Quotes of the Day:
“I love America more than any country in the world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”
- James Baldwin
“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.”
- Aldous Huxley
"I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it."
- Voltaire
1. N.K. leader holds mass photo session with party officials despite battle against COVID-19 pandemic
2. China’s Korean expats, students lament loss of jobs and opportunities as mass exodus comes into focus
3. N. Korea's new suspected COVID-19 cases under 2,000 for 3rd day: state media
4. S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases back above 20,000 in 1 1/2 months
5. FM Park mulling China visit soon
6. S. Korea welcomes new U.N. special rapporteur for N. Korea human rights
7. North Korea requires cellphone users to install invasive surveillance app
8. On This Day: North Korea's Kim Il Sung dies at 82
9. North Korean Streets Flooded as Heavy Rains Exacerbate Economic Crisis
10. From war haven to leading port city, South Korea's Busan eyes world expo
11. North Korea marks 20 years of its state beer made at former British factory
12. Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. outlines threat of nuclear blackmail to security in Pacific region
13. The Wisconsin Supreme Court Just Dropped a Multi-Megaton Dung Bomb of a Decision
1. N.K. leader holds mass photo session with party officials despite battle against COVID-19 pandemic
On first glance I thought it was the White House photoshopped in the background.
But oh for want of a JDAM. If we only had advance warning of this photo shoot we could have solved the Korean security situation with one JDAM (note attempt at humor). Of course maybe a COVID outbreak among the leadership could achieve the same effect within a few weeks.
N.K. leader holds mass photo session with party officials despite battle against COVID-19 pandemic | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, July 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held a large-scale group photo session with officials from the ruling party's life guidance sections that attended a workshop earlier this week, state media reported Saturday.
Photos released by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) show leader Kim standing in close proximity with hundreds of officials from the ruling Workers' Party without masks for the photo shoot.
Last week, leader Kim held a five-day workshop, the first of its kind, for officials in the party's life guidance sections of organizational departments and called for absolute obedience to the party's Central Committee.
Kim last held such a mass photo session in early May with soldiers and youth groups that participated in a massive military parade in April. The two events were noted among analysts as key factors that could have prompted the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the North.
Observers said the latest photo session is aimed at displaying Kim's confidence in containing the pandemic.
North Korea claims that COVID-19 infections are slowing down recently in the country, with new suspected cases below 2,000 on Friday, after peaking at over 392,920 on May 15.
The North disclosed its first COVID-19 case on May 12 after claiming to be coronavirus-free for over two years.
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
2. China’s Korean expats, students lament loss of jobs and opportunities as mass exodus comes into focus
Significant changes in the China- South Korea relationship.
China’s Korean expats, students lament loss of jobs and opportunities as mass exodus comes into focus
By Erika Na South China Morning Post7 min
+ FOLLOW
Published: 7:00am, 8 Jul, 2022
South Korean nationals are leaving China at an alarming rate - to the point that some are concerned it might further impede the development of bilateral relations that have become strained in recent years. Illustration: Brian Wang
For South Korean national Baek Hwi-jeong, China has not only been her home for nearly a quarter century, it’s also where she raised a family and became a seasoned businesswoman.
She moved to China in 1998 at age 30, accompanying her husband who had received a government scholarship to study at Peking University, along with their then one-year-old son.
Their move came amid the Asian financial crisis, and was just a few years after the 1992 normalisation of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea – a period that saw many South Koreans settle in China, forming large communities in major cities.
Baek saw this as an opportunity. In 2001, after her family had moved from Beijing to Shenzhen, she created a magazine business targeting the growing Korean expat population in the booming southern metropolis.
And her freely distributed Korean-language magazine, Kyomin Segye, found great success by featuring paid adverts for various Korean-owned businesses.
“In the first 10 years, there were around 100 to 150 advertisements in the weekly magazine,” she recalled. “At one point, the magazine was as thick as 2cm [0.8 inches] because of all the ads. Each month we would print around 40,000 copies.”
But while her business is still operating today, it’s a shell of its former self, and the glory days have clearly come to an end.
Two-and-a-half years of Covid-19, coupled with China’s strict lockdown policies, have essentially wiped out what had been the two pillars of Baek’s once-lucrative business model – the sizeable Korean community and Shenzhen’s vibrant Korean-owned-business scene.
“My business really bore the brunt of Covid-19,” Baek lamented. “We stopped printing physical copies after the number of Korean expatriates decreased significantly.
“Although we kept trying to print physical copies at the beginning of the pandemic, it gradually became clear that we couldn’t keep ‘eating our own flesh’,” she added, using a Korean idiom that basically means doing something detrimental to oneself in a desperate bid to survive. “It’s been a year since we ultimately stopped printing physical copies.”
Today, Baek’s magazine publishes online just twice a month online, and the number of adverts has plunged to about 20, forcing her to lay off a reporter and graphic designer.
“By publishing online, I’m barely making ends meet, and in no way am I making money like before. I am pretending like we have not gone bust, when we actually have,” she quipped.
