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Quotes of the Day:
"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
- Victor Frankel
You said, “They’re harmless dreamers and they’re loved by the people.” – “What,” I asked you, is harmless about a dreamer?” and “What,” I asked you, “Is harmless about the love of the people? – Revolution only needs good dreamers who remember their dreams.”
- Tennessee Williams, Camino Real 1953
“The greater part of the population is not very intelligent, dreads responsibility, and desires nothing better than to be told what to do. Provided the rulers do not interfere with its material comforts and its cherished beliefs, it is perfectly happy to let itself be ruled.”
- Aldous Huxley
1. US intel: Deterrence against North Korea is working
2. North Korea denies arms dealing with Russia
3. Recently obtained “confidential document” signed off by Kim Jong-un reports on a gruesome incident involving a shock brigade
4. North Koreans forced to clear snow from roads to capital on Lunar New Year
5. ‘Beyond Utopia’ Review: A Badass Pastor Smuggles North Koreans to Freedom in Secret Sundance Doc
6. Japan eyes easing S.Korea export controls as Seoul seeks to improve ties -media
7. Opinion | Women in South Korea Are on Strike Against Being ‘Baby-Making Machines’
8. S. Korea mistakenly fires machine gun near border with N. Korea
9. NATO chief calls for stronger security ties with S. Korea to address China, other global challenges
10. NATO chief stresses 'interconnected' security amid N. Korean support of Russian war efforts
11. Trilateral maritime exercise (UK, ROK, US)
12. FM Park, NATO chief discuss North Korea, expanding ties
13. What’s behind N.Korean criticism of US’ Ukraine support?
14. NATO to address North Korea-Russia arms trade
15. North denies sending arms to Russia, slams U.S. for 'groundless rumors'
1. US intel: Deterrence against North Korea is working
Sydney Seiler's message is broadcast in rntoh Korea by RFA.
But I will not reprise Sir Lawrence Freedman's quote here.
US intel: Deterrence against North Korea is working
Comments come in wake of details of ‘dramatic’ construction taking place at the North’s main rocket launch site.
Alex Willemyns for RFA
2023.01.26
Washington
rfa.org
The return to the U.S. policy of deterring North Korean aggression against the South by threatening a devastating counterattack is working, a senior U.S. intelligence adviser said Thursday.
The comments came in the wake of a new report detailing “dramatic” construction underway at North Korea’s main rocket launch site, which North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to shutter in 2018 amid his short-lived detente with then-President Donald Trump.
Speaking at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event, Sydney Seiler, the national intelligence officer for North Korea at the U.S. National Intelligence Council, said the return of U.S. policies of “extended deterrence” against the North were proving a success.
“The good news is, for now, North Korea is understanding of the overwhelming strength of the U.S.-R.O.K. alliance. It is fully aware of our commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea,” Seiler said, adding that the Kim regime was also clearly irked by growing U.S. links with regional powers Japan, Australia and India.
But Seiler said he was not concerned about renewed North Korean and Chinese propaganda decrying the return of U.S. deterrence policies and growing American regional alliances across Asia. Instead, he said the fervent response to both “proves to me they're working.”
“China will continue to deploy rhetoric, North Korea will probably increase that rhetoric with a lot of tension, increasing shows of force and training, etc., to try to discourage us,” he said, but “the mere deployment of these capabilities is not likely itself to lead to some inevitable escalation that we need to be worried about.”
Satellite launch construction
Seiler’s remarks came two days after CSIS issued a report detailing what it called “dramatic and ongoing” construction at the North’s main rocket launch site, the Sohae Satellite Launching Station, located near its northwestern border with China. Kim visited the site in March and ordered officials to expand its capabilities.
The CSIS report says the expanded development appeared intended to “support the long-term goal of launching larger and more capable space launch vehicles,” such as military reconnaissance satellites, even if such capabilities were not currently in place.
This overview of the Sohae Satellite Launching Station launch pad area shows the ongoing changes to the number and types of equipment and building supplies present, Jan. 18, 2023. (CSIS/Beyond Parallel/Airbus DS 2023)
“If all the announced modernization plans are completed and operational, it will provide North Korea with a comprehensive complex” with technology “useable by North Korea’s emerging intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) programs,” it says.
The resumption of the development of the facility, which Kim pledged to shutter during his detente with Trump, has been a key plank of North Korea’s response to renewed U.S.-led deterrence policies.
Not all are as sanguine about the Kim regime’s likely reaction to the return of the “deterrence” policies preferred by the administrations taking office in Washington and Seoul over the past two years.
Speaking at the same CSIS event as Seiler, Sue Mi Terry, the director of the Asia program at the Wilson Center, said she was not sure Pyongyang would necessarily always flinch from conflict.
“I don't want to say that Syd is not concerned – obviously he's concerned – but I think I'm more concerned,” Terry said.
She highlighted Pyongyang’s recent launch of short-range missiles that simulated a tactical nuclear strike on the South and its new law outlining when it would use nuclear arms in a conflict, which she described as “lowering the threshold for nuclear use.”
“North Korea has demonstrated its ability to deploy tactical nuclear weapons, [and] they've been focused a lot on tactical nuclear weapons,” Terry cautioned. “We don't know what Kim Jong Un is thinking. I don't want to be dismissive about that.”
rfa.org
2. North Korea denies arms dealing with Russia
Sigh... admit nothing, deny everything, make counter accusations.
North Korea denies arms dealing with Russia - Insider Paper
insiderpaper.com · by AFP · January 29, 2023
North Korea on Sunday denied providing arms to Moscow after the United States said the nuclear-armed state supplied rockets and missiles to Russia’s private military group Wagner.
Washington earlier this month designated the Wagner group as a “transnational criminal organisation”, citing its weapons dealings with Pyongyang in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
The White House showed US intelligence photographs of Russian rail cars entering North Korea, picking up a load of infantry rockets and missiles, and returning to Russia, according to national security spokesman John Kirby.
In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, a senior North Korean official rejected the accusations, warning that the US would face a “really undesirable result” if it persisted in spreading the “self-made rumour”.
“Trying to tarnish the image of (North Korea) by fabricating a non-existent thing is a grave provocation that can never be allowed and that cannot but trigger its reaction,” said Kwon Jong Gun, director general of the Department of US Affairs.
He also called it “a foolish attempt to justify its offer of weapons to Ukraine”.
Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden promised 31 Abrams tanks, one of the most powerful and sophisticated weapons in the US army, to help Kyiv fight off Moscow’s invasion.
The move drew a rebuke Friday from Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who accused Washington of “further crossing the red line” by sending the tanks into Ukraine.
During a meeting with South Korean foreign minister Park Jin in Seoul on Sunday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg acknowledged concerns about Pyongyang’s “reckless missile tests and nuclear programmes” and the ramifications of the Ukraine war in South Korea.
“We also know that North Korea is providing military support to the Russian war efforts with the rockets and missiles,” he added.
Along with China, Russia is one of the North’s few international friends and has previously come to the regime’s aid.
Other than Syria and Russia, North Korea is the only country to recognise the independence of Luhansk and Donetsk, two Russian-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.
