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Quotes of the Day:
“Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.”
- Robert L. Stevenson
“Every civilization carries the seeds of its own destruction, and the same cycle shows in them all. The Republic is born, flourishes, decays into plutocracy, and is captured by the shoemaker whom the mercenaries and millionaires make into a king. The people invent their oppressors, and the oppressors serve the function for which they are invented.”
-Mark Twain
"Knowledge is the only instrument of production that is not subject to diminishing returns."
- John Clarke
1. Vice President Kamala Harris commends US alliance with 'Republic of North Korea' in DMZ speech gaffe
2. South Korea Can Play a Vital Role in the Indo-Pacific
3. Yoon, Harris share concern over N. Korea, discuss IRA
4. Unification minister to visit Germany next week
5. North, South Korean rumbles greet Harris in Seoul
6. Anti-Korean Sentiment Simmers in Japan
7. N. Korea fires 2 short-range ballistic missiles into East Sea: S. Korean military
8. Yoon touts FM as opposition set to pass no-confidence motion
9. DP passes motion for dismissal of foreign minister
10. Korea, Japan, U.S. hold first maritime exercise since 2017
11. North is mum on Wednesday's missile launches
12. Visit confirms the solid alliance
13. Solidarity in Support of Freedom: South Korean President Yoon’s UN Speech
14. Presidential chief of staff accuses media of destabilizing Korea-US alliance
1. Vice President Kamala Harris commends US alliance with 'Republic of North Korea' in DMZ speech gaffe
See the photo at the link. It should be captioned this way: "JSA Battalion Commander instructs the US Vice president on the art of the knife hand at the DMZ."
But hopefully this "gaffe" will take the pressure off President Yoon's hot mike incident since they are both relatively minor.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/vice-president-kamala-harris-visits-dmz-north-korea-missile-launches?fbclid=IwAR0eKPYxWfu25YxcxB1MEPKN3xgUQYvxOeICQa98BBI9rnRydNibcnOum6o
Vice President Kamala Harris commends US alliance with 'Republic of North Korea' in DMZ speech gaffe
foxnews.com · by Andrea Vacchiano | Fox News
Video
Vice President Kamala Harris made an unfortunate gaffe during her speech at the Korean Peninsula's Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on Thursday, saying that the United States has a "strong alliance" with "the Republic of North Korea."
"It is an alliance that is strong and enduring," she added, intending to refer to the Republic of Korea, which is South Korea's official name.
The vice president then continued her remarks by professing the U.S.'s support for South Korea's defense against the increasingly-aggressive North Korean government.
"I cannot state enough that the commitment of the United States to the defense of the Republic of Korea is iron-clad, and that we will do everything in our power to ensure that it has meaning in every way that the words suggest," Harris said.
VP KAMALA HARRIS VISITS JAPAN TO DISCUSS TAIWANESE SECURITY SITUATION: OFFICIAL
Harris and South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol condemned North Koreas ballistic missile launches and discussed response to potential future provocations, according to a White House readout of the meeting between the two leaders. (SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The heavily-fortified DMZ, a buffer zone that separates North and South Korea, was Harris's final stop on her diplomatic trip to Asia. The gesture of visiting the DMZ is designed to illustrate America's "rock-solid commitment" to regional security, according to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Harris began her visit by stopping at the Camp Bonifas Dining Facility and thanking American service members. She used binoculars to observe the DMZ, which is roughly 160 miles long and 2.5 miles wide. The vice president then headed to Observation Post Ouellette to give her speech about her commitment to South Korea's security.
Shortly before the DMZ visit, Harris met with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and praised the U.S.-South Korean alliance as a "linchpin of security and prosperity." She and Yoon also discussed South Korea's economic and technology partnerships with the United States earlier on Thursday, in addition to a gender equity roundtable.
Vice President Kamala Harris, right, looks towards the north side of the border at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Paju, South Korea, on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. (SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The visit comes a day after North Korea fired a third ballistic missile into the sea in an act of provocation by Kim Jong-Un. The country has previously fired two short-range ballistic missiles during Harris's stay in Japan.
North Korea also made a similar gesture in June by firing a trio of missiles before President Biden's visit to Seoul that month.
Harris has condemned North Korea’s "illicit weapons program" during a Wednesday speech at United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka, a U.S. Naval base.
Vice President Kamala Harris shakes hands with South Korea's President Yoon Suk-Yeol before their bilateral meeting in Seoul on September 29, 2022. (LEAH MILLIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Jean-Pierre said North Korea's missile test was "not unusual" on Wednesday, while affirming that it would not dissuade Harris from visiting the DMZ.
"As you know, North Korea has a history of doing these types of tests," she said.
CONSERVATIVES SLAM VP HARRIS VISIT TO KOREAN BORDER AS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION SURGES IN US: 'AMERICA LAST'
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into waters off its east coast, ramping up tensions a day before Vice President Kamala Harris's visit to the demilitarized zone that divides the two Koreas. (SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
South Korean activists were seen protesting against Harris' visit near the Presidential Office in Seoul on Thursday. The protestors wore masks showing the faces of Harris and President Yoon as they demonstrated against the U.S.-South Korean alliance.
Harris's visit has also drawn criticism from Republicans who claim she has neglected the migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
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Activists wear masks showing the faces of Vice President Kamala Harris and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol during a protest against Harris' visit and the South Korea-US alliance, near the Presidential Office in Seoul on September 29, 2022. (ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images)
After the DMZ visit, Harris departed from Osan Air Base to fly back to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
foxnews.com · by Andrea Vacchiano | Fox News
2. South Korea Can Play a Vital Role in the Indo-Pacific
Excerpts:
The Quad should become a “Quint” by making South Korea a full member. Seoul’s perspective and capabilities would measurably enhance the grouping’s potential to address Beijing’s use of North Korea as a surrogate, its threats in the South China Sea and to Taiwan, and its aggressive behavior in the South Pacific. Moreover, Seoul-Tokyo engagement in a Quint context could more easily encourage bilateral patterns of cooperation than if the two were limited to stewing in contentious bilateral issues.
A Quint would demonstrate broader resolve in the face of China’s attempts to keep the U.S. and its allies off balance through divide-and-conquer tactics. South Korean participation in wider regional structures would help eliminate strategic ambiguity about Taiwan’s defense in the event of a Chinese attack. Biden staffers have apparently rebuffed suggestions to make South Korea part of the Quad. If so, this mistake needs prompt reversal.
The tempo of Indo-Pacific challenges is increasing, with threat levels rising. But as the U.S. confronts critical tactical decisions, such as how to arm Taiwan effectively to deter Chinese belligerence, it must be careful not to ignore larger strategic issues. South Korea and its new president are ready for regional defense cooperation beyond the existing hub-and-spoke bilateral alliance with the U.S. All the concerned countries in the Indo-Pacific would benefit. Let’s not miss this opportunity.
South Korea Can Play a Vital Role in the Indo-Pacific
With China eyeing Taiwan and North Korea testing nuclear weapons, it’s time the Quad became a Quint.
