|
Quotes of the Day:
“If you haven’t read hundreds of books, you are functionally illiterate, and you will be incompetent, because your personal experiences alone aren’t broad enough to sustain you.”
- Former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis
“If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures that you want to vote for, but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong. If this is too blind for your taste, consult some well-meaning full (there is always one around) and ask his advice. Then vote the other way. This enables you to be a good citizen (if such is your wish) without spending the enormous amount of time on it that truly intelligent exercise of franchise requirements.”
- Robert A. Heinlein - Time Enough For Love
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
- George Bernard Shaw
1. S. Korean, US troops to end two-week combined exercise
2. Poland eyes SKorean rocket launchers amid HIMARS talks with the US
3. U.S. promises to look into Inflation Reduction Act impact on Korean carmakers: Seoul official
4. U.N. rapporteur urges efforts to address human rights problem of N. Korean women
5. Two cheers for the three nos
6. Enmity between Koreans and Japanese recedes
7. Joint military drills important for security on Korean Peninsula: Pentagon
8. USFK deploys advanced Gray Eagle drones
9. Yoon government has last opportunity for North Korea's denuclearization: experts
10. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Is Kindling for World War III
11. S. Korea: China, Russia hold key to North's denuclearization
12. North Korea's COVID restrictions intensify human rights violations - U.N.
13. Normalizing US-North Korea Ties Before Denuclearization Seen as Unrealistic
14. South Korean Cybersecurity Experts Play Cat-and-Mouse With the North’s Hackers
15. North Korean parents fear their children will serve in army’s construction detail
16. US and South Korean forces hold first live-fire exercises since new unit formed
17. Residents complain of noise, danger as U.S. troops practice in S.Korea
1. S. Korean, US troops to end two-week combined exercise
Now for the After Action Review.
Excerpts:
The exercise involved more than a dozen field training events in line with the conservative Yoon Suk-yeol administration's commitment to "normalizing" drills scaled back or suspended under the former liberal Moon Jae-in administration's drive for peace.
Based on an all-out war concept, the exercise entailed three key elements -- the computer-simulation command post exercise, field training and the South Korean government's Ulchi civil defense drills
S. Korean, US troops to end two-week combined exercise
koreaherald.com · by Yonhap · September 1, 2022
By Yonhap
Published : Sept 1, 2022 - 10:39 Updated : Sept 1, 2022 - 10:39
This photo, taken on Monday, shows South Korean and US troops engaging in the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise in the southeastern port city of Busan. (Yonhap)
South Korea and the United States are set to wrap up a major combined military exercise Thursday, Seoul officials said, in a conclusion highlighting their pursuit of stronger deterrence against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.
The allies have carried out the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, which kicked off on Aug. 22, despite North Korean state media berating the annual drills as a rehearsal for war against the reclusive regime.
The exercise involved more than a dozen field training events in line with the conservative Yoon Suk-yeol administration's commitment to "normalizing" drills scaled back or suspended under the former liberal Moon Jae-in administration's drive for peace.
Based on an all-out war concept, the exercise entailed three key elements -- the computer-simulation command post exercise, field training and the South Korean government's Ulchi civil defense drills
It proceeded in two major parts -- the first segment involving drills on repelling North Korean attacks and defending the greater Seoul area, with the second part focusing on counterattack operations.
Gen. Ahn Byung-Seok, the deputy commander of the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command, led the entire exercise to conduct a key capability assessment required for the envisioned transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) to Seoul from Washington.
The full operational capability assessment is the second part of the three-stage program to vet the South's capabilities to lead combined forces. The program is part of numerous conditions required for the OPCON handover.
Throughout the exercise, the allies maintained tight vigilance amid concerns that the North could engage in provocative acts, like a nuclear test or missile launch, on the pretext of responding to the drills. (Yonhap)
koreaherald.com · by Yonhap · September 1, 2022
2. Poland eyes SKorean rocket launchers amid HIMARS talks with the US
South Korea is joining the arsenal of democracy and stepping up on the world stage as a global pivotal state.
Poland eyes SKorean rocket launchers amid HIMARS talks with the US
Defense News · by Jaroslaw Adamowski · August 30, 2022
WARSAW, Poland — In what could mark another major acquisition of South Korean weapons by Poland, the country’s Ministry of National Defence is mulling plans to purchase K239 Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers. The negotiations run in parallel with the country’s talks with the United States over a potential purchase of about 500 M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS.
A spokesperson for the Polish ministry confirmed the talks to Defense News, suggesting that Poland’s cooperation with South Korea could extend beyond the weapons’ delivery to future joint manufacturing or upgrades of the launchers.
“We are holding talks with our partners from South Korea with regard to a potential acquisition and joint development of the K239 Chunmoo multi-barreled missile launchers on wheeled platforms,” the spokesperson said.
The ministry representative did not disclose how many launchers made by Hanhwa Group could be ordered, and to what extent the potential purchase could complement the discussed HIMARS acquisition.
In an interview published on Aug. 29 by local daily Polska Times, Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak officially acknowledged Warsaw’s talks with Seoul on the potential procurement of launchers.
These talks “are important, because our order for the HIMARS rocket launchers must take account of the production capacities of the American industry and the needs of the United States Army,” he said. “Of course, I’m aware of these production capacities, and the delivery [of the HIMARS] will be spread over time.”
This suggests that Warsaw could opt for a rapid purchase of an undisclosed number of K239s while awaiting the completion of its HIMARS talks with Washington. The Polish government could also attempt to use the availability of alternative South Korean weapons to negotiate better price and delivery terms with U.S. decision makers.
The potential procurement could further boost Poland’s reliance on South Korean weapons after a string of recently signed deals for the purchase of tanks and howitzers made the country Seoul’s largest defense client in Europe.
On Aug. 26, Błaszczak signed two contracts worth a total $5.8 billion under which 180 K2 tanks are to be delivered to Poland from 2022 to 2025, and 212 howitzers are to be supplied between 2022 and 2026. In addition to this, a deal for the acquisition of South Korean 48 FA-50 light attack aircraft for the Polish Air Force is expected to be signed by the end of this year.
About Jaroslaw Adamowski
Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.
3. U.S. promises to look into Inflation Reduction Act impact on Korean carmakers: Seoul official
Excerpts:
National Security Advisor Kim Sung-han made the remarks after separate talks with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Jake Sullivan and Takeo Akiba, respectively, in Honolulu on the margins of their trilateral meeting.
The gatherings came amid growing concerns in South Korea as the IRA excludes electric vehicles (EVs) assembled outside North America from tax incentives.
"(Sullivan) said (the U.S.) will take a detailed look at how the EV subsidy issue will pan out going forward, and what impact it will have," Kim told reporters.
U.S. promises to look into Inflation Reduction Act impact on Korean carmakers: Seoul official | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · September 1, 2022
HONOLULU, Aug. 31 (Yonhap) -- The United States pledged Wednesday to look into the potential impact of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on South Korean carmakers, Seoul's top security official said, amid concerns that the act would pose a trade barrier for Korean-made vehicles.
National Security Advisor Kim Sung-han made the remarks after separate talks with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Jake Sullivan and Takeo Akiba, respectively, in Honolulu on the margins of their trilateral meeting.
The gatherings came amid growing concerns in South Korea as the IRA excludes electric vehicles (EVs) assembled outside North America from tax incentives.
"(Sullivan) said (the U.S.) will take a detailed look at how the EV subsidy issue will pan out going forward, and what impact it will have," Kim told reporters.
