Informal Institute for National Security Thinkers and Practitioners

Quotes of the Day:


“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
- John Wooden

“Understanding the world too well, you see too many options and become as indecisive as Hamlet. No matter how far we progress, we remain part animal, and it is the animal in us that fires our strategies, gives them life, animates us to fight. Without the desire to fight, without a capacity for the violence war churns up, we cannot deal with danger.
The prudent Odysseus types are comfortable with both sides of their nature. They plan ahead as best they can, see far and wide, but when it comes time to move ahead, they move. Knowing how to control your emotions means not repressing them completely but using them to their best effect.”
- Robert Greene, The 33 Strategies of War

"Discipline does not mean suppression and control, nor is adjustment to a pattern or an ideology; it means a mind that sees 'what is' and learns from 'what is.' Such a mind has to be extraordinarily alert, aware."
- J. Krishnamurti, The Impossible Question



1. Biden may hold trilateral summit with S. Korean, Japanese leaders if possible: Sullivan

2.  Group of N. Koreans crossed maritime border earlier this month: officials

3. Escapee group in South Korea floats bottles of rice and cash to the North

4. <Inside N. Korea>Violent young people form brotherhoods, causing fights to break out between different gangs…The authorities crackdown on young people who try to earn money outside of their assigned workplaces

5. N. Korean satellite launch violates U.N. sanctions, will face consequences: State Dept.

6. S. Korea, Ukraine discuss non-lethal aid, humanitarian assistance

7.  Deepening Suspicions and Limited Diplomacy (China-Korea)

8. Kim Jong-un’s miscalculations leave his regime in North Korea hanging by a thread

9. Yoon calls for fighting against threats to freedom, democracy by upholding Gwangju uprising spirit

10. North's human rights violations 'threat' to int'l security: U.S. special envoy nominee

11.  Two North Korean families defect across the NLL by boat

12. Korea's steps closer to becoming global pivotal state goal by presence at Hiroshima G7

13. Samsung starts mass production of most advanced DRAM chips

14. 3-way summit to focus on 'real-time' military information sharing: experts (ROK-Japan - US)

15. Yeonmi Park: is the DPRK defector a western psy-op?

16. [INTERVIEW] North Korea's crypto hacking faces turning point






1. Biden may hold trilateral summit with S. Korean, Japanese leaders if possible: Sullivan


For the media: Please do not expect any earth shattering joint statement if they have a summitt. I have been getting queries asking what will be in a joint statement. We Need to continue to have summits and meetings at various levels but we cannot come up with a new joint statement after every meeting. And the lack of a joint statement must not be news. No one should be spinning the lack of a public joint statement as something negative.  




(LEAD) Biden may hold trilateral summit with S. Korean, Japanese leaders if possible: Sullivan | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · May 18, 2023

(ATTN: ADDS photo)

By Byun Duk-kun

WASHINGTON, May 17 (Yonhap) -- President Joe Biden will try to hold a trilateral summit with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts during the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Japan, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Wednesday.

Sullivan, however, said that nothing has yet to be arranged due to Biden's "packed schedule."

"That is basically a matter of scheduling. There is goodwill on all three parts to do it, particularly to recognize the real progress that has been made between the ROK-Japan, with U.S. support," he said when asked about if Biden was expected to hold a trilateral meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

"Stronger bilateral ties between the ROK-Japan means a stronger trilateral relationship. So if we can find time in what is very packed schedule, we will try to hold the trilateral," Sullivan added while speaking to reporters on board Air Force One en route to Hiroshima, where Biden is set to take part in the G7 summit.

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

South Korea is not a G7 member, but has been invited to attend as a guest nation. Seoul officials earlier said the three leaders will likely hold a trilateral meeting on the margins of the G7 summit in Hiroshima.

Sullivan said the U.S. was still working through a number of schedules to see if a trilateral meeting between the U.S. and its two allies would be possible.

"But we don't have anything to confirm yet," he said.

Yoon made a rare visit to Tokyo last month for a bilateral summit with Kishida, becoming the first South Korean president to make such a trip to Japan in 12 years.

Kishida reciprocated Yoon's trip with a visit to South Korea earlier this month, also becoming the first Japanese leader to visit Seoul for a bilateral summit in 12 years.


National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is seen answering questions during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 24, 2023, in this captured file photo. (Yonhap)

bdk@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · May 18, 2023




2.  Group of N. Koreans crossed maritime border earlier this month: officials


Groups of people may indicate a breakdown in the security system. Especially if they are unrelated it could mean there could be nascent stages of resistance and collective action.


(LEAD) Group of N. Koreans crossed maritime border earlier this month: officials | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · May 18, 2023

(ATTN: REWRITES lead; ADDS more info in 5th para)

SEOUL, May 18 (Yonhap) -- A group of North Koreans, including children, crossed the de facto inter-Korean sea border aboard a fishing boat earlier this month and are currently undergoing questioning by South Korean authorities, sources said Thursday.

The military authorities found the ship approaching the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea at night on May 6 and sent troops to intercept it soon after it sailed across the maritime boundary, according to the sources.

The North Koreans are said to have expressed their intention to defect to South Korea.

They are reportedly undergoing questioning by relevant government agencies, including the National Intelligence Service, at a military base in the Seoul metropolitan area.

A military official here refused to confirm their border crossing but did not deny it.

"We cannot confirm details on that, but our military has been maintaining a thorough readiness posture to prepare against the possibility of North Korean provocations and of defections," the official said on condition of anonymity.

In recent years, the number of North Korean defectors here dropped due in large part to the reclusive state's stringent border controls put in place to fend off the spread of COVID-19. The number, which was tallied at around 1,000 in 2019, dipped to 229 in 2020 and 63 in 2021. Last year, it stood at 67.


This unrelated photo shows a North Korean fishing boat found on South Korea's west coast. (Yonhap)

sshluck@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · May 18, 2023



3. Escapee group in South Korea floats bottles of rice and cash to the North


Information to north Korea should be a major line of effort for the ROK/US alliance. These efforts by escapees are good but we must send so much more information into north Korea on an "industrial scale."


Excerpts:


The administration saw the launches as an irritant in bilateral ties between Seoul and Pyongyang, but critics said the law violated freedom of speech rights enshrined in the South Korean constitution and allowed Pyongyang to veto what people in the South are allowed to say.
The anti-leaflet law remains on the books, and violators can be imprisoned for up to three years or be fined 30 million won (US$23,600).
But the current South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has said that the law was a mistake and written opinions drawing its constitutionality into question have been submitted to the country’s constitutional court.
The Ministry of Unification, meanwhile, maintains a cautious stance that residents should refrain from sending leaflets and balloons to North Korea for their own safety, but it acknowledges that there are unconstitutional elements of the anti-leaflet law.
...
On May 5, a group called Fighters for a Free North Korea sent 20 large balloons loaded with Tylenol and vitamin C pills, anti-regime booklets and leaflets, from Ganghwa island off the country’s west coast. In October last year, they launched eight such balloons.

The group’s chairman Park Sang-hak, told RFA on May 8 that he intends to continue these types of activities until the day that North Koreans find freedom from their enslavement to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.



Escapee group in South Korea floats bottles of rice and cash to the North

The practice was made illegal in the South under Moon, but Yoon admin is more lenient.

By Do Hyung Han for RFA Korean

2023.05.16

rfa.org

Mysterious bottles full of rice, US dollars and memory sticks containing anti-North Korean content that showed up in the Han River around the South Korean capital of Seoul are the work of local North Korean escapee organizations, escapee activists told Radio Free Asia.

South Korea’s Yonhap News reported last week that fishermen working in the mouth of the Han are catching the plastic bottles in their nets. They frequently appear in the area between Haengju Bridge in the capital’s northwest and the Singok Submerged Weir just outside the city limits.

“Three years ago, similar plastic bottles used to come up, but then they stopped,” Yonhap reported a fisherman as saying. “They are recently being found again.”

The bottles are intended to follow the flow of the river into the sea current, which could potentially deposit them on North Korean west coast beaches.

South Korean police said they thought the bottles were sent by escapees who have resettled in the South and became activists. A North Korean rights activist, who requested anonymity for personal safety, confirmed this was the case to RFA’s Korean Service.

“Sending plastic bottles of rice was an activity of a group called North Korean Defectors Campaigning for North Korea's Liberalization, a so-called liberalization campaign,” he said in a phone call.

Questionable legality

Sending bottles to North Korea in this way is illegal in the South. The practice violates the relatively new anti-leaflet law which was passed in Dec. 2020, during the Moon Jae-in administration.

The law was intended to prevent escapee groups from sending hot air balloons across the border into North Korean territory to drop money, rice, flash drives, and thousands of anti-regime leaflets in areas where they could be picked up by North Korean citizens.

The administration saw the launches as an irritant in bilateral ties between Seoul and Pyongyang, but critics said the law violated freedom of speech rights enshrined in the South Korean constitution and allowed Pyongyang to veto what people in the South are allowed to say.

The anti-leaflet law remains on the books, and violators can be imprisoned for up to three years or be fined 30 million won (US$23,600).

But the current South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has said that the law was a mistake and written opinions drawing its constitutionality into question have been submitted to the country’s constitutional court.

The Ministry of Unification, meanwhile, maintains a cautious stance that residents should refrain from sending leaflets and balloons to North Korea for their own safety, but it acknowledges that there are unconstitutional elements of the anti-leaflet law.


The illegality of their activities is why members of the Liberalization Campaign group take care to hide their identities. They also send hot air balloons to North Korea with their most recent launch on April 9.

The activist said that since releasing the 12 balloons on April 9, the group has sent bottles down the Han three times. In addition to the rice and money, the bottles also include a small Bible and a flash drive with USB messages for North Koreans who find them. He said that the group plans to continue sending the bottles when weather conditions are ideal.

If the sea current is flowing the right way, more than 90% of the bottles will make it to North Korea, said Park Jeong-oh, the CEO of Keunsaem, another escapee group that sends bottles to North Korea. The bottles are usually picked up by North Korean fishermen.

After the Yoon administration took power, North Korean escapee organizations in the South have been more active in their attempts to send items into North Korea.

On May 5, a group called Fighters for a Free North Korea sent 20 large balloons loaded with Tylenol and vitamin C pills, anti-regime booklets and leaflets, from Ganghwa island off the country’s west coast. In October last year, they launched eight such balloons.

