Quotes of the Day:
"When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or the policies he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but as enemies... We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that our own children's future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others. We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled or enriched by hatred or revenge."
- Robert Kennedy
"I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it."
- Edith Sitwell
"There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect."
- Ronald Reagan
1. US, S. Korea fly 20 fighter jets amid N. Korea tensions
2. N. Korea to face 'swift, forceful' response in case of nuke test: Sherman
3. Defector group claims to have sent balloons carrying COVID-19 medicine to N. Korea
4. FDD | Treasury Sanctions Cryptocurrency Exchange, But International Enforcement Still Lacking
5. South Korea to join military drills in Philippines for first time
6. U.S. remains concerned about N.K. nuclear test, but also ready for contingency: State Dept.
7. S. Korea, U.S. hold high-level diplomatic talks on N. Korea, alliance
8. N.Korea Inching Closer to Nuclear Test
9. Biden Fires U.S. Missile in Tit-for-Tat Clash with Kim Jong Un
10. Daily NK talks to three defectors about N. Korea's COVID-19 situation
11. US will not link COVID-19 assistance to denuclearization talks with North Korea
12. US, IAEA warn of nuclear test by North Korea
13. Korea, Ukraine discuss post-war reconstruction in closed-door meeting
14. N. Korean computer appears to be assembled with parts from Taiwan, US
1. US, S. Korea fly 20 fighter jets amid N. Korea tensions
Military pressure and civil society support to the north (information, practical support, and influence).
This is actually something that should have been conducted many times over the years. This not only demonstrates capabilities but also demonstrates strategic reassurance to the ROK public that the alliance stands ready to defend the ROK and strategic resolve in that the alliance is willing to use any tool necessary to defend the ROK and its people.
Kim Jong Un must be made to understand that if he attacks the South there will be a decisive and deadly response from the alliance. Furthermore, his provocations and attempted blackmail diplomacy will not be successful because the alliance will not give in to his demands in the face of his increased tensions, threats, and provocations.
The simple change with the new Yoon administration is that the ROK and US are in alignment on the nature, objectives, and strategy of the Kim family regime and President Yoon has made two decisive statements: 1) north Korea is the main enemy and 2) there will be no more appeasement. In this way the ROK and US alliance are aligned and the missile show of force is an illustration of that alignment.
We can only effectively deter war and nuclear attack. We cannot deter missile tests and provocations. We have to continue pressure, demonstrate strength and resolve, and continue to send the message that his provocations will not be successful. Provocations are in the regime DNA and a critical part of regime strategy so they will continue until Kim realizes he cannot be successful. If he is appeased in any way to try to stop his provocations he will deem his political warfare strategy a success and rather than stop provocations or negotiate in good faith he will double down and continue to conduct provocations and make demands of the ROK, the US, and the international community.
Excerpts:
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the air demonstration involved 16 South Korean planes — including F-35A stealth fighters — and four U.S. F-16 fighter jets and was aimed at demonstrating their ability to swiftly respond to North Korean provocations.
...
North Korea’s state media have yet to comment on Sunday’s launches. They came after the U.S. aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan concluded a three-day naval drill with South Korea in the Philippine Sea on Saturday, apparently their first joint drill involving a carrier since November 2017, as the countries move to upgrade their defense exercises in the face of North Korean threats.
...
North Korea’s state media have yet to comment on Sunday’s launches. They came after the U.S. aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan concluded a three-day naval drill with South Korea in the Philippine Sea on Saturday, apparently their first joint drill involving a carrier since November 2017, as the countries move to upgrade their defense exercises in the face of North Korean threats.
...
South Korean activist Park Sang-hak, a North Korean defector who for years have launched anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets by balloon across the border, said his group on Tuesday flew 20 balloons carrying medicine, masks and vitamin pills to help North Korean civilians.
US, S. Korea fly 20 fighter jets amid N. Korea tensions
AP · by KIM TONG-HYUNG · June 7, 2022
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The South Korean and U.S. militaries flew 20 fighter jets over waters off South Korea’s western coast Tuesday in a continued show of force as a senior U.S. official warned of a forceful response if North Korea goes ahead with its first nuclear test explosion in nearly five years.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the air demonstration involved 16 South Korean planes — including F-35A stealth fighters — and four U.S. F-16 fighter jets and was aimed at demonstrating their ability to swiftly respond to North Korean provocations.
The flight came a day after the allies fired eight surface-to-surface missiles into South Korea’s eastern waters to match a weekend missile display by North Korea, which fired the same number of weapons from multiple locations Sunday in what was likely its biggest single-day testing event.
North Korea may soon up the ante as U.S. and South Korean officials say the country is all but ready to conduct another detonation at its nuclear testing ground in the northeastern town of Punggye-ri. Its last such test and sixth overall was in September 2017, when it claimed to have detonated a thermonuclear bomb designed for its intercontinental ballistic missiles.
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Traveling to Seoul to discuss the standoff with South Korean and Japanese allies, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman warned of a “swift and forceful” response if the North carries out another nuclear test.
While the Biden administration has vowed to push for additional international sanctions if North Korea goes on with the nuclear test, the prospects for meaningful new punitive measures are unclear with the U.N. Security Council divided.
“Any nuclear test would be in complete violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. There would be a swift and forceful response to such a test,” Sherman said, following a meeting with South Korea Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong.
“We continue to urge Pyongyang to cease its destabilizing and provocative activities and choose the path of diplomacy,” she said.
Sherman and Cho are planning a trilateral meeting with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Mori Takeo on Wednesday over the North Korean nuclear issue.
North Korea’s launches on Sunday extended a provocative streak in weapons tests this year that also included the country’s first demonstrations of ICBMs since 2017.
Since taking power in 2011, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has accelerated his weapons development despite limited resources. Experts say with its next test, North Korea could claim an ability to build small bombs that could be clustered on a multiwarhead ICBM or fit on short-range missiles that could reach South Korea and Japan.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Monday there are indications that one of the passages at the Punggye-ri testing ground has been reopened, possibly in preparations for a nuclear test.
Hours before Sherman’s meeting in Seoul, State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters in Washington that the United States remains concerned that North Korea could seek its seventh test “in the coming days.”
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The Biden administration’s punitive actions over North Korea’s weapons tests in recent months have been limited to largely symbolic unilateral sanctions. Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-sponsored resolution in the Security Council that would have imposed additional sanctions on North Korea over its previous ballistic tests on May 25.
