Quotes of the Day:

"Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair." 

- Elie Wiesel

“We are all ready to be savage and some cause. The difference between a good man and a bad one is the choice of the cause.” 

- William James

“Nothing is more important than empathy for another human being suffering. Nothing. Not career, not wealth, not intelligence, certainly not status. We have to feel for one another if we're going to survive with dignity.” 

- Audrey Hepburn

1. N. Korea claims spy satellite took photos of 'major target regions' in S. Korea

2. How a North Korean Soccer Prodigy Vanished, and Re-emerged

3. Kim Jong Un’s comeback

4. N. Korea claims spy satellite took photos of U.S. aircraft carrier in S. Korea, Hawaii, other 'major target regions'

5. Yoon appoints new JCS chief

6. FM Park says plans for trilateral summit with China, Japan to take form at ministers' talks

7. U.S. diplomat to visit S. Korea, Indonesia next week for talks on democracy, human rights

8. N. Korea's Malligyong-1 reportedly incorporates smuggled components

9. North Korea warns of stronger armed forces on border

10. South Korea does not need nuclear subs

11. North Korean spy satellite team attend banquet with Kim Jong-un and daughter Ju Ae | North Korea

12. North Korea’s Kim says spy satellite launch was exercise of right to self-defense

13.  Korea aims to make deeper foray into global defense market

14. Russian state TV hints at arming North Korea

1. N. Korea claims spy satellite took photos of 'major target regions' in S. Korea

If we know the timing of its overflight of these targets I would get soldiers in formation to spell out sertins words as a message to Kim Jong Un.

N. Korea claims spy satellite took photos of 'major target regions' in S. Korea | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Yi Wonju · November 25, 2023

SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korea claimed Saturday its leader Kim Jong-un observed photos taken by the country's recently launched military spy satellite of "major target regions" in South Korea, where several U.S. Army bases are located.

Kim visited the Pyongyang General Control Center of the National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA) on Friday to "learn about the operational preparation of the reconnaissance satellite" and looked at the aerospace photos, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

He examined the photos of major target regions, including Mokpo, Gunsan, Pyeongtaek, Osan, Seoul, and other areas in the South and the North, as the satellite passed over the Korean Peninsula from 10:15-10:27 a.m. on Friday, according to the KCNA.

Pyeongtaek is home to Camp Humphreys, the largest overseas U.S. military installation in the world. Other U.S. military bases are also located in Gunsan and Osan.

North Korea did not release photos taken by its spy satellite, but if confirmed, the satellite imagery could verify that the satellites are working properly in orbit.

NATA also reported to Kim on the "fine-tuning process" that took place for 62 hours after the reconnaissance satellite was put into its orbit and its plan for photographing the region of the South Korean "puppets," as well as an additional fine-tuning process that will take place Saturday morning, the KCNA said.

This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Nov. 25, 2023, shows the North's leader Kim Jong-un (R) speaking with officials, as he visited the National Aerospace Technology Administration the previous day to examine photos taken by the country's new military spy satellite (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

A new type of Chollima-1 rocket carrying a reconnaissance satellite called the Malligyong-1 lifts off from the launching pad at the Sohae satellite launch site in Tongchang-ri in northwestern North Korea at 10:42 p.m. on Nov. 21, 2023, in this photo released the next day by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. North Korea said it has successfully placed the spy satellite into orbit and will launch several more satellites "in a short span of time" to secure its reconnaissance capabilities against South Korea. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

julesyi@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Yi Wonju · November 25, 2023

2. How a North Korean Soccer Prodigy Vanished, and Re-emerged

An interesting look at sanctions and enforcement.

How a North Korean Soccer Prodigy Vanished, and Re-emerged

By Mike Ives and John Yoon

Reporting from Seoul

Nov. 23, 2023

The New York Times · by John Yoon · November 23, 2023

Han Kwang-song’s recent appearances in World Cup qualifiers were his first ones overseas since 2020, when U.N. sanctions led to an involuntary career break.

Han Kwang-song of North Korea, center, playing in a 2026 World Cup qualifier in Yangon, Myanmar, this week. Credit...Nyein Chan Naing/EPA, via Shutterstock

Nov. 23, 2023, 11:28 p.m. ET

When the North Korean men’s soccer team took the field for two 2026 World Cup qualifying matches this month, close observers noticed an important roster change.

Han Kwang-song, a high-profile striker, was back, more than three years after vanishing from public view for reasons beyond his control: United Nations-imposed sanctions on North Korean nationals over Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

Mr. Han’s story is a rare case of North Korea sanctions reverberating through professional soccer. It also shows how enforcement of U.N. sanctions against individuals varies by country.

The government in Italy did not deport Mr. Han, now 25, while he was playing professional soccer there. But once he moved to Qatar, the Qatari government did.

“The basic story makes sense; the surprising part is that Qatar complied with the U.N. resolutions,” said Marcus Noland, an expert on North Korean sanctions and executive vice president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

A prodigy with ‘superhero’ status

Mr. Han’s early success was partly a product of North Korea’s push to cultivate soccer talent. After attending a prestigious soccer school founded by the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, Mr. Han trained in Spain before turning pro in Italy.

