -operated broadcaster; (3) a mixed government & private operation; and (4) completely stepping away from radio and hoping private and commercial media would step up.

The department opted for option 1: a private corporation with government funding. Work toward this end began in November 1945. The plan and organization took shape over the next several months. A not-for-profit would be funded, at least initially, by the government. A bipartisan Board of Trustees would provide guidance and oversight to the operation. Fourteen of the fifteen Trustees would be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, with the fifteenth being the Secretary of State or a designated Assistant Secretary. The board would “ensure the character of the broadcasts” and “help win the confidence and support of the Congress and the American people by helping to guarantee the objective and non-partisan character of the broadcasts.” Funding could be supplemented by selling broadcast time, receiving outside contributions, and receiving or contracting for programs produced outside of government.” The board would oversee a full-time Chief Executive Officer (paid a market wage) providing operational leadership. Articles of incorporation were drawn up (naturally, it would be a Delaware corporation), as were lists of potential Trustees and CEO candidates.6

Several Members of Congress, notably Senator Joseph Ball, Republican of Minnesota, tried to privatize the entirety of the information and education programs, not just the radio operation. However, deep concerns over the “disloyalty-subversive question” of possible “Reds” infiltrating the information programs led to other problems. The suggestion that the FBI would conduct “loyalty checks” for the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), and whichever other private companies participating in the program created more qualms about taking on a venture that would not be profitable for the foreseeable future. (The Smith-Mundt Act required that the FBI conduct a “loyalty check” on every current and future staff working on the information and education programs authorized by the Act.)

Whether private or public, the need for the radio operation was clear. Frank Stanton, the president of CBS, wrote that CBS’s work with OWI and OIAA during the war “convinced us that one of the best ways of enhancing and maintaining the prestige of the United States among the peoples of the world is by making available to these peoples day-by-day uncolored, undistorted, and truthful information about our own country and our people.” Stanton argued this effort could and should be run by private broadcasters, who “could take over the entire job of broadcasting and programming within sixty days.”

Philip Reed, chairman of the board of General Electric (one of the half-dozen US international radio broadcasters), had a different view:

I am convinced that our country must maintain [an] adequate foreign information broadcast service… I believe that the operation of an international broadcasting service should be in private rather than government hands. The immediate problem appears to be that the private owners international broadcast facilities would be unable to render anything like an adequate foreign broadcast service without incurring very large operating deficits… This means, for the present at least, if an adequate broadcasting program is to be maintained the Government will have to shoulder most of its costs.

The hard reality was when the rubber hit the road, the networks acknowledged they could not do this job alone. The “emergency” situation required some government role. In August 1947, CBS’s Edward R. Murrow told a confidential House Committee on Foreign Affairs inquiry “that private industry could not at present take over completely the job of international dissemination of information. He felt that as long as the competition with Russia in Europe and with Great Britain in parts of South America continued, first-hand information possessed only by the Department of State was essential for the successful guidance of any program of information.”

In mid-1947, the bill to support this organization and thus remove VOA from the State Department was a higher legislative priority for the department than the yet-to-be-passed Smith-Mundt bill that would authorize the rest of the information programs and expansive exchange/interchange programs sought by the department and much of the federal government. Senators had a different opinion.

After the State Department became interested in Mundt’s January 1945 bill, the Democrat Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee took over the bill. Now called the Bloom Bill, it was amended in October to include the information programs following Truman’s executive order of August 31. There were plenty of hearings and a lot of attention to the details. This bill passed the House by a two-thirds vote on July 20, 1946, almost the last day of the Congressional session.

The bill was introduced in the Senate only eight days earlier. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee recommended the bill, stating in its report,

In recent years the major nations of the world, including the United States, have begun to pay attention to the attitudes of other peoples and to the information available to them. It has been increasingly evident that wars start in people's minds, and that free interchange of public information, and of persons and skills, would contribute to an understanding between peoples.

The United States was the last of the major nations to enter this field of public information abroad and educational cooperation. Even now, many of the activities of this sort conducted by the Department of State are sanctioned only by appropriation acts and by Executive Order.

However, the complete lack of preparatory work in the Senate meant the Senate’s Republican leadership blocked any further discussion, let alone a vote, on what they considered a wholly Democrat bill.

In May 1947, in the Republican-dominated 80th Congress (which Truman nicknamed the “Do Nothing Congress”), the State Department asked Mundt to reintroduce his bill, alongside which the department submitted its bill for the private radio corporation. A Senator co-sponsor was sought to avoid the previous year’s debacle. Senator H. Alexander Smith, Republican of New Jersey, agreed to be that cosponsor, provided the radio stays wholly in government and “right in the lap of the Secretary of State, where it seems to belong.” Smith was not alone in his view.

“I am not willing to turn over to Mr. Sarnoff [of RCA and NBC] and Mr. Paley [of CBS] the determination of American foreign policy.” — Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (July 15, 1947)

For some Senators, the private corporation—to be established as a “foundation”—moved the radio too far from the center of government, even if the Secretary of State was one of the overseeing Trustees. Moreover, events had overcome Stanton’s claim of easy privatization.

In 1947, though CBS and NBC produced more than 40% of VOA’s programming, the broadcasters were content to lease their transmitters and sell content to the government because there was little to no profit in the target markets. In addition to the continuing issue of blocked currency (i.e., profits could not be repatriated), Russia’s active disinformation campaigns were now joined by information blockades.