Russia, one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, has long held the line against increasing pressure on nuclear-armed North Korea, even asking for relief from international sanctions for humanitarian reasons.
Kim Jong Un declared North Korea an “irreversible” nuclear state in September, and the country conducted sanctions-busting weapons tests nearly every month last year — including firing its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile.
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Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French state-owned international news agency based in Paris. It is the world's oldest news agency, having been founded in 1835 as Havas.
insiderpaper.com · by AFP · January 29, 2023
3. Recently obtained “confidential document” signed off by Kim Jong-un reports on a gruesome incident involving a shock brigade
We always have to take these reports with a grain of salt.
But interesting nonetheless. And not too far-fetched given everything we know about the Kim family regime and the situation inside north Korea.
Recently obtained “confidential document” signed off by Kim Jong-un reports on a gruesome incident involving a shock brigade
asiapress.org
The top-secret document recently obtained by ASIAPRESS. The document may have been released to spread news of a gruesome incident that occurred in a youth organization.
According to a “confidential document” recently acquired by ASIAPRESS, Kim Jong-un was made aware of an incident where a manager at a prominent construction agency beat to death one of his underlings for allegedly stealing his cell phone. The manager then poured diesel fuel on the body and cremated it to cover up the crime. (ISHIMARU Jiro)
◆ What was the aim of spreading word of the gruesome incident among government officials?
The document acquired by ASIAPRESS is entitled, “confidential”: Ratified by Supreme Commander Comrade Kim Jong-un on December 3, 2022 / Report on the beating death of an employee, falsely reporting the death as due to a heart valve failure, and cremating the body.”
The document was published by North Korea’s secret police, the Ministry of State Security, and includes an outline of the incident along with response measures ratified by Kim Jong-un. The document does not include any descriptions about instructions or orders made by Kim, which suggests that the document was published to spread word of the incident within the government.
The document does not specify the date in which the incident occurred; however, it may have occurred in the latter part of last year given that Kim Jong-un signed off on the document on December 3.
A photo published in the Rodong Sinmun in November 2021 of the 216 Division at work.
◆ Company commander kills underling for allegedly stealing cell phone, then burns body
The gruesome incident occurred in Sariwon, which is a city in North Hwanghae Province. The people involved in the incident were part of the 216 Division, one of North Korea’s “shock brigades” that manage construction and infrastructure projects.
“Shock brigades” are run like the military. The company commander of the brigade beat up an underling for allegedly stealing his cell phone while he was sleeping, killing him. The commander was scared about his crime being uncovered, so he reported to his superiors that the man had died of a heart valve failure and then poured diesel fuel on the body and cremated it.
◆ What are a “shock brigade” and the “216 Division”?
“Shock brigades” are, on their surface, volunteer-based, but in reality, participation in them is half-coerced because each workplace, organization and school have personnel quotas. Workers in the shock brigades are not paid much, either. Typically, people serve around 3-5 years in the brigades, which are mobilized to work on infrastructure and construction projects throughout the country.
The “Youth Alliance Shock Brigade,” which is affiliated with the “Socialist Patriot Youth Alliance,” a youth organization under the Workers’ Party, is a massive organization with over 1 million members. The 216 Division is also affiliated with the youth alliance.
South Korean media reports suggest that the 216 Division’s first appearance in North Korean state-run media was in November 2016. The 216 Division is a particularly large organization among the “Youth Alliance Shock Brigades,” and has been mobilized to work on railway and power plant projects, construction work on tourist sites in Samjiyon, and flood recovery projects. The “216” in the division’s name refers to Kim Jong-il’s birthday, which is on February 16.
◆ What does the confidential document say?
Below is a part of the document about the incident. Areas marked with parenthesis are those added by the editor.
“The commander of the Third Company of the Sariwon Battalion, which is part of the Railway Construction Brigade in the 216 Division’s North Hwanghae Province Regiment, beat to death a member of his company after his cell phone went missing and, fearing the consequences of his actions, falsely reported that the man had died of a heart valve (failure), and then cremated the body. Based on an investigation into the incident, the company commander was sleeping in his quarters when he discovered his cell phone missing. He believed one of his men to have taken it and beat the man several times while demanding the cell phone back in the company’s temporary barracks. When the man died, the commander, fearing the consequences of his actions, falsely reported to the regiment battalion that the man had died of a heart valve failure while sleeping before taking 30 kilograms of diesel fuel from the regiment’s supply department and cremating the body at a cremation site.”
While it is impossible to know why it was the Ministry of State Security (the secret police) that issued the document, the document states that it was ratified by Kim Jong-un and sent to the Ministry of Social Security (the national police agency).
※ ASIAPRESS smuggles Chinese cellphones into North Korea to maintain communication with its reporting partners.
asiapress.org
4. North Koreans forced to clear snow from roads to capital on Lunar New Year
No rest for the weary (or should I say slave to the Kim family regime).
North Koreans forced to clear snow from roads to capital on Lunar New Year
Residents say it is unfair to give up one of their few days of rest.
By Chang Gyu Ahn for RFA Korean
2023.01.27
rfa.org
Severe winter weather in North Korea dampened spirits over the Lunar New Year holiday, as the government forced citizens to shovel snow from major roads leading to the capital Pyongyang on one of their few days off, sources in the country told RFA.
Ordering people to provide free labor is common practice for the cash-strapped government, but making them toil away on arguably the most important holiday of the year, which fell on Jan. 22, made them especially angry, sources said.
“It snowed on the Lunar New Year in various parts of the country, including here in Kimchaek,” a woman from the city in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“The children were playing in the snow, but everyone else was mobilized early in the morning to clear the snow on the roads, even on the holiday,” she said.
The source said that the head of each neighborhood watch unit went door to door to tell people they had to clear snow, so no one, including the source herself, could avoid participating.
“After clearing the roads all day, we had to shift to clearing the snow that had hardened into ice from car wheels.”
Each family is responsible for a particular section of road and had to work for about an hour, according to the source.
The country’s priority is to keep all the roads that lead to Pyongyang open to prevent disruptions of supplies to the city, but residents were very unhappy to have their holiday disturbed, sources said.
Bitter days ahead
The weather in North Korea is expected to take a turn for the worse, according to forecasts broadcast on the Lunar New Year.
“The forecast said that cold temperatures as low as 30 degrees below zero [-22 degrees Fahrenheit],” a resident of North Hamgyong’s Puryong county told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
“The people are already having a harsh winter, without enough firewood or food,” he said.
People in Puryong are not well off, according to the county resident, so they cannot buy coal and firewood. Instead, the forest management office permits them to climb the nearby mountain once per week to forage for dead trees and shrubs they can burn to keep their homes warm.
Nonetheless, their televisions rang in the new year with images of smiling people in Pyongyang enjoying the holiday, a far cry from their reality.
“Here in the provinces, there were so many houses that couldn’t even have a special meal on New Year’s Day, let alone go watch art performances or play traditional games,” he said. “I couldn’t find anyone going out of their homes or smell the good food [they were cooking] like I did in times past.”
