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Quotes of the Day:
“Wealth among traditional people is measured by having enough to give away.”
- Robin Wall Kimmerer Braiding Sweetgrass
"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligence, but the one most responsive to change."
- Charles Darwin
"Hate: It has caused a lot of problems in the world, but it has not solved one yet."
- Maya Angelou
1. North Korea’s Covert Alliance With Iran Aligned Militias in the Middle East
2. Putin Launches ‘New Evil Empire’ With North Korea and Hamas
3. How Putin, Xi and Kim could use Israel crisis as 'invitation' to unleash hell
4. US-Japan-South Korea Drill a ‘New Era’ for Defense Ties
5. New Film “Beyond Utopia” Offers Glimpse Into Life As A North Korean
6. US, South Korea conduct anti-submarine warfare exercise near Guam
7. 4 N. Koreans cross eastern sea border in apparent defection bid
8. Defense chief, U.S. envoy discuss joint efforts to deter N. Korean threats
9. Marine chief says suspended live-fire drills on border islands need to be resumed
10. ＜Inside N. Korea＞ A recent report on conditions at farms (3) Thieves from the cities lead to strict monitoring of farming areas…farmers face tough times trying to earn cash
11. S Korea detains boat carrying suspected N Korean escapees
12. Number of N. Korean defectors entering S. Korea more than triples on-year in Jan.-Sept. period
13. Pyongsan Political Prison Camp inmates forced to work in uranium mines
14. Trade between Russia and N. Korea spikes after Kim Jong Un’s state visit last monthThose two fields should be theThose two fields should be the central maneuver, realms of the fourthThose two fields should be the central maneuver realms of the fourth cancel their piece, andThose two fields should be the central maneuver. Realms of the fourth cancel their peace and they'll be
1. North Korea’s Covert Alliance With Iran Aligned Militias in the Middle East
It is good to see this issue finally being recognized and discussed. But people like Dr. Bruce Bechtol have been lone voices in the wilderness highlighting these issues. Interestingly,some of the information linked in this article can be found in Dr. Bechtol's seminal work, North Korean Military Proliferation in the Middle East and Africa: Enabling Violence and Instability (2018). The author might have considered citing this work among others.
North Korea’s Covert Alliance With Iran Aligned Militias in the Middle East
https://www.38north.org/2023/10/north-koreas-covert-alliance-with-iran-aligned-militias-in-the-middle-east/
Since Hamas carried out its deadly terrorist attacks against Israel on October 7, there has been intense scrutiny of the Palestinian militant group’s use of North Korean military technology. On October 16, Israeli Ambassador to South Korea Akiva Tor expressed concern that Hamas had used North Korean weapons against Israel and vowed to destroy North Korean weapons stocks in the Gaza Strip. The next day, a senior official from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff claimed that “Hamas is believed to be directly or indirectly linked to North Korea in various areas, such as the weapons trade, tactical guidance and training.”
North Korea’s state Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) called allegations that it armed Hamas “a groundless and false rumor” and accused the US of fomenting this conspiracy to deflect from its own complicity in the Gaza War. Pyongyang’s insinuation that the US was behind these reports was misleading, as US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby stated that he could not confirm that North Korea armed Hamas.
North Korea’s denials also belied mounting contradictory evidence. Israel has reportedly captured a North Korean F-7 rocket-propelled grenade from Hamas’s arsenal. The F-7 is a shoulder-fired grenade used against armored vehicles and is another name for North Korea’s RPG-7 launcher. A South Korean official alleges that North Korean Bang-122 artillery shells were found on the Israel-Gaza border and a Hamas-aligned Palestinian militant group possesses North Korean-made 122-mm multiple rocket launchers.
North Korea’s rebuttals are further undermined by its long history of supplying arms to militant non-state actors in the Middle East. As an extension of its long-standing security partnership with Iran and Syria, North Korean military technology has reached Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and Yemen’s Houthi rebels. As Iran and its proxy militias threaten a multi-front war against Israel, North Korean weapons could periodically surface and inflict damage on Israeli equipment and civilians.
North Korea’s Military Links with Hamas
Since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip, North Korean state media outlets have castigated Israel and whitewashed Hamas. On October 7, the KCNA claimed that “The Israeli military is going crazy over the oppression of the Palestinian people” and showcased Israel’s October 5 killing of two Palestinian resisters in the West Bank city of Toul Karm. On October 10, North Korea’s party daily newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, stated that the international community believed “Israel’s constant criminal acts against the Palestinian people” caused the war. North Korean state media omitted Hamas’s terrorist attacks from its coverage.
North Korea’s reiteration of Hamas’s narratives on the Gaza War aligns with its long-standing policy towards the Israel-Palestine conflict. North Korea does not maintain diplomatic relations with Israel, which it has described as an “imperialist satellite state,” and recognizes Palestinian sovereignty over the entirety of Israeli territory except the disputed Golan Heights. During the 2008-2009 and 2014 Gaza Wars, North Korea described Israel’s military actions as crimes against humanity and decried Palestinian civilian deaths.
North Korea’s support for Palestinian militant groups extends beyond rhetorical solidarity. During the 1970s and 1980s, Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) chairman Yasser Arafat courted Kim Il Sung and received a steady stream of North Korean weapons. North Korean intelligence officers provided training to Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) commander George Habash and facilitated the PFLP-Japanese Red Army 1972 terrorist attack on Israel’s Lod Airport. North Korea’s links to Palestinian militant groups atrophied after the end of the Cold War, as the PLO pursued diplomacy with Israel and the Marxist-Leninist PFLP faded as a political force.
Hamas’s takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007, which was followed by a succession of conflicts between Israel and Palestinian militants, ended this period of North Korean disengagement from Palestine. After Israel embarked on its July 2014 Operation Protective Edge military operation in the Gaza Strip, Hamas turned to North Korea for military assistance. In a clandestine deal, Hamas reportedly gave North Korea a six-figure down payment for rockets and military-use communications equipment. To obscure scrutiny surrounding the deal, Hamas conducted this transaction through an affiliated company in Lebanon.
Much like its current denials, North Korea called reports of a cash-for-arms deal with Hamas an “utterly baseless sophism and sheer fiction let loose by the US to isolate the DPRK internationally.” Despite this rhetoric, North Korean Bulsae-2 anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) have been found in the inventory of the al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades, a Gaza-based militant group and one-time ally of Hamas. Palestinian militants coveted Bulsae-2s, as they lacked indigenous ATAGM manufacturing capabilities in the Gaza Strip and were portable weapons that could inflict damage on Israeli artillery. By the time of the May 2021 Gaza War, a small number of F-7 rockets had reached the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas that breached Israel’s border defenses on October 7.
North Korea’s arms transfers to Hamas were likely facilitated by third parties. After accusing Hamas of using North Korean weapons, Akiva Tor declared, “It could be that these North Korean weapons have been in Iran for quite a long time.” A possible transit route for North Korean equipment was from Iran to Sudan to Egypt, where arms are trafficked to Hamas through the Gaza Strip’s vast underground tunnel network. The 2009 impounding of North Korean arms caches in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Thailand, which were possibly intended for Hamas and Hezbollah, could have inspired the creation of this labyrinthine trafficking route.
