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Quotes of the Day:
“It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.”
- Voltaire
“I was in darkness, but I took three steps and found myself in paradise. The first step was a good thought, the second, a good word; and the third, a good deed.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche
"The art of war does not require complicated maneuvers; the simpler ones are to be preferred. Above all, what is needed is common sense. In those terms, it is hard to see how generals make mistakes; it is because they want to be clever. The most difficult thing is to divine the enemy's plans, to see what is true in all the reports one receives. The rest only requires common sense."
- Bonaparte
1. N. Korea noncommittal about S. Korea's bid for prior notice on border dam discharge
2. N. Korea suffers sharp declines in growth, trade amid pandemic, border controls: BOK report
3. Statue to be built for US Korean War vet
4. South Korea's population to shrink to 38 million by 2070 amid rising world population
5. U.S. attack helicopter manufacturer proposes technology transfer to DAPA
6. Challenges created by the IRA (ROK and US)
7. S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases hit lowest for Monday in 6 weeks as virus slows
8. Get a grip on North Korea first before mocking South
9. South Korea, Japan to hold senior-level defense talks this week for 1st time in 6 years
10. Danuri succeeds in key trajectory maneuver (ROK in Space)
11. Court decision is pushed back. What can Seoul do to resolve forced labor issue with Tokyo?
12. 4 of 5 chip experts say Korea faces 'worst crisis' in decade
13. Defector group says COVID-19 pain relievers, masks sent to N. Korea
14. [Exclusive] Fred and Cindy Warmbier to meet with brother of South Korean official killed by North Korean troops
15. N. Korea appears worried that rising COVID-19 cases in China could reintroduce virus into the country
16. The North Korean defectors who became YouTube stars
1. N. Korea noncommittal about S. Korea's bid for prior notice on border dam discharge
Just another example of Kim Jong Un's failure to act as a responsible member of the international community.
(LEAD) N. Korea noncommittal about S. Korea's bid for prior notice on border dam discharge | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · September 5, 2022
(ATTN: UPDATES with military's comments, more info from 5th para; MODIFIES headline; ADDS photo, byline)
By Yi Wonju
SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean government said Monday it has sought to send a formal letter asking North Korea to give notification before releasing water from dams near their border, with a super typhoon approaching the peninsula.
Pyongyang, however, did not clarify whether to accept the message during their daily phone call via an inter-Korean liaison communication line at 9 a.m., according to the unification ministry.
"We attempted to send a formal request under the name of the unification minister to North Korea asking for prior notice in case it decides to release water from the border areas in consideration of concerns over damage from Typhoon Hinnamnor heading northward," Cho Joong-hoon, the ministry's spokesperson, said during a regular press briefing. "But the North ended the call without clearly stating whether it was willing to accept the letter."
North Korea appears to have discharged water from Hwanggang Dam on the western inter-Korean border to adjust the water levels ahead of the typhoon, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Monday.
"The water levels at North Korea's Hwanggang Dam are not at a level of concern yet, but it is releasing water," Col. Kim Jun-rak, the JCS spokesperson, told reporters. "We are closely monitoring the change in the (river) flow rate for the safety of our citizens and fellow soldiers, as well as sharing the situation with the relevant authorities."
South Korea has repeatedly urged the North to give prior notice before releasing water from its dams for the safety of residents living near the border areas.
In June, the ministry attempted to send such a letter to Pyongyang, as technical glitches from heavy rainfall had caused unstable connections in the inter-Korean hotlines. The North, however, did not accept the letter and instead opened the floodgates of Hwanggang Dam without advance warning.
Under an inter-Korean agreement signed in October 2009, the North agreed to notify the South in advance of its plans to release dam water, following a deadly accident that killed six South Koreans after the reclusive country discharged water from Hwanggang dam without notice.
In August 2020, the North also partially opened the floodgates of the dam and dumped water into the Imjin River, prompting South Korean residents in the border areas to evacuate.
North Korea has issued a heavy rain advisory for the border city of Kaesong and other areas in the country Monday as Typhoon Hinnamnor, the 11th this year, has gradually moved northward to reach waters off the southern island of Jeju in the South.
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · September 5, 2022
2. N. Korea suffers sharp declines in growth, trade amid pandemic, border controls: BOK report
Yes of course COVID has been a factor. But everything has been made worse by Kim Jong Un's deliberate decision making and exploitation of COVID to crack down on potential resistance.
N. Korea suffers sharp declines in growth, trade amid pandemic, border controls: BOK report | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 고병준 · September 5, 2022
SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's economy has contracted at an annual average rate of 2.4 percent for the past five years as the pandemic and its long-enforced antivirus border controls caused a decline in its already meager external trade, a central bank report showed Monday.
The North Korean economy, known for its isolation and heavy dependence on its neighboring ally China, will also likely see its growth potential stay at a quite subdued level in the years to come amid chronic shortages of funds necessary for economic expansion, according to the report from the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The estimate is based on the BOK's analysis of various reports on economic conditions in the reclusive country from 2017-2021, including the recent few years when its borders remained shut to stave off the inflow of the coronavirus. It had claimed to be coronavirus-free until May this year when it announced its first COVID-19 case. Pyongyang recently declared victory over the virus.
"The North Korean real gross domestic product has contracted at an annual average rate of 2.4 percent during the (2017-2021) period, and in particular, its light industry and private-sector service businesses that have represented the North's marketization drive have significantly weakened since 2020," the report said.
"The North's external trade also fell to US$710 million in 2021, which marked the lowest level since 1955, demonstrating that the North Korean economy has become completely isolated from the international community," it added.
The North's border controls have caused imports of key necessities to stop flowing, sending their prices for local customers skyrocketing. The currency exchange rates in North Korea also moved in a "very abnormal" manner during the cited period, wreaking havoc on the day-to-day lives of many ordinary people, the report said.
The report, however, said the economic conditions in the North appear not as bad as those seen during the 1990s, a period known for the Arduous March, when it had to survive a famine and economic crisis.
The report predicted the North Korean economy under multiple sanctions for nuclear and ballistic missile tests will not be able to see its growth potential exceed the 1-1.5 percent range for the time being given that its population is forecast to peak in a decade and its economy will not likely attract sufficient investment from home and abroad to finance economic expansion.
"What the North has to do to get over the current crisis is to create a favorable environment for overseas investment and pursue innovative changes in its economic system so as to pull itself out of the low growth trap," the report said.
