Quotes of the Day:

“The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think.” 

-Aristotle

"All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership." 

- John Kenneth Galbraith

"Man is so made that whenever anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish." 

- Jean de la Fontaine

1. N. Korea’s support of Hamas transcends just a transactional relationship

2. Military reconnaissance satellite successfully launches communication (South Korea)

3. N. Korea's spy satellite operation office begins mission: state media

4. North hacked 14 South Korean entities, including defense contractors, police say

5. Feulner says N. Korea pays heed to 'strength' and 'solidarity'

6. N. Korea warns 'physical clash, war' on Korean Peninsula a matter of time, not possibility

7. Yoon names presidential secretary for unification affairs as new spokesperson

8. N. Korea's Kim calls for measures to prevent fall in birthrate

9. US deploys fighter jets in S. Korea for air exercise in Singapore

10. North Korea accuses US of double standards for letting South Korea launch spy satellite from US soil

11. The North Korean leader calls for women to have more children to halt a fall in the birthrate

12. Adversaries wage space race across tense, divided Korean Peninsula

13. S.Korea Puzzles over N.Korean Succession

14. S. Korea successfully conducts third test flight of solid-fuel space rocket

15. S. Korea slams N. Korea for making false accusations over 2018 inter-Korean military accord

1. N. Korea’s support of Hamas transcends just a transactional relationship

Why does everyone ignore north Korea's malign activities in the Middle East (and around the world)? Everyone except Abe Cooper, Greg Scarlatoiu, and Bruce Bechtol that is.

And yes, the pro-north Korean groups should be considered pro-Hamas. Anyone who gives north Korea a pass for their malign activities are, indirectly at least, supporting Hamas and other terrorist groups and malign actors.

Important excerpt here. Why is there not more press and pundit reporting on this?

Excerpts:

North Korea’s relationship with Hamas is long-established. In his 2018 book, North Korea’s Military Proliferation in the Middle East and Africa, Dr. Bruce Bechtol provided a thorough record of North Korea’s proliferation to Iran, Syria, and terrorist groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah.

Bechtol identifies four categories of North Korean assistance to Iran: weapons of mass destruction and the platforms that carry them, conventional weapons sales, refurbishment of Soviet-era weapons, and military advising. Hamas has been the destination of proliferation across all categories, primarily through Iranian facilitation.

North Korea’s support of Hamas is not a purely transactional matter. There are strong ideological overtones behind North Korea’s assistance to anti-Israel, antisemitic groups.

Kim Jong Un’s criminal rule is grounded in grandfather Kim Il Sung’s fundamental ideological tenets. Kimilsungism is essential to Kim regime preservation.

In “Under the Banner of Marxist-Leninist Proletarian Internationalism, While Holding High the Standard of the Anti-Imperialist, Anti-American Struggle, Let Us Accelerate World Revolution,” Kim Il Sung states:

“Israel is a Middle Eastern outpost of Anglo-American aggression, which opposes the Arab people, obstructs their progress, and threatens their safety.”

N. Korea’s support of Hamas transcends just a transactional relationship

“North Korean leader Kim Jong Un instructed various agencies to find ways to comprehensively support Palestine in the war between Israel and Hamas,” Korea Broadcasting System reported.

By ABRAHAM COOPER, GREG SCARLATOIU

DECEMBER 4, 2023 00:56

Jerusalem Post

The October 7 savage Hamas invasion and genocidal attack on Israeli civilians has spawned revulsion from President Biden and top European leaders. Their crimes against humanity have also earned accolades and support from Hamas’ puppet master Iran, Tehran’s lackeys in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq, as well as calls for declarations of war against Israel from as far away as Algeria.

As pundits and media dig deeper, they discover another distant player: North Korea.

It was hard not to notice North Korea’s supply of rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons deployed by Hamas. Quoting South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, the Korea Broadcasting System reported:

“North Korean leader Kim Jong Un instructed various agencies to find ways to comprehensively support Palestine in the war between Israel and Hamas.”

US-based and self-declared “pacifist” or “feminist” organizations sympathetic to the Kim regime were quick to react. Hyun-sook Cho, Cathi Choi, and Kathleen Richards, senior operatives for Women Cross DMZ/Korea Peace Now, co-signed a statement by Nodutdol condemning Israel and legitimizing Hamas.

Palestinian Hamas militants take part in an anti-Israel rally in Gaza City May 22, 2021 (credit: REUTERS/MOHAMMED SALEM)

Pro-North Korea, pro-Hamas

Nodutdol is a US-based pro-North Korean organization that is also rabidly antisemitic, having condemned US and South Korean support of Israel while calling for “an end to the Zionist occupation of Palestine, once and for all.”

North Korea’s relationship with Hamas is long-established. In his 2018 book, North Korea’s Military Proliferation in the Middle East and Africa, Dr. Bruce Bechtol provided a thorough record of North Korea’s proliferation to Iran, Syria, and terrorist groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah.

Bechtol identifies four categories of North Korean assistance to Iran: weapons of mass destruction and the platforms that carry them, conventional weapons sales, refurbishment of Soviet-era weapons, and military advising. Hamas has been the destination of proliferation across all categories, primarily through Iranian facilitation.

North Korea’s support of Hamas is not a purely transactional matter. There are strong ideological overtones behind North Korea’s assistance to anti-Israel, antisemitic groups.

Kim Jong Un’s criminal rule is grounded in grandfather Kim Il Sung’s fundamental ideological tenets. Kimilsungism is essential to Kim regime preservation.

In “Under the Banner of Marxist-Leninist Proletarian Internationalism, While Holding High the Standard of the Anti-Imperialist, Anti-American Struggle, Let Us Accelerate World Revolution,” Kim Il Sung states:

“Israel is a Middle Eastern outpost of Anglo-American aggression, which opposes the Arab people, obstructs their progress, and threatens their safety.”

In Answers to the Questions Raised by Foreign Journalists, Kim Il Sung affirms:

“The Middle East crisis is the result of aggressive machinations by imperialists and their American masterminds, who have set up Jewish restorationists as shock troops to crush the rising Arab people’s liberation struggle.” Kim Il Sung blames tensions in the region on “Israeli aggression” and Israel’s “American imperialist manipulators.”