North Korea’s Collaboration with Hezbollah and the Houthis
During the 1980s, Hezbollah operatives arrived in North Korea for military training. Even though North Korea’s military assistance to Hezbollah coincided with its strengthened partnership with Iran, Pyongyang’s arms shipments were primarily motivated by its desire for hard currency. North Korea’s cooperation with Hezbollah stopped in the early 1990s, as Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin briefly proposed financial incentives to discourage North Korea from arming Israel’s adversaries, but likely resumed after 1993.
After 2000, North Korean instructors arrived in Lebanon and trained Hezbollah on building underground bunkers to store arms, food, and medical facilities. During his 2004 meeting with North Korean officials, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad asked North Korea to help Hezbollah design and construct underground military installations. With North Korean guidance, Hezbollah built an extensive fortified tunnel network from the area south of Lebanon’s Litani River to the Israel-Lebanon border. These tunnels helped Hezbollah store rocket launchers underground and evade Israeli aerial surveillance.
North Korea also allegedly transferred improvised Katyusha and Grad rockets to Hezbollah. These weapons and spare parts arrived in Iran, where they were assembled and shipped through Syria to Lebanon. North Korea aided Iran’s production of 300-km radius M600 series rockets and Syria’s reverse-engineering of Kornet anti-tank missiles. Iran and Syria transferred these weapons to Hezbollah, and these new technologies bolstered Hezbollah’s preparations for its 2006 war with Israel. These arms transfers were confirmed by a US District Court for the District of Columbia in July 2014. The court ruling deemed North Korea and Iran liable for damages as they provided “material support and assistance” to Hezbollah that enabled its 2006 rocket strikes on Israel.
Hezbollah’s security cooperation with North Korea continued after it avoided a complete defeat at Israel’s hands. Through a training agreement brokered by Iran, North Korea’s counter-espionage units and elite forces agreed to host a hundred Hezbollah operatives in 2007. North Korea possibly aided Hezbollah’s tunnel construction north of the Litani River, which was the northernmost point of Israel’s 2006 strikes, and likely provided components for Iran’s 300km radius missile transfers to Hezbollah in 2008. While there is no evidence of recent North Korean military cooperation with Hezbollah, North Korea’s on-the-ground assistance to Assad in the Syrian Civil War might have inspired cooperation.
Since the Saudi Arabia-led coalition’s military intervention in Yemen began in 2015, the Houthis have used or tried to procure North Korean military technology. In July 2015, South Korean intelligence officials revealed that the Houthis fired 20 North Korean-made Scud missiles at Saudi Arabia. The Houthis likely captured these Scud missiles on the battlefield, as the Yemen Armed Forces originally purchased them from North Korea in 2002.
Although these Scud missile strikes were ineffective, a Houthi leadership figure invited North Korean officials to meet in Damascus in July 2016 and discuss technology transfers. North Korea attempted to grant this request by using Syrian arms trafficker Hussein al-Ali to ship light weaponry to the Houthis. Despite reports that the Houthis modified North Korean Hwasong-6 Scuds for longer-range strikes on Saudi Arabia, United Nations Panel of Experts reports have stopped short of confirming wartime arms deliveries from North Korea to the Houthis.
Conclusion
While Israel’s Gaza Strip blockade might preclude further North Korean arms deliveries to Hamas, Pyongyang will closely monitor and accrue military lessons from events in the Middle East. South Korea was alarmed by Hamas’s breaches of Israel’s border defenses and is re-evaluating its own ability to thwart a similar North Korean offensive. If Israel embarks on a full-scale ground invasion of the Gaza Strip and the war broadens to Lebanon, North Korea will monitor the resilience of Hamas and Hezbollah’s tunnel infrastructure. Regardless of the war’s outcome, North Korea’s cooperation with Iran and Syria will provide future opportunities for Iran-aligned militias to use its military technology.
2. Putin Launches ‘New Evil Empire’ With North Korea and Hamas
Axis of Authoritarians, Union of Tyrants, Threesome of Convenience. How about "Tyrants for Terror?"
David Frum and George W. Bush may have been right in 2002 in describing an Axis of Evil (that included Iraq at the time).
Putin Launches ‘New Evil Empire’ With North Korea and Hamas
‘UNION OF TYRANTS’
Vladimir Putin’s pals have been boasting about Russia’s backing of Hamas; critics say they are one of a number of notorious anti-Western allies being used to distract from Ukraine.
Anna Nemtsova
The Daily Beast · October 23, 2023
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Reuters
A former deputy prime minister of Israel has told The Daily Beast that the world should see the Hamas terror attack on Israel, which killed at least 1400 people, as part of a larger conflict being stoked by the Kremlin.
“Putin—the real Hamas ally—has defined the lines of the big confrontation: Hamas, Iran, Russia, China on one side, and Israel, Ukraine and the United States on the other,” said Natan Sharansky.
Sharansky, who was a jailed dissident during the Soviet era before emigrating and moving into Israeli politics, said President Vladimir Putin was honing a “new evil empire” to take on the West.
Kremlinologists in Ukraine, Israel, and Russia told The Daily Beast about an increasingly dangerous global game being played by Putin as he tries to draw eyes away from his war on Ukraine.
Israeli soldiers patrol outside a police station which was the site of a battle following a mass infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip.
Reuters/Ronen Zvulun
Sevgil Musayeva, the editor-in-chief of Ukrainska Pravda, says there is a firm consensus in Kyiv that Putin played a role in the well-prepared Hamas operation. “The chief of the [Ukrainian] defense intelligence made it clear to us that the Kremlin had known about the attack on Israel by Hamas,” Musayeva told The Daily Beast. “Russia continued to bomb us in the east and south, killing hundreds of civilians but Ukraine disappeared from the top headlines. Even after Russia bombed the funeral in Groza village killing people from every second house, all the news focused on Israel and Hamas war, which obviously played into Putin’s hands.”
“Bibi should have not answered the phone call from Putin because it was already clear that Putin was tight with Hamas.”
— Natan Sharansky
This week, Putin traveled to China where he met Xi Jinping and promoted one of his great fantasies; the “unification of the big Eurasia,” which would see countries led by long-time authoritarian leaders join together to form some kind of military, economic, and ideological anti-Western camp. Russia’s pro-Kremlin media rejoiced, celebrating the summit with China’s president. “The West is nervous; the Putin-Xi meeting makes Ukraine’s allies worried,” Komsomolskaya Pravda reported. The Kremlin’s TV propagandists bragged about the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel as if it were performed by the Russian army itself and boasted about future targets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting at the Belt and Road Forum this month.
Reuters
Former Russian lawmaker and KGB officer Gennady Gudkov told The Daily Beast that there was a serious risk for further disruption.
“Washington has to focus: Putin’s quickly creating a union of tyrants and dictators in the Middle East, North Korea, Africa to outplay the United States before the elections, using the old GRU and FSB tactics of distracting attention from the main theater of actions in Ukraine,” he said.
“Last week, I met with African democratic opposition. They warn: Putin’s Wagner has been staging military and non-military coups in Mali, CAR, Niger and now they are plotting to mess up more African countries. Putin supports terrorists in Lebanon, where we suspect GRU had been training Hamas before the attack.”
According to the chairman of the Nobel Prize-winning Memorial human rights organization, Putin’s strategy is as old as the Soviet-era books on military intelligence: The more violence and tragedies there are in U.S.- supported regions, the better it is for Moscow.