“We have called on members of the international community, certainly members of the UN Security Council’s permanent five, to be responsible stakeholders in the U.N. Security Council as a preeminent forum for addressing threats to international peace and security,” Price said.
“Unilateral actions are never going to be the most attractive or even the most effective response, and that is especially the case because we are gratified that we have close allies in the form of Japan and the ROK,” he said, referring to South Korea’s formal name, the Republic of Korea.
North Korea’s state media have yet to comment on Sunday’s launches. They came after the U.S. aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan concluded a three-day naval drill with South Korea in the Philippine Sea on Saturday, apparently their first joint drill involving a carrier since November 2017, as the countries move to upgrade their defense exercises in the face of North Korean threats.
North Korea has long condemned the allies’ combined military exercises as invasion rehearsals and often countered with its own missile drills, including launches in 2016 and 2017 that simulated nuclear attacks on South Korean ports and U.S. military facilities in Japan.
Following the latest North Korean launches, the United States conducted separate joint missile drills with Japan and South Korea, which they said were aimed at displaying their response capability.
Nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled since 2019 over disagreements in exchanging the release of crippling U.S.-led sanctions for the North’s disarmament steps. Kim has since ramped up his testing activity despite mounting economic problems and has shown no willingness to fully surrender an arsenal he sees as his strongest guarantee of survival.
His government has so far rejected the Biden administration’s offers for open-ended talks and is clearly intent on converting the dormant denuclearization negotiations into a mutual arms-reduction process, experts say.
Kim’s pressure campaign hasn’t been slowed by a COVID-19 outbreak spreading across his largely unvaccinated populace of 26 million amid a lack of public health tools. The North has so far rejected U.S. and South Korean offers for help, but there are indications that it received at least some supplies of vaccines from ally China.
South Korean activist Park Sang-hak, a North Korean defector who for years have launched anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets by balloon across the border, said his group on Tuesday flew 20 balloons carrying medicine, masks and vitamin pills to help North Korean civilians.
___
AP · by KIM TONG-HYUNG · June 7, 2022
2. N. Korea to face 'swift, forceful' response in case of nuke test: Sherman
The "forceful" response I want to employ is a comprehensive and robust strategic influence campaign. I want to "bombard" the north with information. It is time to really get to work in this area. Information is the key to pressure on the regime. You want to pressure Kim Jong Un? - just three words -information (and) influence activities (IIA).
A buried lede: "Global Comprehensive Strategic Alliance." Although I saw this in the May 21 Joint statement of Yoon and Biden the phrase was used as a section heading I just thought this was some descriptor verbiage some action officer slipped in and I did not pick up on the fact that this was the new "official" term to describe the ROK/US alliance. I like the phrase because it is forward looking and obviously goes beyond the security posture on the Korean peninsula. I wonder if the title will get legs and be used in official documents and statements by leaders. It seems that Yonhap and Kim Eun-jung and Song Sang-ho have picked up on it.
United States-Republic of Korea Leaders’ Joint Statement
(2nd LD) N. Korea to face 'swift, forceful' response in case of nuke test: Sherman | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES with IAEA's assessment, S. Korean official's remarks)
By Kim Eun-jung and Song Sang-ho
SEOUL, June 7 (Yonhap) -- A senior U.S. diplomat warned Tuesday that North Korea would face a "swift and forceful" response should the recalcitrant regime press ahead with a widely anticipated nuclear test.
Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Wendy Sherman issued the message after meeting with her South Korean counterpart, Cho Hyun-dong, in Seoul, to discuss the North's weekend missile launches and the possibility of it conducting what would be its seventh nuclear test.
"Any nuclear tests would be in complete violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions," Sherman told reporters. "There would be a swift and forceful response to such a test."
Sherman added, "The entire world will respond in a strong and clear manner. We are prepared."
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stated that it has detected indications of the secretive North preparing for a nuclear test at its Punggye-ri site. One of the adits for tunnels there has been reopened, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said at the U.N. agency's Board of Governors meeting in Vienna on Monday (local time).
Touching on the North's COVID-19 situation, the U.S. diplomat called on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to focus on coping with the public health issue "rather than taking provocative and dangerous and destabilizing actions."
However, Sherman reiterated the Joe Biden administration's desire to reengage with the North.
"The United States harbors no hostile intent towards the DPRK. We continue to urge Pyongyang to ceases its destabilizing and provocative activities and choose the path of diplomacy," she said.
DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Cho said he and Sherman underscored the importance of "resolute, unified international response" and agreed to closely coordinate their actions against North Korea's provocations at the United Nations.
"If North Korea conducts a nuclear test by any chance, we would have no other option but to consider additional sanctions on the North in coordination with the U.S. and the international community," Cho told reporters.
The U.N. Security Council last month failed to pass a U.S.-proposed sanctions resolution on North Korea due to vetoes by China and Russia.
In their first face-to-face consultations since the launch of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, the senior diplomats agreed to facilitate communication at all levels to implement agreements from Yoon's first summit with Biden last month, including an accord on broadening and deepening Seoul-Washington ties to a "Global Comprehensive Strategic Alliance."
Cho and Sherman plan to meet again in Seoul on Wednesday in a trilateral session involving their Japanese counterpart Takeo Mori, which is expected to focus on their coordinated response to North Korea and cooperation for other regional issues.
The previous gathering of the regional powers' No. 2 diplomats took place in Washington, D.C., in November last year.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
3. Defector group claims to have sent balloons carrying COVID-19 medicine to N. Korea
I am going to hammer these three words – Information [and] influence activities (IIA) – by the government and by civil society. We must conduct an IIA campaign against north Korea.
Information and Influence Activities (IIA)
Information and Influence Activities comprise “the integration of designated information-related capabilities in order to synchronize themes, messages, and actions with operations to inform United States and global audiences, influence foreign audiences, and affect adversary and enemy decision making.” The U.S. and its partners can take advantage of many forms of IIA in its conduct of sustained whole-of-government Political Warfare. The benefit of information-focused activities is to build U.S. and partnered credibility among American and foreign audiences; influence can incline governments and populations to support JIIM Political Warfare measures and goals, reducing the ability of certain kinds of hybrid warfare activities to take root in targeted states, and decreasing the legitimacy and credibility of the government undertaking Political Warfare itself. Adhering to law, statute, and democratic norms, carefully calibrated IIA amounts to Strategic Communications: “focused USG [U.S. Government] efforts to understand and engage key audiences in order to create, strengthen or preserve conditions favorable to the advancement of USG interests, policies, and objectives … through the use of coordinated programs, plans, themes, messages, and products synchronized with the actions of all elements of national power.”