He quickly made an impression in Europe as a speedy forward with an eye for goal. Back home, North Korea’s official news agency praised him after a 2019 Asian Cup qualifier as “the player that experts and enthusiasts paid the most attention to.”

“In North Korea, he’s a superhero,” said Kim Heung-Tae, a professor of sports science at Daejin University in South Korea who follows the North’s soccer program.

But in 2017, as punishment for the North’s sixth nuclear weapons test, the United Nations Security Council ordered all North Korean nationals working abroad to be repatriated by December 2019 — a strategy for preventing financing of the North’s military.

Mr. Han, one of several North Koreans playing overseas in professional soccer leagues at the time, was among the targets.

Sanctions meet reality

But the Italian authorities did not repatriate Mr. Han by the 2019 deadline, United Nations Security Council reports show. Instead, Juventus, the Italian club where he had been earning more than half a million euros a year, struck a deal in early 2020 to send him to Al-Duhail, a soccer team in Qatar, on a five-year contract worth about 4.3 million euros, about $4.7 million.

Though a Security Council panel of experts on North Korea contacted Italy and Qatar immediately after that transfer, it was not canceled, and Juventus accepted a transfer fee from the Qatari club, according to the U.N. The panel said in a report that it later “reiterated to Qatar the relevant resolutions concerning the case.”

That summer, Mr. Han stopped appearing for Al-Duhail. In January 2021, Qatar’s mission to the United Nations said in a letter to the U.N. panel that Mr. Han had left Qatar after having his contract “terminated” by the club — and that Qatar’s actions reflected its commitments to Security Council resolutions about North Korean nationals who earn income abroad.

At the time, the coronavirus pandemic was raging, and North Korea’s borders were sealed. Qatar said in its letter, a copy of which was included in a U.N. report, that Mr. Han had left the country on Qatar Airways Flight 131 — a nonstop flight to Rome.

‘He’s probably been training all along’

Details of Mr. Han’s movements since leaving Qatar, including the timing and circumstances of his return to North Korea, remain scarce. According to Transfermarkt, a website that tracks soccer players and their contracts, he has not played for a professional club since July 2021.

Also unclear is whether any of Mr. Han’s earnings ever made it back to the North Korean government.

Mr. Han signed an agreement in 2020 with a Qatari bank, where he had an account at the time, pledging not to transfer any money to his home country, according to a U.N. report. Still, Professor Kim said, North Korean agents had most likely accompanied him everywhere he went overseas and restricted how he spent his earnings.

Neither FIFA, the governing body of soccer; nor the Italian or Qatari Foreign Ministries; nor North Korea’s soccer association or the Asian Football Confederation immediately responded to requests for comment. Nor did Al-Duhail, Juventus or Cagliari, another team that Mr. Han played for in Italy.

Mr. Han’s return to competition this month was reported earlier by CNN and the website NK News, among other outlets.

Professor Kim said that the pandemic had probably curtailed many athletic events in North Korea, where the long-lasting border closing crippled the nation’s economy. But soccer is the country’s most popular sport, and Professor Kim said that domestic competitions had probably been held regularly in recent months.

As for Mr. Han, Professor Kim said, “he’s probably been training all along.”

Rather than joining another professional league abroad, Mr. Han is likely to focus on preparing for the 2026 World Cup, Professor Kim said. He added that North Korea was competitive in its region and had a good chance of qualifying, in part because FIFA has nearly doubled the number of slots for Asian countries at that tournament, which will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Max Canzi, who coached Mr. Han in Italy for Cagliari’s under-19 team, told CNN that he was “very happy” that the striker had returned to international competition for the World Cup qualifying match against Syria in Saudi Arabia on Nov. 16.

As Mr. Han resumes his career, Mr. Canzi added that he was “very curious about the level of his performance after being out for so much time.”

Mr. Han was substituted at halftime in the Saudi Arabia match, which North Korea lost, 1-0. But five days later in Yangon, Myanmar, he contributed to a 6-1 win over the home country with a signature headed goal.

Mike Ives is a reporter for The Times based in Seoul, covering breaking news around the world. More about Mike Ives

John Yoon reports from the Seoul newsroom of The Times. He previously reported for the coronavirus tracking team, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2021. He joined The Times in 2020. More about John Yoon

The New York Times · by John Yoon · November 23, 2023

3. Kim Jong Un’s comeback

​I missed this when it came out earlier this month but a friend flagged this for me.  

Actually I do not think there has been any change about the nature, objectives, and strategy of the Kim family regime. The only change is how some of us are interpreting his actions.

There is no change to Kim's political warfare strategy. There is no change to his blackmail diplomacy strategy. And there is no change to his ultimate objective to dominate the peninsula under the rule of the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State thought subversion (best case) or force. 

Kim Jong Un’s comeback

Financial Times · by Christian Davies · November 9, 2023

At a recent banquet to celebrate the achievements of his country’s navy, a relaxed Kim Jong Un sat with his wife and young daughter as they were serenaded by a choir of North Korean sailors.

The east Asian country’s millennial dictator had every reason to feel content as he sipped wine kept in a little electric cooler at the lavish jamboree, held at a luxury Pyongyang resort in August, overlooked by a giant scale model of a Hwasong-18, the regime’s most advanced long-range intercontinental ballistic missile.