The group’s chairman Park Sang-hak, told RFA on May 8 that he intends to continue these types of activities until the day that North Koreans find freedom from their enslavement to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

rfa.org



4. <Inside N. Korea>Violent young people form brotherhoods, causing fights to break out between different gangs…The authorities crackdown on young people who try to earn money outside of their assigned workplaces


I have heard of "gangs" operating in north Korea.


<Inside N. Korea>Violent young people form brotherhoods, causing fights to break out between different gangs…The authorities crackdown on young people who try to earn money outside of their assigned workplaces

asiapress.org

(FILE PHOTO) A healthy-looking young person wears a T-shirt with English lettering on it, just like a rocker. This photo was taken in October 2013. If this person wore that kind of clothing now, they would be considered to have perpetrated a non-socialist act. Taken by ASIAPRESS in Hyesan, Yanggang Province.

Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in January 2021, North Korea’s economy has continued to get worse, leading to increasing poverty among the country’s residents. The worsening economy has led to young people perpetrating violent acts or leaving their assigned workplaces to earn money in private groups. The authorities have moved to crackdown on these activities through on-the-spot punishments. In late April, an ASIAPRESS reporting partner in the northern part of the country gave their take on the situation on the ground. (KANG Ji-won)

◆ Gang violence

A reporting partner in Yanggang Province told ASIAPRESS recently:

“Life has gradually gotten worse, which has led to an increase in young people causing various problems. They run astray, forming gangs that fight each other, or perpetrate violence at their workplaces. Increasingly, some simply leave their assigned workplaces and try to earn money in groups on their own. The authorities have deemed this a ‘non-socialist phenomenon’ and are aggressively punishing people involved in such activities.”

The reporting partner provided details about several incidents involving “violent young people” that had recently taken place.

A former soldier working at a paper factory in Hyesan showed up late to work. After being chewed out by his boss, the man got so angry that he beat his boss. The former soldier was given three months of reform through labor as a result.

In early April, gangs of young people in Hyesan got into a fight, with one gang attacking the home of a member of another gang and destroying the house. The incident led to serious injuries among those involved, including one who suffered serious damage to his skull and a broken arm. Four members of one of the gangs were arrested and immediately given three months at a forced labor brigade. The leader of the attack was a former soldier in his 30s and was also a party member.

※ A "forced labor brigade” is a "short-term forced labor camp" where those who are deemed to have disturbed the social order, disobeyed the authorities, or committed minor crimes are detained without judicial procedures and sentenced to forced labor for up to one year. These camps are in cities and counties throughout the country and are managed by the security bureau (police).

Another reporting partner had this to say:

“Young people are forming brotherhoods with each other and doing things in groups. Ordinary people are scared of the things these gangs are doing. The police are trying to combat the rise of the gangs, even sending them to reform through labor camps in serious cases.”

◆ People creating their own private organizations are punished for being “non-socialist”

The authorities are not just cracking down on those perpetrating violence. They are also increasing their crackdowns on people trying to earn money. A reporting partner told ASIAPRESS:

“Right now, it’s difficult for everyone to survive. Workplaces barely provide people with monthly wages. People can’t survive off just a little bit of rations from the government. Young people are involved in logistics or construction-related activities, forming teams with other colleagues to earn money.”

At state-led apartment construction projects, the country’s wealthy entrepreneurial class, also known as the donju, are promised several apartments in one building for investment purposes. After the apartments are completed, they sell the apartments for money. Construction projects require labor, particularly those with professional skills. Some young people served on projects constructing “special villas” for the Kim family during their military service, so there are people who have experience with construction work, installing tiles, and completing interiors.

“They receive daily wages from the state-run enterprises managing the construction work that employ them. I hear that the wages these days are 15 yuan or 12,000 won (around 2,870 South Korean won). They are organizing together, so there’s a growing amount of work available.”

That being said, the authorities consider this to be going against the socialist order and have punished young people as a result. North Koreans with assigned workplaces are required to be involved in “organizational life.” Workplaces integral to struggle sessions, labor mobilizations and other forms of control exerted by the government on the workforce.

“That young people came together and created their own private organization was considered non-socialist because it was outside of the country’s organizational life. Young people are very unhappy about this because the people involved weren’t involved in violence but were just trying to earn some money.”

※ ASIAPRESS communicates with reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.

asiapress.org



5. N. Korean satellite launch violates U.N. sanctions, will face consequences: State Dept.


Excerpt:


"Any DPRK launch that uses ballistic missile technology would also include SLVs (space launch vehicles) used to launch a satellite into space and that would violate multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions," the department spokesperson told a daily press briefing when asked if the U.S. has detected any indications of an imminent launch.


N. Korean satellite launch violates U.N. sanctions, will face consequences: State Dept. | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 변덕근 · May 18, 2023

By Byun Duk-kun

WASHINGTON, May 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's anticipated launch of a claimed satellite would violate multiple international sanctions that prohibit the use of any ballistic missile technology by the recalcitrant country, a state department spokesperson said Wednesday.

Vedant Patel, deputy spokesperson for the state department, also said the United States will take necessary steps to hold North Korea accountable should Pyongyang decide to go ahead with its planned launch.

"Any DPRK launch that uses ballistic missile technology would also include SLVs (space launch vehicles) used to launch a satellite into space and that would violate multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions," the department spokesperson told a daily press briefing when asked if the U.S. has detected any indications of an imminent launch.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.


Vedant Patel, deputy spokesperson for the Department of State, is seen speaking during a daily press briefing at the department in Washington on May 17, 2023 in this captured image. (Yonhap)

North Korea's state media reported Wednesday (Korea time) that leader Kim Jong-un has inspected what the country claims to be a military reconnaissance satellite and given the green light for its next action plan, adding the satellite is now ready to be mounted on a rocket.

"We had been very clear that we urge the DPRK to refrain from further threatening activity and call on Pyongyang to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy," said Patel.

"We have also been very clear about our unwavering commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, as well as seeking dialogue with Pyongyang without preconditions," he added.

The department spokesperson said the U.S. will work to hold North Korea accountable, insisting that the country has a number of tools to do so at its disposal.

"In terms of actions, we, of course, continue to have number of tools at our disposal to hold the DPRK accountable. You have seen us to take those steps and we will continue to do so," he told the briefing.

bdk@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by 변덕근 · May 18, 2023



6. S. Korea, Ukraine discuss non-lethal aid, humanitarian assistance



S. Korea, Ukraine discuss non-lethal aid, humanitarian assistance | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 오석민 · May 17, 2023

SEOUL, May 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Foreign Minister Park Jin met with Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska in Seoul on Wednesday and discussed the extension of humanitarian support and ways to work jointly on demining and post-war reconstruction efforts, Park's office said.

Zelenska is in Seoul as a special envoy of her husband, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The first lady thanked the Seoul government for its assistance and solidarity amid the prolonged war with Russia, and asked for its continued support by providing ambulances and other equipment for humanitarian purposes, according to the foreign ministry.

Zelenska also sought South Korea's help with mine-removing operations, as her country has the world's largest number of buried landmines in the aftermath of the war.

South Korea is working to provide Ukraine with demining and mobile X-ray detection equipment, officials said.

"Park said South Korea will actively respond to the Ukrainian people's need for assistance in the face of a crisis due to the war. South Korea will play an active role in Ukraine's reconstruction based on their development cooperation mechanism," the ministry said in a release.

In February, South Korea announced a plan to provide additional assistance worth US$130 million to Ukraine following last year's humanitarian aid worth $100 million.

Earlier in the day, Seoul's Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho signed a preliminary agreement with Ukraine to offer low-interest loans to the country under the Economic Development Cooperation Fund project during a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Yulia Svyrydenko, in Seoul.

On Tuesday, President Yoon Suk Yeol also met with Zelenska at his office and vowed to provide active assistance to her country in close coordination with the international community.


South Korea's Foreign Minister Park Jin (R) speaks with Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska (L), who is visiting as a special presidential envoy, in Seoul on May 17, 2023, in this photo provided by Park's office. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

graceoh@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by 오석민 · May 17, 2023


7. Deepening Suspicions and Limited Diplomacy (China-Korea)


A useful chronology of China-Korea relations elbow.


Excerpt:


Even more worrisome are Chinese characterizations of South Korea’s alignment with the United States and Japan as detrimental to South Korea’s own security interests and the deep strategic logic of balance between the US and China that has characterized South Korea’s traditional foreign policy approach. But China’s dark warnings regarding the destabilization of peninsular security are clearly bounded, as Chinese policy toward North Korea over decades has clearly demonstrated. At the time that the South Korean ambassador to China presented his credentials to Xi Jinping, he conveyed a message of invitation to Xi to visit Seoul. But a prolonged stalemate in relations between Beijing and Seoul now seems more likely than rapprochement, perhaps for the duration of the Yoon administration.


Deepening Suspicions and Limited Diplomacy - Comparative Connections

cc.pacforum.org · by Scott Snyder · May 15, 2023

Scott Snyder

Council on Foreign Relations/Pacific Forum


See-Won Byun

San Francisco State University

China - Korea

Jan — Apr 2023

Download Article as PDF

Deepening Suspicions and Limited Diplomacy

By and See-Won Byun

Published May 2023 in Comparative Connections · Volume 25, Issue 1 (This article is extracted from Comparative Connections: A Triannual E-Journal of Bilateral Relations in the Indo-Pacific, Vol. 25, No. 1, May 2023. Preferred citation: Scott Snyder and See Won Byun, “China-Korea Relations: Deepening Suspicions and Limited Diplomacy,” Comparative Connections, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp 123-130.)

Connect with the Authors

Scott Snyder

Council on Foreign Relations/Pacific Forum

Tweets by snydersas

See-Won Byun

San Francisco State University

China and South Korea began 2023 with the temporary imposition of tit-for-tat restrictions by both governments on travel to the other country after China lifted its zero-COVID policy. Although the restrictions proved temporary, they pointed to the reality of a sustained downward spiral in China-South Korea relations accompanied by increasingly strident public objections in Chinese media to the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s steps to redouble South Korean alignment with the United States regarding Indo-Pacific strategy, supply chain resiliency, and shared values. South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin’s congratulatory call to newly appointed Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Qin Gang on Jan. 9 was one of the few positive senior-level interaction between the two countries in early 2023; by the end of April, the main diplomatic interactions between China and South Korea had devolved into a dueling exchange of private demarches and public assertions that the other side had committed a “diplomatic gaffe.”

