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1. North Korea’s latest ballistic missile is its most powerful yet
2. South Korea torrential rain triggers power cuts, flight cancellations
3. N. Korea remains unresponsive to Seoul's request for prior notice on dam water discharge
4. North Korea’s nuclear blackmail, an ongoing threat, is worsening
5. U.S. calls for UNSC action against N. Korean ICBM test, but China, Russia veto
6. Top diplomats of G7 condemn N. Korea's ICBM test, call for strong response by UNSC
7. S. Korea slaps more unilateral sanctions on N. Korea after ICBM launch
8. S. Korean FM strongly condemns N. Korea's ICBM launch at ASEAN meetings
9. S. Korean, U.S., Japanese FMs hold talks after N. Korea's ICBM launch
10. North Korea's Threat to Target US Aircraft Is No Idle Menace
11. Seoul Ships Arms to Poland as Ukraine Enlists Support From Asia
12. S. Korea eyes $52b Ukraine reconstruction project
13. N. Korea calls for more vigilance to prevent defections overseas
14. Crew of adrift vessel sent to political prison camp for attempted defection
15. ＜Inside N. Korea＞ The Kim Jong-un regime prevents news of frequent suicides from spreading
16. Government crackdown makes smoking a drag for women in North Korea
17. Korea Faces Another Week of Heavy Rain
18. China Remains a Vital Market for Korea
19. North Korean college student goes missing in Russian Far East
20. How Netflix Plans Total Global Domination, One Korean Drama at a Time
21. Anti-U.S. Demonstrations Planned at U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys on 27 July 2023
1. North Korea’s latest ballistic missile is its most powerful yet
Graphics and photos at the link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/13/north-korea-icbm-hwasong-18-missile/
North Korea’s latest ballistic missile is its most powerful yet
By Min Joo Kim and Michelle Ye Hee Lee
July 13, 2023 at 5:56 a.m. EDT
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, reacts as Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile is launched, in an image released by North Korea's state-run news agency on Thursday. (KCNA/Reuters)
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SEOUL — North Korea has taken a significant step toward perfecting an intercontinental ballistic missile system designed to put the United States within range, analysts said on Thursday, as Kim Jong Un’s regime pushes ahead with its weapons development.
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The Hwasong-18 ICBM reached a height of more than 3,800 miles during its almost-vertical flight on Wednesday — twice as high as the first launch of this kind of missile in April and 16 times as high as the International Space Station. It flew for a record 74 minutes.
“While not without limitations, North Korea has gotten very close to achieving a missile capacity to strike the U.S. mainland,” said Shin Jong-woo, a senior analyst at Seoul-based Korea Defense Security Forum.
MARCH 24, 2022
3,850 miles
LOFTED TRAJECTORIES
JULY 12, 2023
3,728 miles
To avoid other countries, North Korea launches test missiles at a much higher-than-normal trajectory — nearly straight up — so missiles come down in the Sea of Japan (East Sea).
Flew for 74 minutes
MARCH 15, 2023
3,728 miles
Flew for 70 minutes
NOV. 29, 2017
2,796 miles
CHINA
JULY 28, 2017
2,300 miles
JAPAN
JULY 4, 2017
400 MILES
1,740 miles
MAY 14, 2017
1,300 miles
International Space
Station orbit:
250 miles
SOUTH KOREA
RUSSIA
CHINA
TAIWAN
JAPAN
Pacific
Ocean
—PHILIPPINES
Trajectories shown
are approximate.
—Guam (U.S.)
Sources: CNS North Korea Missile Testing Database and Japan Ministry of Defense
THE WASHINGTON POST
As usual, North Korea aimed for height not distance with the launch to try ensure the missile did not hit land. It traveled about 600 miles, splashing down off the coast of Japan.
“North Korea’s next goal will be firing its ICBM at a normal angle into the Pacific” to demonstrate its ability to send a warhead across the ocean, Shin said.
North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile activities are banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions, which led to the current sanctions regime. The council will hold a public meeting on Thursday to discuss the latest launch.
Kim, the North’s leader, supervised Wednesday’s launch outside Pyongyang and called for “more intense efforts to implement the line of bolstering nuclear war deterrent,” citing security threats by “the hostile forces.” He warned the United States and South Korea that “a series of stronger military offensives” will follow unless the two allies curtail their confrontations, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported on Thursday.
North Korean state media said the Hwasong-18 flew as high as 4,131 miles, consistent with Japanese estimates.
If fired on a normal trajectory, it would be capable of traveling more than 8,000 miles, said Shin Seung-ki, a research fellow at the Seoul-based Korea Institute for Defense Analysis, easily reaching the continental United States.
North Korea claims new missile is a ‘breakthrough’ in weapons program
Solid propellant, made by packing fuel and oxidizer together into a hard mixture, is dense, stable and can be preloaded onto a rocket. This feature enables solid-fuel missiles to be deployed more quickly and avoid early detection.
Liquid propellant, used in North Korea’s older ICBM systems, requires fuel and oxidizer to be loaded on-site ahead of a launch, which results in more preparation steps. While liquid fuel provides a greater propulsion than its solid counterpart, the slow-moving preparation can be a major disadvantage in the field. Most countries with ICBM capability, including Russia, China and the United States, maintain a mix of solid- and liquid-propelled types.
Firing a Hwasong-18 missile twice was a “notable achievement that underscores North Korea’s prowess in solid-propellant technology,” said Vann H. Van Diepen, a former top nonproliferation official at the State Department.
But it is not surprising given North Korea’s previous efforts and the fact that the technology is now 60 years old and used by its allies, Russia and China.
The solid-fuel ICBM has been a priority for Kim, but KCNA referred to the latest launch as a “test-fire.” That suggested the North Koreans were not yet ready to declare the Hwasong-18 operational, Van Diepen said.
The country’s scientists would still have gained useful insights from the test to prepare for a full-range launch, analysts said.
A Hwasong-18 is launched, in an image released by North Korea's official news agency on Thursday. (KCNA/Reuters)
Other than the solid-fuel component, North Korea still has new technologies to test and develop for its ICBM system. Its previous lofted-angle launches did not demonstrate whether the missile can survive a fiery reentry into the earth’s atmosphere.
The next big challenge for Pyongyang’s scientists is developing a nuclear warhead strong enough to withstand the reentry and small enough to be mounted on a missile.
The new Hwasan-31 warhead that North Korea revealed this year appeared too big to be placed on North Korea’s ICBMs, said Shunji Hiraiwa, a North Korea expert at Nanzan University in Japan.
“North Korea will either continue to develop very large liquid-fueled ICBMs and try to acquire the capability to carry multiple warheads, or it will aim to downsize the nuclear warheads by conducting a seventh nuclear test,” he said.
The biggest advancements in North Korea missile tech so far
Officials in Washington and Seoul said that the regime has completed preparations for a new round of nuclear tests, but that it has not proceeded with a detonation. It last tested a nuclear device in 2017.
Wednesday’s ICBM launch came in the lead-up to July 27, North Korea’s Victory Day — the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War. Pyongyang usually ramps up actions against South Korea and the United States around this time.
South Korean Unification Minister Kwon Young-se said Thursday that Seoul detected signs of preparations for a “large-scale military parade” in the North ahead of the anniversary. Satellite photos from last month showed new installations and large gatherings at Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square, where the parade is typically held.
Experts said the Hwasong-18 could be in the spotlight at the parade as a major achievement in North Korea’s weapons development.
Lee reported from Washington. Julia Mio Inuma in Tokyo contributed to this report.
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By Min Joo Kim
Min Joo Kim is a reporter for The Washington Post in Seoul. She covers news from South and North Korea. Twitter
By Michelle Lee
Michelle Ye Hee Lee is The Washington Post's Tokyo bureau chief, covering Japan and the Korean peninsula. Twitter
2. South Korea torrential rain triggers power cuts, flight cancellations
South Korea torrential rain triggers power cuts, flight cancellations
Reuters · by Hyunsu Yim
SEOUL, July 14 (Reuters) - Torrential rain swept across South Korea on Friday, forcing the cancellation of over a hundred flights and leaving thousands of homes without power as the government put officials on high alert for the peak of the summer monsoon season.
Over 4,000 households have experienced power cuts in the capital Seoul due to the heavy rain that began on Sunday with 136 people forced to evacuate nationwide, as of 11 a.m. (0200 GMT), according to the Ministry of Interior and Safety.
Over 130 flights were cancelled at airports across the country on Friday with more than 270 flights delayed as of 5 p.m., according to the Korea Airports Corporation.
One person is missing in the southern city of Busan while one has been injured in South Jeolla Province, officials said.
In a meeting with government agencies, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said it was of utmost importance that "no casualties were caused" and ordered officials to stay on alert. More than 10,500 police were put on traffic duty and increased patrols.
Last summer, Seoul was hit with floods caused by the heaviest rain in 115 years, inundating basement flats in low-lying neighbourhoods, including in the largely affluent Gangnam district.
North Korea has also been getting heavy rains and might open floodgates at dams on rivers flowing across the border between the two Koreas, Han added.
"Heavy rain is expected in Hwanghae Province and we need to thoroughly prepare for the possibility that North Korea might release water from its Hwanggang Dam," he said, referring to the North's central region.
North Korea's official KCNA news agency reported on Friday many parts of the region had received more than 100 millimetres (4 inches)of rain since Thursday morning but did not say if there was any damage.
Such water releases, often undertaken without notice by Pyongyang, have caused sudden surges of water in rivers that in previous years caused flooding and resulted in deaths in the South.
The Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the North, said on Friday it sent a message last month requesting notice in the event of water release but received no response.
Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Conor Humphries
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Reuters · by Hyunsu Yim
3. N. Korea remains unresponsive to Seoul's request for prior notice on dam water discharge
I recall getting stuck on the north side of the Imjin River in places during training during the summer monsoons.
But can the north use the dam for coercive purposes?
Excerpts:
But the recalcitrant state pushed ahead with water release last year, without notifying the South.
Heavy rains have pummeled South Korea this week, leaving some 4,000 households in Seoul without electricity and forcing 134 people nationwide to evacuate. The wider capital area is expected to experience additional downpours of up to 50 millimeters per hour.
N. Korea remains unresponsive to Seoul's request for prior notice on dam water discharge | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · July 14, 2023
By Lee Minji
SEOUL, July 14 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has not responded to South Korea's request for prior notice should it release water from its border dams to minimize damage from heavy rains, Seoul's unification ministry said Friday.
Referring to an inter-Korean agreement on dam water discharge, the ministry publicly made the request in late June as the annual monsoon season arrived on the Korean Peninsula.