Steering North Korea through a period of extreme isolation to counter Covid-19 while defying tough international sanctions, he has emerged into the warm embrace of Moscow and Beijing amid intensifying geopolitical tensions in the region.

“He survived [Donald] Trump, he survived the sanctions and he survived the pandemic,” says Andrei Lankov, professor of history at Kookmin University in Seoul. “Who in his position would not feel triumphant?”

A month after the festivities, Kim embarked on his first foreign trip since 2019, boarding his armoured train destined for a Russian spaceport to meet Vladimir Putin.

The visit consummated a relationship that has flourished in the wake of the Russian president’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, illustrating how a fragmenting international order has benefited a country under sanctions from nearly a dozen UN security council resolutions since its first nuclear test in 2006.

Kim, in a beige suit, attends an event celebrating the country’s navy. Analysts see little prospect of present sanctions slowing his regime’s military build-up © KCNA/Reuters

“It’s nothing new for North Korea to be out in the cold, but for Russia to join it there is a massive stroke of luck for Kim Jong Un,” says Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein, a North Korea expert at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.

With travel having reopened between North Korea and its northern neighbours as Pyongyang starts to relax Covid-era restrictions on foreign trade, analysts see little prospect of western countries exerting sufficient pressure on the regime to cease, or even slow, its nuclear weapons development.

Kim has also used the pandemic to strengthen his regime’s grip on power, bulking up border controls and passing legislation threatening the death penalty against subjects caught distributing or consuming foreign media.

“The regime is much more secure than when Kim came to power in 2011,” says Peter Ward, a fellow at the University of Vienna’s European Centre for North Korean Studies.

“He’s purged his internal opponents, he’s built a formidable nuclear weapons programme, he has tightened his control over society and Russia and China’s growing enmity with the US is playing right into his hands.”

Some observers argue that with the country’s economy still in disarray Kim is unlikely to enjoy anything more than a brief moment in the sun.

His ambition to create a “completely different North Korea” remains unrealised, says Go Myong-hyun, senior fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.

But Jenny Town, director of the 38 North programme at the Stimson Center think-tank in Washington, argues that Kim’s ambitions have shifted.

You are seeing a snapshot of an interactive graphic. This is most likely due to being offline or JavaScript being disabled in your browser.

In the past, North Korean leaders have sought to trade what leverage they have for concessions from the international community. Seen this way, Kim would be expected to return to the negotiating table, seeking ways to lift sanctions and alleviate the economic pressure on his regime.

Instead, says Town, Kim appears to have given up on the possibility of reaching an accommodation with the US and “what we are seeing is a fundamental reformulation of his foreign policy”.

“It is often assumed that we are still in the same old cycle of confrontation and engagement as we always had,” says Town. “But if there’s one thing Kim has shown, it’s that he paves his own way.”

Facing a cold front together

Putin arrived 30 minutes early for his meeting with Kim at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, taken as a rare mark of respect from a president with a history of turning up late for meetings with world leaders.

Kim repaid the favour, describing the two countries, via a translator, as partners in the “fight against imperialism”. Russia’s war in Ukraine, he declared, was a “sacred fight to protect its sovereignty and security . . . against the hegemonic forces”.

As talk of a new cold war emerged, “Kim was very quick to embrace the idea”, says Town. “He chose sides early on, and now he is being rewarded.”

Putin talks to Kim at a meeting in Siberia in September. The North Korean leader described Russia as a partner in the ‘fight against imperialism’ © KCNA/Pool/LANA/Reuters

The relationship between the two countries is proving fruitful. Last month, the US published images it claimed showed 1,000 containers of “military equipment and munitions” being transported from North Korea to Russia following a deal brokered by Putin’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, during a visit to Pyongyang in July.

In exchange, North Korea is seeking “fighter aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, armoured vehicles, ballistic missile production equipment”, among other materials and advanced technologies, according to US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

South Korea’s unification minister, Kim Yung-ho, warned on Monday that Pyongyang appeared to be receiving technical assistance from Moscow before an anticipated launch of its first military reconnaissance satellite.

At the same time, Kim continues to benefit from the patronage of Beijing, which has been accused by human rights campaigners of colluding in crimes by the North Korean regime against its own people.

Hanna Song, of the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB) in Seoul, points to China’s decision last month to forcibly repatriate hundreds of North Korean refugees in the face of international opposition.

“It was a huge win for Kim,” says Song, adding the refugees faced a high likelihood of torture and execution. “The US Congress, the governments of several different countries, big human rights organisations and UN representatives were all demanding for it to be stopped, but Beijing did what Kim wanted instead.”

The decision is rooted in growing tensions between Beijing and Washington. “China always valued North Korea as a buffer zone, even if they do not like its nuclear ambitions or its provocative behaviour,” says Lankov, of Kookmin University. “Now that Beijing understands it is likely to be in conflict with the US for decades to come, it is willing to support Pyongyang and ask for very little in return.”

You are seeing a snapshot of an interactive graphic. This is most likely due to being offline or JavaScript being disabled in your browser.

Other perks have emerged from the regime’s blossoming friendships.

