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Quotes of the Day:
“If you are a serious practitioner in the military, you have to be a voracious reader. If you’re not well-read, it becomes readily apparent.”
- General (Ret) Scott Miller
“If folks can't imagine you as human, all the policy in the world is irrelevant.”
- Ta-Nehisi Coates
“Society needs more individuals who understand their duty to act, rather than merely asserting their freedom to act. True progress arises from a profound sense of responsibility.”
- Seneca The Younger
1. Yoon vows stronger deterrence against N.K. nuclear threat
2. The Plot to Kill Kim Jong Un
3. N. Korea says spy satellite took photos of White House, Pentagon, key U.S. naval base
4. U.S. says N. Korean actions along DMZ increasing risk of military tensions, miscalculations
5. S. Korea pushes for using commercial satellites in military communication
6. N. Korea reports 1st opposing votes in local elections in decades
7. South Korea’s Surprisingly Successful China Policy
8. Rights experts criticize China for denying torture in North Korea
9. N. Korean soldiers in truce village armed with pistols: sources
10. Yoon expected to shake up Cabinet, presidential office starting next week
11. Top U.S. envoy says 'tremendous' bipartisan support in America for trilateral cooperation with S. Korea, Japan
12. S. Korea's heavyweights like ex-U.N. chief Ban to make final presentation to clinch 2030 World Expo
13. N. Korea reposts troops and artillery in 11 GP
14. South warns North it will respond to provocations 'without hesitation'
15. Kim's daughter might have been named successor, says defector-turned-lawmaker
16. 'Unification Papers' for new Korea
1. Yoon vows stronger deterrence against N.K. nuclear threat
With all due respect to the President we keep saying "stronger" deterrence but how do we quantify "stronger?" What actions do we take?
Here are two recommendations:
1. Initiate a holistic Information Campaign against north Korea
The ROK/U.S. alliance has never effectively employed its information resources and capabilities to achieve strategic effects against north Korea in support of the Korean people in the north. Its military psychological operations forces have never been allowed to conduct aggressive overt psychological operations. There are two lines of effort that should be conducted at the national level by the ROK and U.S. The only significant overt work being done in this area is by escapees and nongovernmental organizations that support them. While they are punching well above their wight so much more could be done with the full support of the ROK and US governments and militaries.
1. influence the three target audiences: regime elite, 2d tier leadership, and the Korean people in the north.
• The four principles of influence:
o (1) Massive quantities of information from news to entertainment.
o (2) Practical information from market activity to organization for collective action.
o (3) The truth about north Korea and the outside world.
o (4) Understanding of the universal human rights for all people.
• Major theme: Kim’s strategy has failed to achieve his objectives.
2. To counter north Korean propaganda we must:
• (1) Recognize the Kim family regime’s strategy(s).
• (2) Understand the strategy(s).
• (3) EXPOSE the strategy(s) to inoculate the Korean and American publics and the international community.
• (4) Attack the strategy(s) with a superior form of political warfare (led by information).
We must harness the capabilities and expertise of the escapees from the north. To that end we should establish a Korean Escapee/Defector Information Institute to shape information activities. We should also establish a “Korea Desk” at the Global Engagement Center to synchronize Korean messaging.
Two specific overt strategic information activities should be considered based on the knowledge that Kim fears the Korean people in the north more than the military threat from the ROK/US alliance. However, based on discussions with escapees asking why the Koreans do not resist, the consistent answer is that the people do not know what action to take.
The members of the Korean Escapee/Defector Information Institute should emulate the World WW II OSS strategy in which John Steinbeck authored a novel called The Moon is Down to inform the people about methods of resistance and to give them hope in the face of tyranny and oppression. Koreans from the north could use this as a model to write similar stories that are specifically tied to their home provinces and show the people what a future could be like. Such fictional stories about the future could be turned into K-Dramas for airing in the north and South to influence all Korean people about the potential future. In addition, we need to send practical guides for collective action and resistance to oppression such as Gene Sharp’s From Dictatorship to Democracy which conveniently is already translated into Korea.
A channel of communication should be established between the frontline military commanders across the breadth of the DMZ. Soldiers conducting patrols along the DMZ should emplace Korean cell phones in various locations to be picked up by soldiers from the north Korean People’s Army (nKPA). These would be pre-programmed with ROK military commanders’ numbers and loaded with a wide range of applications that soldiers and commanders would find entertaining and useful. At the same time, Korea Telecom should build cell tower infrastructure along the South Barrier Fence of the DMZ to be able to transmit cell signals as far into the north as possible. The soldiers and commanders would face dilemmas as to whether they should use these phones. Like K-Dramas and external information it is likely they would quickly become “addicted” to their use and they would also become valuable trading currency. In effect, a communications conduit with cellphones would be created along the DMZ like the one that is in place along the Chinese border with north Korea.
2. Conduct a Strategic Strangulation Campaign
The U.S. and international community must aggressively go after north Korean illicit activities around the world. The regime is violating international law by using its diplomats for illegal actions and most activities violate local laws. A concerted effort must be made to shut down drug trafficking, counterfeiting (from medicine to cigarettes to currency), money laundering, and overseas slave labor as well as proliferation of weapons, training, and advice to conflict areas. As the international community has discovered, north Korea has been complicit in supporting Hamas’ terrorist attack against Israel. The Proliferation Security Initiative should be implemented with great vigor. While sanctions enforcement is important, Chinese and Russian malfeasance prevents their effectiveness.
In addition, one of the most important capabilities of the regime is its “all-purpose sword” of cyber warfare. The U.S. and allies need to step up efforts to interdict and shut down north Korean cyber activities. This is critical to protecting infrastructure and economies but also in cutting off funding support for the regime.
In short, a strategic strangulation campaign must cut off resources for the regime while protecting friends, patterns, and allies, and stop proliferation of weapons to conflict areas.
Yoon vows stronger deterrence against N.K. nuclear threat | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · November 28, 2023
By Lee Haye-ah
SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed Tuesday to work together with the United States and Japan to strengthen deterrence against North Korea's nuclear threat and improve the human rights situation in the country.
Yoon made the remarks during a meeting of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, a presidential body that helps establish and implement bipartisan policies on democratic and peaceful unification.
"North Korea tries to neutralize our people's will for security and break up our coordination with allies by threatening to use nuclear force. But that is absurd," Yoon said in front of more than 10,000 members of the council at the KINTEX exhibition center in Goyang, just northwest of Seoul, arguing the North's nuclear and missile programs are a means to unite the forces that protect the regime.
President Yoon Suk Yeol gives opening remarks during a meeting of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council at the KINTEX exhibition center in Goyang, just northwest of Seoul, on Nov. 28, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
"The history of mankind proves that peace dependent on the other side's goodwill is nothing but a dream and an illusion," he continued. "True peace is built on overwhelming and strong power, and a firm will to use that power at any time to protect oneself."
Yoon outlined his administration's efforts to build stronger deterrence against North Korea, such as by accelerating the completion of the so-called three-axis system and including South Korea and the United States' commitment to immediately punish any nuclear provocation by the North in the Washington Declaration he and U.S. President Joe Biden adopted in April.
"Moreover, the missile warning data sharing system established among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, and the joint military exercises the three countries will systematically enforce will strengthen our deterrence against North Korea a step further," he said.
Yoon also called attention to the human rights abuses in North Korea, noting his administration was the first to publicly publish a North Korean human rights report earlier this year.
"South Korea, the U.S. and Japan will strengthen cooperation to enhance North Korea's human rights situation," he said, citing the Washington Declaration and a joint statement produced after the three countries' trilateral summit at Camp David in August.
"Without an improvement in North Korea's human rights situation, the path to a democratic and peaceful reunification is far off," he added. "The democratic and peaceful reunification we aim for is a reunification that allows everyone in both South and North Korea to enjoy freedom and prosper."
Yoon said South Korea will use its 2024-2025 term as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council to strengthen cooperation with the international community on North Korea's human rights situation.
The Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, which is chaired by the president, has 21,000 members at home and abroad.
hague@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · November 28, 2023
2. The Plot to Kill Kim Jong Un
I will take this with a grain of salt. Or I will wait for the Netflix thriller video to come out.