"But its previous track record shows that the chances are high that the North will continue to escalate military tensions, tighten internal controls and move forward in the face of economic hardship."
kokobj@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 고병준 · September 5, 2022
3. Statue to be built for US Korean War vet
This is a significant development (if they are talking about erecting this statue in Korea). I believe there are only two statues of foreigners in Korea: one of MacArthur in Incheon and one of General Van Fleet at the Korean Military Academy for his efforts at re-establishing KMA. As an aside/I visited KMA last month and interestingly it is under pressure to move to a new location because its real estate is so valuable. The surrounding areas are well developed and the real estate is prime for future development. I mention this because it is not only US military installations that are under fire (such as Yongsan) but also ROK military installations.
Statue to be built for US Korean War vet
The Korea Times · September 5, 2022
A graveside ceremony for John Singlaub is held at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, Aug. 19 (local time). Newsis
By Kang Seung-woo
A memorial of John Singlaub, a former U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) chief of staff known for his objection to Washington's plan to withdraw American troops from the Korean Peninsula in the 1970s, is expected to be built next year as part of marking the 70th anniversary of the South Korea-U.S. alliance, according to a military veteran group.
The South Korea-U.S. Alliance Foundation plans to carry forward the statue plan after holding consultations with the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs and his family.
John Singlaub / Korea Times file
The veterans ministry has yet to receive a detailed scheme or formulate a plan but given that next year will mark seven decades of the bilateral alliance, it will be considered positively, according to its official. The South Korea-U.S. alliance was forged through the Korean War and founded on the 1953 South Korea-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty.
Singlaub, a native of California who was commissioned as a U.S. Army second lieutenant after graduation from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1943 was quickly chosen by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to both the U.S. Army Special Forces, or Green Berets, and the Central Intelligence Agency. In fact, Singlaub conducted intelligence operations during the Korean War with the CIA's Joint Advisory Commission, Korea (JACK).
The two-star general with a record of wartime valor ― having also participated in World War II and the Vietnam War ― was dismissed from his position as USFK chief of staff after his comments in a 1977 media interview criticizing then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter's proposal to pull U.S. troops out of the peninsula. He said in an interview with the Washington Post that the withdrawal plan could trigger another North Korean invasion.
In 1978, he was compelled to retire from the military as a result of his statements publicly questioning the Carter administration's national security policies.
On Jan. 29, Singlaub passed away at his home in Franklin, Tenn. He was 100.
A service in his memory was held at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, Aug. 19. Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup each sent a letter of condolence, at the time acknowledging the deceased's commitment to the South Korea-U.S. alliance and the defense of South Korea.
The Korea Times · September 5, 2022
4. South Korea's population to shrink to 38 million by 2070 amid rising world population
Wow. This is quite a projection. This makes unification an even greater strategic imperative.
South Korea's population to shrink to 38 million by 2070 amid rising world population
The Korea Times · September 5, 2022
'Nearly half of Koreans will be elderly in 2070'
By Yi Whan-woo
South Korea's population will shrink to 38 million in 2070, down from roughly 52 million this year, according to Statistics Korea, Monday.
The demographic trend in Asia's fourth-largest economy is in stark contrast to the world population that will increase to 10.3 billion from 7.97 billion during the cited period. The global population estimate is based on the "World Population Prospects: The 2022 Revision" published by the United Nations.
The stats agency forecast that the decline in population will be unavoidable for the entire Korean Peninsula, noting the number of people in North Korea will peak in 2023 and fall afterward.
The South Korean population already has been on a downward trajectory since 2021 when it came down to roughly 52 million ― the first since after the government began to compile relevant data in 1949.
Accordingly, the combined population of the two Koreas will drop to 61 million in 2070 from 78 million in 2022.
The two countries altogether will account for 0.6 percent of the world population in 2070, down from 1 percent in 2022.
For South Korea, its population decline is largely attributed to its chronically lowest fertility rate ― 0.81 births per woman ― compared to the global average of 2.32 as of 2021.
The figure for Korea is the world's second-lowest after Hong Kong's 0.75.
Between 1970 and 2021, the average fertility rate for the world declined 51.9 percent, while Korea saw an 82.2 percent decline.
Under the circumstances, South Korea's population is aging rapidly and it is projected to become the world's most aged country by 2070, according to Statistics Korea.
It said the share of people aged 65 or older will likely reach 17.5 percent of the total population this year and rise to 46.4 percent in 2070.
The global share of those aged 65 or older will rise from 9.8 percent to 20.1 percent during the same period.
By region, the share of the age group will increase from 9.6 percent to 24.4 percent in Asia, 19.6 percent to 30.8 percent in Europe and 3.5 percent to 8.3 percent in Africa.
Concerning productivity, the proportion of the working-age population, or people aged 15 to 64, peaked at 73.4 percent in 2012 in South Korea.
It will decline further to 71 percent in 2022 and then to 46.1 percent in 2070.
The Korea Times · September 5, 2022
5. U.S. attack helicopter manufacturer proposes technology transfer to DAPA
Monday
September 5, 2022
dictionary + A - A
U.S. attack helicopter manufacturer proposes technology transfer to DAPA
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/09/05/national/defense/Korea-Bell-Viper/20220905170417393.html
Bell's AH-1Z attack helicopter, also known as the Viper, which was the Korean Marine Corps' preferred choice for its first-ever attack wing [UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS]
The state arms procurement agency received an official offer of technology transfer from the manufacturer of a foreign attack helicopter preferred by the Korean Marine Corps, according to a conservative People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker on Monday.
Bell, the manufacturer of the AH-1Z attack helicopter currently deployed by the U.S. Marine Corps, also known as the Viper, sent its offer to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) on Thursday, according to PPP Rep. Han Ki-ho’s office.
The proposal entails technological collaboration with Korean Air for domestic production of the Viper under license, similar to the KF-16 multirole fighter, which is a licensed Korean version of American aerospace and defense corporation General Dyanmics’ F-16 produced by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), the country’s sole aircraft manufacturer.
This is not the first time that Bell has made an offer of technology transfer to DAPA.
Han revealed at a National Assembly defense committee hearing that DAPA essentially ignored two e-mails sent by Bell in October and November that proposed domestic Viper production, ostensibly because the messages were not addressed to the agency’s chief or the head of DAPA’s helicopter business division.
Bell’s third attempt to get DAPA’s attention represents a potential plot twist to the agency’s much-criticized decision last year to equip the Marine Corps with 24 domestic attack helicopters.
The agency announced in April 2021 that it selected the attack variant of KAI's Marineon as the Korean Marine Corps’ future attack helicopter. The deal is expected to cost 1.6 trillion won ($1.16 billion) and is part of a larger acquisition plan to create the Marine Corps’ first-ever air wing, composed of a squadron of attack helicopters and two squadrons of regular Marineon transport utility helicopters.