The number of North Koreans entering Russia has surged amid demand for workers in its sparsely populated far east, for example. As a thank you, the governor of the eastern Russian region of Primorsky Krai sent Kim a gift of five kamikaze drones, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

There has also been a rebound in cross-border trade, including in areas where co-operation is still prohibited by UN sanctions.

Data published last month shows that recorded trade between North Korea and China in September jumped to its highest level in almost four years, with Beijing openly offering Pyongyang banned goods, including industrial equipment, while receiving imports of sanctioned North Korean coal and steel.

North Korea has also started to close down foreign embassies and missions in Africa, Europe and Asia — marking an acceptance, says Silberstein, of the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, that “the idea of expanding trade relations far beyond China and Russia is dead, for the time being at least”.

This shows that “Kim is doubling down on relationships where the overall potential benefits may be less than you might get from improved relations with the US, but at least [they are] tangible, quick and come at very little political cost,” says Town.

It helps that Russia and China’s commitment to support the sanctions regime, which cannot be ended without unanimity among the UN security council’s five permanent members, has waned. The two countries now regularly circulate draft resolutions calling for the alleviation of the measures, while shielding Pyongyang from western censure of its illegal ballistic missile tests.

Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, has also floated the idea of joint naval drills between the three countries in response to trilateral exercises held by the US, Japan and South Korea.

Western officials worry that the easing of sanctions and a resumption of economic activity will accelerate the unrelenting progress of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme, which continued even during the pandemic.

In September, Kim christened the country’s first nuclear-capable submarine. Two weeks later at the North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly he reaffirmed his commitment to “exponentially increase nuclear weapons production to realise all kinds of nuclear strike methods”.

Kim attends a launch ceremony in September for a nuclear submarine. He has pledged to exponentially increase nuclear weapons production © KCNA/Reuters

Pyongyang is now “on pace to deploy nuclear-armed intercontinental range missiles in sufficient numbers that could potentially challenge US homeland ground-based ballistic missile defences”, warned a report from the US Congress last month.

This has exposed the limitations of sanctions, some analysts argue. “If the goal . . . is strictly political, to demonstrate there’s a cost to breaking international law, then they still have a purpose,” says Town. “But if the goal is to dissuade North Korea from [developing weapons of mass destruction] they have abjectly failed.”

‘Guns but no butter’

Growing military muscle and a limited resumption of trade with Russia and China cannot by themselves repair the fundamental problems facing the North Korean state, however.

Go, of the Asan Institute, argues that the country today, and its relationship with the wider world, falls far short of Kim’s true aspirations.

“Kim’s two most important ambitions are still securing recognition as a nuclear state and having the sanctions regime lifted, and he needs the US for both,” says Go.

“Seen that way, 2023 is a low point,” he adds. “His real high point was during his summits with Donald Trump in 2018 and 2019, when he was being taken seriously by a US president — Putin is just a consolation prize.”

The country’s economy also remains in a parlous state, notes Go. In 2021, the regime admitted to a “food crisis” brought on by border closures, sanctions and a miserable harvest. Hundreds of thousands of North Korean children are malnourished, according to a recent UN report.

Soldiers participate in a joint exercise between South Korean and US troops in Paju, north of Seoul. Washington is deploying more nuclear-capable military on temporary missions to South Korea © Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

Kim has made attempts to reform North Korea’s agricultural sector, reviving a ministry of food administration and calling on his officials to improve irrigation systems and supply “high-efficiency” farm machines to rural areas.

In his September speech to the Supreme People’s Assembly, he signalled that economic development would soon replace upgrading his nuclear programme as his regime’s main priority.

Meanwhile, the regime has ramped up its propaganda efforts, such as exhorting citizens to display miniature models of the country’s nuclear weapons at home and in the workplace.

More significant, Go argues, are Kim’s efforts to clamp down on foreign influences, such as a new law prohibiting his subjects from adopting South Korean patterns of speech.

“The intensity of regime propaganda and social oppression is directly connected to the level of economic malaise,” says Go. “He wanted to offer ‘guns and butter’, but all he can offer is the guns.”

But others argue that Kim’s decisions are consistent with a longer-term political strategy.

The debate in the US is almost exclusively about how to reassure the South Koreans, which is not the same thing as deterring the North Koreans

The years of lockdown simply offered him an opportunity to “rid the country of the menace of foreign influence”, says Vienna university’s Ward, noting that Kim’s campaign to tighten regime control over its once porous border with China stretches back at least a decade. “They’ve used the pandemic to really cement a far greater level of social control than they otherwise would have been able to do.”

While the ordinary North Korean goes hungry, the elites upon whose loyalty Kim depends have benefited from a post-pandemic influx of luxury goods. His foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, was photographed clutching a rare ostrich leather Gucci handbag during a recent visit to Russia’s Yuri Gagarin Aviation Plant.

To Kim, wider prosperity is not necessary for regime survival, explains Silberstein. “For North Korea, the most relevant question is not whether the economy is doing great, but whether it is doing well enough to meet the basic needs of a society used to a very low standard of living.”

“Hunger appears to be widespread, but starvation appears to be rare,” he adds. “It’s not the economy Kim dreamt of, but I think it’s one that he’s perfectly content with.”