From "SOF Support to Political Warfare White Paper" March 2015 https://specialforcestraining.info/docs/SOFSupportPolWarPaperV2.3USASOC10Mar2015.pdf
(LEAD) Defector group claims to have sent balloons carrying COVID-19 medicine to N. Korea | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: ADDS police probe in last 2 paras)
SEOUL, June 7 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean defector group said Tuesday it sent balloons carrying masks and COVID-19 medicines across the border earlier this week to help people there, while the Seoul government asked activists to refrain from such a campaign that may have a negative impact on regional stability.
Twenty big balloons filled with 20,000 pieces of masks, 15,000 Tylenol pills and 30,000 vitamin C pills were floated between 10 and 11 p.m. Sunday from Pocheon, north of Seoul, Fighters for a Free North Korea said in a press release. It remains unconfirmed whether the materials have landed on the North's soil as intended.
The South's unification ministry handling inter-Korean affairs reiterated a call for refraining from such a move, calling it a violation of the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act.
Under the ban, violators are subject to up to three years in prison or a maximum fine of 30 million won (US$23,700). The North has angrily responded to acts by activists here of sending balloons mainly carrying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets and portable radios.
"We fully understand the group's efforts to help North Koreans, but as the government is seeking inter-Korean health care cooperation, we have publicly urged them on numerous occasions to refrain (from launching), considering what will be of real help to the North Koreans," a ministry official told reporters on the customary condition of anonymity.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said it began an inquiry into the activists on charges of violation of the inter-Korean relations act.
The group had already been booked after they sent balloons to the North on April 25 and 26 carrying photos of then President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol.
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
4. FDD | Treasury Sanctions Cryptocurrency Exchange, But International Enforcement Still Lacking
FDD | Treasury Sanctions Cryptocurrency Exchange, But International Enforcement Still Lacking
fdd.org · by Jiwon Ma Program Analyst · June 6, 2022
June 6, 2022 | Policy Brief
Treasury Sanctions Cryptocurrency Exchange, But International Enforcement Still Lacking
June 6, 2022 | Policy Brief
The U.S. Department of the Treasury in May sanctioned a major digital-currency mixer, Blender.io, which North Korea has used to launder $20.5 million in funds stolen from a gaming-focused blockchain project known as the Ronin Network. While Treasury’s move deserves praise, inconsistent international enforcement of anti-money laundering (AML) protocols has left hackers with multiple outlets capable of laundering their illicit funds, thereby undermining U.S. sanctions against Pyongyang.
In April, the FBI attributed a hack of the Ronin Network, which powers the game Axie Infinity, to the North Korea-affiliated Lazarus Group, which generates illicit funds for Kim Jong Un’s regime through cyberattacks. That same month, Treasury sanctioned the digital wallet where the Lazarus Group had stashed $620 million in stolen cryptocurrency. Treasury’s subsequent sanctions against Blender.io revealed one platform the Lazarus Group used to launder those funds.
North Korean hacking groups have repeatedly targeted cryptocurrency exchanges to steal funds to prop up the Kim regime. In the last two years alone, these hackers have pilfered over $1 billion worth of cryptocurrency. Once the hackers have stolen the funds, they use another exchange or a mixer to launder the money.
Cryptocurrency exchanges and mixers based around the world often have laxer AML protocols and less stringent financial compliance procedures than traditional financial institutions based in the same jurisdictions. Digital-currency mixers, in particular, are useful to hackers because they anonymize transactions by mixing various types of cryptocurrencies to obscure the funds’ provenance.
Taken together, Treasury’s sanctions in April and May prohibit U.S. entities from transacting with one digital wallet and one mixer — the digital-currency equivalent of one bank account and one financial institution — in an attempt to prevent the Lazarus Group from converting cryptocurrency funds into fiat currency through U.S.-based exchanges. Treasury first sanctioned the Lazarus Group in 2019, but neither that step nor Justice Department indictments against state-sponsored malicious cyber groups appear to have changed Pyongyang’s risk calculus. Moreover, recent press reports indicate Lazarus is still transacting with other mixing services despite Treasury’s sanctions.
The decentralized nature of digital-currency exchanges allows North Korean hackers to continue moving money around the world despite being cut off from the traditional banking system. While other unilateral U.S. sanctions against illicit actors often have ripple effects across the international system as markets and financial institutions excommunicate sanctioned entities in reaction to Washington’s moves, the same has not happened in the digital-currency space. Thus, while the sanctions against Blender.io are an important signal that Washington will hold cryptocurrency companies liable for illegal activities, they are not a significant blow to Pyongyang’s money laundering efforts. Until cryptocurrency exchanges and mixers abide by AML compliance protocols, North Korean hackers and other malign groups will continue to exploit this loophole in the global financial system.
Over the long term, Washington will need to work with international partners to extend banking standards to exchanges in their jurisdictions. Multinational AML bodies, such as the Financial Action Task Force, have begun to provide guidance on AML compliance for the virtual-asset sector. However, there are still gaps in the international regulatory system.
In the meantime, Washington must also continuously encourage cryptocurrency service providers around the world to screen their customers against relevant international sanctions lists, and share information with these providers and traditional financial institutions on the strategies illicit actors use. For example, at the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) warned financial institutions to expect increased malicious Russian cyber activity aimed at enabling sanctions evasion. FinCEN also identified red flags to assist in detection. This sort of public-private collaboration, along with greater international collaboration, will be key to long-term success.
Jiwon Ma is a program analyst at the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI) at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where Trevor is a cyber research analyst. For more analysis from the authors and CCTI, please subscribe HERE. Follow the authors on Twitter @jiwonma_92 and @TrevorLoganFDD. Follow FDD on Twitter @FDD and @FDD_CCTI. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
fdd.org · by Jiwon Ma Program Analyst · June 6, 2022
5. South Korea to join military drills in Philippines for first time
South Korea "stepping up" as part of a "Global Comprehensive Strategic Alliance."
