Quotes of the Day:
"Whenever we as Americans have faced serious crises we have returned to fundamentals; this, in brief, is what I have tried to do."
- Ralph Ellison
"Men, be kind to your fellow-men; this is your first duty, kind to every age and station, kind to all that is not foreign to humanity. What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?"
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
"Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it."
- Thomas Jefferson
1. S. Korea, U.S. have effectively agreed on draft text of end-of-war declaration: FM Chung
2. Moon’s final obsession
3. U.S. hopes N. Korea will respond positively to outreach for dialogue: State Dept.
4. N. Korea pushes back after U.S. keeps it on state sponsors of terrorism list
5. North Korea’s vital role as a Cold War training ground for global terrorists
6. North Korea: Kim Jong-un may schedule discussion with US over de-nuclearisation
7. North Korea's Workers' Party meets with Kim Jong Un to discuss nation's future
8. N. Korea could stage ICBM or nuclear test before U.S. midterm elections: think tank
9. Biden may face a North Korea crisis within months
10. Elderly woman in Hamhung “talk of the town” after publicly criticizing provincial party secretary
11. Defectors’ remittances to N. Korea down 18% in 2021 amid pandemic: NGO
12. N.K. leader orders 'important revolutionary measures' for rural development
1. S. Korea, U.S. have effectively agreed on draft text of end-of-war declaration: FM Chung
"effectively agreed " - "in principle."
While I am sure there has been an agreement on a draft text the key statement is:
"We are considering various ways on how to advance discussions with North Korea."
I think what this means is there will be no end of war declaration until after there are discussions and negotiations with north Korea and a substantive agreement is reached. I do not think the alliance is going to make a unilateral declaration but instead will say this is the statement we wish to discuss and negotiate with north Korea. I suspect the US has agreed to use the proposal as a tactic to try to bring Kim to the negotiating table. We will see if it works. I think we will get a sense of Kim's receptivity from the final statements of the current party meeting that is taking place in north Korea or perhaps in Kim's New year's address (if he provides one).
S. Korea, U.S. have effectively agreed on draft text of end-of-war declaration: FM Chung | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, Dec. 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States have "effectively" agreed on the draft text of the proposed declaration of a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, Seoul's top diplomat said Wednesday amid their continued push to resume dialogue with North Korea.
Chung Eui-yong made the remarks during a press conference, noting he and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed the progress in the allies' consultations over the declaration when they met on the margins of a Group of Seven session in Liverpool, Britain, earlier this month.
"South Korea and the U.S. have already agreed on the importance of the end-of-war declaration, and the two sides have effectively reached an agreement on its draft text," Chung said.
The minister added, "We are considering various ways on how to advance discussions with North Korea."
ejkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
2. Moon’s final obsession
As we read about an agreement on a draft end of war declaration we should consider this editorial from the Joongang Ilbo and in particular the words in this concussion:
Moon reiterates that the two Koreas, the U.S. and China all support an end-of-war declaration. But he does not explain why such a declaration failed to be made. Moon also says the declaration is nothing but a political and symbolic proclamation without binding force. The international environments surrounding South Korea cannot afford a government exerting all its final diplomatic efforts to realize a pipe dream of a lame duck president.
Wednesday
December 29, 2021
Moon’s final obsession
Yeh Young-june
The author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo.
“An end-of-war declaration alone cannot solve problems, but it could be a start,” said the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in a summit in Pyongyang with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in October 2007. Kim, then chairman of the National Defense Commission, employed rhetoric that sounds eerily like what President Moon Jae-in has repeatedly said. The Moon administration’s insistence on a declaration to end the 1950-53 Korean War is nothing new. But it has come up with a new argument that an end-of-war declaration could kick-start a process leading to peace on the Korean Peninsula.
However, an end-of-war declaration should not be made even before both sides start negotiations. Instead, the administration should have proposed such a declaration after North Korea’s denuclearization had reached an irreversible level. Or a declaration could be made in tandem with progress in denuclearization — before or after the installation of U.S.-North Korea liaison offices and an easing of sanctions. Such ideas were widely shared by security strategists under President Roh as a roadmap to peace. President Moon has maintained such a stance at least until the early stage of his government.
