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Quotes of the Day:
"All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal."
-John Steinbeck “Once There Was a War”
"Strange, (is it not?) that battles, martyrs, blood, even assassination should so condense - perhaps only really lastingly condense - a Nationality."
- Walt Whitman
Characteristics of the American Way of War (5 of 13)
5. Culturally-challenged. Belatedly, it has become fashionable to berate the cultural insensitivity that continues to hamper American strategic performance.68 Bear in mind American public ideology, with its emphasis on political and moral uniqueness, manifest destiny, divine mission even, married to the multidimensional sense of national greatness. Such self-evaluation has not inclined Americans to be especially respectful of the beliefs, habits, and behavior of other cultures. This has been, and continues to be, especially unfortunate in the inexorably competitive field of warfare. From the Indian Wars on the internal frontier, to Iraq and Afghanistan today, the American way of war has suffered from the self-inflicted damage growing out of a failure to understand the enemy of the day. For a state that now accepts, indeed insists upon, a global mandate to act as sheriff, this lack of cultural empathy, including a lack of sufficiently critical self-knowledge, is most serious.
There is no mode of warfare, conducted in any geographical environment, wherein the enemy's strategic culture is of no importance. Even in the most extreme of warfare's technological forms, a large-scale "exchange" of nuclear weapons between super or great powers, the firing and targeting doctrine of the foe will not be innocent of cultural influence. Nuclear doctrines will express calculations of military and geostrategic realities, calculations conducted by encultured strategists. Through much of the 1970s and 1980s, U.S. nuclear strategy carried some promise of damage limitation for America only if Soviet nuclear strategy reciprocated in targeting restraint. Soviet attitudes towards war, including nuclear war, were of vital importance. Since culture was, indeed still is, a significant dimension of warfare with nuclear weapons, how much more salient must it be in irregular conflict. Recall that the battlespace in the fight against insurgents and terrorists is in the minds of the people whose allegiance or acquiescence is the stake in the struggle. In COIN, the Army needs to engage and stay engaged with the people who need protection, not with the irregular enemy. That enemy will face inevitable defeat if the Army is accepted as a friendly guardian, and the people are willing to back the political future promised by the government.
It hardly needs emphasizing that to win the trust of the people at risk requires a measure of comprehension of their beliefs, their hopes and fears, their recent history--in short, their culture. To acquire such cultural empathy is no simple matter. It cannot be achieved from inside "Fort Apache," nor can it be gained by occasional energetic and violent sweeps through "bandit country."
- Colin Gray, 2006
1. North Korean hackers used polished LinkedIn profiles to target security researchers
2. Yoon vows to further strengthen extended deterrence against N.K. threats
3. Victor Gilinsky offers a less optimistic view of North Korea’s negotiating tactics and nuclear program
4. South Korea less battle-capable than North, top ex-general warns
5. Opposition leader claims forced labor compensation plan may lead to military consequences
6. Wife of detained S. Korean pastor sends an open letter to her husband
7. North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un: Billions in wealth, mansions, luxury cars – The luxurious life of country's Supreme Leader
8. Where else in the world is there this kind of slavery?’ (north Korea)
9. Zainichi Korean businessmen to donate to foundation for forced labor victims
10. Korean cosmetics firms shift focus to North America from China
11. Envisioning Korea in 2070 in births, deaths, marriages and immigration
12. North Korean women told to be 'flowers of loyalty' by having more children
13. U.S. to hold meeting at U.N. on North Korea rights abuses
14. N. Korean Leader Regretted Lack of War-Ending Declaration with Trump
15. Kellogg's Global Politics The North Korean Threat with David Maxwell
1 North Korean hackers used polished LinkedIn profiles to target security researchers
While some of us think of north Korea as backward and unsophisticated, especially because of its over the top propaganda, in the cyber world it is executing some sophisticated and dangerous operations. We all need to be vigilant.
And our viviliance has paid off (though I still see phishing emails). north Korea's cyber units are learning organizations that keep adapting.
Excerpts:
Earlier reporting by cybersecurity firms — such as a campaign dubbed “Dream Job” by ClearSky in 2022 — have documented how North Korean hacking groups have typically approached targets via email, allowing for a more direct delivery of customized phishing malware. But the evolution documented by Mandiant over the second half of 2022 suggests that email-based attacks are getting harder to pull off, a shift Barnhart suggest might be caused by the growing adoption of cloud infrastructure and endpoint detection and response software.
North Korean hackers used polished LinkedIn profiles to target security researchers
As part of the shift in tactics, the hackers have deployed a range of new tools and social engineering tactics to lure their victims.
BY
AJ VICENS
MARCH 10, 2023
cyberscoop.com · by AJ Vicens · March 10, 2023
Hackers believed to be working on behalf of North Korea have in recent years posed as recruiters and targeted workers in a variety of industries with offers of extravagant jobs at big-name firms with massive salaries. In the past, that campaign has mostly been carried out over email, but now researchers are seeing North Korean hackers shift their phishing attempts to LinkedIn and WhatsApp.
By first constructing convincing profiles on the career-focused social media platform LinkedIn, reaching out to their victims with phony job offers and convincing them to move the conversation over to WhatsApp, where they would be targeted with malware, North Korean hackers have crafted a sophisticated method for targeting computer security researchers, according to a two-part report released by Google’s Mandiant on Thursday.
Michael Barnhart, a principal analyst at Mandiant, describes this North Korean threat actor as “one of the more skilled groups coming out of this closed off nation,” and in targeting security researchers, the group deployed a range of new tools.
The group’s activity — tracked as UNC2970 or TEMP.Hermit by Mandiant and included under the broader Lazarus umbrella by others — includes “an array of specially crafted LinkedIn accounts based on legitimate users” that are “well designed and professionally curated to mimic the identities of the legitimate users in order to build rapport and increase the likelihood of conversation and interaction,” Mandiant’s researchers said.
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If the attackers were successful in shifting the conversation from LinkedIn to WhatsApp, they would continue interacting with the target before sending a phishing payload disguised as a job description, the researchers said, primarily in the form of customized Microsoft Word documents embedded with macros that would pull malware a remote server. In at least one case, researchers said, the hackers “continued interacting with a victim even after the phishing payload was executed and detected, asking for screenshots of the detection.”
“The activity outlined here lends itself to a more espionage-oriented goal, whereas other elements within this group are strictly after crypto and revenue generation,” Barnhart said in an email to CyberScoop. “This speaks to the size and priorities of this actor, which publicly aligns with the DPRK’s Reconnaissance General Bureau.”
Although there is widespread overlap of tooling and tactics across North Korean-aligned hacking groups, Mandiant considers TEMP.Hermit to be a distinct subset of activity under the control of the country’s Reconnaissance General Bureau and focused on intelligence collection.
Mandiant’s report notes that although previous campaigns focused largely on the defense, media and technology industries, this more recent effort targeted security researchers, possibly suggesting “a shift in strategy or an expansion of its operations.”