As Yoon took steps to strengthen South Korean ties with NATO, stabilize relations with Japan, and upgrade efforts with the US to deter North Korea from continued nuclear development, Chinese criticisms of South Korea became increasingly ominous. They culminated in a stern Chinese diplomatic response to Yoon’s interview with Reuters on April 19 in which he characterized a possible cross-strait conflict between mainland China and Taiwan as a global security issue.

Meanwhile, the 75th founding anniversary of North Korea’s Korean People’s Army (KPA) in February and China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) confirming Xi Jinping’s third term as president in March drove symbolic exchanges of support between Chinese party-state and military leaders and their North Korean counterparts. The continued lack of a unified UN response to North Korean missile provocations renewed calls for Chinese “responsibility” and “influence” and Beijing’s reassertions of Pyongyang’s own “insecurity.” The arrival of Chinese Ambassador to North Korea Wang Yajun in Pyongyang, delayed for two years following his appointment due to pandemic-related quarantines, may presage a broader opening for China-North Korea humanitarian exchanges alongside concerns about North Korea’s ongoing military development.

A Rough Start to 2023 and Steady Deterioration in China-South Korean Relations

2023 got off to a rocky start for China-South Korea relations following the South Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare’s decision to impose restrictions on Chinese travelers to South Korea in response to China’s December 2022 decision to abandon its zero-COVID policy and reports that Chinese hackers attacked a dozen South Korean academic institutions. China’s opening resulted in a spike in COVID-19 cases within China and generated concerns outside China that new COVID variants could generate another global wave of sickness. South Korea joined the United States, Japan, and many other countries in imposing health requirements on Chinese travelers, including mandatory COVID tests and quarantines for those with positive test results. Although South Korean restrictions on Chinese visitors were designed to monitor and contain the possible spread of new variants, China responded harshly and reciprocally, slapping similar restrictions on South Korean travelers to China. By mid-February, both sides had lifted pandemic-related restrictions, but the incident proved to be an accurate indicator of a broader downturn in China-South Korea relations that revolved mainly around China’s response to South Korean efforts to align more closely with the United States.

Figure 1 South Korea imposes restrictions on Chinese nationals travelling to the country. Photo: Kim Jae-Hwan/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

In the wake of China’s sensitive response to the imposition of temporary restrictions on the travel of its citizens, Chinese media reacted with unusual sensitivity and intensity to a series of Yoon administration policy measures, all of which were connected with Yoon’s efforts to strengthen relations with the United States. First, Chinese media reacted sensitively to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s visit to Seoul. Stoltenberg’s visit followed up on Yoon’s participation in the NATO summit held in Spain the previous June, but Global Times reacted to Stoltenberg’s comments on North Korea-related nuclear issues and to the idea of closer cooperation between South Korea and NATO, stating that “Nuclear sharing is just an excuse with which NATO’s grip can be extended to Northeast Asia in an imposing manner.” In addition, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson sent a veiled warning regarding reports that South Korea might join the Quad by commenting that “state-to-state cooperation needs to be consistent with the trend of peace and development, rather than be about putting up exclusionary blocs.”

In response to Yoon’s March 1 speech signaling his intent to improve relations with Japan, Chinese media commentators such as prominent Global Times columnist Hu Xijin responded that the South Korean government is strategically “sleepwalking” and unnecessarily limiting its options by moving too close to the United States and Japan. Hu argued that “South Korea can stay stable and not become a pawn of the US, as it should be one of the players in the complex chess game in Northeast Asia.”

Another major South Korea-related topic of coverage in Chinese media has been the impact on South Korean semiconductor firms of the US “attempt to crack down on China by weaponizing the chip supply chain.” China has been concerned with US efforts to strengthen supply chain resiliency and deny China access to cutting edge technology such as the Chip 4 alliance. In conjunction with US Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose Fernandez’s visit to Seoul, Chinese coverage “alerted” South Korea not to bend to US pressure, editorializing that “China is where South Korea’s real interests lie, and Seoul’s best strategy is to balance its ties between China and the US.” Noting that Samsung’s profits declined in the first quarter of the year and that global semiconductor sales dropped by over 20% in February, the Global Times concluded that for US allies in Asia, “The economic damage now may serve as a timely reminder that China, South Korea, and Japan working together should come first, rather than the latter two countries falling in line with US strategy that goes against their own economic interests.”

A Structural Shift in China-South Korea Bilateral Trade

A combination of shifts in semiconductor demand, US imposition of new export controls on China, and a sluggish technology sector spelled trouble for declining South Korean export volumes and resulted in a precipitous drop in South Korean chip exports to China. South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE) reported a 16.6% year-on-year drop in South Korean exports to $46.3 billion in January 2023, led by a 44.5% plunge in chip sales to $4.8 billion. South Korea’s exports to China dropped by 31.4% year-on-year to $9.2 billion, led by a 46.6% plunge in semiconductor exports. These headline numbers point to structural drivers of a China-South Korea trade relationship that is experiencing a shift from a longstanding bilateral trade balance in favor of South Korea to one that favors China.

Several South Korean reports on trends in economic relations with China during this period help provide a greater understanding of factors accompanying this shift. A survey by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade of 406 South Korean firms in China reveals that almost 10% were considering leaving China due to China’s economic slowdown, rising labor costs, and intensifying US-China competition. Among firms surveyed, only 27.3% and 14.5% reported increases in sales in 2021 and 2022, respectively, and 62% reported a decrease in profitability in 2022. South Korean companies reported increased localization of sourcing for materials, but greater difficulties in doing business in China.

Figure 2 Trilateral Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting with China and Japan in May 2023. Photo: Reuters

According to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), China accounted for only 22.8% of South Korea’s total exports in 2022 compared to 25.3% the previous year, a significant reduction in South Korea’s overall trade dependency on China. The Korea Center for International Finance released a report entitled “Analysis and Implications of South Korea’s Contraction in Exports to China,” noting that South Korean exports to China declined by 4.4% in 2022, after having grown an average of 6.5% annually between 2017 and 2021. The report concluded that Chinese and South Korean exports are directly competitive in many third-country markets. A separate survey by KITA revealed that 41.5% of Korean exporters viewed China as their biggest competitor, while only 11.9% named Japanese companies as their biggest competitor.

In February, South Korea’s Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho attributed South Korea’s slumping exports during the first part of the year to higher energy prices, falling chip shipments, and lower demand from China. He projected that South Korea may not resume having a trade surplus with China, but pointed to China’s reopening as a factor that might bolster both South Korea’s economy and the China-South Korea trade balance. KITA estimated that China’s economic recovery might reach 6.9% growth in the second quarter of 2023 and that its recovery could raise South Korea’s economic growth by 0.16% and exports by 0.55% in 2023. However, an April report by the Bank of Korea assessed that the impact of China’s economic recovery on neighboring countries was weaker than expected, in part due to the sluggish recovery of South Korean IT exports to China.

At the beginning of March, Deputy Trade Minister Jeong Dae-jin met China’s Vice Minister of Commerce Li Fei in Seoul for the first time since June 2019 to discuss cooperation on supply chains, bilateral trade and investment, and the creation of a favorable business environment, marking a return to regular bilateral trade consultations. In addition, South Korea hosted the first Trilateral Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting with China and Japan in four years on May 1 and 2. The meeting reviewed macroeconomic and financial market developments, regional financing arrangements and financial safety nets, and macroeconomic surveillance conducted through the ASEAN Plus Three Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO).

Beijing and Pyongyang Exchange Words of Strategic Partnership

China’s Ambassador to North Korea Wang Yajun started official duties in April amid ongoing sanctions on Pyongyang, stalled denuclearization talks, and rising speculation about China-North Korea trade resumption. COVID restrictions delayed Wang’s arrival for more than two years since his appointment in February 2021. In a meeting with Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) International Affairs Department Director Kim Song Nam on April 8, Wang delivered Xi Jinping’s message to Kim Jong Un promoting China-North Korea strategic cooperation. Xi reiterated his support in another letter to Kim four days later.

Both messages responded to Kim’s March 10 letter congratulating Xi on securing an unprecedented third term as China’s president. China’s March 2023 NPC confirmed this and other appointments, driving similar exchanges between Chinese and key North Korean leaders including Premier Kim Tok Hun and Supreme People’s Assembly Standing Committee Chairman Choe Ryong Hae. Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui extended her congratulatory message to Chinese Foreign Minister and new State Councilor Qin Gang on March 12. This symbolic consolidation of strategic ties extended from party-state to military contacts. Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe sent a letter to North Korean counterpart Kang Sun-nam in February, when Pyongyang celebrated the KPA’s 75th founding anniversary and displayed North Korea’s nuclear advancements through a military parade.

North Korean Threats and Regional Security Cooperation

Kim Jong Un began the year by declaring at a WPK meeting the need for an “exponential increase of the country’s nuclear arsenal.” A range of missile activities from February continued to defy multiple UN resolutions. North Korea’s latest weapons tests featured the Hwasong-18 ICBM on April 12, prompting US-South Korean air drills. It followed ICBM launches on Feb. 18 and March 16, and a March 19 short-range ballistic missile launch that raised concerns for simulating tactical nuclear weapons use. North Korean military provocations intensified that month as South Korea resumed live military exercises with the United States between March 13 and 23, ending a five-year suspension under the Moon Jae-in administration.

Addressing an April 17 UN Security Council (UNSC) session, South Korean Ambassador Hwang Joon-kook called for stronger “responsibility” of UNSC permanent members and nuclear weapon states. The UNSC held its first meeting on North Korea this year on Feb. 20 after ten such meetings last year failed to produce results. US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield called the failure “not collective” but “specific,” tracing to “two veto-wielding members of this Council who have repeatedly shut down all efforts at a meaningful response.” As China’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dai Bing affirmed, Beijing’s response remained unchanged, blaming “highly provocative” US alliance activities for fueling North Korea’s “sense of insecurity.” The UNSC’s February meeting failed to coordinate an immediate response condemning Pyongyang’s first ICBM launch this year and subsequent tests.

