Quotes of the Day:
"The most successful men in the end are those whose success is the result of steady accretion. That intellectuality is more vigorous that has attained its strength gradually. It is the man who carefully advances step by step, with his mind becoming wider and wider — and progressively better able to grasp any theme or situation — persevering in what he knows to be practical, and concentrating his thought upon it, who is bound to succeed in the greatest degree."
- Alexander Graham Bell
"The oldest, shortest words— "yes" and "no"— are those which require the most thought."
- Pythagoras
"Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power."
- René Descartes
1, Top S. Korean diplomat says U.S. requested use of American bases in Korea to house Afghan evacuees
2. Korea must do its share (Afghanistan)
3. Acceptance of refugees in USFK bases for humanitarianism
4. Korea divided over housing Afghan evacuees in USFK bases
5. US makes clear its support for inter-Korean humanitarian aid
6. North Korea's newspaper urges people to prioritize socialist ideology
7. Help fleeing Afghans (South Korea)
8. Korea, Japan show no signs of US withdrawal anxiety
9. Assembly panel advances ratification bill for USFK cost-sharing deal
10. Choco Pies in China, Russia getting more expensive
11. Biden's special envoy urges North Korea to return to talks
12. US Envoy Says No Hostile Intent Toward North Korea, Calls For Talks
13. COVID-19 reveals North Korea is no longer a hermit kingdom
14. He Was Kim Jong Un’s Party Pal. Now He Rots in a Chinese Prison.
15. Taliban hopes for S. Korea's diplomatic recognition, economic exchanges: official
16. Arrests of North Korean Wives of Chinese Men Spooks Refugee Community
17. Police in some regions of North Korea take bribes to protect transport of goods
18. N. Korea develops real-time PCR equipment to test for coronavirus: state media
1. Top S. Korean diplomat says U.S. requested use of American bases in Korea to house Afghan evacuees
Excerpts:
Chung initially denied having discussed the matter with the U.S., saying "currently, there's no such discussion underway." He admitted receiving a related request from the U.S., however, upon further questioning on the matter.
Separately, the South Korean government is mulling various options of providing refuge to Afghans who have cooperated with Seoul in the past, Chung noted.
"The government has donated a considerable amount (of money) and carried out various (humanitarian) projects, such as building a general hospital, in the past 20 years or so," he said.
(2nd LD) Top S. Korean diplomat says U.S. requested use of American bases in Korea to house Afghan evacuees | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES with comments by director of national security in 8th para)
SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Yonhap) -- The top South Korean diplomat confirmed Monday the United States requested using American military bases here as a housing site for evacuees from war-torn Afghanistan, although there is no related discussion underway now between the allies.
"It is true that (the allies) did discuss the possibility at the very basic level. It, however, was not discussed seriously," Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong said, responding to a lawmaker's query during a session of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee.
The foreign minister said that currently, however, "there's no such discussion underway at all", adding that the option of using American military bases on South Korean soil as a refugee camp would absolutely require consent from the South Korean government.
Chung initially denied having discussed the matter with the U.S., saying "currently, there's no such discussion underway." He admitted receiving a related request from the U.S., however, upon further questioning on the matter.
Separately, the South Korean government is mulling various options of providing refuge to Afghans who have cooperated with Seoul in the past, Chung noted.
"The government has donated a considerable amount (of money) and carried out various (humanitarian) projects, such as building a general hospital, in the past 20 years or so," he said.
"There is a number of Afghans who participated or provided support in the process. The government (therefore) is mulling various ways over the option of bringing them safely to our country (if they want to come to South Korea)," the foreign minister added.
Suh Hoon, director of national security at Cheong Wa Dae, made similar remarks in a separate parliamentary session, saying South Korea has a responsibility to provide a safe refuge to those Afghans.
The remarks came after the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday (U.S. time) Washington is considering using American military bases in South Korea as housing sites for evacuees from Afghanistan, along with other overseas bases, including those in Japan, Germany and Bahrain. The U.S. is currently working to transport tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees following the Taliban's seizing of power in Afghanistan.
A day earlier, chief of the ruling Democratic Party Rep. Song Young-gil also said the government is considering various diplomatic options to bring some Afghan evacuees to South Korea, saying about 400 Afghan people have cooperated with the South Korean government over its projects in the war-torn country.
Suh also said the U.S. has decided to use its military bases in the Middle East or Europe to house Afghan evacuees.
"What has finally been concluded is that the U.S. will use its military bases in the Middle East or Europe in accordance with geographical conditions or conveniences," Suh said.
The national security director also added that the South Korean government will review the possibility of "legal action" to help some of the 400-something Afghans residing in South Korea whose stay permit here is not renewable.
pbr@yna.co.kr
(END)
2. Korea must do its share (Afghanistan)
Sunday
August 22, 2021
Korea must do its share
Heart-wrenching stories continue to pour out of Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control. Scenes of young Afghan women tossing their babies across a high wall topped with barbed wires to U.S. soldiers on the other side — begging for the kids to be taken away even if their parents were denied passage — were caught on cameras. Armed Taliban forces are allegedly committing merciless revenge and human rights violations in the country, including on women who do not wear the burka. However, no one knows when or how all the confusion and chaos will come to an end.
South Korea cannot sit on its hands in the face of such horrendous tragedies playing out daily. The international community must find effective ways to address the gruesome situation and possibly prevent a bigger crisis later on. It remains to be seen if or what kind of effective measures the members of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland might present Tuesday to help the distressed Afghan people.
A glimmer of hope is that the Taliban leadership seems to be conscious of the world’s attention and keen revulsion to atrocities. A spokesperson for the Taliban promised to ban retaliation against its opponents, ensure women’s rights, and maintain peaceful relationships with foreign countries. Those surprising promises reflect the Taliban’s recognition of international criticism of their barbaric rule of the country for five years after they took power in 1995.
Although it is obviously too late for anyone to stop the Taliban from taking control of Afghanistan again, the world has a responsibility to try to deter them from taking extreme actions against their own people. Furthermore, the world must mobilize all available resources to pressure the Taliban to keep their pledge to establish an open and inclusive Islamic government. The most urgent thing of all is protection of would-be refugees. Though the campaign is led by the United States for the moment, other countries must do their share to help protect the refugees.
Korea must do its share too. International human rights advocacy groups say that the safety of Afghan people — and their relatives — who have worked with reconstruction teams dispatched from Korea are being threatened by the Taliban. If that’s true, the government must help them, including issuing visas to them if they want to come to Korea.
The United States reportedly is considering the idea of accommodating Afghan refugees on its military bases overseas if their numbers keep skyrocketing. Some of our politicians are urging the government to accept them as political refugees. The time has come for Korea to play a role befitting its international stature. If it can meet such expectations from the international community, Korea will be acknowledged as an advanced country.
3. Acceptance of refugees in USFK bases for humanitarianism
Excerpt:
If USFK bases seem required to accept refugees as per Washington's judgment, ample discussion with Seoul should happen beforehand. As Washington's agreement with host nations stipulates that overseas U.S. bases shall be subject to extraterritoriality, Washington has an authority to make a decision to house refugees. However, if the U.S. pushes forward with its plan with lack of communication, Seoul and Washington may face unnecessary misunderstandings and conflicts. It is also considered necessary to seek understanding of South Korean citizens by transparently revealing the scale of refugees and how long they stay in USFK bases.
Acceptance of refugees in USFK bases for humanitarianism
Updated August. 23, 2021 07:35
Acceptance of refugees in USFK bases for humanitarianism. August. 23, 2021 07:35. .
It was reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Saturday that the United States considers the idea of accepting Afghan refugees in U.S. military bases in South Korea. U.S. government officials were quoted as saying that Washington reviews a plan to house refugees from Afghanistan in U.S. military bases in South Korea, Japan, Germany, etc. The United States Forces Korea (USFK) said on Sunday that it will cooperate with the South Korean government once a mission is ordered.
According to the report by the WSJ, it seems like a plan for Washington to build temporary camps to accommodate Afghan war refugees in its overseas bases in Asian nations such as South Korea and European allies. It has been said that U.S. military bases in Middle East such as Qatar and Bahrain are already filled with refugees from Afghanistan. Washington intends to help evacuate a total of 50,000 to 65,000 cooperators and their families during the Afghan war by the end of this month.