Earlier reporting by cybersecurity firms — such as a campaign dubbed “Dream Job” by ClearSky in 2022 — have documented how North Korean hacking groups have typically approached targets via email, allowing for a more direct delivery of customized phishing malware. But the evolution documented by Mandiant over the second half of 2022 suggests that email-based attacks are getting harder to pull off, a shift Barnhart suggest might be caused by the growing adoption of cloud infrastructure and endpoint detection and response software.
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Example of one of the lure documents sent by North Korean-linked hackers (Mandiant)
In This Story
cyberscoop.com · by AJ Vicens · March 10, 2023
2. Yoon vows to further strengthen extended deterrence against N.K. threats
Interestingly, I heard from some Korean colleagues this week that some think we are focusing too much on extended deterrence. On the one hand, some think the number of deployments of strategic assets is providing diminishing returns and not having the deterrent effect we think they have because there are too many. On the other hand, some think that the deployment of strategic assets is destabilizing and could lead to a crisis.
Personally, I will err on the side of ensuring the highest level of combined military readiness to be able to conduct defensive operations in all domains and across the spectrum of conflict.
Yoon vows to further strengthen extended deterrence against N.K. threats | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 이해아 · March 10, 2023
By Lee Haye-ah
SEOUL, March 10 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed Friday to work with the United States to further strengthen extended deterrence against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.
Yoon made the remark during the 77th graduation and commission ceremony of the Naval Academy in Jinhae, 312 kilometers southeast of Seoul, noting that the security situation in Northeast Asia and on the Korean Peninsula is graver than ever, while the global security order is faced with unprecedented challenges.
"He stressed that against any challenge, we must defend the liberal democracy and achieve peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula," the presidential office said.
"More than anything, he said this must be backed up by a strong defense capability, and that only then, can we establish a 'true peace' that maintains national security with our own strength, not a 'fake peace' that relies on the good will of the other party," it added.
Yoon has previously made similar remarks apparently referring to his predecessor Moon Jae-in's push for reconciliation with North Korea.
To counter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, Yoon said South Korea will "further strengthen extended deterrence by establishing a nuclear planning and execution regime between South Korea and the United States."
Extended deterrence refers to the U.S.' commitment to mobilizing a full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear, to defend its allies.
Yoon also said he will build an overwhelming response capability and punishment posture, including through South Korea's "three-axis" military system, which consists of the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR), an operational plan to incapacitate the North Korean leadership in a major conflict; the Kill Chain preemptive strike platform; and the Korea Air and Missile Defense system.
He promised to realize an "alliance in action" by further strengthening South Korea-U.S. military exercises.
President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks at a graduation and commission ceremony of the Naval Academy in Jinhae, 312 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on March 10, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
hague@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 이해아 · March 10, 2023
3. Victor Gilinsky offers a less optimistic view of North Korea’s negotiating tactics and nuclear program
Excerpts:
The Clinton administration got around this obstacle by persuading South Korea to build and pay for the reactors and the IAEA to agree to postpone the two contested inspections until LWR construction was well along. The United States was thus bending over backwards to shield North Korea from the consequences of its treaty violation. But, under the Agreed Framework, to get operational light water reactors, the North still had to allow the IAEA to inspect the two contested sites by the time key nuclear components were ready for installation.
When the Bush administration arrived in 2001, light water reactor construction was well along, and there was still no sign the North would comply with its promise to allow the two inspections. North Korea seemed to be counting on the United States to ignore the initial violation to maintain the relationship, a not unreasonable expectation on its part after having successfully bullied the system for so long. (After a Stanford talk he gave years ago, I asked Bill Perry, who had been Clinton’s defense secretary, how he regarded the Agreed Framework requirement for inspection of disputed sites before delivery of key nuclear components; he said he regretted the inclusion of the provision in the Agreed Framework.)
It may well be that the Bush administration canceled the Agreed Framework out of sheer hostility to Communist North Korea. Still, it was reasonable to be concerned about a North Korean civilian nuclear program when you couldn’t be sure about its continued adherence to IAEA safeguards. The plutonium production capacity of the two light water reactors would have been greater than that of all the reactors North Korea operated, had under construction, and was planning. The critical point here is that US insistence on adherence to the Agreed Framework’s inspection provision would have stopped the light water reactor project, because North Korea was hanging tough.
In any case, in 2003, with light water reactor construction stopped, the North decided to withdraw from the NPT and did so by giving one day’s notice, arguing that it was just completing the withdrawal process it had earlier frozen at day 89. Whether a country could withdraw from the treaty this way and while it was in violation was left undecided.
Hecker’s recommendation today, after North Korea’s extensive building and testing of bombs and long-range rockets—in the face of many major Security Council sanction resolutions—is that, in the hope of converting its military programs back to civilian ones, we drop our “refusal” to allow North Korea to have civilian nuclear power and space programs. What can I say other than that he has a very optimistic outlook?
Victor Gilinsky offers a less optimistic view of North Korea’s negotiating tactics and nuclear program
By Victor Gilinsky | March 10, 2023
https://thebulletin.org/2023/03/victor-gilinsky-offers-a-less-optimistic-view-of-north-koreas-negotiating-tactics-and-nuclear-program/
thebulletin.org · by John Mecklin · March 10, 2023
By Victor Gilinsky | March 10, 2023
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un oversees a missile launch at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Undated photo released on October 10, 2022 by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Editor’s note: This commentary is a response to a February 20 Bulletin article, “
I read the Bulletin’s recent interview with Sig Hecker about his new book, Hinge Points. As the introduction to the interview points out, he’s had more access to the North Korean nuclear world than any American, so we need to listen to him. But there is a lot more to the story than Hecker says, and it is much less favorable to North Korea.
He starts in 2003, a year before his first visit, with what he describes as the Bush White House’s determination to kill the 1994 Agreed Framework, the Clinton administration deal under which the North agreed to freeze its plutonium production in return for the promise of two big light water reactors, plus other aid. He thinks the Bush crowd killed it because it believed North Korea “should never be allowed to have a civilian nuclear program” and did so on the pretext that the North was enriching uranium. He thinks this was a mistake—it led to the North’s withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2003 and its launch into nuclear bomb-building.
It sounds as if we screwed up badly, which in a sense we did, but in a way different than Hecker describes, and I think it’s important to remember what happened. To begin with, the Clinton Agreed Framework deal was enormously generous. For freezing a 5 megawatt-electric (equivalent) plutonium production reactor and its fuel facilities, along with a construction site for a 50 megawatt-electric reactor, the North was to get two 1000 megawatt-electric light water reactors, then worth about $4 billion. Shortly afterward, I asked one of the US negotiators, “why so generous?” “I don’t know,” he said, “that’s what they asked for.”
But, for all this generosity, the Clinton negotiators included a key International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection condition on North Korea. Before the delivery of the key nuclear components for the light water reactors, North Korea had to allow the IAEA to inspect two contested sites to which it had previously blocked access. Ergo, no inspection, no light water reactors and consequently no Agreed Framework. By the time the Bush administration addressed the issue, after 2000, it became clear that North Korea was not going to comply. At that point, to continue the Agreed Framework, the United States would have had to swallow North Korea’s violation of its IAEA inspection agreement.