The air wing will operate from the Navy’s Dokdo-class amphibious assault ships.
But the Marineon comes with a choppy history.
All of the Marine Corps’ Marineon helicopters were grounded in late 2018, following a crash that led to five deaths. The KAI claims that problems with the Marineon rotor mast which were at the root of the accident have since been resolved.
The decision to acquire the armed Marineon over the Viper — the Marine Corps’ preferred candidate — led to criticism from none other than the service’s 19th commandant, retired Lieutenant General Lee Seung-do, who told the National Assembly’s defense committee in October 2020 that the Marines Corps “does not want an armed variant of the Marineon, but an attack helicopter that is maneuverable and survivable.”
Critics fear that the armed variant of the Marineon falls short compared to other dedicated attack helicopters.
Originally designed as a transport helicopter, the Marineon’s airframe is wider than its competitors, making it more vulnerable to enemy fire, while its maximum speed of 279 kilometers (173 miles) per hour is significantly slower than the 300 kilometer-per-hour speed of the Viper.
During his election campaign, President Yoon Suk-yeol vowed that he would arm the Marine Corps with “weapons with proven battle capabilities,” leading some military officials and observers to wonder if his administration would walk back on DAPA’s earlier choice of the Marineone over the Viper and other candidates.
The Defense Ministry recently informed the National Assembly that it needs to evaluate other aspects of Bell’s proposal, such as the extent of technology transfers, maintenance and costs before revisiting DAPA’s decision.
BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
6. Challenges created by the IRA (ROK and US)
Excerpts:
Given the reaction, Hyundai Motor Group likely was not aware of the details of the bill in advance. The law has been criticized, as U.S.-based Korean carmakers cannot fully meet the requirements for mineral sourcing by next year.
The U.S. argues that the move is necessary to contain China. Korean battery makers with high reliance on Chinese suppliers also are under challenge. The IRA aims to stamp out geopolitical risks from China on batteries and EVs following chips. Even as China excels in battery material and technology, the U.S. chooses to erase Chinese influence by prioritizing security over economic interests.
Carmakers from auto-strong Germany and Japan also could not lobby against the bill due to the stealthy negotiations. The bill was softened from the original outline to reflect the demands from Sen. Manchin. Since the bill was enacted hastily to meet the November elections, some of the provisions could be amended through enforcement decrees.
Korea must first draw concessions through bilateral talks with the U.S. instead of filing complaints with the World Trade Organization or the FTA arbitration mechanism. The government must keep up senior-level negotiations after a recent visit by a vice-ministerial delegation to Washington.
We will have to work together with the European Union and Japan, if necessary. Korea must set its negotiating and lobbying strategy by also taking into account the post-election environment in the U.S.
Monday
September 5, 2022
dictionary + A - A
Challenges created by the IRA
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/09/05/opinion/columns/Inflation-Reduction-Act-semiconductor-chips/20220905194359398.html
Cheong In-kyo
The author is a professor at the Department of International Trade at Inha University.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) U.S. President Joe Biden signed on Aug.16 is an extension of his campaign slogan “Build Back Better,” which envisions measures to buttress the middle class. Although the law has the goal of reducing inflation, the details of the act are mostly unrelated to curbing consumer prices, except for some reduction in drug prices for medical insurance coverage. Instead, the keystone of the law is to promote the use of renewable sources like solar and wind power and electric vehicles (EVs). The plan also aims to bolster the approval rating of Biden and help the Democratic party win more seats in the mid-term elections in November.
The IRA was tabled by the Democrats, who dominate the House of Representatives and control exactly half of the 100-member Senate. Under such circumstance, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin opposed the act that the Republicans would never support. He kept opposing tax credits for consumers with a bill aimed to proliferate EVs and reduce fossil fuel consumption, as he represented West Virginia that produces coal. The DP leadership sought a behind-the-scenes negotiation to persuade inner opponents.
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and other Democratic leaders met with Manchin privately throughout the summer to package the bill to appease opponents. The work on IRA had been so discreet that even the highly informative Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America could not attempt lobbying to stop the provision of controlling prices of prescription medicines.
Samsung Electronics has been willingly complying with the Biden administration’s promotion of the chip industry in America by vowing to add a next-gen foundry in the country. Hyundai Motor and Kia also plan to build their first EV-focused plants in the U.S. Korean battery makers will build a combined 11 plants across North America by 2025. Korea could not but feel betrayed by the clandestine and hurried enactment of the bill that restricts tax benefits to EVs assembled outside the U.S.
To become eligible for tax grants this year, EVs must be assembled in the U.S. From next year, EVs must be fully produced on U.S. turf and use minerals and battery materials sourced from the U.S. or countries with free trade agreements with the U.S. About 10 EV brands produced in the U.S. are entitled to tax benefits. Hyundai and Kia cars shipped from Korea are excluded.
Given the reaction, Hyundai Motor Group likely was not aware of the details of the bill in advance. The law has been criticized, as U.S.-based Korean carmakers cannot fully meet the requirements for mineral sourcing by next year.
The U.S. argues that the move is necessary to contain China. Korean battery makers with high reliance on Chinese suppliers also are under challenge. The IRA aims to stamp out geopolitical risks from China on batteries and EVs following chips. Even as China excels in battery material and technology, the U.S. chooses to erase Chinese influence by prioritizing security over economic interests.
Carmakers from auto-strong Germany and Japan also could not lobby against the bill due to the stealthy negotiations. The bill was softened from the original outline to reflect the demands from Sen. Manchin. Since the bill was enacted hastily to meet the November elections, some of the provisions could be amended through enforcement decrees.
Korea must first draw concessions through bilateral talks with the U.S. instead of filing complaints with the World Trade Organization or the FTA arbitration mechanism. The government must keep up senior-level negotiations after a recent visit by a vice-ministerial delegation to Washington.
We will have to work together with the European Union and Japan, if necessary. Korea must set its negotiating and lobbying strategy by also taking into account the post-election environment in the U.S.
Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
7. S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases hit lowest for Monday in 6 weeks as virus slows
Some good news (though a good friend of mine recently traveled to Korea and caught COVID experienced all the bad symptoms and is only now recovering in Korea).
(LEAD) S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases hit lowest for Monday in 6 weeks as virus slows | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · September 5, 2022
(ATTN: UPDATES with tally as of 9 p.m. in paras 6-7)
SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new COVID-19 cases hit the lowest for a Monday count in six weeks, as the virus is slowing at a steady pace.