If USFK bases seem required to accept refugees as per Washington's judgment, ample discussion with Seoul should happen beforehand. As Washington's agreement with host nations stipulates that overseas U.S. bases shall be subject to extraterritoriality, Washington has an authority to make a decision to house refugees. However, if the U.S. pushes forward with its plan with lack of communication, Seoul and Washington may face unnecessary misunderstandings and conflicts. It is also considered necessary to seek understanding of South Korean citizens by transparently revealing the scale of refugees and how long they stay in USFK bases.
Added to this, Washington needs to take the initiative by opening its arms to refugees from Afghanistan in domestic military bases as it is not supposed to force its allies alone to bear the burden. The Afghan war started off with the invasion of U.S. forces into the region. Thus, it is required to show how it values human rights with a sense of responsibility for the refugee issue while refraining from any “America First” policy.
More than two million refugees have left Afghanistan, and number will only add up over time. Ranking among the world's top 20 economic leaders, South Korea is not supposed to sit on its hands while the refugee issue has a growing influence over the globe. If refugees are housed by U.S. military bases in South Korea, the nation should provide enough assistance to them to fulfill its responsibilities as part of the international community and help strengthen its alliance with the United States.
It was reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Saturday that the United States considers the idea of accepting Afghan refugees in U.S. military bases in South Korea. U.S. government officials were quoted as saying that Washington reviews a plan to house refugees from Afghanistan in U.S. military bases in South Korea, Japan, Germany, etc. The United States Forces Korea (USFK) said on Sunday that it will cooperate with the South Korean government once a mission is ordered.
According to the report by the WSJ, it seems like a plan for Washington to build temporary camps to accommodate Afghan war refugees in its overseas bases in Asian nations such as South Korea and European allies. It has been said that U.S. military bases in Middle East such as Qatar and Bahrain are already filled with refugees from Afghanistan. Washington intends to help evacuate a total of 50,000 to 65,000 cooperators and their families during the Afghan war by the end of this month.
If USFK bases seem required to accept refugees as per Washington's judgment, ample discussion with Seoul should happen beforehand. As Washington's agreement with host nations stipulates that overseas U.S. bases shall be subject to extraterritoriality, Washington has an authority to make a decision to house refugees. However, if the U.S. pushes forward with its plan with lack of communication, Seoul and Washington may face unnecessary misunderstandings and conflicts. It is also considered necessary to seek understanding of South Korean citizens by transparently revealing the scale of refugees and how long they stay in USFK bases.
Added to this, Washington needs to take the initiative by opening its arms to refugees from Afghanistan in domestic military bases as it is not supposed to force its allies alone to bear the burden. The Afghan war started off with the invasion of U.S. forces into the region. Thus, it is required to show how it values human rights with a sense of responsibility for the refugee issue while refraining from any “America First” policy.
More than two million refugees have left Afghanistan, and number will only add up over time. Ranking among the world's top 20 economic leaders, South Korea is not supposed to sit on its hands while the refugee issue has a growing influence over the globe. If refugees are housed by U.S. military bases in South Korea, the nation should provide enough assistance to them to fulfill its responsibilities as part of the international community and help strengthen its alliance with the United States.
4. Korea divided over housing Afghan evacuees in USFK bases
Just what USFK needs during the middle of the annual major exercise!
Yes, a SOFA issue as well.
DPK lawmaker Park Yong-jin also said, "The issue of establishing refugee camps should be considered thoroughly because it may violate the agreements between Korea and the USFK."
The agreements Park referred to include the U.S.-Korea Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which obliges USFK personnel to respect the laws of Korea. Since Korea's Immigration Act stipulates that evacuees seeking to enter Korea are required to receive permission from the justice minister, the U.S. needs Korean government's consent to use USFK bases as refugee camps. Otherwise, depending on interpretation, the plan could be seen as a violation of the SOFA.
Minister Chung also stressed, during the Assembly meeting, that the Korean government's permission is required for housing Afghan evacuees in USFK bases.
The conservative main opposition People Power Party said the nation needs to positively review the plan from a humanitarian perspective and based on the Korea-U.S. alliance, but also that Korea "needs to be very careful about giving them a status allowing settlement in Korea," according to party spokeswoman Rep. Her Euna.
Korea divided over housing Afghan evacuees in USFK bases
A group of Afghans residing in Korea hold banners asking the Korean government to evacuate their family members who helped Korea's mission in the country, during a rally in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in central Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
Citizens showing negative reactions outnumber supporters
By Nam Hyun-woo
Korea has been divided over whether the country should allow the U.S. to house Afghan evacuees on U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) bases. Politicians and citizens are having heated debates over how much of a role Korea, as an advanced nation, should play in the now global issue, while some raise fears of radical Islamists hiding among the refugees, and others point to Korea's poor rate of accepting asylums seekers.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Chung Eui-yong said during a National Assembly meeting, Monday, that Korea and the U.S. had a "rudimentary discussion on the possibility" of housing Afghan evacuees in USFK bases here, though "it was not serious discussion and talks are not proceeding currently."
Chung's remark came a day after the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the Pentagon is "looking at American bases in Japan, Korea, Germany, Kosovo, Bahrain and Italy," as existing housing sites in Qatar and elsewhere are filling up quickly, citing unidentified sources.
It remains unclear whether those evacuees will be staying at USFK bases temporarily or not, triggering debates over the evacuees' potential asylum claims in the future.
Rep. Song Young-gil, chairman of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), showed skepticism on Sunday to the report, saying, "The U.S. has not discussed the issue with the Korean government, and it is unrealistic because the evacuees may head to closer countries due to the transportation issue. I question whether it is an appropriate plan."
DPK lawmaker Park Yong-jin also said, "The issue of establishing refugee camps should be considered thoroughly because it may violate the agreements between Korea and the USFK."
The agreements Park referred to include the U.S.-Korea Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which obliges USFK personnel to respect the laws of Korea. Since Korea's Immigration Act stipulates that evacuees seeking to enter Korea are required to receive permission from the justice minister, the U.S. needs Korean government's consent to use USFK bases as refugee camps. Otherwise, depending on interpretation, the plan could be seen as a violation of the SOFA.
Minister Chung also stressed, during the Assembly meeting, that the Korean government's permission is required for housing Afghan evacuees in USFK bases.
The conservative main opposition People Power Party said the nation needs to positively review the plan from a humanitarian perspective and based on the Korea-U.S. alliance, but also that Korea "needs to be very careful about giving them a status allowing settlement in Korea," according to party spokeswoman Rep. Her Euna.
In this image courtesy of the U.S. Air Force, a U.S. Air Force aircrew, assigned to the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, assists qualified evacuees aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 21. AFP-
Yonhap
On the other hand, lawmakers from the progressive bloc are stressing the country's humanitarian role, given its current status in global society.
"As the first Asian country to legislate the Refugee Act, Korea has its role," Rep. Jang Hye-yeong of the minor opposition Justice Party wrote on Facebook. "The government and the National Assembly should express their intention to join international efforts by providing aid to countries accepting Afghan refugees, and begin discussions on admitting at least some of the refugees into the country."
Kang Min-jin, head of the party's youth chapter, also noted that many Koreans have also been refugees within living memory, yet the country's admission rate of asylum seekers remains at "a shameful level."
But DPK Chairman Song said the Korean government needs to bring over some 400 people in Afghanistan who aided Korea's mission or Korean companies there, in recognition of their support.
In this regard, more than 30 Afghans residing in Korea held a rally in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in central Seoul, Monday, asking the government and Koreans to help evacuate Afghans who helped Korean missions and companies there.
"We and our family members have worked for Korean non-governmental organizations or Korean companies building U.S. military bases in Afghanistan," they said in a statement. "With all countries making their best to rescue Afghans who helped them, we request the Korean government to evacuate those who helped Korea in Afghanistan. Afghans in Korea now have no home to return to. If the country kindly accepts our asylum applications, we promise to become beautiful cooperators for Korean society."
Citizens here are showing mixed ideas on using the U.S. military bases as refugee camps, and those opposing the idea appear to be in the majority, forcing a tough choice for the government.
"This may sounds selfish, but honestly, there are safety concerns after the refugee camp news," said a real estate broker in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. Pyeongtaek is home to U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys, which is the largest U.S. military base in Northeast Asia. "What if there are some radical Islamists mixed among refugees? Potential COVID-19 spread is also a concern for residents here."
On Justice Party Rep. Jang's Facebook page, internet users left comments opposing her claims. "There are already more than 3 million multicultural people," one user wrote. "With no proper assistance being provided for them, why are you talking about admitting Afghan refugees?"