By John Bolton
Sept. 28, 2022 5:56 pm ET
https://www.wsj.com/articles/south-korea-can-play-a-vital-role-in-the-indo-pacific-china-taiwan-xi-jinping-pyongyang-defense-nuclear-war-11664394761?mod=opinion_lead_pos6
Taiwan may be Asia’s most imminent flashpoint, but the threats facing South Korea are no less perilous. North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic-missile programs continue advancing amid constant rumors of another nuclear test, which would be North Korea’s seventh. Particularly significant for South Korea’s emerging strategy in response is the growing realization that threats across the Indo-Pacific aren’t discrete and unrelated but ultimately emanate from one actor: China.
In Seoul, speculation about Pyongyang’s next nuclear detonation centers on the days just before America’s elections. The Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Congress, expected to enshrine Xi Jinping as China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, begins on Oct. 16. Kim Jong Un won’t risk spoiling the Chinese congress during its session, but the ensuing weeks will offer a dramatic opportunity to flaunt his nuclear capabilities. Mr. Kim’s recent announcement of his first-strike nuclear policy, together with blunt warnings he won’t negotiate away the nuclear program, publicly codifies North Korea’s longstanding nuclear doctrine.
Seoul has always understandably concentrated on Pyongyang’s threat. Now, however, it sees Beijing’s belligerence toward Taiwan, interference in South Pacific island states, and critical support for North Korea as interrelated parts of an overall Chinese Indo-Pacific strategy. This assessment points to what should be obvious: Beijing is ultimately responsible for Pyongyang’s nuclear threat. For too long, the U.S. has allowed the Chinese government to pretend (through the Six-Party Talks, for example) that it is genuinely committed to finding a solution on nuclear proliferation. This fantasy is increasingly difficult to sustain, since North Korea never threatens China. Instead it threatens South Korea, Japan and America.
More-comprehensive policies countering China’s Indo-Pacific threats, previously seen as unconnected, are slowly developing. President Biden enhanced the profile of the Quad (Japan, India, Australia and the U.S.) and approved the Aukus partnership to provide Australia nuclear-powered submarines. He also met with South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, a potential step to “trilateralize” Washington’s ties with Seoul and Tokyo. Nonetheless, the administration’s overall China policy remains fragmentary and opaque, if it exists at all.
Significant U.S.-South Korea military exercises (canceled by Donald Trump as an unreturned favor to Kim Jong Un) are resuming, with the USS Ronald Reagan carrier-strike group arriving in Pusan for joint maneuvers. The Reagan’s deployment (the first carrier visit since 2018) sends Pyongyang a strategic signal, but it is unaccompanied by any evidence the White House is prepared to jettison the failed 30-year diplomatic minuet with North Korea. Repeated administration offers to engage the North have elicited no interest.
Mr. Yoon is working to improve relations with Japan, meeting informally with Mr. Kishida last week in New York, and their foreign ministers discussed problems blocking closer linkages. Improving ties with Japan is only a first step toward broader South Korean involvement in East Asia, but it is a critical one. Japanese opinion views a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan as tantamount to an attack on Japan, a view Seoul doesn’t share. Beijing’s menacing stance toward Taiwan, however, is inexorably bringing South Korean leaders a fuller understanding of China’s many interrelated efforts to control its periphery. Greater cooperation between Taiwan and South Korea is critical to thwarting China’s ambitions.
The Quad should become a “Quint” by making South Korea a full member. Seoul’s perspective and capabilities would measurably enhance the grouping’s potential to address Beijing’s use of North Korea as a surrogate, its threats in the South China Sea and to Taiwan, and its aggressive behavior in the South Pacific. Moreover, Seoul-Tokyo engagement in a Quint context could more easily encourage bilateral patterns of cooperation than if the two were limited to stewing in contentious bilateral issues.
A Quint would demonstrate broader resolve in the face of China’s attempts to keep the U.S. and its allies off balance through divide-and-conquer tactics. South Korean participation in wider regional structures would help eliminate strategic ambiguity about Taiwan’s defense in the event of a Chinese attack. Biden staffers have apparently rebuffed suggestions to make South Korea part of the Quad. If so, this mistake needs prompt reversal.
The tempo of Indo-Pacific challenges is increasing, with threat levels rising. But as the U.S. confronts critical tactical decisions, such as how to arm Taiwan effectively to deter Chinese belligerence, it must be careful not to ignore larger strategic issues. South Korea and its new president are ready for regional defense cooperation beyond the existing hub-and-spoke bilateral alliance with the U.S. All the concerned countries in the Indo-Pacific would benefit. Let’s not miss this opportunity.
Mr. Bolton is author of “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir.” He served as the president’s national security adviser, 2018-19, and ambassador to the United Nations, 2005-06.
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Appeared in the September 29, 2022, print edition as 'South Korea Can Play a Vital Role in the Indo-Pacific'.
3. Yoon, Harris share concern over N. Korea, discuss IRA
Our sustained high level diplomatic engagement with our allies continues.
(2nd LD) Yoon, Harris share concern over N. Korea, discuss IRA | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 이해아 · September 29, 2022
(ATTN: UPDATES with presidential office's briefing on Yoon-Harris meeting; CHANGES headline)
By Lee Haye-ah
SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris shared their concern about North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, and discussed ways to address Seoul's concerns about the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the presidential office said.
Yoon and Harris met for 85 minutes at the presidential office and discussed a wide range of issues, including ways to strengthen the bilateral relationship, and key regional and international issues, according to deputy presidential spokesperson Lee Jae-myoung.
"President Yoon and Vice President Harris expressed serious concern about North Korea's recent ballistic missile launches and legalization of its nuclear force policy," he said at a press briefing, noting Harris reaffirmed the ironclad U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea.
"Vice President Harris said not only she, but also President Biden, are well aware of South Korea's concerns (about the IRA) and will look into it carefully in order to find ways to resolve South Korea's concerns in the process of the law's implementation," he added.
The two sides also agreed to plan a visit by Yoon to the U.S. next year to mark the 70th anniversary of the alliance.
On the controversy surrounding Yoon and Biden's meetings in New York last week, Harris said the U.S. is not bothered by it at all, according to Lee.
The spokesperson did not elaborate on which controversy Harris was referring to, but it apparently included the uproar in South Korea over Yoon's remarks caught on hot mic, which were initially reported as including vulgar language in reference to U.S. Congress and Biden.
hague@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 이해아 · September 29, 2022
4. Unification minister to visit Germany next week
I have often said, only half in jest, that there are probably more PhD dissertations in Korean written on German unification than any other topic.
(LEAD) Unification minister to visit Germany next week | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 채윤환 · September 29, 2022
(ATTN: UPDATES with more details in last 2 paras)
SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top point man on North Korea will visit Germany next week to seek support for Seoul's regional peace and denuclearization efforts, his office said Thursday.
Unification Minister Kwon Young-se plans to leave for Germany on Sunday for a four-day trip at the invitation of the German government, according to the ministry. It would be his first overseas trip since taking office in May.
Kwon is scheduled to attend a ceremony in the eastern city of Erfurt on Monday to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of Germany's unification, it said.
The next day, he will pay a courtesy call on President Frank-Walter Steinmeier with a plan to request Berlin's proactive interest and cooperation on efforts for North Korea's denuclearization and the peaceful unification of the peninsula, the ministry added.
