Quotes of the Day:
“As we see it, a single man-made stock-market crash, a single computer virus invasion, or a single rumor or scandal that results in a fluctuation in the enemy country’s exchange rates or exposes the leaders of an enemy country on the Internet, all can be included in the ranks of new-concept weapons.”
- Qiao Liang, Unrestricted Warfare
“When people begin to lean toward and rejoice in the reduced use of military force to resolve conflicts, war will be reborn in another form and in another arena, becoming an instrument of enormous power in the hands of all those who harbor intentions of controlling other countries or regions.”
- Qiao Liang, Unrestricted Warfare
“Faced with these prospects, even J. Saiteerdou [as printed], who is responsible for the investigation of computer crimes in the FBI of the United States, said with both self-confidence and worry: “Give me ten carefully chosen hackers, and within 90 days I would then be able to have this nation lay down its arms and surrender.”
- Qiao Liang, Unrestricted Warfare
1. Koreas restore cross-border hotlines 55 days after suspension
2. Unification minister says restoration of cross-border hotlines is a 'restart'
3. S. Korea congratulates Japanese PM-elect Kishida, pledges active cooperation
4. North bullies South over communication lines
5. S. Korea to seek high-level talks with North this year: unification minister
6. A new logic of cooperation for Japan–South Korea relations
7. S. Korea’s cruise missile much faster than N. Korea’s, says Moon
8. North Korea Missile Claims
9. Is Kim Yo-jong the most powerful woman in North Korea?
10. Afghanistan, Korea and America
11.N. Korea develops enhanced translator using AI technology: propaganda outlet
12. The United States Speaks Out on North Korea’s ‘Hypersonic’ Missile Launch
13. Kim Jong-un has made clear his sister Kim Yo-jong is his de facto No 2, what’s next for her?
14. ＜Inside N. Korea＞ From burglary to farm attacks, rising crime among starving soldiers. Authorities concerned.
1. Koreas restore cross-border hotlines 55 days after suspension
Don't count the days, make the day count. Kim Jong-un knows that the South wants communication and engagement much more than he does. The unification ministry engages in wishful thinking.
And remember that "restoring" cross-border hotlines is simply making the decision to answer the phone.
Excerpts:
Last year, North Korea blew up a liaison office in its border town of Kaesong and unilaterally cut off all inter-Korean communication lines in anger over anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent from South Korea.
The hotlines were briefly back in operation in late July before being suspended by North Korea in protest of an annual combined military exercise of South Korea and the United States. The North has long denounced the allies' annual military exercise as a rehearsal for invasion.
On Monday, South Korea immediately expressed hope for the resumption of inter-Korean dialogue.
The reconnection of the communication lines is viewed as having "laid the ground for bringing the relations between the two Koreas back on track," the unification ministry said in a statement.
(5th LD) Koreas restore cross-border hotlines 55 days after suspension | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: ADDS more info in 14th para, photo)
By Koh Byung-joon
SEOUL, Oct. 4 (Yonhap) -- South and North Korea restored their direct communication lines Monday, raising hopes for the resumption of stalled inter-Korean dialogue amid a drawn-out deadlock in denuclearization talks.
The two sides had contact through a military hotline and a separate joint liaison office channel, according to South Korean officials.
Hours earlier, North Korea's state media announced that the lines would be back to normal operation as of 9 a.m. on the day.
Last year, North Korea blew up a liaison office in its border town of Kaesong and unilaterally cut off all inter-Korean communication lines in anger over anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent from South Korea.
The hotlines were briefly back in operation in late July before being suspended by North Korea in protest of an annual combined military exercise of South Korea and the United States. The North has long denounced the allies' annual military exercise as a rehearsal for invasion.
On Monday, South Korea immediately expressed hope for the resumption of inter-Korean dialogue.
The reconnection of the communication lines is viewed as having "laid the ground for bringing the relations between the two Koreas back on track," the unification ministry said in a statement.
It added, "Through that stable management of the communication lines and swift resumption of dialogue, the government hopes to begin and advance substantive discussions on improving inter-Korean relations and making peace take root on the Korean Peninsula, along with implementing agreements between the two Koreas."
The two sides agreed to hold regular phone calls via the liaison office twice a day at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., the unification ministry said.
South Korea's defense ministry also expressed hope that the restoration of the hotlines would ease military tensions with North Korea.
The ministry said that both of the two direct military communication lines -- the western and eastern hotlines -- operated normally but Pyongyang has not answered the South's calls via ship-to-ship radio links that use the global merchant marine communication.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Yonhap News Agency that Washington strongly supports inter-Korean cooperation, saying that the restored communication lines are important in creating a more stable environment on the Korean Peninsula.
The North's official Korean Central News Agency said South Korea "should make positive efforts to put the North-South ties on a right track and settle the important tasks ... bearing deep in mind the meaning of the restoration of communication lines."
North Korea's main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, carried a similar story on the restored hotlines, in a departure from July when the North kept news about the short-lived restoration of the hotlines out of media outlets for the domestic audience.
Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed his willingness to restore cross-border communication lines from early October, citing a bid "to realize the expectation and desire of the entire nation who want the North-South relations to be restored as soon as possible and lasting peace to be settled on the Korean Peninsula."
But he stressed that it is entirely up to South Korea when it comes to the future trajectory of their ties.
In a recent U.N. speech, South Korean President Moon Jae-in again proposed the declaration of a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War. North Korea called the offer an "admirable idea," saying that it is willing to discuss improving inter-Korean relations only when Seoul stops double standards against its "defensive" weapons tests and "hostile" policy toward its regime.
Unification Minister Lee In-young told reporters in Berlin on Sunday (local time) that South Korea will push to arrange high-level talks with North Korea before the end of this year. He was on a trip to three European countries, including Germany, to drum up support for Seoul's efforts to improve ties with Pyongyang.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
(END)
2. Unification minister says restoration of cross-border hotlines is a 'restart'
Again, wishful thinking by the unification ministry. While the South looks at this as an opportunity to improve relations, the regime looks at this as a continuation of its political warfare strategy and blackmail diplomacy and an opportunity to manipulate the Moon administration in the last few months of its term in office.
