Quotes of the Day:
““I believe that it must be the policy of the United States,” he said, “to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” 3 Truman did not mention the Soviet Union in his speech, but everyone who heard him understood that “armed minorities” referred to Communist insurgents and that “outside pressures” referred to the Kremlin. This became known, almost immediately, as the “Truman Doctrine.” The speech was, effectively, the declaration of the Cold War. It would last forty-four years.”
— The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War by Louis Menand
https://a.co/7jbCf6S
“Society can and does execute its own mandates: and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle, it practises a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression...”
― John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
“Now and then I am inclined to think that the passion to teach, which is far more powerful and primitive than the passion to learn, is a a factor in the rise of mass movements. For what do we see in the Communist world? Half of the globe has been turned into a vast schoolroom with a thousand million pupils at the mercy of a band of maniacal schoolmasters.”
― Eric Hoffer, Working and Thinking on the Waterfront, June 1958-May 1959
1. Normalization of Korea-U.S. alliance will be key topic in meetings
2. Why South Korea’s Place Is in the Quad
3. Kim's sister in North Korea enraged by Seoul's preemptive strike comments
4. N.Korean Hackers 'Stole Missile Intercept Technology'
5. Yoon seeks to strengthen alliance with U.S., joint efforts to denuclearize N. Korea: delegation chief
6. S. Korea urges N. Korea to stop escalating tensions
7. Yoon to complete Cabinet nominations by next week
8. Hope and worry coexist about prime minister nominee Han
9. Jim Rogers to serve as inter-Korean cooperation project adviser for Paju city
10. Fears grow over China's retaliation to Korea's planned fines for shipping firms
11. Korea to conduct full-fledged solid-fuel space rocket launch in 2025
12. Yoon faces familiar dilemma over restoring Japan relations
13. Two Koreas hold daily liaison call despite Pyongyang's renewed threat
14. Many North Koreans react to test launch of Hwasong-17 with criticism
15. How Washington and Seoul Can Get on the Same Page to Deter North Korea
1. Normalization of Korea-U.S. alliance will be key topic in meetings
We should hope for productive meetings and frank exchanges of views.
Sunday
April 3, 2022
Normalization of Korea-U.S. alliance will be key topic in meetings
The People Power Party's Rep. Park Jin, center, and Rep. Cho Tae-yong, left, and other members of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's U.S. policy delegation speak with the press at the Incheon International Airport on Sunday morning before departing for their week-long visit to Washington to meet with members of the Joe Biden administration and Congress to coordinate U.S.-Korea policies on North Korea and other regional affairs. [NEWS1]
Normalization of the Korea-U.S. alliance will be a key message in the upcoming meetings in Washington, according to People Power Party (PPP) Rep. Park Jin, head of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's special delegation to the United States.
“The delegation will deliver President-elect Yoon's will to normalize the Korea-U.S. alliance to the U.S. administration, Congress and members of the government and the private sector,” Park told the press at Incheon International Airport on Sunday morning.
Park and members of the delegation, including PPP Rep. Cho Tae-yong, formerly the vice foreign minister, and Chung Jae-ho, professor of international politics at Seoul National University, were scheduled to meet with members of the Joe Biden administration, Congress and think tanks in Washington during their week-long visit.
When asked if the delegation would be meeting with President Biden during a press conference on Friday, Yoon’s spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye did not comment but added they will be meeting with “responsible key personnel” in Washington.
“We feel a great sense of responsibility in departing for the U.S. at such a time as this when the Korean Peninsula is facing tense geopolitical situations, with North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile launch, the U.S.-China rivalry and changes in the global supply chain,” Park said.
Park, a four-term lawmaker who had passed the free trade agreements with the United States and the European Union, and the North Korea Human Rights Act while he was heading the foreign affairs committee of the National Assembly from 2008 to 2010, has been a vocal critic of the Moon Jae-in administration's "strategic ambiguity" in dealing with the U.S.-China rivalry, as well as its project to formally declare an end to the 1950-53 Korean War.
The Moon administration has been pushing to formally declare an end to the war which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas still technically at war.
“Declaration of an end to the war without substantial denuclearization from the North will incapacitate the [Korea-U.S.] alliance and jeopardize the security of the Korean Peninsula,” Park was quoted to have said in a closed-door meeting with members of the Seoul-based Korea-U.S. Alliance Foundation last month.
“The ambiguous stance of 'strategic ambiguity' undermines the trust of the alliance,” Park was also quoted to have said in the meeting. “We have to look at China accurately and make a cool and pragmatic judgment. The next government will protect Korea’s national interests, identity, and the people’s right to live, and pursue dignified diplomacy that speaks for itself.”
The delegation was also expected to discuss the Korea-U.S. joint military exercises, which have been scaled down since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, and the Seoul-Washington-Tokyo trilateral cooperation, despite the ongoing diplomatic low between Korea and Japan over a number of issues stemming from the 1910-45 Japanese annexation of Korea.
Both Park and Cho of the delegation have been floated as a possible candidate for foreign minister in the incoming Yoon administration.
BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]
2. Why South Korea’s Place Is in the Quad
The Quad can no longer be the Quad. We will need a pithy new name and the Quint should not be it.
Why South Korea’s Place Is in the Quad
Increasing both the Quad’s membership and influence can serve as the basis of the Biden administration’s strategy to check China’s maximalist ambitions in Asia.
After winning one of the closest elections in South Korean history, opposition conservative candidate Yoon Suk-yeol looks set to overhaul his nation’s foreign policy and posture on the global stage. As part of his platform, Yoon called for deepening relations with the United States, advocated for a more rigid stance against North Korea via a “peace through power” framework that includes acquiring preemptive strike capabilities, and pushed back against Chinese threats to South Korea’s national interests.
With Yoon’s victory, the Biden administration has an invaluable opportunity to bring much-needed operational context to its vague vision for a “free and open Indo-Pacific” and simultaneously shape a coherent American strategy to confront the China challenge. Its recently released Indo-Pacific Strategy relies considerably on alliances, partnerships, and regional organizations. This identified necessity to shore up America’s multilateral alliance network in Asia has grown more critical in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Future president Yoon seemingly feels that South Korea has a similar pressing need to bolster its bilateral and multilateral relationships. In a Foreign Affairs article published in early February as Russian troops were massing on Ukraine’s borders, Yoon wrote, “Seoul should willingly participate in Quadrilateral Dialogue working groups, consider joining multilateral regional cooperative initiatives in phases, and take part in trilateral security coordination with the United States and Japan.”
While a host of subject matter experts have aptly pointed out that “China is not Russia” and “Taiwan is not Ukraine,” it is the similarities between them, rather than the distinctions, that have caught the region’s attention. As the Indo-Pacific grapples with the implications of Russia’s unprovoked aggression against Ukraine, the Biden administration should follow Yoon’s lead and invite South Korea to join the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad). While China will not see it this way, to steal a phrase used often by its senior Party members, South Korea’s ascension to the Quad is “win-win cooperation”—a win for South Korea, the Quad nations, and the entire Indo-Pacific region.