During the trip, the minister also plans to meet with Horst Teltschik, who served as foreign policy adviser to former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and give a special lecture at the Free University of Berlin on Seoul's policy on Pyongyang.
Kwon's upcoming visit to Germany comes as the Yoon Suk-yeol administration is seeking to drum up international support for its "audacious initiative" designed to help Pyongyang improve its economy in return for denuclearization steps. It unveiled some details of the project last month, but the North soon rejected the offer through a statement from Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of the North's leader Kim Jong-un.
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 채윤환 · September 29, 2022
5. North, South Korean rumbles greet Harris in Seoul
A welcome distraction from the trade dispute? I am sure north Korea would have been on the agenda whether or not they conducted five ballistic missile tests over three days this week.
North, South Korean rumbles greet Harris in Seoul
Pyongyang’s missile tests gave visiting US vice president something to discuss in Seoul beyond a trade dispute
asiatimes.com · by Andrew Salmon · September 29, 2022
SEOUL – North Korea ironically offered US Vice President Kamala Harris a soft landing in South Korea today (September 29) by planting security rather than a prickly trade dispute at the top of her Seoul agenda.
Harris arrived in the country after attending the state funeral for the late Japanese premier Shinzo Abe in Tokyo.
This morning, before her schedule – which included an afternoon trip to the DMZ, the frontline/frontier that divides the two Koreas – got into full swing, North Korea acted in typical fashion: It test-fired off two short-range ballistic missiles into waters off the east coast.
The double launch took place at a time when the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier strike group and South Korean assets are exercising in the first high-profile joint naval drills held off the peninsula in five years.
Anti-submarine drills are reportedly the exercise’s focus – a germane focus given not only the North’s extensive submarine fleet but also given recent intelligence indications that the North may soon conduct the test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile.
Pyongyang watchers have also been concerned throughout the year that Pyongyang might detonate a nuclear device, which would its seventh.
North Korea has unveiled a new submarine-launched missile. Image: Facebook
But at a time when the biggest missile war ever fought is raging across Ukraine, North Korea’s well-thumbed playbook of missile tests coinciding with US official visits and US military drills is starting to lose heft as an attention-grabbing tactic.
But South Korea’s current concerns with the US are not limited to the security dimension of their alliance.
Yoon wags his finger
A South Korean spokesperson made very clear that national concerns over US President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, were aired during the 85-minute meet today between Harris and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.
“President Yoon and Vice President Harris expressed serious concern about North Korea’s recent ballistic missile launches and legalization of its nuclear force policy,” the presidential office’s spokesperson told a post-meet press briefing in Seoul.
The latter point was a reference to Pyongyang’s “automatic nuclear retaliation” policy if its command and control assets are targeted, a policy made public earlier this month.
However, Seoul’s concerns are very clearly not limited to Pyongyang’s actions.
The spokesperson continued, “Vice President Harris said not only she, but also President Biden, are well aware of South Korea’s concerns [about the IRA] and will look into it carefully in order to find ways to resolve South Korea’s concerns in the process of the law’s implementation.”
Korean automakers are livid that the IRA strips subsidies from electric vehicles manufactured outside the US. That means Korea-made EVs lose price competitiveness in America’s lucrative market.
The White House’s readout of the meeting, however, was top-heavy on defense and other issues.
Only in the seventh paragraph of a nine-paragraph release did it state, “The Vice President underscored that she understood [South Korea’s] concerns regarding the Act’s tax incentives for electric vehicles, and they pledged to continue to consult as the law is implemented.”
Seoul officials and industry lobby groups insist that the IRA breaches the rules of both the World Trade Organization (WTO) and an intensely negotiated and re-negotiated Korea-US free trade agreement (FTA).
Adding insult to injury, South Korea’s leading automaker, the Hyundai Motor Group pledged, during Biden’s May trip to Seoul, investments worth US$10 billion in the US.
Hyundai has big investment plans for the US. Photo: AFP / Jung Yeon-Je
The Korean promise was reported approvingly in a lengthy briefing on the White House’s website at the time, with Biden saying, “These investments are part of a trend my administration…Manufacturing jobs are coming back to America.”
These economic factors, which are being watched closely by Korea’s powerful automotive sector, made it critical for Yoon to get his point across to the US side today. But there are other issues in play, too.
Yoon especially needs to be seen to be doing his job competently by the general public after a series of optical, verbal and procedural gaffes that have taken a toll on his approval ratings. The latest took place in the US, where Yoon had traveled to attend the 77th UN General Assembly.
Yoon’s woes, Korea Inc’s ills
During that trip, Yoon was offered less than a minute of face time with Biden on the sidelines of a charity dinner. Still, despite the time limitation, and despite the fact that he was speaking through an interpreter, Yoon’s office insisted that he had appraised Biden of Korea’s IRA concerns.
If the narrow time window Yoon’s American hosts granted him with Biden was a bad look, what happened next was worse.
Stalking off after his chat with Biden, Yoon gave vent to an under-his-breath, invective-laden rant in Korean about “sons of bitches” in an unspecified assembly blocking presidential plans. The rant was picked up on a Korean broadcaster’s hot mic.
Though it remains in dispute whether Yoon was referring to the Korean National Assembly or the US Congress, the scoop was gleefully reported. It went immediately viral in Korea, leaving the president red-faced.
The storm has not yet blown over. The opposition-controlled National Assembly plans to rake Yoon over the coals for what it calls a “diplomatic fiasco.”
Biden and Yoon in a limited engagement. Image: Handout
It is just the latest blow to Yoon, whose approval ratings now hover around the 30% mark. But in the face of his domestic woes, his closest overseas ally is hardly offering him an easy ride.
The IRA’s impact on Korea’s auto exporters is not the only American issue irking Korean industry. As of last November, US policies preventing the export of advanced semiconductor-making equipment have stalled SK hynix’s plan to upgrade its DRAM memory chip plant in Wuxi, China.
These US blows are impacting Korea Inc despite the “iron-clad alliance” the two capitals like to talk up, and despite the conservative Yoon being outspoken about US-style values such as freedoms, rights and democracy.
Such verbiage may be commonplace in US politics but is at odds with customary Korean presidential practice, which is to maintain a lower volume, thereby not irritating leading trade partner China.
Likewise, Yoon is unique among recent Korean leaders in seeking improved ties with Japan. That, too, fits into the US regional agenda: Washington has long sought to link Seoul and Tokyo into a tighter, trilateral security agreement.
According to the White House statement, Harris and Yoon also discussed Taiwan. That issue has little resonance for South Korea, where the defense posture is largely aimed north and where there is little enthusiasm for pricking Chinese sensitivities.
Follow this writer on Twitter @ASalmonSeoul
asiatimes.com · by Andrew Salmon · September 29, 2022
6. Anti-Korean Sentiment Simmers in Japan
Excerpts:
Their intent is loud and clear, as it is not just spoken but yelled out of the huge speakers placed on top of the vans: Haji wo shire! (“Shame on you” – for accepting the exhibition), Dete ike! (“Get out” – of Japan), and Funsaiseyo! (“Let’s destroy” – presumably the exhibition).