RELATED:
Interview: Siegfried Hecker on two decades of missed chances to deal with North Korea's nuclear program
To fill in the background, you have to go back at least to 1985, when North Korea joined the NPT (under Soviet pressure). It was contemptuous of IAEA inspection from the start. It did not supply the IAEA with the required initial material inventory to permit inspection to start within 18 months of accession to the treaty. And it managed to put off the initial IAEA inspection for another five years—until 1992.
When the 1992 inspection finally occurred, the North would not allow the IAEA to inspect two sites the agency believed held clues to separation of plutonium beyond what the North reported in its inventory. The IAEA Board of Governors concluded North Korea was in noncompliance with its inspection agreement and thus, in effect, in violation of the treaty. In response, in 1993 North Korea announced it was exercising the NPT’s 90-day withdrawal provision.
It is important that in parallel with these events the United States pulled its nuclear weapons out of South Korea in 1991 and scaled back annual US-South Korea military exercises, and in a hopeful gesture canceled them entirely for 1992. Under US sponsorship, the two Koreas signed a 1991 agreement whose nuclear provisions included that neither of them would seek nuclear weapons.
Above all, the United States wanted to keep North Korea from leaving the NPT. The North stopped the NPT withdrawal clock at day 89 with a joint US-North Korea communiqué in which “Both sides recognize the desirability of the [North Korea’s] intention to replace its graphite-moderated reactors and associated facilities with light water moderated reactors.” Pyongyang wanted modern technology, and Washington preferred that North Korea rely on light water reactors because they did not require fuel reprocessing and extraction of plutonium. There was still a problem; North Korea was still refusing the contested inspections, and the United States could not itself legally supply a reactor to a country that was in violation of IAEA safeguards.
The Clinton administration got around this obstacle by persuading South Korea to build and pay for the reactors and the IAEA to agree to postpone the two contested inspections until LWR construction was well along. The United States was thus bending over backwards to shield North Korea from the consequences of its treaty violation. But, under the Agreed Framework, to get operational light water reactors, the North still had to allow the IAEA to inspect the two contested sites by the time key nuclear components were ready for installation.
When the Bush administration arrived in 2001, light water reactor construction was well along, and there was still no sign the North would comply with its promise to allow the two inspections. North Korea seemed to be counting on the United States to ignore the initial violation to maintain the relationship, a not unreasonable expectation on its part after having successfully bullied the system for so long. (After a Stanford talk he gave years ago, I asked Bill Perry, who had been Clinton’s defense secretary, how he regarded the Agreed Framework requirement for inspection of disputed sites before delivery of key nuclear components; he said he regretted the inclusion of the provision in the Agreed Framework.)
It may well be that the Bush administration canceled the Agreed Framework out of sheer hostility to Communist North Korea. Still, it was reasonable to be concerned about a North Korean civilian nuclear program when you couldn’t be sure about its continued adherence to IAEA safeguards. The plutonium production capacity of the two light water reactors would have been greater than that of all the reactors North Korea operated, had under construction, and was planning. The critical point here is that US insistence on adherence to the Agreed Framework’s inspection provision would have stopped the light water reactor project, because North Korea was hanging tough.
In any case, in 2003, with light water reactor construction stopped, the North decided to withdraw from the NPT and did so by giving one day’s notice, arguing that it was just completing the withdrawal process it had earlier frozen at day 89. Whether a country could withdraw from the treaty this way and while it was in violation was left undecided.
Hecker’s recommendation today, after North Korea’s extensive building and testing of bombs and long-range rockets—in the face of many major Security Council sanction resolutions—is that, in the hope of converting its military programs back to civilian ones, we drop our “refusal” to allow North Korea to have civilian nuclear power and space programs. What can I say other than that he has a very optimistic outlook?
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thebulletin.org · by John Mecklin · March 10, 2023
4. South Korea less battle-capable than North, top ex-general warns
Lt Gen Chun has been a frank critic of his military because he is passionate about the defense of South Korea. He has long offered what should be described as very important constructive criticism. While I defer to him about the capabilities and readiness of the ROK military, I disagree with his assessment of the north Korean People's Army. Yes, quantity has a quality all its own; but it is not 10 feet tall. The nKPA is suffering from severe resource shortfalls and all the advanced military capabilities the regime is developing (nuclear and missile) are not sufficient to win a war even as they have the capability to inflict incredible damage in the South and Japan as well.
South Korea less battle-capable than North, top ex-general warns
washingtontimes.com · by Andrew Salmon
Exclusive
SEOUL — Regional tensions are expected to spiral Monday, as South Korea and the United States kick off their first full-scale spring war games in six years, and North Korea rattles its sabers in protest.
Drills, thankfully, are not war. But if a fight did break out, a former top commander in South Korea‘s military is going public with his concerns that Seoul‘s forces would not be badly set up for the clash.
On the divided, nuclear-armed peninsula, South Korea‘s military is increasingly unfit for purpose, retired Lt. Gen. Chun In-bum says in an interview, lacking in manpower, training, equipment and civilian readiness compared to its implacable foe to the north. Despite vastly greater wealth and a sizable population advantage, South Korea rates poorly in several metrics compared with its lower-tech North Korean competitor.
Gen. Chun knows his business: The retired warrior served on Seoul‘s joint chiefs of staff as a major, saw active service as a battalion commander countering Northern infiltrators in 1996 and, as a general, led the country’s elite Special Warfare Command before leaving military service in 2016.
Today, he is known nationwide for his plain-spoken advocacy of the need to beef up both his country’s defenses and its critical security alliance with the United States.
At a time when many Western armies, drained by the demands of the war in Ukraine, face questions of sustainability, Mr. Chun told The Washington Times in an interview that Seoul “needs to wake up to modern war.”
North’s manpower advantage
The nuclear-armed North’s powerful missile and artillery arms are well known. But in conventional terms, too, the South is finding itself increasingly on the back foot, according to the general.
Though the North has half the population of some 51 million in the South, it fields over double the number of active-service troops: 1.2 million compared with the South’s 500,000.
Gen. Chun estimates that combining special forces, marines and top-tier infantry units, Seoul commands perhaps 50,000 crack soldiers. That’s a significant force, but pales in comparison with Pyongyang‘s 200,000 equivalent forces.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un‘s conscripts have another edge. A Northerner serves 13 years in the military, while South Korean conscripts serve just 18 months. Though the average North Korean foot soldier may be physically smaller than his South Korean counterpart due to poor nutrition, he could be tougher — and easier to supply.
The world was horrified in 2017 when a Northern defector was found to be infested with intestinal worms. But Vietnam demonstrated decades ago the resilience of troops whose health was sapped by years of jungle living but remained highly effective in combat.
“When we see a North Korean with a handful of rice, it looks like they must be starving,” Gen. Chun said. “But he might be able to survive on that.”
Unit organization also favors the North, he said.
The typical 12-soldier North Korean unit wields two rocket-propelled grenade launchers, while the South Korean squad — consisting of just eight soldiers — typically fields just one German-made Panzerfaust. The Southern squad has a light support weapon, while the Northern boasts a medium machine gun and a marksman’s rifle.