Baek’s personal account perfectly illustrates the impact of what has been a mass outflow of Korean expats from China during the pandemic. While there are no official figures, the exodus has been witnessed on the ground in several Chinese cities, and anecdotal evidence abounds.
Furthermore, the leaving trend seems to have spilled over to the South Korean student community in China. However, the reasons behind the departures seem to differ between Korean expats and students.
The most common reason cited for the mass departure among the older members of China’s Korean community is how the Chinese government’s unsparing zero-Covid measures have smothered their economic livelihoods.
Many students, on the other hand, say that they are leaving because of the Chinese government’s policies, and that their “Korean values” and ways of life have become incompatible.
But whatever the reason, experts in Korea-China relations say the exoduses of both groups are worrying.
Mr Chung, a 49-year-old Korean national who has resided for more than 20 years in Yanji – which is the seat of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China’s Jilin province – said the exodus is unmistakable.
“I feel like around 50 per cent of Koreans who used to live in Yanji have left throughout the pandemic,” said Chung, who ran a Chinese tutoring centre for foreigners from 2008 until September, when he was forced to shut it down due to lost business.
“The fact of the matter is the economy has been so bad. When there’s a citywide lockdown, you cannot work for around a month, which means no income.”
Yanji has been placed under a citywide lockdown three times since 2020, and there have also been more frequent district-level lockdowns.
02:15
American woman leaves China's Covid-19 lockdown after 65 days in limbo
In Dongguan, an industrial city in Guangdong province where a lot of Korean expats have operated factories, news of Korean businesses going bankrupt or companies relocating to other countries has become commonplace, according to Jeong Soo-jeong, 50, who has lived in Dongguan since 2008 and runs a tutoring business teaching Korean students how to code.
“I’ve heard from other Koreans who run factories in the city that every single day, during citywide lockdowns, there would be a couple of Korean-owned factories that went bankrupt,” Jeong said. “I also know that 10 Korean families will soon be relocating to Vietnam because the whole factory that the family works for is moving to Vietnam.”
Jeong also said that people are not leaving purely due to the fact that lockdowns are personally hard to endure.
“It’s more so due to how it affects their livelihoods. Take long quarantine periods, for instance. If I’m a businessman who has to go on international business trips, it’s obviously extremely inconvenient to be based in Dongguan right now.”
Park Chang-joo, a 60-year-old Korean national who has worked in the trade industry in Shanghai for 20 years, similarly said that he sees realistic financial concerns. But not everyone can simply leave China.
For most of his Korean expat acquaintances, the burden of uprooting and starting life anew elsewhere appears to be a more daunting challenge than the difficulties they currently face in China, even after the two-month lockdown that Shanghai endured in April and May.
“Realistically speaking, I think there are more people who find it extremely difficult to completely uproot from China and move somewhere else,” Park said. “After the lockdown, I hear a lot of people jokingly say that they want to leave, but I haven’t really seen many people take that into action.
“I did think about returning to Korea, but I still believe there are more opportunities in China than in Korea.”
The total saw a roughly 43 per cent plunge from about 47,000 in 2020 to nearly 27,000 in 2021, according to the Korean Ministry of Education. At the peak in 2017, there were more than 73,000 Korean students studying in China.
Representatives of the Korean student associations at Peking University and Zhejiang University both said that the gradual decrease in the number of freshmen throughout the pandemic was noticeable.
“There were around 300 Korean students in my batch when I started as a freshman in 2018. In 2020, there were around half of that. This further dwindled to around 100 in 2021,” said Yun Jung-bin, the association’s representative at Zhejiang University.
“I think, for many of us coming from Korean cultural backgrounds, it is difficult to embrace the zero-Covid restrictions.”
Furthermore, strict lockdown measures that became more common in the past year had led many students who were already enrolled in Chinese universities to return to Korea and take online classes.
02:23
Who is South Korea’s newly elected president Yoon Suk-yeol and what are his plans?
Jang Seong-woo, a third-year student at Peking University studying international relations, is the representative of the school’s Korean student association.
“In the last semester, most Korean students in Peking University decided to go back to Korea once rumours started spreading in April of a lockdown in Beijing,” Jang said, adding that around 70-80 per cent of Peking’s Korean student population had left China.
Other South Korean students across China said coronavirus regulations have changed their plans to get a job in China after graduating. That includes Kim Yeon-su, a 24-year-old graduate student studying global business journalism at Tsinghua University.
“There are many students who are tired of the quarantine policies and documents required when entering the country, and many think that the quality of life in China is low,” Kim said, adding that they are now more inclined to seek work in Taiwan, Hong Kong or Singapore than stay in mainland China.
Like most of her friends, Kim returned to South Korea several months ago, opting to take online classes. When she graduates in June, she intends to look for a job in her homeland or elsewhere.
Moving forward, some experts even say that such a heavy outflow of Korean expats and students from China may not bode well for bilateral relations between the two countries.
Moon Heung-ho, a professor with the Graduate School of International Studies at Hanyang University in South Korea, said he believes that the exodus is also the result of a general digression of bilateral relations between the two countries in recent years.