South Korea to join military drills in PH for first time
SECURITY TALKS | Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana (left) meets with South Korean Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-sup. (Photo courtesy of South Korean Ministry of Defense)
MANILA, Philippines — South Korea will participate in a joint exercise in the Philippines for the first time, the South Korean Ministry of Defense announced in Seoul on Friday.
The defense ministry made the announcement after bilateral talks between South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
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The ministry did not provide other details of the exercise, except that it will involve South Korean marines and will be held in October.
In its own statement, the Department of National Defense (DND) said that Lorenzana and Lee also exchanged views on the situations in the South China Sea and Korean Peninsula.
Both ministers reaffirmed that freedom of navigation and overflight as well as the respect for international law must be upheld at all times.
Lorenzana also reiterated the Philippines’ call for the “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization” of North Korea, the same week the Department of Foreign Affairs condemned North Korea’s ballistic missile tests.
Lorenzana also thanked Lee for South Korea’s support to the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ military modernization program, the DND said.
As part of his official visit, Lorenzana also signed a memorandum of understanding with Park Min-shik of the Ministry of Patriot and Veterans Affairs, which will further deepen veterans’ cooperation between both countries. June is the month of patriots and veterans in South Korea.
Manila and Seoul’s security ties have flourished through the years after it was cemented by the Philippine deployment of troops during the Korean War in the 1950s.
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6. U.S. remains concerned about N.K. nuclear test, but also ready for contingency: State Dept.
Ready for ALL contingencies. A nuclear test is only one of a number of them.
U.S. remains concerned about N.K. nuclear test, but also ready for contingency: State Dept. | Yonhap News Agency
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, June 6 (Yonhap) -- The United States continues to remain concerned that North Korea may conduct a nuclear test in the near future, a state department spokesperson said Monday.
Ned Price, however, said the U.S. also remains prepared for such a contingency.
"So we remain concerned that the DPRK could seek a seventh nuclear test in the coming days," the department press secretary said when asked about U.S. measures to deal with recent North Korean provocations.
"It's a concern we have warned about for some time, I can assure you that it is a contingency we have planned for, and it has been a concerted topic of discussion with allies and partners," added Price. DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Intelligence officials in Seoul and Washington have noted the North may have already completed all preparations for a nuclear test, which will be its seventh if conducted. North Korea conducted its sixth and last nuclear test in September 2017.
Such concerns also come amid a series of North Korean missile tests.
Pyongyang has staged 18 rounds of missile launches this year, with the latest round taking place over the weekend when the recalcitrant country fired eight short-range ballistic missiles.
"These launches are in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions. They pose a threat to the DPRK's neighbors and to the community more broadly," Price said.
Still, the department spokesperson reaffirmed U.S. commitment to engaging with the North.
"As you have heard from us before, we do remain committed to a diplomatic approach to the DPRK. We call on them to engage in dialogue," he said.
Price also dismissed the possibility of the U.S. changing its course or policy toward North Korea in the near future when asked.
"It is no secret ... that the DPRK appears to be in a period of provocation," he said, noting the North's behavior has long rotated between periods of provocation and engagement.
"We have seen periods of provocation. We have seen periods of engagement. It is very clear at the moment that we are in the former. We are doing what we can to give way to a period that is marked more by the latter," he added.
7. S. Korea, U.S. hold high-level diplomatic talks on N. Korea, alliance
S. Korea, U.S. hold high-level diplomatic talks on N. Korea, alliance | Yonhap News Agency
By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, June 7 (Yonhap) -- Senior government officials of South Korea and the United States had talks here Tuesday on North Korea and pending alliance issues, two weeks after their presidents agreed during a Seoul summit to upgrade Seoul-Washington ties to a "Global Comprehensive Strategic Alliance."
The meeting between Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman came a couple of days after the North fired eight short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) into the East Sea. It marked their first face-to-face consultations since the launch of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.
The two plan to meet again in Seoul on Wednesday in a trilateral session involving their Japanese counterpart Takeo Mori. The previous gathering of the regional powers' No. 2 diplomats took place in Washington, D.C., in November last year.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
8. N.Korea Inching Closer to Nuclear Test
N.Korea Inching Closer to Nuclear Test
Suspicions are growing that North Korea is speeding up preparations for another nuclear test.
A recent sign is that the North is restoring the nuclear test site in Punggye-ri, which it ostensibly blew up in 2018, according to Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"At the nuclear test site at Punggye-ri we have observed indications that one of the [entrances] has been reopened, possibly in preparation for a nuclear test," Grossi said Monday.
The U.S. is likely to respond with a regional show of force. It has already deployed about 40 stealth fighter jets, including the world's most powerful F-22 Raptor stealth fighters and F-35 A and B fighters, at its base in Japan. Many of these fighters are expected to join South Korean fighter jets in drills over the Korean Peninsula if the North conducts a nuclear test.
The U.S. also deployed four B-1B "Swan of Death" Lancer bombers at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam last week.
On Sunday North Korea launched a volley of eight short-range ballistic missiles, and South Korea and the U.S., in response, fired as many ballistic missiles the next day.
9. Biden Fires U.S. Missile in Tit-for-Tat Clash with Kim Jong Un
For the headline editor - I enjoy good sarcasm as much as th next guy but this is serious business and this is not simply tit for tat and mine is bigger than yours.
Kim will conduct a test for two purposes. The primary reason will be to advance the capabilities of the program. If they have been able to miniaturize a nuclear warhead they will likely test it to confirm it can be used on an ICBM to target the US. The second purpose is to support its political warfare strategy and blackmail diplomacy to use increased tensions, threats, and provocations to obtain political and economic concessions. Kim continues to conduct these actions to try to get sanctions relief.
But these two lines of effort are not mutually exclusive. They are in fact mutually supporting reinforcing. They can undermine the alliance and subvert the ROK while at the same time develop advanced warfighting techniques that can be employed to support its quest to dominate the Korean peninsula.
Given the current environment of strategic competition we cannot expect any support for sanctions from China and Russia. They are not going to lift a hand to solve ROK and US security issues. In fact, the dilemma and distraction Kim poses to the alliance is likely welcomed in Beijing and Moscow.
That said I think if there is a test it is correct to pursue additional sanctions and continue to get China and Russia on the record opposing them. It helps to make clear to the world that the support for the malign activities of north Korea undermines the rules based international order and demonstrates the true intent of Xi and Putin and should leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that they, along with Kim Jong-un, are not responsible members of the international community.