At the coldest time of the year, the government has also been cracking down on firewood and coal being sold on the black market, according to the second source.
“Most of the people have given up on heating their homes, using what little wood or charcoal they have to cook rice in the mornings and evenings,” he said.
The people are currently being made to collect scrap metal and make compost as part of government projects, and must return to frigid homes after a hard day’s work, according to the second source.
“The whole family sits around their stove where they cook dinner, warming their hands and feet,” he said. “The fire in the furnace is too small, so the room is cold. They cannot take off their socks and clothes and they must sleep so that their bodies are next to each other [to stay warm].”
Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
rfa.org
5. ‘Beyond Utopia’ Review: A Badass Pastor Smuggles North Koreans to Freedom in Secret Sundance Doc
I will be on the lookout for this film. (“Beyond Utopia” premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.)
Excerpts:
But anyone who needs to brush up on the evils that take place in North Korea will get a refresher within minutes of watching “Beyond Utopia.” Citizens are forced to live in unimaginable levels of poverty — many survive on the equivalent of $2 a month — so that all of the country’s resources can be invested in its military. That military works to keep Kim Jong-un in power at all costs and takes particular aim at anyone who tries to flee the country. Police and military officials are encouraged to be merciless towards anyone seeking a better life, and are rewarded with extra vacation time for any would-be defector that they murder.
That makes Pastor Kim’s job particularly hard, but he’s been able to find enough cracks in the system to offer his clients a glimmer of hope. He works with a network of brokers in North Korea who will connect citizens to the outside world for the right price. Very few geographical areas even have cellular service, and when someone figures out how to make a call, it’s usually being monitored. So he guides families through an elaborate communication process that involves sending screenshots of handwritten letters through a web of brokers with illegal cell phones. It can take months to exchange the equivalent of a few text messages, but people will do whatever it takes for a chance at freedom.
‘Beyond Utopia’ Review: A Badass Pastor Smuggles North Koreans to Freedom in Secret Sundance Doc
Indiewire · by Christian Zilko · January 27, 2023
Nobody who runs into Pastor Seungeun Kim would ever suspect that he was one of the world’s top covert geopolitical operatives. The soft-spoken Korean man — whose wife’s first impression of him was that he looked like Kim Jong-il because of his large belly — seems like he has more in common with a dorky dad from a GEICO commercial than Jack Ryan. But don’t be fooled by appearances: Pastor Kim is a straight-up badass. Over the past decade, he’s helped over 1,000 North Koreans escape to freedom — a jaw-droppingly impressive feat that should make every single person who watches “Beyond Utopia” question what they’ve done with their lives. If you have a family member looking to escape Kim Jong-un’s oppressive regime, he’s the guy you call.
Using his Rolodex of brokers, mercenaries, corrupt cops, and safehouses, he operates a pipeline that transports North Korean defectors to Thailand via a harrowing journey through China, Vietnam, and Laos. “Beyond Utopia,” Madeleine Gavin’s last-minute addition to the Sundance lineup, follows Kim as he takes on a challenge that’s harrowing even by his standards: transporting an entire family, including preschool-aged kids and an elderly grandmother, out of North Korea without a single casualty. It’s a feat of human ingenuity and perseverance that has to be seen to be believed, and even then you still might not be convinced it’s real.
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It’s no secret what goes on in North Korea, but it can be easy for Westerners to forget just how awful the country’s regime actually is. Everyone knows about the creepy propaganda and the starving children, but the country’s isolated nature generally keeps it out of the news unless there are rumors of a missile launch. Our attention is usually elsewhere because other nefarious actors on the world stage do a lot more to keep themselves in the headlines. Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine made Vladimir Putin’s sins impossible to ignore, and American companies do so much business in China that we inevitably hear more about the CCP’s Uyghur genocide than Kim Jong-un’s atrocities.
But anyone who needs to brush up on the evils that take place in North Korea will get a refresher within minutes of watching “Beyond Utopia.” Citizens are forced to live in unimaginable levels of poverty — many survive on the equivalent of $2 a month — so that all of the country’s resources can be invested in its military. That military works to keep Kim Jong-un in power at all costs and takes particular aim at anyone who tries to flee the country. Police and military officials are encouraged to be merciless towards anyone seeking a better life, and are rewarded with extra vacation time for any would-be defector that they murder.
That makes Pastor Kim’s job particularly hard, but he’s been able to find enough cracks in the system to offer his clients a glimmer of hope. He works with a network of brokers in North Korea who will connect citizens to the outside world for the right price. Very few geographical areas even have cellular service, and when someone figures out how to make a call, it’s usually being monitored. So he guides families through an elaborate communication process that involves sending screenshots of handwritten letters through a web of brokers with illegal cell phones. It can take months to exchange the equivalent of a few text messages, but people will do whatever it takes for a chance at freedom.
Once contact is established, it’s time to start making travel plans. While South Korea is the desired destination for most defectors, crossing the landmine-filled demilitarized zone is impossible. So North Korean escapees have to reach Thailand first, which requires trekking through China, Vietnam, and Laos, all of which have repatriation deals in place with North Korea. And sometimes that’s the best-case scenario, as North Korean travelers are often sold into sex slavery or to organ harvesters along the way. Pastor Kim is very clear about the risks the journey entails, but the Roh family jumps at the opportunity without hesitation.
What follows is an unprecedented look inside one of the most dangerous journeys on the planet. Kim uses a fleet of vans, planes, and boats to smuggle the family from safehouse to safehouse, but they still have to tackle some particularly treacherous stretches on foot. It seems unfathomable that anyone would ever consider letting a filmmaker follow them through something like this, and even more improbable that the footage would turn out this thrilling.
Still, “Beyond Utopia” often feels like a missed opportunity, as sloppy editing choices derail the film from becoming the kind of instant classic that it probably should have been. Despite the fact that Pastor Kim’s escape mission is a real-life geopolitical thriller that could have been ripped from a Tom Clancy novel, Gavin never seems comfortable allowing her documentary to unfold like one. Rather than let one of these incredible missions unfold in a linear fashion, she cuts away to a talking head interview about an unrelated topic whenever the tension starts to build. There are a few moments when it feels like the film is about to transcend the typical documentary formula and evolve into something much bigger, only to immediately pull back and show some generic commentary about life in North Korea. The film never fully commits to being a pure North Korean escape documentary, and its weakest moments come when it tries to be a general interest film about North Korea that happens to feature escape footage.
But at a certain point there’s no reason to split hairs — because when life hands you an opportunity to watch footage like this, you don’t turn it down. From an 80-year-old woman scaling a jungle-covered mountain in the dead of night while military dogs bark in the background to a mother tearing up as she shows her daughter fruits and flowers for the first time, “Beyond Utopia” is filled with the kind of holy shit how did they get this? footage that the documentary medium exists to preserve. Films like “Beyond Utopia” are the same as people like Pastor Kim — their existence is a miracle, and we need to cherish every one we get.
Grade: B
“Beyond Utopia” premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.