“In the end, both governments should make efforts for the healthy development of Korea-China relations. In particular, it is necessary to devise a plan to improve the Korean youth’s perception towards China, which has been rapidly deteriorating recently,” said Moon, who specialises in the Chinese economy and trade.
“Critical views towards the Chinese authorities’ ultra-hardline policies related to Covid-19 have also increased [among Koreans].”
Erika Na joined the Post in 2021. Originally from South Korea, she studied international affairs with a focus on Asia in the US, followed by studying law and journalism in Hong Kong. Before joining SCMP, she worked as a Hong Kong foreign correspondent for Arirang Radio where she regularly updated news from the city and also as an intern at NBC News covering stories from Asia.
3. N. Korea's new suspected COVID-19 cases under 2,000 for 3rd day: state media
north Korea reports decline (while the South reports an increase)
(LEAD) N. Korea's new suspected COVID-19 cases under 2,000 for 3rd day: state media | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UDPATES with more info from 5th para; ADDS photo)
SEOUL, July 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's new suspected COVID-19 cases remained below 2,000 for the third consecutive day, according to its state media Saturday.
More than 1,590 people showed symptoms of fever over a 24-hour period until 6 p.m. the previous day, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, citing data from the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters.
The total number of fever cases since late April came to over 4.76 million as of 6 p.m. Friday and at least 2,910 others are being treated, it added.
The North's daily fever tally has been on a downward trend after peaking at over 392,920 on May 15.
The death toll remained at 74, with a fatality rate of 0.002 percent, according to a report by the state-run Korean Central Television.
The KCNA reported that the North is directing all efforts to turn "all regions of the country into epidemic-free ones at the earliest date possible."
Health authorities urged people to report immediately when they come across any "alien objects" and warned them against coming into contact with wild animals, it said.
The North has also tightened lockdown barriers near the border, coastal areas, the sea and airspace as the "possibility of the inroads of a new contagious virus into the country from outside is ever-increasing and such danger still exists."
Last week, the North claimed its coronavirus outbreak originated from alien things in an area near the inter-Korean border, alluding to balloons often sent by North Korean defector groups in South Korea.
The South Korean government immediately dismissed the assertion, saying it was realistically impossible for the balloons to have carried the virus into the North.
North Korea disclosed its first COVID-19 case on May 12 after claiming to be coronavirus-free for over two years and implemented nationwide lockdowns.
(END)
4. S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases back above 20,000 in 1 1/2 months
South Korea rising while north Korea reports a decline.
(LEAD) S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases back above 20,000 in 1 1/2 months | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: ADDS more info from 6th para, photo)
SEOUL, July 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new coronavirus cases bounced back above 20,000 for the first time in 45 days Saturday, putting authorities on alert over a possible uptick amid the summer vacation season.
The country added 20,286 new COVID-19 infections, including 223 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,491,435, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
Saturday's tally is up 963 from the previous day and nearly double the 10,712 reported a week ago. It also marks the first time the daily tally has surpassed 20,000 since May 25.
The country added 19 COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 24,624. The fatality rate stood at 0.13 percent.
The number of critically ill patients fell by one to 61, the KDCA said.
The country's case curve hit a peak in mid-March with more than 621,000 cases. The KDCA has said the pace of decline has recently slowed down amid waning immunity and eased social distancing rules.
On Friday, South Korean health authorities said the country is undergoing a new wave of COVID-19, citing the fast spread of the highly contagious mutation of the omicron strain.
Authorities said the spreading BA.5, a subvariant of the COVID-19 omicron variant, is more infectious than the earlier mutations and allegedly resistant to the immunity from previous COVID-19 infections.
South Korea is set to introduce a tighter plan to contain the COVID-19 resurgence by next week.
Of the 20,063 locally transmitted cases reported Saturday, Seoul accounted for 4,897 cases, with the surrounding Gyeonggi Province reporting 5,595 cases and Incheon logging 1,011 infections. The three areas accounted for 57.2 percent of all local infection cases.
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
5. FM Park mulling China visit soon
FM Park mulling China visit soon | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, July 9 (Yonhap) -- Foreign Minister Park Jin said Saturday he plans to visit China at an early date for talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on bilateral and regional issues.
Park made the remark upon returning from a trip to the Indonesian resort island of Bali for the Group of 20 foreign ministers' meeting, which marked his debut on the multilateral diplomatic stage since taking office in May.
On the sidelines of the G-20 meeting, Park and Wang on Thursday had their first in-person talks to discuss bilateral relations and issues of mutual concern, and they exchanged invitations to their respective countries, the minister said.
"I will visit China in the near future to continue S. Korea-China consultations," Park told reporters after arriving at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, about 30 kilometers west of Seoul.
He did not elaborate on the schedule. Seoul and Beijing commemorate the 30th anniversary of establishing their diplomatic relations next month.
Since taking office in May, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration has focused on strengthening the alliance with the United States and vowed support for its Indo-Pacific strategy, widely seen as Washington's efforts to counter Beijing's growing clout in the region.