The ultra-nationalist group, which goes by the name zaitokukai, spreads the slogan of “Tottoto kuni ni kaette kudasai” or “go home in a hurry!” To understand who they are targeting, we simply have to decode their name: Zaitokukai is shorthand for “Citizens against the privileges of the Zainichi,” or ethnic Koreans living in Japan.
For many Koreans in Japan, the details of past financial settlements mean nothing. More important are their daily lived experiences as targets of bullying and anti-Korean slurs.
Anti-Korean Sentiment Simmers in Japan
Alongside rising tensions between their governments, ethnic Koreans living in Japan face daily discrimination and bullying.
thediplomat.com · by Cristian Martini Grimaldi · September 29, 2022
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There is a Japanese word meaning “half men,” a derogatory term that was coined at the end of the 19th century. The term is now only used disparagingly to describe ethnic Koreans. TV, radio, and newspapers have all banned it, but it persists in the ears of the general public by making an unpleasant amount of social media appearances, especially in the past few years, likely in response to the tense diplomatic relations between the two countries.
In 2019, as tensions between Japan and Korea increased, Kawasaki, which is home to one of the largest Korean communities in the greater Tokyo area, enacted the first law against hate speech in Japan, with repeat offenses subject to a fine of up to 500,000 yen ($4,000). Prohibited actions listed include promoting physical assaults on minorities, seeking to have minorities evicted from their homes, and referring to them in a derogatory manner.
To understand why this type of legislation is necessary, we need to go to Shin-Okubo, the little Korea in Tokyo.
“Kaere!” go home. That’s what Na, a 24-year-old from Busan who now works at a fast-food shop in Shin-Okubo, is often told when she is overheard talking in her native Korean.
“They targeted my appearance and made fun of my use of Japanese, as I was still not fluent at the time,” Na recalled.
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But the stifled resentment against ethnic Koreans doesn’t detonate only at the hearing of the “wrong” accent. There is a troubling tendency to lay blame on Koreans for nearly any misfortune that befalls Japan. After the 500-year-old Shuri castle in Okinawa caught on fire in 2019, fake news began circulating on the web that the fire was an arson attack perpetrated by Koreans residing in Japan. The origin of the disinformation remains unknown.
Earlier this summer, in the immediate aftermath of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s assassination in broad daylight on July 8, baseless rumors began flying online that his killer was an ethnic Korean who hated Japan. South Korea’s consulate in Fukuoka reportedly warned that Koreans living in Japan might become the victims of violence as a response to the misinformation.
Just recently a Japanese court sentenced to four years in prison a 23-year-old man who had set fire to empty houses in a neighborhood populated by Korean residents in Kyoto prefecture.
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Vans belonging to far-right groups demonstrate in downtown Kobe City. Photo by Cristian Martini Grimaldi.
Perhaps no issue evokes stronger emotions on both sides than the “comfort women” question. The euphemism refers to those Koreans, Chinese, Filipinos, Taiwanese, and others who were forced into prostitution for the Japanese military during World War II.
Hyun, 38, is the Korean manager of a Family Mart (the widespread Japanese convenience store chain). “Sure, Japan has apologized for its crimes by compensating the victims. But many Koreans don’t feel is enough,” he claims.
That may be because it is common to hear Japanese disparage the victims even today. Mao, a 22-year-old student who was born in Japan to Korean parents pointed out that ethnic discrimination seeps even into the classroom. “I had a lecturer at the university who once said aloud that Korean women have considerably more sex appeal than the Japanese… The fact that they chose to become comfort women in the past is actually no coincidence.”
The historical grievances sometimes pop up in odd places. Just before COVID-19 hit, Korean customers took retaliatory action against a divisive ad campaign by Uniqlo, the Japanese apparel retailer.
In the ad, Iris Apfel, a 98-year-old businesswoman and fashion icon, responded, “I can’t remember that far back!” when asked what she wore as a young woman. Koreans claimed this was a hidden message about historical amnesia – specifically toward Japanese colonial rule on the Korean Peninsula. Koreans started a boycott, leading Uniqlo’s sales in South Korea to drop by over 60 percent.
The historical struggle over comfort women broke out once again in January 2021 after the Seoul Central District Court ordered Japan to compensate each of the 12 Korean “comfort women” who sued Tokyo in 2016, with 100 million Korean won (about $82,000). However, Japan appealed the decision based on the principle of sovereign immunity. The court decision, following on the heels of a separate decision awarding compensation to Koreans forced into labor during World War II, is at the center of recent tensions between South Korea and Japan.
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Japan and South Korea came to an agreement in 1965 whereby the former would have given Seoul $500 million, 1.6 times the Korean budget at the time, in exchange for settling once and for all the historical disputes between the two nations. Tokyo maintains that any other claims to compensation are null and void, while Korean courts have ruled that individuals – as opposed to the South Korean government – are still free to pursue legal redress.
The fraught emotions underneath the dispute are driving controversy around a recent art exhibition.
The “Non-Freedom of Expression Exhibition,” organized by a citizen’s group, features about 60 pieces by 16 artists. It traveled all over Japan starting in 2019, despite being repeatedly forced to close or cancel showings due to protests and threats. This year the exhibit has opened again in Aichi, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe.
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Included in this exhibition are exposed photographs of former wartime comfort women and one statue representing them: the so-called heiwa no shoujo zo, the Statue of Peace. The first version of the Statue of Peace was initially built in Seoul in 2011 in front of the Japanese Embassy in order to pressure the Japanese government to express regret to the victims of sexual slavery.
Members of a right-wing group protest against the “Non-Freedom of Expression Exhibition.” Photo by Cristian Martini Grimaldi.
The Non-Freedom of Expression Exhibition, which was a part of the 2019 Aichi Triennale art festival, has been received with protests from those opposed to the historical perspective that the art installations convey.
Yamashita Shunsuke is the head and founder of the nationalist party Okirukai (“waking Japan up”), whose purpose is, in the words of Yamashita himself, to place importance on the figure of the Emperor.
“If you look at those exhibit you can see that they are disparaging the Emperor himself. Nobody has that right!” he said when I met him in Kobe during a protest. He had just given a speech to a small crowd of supporters.
“If you go on YouTube you can see one artwork of this exhibition, it is a video showing a photograph of Emperor Hirohito being burned and stepped on,” he said.
To prevent the exhibition from taking place, different far-right groups and nationalists gathered to protest in front of the Hyogo prefecture government building.
One woman holds a sign that reads “Stop the hate against Japanese! We will not allow you to act against Japan!”
“This is an exhibition from the ‘anti Imperial system group,’ a far-left association,” she said. Finding the names of the actual organizers of the exhibition is very hard if not impossible, even with a refined online search – something the woman disparagingly called “a very Korean way of doing it things, they hide behind a screen.”
Downtown in the cities where the exhibition took place a long caravan of white, gray, and black vans with the flags of the Imperial Army displayed on both sides took part in a demonstration. The vehicles are often decorated with images of author Yukio Mishima, taken as the symbol of the far-right groups, and the imperial family emblem displayed on flags.
