|
Quotes of the Day:
“If someone constantly pays attention to what others say about them, they will never be able to find inner peace.”
- Leo Tolstoy.
"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."
- Anais Nin
"[One] disadvantage of digital media is that people are not digital: they are physical objects who live and work in three spatial dimensions. This situation is not expected to change. People prefer to work and play with objects arranged around them, and their memories depend on cues provided by spatial location. Until homes can have dozens of digital displays and eBooks, paper is therefore likely to keep a place within them. Some technologies do their job perfectly and tend to stick around. The spoon is one example, the lawn-roller another. Paper may well be a third."
- "Bad News for Trees," The Economist, Dec. 19, 1998
1. N. Korea fires several cruise missiles into Yellow Sea: JCS
2. N. Korean missile launches only solidify U.S. alliances with S. Korea, Japan: Blinken
3. Cooperation between U.S., Japan, S. Korea important to maintaining peace in Indo-Pacific: U.S. officials
4. China told to stop tankers in its waters reaching N. Korea
5. North Korea’s Hwasong-18 test
6. Nuclear war moves of US and Yoon Suk Yeol denounced in south Korea
7. Press Statement of Minister of National Defence of DPRK
8. Army Special Operations in the “Forgotten War”: Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Korean Armistice
9. A space race on the Korean Peninsula
10. North Korea is a land of stories that don't often get told. Here are some that did
11. A closer look at the heavily fortified 154-mile-long DMZ between North and South Korea
12. US-Korea policy is 'trapped in a pattern of cyclical amnesia' - Responsible Statecraft
13. Berkeley filmmaker crossed the Korean DMZ for her new documentary
14. VOA: [Washington Talk] “Korea’s nuclear armament theory leads to enhanced extended deterrence… Recognizing Korean People’s Needs”
15. John Batchelor Show with Gordon Chang on north Korea
16. [Weekender] S. Korea ranks third in terms of passport power: What does it mean?
1. N. Korea fires several cruise missiles into Yellow Sea: JCS
north Korea is keeping up the fire. But it is just another indication of Kim's failed strategy.
(LEAD) N. Korea fires several cruise missiles into Yellow Sea: JCS | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · July 22, 2023
(ATTN: ADDS details throughout, byline)
By Lee Minji
SEOUL, July 22 (Yonhap) -- North Korea fired several cruise missiles into the Yellow Sea on Saturday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
South Korean and U.S intelligence authorities were analyzing the launches, which took place at about 4:00 a.m., to learn more about the type of missiles fired and other details, according to the JCS.
"Our military has bolstered surveillance and vigilance while closely cooperating with the United States and maintaining a firm readiness posture," the JCS said, adding it is closely monitoring additional activities by the North.
The launches came three days after North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea.
It also came amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula following the port visit of a nuclear-capable U.S. submarine in more than 40 years and the inaugural session of the South Korea-U.S. Nuclear Consultative Group earlier this week.
USS Kentucky (SSBN 737), an 18,750-ton Ohio-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), departed Busan naval base on Friday, three days after a rare port visit in a major show of strength against evolving North Korean military threats.
North Korea denounced the visit, saying the SSBN's deployment may fall under the legal conditions for its use of nuclear weapons.
In March, North Korea said it launched strategic cruise missiles "tipped with a test warhead simulating a nuclear warhead."
At that time, the North's state media said two "Hwasal-1"-type strategic cruise missiles and two "Hwasal-2"-type strategic cruise missiles, launched in South Hamgyong Province, accurately hitting targets set in the East Sea.
North Korea fires a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on July 12, 2023, in this photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
mlee@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · July 22, 2023
2. N. Korean missile launches only solidify U.S. alliances with S. Korea, Japan: Blinken
SECSTATE is exactly right. Each north Korean provocation strengthens the alliance and trilateral cooperation. It is Kim's failing strategy that is making us stronger. And this is not in Kim's interests nor in China's interests.
He is also right to defend actions that are not really making the news. Of course the only measure of effectiveness for the press and pundits is whether we are talking to Kim Jong Un. But despite what is going on around the world the alliance continues to ensure it has the military capabilities in place to deter war and defend alliance interests if Kim Jong Un miscalculates and resumes hostilities. The "new normal" in military readiness with the sustainment of a large number of exercises taking place year around no longer makes the news. This is very important but does not really make the news except when north Korea acts out.
Excerpts:
The U.S. has not stood still, insisted Blinken.
"The partnership, the alliance that we have with Japan and with South Korea has grown even stronger, even deeper, and we have taken further steps to make sure that we could defend ourselves, defend our allies and partners, deter any aggression coming from North Korea," he told the seminar.
"So, in effect, the response that North Korea has elicited with these repeated provocations is only been to solidify the work the United States, Korea and Japan are doing together to make sure we can defend ourselves," added Blinken.
The secretary said he also called on his Chinese counterparts during his recent trip to Beijing to help bring North Korea to the dialogue table.
N. Korean missile launches only solidify U.S. alliances with S. Korea, Japan: Blinken | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Duk-Kun Byun · July 22, 2023
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, July 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's unprecedented missile provocations have done little but solidify the United States' cooperation with South Korea and Japan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday, insisting that U.S. alliances have only grown stronger over the years.
The top U.S. diplomat also called on China to help bring North Korea back to the dialogue table, insisting that failure to do so will not benefit anyone, including China.
"We have channels of communication. We have used them, and we made clear going back to early in this administration that we were prepared to have negotiations with North Korea on the nuclear program with no preconditions," Blinken said while speaking at an annual security forum hosted by the Aspen Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Washington.
"We sent that message several times. Here is the response we got: one missile launch after another," he added.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is seen speaking at an annual security forum hosted by the Aspen Institute in Aspen, Colorado on July 21, 2023 in this captured image. (Yonhap)
North Korea fired an unprecedented 69 ballistic missiles in 2022, the largest number of ballistic missiles launched in any given year. Pyongyang also test fired a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) last week, marking its 12th ICBM launch since the start of last year.
The U.S. has not stood still, insisted Blinken.
"The partnership, the alliance that we have with Japan and with South Korea has grown even stronger, even deeper, and we have taken further steps to make sure that we could defend ourselves, defend our allies and partners, deter any aggression coming from North Korea," he told the seminar.
"So, in effect, the response that North Korea has elicited with these repeated provocations is only been to solidify the work the United States, Korea and Japan are doing together to make sure we can defend ourselves," added Blinken.
The secretary said he also called on his Chinese counterparts during his recent trip to Beijing to help bring North Korea to the dialogue table.
"And what I shared with Chinese counterparts is this: we believe that you have unique influence and we hope that you will use it to get better cooperation from North Korea. But if you can't, or if you won't, then we are going to have to continue to take steps that are directed to China but that China probably won't like because it goes to strengthening and shoring up not only our own defenses, but those of Korea and Japan," he said.
When asked about the U.S. service member who crossed the inter-Korean border into North Korea earlier this week, Blinken said the U.S. has yet to learn of his whereabouts or his wellbeing.
"We are very concerned, of course, about his well being. We would like to know his whereabouts," said Blinken, pointing to the way those detained in North Korea had been treated in the past.
"We communicated to North Korea seeking that information. I don't have anything more at this point," he added.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Duk-Kun Byun · July 22, 2023
3. Cooperation between U.S., Japan, S. Korea important to maintaining peace in Indo-Pacific: U.S. officials
Trilateral cooperation goes beyond the Korean peninsula.
Cooperation between U.S., Japan, S. Korea important to maintaining peace in Indo-Pacific: U.S. officials | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Duk-Kun Byun · July 22, 2023
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, July 21 (Yonhap) -- Trilateral cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the United States is reaching unprecedented levels thanks to the leadership of South Korean and Japanese leaders, a senior U.S. administration official said Friday, calling it a "huge innovation" that helps promote peace and stability in the region.