Another internet user wrote "Like Rep. Jang and those advocating political correctness, there are people supporting the idea of accepting refugees, but there are also people who oppose. For the sake of fairness, the cost required for the refugees should be shouldered by supporters."
5. US makes clear its support for inter-Korean humanitarian aid
We have been consistent on this issue. We are willing to provide humanitarian aid. In fact the ROK and US are more concerned with the welfare of the Korean people living in the north because Kim Jon-un is the one refusing to accept humanitarian assistance.
US makes clear its support for inter-Korean humanitarian aid
Noh Kyu-duk, right, Korea's chief nuclear envoy, and his U.S. counterpart Sung Kim announce the outcomes of their talks at a Seoul hotel, Monday. Yonhap
Envoy assures US commitment to Korean Peninsula amid Afghan chaos
By Kang Seung-woo
The United States made clear its commitment to inter-Korean humanitarian projects, Monday, a step forward from its previous stance, as South Korea is seeking to find a breakthrough in its ties with North Korea.
In addition, Washington also reaffirmed its commitment to the defense of South Korea, as the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is leaving Seoul anxious about whether it can trust its longtime ally.
The commitment came after Sung Kim, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, had talks with his South Korean counterpart Noh Kyu-duk in Seoul. Kim is on a four-day trip to Seoul ending Tuesday.
"We discussed possible humanitarian assistance to the DPRK," Kim said following his meeting with Noh. DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the official name of North Korea.
"I reaffirmed U.S. support for inter-Korean dialogue and engagement stipulated by the joint statement between our two leaders in May and will continue to render our support to inter-Korean humanitarian cooperation projects."
Noh went into further detail about the humanitarian assistance.
"South Korea and the U.S. discussed various areas of humanitarian cooperation with the North, including healthcare, quarantine against infectious diseases, drinking water and hygiene," Noh said.
"We also discussed humanitarian support to the North through international organizations and nongovernmental organizations."
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic started to sweep the world early last year, the South Korean government has been reaching out to the North Korean regime offering humanitarian assistance as part of its efforts to get stalled inter-Korean relations back on track, but no progress has been made due to Pyongyang's lack of response.
"What is different from the previous U.S. stance is that Sung Kim talked about the U.S. support for inter-Korean humanitarian aid in more detail," said Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University.
"Although it did not mean that the U.S. will fully roll up its sleeves for the humanitarian assistance, he showed the U.S.'s determination toward South Korea helping its northern neighbor in humanitarian aid."
Following the U.S. troops' withdrawal from Afghanistan and consequent chaos in the country, questions have risen here whether the U.S. Forces Korea may leave the Korean Peninsula while North Korea still remains a threat.
Kim stepped up efforts to ease the concerns and growing doubts over the U.S. commitment to Korea, following remarks by U.S. President Joe Biden last week that allies like South Korea are fundamentally different from Afghanistan when it comes to U.S. security commitment.
"On the importance of the U.S.-Republic of Korea alliance, I cannot put it better than President Biden himself who called the U.S. commitment to defense of the ROK 'sacred.'" Kim said.
Park said, "Sung Kim's trip was also aimed at easing growing concerns here about the U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea against North Korea in the wake of the crisis in Afghanistan."
However, the U.S. envoy came short of delivering a new message that would bring North Korea back to the negotiating table, instead repeating he was ready to meeting his North Korean counterpart anywhere and anytime, the same stance he shared two month ago during his first visit to Seoul as nuclear envoy.
On Tuesday, Noh plans to meet Igor Morgulov, who doubles as Russia's chief nuclear envoy and is visiting Korea for talks with his South Korean and U.S. counterparts. Kim reportedly called for Russia's full implementation of anti-North Korea sanctions and cooperation in resuming nuclear talks with the North.
6. North Korea's newspaper urges people to prioritize socialist ideology
Kimilsungism and Juche is the foundation of the Socialist Workers Paradise of north Korea and for the regime emphasis on ideology is the key to control.
North Korea's newspaper urges people to prioritize socialist ideology
In this photo July 28 file photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, people lay flowers before the statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang. Yonhap
North Korea's official newspaper called Monday for putting socialist ideology ahead of anything else, stressing that ideologically arming people should be the basis for moving science and technology and other areas forward.
The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North's ruling party, made the appeal in an editorial, saying that emphasizing the economy while being negligent in ideological education will only result in the collapse of the foundation of socialism.
"We must maintain the ideology-first policy to boldly break through the difficulties and to open up a new era of upheaval in socialism," it said.
The paper in particular warned the North Korean youth against adopting foreign ideology, saying that the main target of the cultural "infiltration of the imperialists" are the young generations.
It also pointed out that the North's "unprecedented challenges" should not be used as excuses for accepting anti-socialism practices.
"Regarding the emergence of non-socialist practices as something inevitable and keeping a blind eye on the weakening socialist lifestyles and values is similar to dozing off in front of the enemy's gun and ruining the path to socialist construction," it said.
The North has recently stressed socialism and tightened ideological control over its people. (Yonhap)
Excerpt:
The Korean government should positively consider extending all humanitarian assistance to the Afghans. This is an essential duty the country must fulfill as a responsible member of the international community. Moreover, such assistance could serve as an opportunity to strengthen the Korea-U.S. alliance.
Help fleeing Afghans
Korea needs to join global humanitarian efforts
A series of heartbreaking news updates are pouring out from the chaotic scenes of Afghanistan after the Taliban's rapid takeover of the war-torn country. One of the most tragic is the footage showing some Afghan parents tossing their babies to American soldiers over a high wall topped with barbed wire at Kabul's airport, desperately asking for the safety of their loved ones. There are also reports about the Taliban's brutal retaliations and human rights abuses. Sadly enough, women have become most vulnerable to those misdeeds.
The international community should make concerted efforts to prevent such mishaps. In this regard, we expect much from the special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), scheduled for Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the Afghan issue. Participants should endeavor to present practical and feasible measures from a humanitarian perspective, regardless of the interests of each nation.
The Taliban promised to refrain from retaliating against opponents, ensure human rights of women and maintain peaceful relations with other countries in a press conference Aug. 17 it held for the first time since it seized Kabul. However, skepticism is growing over its pledges, particularly the one regarding women's rights. Yet, it is worth noting that the Taliban is ― to a certain degree ― wary of international criticism over its notoriety for violence and repression.
The international community should take all possible means to make the Taliban abide by its pledges to set up an "open and inclusive" government. Yet, what is most urgent is how to protect vulnerable Afghans and effectively help their evacuation. Though the United States has so far taken a leading role toward that end, other nations should also proactively join such humanitarian endeavors.
South Korea, for its part, should roll up its sleeves as it dispatched medical and engineering units since 2001 to help with reconstruction of the war-devastated country. Given this, it is welcome that both the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and opposition People Power Party (PPP) stressed Monday the need for the government to accept fleeing Afghans who helped Koreans with their work.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should focus on grasping the reality facing those Afghans and take measures to help their evacuation by issuing proper visas for them, for instance. U.S. President Joe Biden said Sunday the United States is working with 26 countries to help the Afghans. The Wall Street Journal Saturday reported the U.S. is considering using military bases in South Korea and other countries to accommodate them.
Washington needs to have close consultations with Seoul before making any decision in this regard, to prevent any possible misunderstandings or disputes between the two allies. In case the U.S. bases are used to house Afghan refugees, the Biden administration should clearly specify the exact number of the evacuees and the duration of their stay.
The Korean government should positively consider extending all humanitarian assistance to the Afghans. This is an essential duty the country must fulfill as a responsible member of the international community. Moreover, such assistance could serve as an opportunity to strengthen the Korea-U.S. alliance.
8. Korea, Japan show no signs of US withdrawal anxiety
I hope Daniel Sneider is correct (on the ROK and Japan alliances) Note on his discussion of the opportunities for China.
Korea, Japan show no signs of US withdrawal anxiety
Events in Kabul seem to have strengthened beliefs in Tokyo and Seoul in the importance of their US alliances
In the middle of April 1975, North Korean leader Kim Il Sung hurried to Beijing to meet with Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Communist leadership. Phnom Penh had just fallen to the Khmer Rouge, the North Vietnamese were marching toward victory in Saigon and the United States seemed to be in retreat around the globe.
Now was the time, Kim told his Chinese patrons, to liberate South Korea.
America’s allies in Northeast Asia were undoubtedly shaken by the events in Indochina, beginning from the late 1960s. The US had withdrawn the 7th Infantry division from Korea and Nixon told allies to rely more on their own resources to defend themselves.