I think extended deterrence will always be discussed. It is imperative that the US demonstrate strategic reassurance and strategic resolve which it has been doing during this year of north Korean missile launches. Despite Putin’s War in Ukraine and Chinses activities in the South China Sea and its threats to Taiwan we have deployed strategic assets to Guam and are preparing to do so again. We have deployed F-35s to Okinawa. We have steamed a carrier battle group in the East Sea. The US can walk and chew gum at the same time and can employ its military instrument of power around the world as necessary.
I expect Kim will continue to execute his political warfare strategy and blackmail diplomacy while developing advanced warfighting capabilities. Those are his priorities. Secondarily he will continue to try to prevent the spread of COVID and the damage it is and will likely cause. But he will also continue to crack down on the people with his draconian population and resources control measures. The reason for this is that he fears resistance among the Korean people more than he fears the threats from the combined ROK and US military forces.
Whether he tests a 7th nuclear weapon will depend on the need to test to advance the program as well as if he thinks he can achieve strategic effects beneficial to the regime in the form of maximum pressure on the alliance to coerce sanctions relief. But if he thinks he can, he will have miscalculated. I think President Yoon’s statement following the ROK-US summit that there will be no more appeasement of the Kim family regime speaks for the alliance. Kim must know that he cannot succeed through coercion. He has to come to the decision that his only option is to come to the table and negotiate in good faith as a responsible member of the international community. But that is contrary to his nature.
And to repeat my previous statements:
This is actually something that should have been conducted many times over the years. This not only demonstrates capabilities but also demonstrates strategic reassurance to the ROK public that the alliance stands ready to defend the ROK and strategic resolve in that the alliance is willing to use any tool necessary to defend the ROK and its people.
Kim Jong Un must be made to understand that if he attacks the South there will be a decisive and deadly response from the alliance. Furthermore, his provocations and attempted blackmail diplomacy will not be successful because the alliance will not give in to his demands in the face of his increased tensions, threats, and provocations.
The simple change with the new Yoon administration is that the ROK and US are in alignment on the nature, objectives, and strategy of the Kim family regime and President Yoon has made two decisive statements: 1) north Korea is the main enemy and 2) there will be no more appeasement. In this way the ROK and US alliance are aligned and the missile show of force is an illustration of that alignment.
We can only effectively deter war and nuclear attack. We cannot deter missile tests and provocations. We have to continue pressure, demonstrate strength and resolve, and continue to send the message that his provocations will not be successful. Provocations are in the regime DNA and a critical part of regime strategy so they will continue until Kim realizes he cannot be successful. If he is appeased in any way to try to stop his provocations he will deem his political warfare strategy a success and rather than stop provocations or negotiate in good faith he will double down and continue to conduct provocations and make demands of the ROK, the US, and the international community.
In the end we must recognize Kim Jong Un's strategy, understand it, expose it, and attack it (with information).
Biden Fires U.S. Missile in Tit-for-Tat Clash with Kim Jong Un
MINE’S BIGGER THAN YOURS
The U.S. and South Korea fired a salvo of eight missiles—one of which was American—in a powerful escalation of tensions with North Korea.
Updated Jun. 06, 2022 6:02PM ET / Published Jun. 06, 2022 11:54AM ET
REUTERS
SEOUL—The U.S., South Korea, and North Korea have all test-fired missiles in a dangerous duel that marks an abrupt escalation in tensions on the Korean peninsula.
The North opened the clash on Sunday, challenging both the U.S. and South Korea’s new hardline president by firing eight short-range missiles into the sea off the east coast—the most ever fired on a single day. South Korea and the U.S. responded in kind, firing eight missiles of their own into the same sea about 90 miles south on Monday.
Washington, D.C., and Seoul are expecting North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to order the North’s seventh nuclear test in the coming days. It would be its first in nearly five years.
Daniel Pinkston, who teaches international relations at the South Korean campus of Troy University, said the missile test riposte from the U.S. and South Korea means “the days of phony reality TV diplomacy of the last five years are over.” That was a reference to Donald Trump’s summit with Kim four years ago in Singapore, where he famously claimed they “fell in love,” and to the three summits between Kim and Moon Jae-in, the liberal Korean president who preceded the conservative Yoon Suk-yeol, inaugurated last month vowing no more appeasing the North.
The South Korea-U.S. exercise “demonstrated some of the alliance’s strike capability and resolve,” Pinkston told The Daily Beast, “We’ll see a more ‘normal’ joint combined, and multinational military exercise tempo in the South and around the peninsula.” And “if deterrence fails,” he added, “the ROK and U.S. militaries will be better prepared to respond to NK aggression.”
The latest conflagration began when Kim ordered a missile barrage in a fiery challenge to South Korea’s President Yoon right after U.S. and South Korean warships finished joint exercises near Okinawa, the southern Japanese island where the U.S. has its largest air base in the Pacific plus a division of marines. The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan—bristling with warplanes on its flight deck—joined in the first such exercise since it cruised through waters off South Korea in 2017 after North Korea conducted its sixth and most recent nuclear test.
The North Korean challenge also answered a warning from the U.S. negotiator Sung Kim, a veteran of failed negotiations with the North, who said the U.S. was “preparing for all contingencies… to strengthen both defense and deterrence and to protect our allies.” Those forbidding words reassured South Korean and Japanese envoys meeting here that the U.S. was ready to send warplanes on warning flights near North Korea and conduct joint military exercises with the ROK—Republic of Korea—that Trump canceled after his summit in Singapore with Kim.
“The North Korean leadership is paranoid about ROK-U.S. Alliance capabilities,” said Robert Collins, who made a long career analyzing North Korea for the U.S. Forces Korea command while in the army and then as a civilian. Collins, the author of books and studies on North Korea, said the North’s “predilection for provocation and warning shots, coupled with their propaganda/information warfare, is the Kim regime's strategy to keep the alliance at bay and take advantage of any miscalculation in intelligence assessments.”
North Korea fired its missiles from four places, including at or near the airport serving Pyongyang, marking the 18th time this year that Kim has sent missiles on test flights in waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan. The North on May 26 test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching targets in the U.S. as President Biden was returning to D.C. from Tokyo after his summits with Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and in Korea with President Yoon, with whom he agreed on resuming joint military exercises. The U.S. and South Korea responded by firing two missiles off the South’s northeast coast in what the U.S. command called a “live-fire exercise.”