“In the mid-1970s, the Soviet GRU provided military training and weapons to the MPLA movement in Angola to support their fight against the U.S. partner, Portugal. One of the GRU agents bragged to me once that his students at GRU managed to mess around in six different countries,” Alexander Cherkasov told The Daily Beast. “Managed destabilization was Moscow’s biggest business starting from the Khrushchev era, Putin just copies the old strategy: sending spies to stage a coup in Montenegro in 2016, making friends with the Taliban, establishing bases in Syria and in Africa. The army’s special services always worked towards expansion, so this strategy is a direct continuation.”
The more the West grows weary of the war in Ukraine, the more Russian propagandists and pro-Kremlin bloggers celebrate all over Telegram. Pro-Kremlin analyst Marat Bashirov said they had threatened to keep President Biden pre-occupied until the next U.S. election: “Is Ukraine not enough for you? Here you have Israel. Is Israel not enough? Here is… the list is long. We have outplayed you but that is not clear to many, yet.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets President Vladimir Putin in the Amur Oblast of the Far East Region, Russia, in September.
KCNA
On Oct. 9, the Ukrainian intelligence agency, GUR, warned the world of a provocation being cooked up by Moscow: the next step in Putin’s plan would “be fake accusations of the Ukrainian military allegedly selling Western weapons to terrorists,” the agency said. Sure enough, the GUR was right. The Kremlin's disinformation campaign against Ukraine began on the following day when major Russian media outlets reported—without foundation—that Ukraine was arming Hamas.
There was a time when Sharansky was in the upper echelons of Israeli public life that he almost believed Putin was going to be friendly to Israel, but “all the promises turned into lies,” he said. Putin wanted to demonstrate good relations with the Jewish community but “Syria and Iran were his cards to pressure the West, I wrote in my reports,” said Sharansky, who is based in Jerusalem. “I knew that when the moment to choose between Syria, Iran, and Israel came, he would not hesitate and sure enough, he armed Syria… Now Russia’s central ally is Iran.”
Putin called Benjamin Netanyahu only after he had talked with his allies in the Middle East after the Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis. “Bibi should have not answered the phone call from Putin because it was already clear that Putin was tight with Hamas,” Sharansky said. “Putin did not call to express sorrow, but to offer help with negotiations. Bibi said no help was needed. Our divided society, far left and far right, are united now, we have all agreed to fight and destroy Hamas. Only unity in the fight will wear down the Evil Empire.”
The Daily Beast · October 23, 2023
3. How Putin, Xi and Kim could use Israel crisis as 'invitation' to unleash hell
A lot of sensational speculation. Not too many "experts" cited.
How Putin, Xi and Kim could use Israel crisis as 'invitation' to unleash hell
the-sun.com · by Iona Cleave · October 22, 2023
RUSSIA, China and North Korea may use the smokescreen of the Israel crisis as an "invitation" to turn the tides of global power and unleash hell, experts warned.
As multiple conflicts threaten to erupt across the world, new axes of evil are forming - and analysts say it's open season for rogue states "to get away with" their fight for a New World Order.
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It's feared Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un could use the distraction of the Israel crisis to their advantageCredit: AP
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Putin will be pleased as the world's attentions turns away from the Ukraine warCredit: AFP
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Tens of thousands of troops are massing on the Gaza border readying for a ground invasionCredit: EPA
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More than 4,000 Palestinians dead since Hamas stormed the Israel borderCredit: AP
The terror Hamas unleashed on Israel during their unprecedented October 7 attacks left 1,400 Israelis dead and a nation determined to take revenge on the densely populated Gaza Strip.
And as the bloody war rages into its 14th day - leaving more than 4,000 Palestinians dead - Israel is preparing for an imminent full-scale ground invasion of bomb-blitzed Gaza.
The world now waits with bated breath to see if the Israel-Hamas conflict could open up new fronts and spark an all-out war across the Middle East.
But experts told The Sun that what is unfolding risks far more than a regional conflict in the Middle East.
Instead, they argue it has lit the fuse on a powder keg of simmering crises across the world - helping to turn the tides of global power towards Russia, China and their pariah pals.
“Polycrisis is the new normal,” Keir Giles, a Russia expert from Chatham House, told The Sun.
He warned Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong-un will "watch and learn from how the West responds to the tragedy in the Middle East".
If the West cannot step up to the challenge of handling multiple conflicts unfolding all at once, then the impacts could echo across the world, he said.
"That’s an open invitation" for autocratic regimes and pariah states “to cause more of them," Giles argued.
"They will grab what they want while they can get away with it," he said.
Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak flew to Israel to show their support for Israel this week, as the UK prime minister vowed to stand with the embattled nation in its "darkest hour".
At the same time, Putin visited his "old" and "dear" friend Xi and the pair of tyrants took swipes at the US and the West.
Russia and China refused to condemn Hamas for their horrors they committed on October 7 and criticised Israeli airstrikes and called for freedom of Palestinians.
Their moves laid bare the gaping geopolitical rift extending between major global powers.
"Israel is not a new flashpoint, but it has taken centre stage," Ashok Swain, professor of peace and conflict research at Uppsala University, told The Sun.
"If the present situation continues a bit longer, there is a big possibility that other states in the Middle East will be drawn into conflict."
And with the possibility of the US, UK and Nato becoming increasingly embroiled in that war - it becomes clear who stands to profit.
“China and Russia are waiting for the diffusion of the conflict to take place," Prof Swain said.
“The Middle East has been the epicentre of [their] new superpower rivalry for several years now, and this ‘war’ provides an opening for both power centres to measure their strengths.”
A DANGEROUS DAWN
Admiral Lord West, the ex-Royal Navy Chief and Falklands War hero, said Putin will be pleased with the chaos erupting in the Middle East.
"All of this suits Putin very well,” he told The Sun.
“It is fantastic for him because it’s taken people’s eyes off Ukraine. So the more he can stoke it up, the happier he’ll be."
And he argued that with the Western world distracted, the price will likely be paid by Ukraine along its frontlines.
A Hamas official claimed Putin was pleased with their terror attack on Israel as it has distracted Americans from the raging war in Ukraine.
"One war eases the pressure in another war," he said.
If evidence was needed, Russia launched a brazen attempt to seize the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka shortly after Hamas’s assault on Israel.
Kyiv itself said it now fears that if the Israel-Hamas conflict drags on, its Western supply of weapons and ammunition could dry up.
In this time of fragile world order, "dealing with more than one challenge at a time will be key to the survival of western governments", Keir Giles said.
The Russia expert added: "Look at the way the lighthouse beam of western attention has suddenly switched from Ukraine to the Middle East, meanwhile other crises are playing out in the margins more or less unnoticed.
“But it’s not just Ukraine that suffers. Russia - and other hostile powers - can use this opportunity to probe, test and attack in other ways.
“To understand who shares Russia’s aims, look for where Russia goes shopping for weapons to sustain its campaign of destruction in Ukraine.
“It’s Iran and North Korea - two other countries whose primary exports are destruction, disorder and fear.”
THE RED ROAR
With Washington focused on the Middle East, Beijing could stand to benefit from a distracted US as it prepares for a future clash over the fate of Taiwan.