South Korea’s Park Chung-hee embarked on a clandestine program to develop nuclear weapons, as did Taiwan. Japan pondered that choice but opted instead to reach out to China, moving quickly to normalize relations after Nixon’s shocking opening of ties to Beijing.
Comparisons between the fall of Saigon and the stunningly rapid collapse of the American-backed government in Kabul are now the fodder of front pages from Beijing to Washington. In the United States, pundits claim that US allies in Europe and Asia are again questioning American resolve and reliability, while China and Russia rush to fill the strategic vacuum.
European angst is indeed clearly visible – not surprisingly since NATO allies committed their own military forces to the war in Afghanistan and had to rush to remove their troops as well as diplomats and Afghan support staff.
On the other hand, in South Korea and Japan – where US overseas military power is now most concentrated with almost 85,000 American naval, air and ground troops present – there is not yet the same level of anxiety.
In conversations this writer has had in recent days with senior South Korean and Japanese former officials and current advisors, the events in Kabul seem to have actually strengthened the belief in the importance of the alliance with the United States.
Those policymakers in Northeast Asia echo President Joe Biden in pointing to the failure of the Afghan government and military to be willing to fight in their own defense.
“The fall of Kabul may not damage our alliance with the US as much as you may imagine,” Kuni Miyake, a former senior Foreign Ministry official who advises Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, tells me.
“Former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his friends did not help the Afghans, and they had to pay the price. For Japan, if we don’t have the will to fight and defend ourselves, we will be like Afghanistan.”
As for the chaotic events in Afghanistan and the decision of the Biden administration to withdraw, Miyake and others do not see a loss of American credibility at stake, but rather the consequence of bad policy decisions made long ago.
“America should have known that Afghanistan has been, and will be, like this forever and it should not have stayed there for 20 years, or even a year,” says Miyake, who was in charge of Afghanistan for the foreign ministry in the late 1990s.
Kazuyoshi Umemoto, who recently retired as the senior Foreign Ministry official directing relations with the United States, offers a similar verdict: “The fall of the Afghan government is seen as the failure of the Afghan government, in spite of 20 years of international help, rather than the loss of credibility of the US commitment.”
So far, Japanese policymakers reject facile comparisons between Afghanistan and potential flashpoints in their own region, particularly Taiwan and the disputed territory in the East China Sea.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and US President Joe Biden attend a joint press conference in Washington on April 16. Suga became the first foreign leader to meet with the new president. Photo: AFP / Masanori Genko / The Yomiuri Shimbun
The danger in case of US failure to respond to Chinese aggression in either of those places would be far higher than the danger of a possible return to Afghanistan of terrorists, whose presence triggered the US intervention there. “With Taiwan,” a former senior Japanese official says privately, “it would affect the world order immediately if the US did not intervene.”
The view from Seoul
In South Korea, which faces potential escalation from a North Korean regime that is under growing internal pressure, the view is a bit more cautious, though still far from panicked.
Confidence in the US commitment is not yet shaken, South Korean policymakers from across the spectrum agree. “On the contrary, this event evoked for many people the importance of the Korea-US alliance,” former senior Foreign Ministry official Kim Sook, who also served as deputy director of the National Intelligence Service, tells me.
South Koreans were particularly reassured by the statement from US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan that a troop withdrawal from South Korea was not on the Biden agenda. In conservative circles in Seoul, where a presidential election is looming next March, the Afghan events have been used to bolster the criticism of the current progressive government of Moon Jae-In.
“The situation in Afghanistan shows how important it is to maintain a strong military,” argues the conservative daily JoongAng Ilbo. “North Korea continues ratcheting up its nuclear capabilities. Under such circumstances, the decades-old Korea-US alliance cannot be overemphasized.”
Even among progressives, the focus has been on the failed effort to transform Afghanistan rather than on the American retreat. The defeat doesn’t do much to shake confidence in the US security commitment to South Korea, says Paik Hak-soon, the executive director of the Kim Dae-jung Peace Forum.
“We know why the US was defeated and decided to pull out its forces, and also why it keeps its forces in Korea, even though we’re reminded that the US forces cannot stay forever in foreign lands.”
“Many Koreans understand that there are more differences than similarities between the two cases,” agrees a former senior foreign ministry official, Ambassador Wi Sung-lac.
Still, the corrosive impact of the images from Kabul touches nerves in South Korea, where dependence on the United States is still deeply felt.
“The notion that the US may abandon an ally depending on the capabilities of the allied partner will linger in the memory of Koreans,” adds Wi, who was formerly in charge of relations with the US and led the South Korean delegation to the six-party talks with North Korea that were launched in 2003 and proceeded intermittently thereafter.
“In that sense, the messy nature of the retreat in Afghanistan will not be helpful to strengthen the US message on the alliances,” he cautions.
A US military helicopter flying above the US embassy in Kabul on August 15, 2021. Almost identical shots have been taken of choppers over US embassies in Vietnam and Cambodia. Photo: AFP / Wakil Kohsar
Will Kim Jong Un follow Grandpa?
The view from Pyongyang is far more difficult to discern. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is struggling to cope with a severe economic crisis, triggered by the border closure measures taken to avoid the spread of Covid-19 and compounded by severe weather conditions.
Rather than take up offers of humanitarian aid from the Moon government in South Korea, the North Korean regime has engaged in vague threats to escalate tensions in response to the decision to go ahead with joint US-South Korean military exercises.
Kim Jong Un has long modeled himself on his grandfather, Kim Il Sung. That raises the question of whether he will see the US retreat from Afghanistan as another opportunity to undermine the US-South Korean alliance.
Kim might, for example, test the alliance by carrying out a cross-border attack of the type seen in 2010 when North Korean forces shelled a South Korean-held island off its shores.
“I don’t think Kim Jong Un will do anything particular because of what happened in Afghanistan,” says Paik, who was a long-time Sejong Institute expert on North Korea.
“These days, he’s totally focused on domestic economic survival, and has no reason whatsoever to engage in provocations when the Moon and Biden administrations are not provoking towards North Korea.”
Conservative analysts tend to agree with that assessment. “Pyongyang knows that the situation on the Korean Peninsula is not identical to the one in Afghanistan,” Wi says. “Pyongyang wouldn’t see this as an opportunity to test the United States.”
The South Korean experts on the North are careful not to rule out the possibility of escalation. But they see that, in case it happens, not as a consequence of events in Afghanistan, but as an attempt to restart the stalled negotiations following the breakdown of the Kim-Trump summit in Hanoi in 2019.
The role of China is also a large question mark. When Kim Il Sung pleaded for backing for his revolutionary dreams in 1975, the Chinese Communist leaders, according to the archived accounts of East European diplomats, turned him away. China was not interested at that moment in risking a confrontation with the United States and triggering a potential war on its frontier.
Chinese leader Mao Zedong, left, in an undated mid-1970s photo greeting North Korean President Kim Il Sung in Beijing during an official visit where Kim met high-ranking Chinese officials. Photo: AFP
Beijing is now locked in a strategic competition with Washington. Will China now be ready to turn Pyongyang loose?
“On one hand, they know the Americans have gotten their comeuppance in Afghanistan – they look inept and feckless and the Chinese can be heartened by that,” observes Brookings Institution scholar Jonathan Pollack, who has written extensively on the Sino-North Korea relationship.
But, he adds, “at these moments of definitive strategic change, the Chinese have a tendency to think very carefully about where they find themselves.”
China may see more advantage in being ready to insert itself as a mediator between the two Koreas, perhaps in the wake of an exchange of fire across the border, suggests a former senior State Department official who was involved in managing the 2010 crisis.
The Afghan events “open up opportunities for China,” the former official tells me. “I bet they are thinking about it.”
Daniel Sneider is lecturer, international policy, at Stanford University and a former Christian Science Monitor foreign correspondent. This article originally appeared in The Oriental Economist and is reprinted with permission.
9. Assembly panel advances ratification bill for USFK cost-sharing deal
The Special Measures Agreement (cost sharing) is not complete until the National Assembly approves it.
Excerpt:
Members of the ruling Democratic Party and the main opposition People Power Party in the committee supported the bill. Two others -- a minor opposition lawmaker and an independent -- abstained, saying the increase rate is unreasonable.
The panel attached its opinion to the bill, expressing regret about the increased burden of South Korea and calling for improvement in future negotiations.