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Indiewire · by Christian Zilko · January 27, 2023
6. Japan eyes easing S.Korea export controls as Seoul seeks to improve ties -media
Possibly a positive step forward.
Japan eyes easing S.Korea export controls as Seoul seeks to improve ties -media
wtvbam.com · by Syndicated Content
By Kantaro Komiya
TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan is considering relaxing controls on exports to South Korea as its president, Yoon Suk-yeol, seeks to improve ties amid a strained East Asian security environment, the Sankei newspaper reported on Saturday.
Japan will decide whether to ease the curbs on shipping high-tech materials, which it imposed in 2019 over a dispute about Japan’s wartime forced labour of Korean workers, as the neighbours hold a series of talks aimed at solving the dispute, Sankei said, citing unidentified government sources.
Japan’s foreign ministry and trade ministry officials were not immediately available for comment on the report when Reuters contacted them outside regular business hours.
The issue of the export curbs would likely be resolved during consultations between South Korea and Japan on various issues including forced labour, South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Given the growing need to promote cooperation among countries sharing universal values at a time when the importance of economic security is increasing, we hope that Japan will judge wisely,” the South Korean ministry said.
Foreign ministers of the two countries met for talks in Tokyo this month. Their diplomatic officials are due to meet on Monday in the South Korean capital, Seoul, as they near a conclusion of a plan for the resolving their dispute, Jiji news reported on Friday.
The East Asian neighbours, both important U.S. allies, share a bitter history dating to Japan’s colonisation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
Yoon, who became South Korea’s leader in May last year, has also made increasing cooperation with Japan a core goal despite the lingering disputes.
(Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Additional reporting by Joyce Lee in Seoul; Editing by William Mallard, Robert Birsel)
wtvbam.com · by Syndicated Content
7. Opinion | Women in South Korea Are on Strike Against Being ‘Baby-Making Machines’
Demographics is a national security issue.
Excerpts:
A 2022 survey found that more women than men — 65 percent versus 48 percent — don’t want children. They’re doubling down by avoiding matrimony (and its conventional pressures) altogether. The other term in South Korea for birth strike is “marriage strike.”
The trend is killing South Korea. For three years in a row, the country has recorded the lowest fertility rate in the world, with women of reproductive age having fewer than one child on average. It reached the “dead cross,” when deaths outnumbered births, in 2020, nearly a decade earlier than expected.
Chung Hyun-back, who was South Korea’s gender equality minister in 2017-18, tried unsuccessfully to raise the country’s plunging fertility rate. Among the obstacles she says are to blame is the country’s “patriarchal culture.”Credit...JeongMee Yoon for The New York Times
Now, about half of the country’s 228 cities, counties and districts risk losing so many residents they might vanish. Day care centers and kindergartens are being converted into nursing homes. Ob-Gyn clinics are closing, and funeral parlors are opening. At Seoksan Elementary School, in rural Gunwi County, the student body has shrunk from 700 pupils to four. When last I visited, the children couldn’t even form a soccer team.
Opinion | Women in South Korea Are on Strike Against Being ‘Baby-Making Machines’
The New York Times · by Hawon Jung · January 27, 2023
Guest Essay
Women in South Korea Are on Strike Against Being ‘Baby-Making Machines’
Jan. 27, 2023
Women of reproductive age in South Korea are having fewer babies than any other country in the world.Credit...JeongMee Yoon for The New York Times
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Ms. Jung is the author of “Flowers of Fire,” a book about South Korea’s #MeToo movement.
After trying for over a year to persuade more South Korean women to have babies, Chung Hyun-back says one reason stands out for her failure: “Our patriarchal culture.” Ms. Chung, who was tasked by the previous government with reversing the country’s plummeting birthrate, knows firsthand how tough it is to be a woman in South Korea. She chose her career over nuptials and children. Like her, millions of young women have been collectively spurning motherhood in a so-called birth strike.
A 2022 survey found that more women than men — 65 percent versus 48 percent — don’t want children. They’re doubling down by avoiding matrimony (and its conventional pressures) altogether. The other term in South Korea for birth strike is “marriage strike.”
The trend is killing South Korea. For three years in a row, the country has recorded the lowest fertility rate in the world, with women of reproductive age having fewer than one child on average. It reached the “dead cross,” when deaths outnumbered births, in 2020, nearly a decade earlier than expected.
Chung Hyun-back, who was South Korea’s gender equality minister in 2017-18, tried unsuccessfully to raise the country’s plunging fertility rate. Among the obstacles she says are to blame is the country’s “patriarchal culture.”Credit...JeongMee Yoon for The New York Times
Now, about half of the country’s 228 cities, counties and districts risk losing so many residents they might vanish. Day care centers and kindergartens are being converted into nursing homes. Ob-Gyn clinics are closing, and funeral parlors are opening. At Seoksan Elementary School, in rural Gunwi County, the student body has shrunk from 700 pupils to four. When last I visited, the children couldn’t even form a soccer team.
Young Koreans have well-documented reasons not to start a family, including the staggering costs of raising children, unaffordable homes, lousy job prospects and soul-crushing work hours. But women in particular are fed up with this traditionalist society’s impossible expectations of mothers. So they’re quitting.
President Yoon Suk-yeol, elected last year, has suggested feminism is to blame for blocking “healthy relationships” between men and women. But he’s got it backward — gender equality is the solution to falling birthrates. Many of the Korean women shunning dating, marriage and childbirth are sick of pervasive sexism and furious about a culture of violent chauvinism. Their refusal to be “baby-making machines,” according to protest banners I’ve seen, is retaliation. “The birth strike is women’s revenge on a society that puts impossible burdens on us and doesn’t respect us,” says Jiny Kim, 30, a Seoul office worker who’s intent on remaining childless.
Making life fairer and safer for women would work wonders toward reducing the country’s existential threat. Yet this feminist dream seems increasingly far-fetched, as Mr. Yoon’s conservative government champions regressive policies that only magnify the problem.
South Korea’s demographic crisis was once inconceivable: As late as the 1960s, women had six children on average. But the state, pursuing economic development, carried out an aggressive population control campaign. In about 20 years, women were having fewer than the 2.1 children needed for replenishment, a number that’s only continued to drop. The latest available data from South Korea’s statistics agency put the fertility rate at 0.81 for 2021; by the third quarter of 2022 it was 0.79.
A nursing home in Gwangju Metropolitan City, South Korea, that used to be a day care center.Credit...JeongMee Yoon for The New York Times
Recent governments have indeed been alarmed by a rate that’s seemingly approaching zero. Over 16 years, 280 trillion won ($210 billion) has been poured into programs encouraging procreation, such as a monthly allowance for parents of newborns.
Many women still say nope. No wonder. There’s little escaping suffocating gender norms, whether in pregnancy guidelines to arrange clean undergarments for your husband before labor, or the dayslong kitchen drudgework for holidays like the Chuseok harvest festival. Married women are saddled with the lion’s share of chores and child care, squeezing new mothers so much that many give up professional ambitions. Even in dual-income households, wives daily spend more than three hours on these tasks versus their husband’s 54 minutes.