In 1967, North Koreans flew alongside Syrian pilots during the Six-Day War against Israel. North Korea trained Egyptian and Syrian pilots to fight against Israel. In an October 16, 1986, interview with the Egyptian newspaper Al Massa, Kim Il Sung states:

“Whenever the imperialists and the Zionists provoked an aggressive war in the Middle East, the [North] Korean people stood firmly on the side of justice. […] During the [Yom Kippur] war in October 1973, our airmen fought shoulder to shoulder with the Egyptian brothers on the same front.”

Through Iran’s abetment, North Korean weapons are in the hands of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis in Yemen. Iran’s “indigenous” weapons systems are engineered and produced by over 1,000 Iran-based North Korean personnel. According to a May 24, 1984 declassified CIA document, North Korean “training officers” were delivering military training to “foreign nationals” in Iran alongside “Iranian Revolutionary Guardsmen, previously trained foreigners, [and] Palestinians.”

North Korea proliferates instability and violence. None of the profits go to its people. The regime runs five gulags. Around 120,000 men, women, and children face forced labor, malnutrition, and brutality. To dare be a Christian is to declare yourself an enemy of the State.

Besides proliferation, the Kim regime oppresses and exploits its people at home and abroad to procure the funds needed to build its arsenal of terror. Pre-COVID, 100,000 workers were dispatched to 40 countries, one-third as construction workers in Qatar and the UAE. Most of their wages were confiscated by the regime.

Embedded in Kim Il Sung thought, North Korean support of Hamas, Hezbollah, and regimes determined to extinguish Israel transcends a purely transactional relationship.

Tunnel construction, the transfer of North Korean weapons and tactical training to Hamas is, in the worldview of the Kim regime, a way of bringing its anti-American, “anti-imperialist struggle” to the greatest US ally in the Middle East. Anti-Semitism is not merely a side effect of North Korea’s proliferation. Anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel and its people lie at the core of North Korea’s ideology.

Just as antisemitic hate crimes and invective soar to unprecedented heights in the US, the Kim regime, through its loyal followers, is adding their hatred online and on American streets.

Abraham Cooper is associate dean and director of global social action at the Simon Wiesenthal Center and chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Greg Scarlatoiu is executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.

Jerusalem Post

2. Military reconnaissance satellite successfully launches communication (South Korea)

I will bet north Korea's satellite does not have anywhere near this kind of capability.

Excerpt:

“Our capabilities include the ability to discern individual movements and identify specific vehicle types,” a military spokesperson said. The military is set to launch four additional Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) reconnaissance satellites from April next year until 2025. Subsequently, there are plans to deploy five reconnaissance satellites dedicated to monitoring North Korea’s nuclear facilities, missile bases, and mobile launch vehicles (TELs) bi-hourly. The intention is to conduct thorough and intensive surveillance.

Military reconnaissance satellite successfully launches communication

donga.com

Posted December. 04, 2023 08:01,

Updated December. 04, 2023 08:01

Military reconnaissance satellite successfully launches communication. December. 04, 2023 08:01. by Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com.

The South Korean military officially declared the successful operation of the inaugural reconnaissance satellite. Launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the U.S. in the early morning of Saturday (Korean time), the satellite is now in normal operation, demonstrating successful ground communication following its establishment in orbit. This achievement marks a pivotal milestone in the nation’s pursuit of autonomous space surveillance capabilities, reducing dependence on the U.S. Furthermore, it signifies the commencement of significant deployment of key assets for the kill chain (preemptive strike) strategy against North Korea.

The military reconnaissance satellite was successfully launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket at approximately 3:19 a.m. on Saturday. Following launch, it underwent the separation from the first-stage propellant and fairing and later from the second-stage propellant around 3:33 a.m., marking 14 minutes post-launch. The satellite successfully entered its designated orbit at an altitude of 500 kilometers. Shortly after that, the initial communication occurred with an overseas (Norwegian) ground station at 4:37 a.m., followed by communication with a domestic ground station at 9:47 a.m. Since these milestones, all satellite functions have been operating flawlessly.

“Our capabilities include the ability to discern individual movements and identify specific vehicle types,” a military spokesperson said. The military is set to launch four additional Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) reconnaissance satellites from April next year until 2025. Subsequently, there are plans to deploy five reconnaissance satellites dedicated to monitoring North Korea’s nuclear facilities, missile bases, and mobile launch vehicles (TELs) bi-hourly. The intention is to conduct thorough and intensive surveillance.

Following the ‘Malligyong-1’ launch on Nov. 21, North Korea is anticipated to launch Malligyong-2 and 3 consecutively as per its leader Kim Jong Un’s directive for additional reconnaissance satellites. Notably, there is a potential for North Korea to equip its upcoming satellites with high-resolution optical technology, possibly with support from Russia. Consequently, South Korean and U.S. authorities are closely monitoring these developments. Observers suggest that a ‘space reconnaissance race’ between the two Koreas must have been underway.

한국어

donga.com

3. N. Korea's spy satellite operation office begins mission: state media

N. Korea's spy satellite operation office begins mission: state media | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Park Boram · December 3, 2023

SEOUL, Dec. 3 (Yonhap) -- The office in charge of operating North Korea's military reconnaissance satellite has commenced its mission, the country's official news agency said Sunday.

The North successfully placed the reconnaissance satellite, Malligyong-1, into orbit on Nov. 21 after two failed attempts. The North has since said that a "fine-tuning" process on the satellite was under way and the Malligyong-1 would begin its official mission on Dec. 1.

"The reconnaissance satellite operation office, organized at the Pyongyang General Control Centre of the National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA), started to discharge its mission on December 2," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The office will perform its mission as an independent military intelligence organization, it also said.

The KCNA said the information acquired through the mission will be reported to "the relevant permanent executive department of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea and ... offered to major units regarded as war deterrence of the state and the General Reconnaissance Bureau of the Korean People's Army."

The KCNA also quoted the country's defense ministry as expressing "expectation that the war deterrence of the DPRK would assume more perfect military posture."

The DPRK refers to North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

This file image shows the Pyongyang General Control Centre of the National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA). (Yonhap)

pbr@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Park Boram · December 3, 2023

4. North hacked 14 South Korean entities, including defense contractors, police say

We cannot let the all purpose sword support the regime. We must strangle the regime's cyber capabilities.