The ministry made the request through the press, as Pyongyang has remained unresponsive to daily routine calls via an inter-Korean liaison communication channel since April.
"The government requested North Korea on June 30 to give prior notice in case it releases dam water but there has not been any response so far," Lee Hyo-jung, the ministry's deputy spokesperson, told reporters.
This July 5, 2023, file photo shows water being discharged from a dam in the border county of Yeoncheon, 60 kilometers north of Seoul. (Yonhap)
The ministry will use other channels, such as the press or a hotline between the United Nations Command and North Korea's military, to cope with unexpected circumstances should they occur, Lee said.
Under the agreement signed in October 2009, the North agreed to notify the South in advance of its plan to release dam water, following an accident that killed six South Koreans after the North discharged water from Hwanggang Dam without notice.
But the recalcitrant state pushed ahead with water release last year, without notifying the South.
Heavy rains have pummeled South Korea this week, leaving some 4,000 households in Seoul without electricity and forcing 134 people nationwide to evacuate. The wider capital area is expected to experience additional downpours of up to 50 millimeters per hour.
mlee@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · July 14, 2023
4. North Korea’s nuclear blackmail, an ongoing threat, is worsening
Excerpts:
How emboldened might Kim feel now with his full spectrum missile and nuclear arsenal in place? The worst-case scenario would be a situation where the U.S. is in a hot war, for example, a military conflict with China in response to a Chinese attack on Taiwan. Kim might see a diverted U.S. as an opportunity to attack South Korea and fulfill the long-time fantasy of reunification on North Korea’s terms.
As the NIE argues, such a use of force to dominate, not just provoke, South Korea is unlikely. But in a period of U.S.-China rivalry and an increasingly unsettled Northeast Asia, this wicked predicament just gets nastier. If there is a saving grace, it is as the NIE points out, Kim is not suicidal. Kim knows as Biden reminded him last April, that any North Korean nuclear attack would be “the end” of his regime.
Americans tend to think that all problems have solutions. But after nearly 30 years of failed diplomacy with North Korea, there are arguably some problems that can only be managed, not solved. And even if well-managed, North Korea may have a strategic surprise in store for everyone.
North Korea’s nuclear blackmail, an ongoing threat, is worsening
BY ROBERT A. MANNING, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 07/12/23 2:00 PM ET
The Hill · by Mike Lillis · July 12, 2023
It has mostly fallen off our foreign policy radar, overshadowed by Ukraine and Taiwan concerns. But North Korea’s launch of yet another ICBM missile is a stark reminder: The ominous peril of a nuclear North Korea continues to grow. In fact, the next crisis may be just around the corner.
With pilfered cryptocurrency, Kim Jong Un’s dynastic regime is racing to build a full spectrum missile and nuclear force with ICBMs, submarine-launched and tactical nukes. After a record launching of over 95 missiles in 2022, and punctuating 2023 by testing a new solid fuel long-range ICBM, the Hwasong-15, which can reach most of the U.S., Pyongyang is making more threatening noises.
Much has been written about Pyongyang’s seemingly endless nuclear-capable missile tests. But what do they add up to?
Though little noticed, last month, the DNI’s National Intelligence Council (NIC), declassified a national estimate (NIE) assessing how Kim is likely to leverage his accelerating nuclear and missile capabilities. The NIE says both the best and worst-case scenarios are the least likely: Neither a passive use of nuclear weapons solely for deterrence nor a worst-case use of aggression — including using nuclear weapons — to dominate the Korean Peninsula.
Unfortunately, that is cold comfort. Why? The intelligence community tells us that over the rest of this decade, Kim is more likely to, ”employ a variety of coercive methods and threats of aggression to try to make progress toward achieving his national security priorities.” The NIE adds that he, “may be willing to take greater conventional military risks, believing that nuclear weapons will deter an unacceptably strong U.S. or South Korean response.”
Still, more ominously, the NIE says that Kim’s regime ”most likely will continue to use its nuclear weapons status to support coercive diplomacy, and almost certainly will consider increasingly risky coercive actions as the quality and quantity of its nuclear and ballistic missile arsenal grow.”
With North Korea thus far ignoring even unconditional talks offered by Biden, North Korea’s breakneck efforts to attain greater nuclear and missile capabilities have reinforced a dangerous cycle of action and reaction: Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, a frequent top spokesperson, recently threatened to shoot down U.S. surveillance planes even though they were flying over international waters near the North Korean coast.
With each step to enhance North Korea’s nuclear capacity, there has, as Newton’s Third Law of Motion warned, been an equal and opposite U.S. and South Korean reaction, ratcheting up tensions. Thus, there have been more U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises and more U.S.-South Korea-Japan defense cooperation. The U.S. has stepped up efforts to respond to Seoul’s nuclear fears — and popular support for nuclear weapons.
The U.S. has gone to extraordinary lengths to reassure South Koreans. The centerpiece of the April U.S.-South Korean Summit was the Washington Declaration, which established new mechanisms for closer regulation consultation on nuclear planning, including tabletop nuclear exercises. To underscore U.S. nuclear deterrence commitments to Seoul, the White House has taken unprecedented moves, sending U.S. nuclear-capable bombers and nuclear missile submarines to South Korea, the first of what may be periodic shows of force to underscore the credibility of U.S. extended deterrence.
Predictably, each U.S. action has triggered angry, threatening North Korean responses. This raises the risk of Pyongyang miscalculating and sparking conflict.
Why? North Korea has enshrined its nuclear status in a 2012 constitution. Last year, it passed a new law articulating its nuclear doctrine of first use if Kim deemed a threat imminent or even felt there were preparations for a nuclear attack. With the absence of regular communication or crisis-response mechanisms between Pyongyang and Washington or Seoul, these moves dramatically raise the risk of miscalculation and accidental conflict — like shooting down U.S. surveillance planes.
North Korea recently sent drones over South Korea, prompting Seoul to scramble fighter jets and launch a $440 million counter-drone military program. Even before Pyongyang acquired its current missile and nuclear arsenal, it has periodically militarily provoked South Korea, often to assert claims to the Northern limit line, the sea border between North and South. In 2010, Kim attacked a South Korean military facility on Yeonpyeong Island, in an exchange of fire killing two soldiers and two South Korean civilians. That same year, Pyongyang sunk the Cheonan, a small South Korean Navy ship, killing 46 sailors. Kim’s military provocations are ongoing and frequent — last April, the South Korean Navy repelled a North Korean ship that intruded into its waters.
How emboldened might Kim feel now with his full spectrum missile and nuclear arsenal in place? The worst-case scenario would be a situation where the U.S. is in a hot war, for example, a military conflict with China in response to a Chinese attack on Taiwan. Kim might see a diverted U.S. as an opportunity to attack South Korea and fulfill the long-time fantasy of reunification on North Korea’s terms.
As the NIE argues, such a use of force to dominate, not just provoke, South Korea is unlikely. But in a period of U.S.-China rivalry and an increasingly unsettled Northeast Asia, this wicked predicament just gets nastier. If there is a saving grace, it is as the NIE points out, Kim is not suicidal. Kim knows as Biden reminded him last April, that any North Korean nuclear attack would be “the end” of his regime.
Americans tend to think that all problems have solutions. But after nearly 30 years of failed diplomacy with North Korea, there are arguably some problems that can only be managed, not solved. And even if well-managed, North Korea may have a strategic surprise in store for everyone.
Robert A. Manning is a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center. He previously served as senior counselor to the undersecretary of State for global affairs, as a member of the U.S. secretary of state’s policy planning staff and on the National Intelligence Council Strategic Futures Group. Follow him on Twitter @Rmanning4.
The Hill · by Mike Lillis · July 12, 2023
5. U.S. calls for UNSC action against N. Korean ICBM test, but China, Russia veto
CHina and Russia remain complicit in all of north Korea's malign activities.
U.S. calls for UNSC action against N. Korean ICBM test, but China, Russia veto | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Duk-Kun Byun · July 14, 2023
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, July 13 (Yonhap) -- The United States and 12 other members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) unsuccessfully sought to hold North Korea accountable for its recent long-range missile test Thursday due to opposition from China and Russia.
North Korea, making its first appearance at a UNSC meeting since 2017, also rejected international condemnation of its missile launch, insisting that it was a legitimate test that had no effect on the security of any neighboring nation.
Thursday's UNSC meeting came after North Korea fired a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Wednesday (Korea time), its fourth ICBM test and second solid fuel ICBM launch this year.
"The United States condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the DPRK's July 12 intercontinental ballistic missile launch," a U.S. envoy to the United Nations told a UNSC meeting held in New York, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"It is alarming, albeit hardly surprising that we find ourselves back in the council responding to yet another unlawful DPRK intercontinental ballistic missile launch," the U.S. diplomat added. "It is alarming because the DPRK has now launched 20 ballistic missiles in 2023, including four ICBMs."
A U.S. envoy to the United Nations speaks during a U.N. Security Council meeting in New York on July 13, 2023, in this captured image. (Yonhap)
Pyongyang has fired 89 ballistic missiles since the start of 2022, despite multiple UNSC resolutions that prohibit it from developing or using ballistic missile technologies.
"The sheer number of these ballistic missile launches over the past year and a half should not erode our capacity to meaningfully respond to nuclear proliferation," the U.S. envoy said.
"We call today on all council members to join us in denouncing the DPRK's unlawful behavior, to fully implement all Security Council resolutions in order to curb the DPRK's generation of revenue for its WMD and ballistic missile programs," he added.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (front) inspects the launch of 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. The missile flew 1,001 kilometers for 4,491 seconds at a maximum altitude of 6,648 km before splashing into the East Sea, the North said. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
China, the largest supporter of North Korea and a veto power-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, refused to hold North Korea accountable, instead accusing the U.S. of escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula through its joint military exercises with South Korea.
"China has taken note of the DPRK's recent launch. Meanwhile, we are also concerned about the heightened military pressure and repeated dispatches of strategic weapons by a certain country to carry out military activities on the Korean Peninsula," China's envoy to the U.N. told the meeting through an interpreter.
"The U.S. and other countries have long regarded the DPRK as a security threat and are obsessed with ... pressurization, which has put the DPRK under enormous security threat and existential pressure, and the DPRK's legitimate security concerns have never been addressed," the Chinese diplomat added.
Russia, another long-time supporter of North Korea and a permanent member of the UNSC, repeated the argument.
"This meeting was convened by the United States, Albania, France, Japan, Malta, and the United Kingdom regarding a missile launch, but we must once again draw attention to the actions of the U.S., the Republic of Korea and Japan who, as part of their concept of so-called extended deterrence, continue to increase the scale of their regional exercises and their military cooperation," a Russian envoy to the U.N. said, speaking through an interpreter.