The Plot to Kill Kim Jong Un
WATCH YOUR BACK
An assassination plot financed by South Korea’s intel agency succeeded in recruiting an asset in Kim’s elite power circles, according to sources close to the plot.
Donald Kirk
Published Nov. 27, 2023 5:13AM EST
By Donald Kirk The Daily Beast12 min
November 27, 2023
View Original
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty
SEOUL—When Mike Pompeo as CIA director secretly met North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang two months before Kim and President Donald Trump’s notorious summit, Kim greeted him with the line, “Mr. Director, I didn’t think you’d show up. I know you’ve been trying to kill me.” Pompeo—assuming all was in jest—shot back, “Mr. Chairman, I’m still trying to kill you.”
The Daily Beast has learned that Kim was not joking at all.
A source close to an assassination plot has told The Daily Beast that there was an active plan “to topple the Kim regime.” And a former officer at South Korea’s National Intelligence Service confirms that the intel agency was providing financial backing for a plan that would have shocked the world. North Korea believed the CIA was also part of the plot.
The team of would-be Kim-killers hatched their plot not only in Pyongyang but in Russia, where they could more easily obtain arms and hoped to avoid the intense scrutiny of Kim’s elite bodyguards.
In Seoul, the person closest to the plot was Doh Hee-youn, CEO of the Citizens Commission for Human Rights of Abductees and North Korean Refugees. Doh communicated with plot leader Kim Seong-il, who was based in the Siberian city of Khabarovsk across the border in Russia, where he was supervising a North Korean team hired to cut down trees in surrounding forests.
“For two or three years, I had conversations,” with Kim Seong-il, whose “intent was to topple the Kim regime,” Doh told The Daily Beast. Seong-il initiated the relationship, said Doh, by getting in touch with him after hearing him on short-wave radio reports put out by South Korea’s Korean Broadcasting System. As a trusted manager with his own small office, Kim could speak on Russian mobile phones without fear of eavesdropping.
Coup plotters planned to distribute USB sticks and memory cards to spread the word. Finally, “the supreme leader” would be removed—and assassinated.
The risks were all too obvious. Kim Jong Un’s team of bodyguards, skilled in the martial arts, in turn have the constant close-in protection of hundreds of troops. Whenever the leader ventures out for a look at a factory or farm or the launch of a missile, battalions of soldiers precede and accompany him.
Against those odds, the plot advanced to the point at which a tight-knit circle was ready to kill Kim. Informants inside his entourage may have advised of his movements. Among them is said to have been a senior official in the power elite ever since the rule of Kim Jong Il, who died in 2011.
Kim Seong-il was well aware of the hazards of his plot. “In revolution there are always sacrifices,” Doh recalled him saying. “We knew it could be dangerous. Someone had to risk what we were going to do.”
Assassination, cutting off the head of the snake, was the only way to end the rule of the Kim dynasty.
The conduit for the flow of money from the NIS while Kim Seong-il was still in Khabarovsk was the South Korean owner of a trading company in China that previously had a joint venture with a North Korean state company for producing animated films—a lucrative sideline for the Pyongyang regime.
The NIS funneled funds through a separate company that the businessman had set up in Dandong, a large city on the Chinese side of the Yalu River border with North Korea. Another man, described as a friend of Kim Seong-il, was supposed to deliver the funds to Kim and his organization in Pyongyang.
The plot—the closest anyone has come to snuffing North Korea’s dictator—collapsed in disaster.
As laid out by Doh and an NIS insider, the plot appears to be corroborated by a video seen by The Daily Beast that was produced by North Korea’s state-run Uriminzokkiri media. The North posted the 23-minute video online in May 2017 boasting that the plotters, including Kim Seong-il, had been rounded up, but the film has never been previously reported by either South Korean or foreign media.
Uriminzokkiri did not refer to Kim Jong Un by name, saying instead that “the supreme leader” was the target while citing “evidence that the CIA and NIS have plotted terrorism.”
In reality, the ringleader of the plot was a mysterious “high-profile man in Pyongyang,” according to Doh. On the video, Kim Seong-il, obviously having been tortured, is shown confessing to organizing a team tasked with “removing” Kim Jong Un from power.
Saying that he was financed by the NIS, Seong-il details a scheme to kill the supreme leader with either a biological toxin or polonium, the same radioactive substance that killed the ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.
At the same time the video sought to establish a link between the NIS and the CIA, which it portrays as the primary villain. In that spirit, Kim Seong-il, in his confession, says the CIA was to provide the means for killing Kim Jong Un. “This is the terrible devil scheme,” says the video. Kim’s puffy, slightly bruised cheeks indicate the suffering he endured along with alleged threats to kill his son.
The video, reporting on the arrest and execution of the miscreants, remained online for only a few days, according to Doh. That was long enough to show enemies the fate that awaits anyone contemplating the overthrow of the Kim regime. Having gotten the message across to the CIA and NIS, both of which presumably monitor the site, the video was taken down before either the foreign or Korean media noticed it. No need for long-suffering North Koreans to find inspiration and ideas for annihilating their hated leader.
According to Uriminzokkiri, the NIS sent funds four times—first $20,000, $10,000, and then two tranches of $50,000.
A year after the plot was foiled, Kim welcomed Pompeo to Pyongyang for preparations ahead of the Trump summit, to be held in Singapore in June 2018.
Kim, whom Pompeo describes as “this small, sweating, evil man” in his book, wanted the U.S. to know he was well aware that he had been the target of an assassination plot.
By greeting Pompeo as he did, Kim was issuing a warning against future designs the CIA might have to destroy him. North Korea’s long-ruling Kim dynasty has ensured its survival against coup attempts, but none is believed to have come closer to striking a blow at the heart of an elite that has survived through three generations of dictatorial rule.
Ironically, the failure of the coup plotters, with fantasies of altering the course of history, may have buttressed a system that owes its survival to close-in layers of security. As it was, the plot precipitated the overhaul of Kim’s personal guard force. The chief, blamed for not detecting the danger, has disappeared, probably executed.
The story of the relationship between Doh and Kim Seong-il was first reported in Monthly Chosun, the magazine of the Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo. The story exposed the hatred shared by supposedly loyal adherents willing to risk their lives to get rid of the Kim dynasty. In a saga that could have given them a place in the annals of world history, they are believed to have been betrayed by sources inside South Korea.
The tale of Kim Seong-il’s role begins with Doh and Kim winning each other’s confidence, overcoming barriers of suspicion and inhibitions as they talked about their hatred for North Korea’s leadership under third-generation heir Kim Jong Un, grandson of regime founder Kim Il Sung.
“He asked for help in two areas,” Doh told The Daily Beast. “One, please let the world know about North Korean human rights abuses. Two, he wanted to be connected to the National Intelligence Service,” then known as the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. “He called from Russia,” said Doh. “After a while we called each other brothers. He was the younger brother. I was the elder. He believed we could disassemble this regime.”
“Kim Seong-il moved back to Pyongyang to start the operation,” Choi Woo-suk, the veteran Monthly Chosun editor who wrote the article, told The Daily Beast. “There was a team. A high person at the top was involved. That person had the trust of the regime from the era of Kim Jong Un’s father, Kim Jong Il.”
Doh was sending messages to Kim Seong-il on a satellite phone, along with detailed instructions on how to use it, while Kim was still in Russia. In Pyongyang, Kim “called me three times,” Doh recalled.
Intrinsic to the plot was a scheme to “start a revolution among the North Korean people,” said Choi. “Kim Jong-un is even worse than his father so there was support.”
“The Kim regime is vulnerable,” he went on. “There is a revolutionary force inside North Korea. Key people inside our own government said, ‘We did support the revolution.’”
Doh blames the failure of the operation, in part, on a populist mass movement on the streets of Seoul which brought down the conservative president in 2017. She was replaced with a liberal leader who wanted to reset relations with the North and pulled the funding.
Around the time of the inauguration of Moon Jae-in, Doh messaged Kim: “Do not expect help from the NIS,” which had promised another $300,000.