The country reported 37,548 new COVID-19 infections, including 286 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 23,606,740, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
The latest tally is the lowest Monday figure since 35,853 on July 25. The recent virus wave has been slowing with the daily infection cases declining from as high as 180,000 in mid-August to around 72,000 on Sunday.
South Korea reported 56 deaths from COVID-19 on Monday, putting the death toll at 27,149.
The number of critically ill patients stood at 562, up by 14 from the previous day.
As of 9 p.m. on Monday, the country reported 96,629, up 60,356 from the same time the previous day, according to health authorities and provincial governments. The increase appears attributable to a spike in virus tests following a drop over the weekend.
Daily virus cases are counted until midnight and announced the following morning.
South Korea has removed the mandatory pre-departure COVID-19 testing requirement for inbound travelers. A mandatory PCR test within the first 24 hours of entry into South Korea remains in place.
Health authorities have called for vigilance against another virus uptick, as many people are expected to travel to their hometowns during the Chuseok fall harvest holiday that runs from Friday through Monday this year.
elly@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · September 5, 2022
8. Get a grip on North Korea first before mocking South
Very good argument from Professor Choo.
Excerpts:
China must reflect on its past record with the United States on North Korea. It is responsible for its failure to keep the North in check and the peninsula in stability and peace. In a way, it is an accomplice in that it harbored the culprit that nuclearized the peninsula. Beijing might as well renounce its support of the principle of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.
Beijing's unfulfilled responsibility to prevent Pyongyang from going nuclear warrants Seoul all the right to defend itself. South Korea, an independent state as China presumes, has made an autonomous decision that would best serve its security interests against the North's nuclear threats ― and THAAD was the best defensive means available.
China has successfully developed and deployed its own missile defense system, and is well aware of THAAD's defensive nature and technical functions. If China is sincere about improving relations with South Korea, it must remove its own "obstacle" by overcoming the illusions that it has about the gentlemen's agreement and understanding that the North's nuclear threat to the South is for real.
Get a grip on North Korea first before mocking South
The Korea Times · September 5, 2022
By Choo Jae-woo
Once again, Koreans are enraged by the Chinese foreign minister's remarks from the first face-to-face foreign ministerial meeting on Aug. 10 in Qingdao, China.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi presented China's "five demands" as principal guidelines for the bilateral relationship. Both sides, it reads, should remain "independent, free from external obstacles and influences," and respect each other's issues of important concern.
In addition, "We must uphold a win-win position to protect stable and smooth supply chains and industrial networks, and should not interfere in each other's internal affairs based on equality and respect." The Korean public took it personally because it challenged Korea's independent sovereignty status, including its right to making autonomous decisions.
The demands basically at once shattered the original intent and purpose that the Korean foreign minister had in mind for the meeting. Minister Park Jin wanted the occasion to be a turning point for the bilateral relationship that has remained stalled since the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile shield in Korea in 2017.
Wang's statement apparently only backfired, exacerbating Korea's anti-China sentiment. While Wang emphasized that both nations should not interfere in each other's internal affairs, Koreans already see China's demand for Korea to uphold the "Three Nos," particularly in regard to additional THAAD deployments, as a clear case of self-contradiction.
The Three Nos announced in 2017 is at best a gentlemen's agreement between China and the Moon government. It is an informal, unwritten agreement that is not legally binding. Such an agreement is effective if and when a party desires actually to abide by its terms for integrity reasons. The Yoon government decided to renege on the agreement conceived of by its predecessor, the Moon government.
Park also elaborated that the Three Nos was "neither a (formal) agreement (with China) nor a promise." He also substantiated it by reciting hearing statements of the officials who had attended the Three Nos discussion in 2017. Taking an oath, they agreed it was not an agreement. Hence, the Yoon government is free of the responsibility to continue pursuing the measure.
If Beijing were to insist that Seoul adhere to the gentlemen's agreement, it should reflect on its past records. In October 1971, for instance, the United States and China promised to keep their respective allies ― South and North Korea ― under control. At the time, China, along with the North, viewed that the source of instability on the Korean Peninsula came from the U.S. forces in the South and their alliance.
Beijing demanded an immediate dissolution of the alliance if Washington were sincere about normalizing relations. Henry Kissinger countered his Chinese counterpart negotiator, Premier Zhou Enlai, that the withdrawal of the U.S. forces would only entice Japan to fill the consequential power vacuum. China was enlightened.
It was then that Beijing began to hold a favorable view and assessment of the U.S. alliance, and agreed to control the North. In February 1972, President Richard Nixon affirmed that the two countries must avoid getting entrapped in another possible misfortune like the Korean War that could be instigated again by "the barbaric, impulsive and belligerent Korean people."
China has apparently failed to live up to the gentlemen's agreement it made with the United States. Beijing has had no success in constraining Pyongyang from military provocations since. Pyongyang has carried out uncountable numbers of conventional military provocations and terrorism against Seoul. Beijing's inability to restrain Pyongyang from developing nuclear weapons is the embodiment of a broken promise.
On the contrary, Washington has kept Seoul under control with much success. It was able to hold back the South from making military retaliations against the North's provocations even when the lives of South Korean people were being tallied. Furthermore, it also prevented the South from going nuclear in the 1970s when Seoul was ardently in pursuit of self-autonomous defense capabilities. In October 1992, the United States withdrew its nuclear arsenal from its military bases in the South to materialize the nuclear-free Korean Peninsula agreement the two Koreas ratified in late 1991.
China's push for South Korea to abide by the Three Nos on THAAD is at best a self-fulfilling prophecy. A gentlemen's agreement as such is warranted free from the mortgage of the original parties to the agreement. In the case of Korea, the Yoon government has the right to renege on its predecessor's promise.
China must reflect on its past record with the United States on North Korea. It is responsible for its failure to keep the North in check and the peninsula in stability and peace. In a way, it is an accomplice in that it harbored the culprit that nuclearized the peninsula. Beijing might as well renounce its support of the principle of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.
Beijing's unfulfilled responsibility to prevent Pyongyang from going nuclear warrants Seoul all the right to defend itself. South Korea, an independent state as China presumes, has made an autonomous decision that would best serve its security interests against the North's nuclear threats ― and THAAD was the best defensive means available.
China has successfully developed and deployed its own missile defense system, and is well aware of THAAD's defensive nature and technical functions. If China is sincere about improving relations with South Korea, it must remove its own "obstacle" by overcoming the illusions that it has about the gentlemen's agreement and understanding that the North's nuclear threat to the South is for real.