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The editor of one of the nation’s largest weekly magazines conducted research and advised the State Department on the question of private enterprises taking over radio service and other elements of the information program. In October 1947, he said it “is naive to say ‘Let private enterprise carry the ball’ and at the same time ignore the fact that there are widening areas in which private enter can no longer operate in a normal manner.” He described a three-part classification system to explain the situation. He called the first group the “Free Zone” where US media “can carry on approximately as usual.” He listed Canada, Cuba, and Mexico as examples. Second was the “Iron Curtain” where “private operation is virtually impossible,” with Russia in this group. Third was “Mixed.” These were “shaky” countries, like France and Italy, “where combined and expanded efforts of government and private agencies are desirable. This group included those with blocked or non-convertible currency, dollar shortages, various resource shortages, etc.

While the government needed to fund efforts into the Iron Curtain and Mixed countries, private enterprises could still provide content. This was written into the Smith-Mundt Act with clear direction from Congress to avoid, or at least reduce, competition with the private sector over personnel and programming. The State Department was directed “to utilize, to the maximum extent practicable, the services and facilities of private agencies, including existing American press, publishing, radio, motion picture, and other agencies, through contractual arrangements or otherwise.”

This led to less department oversight, which, in turn, permitted VOA to broadcast material produced by the private agencies without review. The Smith-Mundt Act was signed into law on January 27, 1948 (three years and three days after Mundt introduced his bill), and within a few months, the limited oversight led to a major embarrassment.

The problem program intended to introduce the US to people abroad by telling America’s so-called story. The audience heard a kind of travel program in 15-minute broadcasts in Spanish with a narrator and two “visitors” exploring the many US states. “Don’t you have a saying that Texas was born in sin but New England was born in hypocrisy?” “Oh, Utah, that’s where men have as many wives as they can support.” “Nevada has no interest in itself—it’s a land of cowboys, and its two principal cities are in competition. In Las Vegas, people get married, and in Reno, they get divorced.”

In the Wyoming chapter, “The frontier day celebration is the most extraordinary festival of the West….” “Look! What magnificent Indian girls!” “Feathered and naked.” “What are they going to do?” “Let me see the program. It’s the 100-meter race…”

The fallout emphasized the importance of government oversight and control and how corporate media may have different objectives and interests than the government. Sharing America’s story could not be a willy-nilly or clumsy endeavor; it required attention to detail and purpose.

Information freedom—both to access and share information—was viewed as a necessary path toward international peace. The key lesson of Nazi propaganda at the time was not the impact of the messages but the Nazi’s elimination of alternative voices that called out the disinformation and corrected the misinformation. To support this, there was a clear need for a radio program to reach into countries where information was difficult to receive or overwhelmed by disinformation or misinformation. The radio complemented the broader information efforts, including those of USIS and the many kinds of exchanges, which were a different form of influence operation. These other information efforts and educational, scientific, or technical exchanges were severely reduced in or ejected from the key target markets, leading to a greater emphasis on the radio.

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The international political situation then was remarkably similar to the present, far more so than the structured and routinized 1970s or 1980s. More recently, widespread access to the Internet, like shortwave before it, promised information freedom. The reality is far different, with fantastic manipulation of facts and curtailment of the freedom to access information and speak. More information does not necessarily equate to better information.

For the 1944 presidential election, the Republican and Democrat platforms supported worldwide press and information freedom worldwide. In his article “Pillars of Human Rights,” former Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles wrote that the United Nation’s charter “should contain the specific stipulation that no nation may become a member of the new international organization unless it is able to demonstrate that by its constitution, or by its basic legislation, the citizens of such nation are granted inalienable rights of freedom of worship, of expression and of information.”

While the criteria didn’t materialize, the value of information freedom persisted. VOA was one means of supporting information freedom.

“It cannot be emphasized too strongly that the Soviets and the Communists are today conducting aggressive psychological warfare against us in order thoroughly to discredit us and drive us out of Europe. In order to prevent this, to safeguard our national security, to promote world peace and implement our own foreign policy, based primarily on economic reconstruction, and political freedom, a strong and effective information and educational exchange program is essential… Our Information Service cannot effectively explain our point of view nor deny vociferous falsehoods in a whisper… Hundreds of millions are being expended by the Soviets; and the United Kingdom, although heavily in debt, supports a program employing some 8,700 persons as against our less than 1,400 and costing three times ours. Even little Holland is spending nearly a quarter of a million dollars this year, and spent half a million last year in the United States alone to defend and explain her policies. We are spending just over $30,000 in the Netherlands. It is the opinion of the committee that America is old enough and strong enough to warrant a change of voice—a voice that will rise confidently above the false call of communism.” — Report of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the US Information Service in Europe, January 30, 1948

The legislative authority for VOA has always included a sunset clause (Sec 502 of the original Act, 22 USC 1462 today), directing the government “shall reduce such Government information activities whenever corresponding private information dissemination is found to be adequate.” VOA continues to operate in many places worldwide because the “private information dissemination” is not found to be adequate.

However, the lack of real oversight, the absence of leadership accountability, and general confusion by even the well-meaning on how (and even whether) VOA provides value to US national security over many decades have placed the network and the umbrella agency in jeopardy.

As you ponder the purpose and potential value of the agency and its networks, be mindful of the impact of mismanagement, the lack of Congressional oversight, decades of apathy from the executive branch, and the irony that agency narratives are fueled by disinformation, misinformation, and personal grievances on what you think you know about the agency and whether it should continue, and if so, in what form.

In short, you just read a mere glimpse into the discussions around establishing VOA. Are you aware of any serious and inclusive inquiry on remaking the network and its parent agency today? I’m not.7

I would be remiss not to note that it doesn’t take many aggrieved VOA personnel to change the network and umbrella organization radically. Senator Joseph McCarthy’s attacks on VOA relied heavily on one disgruntled VOA employee. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles used this to eagerly eject the broader information service, which Secretary of State Dean Acheson placed within a semi-autonomous organization within the department called International Information Administration. At the time, IIA included half of the State Department’s personnel and more than 40% of the department’s budget. The result was the US Information Agency, “an organization with fewer authorities and less integration than what it replaced.” Dulles believed the information function distracted from his and the department’s diplomacy. We may be on the same track today.