Then all of a sudden, an end-of-war declaration was proposed as an impetus to denuclearization — instead of being placed at a midpoint in a roadmap to that destination. Regrettably, the government won’t explain or even acknowledge its suspicious turnaround. U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s comment that the two allies “may have somewhat different perspectives on the precise sequence or timing or conditions for different steps” reflects a stark difference in their approaches.
Unification Minister Lee In-young, third from right, and leaders of the ruling Democratic Party salute the flag before having a debate on an end-of-war declaration in the National Assembly on December 14. [LIM HYUN-DONG]
Another doubt involves the government’s obsession with an end-of-war declaration. In June 2018, Moon was ready to fly to Singapore to join the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Moon planned to proceed with a possible agreement between the two and escalate it to a tripartite summit to declare an end to the war. Moon ordered his aides to set up a press center there for live coverage of a historical moment. But the U.S. and North Korea could not reach agreement on the wording of a joint statement through the night before the summit.
A book by former National Security Advisor John Bolton vividly describes the lead-up to Trump’s last-minute decision to adopt a short joint statement. Some pundits put the blame on hard-liner Bolton, but the fundamental reason for a botched summit was North Korea’s refusal to accept the proposed “complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization (CVID).” As a result, the joint statement skipped any mention of an end-of-war declaration. Moon’s dream to declare an end to the war was frustrated once and for all.
One month after the Singapore summit, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a trip to Pyongyang, but he could not take a step forward due to the North’s insistence on an end-of-ward declaration first. Pyongyang even refused to meet with Pompeo. Washington stuck with “no declaration to end the war” without any meaningful progress in denuclearization. Security experts often attribute the fleeting spring between the two to no deal in Hanoi, but the seed of the collapse of the summit already started sprouting in Singapore.
The U.S. position has not changed since and the same goes for North Korea’s. The only change is Moon’s adherence to an end of war declaration. The intensity of his obsession grows as his term nears an end. The displacement of an end-of-war declaration is certainly connected to Moon’s obsession. He desperately wants to leave a legacy before stepping down in May.
Moon reiterates that the two Koreas, the U.S. and China all support an end-of-war declaration. But he does not explain why such a declaration failed to be made. Moon also says the declaration is nothing but a political and symbolic proclamation without binding force. The international environments surrounding South Korea cannot afford a government exerting all its final diplomatic efforts to realize a pipe dream of a lame duck president.
3. U.S. hopes N. Korea will respond positively to outreach for dialogue: State Dept.
No new statement despite the headline. We remain willing to meet the north any time, anywhere without preconditions.
I also wish we would just stop with all the comparisons to "strategic patience." It was never an official policy and was only coined by the press and the pundits because the administration did not have a name for its policy. And because there is no pithy name for the Biden administration policy the press and pundits want to return to strategic patience by default. We now have a very negative view of strategic patience when in fact sometimes we need to be strategically patient.
U.S. hopes N. Korea will respond positively to outreach for dialogue: State Dept. | Yonhap News Agency
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 (Yonhap) -- The United States continues to hope that North Korea will respond positively to its outreach for dialogue, a state department spokesperson said Tuesday.
Ned Price also reiterated that the U.S. remains ready and willing to meet with North Korea without any preconditions.
"We have made clear through our public messaging and private messaging as well that we are ready, willing and able to engage in this diplomacy," Price said in a telephonic press briefing.
"And we are we continue to hope the DPRK will respond positively to that outreach," he added.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.
His remarks come amid a growing view that the Joe Biden administration, after months of being ignored by North Korea, may have gone back to the so-called "strategic patience" approach of the former Barack Obama administration.
Price dismissed the view, saying the Biden administration remains ready to meet with North Korea at any time.
"We've made clear in recent months that we harbor no hostile intent towards the DPRK. And as you alluded to, we continue to be prepared to meet without preconditions," he said when asked if the U.S. was continuing to reach out to the North.
"We hope the DPRK will respond positively to our outreach, all the while we're continuing to consult closely with our allies, the ROK, Japan, other allies and partners about how we might engage the DPRK," he added, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.
North Korea has remained unresponsive to U.S. overtures since the Biden administration took office in January. It has also stayed away from denuclearization negotiations since 2019.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
4. N. Korea pushes back after U.S. keeps it on state sponsors of terrorism list
This is not an indication that the US is on a path to make concessions to the regime.