China watchers have long feared Xi is waiting for the right moment to lurch across the South China Sea and submit the small island nation to the will of the People’s Republic.
For years now, the world has watched anxiously as China ramped up its military drills and menacing provocations towards self-governing Taiwan and the US responded by increasing commitments to its faraway ally.
And behind the scenes - dangerous play appears to be work.
On Friday, the Pentagon announced that China has significantly expanded its nuclear stockpile over the last year, now holding 500 operational warheads - a number they hope to double by 2030.
"In our interviews with the FBI, they said… this is the most aggressive period they have ever seen of Chinese activity," Seth Jones, an expert at Center for Strategic and International Studies recently said.
"One official said to us: 'The system is blinking red right now'."
A conflict between China & Taiwan would be World War 3
Professor Kerry Brown, King's College London
And if China makes good on its threats of a lightning fast invasion across the Taiwan Strait - the US, the rest of the West and Russia might very suddenly be forced to step in.
And the impact of such an invasion could be catastrophic for the world.
“Now is a really treacherous moment,” Kerry Brown, a professor of Chinese Studies at King's College London, told The Sun.
"We’ve got a new kind of geopolitics.
"If the Israel-Gaza conflict is long term and with the Ukraine war - all of these things are big distractions.
"The West is weaker. Nato is not as strong as it once was and they’re constantly trying to make sure local conflicts don't escalate and flare into regional and global ones."
In a chilling warning, he said: "But I tell you, China and Taiwan, that's the one that could bring the whole damn global system to a shuddering halt.
"It will make all of these other conflicts look like a picnic party on a Sunday afternoon."
The West, he argued, needs to be aware that a conflict between Taiwan and China could "decimate the global economy and the existing security architecture in the Asia Pacific".
"It would pretty much be World War 3," Prof Brown said.
NUCLEAR ABYSS
Fanning the flames that could ignite a new world war is the pariah nation that has loaded up half the Korean peninsula with nuclear warheads.
Kim Jong-un might be banished from most of the world - but his regime is interwoven in some of the darkest corners of global conflicts, experts warn.
A menace to the Western world, the tyrant is continuing to threaten to use nukes against its rivals, while provoking South Korea with missile tests.
This week, evidence even emerged that North Korean weapons were likely used in Hamas’s terror assault on Israel - a stark warning of how far the state’s blood-soaked tentacles reach.
Meanwhile, Kim has been cosying up to fellow outcast Putin - together vowing in September to fight a "sacred" battle against the West.
Their "friendship" tour stoked fears of a new axis of evil between the two nuclear-armed, warmongering tyrants.
Experts claim Putin is eager for North Korea's stockpile of artillery shells to be used in Ukraine, while Kim is looking for help with satellite technology and upgrading its Soviet-era military equipment.
No weapons deal has been formally announced, but Washington fears negotiations are "actively advancing".
"All this is concerning," Dr Edward Howell, an expert on North Korea from Oxford University, told The Sun.
In the current geopolitical climate, the risk of nuclear escalation from the sinister state is particularly "intense", he explained.
"By framing the US as a hostile power determined to overthrow the regime, Kim justifies defending North Korea with more aggressive nuclear armament and use policies," he said.
And he needs to look to other partners in destruction to secure his cash flow.
For Russia, North Korea is an "obvious, easy choice to be a partner in crime at a time when Putin doesn't have many friends".
"I am concerned about the creation of a network of nuclear proliferation that could expand to include other rogue states,” Howell added.
North Korea has done this before, he explained, by establishing illicit networks between Pakistan, Syria and Libya where they exchange nuclear materials, knowledge and advice.
Howell expects this tactic to continue as "right now, King Jong-un needs money to fund the nuclear programme and a slush fund for the regime".
He puts it this way - in 2021 Kim defined "a shopping list for new types of weapons he wanted" and "he is quickly getting through it".
As new battle lines are drawn across the map, a growing coalition of evil appears to be taking shape with rogue and pariah states increasingly finding ways to fuse their interests.
The Israel-Hamas war could herald in a new dawn that changes the world as we know it, and as Professor Brown puts it "bringing the whole damn [thing] to a shuddering halt".
the-sun.com · by Iona Cleave · October 22, 2023
4. US-Japan-South Korea Drill a ‘New Era’ for Defense Ties
We should keep in mind that the devastation of all of north Korea by air power in the Korean War is a fundamental theme in current north Korean domestic propaganda. And the deployment of the B-52 does help the Propaganda and Agitation Department reinforce the regime's message that the the Korena people in the north must suffer and sacrifice to protect the Kim Family regime from similar effects during the Korean War. So while we are focusing on deterrence we also need to be executing a supporting information campaign (which we should have begun decades ago).
Excerpts:
It is particularly significant that a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber participated in this week’s drill, says Seoul-based scholar Park Won-gon.
Park says Pyongyang particularly fears strategic aircraft like the B-52, because it was bombers like this that devastated the North during the Korean War.
North Korea has also blasted U.S.-Japan-South Korea military cooperation.
US-Japan-South Korea Drill a ‘New Era’ for Defense Ties
October 23, 2023 4:09 AM
voanews.com · October 23, 2023
SEOUL, South Korea —
The United States, South Korea, and Japan held their first ever combined aerial exercise Sunday in an effort to send a tough message to North Korea.
It’s not new for the United States to hold aerial drills with Japan or with South Korea. But the three countries had never held such an exercise together until Sunday.
That’s when a U.S. B-52 bomber flew alongside Japanese and South Korean fighter jets just south of the Korean Peninsula.
Philip Goldberg, the U.S. ambassador to Seoul, called it a “new era” in defense ties.
Though Japan and South Korea are both close U.S. allies, their bilateral ties are strained by historical disputes.
But in August, the three countries agreed to hold more defense drills to counter North Korea.
It is particularly significant that a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber participated in this week’s drill, says Seoul-based scholar Park Won-gon.
Park says Pyongyang particularly fears strategic aircraft like the B-52, because it was bombers like this that devastated the North during the Korean War.
North Korea has also blasted U.S.-Japan-South Korea military cooperation.
In an editorial Friday, North Korean state media called the air drill an “intentional nuclear war” provocation.
North Korea has rapidly expanded its number of nuclear weapons in recent years, and now regularly threatens to conduct preemptive strikes if necessary.
voanews.com · October 23, 2023
5. New Film “Beyond Utopia” Offers Glimpse Into Life As A North Korean
Again, I am looking forward to seeing this film.
Excerpt:
North Korea expert Dr. Sue Mi Terry, one of the producers of Beyond Utopia, said:
“This is the first documentary to follow a North Korean family trying to escape to freedom on a dangerous and arduous trek through China, Laos, and Vietnam. This has the edge-of-your-seat immediacy of a first-rate thriller—but it’s all true.
Also, as a North Korea analyst at the CIA, I did many debriefings of defectors and I knew how the Underground Railroad for North Koreans worked in theory. But this was my first time seeing it in action.”
The film is being limitedly released to the public on October 23 and October 24. No matter your familiarity with North Korea, this film has something for everyone. It is a must-see documentary for anyone who cares about the cause of freedom.