Battlefield communications are also problematic, despite Seoul‘s reputation as a world-class tech center and perhaps the world’s most web-wired nations. “How come South Korea makes the best cellphone in the world, but we can’t make a good small-unit radio?’” Mr. Chun asked. “North Korea seems to have a good radio. It’s amazing!”
Aerial advantage vs. asymmetric smarts
Where the South has an edge is in the skies. Its air force, complete with F-35s and F-15s, outmuscles the North’s decrepit fleet, which is doubly handicapped by lack of fuel for training. In heli-lift capabilities — major assets in the peninsula’s mountainous terrain — the South comes out on top, too.
But North Korean generals have recognized this imbalance and moved to make low-level flying a high-risk proposition. Virtually every North Korean armored vehicle boasted a mounted surface-to-air missile launcher, Gen. Chun said. Those assets can also be used for asymmetric offense.
“Every North Korean [special forces] squad has a MANPAD,” he said, the acronym for a portable surface-to-air missile. One mission of North Korean commandos is to infiltrate sites near South Korean or U.S. air bases, meaning that “anything that flies near airfields will be at risk.”
Portable missiles are also a threat in armored combat. The retired general revealed that illegally exported North Korean anti-tank missiles — a modification of the Russian “Kornet,” roughly equivalent to the Pentagon’s anti-tank Javelin system — have destroyed Saudi Arabian M1 tanks in Yemen.
Then there is the poor man’s air force — military drones. In December, five North Korean drones infiltrated South Korean airspace in the heart of Seoul, and the government was humiliated by its inability to bring them down. The general said the drones dramatically demonstrated a vulnerability that many South Koreans had not appreciated.
Manpower, oversight, readiness
The general’s bleak assessment came just days before the U.S. and South Korea on March 13 start 10 days of large-scale military drills, both computer-generated and boots-on-the-ground drills, despite repeated warnings from the Kim regime. The drills were halted in 2018, while both the Trump administration and the government of left-leaning former President Moon Jae-in pursued what turned out to be fruitless denuclearization talks with Pyongyang.
Subsequently, COVID-19 forced further downgrades to the military drills, causing rising readiness concerns in the Pentagon as North Korea resumed an active schedule of weapons tests. Mr. Moon added another complication when his government upgraded human rights oversight of its forces.
“These three things impacted the readiness of the South Korean military,” Gen. Chun said.
Beyond military and diplomatic policy, South Korea is facing a demographic plunge which is in turn gutting recruitment goals. “In just the past few years, the military went from 600,000 to 500,000, and the majority of cuts have gone to land forces,” Gen. Chun said. “But what is more concerning is [that] we have fewer combat support units.”
Seoul‘s regular infantry battalions field around 450 troops, rather than the 600-man standard in most modern armies. And compared with the hardy South Korean soldiers who earned respect — and fear — during the Korean conflict, critics say today’s comfortable, middle-class rising Korean generation lacks the grit of yore.
In each battalion, Gen. Chun reckons, are between 10 and 20 soldiers “who are trying to get out, at all costs, with their families involved. It drives commanders crazy!”
With ex-generals having established two dictatorships in pre-democratic South Korea, popular suspicion still lingers over military leadership. Under the Moon government, conscripts were allowed smartphones, which contributed to a surge in blogs focusing on alleged military abuses.
Now the first daily task of many commanders, Gen. Chun said, is checking these blogs to ensure that conscripts in their units — and their families — are not complaining about poor rations or overly harsh training.
Training woes
Training has suffered. After an incident when an abused recruit went on a firing range rampage, many rifles are now chained to firing positions, hindering weapons-handling skills, Gen. Chun said. First aid training is similarly inflexible.
He was scathing about equipment. Uniforms are cheaply made and, if ignited, will — unlike U.S. military fabrics — melt, causing hideous skin burns. Night-vision goggles, a staple of modern military fighting, are in short supply.
In armor, South Korea fields an impressive 3,000 tanks, Mr. Chun continued — but only 300 are the vaunted, top-of-the-line South Korean-made K2s. The rest, he said, are older, less sophisticated models.
All of this concerns Gen. Chun, who works with civic groups seeking ways to upgrade the country’s military effectiveness.
“We have the American alliance — but other than that, I believe we are at a pretty bad disadvantage,” he told The Washington Times. “We don’t have the initiative, [Seoul] is really close to North Korea and we are not serious about defending against an attack.”
And the North’s challenge seems only set to grow: Mr. Kim on Thursday personally monitored a live-fire artillery drill simulating an attack on a South Korean airfield and called for his troops to be ready to respond to what he called the enemies’ “frantic war-preparation moves,” the North’s official KCNA news service reported.
The North’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper published photos Friday apparently showing at least six rockets being fired from launch vehicles lined up in an unspecified coastal forest area, The Associated Press reported.
If Pyongyang installs the kind of digital/biometric surveillance net pioneered by China’s Communist regime, Mr. Kim will gain a degree of social control George Orwell never dreamed of, Gen. Chun said.
“He will have 20 million robots he can control by looking at their faces and checking their blood pressure,” he warned. “Can you imagine what he can do with that?”
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.
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washingtontimes.com · by Andrew Salmon
5. Opposition leader claims forced labor compensation plan may lead to military consequences
I think this opposition is more than a little over the top. Implying that this is a step toward Japanese re-colonization of Korea should undermine the credibility of the criticism.
Excerpts:
"There is the possibility of the military boots of the Self-Defense Forces again disgracing the Korean Peninsula under the excuse of joint drills between South Korea, the United States and Japan," Lee said in the rally held in central Seoul.
"What awaits after the enforcement of the humiliating compensation plan are a munitions support agreement between South Korea and Japan and a joint military alliance between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan," he said.
His remarks were seen as expressing concerns that South Korea could fall victim to Japan's renewed militarism and face a fate similar to the 1910-45 colonial rule if the government pushes ahead with the third-party compensation plan.
(LEAD) Opposition leader claims forced labor compensation plan may lead to military consequences | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 이민지 · March 11, 2023
(ATTN: ADDS ruling party's response)
SEOUL, March 11 (Yonhap) -- Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung again denounced the government's compensation plan for victims of wartime forced labor on Saturday, claiming that the solution may result in Japan's Self-Defense Forces entering the Korean Peninsula.
Lee, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, made the remarks in a rally protesting against the government's plan to compensate the Korean victims of Japan's forced labor through a foundation supported by donations from South Korean businesses, not the Japanese companies accused of forced labor during World War II.
Opposition parties, victims and activists have strongly denounced the decision, saying that it makes no sense to compensate forced labor victims with public donations, rather than money from Japanese companies that exploited forced labor victims.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, speaks at a rally protesting against the government's compensation plan for victims of Japan's wartime forced labor in central Seoul on March 11, 2023. (Yonhap)
"There is the possibility of the military boots of the Self-Defense Forces again disgracing the Korean Peninsula under the excuse of joint drills between South Korea, the United States and Japan," Lee said in the rally held in central Seoul.
"What awaits after the enforcement of the humiliating compensation plan are a munitions support agreement between South Korea and Japan and a joint military alliance between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan," he said.