The move was interpreted as a departure from the previous Moon Jae-in administration's position of "strategic ambiguity" between its main ally U.S. and China, Seoul's largest trading partner.
During Thursday's talks, Park said the Yoon administration will prioritize diplomacy based on key values, such as freedom and human rights, and called for China's constructive role in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.
Wang said China is willing to work with the Seoul government and expressed hope for developing "strategic cooperative partnership."
ejkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
6. S. Korea welcomes new U.N. special rapporteur for N. Korea human rights
I hope this indicates that the ROK will be taking a human rights upfront approach.
S. Korea welcomes new U.N. special rapporteur for N. Korea human rights | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, July 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Saturday hailed the appointment of Elizabeth Salmon as the new U.N. special rapporteur for North Korea's human rights.
"The government expects Salmon will contribute to the international society's efforts to improve North Korea's human rights situations with her expertise and experience from years of activities in the academia and the U.N. human rights field as an expert in the fields of democracy, human rights and law," a spokesman for Seoul's foreign ministry said in a commentary.
"The government will continue its efforts to improve North Korea's human rights conditions in close coordination with the international society while actively cooperating with the new U.N. special rapporteur."
Salmon, director of the Institute for Democracy and Human Rights of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, was appointed as the new rapporteur during the 50th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council held Friday (U.S. time). Her one-year term begins on Aug. 1 and can be extended for up to six years.
The special rapporteur position was first created in 2004 to investigate and report to the U.N. Human Rights Council and General Assembly on the human rights situation in the reclusive regime in light of international human rights law.
sshim@yna.co.kr
(END)
7. North Korea requires cellphone users to install invasive surveillance app
Cellphones are a threat to the regime. I bet someone could develop an app that would counter or deceive the regime's app. That should be something we send across the DMZ in balloons.
North Korea requires cellphone users to install invasive surveillance app
The Kwangmyong software provides access to the country’s intranet, but it allows real-time monitoring.
By Hyemin Son for RFA Korean
2022.07.08
North Korea is forcing smartphone users to install an app to use the isolated country’s closed intranet, but the app also allows the government to remotely track their locations and monitor their devices in real time, sources there told RFA.
The Kwangmyong app connects users to a corner of the intranet where they can access their subscription to the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper and other educational and informational services.
But some North Koreans say that the app is a massive invasion of privacy, as it enables the Ministry of State Security and other law enforcement agencies to see exactly where they are or if they are using their phones to access forbidden content like movies from South Korea or foreign news.
“At the post office these days, residents are lining up to pay the fee to get their quarterly [license] card,” a resident of Pukchang county, South Pyongan province, north of the capital Pyongyang, told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“Starting this month, cellphone users are forced to install an intranet app called Kwangmyong to get their quarterly cards,” he said.
Citizens are not happy that they must agree to increased surveillance just to use their mobile phones.
“They are reluctant to set it up because they know that they can be watched by the State Security Department at any time through the intranet. But the postal authorities stress that the Central Committee has ordered that they install Kwangmyong on all personal mobile phones. The cards cannot be issued unless Kwangmyong has been installed,” said the source.
“Many of the residents reluctantly installed Kwangmyong on their phones … but some have refused to install the app and have been able to buy the quarterly card on the black market,” he said.
The black-market version of the quarterly communications license is U.S. $12, much more expensive than at the post office, where it costs just 2,840 won ($0.40).
Authorities have been touting the usefulness of the Kwangmyong app, a resident of Ryongchon county, in the northeastern province of North Pyongan, told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
“They say that installation of Kwangmyong can provide mobile phone users with information about the Rodong Sinmun [newspaper], foreign language education, and cooking techniques,” the source said.
“The real intent is to monitor the residents through the Kwangmyong network installed on people’s mobile phones,” he said.
Kwangmyong even tracks how devices are used as media players, according to the source.
“When Kwangmyong … is installed on a personal mobile phone, the Ministry of State Security can monitor the users from that moment on. It can check when the users watched South Korean movies and how many times they read or downloaded illegal materials from abroad. It provides real-time monitoring,” he said.
Because the North Korean intranet is not connected to the global internet, the illegal materials must be passed around from person to person on physical media like USB flash drives and easily concealable SD cards. With Kwangmyong installed, the authorities could easily learn that users viewed illicit material.
“For this reason, many residents had been using their mobile phones without installing access to the intranet. But now, the post offices sell the quarterly cards only after they have installed it,” he said.
“They are accusing the authorities of using the intranet network as a surveillance tool,” he said.
Another way that mobile phone users can avoid surveillance is to use a mobile phone smuggled from China, the second source said.
These phones are illegal, but can access the Chinese network in areas close to the border. They are also not registered with North Korean authorities, so it is not necessary to purchase quarterly communications licenses.
A 2019 report by the Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea described in detail how the government was able at that time to monitor cellphone activity and file sharing.
The report said that all North Korean smartphones were required to have an application called “Red Flag” that kept a log of webpages visited by users and randomly took screenshots of their phones. Those could be viewed but not deleted with another app called “Trace Viewer.”