Taiwan Is Not Ukraine, But Is It Close Enough?
Russia’s senseless invasion of Ukraine has sent shockwaves around the globe. Outside of Europe, they are being felt most severely in Asia. President Vladimir Putin’s unilateral decision to bring the most disastrous war to Europe’s doorstep since World War II has left many Asian governments uncomfortably aware that President Xi Jinping could singlehandedly bring similar chaos to their neighborhood.
Comparing Russia’s military adventurism in Eastern Europe over the past decade and a half to future Chinese aggression in East Asia is a helpful heuristic for understanding this unease. It also underscores the irreplaceable opportunity the disastrous events in Europe offer Asia: a look into the future. Rather than waiting for an inevitable cross-strait invasion by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at some unknown impending date, Taiwan and nations interested in seeing it remain free of China’s totalitarian grasp can take deliberate steps to prevent that eventuality. All members of the Quad and South Korea fall squarely into this camp.
Even states that cannot directly tie their interests to the freedom and sovereignty of Ukraine or Taiwan should take notice. Because the absolute and relative balance of power are almost always changed in response, it is a fallacy to assume that a nation will be sated after realizing seemingly minimalist geopolitical objectives. As evidence, Russia’s hostility toward Ukraine did not stop after it seized Crimea and destabilized the Donbas. Instead, it used these territories as a staging ground to build the combat power necessary to launch the more recent invasion. Regardless of the political or military outcome, Russian irredentism is unlikely to be limited to Ukraine. Likewise, it is highly doubtful that Chinese aggression would cease if it brought Taiwan under its control. Instead, it would use Taiwan to militarily threaten claims in the East China Sea and the South China Sea. Should it successfully gain control of these areas, China’s gaze will only look further afield.
Russia’s offensive in Ukraine was a catalyst for much-needed North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and European Union (EU) unity. Just as Finland and Sweden are reconsidering their membership in NATO, so too will select Asian nations rethink their alliance posture. The Quad should be the organization of choice for those that seek to push back against Beijing’s aggressive advances but individually lack the resources to match its might. Thus, rather than asymmetric bilateral engagements where China relies on structural advantages, the Quad can serve as the bulwark against Beijing’s belligerence that like-minded nations seek to align with and join where values and interests align.
Yoon Shakes Up South Korea
Yoon is also prepared to upend Seoul’s relationship with Pyongyang. During a presidential debate in February, he remarked:
Peace can only be maintained when there is strong deterrence. A war can only be prevented by securing a preemptive strike capability and showing the will to pursue it. As we have seen in Ukraine, a country's national security and peace cannot be protected by paper and ink.
His willingness to reframe South Korea’s national security posture and foreign relations on the campaign trail speaks volumes about what his administration might portend. At a minimum, Yoon’s rise to power heralds a stark change from President Moon Jae-in’s priority of promoting amity toward North Korea at seemingly any cost. However, his maximalist objectives reach far beyond the pariah state to the north. South Korea is a proud democracy, economic powerhouse, and cultural heavyweight fueled by vast and innovative human capital. Yoon yearns for South Korea to cultivate a foreign policy and role in the international community commensurate with these realities. The declared foundation of this strategy is building a firmer relationship with the United States. Yet, a deeper partnership with Washington alone will prove insufficient to meet his ambitious aims. Yoon should widen the aperture to include Tokyo, Canberra, and New Delhi. Rather than simply participating in Quad working groups, he should seek South Korea’s membership in the organization.
An explicit requirement for Seoul to achieve Yoon’s dream of enhanced global standing is to divest its focus from Pyongyang and redirect it to other national priorities. This task will be tricky. Independent of geography, culture, and filial ties, Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un’s attention-grabbing antics, most often in the form of provocative weapon tests, are hard to ignore. President-elect Yoon was just uncomfortably reminded of that reality as North Korea tested a banned intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time since 2017. However, the responsibility to confront and respond to North Korean provocations should not fall to South Korea alone. South Korea’s ascension to the Quad would allow it to engage its northern neighbor via a regional grouping where all member states share similar geographic proximity and concern for the destabilizing force of a nuclear-armed North Korea. Rather than continuing to devote its finite diplomatic and military resources to a bilateral dynamic that has consumed its psyche for decades yet resulted in no noticeable progress, South Korea can ask the Quad to shoulder more of the burden for regional stability.
Suppose that Yoon can partially divest South Korea’s foreign policy and national security establishment from North Korea. In that case, he will have more assets to devote to what he sees as a long-overdue priority: recalibrating relations with China. Yoon laments Seoul’s past accommodation to Beijing’s economic retribution and compromise on what he views as South Korea’s “core security interests,” including challenges to its national sovereignty. While its decision to join the Quad will certainly draw Beijing’s ire, paradoxically, it will allow Seoul to chart a more independent geopolitical path that is less susceptible to Chinese coercion.
The Need to Expand the Quad
The United States has struggled under multiple presidents to articulate and execute a clear competitive strategy for dealing with a resurgent and revanchist China. For President Barack Obama, the emphasis was a “pivot” subsequently reframed as a “rebalance” that resulted in little change. In contrast, the solution was haphazard economic sanctions and tariffs for President Donald Trump, many of which he levied on allies and partners. President Joe Biden’s stated approach is leveraging America’s unmatched alliance system, though the goal of this plan remains unclear. Consequently, incoherence has been the only consistent aspect of America’s contemporary China policy.
Not wanting to feed China’s perpetual narrative that America holds a “Cold War mentality” toward its modern rise, the United States has firmly avoided an overt strategy of “containment 2.0.” Likewise, from a multilateral perspective, the overarching desire of both America and its regional allies and partners to avoid antagonizing China via establishing an “Asian NATO” has foiled the unified opposition necessary to check Beijing’s ambitions. It is time to rethink these sensitives. Many are already describing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the end of the post-Cold War era. The coming period of protracted strategic competition requires new dogmas and paradigms.
Confidently describing China’s preordained march to prosperity and power, Xi notoriously declared, “The East is rising and the West is declining.” Ironically, Xi’s “no limits” partner bet the house on this premise and lost it. Among many errors, Putin’s most costly misjudgment was his assessment of the West’s resolve to oppose him. Yet, the integrated response to his incursion was swift and merciless and significantly did not come via troop deployments to Ukraine. Contrary to Xi’s categorical account of the global geographical shift in power, the West is far from declining. However, what he should fear more than this miscalculation, is misreading the rise of the East.
Increasing both the Quad’s membership and influence can serve as the basis of the Biden administration’s strategy to check China’s maximalist ambitions in Asia. As events across the Atlantic have shown, Biden’s faith in America’s system of alliances, partners, and friends is well-placed. It’s time for the United States to double down on that conviction before Putin’s maniac decisionmaking in Eastern Europe is replicated in East Asia.