Monday

December 4, 2023

 dictionary + A - A 

Published: 04 Dec. 2023, 12:03

Updated: 04 Dec. 2023, 12:39

North hacked 14 South Korean entities, including defense contractors, police say

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2023-12-04/national/northKorea/North-hacked-14-South-Korean-entities-including-defense-contractors-police-say/1927239

Kim Jong-un speaks before an audient at an event on Sunday. [KOREAN CENTRAL TV/YONHAP]

A North Korean hacking organization stole major technology data, including those from South Korean defense contractors. 

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on Monday, in a joint investigation with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, North Korean hacking group Andariel since last year has hacked the server of 14 entities, including South Korean defense contractors, research institutes, pharmaceutical companies and subsidiaries large corporations.

Andariel is suspected of stealing technology data, including laser anti-aircraft defense systems and the servers’ ID and password.

The data the North Korean hacking group reportedly stole is estimated to be roughly 1.2 terabytes.

The North Korean hacking group seemed to have hacked the entities through a South Korean server rental company.

The entities that were hacked were unaware of the hacking attacks until the police notified them.

The police said they could not disclose how hackings occurred as they are still investigating the case.

Andariel is a hacking organization specialized in stealing military intelligence. The U.S. Treasury Department has listed it as one of the three hacking organizations backed by North Korea, including the Lazarus Group and Bluenoroff in 2019.

The hackers’ identities were caught after an internet protocol (IP) address was traced. The e-mail a detected hacker used had an IP address that was traced to Ryugyong-dong, Pyongyang.

The police also found the North Korean hacking group Andariel, between 2021 and April this year, extorted 470 million won worth of cryptocurrency after destroying servers using ransomware in three entities it hacked.

The police found that extorted money was wired to North Korea through a cryptocurrency account owned by a foreign woman living in Korea.

The woman was a former employee of a Hong Kong-based foreign exchange company.

According to the police, roughly 630,000 yuan or 110 million won worth of cryptocurrency was wired once in 2021 and another in 2022 to a Chinese bank in Liaoning Province, China, where it was withdrawn.

The police said that they have launched an investigation against the woman since July and are looking into the woman’s financial accounts and mobile phone.

The police said they have secured roughly 50,000 computer files and are looking into the connection between the woman and the North Korean hacking group.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]

5. Feulner says N. Korea pays heed to 'strength' and 'solidarity'

I wish Mr. Fuelner would recommend a human rights upfront approach, an information campaign, and the pursuit of a free and unified Korea.

Excerpts:

"One of the things, I think, both administrations -- Trump and Biden -- have learned is that the work of many years of the six-party talks and things like that -- that might have been well-intentioned back when they tried it -- does not work anymore," he said. "It's not going to work."

...

Noting Pyongyang's unceasing focus on its weapons of mass destruction programs, Feulner said the direct engagement with the headstrong North Korean leader did not prove to be a viable solution.

"I think, President Trump, if he comes back, will have learned his lesson that you don't just think that somehow, a bilateral relationship with Kim Jong-un is going to help solve the problem because clearly it didn't," he said. "I think clearly it won't in the future."

Feulner described the closer trilateral relationship between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo as a "very positive thing," which he said Trump should build on if reelected.

"In terms of the trilateral relationship, I hope and I will encourage candidate Trump to build on where we are now," he said.

Feulner says N. Korea pays heed to 'strength' and 'solidarity' | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · December 4, 2023

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (Yonhap) -- What a recalcitrant North Korea respects is "strength" and "solidarity," a U.S. think tank founder has said, noting he would advise former President Donald Trump to keep up trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan.

Edwin Feulner, founder of the conservative Heritage Foundation, made the remarks as Trump seeks a second White House term. The think tank has led the development of "Project 2025," a presidential transition plan in the event of a Republican victory in next year's election.

"What North Korea really respects is strength and solidarity on the other side, and that, hopefully, is what he would get from either a reelected Biden or a reelected Trump," Feulner said during an interview with South Korean reporters last week.

He stressed the importance of "strength" as he pointed out past diplomatic efforts did not work.

"One of the things, I think, both administrations -- Trump and Biden -- have learned is that the work of many years of the six-party talks and things like that -- that might have been well-intentioned back when they tried it -- does not work anymore," he said. "It's not going to work."

Feulner was responding to a question about whether there would be a notable change in Washington's approach toward Pyongyang if Trump gets reelected for a nonconsecutive second term.

Edwin Feulner, founder of the Heritage Foundation, speaks during an interview with South Korean reporters at his office in Alexandria, Virginia, on Nov. 28, 2023. (Yonhap)

During Trump's first term from 2017-2021, his administration pursued a direct leader-to-leader engagement with Pyongyang, which led to the three bilateral talks between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un -- one in 2018 and the others the following year.

Noting Pyongyang's unceasing focus on its weapons of mass destruction programs, Feulner said the direct engagement with the headstrong North Korean leader did not prove to be a viable solution.

"I think, President Trump, if he comes back, will have learned his lesson that you don't just think that somehow, a bilateral relationship with Kim Jong-un is going to help solve the problem because clearly it didn't," he said. "I think clearly it won't in the future."

Feulner described the closer trilateral relationship between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo as a "very positive thing," which he said Trump should build on if reelected.

"In terms of the trilateral relationship, I hope and I will encourage candidate Trump to build on where we are now," he said.

He also praised other cooperation platforms, including the AUKUS grouping involving the U.S., Britain and Australia, and the Quad forum consisting of the U.S., Australia, India and Japan -- groups that the Biden administration has pushed to nurture.

Feulner struck a positive note on improvement in bilateral ties between Seoul and Tokyo, long strained over historical issues stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.

"He (Trump) will now have to deal with the new closer relationship between Korea and Japan, which is, I think, very much a strength in terms of the trilateral relationship," he said. "If the two of you can get along better, it's much better for us as well."

Touching on growing voices in South Korea in support of nuclear armament against North Korean threats, Feulner said, "That's not necessary."

"But I think it's a good thing to talk about to remind North Korea that they are isolated, that the U.S. has the ROK's back and will have it whoever's in the White House, and that the U.S., the ROK and Japan are closer together than they have been at any time in the past to add and multiply."