Discrimination against working mothers by employers is also absurdly common. In one notorious case, the country’s top baby formula maker was accused of pressuring female employees to quit after getting pregnant.
And gender-based violence is “shockingly widespread,” according to Human Rights Watch. In 2021, a woman was murdered or targeted for murder every 1.4 days or less, according to the Korea Women’s Hotline. Women have dubbed the act of ending a relationship without getting a vicious reaction a “safe breakup.”
But women haven’t passively accepted the toxic masculinity. They’ve organized raucously, from Asia’s most successful #MeToo movement to groups like “4B,” which translates to the “Four nos: no dating, no sex, no marriage and no child-rearing.” The country’s feminist movements have won the decriminalization of abortion and harsher penalties for an epidemic of spycam-porn crimes.
Many young Korean men, however, have declared themselves victims of women’s activism. President Yoon rose to power last year by leveraging this resentment. He echoed the dog whistle of men’s rights advocates, declaring that structural sexism no longer exists in South Korea and vowing tougher punishment for false reports of sexual assault.
Mr. Yoon’s government is removing the term “gender equality” from school textbooks and has canceled funding for programs to fight everyday sexism. “If you find gender equality and feminism so important, you can do it with your own money and time,” said one lawmaker in his party.
The government is also working to dismantle its own headquarters for women’s empowerment — the gender equality ministry. Established in 2001, it’s been transformative in normalizing parental leave for fathers and helping more women achieve workplace seniority.
Comments by the gender equality minister under the Yoon administration illustrate its abandonment of women. In September, Kim Hyun-sook rejected the idea that misogyny was at play when a Seoul Metro worker stabbed a female colleague to death in a subway bathroom after stalking her for years. Ms. Kim also initially declared that the rape and killing of a college student on campus last June was not violence against women and shouldn’t be used to fan “gender conflict.”
A nursing home and rehabilitation clinic in Paju, South Korea, that used to be a wedding hall.Credit...JeongMee Yoon for The New York Times
So far, none of the measures implemented by successive governments have flipped the trends in marriage and childbearing. Worse yet, the current government seems to be actively undermining efforts that gave women hope. “This is a historical regression,” says Ms. Chung, who was the gender equality minister from 2017 to 2018. Society can’t end the birth strike without acknowledging women’s grievances, she says.
Motivating Korean women to reconsider marriage and children involves infusing every aspect of their lives with agency and equality. A feminist approach would remove obstacles to motherhood simply by enforcing existing laws against workplace discrimination. It would destigmatize births outside of marriage and make domestic duties everyone’s responsibility. It would condemn gender violence as reprehensible. A feminist approach would admit there’s a systemic problem.
It’s clear that countries with a disproportionate division of child care or lacking national paid parental leave, like Japan and the United States, also have plunging fertility rates. It’s the same with China, where women inspired by South Korea started their own “Four nos” movement; government data this month reveals its population is shrinking, too. But countries with cooperative fathers and good family policies, like Sweden, or that recognize diverse companionships, like France, have been more successful at stabilizing or even bumping up births.
The United Nations projects that South Korea’s 51 million population will halve before the end of the century. Survival of the nation is at stake.
Hawon Jung (@allyjung) is the author of the forthcoming “Flowers of Fire: The Inside Story of South Korea’s Feminist Movement and What It Means for Women’s Rights Worldwide,” and a former Agence France-Presse reporter in Seoul. She splits her time between South Korea and Germany.
The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.
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The New York Times · by Hawon Jung · January 27, 2023
8. S. Korea mistakenly fires machine gun near border with N. Korea
S. Korea mistakenly fires machine gun near border with N. Korea | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 박보람 · January 29, 2023
CHUNCHEON, South Korea, Jan. 29 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean soldier has mistakenly fired a machine gun during training near the border with North Korea, and the military has immediately informed North Korea that the shooting was not intentional, military officials said Sunday.
The South Korean military said four live rounds were fired from the machine gun during a training session by an Army unit along the inter-Korean border in the eastern province of Gangwon at 6:27 p.m. on Saturday.
All of the bullets landed in the southern side of the Military Demarcation Line and no damage was reported. No firings were planned for the training.
The military unit immediately informed North Korea via broadcasting on several occasions that the firings were not intentional and stepped up emergency readiness posture, the officials said.
"No particular signs have been seen from the North Korean side, and an investigation is under way over the exact circumstances of the incident," an official of the unit said.
In May 2020, at least four bullets from North Korea hit South Korea's guard post at the central part of the Demilitarized Zone, prompting the South Korean troops to fire back.
It was the first exchange of gunfire between South and North Korea in years. Under the Comprehensive Military Agreement signed in September 2018, the two Koreas agreed to halt all hostile acts against each other, a move aimed at reducing tensions and building trust.
The DMZ, which is about 250 kilometers long and 4 km wide, is one of the world's most heavily fortified borders and has often been a flashpoint between the rival Koreas.
pbr@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 박보람 · January 29, 2023
9. NATO chief calls for stronger security ties with S. Korea to address China, other global challenges
Global pivotal state of South Korea.
I wonder what we will hear from China on this interview.
(Yonhap Interview) NATO chief calls for stronger security ties with S. Korea to address China, other global challenges | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · January 29, 2023
By Chung Bin-na and Song Sang-ho
BRUSSELS, Jan. 28 (Yonhap) -- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg emphasized the importance of beefing up cooperation between NATO and South Korea to counter China's growing military assertiveness and other global threats, highlighting the interconnectedness of security beyond geographical boundaries.
In an exclusive interview with Yonhap News Agency at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Friday ahead of a trip to Northeast Asia, Stoltenberg called North Korea a "threat to global security" and presented a vision for partnerships between South Korea and NATO on cybersecurity, technology and arms control.
He is scheduled to arrive in Seoul on Sunday for a two-day stay, during which he will meet with President Yoon Suk Yeol and other South Korean government officials.
"The most important message is that I strongly believe that we need to strengthen the partnership between Korea and NATO because security becomes more and more interconnected," he said with regard to his upcoming trip to Seoul. "What happens in Asia, the Indo Pacific, matters for Europe and NATO, and vice versa."
This photo, provided by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), shows NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg having an interview with Yonhap News Agency in Brussels, Belgium, on Jan. 27, 2023. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
The Yoon administration has notably sought to deepen Seoul's ties with the transatlantic alliance, as demonstrated in the establishment of its diplomatic mission to NATO last November and the president's attendance at a NATO summit last June.
Underscoring NATO's pursuit of closer cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners, Stoltenberg highlighted threats from China, a country that the alliance identified for the first time as a security challenge in its key strategic document last year.
"China is investing heavily in new modern military capabilities -- long-range missiles that can reach all NATO territory -- and is significantly and rapidly expanding their nuclear capabilities," he said. "We see how China is also coercing and intimidating countries, for instance in the South China Sea region, and it matters for global trade and for the freedom of navigation."
The NATO helmsman's Asia swing is expected to draw particular attention in China, with Beijing apparently wary of NATO's deepening regional engagement beyond its transatlantic scope amid an intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry.