In early March, Biden convened a call with the Quad heads of state to discuss the situation in Ukraine. They agreed to meet again at some point in Tokyo “in their continuing pursuit of a free and open Indo-Pacific.” The Quad should invite South Korea to attend this meeting as both an observer and presumptive member to remain true to that endeavor. The primary agenda item should be how to most effectively expand and strengthen the Quad so that it can replicate both the coalitional unity of purpose and unassailable resolve that Putin has forced upon Europe before Asia is similarly plunged into mindless chaos.
Nicholas Hanson is a class of 2024 joint degree MPP and MBA candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard Business School. He previously served as an intelligence officer in the United States Marine Corps and made rotations to East, Southeast, and South Asia.
Image: Reuters.
3. Kim's sister in North Korea enraged by Seoul's preemptive strike comments
A lot of breathless reporting on the reemergence of Kim Y- jong and her fiery rhetoric. No one can know for sure what is happening inside Pyongyang and the Royal Court. Is Kim Yo-jong playing the bad cop for Kim Jong-un?
But her rhetoric is in no way surprising.
We should take away the probable truth that it is likely she remains his trusted confidant and that being out of the limelight for periods of time does not mean she has fallen out of favor. But again, who can know for sure what is happening inside the regime that is best described as a mafia-like crime family cult?
Kim's sister in North Korea enraged by Seoul's preemptive strike comments
NPR · by The Associated Press · April 3, 2022
FILE - Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam, March 2, 2019. Jorge Silva/AP
SEOUL, South Korea — The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called the South Korean defense minister a "scum-like guy" for talking about preemptive strikes on the North, warning Sunday that the South may face "a serious threat."
Kim Yo Jong's statement came amid heightened tensions between the rival Koreas over the North's spate of weapons tests this year, including its first intercontinental ballistic missile launch in more than four years. Some experts say her statement could signal that North Korea will conduct more significant weapons tests soon and take a hardline stance on South Korea.
The ICBM test on March 24 that broke North Korea's four-year moratorium on big weapons tests was an embarrassment to South Korea's liberal President Moon Jae-in, who has pushed hard to achieve greater reconciliation between the countries and find a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear crisis.
During a visit to the country's strategic missile command on Friday, South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook said that South Korea has the ability and readiness to launch precision strikes on North Korea if it detects the North intends to fire missiles at South Korea. Seoul has long maintained such a preemptive attack strategy to cope with North Korea's growing missile and nuclear threats, but it was highly unusual for a senior Seoul official under the Moon administration to publicly discuss it.
On Sunday, Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, issued blistering rhetoric directed at Suh and threats toward Seoul.
"The senseless and scum-like guy dare mention a 'preemptive strike' at a nuclear weapons state," Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media. "South Korea may face a serious threat owing to the reckless remarks made by its defense minister."
"South Korea should discipline itself if it wants to stave off disaster," she said.
Kim Yo Jong, a senior official in the North's ruling Workers' Party, is in charge of relations with Seoul and Washington. South Korea's spy service says she is the North's No. 2 official behind her brother.
Pak Jong Chon, a secretary in the Workers' Party's central committee, separately warned that "any slight misjudgment and ill statement rattling the other party under the present situation" may trigger "a dangerous conflict and a full-blown war."
Pak said North Korea will "mercilessly direct military force into destroying major targets in Seoul and the South Korean army" if South Korea preemptively attacks North Korea.
Relations between the Koreas briefly flourished in 2018 after North Korea abruptly reached out to South Korea and the United States and expressed its willingness to put its nuclear program on the bargaining table. At the time, Kim Yo Jong visited South Korea to attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics and conveyed her brother's invitation for Moon to visit the North. Kim Jong Un and Moon eventually met three times in 2018.
But North Korea turned a colder shoulder on Moon and cut off ties with South Korea after its broader nuclear diplomacy with the United States collapsed in 2019 due to disputes over U.S.-led economic sanctions on the North.
"Kim Yo Jong's remarks foreshadow another significant military test," said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. "Similar to how Moscow and Beijing try to gaslight the world that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is somehow the fault of NATO, Pyongyang will blame its nuclear and missile advancements on the U.S.-South Korea alliance."
Analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea said that the back-to-back North Korean statements indicate that it will take hardline steps toward South Korea. He said that Pyongyang is sensitive to Seoul's preemptive attack capability because it lacks military assets and capability to detect South Korean strikes in advance.
But Cheong worried that Seoul's public comments on preemptive strikes would result in strengthening the voices of hardline officials in Pyongyang and raising tensions between the Koreas.
Moon's single five-year term ends in May, when he will be replaced by conservative Yoon Suk Yeol, who openly discussed the preemptive attack strategy on North Korea during his campaign. His liberal rivals criticized him for unnecessarily provoking North Korea, but Yoon said he would pursue a principled approach on Pyongyang.
The United States has urged North Korea to return to talks without preconditions, but the North has rejected such an overture saying the U.S. must first drop its hostility toward it. Kim Jong Un has repeatedly vowed to expand his nuclear arsenal as a diplomatic stalemate with Washington continues.
Some experts say the North's recent missile tests were meant to perfect its weapons technology, boost its leverage in future negotiations with the U.S. and secure stronger internal loyalty. They say North Korea could soon conduct another ICBM launch, a launch of a satellite-carrying rocket or a test of a nuclear device in coming weeks.
NPR · by The Associated Press · April 3, 2022
4. N.Korean Hackers 'Stole Missile Intercept Technology'
No surprise that the regime is making the best use of its all purpose sword.
N.Korean Hackers 'Stole Missile Intercept Technology'
April 04, 2022 13:23
North Korean hackers have stolen foreign technology to evade intercept defenses against hypersonic missiles, a UN report suggests.
The annual report by the UN Security Council's Panel of Experts overseeing sanctions against North Korea last Friday warns the North continues development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles and has probably stolen the intercept-evasion technology.
The regime has already succeeded in testing a hypersonic missile capable of flying at a low altitude along an irregular trajectory from a mobile missile launcher, which is hard to intercept with the existing defense systems of South Korea and the U.S.
Quoting the intelligence agency of a UN member state, the report speculates that North Korean hackers stole the technology for the development of such a missile.
Trading of raw materials and components needed for development of ballistic missiles is strictly banned by international sanctions, but they have been secretly supplied to the North by China and Russia, the report says.
It said O Yong-ho, a 60-year-old diplomat at the North Korean Embassy in Moscow, is in charge of procurement of Russian raw materials. The diplomat obtained from Russian companies or missile engineers 9 tons of stainless steel alloys used for liquid-propellant ballistic missiles and for submarine-launched ballistic missiles in 2018; a copy of the blueprint of Russia's TRDD-50 cruise missile in 2019; and a manual for ball bearings for solid missile propellants in 2020.