Those were perilous times. It was in the same time frame, in February 2017, that Kim Jong Un ordered the assassination of his older half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, who was killed by a nerve agent splashed in his face at the international airport near the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
Kim Jong Un was on edge about signs of a plot even as South Korean President Park Geun-hye, daughter of the long-ruling dictator Park Chung-hee, was booted out of office, tried, convicted and jailed. By the time mass protests had broken out in Seoul against Park, North Korean operatives are believed to have cottoned on to Kim Seong-il’s activities. Now it’s suspected that South Korean sources, in the turmoil surrounding her demise, may have relayed names of the plotters to a contact close to Kim Jong Un.
Incredibly, the NIS may have suspected something was amiss but was still communicating with Kim Seong-il while he was already in North Korean custody and being told what to say in order to obtain the names of others in the plot.
“If this assassination fails, it means imminent war on the Korean peninsula,” said the last message to Kim after Park Geun-hye had already been jailed, according to Uriminzokkiri.
The new president, Moon Jae-in, pleading for North-South reconciliation and eager for dialogue with Kim Jong Un, swept the NIS clean of operatives who might support a movement to overthrow the supreme leader. “As soon as a new NIS director was appointed, he did away with the whole thing,” said Choi.
Lee Byung-ho, the NIS director under President Park, was arrested on spurious charges after North Korea demanded he be extradited to Pyongyang. Lee appeared to confirm the plot to get rid of Kim Jong Un, saying while on trial in Seoul, “We have supported the revolutionary force inside North Korea.” Lee, now free, wound up serving two and a half years in prison.
One person on Lee’s side was Pompeo. In May 2018, after seeing Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, according to Monthly Chosun, Pompeo awarded Lee, already out as NIS director, the George Tenet Medal “for his life-long dedication to covert operations against North Korea.”
On the video seen by The Daily Beast, Kim Seong-il says Doh was trying to influence him, to “incite hatred against socialism.” Seong-il also confesses he was “making money from this project.”
“The North Korean video shows how Kim Seong-il was traced,” said Doh. “Also many working with him were traced.”
Doh realized that North Korean security was linking him to the plot when a defector told him he had heard his name on the video.
The plotters may not have gotten close enough to assassinate Kim Jong Un, but the crackdown was brutal and quick once Kim Seong-il had confirmed the extent and intent of their wild scheme. In the end, 15 people were arrested and executed, including several who were said to be “influential, higher-up officials,” said Doh. “Their immediate family members were also arrested and executed or sent to prison.”
Thae Yong-ho, who was North Korea’s deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom before defecting in London in 2016 with his wife and two sons, said “the structure” of the North Korean system “does not allow any coup,” but he told The Daily Beast that the system is constantly facing the hostility of those who want to eliminate him from the scene.
In a regime in which neighbors are told to spy on neighbors and seeming friends report the slightest signs of discontent among colleagues, the chances of a successful conspiracy would appear to be virtually nil. Incredibly, however, the 2017 plot was not the only effort to eradicate Kim Jong Un.
Jang Se-yul, a defector, told The Daily Beast he had heard about another plot against the regime before escaping from North Korea.
This one also involved Russia. North Korean security was alerted when the news got out in 2016 that Kim Jong Un planned to visit Vladivostok for what would have been his first meeting with President Vladimir Putin. The trip was abruptly called off, said Jang, not because Putin did not want to see Kim but because North Korea’s security network got wind of an elaborate plot to kill him on Russian soil.
Jang estimated that 30 people were identified as plotting against Kim in Vladivostok in 2016—some of them directly involved—others in the same network. “The plan was exposed,” said Jang, president of an organization called the Foundation for Unification. “Several dozen workers in Russia were arrested and executed.”
“In Russia, it’s very easy to obtain weapons,” Jang explained. “There are many long-range sniper rifles. There was a plot with the collaboration of people in North Korea and in Russia.”
Jang said his organization submitted to the NIS all it knew about schemes to kill Kim.
“According to internal documents, there were several plots against Kim,” said Jang. An informant from within the North’s state security agency escaped to China, provided information to the NIS and then “made a secret connection to the U.S.” that got him acceptance in the U.S. as a refugee. “I was shocked by what he disclosed,” said Jang. “He had radical information. In North Korea there are many assassination plots,” all of which so far have either failed or been discarded in the planning stages.
In another instance, said Jang, “they found a weapon by which you can target someone from one mile or so. The command that guards Kim Jong Un did not find this weapon,” but Kim knows not to count just on his guards.
“The third inspection team found the weapon” and opened “a full-force investigation,” Jang explained. “They understood this is not a weapon that anyone can bring in. The investigation went on for more than a year.”
The conclusion was inescapable. Someone in the command that guards Kim Jong Un had to have been responsible for bringing the weapon into North Korea. The commander of the guard unit “was tortured, but he committed suicide,” said Jang. “They brought out his body and ‘executed’ him again in front of public officials.”
Plots assume different forms. Eight years ago, after live ammunition was discovered in the hands of soldiers who were to go on parade through central Pyongyang, said Jang, six people were executed.
In battles of wits, North Korea’s security teams have so far been the winners. As absolute ruler over a society in which millions of hungry people live in poverty, Kim Jong Un knows you can’t be too paranoid.
3. N. Korea says spy satellite took photos of White House, Pentagon, key U.S. naval base
I am not a Space Force guy (I am part of that other SF - Security Forces. No, not that one , Special Forces).
BUt I would like to know from the experts: Can a single satellite overfly all these targets? Is the satellite that maneuverable? Is there an orbit that takes them over all these locations?
(LEAD) N. Korea says spy satellite took photos of White House, Pentagon, key U.S. naval base | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · November 28, 2023
(ATTN: UPDATES with more details throughout)
By Kim Soo-yeon
SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Tuesday the country's military spy satellite has taken photos of the White House, the Pentagon and nuclear aircraft carriers docked at a U.S. naval base.
Leader Kim Jong-un viewed the photos as he received an operations report from the Pyongyang General Control Center of the National Aerospace Technology Administration on Monday morning and at dawn Tuesday, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
He observed satellite photos of the White House and the Pentagon taken at 11:36 p.m. Monday, the KCNA said.
The spy satellite also took photos of Naval Station Norfolk, Newport News Shipyard and a Virginia airfield at 11:35 p.m. Monday.
Four U.S. Navy nuclear aircraft carriers and a British aircraft carrier were spotted in the photos, the KCNA said.
North Korea launched the Malligyong-1 spy satellite on a new type of Chollima-1 rocket last Tuesday night after two failed attempts in May and August, respectively. The country vowed to launch several more satellites within a short span of time.
Since its successful launch, North Korea has claimed the satellite took photos of major military facilities in South Korea and the U.S. territories of Guam and Hawaii. But the North has not released related satellite photos.
North Korea said Monday that a "fine-tuning" process on the satellite is under way and is one or two days ahead of schedule. The country earlier said the Malligyong-1 will begin its official mission Friday.
South Korea's military said it is closely monitoring whether the satellite is normally functioning, though it appears to have entered an orbit.
This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Nov. 22, 2023, shows the North launching a military spy satellite, called the Malligyong-1, on a new type of Chollima-1 rocket the previous day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · November 28, 2023
4. U.S. says N. Korean actions along DMZ increasing risk of military tensions, miscalculations
U.S. says N. Korean actions along DMZ increasing risk of military tensions, miscalculations | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · November 28, 2023
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's actions taking place along the inter-Korean border are raising the risk of military tensions and miscalculations, a State Department spokesperson said Monday, as the recalcitrant regime began reinstalling guard posts and heavy firearms there.
Seoul's defense ministry has said that North Korean troops were spotted installing temporary guard posts and carrying weapons inside the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, after Pyongyang declared it would not be bound by a 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction deal, called the Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA).
"Now, the actions that the DPRK is taking along the DMZ following its abrogation of the CMA are increasing the risk of military tensions and miscalculations on the Korean Peninsula," the spokesperson said via email in response to a question from Yonhap News Agency.
DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"In light of these developments, the United States remains in close and continual contact with the ROK through multiple channels to ensure that our alliance remains in lockstep," the official added, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.
North Korean soldiers are spotted carrying heavy arms near a guard post inside the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, in this photo provided by the South Korean defense ministry on Nov. 27, 2023. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
The North announced its decision to back out of the CMA after the South suspended part of the agreement in response to the North's defiant launch of a space rocket to put a spy satellite into orbit last week. Seoul and Washington view the launch as a violation of U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.