A North Korean envoy to the United Nations speaks during a U.N. Security Council meeting, held in New York on July 13, 2023, to discuss North Korea's test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile earlier in the week, in this captured image. (Yonhap)
North Korea's envoy to the U.N. employed a similar tactic, accusing the U.S. of escalating nuclear tension on the Korean Peninsula.
"Our test fire of a new type of ICBM had no inevitable effect on the security of a neighboring country,' the North Korean diplomat insisted, noting the ICBM fired earlier this week fell into the water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
North Korea earlier said its missile flew 1,001 kilometers at a maximum altitude of 6,648 km.
"We categorically reject and condemn the convening of the Security Council briefing by the United States and its follows," the North Korean envoy said, arguing that U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises are aimed at invading North Korea, which he said will bring a nuclear war to the Korean Peninsula.
The Security Council meeting adjourned without a vote.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Duk-Kun Byun · July 14, 2023
6. Top diplomats of G7 condemn N. Korea's ICBM test, call for strong response by UNSC
But this falls on the deaf ears of China and Russia at the UNSC.
Top diplomats of G7 condemn N. Korea's ICBM test, call for strong response by UNSC | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Duk-Kun Byun · July 14, 2023
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, July 13 (Yonhap) -- Foreign ministers of the Group of 7 (G7) countries condemned North Korea's recent long-range missile test on Thursday, calling it a flagrant violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.
They also called for a "strong and unified response" by the U.N. Security Council (UNSC), hours before the 15-member council was set to hold an emergency meeting in New York to discuss the North's latest missile provocation.
"We, the G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union, condemn in the strongest terms North Korea's brazen launch of another Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) conducted on July 12, 2023, following the launch using ballistic missile technology conducted on May 31, 2023 along with the launches of two ballistic missiles on June 15, 2023," they said in a joint statement, released by the U.S. Department of State.
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. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un guided the launch. The missile flew 1,001 kilometers for 4,491 seconds at a maximum altitude of 6,648 km before splashing into the East Sea, the North said. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
North Korea fired a Hwasong-18 ICBM on Wednesday (Korea time). Pyongyang launched a space launch vehicle in May, which, according to experts, uses the same kind of technology used in ballistic missiles that North Korea is prohibited from developing or using under UNSC resolutions.
"North Korea continues to expand its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities and to escalate its destabilizing activities," the G7 foreign ministers said.
They called for a "quick, strong and unified response" by the UNSC.
"The frequency of North Korea's repeated blatant violations of UNSCRs juxtaposed with the UNSC's corresponding inaction because of some members' obstruction is cause for significant alarm," they said.
"We call on all UN Member States to fully and effectively implement all UNSCRs, and urge the UNSC Members to follow through on their commitments," they added.
The UNSC held 10 emergency meetings in 2022 to discuss North Korea's missile provocations, but failed to produce any outcome due to opposition from China and Russia, both veto power-wielding permanent members of the council and friendly neighbors of North Korea.
The Security Council was set to hold a meeting later in the day in New York to discuss the North's latest ICBM test.
"We reiterate our demand that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons, existing nuclear programs, and any other weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner and fully comply with all obligations under the relevant UNSCRs," the G7 foreign ministers said.
"North Korea cannot and will never have the status of a nuclear-weapon state under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons," they added.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Duk-Kun Byun · July 14, 2023
7. S. Korea slaps more unilateral sanctions on N. Korea after ICBM launch
Let's use information effectively.
(LEAD) S. Korea slaps more unilateral sanctions on N. Korea after ICBM launch | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Yi Wonju · July 14, 2023
(ATTN: ADDS more info from 4th para)
SEOUL, July 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Friday imposed unilateral sanctions on four North Korean individuals, including Pyongyang's top military officer, and three entities in response to the North's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) earlier this week, Seoul's foreign ministry said.
The move came two days after North Korea test-fired a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel ICBM under the guidance of leader Kim Jong-un despite international condemnation over its recent missile launches.
"In response to North Korea's long-range ballistic missile launch that threatens the peace and safety of the Korean Peninsula and the international society, the government has decided to impose unilateral sanctions against four individuals and three organizations involved in nuclear and missile developments and funding," the foreign ministry said.
The four individuals include former and incumbent high-ranking officials, including Jong Kyong-thaek, director of the General Political Bureau of the North's Korean People's Army, and Pak Kwang-ho, former director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the ruling Workers' Party.
They also designated Hwang Kil-su and Pak Hwa-song, along with their business Congo Aconde SARL, which they established in Congo to earn revenue from building statues and other construction projects.
The three entities newly added to the list include Chilsong Trading Corp. and Korea Paekho Trading Corp., a trading firm under North Korea's Ministry of Defence involved in illegally financing the regime through art and construction projects in Africa and the Middle East since the 1980s.
"We have been very clear in saying North Korea's provocations will be met with consequences," the ministry said in a press release. "Our government will continue to strengthen close cooperation with the international community, including the U.S. and Japan, so that North Korea can realize this fact, cease all tension-escalating activities and come back to denuclearization talks."
The announcement marks Seoul's 10th unilateral sanctions measure against the North since the launch of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration in May last year.
A total of 49 individuals and 50 agencies have been added to the sanctions list since he came to office.
This July 12, 2023, photo shows television footage of North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile on the same day. (Yonhap)
mlee@yna.co.kr
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Yi Wonju · July 14, 2023
8. S. Korean FM strongly condemns N. Korea's ICBM launch at ASEAN meetings
(LEAD) S. Korean FM strongly condemns N. Korea's ICBM launch at ASEAN meetings | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Chang Dong-woo · July 14, 2023
(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; UPDATES with more details from para 7)
By Chang Dong-woo
JAKARTA, July 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top diplomat on Friday strongly condemned North Korea's latest launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at high-level regional meetings led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta.
Foreign Minister Park Jin participated in the East Asia Summit (EAS) foreign ministerial meeting and the session of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the region's largest security meeting, held in this year's host country of Indonesia.
The EAS is a forum for dialogue among leaders of the Asia-Pacific region on a wide range of issues involving ASEAN member states, South Korea, China and Japan, as well as the United States, Russia, India, Australia and New Zealand.
South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin (R) participates in the East Asia Summit foreign ministers' meeting in Jakarta on July 14, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
During the EAS meeting, Park "strongly condemned" North Korea's ICBM launch carried out on Wednesday and took note of a statement issued by ASEAN's foreign ministers on Thursday expressing grave concern.
Park also stressed that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was in clear violation of international law and that it posed a "direct threat" to the principles of international order and national sovereignty.
He also underscored the importance of peace and stability in the South China Sea, and explained South Korea's willingness to cooperate with the international community in establishing a rules-based international order and allowing freedom of travel based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
At the ARF, Park noted that 30 years have passed since North Korea unilaterally announced its withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and that Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development has hampered the forum's efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region.
The minister said it was "deplorable" that the North continues to waste scarce resources on illegal nuclear and missile development while ignoring the difficulties of its people.
On the issue involving the South China Sea, Park reiterated South Korea's opposition to any unilateral attempt to change the status quo in the region, and also expressed concerns over ongoing violence and civilian casualties in Myanmar.
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Chang Dong-woo · July 14, 2023
9. S. Korean, U.S., Japanese FMs hold talks after N. Korea's ICBM launch
Again, every action of north Korea drives the ROK, Japan, and the US closer together.
(2nd LD) S. Korean, U.S., Japanese FMs hold talks after N. Korea's ICBM launch | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Chang Dong-woo · July 14, 2023
(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; UPDATES throughout; COMBINES with article slugged S Korea-China-high-level meeting)
By Chang Dong-woo
JAKARTA, July 14 (Yonhap) -- The top diplomats of South Korea, the United States and Japan held three-way talks Friday in Indonesia to discuss ways to deal with North Korea's evolving threats highlighted by this week's test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Antony Blinken and Yoshimasa Hayashi, respectively, were visiting Jakarta to attend the annual regional meetings led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The three sides met in the Indonesian capital after participating in a series of high-level meetings.
On Thursday, Pyongyang announced it test-fired a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel ICBM the previous day, with its leader Kim Jong-un vowing to take a "stronger" military offensive until the U.S. abandons its hostile policy against his country.
In response, South Korea imposed additional sanctions on North Korea by adding four individuals and three entities to its blacklist against Pyongyang.
In this file photo, South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin (R) meets with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Antony Blinken (L) and Yoshimasa Hayashi, respectively, in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 18, 2023, to discuss measures against North Korea's missile provocations. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
Earlier in the day Park also held a one-on-one meeting with Wang Yi, head of the foreign affairs commission of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee, in Jakarta.
Wang, the former Chinese foreign minister, is representing China at this year's ASEAN meetings. Beijing announced earlier that Qin Gang, the current foreign minister, would not attend the meetings due to health reasons.
Park also attended the East Asia Summit foreign ministers' meeting, which involves ASEAN member states, South Korea, China and Japan, as well as the United States, Russia, India, Australia and New Zealand. He also participated in the ASEAN Regional Forum, the region's largest security meeting.
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Chang Dong-woo · July 14, 2023
10. North Korea's Threat to Target US Aircraft Is No Idle Menace
Useful analysis from Patrick Cronin.
Excerpts:
But we must consider the possible motives for this specific threat now. Five plausible explanations may reveal what the Kim regime thinks.
...
First, a dictatorship can never have enough control.
...
A second rationale for speaking out may be to project strength abroad.
...
North Korea’s need for attention amid this month’s high-level diplomatic conferences is another reason for the latest taunt.
...
A fourth reason for threatening a takedown is to neutralize some of the recent successes of the 70-year-old U.S.-South Korea alliance.
...
A fifth reason is more ominous than the others. There is a possibility that the charge of “provocative aerial espionage,” a phrase sure to resonate with China’s narrative about U.S. military operations, could be a pretext for an impending provocation.
At a minimum, North Korea wishes to draw a bright line of forward deterrence to ensure the United States and South Korea keep their distance and come no closer to a regime that, while nuclear-armed, is hobbled by severe doubts. More aggressively, Kim may feel the moment is ripe for a more aggressive show of limited force. North Korea cannot be taken at its word, but it does need to be taken seriously.
North Korea's Threat to Target US Aircraft Is No Idle Menace
Published 07/13/23 09:00 AM ET
Patrick M. Cronin
themessenger.com · July 13, 2023
Pyongyang’s repeated threats to shoot down U.S. reconnaissance aircraft may be more than idle words.