This time the fusillade was highlighted by a missile that South Korea’s command said owed its inspiration to the Iskander missile the Russians have deployed within about 30 miles of the border with Ukraine. The North Korean version, the KN-23, is “known for its ‘pull-up maneuver,’ designed to avoid interception,” according to Yonhap, the South Korean news agency.
“These launches would seem to be a North Korean message to the new South Korean president to cool down his participation in exercises with the U.S. and to not get cozy with Japan,” said Steve Tharp, a former army officer with the U.S. command here. “With President Yoon's administration following up with rhetoric and actions that are clearly pro-U.S. and anti-North Korea in nature, the North has to start all over again when it comes to bringing the South in line.”
North Korea is likely “to increase military provocations and attempt to ratchet up tensions with both the U.S. and the South in the coming months as part of their standard negotiation cycle,” said Tharp. “Step 1 is to cause the ‘appearance’ of tension. To effectively create this tension, North Korea upped the ante by firing eight missiles in what is their busiest launch day ever.”
“This was a proportionate response (tit for tat) to emphasize the strength and deterrence power of the ROK-U.S. Alliance,” Tharp told the Daily Beast. “It would be my guess that the Korean side advocated for this given the statements by President Yoon emphasizing that he would react strongly to North Korean provocations.”
South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said the missiles fired by the ROK army’s tactical missile systems were all ground-to-ground. South Korean and U.S. forces joined in the exercise though only one of the eight missiles was American. The purpose, said the Korean communique, was to show the ability to strike “the origins of provocations and their command and support forces”–notably North Korean targets close to the North-South line where half the North’s 1.2 million troops are based.
Tom Coyner, who’s been tracking North Korea from here for years, linked the tests to North Korea’s efforts at developing devices capable of carrying small nuclear warheads. “We may find collaboration in the future of matching multiple, small nuclear tests with these smaller rocket tests,” he forecast.
That danger “should force the South Korean and American governments to quicken plans to provide some kinds of 'iron dome' protections for Seoul and other population centers as well as U.S. forces and assets,” Coyner said. The Biden administration should “remind Pyongyang that the U.S. is still good with its threat to obliterate the North” if Kim were to “restart the Korean War.”
President Yoon agreed. “North Korea's nuclear and missile (programs) are reaching the level of threatening not only peace on the Korean Peninsula but also in Northeast Asia and the world,” Yonhap quoted him as saying. “We will make sure there isn’t a single crack in protecting the lives and property of our people.”
10. Daily NK talks to three defectors about N. Korea's COVID-19 situation
Some important insights.
Daily NK talks to three defectors about N. Korea's COVID-19 situation - Daily NK
“After hearing that the virus had spread to my hometown, my first concern was whether something might have happened to my father, who is an invalid," one defector told Daily NK
By Lee Chae Un - 2022.06.07 10:00am
North Korea published this photo of disease control officials in protective suits on May 13. (Rodong Sinmun)
Daily NK recently sat down with three defectors with family members still in North Korea and asked their opinions about the current COVID-19 situation in North Korea.
Interviewee No. 1: “A,” 30s, in South Korea since 2018
Upon learning about the COVID-19 outbreak in North Korea, the first thing “A” did was call a broker.
“After hearing that the virus had spread to my hometown, my first concern was whether something might have happened to my father, who is an invalid. I got immediately in touch with the broker and asked about sending money.”
But the broker told “A” that money couldn’t be wired and promised to get in touch when the situation changed.
“I was really angry. It’s impossible to express what it feels like to be totally helpless without even knowing whether your family is starving to death or dying of COVID-19,” “A” said.
Fortunately, the broker got in touch with “A” at the end of last month to say it was now possible to wire money. So “A” was able to send KRW 800,000 to their family in North Korea — that was the amount left over after subtracting the 60% broker’s fee from the initial sum of KRW 2 million. Despite the steep fee, “A” was grateful just being able to send the money and didn’t hesitate for even a minute.
“I’ve been less worried after sending the money. It was heartbreaking to hear that my parents are too sick to even get out of bed. All I can do is keep praying that my family will quickly recover,” “A” said.
Interviewee No. 2: “B,” 20s, in South Korea since 2017
After learning about the COVID-19 lockdown, the first thing that occurred to “B,” who is from a region in the interior of North Korea, is that many people must be starving to death.
“The interior regions are different from the border regions, so a lockdown can cause many people to starve to death. On top of that, they’re in the middle of the barley hump” — a lean time before the barley harvest — “a time so tough that it’s sometimes called the ‘death hump.’ People have to subsist on wild herbs when they run out of food, but herbs are becoming less available every year,” “B” said.
“Locking people down at such a time amounts to telling them to drop dead. Since I’m all too familiar with the situation in North Korea, I’m more worried about my family now than I’ve been before. What’s even more upsetting is that there’s no way to help my family right now, as much as I want to.”
Interviewee No. 3: “C,” 30s, in South Korea since 2016
Since free medical care is effectively no longer available in North Korea, there’s a widening gap in care between the capital of Pyongyang and other parts of the country. Along with poor equipment and a medication shortfall at hospitals in the countryside, doctors there are often incompetent, leading to frequent misdiagnoses.
As a result, sources say, most people in those areas don’t visit the doctor when they get sick — instead, they get their prescriptions filled by unlicensed drug vendors.
“C,” who was born and raised in a rural area in North Korea, offered some insights. According to “C,” purchasing medicine from unlicensed individuals for self-treatment is not even an option for people in those areas.
“People in the countryside would have to sell grain to buy medicine, but they’re also the ones facing the worst food shortages. So when farmers get sick, they often have to go without medication, which they can’t afford to buy. That’s why the fatality rate is higher there than in urban areas.”
“Thinking back now, I resent the fact that my family members were born in a rural area and have spent their lives in agriculture. Since the borders are closed, I can’t send them any money. I can only pray that they’re healthy and haven’t come down with COVID-19,” “C” said.
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
11. US will not link COVID-19 assistance to denuclearization talks with North Korea
Yes, because we are more concerned with the welfare of the Korean people in the north than is the despot Kim Jong Un.