The IRA calls for the expansion of tax subsidies for purchases of EVs assembled only in North America, spawning concern it will hurt South Korean carmakers, such as Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. that make their flagship models at domestic plants and ship them overseas.
During the talks with Akiba, Kim discussed cooperation in dealing with North Korean issues and improving bilateral relations long strained over wartime history. He described the talks as "very productive."
Kim also had consultations with both Sullivan and Akiba over cooperation in making Pyongyang accede to Seoul's "audacious plan" designed to help North Korean improve its economy should it take steps towards denuclearization.
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · September 1, 2022
4. U.N. rapporteur urges efforts to address human rights problem of N. Korean women
U.N. rapporteur urges efforts to address human rights problem of N. Korean women | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 채윤환 · September 1, 2022
SEOUL, Sept. 1 (Yonhap) -- The new U.N. special rapporteur for North Korea's human rights called Thursday for efforts to draw attention to the situation of women in the reclusive country.
Elizabeth Salmon raised the issue during the Korea Global Forum for Peace, hosted by South Korea's unification ministry in Seoul, as she vowed to try and engage with Pyongyang among other efforts to improve the country's human rights situation. She was on her first trip to Korea since assuming the post early last month.
"There are many other tasks, such as strengthening the prospects for accountability by hearing and reporting witnesses' and victims' accounts, highlighting and documenting difficult topics, such as the situation of women and girls," she said.
Salmon also stressed the need to enhance public awareness on the North's overall human rights situation.
"What we could do during these next months probably is to raise awareness of the situation in the DPRK," she added, using the acronym of the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "We need to provide a voice, a face to highlight the situation there."
She met with Seoul's top diplomat Park Jin the previous day with a plan to meet with Unification Minister Kwon Young-se on Friday.
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 채윤환 · September 1, 2022
5. Two cheers for the three nos
I disagree with my friend Ambassador Wi Sun Lac.
I think the " three no's" is an infringement on South Korean sovereignty and must not be accepted. I especially think he is making quite a leap about South korean soldiers taking over the manning of THAAD. Perhaps South Korea could request to procure THAAD and then have its soldiers trained but they are not going to simply take over the manning of the current THAAD battery.
Wednesday
August 31, 2022
dictionary + A - A
Two cheers for the three nos
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/08/31/opinion/columns/China-Korea-Thaad/20220831201015190.html
Wi Sung-lac
The author is a former South Korean representative to the six-party talks and head of the diplomacy and security division of the JoongAng Ilbo’s Reset Korea campaign.
The Yoon Suk-yeol administration seeks to reverse the past alleged agreement on the so-called three nos over the deployment of the Thaad missile defense system in South Korea. The three nos refers to no additional Thaad deployments, no joining of a broader U.S. missile defense system and no Korea-U.S.-Japan military alliance. The Yoon administration prepares to scrap the deal, as it was not a “promise or agreement” by the past Korean government. But questions remain whether such simple logic will really work with China.
The agreements on three nos were reached after a long closed-door meeting between the National Security Office of the liberal Moon Jae-in administration and China. After a mutual understanding based on reciprocity, South Korea came up with the three nos policy. To the rest of the world, the foreign minister proclaimed that the government would keep to the principle. Given that background, the new conservative Yoon administration can hardly rescind it based on the simple logic that South Korea does not have to comply with it as it was not a promise nor agreement by the Moon administration.
Worse, discontent about Seoul-Beijing relations has been simmering in China. Beijing is particularly embarrassed to see a new South Korean government proactively joining the U.S.-led sanctions on China. Due to its perception of the Yoon administration as the most anti-China government in Korea’s history, China thinks it may lose the leverage it has built on the neighbor over the past 30 years. Beijing’s recent announcement of its five demands over Thaad reflects China’s deepening concern. Ditching the three nos under such circumstances poses challenges to the Yoon government.
Given Beijing’s high-handed approach to Seoul over the past three decades since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, China certainly will not gladly accept South Korea’s abandoning of the three nos. A rush to scrap the agreement with the simple logic will certainly trigger a bigger discord in their relations. The Yoon administration must find effective ways to persuade China over Thaad.
Looking back on the lead-up to the Thaad agreement, the dispute mostly resulted from South Korea’s wrong choice of action from the start. After military analysts suggested the deployment of Thaad to cope with nuclear missile threats from North Korea, past South Korean governments opted not to deploy Thaad batteries as it could be seen as South Korea’s participation in the U.S-led missile defense system, which China still opposes. South Korea made a weird decision not to irk China rather than making decision for the sake of national security.
After South Korea adhered to the unfathomable logic, the United States proposed to the Park Geun-hye administration the deployment of at least one battery of Thaad missiles to protect the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK). In reaction, the Park administration took another weird three nos position — no official request from the U.S., no reviews in South Korea, and no decisions made yet. In the face of increasing U.S. demands following nuclear provocations from North Korea, the Park administration allowed the deployment of Thaad batteries to safeguard the USFK.
But China thought South Korea changed its position because of U.S. pressure, not because of the need to protect its own security. After defining the flip as a betrayal of trust, China launched severe economic retaliation on South Korea. If South Korea had made clear the purpose of the Thaad deployment — defending against North Korean missile attacks — from the beginning, it could have prevented a crisis from reaching this level, though Beijing would still oppose it.
The time has come for the Yoon administration to take a professional approach from the beginning to deal with repercussions from the Thaad deployment. The following is my recommendations.
Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of China’s Foreign Ministry, underscores the need for South Korea to observe the principle of three nos on the deployment of the Thaad missile defense system in South Korea, July 30. [THE CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY]
First, the government should create a systematic frame to persuade China on the need for the Thaad deployment and publicize it at home and abroad. It must deliver its position to China clearly. When dealing with a tricky counterpart like China, the government must approach the issue methodically, including a manifestation of fundamental security damage from North Korea’s advanced tactical weapons if South Korea does not have the Thaad missile defense system. Also, Seoul must ask Beijing why China reacts so sensitively to the Thaad deployment, whose radar can only screen some parts of China while China operates radar and missile systems covering the entire Korean Peninsula.
Second, the Yoon administration must get the details of the past administrations’ negotiations over Thaad with China to find efficient ways to deal with Beijing. For instance, if China really did not keep a promise to stop retaliations on South Korea, the Yoon administration can use it as feasible grounds for the scrapping of three nos.
Third, the administration needs to consider the idea of South Korean forces taking over the Thaad batteries. That can highlight South Korea’s determination to protect security on its own.
Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
6. Enmity between Koreans and Japanese recedes
Some good news. Still a long way to go.
Thursday
September 1, 2022
dictionary + A - A
Enmity between Koreans and Japanese recedes
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/09/01/national/diplomacy/Korea-Japan-East-Asia-Institute/20220901184757511.html
Koreans and Japanese are almost as positive about each other as they were before diplomatic and trade friction flared in recent years.
According to a survey by the Seoul-based East Asia Institute (EAI), which questioned 1,028 Koreans and 1,000 Japanese, the proportion of Koreans who view Japan positively rose from 20.5 percent last year to 30.6 percent this year — the highest percentage since the 31.7 percent recorded in the same survey in 2019.
The proportion of Japanese respondents who view Korea positively increased from 20.0 percent to 30.4 percent in the same time frame.
The 2020 survey recorded an all-time low of Korean respondents who viewed Japan positively, 12.3 percent, reflecting public anger after Tokyo removed Seoul from a list of preferred trading partners and restricted the export of high-tech materials.