During one protest I attended in Kobe, the minivans of the far-right groups poured into the streets, playing nostalgic military marches. One of the vans has a long call-to-war-action line on its side: “It is the true desire of us men to give our lives for serving our country.”
Vans belonging to far-right groups demonstrate in downtown Kobe City. Photo by Cristian Martini Grimaldi.
Their intent is loud and clear, as it is not just spoken but yelled out of the huge speakers placed on top of the vans: Haji wo shire! (“Shame on you” – for accepting the exhibition), Dete ike! (“Get out” – of Japan), and Funsaiseyo! (“Let’s destroy” – presumably the exhibition).
The ultra-nationalist group, which goes by the name zaitokukai, spreads the slogan of “Tottoto kuni ni kaette kudasai” or “go home in a hurry!” To understand who they are targeting, we simply have to decode their name: Zaitokukai is shorthand for “Citizens against the privileges of the Zainichi,” or ethnic Koreans living in Japan.
For many Koreans in Japan, the details of past financial settlements mean nothing. More important are their daily lived experiences as targets of bullying and anti-Korean slurs.
Cristian Martini Grimaldi
Cristian Martini Grimaldi is a freelance Italian journalist living in Japan contributing for La Repubblica and La Stampa. His latest book is “Japan does it better?”
thediplomat.com · by Cristian Martini Grimaldi · September 29, 2022
7. N. Korea fires 2 short-range ballistic missiles into East Sea: S. Korean military
Five missile launches in three days this week. Kim is either upset or showing off - he wan not significantly mentioned in the UNGA speeches by Yoon or Biden, he is unhappy with the USS Ranald Reagan visit, he is unhappy with VP Harris' visit, or he is reinforcing the 8 SEP new nuclear policy lawl
(3rd LD) N. Korea fires 2 short-range ballistic missiles into East Sea: S. Korean military | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 오석민 · September 29, 2022
(ATTN: ADDS S. Korean NSC meeting in 8th para)
By Song Sang-ho
SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) into the East Sea on Thursday, South Korea's military said, in its third such provocation in less than a week.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launches from the Sunchon area in South Pyongan Province between 8:48 p.m. and 8:57 p.m., and that the missiles flew some 350 kilometers at apogees of around 50 km at top speeds of Mach 5.
The intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States are conducting a detailed analysis to verify the specifics of the missiles, the JCS said.
The missiles are thought to have been fired from the transporter erector launcher (TEL), according to informed sources.
JCS Chairman Gen. Kim Seung-kyum and Gen. Paul LaCamera, the commander of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, held virtual consultations on the launches.
"The recent series of North Korea's ballistic missile launches is an act of significant provocation that undermines peace and stability not only on the Korean Peninsula but also in the international community, and a clear breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions," the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.
It added, "Our military will maintain a firm readiness posture while tracking and monitoring related movements in close cooperation with the U.S. in preparation against additional provocations."
In response to the launches, South Korea's National Security Adviser Kim Sung-han chaired an emergency meeting of the presidential National Security Council (NSC), saying the situation regarding the North's missile programs is "very grave."
Hours earlier, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris wrapped up a daylong visit to South Korea, during which she met with President Yoon Suk-yeol and toured the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) bisecting the two Koreas. She reaffirmed America's security commitment to the East Asian ally.
The North fired a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) on Sunday and two SRBMs on Wednesday.
The latest launch came as South Korea and the United States concluded a high-profile naval exercise, involving the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier in the East Sea, on Thursday and are set to hold an anti-submarine training with Japan the following day.
Ahead of the trilateral training, the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) posted a video clip on Facebook, in which warplanes take off and touch down on the massive deck of USS Ronald Reagan during the day and at night.
In the post, the USFK highlighted "extended deterrence" as America's "around-the-clock" and "steadfast" commitment to the defense of South Korea.
Seoul and Washington have been cranking up security coordination amid concerns that Pyongyang could engage in provocative acts, such as a nuclear experiment and a submarine-launched ballistic missile test.
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 오석민 · September 29, 2022
8. Yoon touts FM as opposition set to pass no-confidence motion
Why does the National Assembly have it in for Park Jin? I think he has done very well so far.
Yoon touts FM as opposition set to pass no-confidence motion | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 이해아 · September 29, 2022
SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk-yeol touted Foreign Minister Park Jin on Thursday as a capable diplomat working so hard at a level causing concern about his health as the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) was set to pass a no-confidence motion against him.
The remark suggests that Yoon will not comply even if the DP passes the motion calling for Park's dismissal to hold him responsible for what it portrays as Yoon's disastrous trip to Britain, the United States and Canada last week.
The motion is set to be put to a vote Thursday and is certain to pass as the DP holds a majority with 169 out of 299 seats in the National Assembly.
"Foreign Minister Park Jin is a remarkably capable person and is constantly on the move around the world for the sake of the national interest to the point that I'm worried about his health," Yoon told reporters as he arrived for work. "I think the people are clearly aware of what is right and wrong."
Yoon also talked about North Korea's firing of two short-range ballistic missiles Wednesday, saying he stayed late at his office to be briefed on the results of the National Security Council's meeting.
"It's already been more than 20 times this year," he said. "National security isn't free and serves as the basis for all economic activity."
He referred to the South Korea-U.S. naval exercise under way in the East Sea and his planned meeting with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris later in the day.
"We plan to talk about what wasn't fully discussed" on the sidelines of multilateral gatherings, he said, referring apparently to a brief pull-aside he had with U.S. President Joe Biden on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
hague@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 이해아 · September 29, 2022
9. DP passes motion for dismissal of foreign minister
Some irony with the opposition party, many of whom harbor anti-American sentiment, in that it uses the excuse of the MBC hot mic incident to criticize the Yoon administration for damaging the ROK/US alliance with his hot mic remarks. The truth is no one in the US is the least bit offended by the president's candid remarks. And this should certainly not be used as rationale for the FM's firing.
Thursday
September 29, 2022
dictionary + A - A
DP passes motion for dismissal of foreign minister
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/09/29/national/politics/Korea-Foreign-Minister-Park-Jin/20220929191712285.html
Lawmakers of the People Power Party hold up signs protesting a motion calling for the dismissal of Foreign Minister Park Jin in the National Assembly Thursday. The Democratic Party later passed the motion. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
The liberal Democratic Party (DP) railroaded a motion through the National Assembly calling for the dismissal of Foreign Minister Park Jin, though President Yoon Suk-yeol can ignore it.
The DP wants Park to take responsibility for Yoon's trouble-plagued diplomatic tour of last week, including a hot mic moment that has proven deeply embarrassing. Yoon's People Power Party (PPP) protested the motion and boycotted the vote Thursday evening.
A plenary session convened at 6 p.m. after the DP, which holds a majority of 169 seats in the National Assembly, and the PPP wrangled all day to come to a consensus on the motion. It passed with 168 votes for, one against and one abstention.
It is not legally binding on the president.
Rep. Joo Ho-young, the PPP's floor leader, earlier met National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo and asked him not to put the motion to a vote. DP floor leader Park Hong-keun, in turn, appealed to Kim for the motion to be put to a vote Thursday.
The DP and the PPP differed on whom to blame for Yoon's profane hot mic moment at a fundraiser with U.S. President Joe Biden in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last week.