“The system is sinister in its simplicity. It reminds users that everything they do on the device can be recorded and later viewed by officials, even if it does not take place online. As such, it insidiously forces North Koreans to self-censor in fear of a device check that might never happen,” the report said.
Kwangmyong appears to have eliminated the need for a device check, as it allows remote monitoring through the intranet.
Translated by Claire Shinyoung O. Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
8. On This Day: North Korea's Kim Il Sung dies at 82
I failed to send this yesterday. Kim Jong Un is still less than half his age.
On This Day: North Korea's Kim Il Sung dies at 82
On July 8, 1994, North Korean President Kim Il Sung died at age 82. He had led the country since its founding in 1948.
By UPI Staff
1/5
The statues of North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung and his son and successor, Kim Jong Il, stand in the city of Nampho. On July 8, 1994, North Korean President Kim Il Sung died at age 82. He had led the country since its founding in 1948. File Photo courtesy of Yonhap
July 8 (UPI) -- On this date in history:
In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read in public for the first time, to people gathered at Philadelphia's Independence Square.
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In 1835, the Liberty Bell cracked while being rung during the funeral of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall in Philadelphia.
In 1889, The Wall Street Journal was first published.
File Photo by Pat Benic/UPI
In 1951, Paris celebrated its 2,000th birthday. The city was founded sometime around 250 A.D. by a Gallic tribe known as the Parisii.
In 1994, North Korean President Kim Il Sung died at age 82. He had led the country since its founding in 1948.
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In 2009, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, benefiting from a robust economy, was easily re-elected.
File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
In 2010, a French surgeon said he had performed the first successful transplant of a complete face, giving a 35-year-old disfigured man every feature, including tear ducts.
In 2011, space shuttle Atlantis began the 135th and final mission of the U.S. space shuttle program that started in 1981, a two-week voyage to the International Space Station with a cargo of supplies and spare parts.
In 2014, in an escalating conflict, Israeli airstrikes pounded the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and rockets were fired at Israel. A statement from the military said the strikes were made to "stop the terror Israel's citizens face on a daily basis." The airstrikes began a 50-day war between the two sides, ending Aug. 26, 2014.
In 2019, the so-called "Terminator" of the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- Bosco Ntaganda -- was found guilty of war crimes by the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands.
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File Photo by Eva Plevier/EPA-EFE
9. North Korean Streets Flooded as Heavy Rains Exacerbate Economic Crisis
The Korean people in the north just cannot catch a break.
North Korean Streets Flooded as Heavy Rains Exacerbate Economic Crisis
|
July 8, 2022, at 2:54 a.m.
FILE PHOTO: Buildings in North Korea's Sinuiju are seen behind the Friendship Bridge over the Yalu river, during sunrise in Dandong, Liaoning province, China April 20, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu WangREUTERS
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean towns along the border with China were flooded this week after heavy rain, threatening to exacerbate an already critical food and economic situation in the country.
North Korea state broadcasters said the city of Sinuiju had reported its heaviest rainfall of the year on Thursday, with at least 132.5 mm (5.2 inches) of rain by 4 p.m.
Video footage showed buses and other vehicles driving through water that had filled intersections, while pedestrians waded nearby.
To the east, in North Hamgyong Province, officials were working to ensure water supplies remained sanitary by supervising sewage disposal and ensuring that residents boiled water before drinking, state news agency KCNA reported.
North Korea has reported an epidemic of an unspecified intestinal disease - suspected by South Korean officials to be cholera or typhoid - and has blamed foreign objects from the border with South Korea for sparking a COVID-19 outbreak.
The natural disasters and epidemics may exacerbate food shortages in North Korea, which is under international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile programmes, and has closed its borders to most trade to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
An annual United Nations report on food security released on Thursday found that the percentage of undernourished North Koreans reached 41.6% from 2019 to 2021, compared with 33.8% from 2004 to 2006.
In the south, North Korea appeared to have released water from a dam near its border with South Korea, prompting vacationers in the neighbouring country to evacuate as water levels on the Imjin River rose on Monday.
(Reporting by Josh Smith; Editing by Kim Coghill)
Copyright 2022 Thomson Reuters.
10. From war haven to leading port city, South Korea's Busan eyes world expo
Another example to remind us of the Miracle on the Han (though this is a miracle on the southern coast).
From war haven to leading port city, South Korea's Busan eyes world expo
Newsweek · by Tom O'Connor · July 8, 2022
Seventy years ago, the small port city of Busan served as a refuge for at millions of Koreans fleeing war on a newly divided peninsula. The North Korean offensive that began in 1950 rolled through nearly all of South Korea, sparing only its southeasternmost stretch, where Busan is located.
What was once a safe haven has since flourished into South Korea's second-most-populated city after the capital Seoul, and the port that once shipped in vital wartime supplies now counts itself as one of the busiest in the world for international commerce, coming in at seventh-busiest in terms of overall container traffic and second when it comes to transshipment.