Japan’s moves were widely seen as retaliation for Korean court rulings in 2018 ordering Japanese companies to compensate Koreans who were forced to work during Japan’s colonial occupation of Korea, and a sign of its unwillingness to take responsibility for historical misdeeds.
Japan’s decision to enforce trade restrictions sparked a Korean boycott of Japanese products and travel to Japan.
Despite the increase in positive ratings of Japan among Koreans and vice versa, a plurality of respondents in each country still viewed each other negatively.
According to the survey, 52.8 percent of Korean respondents have an overall negative impression of Japan, while over 40 percent of Japanese respondents said they view Korea negatively — a larger proportion than the 30.4 percent of respondents who say they view their neighbor positively.
Mistrust appears to run high among respondents who said they view their neighboring country negatively.
Over 40 percent of Koreans with negative impressions of Japan said they opposed strengthening trilateral cooperation among Seoul, Washington and Tokyo because they didn't trust Japan. An even higher 70.9 percent of Japanese respondents who dislike Korea said they opposed trilateral cooperation for the same reason.
History also weighed heavily on both Koreans and Japanese respondents, who said they had a bad image of each other, with 72 percent of such Koreans saying they believed Tokyo to be uncontrite about its 1910-1945 colonial occupation of Korea, while 42.4 percent of negative Japanese respondents said they were tired of Korea's history-related criticism.
But Koreans appear more hopeful that bilateral relations will improve.
Over 45 percent of Korean respondents said they believe relations will improve under President Yoon Suk-yeol, while only 26.8 percent of Japanese respondents expressed the same belief.
During his Aug. 15 Liberation Day speech, Yoon called Japan a “partner” in the face of “common threats that challenge the freedom of global citizens.”
But Yoon’s speech did not mention pending bilateral problems.
The Korean Supreme Court is expected to soon finalize a liquidation of assets belonging to Japanese companies involved in the cases.
Respondents from the two countries appear to be at odds over how the dispute should be settled.
While 36.5 percent of Korean respondents said the companies’ assets should be liquidated to compensate forced labor victims, 30.6 percent of Japanese respondents said such a decision would contravene the 1965 treaty that restored diplomatic relations between Seoul and Tokyo.
BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
7. Joint military drills important for security on Korean Peninsula: Pentagon
Joint military drills important for security on Korean Peninsula: Pentagon
The Korea Times · September 1, 2022
Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington,, Aug. 31. AP-Yonhap
Joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States are important for maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, a Pentagon spokesperson said Wednesday.
South Korea and the U.S. are currently conducting a regular joint exercise, called Ulchi Freedom Shield, which started last Monday.
"What I would tell you is that these exercises do remain important, in terms of ensuring that our militaries can closely work together and be prepared to fight and defend the Republic of Korea (ROK) and our partners and allies in the region should they need to," Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a press briefing, referring to South Korea by its official name.
North Korea frequently criticizes the joint military drills of South Korea and the U.S., while also using them as a pretext for its military provocations, which have included more than 30 ballistic missiles fired this year.
Seoul and Washington staged a live-fire exercise on Wednesday (Seoul time), marking the first of its kind to be held by the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division/ROK-U.S. Combined Division since the unit was formed in 2015.
The Pentagon press secretary said the ongoing exercise was a "11-day computer-simulated, defense-oriented training event," when asked about the live-fire exercise.
He added the exercise is "really designed to enhance ROK and U.S. combined defense posture, help maintain readiness, and as I mentioned before, strengthen the security and the stability on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia." (Yonhap)
The Korea Times · September 1, 2022
8. USFK deploys advanced Gray Eagle drones
USFK deploys advanced Gray Eagle drones
The Korea Times · August 31, 2022
Apache attack helicopters and Gray Eagle drones are seen at U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, during the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, Aug. 23. Yonhap
By Kang Seung-woo
The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) has deployed an advanced version of one of its armed drones in Korea amid North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threats.
According to the USFK, Wednesday, the U.S. Second Infantry Division, also known as the South Korea-U.S. combined division, has deployed 12 Gray Eagle Extended Range (GE-ER) unmanned aircraft systems at U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. The GE-ER is a next-generation upgrade to the battle-proven Gray Eagle drone.
The original Gray Eagle, measuring eight meters in length and 18 meters in wingspan, is a medium-altitude, long-endurance combat drone that can stay aloft up to 30 hours from launch and can fly at a top speed of 280 kilometers per hour. The drone is capable of providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, and can carry four Hellfire air-to-ground anti-armor missiles, enabling the USFK to hit targets in North Korea.
The advanced version can stay in the air for 45 hours nonstop.
Previously, the USFK deployed a Gray Eagle drone unit as part of efforts to enhance warfighting capability at Kunsan Air Base in North Jeolla Province in February 2018, but it has relocated the base to USAG Humphreys, home to the USFK headquarters and the U.S.-led U.N. Command, after the upgrade of the GE-ER in February.
The drone can participate in manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) operations with Apache attack helicopters by protecting them in contested environments via a radar warning receiver.
The integrated reconnaissance platform is the first to have been applied by U.S. forces in an armed conflict.
"The main mission of the Gray Eagle is to conduct armed reconnaissance and allow Apache attack helicopters to hit targets, which was the same role as the earlier scout helicopter," said Shin Jong-woo, a senior researcher at the Korea Defense and Security Forum.
"However, what is different from the scout helicopter is the drone can carry out attacks independently with Hellfire missiles."
In May, the USFK launched an air cavalry squadron consisting of 24 new Apache attack helicopters.
In addition, it recently unveiled the Gray Eagle drones and Apache helicopters in action side by side during the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise in an apparent bid to display its combined defense posture and as a deterrent to North Korea.
In June, the United States announced its plan to sell four Gray Eagle drones to Ukraine as part of its efforts to support Kyiv in its war with Russia.
The Korea Times · August 31, 2022
9. Yoon government has last opportunity for North Korea's denuclearization: experts
Actually there is no opportunity until after Kim Jong Un and the establishment of a free and unified Korea (UROK).
Yoon government has last opportunity for North Korea's denuclearization: experts
The Korea Times · August 31, 2022
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a post-summit dinner at the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Russia, in this April 25, 2019, file photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency the following day. Yonhap
Pyongyang, Moscow, Beijing become increasingly united against Washington
By Jung Min-ho
As North Korea becomes increasingly united with Russia and China against the United States, the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will likely be, if it isn't already, nearly impossible in just a few years, according to experts Wednesday.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the rising influence of China in recent years have ushered in a new Cold War climate, prompting the reinforcement of an anti-U.S. alliance and opening an opportunity for the North to protect its nuclear ambitions, they said.
"The current (Yoon Suk-yeol) government has this last opportunity for denuclearization. Perhaps, we have already missed it," Chun Chae-sung, a professor of political science and international relations at Seoul National University, said at the Korea Global Forum for Peace's Wednesday session in Seoul. "North Korea perceives the current situation as a new Cold War and has strengthened relations with China and Russia … This means that North Korea's need for U.S. security guarantees and, therefore, reasons for abandoning its nuclear weapons will decrease."
In a surprise move on July 13, the North recognized the independence of two Russia-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine in support of Moscow's war against its neighbor.
"Even [leaders of] Russia did not see it coming ― and then, the North reportedly offered to send its workers to the region," said Hyun Seung-soo, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification. "Over the past 20 years, Russia's diplomatic strategies on North Korea and the Korean Peninsula have not changed much. But I believe it is now on the verge of a big shift."