US will not link COVID-19 assistance to denuclearization talks with North Korea
Daniel Kritenbrink, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs / Yonhap
The United States does not and will not link its humanitarian assistance for North Korea to progress in denuclearization talks with the impoverished country, a senior U.S. diplomat said Monday, urging Pyongyang to engage in dialogue and also accept U.S. or international assistance to deal with COVID-19.
Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, also reiterated that the U.S. remains open to dialogue.
"We are also gravely concerned by the serious outbreak of COVID-19 underway in the DPRK right now, and how it may affect the health and well-being of the North Korean people," Kritenbrink said in a forum jointly hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Korea Foundation.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.
"We continue to support efforts to provide humanitarian assistance and COVID-19 vaccines to the DPRK. We see this humanitarian crisis as separate from making progress on denuclearization and we do not and will not link the two," he added.
North Korea has said more than 4 million people have been identified with "fever" since it began reporting potential COVID-19 cases last month.
The U.S. earlier said it has no immediate plans to share COVID-19 vaccines with North Korea from its own supplies, but that it would support the provision of such assistance by health organizations, including those based in the United States.
North Korea is reportedly refusing to accept vaccines from any international organizations, including COVAX.
Despite its apparently ongoing epidemic, Pyongyang has staged 18 missile tests this year, the most recent being a barrage of eight short-range ballistic missiles Sunday.
Kritenbrink said the U.S. and its two closest Asian allies ― South Korea and Japan ― remain ready to counter any threat posed by North Korea, but that the door to diplomacy also remains open.
"We do, however, continue to believe that we can find a peaceful and diplomatic resolution with the DPRK. We have a practical calibrated approach. The United States harbors no hostile intent towards the DPRK and the path to dialogue remains open," he said.
"We urge the DPRK to take that path to commit to serious and sustained diplomacy and to refrain from pursuing further destabilizing activities," he added.
Kritenbrink also reaffirmed U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea and Japan, saying, "I want to be absolutely clear. We should make no mistake. Our commitment to upholding our security commitments remains, as I said at the top, absolutely ironclad."
Turning to the U.S.-South Korea alliance, the U.S. diplomat said the decades-old relationship has already evolved into a "global comprehensive strategic alliance," about two weeks after U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol agreed to develop the bilateral relationship into such an alliance during Biden's trip to Seoul.
"The US-ROK alliance has matured and evolved into a global comprehensive strategic alliance as President Biden and President Yoon announced in the joint statement of May 21," he declared. ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, South Korea's official name.
"I am confident that the United States and the Republic of Korea together can and will meet any challenges and seize the opportunities presented before us across the Indo-Pacific and around the world," added Kritenbrink. (Yonhap)
12. US, IAEA warn of nuclear test by North Korea
US, IAEA warn of nuclear test by North Korea
S.Korea, US air forces conduct joint drills in show of force against N.Korea
Published : Jun 7, 2022 - 18:18 Updated : Jun 7, 2022 - 18:18
Now-demolished Tunnel No. 2 of North Korea`s Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site. (File Photo-Yonhap)
The US and the UN nuclear watchdog again warned of the possibility of North Korea carrying out a nuclear test in the near future.
“We remain concerned that the DPRK could seek a seventh nuclear test in the coming days. It’s a concern we’ve warned about for some time,” US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday during a regular press briefing, underscoring its readiness to respond to any contingency scenarios in tandem with the US allies.
“I can assure you that it is a contingency we have planned for, and it has been a concerted topic of discussion with allies and partners.”
The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog on Monday echoed the US assessment during the meeting of the 35-nation Board of Governors held in Vienna, Austria.
“At the Nuclear Test Site at Punggye-ri we have observed indications that one of the adits has been reopened, possibly in preparation for a nuclear test,” Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in his opening remarks.
Commercial satellite images show that North Korea has been restoring access to the yet unused South Portal tunnel of the Punggyeri nuclear testing site.
“The conduct of a nuclear test would contravene UN Security Council resolutions and would be a cause for serious concern,” Grossi added.
The IAEA chief also pointed out that North Korea appears to have operated a main nuclear reactor, which can produce weapons-grade plutonium, at its Yongbyon nuclear complex.
“There are ongoing indications consistent with the operation of the 5MW(e) reactor,” Grossi said.
The IAEA has assessed that the 5 megawatt-electric main nuclear reactor seems to have been operating since July 2021.
Grossi also reported that North Korea has expanded construction activity and completed the building of facilities at the Yongbyon nuclear complex.
The construction of a new building that commenced near the light water reactor (LWR) in April 2021 has been completed. The LWR, which is fueled by low-enriched uranium and estimated to have a capacity of 25-30 MWe, has been under construction since July 2010.
Grossi went on to say that new construction work has also started adjacent to the LWR and the new building.
In addition, the construction of an annex to the reported centrifuge enrichment facility has been externally completed as the roof has been installed, Gross told the IAEA Board of Governors.
The IAEA in March said the centrifuge enrichment facility is located within the Yongbyon Nuclear Fuel Rod Fabrication Plant, but explained that the agency did not figure out the purpose of the facility.
Additionally, ongoing signs of activity have been detected at the Kangson complex, which is believed to be a centrifuge enrichment facility, as well as the Pyongsan Uranium Concentration Plant and its associated Pyongsan Mine.
The Pyongsan Mine and Concentration Plant are believed to be the sole publicly acknowledged places where North Korea extracts uranium ore and turns it into yellowcake that can be used to produce enriched uranium.
South Korea and the US conduct a combined airpower demonstration involving 20 warplanes, including F-35A stealth fighters, over the West Sea on Tuesday in response to North Korea’s continuing ballistic missile tests. (South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff)
As the possibility of a nuclear test rises, South Korea and the US on Tuesday conducted the combined air force drills and showcased their combat readiness in another tit-for-tat show of force matching North Korea’s continuing ballistic missile launches.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the allies “staged the air power demonstration in response to North Korea’s continuing ballistic missile provocations.“
A total of 20 warplanes from the South Korean and US air forces formed a strike package and conducted the formation flight in the airspace over the western sea in South Korea with the goal to simulate an “overwhelming response to threats posed by an enemy.”
Four US F-16 Fighting Falcons were joined in flight by the South Korean air force’s 16 warplanes equipped with precision-guided munitions such as F-35A radar-evading stealth fighters, F-15K Slam Eagles and KF-16 multi-role fighter jets.