Now, riding on the crest of a "K-Wave" that has seen Korean music, film and television take root across the globe like never before, Busan is in the throes of further transformation as it looks to host the World Expo in 2030.
"We were once one of the poorest countries and became the 10th-most-advanced country [in terms of GDP]," Busan Director-General of Tourism and MICE [Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions] Cho You-jang told Newsweek.
"Busan embraces the unique history of Korea," he added. "You can see Korea's history of growth throughout Busan, so it presents itself as an ideal city of Korea's modern history."
This unique experience, Cho said, also offered a "unique appeal to both the least-developed countries as well as developing countries, so we can serve as a bridge and we can share our experiences."
A landscape view of the southeastern South Korean port city of Busan. The city is one of three remaining candidates seeking to hold the World Expo 2030. Seokyong Lee/Penta Press
The World Expo, sometimes known as the "World's Fair," has its roots in the 1791 exposition held in Bohemia-era Prague. The first official World Expo was held six decades later in London. Since then, cities around the world have held expositions inviting international guests, with the process first becoming formalized in 1928 under the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), now comprised of 170 member states and whose president happens to be Korean diplomat Choi Jai-chul.
Such events are today divided into World Expos, which are held every five years, and Specialized Expos, which are held in between. South Korea has previously hosted two Specialized Expos in the cities of Daejon and Yeosu in 1993 and 2012, respectively, but has never held a World Expo.
The World Expo is considered a mega-event, comparable to the Olympic Games and the World Cup, making the candidate process extremely competitive. The last World Expo was held in Dubai in 2021, delayed one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the next will be held in Osaka, Japan, in 2025.
In seeking to take the 2030 spot when the winner is announced late next year, Busan has faced a formidable array of competitors.
The remaining rivals are Rome, Italy, a leading tourist destination country that held the 2015 World Expo in Milan, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, an influential contender that already appears to have won dozens of backers in the midst of a national branding campaign aligning with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Vision 2030. Two other candidates, Odesa, Ukraine, and Moscow, Russia, are at war with one another, resulting in the former being disqualified and the latter voluntarily withdrawing its candidacy.
Newsweek reached out to representatives of Rome's and Riyadh's candidacy for the World Expo 2030 for comment.
Busan's bid has focused on three main themes, which Cho explained as being the response to climate change, technological innovation and development for humanity and, finally, sharing and caring for the community.
The city has already emerged as a center for sustainable development projects such as Oceanix, billed as the world's first floating city, as well as a rapidly growing technology hub showcased by projects such as the "smart port" initiative to introduce unmanned platforms to the city's maritime and logistics sector.
From a cultural perspective, the city has hosted the Busan International Film Festival since 1996 and could be called home by two members of the world-famous boy band BTS, which is set to soon be appointed ambassadors for the World Expo 2030 bid.
The group's agency announced Thursday that BTS would hold a concert in October to promote Busan's candidacy.
Capitalizing on these efforts, Cho said Busan hoped to market itself as a "global hub," including a comprehensive makeover of the old port that opened in 1876.
But these projects come at a cost, some $4 billion that the city is looking to invest as part of the waterfront redevelopment in time for the World Expo in 2030. The money would come from the central government in Seoul, where President Yoon Suk-yeol has endorsed the plan and vowed his full support for it.
A graphic by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) shows how candidates and, ultimately, the host of the World Expo 2030 is selected. In two months, the submission deadline will arrive for Busan, Riyadh and Rome's candidature dossiers, one of the last major milestones before the winning city is selected at the end of 2023. Bureau International des Expositions
Still on the table is the proposed construction of a new international airport that officials hope would accommodate their ambitious vision of the city's near future. In many ways, however, Busan has remained in the shadow of Seoul, something Choe said he hoped the World Expo 2030 bid could change.
"Every developed country has got two or three international metropolitan cities," Choe said. "Busan is basically the second city of Korea, but it is not promoted on the world stage. So we are working to improve our global prestige and our recognition as a global city, and that is why we are contending for the World Expo."
And Choe said the geopolitical realities that continue to haunt the Korean peninsula could serve as an example to nations still struggling to develop, rather than serve as an obstacle.
"Korea is still a divided country, we still have got tensions on the Korean peninsula," Cho said. "However, through our World Expo, we can mobilize a peaceful environment and atmosphere and that is why Korea is in a very unique position."
Other officials in South Korea have echoed this view as part of the country's broader goal of positioning itself as a "Global Pivotal State," a term at the center of Yoon's strategy to promote his country's journey to prosperity.
"Korea is probably the only country in the world that succeeded in rebuilding the country from ruins and at the same time achieving full-fledged democracy," one South Korean official told Newsweek on the condition of anonymity. "Thus, we would like to be a living testament to other developing countries to show that, yes, economic development and democratization can be achieved.
"When developing countries see Korea," the official added, "we hope they see their future."
Newsweek · by Tom O'Connor · July 8, 2022
11. North Korea marks 20 years of its state beer made at former British factory
At least the north has beer. It gives us reason to go north.