ROK stands for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.

Addressing a question about whether weaknesses in the U.S.' global leadership has led to the rise of Russia and Iran, Feulner recalled America's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

"I was very depressed in early September of the first year of the Biden administration in 2021 because of the awful way that the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan, leaving friends, allies and even dual national citizens behind in Afghanistan," he said.

"To have left that way, I think, was a disgrace to the U.S. reputation into the whole willingness for other people to trust us around the world," he added.

Feulner then raised the question of whether it became more likely that Russia would have the nerve to carry out what it did against Ukraine.

"I think it was frankly. I think it was more likely because of what had happened in Afghanistan that he was willing to do that," he said. "If that had not happened, would Hamas have had the nerves to do?"

Feulner served as president of the Heritage Foundation from 1977 to 2013. From 2017-2018, he worked as president again on an interim basis. He also worked as part of Trump's presidential transition team.

sshluck@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · December 4, 2023

6. N. Korea warns 'physical clash, war' on Korean Peninsula a matter of time, not possibility

(LEAD) N. Korea warns 'physical clash, war' on Korean Peninsula a matter of time, not possibility | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · December 3, 2023

(ATTN: UPDATES with South Korean foreign ministry's response)

SEOUL, Dec. 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korea warned Sunday that a "physical clash and war" have become a matter of time on the Korean Peninsula in the wake of the scrapping of an inter-Korean military tension reduction accord, threatening that South Korea will face "total collapse" if it undertakes any hostile act.

A North Korean military commentator made the threat in an article carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency, blaming the South for the scrapping of the 2018 Comprehensive Military Agreement that called for a series of military measures to reduce tensions along the border.

This photo, taken from an observation tower on South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island bordering North Korea in the West Sea, shows the entrances of artillery positions (in red circles) being opened on North Korea's Jangjae Island on Nov. 29, 2023, days after the North's threat to immediately reinstate all military measures previously suspended under a 2018 inter-Korean military agreement aimed at mitigating military tensions. (Yonhap)

The North effectively scrapped the agreement last month after the South suspended part of the deal in protest of the North's successful launch of a military spy satellite. The North has since restored guard posts and brought heavy firearms along the border.

"Owing to the reckless and imprudent moves of the puppet group of traitors to nullify the north-south military agreement, the extreme military confrontation as serious as that before the adoption of the agreement has been created again on the Korean peninsula," the commentator said.

The 2018 deal was the "minimum mechanism and the final line for preventing accidental military conflict in the area along the Military Demarcation Line where huge armed forces stand in highest density and sharp confrontation in the world," the commentator said.

"The physical clash and war on the Korean Peninsula have become a matter of time, not possibility," the commentator said.

The commentator also said the North's satellite launch was the country's "legitimate and just right of a sovereign state" and that it makes no sense for the South to suspend the deal in response to the satellite launch that is not banned under the agreement.

If the North's satellite launch constitutes a violation of the 2018 accord, South Korea's launch of its own military spy satellite would be no different, the commentator said, referring to Friday's launch of the country's first indigenous military spy satellite.

"Any hostile act of the puppet group against the DPRK will lead to the miserable destruction of the puppet army and the total collapse of the ROK," the commentator said, using the acronyms of the official names of the North and the South.

"The prevailing situation proves once again the validity of the choice of the DPRK which has pushed forward with the bolstering of nuclear war deterrence and modernization of armed forces," the commentator said. "The provokers who completely nullified the north-south military agreement will have to surely pay a high price."

Seoul's foreign ministry responded by reiterating that any launch by North Korea using ballistic missile technology is a "clear violation" of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

"The international community strongly condemns this," a ministry official said, noting that North Korea's claimed right to space development is reserved only for countries that abide by international law and maintain international peace and security.

On North Korea's claims that South Korea's own military spy satellite launch constituted a violation of the inter-Korean agreement, the ministry official said Seoul's actions were "lawful" as they were in line with international law and did not pose a threat to international peace and security.

"We strongly urge North Korea to immediately stop the false instigation over our lawful actions and any additional provocations, and swiftly return to the path to denuclearization," the official said.

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · December 3, 2023

7. Yoon names presidential secretary for unification affairs as new spokesperson

Sunday

December 3, 2023

 dictionary + A - A 

Published: 03 Dec. 2023, 19:23

Yoon names presidential secretary for unification affairs as new spokesperson

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2023-12-03/national/politics/Yoon-names-presidential-secretary-for-unification-affairs-as-new-spokesperson-/1926860

Kim Soo-kyung, presidential secretary for unification affairs, speaks at a press briefing at the Yongsan presidential office after her appointment as new presidential spokesperson on Sunday. [YONHAP]

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Sunday appointed Kim Soo-kyung, presidential secretary for unification affairs, as his new spokesperson.

Kim, a former reporter for the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper, will succeed Lee Do-woon, who was recently promoted to replace Kim Eun-hye as senior presidential secretary for public relations.

In a press briefing on Sunday, Lee said that Kim, based on her career as a journalist in the early 2000s and various experiences in academia and training students, is expected to “become an excellent communication partner with the media."

He noted that through her appearances in broadcasts has “expressed many reasonable opinions on various political and social issues.”

“I feel a weight on my shoulders because I know very well how difficult and important this position is,” Kim told reporters at the Yongsan presidential office. 

"There will be many complex and difficult situations in national affairs in the future,” she said. “I will try to do my best to explain national issues in an easy-to-understand manner from the people’s perspective.”

Kim received her undergraduate degree at Seoul National University's Department of Linguistics and received a doctorate in sociology at Stanford University. 

Ahead of her appointment as a presidential secretary last year, she worked as an assistant professor of social welfare at Hanshin University. She also previously worked as a research professor at Korea University and as a research fellow for the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification.

She is born in 1976, making her one of the few younger and female presidential aides in the administration. 

Kim will begin her official duties as new presidential spokesperson on Monday.

Yoon also approved the appointment of Cho Sang-myeong, presidential secretary for social integration, as chief of the situation room for state affairs.