His remarks were seen as expressing concerns that South Korea could fall victim to Japan's renewed militarism and face a fate similar to the 1910-45 colonial rule if the government pushes ahead with the third-party compensation plan.
Lee also lashed out at President Yoon Suk Yeol, saying Yoon has further slashed the wounds of the victims and trampled on the people's pride with the decision.
Mentioning Yoon's upcoming trip to Japan, the opposition leader claimed that Japan has not compromised over any of the thorny issues in Korea-Japan ties except sending an invitation for the visit.
Yoon is set to visit Tokyo next week for a summit with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. It marks the first bilateral presidential trip to Japan in 12 years made possible after Seoul announced a solution to the forced labor row.
Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung (C) and other participants hold signs protesting against the government's compensation plan for victims of Japan's wartime forced labor in a rally held in central Seoul on March 11, 2023. (Yonhap)
The ruling People Power Party (PPP) swiped back at Lee and the main opposition party, saying that the government made a difficult decision for the future of the two countries.
"This was a difficult decision made for the sake of improving Korea-Japan relations despite knowing the public criticism regarding it," PPP spokesman Jang Dong-hyeok said in a statement.
"If there is no best plan the people want, a nation must select the second best plan," Jang said. "The government of Moon Jae-in gave up on that and the government of Yoon Suk Yeol made a decision. Because that is what a responsible president should demonstrate."
mlee@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 이민지 · March 11, 2023
6. Wife of detained S. Korean pastor sends an open letter to her husband
Hopefully this tragedy will contribute to a discussion between Presidents Yoon and Biden about the need for a human rights upfront approach at the 26 April Summit.
Wife of detained S. Korean pastor sends an open letter to her husband
Posted March. 11, 2023 08:07,
Updated March. 11, 2023 08:07
https://www.donga.com/en/home/article/all/20230311/4013776/1
Voice of America (VOA) has reported that the wife of Pastor Kim Kook-ki, who was arrested and detained in North Korea for eight years during his missionary work, has publicly released a letter she wrote to her husband. This is the first time Pastor Kim's family has spoken to the media, according to VOA on Friday.
In the letter, Kim Hee-soon expressed her heartbreaking longings to her husband, urging him to “stay strong” and expressing her wishes to celebrate his 70th birthday together this year. She also expressed concern about his health and hoped to confirm that he is still alive. Furthermore, she stated that people around the world are praying for his safe release and that he is not alone in his struggle.
Kim Kook-ki, affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in Korea, was sent to Dandong, Liaoning Province, China, a border area with North Korea, for missionary works in 2003. Before this, he had been caring for socially disadvantaged people such as homeless people in South Korea. He is known to have operated a "North Korean refugee shelter" for defectors and Kotjebi, a term referring to homeless children in the North. He also engaged in missionary work by sending medicine and farming equipment to North Korea. In 2015, he was arrested by North Korean authorities and sentenced to hard labor for life on charges of espionage and attempting to overthrow the state.
According to a source close to Pastor Kim's family, Voice of America reported that South Korean Minister of Unification Kwon Young-se met with the families of detainees on Tuesday to offer comfort and the U.S. Department of the State also expressed interest in the release of Pastor Kim. This gesture apparently gave Kim Hee-soon, Pastor Kim's wife, renewed courage. In January, the Department of State included Pastor Kim in its global campaign to release political prisoners, urging everyone to join the call for his release and that of other political prisoners.
Six Koreans, including Pastor Kim, Kim Jung-wook, Choi Chun-gil, and North Korean defectors, remain in detention in North Korea.
Na-Ri Shin journari@donga.com
7. North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un: Billions in wealth, mansions, luxury cars – The luxurious life of country's Supreme Leader
Sensation reporting or a useful reminder about one aspect of the nature of the Kim family regime?
North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un: Billions in wealth, mansions, luxury cars – The luxurious life of country's Supreme Leader
North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un: Even as not much is known about the supreme leader of North Korea, his net worth is reported in billions. He has a net worth of $5 billion. Often referred to as ‘Dear Leader’, Jong-un's fortune was revealed by a joint South Korean and American investigation in 2013.
Written by: ET Now Digital
Updated Mar 10, 2023 | 04:24 PM IST
https://www.timesnownews.com/business-economy/economy/north-korean-leader-kim-jong-un-billions-in-wealth-mansions-luxury-cars-the-luxurious-life-of-countrys-supreme-leader-article-98540315
North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un: You can love him, you can hate him, but you just can’t ignore him! North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who was the 36th most powerful leader in 2018 on Forbes's List of Powerful Person in the World 2018, is one such person who makes headlines every now and then.
Be it for his health, his style of leadership or even the riches he owns even as his country continues to reel under several crises, Jong-un has always managed to be in the news. It is a fact that North Korea is no leader in terms of GDP or economic growth and yet the country’s supreme leader lives a life of luxury.
Kim Jong-un's Luxurious Lifestyle
Even as not much is known about the supreme leader of North Korea, his net worth is reported in billions, according to several reports. He has a net worth of $5 billion. Often referred to as ‘Dear Leader’, Jong-un's fortune was revealed by a joint South Korean and American investigation in 2013, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
The report further found that the North Korean leader’s assets were found in over 200 foreign bank accounts located throughout the world in several countries including Russia, Austria, Lichtenstein, China, Singapore, Switzerland, and Luxembourg.
Other than the net worth of $5 billion, Kim Jong-un owns around 20 palaces and mansions scattered around North Korea. Along with them, Jong-un is also reported to have over 100 luxury cars. He also has at least one private jet and a luxury yacht.
Meanwhile, the daughter of the North Korean leader is also "enjoying a life of luxury" while the citizens face a food crisis, according to the South Korean National Intelligence Services. South Korean National Intelligence Services (NIS) claimed, as per metro.co.uk report, Ju-ae, who is believed to be about 10 years old, leads a luxurious lifestyle and spends her free time horseback riding, skiing, and swimming.
8. ‘Where else in the world is there this kind of slavery?’ (north Korea)
This is why I call north Korea the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State, This is just one indicator. The social classification system of Songbun is designed to ensure all Koreans in the north are under the complete control of the regime.
We should not forget the words of Hwang Jong Yop:
“The fundamental reason for human rights being trampled in North Korea lies in the ‘Dear Leader Absolutism’ dictatorship. There can be no human rights for the people in North Korea where the greatest morality and absolute law is giving one’s mind and body to the Dear Leader; and living as a slave who obeys completely and unconditionally the Dear Leader - it is the only life permitted the North Korean People.”
Hwang Jang Yop, 2 DEC 99
‘Where else in the world is there this kind of slavery?’
North Korea introduces mandatory military service for women and extends all soldiers' service time by three years.
By Jieun Kim for RFA Korean
2023.03.10
rfa.org
North Korea has introduced mandatory military service for women increased the service time for all soldiers by three years in an effort to confront a farm labor shortage, sources there told Radio Free Asia.
The changes, which go into effect from April, mean that men will again have to serve 10 or 11 years, reversing a 2021 decision that shortened their service time to seven or eight years. For women, instead of voluntarily serving five years, they will all now have to serve eight.