North Korea marks 20 years of its state beer made at former British factory
MetroUK · by Josh Layton · July 9, 2022
Workers at the Taedonggang Beer Factor where North Korea has brewed its state-approved brand for 20 years (Picture: KCNA)
North Korea has celebrated the 20th anniversary of the state’s national beer – which was founded after the regime bought a British brewery.
The drink, Taedonggang, began life after the Ushers plant was purchased by the regime for £10 million and reassembled in Pyongyang.
The beer is said to have won ‘great public favor’ and to have been made in line with ‘detailed teachings’ delivered by the rogue state’s former supreme leader, Kim Jong-il, who died in December 2011.
He is said to have shown ‘deep care’ for the factory’s construction in a news release by the regime’s online outlet last week.
Taedonggang, which is named after a river in the capital, owes its existence to the purchase of the brewery after the Wiltshire company went bust following 176 years of award-winning production.
Marking the anniversary, the Rodong Sinmun website, a mouthpiece for the state, said: ‘Taedonggang Beer, which gained great public favor at an international beer exhibition in 2019, is very popular among all people.’
Waitresses carry jugs of beer at the Pyongyang Taedonggang Beer Festival in 2016 (Picture: AFP/Kim Won-Jin)
Gary Todd, who had been head brewer at Ushers before it folded, found himself in the unlikely scenario of training up North Korean staff so the plant could be rebuilt 5,200 miles away.
He said: ‘It is quite frightening how fast 20 years has gone by.
‘I did look into going out there about five or six years ago and then things erupted a bit more and it didn’t happen, for obvious reasons.
‘I’m pleased it’s still going, it was a fantastic brewery and there have been breweries closing down left, right and centre, so any that survive wherever they are in the world is good.
‘The preference would be for it not to be where it is but as far as I’m aware they are making good use of it.’
Workers take Covid precautions as they take a look at some of the finished products at the beer plant in North Korea (Picture: Rodong Sinmun)
Taedonggang’s origin story is said to begin with Kim Jong-il, who was succeeded by his son Kim Jong Un, joking about his drinking prowess with his then South Korean rival Kim Dae-jung at a summit in Pyongyang.
The show of bravado in 2000 led Kim Snr, who was trying to adopt a more moderate tone after years of famine and economic sanctions, to order the construction of a state-run brewery.
The regime turned to German broker Uwe Oehms and he put forward the for-sale Trowbridge plant, which was acquired by Thomas Hardy Brewing after it folded.
Gary met a visiting North Korean delegation of 12, who took a straight-laced approach, telling him to only speak to the translators.
The production line at the Taedonggang factory which was founded with the relocation of a former British brewery (Picture: Rodong Sinmun)
The father-of-two oversaw the sale of what amounted to a 2,000-ton consignment and turned down a lucrative package to relocate to the buyers’ country. The new owners employed Russian engineers who spent months breaking the site down before it was shipped to Wonsan, two hours east of Pyongyang, from Avonmouth in Bristol.
The brewery, which began life in 1824, was rebuilt in the capital as propaganda was blasted out to encourage local workers who were given lunchboxes loaded with cigarette packs.
Gary, 55, is now site manager for Greene King’s 300-year-old Belhaven Brewery in East Lothian, Scotland.
He believes the North Korean brewery is still pumping out the green bottles using the same British-made plant, despite the website giving little detail about the production site and its location.
Gary has tried the beer and found it to be a respectable concoction, even after shipment to the UK.
Guests attended the opening of the Taedonggang Beer Festival on the banks of the Taedong river (Picture: AFP/Kim Won-Jin)
‘As far as I’m aware they’ve still got all the old kit and it hasn’t changed very much, I would doubt it’s moved from where it’s been,’ he said.
‘It’s a shame it is where it is under that regime, which is not a great regime, but I’m glad it’s still going, because it was a great little brewery.
‘It’s still a topic of conversation with a lot of people and I would like at some stage to go and visit it.’
The website makes no mention of the British involvement in the foundation of the Taedonggang Beer Factory.
The announcement reads: ‘The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un gave precious instructions in relation to the production of the factory several times and encouraged its officials and workers to further improve the flavor and quality of beer and thus exalt the honor of the factory as the one popular among the people.’
The beer is also said to have been awarded a quality medal and to have been ‘highly appreciated at various exhibitions, shows and sci-tech festivals’.
A number of other awards are also cited, with the plant described as a ‘model factory’.
Taedonggang beer is described as a respectable brew by Westerners who have tried it (Picture: Pyongyang Today/Facebook)
Kim Jong Un’s forays onto the world stage have come in power plays which have raised fears that his regime is due to carry out its first nuclear test in five years. A demonstration of the state’s capabilities could come at ‘any time’ according to US and South Korean officials.
Tensions have showed no sign of easing over the past two weeks as the north blamed the US, South Korea and Japan for carrying out what it described as ‘aggression moves’.
But one aspect of North Korean life still has a non-military purpose.
The state said: ‘The officials and workers of the factory have devoted all their wisdom and passion to bettering the inimitable flavor of Taedonggang Beer.’