N. Korea pushes back after U.S. keeps it on state sponsors of terrorism list | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, Dec. 28 (Yonhap) -- North Korea hit back Tuesday at a recent U.S. decision to retain it on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, accusing Washington of having engaged in terrorist acts under the pretext of "counterterrorism."
Earlier this month, the State Department unveiled its annual Country Reports on Terrorism 2020, which kept the North on the list, along with Iran and Syria.
In a post on its foreign ministry website, Pyongyang criticized Washington for posing as the "judge of terrorism," cataloguing a number of past U.S.-involved wars and lambasting them as "large-scale acts of state terrorism."
"The U.S. is the criminal state of terrorism which did not hesitate to commit acts of terrorism," read the post, claiming that the U.S. carried out terrorist operations targeting political figures and government officials in foreign countries.
It added that Washington's denunciation of others as "terrorist states" is the "worst case of a guilty party filing suit first."
North Korea has been on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism since 2017, when North Korean agents assassinated leader Kim Jong-un's half brother, Kim Jong-nam, using a chemical agent in Malaysia.
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
(END)
5. North Korea’s vital role as a Cold War training ground for global terrorists
This is a very much overlooked history. Benjamin Young has wrotten a very good history that analyzes north Korean support to terrorism during the Cold War.
North Korea’s vital role as a Cold War training ground for global terrorists
The country's designation as a state sponsor of terror is a well-deserved moniker stretching back decades
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Image: NK News (file) | The Victorious War monument in Pyongyang on Sept. 4, 2015
Earlier this month, the U.S. announced that North Korea would remain on its list of state sponsors of terrorism for the fourth consecutive year, sharing the ignominious designation with Cuba, Iran and Syria. The Trump administration had returned the DPRK to the list in 2017, and before that, it had been on the list for more than 20 years from 1987 to 2008.
Pyongyang’s history of aiding and abetting terrorist activity, however, goes back to well before the U.S. ever gave it the moniker of “state sponsor.”
From the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, North Korea gained recognition around the postcolonial world as an important training ground and haven for far-left insurgents — from training members of the Official Irish Republican Army (IRA) to providing sanctuary to then-pregnant Black Panther Party member Kathleen Cleaver.
DPRK military officials offered arms training and education on guerilla warfare to international terrorists. One IRA fighter who trained in the DPRK learned bomb-making skills and kidnapping techniques. In North Korea, he also learned the best way to kill somebody was to “stab a man in the back of the neck and then twist, cutting into the cerebral cortex.”
This overlooked history shows that North Korea once played a vital role in the international revolutionary movement. While the country plays a far more minuscule role in international terrorism today, the assassination of Kim Jong Un’s half-brother with VX nerve agent in a crowded international airport in 2017 demonstrates that Pyongyang may still be willing to resort to acts of terror to further its objectives.
A wanted poster showing members of the Japanese Red Army | Image: Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department
TRAINING DAY
The first incident to draw international attention to North Korea’s sponsoring of international terrorism was in March 1970, when nine Japanese Red Army (JRA) militants hijacked an airplane and landed it in Pyongyang. Kim Il Sung’s regime gave asylum to the JRA members and commandeered the aircraft.
These JRA members later played a role in the abduction of Japanese nationals to North Korea and aimed to carry out a communist revolution in Japan based on Kim Il Sung’s doctrine.
A year later, the Mexican government revealed that several members of a far-left insurgency, known as the Revolutionary Action Movement (MAR), received guerilla training in North Korea. Traveling via East Germany and the Soviet Union, several members of MAR trained in the DPRK in 1969 and 1970.
Kim Il Sung’s regime also gave the Mexican guerillas $26,000 for travel expenses and for the recruiting of additional members in Mexico.
TIME reported that guerilla training in North Korea was “rigorous” and lasted between 6 to 18 months. Training largely consisted of taekwondo and “running five hours at night, sometimes through rough mountain terrain, shouldering 100-lb. sandbags.”
The magazine estimated that 2,000 insurgents from 25 different countries had trained in the DPRK, and at the time of the article’s publication 700 guerillas were in residence at North Korea’s ten special training camps for foreign insurgents.