Ely Ratner, assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, noted the three countries are also seeking to institutionalize their defense cooperation.
"I think ... arguably the most important innovation and new trend in the regional security environment in so far is these types of groupings are starting to actually do things together," he said while speaking about the U.S. network of alliances in the Indo-Pacific region during a seminar hosted by the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit organization based in Washington.
"This isn't just about getting together and having dialogue and sharing views," he added.
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner is seen speaking during a seminar hosted by the Brookings Institutions in Washington on July 21, 2023 in this captured image. (Yonhap)
Ratner highlighted that the U.S., South Korea and Japan are talking about sharing "early missile warning data" amid unprecedented ballistic missile tests by North Korea.
"We are developing plans for more regularized exercises rather than just exercises in response to DPRK activities," he told the seminar, calling them "huge, important innovations to institutionalize and really cement that kind of cooperation."
DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name. Pyongyang launched a record 69 ballistic missiles in 2022, the largest number of ballistic missiles it fired in a single year.
Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, stressed the importance of multilateral cooperation in dealing with challenges in the region.
"It starts with our bilateral treaty alliances and our many partnerships across the region, but then it extends to the unprecedented level of trilateral cooperation that we have achieved with Tokyo and Seoul, I think, based mostly on the historic rapprochement that has taken place between the two of them," he said of the importance of trilateral cooperation among the U.S., Japan and South Korea.
Kritenbrink added the U.S. commends South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for their leadership in mending ties between their countries, which he said "really unlocked the unprecedented trilateral cooperation that we see now."
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Duk-Kun Byun · July 22, 2023
4. China told to stop tankers in its waters reaching N. Korea
But will they? I think not.
China told to stop tankers in its waters reaching N. Korea
The Korea Times · July 22, 2023
North Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song leaves a Security Council meeting on Non-proliferation/North Korea, July 13, at the United Nations headquarters. AP-Yonhap
The Group of Seven nations, the European Union and three other countries are urging China to expel oil tankers from its waters that appear to be taking fuel to North Korea in defiance of U.N. sanctions, according to a letter seen by AFP, Friday.
"We have concerns regarding the continuing presence of multiple oil tankers... that use your territorial waters in Sansha Bay as refuge to facilitate their trade of sanctioned petroleum products to the DPRK," the letter said, using initials for the formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Ambassadors from the G7 nations ― Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States ― signed the letter addressed to China's U.N. envoy Zhang Jun.
Also signing were envoys from the European Union, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
In the letter, the ambassadors told Zhang they "would like to provide your government with additional information and satellite imagery that clearly indicates these practices continued to occur within China's jurisdiction in 2022 and have continued in 2023."
"We reiterate our previous request that China inspect the vessels for evidence of illicit oil smuggling, deny them all services, and ultimately expel them from your waters as quickly as possible," it added.
A source said the letter had been sent to the Chinese envoy, though there was no confirmation it had been received.
Sansha Bay is in China's Fujian Province and connects to the East China Sea through a deep channel.
The letter noted that the presence and movement of the tankers was observed by the UN group of experts monitoring sanctions compliance by North Korea.
North Korea has been subject to U.N. sanctions since 2006 over its missile launches and nuclear programs.
Additional sanctions in 2017 limited its crude oil imports.
The Security Council has been unable to reach a united position since then, unlike earlier years.
In May 2022, China and Russia vetoed a resolution imposing new sanctions on Pyongyang, and no Council resolution or statement has been adopted since then despite several missile launches by North Korea.
On Friday, the North fired several cruise missiles into the Yellow (West) Sea, off the Korean Peninsula, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
The United States regularly accuses Beijing and Moscow of "shielding" the North Korean regime and encouraging further launches by preventing a united response from the Council.
"It is critical for the international community, including China, to send a strong and unified message that the DPRK must refrain from provocation, abide by its (U.N. Security Council) obligations... to achieve a complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," the letter said. (AFP)
The Korea Times · July 22, 2023
5. North Korea’s Hwasong-18 test
I am not a nuclear theory student. But I recently heard a nuclear theory expert describe the regime's pursuit of a "second strike" capability in a different way than we think of. second strike capability. Yes they are trying to produce SLBMs but their submarine technology will never be sufficient to provide a capability and credible second strike capability. The expert opined that the regime may be trying to create a second strike capability from within its missile capabilities. Perhaps that is the reason for developing a mix of liquid fueled and solid fueled ICBMs. They might keep some number of solid fueled systems hidden in underground facilities for use as their type second strike capability. But I defer to the nuclear experts.
Excerpt:
Kim Jong-un listed developing a solid-fuel ICBM as a key objective in his 2021 military-modernisation directives. North Korea has been pursuing solid-propellant technology for large rocket motors for at least a decade. Such missiles typically have greater readiness because they are fuelled at the time of manufacturing rather than immediately prior to launch, making them less vulnerable to pre-emptive targeting. The Korean Central News Agency’s statement suggests that the Korean People’s Army Strategic Force plans to incorporate Hwasong-18 as a core element of its arsenal. Given North Korea’s investment in liquid-fuel technology, however, it is likely that Pyongyang will in the future concurrently operate ICBMs that use both fuel types.
ONLINE ANALYSIS19th July 2023
North Korea’s Hwasong-18 test
https://www.iiss.org/online-analysis/online-analysis/2023/07/north-koreas-hwasong-18-test/
North Korea’s second successful test of its solid-fuel Hwasong-18 ICBM takes Pyongyang a step closer to a key objective for its strategic arsenal.
Source: KCNA
On 12 July 2023, the Korean People’s Army Strategic Force conducted a second test of a road-mobile, solid-fuel Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The missile was transported atop a nine-axle transporter-erector-launcher and cold launched (meaning that the main solid motor was ignited after the missile was ejected from its canister). Japan’s Ministry of Defense estimated that the missile reached an altitude of over 6,000 kilometres and a range of about 1,000 km and that it flew for around 74 minutes before falling into the Sea of Japan (East Sea).
The test occurred shortly before the inaugural meeting on 18 July of the United States–South Korea Nuclear Consultative Group, a bilateral framework devised as part of the April 2023 Washington Declaration ‘to strengthen extended deterrence, discuss nuclear and strategic planning and manage the threat to the nonproliferation regime posed by’ North Korea. In a statement confirming the launch, the Korean Central News Agency denounced the Nuclear Consultative Group, suggesting that the test’s timing was linked to the upcoming meeting.
Both Hwasong-18 tests were conducted from an area northeast of Pyongyang. While images of the launch site feature large grassy areas, lakes and woods, satellite-imagery analysis reveals that the launch location may have been reinforced and then subsequently landscaped to make it appear more rural. The use of this location rather than a paved launch site was probably intended to showcase the greater concealment and mobility options that solid-fuel ICBMs provide. But because cold launches do not usually damage the underlying ground, the suspected reinforced launchpad calls into question the Hwasong-18’s off-road mobility.
Kim Jong-un listed developing a solid-fuel ICBM as a key objective in his 2021 military-modernisation directives. North Korea has been pursuing solid-propellant technology for large rocket motors for at least a decade. Such missiles typically have greater readiness because they are fuelled at the time of manufacturing rather than immediately prior to launch, making them less vulnerable to pre-emptive targeting. The Korean Central News Agency’s statement suggests that the Korean People’s Army Strategic Force plans to incorporate Hwasong-18 as a core element of its arsenal. Given North Korea’s investment in liquid-fuel technology, however, it is likely that Pyongyang will in the future concurrently operate ICBMs that use both fuel types.
This article is part of a series from the Missile Dialogue Initiative (MDI) focusing on selected missile and arms-control developments. The MDI aims to strengthen international discussion and promote a high-level exchange of views on missile technologies and related international-security dynamics.
Author
6. Nuclear war moves of US and Yoon Suk Yeol denounced in south Korea
A lot of parse from this. The Washington Declaration and the Nuclear Consultative Group are having an effect on the regime.