Assembly panel advances ratification bill for USFK cost-sharing deal | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Yonhap) -- The parliamentary committee on foreign affairs on Monday passed a ratification motion for a new South Korea-U.S. cost-sharing deal for the U.S. troop presence here.
The two countries reached the so-called Special Measures Agreement in March after 1 1/2 years of tough negotiations.
Under the new arrangement, effective until 2025, Seoul will pay 1.183 trillion won (US$1.009 billion) this year, up 13.9 percent from last year, for the upkeep of the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).
South Korea's payment will also be adjusted reflecting the increase rate of the national defense budget over the next four years.
Members of the ruling Democratic Party and the main opposition People Power Party in the committee supported the bill. Two others -- a minor opposition lawmaker and an independent -- abstained, saying the increase rate is unreasonable.
The panel attached its opinion to the bill, expressing regret about the increased burden of South Korea and calling for improvement in future negotiations.
The bill is subject to a vote at the National Assembly's plenary session.
(END)
10. Choco Pies in China, Russia getting more expensive
A national security issue. Choco pies can defeat authoritarianism (note sarcasm). I wonder what they cost in north Korea. They are a delicacy.
Monday
August 23, 2021
Choco Pies in China, Russia getting more expensive
Orion's Choco Pies are displayed at a discount mart in Seoul. Prices of Orion products will remain the same in Korea, but rise in China and Russia. [YONHAP]
Confectionary maker Orion announced it will not raise the price of its products in Korea despite increases in production costs, but some foreign customers won't be so lucky.
The announcement came as many food manufacturers hike prices in the local market.
Orion announced Monday that prices of all of its products in Korea will remain the same. Orion's last round of price rises in Korea was in 2013, a full eight years ago.
Costs of the snack makers' main ingredients — eggs, oils and sugars — are rising and manufacturers are feeling the pain. In early August, sweets and snacks maker Haitai Confectionery & Foods raised the price of five products by an average 10.8 percent and Lotte Confectionery raised prices of 11 types of snacks by an average 12.2 percent.
The company said it's "doing the best to tame the production cost increase." It said its prices can remain unchanged in Korea due to effective cost management, including data-driven inventory optimization. Orion's operating profit margin was 16.8 percent in the January-June period, up 1 percentage point on year.
Prices will rise, however, for customers in China and Russia. According to Orion, raw material costs are rising at a faster rate in those two countries, too much for the company to handle.
For Chinese customers, prices of four pie snacks including Choco Pies and Q Di Pies will increase by some 6 to ten percent starting next month due to a rise in shortening and frying oil costs. In Russia, prices of all Orion products will rise by an average 7 percent starting Oct. 1. Russia is experiencing the biggest rise in ingredient costs such as cocoa, sugar and flour.
Input prices are rising in Vietnam too, but Orion is not raising prices. According to the company, competition among confectionary companies is strong in Vietnam, and Orion will aim to increase market share by maintaining its prices and releasing various new products.
BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee@joongang.co.kr]
11. Biden's special envoy urges North Korea to return to talks
I hate to beat the dead horse but the ball is in Kim Jong-un's court.
Biden's special envoy urges North Korea to return to talks
AP · by KIM TONG-HYUNG · August 23, 2021
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden’s special envoy for North Korea said Monday he’s ready to meet his North Korean counterparts “anywhere and at any time” as he held discussions with South Korean officials over stalled nuclear talks with the North.
Sung Kim’s visit to Seoul comes amid declining expectations for a quick resumption of talks and new tensions over ongoing U.S.-South Korean military exercises. North Korea has described the exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion and has threatened unspecified countermeasures that would cause a “security crisis” for the U.S. and South Korea.
After meeting with senior South Korean diplomat Noh Kyu-duk, Kim reiterated that the Biden administration has no hostile intent toward North Korea and that the joint drills are routine and defensive in nature.
Kim and Noh told reporters they discussed possible ways to facilitate diplomacy, including humanitarian cooperation with North Korea in providing anti-virus resources, sanitation and safe water. They did not announce any specific plans.
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Kim also is to meet Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov, who is also visiting Seoul.
“The United States does not have hostile intention for (North Korea,” Kim said. He said the joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises are “long-standing, routine and purely defensive in nature and support the security of both our countries.”
“I continue to stand ready to meet with my North Korean counterpart at anywhere and at any time,” Kim said.
Talks between the United States and North Korea have stalled since the collapse of a summit between former President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2019, when the Americans rejected the North’s demand for a major easing of economic sanctions in exchange for a partial reduction of its nuclear capabilities.
Kim has since pledged to bolster his country’s nuclear deterrent while urging his people to stay resilient in a struggle for economic self-dependence in the face of U.S. pressure. His government has so far rejected the Biden administration’s overtures for talks, demanding that Washington abandon its “hostile” policies first.
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North Korea has closed its borders since the start of the pandemic, but it will eventually have to open itself to humanitarian assistance and dialogue with the United States to carry out vaccinations, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. That doesn’t necessarily mean it will abstain from a missile test during or after the U.S.-South Korea drills, Easley said.
While North Korea has yet to report any coronavirus infections, experts have expressed skepticism about its claim of a perfect record, given its poor health care system and the porous border it shares with China. Edwin Salvador, the World Health Organization’s representative to North Korea, told The Associated Press last week that the North has yet to complete the “technical requirements” that are needed to receive vaccines under the U.N.-backed COVAX program.
The atmosphere for diplomacy deteriorated further this month when Kim’s powerful sister released a statement saying the drills were the “most vivid expression of the U.S. hostile policy” toward North Korea and that the North will work faster to strengthen its preemptive strike capabilities.
The United States and South Korea are conducting a nine-day joint military exercise that began last Monday which Seoul’s Defense Ministry says is mostly computer-simulated and doesn’t involve live field training. There have been no known missile tests by North Korea since the start of the drills, although South Korean military officials have said the North is currently staging its own summertime exercises.
North Korea has long bristled at U.S.-South Korea military drills and often responds to them with its own weapons demonstrations. The allies in the past few years have canceled or downsized some of their joint training exercises to provide space for diplomacy or because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some analysts say North Korea’s recent threat may signal a resumption of its weapons testing. North Korea ended a yearlong pause in ballistic tests in March by firing two short-range missiles into the sea, continuing a tradition of testing new U.S. administrations with weapons demonstrations aimed at measuring Washington’s response and wresting concessions.
There haven’t been any known test launches since then as Kim has focused national efforts on fending off the coronavirus and salvaging a broken economy damaged further by pandemic border closures and food shortages.
AP · by KIM TONG-HYUNG · August 23, 2021
12. US Envoy Says No Hostile Intent Toward North Korea, Calls For Talks
We have no hostile intent for any country or leader that acts as a responsible member of the international community. But a responsible member of the international community does not threaten a country to its south. It does not posture the 4th largest army in the world for offensive operations against its neighbors. The US does not have hostile intent toward the north but it is absolutely committed to deterring an attack from the north, and along with the ROK military and in support of its ally, defending South Korea.
Unfortunately for us to "prove" we have no "hostile intent," Kim Jong-un demands an end to the ROK/US alliance, removal of US troops, and listing the nuclear umbrella and eliminating extended deterrence over the ROK and Japan. The regime needs this in order to support its strategy and achieve its objectives to dominate the Korean peninsula.
US Envoy Says No Hostile Intent Toward North Korea, Calls For Talks
Noh Kyu-duk poses with Sung Kim during their bilateral meeting at a hotel in Seoul in June 21, 2021
Seoul:
The United States does not have hostile intent toward Pyongyang and is open to meeting any time and any place, Washington's special envoy for North Korea said on Monday during a visit to South Korea.
Sung Kim arrived in Seoul on Saturday for a four-day visit.
The visit comes as a brief thaw in inter-Korean relations in July gave way to a new standoff over U.S.-South Korean military exercises that North Korea has warned could trigger a security crisis.
"The United States does not have hostile intent toward (North Korea)," Kim told reporters after meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Noh Kyu-duk.
"The ongoing (U.S.-South Korea) combined military exercises are longstanding, routine, and purely defensive in nature and support the security of both our countries."
Noh said the pair discussed possible humanitarian aid to North Korea, as well as ways to restart stalled denuclearisation talks.
"We agreed to work together to resume dialogue with North Korea as soon as possible," he said.
On Sunday Kim met with Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong at the minister's residence, where they discussed ways for a speedy resumption of the peace process on the Korean peninsula, a foreign ministry official said.
The U.S. envoy is expected to meet with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov on Tuesday in Seoul.