Taekwondo training in North Korea, March 6, 2019 | Image: NK News (file)
WORLDWIDE REACH
In a declassified 1977 CIA report, the U.S intelligence community concluded that the government in Pyongyang offers material aid and training support to insurgents out of a desire “to prove its revolutionary credentials.”
By the early 1980s, North Korea was at the forefront of the global revolutionary movement that opposed U.S hegemony and promoted the virtues of radicalism, rural insurrection and anti-capitalism.
Kim Il Sung viewed Third World liberation movements as part of a global revolutionary nexus that would defeat all forms of colonialism and imperialism. In a 1968 treatise, he wrote, “The revolutionary struggles of the peoples in all countries have the relationship of supporting and complementing each other and join together in one stream of world revolution.”
In addition to training Asian and Latin American revolutionaries, the North Korean government also trained African rebels. For example, the North Korean government trained members of the Dhofar Liberation Movement (DLF), a Marxist-Leninist rebel group in Oman, in techniques of assassination and sabotage.
According to a declassified CIA document, Pyongyang sent the Dhofar rebels small quantities of arms and food in 1970, while also providing military training to 20 DLF members in North Korea. In southern Africa, DPRK military advisers trained members of the African National Congress (ANC) and the South West African People’s Organization (SWAPO) in Angola-based training camps.
The logo for the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany | Image: Wikimedia Commons
North Korea trained Palestinian militants as well, most notably Abu Daoud, leader of a Fatah splinter group known as Black September that went on to kill 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
The Palestinian liberation movement and the North Korean leadership bonded over their shared anti-Zionist and anti-American beliefs. A 1969 internal document from the left-wing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) states, “The alliance of the Palestinian and Arab national liberation movement” with North Korea, Cuba and Vietnam was the way forward to “triumphing” over imperialism.
By the mid-1980s, the North Korean government could no longer afford to offer free military training and residency to foreign insurgents. But U.S President Ronald Reagan still saw it as appropriate to draw attention to the DPRK threat.
“What is not readily known or understood is North Korea’s wider links to the international terrorist network,” he said in a 1985 speech. “There is not time today to recount all of North Korea’s efforts to foster separatism, violence and subversion in other lands well beyond its immediate borders.”
North Korea’s training and hosting of foreign guerillas is still shrouded in secrecy, and most of these subversive movements and revolutionary organizations kept their training activities under wraps.
Edited by Arius Derr
6. North Korea: Kim Jong-un may schedule discussion with US over de-nuclearisation
I have scoured the English language KCNA reports and I have not found any definitive statement indicating this. Perhaps the Korean language texts have a reference to it or this may be a hopeful interpretation. Most everything I have seen on the meeting so far has been about construction, rural development and people first policies.
North Korea: Kim Jong-un may schedule discussion with US over de-nuclearisation
Last Updated: 28th December, 2021 23:24 IST
North Korea: Kim Jong-un May Schedule Discussion With US Over De-nuclearisation
North Korea agreed to hold a meeting with the United States, Supreme leader Kim Jong-un has reportedly agreed to hold a meeting with the Biden administration.
Written By
Image: AP
Nearly six months after North Korea agreed to hold a meeting with the United States, Supreme leader Kim Jong-un has reportedly agreed to hold a meeting with the Biden administration. According to a report by Korean Central News Agency, Kim Jong-un has recently held a meeting with his party to discuss the priorities of the country. The report said that the meeting may take place in the first month of the upcoming year. Notably, in June, the Supreme leader agreed to hold "both dialogue and confrontation" with the United States. On the other hand, the Biden administration also agreed to hold a dialogue with North Korea without preconditions.
Kim Jong-un takes U-turn on nuclear strategy
According to the local news agency, there were possibilities that the North Korean leader could respond to the Biden administration's invitation to nuclear disarmament negotiations. Rodong Sinmun, the North Korean newspaper that serves as the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea-- the top leaders are set to "debate and settle on strategic and tactical policies. The media mouthpiece said that the decision will be taken as per the national interest. However, the newspaper did not disclose the timing of the meeting but added it may last for several days. It is worth mentioning that then US President Donald Trump had initiated a negotiation with the Supreme some two years ago. At that time, the North Korean leader bolstered to further extend his missile program. However, this time, Kim Jong-un took a U-turn and reportedly decided to reach the negotiations table.