Cho, previously served in positions at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. He also served on former President Lee Myung-bak's presidential transition committee in 2008.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]

8. N. Korea's Kim calls for measures to prevent fall in birthrate

So does unification solve the demographic problems on both sides of the DMZ?

N. Korea's Kim calls for measures to prevent fall in birthrate

The Korea Times · December 4, 2023

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks at the fifth National Meeting of Mothers held in Pyongyang, Dec. 4. Yonhap

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for measures to prevent a decrease in the country's birth rate in the first national meeting of mothers in 11 years, state media reported Monday.

Kim said he has thought about North Korean mothers whenever he faced difficulties in steering state and party affairs, and stressed the role of mothers in such various fields as helping resolve "non-social" problems and promoting the unity of society.

"There are also issues of preventing the birthrate from falling and well nurturing children," he said at the fifth National Meeting of Mothers that opened Sunday in Pyongyang, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

North Korea's total fertility rate — the number of children that are expected to be born to a women over her lifetime — came to 1.8 in 2023, according to data posted on the website of the U.N. Population Fund.

Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, a state-run think tank, said North Korea appears to have held the meeting to help tackle the low birth rate and urge families to do their part in strengthening youths' loyalty to the nation.

North Korea last held a national meeting of mothers in 2012. The inaugural gathering took place in November 1961. (Yonhap)

The Korea Times · December 4, 2023

9. US deploys fighter jets in S. Korea for air exercise in Singapore

People should not read the wrong thing into this. This enhances training of US airmen. We need to keep in mind that training in Korea is becoming more restricted.

Excerpts:

During the flight to the city-state, a commercial KDC‐10 tanker aircraft refueled the F-16s in the first such instance, the US military said.

The US Air Force has previously deployed its fighters in South Korea for Commando Sling. In 2018, six F-16s from Kunsan Air Base in Gunsan, 178 km south of Seoul, joined the exercise.

The latest three-week exercise featured fighter air-to-air capabilities and flight support operations, with the Osan-based jets training with Singaporean F-15, F-16 and A-330 multi-role tanker transport aircraft, the service said.

"Osan pilots were able to train in dissimilar dog fighting, combined tactics and increase airborne training time through air-to-air refueling," it said in a recent release.

US deploys fighter jets in S. Korea for air exercise in Singapore

koreaherald.com · by Yonhap · December 4, 2023

By Yonhap

Published : Dec. 4, 2023 - 11:06

A US Air Force F-16 fighter jet returns to Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul, on Nov. 27, after taking part in the Commando Sling exercise in Singapore, in this photo provided by the US Air Force. (Yonhap)

A group of US fighter jets stationed in South Korea joined an annual aerial exercise in Singapore last month, the US Air Force has said, with a commercial aircraft refueling the fighters en route to the city-state for the first time.

The US military deployed six F-16s of the 51st Fighter Wing at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul, to participate in the bilateral Commando Sling exercise with the Singaporean Air Force at Paya Lebar Air Base from Nov. 6 to 24.

During the flight to the city-state, a commercial KDC‐10 tanker aircraft refueled the F-16s in the first such instance, the US military said.

The US Air Force has previously deployed its fighters in South Korea for Commando Sling. In 2018, six F-16s from Kunsan Air Base in Gunsan, 178 km south of Seoul, joined the exercise.

The latest three-week exercise featured fighter air-to-air capabilities and flight support operations, with the Osan-based jets training with Singaporean F-15, F-16 and A-330 multi-role tanker transport aircraft, the service said.

"Osan pilots were able to train in dissimilar dog fighting, combined tactics and increase airborne training time through air-to-air refueling," it said in a recent release.

Commando Sling, which first began in 1990, is designed to build aerial communication, increase interoperability and improve alliance capability between the two countries' air forces, according to the US military. (Yonhap)

koreaherald.com · by Yonhap · December 4, 2023

10. North Korea accuses US of double standards for letting South Korea launch spy satellite from US soil

But neither South Korea and the US are under sanction by the UN for malign and hostile activity that violate UN Security Council Resolutions.

North Korea accuses US of double standards for letting South Korea launch spy satellite from US soil

By Hyung-Jin Kim | AP

December 4, 2023 at 5:47 a.m. EST

The Washington Post · by Hyung-Jin Kim | AP · December 4, 2023

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Monday accused the United States of double standards, slamming it for letting rival South Korea launch a spy satellite from U.S. territory after condemning the North’s earlier satellite launch.

Last Friday, South Korea launched its first domestically built spy satellite into space from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base. That came after North Korea put its own military spy satellite into orbit for the first time on Nov. 21.

Unlike the South Korean launch, North Korea’s satellite liftoff drew immediate, strong rebukes from Washington, Seoul and their partners because it violated U.N. Security Council resolutions. The world body views any North Korean launch using ballistic technology as a cover for testing its missile technology. North Korea maintains it has the right to launch satellites and test missiles in the face of what it calls U.S.-led military threats.

“It is a space-level tragicomedy that the U.S., going frantic with illegal denunciation and sanctions moves over the exercise of (North Korea’s) sovereignty, has shown behavior based on double standards by launching a spy satellite of (South Korea) in a shameless manner,” an unidentified spokesperson for the North’s National Aerospace Technology Administration said in a statement.

The statement said if “the gangster-like logic of the U.S. … is connived and tolerated, global peace and stability will be exposed to an irrevocable grave danger.”

North Korea has said its spy satellite transmitted imagery with space views of key sites in the U.S. and South Korea, including the White House and the Pentagon. But it hasn’t yet released any of those satellite photos. Many outside experts question whether it can send militarily useful high-resolution imagery.

North Korea has said it’ll launch additional spy satellites to better monitor its rivals’ moves and enhance the precision-guided strike capability of its missiles.

South Korea also plans to launch four more spy satellites by 2025 under a contract with SpaceX. The establishment of its own space-based surveillance network would ease its dependence on U.S. spy satellites to monitor strategic facilities in North Korea. Experts say launching a satellite aboard a SpaceX rocket is more economical and that South Korea also needs more tests to ensure the reliability of a launch rocket.

Earlier Monday, South Korea conducted a third test flight for a solid-fuel rocket near its southern Jeju island, according to the South’s Defense Ministry. A ministry statement said the launch was successful and put a civilian commercial satellite into orbit.