The nine-day joint military exercise began on Aug. 16, with silence so far from North Korean state media despite fears that the country could conduct a missile test or take other actions to underscore its disapproval.
North Korea has said it is open to diplomacy, but that the American overtures appear hollow while "hostile acts" such as the drills continue
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has said it will explore diplomacy to achieve North Korean denuclearisation, but shown no willingness to ease sanctions.
The United States is supportive of efforts to improve ties between the two Koreas and remains open to direct talks with North Korea, Kim said.
Promoted
"I continue to stand ready to meet with my North Korean counterparts anywhere at any time," he said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
13. COVID-19 reveals North Korea is no longer a hermit kingdom
Good analysis but Kim Jong-un seems to be doing everything he can to shut down the informal trade. But I agree with the thesis that market activity is not only the key to the survival of the Korean people in the north, it is also goingto be one of the most important ocntributing factors to eventual unification and integration of north and South.
Excerpts;
North Korea’s COVID-19 border closure is likely to have other long-term effects. In the absence of functioning institutions in North Korea’s ambiguously marketised economy, people buying and selling goods have developed a number of coping strategies in a bid to enforce contracts, minimise uncertainty, improve access to information and increase trust.
In the short term, the social networks and trust-based relationships that have arisen from these coping strategies may aid North Koreans in adapting and surviving. But over the long term, particularly with interminable border closures and food shortages, social ties may begin to fray. Until it reopens border trade, the regime will have to resort to increasingly strident campaigns to deal with food shortages and related problems.
COVID-19 reveals North Korea is no longer a hermit kingdom
Author: Justin Hastings, University of Sydney
Any spread of COVID-19 in North Korea will prove disastrous. Its healthcare system is unable to cope. Medicine and medical equipment are difficult to import due to sanctions, the border closure, the departure of humanitarian agencies and the lack of foreign currency. Even if (as North Korea claims) there is no COVID-19 in the country, North Korea’s economy is undoubtedly doing it tough.
Hard data about North Korea is difficult to come by. Since the January 2020 border closure, there have been multiple signs of economic hardship, at least in parts of the economy that rely on imports and exports. China’s reported trade with North Korea was down 80 per cent in 2020 from the previous year, although the first half of 2021 was a little better, potentially due to greater needs for fertiliser. In 2020, North Korean fishing fleets essentially disappeared, possibly due to concerns that movement would bring in COVID-19.
Without imported goods, or the ability to bring in hard currency through exporting goods, markets have suffered shortages and volatility. Since the border closure, rice prices in Hyesan have been consistently higher and have experienced greater volatility than in Pyongyang and Sinuiju. Given that Hyesan is more dependent on foreign trade for its supplies, this suggests the border closure is creating hardship in cities that do not have ready access to domestic rice supplies.
Even in Pyongyang and Sinuiju, where rice prices have been relatively stable — suggesting that the North Korean state may be releasing reserves of rice (possibly from military reserves) as a way of overcoming market shortages — prices were volatile in the first half of 2021. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un himself acknowledged there were food problems in the country which threatened national security.
The key insight from North Korea’s crisis over the past 18 months is that it is not actually economically isolated from the rest of the world. Despite North Korea’s reputation as a hermit kingdom, the country is heavily reliant on imported goods to supply its markets. Clearly, the regime knows this. Kim Jong-un’s emphasis on fish production and aquaculture, which predates the COVID-19 border closure, suggests that he has been trying (unsuccessfully) to minimise the country’s dependence on international trade for its basic food requirements.
The strict border closure is both at odds and in line with the government’s overarching policy towards markets. Since coming to power, Kim has generally allowed market activity to continue because he needs the revenue such activity brings and because it supports the majority of the population. At the same time, he has pursued policies that aim to centralise and consolidate political control over market participants and enterprises, as well as extract more income from these enterprises.
Even during the pandemic, the regime has attempted to maintain income for the state and supplies for state-controlled traders. Throughout the pandemic, North Korean and third-country flagged ships have continued ship-to-ship transfers of oil in international waters in violation of UN sanctions. Presumably, North Korea has enough foreign currency, or at least the equivalent in barter goods, to pay for the oil. North Korea also continued exporting millions of tons of coal, largely to China via illicit ship transfers and port visits, to bring in hard currency.
Kim’s support has relied on providing business opportunities to political elites, particularly in international trade. A border that is completely closed for an indeterminate period will have deleterious effects on the positions of these elites. Selectively opening border trade to allow some trade through is a good way to maintain the support of those it favours but is less effective at stabilising markets. It also drives an increase in inequality between the haves and have-nots, even in Pyongyang.
North Korean authorities have been cracking down on smuggling, even as they open applications for new trading permits in anticipation of the border re-opening. In effect, politically connected traders may be able to start trading soon, but the politically marginalised will continue to suffer and hunger will persist among the general population.
North Korea’s COVID-19 border closure is likely to have other long-term effects. In the absence of functioning institutions in North Korea’s ambiguously marketised economy, people buying and selling goods have developed a number of coping strategies in a bid to enforce contracts, minimise uncertainty, improve access to information and increase trust.
In the short term, the social networks and trust-based relationships that have arisen from these coping strategies may aid North Koreans in adapting and surviving. But over the long term, particularly with interminable border closures and food shortages, social ties may begin to fray. Until it reopens border trade, the regime will have to resort to increasingly strident campaigns to deal with food shortages and related problems.
Justin Hastings is Professor at the Department of Government and International Relations, the University of Sydney.
14. He Was Kim Jong Un’s Party Pal. Now He Rots in a Chinese Prison.
Excerpts:
While U.S. relations with China deteriorate amid military and trade disputes, the case is an explosive international issue considering Huawei’s global reach as a technological giant. Spavor and Kovrig can only hope the court rules in favor of Meng and Huawei, which has vigorously denounced her arrest as politically motivated.
As for the Chinese case against Spavor, the Canadian ambassador to China, Dominic Barton, said it “lacked both fairness and transparency.” Some of the so-called evidence against “the two Michaels,” as they are sometimes called in Canada, revolves around photographs Spavor was said to have taken of military aircraft. Barton, according to NK News, a website in Seoul that tracks North Korea, said both Spavor and Kovrig “are being detained arbitrarily” and vowed to “continue to call for their immediate release.” The claim of photographing military aircraft is suspect since Chinese military planes are often seen at or near commercial airports, and are easily photographed by anyone snapping souvenir shots.
Spavor, meanwhile, remains irrepressibly upbeat, at least to judge from a comment on the case as transmitted via the Canadian embassy in Beijing. “I am in good spirits,” NK News quoted him as saying. “I want to get home.”
He Was Kim Jong Un’s Party Pal. Now He Rots in a Chinese Prison.
Michael Spavor, the spirited Canadian who twice finessed visits of Chicago Bulls legend Dennis Rodman to Pyongyang—including for a birthday bash with leader Kim Jong Un—was sentenced to 11 years in a Chinese prison last week. The crime for which Spavor was found guilty, after having been held virtually incommunicado since December 2018, was to have spilled state secrets, including pictures, to a former Canadian diplomat who’s also been jailed all this time.
Spavor’s conviction and sentencing marks the disastrous downfall of an entrepreneur with close ties to North Korea. As the founder and operator of the “non-profit” Paektu Cultural Exchange in Dandong, the bustling Chinese city across the Yalu River from the decrepit North Korean city of Sinuiju, he specialized in tours to China promoting a North Korean agenda of cultural and economic enrichment. It was in Dandong that the court, fed what Chinese prosecutors viewed as “evidence,” found him guilty as charged while the other Canadian, Michael Kovrig, awaits his verdict and sentencing.
Manuel Balce Cenata/Getty
Having gotten to know Spavor in email communications and meetings during his visits to Seoul, I enjoyed hearing him boast about his professional exploits. In one evening at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club, he was the life of the party, embracing anyone within arm’s reach, raising his glass in toasts, laughing and joking about his role as a tour operator with one specialty: North Korea. However much Spavor had imbibed, however, he was careful not to say anything that might dim the magic of his rapport with the North Koreans, who obviously saw him as a useful intermediary.
It would not, however, take much for the Chinese legal system to imprison just about anyone who got on the wrong side of authorities. His trial, of course, was conducted behind closed doors, with no one there to record what was said and no way he could call his own witnesses or have a lawyer defending him, much less questioning the system under which he was held without bail and virtually no visitors other than occasional brief meetings with Canadian consular officers—before COVID-19 provided a pretext for cutting off contact.