The CMA called for demolishing border guard posts within 1 kilometer of the border, banning military drills and maneuvers near the land and sea borders, and establishing no-fly zones along the border, among other measures aimed at reducing cross-border tensions and accidental clashes.
The spokesperson stressed that the North's "escalatory rhetoric and destabilizing actions" inflame tensions in the region but reiterated Washington's openness to engagement with Pyongyang.
"The door has not closed on diplomacy, but Pyongyang must immediately cease its provocative actions and instead choose engagement," the spokesperson said. "In particular, we encourage the DPRK to return to substantive discussions on identifying ways to manage military risks and create lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula."
The official added, "As always, the U.S. commitment to the defense of the ROK remains ironclad."
Touching on the North's launch of the satellite, the spokesperson said that the U.S.' national security team is closely assessing the purported launch in close coordination with U.S. allies and partners.
"We are also watching for any developments in cooperation between the DPRK and Russia on space-related technology transfers," the official said. "The DPRK's developments in its space program have implications for regional and global security, and we call on all nations to abide by relevant UNSC resolutions."
In an apparent message to the U.S., the North's official Korean Central News Agency said Monday (Washington time) that the spy satellite has taken photos of the White House, the Pentagon and nuclear-powered aircraft carriers docked at a U.S. naval base.
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · November 28, 2023
5. S. Korea pushes for using commercial satellites in military communication
S. Korea pushes for using commercial satellites in military communication | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · November 28, 2023
By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will push for using commercial satellites in low Earth orbit in a military communication system to efficiently enhance combat capability of the armed forces, the state arms procurement agency said Tuesday.
The Defense Rapid Acquisition Technology Research Institute under the state-run Agency for Defense Development signed a 39.8 billion-won (US$30.6 million) project with Hanwha Systems Co. for development of the military communication system using Hanwha's commercial satellites operating below an altitude of 2,000 kilometers, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).
Under the program, Hanwha Systems will develop military-specific gateways, small ground stations and satellite terminals for low Earth orbit communication satellites over the next two years. When the development is complete, the military will run a pilot program for six months.
DAPA said the integration of low orbit satellites in the military communication system is expected to enhance operational capabilities of various combat platforms and ensure continuous communication even in challenging terrain, such as mountainous areas.
The agency also outlined plans to develop anti-hacking technology to safeguard the satellite-based military communication system from potential hacking attempts.
Following the launch of the first military-only communications satellite in 2020, the South Korean military has been seeking to place more satellites into orbit to further upgrade the overall communications system.
South Korea is set to launch its first military reconnaissance satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the U.S. Vandenberg Space Force Base in California later this week, with additional plans to deploy four more spy satellites by 2025.
South Korea's first military communications satellite, Anasis-II, is launched atop a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket manufactured by U.S. commercial space firm SpaceX from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 20, 2020, in this file photo provided by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · November 28, 2023
6. N. Korea reports 1st opposing votes in local elections in decades
What is going to happen to the .09% and the .13% who voted against? Or will they claim the election was stolen from them?
Excerpts:
Among voters who cast ballots, 99.91 percent voted for the candidates for deputies to provincial people's assemblies and 0.09 percent voted against them, the KCNA said. In terms of deputies to city and county people's assemblies, 99.87 percent voted for selected candidates and 0.13 percent voted against them.
North Korea's state media carried a report of opposing votes in local elections for the first time since the 1960s, according to Seoul's unification ministry. In the 1950s, there were reports of approval rates staying below 100 percent in two local elections.
(LEAD) N. Korea reports 1st opposing votes in local elections in decades | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · November 28, 2023
(ATTN: REWRITES headline, lead; UPDATES with more details throughout; ADDS photo)
By Kim Soo-yeon
SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Tuesday there were votes against candidates for deputies to local assemblies in the latest local elections, marking the first time in decades that the repressive regime has reported opposing votes in its elections.
A total of 27,858 workers, peasants, intellectuals and officials were elected new deputies for local assemblies of provinces, cities and counties in the local elections Sunday, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The voter turnout was recorded at 99.63 percent.
Among voters who cast ballots, 99.91 percent voted for the candidates for deputies to provincial people's assemblies and 0.09 percent voted against them, the KCNA said. In terms of deputies to city and county people's assemblies, 99.87 percent voted for selected candidates and 0.13 percent voted against them.
North Korea's state media carried a report of opposing votes in local elections for the first time since the 1960s, according to Seoul's unification ministry. In the 1950s, there were reports of approval rates staying below 100 percent in two local elections.
Elections in the North are widely viewed as a formality, as the candidates are hand-picked by the North's ruling Workers' Party and rubber-stamped into office.
This image, captured from footage of North Korea's state-run Korean Central Television on Nov. 27, 2023, shows the North's leader Kim Jong-un casting ballots the previous day at a polling station in South Hamgyong Province in the elections to pick new deputies to local assemblies. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
In the elections to pick deputies to local assemblies in July 2019, the voter turnout was 99.98 percent and 100 percent voted for the candidates. In March of that year, North Korea reported 99.99 percent voter turnout and 100 percent approval in the elections to select deputies to the Supreme People's Assembly, the country's parliament.
North Korea's rare revelation of opposing votes in the latest local elections may be intended to show that it democratically held the election following the revision of the election law.
For Sunday's voting, Pyongyang allowed two candidates to be recommended in some constituencies and held a preliminary election to decide on a final single candidate.
The unification ministry said the North's report of opposing votes does not mean that the country guarantees people's political rights.
"The move appears to be intended to show that people in North Korea adequately expressed their opinions in elections, but this is still far from the guarantee of people's suffrage," a ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
At polling stations, North Korea set up two separate ballot boxes of different colors -- one for approval and the other for disapproval -- a move that hampers the principle of secret voting as it is easy to see whether people vote for or against, the ministry said.
In regard to a fall in voter turnout compared with four years earlier, the official said North Korea may have manipulated it in order to give an impression that the latest elections were free elections.
The Korea Institute for National Unification, a state-run think tank, said in a report Monday that the lower voter turnout could indicate North Korea's control over its people may have weakened, as the number of citizens who are elusive from state supervision probably rose.
This image, captured from footage of North Korea's state-run Korean Central Television on Nov. 26, 2023, shows the North holding local elections to pick new deputies for local assemblies of provinces, cities and counties. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · November 28, 2023
7. South Korea’s Surprisingly Successful China Policy
Conclusion:
Although South Korea is arguably inching closer to a trilateral military alliance with the US and Japan, now featuring, for example, joint military exercises, China can still rationalize that the partnership is still too new and possibly ephemeral, likely circumscribed and strained by lingering mistrust from World War II legacy issues, such as the comfort women.
In the end, Yoon’s China policy has been unexpectedly successful thus far. He is also buoyed by the South Korean public’s increasingly negative views on China, with the nation now reportedly holding the most anti-China sentiment worldwide. Of course, Yoon is still a relatively new president—he is less than two years into his five-year term—and much could still go wrong, especially if he pursues the Taiwan issue more assertively. But for now, at least, Yoon and his government have successfully managed China, and perhaps offered a road map for how others can too.
South Korea’s Surprisingly Successful China Policy
https://www.38north.org/2023/11/south-koreas-surprisingly-successful-china-policy/
When South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk-yeol, entered office last year, the odds rose that a frostier bilateral relationship with China might take hold. After all, Yoon on the campaign trail talked tough on China, and conservative South Korean politicians typically deepen the US alliance and are suspicious of Chinese support to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea). Even despite the growing closeness of DPRK-China ties, Yoon has been able to effectively manage his government’s relationship with Beijing, potentially setting a template for how other small and medium-sized nations might do the same.
Yoon’s Carrots and Sticks Approach
Indeed, as I have previously argued, Yoon and his government, to some extent, have taken a harder line on China. For example, Yoon became the first South Korean leader to attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit, during which he criticized not only Russia, but China as well. In April, before his state visit to Washington for a summit at the White House with President Joe Biden, Yoon railed against any “attempt to change the status quo by force” in the Taiwan Strait. He further offered that South Korea would cooperate with the international community to prevent such an outcome. Yoon’s comments predictably angered China and sparked a monthslong diplomatic tit-for-tat that stretched into the summer.