North Korea alleges that an American intelligence plane breached the “inviolable airspace” of the Kim regime on Monday. The defense ministry menacingly offered that “there is no guarantee” that North Korea won’t shoot down future reconnaissance aircraft. A “shocking” incident is possible, according to Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Pyongyang is conflating the international legal distinction between a nation’s 12-nautical-mile sovereign territory and airspace and its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Even so, there is precedent for attacking U.S. intelligence platforms operating in international airspace and waters. U.S. and allied pilots and ship captains should brace for the possibility of hostile action.
In April 1969, a single North Korean Air Force MiG-21 fighter downed a Navy EC-121 signals intelligence aircraft operating 80 miles off North Korea’s coast. All 31 crewmen aboard the plane perished, and North Korea’s warning chillingly references this half-century-old incident. Importantly, the United States took no retaliatory moves against either the EC-121 shoot-down incident or the seizure of the USS Pueblo intelligence vessel in international waters in January 1968.
Kim undoubtedly would like to find new coercive measures that would fall short of triggering a harsh military response.
Of course, these are different times. Both the Pueblo and the EC-121 incidents occurred during the so-called Second Korean War, a turbulent period in the late-1960s when Kim Il Sung instigated lethal crises with the hope of sowing rebellion within then-authoritarian South Korea.
These days, threatening pronouncements are a customary, low-cost weapon the Kim regime employs.
Only occasionally are broadsides matched by malign actions. For instance, the costly hack of Sony Pictures in 2014 occurred on the heels of North Korea declaring the Hollywood movie “The Interview,” a dark comedy about a plot to assassinate Kim Jong Un, “an act of war.”
We can certainly dispute North Korea’s claim that U.S. aircraft are operating within its airspace, and the Pentagon is adamant that American pilots are adhering strictly to international law. We can also remain skeptical about whether this latest threat constitutes the true intention to enact another threat of violence from Pyongyang.
But we must consider the possible motives for this specific threat now. Five plausible explanations may reveal what the Kim regime thinks.
First, a dictatorship can never have enough control. COVID has left North Korea even more isolated, and the policy of pursuing nuclear weapons and economic development simultaneously (known as "Byungjin") is only delivering on half of its promise. Facing widespread hunger and financial woes, this is a moment when the Kim family needs to rally people against Pyongyang’s main nemesis, the United States.
A second rationale for speaking out may be to project strength abroad. Vladimir Putin appeared to have a lock on power in Russia before cracks materialized last month. North Korea has no Wagner Group to fear. But North Korea has faced a few notable instances of factionalism. The most recent was in 2013, when Kim felt the need to execute his uncle Jang Song Thaek, then the second-most powerful man in the country.
North Korea’s need for attention amid this month’s high-level diplomatic conferences is another reason for the latest taunt. From the NATO summit in Vilnius to the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting of foreign ministers in Jakarta, consequential negotiations are happening without North Korea. That’s a stark contrast to when Kim Jong Un enjoyed the spotlight on the international stage five years ago.
A fourth reason for threatening a takedown is to neutralize some of the recent successes of the 70-year-old U.S.-South Korea alliance. Next week, the allies will hold the inaugural meeting of the nuclear consultative group, a new mechanism designed to strengthen extended deterrence that was announced in April by Presidents Biden and Yoon Suk-yeol. Toward the end of the month, near the anniversary of the 1953 Armistice, a U.S. ballistic missile submarine will dock in a South Korean port for the first time since the Reagan administration. North Korea will be keen to spoil these alliance milestones. Monday’s ICBM launch was a predictable move, but North Korea may still up the ante.
A fifth reason is more ominous than the others. There is a possibility that the charge of “provocative aerial espionage,” a phrase sure to resonate with China’s narrative about U.S. military operations, could be a pretext for an impending provocation. If there is to be a kinetic action and not simply a political warfare gambit for psychological effect, taking down U.S. aircraft and ships operating near North Korea are in Pyongyang’s crosshairs.
At a minimum, North Korea wishes to draw a bright line of forward deterrence to ensure the United States and South Korea keep their distance and come no closer to a regime that, while nuclear-armed, is hobbled by severe doubts. More aggressively, Kim may feel the moment is ripe for a more aggressive show of limited force. North Korea cannot be taken at its word, but it does need to be taken seriously.
Dr. Patrick M. Cronin is Asia-Pacific Security Chair at the Hudson Institute, and Scholar in Residence at Carnegie Mellon University.
themessenger.com · July 13, 2023
11. Seoul Ships Arms to Poland as Ukraine Enlists Support From Asia
Seoul Ships Arms to Poland as Ukraine Enlists Support From Asia
- Ukraine envoy says Seoul can do more to make ‘victory closer’
- Poland accounts for more than 70% of defense exports in 2022
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-12/seoul-ships-arms-to-poland-as-ukraine-enlists-support-from-asia?sref=hhjZtX76
By Sangmi Cha
July 12, 2023 at 6:00 PM EDT
South Korea ranks near the bottom of major democracies contributing aid to Ukraine and near the top for weapons sales since war hit the country. That has put President Yoon Suk Yeol in a tough spot during a high-stakes visit to Europe.
Yoon was given a seat at the table at the NATO summit in Vilnius as the bloc seeks help from partners such as South Korea, Japan and Australia to aid Kyiv in beating back Russia’s full-scale invasion.
His next stop is Poland, the biggest buyer of South Korean weapons, where Yoon and dozens of executives from the country’s arms industry will hold talks on Thursday. Some of the companies will discuss reconstruction of Ukraine as Poland has turned into the world’s gateway to Ukraine.
South Korean government policy prohibits lethal aid to countries at war and Ukraine’s envoy to Seoul says it’s time for a change, adding there’s a lot in its arsenal that could help Kyiv.
“We would be glad to receive anti-aircraft and counter-battery radars, anti-drone systems, armored ambulances, military trucks, and communication systems,” said Dmytro Ponomarenko, Ukrainian ambassador to South Korea. The Ukrainian government believes South Korea “could do much to make our victory closer.”
Full scale invasion of Ukraine has raised the stakes for countries such as South Korea and Japan that have relied on Russia for energy sources. It led to their leaders’ first visit to the NATO summit last year, while stoking worries about a possible invasion of Taiwan by China, which would put their security alliances with the US to a crucial test.
South Korea has sent humanitarian aid and promised additional assistance totaling $230 million to Ukraine, which includes demining equipment and emergency medical evacuation vehicles. That’s less than the amounts provided by countries with smaller economies such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Sweden, according to data compiled through May 31 by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
Seoul has pledged to provide Ukraine with an increased level of humanitarian aid compared to last year, the presidential official told reporters ahead of Yoon’s trip to the NATO summit, without releasing specific amounts. The trip isn’t likely to significantly alter the size of the package, the office said.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has opened a door for South Korea’s economy. Its defense exports more than doubled last year as buyers replaced Soviet-era weaponry with more advanced arms. South Korea’s defense exports totaled about $17 billion in 2022, up from $7.25 billion a year before.
Poland Is the Key Buyer of South Korean Arms
South Korea defense exports between 2020-2023
Source: Bloomberg, Hanwha Investment & Securities
This will come into greater focus as Yoon during the visit in Poland, which accounted for more than 70% of South Korea’s weapons exports last year.
South Korea has found itself uniquely positioned in the global arms market with weapons that are relatively affordable and designed to defeat Soviet-based conventional systems used by its neighbor North Korea. Meanwhile, Washington seems to be giving the green light to Seoul to sell to states in places like eastern Europe as US defense contractors race to fill orders for weapons that will go to Kyiv and Taipei, which is staring down threats from China.
In December, Poland received the first shipment of 28 K2 tanks and 48 self-propelled K9 howitzers that were part of a $5.77 billion agreement reached in August with South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem Co. and Hanwha Defense Systems Corp.
One of the most recent acquisitions from Poland has come from a $3.55 billion deal to supply it with Hanwha’s multiple-launch rocket systems Chunmoos. That’s on top of a $3 billion deal for 48 FA-50 fighter jets that will replace Soviet-era MiG aircrafts that Poland donated to Ukraine.
South Korea is ranked as the world’s ninth largest weapons exporter, according to a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Yoon is aiming to take the country to number four by 2027.
Defense stocks of companies such as Hanwha Aerospace Co., Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. and LIG Nex1 Co. have skyrocketed since the war began in Ukraine in February 2022, outpacing gains in the South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index by 98%.
— With Akshay Chinchalkar and Natalia Ojewska
12. S. Korea eyes $52b Ukraine reconstruction project
S. Korea eyes $52b Ukraine reconstruction project
koreaherald.com · by Shin Ji-hye · July 14, 2023
Published : Jul 14, 2023 - 07:54 Updated : Jul 14, 2023 - 14:38
President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is on an official visit to Poland, has an expanded meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the presidential palace in Warsaw on Thursday. (Yonhap)
WARSAW, Poland -- South Korea will offer comprehensive support from both the public and private sectors for Ukraine reconstruction projects valued at $52 billion, according to the presidential office.
"Ukraine has requested the involvement of Korean companies in approximately 5,000 construction projects, estimated at $20 billion, through an intergovernmental cooperation channel in May," said Choi Sang-mok, economic secretary for President Yoon.
According to Choi, the government will begin construction site evaluation of modular units to quickly provide essential spaces for human living such as schools, housing and hospitals. The site inspection will be conducted with official development assistance (ODA) funds, he said.
The government also plans to support provide technical assistance for water infrastructure reconstruction, supplementing humanitarian aid already offered for the destroyed Kakhovka Dam.
Choi added that tailored support will be extended to the private sector-led reconstruction project, currently valued at about $32 billion. The project encompasses various sectors including: small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear power plants, airport reconstruction, construction machinery, railway vehicles and information technology.
"Even as the conflict continues and the reconstruction effort is in the early stages, we will prepare for our role in the reconstruction project as diligently as the Ukrainian government desires," Choi said.
By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)
13. N. Korea calls for more vigilance to prevent defections overseas
north Korea must be monitoring Korea conferences in DC. I made a proposal this week at one that north Korean IT workers working overseas are low hanging fruit and that the ROK and the US should ensure they all have information on how to request asylum and that they are welcome in the ROK and US.
N. Korea calls for more vigilance to prevent defections overseas
Recent orders called for increasing surveillance of overseas diplomatic personnel from once a day to three times per day
dailynk.com
FILE PHOTO: North Korea's embassy in Malaysia. (Daily NK)
North Korea is ordering diplomatic consulates to thoroughly respond to frequent defections by diplomatic personnel and workers living abroad, a source in Pyongyang told Daily NK on Tuesday.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, the source said North Korea is issuing two or more orders a week regarding policies aimed at preventing defections.