The regime may be trying to raise tensions to such a level that it could sometime in the future agree to talks so that it can spin the US demand as a sign of weakness in the face of north Korean threats.
And lastly the statements of the Society of April revolution is a clear indication of the regime's intent to subvert the ROK government. The regime is admittedly conducting political warfare against eh ROK.
KCNA Voice of Korea (EN)
Nuclear war moves of US and Yoon Suk Yeol denounced in south Korea
https://kcnawatch.org/newstream/1689973498-186769978/nuclear-war-moves-of-us-and-yoon-suk-yeol-denounced-in-south-korea/
Date: 22/07/2023 | Source: Voice of Korea (EN) | Read original version at source
The public indignation is mounting in south Korea against the United States and sycophantic traitor Yoon Suk Yeol in their desperate efforts to ignite a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula at any cost.
The People's Action held a press conference in Ryongsan of Seoul where the traitor entrenches himself on the 18th and demanded an immediate halt to the moves for provoking a nuclear war in collusion with the outside forces.
Speakers referred to a meeting of the "nuclear consultative group" held that day and branded the group as the consultative body for a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula.
They maintained that the recent meeting of the "nuclear consultative group" was aimed at mobilizing all the US nuclear strategic assets during the nuclear war and that it is little short of the declaration of start of a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula.
In its press release, the organization disclosed that detailed discussion was made at the meeting of the "nuclear consultative group" to establish a strong ability for executing a nuclear war.
It went on to say.
The "Washington Declaration" made public in April announced to the world the strategic asset operation plan of the United States and the Yoon Suk Yeol "regime" for a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula. And the recent meeting is that of the staff for the nuclear war.
Resuming is the nightmare of 2017 when the tension between the north of Korea and the United States reached the climax, the press release said and added that the recent meeting will bring to the Korean peninsula the crisis different from former military tension in the point that the prelude to a nuclear war has opened.
That day, civic organizations insisted that the meeting of the "nuclear consultative group" is the one in which the Yoon Suk Yeol "regime" discusses operation of nukes with the United States and demanded the resignation of traitor and war maniac Yoon Suk Yeol attempting to light the fuse of a nuclear war in league with the United States and Japan.
The Society of April Revolution made public an article under the title "Flag of Yoon Suk Yeol's Resignation Has Been Hoisted at Last!", calling for turning out in the struggle for ousting the traitor.
South Korean media said the further the struggle of the workers for the resignation of Yoon Suk Yeol is strengthened, the deeper the "regime" will be plunged into crisis.
7. Press Statement of Minister of National Defence of DPRK
This is the statement that has some pundits spun up who think now the US has gone and done and will cause a conflict because of the port call of the USS Kentucky. In reality the port call is having the right deterrent effect on the regime. The deterrent message is received and acknowledged by the regime.
"Republic of Korea" and "ROK" are in quotes. Hardly seems like a sign of respect for ROK sovereignty. I would respond with a description of the DPRK: "The DPRK name itself is a lie: it is not democratic; it is not a republic, and it certainly does not belong to the Korean people. This is the contradiction that is north Korea – it is not a country of any world stature – it is merely the prison run by an evil regime that holds captive 25 million Koreans." Just saying.
Press Statement of Minister of National Defence of DPRK
https://kcnawatch.org/newstream/1689945030-144405812/press-statement-of-minister-of-national-defence-of-dprk/
Date: 21/07/2023 | Source: Uriminzokkiri (En) | Read original version at source
Pyongyang, July 20 (KCNA) -- Kang Sun Nam, minister of National Defence of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), issued the following press statement on July 20:
In defiance of the repeated warning by the DPRK and serious concern of the international community, the U.S. and the group of traitors of the "Republic of Korea" (ROK) held a meeting of the "nuclear consultative group" on July 18 to discuss the plan for using nuclear weapons against the DPRK.
In particular, the hostile forces posed the most undisguised and direct nuclear threat to the DPRK by bringing an Ohio-class strategic nuclear submarine to the Pusan Port operation base, which means strategic nuclear weapons have been deployed on the Korean peninsula for the first time after 40 odd years.
This shows that the U.S. scenario for a nuclear attack upon the DPRK and its implementation have entered the most critical stage of visualization and systemization and the phase of a military clash on the Korean peninsula has surfaced as a dangerous reality beyond all sorts of imagination and presumption.
Among the nuclear-armed nations of the world, the U.S. is the only country which openly made it its policy to use its nuclear weapons against a specific country. No one will be able to deny the gravity and dangerousness of the security environment facing the DPRK in the light of that fact alone.
The U.S. and the traitors of the "ROK" are widely advertising the deployment of gigantic strategic nuclear weaponry of the U.S.
We correctly know why such weapons have found themselves on the Korean peninsula and where they came from.
As the U.S. and the "ROK" gangsters have gone beyond the "red line" in their military hysteria, now is the time for the DPRK to make clear once again its corresponding action choice and response direction.
The military security situation in the area of the Korean peninsula, which has undergone a fundamental change due to the reckless military moves of the U.S. and its followers, more clearly indicates what mission the nuclear weapons of the DPRK should carry out.
Through this press statement, I remind the U.S. military of the fact that the ever-increasing visibility of the deployment of the strategic nuclear submarine and other strategic assets may fall under the conditions of the use of nuclear weapons specified in the DPRK law on the nuclear force policy.
The DPRK's doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons allows the execution of necessary action procedures in case a nuclear attack is launched against it or it is judged that the use of nuclear weapons against it is imminent.
The U.S. military side should realize that its nuclear assets have entered extremely dangerous waters.
I seriously warn once again the U.S. and the "ROK" military gangsters' group daringly touting the "end of regime" in our country.
To the U.S. and the "ROK", any use of their military muscle against the DPRK will be their most miserable choice by which they will have no room to think of their existence again.
The armed forces of the DPRK will responsibly carry out their important mission for defending the country's sovereignty, territorial integrity and fundamental interests and preventing a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula and in the Northeast Asian region by thoroughly deterring and repelling the crazy maneuvers of the U.S. and its stooges to use nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula.
8. Army Special Operations in the “Forgotten War”: Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Korean Armistice
The forgotten contributions of some forgotten forces in the The Forgotten War.
Army Special Operations in the “Forgotten War”: Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Korean Armistice
By Christopher E. HowardJuly 20, 2023
army.mil
Brig Gen Robert A. McClure cements his reputation as the “Father of U.S. Army Special Warfare” during the Korean War. From his position as the Chief of psywar for the Army, he establishes the psywar Center and promoted the activation of the 10th Special Forces Group. (Photo Credit: U.S Army Photo) VIEW ORIGINAL
During the Korean War, Brig Gen Crawford F. Sams serves as Chief, Health and Welfare, United Nations Command, Korea, and commanded the United Nations Public Health and Welfare Detachment. (Photo Credit: U.S Army Photo) VIEW ORIGINAL
Col. (Ret.) Ralph Puckett, Jr. earns the Medal of Honor while serving as a 1st Lt. with the Eighth U.S. Army Rangers in Korea in Nov. 1950. (Photo Credit: U.S Army Photo) VIEW ORIGINAL
American advisors in the 8240th Army Unit (AU) wore this unofficial shoulder patch of two designs. One of those patches, that of the United Nations Partisan Forces, Korea, is pictured here. (Photo Credit: U,S Army Photo) VIEW ORIGINAL
The U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Liberty, NC, was first established in April 1952 as the Psychological Warfare Center. Its distinctive unit insignia, pictured here, was approved on Nov. 28, 1952. (Photo Credit: U.S Army Photo) VIEW ORIGINAL
War unexpectedly erupted on the Korean Peninsula from 1950 to 1953. Fortunately, the spirit of innovation and adaptability that characterized Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF) in WWII lived on through the veterans of that war and was harnessed to great effect during the Korean War. By the end of that conflict, seventy years ago this month, numerous ARSOF units, institutions, and capabilities had been added to the Army’s arsenal, many of which persist to this day.