Solid-fuel rockets require shorter launch times and cheaper development and manufacturing costs than liquid-fuel rockets. Experts say solid-fuel rockets are used to launch smaller spy satellite because they have weaker thrust force than similar-sized liquid-fuel rockets. They say the development of solid-fuel rockets can help improve South Korea’s missile technology as well.

After the North Korean satellite launch, South Korea said it would resume frontline aerial surveillance in response. South Korea said North Korea reacted by restoring border guard posts. Both North and South Korean steps would breach their earlier agreement to ease military tensions along their border.

The North Korean satellite liftoff followed two earlier launch failures. South Korea suspects North Korea likely received Russian technical assistance for a satellite launch program as part of expanding cooperation between the two nations, both locked in separate confrontations with the United States.

The Washington Post · by Hyung-Jin Kim | AP · December 4, 2023

11. The North Korean leader calls for women to have more children to halt a fall in the birthrate

I recall a story from a child of a former ROK Prisoner of War who was never returned when the Armistice was signed (along with some 78,000). Because they were allowed to marry women from the north they started families. But their "Songbun" (the regime's social classification system that controls the population) prevented any upward mobility since he was from the South and relegated him to only one job - working the coal mines. Also because of Songbun his children faced a life of working in the coal mines. This escapee related that her older brother lamented to his parents asking, "why did you even have me? Why did you let me be born into slavery?" With these 78,000 POWs the regime created a perpetual slave class whose children, and their children's children could only continue working as miners.

Given that, why would Koreans from the north want to have children?

The North Korean leader calls for women to have more children to halt a fall in the birthrate

The Washington Post · by Kim Tong-Hyung and Hyung-Jin Kim | AP · December 4, 2023

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said it is a duty of women to halt a fall in the country’s births in order to strengthen national power, state media said Monday, as his government steps up the call for the people to have more children.

While getting a detailed read on North Korea’s population trends is extremely difficult because of the limited statistics it discloses, South Korea’s government assesses that the North’s fertility rate has declined steadily for the past 10 years. That is a concerning development for a country that depends on mobilized labor to help keep its broken, heavily sanctioned economy afloat.

Kim’s latest appeal for women to have more children was made Sunday during the country’s National Mothers Meeting, the first of its kind in 11 years.

“Stopping the decline in birthrates and providing good child care and education are all our family affairs that we should solve together with our mothers,” Kim said in his opening speech.

According to South Korea’s government statistics agency, North Korea’s total fertility rate, or the average number of babies expected to be born to a woman over her lifetime, was at 1.79 in 2022, down from 1.88 in 2014. The decline is still slower than its wealthier rival South Korea, whose fertility rate last year was 0.78, down from 1.20 in 2014.

South Korea’s fertility rate, the lowest in the developed world, is believed to be due to a potent cocktail of reasons discouraging people from having babies, including a decaying job market, a brutally competitive school environment for children, traditionally weak child care assistance and a male-centered corporate culture where many women find it impossible to combine careers and family.

While North Korea is one of the poorest nations in the world, the change in its demographic structure is similar to that of rich countries, some observers say.

“Many families in North Korea also don’t intend to have more than one child these days as they know they need lots of money to raise their kids, send them to school and help them get jobs,” said Ahn Kyung-su, head of DPRKHEALTH.ORG, a website focusing on health issues in North Korea.

Ahn, who has interviewed many North Korean defectors, said the smuggling of a vast amount of South Korean TV dramas and movies in the past 20 years that showed an elevated social status for women has also likely influenced women in North Korea not to have many children.

North Korea implemented birth control programs in the 1970-80s to slow a postwar population growth. The country’s fertility rate recorded a major decline following a famine in the mid-1990s that was estimated to have killed hundreds of thousands of people, the Seoul-based Hyundai Research Institute said in a report in August.

“Given North Korea lacks resources and technological advancements, it could face difficulties to revive and develop its manufacturing industry if sufficient labor forces are not provided,” the institute report said.

According to North Korean state media reports this year, the country has introduced a set of benefits for families with three or more children, including preferential free housing arrangements, state subsidies, free food, medicine and household goods and educational perks for children.

South Korea’s statistics agency estimates the North’s population at 25.7 million. The Hyundai institute report said that North Korea was expected to experience a population shrink from 2034 and forecast its population would decrease to 23.7 million by 2070.

Ahn, the website head, said that Kim Jong Un’s repeated public appearances with his young daughter, Ju Ae, are also likely be efforts to encourage families. Other experts said the daughter’s appearances were more likely an attempt to show she’s her father’s heir.

___ Associated Press writer Jiwon Song contributed to this report.

The Washington Post · by Kim Tong-Hyung and Hyung-Jin Kim | AP · December 4, 2023

12. Adversaries wage space race across tense, divided Korean Peninsula

A kinetic response is not warranted. But the alliance could respond with an aggressive information campaign.

Excerpts:

And a direct hit is not always needed.

“Rather than a kinetic strike, there are a lot of things they could do,” said Daniel Pinkston, an international relations expert at Troy University who also teaches space security, including “signal jamming or cyber or electronic warfare to disrupt the data link and the capabilities to manage or operate the satellite. … You trail a satellite and jam its signal and suddenly the North Koreans’ data link is not working.”

South Korea has its own expanding space ambitions, from space launch vehicles such as its Nuri rocket program to a fledgling reconnaissance satellite constellation, of which last Friday’s launch was the first placement. Seoul is moving ahead despite a close and deepening relationship with the U.S. military designed to deter a hostile North Korea.

“There is a space and counter-space competition unfolding, and [South Koreans] want independence even though there is cooperation and sharing.”

In addition to its independent programs, South Korea is a partner in the U.S.-led Artemis initiative, a combined robot-manned Moon mission program.

Adversaries wage space race across tense, divided Korean Peninsula

Seoul launches first space intel satellite weeks after Pyongyang

washingtontimes.com · by Andrew Salmon

Video

By - The Washington Times - Sunday, December 3, 2023

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Sunday that its new Malligyong-1 spy satellite had commenced official operations, after warning the previous day that any U.S. attempt to disable or destroy it would be considered an act of war. The warning came two days after South Korea followed its bitter adversary into space, saying it had successfully put in orbit its first reconnaissance satellite.