Choo Jae-woo (jwc@khu.ac.kr) is a professor of international relations at Kyung Hee University and director of the China Center at the Korea Research Institute for National Security. He was a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution.
The Korea Times · September 5, 2022
9. South Korea, Japan to hold senior-level defense talks this week for 1st time in 6 years
I have known Shin Beom-chul for many years. He is a good man and the right man to lead this effort for Korea. I do not know Masami Oka but I hope he is as good as Dr. Shin.
South Korea, Japan to hold senior-level defense talks this week for 1st time in 6 years
The Korea Times · September 5, 2022
Vice Defense Minister Shin Beom-chul speaks during a meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, in this July 29 file photo. Korea Times file
South Korea and Japan will hold bilateral vice-ministerial defense talks in Seoul later this week for the first time in six years, the defense ministry here said Monday, as they seek to strengthen security cooperation against North Korea's evolving military threats.
Seoul's Vice Defense Minister Shin Beom-chul and Tokyo's Vice Defense Minister for International Affairs Masami Oka are set to have an in-person meeting Wednesday on the margins of the annual three-day Seoul Defense Dialogue (SDD) slated to kick off Tuesday.
The two sides are expected to discuss an array of pending issues, including Tokyo's invitation for the South Korean Navy to attend Japan's fleet review set to be held in November to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the country's Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF).
The planned fleet review has been a source of controversy here as it features the hoisting of the Rising Sun Flag on Japanese vessels. The flag is viewed in Korea as a symbol of Japan's imperialist past.
They could also discuss the issue of normalizing an intelligence-sharing pact between Seoul and Tokyo, called GSOMIA, amid a sense that it has been underutilized in the midst of the countries' historical and other disputes stemming largely from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule.
"The meeting is expected to become a venue where the two countries share their understanding on the need for the resolution of pending issues and reaffirm their will toward that end," a Seoul official said on condition of anonymity.
Seoul and Tokyo have recently been seen striving to improve their ties as South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has been highlighting his desire for a future-oriented partnership with Tokyo, with Washington eager to bring the two Asian allies closer for regional stability.
The SDD will be held at Lotte Hotel in central Seoul to discuss global cooperation for peace amid growing instability from the ongoing war in Ukraine, cyberthreats and other challenges, according to the ministry.
It would mark the first in-person SDD forum since 2019. The forum took place virtually in 2020 due to COVID-19 and in a hybrid format ― both online and offline ― last year. (Yonhap)
The Korea Times · September 5, 2022
10. Danuri succeeds in key trajectory maneuver (ROK in Space)
South Korea is successfully operating in the new frontier.
Danuri succeeds in key trajectory maneuver
The Korea Times · September 5, 2022
This photo provided by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute on Sept. 4 shows its aerospace engineers conducting a trajectory correction maneuver operation for the South Korean lunar orbiter Danuri. Yonhap
Korea's unmanned space vehicle Danuri has successfully undergone a trajectory correction maneuver (TCM), a critical procedure in the lunar orbiter's travel to the moon for the country's first lunar mission.
Danuri, also known as the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, was launched last month aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the U.S. state of Florida for South Korea's first space mission beyond Earth's orbit.
The orbiter is currently on its way to the moon on a ballistic lunar transfer trajectory ― which takes the vehicle toward the sun before looping back to arrive at the moon's orbit in December. The route, while much longer than traveling directly toward the moon, is more fuel efficient as it uses the sun's gravity for travel.
The state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) said it conducted the TCM at around 5 p.m. on Friday, in which Danuri's direction, position and speed were readjusted to head back toward the moon.
KARI said it confirmed the TCM's success at around 6 p.m. Saturday. The maneuver was carried out at Lagrange Point 1, where the gravitational pulls of the sun and Earth are at equilibrium.
The institute added it decided not to conduct a follow-up TCM that was initially planned for Sept. 16, as it was determined unnecessary based on Danuri's current travel status.
Danuri will measure terrains, magnetic strengths, gamma rays and other traits of the lunar surface using six onboard instruments during its yearlong mission starting in January. The orbiter will also identify potential landing sites for future lunar missions. (Yonhap)
The Korea Times · September 5, 2022
11. Court decision is pushed back. What can Seoul do to resolve forced labor issue with Tokyo?
Excerpts:
In July, Seoul launched a government-private consultative group to collect the opinions of experts and the victims. However, the victims’ representatives stopped participating in the group after the second meeting when the Foreign Ministry delivered a written opinion explaining its “diplomatic efforts” to resolve the issue. The victims viewed it as the government intervening in the court case to delay the final decision.
Among the options that are being discussed is a "subrogation payment," in which the South Korean government pays the victims and then asks the Japanese companies for reimbursement later. The South Korean government can also create a fund to gather donations from South Korean and Japanese companies to pay the victims.
Court decision is pushed back. What can Seoul do to resolve forced labor issue with Tokyo?
koreaherald.com · by Jo He-rim · September 5, 2022
With the top court’s decision on wartime forced labor case being pushed back, the government is striving to come up with a diplomatic solution to a legal dispute that has risen as a major point of political friction with Japan.
On Monday, the Foreign Ministry held the fourth government-private consultative meeting discussing possible solutions to the forced labor issue.
The Supreme Court was expected to deliver a final ruling on the case of Korean victims seeking liquidation of Japanese firms’ assets to provide as compensation for forced labor during the Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945.
The decision was apparently pushed back following the retirement of Kim Jae-hyung, the chief prosecutor who was in charge of the case, on Friday. As a successor has not been decided, it is expected to take weeks before the top court will be able to deliver its ruling on whether or not to liquidate the assets of the Japanese firms.
South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol administration, which seeks to revive long-strained ties with Japan for security reasons, has been striving to find a solution as it is caught in the middle between Tokyo and the Korean victims.
Japan, which argues that claims related to its annexation of Korea were settled once and for all by an agreement signed in 1965, has strongly protested the Seoul court rulings, and threatened that Seoul would be crossing a “red line” if it carries out the liquidation.
The Korean government is also tasked with appeasing its nationals seeking sincere apologies from the Japanese firms.
Foreign Minister Park Jin traveled to Gwangju in South Jeolla Province on Friday to pay visits to two survivors of wartime forced labor for the first time since he came into office in May.
The foreign minister visited one of the survivors, 98-year-old Lee Choon-sik, and told Lee, “The government has a very strong will to resolve the problem of the forced labor victims fast and with sincerity.”
Park added: “I will diplomatically negotiate with Japan to find a solution that can be accepted by the people.”