Part II, which will be shorter than this (and will definitely not appear for several weeks), looks at the privatization discussion and asks whether Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia would have been separately created if VOA had not been under the staid control of the State Department. This discussion means to tee up the conversation of streamlining USAGM’s five networks into two, or possibly one, to eliminate expensive back-office redundancies that inhibit collaboration and coordination and reduce resources available in the field.

No parting shot (picture) today. This was long enough.

As always, thanks for reading and I welcome your comments, questions, and even criticisms.

1

I intentionally refer to the pre-State Department VOA as a “radio broadcast operation” or similar because that is how the radio operation was referred to in internal documents. The operation ran a program called the Voice of America, but the VOA name didn’t customarily apply to the entire broadcast operation until early 1946.

2

The author of this report, Dr. Arthur MacMahon, was a prominent political scientist focused on public administration, primarily teaching at Columbia University. At the time, he was a consultant to the department. He was president of the American Political Science Association, editor of Political Science Quarterly, and founding member of the American Society of Public Administration. Unfortunately, his insights into the department have been largely forgotten. I recommend his book Administration in Foreign Affairs (1953).

3

Before this office was established, the public information role was held by the department's assistant secretary in charge of administration. If you think this is odd, consider that Woodrow Wilson’s second Secretary of State, Robert Lansing, placed this responsibility under the department’s counter-intelligence chief.

4

Mundt sent his bill to Nelson Rockefeller, head of OIAA, who forwarded it to MacLeish. MacLeish discussed the bill with Dean Acheson, a close friend from their days at Yale. MacLeish followed up with Mundt on February 7, writing that he was “tremendously interested” in the bill and that the “whole matter of international student exchanges relates very closely…to the work of some of the Divisions” under his office. MacLeish continued that he would like to have lunch and get more of Mundt’s ideas, “not only as a Member of Congress, whom even Dean Acheson holds in awe, but as a man with a long, practical experience in education.”

5

Addressing this problem temporarily stalled the Smith-Mundt bill in the Senate. However, Senators decided perfection was the enemy of the good, so they chose to pass the bill that the House passed months earlier and amend the Act later. That later amendment created the Informational Media Guarantee program.

6

The “Top List of Preferred Names” included Mark Ethridge (“Very respected by the Broadcasting industry” and “A liberal journalist…regarded as a southern journalist”); Roy Larson, President of TIME; Ed Murrow (“Paul [Porter, former FCC chairman] and I [Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs William Benton] are afraid of Bill Paley [head of the Columbia Broadcasting System] because of the [David] Sarnoff [head of RCA, which owned the National Broadcasting Corporation] angle, and Ed Murrow seems to be a very happy idea.”); Milton Eisenhower; John Foster Dulles (“That would be a typical British appointment, I think, trying to educate a possible successor.”); Anna Rosenberg; and Oveta Hobby. The “Class B” list included Arthur Sulzberger, C.D. Jackson, and Joseph Kennedy. George Kennan and Loy Henderson were floated as CEO candidates.

7

Not to mention the successor to the Assistant Secretary of Public and Cultural Relations, renamed in 1946 as the Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs, is the current Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs (with the Director of the US Information Agency inserted in there 1953-1999), a position that has been so disregarded that it has been without a confirmed officeholder more than 40% of the time it has existed.

8.  K-pop hits become anthems of South Korea’s protests against President Yoon

​There is always a musical soundtrack to protests and revolutions.

K-pop hits become anthems of South Korea’s protests against President Yoon

theconversation.com · by Hyun Kyong Hannah Chang

When South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, attempted to institute martial law in early December, the public responded with massive protests. These protests have continued across the country. On December 14, for example, an estimated 1 million people gathered outside the National Assembly in the capital, Seoul, as lawmakers convened to vote on the motion to impeach Yoon.

The sight of young people moving to K-pop’s electrifying beat has become part of the drama of this protest movement. Protest organisers are blasting out K-pop hits, and demonstrators are waving K-pop light sticks (portable devices associated with specific artists or groups), turning the protests into multicoloured musical rallies. An article in the Guardian newspaper noted that parts of the protests resembled “a club dancefloor”.

There are many words from K-pop songs that resonate with the sentiment of the protests. For example, a verse from Girls’ Generation’s Into The New World (2007), which has been one of the most popular songs at the protests, promotes purpose and camaraderie, with lyrics like: “Don’t wait for any special miracle. The rough path in front of us might be an unknown future and challenge, but we can’t give up.”

But K-pop fan culture also connects with community spirit and politics. Observers have noted that the most visible demographic group at the impeachment protests is women in their 20s and 30s. Many are K-pop fans and also discontented with Yoon’s anti-feminist stance, as well as the gender-based violence that is widespread across South Korean society.

It is these women who first brought K-pop light sticks to the protest sites and made waving them a wider protest ritual. They also passed around information on social media such as the location of the protest sites and publicly available toilets, as well as lists of useful rally supplies. And they collaborated with the older official organisers to rework K-pop soundbites, signs and artefacts into the protest grounds.

South Koreans have organised energetic forms of protest against President Yoon using light sticks and K-pop music.

This was not the first time that K-pop has intersected with civil protest and social movements. Into the New World was already an anthem for students of Ewha Women’s University during nationwide demonstrations in 2016 that demanded the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye. And K-pop has also featured in various forms at the Seoul Queer Culture Festival.