North Korean state media reported that satellite data gathered from Pyongyang’s first-ever intelligence satellite in orbit will be sent to the party’s Central Military Commission, to “major units regarded as war deterrence” and to the Reconnaissance General Bureau, which oversees the country’s espionage assets and military special forces.

On Saturday, Kim Jong-un’s regime warned that the “U.S. Space Force’s deplorable hostility” toward the Malligyong-1 is a challenge to national sovereignty “and more exactly, a declaration of war against it.”

The warning was an apparent response to comments from a U.S. Space Force spokesperson last week. Both Seoul and Washington have protested the launch as a violation of U.N. Security Council sanctions on the North Korean regime.

It came as the space race on and over Korea heats up. Russia and the U.S. appear locked in a contest to assist their favored states on the divided, heavily armed peninsula.

On Dec. 1, Seoul placed its first home-grown spy satellite into orbit. It made contact with ground control just over an hour after blast off, according to Korea’s Joint Chiefs. A planned network of five satellites will be able to carry out high-resolution surveillance on North Korea’s key military facilities at 2-hour intervals, South Korean officials said.

That followed Pyongyang’s successful placement of the Malligyong-1 into orbit on Nov. 21 — an operation that boosted national prestige following failed launches in May and August.

The South Korea rocket was lifted into space by a SpaceX Falcon rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

While the North Korean satellite rode a home-grown Chollima-1 rocket into orbit, South Korean intelligence has claimed that Russian assistance and advice were key in the success of Pyongyang’s latest launch.

North Korean state media claims that the satellite has already captured imagery of such sensitive U.S. sites as the White House, Norfolk Naval Base and Guam.

However, questions hang over the clarity and the availability of the imagery captured by the Malligyong-1 is, given that no images have been released by the North.

Writing on North Korea-focused website 38 North, Vann H. Van Diepen, a former U.S. national intelligence officer specializing the strategic weapons proliferation between 2006-2009, said the likely impact of the single North Korean reconnaissance satellite so far was “modest.”

Given debris from imagery equipment found after prior failed launches, the Malligyong-1 is likely to be most useful in “detecting the construction of new facilities, noting substantial increases in activity at known facilities, and detecting large concentrations of troops, ships and aircraft.”

“This would help Pyongyang detect and track a buildup of allied forces in the region, either to warn of a feared attack on North Korea or to prompt North Korea to update its targeting of such facilities and concentrations in an attack it was planning to conduct.”

Speaking to U.S.-funded Radio Free Asia, Space Force spokeswoman Sheryll Klinkel said that the new U.S. service has “a variety of reversible and irreversible means” to frustrate an adversary’s space operations.

Those means, analysts say, include a missile strike or a “proximity operation” by a “space tug” — an orbital robot used to conduct maintenance on conventional satellites — to nudge it out of orbit, said one expert.

And a direct hit is not always needed.

“Rather than a kinetic strike, there are a lot of things they could do,” said Daniel Pinkston, an international relations expert at Troy University who also teaches space security, including “signal jamming or cyber or electronic warfare to disrupt the data link and the capabilities to manage or operate the satellite. … You trail a satellite and jam its signal and suddenly the North Koreans’ data link is not working.”

South Korea has its own expanding space ambitions, from space launch vehicles such as its Nuri rocket program to a fledgling reconnaissance satellite constellation, of which last Friday’s launch was the first placement. Seoul is moving ahead despite a close and deepening relationship with the U.S. military designed to deter a hostile North Korea.

“There is a space and counter-space competition unfolding, and [South Koreans] want independence even though there is cooperation and sharing.”

In addition to its independent programs, South Korea is a partner in the U.S.-led Artemis initiative, a combined robot-manned Moon mission program.

That will spin off dual-use technologies and skills for the South Koreans, Mr. Pinkston said, including space-related AI, computation advances, hardware and robotics.

• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.

Copyright © 2023 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

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13. S.Korea Puzzles over N.Korean Succession

I would not get overly worked up over this. Either the Morning Star General takes over or someone else does. When will it happen? The question is whether we are ready for the next transition? Can we positively exploit the next transition?

S.Korea Puzzles over N.Korean Succession

english.chosun.com

December 04, 2023 11:46

South Korea's National Intelligence Service has been fretting over the succession in North Korea and now believes leader Kim Jong-un's 10-year-old daughter Ju-ae is being set up as the next leader.

NIS chief Cho Tae-yong said Sunday that he believes Kim Ju-ae to be the heir apparent. When Ju-ae first appeared in public last year, officials here were highly skeptical that she could be the heir to the North Korean throne, but the propaganda machine has pulled out all the stops to build the little girl her own personality cult.

"Until recently we thought, 'How can Kim Ju-ae be the successor?,' but now we are at the stage of considering, 'Does it seem likely that Kim Ju-ae will be the successor?'" Cho told KBS.

A photo published in the North's official Rodong Sinmun daily last week shows Kim and Ju-ae wearing matching sunglasses and leather coats as she stands in front of him. Ju-ae has appeared in many photos in the state media and always appeared either next to or behind her father, but in this picture she is the main character.

It is unprecedented in the status-obsessed North to publish a photo with Kim Jong-un in the background.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watches a training flight with his daughter Kim Ju-ae during a visit to the Air Force Command on Nov. 30, in this grab from [North] Korean Central Television the following day.

Ju-ae first appeared in the public eye at the launch site of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Nov. 18 last year, where she was pictured holding her father's hand, and since then she has been gradually built up in the state, reviewing troops with her father or sitting on the podium during official events.

She has even graduated to high-heeled shows and is wearing her hair like her mother, Ri Sol-ju. State media changed the way they refer to her from "beloved" child to "respected" child. After the North's successful launch of a spy satellite last week she was apostrophized as "Morning Star General."

People Power Party lawmaker Thae Yong-ho, an ex-North Korean diplomat who defected to South Korea in 2016, said, "If the creation of a personality cult around Kim Jong-un's daughter is true, it signifies the completion of internal procedures within the top echelons of the North Korean leadership to appoint her as the successor. Even by North Korean standards of common sense that seems to be going too far."

In other words the girl's designation suggests that Kim now feels confident he has won the various internal power struggles that dogged the early part of his rule, which resulted in brutal purges of the top ranks of the powerful military.