North Korea's Ambassador to Russia Sin Hong-chol, left, and Rodion Miroshnik, ambassador of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) to Russia, pose during a ceremony to present a document recognizing the LPR at a meeting in the North Korean Embassy in Moscow, in this July 14 file photo. TASS-Yonhap
In the short run, there seems little incentive for the North to make such decisions, which have drawn international criticism. But in the long term, what it can gain from Russia, one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, is "enormous," he noted.
"North Korea is probably expecting Russia's support at the U.N. … It is very likely that Russia will offer it. I have heard from sources in Russia that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may visit Russia this year," Hyun said. "I agree with Chun's assessment on the probability of denuclearization … We may have already entered the situation in which it is very difficult [to achieve]."
With possible help of Russia and China, another permanent member of the UNSC, it will be far more difficult to impose additional U.N. sanctions on the North over its nuclear weapons program.
North Korea has also consolidated ties with China in recent years. During his speech on the 69th anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, Kim honored the Chinese soldiers who "shed their blood with our military" in the conflict against South Korea and the United Nations Command.
From left, Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU) senior research fellow Jun Byoung-kon, Seoul National University professor Chun Chae-sung, Korea National Diplomatic Academy professor Kim Han-kwon and KINU research fellows Hyun Seung-soo and Min Tae-eun attend a session of the Korea Global Forum for Peace, titled "The Choice of the Korean Peninsula in the New International Security Order," at the Millennium Hilton Seoul, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Jung Min-ho
Some analysts believe the National Congress of the Communist Party of China, an important political event for President Xi Jinping, is the chief reason behind Pyongyang's decision to delay its seventh nuclear weapons test, which has been estimated for months to be ready.
Powerful nations, which were once united against North Korea's nuclear weapons program, become increasingly indifferent to the issue as they are preoccupied with other political and diplomatic priorities.
Chun said the Yoon government needs to step up efforts to tell them the issue still is greatly relevant to their national interests and their collective effort is essential to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
"Time is running out," he said. "I think this administration knows it well."
The Korea Times · August 31, 2022
10. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Is Kindling for World War III
An ominous warning.
Again, I wonder about the 24 nuclear power plants in South Korea and what will become of them when north Korea attacks.
Wemight want to be conducting some contingency planning for this.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Is Kindling for World War III
Civilian nuclear plants in war zones are becoming ticking radiological bombs.
The National Interest · by Henry Sokolski · August 31, 2022
As the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) readies itself to visit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine, Western officials are sighing a sigh of relief. However, there is a worry they have yet to consider—how civilian nuclear plants in war zones are becoming radiological bombs that could ignite World War III.
Seem shrill? Late last week, the chairman of the Select Committee on Defense in the British House of Commons warned that “any deliberate damage causing potential radiation leak to a Ukrainian nuclear reactor would be a breach of NATO’s Article 5.” Article V of the NATO treaty requires all signatories to come to the defense of any alliance members that suffer an armed attack.
How imminent might a radiological release be? Late Thursday, all external power to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was cut off. The only source of electricity was the plant’s emergency diesel generators, which had no more than five days of fuel to power the plant’s essential safety and fuel-cooling electric water pumps. Had those generators run short of fuel (which could be exacerbated by Russian pilfering) and the one remaining power line not been reconnected, a loss of coolant accident (think Fukushima) could have ensued in eighty minutes.
Ukrainian authorities understand this. That’s why last week they distributed iodine tablets to Ukrainians to reduce thyroid cancers if the Zaporizhzhia plant should blow. Romania, a NATO nation, also grasps this: Earlier in the month, its health minister encouraged Romanians to pick up free iodine pills at their local pharmacies. Last week, Romania’s neighbor, Moldova, imported one million tablets for its own population.
What these states appreciate is not only that accidents are possible in war, but that Russian president Vladimir Putin might intentionally assault Ukraine’s nuclear plants turning them into “prepositioned nuclear weapons” whose dispersal of radioactivity could force evacuations and frighten Ukraine’s NATO supporters to relent. They also understand that the war’s not over: there are nine other Ukrainian power plants that Putin could attack in western and southern Ukraine.
And what is Washington’s response? It has two big ideas, both nearly seventy years out of date. The first is to get IAEA inspectors to visit. I have supported this if it helps establish that the Zaporizhzhia plant is still Ukraine’s, not Russia’s. But no one should be under any illusions. The IAEA was founded seventy years ago to promote nuclear power and to conduct occasional nuclear audits, not to physically protect plants against military attacks or to demilitarize zones around them. The IAEA can’t provide the Zaporizhzhia plant with any defenses, nor will it risk keeping IAEA staff on-site to serve as defensive tripwires.
The second idea also hails from the Atoms for Peace Program of the early 1950s—build nuclear power plants everywhere, including in Poland, Romania, and, unbelievably, Ukraine. President Joe Biden announced a U.S.-subsidized six-reactor project for Poland three weeks after Russian military forces fired upon and occupied Zaporizhzhia. The State Department then followed in May with details on the construction of an American small modular reactor and of a related U.S. taxpayer-funded nuclear simulator in Romania. Finally, in July, U.S.-headquartered Westinghouse announced a joint agreement with Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear utility to build at least two reactors in Ukraine.
The unspoken assumption here is that Putin will never strike another reactor in Ukraine, Romania, or Poland. Maybe. But after condemning the West for backing Ukraine’s views regarding Zaporizhzhia, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev recently warned that there were reactors throughout Europe and that similar “incidents are possible there as well.” And it’s not just Europe. South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan also have reactors at risk. Since Russia’s occupation of Zaporizhzhia, each has increased planning and drills against Chinese and North Korean military threats to their nuclear plants.
Washington should pay attention. It should take several steps but two of the most important are dialing in “peaceful” reactors as prepositioned nuclear weapons into its strategic deterrence strategy and rethinking its enthusiasm for exporting reactors even into war zones. The first task requires clarifying when, and, if it ever, it would make sense for U.S. forces to fire on reactors overseas. It also entails determining how our forces might best deter and protect against attacks on friends’ reactors meant to harm or coerce them.
The second task demands examining what can be done physically to protect existing reactors overseas where U.S. troops are or might be deployed. It also requires assessing how prudent constructing new nuclear plants might be in or near likely war zones and where those zones might lie.
We cannot ask the IAEA to do this. It will not. But if we are serious about preventing the worst, including a nuclear-powered Sarajevo, we must.
Henry Sokolski, Executive Director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, served as Deputy for Nonproliferation in the Cheney Pentagon and is author of Underestimated: Our Not So Peaceful Nuclear Future (2019).
Image: Reuters.
The National Interest · by Henry Sokolski · August 31, 2022
11. S. Korea: China, Russia hold key to North's denuclearization
I think it is a slightly misleading title. I do not think China and Russia will help solve the security problem for the ROK and the US.
I am glad to see my friend Vice Minister Shin call out Russia and China for not enforcing UN sanctions against north Korea.
S. Korea: China, Russia hold key to North's denuclearization
AP · by HYUNG-JIN KIM · September 1, 2022
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — China and Russia’s reluctance to toughen U.N. sanctions on North Korea is “the biggest challenge” facing efforts to eliminate the North’s nuclear arsenal, a top South Korean official said Thursday, as the North remains ready to conduct its first nuclear test in five years.