At a White House press briefing on April 6, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby reiterated calls for Chinese responsibility, stating “We know that China has influence in Pyongyang.” North Korean missile tests through diversified platforms drove South Korean media warnings on the “nuclear game of chicken” and need to “brace for contingency” by strengthening the US-South Korea alliance and trilateral cooperation with Japan. US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman vowed such joint deterrence in talks with South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Washington on Feb. 13.

China Responds to Yoon’s Comments on Taiwan and the Biden-Yoon Summit

China’s increasingly ominous public warnings and misgivings regarding the Yoon administration’s series of moves to more closely align with the United States in the context of US-China rivalry finally lit the fuse of Chinese criticism of Yoon himself. It should not be surprising that the issue that lit the fuse came in an interview with Reuters less than a week in advance of the US-South Korea summit. Yoon responded to a question about Taiwan by saying that “the Taiwan issue is not simply an issue between China and Taiwan but, like the issue of North Korea, it is a global issue.” Yoon’s comment deviated from longstanding South Korean policy that accepted China’s characterization of the Taiwan issue as an internal matter based on its one-China principle, provoking a strong response from Beijing.

Figure 3 South Korea, China exchange harsh words over Yoon’s remarks on Taiwan. Photo: Yonhap

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson responded to a question from Yonhap News Agency by reiterating that “the Taiwan question is purely an internal affair at the core of China’s core interests . . . We hope the ROK side will follow the spirit of the China-ROK Joint Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations, stay committed to the one-China principle, and prudently handle matters related to the Taiwan question.” South Korea’s foreign ministry spokesman responded that China had committed a “serious diplomatic discourtesy” by objecting to “our leader’s mention of the universal principle that we oppose the change of the status quo by force.”

Both governments exchanged diplomatic demarches. Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming was called in to see First Vice Minister Chang Ho-jin while South Korean Ambassador to China Chung Jae-ho was called to the office of Chinese Vice Minister Sun Weidong. The Chinese Embassy in South Korea released a lengthy statement explaining how the Taiwan issue was completely different from the Korean Peninsula issue.

A Global Times editorial strongly criticized Yoon’s foreign policy outreach to the United States and Japan, South Korean objections to Chinese outrage over Yoon’s remarks, and the issue of US spying on South Korea, asserting that “China has shown real and even extra diplomatic respect to South Korea, and we hope South Korea can show some self-respect.” Xiang Haoyu of the China Institute of International Studies wrote that “the conservatives in South Korea seem to be losing their awareness of the country’s unique geopolitical situation in the midst of their inflated great power mentality.” Global Times columnist Hu Xijin argued that “China should maintain sufficient strategic determination and not dance with the Yoon government. We should stick to the basic direction and logic of China-South Korea relations. The attitude of the Chinese side is consistent. The Yoon government wants to go against the general trend, but in the end it will find that the trend is stronger than what it can do.”

The South Korean embassy sent response letters on May 5 to editors at Huanqiu Shibao, the People’s Daily, and the Global Times, charging that “by using sensational, provocative, and inappropriate language, your papers disparaged our president as well as the foreign policy of our government aimed at bringing peace and stability to the region, and did so from an extremely biased viewpoint without objective evidence.”

Following the US-South Korea summit, Chinese criticisms of the US-South Korea alliance under Yoon were unflinching. Renmin University’s Jin Canrong stated that Yoon’s “unwise policy is unsustainable, because it goes against the national interests of South Korea.”

A Period of Security and Economic Challenges on the Peninsula

As Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command Adm. John Aquilino described at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on April 18, the current decade is a “period of increased risk” featuring Russia’s war on Ukraine, North Korean military aggression, and China’s “nuclear and conventional buildup” and “malign behavior.” Heightened threat perceptions have amplified South Korean domestic debates on extended deterrence and South Korea’s own nuclear buildup as the US-South Korea alliance marks its 70th anniversary this year. Reflecting on the second round of US-South Korea missile defense drills in February and a post-Ukraine “global security crisis,” conservative voices further insisted that “the Seoul-Tokyo security cooperation should be expanded beyond normalization” given North Korea’s ability to threaten both countries with its advancing missile technology.

Figure 4 News about North Korea launching a ballistic missile in April 2023. Photo: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

Other views emphasize humanitarian rather than military responses to the North Korean threat. Unprecedented food shortages triggered North Korean military mobilization to boost production, as the New York Times reported in March. Grain production tops Kim Jong Un’s economic priorities for 2023, reflecting enduring challenges of global sanctions, state-led development, and natural disasters exacerbated by COVID-19. Reported signs of post-pandemic economic reopening include renewed efforts to draw Chinese investment, including through the Kaesong Industrial Complex.

However, even more vexing for the future of China-South Korea diplomatic relations may be the diplomatic fallout from the US-South Korea summit and China’s bitter response to both Yoon’s comments on Taiwan and willingness to call out China for not implementing UN sanctions on North Korea. Despite Yoon’s consistent characterization of relations with China as a positive-sum game in which both sides may proceed based on mutual interests, China’s read of South Korea under Yoon appears to have darkened considerably during this period.

Even more worrisome are Chinese characterizations of South Korea’s alignment with the United States and Japan as detrimental to South Korea’s own security interests and the deep strategic logic of balance between the US and China that has characterized South Korea’s traditional foreign policy approach. But China’s dark warnings regarding the destabilization of peninsular security are clearly bounded, as Chinese policy toward North Korea over decades has clearly demonstrated. At the time that the South Korean ambassador to China presented his credentials to Xi Jinping, he conveyed a message of invitation to Xi to visit Seoul. But a prolonged stalemate in relations between Beijing and Seoul now seems more likely than rapprochement, perhaps for the duration of the Yoon administration.

Chronology of China - Korea Relations

January — April 2023

April 24, 2022: ROK Ambassador to China Chung Jae-ho addresses a virtual business forum marking the 30th anniversary of diplomatic normalization.

Jan. 2, 2023: South Korea suspends short-term visa applications from its consulates in China, restricts new flights from China to Korea, imposes testing requirements for travelers from China, and tightens quarantine measures for all travelers from China.

Jan. 6, 2023: Chinese Embassy in South Korea releases a statement protesting the visit of several South Korean lawmakers to Taiwan.

Jan. 9, 2023: Chinese and South Korean Foreign Ministers Qin Gang and Park Jin hold their first telephone talks.

Jan. 11, 2023: China stops issuing certain types of visas for South Korean citizens.

Jan. 17, 2023: Kim Jong Un receives a letter from Xi Jinping appreciating Kim’s condolence message on Jiang Zemin’s death.

Jan. 20, 2023: Ambassador Xing Haiming holds meetings with ROK Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Kim Young-joo and Chung Woo-taik.

Jan. 25, 2023: Korea Internet & Security Agency reports a Chinese cyberattack against 12 South Korean academic institutions on Jan. 22.

Jan. 26, 2023: Two Chinese warplanes fly through overlapping parts of China and South Korea’s air defense identification zones.

Feb. 1, 2023: Chinese authorities reimpose mandatory COVID-19 tests for travelers from South Korea.

Feb. 9, 2023: Fourth China-South Korea-Japan sports ministers’ meeting is held virtually.

Feb. 10, 2023: South Korean officials announce plans to resume issuing short-term visas for travelers from China from Feb. 11.

Feb. 14, 2023: State media reports that Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe sent a congratulatory message to North Korean counterpart Kang Sun-nam on the KPA’s 75th founding anniversary.

Feb. 15, 2023: Chinese Embassy in Seoul announces plans to resume issuing short-term visas for South Koreans from Feb. 18.

Feb. 22, 2023: South Korean officials announce lifting of post-arrival Chinese test requirements for travelers from China from March 1.

Feb. 27, 2023: South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announces plans to reduce reliance on China for key minerals from 80 to 50% by 2030.

March 1, 2023: Chinese Assistant Commerce Minister Le Fei and South Korean Deputy Trade Minister Jeong Dae-jin meet in Seoul.

March 3, 2023: South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport announces an agreement with Chinese counterparts to restore the number of bilateral flights to pre-pandemic levels.

March 10, 2023: Kim sends a congratulatory message to Xi on gaining a third term as president.

March 10, 2023: South Korean Deputy Trade Minister Jeong Dae-jin and Shandong Secretary-General Song Junji hold an economic cooperation dialogue in Seoul.

March 12, 2023: Top North Korean officials send congratulatory messages to Chinese counterparts after China’s National People’s Congress.

March 13, 2023: Yoon sends congratulatory message to Xi on gaining a third term as president.

March 20, 2023: China-South Korea passenger ferry services resume after COVID-related suspension since 2020.

March 23, 2023: Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong arrives in Beijing to attend the China Development Forum and meet business and political leaders.

March 27, 2023: Chinese Ambassador to North Korea Wang Yajun arrives in Pyongyang to start his official duties.

March 28, 2023: Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming and People Power Party leader Kim Gihyeon meet in Seoul.

April 6, 2023: South Korean Ambassador to China Chung Jae-ho hosts a friendship event and meets Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong.

April 8, 2023: Chinese Ambassador to North Korea Wang Yajun meets WPK international department director Kim Song-nam and delivers a message from President Xi.

April 8, 2023: Xi sends a reply letter to Kim.

April 19, 2023: 17th China-South Korea Local Government Exchange Seminar is held in Changchun.

April 19, 2023: Yoon comments on Taiwan in an interview with Reuters.

April 20, 2023: China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs comments on Yoon’s interview.

April 20, 2023: South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounces China’s response to Yoon’s comment on Taiwan.

April 20, 2023: South Korean Foreign Ministry summons Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming to oppose Chinese criticism of Yoon’s media comments on Taiwan.

April 20, 2023: South Korean Ambassador to China Chung Jae-ho and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong hold telephone talks on Taiwan remarks.

April 24, 2023: Chinese Embassy in South Korea releases a statement pertaining to the Taiwan issue.

cc.pacforum.org · by Scott Snyder · May 15, 2023


8. Kim Jong-un’s miscalculations leave his regime in North Korea hanging by a thread


Good. Someone is finally addressing Kim Jong Un's failures and examining the crisis in north Korea. I hope alliance contingency plans are being reviewed in depth.


Excerpt: 


The country is looking at its worst socioeconomic crisis since the “Arduous March” of the 1990s, which resulted in the deaths of millions. The Kim regime is experiencing acute insecurity and this is manifesting both economically and politically. Three events precipitated this crisis.