“South Korea and the US demonstrate our strong capabilities and determination to promptly and accurately strike against any kind of North Korean provocations by illustrating the South Korea-US combined defense capabilities through the combined air power demonstration,” the JCS said in a Korean-language statement.
“Our military is maintaining a firm readiness posture in preparation for North Korea’s additional provocations while tracking and monitoring relevant moves in close coordination between South Korea and the US.”
The combined formation flight is another display of the alliance’s combat readiness in response to the eight short-range ballistic missiles launched from four different places by North Korea on Sunday.
In counteraction, South Korea and the US on Monday conducted a combined live-fire exercise and fired eight surface-to-surface missiles toward the east coast.
(dagyumji@heraldcorp.com)
13. Korea, Ukraine discuss post-war reconstruction in closed-door meeting
A chance for South Korea to "step up" and pay it forward.
Korea, Ukraine discuss post-war reconstruction in closed-door meeting
Published : Jun 7, 2022 - 14:43 Updated : Jun 7, 2022 - 17:59
Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Senik enters the Foreign Ministry building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, Tuesday, to meet with Second Vice Foreign Minister Lee Do-hoon. (Yonhap)
Senior foreign affairs officials of South Korea and Ukraine met privately to discuss the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, officials said Tuesday. It is the first time that a high-level Ukrainian official made a public visit to Korea since the Russian invasion in February.
Vice Foreign Minister Lee Do-hoon met with Ukraine’s Vice Foreign Minister Dmytro Senik on Tuesday and exchanged views on the recent situation in Ukraine, support for the country, economic cooperation between the two countries, and protection of overseas citizens.
At the closed-door meeting, Lee expressed concern over the prolonged Russian invasion of Ukraine and said he hoped the situation would be resolved as early as possible and the humanitarian situation would not worsen any further, according to the ministry.
In response, Senik thanked Korea for its support and asked the Korean government and companies to support and participate in the reconstruction of Ukraine, and hoped to actively cooperate to expand trade, investment and strengthen the developing partnership between the two countries after the situation stabilizes, the ministry said.
Both vice ministers agreed to cooperate closely for the safety of the citizens of both countries who have moved to Ukraine or Korea
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, the Korean government has provided $40 million worth of humanitarian aid to the Ukrainian government and people.
Senik, who plans to stay in Korea until Wednesday, came to Seoul to meet government officials and businesspeople to find ways to rebuild the country after the war.
Prior to the meeting, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “We plan to exchange opinions on the situation in Ukraine and discuss ways for the two countries to cooperate in areas such as trade, investment and development.”
Considering the difficulty of importing Russian fossil fuels, Ukraine has sought support for electric vehicles from South Korea and postwar recovery projects such as housing construction.
Meanwhile, Korean delegations from the ruling party and Foreign Ministry have gone to Ukraine, where they are discussing regional restoration, bilateral cooperation, joint projects and support for refugees. The delegation, led by People Power Party leader Lee Jun-seok, is expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before returning home Thursday.
Zelenskyy is predicted to meet with the delegation and ask President Yoon Suk-yeol to attend the Ukraine Reform Conference to be held in Lugano, Switzerland on July 4-5.
It is possible that South Korea’s potential support for arms provision will be discussed at a meeting with the delegation. However, there is some skepticism on whether the Korean government will provide weapons. The previous administration had refused such requests.
In April, before Yoon’s inauguration, the Ministry of National Defense said in response to Ukraine’s request for support for anti-aircraft weapons systems, “We explained our position (to the Ukraine side) that support for lethal weapons systems is limited in consideration of our security situation.”
14. N. Korean computer appears to be assembled with parts from Taiwan, US
Should not be a surprise to anyone.
N. Korean computer appears to be assembled with parts from Taiwan, US - Daily NK
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2397 bans the export of industrial metals, machinery and electrical equipment to North Korea
Water-cooled computer manufactured by North Korea’s Achim Computer (Foreign Trade of the DPR Korea screen capture)
North Korean tech company Achim Computer’s water-cooled computer appears to include parts made in Taiwan and the United States.
North Korea named Achim Computer one of the country’s 10 best IT companies last year.
In photos of Achim Computer’s sixth generation Core i5 and Core i3 water-cooled computers on the North Korean website “Foreign Trade of the DPR Korea,” the word “INWIN” is clearly written on the case.
INWIN is a global computer hardware manufacturer based in Taiwan and a leading maker of computer cases.
The Core i5 seems to use an INWIN 303 case. The position of the power button and logos appear the same, as do the number and kinds of sockets.
The case of the Core i3 appears to be fairly similar to the INWIN 805 TG3.0 Black. The position and number of sockets, the position of the cooling fan and layout of the power supply and storage devices are the same.
Achim Computer’s logo “Achim” has been placed on the front of both computers.
PC case by Taiwan’s INWIN (left), Achim Computer’s PC (right) (captures from INWIN and Foreign Trade of the DPR Korea websites)
Also noteworthy is that Core i3 uses the VS-450 power supply. The VS-450 is made by Corsair, a computer peripheral and hardware company based in Fremont, California.
The “Core i3” and “Core i5” in the names of the computers point to CPUs by US company Intel, too. The desktop Core i3 used an Intel Core i3-6100 3.4㎓ CPU, while the CPU of the water-cooled Core i5 is not specified.
Achim Computer is reportedly a joint venture with China’s Panda Electronics, an electronics manufacturer based in Nanjing. As the Chinese side apparently supplies the necessary parts while the North Korean side assembles and sells the products, it is possible that the parts mentioned on the website were provided by the Chinese side.
PC case by Taiwan’s INWIN (left), Achim Computer’s PC (right) (captures from INWIN and Foreign Trade of the DPR Korea websites)
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2397, adopted in December of 2017, bans the export of industrial metals, machinery and electrical equipment to North Korea.
Despite international sanctions, North Korea appears to be importing overseas parts to use in the manufacture of electronic devices.
Since North Korea did not say when it posted the products on the website, whether these represent the company’s latest items remains unknown. However, considering that the computers use sixth-generation Intel Core I series CPUs released in 2015 and power supplies released in 2014, they do not appear to be the latest items.
It is also possible that with North Korea unable to import the latest computer parts due to international sanctions, the country is assembling computers from old parts for domestic sales.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Senior Advisor, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