Meanwhile, this time, the Biden administration has expressed they wanted to negotiate with the denuclearisation of North Korea-- "step-by-step". It is worth mentioning North Korea fired several cruise missiles in the past 5-6 months despite the country's economy having been crawling since the start of the COVID pandemic. Recently, the country reopened its sea routes in order to revive its crawling economy. Notably, North Korea had closed its international borders about two years ago in order to secure the country from the strain of the deadly pandemic.
7. North Korea's Workers' Party meets with Kim Jong Un to discuss nation's future
We will have to see what statement, if any, emerges from the meeting.
Excerpts:
Major policies have often been announced at plenary meetings, including developments in the relationship with the United States. Given how the meeting was closed to journalists, it is unclear what exactly was discussed.
"Kim has used speeches around the new year holiday in the past to make friendly overtures to the U.S. and South Korea," NK News wrote, "but also to reveal nuclear weapon developments and other military plans."
It is not known if one of the topics of discussion was reunification with South Korea. Reuters reported that North Korean leaders have been open to resuming those discussions on the condition that "hostile policies" from South Korea and its western allies stop.
North Korea's Workers' Party meets with Kim Jong Un to discuss nation's future
Newsweek · by Erin Brady · December 28, 2021
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Monday presided over discussions during the 4th Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) did not report any remarks by Kim but said several undisclosed agenda items were approved by the government's members.
KCNA said the meeting was convened to discuss upcoming plans to guide "the struggle of [the] Party and people to usher in a new period of the development of socialist construction to the next stage of victory."
Major policies have often been announced at plenary meetings, including developments in the relationship with the United States. Given how the meeting was closed to journalists, it is unclear what exactly was discussed.
"Kim has used speeches around the new year holiday in the past to make friendly overtures to the U.S. and South Korea," NK News wrote, "but also to reveal nuclear weapon developments and other military plans."
It is not known if one of the topics of discussion was reunification with South Korea. Reuters reported that North Korean leaders have been open to resuming those discussions on the condition that "hostile policies" from South Korea and its western allies stop.
In response to the meeting on Monday, South Korea's Ministry of Unification hoped that the North "will start the new year by opening the door for dialogue with the international community, and take a step forward for engagement and cooperation."
South Korea's Ministry of Unification said that it hoped the North "will start the new year by opening the door for dialogue with the international community, and take a step forward for engagement and cooperation." Above, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (left), who is celebrating 10 years in power, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in shake hands after announcing a joint statement near the end of their historic summit at the truce village of Panmunjom on April 27, 2018. (KOREA SUMMIT PRESS POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The meeting comes as Kim is marking 10 years in power. Since his father and longtime ruler Kim Jong Il's death in December of 2011, Kim Jong Un has established absolute power at home and fortified North Korea's nuclear and missile arsenals. The economy has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, U.N. sanctions and mismanagement, but few experts question his grip on power.
After a torrid run of nuclear and missile tests in 2016-17, Kim Jong Un participated in a series of landmark summit talks with then-President Donald Trump to discuss the future of his weapons arsenals. Those talks collapsed in 2019 over disputes about how much sanctions relief North Korea would get in return for steps toward partial denuclearization.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Newsweek · by Erin Brady · December 28, 2021
8. N. Korea could stage ICBM or nuclear test before U.S. midterm elections: think tank
Or they might not.
N. Korea could stage ICBM or nuclear test before U.S. midterm elections: think tank | Yonhap News Agency
By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, Dec. 28 (Yonhap) -- North Korea could conduct an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) or nuclear test to put pressure on America ahead of the U.S. midterm elections slated for November next year, a Seoul-based think tank said Tuesday.
The Kim Jong-un regime has refrained from ICBM and nuclear tests since November 2017, but it could break the self-imposed moratorium next year to draw Washington's attention before the key political event, according to the 2022 forecast by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.
"North Korea is likely to focus more on provocations rather than dialogue," the institute said, noting the possibility it could engage in saber-rattling between May and November. In May, a new government in Seoul is set to be launched.