Lee was forced to work at Nippon Steel’s steel mill in Kamaishi, Japan, in January 1943. In Korea, Lee won the case against Nippon Steel, in which a Korean court ordered the Japanese company to provide compensation of 100 million won ($73,000) to Lee and three other Korean victims. The Japanese firm refused to comply with the court ruling, dragging the legal dispute further for the court to decide on the liquidation of its assets in Korea.
Park also visited 92-year-old survivor Yang Geum-deok, who won a court case against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
In July, Seoul launched a government-private consultative group to collect the opinions of experts and the victims. However, the victims’ representatives stopped participating in the group after the second meeting when the Foreign Ministry delivered a written opinion explaining its “diplomatic efforts” to resolve the issue. The victims viewed it as the government intervening in the court case to delay the final decision.
Among the options that are being discussed is a "subrogation payment," in which the South Korean government pays the victims and then asks the Japanese companies for reimbursement later. The South Korean government can also create a fund to gather donations from South Korean and Japanese companies to pay the victims.
By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)
koreaherald.com · by Jo He-rim · September 5, 2022
12. 4 of 5 chip experts say Korea faces 'worst crisis' in decade
4 of 5 chip experts say Korea faces 'worst crisis' in decade
koreaherald.com · by Son Ji-hyoung · September 5, 2022
A bird's eye view of Samsung Electronics chip manufacturing plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. (Samsung Electronics)
South Korea's chip manufacturing industry is facing the worst crisis in a decade, a survey that polled semiconductor experts showed Monday.
Twenty-four out of the 30 chip experts surveyed by lobby group Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry responded that Korea is either facing the threat as grave as, or graver than, Chinese chipmakers' foray into memory chip business in 2016 or the trade war between the United States and China in 2019.
Of the respondents, 13 said Korea's situation is worse than those two low points, while 11 answered that Korea's current threat is as serious.
The warning comes as mobile tech giant Apple approved China-based Yangtze Memory Technologies as a vendor of third-dimensional NAND flash memory chips on its newest flagship smartphone iPhone 14 beginning later in September, a development that could pose a threat to Korean memory chip giants like Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.
An image of YMTC's 128-layer NAND Flash memory (YMTC)
Combined with industrywide risks like memory chip oversupply, price cuts and the resulting decline in monthly chip exports for the first time in 26 months in August, the increasing competition posed by Chinese entities is stoking fears of a domestic chip industry downturn that could last more than two years. The KCCI survey showed that nearly 60 percent of experts said the chip industry crisis is likely to persist for at least the next two years.
"Uncertainties in the Korean chip industry in the past have been mostly short-lived, as the problems stemmed from transient external challenges or regular chip down cycles," Burm Jin-wook, professor of electronic engineering at Sogang University, was quoted as saying by the KCCI.
"Now, intensifying global competitions in the chip supply chain that show no signs of abating, combined with the fears that Chinese followers are evolving fast, are leaving chipmakers in Korea more nervous than ever."
As to whether Korean chipmakers are facing a crisis or not, only one out of 30 responded that Korea's industry is not facing a crisis.
(consnow@heraldcorp.com)
koreaherald.com · by Son Ji-hyoung · September 5, 2022
13. Defector group says COVID-19 pain relievers, masks sent to N. Korea
Excerpts:
The defectors' group has sent balloons carrying anti-North Korea leaflets and face masks to North Korea on several occasions this year while the North claimed that "alien" things found in a border area were responsible for the country's first COVID-19 outbreak, apparently referring to the balloons.
"North Korea publicizes that it has overcome COVID-19, but it's not true and the country still suffers from a shortage of medicine," the group's head Park Sang-hak said, accusing the Kims of overlooking the pandemic in the country.
Other civic groups and residents of border areas in South Korea, meanwhile, filed a complaint against the defectors' group with the police last month on charges of violating the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act that prohibits the sending of leaflets to North Korea.
Defector group says COVID-19 pain relievers, masks sent to N. Korea
koreaherald.com · by Yonhap · September 5, 2022
By Yonhap
Published : Sept 5, 2022 - 11:23 Updated : Sept 5, 2022 - 11:23
These photos provided by Fighters for a Free North Korea show balloons that the group said it sent to North Korea on Sunday, from Incheon's Ganghwa Island. (Fighters for a Free North Korea)
INCHEON -- A North Korean defectors' group said Monday it has sent big balloons carrying COVID-19 pain relievers and face masks to North Korea.
Fighters for a Free North Korea said 20 plastic balloons were released from Ganghwa Island in Incheon, around 30 kilometers west of Seoul, to North Korea on Sunday, with 50,000 painkiller pills, 30,000 vitamin C tablets and 20,000 masks in them.
In photos released by the civic group, the balloons were also carrying banners showing the images of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his younger sister Kim Yo-jong, along with messages denouncing the regime's claim that the group's leaflets were responsible for the COVID-19 outbreaks in North Korea.
The defectors' group has sent balloons carrying anti-North Korea leaflets and face masks to North Korea on several occasions this year while the North claimed that "alien" things found in a border area were responsible for the country's first COVID-19 outbreak, apparently referring to the balloons.
"North Korea publicizes that it has overcome COVID-19, but it's not true and the country still suffers from a shortage of medicine," the group's head Park Sang-hak said, accusing the Kims of overlooking the pandemic in the country.
Other civic groups and residents of border areas in South Korea, meanwhile, filed a complaint against the defectors' group with the police last month on charges of violating the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act that prohibits the sending of leaflets to North Korea. (Yonhap)
14. [Exclusive] Fred and Cindy Warmbier to meet with brother of South Korean official killed by North Korean troops
[Exclusive] Fred and Cindy Warmbier to meet with brother of South Korean official killed by North Korean troops
koreaherald.com · by Kim Arin · September 5, 2022
“By joining voices, I hope to make a bigger impact together,” says Lee
By Kim Arin
Published : Sept 5, 2022 - 10:46 Updated : Sept 5, 2022 - 17:41
Lee Rae-jin, the older brother of South Korean fisheries official who was fatally shot by North Korean troops at sea in September 2020, speaks during an interview with The Korea Herald at his office on April 19. (Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald)
Fred and Cindy Warmbier, whose son Otto died in 2017 after he was held captive in North Korea, and Lee Rae-jin, the older brother of a South Korean fisheries official who was fatally shot by North Korean troops at sea in 2020, plan to meet next week.
In an exchange with The Korea Herald, Fred Warmbier said Friday he and his wife, Cindy, “would be happy to meet with” Lee, and that they “would welcome Mr. Lee in (their) home.” They added that they “support him and are proud of him.”