New Film “Beyond Utopia” Offers Glimpse Into Life As A North Korean
Forbes · by Olivia Enos · October 23, 2023
... [+]AFP via Getty Images
Since the two Koreas were divided, life inside North Korea has remained largely shrouded in secrecy – the Kim regime’s use of its nuclear and missile weapons programs took center stage while the lives of the people took a backseat. In part this is because the weapons are visible, bombastically displayed by the regime to project power to the outside world. The people on the other hand, remain largely in obscurity, with only limited photos and videos of their plight readily available to the outside world.
A new documentary, Beyond Utopia, is changing that.
The film follows South Korean pastor, Sung-eun Kim, who devotes his life to what he believes is his God-given purpose of aiding North Koreans in their quest for freedom. The films follows the Roh’s, a North Korean family of five, attempting to escape the regime’s stronghold, and Soyeon Lee, a North Korean refugee mother determined to reunite with her son who remains in North Korea. The film is paradigm shifting as it gives the outside world a real-life glimpse into the difficulties of being North Korean.
I attended a screening of Beyond Utopia hosted at the Center for Strategic and International Studies prior to the film’s release to the public. As someone who has followed North Korean human rights issues for over a decade, I thought there was little that could shock me. I was wrong.
The regime’s human rights violations are well-documented, especially in the nearly 400-pages of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry report released in 2014 which detailed the regimes crimes against humanity. There are an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 individuals held inside North Korea’s modern-day gulags; women and girls are regularly subject to various forms of rape and sexual violence; food deprivation is the norm; and ordinary North Koreans don’t possess the freedoms that most people in democratic nations enjoy. As the UN report put it, North Korean human rights violations are “unparalleled” in the modern world.
MORE FOR YOU
You can hear those facts and statistics and understand the gravity. But it is another thing entirely to see videos of life inside North Korea and bear witness to an escape.
When you watch Beyond Utopia, you are not a mere consumer of entertainment, you feel as if you too are escaping a totalitarian regime.
When you meet the Roh family in the woods just on the other side of the North Korean border in China pleading for help, saying that they will die without the aid of Pastor Kim, their desperation is palpable. When they take the car ride across China to Vietnam, their fear of getting caught becomes your fear. When they make it to their first safehouse, you experience their relief. With every twist and turn through the Southeast Asian mountains, you hold your breath when a car goes by just as they do. When they cross the Mekong River from Laos to Thailand, you feel their fear of drowning. When they are on the boat to Thailand, the country they must make it to in order to get to safety in South Korea, you long for freedom as they long for freedom.
Audience members will have to see the film to know whether the Roh family makes it to safety. Not all stories, after all, have a happy ending.
North Korea expert Dr. Sue Mi Terry, one of the producers of Beyond Utopia, said:
“This is the first documentary to follow a North Korean family trying to escape to freedom on a dangerous and arduous trek through China, Laos, and Vietnam. This has the edge-of-your-seat immediacy of a first-rate thriller—but it’s all true.
Also, as a North Korea analyst at the CIA, I did many debriefings of defectors and I knew how the Underground Railroad for North Koreans worked in theory. But this was my first time seeing it in action.”
The film is being limitedly released to the public on October 23 and October 24. No matter your familiarity with North Korea, this film has something for everyone. It is a must-see documentary for anyone who cares about the cause of freedom.
Forbes · by Olivia Enos · October 23, 2023
6. US, South Korea conduct anti-submarine warfare exercise near Guam
US, South Korea conduct anti-submarine warfare exercise near Guam
navytimes.com · by Diana Correll · October 23, 2023
The U.S. and the Republic of Korea’s navies completed a combined theater anti-submarine warfare exercise this month aimed at improving submarine tracking and engagement, amid heightened nuclear threats from North Korea.
The exercise, known as Silent Shark, comes amidst ever-further engagement between the allies, with the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan visiting Busan this month following a trilateral South Korean-U.S.-Japanese maritime drill.
During Silent Shark, the U.S. Navy’s fast-attack submarine Topeka and South Korea’s diesel-electric submarine Jung Ji teamed up with maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft from the Navy’s Patrol Squadron 8 and South Korea’s Navy squadron 611, according to the U.S. Navy.
“These combined training events maintain our readiness at a high level,” Cmdr. James Fulks, commanding officer of Topeka, said in a Navy news release. “Our increasing interoperability with ROK submarines promotes democracy and provides security for the region.”
The navies conducted the exercise near Guam, allowing Jung Ji to complete several port visits to U.S. Naval Base Guam during the exercise, which first launched in 2007 and is conducted biennially. The fast-attack submarine Annapolis hosted the port visits, the Navy said.
Cmdr. Kim Il-bae, Jung Ji’s commanding officer, called the Silent Shark exercise “fierce, realistic training,” in the Navy release.
“We will deter enemy aggression and are ready to firmly defend our seas,” Kim said.
The Topeka, previously based in Guam, is now homeported at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
RELATED
US, South Korea and Japan hold first-ever trilateral aerial exercise
South Korea's air force says the drill involved a B-52 bomber from the United States and fighter jets from South Korea and Japan.
The exercise wrapped up on Oct. 22, the same day that the U.S., South Korea and Japan conducted its inaugural, trilateral aerial exercise near the Korean Peninsula.
That drill involved a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber from the United States and fighter jets from South Korea and Japan, South Korea’s air force said in a statement.
The exercises come amid concerns that North Korea is pushing to get sophisticated weapons technologies from Russia in exchange for supplying ammunition to refill Russia’s conventional arms stores that have been exhausted by its protracted war with Ukraine.
Such concerns flared after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Russia’s Far East last month to meet President Vladimir Putin and inspect key weapons-making facilities.
Many experts say Kim would want Russian help to build more reliable weapons systems targeting the U.S. and South Korea.
Washington and Seoul have warned that Moscow and Pyongyang would pay a price if they move ahead with the speculated weapons transfer deal in breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban any weapons trading with North Korea.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
7. 4 N. Koreans cross eastern sea border in apparent defection bid
Desperation leads to boldness.
(5th LD) 4 N. Koreans cross eastern sea border in apparent defection bid | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · October 24, 2023
(ATTN: CHANGES dateline; ADDS details in paras 4-6)
By Chae Yun-hwan
SEOUL/SOKCHO, South Korea, Oct. 24 (Yonhap) -- A group of four unidentified individuals from North Korea crossed the eastern maritime inter-Korean border on a wooden boat early Tuesday, officials said, in an apparent attempt to defect to South Korea.
The Coast Guard and military officials secured the 7.5-meter-long boat carrying the North Koreans in waters east of Sokcho, 151 kilometers northeast of Seoul, a military official said, after South Korean fishermen at the scene reported seeing an "unusual" boat at around 7:10 a.m.
The group consists of one man and three women, according to Coast Guard officials. Details of their identities have not been made known.
Lim Jae-kil, one of the fishermen who were at the scene, recalled seeing a man who appeared to be in his 30s wearing boots and oil-stained clothing, and two women, presumably in their 30s and 50s, respectively.
The individuals did not express their intent to defect to the South but asked where they were and remarked on how "nice" Lim's boat was, he said.
Lim said he had never seen such a boat in his more than 40 years of life as a fisherman, adding it appeared to have the engine of a cultivator.
A South Korean vessel tows a wooden boat that crossed the inter-Korean border to a port in the coastal county of Yangyang, 150 kilometers northeast of Seoul, on Oct. 24, 2023. (Yonhap)
Military, government and intelligence officials are expected to conduct a joint probe soon into their exact motive for crossing into South Korea.