Stoltenberg said that NATO will remain the "regional alliance of North America and Europe," but stressed "our region is affected by global threats and challenges beyond our region."
"We need to address these global threats and challenges, including the challenges coming from China, and one way of doing that is, of course, to work more closely with partners in the region," he stressed.
On concerns that following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, an emboldened China could seek to bring Taiwan under its control, Stoltenberg noted authoritarian world leaders are "watching carefully to what extent Russian President Vladimir Putin succeeds in the war of aggression."
"If President Putin wins in Ukraine, then the message will be that when President Putin or other authoritarian leaders use brutal military force and violate international law, then they achieve what they want," he said.
He added, "It will also be dangerous for all of us, including Korea, because then the message is that the use of force is something that is a way for authoritarian leaders to achieve their goals. And of course, Taiwan is an example."
Stoltenberg described North Korea as a global security threat, citing reports of North Korea's support for Russia in the Ukraine war.
"We see how the volunteer group, which plays an important part of the Russian war of aggression, has received ammunition missiles from North Korea," he said. "Of course, North Korea is a threat to the whole region but also is a threat to global security."
He was referring to Washington's announcement that the North has delivered an arms shipment to a private Russian military company, called the Wagner Group, for use in the Ukraine war -- a charge denied by Pyongyang.
This photo, provided by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), shows NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (L) having an interview with Yonhap News Agency in Brussels, Belgium, on Jan. 27, 2023. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
He said he is looking forward to talking with Yoon in Seoul this week on such areas of bilateral cooperation as cybersecurity and technologies.
He also expressed his intention to invite Yoon to this year's NATO summit, while portraying Yoon's participation in the Madrid summit last year as a "historic" event given that he was the first South Korean president to attend a NATO summit.
"We may be oceans apart, but we are very close when it comes to values, the support for democracy and freedom, and also the fact that we face many of the same threats and challenges," he said.
Touching on the sensitive issue of whether South Korea needs a nuclear-sharing policy with the United States, akin to NATO's Nuclear Planning Group, to counter North Korean threats, Stoltenberg said "extended deterrence" by Washington "has worked" for many years and highlighted the NATO allies' "important" goal of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
"I think it's more for Korea and the United States to decide," he said, pointing out that NATO's aim is "a world without nuclear weapons."
He added, "As long as nuclear weapons exist, NATO will remain a nuclear alliance because a world -- where China, Russia and North Korea have nuclear weapons, but NATO allies do not -- that's a more dangerous world."
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · January 29, 2023
10. NATO chief stresses 'interconnected' security amid N. Korean support of Russian war efforts
And South Korea can make an important contribution as a partner in the Arsenal of Democracy.
NATO chief stresses 'interconnected' security amid N. Korean support of Russian war efforts | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 유지호 · January 29, 2023
SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Yonhap) -- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday that North Korean support of Russia in the war in Ukraine reinforces the need for the rest of the world to stay "interconnected" in their security efforts.
Stoltenberg made the remark in his meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin in Seoul.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (L) and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin shake hands at the ministry in Seoul on Jan. 29, 2023. (Yonhap)
"I think that in a more unpredictable and uncertain world, it's even more important that countries that believe in freedom and democracy in rules-based international order stand together," Stoltenberg said. "We are, of course, concerned about the reckless missile tests and nuclear programs of North Korea. And the war in Ukraine has also ramifications for your region. And we also know that North Korea is providing military support to the Russian war efforts with rockets and missiles. And this just highlights how we are interconnected."
During his two-day stay in Seoul, Stoltenberg will meet with President Yoon Suk Yeol and other South Korean government officials.
"Our visit is a strong expression of the great importance we attach to the partnership between the Republic of Korea and the NATO," Stoltenberg said, referring to South Korea by its official name. "There are many areas where we really believe that even stronger partnership between the Republic of Korea and NATO can be a mutual benefit."
North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (L) talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin at the ministry in Seoul on Jan. 29, 2023. (Yonhap)
Stoltenberg said Yoon's attendance at a NATO summit in June was "a historic moment" and he hoped to see Yoon again at the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. South Korea established a mission to NATO as a follow-up to Yoon's participation in the NATO summit.
Park thanked NATO for supporting South Korean efforts in addressing North Korean nuclear and missile provocations.
"Given today's unprecedented global challenges, we believe that solidarity among countries that share values of freedom, democracy and rule of law is more important than ever," Park said. "And now we have strengthened our institutional foundation for further advancing our partnership. We look forward to working more closely with NATO to address today's emerging security threats."
North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin at the ministry in Seoul on Jan. 29, 2023. (Yonhap)
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 유지호 · January 29, 2023
11. Trilateral maritime exercise (UK, ROK, US)
Trilateral with the UK, ROK, and US.
Every component contributes to interoperability and deterrence.
I just include this to note that Yonhap picked this up from SOCKOR's twitter posts this weekend.
More photos and information on the training at these tweets. The very last tweet has the photo Yonhap chose for its post.
https://twitter.com/US_SOCKOR/status/1619495224849612801
https://twitter.com/US_SOCKOR/status/1619552934425157632
https://twitter.com/US_SOCKOR/status/1619249096866545665
https://twitter.com/US_SOCKOR/status/1619153289282469890
https://twitter.com/US_SOCKOR/status/1619062815288950785
https://twitter.com/US_SOCKOR/status/1618897062690721792
Trilateral maritime exercise
The Korea Times · January 29, 2023
A combat craft medium vessel of the U.S. Special Operations Command Korea (SOCKOR) participates in a combined exercise with the South Korean Navy SEALs and the British Navy in unidentified Korean waters in this undated photo, released by the SOCKOR, Sunday. The training, held in mid-January, also involved the British Royal Navy patrol ship, HMS Spey. Courtesy of SOCKOR
The Korea Times · January 29, 2023
12. FM Park, NATO chief discuss North Korea, expanding ties
FM Park, NATO chief discuss North Korea, expanding ties
koreaherald.com · by Choi Si-young · January 29, 2023
Published : Jan 29, 2023 - 18:16 Updated : Jan 29, 2023 - 19:10
Foreign Minister Park Jin (right) and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg hold talks at the Foreign Ministry headquarters on Sunday. (Yonhap)
Foreign Minister Park Jin and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Sunday discussed jointly working on curbing North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and bolstering ties between the Asian country and the 30-member military alliance.
The meeting comes as President Yoon Suk Yeol looks to enlist help from European countries in combatting an increasingly belligerent North Korea, which fired off a record number of missiles last year and still shows no sign of dialing down aggression. Yoon was the first South Korean leader to attend a NATO summit in June last year.
“Geopolitical tensions are higher than ever before and like-minded countries sharing such values as democracy and the rule of law should work harder together. I expect closer cooperation as we jointly deal with rising security threats,” Park said.
Park, who expressed gratitude to Stoltenberg for NATO’s support for South Korea’s efforts to contain North Korea, has repeatedly highlighted Seoul’s growing role in leading the international conversation on peace. The latest Indo-Pacific strategy revealed late last year is the public embodiment of that initiative, though critics call the plan overly leaning on the US, South Korea’s biggest ally.