As part of that summit, Biden and Yoon jointly issued the “Washington Declaration,” which includes measures to enhance extended deterrence, such as the establishment of a nuclear consultative group, the exchange of nuclear-related information and visits by nuclear-powered military assets like the B-52 and submarines, which could be leveraged not only for a North Korea, but China-related contingency as well.
But Yoon has simultaneously tried to keep an even hand in dealing with Beijing. For instance, when then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited South Korea after her highly controversial visit to Taiwan to meet President Tsai Ing-wen, Yoon was nowhere to be found. The presidential office said he was on a five-day vacation and had no plans to meet with Pelosi, though he eventually did hold a last-minute phone call with her. His administration has also treaded softly in the country’s debut Indo-Pacific strategy statement in December, referring to China as a “key partner” with which Seoul “will nurture a sounder and more mature relationship as we pursue shared interests based on mutual respect and reciprocity, guided by international norms and rules.”
Such moves have probably contributed to a gradually stabilizing and normalizing of the South Korea-China relationship. For example, this week, South Korea resumed trilateral talks with China and Japan, a mechanism that had been dormant since 2019. This foreign ministers-level meeting is paving the way for a trilateral summit soon. In a surprising new pact that goes into effect in May, Beijing relented to Seoul this month and will mandate that its fishing boat (and presumably fishing militia forces) keep their trackers on to help the South Korean coast guard combat illegal fishing within its exclusive economic zone.
China’s Likely Considerations/Calculations
Yoon’s foreign policy, however, is probably only one part of the story. Dismal Chinese economic numbers—including a collapse in exports, leveling off of inflation, rising unemployment, and slowing consumption, production, and investment—may be prompting Beijing to achieve a better partnership with Seoul. The same could be true for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s decision to meet with US President Joe Biden earlier this month at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in San Francisco.
Another factor is probably Yoon’s push to open and strengthen ties with Japan, which has a strained relationship with China. Earlier this year, Yoon held a summit with his counterpart, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida—the first of its kind in over a decade. Since then, Seoul and Tokyo have agreed to resuscitate a military information-sharing agreement, and in August, Biden met with Yoon and Kishida at Camp David in the first-ever standalone trilateral summit between the three nations. Earlier this month, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin sat down in another unprecedented trilateral with South Korean and Japanese defense ministers to share information relevant to “severe security environments,” suggesting that North Korea isn’t the only target. Hence, Beijing probably seeks to undermine and ultimately end the strengthening South Korea-Japan partnership possibly aimed at it.
Yet another factor may have more to do with China’s military modernization than anything South Korea is doing. When I visited Seoul earlier this month, I spoke with an interlocutor who believed that Beijing’s calculus is rapidly changing on the so-called “Three No’s” demanded of Seoul in 2017, including no new deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries, no South Korean integration into US regional missile defenses, and no trilateral military alliance with Japan and the United States. His theory was that Beijing’s rapid progress in developing a credible nuclear triad (capable of nuclear attacks from land, air, and sea) reduces the salience of pressuring Seoul to follow the Three Nos—a commitment Seoul denies actually exists anyhow.
Conclusion
Although South Korea is arguably inching closer to a trilateral military alliance with the US and Japan, now featuring, for example, joint military exercises, China can still rationalize that the partnership is still too new and possibly ephemeral, likely circumscribed and strained by lingering mistrust from World War II legacy issues, such as the comfort women.
In the end, Yoon’s China policy has been unexpectedly successful thus far. He is also buoyed by the South Korean public’s increasingly negative views on China, with the nation now reportedly holding the most anti-China sentiment worldwide. Of course, Yoon is still a relatively new president—he is less than two years into his five-year term—and much could still go wrong, especially if he pursues the Taiwan issue more assertively. But for now, at least, Yoon and his government have successfully managed China, and perhaps offered a road map for how others can too.
8. Rights experts criticize China for denying torture in North Korea
These are amazon statements from the CHinese. How do they think they are fooling?
Excerpts:
In its letter to the OHCHR, the Chinese government denied that there are any systemic abuses of human rights in North Korea and maintained that none of those being repatriated “have raised objections on the grounds that they will be subjected to torture.”
The U.N. office’s revelation of the Chinese document last week has received plenty of flak from experts who know the decades-long truth of the torture and other forms of extreme violence enancted against North Koreans who have dared to flee their country.
Rights experts criticize China for denying torture in North Korea
The Korea Times · November 28, 2023
This photo, taken on Sept. 20 from Dandong, China, shows two bridges over the Amnok River between China and North Korea. Human rights experts have recently criticized Beijing for defending Pyongyang by falsely claiming that there is no evidence of torture in North Korea. AFP-Yonhap
Beijing accused of deliberately lying despite ‘mountain of evidence’
By Jung Min-ho
Human rights advocates were shocked last month to find out that hundreds of North Korean escapees were forcibly deported by China after three years of pandemic border restrictions came to an end. Recently, they were shocked again by Beijing’s claim that the principle of non-refoulement cannot be applied to its policy because there is “no evidence of torture” in North Korea.
In its letter to the OHCHR, the Chinese government denied that there are any systemic abuses of human rights in North Korea and maintained that none of those being repatriated “have raised objections on the grounds that they will be subjected to torture.”
The U.N. office’s revelation of the Chinese document last week has received plenty of flak from experts who know the decades-long truth of the torture and other forms of extreme violence enancted against North Koreans who have dared to flee their country.
“In a perverted way, the PRC (People’s Republic of China) is telling its version of the truth. It returns North Koreans to a hostage situation where they cannot document how they have been abused, then says there is no evidence the hostages are being mistreated and please stop nagging them about it,” said Casey Lartigue Jr., co-president of Freedom Speakers International, a Seoul-based NGO that supports North Korean refugees. “Like the getaway driver from a crime scene, the PRC looks straight ahead and denies what happened behind it.”
He said Beijing forces North Korean escapees into a situation where they are not free to independently testify in a public setting, and cannot speak publicly with lawyers or activists who could help them.
“In that way, yes, it is understandable that China can claim it has seen no evidence of torture because it dumps North Koreans into a country that violates their human rights, disregards refugee testimonials and ignores the mountain of reports about North Korea’s rampant abuse of human rights,” he added.
Suzanne Scholte, a renowned U.S. activist promoting North Korean human rights for nearly three decades, thinks the Chinese government is simply lying for its national interest despite its awareness of the widespread state violence in the reclusive country.
“There is overwhelming decades of evidence of eyewitness testimony that any or all North Korean children, women and men will be subjected to imprisonment and torture when they are repatriated,” Scholte, the 2008 Seoul Peace Prize Laureate, said. “If it is found that you were trying to get to South Korea or came in contact with Christian humanitarian workers, you could be sent to immediate death … or a slow death in a political prison camp — again, this is based on eyewitness testimony.”
In the letter, Beijing made it clear that it had no intention of changing its repatriation policy, insisting that it has been fulfilling its international obligations given that the U.N. Convention against Torture applies only to “refugees” and that North Korean escapees do not belong to that category.
Scholte and other rights activists said the only realistic way to bring about any change in the Chinese policy is to sanction those responsible.
“The international community must name and shame China’s 10/9 forcible repatriation and urge respect for the principle of non-refoulement by adopting joint government statements or parliamentary resolutions,” said Shin Hee-seok, a legal analyst at Transitional Justice Working Group, a Seoul-based rights group.
The Korea Times · November 28, 2023
9. N. Korean soldiers in truce village armed with pistols: sources
And AKs behind every door (but they were probably never removed).
(LEAD) N. Korean soldiers in truce village armed with pistols: sources | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · November 28, 2023
(ATTN: ADDS defense chief's remark in last para; ADDS photo)
By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Yonhap) -- North Korean soldiers stationed in the Joint Security Area (JSA) of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) have been carrying pistols since the North scrapped a 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction agreement, sources said Tuesday.
Arming soldiers in the JSA -- known as the truce village of Panmunjom -- is the latest in a series of North Korea's moves that nullify the pact, including restoring guard posts and bringing heavy firearms along the border with South Korea.
The two Koreas agreed to pull back firearms in the JSA in accordance with the Comprehensive Military Agreement, but North Korean military personnel in the area began carrying guns late last week, according to informed sources. Their South Korean counterparts still remain unarmed, they noted.