The PPP wants to blame broadcaster MBC for misreporting Yoon's comment.
On Tuesday afternoon, the DP submitted the motion through unanimous approval, saying Yoon's top envoy needed to be held accountable, which meant that it would have to be put to vote within 72 hours or be automatically dismissed. It requires a majority to pass.
While the motion may not be legally binding, and the president may choose to ignore it, it could still have political implications in an already deeply divided National Assembly.
Yoon was full of praise for his foreign minister when asked about the motion by reporters Thursday morning, signaling he will likely not comply with the motion if it passes.
"Foreign Minister Park Jin is a remarkably capable person who is constantly on the move around the world for the sake of the national interest to the point that I'm worried about his health," said Yoon. "I think the people clearly know what is right and wrong."
The DP has described Yoon's recent weeklong trip to Britain, the United States and Canada as a "diplomatic disaster" and called for an apology from the president.
The PPP is accusing the DP of trying to fan the scandal at the cost of the Korea-U.S. alliance for its political gain.
In a video recording first released by MBC, Yoon appeared to remark to his aides while exiting the Global Fund's Seventh Replenishment Conference on Sept. 27, "If those [expletive] do not pass it in the [parliament], [Biden] will lose face." Some parts of Yoon's remark in the clip were drowned out by music and background noise.
Based on the broadcaster's subtitles and initial reports, Yoon appeared to speaking about Biden losing face if he didn't get U.S. congressional approval for his pledge to contribute another $6 billion to the Global Fund.
The presidential office claimed the next day that the remark was actually directed at the Korean National Assembly, and that Yoon had not mentioned Biden at all.
In turn, the PPP filed a complaint with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office against MBC CEO and President Park Sung-jae, editors and reporters on Thursday afternoon, accusing the broadcaster of defaming the president through misreporting Yoon's remark in New York.
On Wednesday, PPP lawmakers visited MBC headquarters in Sangam-dong, western Seoul, to demand an apology from the broadcaster.
In turn, the MBC chapter of the National Union of Media Workers staged their own protest against media oppression and blocked the PPP lawmakers at the building's entrance.
In a press briefing Thursday afternoon, presidential chief of staff Kim Dae-ki said, "In a situation where cooperation with the United States is urgently needed, the media fabricated and splintered the alliance between Korea and the United States in this way, and politicians are trying to cut the head of the general standing in front of it [in reference to the foreign minister]."
He called the situation "regrettable" and went onto stress the importance of combatting "fake news."
This marks the seventh time in constitutional history that a motion for the dismissal of a Cabinet member was passed by the National Assembly. The last such move was six years ago, when a motion move to dismiss Agricultural Minister Kim Jae-soo was passed in 2016 but ignored by President Park Geun-hye.
BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]
10. Korea, Japan, U.S. hold first maritime exercise since 2017
Excellent. We need more trilateral cooperation.
Thursday
September 29, 2022
dictionary + A - A
Korea, Japan, U.S. hold first maritime exercise since 2017
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/09/29/national/northKorea/korea-north-korea-pyongyang/20220929185752331.html
South Korean and U.S. naval vessels participate in a bilateral combined military exercise in the East Sea on Thursday. [YONHAP]
Seoul, Washington and Tokyo will hold a trilateral anti-submarine warfare exercise in international waters between South Korea and Japan on Friday, the first such exercise in nearly five years.
The trilateral exercise will be aimed at promoting interoperability, tactical and technical coordination as well as efficient communications among the three countries, the U.S. 7th Fleet announced in a statement.
Seoul’s Ministry of National Defense said in a separate statement that the exercise will be defensive in nature, and be a part of the ministry’s measures to “restore” trilateral military cooperation “to the level before 2017” in order to respond to North Korean nuclear and missile threats.
2017 is when former liberal President Moon Jae-in, who promoted engagement with the North, began his single five-year term. Current President Yoon Suk-yeol, a conservative, has promised a tougher stance on Pyongyang and its leader Kim Jong-un.
The Defense Ministry stressed that the goal of the exercise was to improve the countries’ detection, identification and tracking of North Korean submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).
The location of the exercise has been set for international waters in the East Sea, the ministry continued, because that’s where North Korean submarine activities and SLBM threats are believed to be.
It’s the first time since April 2017 that Seoul, Washington and Tokyo are holding a combined maritime exercise.
According to Seoul’s Defense Ministry and the U.S. 7th Fleet, the exercise will include the USS Ronald Reagan, the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 5; the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville; the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold; the JMSDF destroyer JS Asahi; and the South Korean Navy’s Munmu the Great destroyer.
The ships will operate with a U.S. submarine to enhance interoperability in anti-submarine warfare, the allies said, adding that liaison officers from each country will observe the exercise from each surface vessel participating.
“Exercises such as this forge a trilateral relationship between Japan, Republic of Korea (ROK) and the United States that is forward-leaning, reflective of our shared values, and resolute against those who challenge regional stability,” the U.S. 7th Fleet statement read.
“Trilateral operations also concretely demonstrate our shared, unwavering commitment to upholding regional security and stability through information sharing and further trilateral cooperation,” the statement continued.
The trilateral exercise will come a single day after South Korea and the United States finished a four-day combined naval exercise featuring the USS Ronald Reagan in the East Sea.
It also comes a day after U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris capped her four-day trip to Asia with a visit to Seoul.
North Korea on Wednesday evening fired two short-range missiles toward the East Sea, which landed in North Korean territorial waters.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said Wednesday that a seventh nuclear test from Pyongyang was likely to be held between Oct. 16 and Nov. 7.
BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]
11. North is mum on Wednesday's missile launches
The regime launching before it has its messaging figured out? Or is it just that actions speak louder than words?
Thursday
September 29, 2022
dictionary + A - A
North is mum on Wednesday's missile launches
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/09/29/national/northKorea/korea-north-korea-missile/20220929185212137.html
Fog blankets North Korea’s Kaepung County near the inter-Korean border on Thursday shortly before U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris was expected to arrive in the demilitarized zone (DMZ). Pyongyang remained mum about its two missile launches from the day before. [YONHAP]
Pyongyang on Thursday made no mention of its latest missile launches toward the East Sea as Seoul and Washington were holding a combined naval exercise, in what local analysts called a demonstration of “strategic ambiguity.”
Neither North Korea’s state-run Rodong Sinmun nor the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released any details about Wednesday's launches, a rare move from a communist regime that takes every chance to brag about its military might, often with groundless exaggerations.
According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), Pyongyang fired two-short range missiles on Wednesday evening, both of which landed in North Korean territorial waters.
The first missile was believed to have been fired from Sunan airfield near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, while the second missile following at 6:20 p.m. from the same location. Both were fired from transporter erector launchers, a type of mobile launching platform.
The missiles flew approximately 360 kilometers (227 miles) at maximum speeds of Mach 6 and peaked at an altitude of 30 kilometers, the JCS said.
The missiles’ target was said to be an uninhabited island off the coast of Kilju County, North Hamgyong Province.
Although both missiles landed in North Korean territorial waters, it was the first time Pyongyang fired missiles toward the East Sea while the South Korean and U.S. forces were conducting a combined military exercise.