The Korean War unfolded in five distinct phases, the first of which began when the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) military, seeking to unite Korea under communist rule, invaded its southern neighbor, the Republic of Korea, on June 25, 1950. U.S.-led United Nations (UN) forces rushed to the defense of South Korea, forming a defensive perimeter in the southeast corner of the peninsula, around the port city of Pusan (now Busan). This critical location allowed the outnumbered U.S. forces and their partners to funnel reinforcements and materiel into the fight.
During the chaotic early days of the war, Army leaders, both in Washington, D.C. and in Korea, began rebuilding special operations capabilities that had been neglected since the end of WWII. In early July 1950, the General Headquarters (GHQ), U.S. Far East Command (FECOM), formed a provisional Raider Company to conduct commando-type operations behind enemy lines. The following month, the Eighth U.S. Army (EUSA) followed suit, establishing a Ranger Training Center at Kijang, near Pusan, to prepare a Ranger Company for missions similar to those carried out by the GHQ Raiders.
Meanwhile, FECOM faced a major humanitarian crisis among Korean civilians who had fled to Pusan to escape advancing North Korean forces. In Sept. 1950, Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur, FECOM Commander, ordered his chief of Public Health and Welfare, Brig. Gen. Crawford F. Sams, to organize a 60-man Civil Affairs (CA) unit to address the immediate problem of disease within the refugee population. This was among the first CA efforts during the war. Many more would follow.
Stateside, Gen. J. Lawton Collins, U.S. Army Chief of Staff, initiated an effort that led to the creation of the Ranger Training Center (RTC) at Fort Benning, Georgia (known as Fort Moore since 2023), in Sept. 1950. The RTC immediately set about training Ranger Infantry Companies (Airborne), or RICAs, six of which deployed to Korea, beginning in Dec. 1950. Gen. Collins also created the psywar Division under the Army G-3, placing Brig. Gen. Robert A. McClure, a WWII psywar veteran, in charge of rebuilding the Army’s neglected Psywar capability. The only active Army psywar unit in the interwar period, the Tactical Information Detachment, arrived in Korea in Oct. 1950, and was soon redesignated as the 1st Loudspeaker and Leaflet (L&L) Company.
By that point, the war in Korea had entered its second phase, the UN counteroffensive, which began with a daring amphibious assault at Inchon, near the South Korean capital of Seoul, on Sept. 15, 1950. After liberating the capital, UN forces moved north of the 38th parallel, seizing Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. Continuing northward, UN forces neared the Yalu River, which separated North Korea from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), within a month of the Inchon landings. A UN victory seemed within reach and, with it, unification of the Korean peninsula under a non-communist government.
However, hopes for an early end to the war were dashed in late Oct. 1950, when the Communist Chinese People’s Liberation Army crossed the Yalu River into North Korea. With this, the war entered its third phase. The unanticipated Chinese Communist intervention prompted outnumbered UN forces to retreat below the 38th parallel and communist forces recaptured Seoul in early January 1951, bringing the war’s third phase to an end.
Aided by newly arrived RICAs from Fort Benning, UN forces went back on the offensive in early 1951 with the goal of regaining control of Seoul and driving the combined communist forces of China and North Korea north of the 38th parallel. This constituted the fourth phase of the war, during which UN forces successfully reclaimed Seoul in April 1951.
Several key ARSOF milestones occurred during this period. First, the EUSA established a Guerrilla Command to train and coordinate the activities of North Korean anti-communist partisans. Second, Brig. Gen. McClure, took charge of the newly established Office of the Chief of Psychological Warfare (OCPW). Third, the Army established a Military Government School at Fort Gordon, Georgia (known as Fort Eisenhower since 2023), to train Civil Affairs soldiers. Then, in March 1951, the 2nd and 4th RICAs participated in the first-ever combat airborne assault by an Army Ranger unit (Operation TOMAHAWK).
As the front lines stabilized in the late spring of 1951, the war entered its fifth and final phase, which could best be characterized as a stalemate along the prewar border between North and South Korea, with limited territorial gains made by either side. This remained the case until July 27, 1953, when the UN Command, DPRK, and PRC signed an armistice at Panmunjom, South Korea, after two years of negotiation.
Army Special Operations continued to evolve during the final two years of the war. The small CA element created by Brig. Gen. Sams in 1950 grew into the Korea Civil Assistance Command. The tactically focused 1st L&L Company was joined in late 1951 by the 1st Radio Broadcasting and Leaflet Group, a strategic psywar unit headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, that directly supported broadcasting operations on the peninsula. Back in the States, Brig. Gen. McClure and his OCPW staff took actions that led to the establishment of the Psychological Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina (known as Fort Liberty since 2023), in April 1952 as the Army’s proponent for psywar and unconventional warfare (UW). Two months later, OCPW efforts to establish a permanent UW capability bore fruit with the activation of 10th Special Forces Group, commanded by Col. Aaron Bank. The first of 99 Special Forces-trained soldiers deployed to Korea in February 1953 as individual augmentees to the 8240th Army Unit (one of the various names for Eighth Army’s longstanding guerrilla command).
The Korean War has been called the “Forgotten War,” falling as it did between World War II and the Vietnam War. However, it was truly a foundational period for ARSOF. Starting with almost nothing, the Army rebuilt effective Ranger, unconventional warfare, psywar, and Civil Affairs capabilities over the course of the three-year conflict, adapting and evolving them as the situation demanded.
By the time the armistice was signed, the Army had its first man, train, and equip headquarters for unconventional warfare and psywar. Now known as the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, it has been in continuous operation since its founding in 1952. The U.S. Army Civil Affairs School that first opened at Fort Gordon in early 1951 was brought under the Special Warfare Center and School in 1971. Army Special Forces, first chartered in 1952, recently celebrated seventy-one years of uninterrupted service to the nation. Although all Korean War Ranger Companies were disbanded by war’s end, the Ranger Training Center founded in 1950 continued on, first as the Ranger Training Command, and now as the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade at Fort Moore, Georgia.
Visit ARSOF in the Korean War: 25 June 1950 -- 27 July 1953 (arsof-history.org) to learn more about this pivotal period in Army Special Operations history.
army.mil
9. A space race on the Korean Peninsula
The north cannot win this race.
A space race on the Korean Peninsula
Equipped with new launch vehicles and fuelled by national pride, North and South Korea are chasing ambitious orbital goals.
Reuters · by Josh Smith, Adolfo Arranz, Jitesh Chowdhury and Sudev Kiyada
Published July 21, 2023
The rival space programmes of Seoul and Pyongyang have had an eventful year: on May 25, South Korea for the first time used an indigenous launch vehicle to place a mission-capable satellite in orbit, and a few days later, North Korea launched a new rocket design from a new facility.
Although the North Korean Chollima-1 rocket failed, analysts expect the country to push forward with further tests and eventually make good on its vow to place spy satellites in orbit.
South Korea is testing both solid- and liquid-fuelled launch vehicles, with lofty ambitions for 6G wireless networks, spy satellites, and even lunar probes.
Both countries’ programmes lag behind those of their neighbours Japan and China, and both have linked rockets to national pride, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un calling space “a demonstration of the overall national power” and former South Korean President Moon Jae-in saying the first launch of the Nuri rocket in 2021 heralded the approach of a “'Korea Space Age”.
Add a description of the graphic for screen readers. This is invisible on the page.
SOUTH KOREA’S LAUNCH VEHICLES
South Korea's allies in Washington have long been wary of Seoul's rocket development, fearing the programmes could develop ballistic missiles that would inflame tensions with the North.
In the 1970s, South Korea agreed to restrict the range of its surface-to-surface missiles in return for technology from the United States. The restrictions were eased over the years, and removed in 2021.
Add a description of the graphic for screen readers. This is invisible on the page.