Unification minister says restoration of cross-border hotlines is a 'restart' | Yonhap News Agency
BERLIN, Oct. 4 (Yonhap) -- Unification Minister Lee In-young said Monday that South and North Korea's restoration of cross-border hotlines marks a "restart" in efforts to improve ties.
Lee spoke to Yonhap News Agency during a visit to Berlin to mark the 31st anniversary of German reunification.
Earlier Monday, the two Koreas restored their communication lines 55 days after they were cut off by the North in protest of annual military exercises between South Korea and the United States.
Lee had previously told reporters that Seoul would push to hold high-level talks with Pyongyang before the end of the year.
"We have to do things in order, from building a video conference system to ensuring a stable (connection) through test calls, and then discussing anew the items that we have already come up with," the minister told Yonhap on Monday.
He noted that Seoul had already proposed a video conference system the last time communication lines were restored and that it will need to remind the North to help materialize it.
Asked what needs to be done to ensure the two Koreas jointly participate in next year's Beijing Winter Olympics, Lee said not everything has to start from scratch.
"There are roads that we've already taken quite some distance," he said, referring to the denuclearization talks held between Pyongyang and Washington from the two countries' Singapore summit in June 2018 until right before the Hanoi summit in February 2019.
In Seoul's case, the minister said it had a history of talks with Pyongyang from the Panmunjom summit in April 2018 through the Pyongyang summit in September that year.
"That's what's been suspended, so if we take that into consideration, all we need to do is talk and discuss which of our agenda items we'll begin working on," he said.
Unlike January 2018, however, when the two sides agreed on a North Korean delegation's visit to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, only days after restoring their communication lines, Lee said having in-person meetings could be difficult due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"That's why we should start with video conferences," he said.
Asked if he is also planning video reunions between families separated by the Korean War, he said, "That would be an item that comes next."
(END)
3. S. Korea congratulates Japanese PM-elect Kishida, pledges active cooperation
I hope they can improve relations but I cannot be anything more than very very cautiously optimistic (and that may be overly optimistic).
(LEAD) S. Korea congratulates Japanese PM-elect Kishida, pledges active cooperation | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: RECASTS throughout with Moon's message to Kishida)
SEOUL, Oct. 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Monday sent a letter congratulating Japanese Prime Minister-elect Fumio Kishida on his election as he proposed joint efforts to develop relations between Seoul and Tokyo.
"President Moon hopes that the two countries will set an example for cooperation as neighboring countries and as the closest countries in terms of their geography and culture, and as they share basic values in democracy and principles of market economy," presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee said.
Moon's office also said that South Korea is ready to hold dialogue with Japan's new Cabinet.
Kishida, a former foreign minister, was elected prime minister in a parliamentary vote earlier in the day to succeed Yoshihide Suga, as Seoul seeks to improve relations with Tokyo strained amid protracted rows over wartime history and trade.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Choi Young-sam said that South Korea will actively cooperate with Japan to explore ways to address pending bilateral issues and continue efforts to strengthen practical cooperation in the economy, culture, people-to-people exchanges and other areas.
The sides have long been at odds over territory and other historical disputes stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
In 2019, Japan imposed restrictions on exports of three key industrial materials critical for South Korea's chip and display industries.
South Korea views the Japanese moves as retaliation against 2018 South Korean Supreme Court rulings ordering Japanese firms to compensate South Korean victims of forced labor during Japan's colonial rule.
In recent months, Seoul has been pushing to improve bilateral relations at a time when the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has been pushing to reinforce a regional network of democratic alliances and partnerships to counter China's growing assertiveness.
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
4. North bullies South over communication lines
Bully is a good description. Bullies bully because they are weak, not strong. Note the deathly fear of information by the Kim family regime. Information is an existential threat to it.
North bullies South over communication lines
In this photo provided by the Ministry of National Defense, a South Korean military officer makes a test call to his North Korean counterpart, Monday, as North Korea restored cross-border communication lines Monday morning after being cut off for 55 days. Yonhap
By Kwon Mee-yoo
North Korea restored direct communication hotlines between the two Koreas, Monday, 55 days after shutting them down to protest against the annual South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises in August. But the restoration is not entirely welcomed, as critics say the South is allowing itself to be dragged around by the North's decision and the hotlines can be severed again anytime Pyongyang decides to do so.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un announced last week the restoration of cross-border communication lines and North Korean state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) announced the restoration early Monday.
South Korea's Ministry of Unification and Ministry of National Defense said it successfully talked with its North Korean counterparts via the eastern and western direct military communication lines and the liaison office at 9 a.m. The unification ministry added that the reconnection "laid the ground for bringing the relations between the two Koreas back on track" with the hope to resume dialogue with Pyongyang.
The inter-Korean hotlines, established in 1971 as an important means of communication between the two Koreas, have been severed and restored repeatedly according to the ups and downs of inter-Korean relations.
In recent years they were suspended in June 2020 when North Korea blew up a border liaison office and cut off all communication lines in a fit of rage against anti-Pyongyang airborne leaflets that drifted in from South Korea.
The lines were briefly restored in late July, but cut off again in early August when South Korea and the U.S. began an annual joint military exercises.
Regarding the restoration of the hotlines, the KCNA said South Korea "should make positive efforts to put the North-South ties on the right track and settle the important tasks" by "bearing deep in mind the meaning of the restoration of communication lines."
Experts believe the "important tasks" in the statement refer to the South scrapping what the North calls hostile policies against it.
Recently, Pyongyang has repeatedly demanded Seoul to abolish "double-dealing standards," which is assumed to be South Korea's weapons tests, including homegrown submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and its reference to North Korea's ballistic missile launches as provocations.
While President Moon Jae-in proposed declaring a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War in his U.N. speech in September, North Korea replied that the offer is an "admirable idea" but it will discuss the offer only when Seoul scraps its double standards and hostile policy toward Pyongyang.
As a result, the North could cut the communication lines again if it regards the South is not showing an effort to carry out the "important tasks."
Kim Yong-tae, a member of the main opposition People Power Party's Supreme Council and Youth Council, said the North is "gaslighting" the Moon administration.
"The inter-Korean communication lines were restored after 55 days. North Korea unilaterally suspended and restored the lines and the only thing South Korea said was that it has 'expectations' for the hotline to actually ease military tensions between the two Koreas," Kim wrote on his Facebook, Monday.