The North also allegedly bought stainless steel alloys, valves, pumps, and ball bearings for missile engines from a Chinese company in Dandong last year through an official at the Korea General Machinery Trading Corporation. North Korea's Munitions Industry Department bought materials for solid missile propellants such as aluminum powder through another North Korean official in the Chinese city of Shenyang in 2019 and 2020.
But Moscow and Beijing denied they have any information on North Koreans' purchase of contraband, while Russian and Chinese companies refused to respond to the report.
/News1
North Korea joined only four other countries that opposed a UN resolution condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine in an emergency special session last month. On March 25, China and Russia blocked the UN Security Council from issuing a press statement condemning Pyongyang's latest intercontinental ballistic missile launch.
While keeping its borders closed amid the coronavirus pandemic, Pyongyang has been busying itself with various kinds of cyber crimes, including hacking, to earn hard currency and develop weapons by evading international sanctions.
The report says cyber attackers linked to the North's Reconnaissance General Bureau stole more than US$50 million in total from cryptocurrency exchanges in North America, Europe and Asia from 2020 to mid-2021. It quotes cybersecurity firm Chainalysis as speculating that Pyongyang stole cryptoassets worth over $400 million through at least seven cyberattacks last year alone.
The U.S. Treasury Department last Friday blacklisted five North Korean agencies and companies for their roles in the regime's ICBM development -- the Ministry of Rocket Industry, Hapjanggang Trading Corporation, Korea Rounsan Trading Corporation, Korea Sungnisan Trading Corporation and Unchon Trading Corporation.
- Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com
5. Yoon seeks to strengthen alliance with U.S., joint efforts to denuclearize N. Korea: delegation chief
Should be an interesting week with this delegation in DC.
Excerpts:
"The security situation on the Korean Peninsula is in a serious condition and there are many issues the countries must work together to address such as peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and other regional and global issues," said Park.
...
"We also have in mind incentives such as assistance and economic cooperation for North Korea in case the North takes concrete steps to denuclearize," he said.
...
Still, he dismissed the possibility of Yoon holding an inter-Korean summit just to restart dialogue with the North.
Yoon seeks to strengthen alliance with U.S., joint efforts to denuclearize N. Korea: delegation chief | Yonhap News Agency
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, April 3 (Yonhap) -- President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol and his administration will work with the United States to strengthen the countries' alliance and their joint efforts to tackle various issues, including North Korea, the head of Yoon's delegation to the U.S. said Sunday.
Rep. Park Jin of Yoon's People Power Party also said the purpose of the delegation's visit was to closely coordinate their policies before the president-elect takes office on May 10.
"There are seven of us here with expertise (in various area) that will enable substantive policy coordination with the U.S.," Park told reporters after arriving in Washington.
"We will hold discussions with people from the U.S. administration, Congress and think tanks to lay the groundwork for the normalization of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and to place the bilateral relationship on a strong foundation," he added.
Park also highlighted the importance of U.S.-South Korea cooperation in dealing with North Korea as his visit follows a series of North Korean missile launches that included the firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the first of its kind since November 2017.
"The security situation on the Korean Peninsula is in a serious condition and there are many issues the countries must work together to address such as peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and other regional and global issues," said Park.
The chief delegate said the incoming administration's policy toward North Korea will be based on "principles," despite widely-held views that a conservative Yoon administration will likely take a more hard-line stance toward Pyongyang.
"We also have in mind incentives such as assistance and economic cooperation for North Korea in case the North takes concrete steps to denuclearize," he said.
Park said his meetings here will also include discussions on actual steps the North would have to take to enable such incentives, adding the U.S. and the incoming Yoon administration both believe that denuclearization is the only path available to North Korea.
Still, he dismissed the possibility of Yoon holding an inter-Korean summit just to restart dialogue with the North.
"It is not an issue that can all of a sudden be resolved just by leaders deciding to do so," said Park. "We believe the natural process to address the North Korean nuclear issue is to create a realistic and verifiable roadmap (to denuclearization) and then hold a leaders' summit based on that."
Pyongyang has avoided denuclearization talks since late 2019. It also remains unresponsive to numerous overtures from both Seoul and Washington.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
6. S. Korea urges N. Korea to stop escalating tensions
Not even a "strongly" worded statement despite the use of "strongly" in the English translation. The Ministry of Unification should not be issuing such statements. I hope in the new Yoon administration the MOU will focus on actual planning for unification and all the difficulties that will entail.
(LEAD) S. Korea urges N. Korea to stop escalating tensions | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with unification ministry's response)
By Yi Won-ju
SEOUL, April 4 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean government called Monday on North Korea to refrain from escalating tensions in the region, responding to the latest statement, directed at Seoul, by Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of North Korea's leader.
"The Ministry of Unification clearly points out that North Korea should not cause additional tension on the Korean Peninsula in any case," the ministry's spokesperson Lee Jong-joo told a regular press briefing.
The ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, "strongly urges" the North to return to the path toward dialogue and cooperation instead of tension and confrontation, according to Lee.
At the weekend, Kim unleashed harsh criticism of the South's defense chief, coupled with a threat of "serious" consequences in bilateral relations. Pyongyang will "reconsider a lot of things concerning South Korea," she added, as she reminded the South that the North is a "nuclear weapons state."
She took issue with Defense Minister Suh Wook's remarks that his troops maintain "preemptive strike" capabilities for use if necessary.
Last Friday, Suh said openly that his troops have the capabilities to "accurately and swiftly" strike the origin of North Korea's missile firing as well as command and support facilities in the case of clear signs of a launch toward the South.
Issuing her first public statement on South Korea in several months, Kim, vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), described the minister as a "senseless and scum-like guy."
In spite of her strongly worded message against Seoul, the two Koreas had their daily call at 9 a.m. Monday as usual via the inter-Korean liaison office, officials here said.
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
7. Yoon to complete Cabinet nominations by next week
Yoon to complete Cabinet nominations by next week
From left are Choo Kyung-ho, Choi Sang-mok, Park Jin, Shin Won-sik and Kwon Young-se. Korea Times photo
Choo Kyung-ho, leading candidate for deputy prime minister for economic affairs
By Kang Seung-woo
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is set to follow up his nomination for prime minister with the designation of ministers by the end of next week, according to his spokesperson, Monday.
Yoon, scheduled to take office, May 10, tapped former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, Sunday, to serve as the first premier in his administration, kicking off the process of nominating Cabinet members.
"Given that about three weeks are required for the National Assembly confirmation process, we need to announce the full list of Cabinet nominees by the end of next week," Kim Eun-hye said during a press briefing.
"This week, the president-elect will be committed to making selections for his incoming Cabinet."
With the appointment of the prime minister in the rearview mirror, attention is now on who will be named deputy prime minister for economic affairs and chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC). Yoon wants these people to work together with the prime minister as "one economic team" to stabilize the economy.