After failing to reach a deal with U.S. suppliers, South Korea in 2004 bought modified liquid-fuelled Angara boosters from Russia for the first stage of its Korea Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV) I, also known as the Naro 1. Domestic technology was used in the Naro 1's solid-fuelled second stage and the payload fairing.
Problems plagued the Naro 1: Its first launch in 2009 ended in failure when the payload fairing malfunctioned, and the second flight in 2010 exploded a few minutes after liftoff. It was not until 2013 that it became the first South Korean rocket to place a satellite in orbit.
The country's latest satellite launch vehicle (SLV), the liquid-fuelled KSLV II or Nuri, is a three-stage rocket built entirely in South Korea.
"The earlier KSLV rocket was a bit of a chimera, with the Russian liquid first stage and the little solid Korean second stage," said Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer and astrophysicist at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. "The newer Nuri rocket is much more mainstream."
The Nuri was first launched in October 2021, successfully lifting off but failing to place a dummy satellite into orbit. It has been launched twice since then; the latest flight on May 25 placed eight satellites in orbit.
With a launch mass of about 200 tons, the Nuri is “quite big” relative to North Korean designs, said Markus Schiller, a Europe-based missile expert.
South Korean officials say the Nuri is designed to put 1.5-tonne payloads into low earth orbit at an altitude of 600 to 800 km (370 to 500 miles).
South Korea's new KSLV-II Nuri rocket being launched - REUTERS
Last year South Korea's military conducted the first tests of an indigenous solid-fuelled rocket designed to put small satellites into low Earth orbit for surveillance. Such smaller, solid-fuelled launch vehicles are seen as simpler and more cost-effective to launch compared with liquid-fuelled rockets.
South Korea has put several satellites in orbit using foreign launchers. The military paid Elon Musk’s SpaceX to launch its first communications satellite in 2020, for example, and the U.S. company will launch Seoul’s first spy satellite this year.
Eventually South Korea plans to field a network of satellites for a regional positioning system, next-generation communications, and military reconnaissance.
NORTH KOREA’S LAUNCH VEHICLES
Add a description of the graphic for screen readers. This is invisible on the page.
North Korea began space development with the Taepodong-1, a three-stage, liquid-fuelled booster. During its first launch in 1998, the rocket failed late in flight, Schiller noted, and “instead of giving it another shot, the whole design never appeared again”.
That approach is unusual compared with that of other countries, Schiller said.
“They are re-inventing the wheel with every launcher, and we do not see many static engine tests,” he said.
The next launcher design, the Unha, featured a cluster of engines that analysts say were derived from the Soviet-era Scud missile. Its upper stage appears related to the Iranian Safir rocket, according to Western analysts. When South Korea gathered Unha debris in 2012, it found components from Britain, Switzerland, the United States, China, and the former Soviet Union.
Despite two relatively successful flights, the Unha appears to have been shelved in favor of the latest system.
“North Korea seems to be focused on the Chollima-1,” Schiller said. “As was the case with the switch from the Taepodong-1 to the Unha, the designs have nothing in common.”
Although the Unha could have been tipped with a warhead, its design and performance shows it was "designed as a satellite launcher," Schiller and analyst Robert Schmucker said in a report for the Federation of American Scientists after the last Unha launch in 2016.
Since then, North Korea has forged ahead with intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) development, test firing multiple huge ICBMs that appear to be contributing technology to the country's space programme.
The Chollima-1 seems to be a new design and most likely uses the dual-nozzle liquid-fuelled engines developed for Pyongyang’s Hwasong-15 ICBM, analysts said. Some experts say that engine is derived from the Soviet RD-250 family.
"The earlier SLVs seem to have had some commonality with Iranian vehicles, but the new Chollima seems to be its own thing," McDowell said.
The Chollima-1 failed during its first launch on May 31. It lifted off successfully but its second stage failed to start, state media reported, and it crashed into the Yellow Sea. It appears to be a medium-lift launcher for delivering small satellites to low earth orbit. The launcher is slightly smaller than the South’s new Nuri, possibly with a launch mass of about 150 tons, Schiller said.
North Korea's new Chollima-1 rocket being launched in Cholsan County, North Korea, May 31, 2023 - REUTERS
Ankit Panda of the U.S.-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace estimated the rocket was most likely carrying a satellite payload of 200 to 300 kilogrammes.
South Korea has recovered some of the Chollima-1 wreckage - including, for the first time, parts of a satellite - but has not released detailed findings. Seoul said the satellite had little military value.
Since 1998 North Korea has launched five satellites, of which two made it into orbit. International observers said one satellite appeared to be under control, but there was lingering debate over whether it had sent any transmissions.
The North’s latest push suggests it is serious about deploying operational satellites, McDowell said.
"The new phase of their program is clearly moving from an experimental 'get something into orbit' phase to a phase in which operational satellites will be in play,” he said. “For now, low orbit recon satellites, but eventually I expect them to launch geostationary communications satellites too."
SPACE CENTRES
Russia also helped South Korea build its Naro Space Center while training and launching the first South Korean astronaut on a mission to the International Space Station.
The center, perched on cliffs overlooking the sea on Oenaro Island on South Korea’s southern coast, opened in 2009 and has expanded in recent years to keep up with the country’s growing space programme.
Add a description of the graphic for screen readers. This is invisible on the page.
According to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), the centre houses a launch pad system, satellite test building, vehicle assembly building, solid motor building, and launch control building, as well as tracking radar, a telemetry reception system, a launch control system, an optical system, and a weather station.
South Korea built a second, larger launch pad at Naro to accommodate the Nuri.
North Korea built its first satellite launching facility at the eastern site of Tonghae in 1985, firing several early rockets and missiles there. In the 1990s construction was seen at Sohae, on North Korea’s west coast, and by 2011 the new site was complete.
The Sohae Satellite Launching Station is more sophisticated than Tonghae, and was used to launch the Unha rockets.
In his first summit with former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un promised to dismantle Sohae, but as talks stalled, North Korea expanded the site.
North Korea is unique among other space powers in that it goes to great lengths to disguise launch preparations at its ostensibly civilian space ports, including building special railways and structures to hide the transportation and assembly of the rockets, said Dave Schmerler, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS).
“Sohae was configured to suppress a lot of the pre-launch signatures,” he said. “You can't see anything unless they do it during the day and they want you to see it - and even then everything is covered.”
The Chollima-1 was launched from a new pad at Sohae built in just over a month, underscoring the political importance of the launch and the overall satellite program, 38 North, a U.S.-based site that monitors North Korea, said in a June 7 report.
Add a description of the graphic for screen readers. This is invisible on the page.
The report noted that the launch may have been rushed to keep up with developments in South Korea.
Modifications at the main Sohae launch pad suggest North Korea may roll out another, larger SLV, the report said.
“The speed at which North Korea built the new coastal launch pad for the Chollima-1 at Sohae is astonishing,” Schiller said. “This indicates they have the means to do that, and impressive resources at hand.”
FLIGHT PATHS
According to pre-launch briefing slides, Nuri’s flight paths take it southeast from its launch site on the south coast of the Korean peninsula, threading its way over the ocean on a trajectory aimed at avoiding Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and other major land masses.
North Korea faces the same challenges, and must avoid flying over South Korea.
“Compared to most space launching countries, North Korea doesn't have a good long area of ocean to launch over, so it has to use some inefficient trajectories to get something to orbit without having lower stages fall on Japan, South Korea or China,” McDowell said.
During the failed Chollima-1 launch, authorities in Seoul and the Japanese island of Okinawa, among other locations, warned residents to take shelter in case of falling debris. No debris was reported to have landed near those areas.
Countries that launch rockets typically notify international aviation and maritime regulators of the vehicle’s flight path, and possible zones where first or second stages may fall.
Ahead of the May Chollima-1 launch North Korea notified Japan and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) of its plan to launch a satellite between May 31 and June 11.