K-pop has resonated with political activists outside South Korea, too. K-pop fan communities in the US, which draw many of their members from ethnic and gender minority groups, contributed to the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 through online donation campaigns and hashtag activism.

And in 2021, a coalition of K-pop fans in Chile mobilised an online campaign on X (formerly Twitter) to support the progressive presidential candidate Gabriel Boric, who eventually won the election. Elsewhere, K-pop and its many fandoms have also operated as a safe space for LGBTQ+ communities.

History of protest music

Civil protest has a long history in South Korea, which was under authoritarian rule from its formation in 1948 to the late 1980s. A democratic movement consolidated in the 1970s as university students and labour union leaders organised meetings and rallies to contest the extraordinary violations of civil liberties that took place that decade. This movement imagined the people, known as minjung in Korean, as being at the centre of the state.

Groups of university student activists organised protests and sang politically conscious songs. They drew on a repertoire of songs known as minjung kayo, or “people’s songs”. Circulated through unofficial channels during a time of censorship, minjung kayo were sung by university students, accompanied by acoustic guitars.

Minjung kayo melodies are simple. Their lyrics encourage political awakening and affirm the singers’ shared dedication to the democratic cause. An example of this genre, Sangnoksu, enables the singers to come together as an aggrieved community determined to change the course of their nation. The lyrics include: “We do not have much, but we stand together hand in hand, sharing tears. Though our path is long and dark, we will awaken, go forward, and finally overcome.”

Activists continued to sing throughout the 1980s, when the tone of the demonstrations became more serious. In 1980, soldiers opened fire on citizens in the city of Gwangju, who were peacefully demonstrating against martial law. At least 165 civilians were killed.

This traumatic event, which could not be covered in the mainstream media at the time due to rigorous state censorship, gave rise to an anthem called March for the Beloved. Written in the memory of two of the victims, this sombre tune kept the memory of Gwangju alive among the protesters, with lyrics like: “Dear comrades have gone, our flag still waves. While working for days to come, we will not be swayed. We are marching on. Keep faith and follow us.”

March for the Beloved has defined the soundscape of demonstrations in South Korea since the early 1980s.

In addition to minjung kayo, pro-democracy demonstrations in the past – and, to a lesser extent, the present – have sometimes incorporated folk rituals. This has included pungmul, a traditional farmers’ percussion where participants play Korean drums and gongs in interactive formations.

More protests will take place in South Korea over the coming months to put pressure on the constitutional court, which has up to 180 days to adjudicate on the impeachment case. The protests will continue to pay tribute to minjung kayo and the past struggles that are associated with it. But K-pop and its fans are likely to be at the centre of a new generation of musical protesters in South Korea.

theconversation.com · by Hyun Kyong Hannah Chang

9. South Korea ramps up development of unmanned weapons

​Game changing perhaps (according to Mick Ryan - see his column today in my national security news and commentary also at this link: https://mickryan.substack.com/p/the-battle-of-lyptsi-robotic-land?utm)

South Korea ramps up development of unmanned weapons

LIG Nex1 teams up for military drones, Hanwha and Hyundai targets AI vehicles

https://www.chosun.com/english/industry-en/2024/12/23/QIL56LQDWFHA5KJ2GD3D2UQ5JM/

By Kim Nam-hee,

Lee Jung-soo

Published 2024.12.23. 15:38

A Ghost Robotics Vision 60 Q-UGV robot currently in use by the U.S. Air Force. /Ghost Robotics

Videos showing Ukrainian forces using drones to eliminate North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia have recently gone viral, fueling growing interest in unmanned weapon systems. In response, South Korean defense companies are accelerating efforts to develop land, sea, and air unmanned weapons to prepare for an increasingly automated battlefield.

LIG Nex1 signed a contrㄹact last week with S. Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration to develop an unmanned reconnaissance vessel. This comes about two months after the company was selected as the final preferred bidder in September for the 40 billion won ($27 million) project.

By 2027, LIG Nex1 will develop two 12-meter unmanned surface vessels designed to conduct surveillance and reconnaissance missions at forward naval bases and key ports. The vessels will be the first unmanned surface systems integrated into the Navy’s hybrid combat framework, dubbed Navy Sea GHOST.

Hyundai Rotem’s multipurpose unmanned vehicle, the HR-Sherpa. /Hyundai Rotem

Unmanned surface vessels are considered central to the future of maritime unmanned systems.

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries is also developing an unmanned surface vessel called Tenebris, in partnership with U.S.-based big data company Palantir Technologies. The project, which combines Hyundai’s autonomous navigation and integrated ship management systems with Palantir’s artificial intelligence (AI) platform, is expected to be completed by 2026.

LIG Nex1 is also investing in unmanned technologies for land and air. On Dec. 11, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S. drone manufacturer Skydio to jointly develop military drones for the Indo-Pacific region. The collaboration aims to integrate LIG Nex1′s precision electronics with Skydio’s X10D autonomous drone platform. By utilizing LIG Nex1′s supply chain and manufacturing expertise, Skydio seeks to boost drone production while cutting costs.

Military drones have evolved into advanced strategic weapons, utilizing cutting-edge AI technology for not only reconnaissance but also precision-guided target identification and direct strikes.

According to U.S. market research firm MarketsandMarkets, the global military drone market is projected to grow from $13 billion in 2023 to $18.2 billion in 2028, expanding at an annual rate of 7%. During the same period, the number of military drones is expected to rise from 34,945 to 51,930.

Meanwhile, Hanwha Aerospace and Hyundai Rotem are developing AI-powered multipurpose unmanned vehicles. Hanwha Aerospace recently completed Arion-SMET, a multipurpose vehicle capable of carrying small arms like rifles. The company is now working on another model, equipped with heavy weaponry such as guided missiles, with plans for deployment by 2030.