In the orders, the authorities are making constant mention of the recent disappearance of the family of a diplomat working at a North Korean consulate in Russia. The orders are calling for changes to the management system for overseas personnel that would enable the state to ascertain their location at all times and respond immediately to problems.
Specifically, the orders are aimed at bolstering the existing three-ply system of surveillance — that is to say, three sets of eyes watching an individual — into a four-ply system, and increasing inspections from once a day to three times per day.
In the orders, the authorities discuss the deployment of more Ministry of State Security agents overseas, along with more investigations into what overseas North Koreans are saying and thinking, and when and where they are saying or thinking it. They also labeled people who remain silent a cause for concern, ordering agents to get them to talk and find out what they are really thinking, the source said.
“The authorities are issuing frequent orders imploring everyone to do their best to break the vicious circle of defections by not only having more security agents on the ground, but also by having all overseas officials and workers playing roles beyond that of the security agents. They are calling for making the management of ideological tendencies [of overseas personnel] a priority, believing that one or two defections can lead to a wave of defections.”
North Korea also ordered that overseas consulates quickly complete lists of diplomatic personnel and family members to be repatriated or replaced, the source said.
“The authorities seriously consider whether each and every person deployed overseas has healthy ideological tendencies, as well as their accomplishments and skills. The government plans to complete the lists [of personnel to be repatriated or replaced] by mid-July and complete personnel changes by the end of the year when decisions [on the lists] are issued in the fall.
“Overseas personnel are always under an atmosphere of insecurity when these kinds of orders or policies are issued because they never know when they’ll get called back home.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources who live inside North Korea, China and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
14. Crew of adrift vessel sent to political prison camp for attempted defection
Perhaps of some significance if these people are connected to the elite.
Excerpts:
All of them also confessed to sending the distress signal as a ruse to make their disappearance look like an accident, the source said.
“One of the six crew members was the descendent of a Hero of Labor, another was a descendent of a Korean War veteran, and two were fourth-generation descendents of Korean-Japanese returnees, so the preliminary examination process dragged on for a year given that high-level approval was needed to investigate them.
“As soon as the government granted its approval, the Ministry of State Security quietly moved the six to a political prison camp because there was the belief that the six could arouse anti-state opinion if it was made known that they had tried to defect.”
Crew of adrift vessel sent to political prison camp for attempted defection
The crew confessed to sending a distress signal as a ruse to make their disappearance look like an accident
2023.07.13 10:57am
dailynk.com
Six crew members of a fishing boat that disappeared last year after sending a fake distress signal were recently sent to a political prison camp for trying to mount a defection attempt, Daily NK has learned.
“The boat that disappeared while fishing in April of last year was discovered by a navy patrol boat a few days after the crew members had sent a distress signal. After over a year of questioning, they were sent to a political prison late last month under charges of attempted defection,” a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
The fishing boat had been involved in foreign currency-earning activities for the North Hamgyong Province branch of the Ministry of State Security. Last year, the boat had gone to sea to catch fish for families of cadres from the provincial branch of the Ministry of State Security ahead of a holiday marking the foundation of the North Korean military on Apr. 25. In the early morning hours of Apr. 20, however, the crew radioed that their boat was about to go adrift due to engine trouble. Nothing was heard from them after that.
But a few days later, a North Korean navy patrol boat located the fishing boat in open waters near Japan. Three patrol boats then mounted an operation to bring in the boat’s six crew members.
The authorities were initially unsure whether the crew members had intentionally made for Japan or were carried there by currents. In any case, however, the boat was outside of its normal operating area, which raised suspicions among navy officials involved in the case. The navy subjected them to basic interrogations before turning them over to the Ministry of State Security.
“Knowing that the fishing boat worked for the North Hamgyong Province branch of the Ministry of State Security, the navy quietly handed the crew members to the ministry’s headquarters without telling the provincial branch,” the source said. “The Ministry of State Security put all of them in the Kangwon Province branch’s lockup and carried out a year-long preliminary examination.”
Preliminary examinations include the entire interrogation process prior to suspects being indicted.
Status of several crew members cause delays in processing their case
The Ministry of State Security started to intensify its interrogations of the six when their testimonies failed to line up during the preliminary examination process. Ultimately, the ministry extracted the following confession from the six: “We were originally going to head to South Korea, but we heard that South Korea sends defectors back to the North through Panmunjom, after which they quietly disappear. So we were heading to Japan when we had engine trouble and the boat went adrift.”
All of them also confessed to sending the distress signal as a ruse to make their disappearance look like an accident, the source said.
“One of the six crew members was the descendent of a Hero of Labor, another was a descendent of a Korean War veteran, and two were fourth-generation descendents of Korean-Japanese returnees, so the preliminary examination process dragged on for a year given that high-level approval was needed to investigate them.
“As soon as the government granted its approval, the Ministry of State Security quietly moved the six to a political prison camp because there was the belief that the six could arouse anti-state opinion if it was made known that they had tried to defect.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources who live inside North Korea, China and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com
15. ＜Inside N. Korea＞ The Kim Jong-un regime prevents news of frequent suicides from spreading
This should not be a surprise. Conditions are a breaking point for so many Koreans in the north. One of the most telling comments I heard from our escapee friends this week is that there are Korean people in the north who say they would rather have the war start now because they cannot continue to live under current conditions. They would rather die than live the way they are.
＜Inside N. Korea＞ The Kim Jong-un regime prevents news of frequent suicides from spreading
asiapress.org
A woman walking along a farm path with a large sack. During the three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the level of poverty suffered by North Koreans has worsened to an extreme. This photo was taken in July 2021 on the Chinese side of the border. (ASIAPRESS)
Amid an increase in people dying of malnutrition since April, there have also been frequent cases of people committing suicide due to difficult conditions, along with cases of entire families committing group suicide. The Kim Jong-un regime has taken efforts to ensure that word about these suicides and starvation deaths do not spread, intensifying crackdowns and punishments towards those who spread such information. Several ASIAPRESS reporting partners provided information about the current situation inside North Korea. (KANG Ji-won)
◆ People continue to commit suicide
“There’s been no stop to suicides and group suicides …”
Starting in June, the reporting partners ASIAPRESS talked to all agreed that the situation inside North Korea is dire:
“There’s been people who died of starvation and even one person who committed suicide by overdosing on opium in our inminban (neighborhood watch unit). That left three houses empty, and the authorities gave those houses to homeless people. (“A,” a reporting partner in Yanggang Province, late June)
“In early July, a man living alone in our neighborhood watch unit ate opium before committing suicide. The authorities said he died of malnutrition with his eyes open. There was no money to cremate his body, and he had no relatives, so he was buried without a funeral. (“B,” a reporting partner in Hoeryong, North Hamgyung Province, early July)
※ Inminban are the lowest administrative units in North Korea. They typically manage 20-30 households in a particular area. Inminban leaders relay orders from local district offices to residents and are also in charge of keeping a close eye on the (ideological) tendencies shown by ordinary people.
◆ Lots of people commit suicide with the help of opium
How do people commit suicide in North Korea?
“Most people overdose on medications to commit suicide. Lots of people take opium. That allows them to die without pain in their sleep,” the Yanggang Province reporting partner said.
According to “B,” most people avoid jumping into bodies of water or hanging themselves and instead “eat opium to die in their sleep or take rat poison. I’ve heard there’s a lot of suicides in other regions, too, but I don’t know for sure because it’s hard to travel around.”
Opium originates from the poppy seed and is easy to obtain in North Korea because it is commonly used in ordinary medicines.
◆ The regime clamps down on news about starvation deaths and suicides
Meanwhile, the Kim Jong-un regime is taking stringent efforts to ensure that word of starvation deaths and suicides do not spread. “A” told ASIAPRESS that:
“Bad news such as starvation deaths and suicides are all considered ‘groundless rumors’ whether or not they are true, and people are punished for spread what the authorities call ‘false rumors.’ People in close relationships might talk about these things, but everyone is careful about what they say in public. They are afraid of being sent to a forced labor camp or fined by the authorities for saying something by mistake.”
※ Forced labor brigade
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 police.
◆ Criticism against cadres in suicide note
“A” told ASIAPRESS about a specific example of a group suicide discovered in Bochon County, Yanggang Province, in mid-June. The family left a suicide note, which allowed many people to hear about the incident.
“On June 14, a father and his son suffering from starvation in Bochon sold their house, boiled up rabbit intestines to eat, and then ate rabbit poison. The head of the neighborhood watch unit discovered the bodies and reported it to the police. The district office dealt with the case, but a suicide note was found.”
The suicide note read: “No matter how loyal and sincerely I work for the Workers’ Party, I can’t even feed my son a single meal as I watch him waste away. It’s too hard to die alone, so we go together.”
The suicide note also criticized party cadres, saying: “Cadres are living on cloud nine and have no idea how people below them are living.”
The head of the neighborhood watch unit who discovered the bodies told people in the area about the state of the house and the suicide note, which helped spread information about the incident. “A” told ASIAPRESS that news of the suicide note spread in Yanggang Province’s biggest city of Hyesan, leading to a rebuke by the authorities.
“At a neighborhood watch unit meeting, the officials warned that even just talking about anyone dying of starvation is a problem. The officials said that a police officer came to confirm the corpses and a hospital issued a document saying that the two died of disease, so saying that there was a suicide note or claiming that they died of starvation was a groundless rumor that helps the enemies, and that nobody should talk about the incident, even in their own homes.”
The neighborhood watch unit leader in question was sent to a forced labor camp.
“A” explained to ASIAPRESS that:
“People who commit suicide are very discontented, so many spew insults at cadres before they die. Recently, neighborhood watch unit leaders are supposed to prevent anyone from entering the houses where suicides have taken place and call in police officers and doctors first to confirm the corpses. The district offices manage everything, even the funerals. People who commit suicide with opium are treated as opium addicts. In fact, many commit suicide due to starvation, so people think it’s ridiculous that the government would lie.”
In North Korea, suicide is considered an anti-state and anti-party act.
※ ASIAPRESS communicates with its reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.
asiapress.org
16. Government crackdown makes smoking a drag for women in North Korea
Why does Kim waste effort on these types of policies when he is facing severe threats to the nation (that are of course a result of his actions)? Maybe he is trying to emulate politicians in other countries who focus on things like changing social mores rather than on the real problems of national security.
Government crackdown makes smoking a drag for women in North Korea
Public smoking bans are ignored by men, but female smokers are accused of promoting capitalist culture.
By Son Hyemin for RFA Korean
2023.07.13
rfa.org
North Korean authorities are cracking down on women for smoking in public, saying they are promoting capitalist culture and extinguishing socialist morals, residents in the country told Radio Free Asia.