The IMO later adopted its first-ever resolution condemning North Korean tests as a threat to the safety of international navigation, and Pyongyang responded by suggesting it may not give notice ahead of future satellite launches.
Add a description of the graphic for screen readers. This is invisible on the page.
AIMING HIGHER
“We can expect multiple launches over the next several years once the Chollima-1’s problems are resolved,” 38 North said of North Korea’s programme.
The next flight of South Korea’s Nuri is expected in 2025, while the country plans to use the follow-on KSLV-III project as the mainstay of its spaceflight programme by 2030.
“The road from South Korea to space has opened now,” President Yoon Suk Yeol said after the 2022 Nuri launch. “It’s the fruit of the difficult challenges of the past 30 years. Now, our Korean people and our young people’s dream and hope will reach toward space.”
Note
Data as of July 20, 2023.
Sources
Jonathan McDowell Space Report; Dave Schmerler, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies; Gunter’s Space Page; Yonhap News Agency; ESA's eoPortal; 38north.org; Maxar;
Edited by
Gerry Doyle and Anand Katakam
Reuters · by Josh Smith, Adolfo Arranz, Jitesh Chowdhury and Sudev Kiyada
10. North Korea is a land of stories that don't often get told. Here are some that did
A roll up of links to previous stories about north Korea is at the end of the article.
North Korea is a land of stories that don't often get told. Here are some that did
AP · July 21, 2023
Share
With a U.S. soldier crossing the border into North Korea at the border town of Panmunjom and in custody this week, talk turns to the nation itself — a country that is known for its suspicion of outsiders but also rejects frequent descriptions of it as reclusive.
In some ways, North Korea is a nation like many others; it is also definitively its own thing, sometimes strikingly different from the rest of the world.
For six years until his death in 2019, longtime Associated Press Asia correspondent Eric Talmadge was the news organization’s Pyongyang bureau chief. In that role, with regular access unusual for a journalist from the West, he wrote many stories that explored the nation’s culture, politics and economics during the rule of third-generation leader Kim Jong Un.
Other news
While North Korea fires cruise missiles, it stays mum on US soldier who crossed into the country
South Korea’s military says North Korea has fired several cruise missiles toward its western sea. Saturday’s firing was the North’s second launch event this week, apparently in protest of the docking of a nuclear-armed U.S. submarine in South Korea.
Biden picks female admiral to lead Navy. She’d be first woman on Joint Chiefs of Staff
President Joe Biden has chosen Adm. Lisa Franchetti to lead the Navy. If confirmed, she will be the first woman to be a Pentagon service chief and the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Propaganda tool? Bargaining chip? What North Korea may have in mind for Travis King
So what will North Korea do about the first U.S. soldier in decades to flee into its territory? Its official media have yet to mention Pvt.
AP Week in Pictures: North America
JULY 14 - 20, 2023
Striking actors and writers try to cool off amid a heat wave, severe storms strike across the country, the grandfather of a U.S. soldier who bolted into North Korea cries during an interview, and technicians install solar panels in Southern California.
As the drama around the American soldier plays out, here is a selection of some of Talmadge’s AP coverage that pulls back the curtain on a society that few around the world see.
___
— The real revolution in North Korea is the rise of consumer culture.
— This AP word cloud reveals the patterns in North Korean propaganda.
— Yes, canned soup may be fueling North Korea’s air force.
— With its options limited, North Korea is lit by flashlights and a creaky grid.
— First person: How the Pyeongchang Olympics might feel to a North Korean.
— North Korean economics 101: How much is a dollar worth?
— Postcard from Pyongyang: The airport now has Wi-Fi, sort of.
— K-pop and fancy sneakers: Kim Jong Un’s cultural revolution.
— Swedes keep a room ready for U.S. diplomats in Pyongyang.
— North Korea’s construction boom may build more than a skyline.
— North Korea learns to embrace its inner consumer.
— World’s tallest empty hotel lit up by North Korean propaganda.
Additionally, former AP Pyongyang photographer Wong Maye-E made this series of portraits of North Koreans that offer a glimpse into the nation’s people and culture.
___
Find more AP North Korea news here. To see Talmadge’s Instagram images of North Korea, click here.
AP · July 21, 2023
11. A closer look at the heavily fortified 154-mile-long DMZ between North and South Korea
For those unfamiliar with the DMZ and JSA, 11 useful photos at the link: https://www.washingtontimes.com/multimedia/collection/closer-look-at-heavily-fortified-154-mile-long-dmz/?page=11#id_gallery_target
A closer look at the heavily fortified 154-mile-long DMZ between North and South Korea
The DMZ is lined with observation posts on both sides, whose soldiers watch the border and each other carefully for any signs of transgression.
12. US-Korea policy is 'trapped in a pattern of cyclical amnesia' - Responsible Statecraft
These "historical analyses" always overlook some important aspects about north Korea. E.g., the nature, objectives, and strategies of the Kim family regime. Yes there is no doubt we have decades of bipartisan policy failure with north Korea. And there is a lot of blame to go around. And most of the reasons are due to either a lack of understanding or a lack of acceptance of the nature, objectives, and strategy of the Kim family regime. And the failure is the inability to develop policy and strategy taking those into account.
Mr. Jin, "as a historian," commits the same error. Any analysis of pur policy failures must include an analysis of the nature, objectives, and strategy of the regime.
US-Korea policy is 'trapped in a pattern of cyclical amnesia' - Responsible Statecraft
responsiblestatecraft.org · by Syrus Jin · July 21, 2023
US-Korea policy is ‘trapped in a pattern of cyclical amnesia’
After 70 years, Washington needs to escape this Sisyphean tragedy of tough talk without any results.
July 21, 2023
Written by
Syrus Jin
Print
US-Korea policy is ‘trapped in a pattern of cyclical amnesia’
This article is part of our weeklong series commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Korean War armistice, July 27, 1953.
Twenty-three years and one month ago, Vice President Al Gore stood beneath a blistering summer sun in Arlington Cemetery to talk about Korea.
The occasion was the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. After decades of little recognition of that war in the United States, the U.S. government had finally established a memorial five years prior, and President Clinton later proclaimed that the U.S. would ensure that the Korean War would cease to be forgotten.
Gore turned to the veterans in the audience and took pains to declare that American soldiers had not died in vain, stating: “Your sacrifice is vindicated by the growth of South Korea into a thriving democracy and stalwart ally of the United States. It is vindicated by the new prospects for peace between the two Koreas in the wake of this month’s historic summit.”
Twenty-three years and one month later, peace between the two Koreas remains no closer to reality.
As we arrive at the 70th anniversary of the July 27, 1953, Korean War armistice, which signaled a temporary suspension of hostilities 1953, we reach a moment in time where the dynamics of that Cold War world have long shifted, and, yet, where frozen relations with North Korea persist as one of the greatest risks to global peace. Everything, and yet nothing, has changed.
As a historian, I recognize that the cycle of policy and news will always be dictated by the present, and not by the past. The present offers imminent danger and confident perceptions from observers about what should or should not be done. In comparison, the past is merely abridged memories, fading in significance.
U.S. policy towards North Korea, however, has been trapped in a pattern of cyclical amnesia, unable to imagine an alternative future. Since the end of the Clinton administration’s policy of consistent engagement with North Korea, we have been stuck in a 23-year-long nightmare of policy that has succeeded only in making the world less safe and predictable.
In 2003, Georgetown University Professor Victor Cha, who would begin working on Korean Peninsula issues in the Bush White House the following year, went on NPR to discuss the armistice’s fiftieth anniversary. He noted that the stumbling block with the DPRK was ascertaining whether the North was merely using negotiations for “tactical reasons.” A few months earlier, he had authored a New York Times op-ed arguing that engagement was not a credible policy, and “total isolation” for the regime was the “only true ‘moderate’ option.”