Following its tests of a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) and a hypersonic missile earlier this year, Pyongyang may opt to launch faster, longer-range missiles or a new submarine to ratchet up military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Should the Joe Biden administration not budge despite these provocations, the North could resume a nuclear test or launches of intermediate-range or long-range missiles, including an ICBM, the think tank said.
Denuclearization negotiations between the U.S. and the North have remained stalled since the two countries' no-deal Hanoi summit in 2019
The U.S. has offered to talk with North Korea without any preconditions, but Pyongyang remains unresponsive to its overtures and has demanded Washington first withdraw its "hostile policy."
ejkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
9. Biden may face a North Korea crisis within months
Excerpt:
What to watch: Biden has no plans for Trump-style presidential engagement with Kim. Given the difficulties of dealing with China, Russia and Iran, he may see no news on the North Korea file as good news.
- But Pyongyang’s pattern of behavior would suggest that the quiet isn't likely to last.
Biden may face a North Korea crisis within months
It may not be long before President Biden has to grapple with a North Korea crisis.
The big picture: Dictator Kim Jong-un has remained relatively quiet during Biden's presidency so far, keeping his threats and missile testing well below the “fire and fury” levels of the early Trump administration. But a quieter North Korea is not necessarily a less dangerous one.
What to watch: Kim could force his way onto Biden’s agenda in 2022 through a major provocation, a charm offensive, or a combination of the two, potentially ahead of the South Korean election in March, says Bruce Klingner, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and formerly the CIA's deputy division chief for Korea.
The state of play: Biden administration officials say they’ve proposed talks, but the North Koreans aren’t engaging.
- North Korea, meanwhile, conducted missile tests in 2021, but not on a level that rings global alarm bells. Kim has still yet to test a nuclear weapon or inter-continental ballistic missile since 2017, but he did show off advanced new missiles at a military parade last January.
- With Pyongyang spurning diplomacy but limiting its provocations, Biden has essentially been in wait-and-see mode.
Kim, who succeeded his father 10 years ago this month, promised his people dual development of the economy as well as the military and nuclear program. Still, North Korea’s weaponry has advanced much more rapidly than its economy over the past decade.
- Kim was unusually candid, by Pyongyang’s standards, in acknowledging “tense” food supply issues last June after shutting down nearly all trade, even with neighboring China, to keep the coronavirus out.
-
It’s difficult to gauge the depth of North Korea’s food crisis, though some low-level trade seems to be resuming. North Korea’s path out of the pandemic will be rocky, as Kim has spurned offers of vaccines.
The intrigue: Outgoing South Korean President Moon Jae-in largely bet his presidency on improved relations with North Korea, and is searching for a win before stepping down.
- Moon is pushing for a declaration to mark the end of the Korean War, but the North Koreans haven’t agreed and the Biden administration appears lukewarm to the proposal.
"We may have a February or March surprise before the South Korean election if Kim wants to increase the potential for a progressive president to succeed Moon," Klingner says.
- That could include a summit on the sidelines of the Beijing Olympics, a bilateral meeting with Moon or a trilateral meeting involving China but excluding the U.S., he adds.
The relative quiet on the missile-testing front could suggest Kim really believes (as he has said) that his nuclear and ICBM programs are complete.
- Or, given the border closures, Kim could be saving any steps designed to bring the U.S. to the negotiating table on favorable terms for a time when North Korean envoys are actually able to travel to a negotiating table, Klingner says.
What to watch: Biden has no plans for Trump-style presidential engagement with Kim. Given the difficulties of dealing with China, Russia and Iran, he may see no news on the North Korea file as good news.
- But Pyongyang’s pattern of behavior would suggest that the quiet isn't likely to last.
10. Elderly woman in Hamhung “talk of the town” after publicly criticizing provincial party secretary
Do not mess with 할머니 (grandmothers).
But this is an illustration of the true nature of the Kim family regime and what it has done to north Korea and the Korean people living in the north.
Excerpts:
She pleaded with the chief secretary with tears in her eyes, telling him that she had no food despite having lived her life according to the policies and orders of the party, that her grandchildren were so hungry they could not get up, and that if the party did not help her in her time of need, nobody would.
The chief secretary sent her home, telling her to rest assured that the party would take care of the problem.