The allies, at the time, were holding a four-day combined naval exercise featuring the nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, which ended Thursday.
Wednesday’s launches came three days after the regime fired a short-range ballistic missile and a single day before the arrival of U.S. Vice President Kamal Harris in Seoul.
Local experts believe the missiles were KN-24s, a single-stage, solid-fueled tactical ballistic missile.
“North Korea has lately been refraining from publicly mentioning the outcomes of its strategic missile launches,” said Park Yong-han, senior researcher at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.
“Not only is the regime trying to maximize its strategic ambiguity,” he continued, “it also seems to be trying to test the South Korean and U.S. allies’ detection abilities.”
Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University, said in order to read North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s intentions, experts now had to start from Pyongyang’s new nuclear policy on the use of preemptive nuclear strikes.
Earlier this month, North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme People’s Assembly, adopted a law stipulating that the North will “automatically and immediately” launch a nuclear strike to attack the origin of any provocation if the “command and control system” of its nuclear forces is in danger of an attack, an apparent reference to Kim.
The law states that a nuclear strike could be triggered if an attack on its nuclear weapons were imminent; if the country or its people were under threat; or to gain the upper hand during war.
“It’s possible to interpret [North Korea’s missile launches on Wednesday] as a warning that it could take action as per its nuclear policy,” said Lim.
South Korea’s military said Thursday it was analyzing Pyongyang’s motives.
Both the South Korean and U.S. governments strongly condemned the latest launches.
BY LEE SUNG-EUN, CHUNG YEONG-GYO [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]
12. Visit confirms the solid alliance
Thursday
September 29, 2022
dictionary + A - A
Visit confirms the solid alliance
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/09/29/opinion/editorials/Kamala-Harris-Yoon-Sukyeol-visit/20220929194902611.html
President Yoon Suk-yeol met with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential office in Yongsan on Thursday. The meeting was held in an uncomfortable atmosphere after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the controversy over the president’s remarks in New York. But the results of his meeting with the U.S. vice president is promising.
Responding to Yoon’s concerns about U.S. discrimination against Korean electric vehicles (EVs), Harris expressed hope for cooperation to hammer out a “mutually satisfactory solution based on the spirit of the FTA” between the two allies. Relaying Biden’s understanding of Korea’s worries about the discrimination, she promised to ease Korea’s concern in the process of executing the act. The vice president also shared views on providing U.S. liquidity to Korea to stabilize fluctuating financial markets, raising the prospect of a currency swap with America. Over Yoon’s hot-mic moment in New York, she said the U.S. does not care about it at all.
We welcome the remarks by the vice president. What is most needed for a sustainable alliance in times of growing uncertainties is respect, cooperation and consideration for the ally. If such frictions are resolved, her visit to Korea will offer a turning point.
Harris's visit to the DMZ on Thursday — the first of its kind for a high-level official from the Biden administration — testified to the solidity of the alliance when North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea while the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group is exercising with the South Korean navy. It is the first time for North Korea to make such a bold provocation. North Korea will likely conduct its seventh nuclear test sometime between October 16, when the Communist Party of China is set to convene its 20th National Congress, and November 7, the midterm election day in the U.S.
A joint anti-submarine drill that South Korea, the U.S. and Japan conduct today for the first time in five years is aimed at effectively responding to North Korea’s advanced nuclear capabilities, including SLBMs. Nevertheless, Rep. Ahn Gyu-back, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party, expressed concerns about a joint exercise with the Japanese navy on the waters between Dokdo and Japan, which claims territorial rights to the islets. He wondered if the Yoon administration really wants to allow the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force to intervene at times of crisis.
The DP legislator even exposed the location of the submarine drill to help North Korea, Russia and China to collect detailed information of the exercise. We are dumbfounded at the slanted perspective of the former chairman of the Military Committee in the legislature.
13. Solidarity in Support of Freedom: South Korean President Yoon’s UN Speech
Conclusion:
By delivering a speech that advocates for multilateral solutions to shared global challenges, the Yoon administration has attempted to place South Korea as a constructive force in upholding an effective global order. But such aspirations may be derailed by the reality of growing conflicts among major powers, North Korea’s aspirations to hamstring South Korea from achieving its global aspirations, and domestic South Korean political opposition that could hamstring Yoon’s ability to deliver on his lofty aspirations.
Solidarity in Support of Freedom: South Korean President Yoon’s UN Speech
By Scott Snyder [Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations]
September 28, 2022
koreaonpoint.org
► In his firstspeech to the UN General Assembly on September 20th, South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol delivered a comprehensive call for the world to come together in response to a daunting list of conventional and non-traditional security challenges that require collective coordination to address effectively.
► Yoon provided a clear call to action from South Korea as a middle power advocating stepped-up cooperation and urging multilateral efforts and contributions to address the world’s most serious problems.
► But such aspirations may be derailed by the reality of growing conflicts among major powers, North Korea’s aspirations to hamstring South Korea from achieving its global aspirations, and domestic South Korean political opposition that could hamstring Yoon’s ability to deliver on his lofty aspirations.
In his firstspeech to the UN General Assembly on September 20th, South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol delivered a comprehensive call for the world to come together in response to a daunting list of conventional and non-traditional security challenges that require collective coordination to address effectively. The speech departed from the conventional Korean approach of highlighting Korean peninsular problems and relating them to global concerns by identifying universal challenges and enumerating Korean efforts to join in forging a collective response. Yoon provided a clear call to action from South Korea as a middle power advocating stepped-up cooperation and urging multilateral efforts and contributions to address the world’s most serious problems.
Yoon’s enumeration of the global challenges to peace and human flourishing is familiar and depressing: wars of aggression, growing threats and risks of nuclear weapons use, and the accompanying endangerment of human rights from public health challenges and climate change. But in advocating for solidarity and a collective response through UN-based cooperation, Yoon provided a rare leadership perspective from a country capable of bringing greater resources and political leadership to the table. Against the backdrop of increasing paralysis and stalemate within the UN Security Council resulting from conflicts and a sharpening competition between the United States and Russia and China, respectively, Yoon’s call for tangible support for efforts to address daunting international challenges was a refreshing message from a Korean leader.
Yoon’s speech leaned forward in urging countries to band together in response to multilateral and transnational challenges to security and prosperity, including overseas development assistance, global public health collaboration, digital technology sharing, and investments in education. At a time when the UN system is beleaguered and in need of structural reforms, Yoon stated that “we must more fully support the system of the UN anchored in a spirit of freedom and solidarity as well as the normative frameworks that have been universally recognized in the international community.”
The impulse to bolster the safeguarding of existing international norms through concerted multilateral actions is a classic characteristic of middle powers. Such an approach is likely to be most effective when states are aligned with other middle powers also dedicated to upholding the existing international order. The rhetoric of Yoon’s UN speech suggests that South Korea is likely to pursue foreign policy gains through more active outreach to other middle powers such as Australia, Canada, and European countries. But for such an approach to be effective, Yoon will have to overcome some clear obstacles, including the tendency toward major power rivalry, North Korea’s efforts to stay on South Korea’s radar, and the risk that domestic infighting in South Korea will paralyze Yoon’s capacity to achieve his foreign policy aspirations.