"North Korea tested missiles multiple times just last week, but President Moon merely suggests a formal end to the Korean War to nearby countries and the Korean people. The South Korean government cannot even say that what the North is doing is a 'provocation.'"
5. S. Korea to seek high-level talks with North this year: unification minister
We have to pay attention to the political calendars. Is there a time that the north could exploit to have an impact on South Korea as it moves toward the March presidential election?
S. Korea to seek high-level talks with North this year: unification minister | Yonhap News Agency
BERLIN, Oct. 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will work to hold high-level talks with North Korea before the end of this year, Seoul's unification minister Sunday, amid efforts by the South to sign a declaration to officially end the 1950-53 Korean War, possibly around the Beijing Winter Olympics.
"Wouldn't it be nice to for the South and North to head to the Beijing Olympics by holding hands with a delightful heart from reaching an agreement on dialogue and cooperation," Unification Minister Lee In-young, who was visiting Berlin to attend a ceremony celebrating the 31st anniversary of German unification, told Yonhap News Agency.
The minister said "the time to reach such a decision was imminent" and stated that the government will work toward holding a high-level dialogue with North Korea by the end of this year.
Last month, President Moon Jae-in proposed in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly the two Koreas and the United States, possibly joined by China, declare a formal end to the 1950-53 war. The two Koreas are still technically at war, as the war ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.
Speculation has surfaced that Seoul could seek an additional inter-Korean summit for the proposed declaration on the occasion of the Beijing Winter Olympics in February.
Cross-border ties have been frozen since June of last year after the North blew up a liaison office in its border town of Kaesong and unilaterally cut off all communication lines with South Korea in protest over anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent from the South. In recent weeks, the North conducted a series of missile test launches, including what it claimed was a "hypersonic" missile.
The North's leader Kim Jong-un, however, told a session of the country's rubber-stamp parliament Wednesday that he will restore cross-border communication lines with South Korea in early October as part of efforts to improve chilled relations.
"We could come up with a video teleconference system as soon as the communication lines are restored, then resume discussions to follow-up on past agreements in different areas of cooperation," Lee said.
The minister, however, said it would be premature to immediately propose or resume high-level talks with the North, adding that he believes it is "better to move forward calmly and firmly as opposed to rushing."
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)
6. A new logic of cooperation for Japan–South Korea relations
Excerpts:
Tokyo and Seoul may choose to forego the synergistic effects of coordinating their policies and continue pursuing these common objectives in parallel. But this will become increasingly problematic for their mutual partners, given that Tokyo and Seoul will continue to be seated at the same multilateral diplomatic tables and, in the (increasingly probable) danger of a regional conflict, will be engaged on the same side. It is therefore in the national interest of both countries to seek to overcome their bilateral problems.
In addition to establishing a new logic for cooperation, there needs to be a pragmatic acceptance by leaders in both countries that their mutual ‘history problems’ will always occupy a place in the bilateral relationship.
Tokyo and Seoul need to establish some diplomatic mechanisms to relieve the ongoing anguish of the few surviving Korean colonial victims when their claims for justice and compensation resurface. This wouldn’t necessarily have to entail overturning or even undermining the 1965 treaty. It should involve creative diplomacy that is designed to deal with the growing political empowerment of colonial victims in South Korea and their continued leverage over the diplomatic relationship.
A new logic of cooperation for Japan–South Korea relations
Author: Lauren Richardson, ANU
The Japan–South Korea relationship has been in crisis for the past two years. 2019 was widely cited as the lowest ebb in bilateral relations since the countries established and normalised diplomatic ties in 1965.
How did they end up back at square one?
The logical underpinnings of the 1965 normalisation process — anti-communist sentiment, US Cold War strategic objectives, South Korean authoritarianism and Japanese economic interests — were institutionalised in the form of a treaty and evolved as guiding principles for bilateral cooperation. Over time this logic for cooperation has eroded, and the bilateral relationship has deteriorated accordingly.
Nevertheless, in Tokyo, the 1965 treaty remains at the forefront of foreign policy towards Seoul and is the primary institutional framework for dealing with mutual ‘history problems’. In Seoul the treaty has been delegitimised over recent decades, particularly within progressive circles and increasingly conservative ones too.
This process of delegitimisation has been driven by the rise of victim redress movements and the domestic lawsuits that are integral to their strategy. These lawsuits have challenged the legal foundations of the 1965 treaty, specifically its clause pertaining to compensation for colonial victims. The judicial efforts of Korean wartime labourers came to a head in 2019 when a South Korean court ruling on compensation essentially drove a dagger through the 1965 agreement.
The delegitimisation of the treaty in South Korea explains, in part, why the United States — the driving force behind the normalisation process and the architect of the logic undergirding it — has lost significant leverage over the Seoul–Tokyo relationship.
The structural context of the diplomatic crisis that Japan and South Korea face today can therefore be characterised as the crumbling of the 1965 normalisation regime. How can this dilemma be navigated by the two countries’ leaders?
Groupthink on Japan–South Korea relations remains trapped in the 1965 logic that the two countries, both allies of the United States, should get along for security reasons. This view has worn thin in Tokyo and Seoul. While it makes sense in theory, it discounts the reality that both governments weigh their respective positions on history problems above the potential benefits of enhancing trilateral security cooperation. Tokyo even prioritises the abduction issue over the matter of denuclearisation in its foreign policy towards North Korea.
Japanese officials will never entertain the idea of amending the 1965 treaty to reflect the changed political realities of the bilateral relationship. This was an approach they took vis-a-vis the United States in 1960, when they amended their security treaty to rectify significant points of contention. Tokyo has instead pinned the blame for the deterioration of the relationship with South Korea on President Moon Jae-in’s government and is hedging its bets for an improved bilateral relationship with Moon’s successor.
This interpretation of the relationship overlooks the fact that the South Korean judiciary has been steadily chipping away at the normalisation treaty since 2011, when the Constitutional Court in Seoul delivered a landmark judgement on the ‘comfort women’ issue. The court ruled it was unconstitutional of the South Korean government to make no tangible effort to procure compensation from Tokyo on behalf of the former ‘comfort women’. In other words, the judiciary ordered South Korean officials to dispute the 1965 settlement with Tokyo. Notably, this ruling was delivered under a conservative South Korean government, five years before President Moon came to power.