But the same thinking does not seem to apply to men. The country’s supreme leader, Kim Jong Un, for example, is a chain smoker often seen in state media holding a lit cigarette.
In North Korea, it is natural for men to smoke, but frowned on for women to do the same, sources told RFA.
Statistics as recent as 2020 seem to confirm this trend, with 46.1 percent of North Korean men self-reporting that they have used tobacco –compared to zero women– according to a report by 38 North, a publication of the Washington-based Stimson Center think tank.
But these days, more women are lighting up in front of other people, and authorities are enforcing anti-public-smoking laws on women but not on men.
“Even if the authorities try to [enforce a ban], it doesn’t stop men from smoking, but recently they are catching women smoking too,” a source in the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“The authorities have been cracking down since early this month as more and more women smoke [in public], mainly in the city,” she said.
Anti-smoking laws
In 2005, North Korea passed the Tobacco Control Law, which made it illegal to smoke in hospitals and medical clinics, and on public transportation. This did little to prevent public smoking in other areas.
In a move that was publicized as beneficial for public health and the environment, the country introduced the Tobacco Prohibition Law in 2020, which regulated production and sales of cigarettes, designated more public spaces where smoking is banned, and laid out detailed punishments for smoking in public.
Manufacturers and male smokers were largely allowed to ignore the law, as the firms were responsible for generating revenue for the state, which is only possible if smokers can light up.
Plus, RFA reported in 2020 that North Koreans privately called the anti-smoking laws hypocritical because Kim Jong Un is often pictured in state media puffing away on cigarettes, including in front of children at an orphanage he was visiting around the time the law was passed.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is a longtime smoker. Credit: Reuters and AFP
But a recent rise in public smoking by women is the cause for the recent crackdown, which has police monitoring places like restaurants and marketplaces, the North Pyongan resident said.
“This is the first crackdown like this,” she said, and described a June 10 incident where two women in their 40s were fined 30,000 won (US$3.60) for smoking after eating a meal at a restaurant in the city of Sinuiju, which lies on the border with China.
“The police warned them that if they are caught smoking again they will be fined 100,000 won ($12) and if they are caught a third time they could be imprisoned at a disciplinary labor center for a month,” the resident said.
Targeting the wealthy
In the city of Anju, in South Pyongan province, police are even going undercover to try to catch women smoking, a resident there told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
“Since the beginning of this month, social security agents in civilian clothes have been visiting every restaurant near the provincial arts theater in Anju,” she said. “Many artists and rich people [go there] and many of the women smoke cigarettes.”
The South Pyongan resident said that until recently women who smoke did so secretly, but now they are smoking in front of others. She attributed the rise in female smoking to the greater stresses they face earning money to feed their families.
In the past, North Korean men could expect to support a family with the income from their government assigned jobs, but this became impossible after the economic collapse that led to the 1994-1998 North Korean famine.
Rapid inflation since then rendered the men’s salaries nearly irrelevant, so it has fallen on the women to make money by operating their own businesses, and a nascent market economy has since emerged.
Modern women
So now, women who smoke are seen as more modern than their counterparts of yesteryear, the South Pyongan source said.
Smoking among women is also a sign that women are rebelling against an oppressive society pressure that has consistently suppressed their desires, Yoon Bo Young, a researcher who focuses on North Korean women and society at South Korea’s Dongguk University, told RFA.
“As women’s rights are expanded and women’s abilities are demonstrated, women act to break taboos,” said Yoon. “From that point of view, a woman who smokes should be recognized as a modern woman in North Korea. This is a society where hair must be neatly tied and women must wear appropriate clothes.”
Despite the obvious harmful health impact of smoking, doing so in public can be seen as a way for women to assert their independence.
Yoon noted that in Korean culture, smoking has traditionally been considered a male pastime, but now fewer female smokers are hiding their habit in South Korea as well.
She predicted that women feeling comfortable enough to smoke in public will cause more cracks in North Korean social norms.
Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
rfa.org
17. Korea Faces Another Week of Heavy Rain
I hope the rains end soon. I will be traveling to Korea in 10 days for a couple of weeks.
Korea Faces Another Week of Heavy Rain
english.chosun.com
July 14, 2023 13:00
The summer monsoon front had brought an average of 316.8 mm of rain across the country between June 25 and this Wednesday, making it the wettest July on record.
The rain has fallen mainly in southern parts with 640 mm in Yeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, followed by 638.7 mm in Gwangju; 630.5 mm in Namwon, North Jeolla Province; and 608 mm in Gurye, South Jeolla.
But now central parts and the capital region are also being pelted by heavy rain, reaching 391.5 mm in Seoul's Dongjak district and 326.5 mm in Gangnam.
The Han River Park in Banpo, Seoul is flooded on Friday. /News1
The entire country will be drenched for another week, the Korea Meteorological Administration said Thursday. Up to 300 mm of rain is expected for the capital region until Saturday, up to 400 mm in South Chungcheong and North Jeolla regions, and up to 300 mm for North Chungcheong, North Gyeongsang and Gangwon regions.
The rainy season usually lasts until July 26 in central parts and July 24 in the southern region.
Intermittent dry periods will be boiling hot due to the high humidity, with tropical nights when the temperature does not fall below 25 degrees all night.
Jamsu Bridge in Seoul is inundated after heavy rains on Friday. /Newsis
Heavy downpours and extremely hot weather are likely to become the new normal in Korea as the climate turns gradually subtropical due to global warming.
El Niño is brewing for the first time in four years and surface temperatures of the Eastern Indian Ocean and the Philippine Sea have been warmer than average since the spring, affecting Korea's weather this summer.
Climate change is also making the summer longer and the winter shorter.
Korea Braces for Wettest Week of the Year
Downpours, Hail Expected All Week
Downpours Bring No Respite from Tropical Heat
Southern Korea Hit by Extreme Weather
Heat Chokes Korea Before Heavy Rains Return
Torrential Rains Return to Seoul After Battering South
Heavy Monsoon Rains Arrive in Korea
Rainy Season Finally Starts This Weekend
Korea Braces for Record Heat Wave
Seoul in Grip of Scorching Heat
Temperatures to Soar This Weekend
Muggy Spell Sets in After Rains
Korea Swelters in Hottest May on Record
Heat Wave Grips Korea
El Niño Threatens Hotter, Wetter Summer
Early Summer Weather Expected in May
Korea Basks in Early Summer Weather
Cherry Blossom Comes Early This Year
- Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com
english.chosun.com
18. China Remains a Vital Market for Korea
China Remains a Vital Market for Korea
english.chosun.com
July 14, 2023 13:34
Amid intensifying U.S.-China rivalry, Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Chey Tae-won has warned, "Losing the huge Chinese market would be irrecoverable for us." Other Korean businesses probably feel the same way, since they will lose if their factories overseas are held hostage by foreign governments.
Korean semiconductor manufacturers are particularly nervous. They were given just a one-year grace period under the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act designed to boost investment in American high-tech research and development and bring semiconductor manufacturing to the U.S. Samsung manufactures 40 percent of its NAND flash chips in China, while SK Hynix produces 40 percent of its DRAM and 20 percent of its NAND flash chips there. Samsung invested W33 trillion in its plants in China and SK pumped in W35 trillion. SK paid Intel US$7 billion for a NAND flash plant in Dalian, China and could end up suffering losses if no more investment can be made.
U.S. manufacturers are also reeling. When Beijing banned imports of Micron Technology's products in retaliation against the U.S., the U.S. memory chip maker launched a charm offensive toward China. China accounts for a third of global semiconductor sales, while computer chips manufactured in the U.S. are ultimately assembled and tested in China. U.S. media reports are saying that Washington cannot afford to shut out Beijing because of the heavy dependence of the American semiconductor industry on China, a sentiment reflected in U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's visit to China to stabilize bilateral relations.
The U.S. is Korea's ally and shares its liberal democratic values. It would be foolish to harm that alliance purely out of economic interests. But there must be a way of maintaining that alliance but continuing healthy economic relations with China, which is the world's second-largest market. The Chinese economy is bigger than those of the G7 combined excluding the U.S., which is why the EU for instance does not always toe the U.S.' line when it comes to China. The role of the Korean government, too, is to find a wise balance between maintaining its principles and ensuring flexibility at the same time in dealing with China.
Read this article in Korean
- Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com
english.chosun.com
19. North Korean college student goes missing in Russian Far East
North Korean college student goes missing in Russian Far East
Last seen in Khabarovsk, Kim Tae Sung appears to be latest case of North Korean seeking to escape
By Kim Jieun Hong and Seung Wook for RFA Korean
2023.07.12
rfa.org
Russian authorities are on the lookout for North Korean college student Kim Tae Sung, who went missing in the far eastern city of Khabarovsk on July 8, leading to speculation that he may be seeking to avoid returning to his homeland, residents living there told Radio Free Asia.
Kim, 25, had been an exceptional student in North Korea and had been attending Khabarovsk’s Far Eastern State Transport University.
Sources said he may have been able to escape the watchful eyes of other North Koreans around him by leaving while those who monitor the overseas North Korean community were in a state of mourning on July 8, the anniversary of the 1994 passing of national founder Kim Il Sung.
If Kim’s intent is to escape, it would be the latest of several similar cases of North Koreans sent to Russia before the pandemic seemingly fleeing in advance of an anticipated post-pandemic border reopening between the two countries.
In another recent case, RFA reported last month that a North Korean diplomat’s wife and son went missing in Vladivostok and local media reported that it could have been a possible defection.
Reports that Kim had disappeared and that authorities were looking for him appeared in the July 9 edition of the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily newspaper, a resident of Khabarovsk, who requested anonymity for personal safety, told RFA’s Korean Service on Tuesday.
“The [newspaper] released the details of a missing person’s report that included Kim Tae Sung’s physical description and identification at the time of his disappearance,” he said. “The young man was last seen on July 8th in Yashin Street.”
The report also described Kim as 170 centimeters (5 feet 7 inches) tall with an average build, and said he had been wearing a white T-shirt, gray shorts and black rubber slippers at the time of his disappearance, the resident said.
Russian public security authorities left a phone number to call “but they still haven’t found him,” the resident said.
Liga Spas, a volunteer organization in Khabarovsk that helps locate missing people, are also raising awareness about Kim, another resident in the city told RFA, on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“A post looking for the missing Kim was posted on Liga Spa’s account on Russian social media,” the second resident said. “It’s been two days since Kim Tae Sung went missing but his whereabouts remain unclear. If the purpose was to escape, it can’t be ruled out that they may have already left the immediate area.”
Kim had come to Khabarovsk to study before the pandemic, he said.