Rep. Choo Kyung-ho of the main opposition People Power Party is mentioned as the most likely candidate for the deputy prime minister post thanks to his past career
The two-term lawmaker, who served as the first vice finance minister and the FSC vice chairman, is regarded as the perfect fit as he has a full grasp of overall economic policy. In addition, he is now in charge of the subcommittee for planning and coordination at Yoon's transition committee.
Along with Choo, Choi Joong-kyung, a former knowledge economy minister under the 2008-13 Lee Myung-bak administration, is also being discussed for the post.
Choi Sang-mok, another former vice finance minister who heads the transition committee's first economy division, is highly anticipated to be tapped to head the FSC, while Kim So-young, an economics professor at Seoul National University, is emerging as a favored candidate for senior presidential secretary for economic affairs.
"I will announce the nomination of the deputy prime minister for economic affairs soon enough after holding discussions with the prime minister nominee," Yoon said, Sunday.
Along with the economic team, the president-elect is in the process of forming a national security team as he believes that these are the two most urgent issues facing the nation.
Two PPP lawmakers ― Reps. Park Jin and Cho Tae-yong ― stand out as front-runners in a pool of candidates for foreign minister.
Park, a four-term lawmaker who chaired the National Assembly Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee from 2008 to 2010, is expected to get the nod from Yoon over Cho, who served as the first vice foreign minister and the deputy national security advisor under the 2013-17 Park Geun-hye administration.
Both Park and Cho are now in the United States as part of a delegation to coordinate foreign and security policies with Washington ahead of Yoon's inauguration. If one is nominated foreign minister, the other could be tapped as the next ambassador to the U.S., according to sources.
Kim Sung-han, a former vice foreign minister under the Lee administration and one of Yoon's key policy mentors, is arguably the top contender for Cheong Wa Dae's national security advisor.
A professor at Korea University's Graduate School of International Studies, Kim served as the president-elect's chief foreign policy advisor during the election campaign, while heading the diplomacy and security division at the transition committee. Yoon and Kim are also old friends who attended elementary school together.
Rep. Shin Won-sik, a retired three-star Army general, and Kim Yong-woo, a former Army chief of staff, are being mentioned as defense minister.
Rep. Kwon Young-se, the vice chairman of Yoon's transition committee, is among the candidates for justice minister.
8. Hope and worry coexist about prime minister nominee Han
Hope and worry coexist about prime minister nominee Han
Prime Minister nominee Han Duck-soo answers reporters' questions while entering his office in Jongno District, Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
Han denies involvement in representing Lone Star Funds
By Nam Hyun-woo
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's nomination of Han Duck-soo as his first prime minister has received mixed reactions. He is a veteran bureaucrat who served in key posts during previous administrations. But some believe he is too old to push for changes in the incoming administration.
Yoon dropped hints about allowing the 72-year-old former prime minister to have a greater say in nominations of Cabinet ministers and key policy areas than his predecessors did. Despite the possibility of having more discretion, the road ahead for Han is murky as a tough confirmation hearing is expected in the National Assembly. Even if he passes that test, it also remains uncertain whether he can function smoothly and turn the tide in favor of the nation during the fast-changing digital era.
Although Yoon has pinned high hopes on Han's varied experience, given his background of serving in key government posts in both conservative and liberal administrations, there are skeptics who are doubtful of his capability to proceed as a free-willed prime minister who aggressively fulfills his role in striking a power balance with his boss, the president.
"I believe it is time that the prime minster actively exercises his right to recommend Cabinet ministers to the president, rather than staying as a ceremonial leader," Yoon's spokesperson, Rep. Kim Eun-hye, told reporters Monday.
"There have been efforts to give greater discretion and responsibilities to prime ministers in previous administrations, but it was difficult to see a noticeable outcome. … We will take that as a lesson and make efforts to have a more responsible prime minister."
Han was named as the first prime minister of the Yoon government on Sunday. While announcing him, Yoon told reporters that he and Han have agreed on the prime minister having greater discretion and responsibilities, such as allowing him to recommend ministers and other Cabinet members to Yoon.
According to the Constitution, ministers and other Cabinet members can be appointed by the president upon the recommendation of the prime minister. Despite its purpose of distributing the power of the president, the prime minister has long been considered as the ceremonial No. 2 person in the government. That's because the president has dominated nominations and has the right to appoint or sack the prime minister.
During the 2012 presidential election, then-presidential candidates Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in both pledged to introduce what was called the "responsible prime minister system," which is aimed at bolstering the No. 2 official's rights, but did not see tangible outcomes.
Yoon's intention to bolster the prime minister's discretion is in line with his campaign pledge to depart from Korea's legacy of "imperial" presidencies and delegate many rights of the president to the prime minister or ministers.
However, doubts have been raised as to whether Han will be able to exercise his discretion to stand up to Yoon himself.
During a radio interview, Monday, Rep. Woo Sang-ho of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said, "Han is not a suitable figure for this quasi-dual executive system."
"He is a bureaucratic manager, and it seems difficult for Han to make outspoken comments to President-elect Yoon," Woo said.
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol nominates Han Duck-soo, right, as the prime minister of the incoming administration during a press conference at the presidential transition committee office in Jongno District, Seoul, Sunday. Joint Press Corps
The outlook is also mixed regarding the upcoming National Assembly hearing on Han.
Since the president requires the Assembly's approval when appointing a prime minister, it is important for him to receive the approval of the majority party, which is the DPK, which hold more than 170 seats in the 300-seat Assembly.
Though DPK floor leader Rep. Park Hong-keun said Monday that the party will launch a tough and thorough vetting process of Han, a number of pundits anticipate that the ruling party will take a cautious stance toward Han, because he previously served in the prime minister post during the liberal Roh Moo-hyun administration. If the DPK criticizes Han over his past experiences in that administration, the party could end up contradicting itself.
"It seems that the president-elect is thinking of cooperation with the DPK as one of the priorities," Rep. Ha Tae-keung of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) said during a radio interview on Monday. "Han worked for the liberal Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations."
Casting further uncertainty is Han's background of having worked as an advisor for law firm Kim & Chang, which was the legal representative of Lone Star Funds, whose controversial acquisition of stakes in the Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) caused nationwide turmoil.
Civic group Specwatch said in a March 31 statement that Han was an advisor for the law firm from November 2002 to July 2003 and received 150 million won ($123,000) in salary there. Thus, he is responsible for the Lone Star case.
Texas-based Lone Star Funds acquired a 51-percent stake in the KEB in 2003 at 1.38 trillion won, despite controversy that the price was undervalued. The fund sold its stake back to Hana Financial Group at around 3.9 trillion won and then demanded that the Korean government pay 5 trillion won, claiming that the government's belated approval of the process had caused it to suffer losses. The case has been in dispute at the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes for more than a decade.