10. Ukraine's Zelenskyy says 3,000 North Koreans killed or wounded in Russia fighting

​Nearly 25-30 percent casualties if 10-12K nKPA forces were deployed. If accurate.

What does fighting "alongside" Russian units mean?

They sure are making a big deal about supposed fake identification. Who is trying to deceive who?

Ukraine's Zelenskyy says 3,000 North Koreans killed or wounded in Russia fighting

North Korean troops are fighting alongside Russian units in Kursk.

ABCNews.com · by ABC News

LONDON -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers are believed to have been killed or wounded fighting for Moscow in Russia's western Kursk region.

Zelenskyy posted to Telegram on Monday following a briefing by Kyiv's top commander -- Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi -- on the ongoing battle in Kursk, underway since Ukrainian troops launched a surprise cross-border incursion there in August.

"There are risks of sending additional soldiers and military equipment to the Russian army from North Korea," Zelenskyy said, vowing "tangible responses" to any such move. "According to preliminary data, the number of killed and wounded North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region already exceeds 3,000 people."

Ukrainian special forces claimed on Monday to have inflicted more than 100 casualties among North Korean forces over three days of operations.

Korean People's Army soldiers are pictured at Mansu Hill in Pyongyang, North Korea on Dec. 17, 2019.

Kim Won Jin/AFP via Getty Images

Ukraine's Special Operations Forces branch claimed in a post to its official Telegram channel that 77 North Koreans were killed and 40 wounded in recent fighting.

On Sunday, the SSO posted photos of what it said were North Korean troops killed in Russia's western Kursk region. The SSO also uploaded photos of purportedly fabricated Russian military identity cards. ABC News was not immediately able to independently verify the images.

"Russia is trying to hide the presence of military personnel from North Korea by issuing them with fake documents," the SSO wrote.

MORE: Ukrainian forces claim 'significant' casualties among North Koreans in Kursk

It added that the documents "do not have all the seals, photographs, the patronymics are given in the Russian manner and the place of birth is signed as the Republic of Tuva," the home region of Sergei Shoigu -- formerly Russia's defense minister and now the secretary of the Security Council.

The SSO said the signatures of the document owners were written in Korean, which it said "indicates the real origin of these soldiers."

U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian officials have said there are currently up to 12,000 North Korean soldiers inside Russia, deployed there primarily to help push Kyiv's forces out of positions taken in Kursk.

Ukrainian military sources told ABC News in November that North Koreans were expected to be among the 50,000 troops arrayed for a major counter-offensive in Kursk.

MORE: North Korean troops in Russia's Kursk adapting after 'serious losses,' Ukraine says

The deployment of troops marks a new milestone in North Korean support for Russia's war, Pyongyang already having supplied Moscow with ammunition and weapons -- including ballistic missiles -- since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month that Kyiv has "preliminary data that the Russians have begun to use North Korean soldiers in their assaults -- a significant number of them."

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Directorate of Intelligence, meanwhile, has reported "significant casualties" among North Korean troops deployed on the front lines alongside Russian units.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a ceremony in North Pyongan Province, North Korea, on Dec. 21, 2024 in this photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency.

Kcna/via Reuters

MORE: Russia prepares counteroffensive with 50,000 troops, potentially including North Koreans, sources say

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported on Monday that Seoul expects Pyongyang to send more troops and equipment to Russia.

"North Korea is preparing to rotate or increase the deployment of troops [in Russia], while currently supplying 240mm rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled artillery," said South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, as quoted by Yonhap.

"There are also some signs of [the North] moving to manufacture and supply suicide drones," the JCS said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a drone production and test facility in November. Then, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said Kim "underscored the need to build a serial production system as early as possible and go into full-scale mass production."

ABCNews.com · by ABC News

11. Elbridge Colby: the brain behind Trump's foreign policy

​Oh and "Korea passing" will come to pass. While the author focuses on Europe and Ukraine and mentions Japan and Taiwan, he does not even mention korea.

Elbridge Colby: the brain behind Trump's foreign policy

unherd.com · by Tom Rogan

December 23, 2024 - 11:00am

As President-elect Donald Trump continues to nominate candidates to serve in his next administration, one name could indicate the direction of America’s foreign policy during his second presidency. Elbridge Colby, who wrote the National Defense Strategy in 2018, has now been picked to be the next Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, vowing to “focus our defense policy on restoring peace through strength and always putting America first”.

A Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in Trump’s first term, Colby is popular with conservative realists for his scepticism of foreign military entanglements. Conversely, others on the Right fear that Colby is too dovish towards Iran. Nonetheless, he is undoubtedly accomplished, not to mention aligned with Trump’s foreign policy instincts. The Undersecretary of Defense for Policy is responsible for developing Pentagon strategy, and Colby’s writing and public statements provide an insight as to where he will focus his energies: namely, China.

Colby believes that the military threat posed by Beijing is far more potent and concerning than is generally understood in Washington. In turn, he argues that US military resources need to be redeployed from Europe and the Middle East to the Pacific in order to better deter China. American military resources, especially naval resources, are currently spread too thin; amid an inadequate defence industrial base which produces warships far too slowly and expensively, this overstretch is increasing maintenance delays and crew exhaustion. At the same time, the People’s Liberation Army is ramping up its production of highly capable missiles and warships, demonstrating the likelihood that the US military would lose a war over Taiwan.

In tandem with Trump’s push for European allies to spend more on defence, an argument that Colby has made repeatedly, we should therefore expect fewer high-end naval and air force deployments on the continent. This should not be a great concern for European governments, which have traditionally preferred the Americans to carry the expensive weight of deterrence activities related to Russia. Because of Moscow’s increasingly sophisticated nuclear ballistic missile submarine forces, however, the US Navy will maintain submarine deployments in European waters under Trump. If Europe is to reach one conclusion from Colby’s appointment, it is that its leaders should invest significantly and immediately in refuelling and transport aircraft, and boost support for Ukraine.