“I know that he was a promising, outstanding student who completed the best education course in North Korea,” the second resident said.
North Korean authorities frequently request help from the Russian police whenever one of theirs goes missing, he said.
“It seems that North Korea is expressing its will [to North Koreans in Russia] that it will block their [attempts to] escape, even by employing the investigative power of local authorities,” the second resident said.
RFA was not able to confirm whether North Korean authorities are charging Kim with criminal activity. However, in the past, they have been known to make false accusations of murder, rape or theft against missing people, in order get the local authorities to open criminal investigations, which are of a higher priority than missing persons cases.
Translated by Leejin J. Chung. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
rfa.org
20. How Netflix Plans Total Global Domination, One Korean Drama at a Time
How Netflix Plans Total Global Domination, One Korean Drama at a Time
By Daisuke Wakabayashi and Jin Yu Young
Daisuke Wakabayashi reported from Seoul and Tokyo, and Jin Yu Young from Seoul.
July 13, 2023
The New York Times · by Jin Yu Young · July 13, 2023
As “Squid Game” showed, success with audiences around the world can come from a laser focus on local taste.
Don Kang, who oversees South Korea for Netflix, said his work was “exciting, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel the pressure,”Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
July 13, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ET
They met in a 20th-floor conference room in Seoul named for one successful project with Korean talent — “Okja,” a 2017 film of one girl’s devotion to a genetically modified super pig — to discuss what they hoped would become another hit.
Quickly, the gathering of Netflix’s South Korea team became an unhappy focus group, with a barrage of nitpicks and critiques about the script for a coming-of-age fantasy show.
One person said the story line pulled in too many fantastical — and foreign — elements instead of focusing on character and plot. The creative components struck another person as too hard to grasp, and out of touch.
Finally, the executive who was championing the project offered a diagnosis: The writer had watched too much Netflix.
Inspired by the streaming service’s success in turning Korean-language shows into international hits, the writer wanted this show to go global, too, and thought more far-fetched flourishes would appeal overseas.
The fix, the executive said, was the opposite. The script needed to “Koreanize” the show, ground it in local realism and turn some foreign characters into Korean roles.
Netflix wants to dominate the entertainment world, but it is pursuing that ambition one country at a time. Instead of creating shows and movies that appeal to all 190 countries where the service is available, Netflix is focusing on content that resonates with a single market’s audience.
“When we’re making shows in Korea, we’re going to make sure it’s for Koreans,” said Minyoung Kim, Netflix’s vice president of content in Asia. “When we’re making shows in Japan, it is going to be for the Japanese. In Thailand, it’s going to be for Thai people. We are not trying to make everything global.”
Front, a robot doll from the show “Squid Game.” Back, Minyoung Kim, Netflix’s vice president of content in Asia, who brought the show to the world.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Netflix’s 2023 Emmy nominations — a respectable if not record-breaking haul for the streaming service — tell one story of its ambitions: It received nods Wednesday for its prestige drama “The Crown,” its comedy-drama “Beef” and its reality shows “Love Is Blind” and “Queer Eye.”
In addition to that wide spectrum of English-language programming, Netflix’s ambition is to grow in relatively untapped regions like Asia and Latin America, beyond its saturated core markets in the United States and Europe, where subscriber growth is slowing. It is allocating more of its $17 billion annual content budget to expanding its foreign language programming and attracting customers abroad.
But the company is also betting that a compelling story somewhere is compelling everywhere, no matter the language.
This year, Netflix developed “The Glory,” a binge-worthy revenge saga about a woman striking back against childhood bullies, which cracked the top five most-watched non-English-language TV shows ever on the service. Before that, at one point “Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” a feel-good show about a lawyer with autism, was in the weekly Top 10 chart in 54 countries. Last year, 60 percent of Netflix subscribers watched a Korean-language show or movie.
The overseas content has also taken on greater significance with the Hollywood writers’ strike, in which Netflix has become a focal point of frustration for the ways streaming services have upended the traditional television model. In April, before the writers went on strike, Ted Sarandos, one of Netflix’s co-chief executives, said that he hoped there wouldn’t be a strike and that he would work toward a fair deal. But he also promised, “We have a large base of upcoming shows and films from around the world," adding that Netflix had to “make plans” for a worst-case scenario.
In building an audience abroad, Netflix has a head start on other major streaming platforms, although Disney and Amazon have announced plans to build their catalogs of international content. In many Asian markets, Netflix is also competing with a local streaming option — often created by broadcasters wary of ceding control to foreign media giants.
Asia, Netflix’s fastest-growing region, is a key battleground because customers watch a higher percentage of programming in their native tongues. Netflix already has shows in more than 30 Asian languages.
That’s where Ms. Kim, 42, comes in.
Ms. Kim joined Netflix in 2016. Her job is, essentially, to help Netflix do something that has never been done before: build a truly global entertainment service with shows in every market, while selling Americans on the appeal of foreign-language content. If she is daunted by the demand, she doesn’t show it.
She is chatty and direct, with an almost encyclopedic knowledge of Korean television dramas. But perhaps most importantly for her task, she is the woman who gave the Netflix-watching world “Squid Game.”
‘Don’t expect miracles’
In 2016, Netflix rented Dongdaemun Design Plaza, a Seoul landmark and futuristic exhibition space, for a red-carpet affair featuring the stars of one of its biggest shows at the time: “Orange Is the New Black.”
The hors d’oeuvres were served, on theme with the show, on food trays meant to mimic prison. Netflix was arriving in Korea’s entertainment industry with a big splash. But the tongue-in-cheek humor felt inhospitable and culturally out of touch, according to industry people who attended. It left the impression of an American company that did not understand Korea.
It was a clumsy start. A few months later, when Ms. Kim began in her role as Netflix’s first content executive in Asia with a focus on South Korea, she warned the company’s executives: “Don’t expect miracles.”
Ms. Kim said she needed to make Netflix feel less foreign and sell creators on why they should work with the company.
She traveled to visit producers at their offices instead of summoning them to see her. She arranged regular boozy dinners with producers — the custom in South Korea — knowing that it was difficult to gain their trust until they got drunk with her.
Over lunch, where she had a steaming bowl of beef offal soup, she described her strategy.
“Here, you first have to build a relationship,” Ms. Kim said. “At the time, I think the way we approached things felt very transactional and aggressive. When it comes to Asian partners, oftentimes it’s more than just the money we put on the table.”
The 2021 show “Squid Game” became the most-watched show ever on Netflix and spurred interest in more Korean shows and movies.Credit...Noh Juhan/Netflix
Early in her tenure, she came across a movie script called “Squid Game” by Hwang Dong-hyuk, a respected local filmmaker. He had written it a decade earlier and could never find a studio to finance it. She said she immediately loved the irony of a gory “death game” thriller based around traditional Korean children’s games. She thought the concept might work better as a TV show, allowing for more character development than a two-hour film.
But it seemed like a strange choice for one of her first big bets. Similar titles were in the young-adult genre, such as “The Hunger Games” or “Battle Royale,” a Japanese cult film in which a group of students fight to the death.
“Who wants to see a death game with poor old people?” she recalled being asked by a member of her team.
But after she saw the set designs, she was convinced that it would be a big hit in Korea. Netflix decided to change the English title to “Round Six” to appeal to an international audience. Near the release date, Mr. Hwang asked to change the title back because he felt that “Squid Game” was closer to the show’s essence.
Much to everyone’s surprise, “Squid Game” garnered an enormous number of views in South Korea and across the world. It was a sensation that broke into the cultural zeitgeist, complete with a “Saturday Night Live” skit and Halloween costumes. And Netflix finally threw the right kind of party for the show’s Korean cast: an after-party, after dominating last year’s Emmy Awards.
“Squid Game” changed everything. It became the most-watched show ever on Netflix, and it spurred interest in other Korean content. In April, to coincide with a visit to the United States by South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, Netflix said it was planning to invest $2.5 billion in Korean shows and movies in the next four years, which is double its investment since 2016.
After decades of Hollywood’s delivering blockbusters to the world, Netflix is trying to flip the model. Mr. Sarandos said that “Squid Game” proved that a hit show could emerge from anywhere and in any language and that the odds of success for a Hollywood show versus an international show were not that different.
“That’s really never been done before,” he said at an investor conference in December. “Locally produced content can play big all over the world, so it’s not just America supplying the rest of world content.”
‘Green-light rigor’
Global expansion requires a guiding principle. For Ms. Kim, that’s “green-light rigor,” a mind-set she brought to Netflix’s office in the Roppongi district of Tokyo, where she moved last year to oversee the content teams in Asia-Pacific except for India.
In some Asian countries, she explained, Netflix has a more limited budget, so the company has to select only the “must-haves” and pass on “nice-to-haves.” Green-light rigor also means not pandering to what Netflix imagines viewers across the world want.
How that discipline played out in practice was on display when the Japanese content team met to discuss whether to option a book for a show in late January.
The book in question was a love story set in a dystopian world with elements of science fiction. A data analyst said that based on the show’s projected “value,” he wondered whether Netflix would recoup its investment because of the sizable budgets usually required for science fiction.
Kaata Sakamoto, who heads the Netflix Japanese content team, said the company had helped creators working in their own countries in their own languages reach a global audience.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Kaata Sakamoto, who heads the Japanese content team, said he worried about the mismatched expectations of viewers who might come expecting a romance drama and then find themselves in hard-core science fiction.
“It’s like someone who goes into a restaurant and they are served food that is different from what they want to eat,” he said. “If this is a ‘Romeo and Juliet’ tale, do we need a big sci-fi world setting? It feels like mixed soup.”
The executive pitching the project said the writer watched “a lot of Netflix” and was aware of what was popular. So instead of a pure love story, he wanted to infuse elements of dystopian science fiction — a popular genre on Netflix.
But Mr. Sakamoto, who played an active role in producing some of Netflix’s hits from Japan, seemed unconvinced.
“My question is what is it about this project that is uniquely Japanese?” he asked.
Netflix’s Tokyo office exudes an American vibe, but very little English is spoken in the creative meetings. This was the case when Mr. Sakamoto met with Shinsuke Sato, creator of “Alice in Borderland,” a science-fiction survival thriller that was Netflix’s biggest hit in Japan, to discuss a coming project.
It was a free-flowing discussion that touched on minute details of the project, from character development to plot twists to which scary animals would work best in computer graphics — reptiles could be easier than furry creatures, suggested Akira Mori, a producer who works with Mr. Sato. (“Maybe an alligator?”)
Later, Mr. Sakamoto said that in the past, a lot of talented Japanese who were successful in Japan had struggled to break through in Hollywood because they didn’t speak English well.