The biggest factor likely to derail Yoon’s hopes for a UN renaissance is the paralysis and marginalization of the institution as a consequence of major power conflict between the democratic order led by the United States and authoritarian systems led by Russia and China. Russia’s revisionist war in Ukraine has unified NATO in support of Ukraine, but it has paralyzed the UN system over intractable political conflicts resulting from Russia’s permanent veto power in the Security Council. The intensification of major power rivalry between the United States and China has been accompanied by a closer partnership between China and Russia represented by Putin and Xi’s declaration of a “no limits” partnership. The Joe Biden administration has characterized the nature of the confrontation in ideological terms as a contest between authoritarianism and democracy, further diminishing the prospects for effective cooperation at the UN on any issue, including shared global challenges such as global health and climate change.
A second factor likely to directly impinge on the ability of the Yoon administration to play an active role on global issues of the scope identified in Yoon’s UN speech is the prospect of tensions with North Korea. South Korea increasingly has the capability to make contributions on a range of issues that have a global impact, but as a practical matter, South Korea’s attention to global issues is only likely to be sustainable when North Korea’s posture toward the South is benign and its capacity to instigate tensions with South Korea is fully contained. But Kim Yo-jong’s statements toward the Yoon administration have been brutally contemptuous, and there are at present no mechanisms or incentives in place to induce restraint from North Korea. In fact, the more Yoon may aspire to play a role that further raises South Korea’s global profile, the greater the incentive may be for Kim Jong-un to take actions designed to draw South Korea’s attention and resources back to its immediate neighborhood.
Third, the “hot mic” controversy and dispute over the interpretation of disparaging comments Yoon made following a brief encounter with President Biden on the sidelines of a UN meeting during his trip to New York illustrate the potential for domestic politics to paralyze South Korean foreign policy aspirations. As a result of the controversy, the headline from Yoon’s trip was undoubtedly not his UN speech, but rather the contested interpretation of an off-hand comment by Yoon that allegedly disparaged either the U.S. Congress or the South Korean National Assembly.
Despite U.S. government comments that Yoon’s remarks had no influence on the state of the U.S.-South Korea relationship, South Korean media and lawmakers debated for days over both the meaning of the comments and the effectiveness of Yoon’s overseas diplomacy. South Korea’s opposition Democratic Party even passed a non-binding legislation calling for the resignation of Foreign Minister Park Jin following the incident, suggesting that South Korean domestic political divisions might derail the Yoon administration’s global foreign policy aspirations and effectiveness.
By delivering a speech that advocates for multilateral solutions to shared global challenges, the Yoon administration has attempted to place South Korea as a constructive force in upholding an effective global order. But such aspirations may be derailed by the reality of growing conflicts among major powers, North Korea’s aspirations to hamstring South Korea from achieving its global aspirations, and domestic South Korean political opposition that could hamstring Yoon’s ability to deliver on his lofty aspirations.
AUTHORS
Scott Snyder is Senior Fellow for Korea Studies and Director of the Program on U.S.-Korea Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and co-editor of North Korea’s Foreign Policy: The Kim Jong-Un Regime in a Hostile World. These views contained here are his own and do not represent those of institutions with which he is affiliated.
koreaonpoint.org
14. Presidential chief of staff accuses media of destabilizing Korea-US alliance
Again, please stop the insanity. No one in the US is upset about President Yoon's hot mic. It is not damaging the alliance.
Presidential chief of staff accuses media of destabilizing Korea-US alliance
The Korea Times · September 29, 2022
Presidential Chief of Staff Kim Dae-ki speaks during a briefing in the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap
Non-binding motion calling for dismissal of foreign minister approved
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Presidential Chief of Staff Kim Dae-ki showed his disdain for the fact that the media had reported on President Yoon Suk-yeol's private conversation with Foreign Minister Park Jin in New York last week, which were caught on camera.
In an unusually strong tone, Kim claimed Yoon had been misquoted and alleged that the media outlet reports that quoted Yoon saying "Biden" were "fake news."
"I myself and other presidential office staff view this case as no more than fake news and we believe that fake news should not be tolerated," he told reporters during a briefing in the presidential office on Thursday. "Developed countries despise and dislike fake news, but here in Korea, we have been a little too tolerant, so we have had many such cases before, such as the mad cow disease conspiracy theory (when the government resumed U.S. beef imports)."
Kim added that such fake news can make society sick and drive a wedge between people, saying that is why he and the other presidential office staff took the case "very seriously."
The presidential chief of staff claimed that the media outlets that reported what he calls "fake news" had "fabricated" what had happened in order to destabilize the Korea-U.S. alliance.
Kim was also critical of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) for pushing for the passage of a motion to impeach Foreign Minister Park Jin to take responsibility for what the DPK says was a "diplomatic disaster," namely Yoon's recent trip to the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada.
The motion was approved later in the day after the DPK tabled it and 168 lawmakers voted in favor of dismissing the foreign minister. The motion is not binding.
Kim likened the foreign minister currently in the hot seat to a military general fighting against the enemy on the battlefield.
"Politicians are trying to dismiss such a military general of a nation at war, which I think is suicidal. This is regrettable, and I hope that things like that don't happen again in the future," he said.
Kim's comments reflect what seems to be a shared belief among ruling party members that the DPK's push for the dismissal of the foreign minister is part of its tactic to deal a blow to the Yoon government.
On Thursday, the ruling People Power Party (PPP) filed a complaint with the prosecution against broadcaster MBC for having quoted President Yoon as having said "Biden" and "the Congress" in the video footage of his private conversation with Foreign Minister Park.
The presidential chief of staff said that what Yoon had actually been caught saying on hot mic is "unclear," as it happened so fast, but said there is no way that he had said "Biden."
The PPP characterized MBC's report on Yoon as "a scandal of fabricating subtitles," and accused MBC of having fabricated Yoon's quotes, as the broadcaster had added subtitles to the video footage of the president's remarks when reporting it.
"I understand that MBC has all high-tech equipment enabling them to figure out what narrators said but they put 'Biden' in the subtitles, something President Yoon didn't say. I wonder if this is what a national broadcaster like MBC is supposed to do," Rep. Choi Hyung-du of the PPP said in a KBS radio show on Thursday. "I presume that they did so intentionally, to destroy the Korea-U.S. relations. Otherwise, they would not have done that."
Earlier in the day, National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo encouraged the DPK floor leader to sit down with his ruling party counterpart to agree on the voting of the motion. They sat down but failed to reach an agreement.
Yoon holds the key to the fate of the foreign minister as he can veto the motion even if it is passed by the National Assembly.
The president showed his stalwart support for Park.
"Minister Park is a person with outstanding abilities and no one can question his credentials as a top diplomat," he said in the morning when asked to comment on the DPK's plan to table the motion to impeach Park. "He is so busy and travels all around the world for the national interest. I am worried about his health."
Yoon said, "I think the people will know for themselves what is right and what is wrong," hinting at his will to veto the motion even if it is approved in the legislature.
The Korea Times · September 29, 2022
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Senior Advisor, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
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