What she got, however, was not a solution, but a scolding by the head of her inminban (people’s unit) and the chief of the district office. They blamed her for making the problem bigger by going to the provincial party committee.
Elderly woman in Hamhung “talk of the town” after publicly criticizing provincial party secretary
The woman has been raising two grandchildren aged 12 and 15 on her own, but failed to receive any help from the state
By Lee Chae Un - 2021.12.29 3:15pm
A source says an elderly woman in Hamhung, South Hamgyong Province has become the talk of town after she recently began publicly lambasting the chief secretary of the provincial party and other party cadres.
According to a Daily NK source in South Hamgyong Province, the 70-year-old woman — identified by her family name of Kim — has been heaping unspeakable abuse on the chief secretary and other cadres in the provincial and city parties since Monday.
Despite her advanced age, Kim has been raising two grandchildren aged 12 and 15 on her own. Unable to properly feed them because of the protracted COVID-19 pandemic, she sought out officials from the district and city party committees and asked them to resolve her food issue.
However, this yielded little in terms of results, so she resolved to seek out the chief secretary of the provincial party. This would amount to meeting somebody equivalent to a provincial governor in South Korea. In fact, the chief secretary had been showing up as usual at the provincial party committee building from Nov. 11.
She pleaded to the provincial party committee to let her meet with the secretary, and even asked the provincial party committee’s security detail, but nobody listened to her. For an ordinary person to meet with the chief secretary of the provincial party committee turned out to be a difficult task, as is usually the case in North Korea.
A view of Hamhung, South Hamgyong Province, in 2011. / Image: Jen Morgan, Flickr, Creative Commons
Kim did not give up, however, and finally in early December, she reportedly met the chief secretary. Twenty or so days of effort had paid off.
She pleaded with the chief secretary with tears in her eyes, telling him that she had no food despite having lived her life according to the policies and orders of the party, that her grandchildren were so hungry they could not get up, and that if the party did not help her in her time of need, nobody would.
The chief secretary sent her home, telling her to rest assured that the party would take care of the problem.
What she got, however, was not a solution, but a scolding by the head of her inminban (people’s unit) and the chief of the district office. They blamed her for making the problem bigger by going to the provincial party committee.
The source said Kim responded by going around downtown shouting that the party cadres are “con artists” who “don’t give a hoot even though people are starving to death.”
“What kind of servants of the people are these [expletives],” she cried.
The source said Kim must have been irate as she was rebuked by lower-level cadres after the chief secretary made her a promise. He added that she could receive a stern punishment for harming the image of the province’s top leader, party rhetoric about “putting the people first” notwithstanding.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
11. Defectors’ remittances to N. Korea down 18% in 2021 amid pandemic: NGO
The effect of the regime's draconian population and resources control measures with the specific focus to crack down on information, communications, and foriegn currency.
Excerpts:
According to the survey, one of the major reasons for the rapid decline in remittances was that defectors lost contact with their families in North Korea due to Pyongyang’s move to impose a yearslong border lockdown and strengthen control over the society with the justification of preventing COVID-19 infections.
Under the situation, North Korean defectors struggled to find ways to get in touch with their families and relatives and request brokers to send remittances.
Some 32.6 percent of the respondents chose “other options” when asked why they did not send money back home, and most of them cited the severance of communication channels with their families as the reason.
Defectors’ remittances to N. Korea down 18% in 2021 amid pandemic: NGO
Number of defectors contacting their families fell by almost a third
Published : Dec 29, 2021 - 15:09 Updated : Dec 29, 2021 - 17:18
Demilitarized Zone (Flicker, Photo by Bryan Dorrough)
Remittances from North Korean defectors to their families living across the inter-Korean border fell by 18.2 percent while Pyongyang has maintained a border lockdown for two years and strengthened controls over its society, Seoul-based nongovernmental organizations said in a joint report.
The Database Center for North Korean Human Rights and North Korea Social Research conducted a mixed in-person, online, and telephone survey of 407 North Korean defectors living in South Korea between November and December this year.
The poll results showed that 20.9 percent sent money back to their families and relatives in North Korea this year, which was a 5.7 percentage-point decrease from 2020, when Pyongyang started to strengthen lockdown and control measures against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Total remittances reached 245.2 million won ($207,000) this year, but this was down from 300 million won in 2020 and 314 million won in 2019.