During his way to the office, Monday, Han told reporters that he was "involved in the case as a government official, but never had relations on this issue during my time at Kim & Chang."
9. Jim Rogers to serve as inter-Korean cooperation project adviser for Paju city
Mr. Rogers wants to be first to invest in the neighborhood (in nK).
Jim Rogers to serve as inter-Korean cooperation project adviser for Paju city | Yonhap News Agency
PAJU, South Korea, April 4 (Yonhap) -- U.S. investor Jim Rogers has been tapped to serve as an adviser on inter-Korean cooperation projects for Paju, a South Korean city near the border with North Korea, officials said Monday.
Rogers plans to visit Paju, 30 kilometers north of Seoul, on Wednesday to sign an agreement to serve as an adviser for the municipal government for its potential projects with the North, officials said.
Paju officials expect to receive policy advice from Rogers on a range of areas, including a potential railway project, the reopening of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, and a peace and ecological tourism project for the Demilitarized Zone.
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)
10. Fears grow over China's retaliation to Korea's planned fines for shipping firms
Fears grow over China's retaliation to Korea's planned fines for shipping firms
Fair Trade Commission Chairperson Joh Sung-wook announces the antitrust regulator's decision to fine 23 shipping companies with a combined 96.2 billion won for 15 years of alleged collusion, during a press conference at the Government Complex Sejong in this Jan. 18 file photo. NewsisBy Park Jae-hyuk
China has warned of potential retaliation against the Korea Fair Trade Commission's (FTC) attempt to fine shipping companies, including dozens of Chinese firms, for their alleged collusion to fix the freight rates for sea routes between the two countries over more than a decade.
According to industry officials, Monday, Korea's antitrust watchdog sent its review report on March 25 to around 20 shipping companies from Korea, China and Japan to inform them of its plan to fine them for simultaneously raising freight rates for the Korea-China and Korea-Japan routes.
The measure was taken about two months after the FTC decided in January to fine 23 shipping companies, including 11 foreign firms, a combined 96.2 billion won ($79 million) for 15 years of alleged collusion to fix the freight rates for sea routes between Korea and Southeast Asia.
The watchdog plans to hold a meeting on April 27 to determine the amount of the fines for the shipping companies that sailed the Korea-China route. The penalties on the shipping companies that sailed the Korea-Japan route will be determined at its April 28 meeting.
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, which supervises the shipping industry, has maintained a negative stance on the FTC's sanctions, saying it is unreasonable and thoughtless to prohibit "collaborative actions" that are allowed by international law.
"We have continued persuading the FTC, using all possible measures," said a government official from the maritime ministry's shipping policy division.
The ministry has been especially worried about possible diplomatic friction with China, because the Chinese government sent letters last May and July to the Korean government, expressing its concerns over the FTC's investigation into shipping companies that sailed the Korea-China route.
"If the FTC fines shipping companies for fixing freight rates for the Korea-China route, the shipping agreement between the two countries will become virtually invalid," the ministry said in its press release. "We are concerned about possible protest from the Chinese government and annulment of the shipping agreement between the two countries."
The FTC, however, has remained silent on the maritime ministry's claim.
Shipping companies have threatened to file an administrative lawsuit against the FTC.
"We hired a law firm to discuss possible countermeasures," a Korea Shipowners' Association official said. "We will file a lawsuit, as soon as the FTC determines sanctions on shipping companies that sailed the Korea-China and Korea-Japan routes."
The association has also been engaging in a petition campaign to collect 10 million signatures urging the FTC to withdraw its decision. In addition, it plans to send a letter to President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, hoping for him to side with shipping companies, based on his business-friendly stance.
There is greater likelihood of Yoon supporting shipping companies, since the maritime ministry sent its shipping and logistics bureau head to the presidential transition committee's second economy division in charge of industrial policies.
The incoming administration has also been urged to make efforts for the passage of revisions to the Marine Transportation Act, which will exempt collaborative actions among shipping companies from antitrust regulations.
If the National Assembly passes the revised bill, the FTC's sanctions will be nullified.
11. Korea to conduct full-fledged solid-fuel space rocket launch in 2025
Korea to conduct full-fledged solid-fuel space rocket launch in 2025
Agency for Defense Development test-launches a solid-fuel rocket from a water-borne platform off Taean, in this March 30 file photo. Korea is seeking to conduct a full-fledged solid-fuel space rocket launch in 2025, a government researcher said Monday. Yonhap
Korea is seeking to conduct a full-fledged solid-fuel space rocket launch in 2025, a government researcher said Monday, following its major performance test last week.
The country is aiming to launch the rocket to place a 500-kilogram experimental satellite into a low Earth orbit at an altitude of 500 kilometers by the target year, according to the official affiliated with the defense ministry.
"We are aiming for the full-fledged launch in 2025 from the Naro Space Center in Goheung," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity, referring to the launch site, 473 kilometers south of Seoul. "But prior to that, we might need one or two more capability tests."
Last week, the state-run Agency for Defense Development (ADD) test-launched a space vehicle from a water-borne platform off Taean, 150 kilometers southwest of Seoul, to confirm capabilities for fairing separation, upper-stage attitude control and other features.
The test was part of the country's efforts to secure capabilities to independently launch and run military satellites to bolster its space-based surveillance and reconnaissance activities.
For the planned 2025 launch, the country is expected to craft a four-stage rocket ― consisting of three solid-fuel rockets and the last-stage liquid-fuel rocket ― to put a small satellite into orbit.
"The key objective of the satellite is to observe the Earth. This can be used for both military and civilian sectors," the official said.
The official, however, dismissed speculation that Korea may be trying to accelerate its rocket development with a focus on sharpening its missile capabilities to counter North Korea's recent series of missile launches including the firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile in March.
"The ADD just happened to be the main developer of the solid-fuel rocket," the official said. "The agency has a role as a key provider of related technologies and its main goal is to transfer them to the civilian sector." (Yonhap)
12. Yoon faces familiar dilemma over restoring Japan relations
As the song goes"..., you know it ain't easy."
Excerpts:
Professor Yuji Hosaka of Sejong University said that although Yoon has vowed to restore the relationship with Japan, it is not an easy task for any president.
“The key problems of Korea-Japan relations are Dokdo, forced labor and comfort women. They did not begin during the Moon Jae-in government but lasted for more than a decade,” Hosaka said.
All three issues came to the fore around 2011 during the former Lee Myung-bak administration, but final rulings were made during Moon’s administration.
The relationship between Korea and Japan began to sour in earnest when former President Lee visited Dokdo in protest of Japan’s negligence on comfort women issues. Park Geun-hye’s administration also had intense conflicts with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over the same problem, saying she would not have a summit unless the issue were resolved.
“Too many things are complicatedly intertwined in relations with Japan, so it’s not easy to put them on the table at once as a grand bargain as Yoon pledged,” Hosaka said. “Each agenda is very complicated, so we have to solve it one by one. Whoever becomes president, it is a very complicated issue to solve.”