Thae warned that appointing a child as the successor at this stage could encourage speculation about Kim Jong-un's health.

A former South Korean intelligence official said, "Given the evidence of North Korea exposing Kim Ju-ae so far, it appears that Kim Jong-un and Ri Sol-ju have no son. Launching Ju-ae at this young age could be a strategy to prolong the preparation period and to desensitize people to the idea of having a female in charge."

But other North Korea watchers refuse to believe it. A former NIS official said, "The continued emphasis on Kim Ju-ae's appearance in North Korean media reports doesn't necessarily imply anything beyond officials expressing admiration for Kim Jong-un, who loves his daughter."

And Kim Heung-kwang of the defector organization North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity said, "In North Korea, the possibility of a female leader still seems unlikely, and considering Kim Jong-un's relatively young age, mentioning a successor seems implausible. Ju-ae is merely a tool of political image-making for Kim Jong-un."

Kim Jong-un Displays Daughter Again at Military Parade

N.Korea Parades New Intercontinental Missiles

Kim Jong-un Brings Daughter to Military Banquet

Kim Jong-un Bestows Hero's Title on Mobile Missile Launcher

Kim Jong-un Brings Daughter to Missile Launch

• Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com

english.chosun.com

14. S. Korea successfully conducts third test flight of solid-fuel space rocket

(2nd LD) S. Korea successfully conducts third test flight of solid-fuel space rocket | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · December 4, 2023

(ATTN: UPDATES with latest details in 3rd para; CHANGES photo)

By Kim Eun-jung

SEOUL, Dec. 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea successfully conducted a third test flight of a solid-fuel space rocket Monday, the defense ministry said, as part of efforts to build its independent space-based surveillance system against North Korea.

The space launch vehicle was launched from a barge floating in waters about 4 kilometers south of Jeju Island at 2 p.m. and placed a small Earth observation satellite into orbit at an altitude of about 650 km, the ministry said.

The 100-kilogram synthetic aperture radar satellite, made by Hanwha Systems, succeeded in sending signals to a ground station at 3:45 p.m., which means it is operating normally, the company said.

The state-run Agency for Defense Development conducts the third flight test of a solid-fuel rocket carrying Hanwha Systems' Earth observation satellite on a barge floating about 4 kilometers south of Jeju Island on Dec. 4, 2023, in this photo provided by Hanwha Systems. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

The rocket is designed to put a small satellite into a low Earth orbit for surveillance operations. Compared with liquid-fuel space vehicles, solid-fuel ones are known to be usually simpler and more cost-effective to launch.

The space vehicle under development by the state-run Agency for Defense Development uses solid fuel for the first three rockets, while it employs liquid fuel for the fourth stage as it is considered easier to precisely adjust the separation of the payload.

The first two flights in March and December 2022, respectively, tested the performance of three engines except the first-stage booster.

The ministry said it plans to conduct a full-fledged launch when the development is complete to bolster the military's satellite-based surveillance system, without specifying the schedule.

"Once the development of the solid-fuel space launch vehicle is complete, the South Korean military will be capable of launching small satellites designed for surveillance and reconnaissance in accordance with its security demands and in contingencies," the ministry said in a release.

In the future, it vowed to develop a space delivery system capable of launching heavier satellites weighing 500-700 kg in low Earth orbit.

The space vehicle's test flight comes just days after South Korea successfully launched its first spy satellite into orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Friday.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying South Korea's first homegrown spy satellite lifts off from the U.S. Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Dec. 1, 2023 (local time), in this photo provided by SpaceX. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

The launch is part of Seoul's plan to send five reconnaissance satellites into space by 2025 to better monitor North Korea amid its rising nuclear and missile threats.

On Nov. 21, North Korea placed its first spy satellite into orbit following two failed attempts earlier this year and vowed to launch more in a short span of time.

It also test-fired a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile in April and another in July, which are hard to detect due to shorter preparation time compared with liquid-fuel missiles.

ejkim@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · December 4, 2023

15. S. Korea slams N. Korea for making false accusations over 2018 inter-Korean military accord

S. Korea slams N. Korea for making false accusations over 2018 inter-Korean military accord | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · December 4, 2023

SEOUL, Dec. 4 (Yonhap) -- The unification ministry on Monday condemned North Korea for repeatedly making false accusations against South Korea over an 2018 inter-Korean military agreement, saying Pyongyang is seeking to drive a wedge in South Korea.

A North Korean commentator said Sunday a "physical clash and war" have become a matter of time on the Korean Peninsula in the wake of the scrapping of the military accord, warning that South Korea will face "total collapse" if it undertakes any hostile act.

The North has vowed to resume all military measures halted under the military tension reduction accord in a move to scrap the deal, after Seoul partially suspended it over North Korea's launch of a military spy satellite last month.

North Korean soldiers are spotted near a guard post inside the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas in this file photo provided by the South Korean defense ministry on Nov. 27, 2023. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

The unification ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs denounced North Korea for shifting the responsibility for the suspension of the accord to the South with false claims.

"We strongly condemn North Korea for repeating false and far-fetched claims over Seoul's partial suspension of the 2018 accord, which is our minimum defensive measure," Koo Byoung-sam, spokesperson at the ministry, told a press briefing.

He also accused North Korea of insulting the South Korean leader with "rude language" and seeking an internal divide in South Korea.

On the North's claim that South Korea blared anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts along the border 3,200 times this year, Koo said the South Korean troops are not operating such propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts.

Loudspeaker broadcasts along the border are banned under South Korean law. In September, the Constitutional Court struck down a clause banning activists' cross-border leaflet campaigns in the law, saying it excessively restricts the right to freedom of expression.

Conservative critics and the ruling party called for the resumption of the loudspeaker broadcasts in a bid to stage psychological warfare against the North's continued provocations.

Koo Byoung-sam, spokesperson at South Korea's unification ministry, speaks at a regular press briefing at the government complex building in Seoul on Dec. 4, 2023. (Yonhap)

sooyeon@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · December 4, 2023

De Oppresso Liber,

David Maxwell

Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy

Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation

Editor, Small Wars Journal

Twitter: @davidmaxwell161

Phone: 202-573-8647

email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com