While some claim that giving Colby a top Defense brief will lead to an abandonment of US support for Ukraine, this concern is arguably overstated. Though he has lobbied for a more cautious provision of US military aid to Ukraine, the incoming administration is likely to recognise that this aid is its primary lever of influence towards Russian concessions in future peace negotiations. Still, Colby’s appointment does emphasise that Trump wants to put intellectual weight behind his argument that Europe must do much more for its own security. The same principle applies to other allies such as Taiwan and Japan, which Colby has argued must also significantly increase defence spending.

Though he is outspoken on social media, US allies will find a good partner in Colby. I know from personal experience that he is willing to engage in serious and respectful debate. He has strong views but also a sustaining interest in productive dialogue. He will further a Trump defence policy that seeks to avoid conflict wherever possible, while pursuing urgent preparations for war of a kind not seen since 1945.

Tom Rogan is a national security writer at the Washington Examiner

12. Rival party leaders meet outgoing U.S. ambassador, reaffirm bilateral alliance

​I have heard that Michael G. DeSombre (former US Ambassador to Thailand) is being considered for the Ambassador to Korea. He seems one of the most well qualified political appointees we could expect. Anyone who can speak Mandarin, Korean, and Japanese and is a lawyer and businessman would seem to be well suited for an ambassador anywhere in Northeast Asia. I do not know him but based on his qualifications and the good things I have heard from people who know him, I would work for him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_G._DeSombre

DeSombre was born in 1968 in Chicago, Illinois.^[20] He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Quantitative Economics and a Master of Arts in East Asian Studies from Stanford University. He received his Juris Doctor magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1995.^[3][21]

Prior to assuming his post in Bangkok in 2020, DeSombre lived in Hong Kong, residing in Asia for two decades. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, and also can speak Korean and Japanese.^[16][3] He is a supporter of the USA Rugby team,^[16] and is active in intellectual and philanthropic communities. He is married with four children.

Rival party leaders meet outgoing U.S. ambassador, reaffirm bilateral alliance | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · December 23, 2024

SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Yonhap) -- Leaders of rival parties met with the outgoing U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg on Monday and reaffirmed their commitment to the bilateral alliance despite political turmoil from President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment.

Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, floor leader of the ruling People Power Party, assured Goldberg over acting President Han Duck-soo's diplomatic efforts to maintain the robust alliance, while pledging his party's support for the interim government.

"Although South Korea is currently in a somewhat turbulent situation, the collaboration and cooperation between the two nations, represented by the 70 years of bilateral alliance, will remain unwavering," Kweon said during the meeting at the National Assembly.

Rep. Kweon Seong-dong (R), floor leader of the ruling People Power Party, speaks during his meeting with U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg at the National Assembly in Seoul on Dec. 23, 2024. (Yonhap)

Rep. Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, thanked Goldberg for his advocacy of South Korea's efforts to restore democracy following Yoon's martial law declaration on Dec. 3.

"The current turmoil that South Korea is experiencing will ultimately serve as a testament to the strength and resilience of democratic values and the liberal democratic camp to the world," Lee said in a separate meeting with Goldberg. "In the process, I believe that the bilateral relationship will become even stronger and more advanced."

Lee said the scope of the Seoul-Washington alliance has expanded from military to economy and technology, expressing hope for it to develop into a comprehensive alliance encompassing human rights and environmental issues.

"It is clear that not only the South Korea-U.S. relationship but also trilateral cooperation among the United States, South Korea and Japan will continue to grow," Lee said.

Rep. Lee Jae-myung (L), leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, shakes hands with U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg during their meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul on Dec. 23, 2024. (Yonhap)

During the back-to-back meetings, Goldberg reaffirmed his commitment to the enduring bilateral alliance that has lasted over 70 years, and expressed support for South Korea's democratic and constitutional processes.

Goldberg retires next month after nearly 35 years of diplomatic service. His replacement is likely to be picked after President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

ejkim@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · December 23, 2024

13. Constitutional Court to hold pretrial hearing on Yoon's impeachment as planned

(LEAD) Constitutional Court to hold pretrial hearing on Yoon's impeachment as planned | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · December 23, 2024

(ATTN: UPDATES with details)

By Lee Haye-ah

SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Yonhap) -- The Constitutional Court said Monday it will hold the first preparatory hearing in President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial this week as planned.

The hearing will be held Friday, and Yoon will be considered to have been served the necessary documents related to his trial regardless of whether he received them, as they were delivered by the postal service last Friday, the court said.

Police beef up security at the main gate of the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Dec. 18, 2024, as the court reviews the parliamentary impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yul over his short-lived declaration of martial law. (Yonhap)

Yoon has refused to receive the documents for a week despite the court's attempts to reach him via the postal service, in-person delivery and an electronic system.

The documents include a request for a written response as well as an order to submit the minutes of a Cabinet meeting he convened shortly before declaring martial law on Dec. 3 and the text of the martial law decree issued the same day.

"In line with precedent set by the Supreme Court, the effectiveness of the delivery comes into force when the litigation papers reach their destination," Cheon Jae-hyeon, a court spokesperson, told reporters at a regular press briefing.

Yoon was impeached by the National Assembly on Dec. 14 over his short-lived imposition of martial law and awaits a decision by the Constitutional Court on whether to unseat or reinstate him.

With his presidential powers suspended, he has ignored all notices sent to his residence and office requesting his cooperation with the impeachment trial and an investigation into insurrection charges raised against him.