Cha’s observations were made in the context of the collapse of the 1994 Agreed Framework. The Framework had stipulated that Pyongyang would commit to denuclearization in exchange for two civilian nuclear reactors, heavy oil, and sanctions relief. It had led to sustained warming ties and stability on the peninsula, a freeze on nuclear testing, and high-level visits between Washington and Pyongyang.
The Bush administration would later accuse North Korea of secretly starting a uranium enrichment program in violation of the Framework. But Pyongyang may have been motivated by Washington’s own failure to uphold its end of the bargain. Congressional Republicans railed against the deal and obstructed funding, while critics charged the Clinton administration as rewarding “North Korea for its bad behavior.” Despite diplomatic progress, hardliners curtailed the possibilities, and the Framework ultimately sank when Bush refused to engage in substantive negotiations and suspended agreements.
Hardliners continued to limit opportunities in the years to come. When Bush responded to positive North Korean moves by removing the country from Washington’s list of state sponsors of terrorism in 2008, he was blasted by his own party for weakness. The narrowness of options available was made apparent in a 2008 presidential debate between candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, where McCain called Obama’s openness to negotiations without preconditions “naïve” and “dangerous.”
Obama came into office in favor of a “tough-talking diplomacy” approach but shifted to an international pressure campaign against Pyongyang after the failure of the 2012 Leap Day Deal. He was disinterested in using diplomacy in response to “provocative behavior,” saying, “You don’t get to bang your spoon on the table and somehow get your way.”
Hardliners continued to dismiss diplomatic options, with Ed Royce, the ex-chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (currently a lobbyist for Saudi Arabia), calling for “crippling” North Korea with “stringent sanctions” as the only option.
The Trump administration likely faced the greatest opportunity in recent memory for a durable peace process in 2018-2019, thanks in no small part to the deft diplomacy of South Korea’s Moon Jae-in administration. But it jettisoned a promising start as hardliners within the team were uninterested in a successful deal and Trump himself was not committed to talks while he was focused on his domestic troubles. COVID lockdowns subsequently froze dialogues.
The Biden administration has been handed an intractable situation and, to its credit, has signaled its openness to talks. But Biden and President Yoon have also shifted to a predominantly deterrence-based approach in the peninsula, which seeks to push Pyongyang to come to the negotiating table on US-ROK terms. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield also uttered the familiar phrase, “rewarding the DPRK for bad behavior,” in response to a Chinese proposal that the United States suspend joint ROK military exercises in exchange for a North Korean missile testing freeze. Biden’s team appears motivated to “correct” North Korean actions, treating it like a second-class annoyance rather than a nuclear-armed state.
For the past 23 years, the U.S. has been immovably constrained by an apparent need to appear immune from “provocation,” with only sporadic bursts of genuine engagement. This approach has been a resounding failure.
Many experts have now recognized that there must be an escape from this Sisyphean nightmare of tough talk without results. Even Cha, who once argued for isolating the DPRK twenty years ago, has more recently proposed the use of good-faith humanitarian assistance to create diplomatic momentum. There is an array of viable diplomatic options available, all of which break free of the psychological insecurity that engagement equals appeasement. American policymakers must gather the strength to realize that only appearing tough on North Korea is, in truth, the weakest posture available.
Twenty-three years and one month ago, a vice president once framed the sacrifice of Americans in the Korean War as vindicated by the possibility of peace on the peninsula. 54,000 Americans died in that war. So did over a million others, soldiers and civilians alike. If we wish to truly vindicate the sacrifice of those who fought and died, the United States must boldly seek peace in the Korean peninsula, and fundamentally reimagine how it sees diplomacy in the path forward with North Korea.
13. Berkeley filmmaker crossed the Korean DMZ for her new documentary
This documentary will surely win the praise of the north Korean Propaganda and Agitation Department. It could not have been made without the approval and support of the Party and Kim family regime.
I wonder if there will be any mention of the human rights atrocities and crimes against humanity being committed in north Korea by the Kim family regime? Why aren't these women concerned with the aubuses of Korean women in the north? They use the excuse of many - if they talk about human rights they will not get access to the north (and thus recognition for themselves).
Berkeley filmmaker crossed the Korean DMZ for her new documentary
berkeleyside.org · by Iris Kwok · July 21, 2023
A scene from Berkeley filmmaker Deann Borshay Liem’s Crossings, which will receive its national premiere on July 23, 2023. Liem traveled to the border between North and South Korea to document 30 peace activists, including celebrity activist Gloria Steinem, to crossed the Korean demilitarized zone, or DMZ, and urge for a formal peace treaty between North and South Korea. Credit: Jeehyun Kwon
Berkeley filmmaker Deann Borshay Liem traveled to the border between North and South Korea to document 30 peace activists, including celebrity activist Gloria Steinem, as they crossed the Korean demilitarized zone, or DMZ, to urge for a formal peace treaty between the countries. The resulting film, Crossings, will get its national premiere on Sunday.
Deann Borshay Liem. Courtesy of Liem
Walking through the Joint Security Area, the only section of the border where North and South Korean soldiers stand face to face, left a lasting impression on Liem.
“You can also see why crossing the DMZ holds such deep symbolic and emotional significance for Koreans,” Liem wrote. “To step across the DMZ represents a yearning to restore the wholeness of a nation with two millennia of common history, language and culture, and the integrity of countless numbers of families still torn apart by un-ended war.”
Crossings places footage of the activist group’s controversial 2015 border walk alongside historical and contemporary newsreels that paint an image of U.S.-North Korea relations. Its central protagonist, Korean American peace activist Christine Ahn, makes the case that U.S. foreign policy is the main obstacle to their vision of peace. The armistice agreement in 1953 ended fighting, but was meant to be a temporary truce until they could negotiate a full peace treaty. Peace talks were held in Geneva, Switzerland, but no formal peace treaty was ever signed, so currently, the two Koreas technically remain in a state of war.
In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement, PBS’ WORLD Channel will air Crossings at 7 p.m. Sunday. You can also stream it for free through Aug. 21.
Berkeleyside asked Liem about her work. This interview has been condensed and edited.
What brought you to Berkeley, and what about the filmmaking community here made you decide to found your documentary production studio, Mu Films, here?
I came to Berkeley as a student and never left. I’ve lived here now for more than 40 years.
Mu Films is a nonprofit documentary production studio I founded here in Berkeley in 2008 to produce my films and support other documentary filmmakers working on urgent social and historical issues that are often under-reported or ignored in mainstream media. Berkeley is home to a diverse and fiercely independent filmmaking community, so it was natural to establish my production studio here.
Many of your films are centered around themes of adoption, race, identity, family, and now, with Crossings, war and a longing for peace. What draws you to these topics?
My journey as a filmmaker started with very intimate explorations of my adoption from South Korea by an American family. Both First Person Plural (2000) and In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee (2010) are personal films that examine identity and memory while probing the ethics of international adoption. My work has since evolved to focus more closely on the Korean War, its geo-political underpinnings, and the ramifications of the war on people’s lives over many decades.
The Korean War resulted in a profound loss of life: 4 million dead, including 3 million Koreans. Seventy years ago, on July 27, 1953, an armistice ended the fighting but no peace treaty was ever signed. Korea remains divided by a heavily militarized border called the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that runs roughly along the 38th parallel. The lack of a formal end to the war goes to the heart of recurring conflicts between the U.S. and North Korea that today could erupt into renewed fighting and a nuclear war.
While the Korean War is seared into the national consciousness of Koreans on both sides of the DMZ, in the United States, the war is referred to as the “Forgotten War.” My work challenges and complicates this dominant narrative. Films like Memory of Forgotten War, Geographies of Kinship and the oral history project, Legacies of the Korean War, contribute to a much-needed shift in how the Korean War is understood and provide more nuanced perspectives on Korea’s division and the possibilities of reunification than is normally portrayed in the mainstream media. Crossings takes this complex legacy to the next level, revealing the long history of Korean and international women’s efforts to bring the war to a peaceful resolution.