“But what Netflix has allowed is that creators can make work in their own countries in their own language, and if the storytelling is good and the quality is there, they can reach a global audience,” he said. “This is a major game changer.”
“Physical: 100,” a gladiator-style game show in which contestants fight for survival and a cash prize, was in the Top 10 of non-English shows for six weeks. Credit...Netflix
Vision come to life
The increased expectations are apparent throughout Netflix’s high-rise office in Seoul. The meeting rooms are named after its prominent Korean movies and shows. In the canteen, a human-size replica of the doll from “Squid Game” looms over a selection of Korean snacks and instant noodles.
Ms. Kim’s vision of creating a diverse slate of Korean shows has come to life. “Physical: 100,” a gladiator-style game show in which contestants fight for survival and a cash prize, was in the Top 10 of non-English shows for six weeks. This year, at least three Korean shows have been among the top-10 foreign language shows every week.
“It’s exciting, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel the pressure,” said Don Kang, Netflix’s vice president of content in South Korea, who has succeeded Ms. Kim in overseeing South Korea.
Mr. Kang, who is soft-spoken with a baby face, joined in 2018 after heading international sales at CJ ENM, a Korean entertainment conglomerate. When he started, Netflix was still operating out of a WeWork office.
He said that before Netflix, he thought there wouldn’t be much international interest in Korean reality shows or shows that weren’t romantic comedies.
“I was very happy to be proven wrong,” Mr. Kang said.
Netflix’s slate of Korean programs runs the gamut from romantic comedies to dark shows like “Hellbound,” an adaptation of a digital comic book about supernatural beings condemning people to hell. Yeon Sang-ho, the director of “Hellbound,” said such niche content wouldn’t be made by Korean broadcasters because the audience wasn’t big enough to justify the budget.
Yeon Sang-ho, director of the Netflix show “Hellbound,” said such niche content wouldn’t be made by Korean broadcasters because the audience wasn’t big enough to justify the budget.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
“Netflix has a worldwide audience, which means that we can try more genres and we can try more nonmainstream things, too,” Mr. Yeon said. “Creators who work with Netflix can now try the risky things that they wanted to do but they weren’t able to.”
Netflix’s success has reshaped South Korea’s entertainment industry. TV production budgets have increased as much as tenfold per episode in the last few years, said Lee Young-lyoul, a professor at the Seoul Institute of the Arts, and there is growing concern that domestic broadcasters will struggle to compete.
Production companies need Netflix’s investments to hire top writers, directors and actors, creating a “vicious cycle of dependency,” according to “Netflix and Platform Imperialism,” an academic paper published in The International Journal of Communication this year.
The extraordinary success of “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” highlights the tensions.
AStory, the show’s production company, rejected Netflix’s offer to finance the entire second season, because of its previous experience with the service. AStory made “Kingdom,” a hit Korean zombie period show, as a Netflix original, meaning Netflix owned all the show’s intellectual property rights in exchange for paying the full production costs.
“While it’s true that Netflix helped the series get popular, our company couldn’t do anything with that,” said Lee Sang-baek, AStory’s chief executive. “There are lots of regrets there.”
Mr. Kang said that Netflix had a good relationship with AStory and that the situation was complex. He said Netflix had been “very, very generous” in compensating creators and actors but emphasized the need to grow in a “sustainable” way.
“You do sometimes hear those types of concerns: Is Netflix taking too much from our industry? But you can’t be in this business and operate that way,” Mr. Kang said.
The production company AStory made “Kingdom,” a hit Korean zombie period show, as a Netflix original.Credit...Juhan Noh/Netflix
‘Too Hot to Handle’ around the world
One by one, Ms. Kim rattled off the unique traits of audiences around the region. Korean audiences prefer happy endings in romance. Japanese dramas tend to portray emotion in an understated way. Chinese-language viewers are more accepting of a sad love story. (“The Taiwanese staff always says a romance has to be sad. Somebody has to die.”)
Ms. Kim understands that local stories share universal themes, but the key to Netflix’s work is to understand these cultural differences.
When Netflix’s “Too Hot to Handle,” a tawdry reality dating show with contestants from the United States and Britain, did well in South Korea and Japan, the company decided to make its own shows in the respective countries. But instead of programs replete with sex and hooking up, Netflix’s versions in South Korea (“Singles Inferno”) and Japan (“Terrace House”) were more suited to local sensibilities: only hints of romance with minimal touching or flirting.
Storytelling can also differ. Impressions of the first episode of “Physical: 100” were divided by geography. Ms. Kim said she found that in general, American audiences thought the extensive back stories about the contestants slowed the show. Korean audiences liked the back stories because they wanted to know more about the contestants.
Ms. Kim recalled how Netflix’s U.S. executives asked her why the first Squid Game contest did not come until the last 20 minutes of the first episode. She was puzzled, because this was fast for Korean audiences — but not fast enough for American sensibilities. In South Korea, the action often does not start until the fourth episode because shows often follow the cadence of a story arc suited to a 16-episode broadcast TV schedule.
Ms. Kim said she thought that audiences would tolerate work that defied their expectations or values when it was foreign, but that it must be authentic when it was local.
So far, that philosophy has been successful. “Squid Game” proves that. But it also shows the new challenge that awaits Netflix — once something is a global hit, there are global expectations.
Leonardo DiCaprio is a fan, and Mr. Hwang, the writer-director, even teased that the Hollywood A-lister could join the “games,” a boost that most people chasing global domination might find hard to resist. But Netflix did manage it — for now.
Last month, when the cast was announced, it featured all Korean actors.
Daisuke Wakabayashi is an Asia business correspondent for The Times, based in Seoul. More about Daisuke Wakabayashi
Jin Yu Young reports on South Korea and other countries in Asia from the Seoul newsroom. She joined The Times in 2021. More about Jin Yu Young
The New York Times · by Jin Yu Young · July 13, 2023
21. Anti-U.S. Demonstrations Planned at U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys on 27 July 2023
Get ready.
Note the north Korean strategy of subversion. That is the mission of the United Front Department and the Cultural Engagement Bureau (old 225th Bureau).
Excerpts:
Note that “peace” and “independence” are part of the Terminology Confusion Tactics playbook developed by North Korea’s regime and used by it and its supporters in South Korea. By “peace,” they mean not defending South Korea and not resisting against North Korea, and by “independence,” they mean no U.S. military presence in Korea. They want a “peace treaty” in order to pressure the U.S. forces to leave Korea. Thus, the slogan “peace treaty or OUT” is tantamount to “OUT or OUT.”
The conference participants also stated “strong defense is dangerous,” which goes against the concept of maintaining a strong defense to deter North Korea from invading South Korea again.
The group also claimed that the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in the U.S. gives money to Park Sang-hak to send leaflets to North Korea, but that is a falsehood–Park never received any money from the NED.
The participants also expressed dismay about information that is widely available already—that the commander of the UN Command, ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command, and U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) is the same person.
They also had a poet read a long anti-U.S. poem, which expresses the U.S. military as an “occupation force,” and threatened the U.S.
Anti-U.S. Demonstrations Planned at U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys on 27 July 2023 - East Asia Research Center
eastasiaresearch.org · by admin · July 11, 2023
2023-7-11, Tara O
Groups with the same objectives as North Korea plan to demonstrate at U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys, the U.S. military base in Pyeongtaek (Pyongtaek), South Korea on July 27, 2023, demanding a peace treaty between North Korea and the U.S. or the U.S. leave Korea.
Above: A press conference on 2023-5-4 announcing the anti-US demonstration plan to surround U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys with a human chain and a pink ribbon on 2023-7-27
The “Round Table Conference on Forming a Human Chain at Pyeongtaek on July 27” (7.27 평택인간띠잇기원탁회의), comprised of representatives from various far-left women’s groups, held a press conference on May 4, 2023 at the Press Center to announce a plan to form a human wall surrounding the entire U.S. military base in Pyeongtaek with a pink cloth of “peace” on July 27, 2023 at 4 p.m., according to the Tongil News site, a pro-North Korea entity. Its theme is “July 27 Pyeongtaek; Let’s Go to Get Peace in Our Land!” and they plan to shout “Peace Treaty or OUT!” The group plans to mobilize 10,000-23,000 people.
This July 27 will mark the 70th anniversary of the signing of the armistice. North Korea falsely claims it is a day of victory, and celebrates accordingly.
Action One Korea’s (AOK) permanent representative Jeong Yeon-jin (정연진) in South Korea plans to enlist the support of the organization Women Cross DMZ, which supports North Korea’s position and went to North Korea and crossed over the DMZ to South Korea in 2015 while calling for “peace.” Established in 2013 in both Los Angeles and Seoul, the AOK has been lobbying the U.S. Congress to pass a peace treaty between the U.S. and North Korea, and its home page prominently displays a photo of Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un.
The human chain demonstration is planned to start at Pyeongtaek first, initiated by the radical leftist women’s groups, but they expect it to expand to include a broader collection of other groups with the same aim as North Korea. The organizers plan to expand the demonstration to other cities with U.S. military bases or presence, including “Gunsan [Kunsan], Jinhae [Chinahe], Busan [Pusan], and Jeju [Cheju], and will continue demonstrating until peace on the Korean peninsula is independently cultivated,” the group stated.
Note that “peace” and “independence” are part of the Terminology Confusion Tactics playbook developed by North Korea’s regime and used by it and its supporters in South Korea. By “peace,” they mean not defending South Korea and not resisting against North Korea, and by “independence,” they mean no U.S. military presence in Korea. They want a “peace treaty” in order to pressure the U.S. forces to leave Korea. Thus, the slogan “peace treaty or OUT” is tantamount to “OUT or OUT.”
The conference participants also stated “strong defense is dangerous,” which goes against the concept of maintaining a strong defense to deter North Korea from invading South Korea again.
The group also claimed that the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in the U.S. gives money to Park Sang-hak to send leaflets to North Korea, but that is a falsehood–Park never received any money from the NED.
The participants also expressed dismay about information that is widely available already—that the commander of the UN Command, ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command, and U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) is the same person.
They also had a poet read a long anti-U.S. poem, which expresses the U.S. military as an “occupation force,” and threatened the U.S.
This group as well as the other organizations that sent their representatives to the conference, are pursuing the same objectives as the massive underground espionage network under investigation for various subversive activities on the orders of Pyongyang’s Cultural Exchange Bureau, an anti-Republic of Korea agency under the North Korean-Korean Workers’ Party. North Korea has ordered its extensive spy network in South Korea to organize and mobilize to “continue to wage various anti-U.S. struggles.”
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eastasiaresearch.org · by admin · July 11, 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
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