Seemingly outgoing and always super-friendly, Spavor, now 45, was glad to chat and clapped shoulders with just about anyone he met. Speaking of his accomplishments, however, he had a way of grinning and clamming up when asked what he really knew of North Korea’s atrocious human rights record or the innermost secrets of the Kim dynasty. I got to know him over the course of attempts to gain access to North Korea.
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
For all his high spirits and camaraderie, he was smart enough to tell me, in person and in emails, that he just was not able to get me a visa to North Korea since I was a known quantity as an American and a journalist. I did manage to visit North Korea a number of times, twice for visits of more than two weeks under other auspices, claiming to be a teacher or scholar.
On one of those visits, I actually ran into him with another tour group, as always putting on an old friends act that belied the dedication with which he arranged contacts between North Korea and eager foreign visitors.
“BACK IN SEOUL!” began one message that he sent advertising a visit to South Korea planned for early December 2018. His merry tone, advising contacts he’d be coming down from Dandong “for a few days for new consulting work,” leaves no doubt he hadn’t a clue what was coming when he got back to China. It wasn’t until he failed to show up that we got the news of his arrest.
Interspersed with smiling emoji, he rambled on in his usual hyper-convivial style: “Yeah! And a few meetings,” said his email, which I preserved as a colorful reference to one of the more engaging intermediaries between curious foreigners and a system that remains closed to all but superficial look-sees.
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“I’ll be busy but if you want to have a few Makgeollis (Korean rice wine) or beers with some of my friends come out on Tues and/or Fri,” he amiably invited everyone. “All are welcome, feel free to tag along and bring friends.”
Spavor was at his effervescent party-going best when he joined Dennis Rodman on the occasion of Kim Jong Un’s 30th birthday in Pyongyang in 2014. Spavor, whose travel agency handled details of the visit, holds the distinction of being one of the few westerners to have met Kim.
The January 2014 trip is most memorable for Rodman singing “Happy Birthday” to the North Korean leader, who’d inherited his post barely more than a year earlier after the death of his long-ruling father, Kim Jong-il, in December 2011. Reuters quotes Spavor as describing the goings-on as “a blast” in which “we hung out for three days,” surely “the most amazing experience I’ve had in my life.”
Photographs show Rodman cavorting with Kim at a basketball game and Spavor sipping drinks with the North Korean leader on a yacht off the east coast port of Wonsan, near one of Kim’s palatial residences.
Wang Zhao/Getty
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All of which, according to a veteran diplomatic source who requested anonymity, may have contributed to Spavor’s undoing. “What he was apparently doing with NK was always extremely risky,” the source told me in an email.
Sure, he went on, “There must have been tons of intelligence officers from many states’ services all over him for several years at least.” But the Chinese, he explained, “would of course have been deeply suspicious of him and of those they assumed he was working for. And even if they weren’t sure he was working for a service, how easy they would have regarded it to tar him with that when they needed someone to hold hostage against Canada.”
As for why the Chinese would go after Spavor when he was such a friend of North Korea, he said, “the Chinese look down on and even hate the North Koreans,” despite their longstanding alliance with North Korea going back to the Korean War. Moreover, they may have assumed he “wasn’t really a friend of NK but was working for others.”
Spavor may still appeal his sentence, but both he and Kovrig are widely viewed as pawns in a much larger power game.
They were both picked up almost immediately after the Vancouver 2018 arrest of Meng Wanzhou, Chinese tech giant Huawei’s chief financial officer, on an American request for her extradition from Canada. Quasi-free on $7.5 billion bail, she goes nowhere without an escort, has to wear an ankle bracelet and must return to her luxury digs at night. Hearings in Vancouver have just ended, and the court is expected to decide in two months whether to send her to the U.S. for trial on charges of fraudulently violating sanctions banning trade with Iran in statements to HSBC Holdings.
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While U.S. relations with China deteriorate amid military and trade disputes, the case is an explosive international issue considering Huawei’s global reach as a technological giant. Spavor and Kovrig can only hope the court rules in favor of Meng and Huawei, which has vigorously denounced her arrest as politically motivated.
As for the Chinese case against Spavor, the Canadian ambassador to China, Dominic Barton, said it “lacked both fairness and transparency.” Some of the so-called evidence against “the two Michaels,” as they are sometimes called in Canada, revolves around photographs Spavor was said to have taken of military aircraft. Barton, according to NK News, a website in Seoul that tracks North Korea, said both Spavor and Kovrig “are being detained arbitrarily” and vowed to “continue to call for their immediate release.” The claim of photographing military aircraft is suspect since Chinese military planes are often seen at or near commercial airports, and are easily photographed by anyone snapping souvenir shots.
Spavor, meanwhile, remains irrepressibly upbeat, at least to judge from a comment on the case as transmitted via the Canadian embassy in Beijing. “I am in good spirits,” NK News quoted him as saying. “I want to get home.”
15. Taliban hopes for S. Korea's diplomatic recognition, economic exchanges: official
(Yonhap Interview) Taliban hopes for S. Korea's diplomatic recognition, economic exchanges: official | Yonhap News Agency
NEW DELHI/SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Yonhap) -- The Taliban wants South Korea to recognize it as a "legitimate" government of Afghanistan and hopes to strengthen economic cooperation and other exchanges between the two countries, a Taliban spokesman said Monday.
Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a member of the Taliban's Cultural Commission, made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Yonhap News Agency, calling for Seoul to maintain "cordial" ties with the country "replete with untapped mineral resources."
It marked the first interview a Taliban official has held with a South Korean media outlet since the Islamist movement took over Afghanistan as the United States withdrew troops from the war-torn nation.
Balkhi's remarks came amid speculation that the Taliban group would seek diplomatic recognition from the international community and outside economic support to help rebuild the country as Washington plans to complete its troop withdrawal to end 20 years of war later this month.
"We hope not only to be recognized by Korea but the entire world at large as the legitimate representative government of the people of Afghanistan, who have gained their right of self-determination from a foreign occupation," Balkhi said in the interview conducted via text messages.
Balkhi said it is the official position of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the same name the Taliban used when it ruled the country in the 1990s.
The official, in particular, expressed hope for the Taliban's economic engagement with Korea.
"Afghanistan is replete with untapped mineral resources ... Korea as a leading world manufacturer of electronics can work with our country based on mutual interests, where we can also serve as an economic corridor connecting South and Central Asian countries," he said.
Asked whether Taliban leaders want to visit Seoul in the future for talks with politicians and businesspeople in Seoul, the official voiced hope for such engagement.
"Yes, we would absolutely like to meet with the leaders and businessmen of Korea and strengthen both economic and people-to-people relations between both peoples and countries," he said.
Balkhi's remarks came as Koreans still have potent memories of the fatal Taliban attack on a Korean solider in 2007 and of the slaying of the two of 23 Koreans kidnapped during a Korean church mission in Afghanistan in the same year.
But the official underscored the need to "look to the future."
"Our country was occupied by foreign powers, and we were forced to defend our right to self-determination," he said. "It is a matter of urgency that we look to the future and not live in the past."
Commenting on Seoul's principle to engage only with a country that sticks to human rights and universal international norms, Balkhi claimed that the Taliban has been "unequivocally clear" that it will "respect and protect the universal rights of all human beings within the framework of Islamic law."
Touching on rising fears of possible Taliban retaliation for Afghans who have allied with the U.S. and its partners, the official reiterated that his group has granted "amnesty to all people."
But he said, "We do not wish for them to leave but to contribute to the development of their own nation through their expertise. But if they wish to leave, it will be their own choice."
(END)
16. Arrests of North Korean Wives of Chinese Men Spooks Refugee Community
Again,China is complicit in north Korean human rights abuses.
Arrests of North Korean Wives of Chinese Men Spooks Refugee Community
A woman who fled the North more than 10 years ago was dragged away from her Chinese husband and their child.
A spate of arrests of North Korean wives of Chinese men—raids seizing long-time residents in front of their families—has the put the refugee community in northeastern China on edge, sources in China told RFA.
The latest in periodic crackdowns on North Koreans living illegally in China has seen arrests and threatened deportations in Liaoning and Jilin, the two provinces on China’s side of their 840-mile (1,350 km) shared border, the sources said.
Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans fled to China to escape a mid-1990s famine, with about 30,000 making their way to South Korea. As many as 60,000 North Koreans remain China, despite having no legal status, and some have married Chinese nationals.