China and Russia, which both have close ties with North Korea and are locked in confrontations with the United States, already vetoed a U.S.-led attempt to slap fresh sanctions on North Korea over its missile tests this year. That raises worries North Korea would escape punishment even if it performs a bigger provocation like a nuclear test explosion, which is banned by U.N. resolutions.
“Even if North Korea conducts an additional nuclear test, there is a possibility no additional sanctions will be adopted at the U.N. Security Council because of the U.S.-China strategic rivalry and U.S.-Russia tension over the Ukraine war,” South Korea’s vice defense minister, Shin Beomchul, told The Associated Press during an interview. “I think that is the biggest challenge to (efforts to resolve) the North Korean nuclear problem and an international anti-proliferation regime.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Shin sat for the interview ahead of the South Korea-hosted annual security forum that is to focus on cooperation on how to achieve North Korea’s denuclearization and other regional issues. The Sept. 6-8 event, the first in-person gathering since 2019, is to draw senior defense officials and experts from more than 50 countries. North Korea has never participated in the Seoul Defense Dialogue since it began in 2012.
The forum comes four months after South Korea’s new conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol took office with a vow to take firmer steps on North Korean provocation in conjunction with boosting the military alliance with the United States.
Yoon’s North Korea policy has had little initial progress as Pyongyang recently bluntly rejected his offers to provide economic benefits in return for disarmament steps and threatened to use its nuclear weapons in potential conflicts with South Korea and the United States. Some worry that Yoon’s push to reinforce the U.S. alliance could trigger economic retaliations from China, South Korea’s biggest trading partner.
ADVERTISEMENT
Shin said the Seoul forum is designed to expand South Korea’s diplomatic capacity in the face of a mix of complex regional security issues.
“While geopolitical crisis factors like the Ukraine war and the U.S.-China strategic rivalry have grown, North Korea is also accelerating its development of nuclear weapons,” he said. “Amid these security challenges, it would be meaningful that we’ll hold the Seoul Defense Dialogue to have comprehensive talks on developments in international politics, the North Korean nuclear threats and changes in international warfare and look for ways to respond to them.”
Shin said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would return to talks if he determines China and Russia would support efforts to impose new sanctions on North Korea when it carries out banned nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests.
ADVERTISEMENT
“If we can have (Kim) believe that China and Russia would stop backing North Korea and reverse their positions and switch to additional sanctions when North Korea conducts an additional nuclear test and continues to launch an ICBM, I think North Korea can return to talks at anytime,” Shin said.
Subsequently, he said South Korea must increase its diplomatic efforts to persuade China and Russia to speak with one voice with other countries on the North’s nuclear program. Shin said China “holds the biggest key” to North Korean denuclearization, given the North’s economic dependence to it. Experts say China is North Korea’s biggest aid benefactor and more than 90% of the North’s trade goes through China.
For the past few months, South Korean and U.S. officials have said North Korea is ready to conduct its seventh nuclear test as part of its torrid run of weapons tests this year. Some observers say North Korea aims to enlarge its arsenal, win outside recognition as a legitimate nuclear power and call for the lifting of international sanctions on it.
ADVERTISEMENT
It’s unclear why North Korea hasn’t yet conducted the test. Some analysts expect it after China’s ruling Communist Party holds a congress next month, while others believe there’s a technological reason it’s delayed.
Shin said North Korea would want to perform the test without receiving international sanctions so as to obtain nuclear power status. He warned that a lack of a condemnation at the U.N. Security Council would prompt the North to believe it has moved a step closer toward becoming an acknowledged nuclear state.
In April, Kim Jong Un said North Korea could preemptively use his nuclear weapons if provoked. In June, he and other top North Korean officials approved additional operational duties at front-line army units, triggering concerns it has plans to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons targeting South Korea as the North had test-launched short-range, nuclear-capable missiles designed to attack South Korea.
ADVERTISEMENT
Shin said South Korea is pushing to bolster its own missile defense, pre-emptive attack and massive retaliation capabilities in response to the North Korean nuclear threats. He said South Korea and the United States are to revive talks in mid-September on “extended deterrence,” a term referring to U.S. commitment to defend its allies with a full range of military capability including nuclear.
Shin refused to provide detailed assessment on North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. But he called North Korea’s short-range ballistic missile capability “far more threatening” than its developmental hypersonic and cruise missiles. Shin said South Korea hasn’t assessed that North Korea has acquired a reentry technology for its ICBMs, which is needed to return a nuclear warhead to the atmosphere from space so it can hit intended targets in mainland U.S.
“Nuclear states and countries considered as nuclear states in the world have repeatedly stressed they won’t use their nuclear weapons. But North Korea is hinting at the use of its nuclear weapons,” Shin said. “That reveals well North Korea’s intentions of developing nuclear weapons for a strategic purpose of pressing South Korea and the international community.”
AP · by HYUNG-JIN KIM · September 1, 2022
12. North Korea's COVID restrictions intensify human rights violations - U.N.
Yes, the paradox of COVID in north KOrea. The fear of COVID provided an opportunity for the regime to further repress potential resistance and oppress the people.
North Korea's COVID restrictions intensify human rights violations - U.N.
Reuters · by Hyonhee Shin
SEOUL, Aug 31 (Reuters) - North Korea's coronavirus curbs have aggravated the country's human rights violations, a United Nations report said on Thursday, citing extra restrictions on access to information, tighter border security and heightened digital surveillance.
The report, released by the U.N. human rights office in Seoul and to be presented to the General Assembly in October, comes as rights groups say various authoritarian governments the world over have exploited the COVID crisis to tighten their grips and persecute opponents.
Based on interviews with defectors, information from other U.N. agencies and open source materials, the report says North Korea's border closure in early 2020 added to curbs on access to outside information. Authorities reinforced the military's presence, fences and closed-circuit television cameras and motion detectors along the border, the report said.
The country also employed new technologies, such as digital watermarking and the modification of hardware, to conduct surveillance and suppress access to foreign media content, while jamming radio frequencies from outside North Korea.
Those measures made it "more difficult for information to enter the country, such as through the distribution of USB memory sticks and micro SD cards," the report said.
Reuters could not independently verify the report's contents.
Pyongyang has repeatedly rejected accusations of rights abuses and criticised U.N. investigations on its situation as a U.S.-backed scheme to interfere with its internal affairs.
The isolated country declared victory over COVID and eased some restrictions, including a face mask mandate except in border regions, this month after reporting its first-ever outbreak in May. read more
North Korea has never confirmed how many people caught the virus in total, but instead reported daily tallies of fever cases until late last month.
The report also said the outbreak could have worsened North Koreans' access to adequate food and healthcare, citing a lack of medical infrastructure.
Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Reuters · by Hyonhee Shin
13. Normalizing US-North Korea Ties Before Denuclearization Seen as Unrealistic
True. But there will be no need for normalization after there is a free and unified Korea (UROK). We need to begin focusing on the right objective.
Normalizing US-North Korea Ties Before Denuclearization Seen as Unrealistic
August 30, 2022 9:54 PM
voanews.com
Seoul is circulating the idea of normalizing Washington-Pyongyang ties even before North Korea takes a potential step toward denuclearization, but experts said the notion is likely to be rejected by the U.S. as well as North Korea.
As denuclearization is increasingly seen as an unlikely outcome amid stalled diplomacy and North Korea's preparation for what would be its seventh nuclear test, Seoul is considering a push toward normalization seen as an effort to engage Pyongyang.