Kim Jong-un’s miscalculations leave his regime in North Korea hanging by a thread

  • Three events have precipitated the crisis in North Korea: UN sanctions, Kim’s harsh Covid-19 controls and his failed bid to court Russia and China in a defiant nuclear push
  • The only remaining means of preserving state integrity is the use of terror and repression


Chan Young Bang

+ FOLLOW

Published: 9:15am, 18 May, 2023

https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3220644/kim-jong-uns-miscalculations-leave-his-regime-north-korea-hanging-thread




Kim Jong-un faces a critical challenge to his leadership, which will decide the fate of North Korea as a sovereign state. The country is looking at its worst socioeconomic crisis since the “Arduous March” of the 1990s, which resulted in the deaths of millions. The Kim regime is experiencing acute insecurity and this is manifesting both economically and politically. Three events precipitated this crisis.

First, North Korea’s decision to conduct a sixth nuclear test in 2017 prompted a severe escalation of sanctions, which were adopted by the United Nations Security Council with the support of China and Russia.

These sanctions caused North Korea’s economy to deteriorate. Gross domestic product contracted, causing a reduction in per capita income and subsequently consumption. A prolonged decline in exports also led to a cumulative trade deficit. Attempts to compensate for this trade deficit depleted foreign exchange reserves, impeding the country’s ability to import.

The sustained contraction of exports, the state’s main source of revenue, also meant a fiscal crunch, while shrinking imports of raw materials and consumer necessities, including food, jeopardised the output of the state manufacturing sector, induced food insecurity and instigated inflation.


The resulting depreciation of the domestic currency eroded purchasing power, stimulating the circulation of foreign currencies.

The disruption of state manufacturing also contributed to “marketisation from below” and the proliferation of the non-state sector – also known as the shadow economy – which now accounts for an estimated 70 per cent of the economy. This led to the spread of corruption and an unequal income distribution, and the state losing the ability to effectively coordinate economic activity, impairing its legitimacy.


Farmers plant rice using a seedling transplanter at the Chongsan Cooperative Farm in Kangso district, Nampho, North Korea, on May 9, 2022. Manufacturing setbacks and falling grain production have led to a food shortage. Photo: AP

Second, the regime’s disproportionate response to the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated the deterioration of the state agricultural and manufacturing sectors, already in decline since 2017. Subsequently, the economy has shrunk further. To compensate for the fiscal deficit, the government has had to squeeze financial resources out of the merchants, and the donju (“masters of money”) involved in moneylending, in the jangmadang, the country’s private market grounds.

Thus, UN sanctions and the pandemic have accelerated North Korea’s economic contraction. Between 2017 and 2021, its gross domestic product shrank by an estimated 12-13 per cent.

As a result of UN sanctions, exports plunged by 91 per cent, from US$2.82 billion in 2016 to US$240 million in 2018. Exports continued to plummet during the pandemic. By 2021, North Korea’s trade deficit with China had grown to an estimated US$8.29 billion, which led to the further depletion of foreign exchange reserves. Meanwhile, the contraction of the state manufacturing sector encouraged the proliferation of the jangmadang, where workers can earn 80 times their state salaries.

To uphold national unity and his legitimacy, Kim turned to a belligerent foreign policy, involving armed provocation and nuclear sabre-rattling. North Korea launched 69 ballistic missiles last year, and has fired more than 27 more missiles so far this year. The cost of missile testing was an estimated US$650 million in the first half of last year, more than 2 per cent of its GDP.

North Korea’s food crisis: How hungry are people in the hermit kingdom?

Coupled with setbacks in the manufacturing sector, the decline in grain production has led to a food shortage. The lack of fertilisers and equipment, an inefficient farming system, and recurring droughts and floods contributed to the low agricultural productivity. The country needs an estimated 5.95 million tonnes of grain annually but produced only 4.5 million tonnes last year – a shortfall that is causing mass starvation.


Third, given the dire socioeconomic situation, Kim desperately needed a breakthrough. He has chosen a bold strategic initiative: declaring North Korea a de jure nuclear-weapon stateendorsing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and attempting to form a trilateral partnership with Russia and China.

Kim’s decisions were based on two critical premises. One, that Russia would achieve its strategic military objectives in Ukraine and emerge as the victor. Two, that China would embrace North Korea as a fully fledged alliance member and give it much-needed economic help as a way for Beijing to counter the alliances led by the United States as part of its China containment policy.


01:51

North Korea's Kim says Russia 'will prevail' over hostile forces in Victory Day message to Putin

North Korea's Kim says Russia 'will prevail' over hostile forces in Victory Day message to Putin

Kim’s gamble backfired and the alliance did not materialise. His assumptions are incorrect and based upon miscalculations. Nuclear weapons are not only a threat to the United States, but also to China.

Beijing is focused on unification with Taiwan. North Korea’s military provocation, backed by nuclear weapons, will incite Washington to deploy advanced weaponry to the region, compel the US, Japan and South Korea to form a trilateral military alliance, and may push Tokyo and Seoul to adopt their own nuclear weapons programmes, all of which are detrimental to China’s strategic objectives.

For China, the geopolitical polarisation caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also means the cost of providing illegal economic help to North Korea has skyrocketed.

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un must be talked down before game of dare escalates

9 Oct 2022

The threat posed to North Korea does not stem from a hostile external military invasion, but from internal contradictions and system irrationalities. Ironically, the more Kim provokes other countries with his intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, the more vulnerable his regime becomes.

The regime has lost its legitimacy, having seen the erosion of its bureaucratic controlling mechanisms – the rationing system – and the collapse of the “small coalition” system of leadership. The only remaining means of preserving state integrity is the use of terror and repression, and as the predicament worsens, the regime must escalate these measures. For Kim, there is no light at the end of the tunnel and the survival of his regime hangs by a thread.

Dr Chan Young Bang is the founder and president of KIMEP University, principal investigator at North Korea Strategic Research Centre, and a former economic adviser to the first president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev


9. Yoon calls for fighting against threats to freedom, democracy by upholding Gwangju uprising spirit


(LEAD) Yoon calls for fighting against threats to freedom, democracy by upholding Gwangju uprising spirit | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 김한주 · May 18, 2023

(ATTN: CHANGES headline; UPDATES with more info throughout; ADDS photo)

By Kim Han-joo

SEOUL, May 18 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed Thursday to courageously stand against any challenges to freedom and democracy by upholding the spirit of a 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju.

Yoon made the remark during a ceremony marking the 43rd anniversary of the Gwangju Democratization Movement, in Gwangju, some 267 kilometers southeast of Seoul, which was attended by a large number of lawmakers from the rival parties and families of the victims.

"If we do not forget and inherit the May spirit, we must boldly fight against all of the forces and challenges threatening freedom and democracy and have such practical courage," Yoon said during the ceremony held at the May 18th National Cemetery.


President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a ceremony in the southwestern city of Gwangju on May 18, 2023, to mark the 43rd anniversary of a pro-democracy uprising. The Gwangju May 18 National Cemetery honors hundreds of people who were killed in the city during protests against the military junta of Chun Doo-hwan in May 1980. (Yonhap)

Yoon said the spirit of the uprising lives on and called for the protection of liberal democracy.

"(The May spirit) is a unifying force that binds us together," he said.

Yoon further said the May spirit is nothing less than the liberal democratic spirit as enshrined in the Constitution and is a precious asset that should be passed down.

"We stand here today, together, to remember the resistance of May, 43 years ago, which defended the values of liberal democracy and human rights by shedding blood, and to honor the souls of the democratic spirit," he said.

Near the end of the ceremony, Yoon, along with mothers of some of the young students victimized in the uprising, sang along to the signature song for the pro-democracy uprising in Gwangju, called "March for the Beloved."

Previously, the song had been performed by a choir during the administrations of conservative Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye. However, Yoon's predecessor, liberal former President Moon Jae-in, officially mandated that the song be sung by all participants at the annual commemorative event.

Displaying a message of unity, Yoon expressed gratitude to families of the victims for their courage and for not losing hope over the years.

This marks the first time that a conservative president has attended the annual ceremony for two consecutive years. Yoon had made a promise to the families of the victims last year that he would attend the ceremony every year.

Nearly 90 members of the ruling People Power Party also visited the annual ceremony for the second consecutive year, in an apparent move to outreach to the rival region of Honam so as to improve its image and woo centrist voters ahead of next year's parliamentary elections.

The main opposition Democratic Party also had a strong presence with nearly 100 lawmakers in attendance.

The former authoritarian regime of Chun Doo-hwan ordered a crackdown on the uprising, which left more than 200 dead and 1,800 others wounded, according to conservative official data.


President Yoon Suk Yeol (2nd from R), alongside a group of bereaved families, sings the song "March for the Beloved" symbolizing a 1980 pro-democracy uprising, during a memorial ceremony in the southwestern city of Gwangju on May 18, 2023. (Yonhap)

khj@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by 김한주 · May 18, 2023



10. North's human rights violations 'threat' to int'l security: U.S. special envoy nominee


Good to see her nomination finally moving along toward confirmation. She needs to be allowed to get to work. She presented her strategic plan to the Senators. Information is key.


Excerpts:


"The regime's human rights violations and abuses are inextricably linked to its weapons programs, which are funded through the exploitation and abuse of the North Korean people," she said..
...
The nominee said she will focus on five key areas if confirmed.
 
"First, I will work with partners and allies, including the ROK, to reenergize international efforts to promote human rights and increase access to uncensored information in the DPRK," she said, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.
 
"Second, I will seek to reinvigorate accountability efforts at the UN," she added.
 
The other areas of focus will be undertaking efforts to urge the DPRK to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, protection of North Korean refugees and working with the Korean American community to identify separated families with family members in North Korea and advocating for family reunions, she added.
 



Thursday

May 18, 2023

 dictionary + A - A 

North's human rights violations 'threat' to int'l security: U.S. special envoy nominee

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/05/18/national/northKorea/North-Korea-human-rights-Julie-Turner/20230518132506555.html


Julie Turner, nominee for U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights, speaks during her confirmation hearing before the Senate foreign relations committee in Washington on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

North Korea's disregard for the basic rights of its own people directly affects international security, the nominee for U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights said Wednesday.