What the Tokyo–Seoul relationship requires is a pair of leaders who can establish a 21st century logic for cooperation, one that is not entrenched in the 1965 Cold War regional order. The foundation exists for this to occur. Both governments are pursuing a range of common objectives with bilateral and trilateral potential.
They are both developing hydrogen energy links and pursuing security cooperation with Australia and seeking to maintain regional stability amid intensifying China–US rivalry. They are also both trying to diversify their supply chains away from China and grappling with an unrelenting COVID-19 pandemic that has brought devastation to Southeast Asia — a region in which both are increasingly invested.
Tokyo and Seoul may choose to forego the synergistic effects of coordinating their policies and continue pursuing these common objectives in parallel. But this will become increasingly problematic for their mutual partners, given that Tokyo and Seoul will continue to be seated at the same multilateral diplomatic tables and, in the (increasingly probable) danger of a regional conflict, will be engaged on the same side. It is therefore in the national interest of both countries to seek to overcome their bilateral problems.
In addition to establishing a new logic for cooperation, there needs to be a pragmatic acceptance by leaders in both countries that their mutual ‘history problems’ will always occupy a place in the bilateral relationship.
Tokyo and Seoul need to establish some diplomatic mechanisms to relieve the ongoing anguish of the few surviving Korean colonial victims when their claims for justice and compensation resurface. This wouldn’t necessarily have to entail overturning or even undermining the 1965 treaty. It should involve creative diplomacy that is designed to deal with the growing political empowerment of colonial victims in South Korea and their continued leverage over the diplomatic relationship.
Lauren Richardson is a Lecturer in the Department of International Relations, The Australian National University.
7. S. Korea’s cruise missile much faster than N. Korea’s, says Moon
There is no need for a "measuring" contest. Everyone should stipulate South Korean military technology and capabilities are superior to the north's.
S. Korea’s cruise missile much faster than N. Korea’s, says Moon
Posted October. 04, 2021 07:10,
Updated October. 04, 2021 07:10
S. Korea’s cruise missile much faster than N. Korea’s, says Moon. October. 04, 2021 07:10. tree624@donga.com.
On Sept. 16, the day after South Korea successfully test-fired a submarine launched ballistic missile that had been developed with homegrown technology, President Moon Jae-in is quoted belatedly as saying, “We succeeded in the development of a cruise missile, which is meaningful given that ours is much faster than North Korea’s.” He stressed the South’s superiority in military power over the North amid Pyongyang’s successive missile provocations.
“The significance of successful development of other strategic weapons has not been informed sufficiently to the public as SLBM has outshined the others” Moon told a meeting of presidential aides on the day. “I hope experts will proactively advertise this, so that the public will take pride and have self-confidence, This has been publicized by presidential spokesperson Park Soo-hyun through Facebook on Saturday.
“I was very happy to see the successful test-firing of a missile by the Agency for Defense Development yesterday. It was test-firing of a long-range missile targeting western waters off Jeju Island. It was regrettable that the exact position of the missile at the moment of striking the target was not captured clearly due to bad weathers at the site, but it was a success,” Moon said. “We also succeeded in the test-firing of a surface-to-air missile and if it is mounted on the KF-21, the supersonic fighter jet under development by Korea, we will secure a world-class weapons system, which will also help our export.”
When attending the test-firing of the SLBM on Sept. 15, President Moon said, “Expanding our missile capability is the surest deterrence against the North’s provocations.” However, Moon has yet to make any comments on Pyongyang’s successive provocations since Sept. 25, when Kim Yo Jong, the Deputy Department Director of the Publicity and Information Department of the North Korean Workers' Party, mentioned the possibility of an inter-Korean summit.
8. North Korea Missile Claims
North Korea Missile Claims
North Korea missile claims
STAFF
Text size
Reissue, with new event link
Reissue, with new event link
KCNA handout, October 1
KCNA handout, September 29
Source: *South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff/KCNA
NK state media have named it the Hwasong-8 Includes “twin rudder controls” and other new technologies. Claims it was a “newly developed” anti-aircraft missile Pyongyang announced it had tested a new hypersonic gliding missile South Korea unable to immediately confirm Hypersonic missiles move faster and are more agile than standard ones, making them more difficult to intercept
September 28
Pyongyang announces a Sept 30 test-firing South Korea’s JCS* detects launch at 06:40
The Barron's news department was not involved in the creation of the content above. This story was produced by AFP. For more information go to AFP.com.
© Agence France-Presse
9. Is Kim Yo-jong the most powerful woman in North Korea?
Most likely. But she is probably the only one who could get away with being called a de facto number two. Anyone else might have to be purged and reeducated or worse.
Is Kim Yo-jong the most powerful woman in North Korea?
Independent · by Support usContributeSubscribe · October 3, 2021
When the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, called for an end to the war on the Korea peninsula recently, the initial response was a rebuff from North Korea’s vice foreign minister. This has been the standard response from Pyongyang whenever the idea has been raised of turning the 1953 armistice between the two warring Koreas into an actual peace treaty.
So it was something of a surprise when, the following day, a rather warmer message emerged from Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, who declared the idea “admirable”. She specified a number of pre-conditions which would need to be met, though:
“What needs to be dropped is the double-dealing attitudes, illogical prejudice, bad habits and hostile stand of justifying their own acts while faulting our just exercise of the right to self-defence.”
Recommended
This is the sort of message one would usually expect to come from Kim Jong-un himself, so it prompted a round of discussion from the media’s Korea watchers as to how much weight the world can give a statement from his younger sister.
Who is Kim Yo-jong?
The supreme leader’s sister first came to international attention in 2018, when she became the first member of North Korea’s Kim dynasty to visit South Korea in an official capacity. She was part of the nation’s delegation to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, at which the two countries competed as one team. She held a meeting with President Moon and appeared in photo opportunities alongside US vice president Mike Pence and the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe. Footage of her dominated coverage in North Korea.
This is a family where many of the possible male contenders for power have been executed or assassinated – including Kim Jong-nam, Kim Jong-un’s half brother
Following what was reported as her diplomatic triumph at the Winter Olympics, her profile grew as she met with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and was present at all three face-to-face meetings between her brother and US President Donald Trump.