Washington and Pyongyang do not have diplomatic relations, and the goal of forging normal ties has been sought between the two and Seoul as an outcome of denuclearization since negotiations began in the early 1990s.
Recently, however, the idea of normalization is being suggested by the Yoon government as an upfront effort prior to denuclearization.
Speaking before the press on August 17 to mark his first 100 days in office, President Yoon Suk Yeol said Seoul would provide support for normalizing relations between Washington and Pyongyang. This support would be part of the "audacious initiative" he mentioned in his speech made on August 15 promising economic assistance if North Korea stops developing nuclear weapons.
SEE ALSO:
North Korea Tells South Korean President to 'Shut His Mouth' After Offer of Aid
At a plenary session of National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on August 18, Unification Minister Kwon Young-se said normalization could be possible in the beginning of a negotiation process as long as Pyongyang shows intention toward denuclearization.
The ruling People Power Party's representative Thae Yong-ho, a former North Korean deputy ambassador to the U.K. who defected to the South in 2016, said in an August 24 interview with a South Korean newspaper that negotiations would go smoothly if Washington normalized its relations with North Korea and established an embassy in Pyongyang.
Joseph DeTrani, the special envoy for the six-party denuclearization talks with North Korea, was a panelist on Friday on Washington Talk, a TV panel program presented by VOA's Korean Service. He said that for Washington, normalizing ties with North Korea has been the end goal of denuclearization.
"The normalization of relations with North Korea — from 30 years of negotiations with North Korea, despite the fact they were failed negotiations — was the end" of negotiations, said DeTrani.
"Once we got complete verifiable denuclearization, that would lend itself to the normalization of relations. That was the end of the process," continued DeTrani.
As laid out in the Agreed Framework in 1994, the two countries decided they would move toward normalization of political and economic relations after North Korea freezes and dismantles its nuclear weapons program in exchange for security and energy guarantees from the U.S.
More recently, during the Singapore summit in June 2018, Pyongyang and Washington agreed to improve their ties as North Korea took steps toward denuclearization. The subsequent Hanoi summit in February 2019 failed due to differences over the timing of sanctions relief and denuclearization.
North Korea resumed testing its weapons in May 2019, shortly after the talks failed. Talks between Washington and Pyongyang have been deadlocked since October 2019 after working level talks dissolved without progress. This year, it has conducted 19 weapons tests including an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the U.S.
Patrick Cronin, the Asia-Pacific Security Chair at the Hudson Institute, said, "Taking steps toward nuclear stability and denuclearization would be essential before approaching the subject of regular diplomatic recognition."
"America will not give North Korea the symbols of legitimacy unless Pyongyang demonstrates an interest in upholding a peaceful, rules-based order," he continued.
Harry Kazianis, president of the bipartisan national security think tank Rogue States Project, said, "There is no chance that the Biden administration would ever go along with the idea of normalizing relations with North Korea before it made some sort of big step toward denuclearization."
In response to VOA's Korean Service request for comments on Seoul's proposal, Vedant Patel, deputy spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, said Washington is focused on dealing with North Korea's threats.
"The United States remain focused on coordinating closely with our allies and partners to address the threats posed by [North Korea], which include advancing our shared objective of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and continuing our ironclad commitment to the defense of [South Korea] and Japan."
VOA’s Korean Service contacted South Korea's presidential office and North Korea's U.N. mission in New York City for comments but neither responded.
Frank Aum, senior expert on Northeast Asia at the U.S. Institute of Peace, said the idea of normalizing first "in order to achieve progress on denuclearization" has "some merit" as talks remain stalled.
However, Aum continued, "The political likelihood that Washington could actually normalize relations with Pyongyang before denuclearization is fairly low."
He added U.S. lawmakers would also want to see progress on human rights before normalization.
North Korea has long sought normalization with the U.S. as a way to boost its international standing, but experts said the regime might not be as interested in establishing good relations with Washington as in the past.
Ken Gause, director of the Adversary Analytics Program at CNA, said, "It's a good idea to start talking about normalization of relations as being the first step in the relationship" as opposed to "denuclearization, which happens further down the line."
But he believes North Korea is unlikely to engage with the U.S. to normalize ties unless "upfront concessions" are made providing sanctions relief.
Aum said, "Diplomatic normalization without economic normalization is ultimately not useful for Pyongyang."
He continued, "North Korea is interested in economic progress," but "it wants progress on its own terms and not according to South Korea's agenda. North Korea would rather prefer sanctions relief, which would allow it to engage in its normal export and import activities without constraint."
voanews.com
14. South Korean Cybersecurity Experts Play Cat-and-Mouse With the North’s Hackers
Fighting the "all purpose sword."
South Korean Cybersecurity Experts Play Cat-and-Mouse With the North’s Hackers
Kim Jong Un’s regime has about 6,000 hackers spreading malware from both inside and outside North Korea.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-31/north-korea-hackers-sometimes-leave-k-pop-clues-in-code?sref=hhjZtX76
ByJamie Tarabay
August 31, 2022 at 4:00 PM EDT
Kay Kyoung-ju Kwak, a South Korean cybersecurity researcher, can usually tell when malware emanates from his neighbors to the north: They drop clues in the malicious code that show they understand their adversary. “Sometimes they put a K-pop star name in there,” he says, laughing. “They don’t like BTS.” (Instead, he says, they prefer the all-female ensemble Girls’ Generation.) Kwak says he’s also stumbled across digital evidence of North Koreans illegally downloading South Korean soap operas, presumably to entertain themselves when their shifts end.
Kay Kyoung-ju KwakPhotographer: Woohae Cho/Bloomberg
Kwak is a threat researcher at the Seoul-based cybersecurity firm S2W Inc., where he oversees a team of about 20 cybersecurity specialists called the Talon Group. The majority of them have expertise in North Korea, and they work with international law enforcement to thwart North Korean hacking attempts. The company also has private-sector clients in e-commerce, automotive, semiconductors, and biotech.
The work can be tedious, frustrating, and, on occasion, hugely rewarding: Kwak was among the first to identify a new North Korean hacking group several years ago, christening it Andariel, after a demon also known as the Maiden of Anguish in the role-playing video game Diablo II.
The regime of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un has developed hacking as an effective tool for stealing military intelligence, raising money for the cash-strapped country, and punishing adversaries. Its hackers announced themselves with the 2014 attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, in which state-sponsored hackers stole and leaked sensitive content in apparent retaliation for The Interview, a comedy centered on a plot to assassinate Kim. Since then, North Korea’s hackers have been accused of stealing $81 million from Bangladesh Bank in 2016, launching global WannaCry ransomware attacks in 2017, and targeting pharmaceutical companies and cryptocurrency firms.
“When it comes to national security, South Korea is still the target, yet in regards to cybercrime and stealing funds, they’re doing that all over the world,” says Bruce Bechtol Jr., a professor of political science at Angelo State University who’s written several books on North Korea.
While most of Kwak’s colleagues stroll in after lunch, North Korea’s hackers clock in at 9 a.m. Seoul time, then work on a more rigid schedule, taking a break for lunch, a two-hour dinner, and finally wrapping up at 11 p.m., Kwak says. The US Army estimates there are about 6,000 North Korean hackers in operation.
Some of them work domestically, but North Korea has also developed an infrastructure dedicated to North Korean hackers, according to the United Nations and the US Army. They operate from “nests” in places like Malaysia, China, and Russia, where cyber experts say the governments tolerate their presence. North Korean hackers abroad are assigned a quota in dollars they have to procure through their illicit work before they can consider going home, says Kwak. “They have a mission to get $100,000 to go back to North Korea,” he says. “So they will take anything that can be monetized.”