‘Increased control’

What is clear is that Kim is growing in confidence as he reaps the benefits of Russian and Chinese protection, leaving the US and its allies at a loss as to how to halt his momentum.

A key concern is that Pyongyang’s burgeoning alliance with Moscow could accelerate his nuclear arsenal, perhaps by boosting North Korean supplies of the plutonium and highly enriched uranium needed to produce nuclear bombs.

A naval exercise involving Japan, the US and South Korea. In response to the trilateral drill, Russia’s defence minister floated the idea of holding joint exercises with North Korea and China © South Korean Defense Ministry/Getty Images

“There are no technical hurdles to [Russia] shipping 100 or even 1,000 kilogrammes of plutonium . . . to North Korea,” Siegfried Hecker, a former director of the US Los Alamos national nuclear research laboratory, told the Stimson Center in a recent interview.

Even if Moscow was unwilling to transfer fissile material directly, it could instead offer Pyongyang composite carbon fibre materials to upgrade centrifuges used to produce highly enriched uranium, warns Go.

“Composite materials can be marked as being for civilian use and slipped into any container transporting wheat or flour — it would be almost impossible to track,” he adds.

North Korea’s nuclear progress — and Washington’s inability to stop it — has spooked neighbouring South Korea.

Last month Cho Hyun-dong, Seoul’s ambassador to the US, told a parliamentary committee he was worried that American faith in the possibility of successful nuclear diplomacy with Pyongyang was fading.

US president Joe Biden attempted to soothe growing South Korean anxieties this year by agreeing to a new bilateral nuclear consultative group to give Seoul more insight and input into US war planning.

The US military is also deploying more nuclear-capable bombers and submarines on temporary missions to South Korea and, last month, a US B-52H nuclear bomber appeared alongside fighter jets from the US, South Korea and Japan during the three countries’ first ever joint aerial drills.

The problem, says Go, is that “the debate in the US is now almost exclusively about how to reassure the South Koreans, which is not the same thing as deterring the North Koreans”.

Under Kim Jong Il, there was a de facto tolerance of outside information entering the country. But the opportunity was not exploited

So far, says Lankov of Kookmin University, Washington’s assurances have failed to address Seoul’s nagging doubt that any US president would risk nuclear retaliation for the sake of an ally.

In the meantime, he warns, the North Korean menace will only continue to grow with Kim, not yet 40 years old, free to bide his time and build his power.

“The best, or perhaps even the only, way to explain the direction of Kim’s nuclear weapons development is that the North Koreans are seriously preparing for a second round of the Korean war and conquest of the South,” continues Lankov. “It is a threat that will start to become more and more apparent over the next 10 or 15 years.”

In response, there have been growing calls from some western analysts and policymakers to step up efforts to filter outside information into North Korea to step up pressure on the regime.

But not only is such an approach incompatible with the present reliance on sanctions designed to isolate the country, Town argues, the draconian punishments Kim has introduced means “it’s a strategy that also puts North Koreans in danger”.

For Lankov, the window for that approach has long passed. Western countries missed their chance when Kim’s ailing father’s grip on power loosened over the course of the 2000s, he says.

“Under Kim Jong Il, there was a de facto tolerance of outside information, including South Korean media, entering the country,” notes Lankov. “But the opportunity was not exploited because at the time western decision makers did not see the North Korean nuclear programme as a realistic threat.”

“Now, Kim Jong Un has his apparatus in place,” he adds. “I assumed it was impossible for the old level of control to be restored — I was wrong.”

Data visualisation by Andy Lin

Video: North Korea and the triads: gangsters, ghost ships and spies | FT Film

More deep dives into North Korea

Inside North Korea’s oil smuggling: triads And ghost ships

An investigation shows how business figures in east Asia linked to organised crime have helped facilitate illicit deliveries of hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil

Two North Korean defectors: a tale of secrets, lies and love

After she fled to South Korea, Kim Joo Kyung couldn’t stop thinking about her first love. She decided to try to find him. This is the story of escape over dangerous borderlands

Financial Times · by Christian Davies · November 9, 2023

4. N. Korea claims spy satellite took photos of U.S. aircraft carrier in S. Korea, Hawaii, other 'major target regions'

It will be interesting to understand the track of the satellite's orbit. Seems like it can cover a lot of earth (if we believe the regime's reports) . Can one satellite converse all these "targets?" Is it rapidly maneuverable? Or is the regime actually just downloading photos from Google Earth (and Google Earth probably provides higher quality resolution than whatever imagery equipment is aboard he satellite).

(LEAD) N. Korea claims spy satellite took photos of U.S. aircraft carrier in S. Korea, Hawaii, other 'major target regions' | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Yi Wonju · November 25, 2023

(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead; UPDATES with new KCNA report on satellite in last 4 paras)

SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korea claimed Saturday its leader Kim Jong-un observed photos taken by the country's recently launched military spy satellite of "major target regions" in South Korea, where U.S. Army bases are located, and parts of Hawaii.