Yoon faces familiar dilemma over restoring Japan relations
Yoon vowed to restore strained relations, but it’s not that simple, experts say
Published : Apr 4, 2022 - 17:08 Updated : Apr 4, 2022 - 18:23
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol (Yonhap)
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s pledge to restore relations with Tokyo appears likely to experience difficulties, with the issue of distorting history in Japanese textbooks reemerging.
Yoon stressed Seoul-Tokyo relations as a priority during his campaign, and expectations have risen since his election win. Yoon is reportedly considering sending a delegation to Japan for policy coordination and to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida around May.
Before Yoon could put his words into action, however, an issue pertaining to Japanese history textbooks arose.
In late March, Japan released evaluations of its textbooks, including history and geography. The textbooks include the claim that Dokdo is Japanese territory. Expressions such as the “coercion” of Japanese colonial-era Koreans, which was previously included, was modified to expressions such as “mobilization.”
Seoul’s Foreign Ministry immediately expressed “deep regrets” and urged Tokyo to address the problem, describing the move as a distortion of historical truths. It also called in Naoki Kumagai, deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, to deliver a message of formal protest. The Education Ministry expressed regret, saying the textbooks are based on Japan’s own country-centered view of history.
Yoon has remained silent over the issue for several days.
When the Democratic Party of Korea accused Yoon of staying silent, Yoon’s office said that Yoon has refrained from commenting on the issue as the Moon Jae-in administration is still Tokyo’s diplomatic counterpart.
But Yoon’s office has expressed opinion on other diplomatic matters. The presidential transition committee called North Korea’s test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile a “significant provocation” and strongly condemned it.
It also asked the Korean Intellectual Property Office to actively play a role in preventing technology theft and leakage amid strong competition between the US and China for technology hegemony.
Yoon, who wants to have “future-oriented relations” with Japan, should express a clear stance on the thorny issues, including Dokdo, comfort women and forced labor, to truly restore relations with the country, experts say. Otherwise, Japan could strategically take advantage of the period of Korean regime change to push for policies in its favor.
“Japan wants to do this quickly and demand the new Korean government as it is,” said professor Lee Young-chae of Keisen University in Tokyo.
“Japan sees that Yoon Suk-yeol may not have a stronger position (against Japan) than Moon. So it wants to make its position on Dokdo and history textbooks much clearer during Yoon’s administration,” he said.
What Japan wants is to emphasize its position on historical issues and to only seek to cooperate on the North Korean nuclear issues and the Korea-US-Japan alliance, the professor said.
“However, if we let it slide, it can cause public outrage and distort the relationship with Japan even more,” Lee said.
It is true that Korea-Japan relations should be improved, but resolving the relationship without making a clear position on the thorny issues could make that more difficult, Lee added.
Professor Yuji Hosaka of Sejong University said that although Yoon has vowed to restore the relationship with Japan, it is not an easy task for any president.
“The key problems of Korea-Japan relations are Dokdo, forced labor and comfort women. They did not begin during the Moon Jae-in government but lasted for more than a decade,” Hosaka said.
All three issues came to the fore around 2011 during the former Lee Myung-bak administration, but final rulings were made during Moon’s administration.
The relationship between Korea and Japan began to sour in earnest when former President Lee visited Dokdo in protest of Japan’s negligence on comfort women issues. Park Geun-hye’s administration also had intense conflicts with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over the same problem, saying she would not have a summit unless the issue were resolved.
“Too many things are complicatedly intertwined in relations with Japan, so it’s not easy to put them on the table at once as a grand bargain as Yoon pledged,” Hosaka said. “Each agenda is very complicated, so we have to solve it one by one. Whoever becomes president, it is a very complicated issue to solve.”
13. Two Koreas hold daily liaison call despite Pyongyang's renewed threat
Routine phone check.
Two Koreas hold daily liaison call despite Pyongyang's renewed threat
The South Korean government called Monday on North Korea to refrain from escalating tensions in the region, responding to the latest statement, directed at Seoul, by Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of North Korea's leader.
"The Ministry of Unification clearly points out that North Korea should not cause additional tension on the Korean Peninsula in any case," the ministry's spokesperson Lee Jong-joo told a regular press briefing.
The ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, "strongly urges" the North to return to the path toward dialogue and cooperation instead of tension and confrontation, according to Lee.
At the weekend, Kim unleashed harsh criticism of the South's defense chief, coupled with a threat of "serious" consequences in bilateral relations. Pyongyang will "reconsider a lot of things concerning South Korea," she added, as she reminded the South that the North is a "nuclear weapons state."
She took issue with Defense Minister Suh Wook's remarks that his troops maintain "preemptive strike" capabilities for use if necessary.
Last Friday, Suh said openly that his troops have the capabilities to "accurately and swiftly" strike the origin of North Korea's missile firing as well as command and support facilities in the case of clear signs of a launch toward the South.
Issuing her first public statement on South Korea in several months, Kim, vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), described the minister as a "senseless and scum-like guy."
In spite of her strongly worded message against Seoul, the two Koreas had their daily call at 9 a.m. Monday as usual via the inter-Korean liaison office, officials here said. (Yonhap)
14. Many North Koreans react to test launch of Hwasong-17 with criticism
You cannot eat an ICBM (I know I am beating the horse with statements like that)
Many North Koreans react to test launch of Hwasong-17 with criticism
Every time the authorities feel insecure, they try to quiet public discontent by generating tensions with missile launches, a source told Daily NK
North Korea is promoting far and wide its purportedly successful test launch of the Hwasong-17 ICBM, but many North Koreans are reacting to the news with criticism.
According to a Daily NK source in North Hamgyong Province, local residents have been less-than-enthusiastic about the launch. They say the authorities should first resolve the food shortages they currently face.
In fact, the source said locals complain that even though more and more families are running short of food by the day with the start of spring, the authorities have not found a solution to the food shortages, but instead fire tons of cash into the sky with missile launches.
North Koreans are reportedly expressing discontent about the continuous shows of force this year, complaining that they do not know what they will do with the authorities firing off missiles while rice prices climb due to the protracted COVID-19 pandemic and law enforcement crackdowns prevent them from making a daily living.
In fact, the source said locals spend each day worried as the number of food-poor households climb this month and the price of rice and other items rise in the markets. He asked, “With the people upstairs showing no concern for this and simply promoting their successful test launch, who would like it?”
Some locals reportedly say the government aims to “tie people up” using the missile as an excuse, having spent the last two years using COVID as an excuse to stop them from doing anything. They also say, “If you’re going to have a war, start it quickly. If not, let us make a living so we can stop worrying about food.”
The source said since the time of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the authorities have kept stressing how bad the US is, saying North Korea has to develop missiles and bolster defense to boldly fight against US provocations, even if this means the people must tighten their belts.