The United Nations Command, which oversees security in the truce village, was not immediately available for comment.
The truce village of Panmunjom is the only spot where troops from South and North Korea stand face-to-face along the Military Demarcation Line.
In this file photo, South Korean soldiers stand on guard in the Joint Security Area in the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas on March 3, 2023. (Yonhap)
North Korea said Thursday it would restore all military measures halted under the 2018 deal, after South Korea suspended part of the agreement in protest of North Korea's launch of a spy satellite.
According to photos disclosed by the defense ministry, North Korean troops were spotted installing temporary guard posts, carrying what appeared to be recoilless guns and standing guard at night inside the DMZ.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it has been keeping close tabs on North Korea's activities to take necessary steps.
"Intelligence authorities of South Korea and the U.S. have been closely monitoring North Korea's activities, while mulling corresponding measures," JCS spokesperson Col. Lee Sung-jun said during a press briefing, without providing further details.
Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo said during Monday's interview that the South Korean military plans to restore guard posts along the inter-Korean border in response to North Korea's bringing back troops and weapons in the DMZ.
Amid heightened tension, Defense Minister Shin Won-sik ordered robust military readiness against North Korean provocations as he met with Gen. Kim Myung-soo, the new JCS chairman, and the chiefs of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, the ministry said.
Defense Minister Shin Won-sik speaks during a meeting with Gen. Kim Myung-soo, the new JCS chairman, and the chiefs of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps at the defense ministry building in Seoul on Nov. 28, 2023, in this photo provided by Shin's office. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · November 28, 2023
10. Yoon expected to shake up Cabinet, presidential office starting next week
Yoon expected to shake up Cabinet, presidential office starting next week | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · November 28, 2023
By Lee Haye-ah
SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol is expected to carry out a major reshuffle of the Cabinet and presidential secretaries starting next week, as he prepares to push key agenda items in his third year in office, officials said Tuesday.
The shakeup is expected to affect five of the six senior presidential secretaries and around half of the 19 Cabinet ministers, including those for finance, justice and land, as many of them depart to run in next April's parliamentary elections.
"The upcoming Cabinet reshuffle and reorganization are meant for the implementation of key administrative tasks and the placement of capable people who can execute policies felt by the people, in our third year in office," a presidential official told Yonhap News Agency.
President Yoon Suk Yeol (R) leads a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Seoul on Nov. 28, 2023. (Yonhap)
The reshuffle of the presidential office will likely take place sometime next week, after parliamentary deliberations on the government's 2024 budget proposal and before Yoon heads to the Netherlands for a state visit.
Yoon is widely expected to retain his chief of staff, Kim Dae-ki, while replacing all but one senior presidential secretary, Lee Kwan-sup, the senior secretary for policy planning.
The senior secretary for economic affairs, Choi Sang-mok, is rumored to be Yoon's next pick for finance minister, as current Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho is certain to run for parliament.
Choi's replacement is likely to be Park Chun-sup, a monetary policymaker of the Bank of Korea.
Han Oh-seop, presidential secretary for state affairs monitoring, is being considered to replace Lee Jin-bok as senior secretary for political affairs, while presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon could be promoted to replace Kim Eun-hye as senior secretary for public relations.
Vice Education Minister Jang Sang-yoon is believed to be a strong candidate for senior secretary for social policy, and former KBS news anchor Whang Sang-moo is considered a top contender for senior secretary for civil and social agenda.
A reorganization of the presidential office is also reportedly under review.
Yoon is almost certain to newly establish the position of senior secretary for science and technology, while splitting the responsibilities of the senior secretary for social policy with three newly created senior secretaries for the environment, labor and welfare.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet shakeup will likely see the replacements of Land Minister Won Hee-ryong and Veterans Minister Park Min-shik, as both are expected to run for parliament, along with Finance Minister Choo.
The presidential office is also vetting potential candidates to replace Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon, who is widely expected to be assigned a role in the upcoming elections.
Other ministers potentially subject to replacement include Foreign Minister Park Jin, and the ministers of labor, SMEs and startups, science, agriculture, and fisheries.
hague@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · November 28, 2023
11. Top U.S. envoy says 'tremendous' bipartisan support in America for trilateral cooperation with S. Korea, Japan
Trilateral cooperation is truly a win-win-win for all three nations.
Top U.S. envoy says 'tremendous' bipartisan support in America for trilateral cooperation with S. Korea, Japan | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · November 28, 2023
By Kim Seung-yeon
SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Yonhap) -- The United States has "tremendous" bipartisan support for its deepening three-way cooperation with South Korea and Japan, its top envoy to Seoul said Tuesday, expressing confidence that the relationship will continue to develop and remain firm.
Ambassador Philip Goldberg made the remarks at a luncheon event, stressing the commitments agreed among leaders of the three countries at the landmark Camp David summit in the U.S. in August laid the foundation for the strong tripartite cooperation based on shared values and principles.
"There is tremendous bipartisan support in the United States ... I've seen this through congressional visits, through the state visit, President Yoon's remarkable speech before the U.S. Congress. This has tremendous support on both sides of the American politics," Goldberg said during the event hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea.
"Principles that our three countries share about democratic values, about rule of law, about free market economy, we share so many of these values and interests that it's durable," he said.
U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg (3rd from L), sitting next to Foreign Minister Park Jin (2nd from L), speaks during a luncheon event hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM) on Nov. 28, 2023, in this photo provided by AMCHAM. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
In August, Yoon, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held their first stand-alone trilateral summit at the U.S. presidential retreat and agreed to bolster three-way cooperation.
The summit produced a set of key agreements, including the "commitment to consult" each other in case of a common threat.
Foreign Minister Park Jin, who also spoke at the session, echoed the view.
"Despite any possible political changes in the three countries, there is no question that the serious commitment made in the Camp David, the principles, and the spirit will be sustainable ... which transcend politics," he said.
Park noted that the "growing confidence-building" with Japan since the warming of the bilateral ties has served to help the trilateral cooperation move forward.
"The three countries will continuously play the greatest synergy in the future in contributing to peace and freedom and prosperity for the world," he said.
On the U.S.-led multilateral Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), Goldberg said it is a strategy that brings together like-minded countries that "agree on rules to implement trade."
"It cements the United States into the region and into the rules of the region. That's something that I think the countries of the Indo Pacific are also longing for," Goldberg said.
Launched by Biden in May last year, the IPEF is largely seen as an initiative to counter China's growing influence in the region.
The 14 member states have reached agreement on three of the four pillars of the framework -- supply chain resilience, clean energy and fair economy -- with the trade part remaining.
At the second IPEF summit held in San Francisco earlier this month, the member states reached agreement on the launching of a dialogue channel for the critical minerals supply chain.
elly@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · November 28, 2023
12. S. Korea's heavyweights like ex-U.N. chief Ban to make final presentation to clinch 2030 World Expo
(2nd LD) S. Korea's heavyweights like ex-U.N. chief Ban to make final presentation to clinch 2030 World Expo | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Han-joo · November 28, 2023
(ATTN: CHANGES headline; lead; UPDATES with more info throughout)
By Kim Han-joo
SEOUL/PARIS, Nov. 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is set to make its final presentation for the 2030 World Expo host city bid in Paris on Tuesday, bringing in high-profile figures such as former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and K-pop stars.
The host city for the globally prestigious event, overseen by the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), will be elected by member states in rounds of voting during the general assembly later in the day. Each candidate will make a final presentation prior to the voting.
South Korea's southeastern city of Busan is contending against Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Rome, Italy.
Busan's presentation will be led by Ban, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Theresa Rah, a former spokeswoman for the bidding committee for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Ban is expected to showcase Busan's competence in transforming the World Expo into a platform addressing global issues and achieving the United Nations' sustainable development agenda for 2030.
He is also forecast to position Busan as a key symbol of South Korea's rapid economic advancement, intending to give back to the world after benefiting from international aid in the aftermath of the 1950-53 Korean War.
K-pop heavyweights, such as "Gangnam Style" rapper Psy and singer Kim Jun-su, will deliver messages via video to bolster Busan's bid.