A unification ministry official declined to confirm whether they have a "genuine" intent to defect to the South, noting an investigation is under way.
The latest incident raised questions over possible lapses in the South Korean military's maritime surveillance, as it did not initially detect the boat crossing the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a de facto maritime border, in the East Sea.
The military claimed it detected North Korean military activity above the eastern NLL early in the morning and dispatched naval assets, including maritime patrol aircraft, nearby.
Troops then spotted an "unusual" target in the waters using radar and thermal observation devices, and the military later confirmed it to be the boat reported by the fishermen, the military official said on condition of anonymity.
It marked the first time since November 2019 that a group of North Koreans has made an attempt to defect to South Korea on a vessel through the East Sea. At that time, South Korea repatriated the two North Koreans, who confessed to killing fellow crew members, back to their home country.
In May, the South Korean military intercepted a North Korean fishing boat carrying a group of defectors that crossed the western NLL in the Yellow Sea.
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · October 24, 2023
8. Defense chief, U.S. envoy discuss joint efforts to deter N. Korean threats
Defense chief, U.S. envoy discuss joint efforts to deter N. Korean threats | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · October 24, 2023
SEOUL, Oct. 24 (Yonhap) -- Defense Minister Shin Won-sik met with U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg on Tuesday for talks on regional security and joint efforts to deter North Korea's military threats, Seoul's defense ministry said.
During the meeting, the two sides shared the view that only a solid combined defense posture can deter North Korea's provocations as they discussed the implications of the recent conflict in Israel on South Korea's security, according to the ministry.
They noted the solidarity of the bilateral alliance is "more firm than ever" and that the credibility of the U.S. extended deterrence commitment has been strengthened through the recent deployment of its strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula, it said.
The U.S. military sent a B-52H nuclear-capable bomber to South Korea last week, and the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier to a naval base in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, earlier this month.
Extended deterrence refers to the U.S. commitment to using the full range of its military capabilities to defend its ally.
The two sides also shared the view that North Korea's nuclear and missile development programs pose threats not only to the peninsula but also to the international community, stressing the need for international coordination to curb such threats, the ministry said.
Defense Minister Shin Won-sik (L) speaks with U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg (R) at Shin's office in central Seoul on Oct. 24, 2023, in this photo provided by Seoul's defense ministry. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · October 24, 2023
9. Marine chief says suspended live-fire drills on border islands need to be resumed
Impact of the Comprehensive Military Agreement.
To reiterate my three points from yesterday:
Three points to keep in mind:
1. The CMA impacts the readiness of the ROK/US forces (ISR and combat training in the vicinity of the DMZ).
2. The South (and the ROK/US alliance) fully implemented the agreement in good faith.
3. The north has not fully implemented the agreement (save for minor changes at JSA and the removal of a handful of guard posts).
Marine chief says suspended live-fire drills on border islands need to be resumed | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · October 24, 2023
By Kim Eun-jung
GYERYONG, South Korea, Oct. 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Marine chief said Tuesday live-fire drills on border islands in the Yellow Sea need to be resumed to enhance military vigilance against North Korean provocations, as they have been suspended following the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement.
In a parliamentary audit session, Marine Corps Commandant Lt. Gen. Kim Gye-hwan said military readiness has weakened on five front-line islands as live-fire exercises involving major military assets, including K-9 self-propelled howitzers, have not been held since the military tension reduction accord took effect.
The Comprehensive Military Agreement, signed under the previous liberal President Moon Jae-in, who sought inter-Korean reconciliation, calls for setting up maritime buffer zones that ban artillery firing and naval drills.
"(Marines) have been conducting live-fire exercises on land following the agreement. Inland drills pose several problems due to the relatively short range, which in turn affects our readiness posture," Kim said during the session held at the military headquarters in Gyeryong, 142 kilometers south of Seoul.
Marine Corps Commandant Lt. Gen. Kim Gye-hwan gives a military salute during a parliamentary audit held at the Navy's headquarters in Gyeryong, 142 kilometers south of Seoul, on Oct. 24, 2023. (Yonhap)
Kim said the Marines have been consulting with the defense ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to come up with effective ways to bolster vigilance near the maritime border against North Korean provocations.
"Live-fire drills on the islands can cut costs and help us maintain a readiness posture to be able to immediately respond," Kim said.
On Monday, Defense Minister Shin Won-sik visited a Marine Corps unit on the northwestern island of Yeonpyeong in the Yellow Sea, which was attacked by North Korea with artillery shells in 2010, and reiterated his call to suspend the military accord to better fend off North Korean threats.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · October 24, 2023
10. ＜Inside N. Korea＞ A recent report on conditions at farms (3) Thieves from the cities lead to strict monitoring of farming areas…farmers face tough times trying to earn cash
It should go without saying that the root of all problems are the deliberate policy decision made by Kim Jong Un to prioritize his personal safety and comfort, his nuclear and missile program, and support for the leite over the welfare of the Korean people in the north.
Or said another way: The root of all problems in Korea is the existence of the most evil mafia- like crime family cult known as the Kim family regime that has the objective of dominating the Korean Peninsula under the rule of the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State.
＜Inside N. Korea＞ A recent report on conditions at farms (3) Thieves from the cities lead to strict monitoring of farming areas…farmers face tough times trying to earn cash (4 recent photos)
asiapress.org
A farmer who appears to be a member of the paramilitary “Worker and Farmer Red Guard” is seen sitting at a sentry post in the middle of a farm field. The post’s roof is made of branches and leaves. Given its position facing the Yalu River, the sentry post seems to be monitoring the fields for thieves and for people trying to cross the river.
＜Inside N. Korea＞ A recent report on conditions at farms (1) The harvest is better than last year, but lack of materials remains a serious problem (4 recent photos)
Using a reporting partner inside the country, ASIAPRESS conducted a survey of a collective farm in North Hamgyung Province in late September. Farms were at the height of the harvest of the country’s main crop, corn, at the time, so farming communities were highly alert to preventing their crops from being stolen. During the same period, a Chinese reporting partner took photos of a farm in North Pyongan Province near the Yalu River. The third installment in this series examines the efforts made by farms to prevent the theft of crops. (KANG Ji-won / ISHIMARU Jiro)
Reporting partner “A,” who lives in North Hamgyung Province, conducted a survey at Collective Farm “B,” which has around 500 farmers. The farm cultivates corn, one of North Korea’s main staples. The farm is slightly smaller than average farms in North Hamgyung Province but is typical of the northern region of the North Korea, which has lots of mountains and few places to farm. A Chinese reporting partner took photos in late September. He took a ferry along the Yalu River and took photos of a farm in Sakju County, North Pyongan Province.
A dilapidated sentry post near a farm field. The boy walking in the red exercise outfit appears to be a high school student mobilized for the fall harvest.
◆ Farms strictly prohibit outflow of grains
The following is an interview with “A,” who conducted the survey of Collective Farm “B.”
―― Is there a lot of stealing of crops this year, just like in past years?