Crossings follows a delegation of 30 women, including activist Gloria Steinem, who in 2015 set out on a peace walk on the inter-Korean border. Some, like Alex Gladstein of the Human Rights Foundation, have criticized the walk’s organizers for not calling out North Korea’s human rights abuses. In a 2015 NPR article, he described the walk as “a marketing stunt for the North Korean government.” I’m curious what you make of this criticism. Could you tell us about why you felt it was important to document the walk?
Crossings is about a group of women who decide to speak directly with Korean women, North and South, to learn about how the Korean War and its irresolution impacts their lives. The women’s backgrounds were quite varied, from scholars and artists, to grassroots organizers, humanitarian aid workers, Nobel Peace laureates, and celebrity activists like Gloria Steinem. Their goal was to cross the DMZ from North Korea to South Korea to call for a formal end to the Korean War, the reunification of divided families, and women’s participation in the peacemaking process.
I wanted to document the women’s journey because their effort is a continuation of a long legacy of Korean and international women’s actions to bring permanent peace to Korea. And I thought visiting both North and South Korea could offer rare glimpses into the lives of women on both sides that we rarely see or hear about in the U.S.
During their journey, the women face a variety of political challenges, including being labeled naïve and apologists for the North Korean regime by people like Alex Gladstein. Reminiscent of McCarthyism, these were attempts to discredit and undermine their efforts. But the women were undeterred. The film shows how the women traverse and navigate these minefields and ultimately build greater solidarity as they negotiate their DMZ crossing with the North and South Korean governments and the U.N. Command. Crossings shows the power (and challenges) of collective action and how diverse groups of people can come together for the common cause of peace.
berkeleyside.org · by Iris Kwok · July 21, 2023
14. VOA: [Washington Talk] “Korea’s nuclear armament theory leads to enhanced extended deterrence… Recognizing Korean People’s Needs”
Good discussions about nuclear deterrence, the political situation, the nuclear consultative group first meeting, and more. Ms. Mary Beth Long continues to talk about a preemptive strike against a missile on a launch pad and other kinetic action to demonstrate consequences to the north.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8dOF7TXl3c
[Washington Talk] “Korea’s nuclear armament theory leads to enhanced extended deterrence… Recognizing Korean People’s Needs”
VOA Korean
292K subscribers
2,431 views Premiered 2 hours ago #Washington Talk #VOA #DMZ
Former senior US officials evaluated that President Yoon Seok-yeol's remarks on the need for self-nuclear armament and public opinion in support of independent nuclear possession in South Korea led to a much more specific US pledge to strengthen extended deterrence. It is explained that the United States came up with the best way to resolve concerns while recognizing the strong demand and will of the Korean people for nuclear development. It was also pointed out that a military response is also an important option for North Korea's provocations that cross the line, while seeking means to deter North Korea's nuclear and missile attacks. Moderator: Cho Eun-jung / Conversation: Mary Beth Long (Former Assistant Secretary of State for International Security) and Christopher Johnstone ( Former White House NSC East Asia Director )
15. John Batchelor Show with Gordon Chang on north Korea
https://audioboom.com/posts/8337521-northkorea-jake-sullivan-mentions-a-nuclear-test-threat-david-maxwell-senior-fellow-at-the-fou?utm
NorthKorea: Jake Sullivan mentions a nuclear test threat. David Maxwell, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and senior fellow at the Global Peace Foundation, @GordonGChang, Gatestone, Newsweek, The Hill
NorthKorea: Jake Sullivan mentions a nuclear test threat. David Maxwell, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and senior fellow at the Global Peace Foundation, @GordonGChang, Gatestone, Newsweek, The Hill
https://thehill.com/policy/international/4100170-national-security-adviser-it-wouldnt-be-a-surprise-if-north-korea-conducts-another-nuclear-test/
https://www.foxnews.com/world/north-korea-detains-us-national-who-crossed-military-demarcation-line
16. [Weekender] S. Korea ranks third in terms of passport power: What does it mean?
Graphics at the link: http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20230720000797
[Weekender] S. Korea ranks third in terms of passport power: What does it mean?
Passport power considered indicator of high credibility of citizens, strong national power; US, China rank lower due to strict visa rules
koreaherald.com · by Lee Yoon-seo · July 20, 2023
South Korea's passport for ordinary citizens (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Passports are far more than just simple travel documents that verify a holder's personal information.
In fact, the thin, palm-sized booklets also function as the barometers for a nation's status on the international stage -- in that some passports have the power to allow its holder to gain access to international destinations without extra entry requirements, such as visas, while some passports don't.
In this regard, a recent report showed that South Korean passports are one of the most "powerful" passports in the world.
According to Wednesday’s report released by English citizenship investment advisory firm Henley & Partners, as of the third quarter of 2023, South Korea has been ranked as the country with the third-highest passport index in the world together with Austria, Finland, France, Luxembourg and Sweden.
Countries with strongest passport indexes (Source: Henley Global Mobility Report 2023 Q3)
Passport indexes, based on the data from International Air Transport Association, are measured based on the number of countries the wielders of South Korean passports can travel to without a prior visa. As of July, South Korean citizens now have visa-free access to 189 destinations out of 227 around the world.
According to the firm's past reports, this is not the first time South Korea has ranked high on the list, in terms of its passport strength.
Since 2018, including the first half of 2023, Korea has been ranked as the country with the second most powerful passport in the world -- except for 2020, when the country ranked third on the list.
Having a "strong" passport connotes a slew of factors, according to Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The ministry said the concept of passport power indicates that the global society considers South Koreans' visits as having little chance of politically and diplomatically hurting the destination's reputation.
"Visa waiver agreements between two countries are mostly reciprocally contracted," a ministry official told The Korea Herald.
"If South Korea allows visa-free entry to a foreign country, that country typically bears the responsibility to permit visa-free entry to South Korean travelers. The fact that South Korea has one of the highest numbers of visa waiver agreements contracted in the world connotes that South Korea is received as a highly developed country worth allowing (inbound) visa-free travel to.”
He also said he understands the nation's high passport index as an additional possible indicator that South Koreans are internationally perceived as having little chance of overstaying their visa when traveling, and that countries view South Koreans' visits as helpful to their tourism industries.
According to Statista, a German platform specializing in gathering market and consumer data, South Korea ranked sixth in terms of countries with the highest outbound tourism expenditure worldwide in 2021. According to the platform, South Koreans spend some $16.7 billion annually while traveling.
South Korea's passports for ordinary citizens and official and diplomatic use (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
South Korea's high openness to foreigners, in terms of many nations it permits travelers to cross its borders visa-free, might be another reason why the country has such a high passport strength, according to the Henley report.
The report said that although the connection between having a strong passport power and having open-door visa policies was not straight forward, it was noteworthy that South Korea -- which has the second-most smallest difference between its number of inbound and outbound visa-free entries -- has consistently retained high spots in the passport index ranking list in the last decade, while the passport powers of the United States and Canada -- which have large differences in numbers regarding inbound and outbound visa-free entries -- have dropped down the passport power list.
According to the report, holders of the US passport can travel 184 out of 227 countries visa-free, while the country itself only allows 44 other nationalities to pass through its borders without a visa.
However, experts added that there are limitations to viewing passport power as the absolute gauge meter for a nation's power, as there could be various reasons why a country prevents visa-free entry into a country.
"Visa grants are tightly related to geopolitical issues," said Lee Na-ra, an immigration lawyer at Hanjoong law firm.
"For example, the US forbids visa-free entry to anyone who has been to Iran even once. Chinese citizens have difficulty entering US soil as well. Diverse factors involving geopolitical reasons play into allowing or forbidding visa-free entry to a certain country, and, it may be that passport power does not wholly reflect a nation's power," she said.
By Lee Yoon-seo (yoonseo.3348@heraldcorp.com)
koreaherald.com · by Lee Yoon-seo · July 20, 2023
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
| 