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MetroUK · by Josh Layton · July 9, 2022
12. Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. outlines threat of nuclear blackmail to security in Pacific region
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. outlines threat of nuclear blackmail to security in Pacific region
China, North Korea and Russia are said to be the biggest threats to the U.S. and security in the Pacific region. Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan Leaf is a former deputy commander and acting commander of the U.S. Pacific Command. He along with Maj. Gen. Howard Thompson wrote a paper warning of nuclear blackmail. Leaf spoke with The Conversation about the nuclear landscape.
This interview aired on The Conversation on July 7, 2022. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
13. The Wisconsin Supreme Court Just Dropped a Multi-Megaton Dung Bomb of a Decision
I thought this was the Onion at first. I am only forwarding this because north Korea (among other authoritarian countries) was cited as an example in a ruling on a court case.
Excerpts:
If the right to vote is to have any meaning at all, elections must be conducted according to law. Throughout history, tyrants have claimed electoral victory via elections conducted in violation of governing law. For example, Saddam Hussein was reportedly elected in 2002 by a unanimous vote of all eligible voters in Iraq (11,445,638 people). Examples of such corruption are replete in history. In the 21st century, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was elected in 2014 with 100% of the vote while his father, Kim Jong-il, previously won 99.9% of the vote.11 Former President of Cuba, Raul Castro, won 99.4% of the vote in 2008 while Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was elected with 97.6% of the vote in 2007. Even if citizens of such nations are allowed to check a box on a ballot, they possess only a hollow right. Their rulers derive their power from force and fraud, not the people's consent.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court Just Dropped a Multi-Megaton Dung Bomb of a Decision
Esquire · by Charles P. Pierce · July 8, 2022
The next time you run into our beloved new ally Charlie Sykes, remember to thank him for his contributions via radio to turning the state of Wisconsin into a thoroughgoing constitutional basket case. The process, remarkably, is still ongoing, as the latest ruling from the (elected) Wisconsin Supreme Court demonstrates quite clearly. And have I mentioned recently that an elected judiciary is the second-worst idea in American politics? From the Wisconsin State Journal:
In a 4-3 decision Friday, the state's high court upheld a lower court's January ruling that absentee ballots must be delivered by mail or in-person to a local clerk's office or designated alternate site. However, the court did not rule on whether voters can have someone else handle their ballot on its way to a mailbox.
“The Aug. 9 primary is one month away, and absentee ballots are out. Yet the court failed to make a timely decision or provide voters with needed guidance including rules around assistance in mailing ballots," said Debra Cronmiller, executive director of League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, one of the groups involved in the lawsuit. “These changes to our election rules are especially troubling for voters with disabilities, the elderly, and folks working 9 to 5 jobs who cannot get to the clerk’s office during their open hours.”
In its decision, the conservative majority on the court dropped this multi-megaton dung-bomb of a justification, which deserves to go down in legal infamy.
If the right to vote is to have any meaning at all, elections must be conducted according to law. Throughout history, tyrants have claimed electoral victory via elections conducted in violation of governing law. For example, Saddam Hussein was reportedly elected in 2002 by a unanimous vote of all eligible voters in Iraq (11,445,638 people). Examples of such corruption are replete in history. In the 21st century, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was elected in 2014 with 100% of the vote while his father, Kim Jong-il, previously won 99.9% of the vote.11 Former President of Cuba, Raul Castro, won 99.4% of the vote in 2008 while Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was elected with 97.6% of the vote in 2007. Even if citizens of such nations are allowed to check a box on a ballot, they possess only a hollow right. Their rulers derive their power from force and fraud, not the people's consent.
Syria? North Korea? Drop-boxes? The attempt by the Wisconsin Elections Commission to make it easier for people to vote during a worldwide pandemic is analogous in its tyrannical effect to an election in Iraq under Saddam Hussein? This is the kind of bullshit that belongs on, well, a radio talk-show in Milwaukee. And let’s remember that the respect Wisconsin Republicans have for the “rule of law” is quite….conditional. And keep John Adams’ name out of your mouths if you’re going to waste two years carrying water for a vulgar talking yam.
If an election . . . can be procured by a party through artifice or corruption, the Government may be the choice of a party for its own ends, not of the nation for the national good.
Yes, President Adams did say that in his inaugural address, as you cited in your opinion, but that’s a very interesting bit of surgery you performed there. Here’s the whole passage, with part of what you left out in bold-face.
If an election is to be determined by a majority of a single vote, and that can be procured by a party through artifice or corruption, the Government may be the choice of a party for its own ends, not of the nation for the national good. If that solitary suffrage can be obtained by foreign nations by flattery or menaces, by fraud or violence, by terror, intrigue, or venality, the Government may not be the choice of the American people, but of foreign nations. It may be foreign nations who govern us, and not we, the people, who govern ourselves; and candid men will acknowledge that in such cases choice would have little advantage to boast of over lot or chance.
I can think of a more compelling recent example of a foreign nation getting a foothold in our elections by flattery, intrigue, and venality. I’m sure the court can, too.
Esquire · by Charles P. Pierce · July 8, 2022
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