Kim visited the Pyongyang General Control Center of the National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA) on Friday to "learn about the operational preparation of the reconnaissance satellite" and looked at the aerospace photos, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Nov. 25, 2023, shows the North's leader Kim Jong-un (R) speaking with officials, as he visited the National Aerospace Technology Administration the previous day to examine photos taken by the country's new military spy satellite (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

He examined the photos of major target regions, including Mokpo, Gunsan, Pyeongtaek, Osan, Seoul, and other areas in the South and the North, as the satellite passed over the Korean Peninsula from 10:15-10:27 a.m. on Friday, according to the KCNA.

Pyeongtaek is home to Camp Humphreys, the largest overseas U.S. military installation in the world. Other U.S. military bases are also located in Gunsan and Osan.

North Korea did not release photos taken by its spy satellite, but if confirmed, the satellite imagery could verify that the satellites are working properly in orbit.

NATA also reported to Kim on the "fine-tuning process" that took place for 62 hours after the reconnaissance satellite was put into its orbit and its plan for photographing the region of the South Korean "puppets," as well as an additional fine-tuning process that will take place Saturday morning, the KCNA said.

In a separate report released hours later, the KCNA said Kim visited NATA once again Saturday morning to inspect satellite imagery of major target areas, including Jinhae, Busan, Ulsan, Pohang, Daegu and Gangneung, taken between 9:59:40 and 10:02:10 a.m.

The North claimed it also captured photos of the nuclear-powered USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, currently docked at a naval base in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, at 10:01 a.m.

Kim then examined photos of the naval base in Pearl Harbor and Hickam Air Base in Honolulu as the spy satellite passed over Hawaii at 5:13 a.m. (Pyongyang time), according to the KCNA.

The North's state media again did not release photos taken by the satellite.

A new type of Chollima-1 rocket carrying a reconnaissance satellite called the Malligyong-1 lifts off from the launching pad at the Sohae satellite launch site in Tongchang-ri in northwestern North Korea at 10:42 p.m. on Nov. 21, 2023, in this photo released the next day by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. North Korea said it has successfully placed the spy satellite into orbit and will launch several more satellites "in a short span of time" to secure its reconnaissance capabilities against South Korea. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

julesyi@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Yi Wonju · November 25, 2023

5. Yoon appoints new JCS chief

Not off to a good start.

Excerpts:

According to the presidential office and the JCS, Naval Operations Commander Vice Adm. Kim was appointed as the new JCS chief without a confirmation report from the National Assembly.

Kim underwent a parliamentary confirmation hearing earlier this month but failed to win the approval of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), which raised accusations that Kim had traded stock during working hours and played golf when North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The DP also took issue with allegations Kim's daughter was involved in a school bullying case 11 years ago, claiming the daughter was one of six perpetrators who inflicted violence but received the lightest penalty.

Yoon appoints new JCS chief | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Yi Wonju · November 25, 2023

SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol approved the appointment of new Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Kim Myung-soo on Saturday, officials said, making him the first top-ranking military officer to come from the Navy in a decade.

According to the presidential office and the JCS, Naval Operations Commander Vice Adm. Kim was appointed as the new JCS chief without a confirmation report from the National Assembly.

Kim underwent a parliamentary confirmation hearing earlier this month but failed to win the approval of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), which raised accusations that Kim had traded stock during working hours and played golf when North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The DP also took issue with allegations Kim's daughter was involved in a school bullying case 11 years ago, claiming the daughter was one of six perpetrators who inflicted violence but received the lightest penalty.

It is the first time in 10 years that a Navy officer has been appointed to the top military post since Adm. Choi Yoon-hee served as the JCS chairman from 2013 to 2015.

Kim Myung-soo, the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, responds to lawmakers' questions during his confirmation hearing at the National Assembly in Seoul, in this Nov. 15, 2023, file photo. (Yonhap)

By law, the National Assembly is required to complete a confirmation hearing and send the president a report within 20 days of a hearing demand being made.

If parliament fails to issue a report on the confirmation hearing over the period, the president may ask the National Assembly to again try and do so over an additional period of up to 10 days.

As parliament failed to issue a report before the requested deadline of Friday, Yoon appointed Kim without a parliamentary report, making him the 20th ministerial-level official the president has appointed without a confirmation report.

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Yi Wonju · November 25, 2023

6. FM Park says plans for trilateral summit with China, Japan to take form at ministers' talks

Excerpts:

Park also said he plans to discuss ways for the three countries to cooperate after North Korea's launch of a military reconnaissance satellite earlier this week, including ways for China to play "a constructive role."

"We'll discuss everything that is necessary, especially things that the three countries can do to stop North Korea's provocations and bring the regime to denuclearize, including China's constructive role," Park said.

Wang and Kamikawa arrived in Busan earlier in the day.

On Sunday, Park will hold separate bilateral talks with Kamikawa and Wang, respectively, before having the three-way talks later in the day.

Park will invite the two ministers to a luncheon meeting between the bilateral and trilateral talks.

During the two-day trip, neither of the two ministers is expected to pay a courtesy call on President Yoon Suk Yeol due to scheduling matters.

(3rd LD) FM Park says plans for trilateral summit with China, Japan to take form at ministers' talks | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · November 25, 2023

(ATTN: UPDATES with Park's remarks in paras 2-6; RECASTS headline, lead)

By Kim Seung-yeon

SEOUL/BUSAN, Nov. 25 (Yonhap) -- Foreign Minister Park Jin said Saturday he expects the upcoming trilateral talks with his Chinese and Japanese counterparts will be a venue to help form the plans to resume the long-suspended summit of the three countries' leaders.