Stoltenberg will meet with Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and President Yoon on Monday, before flying to Japan, another of America’s biggest Asian allies. Washington is increasingly calling for closer ties between Seoul and Tokyo to put checks on Pyongyang, but the two are still at odds over their longtime historical disputes stemming from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
By Choi Si-young (siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)
13. What’s behind N.Korean criticism of US’ Ukraine support?
Deflect and make counter accusations to counter criticism of north Korea's support to Russia?
Excerpts;
Experts said the rare statement by Kim -- who has been in charge of sending messages to South Korea and the US as a mouthpiece of the North Korean leader -- showed North Korea’s focused attention on developments of Russia’s 11-month grinding war on Ukraine and its ramifications for the peninsula.
Hong Min, director of the North Korean Research Division at the government-funded Korea Institute for National Unification, said Kim’s pronouncement has a different significance, given that North Korea had issued statements on the Russia-Ukraine war through other senior officials at foreign and defense ministries.
“Kim Yo-jong’s statement seeks to show how she -- who is Kim Jong-un’s closest aide and handles inter-Korean relations and foreign policy -- has perceived the war in Ukraine. Therefore, the statement intends to officialize and externally publicize North Korea’s support and cooperation with Russia,” Hong said.
“There is a possibility that North Korea could flagrantly provide military aid to Russia in the future depending on the progress of the war between Ukraine and Russia, although the country would not officially confirm it.”
Jung from Halla University explained that Kim Yo-jong’s remarks should be understood in the context of the North Korean leader’s perception of international relations. During the latest year-end party plenum, Kim Jong-un said the “structure of international relations has been clearly shifting into a ‘new cold war’ system and the trend toward multipolarity has been accelerated.”
Jung viewed that North Korea “seeks to strive to create an international environment favorable” to the country.
“Kim’s statement is part of North Korea’s overall strategy for foreign policy that aims to make the new cold war structure a fait accompli and to seek coordination with China and Russia in the structures of confrontation against the US and West to have the upper hand by piggybacking on China and Russia.”
What’s behind N.Korean criticism of US’ Ukraine support?
Pyongyang appears to seek to officialize Russia support, but denies weapons transactions
koreaherald.com · by Ji Da-gyum · January 29, 2023
A soldier walks past a line of M1 Abrams tanks, Nov. 29, 2016, at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Biden administration on Wednesday announced its plans to provide Ukraine with 31 M1 Abrams tanks, which the required number to equip an entire Ukraine tank battalion. (File Photo - The Gazette via AP)
North Korea on Sunday denounced the US’ decision to provide advanced battle tanks to Ukraine once again, while denying Washington’s accusation it was supplying weapons to Russia, which it labeled as a “grave provocation” that must be responded to.
Kwon Jong-gun, director general of the Department of US Affairs of North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, condemned the US plans to “supply offensive armed weapons such as main battle tanks to Ukraine at any cost while ignoring legitimate concerns and criticisms from the international community” in a Korean-language press statement.
Kwon dismissed the US provision of weapons to Ukraine as a “crime against humanity aimed at keeping international situations unstable.”
Kwon also rejected the US’ previous announcement on North Korea’s delivery of infantry rockets and missiles to the Wagner Group, the Russian private military company led by a Putin associate, sending a “clear warning” once again against the US.
“The attempt to tarnish our image by making up things that do not even exist is a grave provocation that can never be acceptable and must be responded to,” Kwon said.
“The US should keep in mind that it will face really undesirable results if it continues to spread self-fabricated, groundless rumors targeting us.”
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said the “essence of the statement is to deliver messages to the US while defining the alleged weapons transactions between North Korea and Russia as a grave provocation against North Korea.”
“The statement expressed North Korea’s determination to directly take tit-for-tat action if the US continues to damage the country’s image.”
Kwon’s statement came less than two days after Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, “strongly condemned” the US supply of 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine in a press statement released late Friday night.
Kim accused the US of “expanding the proxy war to destroy Russia,” claiming that the weapons provisions showed the “sinister intention by the US to achieve its hegemonic ends.” But Kim remained silent on the US accusation of North Korea’s supply of weapons to Russia.
Jung Dae-jin, a professor at Halla University in Wonju, Gangwon Province, pointed out that Kwon’s statement showed North Korea’s “two-pronged approach of reiterating its intent to coordinate with Russia that was stated in Kim Yo-jong’s statement, but denying the alleged direct supply of weapons to Russia.”
“North Korea sees that provision of weapons is a military action that could lay a heavy burden on North Korea’s foreign policy, unlike the act of diplomacy of expressing solidarity with Russia,” Jung told The Korea Herald. “Therefore, North Korea’s intent is not to needlessly get dragged into such controversies regardless of whether or not it actually has provided weapons.”
Yang explained that Kwon’s statement seeks to “turn the tide of public opinion that the absence of remarks on weapons transactions between North Korea and Russia in Kim Yo-jong’s statement is North Korea’s acknowledgment.”
But Yang said that Kwon generally reaffirmed Kim’s press statement, which essentially highlighted the close ties between Russia and North Korea and North Korea’s determination to coordinate with Russia.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says that declassified satellite images displayed during a White House press briefing back up U.S. claims that North Korea delivered arms to Russia for use in its ongoing war in Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 20, 2023, in Washington. (Photo - AP)
In the statement, Kim Yo-jong also underscored that North Korea will “always stand in the same trench with the Russian army and people who have been fighting to defend the country’s dignity, honor, sovereignty and security.”
Experts said the rare statement by Kim -- who has been in charge of sending messages to South Korea and the US as a mouthpiece of the North Korean leader -- showed North Korea’s focused attention on developments of Russia’s 11-month grinding war on Ukraine and its ramifications for the peninsula.
Hong Min, director of the North Korean Research Division at the government-funded Korea Institute for National Unification, said Kim’s pronouncement has a different significance, given that North Korea had issued statements on the Russia-Ukraine war through other senior officials at foreign and defense ministries.
“Kim Yo-jong’s statement seeks to show how she -- who is Kim Jong-un’s closest aide and handles inter-Korean relations and foreign policy -- has perceived the war in Ukraine. Therefore, the statement intends to officialize and externally publicize North Korea’s support and cooperation with Russia,” Hong said.
“There is a possibility that North Korea could flagrantly provide military aid to Russia in the future depending on the progress of the war between Ukraine and Russia, although the country would not officially confirm it.”
Hong pointed out that Kim’s statement also suggested “North Korea’s intention to ratchet up diplomatic support for Russia and enhance its presence and role in terms of confronting the US on the Korean Peninsula” in line with developments of the war in Ukraine.
Jung from Halla University explained that Kim Yo-jong’s remarks should be understood in the context of the North Korean leader’s perception of international relations. During the latest year-end party plenum, Kim Jong-un said the “structure of international relations has been clearly shifting into a ‘new cold war’ system and the trend toward multipolarity has been accelerated.”
Jung viewed that North Korea “seeks to strive to create an international environment favorable” to the country.