Little is known about Kim Yo-jong’s childhood, though – even her date of birth is clouded in uncertainty. She is the youngest child of former supreme leader Kim Jong-il’s relationship with Ko Yong-hui, who was originally from Japan and thus would have been regarded as being from a lower caste in Korea’s complex “songbun” system if Kim Jong-il had not removed the official record about her origin. Kim Yo-jong is understood to have attended the same private school with her elder brother in Bern, Switzerland, after which she attended Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang, where she studied computer science.
By 2009, Kim Jong-il’s ill-health made the succession a matter of urgent debate and it became increasingly clear that Kim Jong-un was being groomed to take over the leadership on his death. But at Kim Jong-il’s funeral, Kim Yo-jong was photographed alongside senior family members.
Kim Yo-jong attends a welcoming ceremony in Vietnam
(Getty)
She has twice been elevated to the politburo, in 2017 to 2019 and 2020 to 2021. In addition, she is also a leader of the Propaganda and Agitation Department, in which capacity she has boosted the cult of personality surrounding her brother as well as making regular statements about North Korean foreign relations.
She is believed to be married to Choe Song, the younger son of the Korean Workers’ Party secretary, Choe Ryong Hae, which gives her another source of political power.
Heir apparent?
How much power does Kim Yo-jong actually wield? One incident from June 2020 shows the extent to which she can exercise her will in North Korea. In retaliation for South Korean defectors’ use of balloons to drop propaganda leaflets into the North, she warned that she had ordered the department in charge of inter-Korean affairs to “decisively carry out the next action”, adding that: “Before long, a tragic scene of the useless north-south joint liaison office completely collapsed would be seen.”
The following day the building was blown up, suggesting that when Kim Yo-jong orders something, it happens.
Little is known about Kim Yo-jong’s childhood
(AFP/Getty)
Another interesting episode can cast some light over power relations between herself and her brother. In March 2020, Kim Yo-jong issued her first official statement, lashing out at South Korea’s presidential office, the so-called Blue House, which had called on the North to halt its live fire exercises. She referred to the leadership as “a mere child” and “a burnt child dreading fire”.
Two days later Kim Jong-un sent a message of condolence over the outbreak of Covid-19 in the South. This “underlined his unwavering friendship and trust toward President Moon and said that he will continue to quietly send his best wishes for President Moon to overcome”. The message had Korea watchers confused as to whether the siblings were at loggerheads over North-South relations or whether this was a display of “good cop-bad cop” diplomacy.
This is a family where many of the possible male contenders for power have been executed or assassinated – including Kim Jong-nam, Kim Jong-un’s half brother who was murdered with the nerve agent VX at Kuala Lumpur airport in 2017; and his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, who was reportedly executed by firing squad in 2013 after being accused of being a counter-revolutionary. So the status of Kim Yo-jong’s relationship with her brother is as scrutinised as Kim Jong-un’s physical health when it comes to if – and when – she might be in a position to challenge for ultimate power in North Korea.
In North Korea, it seems that to achieve the leadership it’s necessary to seize the grip of the trinity power of the military, party and people. Both Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un became leading figures of the National Defence Commission (NDC) – the military – as well as the party through the Korean Workers’ Party (KWP). They had both developed their cult of personality, giving them access to the people.
Kim Yo-jong may have achieved name recognition in her capacity as a spokesperson on foreign relations and has access to power in the KWP. But she has not yet been appointed to a position at the NDC. If that happens any time soon, it might be a sign that North Korea is preparing for its first woman leader.
Sojin Lim is a senior lecturer in Korean studies, North Korean studies MA & Asia Pacific studies MA courses leader, deputy director of the International Institute of Korean Studies at the University of Central Lancashire. This article first appeared on The Conversation
She has twice been elevated to the politburo and has significant political sway
AFP/Getty
Kim Yo-jong attends a welcoming ceremony in Vietnam
Getty Images
Little is known about Kim Yo-jong’s childhood
AFP via Getty Images
Independent · by Support usContributeSubscribe · October 3, 2021
10. Afghanistan, Korea and America
A very thoughtful OpEd from Ambassador Stephens
Excerpts:
I’ve been thinking about another perspective that could use more attention and reflection, at least in the U.S. That is how Korea’s bumpy but significant 20-year engagement in Afghanistan reflected a more mature partnership with the U.S. but also shaped and mirrored its emerging identity as a global middle power.
After the Sept. 11 attacks of 2001, South Korea under President Kim Dae-jung was quick to send engineers and medics to support the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan. This was despite domestic political sensitivities in Korea about participating in an overseas military campaign; after the Vietnam War, where more than 300,000 South Koreans served and some 5,000 died, it was over a quarter century before Seoul sent 400 soldiers in 1999 to support a UN force stabilizing East Timor. President Roh Moo-hyun made another important if difficult political decision in 2003 to send more South Korean medics and engineers to join the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, with South Korea becoming the third largest troop contributor to the Iraq coalition before ending its mission peacefully in 2008.
...
Since 2001, I have watched South Korea’s contributions to the U.S.-led effort in Afghanistan. I saw its emerging global confidence and identity, its burgeoning soft as well as hard power, and the growth of people-to-people ties, notably in Central Asia. I’m thinking of the quick and effective action of the Korean government in evacuating to Korea Afghans who had supported the Korean presence in Afghanistan, along with their families, and the open-hearted welcome they are receiving in Korea. Building on this, I hope Korea can play a leading role in providing opportunities for the Afghan people who have lost so much, particularly women and girls, to access education.
Afghanistan, Korea and America
Kathleen Stephens
The author was U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea from 2008 to 2011. She is the president of the Korea Economic Institute of America located in Washington, D.C.
August 2021 was a dreadful month. It was a summer already defined by inexorable reminders that we are not done with Covid-19 and have only begun to reckon with climate change. Now, as August ends, the precipitous collapse of the two-decades-long U.S.-led effort in Afghanistan brings new both short and long term challenges and uncertainties. With Afghanistan in Taliban hands, the U.S. — and the rest of the world — face immediate humanitarian, migration and security challenges, while grappling with as-yet unclear longer-term implications of what appears to many as an ignominious American defeat.