This year, North Korean defectors also sent money an average of 1.51 times to their families. The average amount remitted each time was 2.09 million won.
More importantly, the decline in remittances would aggravate North Korean people’s suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic, given that 88.2 percent of defectors said transferred funds were used for the living expenses of their families and relatives in North Korea.
According to the survey, one of the major reasons for the rapid decline in remittances was that defectors lost contact with their families in North Korea due to Pyongyang’s move to impose a yearslong border lockdown and strengthen control over the society with the justification of preventing COVID-19 infections.
Under the situation, North Korean defectors struggled to find ways to get in touch with their families and relatives and request brokers to send remittances.
Some 32.6 percent of the respondents chose “other options” when asked why they did not send money back home, and most of them cited the severance of communication channels with their families as the reason.
Another major reason was the defectors’ poor economic situation. Twenty-eight percent said they could not afford to remit money to North Korea.
But unlike other media reports, the survey outcomes suggested that commission for transferring money through brokers remained similar to the previous years.
Some 88 percent of respondents said brokers took commissions of between 20 and 40 percent this year, although commissions differed depending on region, way of transferring money, and the broker.
Reports from media including the Associated Press have suggested brokers have been collecting higher fees since the pandemic began.
Also, some 68.1 percent believed that their remittances would affect North Korean society.
Among them, 27.8 percent said North Korean recipients would yearn for South Korean society, 22.9 percent agreed that money transfers would invigorate the private economy, while 14.3 percent answered that remittances would contribute to encouraging them to defect to South Korea increasing their families’ awareness.
During the pandemic, the number of North Korean defectors who continued to contact their families fell by almost a third this year. According to the poll, only 13.8 percent of defector respondents got in touch with families this year.
The defectors mainly asked about their families’ health and safety and confirmed the receipt of remittances. But the figure was a sharp decline in comparison to the 38.6 percent last year.
Phone calls remained the most frequently used means of communication, accounting for 85.7 percent. Some 3.6 percent said they still kept up mail correspondence with their families in North Korea.
Since 2005, the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights has conducted the “Social and Economic Integration of North Korean Defectors Survey” annually and provides information on defectors’ remittances, employment, and economic activities.
12. N.K. leader orders 'important revolutionary measures' for rural development
(2nd LD) N.K. leader orders 'important revolutionary measures' for rural development | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES with experts' analysis, more info in paras 6-8; CHANGES headline, lead)
By Choi Soo-hyang
SEOUL, Dec. 29 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has presided over the second-day session of a key party plenary to discuss rural development measures, Pyongyang's state media reported Wednesday amid its fraught efforts to tackle food shortages and other economic woes.
During the meeting held Tuesday, Kim "set forth medium- and long-term development strategies and major tasks for attaining the grand goal of rural development in line with the realistic conditions and the requirement of the times," according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
North Korea opened the 4th Plenary Meeting of the ruling Workers' Party's 8th Central Committee on Monday amid expectations Pyongyang could unveil its new policy directions on the economy and foreign affairs for the new year.
Tuesday's meeting dealt with "rural questions" to which Kim took "important revolutionary measures," the KCNA said without elaborating on what they were.
"The new program on socialist rural construction won full support and approval by the participants in the meeting," the report said.
The North's emphasis on rural development comes as it is grappling with chronic food shortages, with the country estimated to be falling short by around 1 million tons of food every year. The coronavirus-driven border lockdown is thought to have taken a toll on its already substandard food situation.
Experts say the decision to deal with agricultural issues first at the plenary suggest they are among the most pressing tasks facing the reclusive regime.
"North Korea apparently chose rural development as the first discussion item as structural reform and prosperity of farming villages are key to increasing crop yields," Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, said.
In November, Kim visited the northwestern city of Samjiyon, where a major development project is under way, and called it a "picturesque model unit in rural buildup" and a starting point "in making the people in local areas witness a leaping progress to a highly civilized material and cultural life."
The KCNA report said, "The meeting is continuing the discussion of the agenda items," indicating there will be a third-day session.
It is unclear for how long the party gathering will last as the North has not made public the exact schedule. Previous plenary meetings were held between one and four days.
scaaet@yna.co.kr
(END)
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.