The response from the Warmbiers came after Lee reached out for a meeting ahead of his six-day US trip, from Sept. 13-19.
On meeting the Warmbiers, Lee told The Korea Herald over the weekend he has “looked to them for guidance on what he could do” and that he has “wanted to thank them in person.”
“By joining voices, I hope to make a bigger impact together,” he said. “I have incredible respect for what Mr. and Mrs. Warmbier have been doing over the years to pressure North Korea.”
The Warmbiers sent a strong message of support to Lee two years ago, a few weeks after his brother died.
In an October 2020 statement, the Warmbiers said they “pledged solidarity with” Lee and thanked him for his “courage in standing up to the Kim regime.”
Lee said in response that he extends his support and solidarity to the Warmbier family, and that he was “incredibly thankful” for their voicing support of his family.
“Words are not going to make North Korea budge. We have to find ways to make them take responsibility for their actions. The Warmbier family has shown that is possible,” he had said in an interview with The Korea Herald at the time.
Earlier this year in April, Lee’s family sued the North Korean government for damages, following the steps taken by the Warmbiers. Lee’s family is also in a Constitutional Court battle against Moon Jae-in’s Cheong Wa Dae over disclosure of information on the killing.
Lee is visiting the US to speak at the Sept. 15 biennial convention of the International Parliamentarians’ Coalition for North Korean Refugees and Human Rights in Washington.
In a phone call with The Korea Herald, Lee said he hoped his message at the convention would “help rally support from the international community in holding North Korea accountable for its brutalities.”
Lee said on his trip he would also seek to deliver a letter to the United Nations headquarters in New York and to US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
“I will never stop speaking out about what happened to my younger brother. No unarmed, innocent civilian entering North Korean territories should ever have something like this happen to them, and I will continue to remind the world of what North Korea has done,” he said.
Lee’s brother, Dae-jun, was shot and then burned by North Korean soldiers who found him near the inter-Korean sea border after he went missing during a patrol duty.
By Kim Arin (arin@heraldcorp.com)
15. N. Korea appears worried that rising COVID-19 cases in China could reintroduce virus into the country
Worried, yes. But also more justification for cracking down on the population and cross border trade.
N. Korea appears worried that rising COVID-19 cases in China could reintroduce virus into the country
North Korean authorities are receiving constant, region-by-region reports on China’s COVID situation
dailynk.com
FILE PHOTO: View into North Korea from across the Tumen River in China's Jilin Province. (Daily NK)
In Liaoning Province and elsewhere in China, Chinese traders who deal with North Korean trading companies continue to prepare for trade, but freight train service between North Korea and China has yet to restart. North Korea appears quite worried that with cases of COVID-19 recently rising in China, trade could reintroduce the virus into the country.
According to multiple Daily NK sources in China on Thursday, with cases of COVID-19 on the rise in Dandong, Shenyang, Dalian and elsewhere in Liaoning Province, Chinese authorities have shut down public facilities and strengthened inter-regional travel restrictions.
Travel is restricted between cities, and administrative districts are even inspecting people moving from one village to another. In fact, the sources say police now frequently board inter-village buses at random to inspect the passengers’ ID cards.
China has also instituted partial or full lockdowns in Shijiazhuang and Zhuozhou County, Baodin in Hebei Province, near Beijing, with COVID-19 cases once again on the rise in those communities.
North Korea is reportedly on high alert as COVID-19 spreads not only in Chinese cities near North Korea, but also in the greater Beijing area.
One source in China said North Korean trade delegations send detailed reports on China’s COVID-19 situation to Pyongyang every day.
“Because North Korea takes the coronavirus situation in China seriously, it seems it won’t be easy to expand trade for the time being,” he said.
Even after North Korea declared victory over the coronavirus during a recent meeting to review national quarantine efforts, the authorities have refused to ease quarantine standards in the China-North Korea border region. They appear gravely concerned about letting the virus enter the country or allowing a resurgence of the disease.
In August, Daily NK reported that North Korean authorities have maintained an intensive emergency quarantine system in regions that border China or South Korea, even after they lowered the nation’s quarantine poster to “normal.” They also issued an order calling for new quarantine measures to stop the coronavirus from entering the country from abroad.
Kim Yo Jong, the deputy director of the Publicity and Information Department and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister, used the quarantine review meeting held in Pyongyang on Aug. 10 to blame objects that floated into North Korea from South Korea for introducing COVID-19 into the country.
However, North Korean cadres and residents of North Korea’s border region reportedly believe that if the virus entered the country from outside, it very likely did so through China, with which North Korea conducts 99% of its trade.
The sources say North Korean authorities have responded by receiving constant, region-by-region reports on China’s coronavirus situation, and will keep a close eye on the numbers when deciding when to expand trade.
So far, however, the authorities have issued no orders to the customs house in Sinuiju regarding freight train service between North Korea and China.
“I hear the coronavirus situation in China is serious,” said a source in North Pyongan Province. “The government is on guard, believing it would be a huge problem if even one person with the disease enters the country, so won’t the situation in China have to die down before the trains start running again?”
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com
16. The North Korean defectors who became YouTube stars
These youtubers also illustrate how escapees from north Korea can assimilate into global culture. No one should be afraid of Korean unification or freedom in north Korea because of the apparent differences between north and South. These escapees show that the Korean people in the north are human and capable.
The North Korean defectors who became YouTube stars
CNN · by Jessie Yeung and Yoonjung Seo, CNN
Seoul (CNN)Growing up in North Korea, Kang Na-ra had never used the internet.
Even the privileged few of her compatriots who were allowed smartphones could access only the nation's tightly restricted intranet. YouTube, Instagram, and Google were entirely alien concepts.
Today, Kang is a YouTube star with more than 350,000 subscribers. Her most popular videos have raked in millions of views. Her Instagram account, with more than 130,000 followers, boasts sponsored ads for major brands including Chanel and Puma.
She's among an increasing number of North Korean defectors who, after escaping into South Korea, have made what might seem unlikely careers as YouTubers and social media influencers.
Dozens have followed a similar path in the past decade, their videos and accounts giving a rare glimpse into life in the hermit kingdom -- the food North Koreans eat, the slang they use, their daily routines.
The highly-restricted North Korean intranet, shown on a computer screen in Pyongyang on September 14, 2012.
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Some channels offer more political content, exploring North Korea's relationships with other countries; others dive into the rich and -- for those newly defected, entirely novel -- worlds of pop culture and entertainment.
But for many of these influencers, who have fled one of the world's most isolated and impoverished nations for one of its most technologically advanced and digitally connected, this career path isn't as strange as it may seem.