President Biden has insisted that his decision to implement the Trump Doha agreement and withdraw U.S. forces was the right one, supported by American public opinion and the need to focus on higher strategic priorities at home and abroad. But Biden infuriated European and other allies with a lack of coordination and consultation, and heaped excessive blame and little compassion on the Afghans themselves. Worse, Washington did not anticipate and was unprepared for the rapidity of the Afghan military and state collapse and the Taliban advance. As the administration scrambled to send troops back in and organize an airlift to evacuate Americans, vulnerable Afghans, and other partners, President Biden’s reputation for competence and seasoned judgment suffered. The Aug. 26 bombing outside Kabul airport killing at least 13 Americans and hundreds more others made for the deadliest day for American forces in Afghanistan in a decade, and the darkest day in Biden’s not yet year-old presidency.
A baby is handed over to the American Army over the perimeter wall of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, during an evacuation on Aug. 19.Hundreds of Afghans who helped at the Korean embassy, hospital and other missions in Kabul arrive at the Incheon International Airport on Aug. 26. The Korean government plans to allow them to stay here long-term and engage in job activity. [REUTETS/YONHAPJOINT PRESS CORPS]
More encouraging is that, despite poor planning and worsening chaos on the ground, the airlift itself has been a logistical success in moving many to safety. The Biden team is scrambling to fix some of its own early mistakes. Other governments, and private citizens in America and throughout the world, have mobilized to address the humanitarian crisis. This must continue.
Meanwhile, in the world of foreign policy and national security scholars, journalists, former officials, and the like, a debate is raging on the whole Afghanistan enterprise, and by extension on America’s past and future global role. Was the U.S. wrong to go into Afghanistan 20 years ago? Did we get it wrong from the start? Or was it the pivot to Iraq that took attention off Afghanistan? What are the lessons learned? Nation-building: too much or too little, or just impossible? What about Pakistan? Our relative ignorance of Afghan history and culture, of regionalism versus central authority? What are the implications of the U.S. defeat for Afghanistan, the region, the world, and the U.S.? For U.S. credibility, and perceptions of U.S. reliability? What will August 2021 look like 20 years from now?
Korea is frequently invoked in these discussions, often as a model of successful “nation-building” for which the U.S. takes or shares credit, and/or of the U.S. staying the course with a security presence for decades absent complete success. The other recurring theme is around the topics of American relative decline, and of perceptions of diminished American credibility and commitment to allies including South Korea. Essays with titles like “Seoul Isn’t Kabul” and “How the Afghanistan Withdrawal Looks from South Korea, America’s Other Forever War,” are coupled with statements from National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan that the U.S. has “no intention of drawing down forces” in South Korea.
My own sense from reading the Korean press is that some of these concerns are felt more in the U.S. — and in Europe where the anxiety in NATO is acute — than in Korea. But conversations on these topics need to go beyond the inward-looking circles within our own capitals; Americans need to hear more Korean voices.
Hundreds of Afghans who helped at the Korean embassy, hospital and other missions in Kabul arrive at the Incheon International Airport on Aug. 26. The Korean government plans to allow them to stay here long-term and engage in job activity. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
I’ve been thinking about another perspective that could use more attention and reflection, at least in the U.S. That is how Korea’s bumpy but significant 20-year engagement in Afghanistan reflected a more mature partnership with the U.S. but also shaped and mirrored its emerging identity as a global middle power.
After the Sept. 11 attacks of 2001, South Korea under President Kim Dae-jung was quick to send engineers and medics to support the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan. This was despite domestic political sensitivities in Korea about participating in an overseas military campaign; after the Vietnam War, where more than 300,000 South Koreans served and some 5,000 died, it was over a quarter century before Seoul sent 400 soldiers in 1999 to support a UN force stabilizing East Timor. President Roh Moo-hyun made another important if difficult political decision in 2003 to send more South Korean medics and engineers to join the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, with South Korea becoming the third largest troop contributor to the Iraq coalition before ending its mission peacefully in 2008.
But in Afghanistan, in 2007 a private church group of 23 Koreans were taken hostage by the Taliban, and two hostages executed, before the Korean government negotiated their release. As an American diplomat I empathized with the difficult position of the Korean government; private citizens against their government’s advice had put themselves in harm’s way, and the government had to balance aiding its citizens held hostage with the risks of encouraging further hostage-taking. Seoul did secure the release of the hostages, but reduced its presence in Afghanistan to a small civilian hospital in Bagram.
Afghanistan was high again on the U.S.-Korea agenda by 2009. I was ambassador in Seoul when President Obama’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke visited in April; as we rode from Incheon airport together I got an impassioned preview of his message to Korean officials about President Obama’s resolve to counter terrorism and improve conditions in Afghanistan and Central Asia more broadly. By 2010, with the National Assembly’s approval, South Korea expanded its presence in Afghanistan to include substantial support for a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) including soldiers, police and aid personnel.
Afghanistan was an early and important recipient of South Korea’s growing overseas development assistance (ODA). Koica opened an office in Kabul in 2002, and aid amounts and activity continued, despite security challenges and program delays. In 2013, Afghanistan was the largest recipient of Korean bilateral grant aid. It was also in work together in Afghanistan that Korea forged a relationship with NATO, a partnership that continues to broaden, as seen by Korea’s participation in a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting last year.
Since 2001, I have watched South Korea’s contributions to the U.S.-led effort in Afghanistan. I saw its emerging global confidence and identity, its burgeoning soft as well as hard power, and the growth of people-to-people ties, notably in Central Asia. I’m thinking of the quick and effective action of the Korean government in evacuating to Korea Afghans who had supported the Korean presence in Afghanistan, along with their families, and the open-hearted welcome they are receiving in Korea. Building on this, I hope Korea can play a leading role in providing opportunities for the Afghan people who have lost so much, particularly women and girls, to access education.
11. N. Korea develops enhanced translator using AI technology: propaganda outlet
I wonder if the Propaganda and Agitation Department will adopt this.
N. Korea develops enhanced translator using AI technology: propaganda outlet | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, Oct. 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has developed an artificial intelligence-based translation program with enhanced speed and accuracy, a propaganda outlet reported Sunday.
DPRK Today, a propaganda website, carried a report introducing the research result of the AI institute of Kim Il-sung University on the creation and introduction of Ryongma, an AI technology-based translation service system.