Starting a few years ago, thieves from cities have streamed into farming areas every harvest season. This year, the crackdowns on crop stealing have been so fierce that it has been hard for thieves to move around the roads, so they just try to eat their fill in the farming areas instead. They pretend to be picking medicinal plants or mountain greens, while all the while stealing crops from collective farms or private plots to cook up and eat in the nearby mountains. A unit that monitors the forests has selected farmers who have served in the military to strengthen security around farm fields that can be accessed from nearby mountains. The unit is deployed whenever smoke rising from the mountains can be seen.
―― We’ve heard it’s hard to bring crops back to the cities.
Sentry points carefully watch for crops being taken out of farming areas, so there’s a lot of farmers who steam or boil corn to sell into markets. They cook the corn up because cooked corn is considered a “processed food,” not a harvested crop from the farm fields. Farmers have sold a lot of unripe corn from their own private plots to the markets to quicky earn a lot of money.
―― Are the authorities cracking down on crops turned into processed foods produced on private plots?
Farmers report to the farming management committees or police stations that the crops were produced on their own private plots or gardens to avoid getting in trouble. People who have moved quickly to sell their crops have earned a bit of money, but there are also those who have failed to sell anything because they didn’t get permission from local police.
A sentry post about 3-4 meters tall at a crossroads that can monitor things from afar. The young men and women appear to be high school students mobilized for the fall harvest. They all wear clean-cut attire.
◆ The government buys up crops at cheap prices
Of course, the farmers need cash. They need to buy daily necessities such as clothes, shoes, soap, cookware, and school supplies. That’s why they have long sold the distributions of food they get from collective farms after the fall harvest or the crops they cultivated in their own private plots to earn money.
―― How are farming communities earning cash?
Farmers suffer from a severe lack of cash. The government is allowing them to buy daily necessities through bartering at collective farm shops; in short, they are using food they have as cash to buy items they need. Farmers who need cash, meanwhile, can have their crops bought up by the government. This year’s government-set price for the purchase of one kilogram of corn is 2,500 won.
※ ASIAPRESS was unable to confirm whether the government-set price was the same in other areas of the country. The market price for one kilogram of corn is 3,000 – 3,400 won, very cheap by North Korean standards. 660 North Korean won is equal to around 100 South Korean won.
In an unusual move, Collective Farm “B” is allowing farmers to exchange corn with white rice this fall. The rice is imported from China by a trading company, but the farm is exchanging 2.5 kilograms of corn for one kilogram of rice.
Yellow corn just harvested can be seen at the low left-hand corner of the field. A structure can be seen above the corn that is used to monitor for burglars. Women are gathered at the center of the field for rollcall or for a meeting.
―― Are farmers selling food to market sellers?
Farmers urgently need cash, and many are demanding market sellers give them cash in advance of the harvest and then add interest once they provide the crops to the market sellers. Recently, this kind of business transaction has been designated as “anti-socialist behavior” by the government and is being severely cracked down on. Currently, the government doesn’t recognize the sale of food between private citizens as legal transactions. This year, the government even informed farmers that their entire stock of food could be confiscated if they violate the law.
―― Are cadres engaging in any corruption?
Cadres who use their authority to bring out crops from farming areas for private use can get in trouble with the authorities. However, collective farms need cash to purchase materials and run their organizations, which has led many farms to sell their crops to market sellers. This is now being cracked down on by the police and prosecutors’ offices with a vengeance. (To be continued in the next installment)
All photos were taken on the Chinese side of the border across from Sakju County, North Pyongan Province, in late September 2023.
※ ASIAPRESS communicates with its reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea
Map of North Korea ( ASIAPRESS)
asiapress.org
11. S Korea detains boat carrying suspected N Korean escapees
S Korea detains boat carrying suspected N Korean escapees
The news comes amid Seoul witnessing an increase in the number of North Koreans crossing the border.
By Lee Jeong-Ho for RFA
2023.10.24
Seoul, South Korea
rfa.org
South Korean authorities said Tuesday it detained a North Korean boat carrying four people believed to be seeking to defect, to assess the legitimacy of their intentions.
The small, wooden vessel was stopped off South Korea’s eastern city of Sokcho after being spotted near the inter-Korean maritime border early on Tuesday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
“In collaboration with the Korean Coast Guard, the vessel was taken under custody off the eastern coast of Sokcho,” it said, adding that the South Korean military, using coastal surveillance tools such as radar and Thermal Observation Device (TOD), had been monitoring the ship.
The military statement did not disclose how many people were on board, but the Korean Coast Guard said four North Koreans were on the vessel.
An official from South Korea’s Unification Ministry told reporters in Seoul that relevant authorities are currently investigating the matter but refused to elaborate further.
A South Korean government official, who asked for anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, however, told Radio Free Asia that they had expressed their intent to defect.
South Korea usually prepares a pan-governmental team, comprising investigators from its military, police, intelligence agency, and unification ministry, for an investigation. The primary objective of these investigations are to confirm the identities of the escapees, and assess the genuineness of their intent to defect.
The Unification Ministry’s measured stance Tuesday on confirming the escapees’ defection intent stems from the necessity to adhere to the official joint investigation procedure. While infrequent, instances have arisen where individuals reverse their decision during the probe and indicate a wish to go back to the North.
Should their intention to defect be verified as genuine, it would mark the second known instance of North Koreans crossing the maritime border seeking defection in recent times, following an incident in May where two families of nine individuals crossed the western NLL on a fishing boat.
South Korea, during the previous Moon Jae-in administration, sent back two North Korean fishermen in 2019 who were believed to have killed 16 crew members on their ship while traversing the sea border.
The latest news comes amid Seoul witnessing an increase in the number of North Korean escapees, crossing the border. According to data compiled by the Unification Ministry, the number of North Korean escapees entering the South has reached a total of 139 by the third quarter of this year, 40 more individuals from the second quarter.
The ministry official told reporters it remains uncertain whether the number will continue to grow in the future. But China’s repatriation of North Korean escapees shortly after the Hangzhou Asian Games indicates that those who want to escape from the country may choose to directly cross the inter-Korean border with the South.
Human Rights Watch reported earlier this month that Chinese authorities had forcibly returned over 500 North Koreans to the reclusive nation. Most of these North Koreans were civilians and religious figures who were arrested while attempting to travel to South Korea from China, RFA has learned.
Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn.
rfa.org
12. Number of N. Korean defectors entering S. Korea more than triples on-year in Jan.-Sept. period
No matter how hard the regime tries to secure the border while allowing trade, escapees will try to get through.
Number of N. Korean defectors entering S. Korea more than triples on-year in Jan.-Sept. period | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · October 24, 2023
SEOUL, Oct. 24 (Yonhap) -- The number of North Korean defectors coming to South Korea more than tripled in the first nine months of this year from a year earlier amid North Korea's border reopening after years of COVID-19 restrictions, government data showed Tuesday.
After escaping the North, 139 North Koreans reached the South in the January-September period, sharply up from 42 from the same period of last year, according to Seoul's unification ministry. In the third quarter, 40 defectors-- three men and 37 women -- came to the South.
The tally is the latest reminder that a steady stream of North Koreans continues to defect to South Korea to avoid chronic food shortages and harsh political oppression.
The number of incoming North Korean defectors began rising this year after it sharply dwindled in recent years due largely to China's strict COVID-19 restrictions and North Korea's tight border shutdowns.