Defectors and experts say these online platforms offer not only a path to financial independence -- but a sense of agency and self-representation as they assimilate to a daunting new world.
Path to freedom
Defectors are a relatively recent phenomena; they began entering South Korea "in significant numbers" in the past 20 years, most fleeing over North Korea's lengthy border with China, said Sokeel Park, the South Korea country director for international nonprofit Liberty in North Korea.
Since 1998, more than 33,000 people have defected from North to South Korea, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry, with the numbers peaking at 2,914 in 2009.
Kang, now 25, is among the many to have made the trip -- one laden with risks, such as being trafficked in China's sex trade, or being caught and sent back to North Korea, where defectors can face torture, imprisonment and even death.
Why some North Korean defectors return to one of the world's most repressive regimes
Kang fled to the South in 2014 as a teenager, joining her mother who had already defected.
It was tough at first; like many others, she faced loneliness, culture shock, and financial pressures. The South's notoriously competitive job market is even tougher for defectors, who must adjust to both capitalist society and hostility from some locals.
As of 2020, 9.4% of defectors were unemployed -- compared to 4% of the general population, according to the Unification Ministry.
For Kang, a turning point came when she started receiving counseling and joined a school with other defectors. But it wasn't until she appeared in a South Korean TV show that life really "became interesting," she said.
'Defector TV'
In the 2010s, growing public fascination with North Koreans gave rise to a new genre of television known as "defector TV," in which defectors were invited to share their experiences.
Some of the best-known shows include "Now On My Way To Meet You," which first aired in 2011, and "Moranbong Club," which aired in 2015.
Kang appeared on both -- and it was around this time that she first laid eyes on YouTube, where she was especially drawn to videos about makeup, beauty and fashion.
By 2017, she had created her own channel, leveraging her growing fame and "recording my daily life for people who liked me from TV shows."
Kang Na-ra is seen on a camera monitor in a studio in Seoul, South Korea, on September 5, 2019.
Many of her YouTube videos explore differences between the two Koreas in a cheerful, conversational style, such as contrasting beauty norms. "In North Korea, if you have big breasts, that's considered to be not good!" she laughs in one video, recalling her surprise at discovering padded bras and breast implants in the South.
Other videos answer common questions on escaping North Korea, such as what defectors bring with them (salt for luck, a family photo for comfort, and rat poison in case they get caught -- for "when you know that you are going to die.")
Eventually the channel grew so popular that she landed representation from three management agencies, hired video producers, and began attracting clients for sponsored Instagram content.
"I have a steady flow of income now," she said. "I can buy and eat what I want, and I can rest when I want to."
A video on Kang Na-ra's YouTube channel.
This model of success -- echoed by other defector YouTubers, such as Kang Eun-jung, with more than 177,000 subscribers; Jun Heo, with more than 270,000 before he took down his channel this year; and Park Su-Hyang, with 45,000 -- has inspired many others to join YouTube.
Part of their success, according to Sokeel Park, of Liberty in North Korea, is that defectors "are quite entrepreneurial."
"I think a factor in that is that you're in control, you're not being ordered around by a South Korean boss, and having to stress about a South Korean work culture," he said.
"It may be a struggle, but people have agency ... You're your own boss, on your own schedule."
Stories on their own terms
Defector TV may have helped supercharge the popularity of some of these influencers -- but it has also drawn controversy among the defector community.
Some view it as "imperfect" but helpful in giving the South Korean public greater exposure to their Northern peers, Park said. But many others criticize the talk shows as being sensationalist, exaggerated, outdated and inaccurate.
For instance, the shows often use cartoon graphics, elaborate background sets and sound effects -- such as mournful music that plays while defectors recall their past.
At the end of the day, these are entertainment shows, not documentaries, Park said, adding: "(The shows are) made by South Korean TV producers and writers ... obviously (the defectors) don't have editorial control."
Park Su-hyang, a North Korean defector, records a YouTube video at home in Seoul, South Korea on May 19, 2018.
This frustration with how North Koreans are represented in mainstream media, and their desire to tell their stories on their own terms, is one major reason why so many defectors have turned to social media.
Many defectors feel "that South Koreans have only a very shallow understanding of North Korea, or that they have certain stereotypes about North Korean people that should be challenged," Park said.
YouTube allows "a very different level of control and agency, to be able to just set up a camera in your apartment or wherever you might film, and just speak directly to an audience."
Building bridges between the Koreas
But for many defector YouTubers there is another, loftier goal besides earning an independent income by telling their own stories: bridging the gap between the two Koreas.
It's a tall task, especially in recent years as relations have deteriorated due to disagreements over the North's weapons testing and the South's joint military drills with the United States.
But some say these tensions are exactly why it's important to humanize and connect Koreans from each side.
"I believe letting people know about the hardship of North Koreans through YouTube can be helpful for my people in North Korea," said Kang Eun-jung, 35, who fled North Korea in 2008 and started her YouTube channel in 2019.
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For her, YouTube is a way to "keep reminding myself about my identity, who I am and where I came from" -- as well as to teach people about defectors' experiences.
"If the two Koreas get united, I want to interview many people in North Korea," she added.
Still, there's a problem for those hoping to bridge the divide: their audiences are getting older, possibly because their content appeals most to the generation that lived through the Korean War of the 1950s and its aftermath.
"The generation that remembers North and South Korea as one country is passing away," Park said.
That makes building bridges among the younger generation more urgent.
Most of Kang Eun-jung's viewers are in their 50s or older, while Kang Na-ra's are mostly in their 30s -- relatively high age brackets in the world of social media.
Part of the problem may be that young South Koreans know next to nothing about their peers on the other side of the demilitarized zone, instead being bombarded with ominous news headlines about the security situation, political rhetoric and military saber-rattling.
North Korean defectors say unification requires closing a cultural chasm
As a result, Park said, "young South Koreans know American people better than North Korean people. They know Japanese people better than North Korean people, they know Chinese people (better than North Korean people)."
"So being able to resume some form of people-to-people contact, understanding, and empathy -- if that's North Koreans making their own YouTube channels -- then that's great."
For Kang Na-ra, who left behind many friends in North Korea and once even considered returning to the repressive regime, that distance feels personal.
"I want to have more (subscribers in their) teens and people in their 20s because I want more young people to care about unification and be interested in North Korea," she said.
"Wouldn't it raise the possibility of me going back to my hometown before I die? If more young people want unification of the Koreas, couldn't it come true?"
CNN · by Jessie Yeung and Yoonjung Seo, CNN
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
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