Ryongma is designed to process seven different languages -- English, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, German, French and Spanish -- with its translation accuracy, in particular, of the first three languages "almost at experts' level," according to the website.
It said that the translation speed has also been tripled to increase practicality.
The research institute has also upgraded its voice recognition program, named "Ryongnamsan," designed to process the North Korean language, by expanding the applicable areas from social science to natural science sectors.
North Korea has reportedly been ramping up efforts to enhance its capabilities in advanced technologies, including AI, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). It has adopted such programs for elementary school education and others.
elly@yna.co.kr
(END)
12. The United States Speaks Out on North Korea’s ‘Hypersonic’ Missile Launch
Excerpts:
“The launches are in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, and these activities highlight the destabilizing impact of the DPRK’s illicit weapons program,” Defense Department spokesman John Kirby also said in a briefing this week. “It’s about making sure that our missile defense system, wherever it’s deployed, is effective and capable, and we routinely test and experiment and try to improve that system on a daily basis.”
“The purported test would make North Korea one of four other countries—namely, China, Russia, India, and the United States—to be actively engaged in hypersonic weapons projects,” according to National Interest reporter Mark Episkopos. “Two such weapons, the Avangard HGV and the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile, are currently fielded by Russia’s military. China’s DF-ZF hypersonic glide vehicle achieved initial operating capability in 2019. It remains unclear whether the Hwasong-8 missile is being fully sourced through domestic expertise and supply chains or if the DPRK is benefitting from foreign technology transfers in the realm of hypersonics.”
The United States Speaks Out on North Korea’s ‘Hypersonic’ Missile Launch
Despite the multiple launches of different types of missiles by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea this year, the United States continues to call for the North Koreans to return to diplomatic talks.
This week North Korea announced the launch of what it claimed was a hypersonic missile. The North Korean Academy of Defence Science claimed that what was tested was the Hwasong-8 missile, which carried what it called a “hypersonic gliding warhead.”
South Korea, however, noted that the missile is likely in an early stage of development. In addition, the missile launched last week appeared to fly at Mach 3, while “hypersonic” typically means the missile was flying at a speed of at least Mach 5.
“Given the detected speed and other features of the ‘hypersonic missile’ North Korea said it test-fired yesterday, it appears to be at an early stage of development that would require considerable time for actual deployment,” the South Korean Joint Chiefs said in a statement earlier this week, as reported by Yonhap. “South Korea and the U.S. were monitoring North Korea’s test launch under a close coordination.”
Now, the Pentagon has addressed what they think about the missiles.
"I understand the intelligence community's still making an assessment of the North Korean claim to have tested a hypersonic," Gen. Glen VanHerck said this week at a Defense Department briefing that held virtually, as reported by the Yonhap News Agency.
"We'll just have to see that capability right now. It would be my assessment that the homeland would be safe and secure from a hypersonic capability as North Korea claims they have tested.”
However, despite the multiple launches of different types of missiles by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) this year, the United States continues to call for the North Koreans to return to diplomatic talks.
The Defense and State Departments both condemned the launch in the hours after the fact.
“We do condemn the DPRK’s missile launches,” a State Department spokesman said during a briefing earlier this week. “These missile launches are in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions. We know that they pose a threat to DPRK’s neighbors and other members of the international community.”
“The launches are in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, and these activities highlight the destabilizing impact of the DPRK’s illicit weapons program,” Defense Department spokesman John Kirby also said in a briefing this week. “It’s about making sure that our missile defense system, wherever it’s deployed, is effective and capable, and we routinely test and experiment and try to improve that system on a daily basis.”
“The purported test would make North Korea one of four other countries—namely, China, Russia, India, and the United States—to be actively engaged in hypersonic weapons projects,” according to National Interest reporter Mark Episkopos. “Two such weapons, the Avangard HGV and the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile, are currently fielded by Russia’s military. China’s DF-ZF hypersonic glide vehicle achieved initial operating capability in 2019. It remains unclear whether the Hwasong-8 missile is being fully sourced through domestic expertise and supply chains or if the DPRK is benefitting from foreign technology transfers in the realm of hypersonics.”
Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
Image: Reuters
13. Kim Jong-un has made clear his sister Kim Yo-jong is his de facto No 2, what’s next for her?
There can be only one! Being number two can be dangerous in north Korea. But Kim Jong-un is probably one of the few, if only, people who could survive in that position.
Kim Jong-un has made clear his sister Kim Yo-jong is his de facto No 2, what’s next for her?
- The 34-year-old, vocal on foreign relations, is now in North Korea’s top decision-making body
- Analysts wonder if the nation is preparing for first female leader, one potentially keen on its denuclearisation
+ FOLLOW
Published: 7:00am, 4 Oct, 2021
Kim Yo-jong, the powerful younger sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, solidified her position as the country’s de facto No 2 when she was promoted to the country’s top government decision-making body last week.
The 34-year-old was elected to the State Affairs Commission (SAC) with seven others, all men older than her, while at least nine members were dismissed including diplomat Choe Son-hui, a rare woman of seniority in the North’s leadership and the first vice-foreign minister.
Choe has been blamed for the collapse of talks in Hanoi in 2019 between then President Trump and Kim Jong-un over the North’s denuclearisation in return for sanctions relief and diplomatic ties.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un and his increasingly powerful sister Kim Yo-jong. Photo: AFP
Chaired by Kim Jong-un, the SAC is the North’s top leadership body of state power, mandated to deliberate and decide on major policies, including defence and security issues, and ensure they are implemented.
Professor Yang Moo-jin from Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies said the entry of Kim Yo-jong into the SAC was significant as it “strengthened her roles and made them more concrete”.
She has been increasingly vocal on foreign relations, issuing strongly-worded statements on key diplomatic issues including negotiations for the North’s denuclearisation.
Who is North Korea’s Kim Yo-jong?
Last week, she expressed support for a suggestion mooted by South Korean leader Moon Jae-in, leading experts to question if this indeed reflected her brother’s view on the matter, amid Pyongyang’s intensifying missile tests.