After a long period of time in which the North Korean spouses of Chinese nationals were treated leniently, despite Beijing’s commitment with Pyongyang to repatriate all illegal North Koreans found within its borders, police are now actively arresting them.
“Police officers suddenly stormed the house of a North Korean woman in her late 30s, arrested her and took her to prison,” a Chinese citizen of Korean descent from Tonghua city in Jilin province told RFA’s Korean Service.
“After she escaped from North Korea, she got married and has been living in Tonghua for 10 years. She has a small child. Everyone in the neighborhood knew she was a refugee, but she was never reported or arrested,” said the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons.
The source said police took the woman away in late July on human trafficking charges.
“She was well known for providing food and clothing to North Koreans who had just crossed over the border. She helped provide them with shelter and jobs,” said the source.
“She is a kind-hearted person who helps everyone in the neighborhood, not only refugees, so the neighbors are very saddened by the news of her arrest,” the source said.
Trafficking of newly escaped North Korean women in China is a deep-rooted industry as traffickers capitalize on their desperation.
A 2018 report by the Seoul-based Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice (KICJ) estimated that 80 percent of female North Korean refugees in China “are entrapped in a form of trafficking- commercial sex, forced labor, and forced marriages.”
But China has often laid human trafficking charges on aid workers or others who help North Korean refugees, and people in the Tonghua community did not believe that the human trafficking charge should apply to the North Korean woman or her husband, the Jilin province source said.
“She escaped a hard life in North Korea and she supported other North Korean refugees both physically and emotionally while they were in such a difficult situation,” the source said.
“She has a nine-year-old child with her Chinese husband, and the child cries every day looking for mom. The neighbors are all petitioning the police to release her, saying that it is so sad to see the child crying,” the source said.
The arrest was one of two in Tonghua last month involving married North Korean women who had escaped to China a long time ago, according to the source.
“Neighbors are strongly criticizing the inhumane treatment of the public security agents, saying, ‘What will happen to the child if they arrest the mother and ruin a family that is living well?’” the source said.
Another Chinese citizen of Korean descent from Shenyang, in Liaoning province, confirmed to RFA that the crackdown on North Korean refugees was in effect there as well.
“It is making the North Koreans tremble with anxiety. Since early July, the public security agents have been raiding their residences, or going to their workplaces to arrest them,” said the second source, who requested anonymity to speak freely.
“In mid-July, a close friend, an ethnic Korean like myself, called me urgently at night to ask for my help, saying he was unable to reach his girlfriend, a North Korean refugee, who works at a restaurant near Shenyang Station,” said the second source.
“Four days later, I was told that the refugee had been receiving treatment at a hospital in the prison for the past three days. She had difficulty breathing and was going into shock while she was being arrested at the restaurant,” the second source said.
While in prison, the woman was able to borrow a mobile phone to secretly call her boyfriend to avoid police detection, according to the second source.
“She said that there were more than 10 North Korean women imprisoned in addition to herself. Just before hanging up, she told my friend it would be difficult to come back if they send her back to North Korea,” the second source said.
“My friend has been living every day in tears for over a month,” added the source.
News of the crackdown in Shenyang is spreading among the refugee community, and even long-timers and their families are afraid, according to the second source.
“In the past, even if the police knew that there were North Korean refugees living in an area, they did not arrest them unless they started causing problems. Now they are actively searching for them and arresting them, so all the North Korean refugees are terrified.”
RFA contacted the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. for comment but the embassy did not respond.
Beijing claims it must return North Koreans found to be illegally within Chinese territory under two agreements it has signed with Pyongyang, the 1960 PRC-DPRK Escaped Criminals Reciprocal Extradition Treaty and the 1986 Mutual Cooperation Protocol for the Work of Maintaining National Security and Social Order and the Border Areas.
Rights groups, however, say that forced repatriation is a violation of China’s responsibility to protect the escapees under the UN Refugee Convention.
RFA reported last month that China forcibly repatriated 50 North Korean refugees, the first repatriations since the border was closed at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in Jan. 2020. The North Koreans were loaded onto buses in the Chinese border city of Dandong and taken across the Yalu River to the North Korean city of Sinuiju.
According to the Department of State’s 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report, there are up to 30,000 unregistered children of North Korean women and Chinese men. The report noted that the children are stateless and vulnerable to exploitation.
Reported by Jeong Yon Park for RFA’s Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
17. Police in some regions of North Korea take bribes to protect transport of goods
A police protection racket. No surprise with the level of corruption and the need to survive because the party cannot care for everyone.
Excerpts:
The police have generally responded favorably to the offer. On the streets, police may appear like they are cracking down on commerce, but in fact, a growing number of police and wagon drivers are teaming up to transport goods.
“In the past, police wouldn’t even look at a petty bribe,” said the source. “However, with smuggling cut off completely due to the border closure, impoverished police officers are taking even that kind of money.
“In the end, the ‘mop up operation’ against streetside commerce and wagon drivers has become a way for police officers impoverished by the border closure to fill their pockets,” he continued, adding, “At the top, they cry of eradicating injustice and corruption, but below, they’re not controlling it at all.”
Police in some regions of North Korea take bribes to protect transport of goods - Daily NK
Police in some regions of North Korea have begun making money by looking the other way at streetside commerce despite orders from the authorities to “mop up” such businesses.
In a telephone conversation on Thursday, a source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK that police officers tasked with controlling streetside commerce were “pathetically” taking so-called kababi, or bribes. “They are taking money from big businessmen to protect the transport of goods,” he said.
North Korea has been waging a “mop up operation” against streetside commerce since April. Police have stepped up crackdowns against so-called “grasshopper merchants,” whom the authorities blame for fostering an “anti-socialist and non-socialist” atmosphere.
Included as a target are wagon drivers who team up with stall merchants to transport goods. Police have generated an atmosphere of fear, confiscating the goods of those who get caught and dragging the offenders off to labor camps.
You have to pay a hefty bribe to get your confiscated goods back. In fact, somebody reportedly paid RMB 1,000 to get 500 kilograms of rice back. Moreover, you have to know somebody in the police.
If you calculate according to current market prices in North Korea (KPW 5,800 for a kilogram of rice) and the exchange rate (KPW 500 to the yuan), RMB 1,000 equals KPW 500,000, enough to buy about 86 kilograms of rice.
A “grasshopper market,” or unofficial market, in a village near Pyongyang. / Image: Posted online by a Chinese blogger named Lóng Wǔ*Láng Zhī Wěn (龙五*狼之吻 )
Accordingly, business people who distribute goods wholesale — called mulju in North Korea — began bribing the police. They started offering police RMB 100-200 in bribes to “help them safely transport large amounts of goods to their destination.”
The police have generally responded favorably to the offer. On the streets, police may appear like they are cracking down on commerce, but in fact, a growing number of police and wagon drivers are teaming up to transport goods.
“In the past, police wouldn’t even look at a petty bribe,” said the source. “However, with smuggling cut off completely due to the border closure, impoverished police officers are taking even that kind of money.
“In the end, the ‘mop up operation’ against streetside commerce and wagon drivers has become a way for police officers impoverished by the border closure to fill their pockets,” he continued, adding, “At the top, they cry of eradicating injustice and corruption, but below, they’re not controlling it at all.”
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
18. N. Korea develops real-time PCR equipment to test for coronavirus: state media
I imagine the regime received PCR tests through COVAX or some international humanitarian assistance. But the regime will claim it developed it because it will want tth people to believe the regime and party is doing this for them and they are not dependent on outside assistance.
N. Korea develops real-time PCR equipment to test for coronavirus: state media | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has developed real-time PCR (polymerase chain reaction) coronavirus testing equipment on its own, state media said Monday, as the country continues to fight against the global pandemic.
Scientists and workers at the 111 Factory in Pyongyang have developed the equipment, which meets global standards, for the first time in the country, the Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the North's ruling Workers' Party, said.
Many countries currently use PCR as a standard test for COVID-19 that works by finding the virus's genetic information, or RNA, in a sample taken from a patient.
The North has conducted PCR testing when reporting to the World Health Organization, but this marks the first time Pyongyang has announced it has developed its own PCR equipment.
North Korea is also tightening coronavirus measures amid the global spread of the contagious lambda and delta variants.
"We are intensifying the struggle to strengthen antivirus measures at all levels to fight against the spread of the viral variants prevalent in many countries and regions," the Korean Central News Agency said.
The North has claimed to be coronavirus-free but has taken relatively swift and tough measures against the pandemic, such as imposing strict border controls since early last year.
julesyi@yna.co.kr
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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.
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