 

Julie Turner said she, if appointed, will work to promote North Korean human rights and hold accountable those responsible for human rights violations and abuses in the reclusive North.

 

"The human rights situation in the DPRK is one of the most protracted human rights crises in the world," Turner said in her opening remarks before the Senate foreign relations committee confirmation hearing.

 


"As the DPRK's human rights record has deteriorated, the connection between its widespread violations and abuses and the threat it poses to international security are clear," she added.

 

DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

 

Turner noted that Pyongyang exports "thousands of North Koreans" overseas only to exploit their wages, which are funneled into the country's illegal weapons programs.

 

"The regime's human rights violations and abuses are inextricably linked to its weapons programs, which are funded through the exploitation and abuse of the North Korean people," she said.

 

She added, "The people of North Korea have suffered far too long under these abusive policies."

 

The nominee said she will focus on five key areas if confirmed.

 

"First, I will work with partners and allies, including the ROK, to reenergize international efforts to promote human rights and increase access to uncensored information in the DPRK," she said, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.

 

"Second, I will seek to reinvigorate accountability efforts at the UN," she added.

 

The other areas of focus will be undertaking efforts to urge the DPRK to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, protection of North Korean refugees and working with the Korean American community to identify separated families with family members in North Korea and advocating for family reunions, she added.

 

Turner currently serves as the director of East Asia and the Pacific at the U.S. State Department.

 

She was nominated by U.S. President Joe Biden in January.

 

 

If appointed, she will be the first U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues since early 2017.


11. Two North Korean families defect across the NLL by boat



These two families had to overcome the pressure of the regime's security system to not report on each other. This is a small example/anecdote of the regime's declining power over the people (but we are a long way off from any collective action and significant resistance).



Thursday

May 18, 2023

 dictionary + A - A 

Two North Korean families defect across the NLL by boat

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/05/18/national/northKorea/Korea-North-Korea-defector/20230518141327515.html


A South Korean Navy vessel patrols the area of the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea in September 2020. The shoreline of North Korea's Hwanghae Province is visible in the distance. [YONHAP]

 

Two North Korean families that included children entered the South by sailing across the de facto inter-Korean maritime boundary in the Yellow Sea earlier this month, South Korean military authorities revealed Thursday.

 

Their passage marks the first time in six years that North Koreans have taken a boat to flee the North across the heavily patrolled Northern Limit Line (NLL).

 

According to a South Korean military official who spoke to the JoongAng Ilbo on condition of anonymity, the North Korean boat’s approach toward the NLL was detected by the military’s surveillance systems on the evening of May 6.


 

The military then deployed its maritime forces to intercept the boat as it was headed to Yeonpyeong Island after crossing the NLL, the official said.

 

South Korean soldiers boarded the boat to conduct an inspection of those on board and confirmed the passengers’ intent to defect to the South, according to the official.

 

After checking their identities, the South Korean military transported the boat’s passengers to a military base in Seoul on the morning of May 7.

 

While military authorities did not reveal the exact number of people who defected in the incident, they said the number did not exceed 10. 

 

Two families were aboard the boat, including an unknown number of young children, according to the source that spoke to the JoongAng Ilbo.

 

The defectors are currently undergoing joint questioning by South Korean investigators from the military and the National Intelligence Service in an undisclosed location in Seoul, the source said.

 

Their motives for defection have not yet been disclosed but could be tied to rising food insecurity and economic hardship in the North.

 

The last time North Koreans fled to the South via boat across the NLL was in July 2017.

 

That successful defection involved four North Korean men and one woman.

 

But not all maritime border crossings are intentional, with North Korean fishing boats sometimes drifting into the South after experiencing engine trouble or running out of fuel. 

 

South Korea returns those on board to the North unless they have expressed a desire to defect.

 

One notable exception is the case of two North Korean fishermen who were forcibly repatriated in November 2019 after coming under suspicion of murdering 16 fellow crewmembers before fleeing across the East Sea into the South.

 

Several high-ranking former officials who served in the Moon Jae-in administration at the time of the repatriation incident have been indicted on charges of abusing their authority and obstructing a fair and impartial investigation into the allegations against the fishermen. 

 

The most recent group’s escape from the North comes at a time when far fewer North Koreans are successfully reaching the South.

 

According to figures published by the Unification Ministry, the annual number of North Korean defectors entering the South hovered around 1,000 before plummeting to 229 in 2020, 63 in 2021 and 67 in 2022.

 

The drastic fall in defection figures has been attributed to Pyongyang’s decision to seal its borders to prevent the spread of Covid-19 from neighboring China, where the first outbreaks of the virus were detected.

 

Before the pandemic, most North Koreans fleeing their homeland escaped first to China before continuing on to another country where they could present themselves at South Korean diplomatic missions to apply for asylum.

 

China does not recognize North Korean defectors as refugees, but rather as economic migrants and deports them back to the North if they are caught.

 


BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]



12. Korea's steps closer to becoming global pivotal state goal by presence at Hiroshima G7







Korea's steps closer to becoming global pivotal state goal by presence at Hiroshima G7

The Korea Times · May 18, 2023

By Song Kyung-jin


The 49th G7 Summit 2023 is held today in Hiroshima, Japan until May 21. President Yoon Suk Yeol has been invited to this G7 Summit. This is the fourth time for Korea's president to be invited to attend such a meeting after the Hokkaido Toyako G8 2008, L'Aquila G8 2009 and Cornwall G7 2021.


While the decision to invite non-G7 nations to the G7 Summit lies with the host country and is respected as the host's prerogative, the list of invitees is perceived to be strategically important in addressing global political and economic issues and better serving the global public good. Oftentimes, the host also invites countries that have special historical relationships.


Korea's participation in the G7 is an outcome of its credibility and leadership accumulated in the global collective endeavor and contribution toward the recovery from the 2008 global financial crisis and the promotion of democracy and universal values. It per se is in close alignment with Korea's aspirations to become a global pivotal state.


In discussions with the guest countries and the eight outreach international organizations, the G7 is stated to focus on securing the rules-based international order and expanding the G7 cooperation with the Global South in dealing with the global economy, climate change, food security, public health and development.


President Yoon has emphasized many times the central importance of freedom, the rule of law, human rights and democracy for peace, stability and prosperity in the region and around the world. Korea is determined to closely cooperate with like-minded countries to promote the values and beliefs it upholds, welcoming all that are willing to join this noble cause and not excluding anyone.


Korea, in particular, can do a great deal more on the front of cooperation with the Global South. Cooperation with the Global South is what Korea has been emphasizing since the Seoul G20 Summit 2010 whereby it brought the development agenda as a G20 core pillar after a series of strenuous negotiations with the G7. The world knows well that it is Korea's initiative.


Central to Korea's argument then was that the time had come for the global key players to do away with the charity-like assistance to emerging and developing countries and instead start assisting the developing world to learn how to catch fish. Korea offered itself as a bridge between the developed and developing worlds.


For instance, Korea knows more than any of the G7 countries what poverty and hunger are like. Investment in research and development for agricultural productivity emancipated Koreans from hunger. Korea is now committed to cooperation with developing countries so they may follow suit as quickly as possible with climate-resilient agricultural technology.


As part and parcel of this engagement, Korea has been deliberately increasing its official development assistance (ODA) as a share of the gross domestic product. The ODA budget was increased by 18 percent this year and will likely be increased equally or even further next year.


Cooperation with the Global South needs to be aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that both the G7 and the G20 endorsed and adopted as an integral part of their agenda. It requires much more coordination and cooperation between the G7 and the G20 where Korea's contribution is much expected to ensure delivery of commitments in the two important global steering committees. Hence, the progress of the G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment pledged at the Schloss Elmau G7 2022 should be reviewed and recommitted in Hiroshima.


Korea together with India as the G20 presidency 2023 should call for expediting the climate financing enhancement of multilateral development banks such as the World Bank to support emerging and developing countries to deal with climate change.


President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the G7 host, have agreed to visit the Cenotaph for Korean Victims at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park to pay respects to the Korean atomic bomb victims during the G7 Summit. The manifold significance of the first-ever joint visit by a Korean president and a Japanese prime minister cannot be overstressed. The noble act of the two leaders will go down in history as an immensely powerful message for peace and harmony for a nuclear-free world in sync with the Hiroshima Action Plan expected to be endorsed by the G7. It demonstrates a great leap forward toward better and future Korea-Japan relations. It is happening at the proposal and leadership of President Yoon. Prime Minister Kishida's leadership deserves appreciation, too.


The main agenda of the G7 proper includes Ukraine, the Free and Open Indo-Pacific, economic, energy and food security, digitalization, health and development, gender equality and nuclear disarmament. They all have great relevance to Korea, too, calling for its engagement and leadership. By living up to the expectations of the global community, Korea will be one step closer to the global pivotal state it aspires to be.


Dr. Song Kyung-jin (kj_song@hotmail.com) led the Institute for Global Economics (IGE), based in Seoul and served as special adviser to the chairman of the Presidential Committee for the Seoul G20 Summit in the office of the president. Now, she is the executive director of the Innovative Economy Forum.



The Korea Times · May 18, 2023



13. Samsung starts mass production of most advanced DRAM chips





Samsung starts mass production of most advanced DRAM chips

koreaherald.com · by Jo He-rim · May 18, 2023

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest memory chip maker, said Thursday it kicked off the mass production of its 16-gigabit DDR5 DRAM, which utilizes the industry’s most advanced 12 nanometer-class process technology.

Boasting a maximum speed of 7.2 gigabits per second, which translates into speeds that can process two 30 gigabyte UHD movies in about a second, Samsung’s newest DRAM lineup will support a growing list of applications including data centers, artificial intelligence, and next-generation computing, the company said.

“Using differentiated process technology, Samsung's industry-leading 12nm-class DDR5 DRAM delivers outstanding performance and power efficiency,” said Lee Joo-young, executive vice president of DRAM Product and Technology at Samsung Electronics.

“Our latest DRAM reflects our continued commitment to leading the DRAM market, not only with high-performance and high-capacity products that meet computing market demand for large-scale processing, but also by commercializing next-generation solutions that support greater productivity."

Compared to the previous generation, Samsung’s new 12nm-class DDR5 DRAM reduces power consumption by up to 23 percent while enhancing wafer productivity by up to 20 percent, the company said.