South Korean delegates and business leaders, led by Prime Minister Han, have been making their last-minute pitch in Paris to bring the event to Busan. They have been meeting with delegates from BIE member states to articulate Busan's vision.
Members of a South Korean civic group hold "cheongsachorong," a traditional Korean lantern with a red-and-blue silk shade, during an event along the Seine River in Paris on Nov. 27, 2023, to promote South Korea's bid to host the 2030 World Expo in the port city of Busan, one day before a Bureau International des Expositions vote to choose the event's host city. (Yonhap)
"Until the final whistle is blown, both the government and the private sector will exert their utmost efforts," Han told reporters in Paris on late Monday.
Han also quoted President Yoon Suk Yeol as saying, "Give your best until the final whistle is blown." Yoon returned home Sunday from a trip to Europe that included a state visit to Britain and a final campaign in France to bring the 2030 World Expo to Busan.
Busan is believed to be in a tight race against Riyadh, which has conducted a significant marketing campaign from the early stages.
"It has been confirmed that in the last one or two days, Saudi Arabia has shaken the support for South Korea and we have also managed to take away support from Saudi Arabia in reverse," a ranking government official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
In an effort to escalate its last-ditch campaign, Busan has brought in Ban.
"Busan is the starting point for making sustainable development for the international community so that every country can live better. It's not the destination," Ban told reporters Monday.
The World Expo, officially known as International Registered Exhibitions, has a legacy of fostering global innovation and cultural exchange since its inaugural event in London in 1851. The event can last up to six months, with international participants constructing their pavilions on the Expo site.
This undated file photo, provided by LG Electronics, shows buses, covered with logos promoting South Korea's bid to host the 2030 World Expo in the southeastern port city of Busan, driving past the Eiffel Tower in Paris. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
Busan is bidding to host the World Expo 2030 between May 1 and Oct. 31, 2030, under the theme "Transforming Our World, Navigating Toward a Better Future." The 2030 expo will follow the 2025 expo in Osaka, Japan.
Local authorities estimate the Busan Expo would bring economic benefits worth 61 trillion won (US$47 billion) and attract over 50 million tourists. More than 500,000 new jobs are also expected to be created.
At the general assembly later in the day, each of the three candidates will present their projects, followed by a secret ballot vote by government-appointed delegates representing member states.
Busan plans to transform a 3.43-square-kilometer area of partially reclaimed land at a port into a venue, according to officials. The proposed site will be accessible via a hydrogen-powered tram from a new airport on the nearby island, set to be completed in late 2029.
According to the BIE, the vote will be cast based on one vote per country by 182 BIE member state representatives during the BIE General Assembly.
In the actual voting, either 179 or 180 member states are expected to participate, as some of the member states have failed to secure voting rights after failing to pay contributions.
Any candidate winning two-thirds of the vote will be decided as the host city. If no candidate wins a two-thirds majority, the top two candidates will advance to a runoff vote. Many observers believe the final race will likely be between Busan and Riyadh.
Former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, (L) and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo in Paris on Nov. 27, 2023. (Yonhap)
khj@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Han-joo · November 28, 2023
13. N. Korea reposts troops and artillery in 11 GP
My recommendation:
Return U.S. Troops to the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)
North Korea has withdrawn from the Comprehensive Military Agreement of 2018 and is expected to rebuild the twelve guard posts that it removed.
Up until the early 1990s U.S. Army infantrymen conduct combat patrolling in an American sector surrounding the Joint Security Area. In 2024, the U.S. should return to combat patrolling but this time in support of ROK forces throughout the entire DMZ. This will reduce stress on ROK forces, increase interoperability between ROK and US forces, demonstrate U.S. commitment to the defense of the ROK and improve morale of U.S. by conducting missions that bring to them eye to eye with the enemy. Rotating infantry battalions will conduct pre-mission training in the U.S., spend 3 months preparing to conduct combat patrols on the DMZ, conduct a 3 month rotation with ROK forces, then conduct 3 months of large scale unit training, and then rotate back to the U.S.
N. Korea reposts troops and artillery in 11 GP
https://www.donga.com/en/home/article/all/20231128/4583227/1
Posted November. 28, 2023 07:56,
Updated November. 28, 2023 07:56
한국어
North Korea has swiftly reactivated 11 strategic observation posts (GPs) along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). They had been previously withdrawn from the spots adhering to the terms of the inter-Korean military accord signed on September 19. Troop presence and artillery have been reintroduced, marking a sudden remilitarization of the Joint Security Area (JSA) in Panmunjom. This move comes on the heels of North Korea's Ministry of Defense announcement on the 23rd, officially annulling the September 19 agreement and launching subsequent military actions toward the South. In response, our military is taking measures such as deploying artillery to GPs and fortifying the border stance along the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), heightening tensions in the forward regions.
On Monday, the South Korean military disclosed that North Korean forces have been redeploying troops and artillery to the 11 GPs within the DMZ, which were vacated under the terms of the September 19 agreement (10 destroyed, 1 preserved) since last Friday. The North Korean military is said to have established makeshift observation posts on the previously demolished GP sites, positioning recoilless rifles near the GP boundaries. The military released four photos captured by surveillance cameras and thermal imaging devices, showcasing North Korean soldiers on night duty.
These images relate to North Korean GPs, including one in the central-eastern front, that were withdrawn in November 2018 under the terms of the September 19 agreement. "Restoration efforts are underway at all 11 North Korean GPs, including this location,” a military official said.
In response, the ROK military is gearing up to import K-3 and K-6 medium machine guns into its GPs opposite those being reinstated by North Korea, and to install prefabricated surveillance posts and barbed wire fences. Kim Myung-soo, the newly appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with reporters on the same day, stating, "We will take prompt measures in response."
Upon his return on Monday, President Yoon Suk Yeol was briefed by Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Kim Myung-soo on the North Korean military situation. President Yoon underscored, "Maintain vigilant monitoring of North Korea's actions and sustain a robust military readiness posture to reassure the public." This message was conveyed by spokesperson Lee Do-woon.
Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com
14. South warns North it will respond to provocations 'without hesitation'
Again, with respect, let's consider being proactive rather than reactive.
Tuesday
November 28, 2023
dictionary + A - A
Published: 28 Nov. 2023, 18:11
Updated: 28 Nov. 2023, 19:21
South warns North it will respond to provocations 'without hesitation'
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2023-11-28/national/northKorea/South-warns-North-it-will-respond-to-provocations-without-hesitation/1923362
President Yoon Suk Yeol addresses an audience at a conference in Ilsan, Gyeonggi, on Tuesday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
President Yoon Suk Yeol criticized North Korea for trying to sustain the regime with nuclear weapons and missiles on Tuesday, as tensions flare between the two Koreas following the suspension of a landmark military agreement.
“The North Korean regime is trying to offset South Korea’s modernized non-nuclear military capabilities with nuclear weapons and missiles and is trying to neutralize our people’s will for security and break down alliances and cooperation by threatening to use nuclear force,” he told an audience at a conference in Ilsan, Gyeonggi, on Tuesday. “This is absurd.”
Related Article
In an equally strong rhetoric on the same day, Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said South Korea's military will respond to any provocation from the North without hesitation as the North restored guard posts in the demilitarized zone (DMZ).
“We must make the enemy clearly aware that any reckless action that harms peace is the beginning of destruction,” Shin told the chiefs of staffs of the Army, Navy and Air Force in a meeting on Tuesday, adding that South Korean military officials would have leeway to respond to provocations from the North without reporting to the government first.
“It is not words or writing that prevent the enemy from provoking, but strong power,” he said. “History's constant lesson is that peace comes from deterrence based on strong power.”
Shin also called for “immediate, strong, and ultimate punishment” of North Korea during his visit to the ROK-U. S. Combined Forces Command on Monday.
The statement from the minister followed the North’s rebuilding of guard posts along the border between the two Koreas as they suspended their military agreement of 2018.
The agreement, which was signed by then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, entailed the demolition of guard posts on both sides within 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) of the military demarcation line and a ban on military exercises and surveillance flights near the border to reduce the risk of accidental clashes.
Defense Minister Shin Won-sik speaks with the chiefs of staff at the ministry headquarters in Seoul on Tuesday. [NEWS1]
Each side had demolished 10 guard posts after the agreement was signed.