Read More: North Korean defector reveals hacker army’s money-making methods
North Korean hackers had a banner year in 2021, stealing $400 million in cryptocurrency, according to a January 2022 report from the blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. That haul was eclipsed by the $600 million they allegedly lifted from a cryptocurrency gaming startup in a single attack in March.
The North Koreans have managed to do this in a country with a shrinking economy that’s under punishing international sanctions, where modern technology, including phones and computers, is especially rare. “These are the most innovative people. They are so used to working in a sanctioned environment,” says Michael Barnhat, an analyst at the cybersecurity firm Mandiant Inc., of the country’s digital spies. “They only know what it’s like to run with ankle weights on, so when they have access to something that would seem to be a basic tool to us, to them it’s incredibly useful.”
The analysts sit in cubicles outfitted with two screens: one for scanning the web, the other for code analysis, and sometimes a laptop, too.Photographer: Woohae Cho/Bloomberg
A hockey-playing father of two, Kwak first got interested in cybersecurity while he was a freshman at Sungkyunkwan University studying computer science. He joined the campus information security club, which doubled as the university’s IT department. The students discovered hackers trying to take over the university servers and distribute malware.
He joined S2W, which stands for Safe and Secure World, two years ago. Kwak now works out of the company’s headquarters in Pangyo Techno Valley, South Korea’s version of Silicon Valley, in an office outfitted with standard-issue startup gear: beanbag chairs, a Jenga set, a Nintendo Switch system, and an oversize video monitor. The analysts sit in cubicles outfitted with two screens: one for scanning the web, another for code analysis. (There’s often an extra keyboard or laptop for messaging team members.) After figuring out ways to decrypt malicious code, they study and compare it to known North Korean code.
In 2016, Kwak discovered the group he named Andariel trying to hack a South Korean financial company. Kwak noticed that the codes and tactics differed slightly from malware typically associated with Lazarus, the Pyongyang-backed hacking organization tied to breaches at Sony Pictures and the Bangladesh Bank heist. He took apart the malware samples from previous hacks attributed to the group. Ultimately, he said, it became clear that Andariel is different, though related to the larger Lazarus Group. He submitted his findings to the South Korean government.
US officials later said Andariel was a subgroup of Lazarus. Then, in 2019, the US issued sanctions against Andariel, saying it hacked into online poker and other gambling sites to steal cash and infiltrated the personal computer of South Korea’s then-defense minister.
S2W’s offices in Pangyo Techno Valley, south of Seoul.Photographer: Woohae Cho/Bloomberg
As amusing as Kwak finds the pop culture references embedded in North Korean malware, he says he’s resisted the urge to respond in kind. But one day he hopes to communicate more directly with the people he’s spent his career stalking from behind a keyboard. “The government says we’re enemies,” he says. “But one day, if we unify, I want to meet them. I want to say, ‘Hey, I named one of your groups, did you see that?’”
15. North Korean parents fear their children will serve in army’s construction detail
The 'perfect" system of repression prevents any resistance and collective action against the regime.
North Korean parents fear their children will serve in army’s construction detail
Soldiers who serve their country as builders face years of hard labor on smaller food rations, sources say.
By Chang Gyu Ahn for RFA Korean
2022.08.31
rfa.org
As another armed forces recruitment period in North Korea approaches, parents hope their military-age children do not get assigned to construction units where they would face years of hard labor but fewer benefits compared to other soldiers.
While the concern is an annual worry for North Korean parents, their fears may be especially acute this year as the country already suffers from a shortage of food and other supplies. Construction unit soldiers could be especially vulnerable as North Korea struggles under international sanctions and trade restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Every able-bodied citizen must serve in the North Korean military. Until recently soldiers spent 10 years in the service, but since 2020, men serve eight years and women five as part of a fighting force estimated by the CIA World Factbook to be 1.15 million strong. Eligible youths sign up for the military in recruitment drives held in April and September.
Much of a soldier’s tour of duty has little to do with preparing to fight — instead the government uses the available manpower as free labor for things like farm work, road maintenance and construction.
“The fall recruitment for the military has begun nationwide,” a resident of Unhung county in the northern province of Ryanggang told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “Many parents are concerned that their children will go to the construction unit.”
Soldiers sent to general construction units are sent to state projects like a massive home-building effort in Pyongyang, or to build power plants, greenhouses and roads. They may be assigned to repair damage from natural disasters like floods.
North Korean soldiers walk to a construction site on the bank of the Yalu River near the North Korean town of Sinuiju, October 16, 2006. Credit: Reuters
Construction units are still, at least on paper, units in the Korean People’s Army. But soldiers hope to avoid the assignments because it typically means doing hard labor for their entire service. They are also a lower priority when it comes to doling out food and supplies, according to the source.
“Powerful and wealthy people use bribes and connections to send their children to comfortable, well-regarded units. Parents who don’t have anything can do nothing about it,” the source said. “I can't help but be worried to hear from the soldiers I meet from time to time that their supplies have become even more pathetic than before.”
Supplies are tight because North Korea at the beginning of the pandemic closed the border with China and suspended all trade. The trade ban has been on and off again in 2022, and supplies have continued to dwindle.
“The authorities are taking away precious youth of the young men and women who serve in the military, but they are not interested in improving their lifestyle and treatment,” the source said. “Parents who send their children to the military would not worry as they do now if their living conditions would improve, and they get adequate food, clothing and daily necessities.”
Sometimes even after completing their service, the country extracts more duty out of soldiers, ordering them to continue toil in coal mines and farms, according to the source.
“I really don't like the way soldiers who have finished their military service are not sent back to their hometowns,” the source said. “All parents long for their children to return to their hometowns after eight years of hard work in the military away from home.”
The gates in front of the Military Mobilization Office in each district of the city of Chongjin in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong were crowded for the fall recruitment period, a resident there told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
“The spring recruitment period is in April and the fall recruitment is in September every year. These days, messages are sent out on loudspeakers and propaganda cars that come and go on the streets. They encourage young people to join the military by saying, ‘Securing the homeland is the greatest patriotism and military service is the sacred duty of young people,’” the second source said.
“Each district hospital has been conducting physical examinations for those on the military enlistment list. Young people who have passed the physical examinations will gather at the provincial Military Mobilization Office in an organized order after completing an interview at the Military Mobilization Office in their district,” the second source said.
Once at the provincial Military Mobilization Office, the prospective soldiers will undergo more physical organizations, tests and interviews over the next 10 days. They will then be assigned to a unit and go to basic training, according to the second source.
“The second recruitment in the fall includes those who were not on the first recruitment list due to college admissions recommendations, those who failed the college entrance exams, failed to pass the physical exam from the previous recruitment period, and those who entered society for work due to family circumstances,” the second source said.
“As mandatory military service has been reduced from 10 years to eight years, it seems like more women are subject to be recruited in order to make up for the shortage of troops,” the second source said.
Even with two recruitment periods each year, there are those who would attempt to get out of military service by falsifying health records or family tragedies.
“Controls for draft evaders is being strengthened. Military mobilization officers are conducting field investigations by visiting workplaces and the neighborhood watch units of young people who have been exempted due to their health and family circumstances.”
Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
rfa.org
16.US and South Korean forces hold first live-fire exercises since new unit formed
The Combined 2d Infantry Division does not receive very much recognition. This is an important capability. It is the only combined ground force in Korea.