The court's justices decided at a meeting Thursday to consider the documents as having been served in the event Yoon continues to refuse them.

The documents were delivered to the presidential residence next day.

hague@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · December 23, 2024

14. S. Korean military spots supply removal at now-demolished Kaesong liaison office

S. Korean military spots supply removal at now-demolished Kaesong liaison office | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Woo Jae-yeon · December 23, 2024

SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Yonhap) -- New activities seemingly involving the removal of items have been detected at the now-shuttered joint industrial park in the North Korean border city of Kaesong, the South Korean military said Monday.

The joint liaison office has remained abandoned since June 2020, when North Korea blew it up after lashing out at Seoul for failing to stop North Korean defectors in South Korea from sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border.

Similar activities were observed prior to the 2020 explosion, prompting the South Korean military to remain vigilant for the possibility of another such explosion.

Last month, the North severed power lines installed by South Korea to supply electricity to the park, as part of its on-going campaign to cut inter-Korean ties.

In this file photo taken from Paju, South Korea, and provided by a reader, smoke rises from the North Korean border city of Kaesong on April 13, 2024. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

jaeyeon.woo@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Woo Jae-yeon · December 23, 2024

15. Acting President Han, new CFC commander reaffirm commitment to robust security posture

(LEAD) Acting President Han, new CFC commander reaffirm commitment to robust security posture | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Woo Jae-yeon · December 23, 2024

(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; ADDS photo, details in first 6 paras)

SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Yonhap) -- Acting President Han Duck-soo reaffirmed the strong alliance between South Korea and the United States during a phone call Monday with Gen. Xavier Brunson, the new commander of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC), the prime minister's office said.

Han congratulated Gen. Brunson on his new role and urged continued efforts to strengthen the 70-year-old alliance between the two allies.

He also highlighted Seoul's close consultations with its allies to maintain stability amid recent political turmoil, emphasizing the importance of a robust security posture to counter potential provocations from North Korea.

Brunson expressed his commitment to his new role and stressed the need for decisive action over words to ensure security readiness against potential threats from Pyongyang, according to the office.

The undated file photo shows acting President Han Duck-soo, as provided by his office. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Earlier in the day, Adm. Kim Myung-soo, chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), and Gen. Brunson also emphasized the significance of the alliance during a separate phone call.

They discussed the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and explored measures to bolster their combined defense posture.

Kim stressed that the alliance is a "linchpin" in defending stability on the peninsula, saying that it stands steadfast despite changes in the domestic and overseas security situation.

In response, Brunson underscored the importance of communications between them and called for maintaining the momentum for trilateral exercises among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan to advance their security cooperation, the JCS said.

Brunson took office as the new CFC commander on Friday, replacing Gen. Paul LaCamera. He doubles as commander of the U.S. Forces Korea and the U.N. Command.

Gen. Xavier Brunson (2nd from L), commander of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, receives the command's flag from acting Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho (R) in a change-of-command ceremony at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, some 65 kilometers south of Seoul, on Dec. 20, 2024, in this pool photo provided by the Defense Daily. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

mlee@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Woo Jae-yeon · December 23, 2024

16. JCS chief, new CFC commander reaffirm S. Korea-U.S. alliance in phone talks

​Only by phone? Not a face to face meeting? This is one of the drawbacks of moving CFC to Camp Humprehys. CFC used to be nearly across the street from JCS headquarters when it was located in Seoul. Arguably the relationship between the CJCS and the Senior US Military Officer in Korea is one of the most important of the alliance since they are permanent members of the MIlitary Committee.  

JCS chief, new CFC commander reaffirm S. Korea-U.S. alliance in phone talks | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · December 23, 2024

SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Yonhap) -- The chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and the new commander of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) reaffirmed Monday the importance of their alliance and vowed efforts to strengthen it against North Korea's potential provocations, the JCS said.

Holding talks over phone, Adm. Kim Myung-soo and Gen. Xavier Brunson shared their opinions on the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and discussed ways to strengthen their combined defense posture, according to the JCS.

Kim stressed that the alliance is a "linchpin" in defending stability on the peninsula, saying that it stands steadfast despite changes in the domestic and overseas security situation.

In response, Brunson underscored the importance of communications between them and called for maintaining the momentum for trilateral exercises among South Korea, the United States and Japan to advance their security cooperation, the JCS said.

Brunson took office as the new CFC commander on Friday, replacing Gen. Paul LaCamera. He doubles as commander of the U.S. Forces Korea and the U.N. Command.

Gen. Xavier Brunson (2nd from L), commander of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, receives the command's flag from acting Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho (R) in a change-of-command ceremony at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, some 65 kilometers south of Seoul, on Dec. 20, 2024, in this pool photo provided by the Defense Daily. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

mlee@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · December 23, 2024

17. National Assembly begins confirmation hearings for Constitutional Court justice nominees

(2nd LD) National Assembly begins confirmation hearings for Constitutional Court justice nominees | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Woo Jae-yeon · December 23, 2024

(ATTN: UPDATES with more info in paras 3-4, 7-8; ADDS photo)

SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Yonhap) -- The National Assembly began a two-day confirmation hearing process Monday for three nominees to the Constitutional Court, which will deliberate on President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial.

The parliamentary hearings aim to fill vacancies on the nine-member bench, where six justices are currently seated. By law, at least six votes are required to uphold an impeachment motion.

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) held hearings earlier in the day for Ma Eun-hyuk and Jeong Gye-seon, both recommended by the opposition, without the participation of lawmakers from the ruling People Power Party (PPP).

During the hearings, both nominees pledged to safeguard constitutional order.