Defense Ministry officials on Monday disclosed photos showing North Korean soldiers building makeshift watch towers and carrying large firearms into the demilitarized zone.
“We believe the observation posts will be built at 11 locations,” a ministry official said.
Kim Myung-soo, chairman of the JCS, told the press on Monday that the South will take “corresponding measures.”
North Korea's state media said on Tuesday that its spy satellite launched last week took images of the White House and the Pentagon, in addition to its previous claims it took pictures of U.S. bases in Korea and overseas.
However, it did not disclose any images it claimed to have been taken.
The North's Korean Central News Agency said the images of the U.S. government buildings were taken when the satellite passed over the United States around 11:35 p.m. on Monday.
It added that the satellite also took pictures of Anderson Air Force Base in Guam, Norfolk Naval Station, the Newport News shipyard and an airfield in Virginia, as well as four U.S. nuclear carriers and a British aircraft carrier at Norfolk Naval Station.
BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]
15. Kim's daughter might have been named successor, says defector-turned-lawmaker
I will defer to Thae's knowledge and experience but I still think this could be premature. Then again, Kim Il Sung did designate Kim Jong Il as his successor in 1973 and it was 21 years later before he took over. Kim Ju Ae could be ready in 21 years.
Tuesday
November 28, 2023
dictionary + A - A
Published: 28 Nov. 2023, 18:37
Kim's daughter might have been named successor, says defector-turned-lawmaker
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2023-11-28/national/northKorea/Kims-daughter-might-have-been-named-successor-says-defectorturnedlawmaker-/1923373
Kim Ju-ae, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at an event celebrating the lauching of its spy satellite on Nov. 23. [KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY]
People Power Party Rep. Tae Yong-ho said if a report that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter has been praised as the “rising star female general,” is accurate, it means she has been selected as Kim's successor.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, the former North Korean diplomat said North Korea might have completed its internal process of selecting the daughter, Kim Ju-ae, as the country's next leader.
Related Article
“So far, North Korean media has called Kim Jong-un’s daughter, who is known as Ju-ae, the ‘most beloved’ or ‘most respected’,” Tae said. “If North Korea is using the recently successful launching of its satellite launch in the deification and idolization of Kim Jong-un’s teenage daughter, it means that it has completed the internal process of naming the daughter as successor.”
The PPP lawmaker stressed that when Kim Jong-un’s father, Kim Jong-il, suffered a stroke and couldn’t walk in 2008, North Korea took a similar approach in preparing the youngest son to succeed his father.
“In early 2009, the deification and idolization process started by unexpectedly giving Kim Jong-un, who was 24 years old at the time, the name ‘Captain Kim,’ and forcing people to sing the song ‘Footsteps’ [which praises the young Kim],” Tae said.
“While there were no official announcements of Kim Jong-un being named as the successor, North Koreans concluded that the succession process had been completed once Kim Jong-un was given the title ‘Captain Kim’,” he added.
However, Tae said if Ju-ae really were picked to succeed her father, the decision would be so absurd — even by North Korean standards — that it would raise questions about Kim Jong-un’s health.
Tae's Facebook post was based on a report by Radio Free Asia (RFA) on Tuesday.
According to the report, Kim Ju-ae was called the “rising star” of North Korea at a lecture for senior leadership to celebrate the successful launching of its reconnaissance satellite last week.
The celebration occurred in Pyongyang on Nov. 23, two days after the launch of the Malligyong-1 satellite.
According to witness accounts, the participants praised Kim Jong-un for opening the country's Space Age and said the future will shine brighter thanks to North Korea's “rising star female general,” referring to Kim Ju-ae.
The daughter first appeared in November 2021 when Kim Jong-un visited an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test site.
Since then, she has often appeared sitting next to her father, including at a military parade and most recently at the satellite launch celebration.
Her latest public appearance was the first in about 70 days.
Kim Ju-ae is speculated to be the middle child among three children, two of whom are boys.
However, the identities of the other two have not been disclosed to the public.
BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]
16. 'Unification Papers' for new Korea
Excerpts:
If Koreans can launch this process, there is a real possibility that the free and democratic Korean republic that emerges will become a model to inspire the world and that will encourage a return to true constitutional governance in Japan, China and even the United States.
Preston Moon has advocated a mass movement among the Korean people for unification that includes all citizens and inspires a new vision, starting with the assumption that if many share the same dream, it will become, perforce, a reality. That is precisely the model for the "Unification Papers."
The "Unification Papers" can be a chance for intense discussions between youth, ordinary citizens, professors, businessmen, politicians, and Koreans from every walk of life. The more that Koreans write about the value of the constitution of a united Korea, the more real it will become in their minds and hearts, and the more concrete it will become in the institutions and practices of Korea.
'Unification Papers' for new Korea
The Korea Times · November 27, 2023
By Emanuel Pastreich
If Koreans rise to the demands of this historic moment and see the current weakening of institutions in both the North and South as an opportunity for profound institutional innovation that is in the long-term interests of citizens, and then draft an inspiring constitution for a unified Korean Peninsula, the next step, logically, will be to convince the Korean people of the authority, legitimacy and wisdom of this brave proposal for a unified nation.
Only if an effective movement that highlights the historical inevitability of the constitution is launched will Koreans be able to embrace the constitution for unification wholeheartedly, thus giving it the organic vitality necessary to make that constitution more than words, but a living law of the people.
The final step after a constitutional convention should the promulgation of a series of “Unification Papers,” powerful writings and speeches by thoughtful Koreans that bring home the abstract language of the constitution for all Koreans and make it real.
In a sense, those “Unification Papers” will be a “speech act,” an expression in words that has an absolute transformative effect. One example of a speech act is when a celebrant presiding at a wedding states, “I now pronounce you husband and wife.” Those simple words change utterly the relationship between the two individuals involved.
The “Unification Papers” drafted in powerful language, perhaps even a new Korean language that brings together the language of North and South, will serve to transform the Koreans, and the Korean nation, by their promulgation and acceptance.
The concept of “Unification Papers” draws inspiration from the United States’ “Federalist Papers,” a series of 85 essays written by three of the most articulate advocates for constitutional governance in the United States — Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay (who contributed only six essays) — that address a wide range of institutional and ethical concerns relating to the establishment of a new nation. The Federalist Papers stimulated at the time a rational and scientific discussion on the nation’s future among committed citizens that led to the natural and effective adoption of the Constitution by all thirteen state legislatures.
Ratification of the Constitution in the United States became a movement of great intensity.
The power of the writing in the Federalist Papers made possible the broad acceptance of this vision for a new nation, despite considerable differences of perspective at the time. Without the Federalist Papers, the Constitution would have just been a beautifully written document that was detached from the actual governance of the nation.
In the Korean case also, the drafting of a Constitution for a united Korea must be followed up on with a similar series of essays, speeches, television broadcasts and social media discussions involving Koreans with deep insights on Korea’s past and future from North and South, and from around the world, that engage citizens and permit for the formation of a strong consensus concerning the concrete aspects of unification.
It is important to stress that because the Constitution defines what a nation is, and what it is not, it, therefore, cannot be created by elections, by charismatic politicians or by public opinion polls. It demands a small group of responsible and accountable individuals who have the bravery and the tenacity to engage in an honest assessment of what is required for governance, and to write it up in the most powerful and elegant language.
If Koreans can launch this process, there is a real possibility that the free and democratic Korean republic that emerges will become a model to inspire the world and that will encourage a return to true constitutional governance in Japan, China and even the United States.
Preston Moon has advocated a mass movement among the Korean people for unification that includes all citizens and inspires a new vision, starting with the assumption that if many share the same dream, it will become, perforce, a reality. That is precisely the model for the "Unification Papers."
The "Unification Papers" can be a chance for intense discussions between youth, ordinary citizens, professors, businessmen, politicians, and Koreans from every walk of life. The more that Koreans write about the value of the constitution of a united Korea, the more real it will become in their minds and hearts, and the more concrete it will become in the institutions and practices of Korea.
Emanuel Pastreich is president of the Asia Society, a researcher at the Council on East Asian Studies, Yale University and a senior fellow at Global Peace Foundation. The views expressed in the above article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.
The Korea Times · November 27, 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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