Park made the remarks ahead of the trilateral talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, set for Sunday, a gathering expected to focus on efforts to revive the summit that has remained stalled since late 2019.

"We are exchanging opinions with the Japanese and Chinese sides about the three-way summit, and I believe it will take some form through this meeting," Park told reporters in Busan.

"(Sunday's talks are) very meaningful in that it intends to restore the stalled trilateral cooperation and normalize it," Park said.

Park arrived in the southern port city, the venue for Sunday's talks, late Saturday, after returning from a trip to London and Paris, where he accompanied President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Foreign Minister Park Jin speaks to reporters as he arrives at a hotel in Busan on Nov. 25, 2023, for trilateral talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa in the southeastern port city, set to take place the next day. (Yonhap)

Park also said he plans to discuss ways for the three countries to cooperate after North Korea's launch of a military reconnaissance satellite earlier this week, including ways for China to play "a constructive role."

"We'll discuss everything that is necessary, especially things that the three countries can do to stop North Korea's provocations and bring the regime to denuclearize, including China's constructive role," Park said.

Wang and Kamikawa arrived in Busan earlier in the day.

On Sunday, Park will hold separate bilateral talks with Kamikawa and Wang, respectively, before having the three-way talks later in the day.

Park will invite the two ministers to a luncheon meeting between the bilateral and trilateral talks.

During the two-day trip, neither of the two ministers is expected to pay a courtesy call on President Yoon Suk Yeol due to scheduling matters.

Sunday's talks will likely discuss efforts to facilitate the resumption of the trilateral summit among the leaders, which has not taken place since December 2019.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (C) arrives at a hotel in Busan on Nov. 25, 2023, a day ahead of the trilateral talks with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in the southeastern port city. (Yonhap)

The trilateral summit was last held in China's southwestern city of Chengdu and has not taken place due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and a deterioration in bilateral relations between Seoul and Tokyo over a longstanding issue of compensating Korean forced labor victims when Korea was a Japanese colony in 1910-45.

Talks of reviving the summit gathered momentum amid a dramatic warming of the Seoul-Tokyo relations after South Korea said in March it will compensate the Korean victims on its own without asking for contributions from Japanese companies.

As the current rotating chair, Seoul has been pushing to host the summit before the end of this year.

North Korea's launch of a military reconnaissance satellite earlier this week and its growing military ties with Russia are also expected to be among the key agenda items at Sunday's talks.

They are also likely to discuss ways to promote three-way cooperation in such areas as climate change, science and digital technologies, and people-to-people exchanges.

It marks the first visit by Kamikawa since she took office in September. Wang last visited South Korea in September 2021.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa (C) gets out of a vehicle as she arrives at a hotel in Busan on Nov. 25, 2023, a day ahead of the trilateral talks with her South Korean and Chinese counterparts. (Yonhap)

elly@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · November 25, 2023

7. U.S. diplomat to visit S. Korea, Indonesia next week for talks on democracy, human rights

I would hope she would gift a Korean translation of Gene Sharp from Dictatorship to Democracy to escapees from north Korea so they could send it to the Korean people in the north. It can be downloaded at this link in Korean: https://www.aeinstein.org/s/FDTD-Korean.pdf

The common response I get from escapees when I ask why they do not resist and rebel is that they do not know what to do. They cannot organize for collective action because they do not know how. They need some tools and Gene Shapr's nonviolent resistance techniques could be helpful. (Of course the OSS Simple Sabotage Manual could also provide useful ideas about resistance and subversion of a tyrannical regime).

Although translations and many resources can be accessed here: https://www.aeinstein.org/digital-library

But somehow I do not think Senior Official Erin Barclay is traveling to the region to discuss north Korea.

U.S. diplomat to visit S. Korea, Indonesia next week for talks on democracy, human rights | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · November 25, 2023

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, Nov. 24 (Yonhap) -- A U.S. diplomat will visit South Korea and Indonesia for talks on democracy and human rights next week, the State Department said Friday.

During her trip from Monday through Dec. 1, Erin Barclay, senior official at the department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, will meet government and civil society representatives in Jakarta and Seoul, according to the department.

"She will also meet with ASEAN representatives, civil society and human rights advocates and organizations, and other like-minded partners to discuss efforts to advance the welfare of the people, including marginalized groups, in both countries," the department said in a note.

ASEAN refers to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

sshluck@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · November 25, 2023

8. N. Korea's Malligyong-1 reportedly incorporates smuggled components

This illustrates the effectiveness of the regime's global illicit activities network. Is anyone surprised?

N. Korea's Malligyong-1 reportedly incorporates smuggled components

donga.com

Posted November. 25, 2023 08:05,

Updated November. 25, 2023 08:05

N. Korea's Malligyong-1 reportedly incorporates smuggled components. November. 25, 2023 08:05. by Kyu-Jin Shin newjin@donga.com.

North Korea's first reconnaissance satellite, 'Malligyong-1,' which experienced a launch failure on May 31, reportedly incorporates components of South Korean origin.