Moon had said both Koreas along wit hhe US, which supports the South, and China, which backs the North, should get together and declare an end to the conflict, possibly at the Beijing Winter Olympics in February next year.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in and Kim's sister and close adviser Kim Yo-jong, in 2018. Photo: AFP
Kim Yo-jong said this was an “admirable” idea but such a declaration would be conditional on the South abandoning “hostile policies” and “double-dealing standards” against the North. She also indicated that the North would be open to inter-Korean talks.
Professor Yang said the reshuffle sought to “breathe fresh air into the SAC”, with Kim Yo-jong’s duties focused on “dealing with personnel changes, propaganda, inter-Korean affairs and relations with the US”.
Kim Yo-jong was considered to have suffered demotion after being dropped as a candidate member (i.e. not a full member) of the ruling communist party’s policymaking political bureau at a party congress in January.
There has also been some uncertainty over power relations between the siblings, Sojin Lim, a senior lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Central Lancashire said on The Conversation website last week.
Lim pointed to how Kim Yo-jong lashed out at South Korea’s presidential office in March last year after it called on the North to halt live firing exercises. She described Seoul’s leadership as “a burnt child dreading fire”.
But two days later, her brother sent a message of condolence over the outbreak of Covid-19 in the South, saying he had “unwavering friendship and trust toward President Moon”.
Lim said this message had Korea watchers confused over whether the siblings were at loggerheads or engaging in “good cop, bad cop” diplomacy.
“This is a family where many of the possible male contenders for power have been executed or assassinated,” said Lim, referring to Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of Kim Jong-un who was killed in Kuala Lumpur with the nerve agent VX in 2017.
“So the status of Kim Yo-jong’s relationship with her brother is as scrutinised as Kim Jong-un’s physical health when it comes to if – and when – she might be in a position to challenge for ultimate power in North Korea,” she said.
Other experts think this unlikely, given that North Korea is a highly patriarchal society. But it is believed by many Korea watchers that if Kim Jong-un dies before his eldest son – born in 2010 – grows up, Kim Yo-jong would likely succeed him.
There has been much speculation about the reclusive and overweight Kim Jong-un’s health this year, after a prolonged absence last year raised questions about whether he had undergone medical treatment and he was seen with a bandage on the back of his head in August.
Kim Yo-jong’s profile has grown since 2018 when she visited the South to attend the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics as her brother’s special envoy. She stole the show during her three-day stay with what were branded her “smile offensives”.
She then met Chinese President Xi Jinping and also attended her brother’s denuclearisation talks and meetings with US President Donald Trump.
Lim, who is also deputy director of her university’s International Institute of Korean Studies, said in addition to Kim Yo-jong being twice elevated to the politburo and her role in the North’s propaganda department, she is believed to be married to Choe Song. He is the son of Choe Ryong-hae, secretary of the ruling Korean Workers‘ Party. This gives Kim Yo-jong “another source of political power”.
On speculation that Kim Yo-jong could succeed her brother, Lim said things would become clearer if she was appointed to the National Defence Commission (NDC).
If that happens soon, “it might be a sign that North Korea is preparing for its first woman leader,” Lim wrote.
In the reshuffle, North Korean premier Kim Tok-hun was promoted to become a vice-chairman of the SAC. The military chief Marshal Pak Jong-chon and Jo Yong-won, Kim Jong-un’s close aide and party secretary, also became SAC members.
Ri Pyong-chol, military marshal and formerly a top adviser to Kim, was deprived of his seat in the party’s political bureau standing committee over his failing to effectively deal with the pandemic.
14. ＜Inside N. Korea＞ From burglary to farm attacks, rising crime among starving soldiers. Authorities concerned.
Another important indicator that bears watching. We have to be concerned with a breakdown of discipline in the military.
＜Inside N. Korea＞ From burglary to farm attacks, rising crime among starving soldiers. Authorities concerned.
(Photo) A young border guard (left) and an ordinary soldier stand guard inside the barbed wire. Both of them are very thin. Photographed from the Chinese side of Sinuiju City in July 2021.
In North Korea, the harvest of corn, which is the country's staple food, has ended. According to our reporting partner, who lives in the northern region of Ryanggang Province and North Hamkyung Province, the crop conditions are much worse than usual. This is because of a shortage of fertilizer, plastic, and other farming materials during the spring sowing season.
Since September, the cooperative farms around the country have been busy with threshing and drying, and the tension is mounting. Grain theft is rampant, and fields and warehouses have to be guarded 24 hours a day. In addition to the farmworkers, the militia, called the Red Guards, have been sent to monitor the fields with guns, and the security bureau (police) has also dispatched personnel to guard the areas.
"Our main target is the hungry soldiers. Since the food is so scarce and contact with civilians is strictly forbidden due to the covid, they come to the farm facilities and fields to steal. It's like robbery. It's a big problem for the authorities too," said a reporting partner living in North Hamkyung Province.
Map of the Chinese-North Korean border region (ASIAPRESS)
◆Soldiers even attacked a farm.
We received a report on a specific incident from our reporting partner in Ryanggang Province. On September 10, soldiers attacked a cooperative farm field in Potairi, Samjiyon County, near the Chinese border. A local farmer gave the following summary of the incident.
“Three soldiers walked into the potato field, told the guarded farmer to 'support the People's Army,' and then dug up the potatoes and stole them. The attack happened twice in three hours. The farmer was assaulted and had his leg broken, which was very serious.
The Workers' Party Committee in Potairi visited the nearby border guards to protest. However, the soldiers who attacked us could not be identified because they wore masks due to covid. The border guards claimed that not their soldiers committed the robbery, but the "storm troopers." On the other hand, the "storm troopers" said that it was probably discharged soldiers. The issue grew so large that it was reported to the upper corps, and they were instructed to find the soldiers who assaulted them no matter what, but no blame has been placed on them until now.”
※The Storm Troopers: Many excellent military personnel were selected from all over the country and dispatched to the border region with China from two to three years ago to control the residents.
The hungry soldiers are desperate to get food at any cost. So, according to our reporting partner, the soldiers use their patrols as an excuse to wander around at night looking for food, enter houses to steal, and even steal livestock. Sometimes even the cows would disappear. So, naturally, the farms are desperate to protect their crops. As a result, there are frequent flights between the farm guards, the stormtroopers, and the border patrol soldiers (Kang Ji-won).
V/R
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Phone: 202-573-8647
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
FDD is a Washington-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