“Kim’s statement is part of North Korea’s overall strategy for foreign policy that aims to make the new cold war structure a fait accompli and to seek coordination with China and Russia in the structures of confrontation against the US and West to have the upper hand by piggybacking on China and Russia.”
By Ji Da-gyum (dagyumji@heraldcorp.com)
koreaherald.com · by Ji Da-gyum · January 29, 2023
14. NATO to address North Korea-Russia arms trade
Sunday
January 29, 2023
dictionary + A - A
NATO to address North Korea-Russia arms trade
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/01/29/national/defense/korea-nato-north-korea/20230129184911914.html
Foreign Minister Park Jin, right, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, shake hands in their meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on Sunday. [YONHAP]
North Korea’s arms trade with Russia, and its nuclear brinkmanship, will be addressed by NATO and its Asian partners, said the military alliance’s chief Jens Stoltenberg in Seoul on Sunday.
“We are of course concerned about the reckless missile tests and nuclear programs of North Korea, and the war in Ukraine also has ramifications for your region,” Stoltenberg said in his meeting with Foreign Minister Park Jin on the same day.
“We also know that North Korea is providing military support to the Russian war efforts with rockets and missiles,” he added. “In a more unpredictable and uncertain world, it is even more important that countries that believe in democracy and rules-based international order stand together.”
In visiting Korea for the first time since November 2017, Stoltenberg alluded to an invitation extended to President Yoon Suk Yeol to attend the 2023 NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July.
“It was a historic moment when the president of the Republic of Korea met all the other NATO leaders at the NATO summit in Madrid last year, and my intention is to have the same kind of meeting at the Vilnius summit in Lithuania this year,” he said.
The NATO chief was scheduled to meet with Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, and possibly Yoon, before flying to Tokyo on Monday to meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
His visit follows a record level of military provocations from North Korea, which last year launched over 90 ballistic and other missiles, including an intercontinental ballistic missile in November.
The White House also confirmed last December that the North Korean regime had sent an initial delivery of arms to Russian military company Wagner Group that included infantry rockets and missiles to support Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.
Yoon, along with Kishida, had attended the NATO summit in Madrid, marking the first time the two countries were invited to the summit as observers.
The alliance hosted a summit meeting with the heads of state of what it calls Asia-Pacific partners, or AP4: Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Korea.
Following the summit, Korea opened its NATO office within its embassy in Brussels in November last year, designating Korean Ambassador to Belgium Yoon Soon-gu as the ambassador to NATO.
“I’m pleased to see that the Republic of Korea and NATO have been steadily enhancing our partnership to address global challenges ever since Korea became NATO’s global partner in 2006,” said Park in his meeting with Stoltenberg. “Given today’s unprecedented global challenges, we believe that solidarity among countries that share values of freedom, democracy and rule of law is more important than ever.”
Stoltenberg's visit to Korea comes just ahead of that by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who had earlier this month hosted a NATO meeting in Germany. Austin had left for the Philippines and Korea on Sunday, and is expected to meet with Yoon on Tuesday.
BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]
15. North denies sending arms to Russia, slams U.S. for 'groundless rumors'
Sunday
January 29, 2023
dictionary + A - A
North denies sending arms to Russia, slams U.S. for 'groundless rumors'
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/01/29/national/northKorea/North-Korea-United-States-Russia/20230129172540827.html
Protesters in South Korea march during a rally against Russia's invasion of Ukraine near the Russian Embassy in central Seoul Sunday. [AP/YONHAP]
North Korea slammed U.S. allegations that it had conducted arms transactions with Russia Sunday, warning of an "undesirable result" if Washington continues to spread such "groundless rumors."
This comes just two days after Kim Yo-jong, the powerful younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, "strongly denounced" the United States for deciding to provide Ukraine with battle tanks, warning that Washington is crossing the "red line" by escalating military tensions with Moscow.
Kwon Jong-gun, director-general in charge of U.S. affairs at North Korea's Foreign Ministry, said in a statement carried by its official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sunday that the United States is committing an "unethical crime" through providing Ukraine with such military hardware.
Last Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that the United States will provide 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, joining German Chancellor Olaf Scholz who said he will send 14 Leopard 2 tanks to support its fight against Russia's invasion.
This marked a reversal of the Biden administration's position that such M1 Abrams tanks would be challenging for Ukrainian troops to operate and maintain despite Ukraine's continued pleas for its Western partners to send heavy battle tanks.
Kwon accused the United States of bringing up allegations of "arms dealing between the DPRK and Russia" in "a foolish attempt to justify its offer of weapons to Ukraine," referring to the acronym for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. He described such efforts as "a grave provocation" that is bound to "trigger" a reaction from the North.
Kwon then warned that the United States "will face a really undesirable result if it persists in spreading the self-made rumor against the DPRK," without elaborating further.
The statement came after the White House accused North Korea multiple times of providing arms and ammunition to Russia to support its invasion of Ukraine, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
On Jan. 20, John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the White House National Security Council (NSC), said the United States has shared its intelligence on the delivery of North Korean ammunition to Russia with the UN Security Council's panel of experts on Pyongyang sanctions.
Kirby said North Korea delivered arms ammunition to Wagner Group, a private Russian military company, for use in Ukraine and assessed that the company will "continue to receive North Korean weapons systems."
He noted that North Korea "delivered infantry rockets and missiles into Russia for use by Wagner toward the end of last year" and released satellite imagery supporting its claims from mid-November.
Both Pyongyang and Wagner have denied the accusations.
Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, speaks at a mass political gathering in Pyongyang in August 2022 that was broadcast by the state-controlled Korean Central Television [YONHAP]
"I express serious concern over the U.S. escalating the war situation by providing Ukraine with military hardware for ground offensive," said Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the North's ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, in a statement released by the KCNA Friday.
Kim said that the United States, "which has exposed the whole continent of Europe to the grave danger of war" is "now further crossing the red line."
She accused the United States of a "sinister intention to realize its hegemonic aim by further expanding the proxy war for destroying Russia" and claimed Western countries are "wrecking the global peace and the regional security" by "handing military hardware running into astronomical sum of money over to Ukraine."
Kim said that such military hardware provided by the United States and other Western powers "will be burnt into pieces in the face of the indomitable fighting spirit and might of the heroic Russian army and people," echoing similar language coming out of the Kremlin.
It is rare for Kim, who has spoken strongly regarding U.S. affairs and South Korea, to comment directly on the Ukrainian crisis.
She claimed that the Ukrainian situation was a result of the United States having "infringed" upon Russia's security interests and accelerated "the eastward advance of NATO step by step."
Analysts point out that North Korea may be reacting strongly to the Ukrainian war because it could be seen as a simulation of the situation on the Korean Peninsula.
Pyongyang's back-to-back statements came ahead of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's two-day trip to Seoul starting Sunday, a visit expected to focus on strengthening the partnership between South Korea, along with other Indo-Pacific countries, and NATO.
Stoltenberg was expected to address the North Korea threat in his talks with Seoul officials and President Yoon Suk Yeol.
BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Senior Advisor, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
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