Now, however, nobody is fooled by this, though the source says the authorities might believe they can still trick the people using excuses to “strengthen the nation’s defense.”
He said every time the authorities feel insecure, they try to quiet public discontent by generating tensions with missile launches. He added that the latest missile launch, too, is a scheme to promote unity by shifting responsibility for current difficulties on to the US.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
15. How Washington and Seoul Can Get on the Same Page to Deter North Korea
Concur. Hopefully the visit this week by President-elect Yoon's delegation will get us on the right track in accordance with this conclusion:
Conclusion:
With North Korea resuming a testing campaign for long-range missiles and possibly nuclear weapons, it is critical for the Yoon and Biden administrations to get out in front of a brewing crisis with actions to strengthen the alliance and messaging of solidarity. The best way to dissuade Kim from attempting nuclear coercion is to demonstrate why it will fail.
How Washington and Seoul Can Get on the Same Page to Deter North Korea - War on the Rocks
Moscow is using the threat of nuclear escalation to deter outside powers coming to Kyiv’s aid while it continues its devastating military assault on Ukraine. Not surprisingly, the Russo-Ukrainian War stimulated a boisterous debate in Seoul on how to make sure Kim Jong Un doesn’t follow Vladimir Putin’s playbook. Even though South Korea is a U.S. treaty ally covered by extended nuclear deterrence guarantees, which Ukraine is not, fears in Seoul of North Korean nuclear coercion are growing. The resulting policy debate centers on what steps the United States should take to increase the presence and visibility of nuclear weapons in the South Korean-U.S. alliance. As the Biden administration recalibrates policies to deal with the fallout from Russia’s invasion, addressing deterrence demands from allies in East Asia will be high on the list.
To deter North Korean nuclear coercion, and to disarm it in a crisis if needed, president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol has pledged to strengthen the South Korean-U.S. alliance and further develop capabilities for a pre-emptive strike. Some conservative politicians want Yoon to go further: to ask the United States to deploy nuclear weapons in South Korea or to “share” its nuclear weapons with South Korea, as it does with its NATO allies in Europe. These are not new ideas, but conservatives see the war in Ukraine as an opportunity to push Yoon to adopt them after he changed his position on nuclear weapons during the presidential campaign.
With a new Korean peninsula crisis looming, fueled by North Korea’s missile test and another possible nuclear test, the Yoon and Biden administrations ought to quickly get on the same page on how to deter North Korean nuclear coercion. The best way to prevent such coercion and to temper South Korean fears is for the Biden and Yoon administrations to make a high-profile announcement of new deterrence initiatives once the latter takes office on May 10.
Yoon inherits a robust defense budget and ongoing procurement of advanced conventional weapons. These include offensive strike missiles such as the Hyunmoo-4 and defensive systems such as the Korea Advanced Missile Defense and the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Aerial Defense (THAAD) medium-range missile defense system. In addition, South Korea has begun flying the F-35 fighter jet purchased from the United States. From a capabilities standpoint, South Korea appears well-prepared for a wide range of North Korea contingencies. Resumption of military exercises with the United States — another of Yoon’s pledges — will improve operational readiness.
However, enhancing the extended nuclear deterrence component of the South Korean-U.S. alliance presents challenges. Yoon seems poised to request a greater presence of U.S. nuclear weapons in the region and potentially even an unprecedented nuclear-sharing mechanism. The United States has a longstanding nuclear-sharing arrangement with several NATO states, which involves stationing U.S. nuclear weapons on their territories to be delivered by aircraft and pilots from those states in the event of a conflict. In some South Korean minds, these measures would make nuclear deterrence of North Korean threats more effective, thus dissuading Kim from attempting a Russia-style invasion.
The Biden administration should be receptive to ideas for enhanced consultation on extended deterrence, but is likely to deflect requests for new nuclear deployments in the region or nuclear sharing, which a senior U.S. State Department official stated in September 2021 “U.S. policy would not support.” To avoid an early misunderstanding with Yoon over a potential nuclear sharing or deployment request, the Biden administration should send prompt and firm signals that these measures should not top South Korea’s deterrence wish list and instead the two governments should pursue easier early wins.
For its part, the Biden administration clearly desires to engage South Korea in its “integrated deterrence” concept for the Indo-Pacific. This idea involves combining conventional, nuclear, cyber, space, and information warfare capabilities to deter a broader range of threats from adversaries. It is a pillar of the broader U.S. project of containing Chinese hegemony in Asia, and after reticence by the outgoing Moon administration to engage on these issues, Washington has high hopes that Yoon will be more amenable.
Although South Korean public opinion polls demonstrate increasing concerns about threats from China, Yoon presumably will tread carefully on signing up to the U.S. vision to avoid provoking Beijing early in his tenure. Recalling China’s damaging trade penalties on South Korea for agreeing to deploy the THAAD system in 2016, Yoon will need to walk a fine line between strengthening the alliance with Washington and refraining from jeopardizing deep economic ties with China.
Thus, there is a clear but narrow intersection of U.S. and South Korean interests on deterrence that suggests some low-hanging fruit for new initiatives. For example, the two sides could launch new high-level deterrence exercises (as a complement to regular military exercises) under the Security Consultative Meeting involving defense and foreign ministers. These exercises, to involve both senior military officers and government officials, could expand the range of contingency planning and simulate scenarios for North Korean attempts at nuclear coercion. Such exercises could also explore the conditions under which the United States would decide, with South Korean input, to use nuclear weapons against North Korea.
New deterrence exercises would be a significant step to strengthen the South Korean-U.S. alliance and signal resolve to North Korea and China. However, the peoples of South Korea and the United States are less likely to appreciate the importance of this step than are alliance managers within the two governments. To build greater public confidence about how the alliance enhances the security of both countries, senior South Korean and U.S. officials should engage in more public diplomacy on their approach to deterring North Korea’s nuclear coercion. Amidst high levels of public support for acquiring nuclear weapons in South Korea, such messaging would stress that the combination of South Korean military capabilities and U.S. extended nuclear deterrence is the best way to ensure South Korea’s security and demonstrate Seoul’s growing international clout. Although it would be unorthodox, the Russo-Ukrainian War demands more straight talk than usual: U.S. and South Korean officials should be ready to articulate why nuclear sharing or U.S. deployment of nuclear weapons are not necessary steps at this time.
With North Korea resuming a testing campaign for long-range missiles and possibly nuclear weapons, it is critical for the Yoon and Biden administrations to get out in front of a brewing crisis with actions to strengthen the alliance and messaging of solidarity. The best way to dissuade Kim from attempting nuclear coercion is to demonstrate why it will fail.
Toby Dalton is senior fellow and co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Image: Republic of Korea air force photo by Chief Master Sgt. Kim, Kyeong Ryul
V/R
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Phone: 202-573-8647
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
FDD is a Washington-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