Ma Eun-hyuk, a Constitutional Court justice nominee, speaks during a confirmation hearing at the National Assembly in Seoul on Dec. 23, 2024. (Yonhap)

Ma introduced his past activities opposing the military rule and pledged to uphold the constitutional order.

Reflecting on the oppressive campus atmosphere when he entered university in 1981, the 61-year-old said he collaborated with other students, friends and citizens "to contribute in a modest way to the era's task of ending the military dictatorship and restoring democracy."

He also said "a candidate's ideological inclination" does not necessarily play a decisive role in determining the outcome of an impeachment trial.

Jeong said she would "make utmost efforts to chart a path forward for society, protect fundamental rights and uphold constitutional order, if given the chance to serve as a Constitutional Court justice."

A third nominee, Cho Han-chang, recommended by the ruling party, is scheduled to undergo a hearing Tuesday.

Jeong Gye-seon, a candidate for Constitutional Court justice, speaks during a confirmation hearing at the National Assembly in Seoul on Dec. 23, 2024. (Yonhap)

It remains uncertain whether acting President Han Duck-soo would proceed with formal appointments of the three nominees.

The PPP has argued that Han lacks presidential authority to make the appointments and has vowed to file a suit with the Constitutional Court seeking an injunction if he proceeds.

In contrast, the DP has urged Han to expedite the appointments, claiming formalizing the nomination approved by the National Assembly is merely a formality.

The DP said it plans to adopt the confirmation hearing reports Tuesday and put them to a plenary vote later this week.

ejkim@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Woo Jae-yeon · December 23, 2024

​18. Editorial: Democratic Party threatens gov't with impeachment, acting like an occupying force

​Excerpts:

The Democratic Party’s demand ignores the deadlines established by the Constitution and the law, instead pressuring Han to follow their orders, resembling an occupying force intimidating an opposing commander into submission.

Recently the People Power Party and the Democratic Party agreed to establish a three-party consultative group. The initiative involves Acting President Han Duck-soo, the speaker of the National Assembly, and leaders from both parties and is intended to coordinate on urgent issues such as economic legislation, public welfare measures, and additional budgets. This agreement stems from the recognition that, even amid the tense impeachment proceedings, there should be no division between the ruling and opposition parties on matters of the economy and national security.

However, if the agreement genuinely reflected a shared concern for the country’s future, it would be unthinkable to direct harsh words like “We will hold you accountable” at Han, a central figure in this consultative group.

Similarly, the ruling People Power Party’s Floor Leader Kweon Seong-dong has pressured Han, asking him to veto the two special prosecutor bills and hold off on appointing three vacant Constitutional Court justices. Critics say this move aims to delay the court’s decision on President Yoon Suk-yeol’s impeachment.

Editorial: Democratic Party threatens gov't with impeachment, acting like an occupying force

https://www.chosun.com/english/opinion-en/2024/12/23/A2HBO36CLRBSJEM3LKYDEPMNXQ/

By The Chosunilbo

Published 2024.12.23. 08:50

Park Chan-dae (center), floor leader of the Democratic Party, speaks during a press briefing on current issues at the National Assembly in Seoul on Dec. 22, 2024. /Newsis

Democratic Party Floor Leader Park Chan-dae on Dec. 22 warned Acting President Han Duck-soo that if the administration fails to enact a bill to launch a special investigation into allegations of insurrection involving President Yoon Suk-yeol and a bill calling for a special prosecutor to investigate controversies surrounding First Lady Kim Keon-hee by Dec. 24, he will take immediate action to hold him accountable.

Park’s remarks suggest that if Han refuses to promulgate or exercises a veto against the two special prosecutor bills passed under the Democratic Party’s effort, the party will push for his impeachment.

The two bills, which effectively allow the Democratic Party to nominate special prosecutor candidates, have faced criticism for violating the principle of separation of powers and being unconstitutional. Han’s team has called for changes to address unconstitutional issues through a three-party consultative group made up of the ruling party, the opposition, and the government. The deadline to approve or veto the bills is Jan. 1, but the Democratic Party has pushed for action by Dec. 24, arguing the urgency of the national situation.

The Democratic Party’s demand ignores the deadlines established by the Constitution and the law, instead pressuring Han to follow their orders, resembling an occupying force intimidating an opposing commander into submission.

Recently the People Power Party and the Democratic Party agreed to establish a three-party consultative group. The initiative involves Acting President Han Duck-soo, the speaker of the National Assembly, and leaders from both parties and is intended to coordinate on urgent issues such as economic legislation, public welfare measures, and additional budgets. This agreement stems from the recognition that, even amid the tense impeachment proceedings, there should be no division between the ruling and opposition parties on matters of the economy and national security.

However, if the agreement genuinely reflected a shared concern for the country’s future, it would be unthinkable to direct harsh words like “We will hold you accountable” at Han, a central figure in this consultative group.

Similarly, the ruling People Power Party’s Floor Leader Kweon Seong-dong has pressured Han, asking him to veto the two special prosecutor bills and hold off on appointing three vacant Constitutional Court justices. Critics say this move aims to delay the court’s decision on President Yoon Suk-yeol’s impeachment.

Earlier, the United States expressed concern over President Yoon’s imposition of martial law, temporarily straining the S. Korea-U.S. alliance. Following the impeachment motion’s passage and the implementation of Han’s acting presidency, Washington expressed support for Han’s interim leadership, helping stabilize bilateral relations. Nevertheless, the political impasse in S. Korea continues to escalate as both parties prioritize their interests over national stability.

Meanwhile, both the Democratic Party and the People Power Party have been accused of pressuring Han for political gain, showing little regard for the precarious state of the country. Their focus on self-interest leaves S. Korea teetering on the brink, with pressing national concerns overshadowed by political brinkmanship.

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