The additional years will not be spent firing rifles or marching long distances in preparation for war. Instead, the soldiers will pick up shovels and hoes to help farmers grow and harvest food.
“Under the revised regulations, soldiers are recognized as completing military service only after going to the rural area and working on farms for three years before being discharged,” a resident of the northeastern province of North Hamgyong told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
North Korean soldiers work in a field on the outskirts of the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border town of Dandong. Credit: Reuters file photo
The majority of military service is already spent doing hard labor.
The North Korean government routinely uses soldiers for free labor on farms, in coal mines or on construction sites. Life as a soldier is harsh; living quarters are barren and food rations meager.
“The reality of the Korean People's Army these days is that young people avoid enlisting and there are many deserters due to poor diet and bad living conditions,” the source said. “Also they already thought the service time was too long.”
RFA was not able to confirm if soldiers who entered the service after the 2021 change and before April will have to extend their service time, or if women who elected not to serve will now have to enlist. But soldiers who were set to be discharged this year will instead be made to do an additional three years.
Giving up one’s youth
Young people are furious over the decision because it means they will have to spend most of their 20s in uniform doing hard labor, the source said.
“During their golden years of youth, men have to sacrifice 10 or 11 years and women for eight years, so those who are enlisting and their parents are angry, saying ‘Where else in the world is there this kind of slavery?’” the source said.
North Korea’s mandatory military service time is already much longer than in other nations. In neighboring South Korea, men must serve 18 months.
More young people are expected to do whatever they can to avoid enlisting, a resident of the northern province of Ryanggang told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
There are several ways to get out of serving. Generally people are exempt if they have unusual medical issues, family problems or are deemed security risks because they are related to people who have escaped the country.
College is another way out, but the authorities are trying to close that loophole.
“They took measures to restrict the number of people recommended for university admission, except from those who went to gifted high schools,” the second source said.
The gifted schools are for students who excel in their studies. Because they are considered to be on the college track they are exempt from serving.
In addition to working on farms, the extension of service might be an attempt to repopulate the rural parts of the country, the second source speculated.
”Young soldiers in their late 20s will go out to the farms and will likely meet local women. Then they will likely start a family and stay in the rural areas,” she said. “This can help increase the number of farmers.”
Translated by Leejin J. Chung and Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
rfa.org
9. Zainichi Korean businessmen to donate to foundation for forced labor victims
I think the next announcement should be that major Japanese businesses will contribute to the fund.
Zainichi Korean businessmen to donate to foundation for forced labor victims
donga.com
Posted March. 11, 2023 08:07,
Updated March. 11, 2023 08:07
Zainichi Korean businessmen to donate to foundation for forced labor victims. March. 11, 2023 08:07. by Na-Ri Shin journari@donga.com.
On Friday, Korean residents in Japan expressed their support for the government's solution to compensate victims of forced labor, which was led by business leaders. They also stated their willingness to contribute to the Foundation for Supporting Victims of Forced Labor in Japan, which is affiliated with the government. This marks the first time that the "Zainichi" (Koreans in Japan) community has announced to contribute to the foundation fund, which provides compensation on behalf of Japanese companies (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nippon Steel) that have been sued for their role in forced labor during World War II. The Korean residents plan to officially announce their intention to contribute to the fund in Tokyo after the Korea-Japan summit on Friday.
On Friday, Kim Deok-gil (77), the chairman of Kaneda Holdings and a second-generation Korean-Japanese, told The Dong-A Ilbo in a phone interview that he and other Korean-Japanese business owners in Shin-Okubo, Tokyo's Korea Town, have decided to donate and work towards improving Korea-Japan relations. According to the president of the Korean Residents in Japan (Mindan), 11 or 12 people have expressed their intention to participate in the donation so far, and this number is expected to increase further after the official announcement on Friday.
“Improving the relationship between the two countries would bring benefits, but it is also appropriate to contribute to the compensation issue,” Kim said. “I was surprised to hear that the public opinion in Korea was not supportive of the decision to donate. I had planned to make the announcement on March 27, but decided to move the date forward because I believed that we could improve the relationship between Korea and Japan.”
On the same day, a high-ranking official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said during a briefing for the Foreign Correspondents' Club, “We anticipate Japanese defendant companies will participate in the 'Future Fund' (tentative name) by the business communities of both Korea and Japan, which is currently being discussed in economic circles. While the participation of the defendant companies is not likely in the short term, their contribution is still possible as the relationship between Korea and Japan continues to progress.
한국어
donga.com
10. Korean cosmetics firms shift focus to North America from China
A national security issue? You decide.
Korean cosmetics firms shift focus to North America from China
The Korea Times · March 11, 2023
By Kim Jae-heun
Korean cosmetics companies are stepping up efforts to expand their presence in North America, where a growing number of young consumers have become fans of Korean music, movies and other cultural contents, while reducing their dependence on China, according to company officials.
Over the past decade, the cosmetics firms saw their sales grow at an explosive rate thanks to Chinese consumers who used to be big buyers of made-in-Korea beauty products. But this has become a thing of the past as more and more Chinese now prefer either high-priced European brands or affordable local ones.
Now, AMOREPACIFIC, LG Household & Health Care (LG H&H) and other domestic beauty product manufacturers have hired new models or rebranded their products to appeal to millennials and Gen Z consumers in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
AMOREPACIFIC, Korea's largest cosmetics company, recently changed the brand logo of its premium product line, "Sulwhasoo," from Chinese characters to English. This is the first time that AMOREPACIFIC dumped the Chinese characters that the company had been using since 1997.
"We can say that AMOREPACIFIC has completely changed the basic identity of Sulwhasoo that it had been promoting since the beginning of the brand's establishment," a local cosmetics firm official said."
The company hired K-pop musician Rose as its global ambassador in January and also featured models from diverse ethnic groups in its new Sulwhasoo advertisement.
"This is a symbolic moment demonstrating that the main target market for K-beauty is shifting to North America," the official added.
However, AMOREPACIFIC said the Chinese market is still important and its renewal efforts only aim to diversify global customer demographics.
"The reason why we changed our brand logo in English is to focus on the heritage of Sulwhasoo in the global market. We wanted to show the history and philosophy of the brand," an AMOREPACIFIC official said. "We hired Rose as a global ambassador to utilize her fame in North America."
LG H&H also refreshed its leading cosmetics brand, "The history of Whoo." It ditched the gold package design and herbal scents that suited Chinese customers' tastes.
The company shifted its sales and marketing strategies focusing on China to North America. In January, it appointed new CEO Moon Hye-young to lead LG H&H Americas, who built her career at Starbucks and Amazon in the United States.
Declining sales in China have prompted the two companies to shift their focus to the North American market.
After the outbreak of COVID-19, China locked down a number of its major cities to contain the spread of infections. As a result, many Korean cosmetic brands had to shut down their shops in China.
China also banned its people from traveling abroad and the sales of Korean cosmetics products at duty-free shops plunged as a result.
Sales of LG H&H's "The History of Whoo" and "Sum 37" decreased 38 percent and 16 percent, respectively, year-on-year in 2022.