With greater power efficiency and productivity, the DRAM will optimize next-generation computing, including artificial intelligence applications, and this will make the new product an ideal solution for global IT companies seeking to reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint of their servers and data centers, Samsung added.

According to the tech giant, its development of the 12nm-class process technology was made possible thanks to the use of a new high-kappa material that helps increase cell capacitance.

High capacitance results in a significant electric potential difference in the data signals, which makes it easier to accurately distinguish them, Samsung said. Its efforts to lower operating voltage and reduce noise have also helped deliver the optimal solution, the company added.

Samsung completed its 16-gigabit DDR5 DRAM evaluation for compatibility with AMD last December, and continues to collaborate with global IT companies to drive innovation in the next-generation DRAM market, it said.



By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)

koreaherald.com · by Jo He-rim · May 18, 2023




14. 3-way summit to focus on 'real-time' military information sharing: experts (ROK-Japan - US)


Excerpts:

Cheong Seong-chang, the director of the Department of Reunification Strategy Studies at the Sejong Institute, said, "The NCG between Korea and the US has not even been officially launched, so making a sudden decision at the G-7 summit seems to be impossible."
"The NCG is a sort of gift given to Yoon by President Joe Biden. The reason the US agreed to grant it to South Korea is to address the demand for nuclear armament in Korea. However, Japan does not have the same demand for nuclear armament as Korea," Cheong said.
"Nevertheless, Japan can express its intention to participate in the NCG in the long term, so further discussion is necessary,” he said. “The US wants Korea-Japan relations to be like Korea-US or US-Japan. If Japan makes such a proposal, the US will consider it positively, even if it cannot accept it right away.”


3-way summit to focus on 'real-time' military information sharing: experts

koreaherald.com · by Shin Ji-hye · May 18, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol is set for a trilateral summit with the leaders of the United States and Japan on Sunday, where the focus of the meeting is expected to be on enhancing real-time information sharing to effectively tackle persistent North Korean missile threats, according to experts.

Six months after their previous meeting in November, the three leaders will resume talks on the last day of the G-7 summit which kicks off on Friday. The last summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, resulted in the three leaders signing a joint agreement on the sharing of North Korean missile warning information. The presidential office recently announced that their respective military authorities have been engaged in working-level discussions to develop a system, and the three countries have plans to promptly establish a trilateral consultative body to facilitate the real-time sharing of North Korean missile warning information. The warning information includes details such as the launch point, flight direction and potential landing location of a missile.

Such a real-time missile information sharing system is a necessity at this point, according to Yang Uk, a military and defense analyst at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

He said that information sharing between South Korea and Japan has not been smooth, despite the recent normalization of the General Security of Military Information Agreement. GSOMIA is considered "a basic pact" and does not imply information sharing itself, he explained. It is an agreement that allows countries to share military information. South Korea has concluded intergovernmental military information agreements with 21 countries, including Japan.

"To enable information sharing, specific plans must be drawn up, determining which ministries, channels and technical means will be used for sharing information," Yang said.

“While information sharing between the US and Korea, as well as between the US and Japan, tends to be prompt during instances of North Korean provocations, the information sharing between Korea and Japan is not as well-established and smooth.”

Establishing "real-time" information sharing is also important because GSOMIA and the trilateral information sharing arrangement, TISA, occur "after" missiles are launched, according to Choi Eun-mi, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

Even if the information sharing system, such as GSOMIA and TISA, operate well, Choi said that the countries still need to analyze information after North Korea launches missiles.

"Currently, missile information provided by Japan and South Korea differs depending on the direction in which the North fires, and there are occasional inaccuracies," she explained. "Considering that missiles from the North can arrive in Seoul within minutes, promptness and accuracy of information are crucial."

Much attention has been given to whether Japan will participate in the Korea-US Nuclear Consultative Group, as President Yoon mentioned during a joint press briefing with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida earlier this month that he does not rule out Japan's future participation in consultations. The nuclear consultation group guarantees South Korea's participation in the process of US extended deterrence in the case of emergencies, such as the threat of North Korean nuclear missiles.

However, experts predicted that the leaders would not extensively discuss this matter during the summit, although such discussions may be initiated.

“The essence of Yoon’s words at the time was in the next sentence, that the nuclear consultative group is a ‘bilateral’ agreement between Korea and the US,” Choi said. She expressed doubt about the merit of a transition to a multilateral agreement.

Cheong Seong-chang, the director of the Department of Reunification Strategy Studies at the Sejong Institute, said, "The NCG between Korea and the US has not even been officially launched, so making a sudden decision at the G-7 summit seems to be impossible."

"The NCG is a sort of gift given to Yoon by President Joe Biden. The reason the US agreed to grant it to South Korea is to address the demand for nuclear armament in Korea. However, Japan does not have the same demand for nuclear armament as Korea," Cheong said.

"Nevertheless, Japan can express its intention to participate in the NCG in the long term, so further discussion is necessary,” he said. “The US wants Korea-Japan relations to be like Korea-US or US-Japan. If Japan makes such a proposal, the US will consider it positively, even if it cannot accept it right away.”

In a regular briefing on May 8, Vedant Patel, senior deputy spokesman for the US State Department, responded to a question about the possibility of creating a new Korea-US-Japan consultative body on extended deterrence, saying, “We, of course, welcome increased collaboration between our partners in the ROK and our partners in Japan, as well as increased (trilateral) collaboration, as well. We believe all of these things are good for all three of our countries.”



By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)

koreaherald.com · by Shin Ji-hye · May 18, 2023



15.  Yeonmi Park: is the DPRK defector a western psy-op?


This woman damages the reputation of escapees from the north. Her lies do a great disservice. And now, as the consummate opportunist, she has been co-opted by the culture warriors to particparticate in the great fake culture war.


Yeonmi Park: is the DPRK defector a western psy-op?

dazeddigital.com · by Dazed · May 17, 2023

Life & CultureNews


The celebrity defector has found fans in the likes of Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson, but why can’t she get her story straight?

17May 2023

TextThom Waite

Yeonmi Park: In North Korea, every room has to have a portrait of the Kims. The inspector comes out of nowhere in the middle of the night and touches the portraits. If they see any dust... you can get executed.

Joe Rogan: [shakes head] Wow.

This isn’t a meme, but a real (slightly abridged) exchange taken from a 2021 episode of the Joe Rogan Podcast. You might have seen it pop up on your social media feeds lately, alongside clips of the North Korean defector talking to Joe Rogan about Chinese organ harvesting, or telling right-wing hack Jordan Peterson about eating “tons of grasshoppers” to survive life in the dictatorship. You’ve probably also seen the memes being shared in response to her unbelievable stories. Yeonmi is a CIA-funded propagandist, they claim, or Yeonmi is scamming wide-eyed westerners with tales from beyond the DPRK’s iron curtain for financial gain. Are they wrong?

Born in North Korea, Yeonmi Park fled with her family to China in 2007, at the age of 13, and settled in South Korea in 2009. Five years later, she would move to the United States to work as a human rights activist, spreading the story of her defection at events such as the 2014 One Young World summit in Dublin.

The problem is, Yeonmi’s tall tales have varied over the years, littered with factual inaccuracies and... poetic licence. How could this happen? It’s a question on many people’s lips as she surges back into the spotlight following the publication of her most recent book, While Time Remains: A North Korean Defector's Search for Freedom in America. Wouldn’t she remember whether her father escaped with the rest of the family, or was left behind to “minimise the risks”? And how did she forget about the concept of ice cream?

Below, we dive into some of Yeonmi Park’s wildest stories of life in North Korea, and why defectors are incentivised to embellish their suffering under the rule of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.

In Turkey, you pay for ice cream then the ice cream man pretends he's giving it and takes it back and you starve pic.twitter.com/EaJaRPF5Et
— xezal (@pyroghetti) May 13, 2023

WHY LIE ABOUT LIFE IN NORTH KOREA?

Undeniably, there are many facts of life in North Korea that would be shocking to people on the outside, from the country’s travel restrictions, to its human rights abuses, to its dependence on a growing nuclear arsenal (not to mention the government’s totalitarian approach to fashion and hatred of K-pop). It’s worth noting, though, that there’s also a significant financial incentive to share increasingly shocking stories filled with unsavoury details.

Back in 2017, the South Korean government quadrupled the reward it pays North Korean defectors for “useful information” on the regime, to just under £700,000. In both South Korea and the US, meanwhile, bestselling memoirs and sensational speaking engagements help convert trauma into cash – and they might be a good way to spread information about life in North Korea, if they weren’t undermined by factual inaccuracies.

WHAT HAS YEONMI PARK LIED ABOUT?

It’s convenient that Yeonmi mostly addresses already-outraged crowds of Americans and credulous “public intellectuals” like Peterson, because she often gives the impression that she’s making stories up on the fly, responding to questions with a remarkable flair for “yes, and...” improv.

This would explain some of the contradictions in her narration of events in North Korea. For example, her frequently-recited story about the execution of her best friend’s mother for watching forbidden media. In some stories, she reports that the media was a South Korean DVD, and the act took place in a stadium. Other times, though, it’s changed to a James Bond film or a nameless Hollywood blockbuster, and the woman was killed in the street. Either way, it’s an incredibly dark tale, but it’s also surprising that she’d forget the details of such a formative event. Plus, experts have expressed doubt that such an extreme punishment fits the crime, even in North Korea.

In other appearances, Yeonmi’s stories are simply improbable. See: her claim on the Joe Rogan Podcast that North Korea only has one train, which runs once a month, and when it breaks down the passengers have to get out and (somehow, despite train carriages typically weighing more than 15 tonnes) push it where they want to go. Or the claim that all of North Korea’s plants mysteriously turn poisonous in springtime, and the population is left to feed deadly mud to their children.

Many of Yeonmi’s more dubious claims have even been shot down by fellow defectors, while commentators on the region have criticised her for her tendency to “muddle her message with this nakedly partisan punditry”.

AND WHAT’S THAT ABOUT ICE CREAM?

One post that has particularly captured the internet’s imagination (read: sparked numerous memes) over the last week is on the tamer end of the spectrum. Under a picture of her posing outside a Jeni’s Ice Creams shop, Yeonmi writes: “When I was in North Korea, there was no such a concept as ‘dessert’. Now I cannot imagine a world without these goodies.”