US and South Korean forces hold first live-fire exercises since new unit formed
CNN · by Brad Lendon, Paula Hancocks and Gawon Bae, CNN
Pocheon, South Korea (CNN)US and South Korean combined forces on Wednesday held their first live-fire exercises since the formation of their unit in 2015, a drill that commanders said showcased the strongest military alliance in the world.
The drill, based on a counterattack against invading forces, comes after the US and South Korean Presidents pledged to step up military cooperation following a May summit meeting in Seoul, and after North Korea conducted 18 missiles tests this year, compared to only four tests in 2020, and eight in 2021.
CNN was one of two Western media organizations invited to watch the training.
"There is no stronger alliance in the world than the US-ROK (Republic of Korea) alliance," Col. Brandon Anderson of the US Army's 2nd Infantry Division and a deputy commander of the RUCD, the Republic of Korea United States Combined Division, told CNN.
"The bigger the threat, the greater the alliance, or the greater the threat, the greater the alliance," Anderson said, before US and South Korean tanks and artillery blasted targets simulating enemy troops, armor and positions at the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex, tucked into the mountains north of Seoul.
Read More
The commanders didn't specifically name that enemy and said their exercise was defensive in nature, but its location -- the shooting range is just 30 kilometers (18 miles) south of the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea -- left no doubt over whom its message was aimed at.
ROK-US conducts combined live fire military drill on Wednesday.
The South Korean commander of the combined division, Brig. Gen. Kim Nam-hoon, said the US-ROK alliance plays to the strengths of both parties.
"The reason the CFC [Combined Forces Command] can perform the best on the Korean Peninsula is because of the harmony between the US capability and the Koreans' knowledge on operation and geography," Kim said.
The two allies brought this one-of-a-kind division together seven years ago to capitalize on that.
Forces 'have to be ready'
In a command center perched on a hill above the firing range, US and South Korean troops shared targeting information for the K-1 South Korean and M1 Abrams US tanks, as well as calling in artillery strikes from South Korean K-9 and US Palladin batteries out of sight behind a hillside.
The command center shook with concussions five seconds after smoke appeared on the mountainside it faced, about a mile away.
The tanks fired concrete-filled dummy rounds popping up 600 meters [1,969 feet] to 700 meters [2,297 feet] in front of them. The rounds skipped hundreds more meters up the hillside after hitting their marks. That's because, if they exploded like they would in an actual battle, the targets would be obliterated with the first shot, a US officer said.
The drill was based on a counterattack against invading forces.
The US and South Korean troops in the command center adjusted their fire as targets were taken out and new ones appeared on the range in the distance.
Computer screens flashed as targets were hit. Other views showed tank crews loading shells into the tank's gun, and its gun recoiling as it fired.
"Nothing says assurance like military training," said Anderson. "Both US and ROK forces have to be ready."
And to be sure, US and South Korean forces are upping their readiness.
A 'special' alliance
A live-fire exercise like Wednesday's hasn't been showcased since 2018, when then-US President Donald Trump put these kind of drills on hold, saying such war games didn't have a place while he was engaged in diplomatic talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
But Trump, and his South Korean counterpart at the time Moon Jae-in, didn't succeed in ending North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs. Their successors, Joe Biden and Yoon Suk Yeol, have taken a much harder line on the North.
With its missiles tests and harsh rhetoric, North Korea is showing it's not interested in talks, so combined exercises like Wednesday's are imperative.
US and South Korea signal willingness to expand military drills in response to nuclear north
And they are a change from what the US military, at least, has faced in actual combat for a long time, given that in Iraq and Afghanistan, the enemy's weapons and tactics were quite different from what a fight with North Korea could entail.
"We didn't stop looking at the Middle East, but we came out of how we fight [and] maybe [we] refocused on near-peer adversary," Anderson said. A near-peer adversary is one with similar weapons, force numbers and tactics.
"If we're going to look at a near-peer adversary, we have to do more challenging adverse conditions. We have to do it with somebody that's capable of inflicting damage on us," he said.
The US and South Korean officers said they believe working together can limit that damage.
"Interoperability is essential for actual combined operations," said Kim, the South Korean general.
And the combined unit is bolstered by 72 years of history working together, Anderson said, harkening back to the 1950-1953 Korean War.
"We've been here since 1950s ... It's not uncommon to see second- or third-generation US service members on the Korean Peninsula. And I tell you that because I don't know any other alliance that special," he said.
CNN · by Brad Lendon, Paula Hancocks and Gawon Bae, CNN
17. Residents complain of noise, danger as U.S. troops practice in S.Korea
A now long standing problem because the ROK government failed to prevent encroachment and enforce the laws that prohibit encorachment.
Residents complain of noise, danger as U.S. troops practice in S.Korea
nationalpost.com
POCHEON — South Korea and the United States have vowed to step up joint military training to deter North Korea, but for residents outside the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex and other training grounds, that means more noise and possibly more security fears.
The complex north of Seoul, less than 30 km (19 miles) from the heavily fortified border with North Korea, is one of the largest training ranges for the allies.
Windows rattled on Wednesday as the allies staged one of their largest live-fire trainings in years, with howitzers and tanks blasting the hillsides in a simulated counter-attack against a hypothetical Northern onslaught.
Loud and sometimes dangerous military training has long been a fact of life in one of the world’s geopolitical hotspots, but in an increasingly wealthy and crowded South Korea, some residents’ patience has worn thin.
Lee Ung-su has lived in Pocheon since his birth just a year after the 1950-1953 Korean War.
“At that time, we were poor, so even if a tank came next to me and fired, we just picked up the shell and sold it to make a living,” he said. “Now that we have a high standard of living I’ve come to protest against noise and various environmental problems.”
His garden is decorated with spent artillery shells and machine gun casings that fell outside the training range decades ago. Such stray shells are much less common now, but safety remains a top concern, Lee said, citing past instances of errant fire from helicopter gunships that destroyed some houses.
“All the tiles on the roof of my house were damaged,” he said. “So now I’ve made a new iron roof.”
U.S. Army Col. Brandon Anderson, who helped oversee Wednesday’s drills, said the military is looking into the concerns, noting that they pause for a period to allow quiet testing hours at schools.
“We are finding different methods and timing, working with the local community,” he said.
But Anderson said even local residents want the militaries to be ready to confront North Korean threats.
“Nothing says assurance like military training,” he said. “And military training by its nature is loud, unfortunately.”
Lee and other residents interviewed by Reuters expressed understanding, but still held out hope the drills can be less disruptive.
“The sound is so loud that many people are afraid because they think it’s actually a war,” said Han Ung-su. “We hope to reduce the noise or come up with measures to prevent damage to the residents.”
Residents near other training areas have also protested, including in Pohang on the east coast who filed a petition demanding relocation or closure of a firing range there.
Of particular concern are Apache attack helicopters, which had been banned from firing at the Pocheon range since 2019 over the complaints. They were briefly allowed this year, but a U.S. spokesman told Reuters that was a one-off event and the helicopters still cannot regularly use the range.
“If the helicopters come back, then we’re going to go up to the shooting range and protest,” Lee said. “We’ll climb the mountain in the shooting range, carry the flag, and become a human shield.” (Reporting by Josh Smith; Additional reporting by Hyeyeon Kim and Soo-hyang Choi; Editing by Kim Coghill)
nationalpost.com
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Senior Advisor, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
VIDEO "WHEREBY" Link: https://whereby.com/david-maxwell
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
| 