AMOREPACIFIC's revenues in Asia fell 24 percent amid a 17 percent drop in overseas sales during the same period.
Their revenues from the Chinese market account for more than half of total overseas sales.
The rapid growth of local cosmetics brands in China is another big threat that is hurting Korean cosmetics firms. According to a survey by global consulting firm PWC in June of last year, 45 percent of Chinese respondents preferred homegrown brands.
AmoreaPacific and LG H&H are also striving to make their cosmetics brands appeal to younger consumers.
Sulwhasoo is often referred as a premium beauty brand for middle-age customers here. However, the company recently came up with a "young anti-aging" concept for its products to not only target consumers in their 40s, but also young customers in their 20s and 30s.
AMOREPACIFIC's low-cost brand Innisfree has deviated from its "Jeju Island" concept. Innisfree has strongly advocated Jeju Island's nature-friendly image in its products until now, using Jeju green tea and volcanic ash as raw materials in its products.
However, the brand has created a new virtual island called "New Isle" as a marketing strategy targeting Gen Z consumers.
"We broke the stereotype of cosmetics brand advertising by adopting a new virtual island in our marketing concept and we aim to capture the attention of young consumers," an Innisfree official said.
LG H&H's "O HUI" brand hired actor Son Suk-ku as its new main model, replacing Kim Tae-hee and Shin Min-ah.
"We hired Son to appeal to young customers and make O HUI a younger brand," an LG H&H official said. "Gen Z is our future consumer group and targeting them now will help us to establish a new paradigm in the K-beauty industry."
Kolmar Korea is also focusing on its research and development and production capabilities in North America. It aims to become a global cosmetics original design manufacturing (ODM) firm by lowering its dependence on China and expanding its business scope to the United States and Canada.
The company acquired the "Kolmar" trademark rights from Kolmar USA in May of last year and secured exclusive rights to the brand in the global market.
It is currently constructing North American technology and sales center in New Jersey. The facility will be responsible for adjusting technologies developed in Korea to local policies and serve as a base to expand sales networks in the U.S. market.
"We will expand our business in the North American market with our acquisition of global trademark rights for 'Kolmar' and opening the technology sales center," a company official said.
The firm is also considering building its second production facility in Olyphant, Pennsylvania.
The Korea Times · March 11, 2023
11. Envisioning Korea in 2070 in births, deaths, marriages and immigration
See the graphic a the link: http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20230309000802
[Weekender] Envisioning Korea in 2070 in births, deaths, marriages and immigration
koreaherald.com · by Jung Min-kyung · March 9, 2023
A dynamic, cutthroat society that never rests -- that has been South Korea until now.
Changes have taken place in this Asian country in recent decades at speeds no other nation could follow: from poverty to prosperity, from the ruins of colonial occupation and civil war to becoming a rising cultural superpower on the international stage.
But at the same breakneck pace, Korea is leading the world into a future where the majority live past 90 years old and fewer people are working to keep the economy going.
According to projections by the government-run Korean Statistical Information Service, Korea in 2070 will have a population of 37.6 million, about 27 percent less than today’s. Deaths, at 702,000, will far outweigh births, at 196,000. The median age of the population will be 62.2.
Here’s a glimpse into Korea in 2070 based on the KOSIS data, interpreted by The Korea Herald.
Country for old men
In 2070, Korea’s population will be predominantly elderly.
People aged 65 and above will account for 46.4 percent, becoming the largest demographic group. Currently, this age group takes up 18.4 percent of the population.
What’s more, the share of people aged 85 or older will take up a full 21.8 percent of the total, up from the current 4.5 percent.
Today, the 15-64 age group, which is currently defined as the working-age population, makes up 70.5 percent -- by far the largest portion of the population -- but this group is projected to shrink to below 50 percent -- 46.1 percent to be precise.
A key factor making this situation possible is continued improvement in South Koreans' life expectancy, supported by the country's robust, highly accessible and affordable public healthcare system.
Those born in 2070 will have a life expectancy of 91.2 years, up from the present 84.3 years.
Such a longer life span, coupled with the continually declining number of births, will transform the country’s demographic profile into an inverted pyramid with a larger elderly population and fewer younger people.
The median age of Koreans living in 2070 is projected at 62.2 years, a significant rise from the current 45.6 years, making the country indeed a "land of the old."
More people living alone
Forty-seven years from now, the typical nuclear family of 1990s sitcoms -- a family of four consisting of two heterosexual parents and two children -- will likely be harder to find.
The number of single-person households is projected to hit almost 10 million in 2050, growing from 7.3 million this year. The number of the elderly living alone will rise in tandem. The number of one-person households consisting of those 65 and older is expected to more than double from the current 1.9 million to 4.6 million in 2050.
Although the KOSIS data on single-person households does not provide projections for 2070, it looks likely that a far larger portion of Koreans alive in 2070 will be such loners.
A related trend to watch is that of falling marriages.
Every year, fewer Koreans are tying the knot. Marriages declined 9.8 percent on-year to 192,507 in 2021, Statistics Korea data released last year showed. 2021 marked the lowest number since the government started compiling such data in 1970 and part of a decade-long continuous fall in the number of marriages since 2011. The figure stood at 329,087 in 2011.
Meanwhile, the number of divorces came to 102,000 in 2021. It dropped 4.5 percent on-year, after falling 3.9 percent in 2020 from the previous year. Yet the number had increased in both 2018 and 2019, indicating fluctuations.
With out-of-wedlock births rare here, the declining marriage trend has a significant impact on Korea's total fertility rate. The average number of children that a woman is expected to give birth to over her lifetime plummeted from 1.65 in 1993 to 0.78 in 2022.
More culturally diverse?
The need for the country to reverse its plunging population and counteract its rapid aging presents an existential crisis for Korea. This is why admitting more immigration is being floated as the answer for the survival of this self-proclaimed ethnically homogeneous nation.
The government’s latest data showed that the number of residents of foreign nationality here came to 2.13 million as of November 2021. The figure has declined slightly for two consecutive years.
As for the “multicultural population," which refers to those belonging to families consisting of one parent of Korean citizenship and the other of foreign nationality, and their offspring, if any, the tally stood at 385,219, as of the end of 2021. It jumped from 229,241 in 2015.
The KOSIS projections for 2070 do not cover immigrants or the multicultural population.
Will the inflow of people from overseas be enough to offset the natural decline of Korea's population? Will Korea be a more ethnically diverse country by 2070?
Talk abounds on whether Korea will finally break away from its policy of tight immigration controls and open up to welcome more residents of foreign nationality.
“South Korea’s fast transition into an aging society coupled with its low fertility rates have increased demand for a foreign workforce,” said Lee Kyo-yong, a researcher at the state-affiliated Korea Labor Institute, said in a report published last year. “It needs to strengthen its immigration policy to cater to the needs of immigrants in terms of education and to ease the conditions for staying in this country.”
By Jung Min-kyung (mkjung@heraldcorp.com)
koreaherald.com · by Jung Min-kyung · March 9, 2023
12. North Korean women told to be 'flowers of loyalty' by having more children
Demonstrate personal loyalty to Kim Jong Un by having more babies.