"In 2021 and 2022, the number of the North's defectors coming to South Korea was exceptionally low due to the North's border closure and China's COVID-19 restriction on people's movement," a ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
He remained cautious about whether the figure could recover to pre-pandemic levels this year.
The yearly number of incoming North Koreans, which hovered above 1,000 in the years before 2019, plummeted to 229 in 2020, followed by 63 in 2021 and 67 in 2022, the data showed.
The number of such escapees could reach around 170 this year, rising 2.5 times from a year ago, Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho said in a recent interview with Yonhap News Agency.
This undated file photo shows the logo of the Korea Hana Foundation affiliated with South Korea's unification ministry. (Yonhap)
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · October 24, 2023
13. Pyongsan Political Prison Camp inmates forced to work in uranium mines
Human rights are not only a moral imperative. They are a national security issue as well. The regime is dependent on this slave labor for its nuclear programs. This is why there must be a human rights up front approach.
Pyongsan Political Prison Camp inmates forced to work in uranium mines
Pyongsan Political Prison Camp inmates perform intense labor for up to 20 hours daily in terrible conditions
By Mun Dong Hui - 2023.10.23 5:00pm
dailynk.com
Pyongsan Political Prison Camp inmates forced to work in uranium mines | Daily NK English
A satellite photo of No. 16 prisoner camp in Hwasong, North Hamgyong Province (Google Earth)
Inmates at Pyongsan Political Prison Camp in North Hwanghae Province are being forced to work in uranium mines, Daily NK has learned.
“Pyongsan Political Prison Camp is basically a uranium mining camp,” a source in North Korea told Daily NK on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “The prisoners usually take part in primary physical labor only, including expanding the mine tunnels, putting up mine posts, extracting the uranium and transporting it to storage places. They do not participate in technical activities such as refining or concentrating the ore.”
According to the source, Pyongsan Political Prison Camp — run by the Ministry of Social Security — is home to about 11,000 people. Daily NK reported in 2021 that the authorities were building a new political prison camp in Pyongsan, North Hwanghae Province, and inmates would be mobilized to produce uranium concentrate.
Inmates in Pyongsan reportedly suffer from long periods of intense forced labor in unsafe conditions.
“The tunnels are supported by posts for dozens of meters so that you can walk in them, but after that, you have to crouch to enter them and, later, crawl,” the source said. “Every prisoner has a zone assigned to them and is allotted individual workloads.
“Three armed production managers guard the mine entrance and wait until the prisoners emerge with their bags of ore,” he continued, adding: “They work 12 to 16 hours a day, and sometimes even extended periods of 20 hours.”
Article 16 of North Korea’s socialist labor law sets the work day at eight hours. The law even lowers this to six or seven hours, depending on the difficulty or particular conditions of the work.
The WHO and ILO published a joint study in 2021 on the relationship between long working hours and the risk of death, finding that working over 55 hours a week was very harmful to one’s health.
However, Pyongsan Political Prison Camp inmates perform intense labor for up to 20 hours daily in terrible conditions. Most of all, prisoners could be exposed to radiation while extracting the uranium ore, but the North Korean authorities reportedly provide no proper explanations or even minimum safety equipment.
“As for safety equipment, the camp simply hands out work uniforms twice a year in summer and winter,” the source said. “These fall apart after just a week, so you have to patch them up and patch them up again.”
“They think safety equipment is something you give to ordinary people, not inmates,” he said.
Managers of political prison camps have no duty to protect prisoners stripped of their civil rights as citizens. Because they treat them as animals or things rather than humans, they even use the Korean counting words for animals or things — mari or gae — rather than the one for people, myeong, the source said.
“Prisoners have no right to refuse work, and a refusal amounts to a declaration of death,” he said. “You can’t refuse to work because managers beat and punish prisoners for failing to work quickly or just for displaying a poor work attitude.”
Pyongsan Political Prisoner Camp also reportedly fails to provide sufficient rest or food.
“You can rest at home or a temporary tent near the worksite,” said the source. “Food provision policy is seasonal or dependent on camp conditions, but at Pyongsan, inmates ate nothing but salted broth with boiled greens for about 20 days during the barley hump this April and May.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources who live inside North Korea, China and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
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Mun Dong Hui
Mun Dong Hui is one of Daily NK’s full-time journalists. Please direct any questions about his articles to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
dailynk.com
14. Trade between Russia and N. Korea spikes after Kim Jong Un’s state visit last month
Trade between Russia and N. Korea spikes after Kim Jong Un’s state visit last month
Recently, North Korea has been receiving payments for arms sales to Russia in the form of various foods and energy products
By Seulkee Jang - 2023.10.24 4:48pm
dailynk.com
Trade between Russia and N. Korea spikes after Kim Jong Un’s state visit last month | Daily NK English
Kim Jong Un meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Russian space center on September 13, 2023. (Rodong Sinmun-News1)
Following North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s visit to Russia last month, trade between the two countries has significantly increased while new dispatches of North Korean workers are planned for the end of this month.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a source in North Korea told Daily NK on Wednesday that the amount of freight loaded on trains and ships bound for Russia has increased significantly compared to before Kim’s Russia visit, with as many as four or more freight trains running each day.
Another anonymous source inside the country told Daily NK that “prior to his Russia visit, the General [Kim Jong Un] issued orders to the Ministry of National Defense’s Military Railways Division to no longer conceal their transport of goods and move goods in broad daylight so their visible to Sonbong area residents.”
The Sonbong area is a subset of Rason and serves as North Korea’s key railway link to Russia.
With the expansion of trade between the two countries, the level of security along their borders also appears to have fallen to some degree.
Increase in weapons sales to Russia
One of the anonymous sources said that North Korean exports of weapons to Russia have increased amid the expansion of trade between the two countries. A wide variety of conventional weapons possessed by the Korean People’s Army are being exported to Russia, including rockets, ammunition, artillery shells, and automatic rifles.
When asked if he was aware that providing arms to Russia was against international law, the source replied: “We are providing a friendly nation with domestically produced ammunition and combat-related technology and receiving payment in return – how’s that a violation of international law?”
Recently, North Korea has been receiving payments for arms sales to Russia in the form of foodstuffs like wheat, cooking oil, and processed snacks, as well as energy products such as oil and gas.
Of these recent imports, one of the more eye-catching items were lumber imports, including large 500mm x 500mm (19.7 in x 19.7 in) pieces of wood. This imported lumber is intended for use in various construction projects, the source said.
Dispatch of several hundred workers to Russia
Meanwhile, one of the sources said that North Korea plans to dispatch several hundred new laborers to Russia at the end of October. The majority of these laborers are men in the military or military-affiliated trade companies who will work primarily in manual labor industries like construction and logging.
However, some of these laborers are women and civilians who will be sent to work in Russian factories. Workers will not be sent en masse to a single company; instead, they will be dispersed across multiple companies in groups of around 30 people each, similar to North Korean worker deployments in China.
The source told Daily NK that the laborers to be deployed to Russia were selected for overseas work last year, so they have already completed their training. Their deployment orders were rushed through soon after Kim’s visit to Russia last month.
Translated by Rose Adams. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources who live inside North Korea, China and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
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Seulkee Jang
Seulkee Jang is one of Daily NK’s full-time journalists. Please direct any questions about her articles to dailynk@uni-media.net.
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