Admittedly, I cannot imagine a world without goodies, either. However, it seems unlikely that Yeonmi never actually stumbled across an ice cream during her time in North Korea, since they did actually exist – as evidenced in travel blogs and images from the early 2000s. In 2022, Kim Jong Un himself even took “special measures” to speed up the construction of a new ice cream factory.

IS IT REALLY PROPAGANDA, OR IS YEONMI JUST REALLY FORGETFUL?

That’s the question... According to Yeonmi herself, many of her mistakes were the result of a language barrier when she was still learning English. In a response to a 2014 article in the Diplomat, she added: “I apologise that there have been times when my childhood memories were not perfect,” saying that she was cross-checking details with her mum as she authored her first book.

Naturally, these disclaimers aren’t good enough for many internet sceptics, who point to the West’s long tradition of using defectors as propaganda mouthpieces (a tactic that’s been employed in North Korea, as well). Many have suggested that Yeonmi is one such psy-op, as well as pointing out ties to shady organisations like the Atlas Network. Others have even speculated that her outrageous claims are being used by DPRK sympathisers to undermine other defectors’ accounts of their suffering.

YEONMI PARK’S RIGHT-WING TIES

In case you haven’t noticed, Yeonmi Park has found a significant audience with right-wing figures and more conservative-leaning pundits. This might not be surprising – she presents a perfect opportunity to *own the commies* – but their inane “culture wars” drivel does, unfortunately, seem to have rubbed off on Yeonmi herself.

Yes, Yeonmi is now “slamming cancel culture” at America’s Ivy League universities in articles for the Telegraph. In one interview, she complains that her lessons at Columbia demonised capitalism, taught her that maths is racist, and claimed “anything that was white was bad”, comparing the university to a North Korean classroom. Elsewhere, she decries the “woke tyranny” of Western culture, saying: “Even North Korea isn’t this crazy.” (Comparing the US to North Korea: based. Doing it because you don’t like what they’re teaching in schools, instead of the states’ shared love of incarceration and nuclear aggression: sadly, cringe.)

According to yet another Joe Rogan interview clip, this swing toward the right-wing was prompted by an incident during the George Floyd protests in 2020, when she was allegedly robbed by three Black woman, and stopped from calling the police by a crowd of 20 white bystanders. Apparently, that was the catalyst for her “speaking out” and becoming a self-proclaimed “enemy of the woke” – not necessarily the most objective viewpoint for gathering useful intel.

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dazeddigital.com · by Dazed · May 17, 2023



16. [INTERVIEW] North Korea's crypto hacking faces turning point





[INTERVIEW] North Korea's crypto hacking faces turning point

The Korea Times · May 18, 2023

An White House official said about half of North Korea's missile program has been funded by its cryptocurrency theft. gettyimagesThis is the first in a two-part series of interviews with global experts in cryptocurrency investigations and cybersecurity as North Korea's illicit cyber activities represent an alarming new threat for Washington and its two most important East Asian allies, Seoul and Tokyo, amid Pyongyang's development of its nuclear weapons program. _ ED.


'NK's hackers use services located in China and Russia for ill-gotten gains'


By Kim Yoo-chul


Over the last few years, a secret group of hackers has been launching campaigns apparently aimed at stealing classified data from think tanks, financial institutions, government agencies and academics in South Korea and the U.S., while laundering cryptocurrencies on the side.


That group, widely known as APT43, was believed to be a proxy for North Korean intelligence services, according to researchers at Mandiant, a part of Google Cloud. The revelation was not surprising to leading policymakers in Washington and its two East Asian allies, Seoul and Tokyo.


Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology at the White House, assessed that about half of North Korea's missile program has been funded by the regime's cryptocurrency theft. Cryptocurrencies are the tools for evading any economic sanctions because transactions are done through encrypted transfers and are not processed within mainstream banking systems.


In short, APT43 and other groups including the brazen Lazarus Group are the latest face of North Korea's hacking prowess as cryptocurrency theft is the most favored financing option for the regime.


And as global financing rapidly embraces sophisticated digital technology, crypto-related crimes are now becoming a bigger threat.


Speaking to The Korea Times, an executive at the New York-based blockchain analysis company, Chainalysis, which also helped the U.S. Department of Justice and South Korea's National Intelligence Service track illicit gains made by North Korean hacking attacks, said hackers linked to the regime shattered their own record for theft in 2022.


Erin Plante, vice president of investigations at Chainalysis / Courtesy of Chainalysis


"North Korea-linked hackers stole an estimated $1.7 billion worth of cryptocurrency across several hacks. Most experts agree the North Korean government is using these stolen assets to fund its nuclear weapons program," Erin Plante, a cyber financial crimes expert for The New York Times, CNN, Bloomberg and Axios, said in a recent interview.


Plante, who is also vice president of investigations at Chainalysis, added that about $1.1 billion of the cryptocurrency was stolen by hacking into decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, making North Korea one of the driving forces behind the hacking trend that intensified last year. DeFi does not rely on intermediaries such as brokerages, exchanges or banks by using smart contracts on a blockchain.


DeFi hacks are a kind of "smart contract exploit," which involves flaws in the codes of smart contracts executed by the DeFi protocol. This feature has some risk factors as hackers could be able to easily manipulate the DeFi protocol's behavior, helping them steal users' properties.


Chainalysis' key customers include the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation, as well as the United Kingdom's National Crime Agency.


"North Korea's shift to DeFi hacks could be due to the bear market of 2022 and the exponential growth in the DeFi space. DeFi's protocols are publicly viewable by default, but that same transparency is also what makes DeFi so vulnerable ― hackers can scan DeFi codes for vulnerabilities and strike at the perfect time to maximize their theft," the executive elaborated.


Regarding its findings about North Korean hackers' patterns on how to convert their cryptocurrencies into real cash, the executive said North Korean-affiliated hackers typically steal, launder and convert their cryptocurrencies into fiat currencies through the following five steps.


According to her, the process starts with "chainhop" between different blockchains and assets to try and evade investigators, followed by moves to convert all assets to bitcoins, including ethereum (since the sanctioning of Tornado Cash, there are no effective ethereum mixers available), to splitting bitcoins and holding them in thousands of intermediary wallets, to mixing bitcoins in a variety of mixers and finally cash withdrawal through crypto-to-cash conversion services.


Asked about the specifics of Lazarus Group, which has been designated as being responsible for the recent supply chain attack on 3CX and was also behind low-profile hacks such as the attack on Sony Pictures back in 2014 and the spread of the WannaCry ransomware in 2017, Plante said North Korean-affiliated hackers are sophisticated both in terms of hacking and laundering stolen funds.


A representation of the cryptocurrency is seen in front of Binance logo in this illustration taken, March 4, 2022. Reuters-Yonhap


"In order to steal funds, they make ??use of phishing lures, code exploits, malware and advanced social engineering to siphon funds into addresses they control. To launder the funds, they use obfuscation techniques such as mixing, using services like the now sanctioned Tornado Cash to create a disconnect between the cryptocurrency they deposit and withdraw and chain hopping, which is the process of swapping between several different kinds of cryptocurrency in a single transaction," she explained.


When questioned about Binance's possible role in this issue, the executive said Chainalysis is not able to comment on behalf of the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange.


Turning point, Russia-China connection


Security experts in Washington said the core of North Korea's cybercrimes and its continued efforts to advance its nuclear weapons are complicating the Joe Biden administration's efforts to pursue regional stability amid the rise of China.


But Plante said despite North Korean hackers' sophistication, law enforcement agencies are "increasingly able to trace the moves of stolen funds" through blockchain analysis, making it harder for the North's hackers to get away with "these types of attacks."


"Through advanced tracing technologies and blockchain analytics, investigators can follow stolen funds throughout these steps to cash out points and work with industry players to quickly freeze funds and seize them," she said.


According to its findings, more than $30 million worth of crypto assets stolen by North Korean-linked hackers from the Axie Infinity hack have been seized. About $1 million dollars in funds stolen by North Korean hackers from Harmony Bridge were also tracked and seized.


Bitcoins against a backdrop of the flag of North Korea / gettyimages


"We expect more such stories in the coming years, largely due to the transparency of the blockchain," Plante said.


She said it remains unclear if Chinese or Russian hackers are supporting North Korea's hacking efforts.


"But we do know that North Korean-linked hackers have used services located in countries all over the world, including China and Russia, to attempt to launder and cash out their ill-gotten gains," Plante added.


Looking at the trends in the way that North Korean hackers attack their victims, what cryptocurrency services can do is to avoid the risk of hackers accessing bitcoins by strengthening their defenses against attacks, the executive elaborated.

"Organizations can invest in strong security strategies and tools and train employees to identify suspicious communications. General security practices will be key given that North Korean hackers particularly leverage sophisticated phishing attacks to gain access to their target's system. Ensuring that every employee in an organization is vigilant and strengthening the technical aspect of cyber defenses is very important," she said, adding that steps aimed at addressing DeFi space-related issues are necessary.


North Korea's blending of cybercrimes and nuclear development is posing a threat to the national security of Washington and its two most important East Asian allies. Plante said it is necessary for more government agencies to be equipped with the tools and training to investigate cryptocurrency-related criminal activities.


"We've already seen that when the government and the private sector work together, we can achieve meaningful results, exemplified by our work in the Ronin Bridge case and with the South Korean government in the Harmony Bridge case. An important starting point is the implementation of FATF standards for virtual assets," according to the expert.


FATF stands for Financial Action Task Force, a global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog.


"FATF's focus should be on making it more challenging for illicit actors to launder and cash out stolen funds by ensuring that virtual asset businesses have in place strong money laundering controls. The FATF has emphasized that many countries are lagging behind in the implementation of the FATF requirements and has accordingly agreed on a roadmap to strengthen implementation," she answered.



The Korea Times · May 18, 2023









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



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


If you do not read anything else in the 2017 National Security Strategy read this on page 14:

"A democracy is only as resilient as its people. An informed and engaged citizenry is the fundamental requirement for a free and resilient nation. For generations, our society has protected free press, free speech, and free thought. Today, actors such as Russia are using information tools in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of democracies. Adversaries target media, political processes, financial networks, and personal data. The American public and private sectors must recognize this and work together to defend our way of life. No external threat can be allowed to shake our shared commitment to our values, undermine our system of government, or divide our Nation."
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