North Korean women told to be 'flowers of loyalty' by having more children
The Telegraph · by Nicola Smith,
North Korean women have been urged to have more children in order to prove that they are “flowers of loyalty” devoted to the country's leader, Kim Jong-un.
The secretive state marked International Women's Day on Wednesday by issuing an official reminder that women should fulfill their roles as wives, daughters-in-law and mothers by supporting their husbands and children and boosting the country’s prosperity and development, reported the Korea Herald.
Sources within the country said that the act of having children to re-supply the nearly one-million strong army was being praised as the “greatest patriotism” in a series of propaganda lectures aimed at housewives in the northeastern province of Hamgyong, according to another report by Radio Free Asia.
In the northern province of Ryanggang, there were lectures hailing extremely fertile women as heroes, reported another source.
“They introduced some patriots who sent seven or eight of their kids to the military as an example,” the source said. “The lecturer emphasised the need to have a patriotic spirit that puts the needs of the country ahead of the family, like these women have.”
North Korea’s birth rate is about 1.8 children per woman – just below the recognised replacement level of 2.1 births, according to World Bank figures in 2020. However, reliable data on North Korean demographics is difficult to obtain from the reclusive regime.
Recent reports suggested that the authorities in the North have been offering families with three or more children extra corn, soybean paste and cooking oil twice a year in order to encourage childbirth at a time when the country is facing chronic food shortages and malnutrition.
Declining birthrates also pose a security challenge to the North and surrounding countries in the region, including Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, as tensions rise over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme and China’s military ambitions.
South Korea’s defence ministry has predicted manpower could shrink to almost half of current figures of 590,000 active military personnel within two decades as fewer young people choose to marry and have children.
Its birth rate dipped to 0.78 in 2022.
The Telegraph · by Nicola Smith,
13. U.S. to hold meeting at U.N. on North Korea rights abuses
Excellent. Human rights upfront.
U.S. to hold meeting at U.N. on North Korea rights abuses
Reuters · by Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS, March 9 (Reuters) - The United States will hold an informal meeting of United Nations Security Council members next week on human rights abuses in North Korea, a move likely to anger Pyongyang and spur opposition from China and Russia.
"The DPRK's human rights violations and abuses threaten international peace and security and are directly linked to the country's unlawful weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programs," the United States and Albania said in a note - seen by Reuters - promoting next Friday's meeting.
Albania is currently an elected member of the Security Council and is co-hosting the meeting with the United States.
The 15-member Security Council has regularly discussed human rights in North Korea, formally known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, since 2014. But China and Russia object to the issue being raised in the council.
Pyongyang rejects accusations of human rights abuses and blames sanctions for a dire humanitarian situation in North Korea. The country has been under U.N. sanctions over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs since 2006.
North Korea's U.N. mission in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on next week's meeting.
The aim of the informal meeting is to spotlight rights abuses and "identify opportunities for the international community to promote accountability," according to the U.S. and Albanian note.
They said that during the COVID-19 pandemic North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's government responded with "further isolation and repression, including shoot-to-kill orders."
"The DPRK government has increased efforts to suppress fundamental freedoms and the free flow of information, with reports of thousands of new arrests and harsh imprisonments. Today, a total of 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners are reported to be in prison in the DPRK ," according to the note.
The meeting comes amid heightened international tensions. Kim Yo Jong, Kim's powerful sister, has threatened to turn the Pacific Ocean into a "firing range" and warned that any move to shoot down North Korea's test missiles would be a declaration of war.
Pyongyang has launched dozens of ballistic missiles in the past year, including intercontinental ballistic missiles. But China and Russia oppose any further action by the Security Council, arguing that putting further pressure on North Korea would not be constructive. The pair vetoed a U.S.-led push to impose more U.N. sanctions on North Korea in May last year.
Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Sandra Maler
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Reuters · by Michelle Nichols
14. N. Korean Leader Regretted Lack of War-Ending Declaration with Trump
Kim squandered the best opportunity for a deal during the Moon and Trump administrations.
He is not as smart as he thinks he is.
N. Korean Leader Regretted Lack of War-Ending Declaration with Trump
http://world.kbs.co.kr/service/news_view.htm?lang=e&id=Po&Seq_Code=176355
Written: 2023-03-10 14:19:50/Updated: 2023-03-10 15:36:02
Photo : YONHAP News
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed regret that his summit with former U.S. President Donald Trump lacked a declaration formally ending the Korean War, according to a global news agency.
According to Virginia-basd political news outlet Politico on Thursday, Kim had conveyed the sentiment in a letter sent roughly a month after their summit on June 12, 2018, one of 150 exchanges revealed in the former president’s latest book, “Letters to Trump,” set to be released on April 25.
According to the letter dated July 30, 2018 that Politico obtained ahead of the book's publication, Kim expressed his appreciation to Trump “for having a firm faith in the excellent relations established” between their countries during the first summit and making efforts to fulfill promises made on “that historic day.”
Kim added in the letter that he feels content “to have formed good ties with such a powerful and preeminent statesman” like Trump, “though there is a sense of regret for the lack of anticipated declaration on the termination of war.”
In an interview with reporters earlier on Thursday, Trump elaborated on his letters with Kim, saying that the reclusive leader had called him ahead of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February 2018 and told him that he wanted to be part of the games.
Trump said that he talked with Kim on many occasions and got to know him “very well,” describing the North’s leader as “very smart, cunning and streetwise.”
15. Kellogg's Global Politics The North Korean Threat with David Maxwell
Podcast at this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1656913/12371687
Kellogg's Global Politics
The North Korean Threat with David Maxwell
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1656913/12371687
MARCH 07, 2023 ANITA KELLOGG
Kellogg's Global Politics
The North Korean Threat with David Maxwell
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On this episode, Anita speaks with David Maxwell, a retired US Army Special Forces Colonel, a Senior Advisor to the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy, and a Senior Fellow at the Global Peace Foundation. We talk about the various ways North Korea presents a national security threat to the United States that goes beyond its nuclear weapons program. We also discuss resetting the goal to place unification with South Korea first led by an informational warfare campaign and then denuclearization rather than the current policy of denuclearization before unification. Dave warns that the U.S. and our partners need to be prepared for a period of violent instability if the Kim regime loses its iron grip on North Korean leadership.
We begin the show by marking the one-year anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war. We discuss the remarkable unity of the West, while the rest of the world has largely opted for neutrality—of which many of these countries are helping Russia’s economy survive. We look at the historical reasons the West has less influence on the Global South than it often presumes. Finally, we cover China’s 12-point plan for peace and whether China or India might have a role as neutral arbiters of peace.
Topics Discussed in this Episode
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[03:40] Russia-Ukraine 1-year Later: Global South is Not on Board
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[27:25] China’s Peace Plan: Self-serving Ploy or Useful Framework?
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[36:15] Talking North Korea with David Maxwell
Articles and Resources Mentioned in Episode
Russia-Ukraine 1-year Later: Global South is Not on Board
China’s Peace Plan: Self-serving Ploy or Useful Framework?
Interview with David Maxwell
Follow Us
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
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