On Friday, South Korean government officials revealed that a joint analysis conducted by South Korea and the U.S. on debris from the new carrier rocket 'Chollima-1' and the Malligyong-1, retrieved from the West Sea, indicated the presence of key South Korean parts in the satellite. Experts speculate that North Korea acquired these components by purchasing South Korean electronic devices abroad or smuggling them from China, incorporating them into the development of its military reconnaissance satellites. The procurement of such parts for the manufacturing of spy satellites, not to mention ballistic missiles, represents a clear violation of the U.N. Security Council resolution on North Korea.

The spy satellite launched in May from the West Sea Satellite Launching Site in North Pyongan Province, North Korea, flew for approximately 10 minutes before plunging into the sea around 200 kilometers west of an island in Gunsan City, North Jeolla Province, South Korea. The South Korean military recovered diverse components, including the second-tier fuselage of the launch body, various optical parts from the satellite's camera, and the tube inside the optical camera.

In the July briefing, South Korean military officials reported that the recovered parts indicated the Malligyong-1's poor quality and deemed it devoid of any military utility. While specific reasons were not disclosed, they concluded that the satellite failed to meet minimum performance criteria, particularly in distinguishing sub-meter objects (objects shorter than 1 meter in length and width).

On Tuesday, North Korea successfully launched its spy satellite on the third attempt. Some experts suggest that North Korea's satellite technology might be more advanced than initially assessed by South Korean sources in May, possibly due to Russian assistance in analyzing data from previous launch failures. Despite North Korea's celebration of the successful launch and praise for leader Kim Jong Un, it is improbable that the regime achieved indigenous technology for highly technology-intensive reconnaissance satellite development. The satellite likely comprises a substandard blend of smuggled parts from home appliances or electronic devices sourced not only from South Korea but also from other countries.

한국어

donga.com

9. North Korea warns of stronger armed forces on border

70% of its 1.2 million active military is stationed between the DMZ and Pyongyang and postured for offensive operations. The artillery in forward underground facilities is ready to begin killing thousands of Koreans in the South on short notice. What did the Compressive Military Agreement do to reduce this threat that only continues to grow with the interaction of new weapons systems such as the KN 24 and others? 

My recommendation: Re-introduce US troops to DMZ patrolling in designated sectors throughout the DMZ to gain experience and ensure interoperability with ROK forces to demonstrate US strength and resolve and commitment to the defense of the ROK.

North Korea warns of stronger armed forces on border

donga.com

Posted November. 24, 2023 08:09,

Updated November. 24, 2023 08:09

North Korea warns of stronger armed forces on border. November. 24, 2023 08:09. .

North Korea said it would never be bound by the September 19 inter-Korean military agreement and that it would withdraw the military step, taken to prevent military tension and conflict in all spheres including ground, sea, and air, and deploy more powerful armed forces and new-type military hardware in the region along the military demarcation line. This was a counterattack to South Korea’s suspension of a no-fly zone on the border with North Korea in response to North Korea’s spy satellite launch. South Korea’s Defense Minister Shin Won-sik pledged that North Korea’s provocations will be immediately met with strong retaliation.

Given its aggressive attitude, North Korea’s complete scrapping of the September 19 military agreement is expected. North Korea promised forward deployment of armed forces and military equipment near the military demarcation line, but it is likely that North Korea will go further by firing artillery rounds near the border, conducting field maneuvers, restoring guard posts near the border, infiltrating the sky with unmanned aerial vehicles, and carrying out provocations both at and under the sea. North Korea blamed South Korea for the scrapping of the military deal, adding that Seoul would be held wholly accountable in case an irretrievable clash broke out between the two Koreas.

The arrogance displayed by North Korea can be traced back to its reliance on the concept of the “nuclear shadow” effect, expecting that the South Korean military would be intimidated by any form of provocation, given North Korea’s possession of nuclear and missile capabilities, thus rendering an effective response unlikely. However, the actual impact of such threats may not be as potent as North Korea assumes. The KORUS alliance’s nuclear deterrence is operational, and South Korea surpasses North Korea in conventional military strength, making any provocative actions by the latter highly unwise. It is imperative for the Korean military to exhibit a resolute and decisive stance in the face of potential threats. However, this response should be carefully balanced to prevent unintentional clashes from escalating into a full-blown conflict, given the persistent military tension between the two Koreas.

The recent abandonment of the September 19 military agreement is a result of North Korea’s indiscriminate provocations. Despite the military’s assertion that the agreement was prejudicial to South Korea, it cannot be denied that the pact served as a minimal safety valve, preventing direct confrontations between the two Koreas. In the current situation, where even the promise to ease tension and avert clashes has been forsaken, the South Korean military must assert its strength to establish sustainable peace. Now is the opportune moment for the South Korean military to showcase unwavering strength, ensuring that even the slightest threat is swiftly nullified.

한국어

donga.com

10. South Korea does not need nuclear subs

I concur. A South Korean nuclear powered submarine is a vanity project. It is a waste of funding that could be prioritized toward other more effective military programs.

South Korea does not need nuclear subs

BY DOV S. ZAKHEIM, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 11/24/23 9:00 AM ET

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4324038-south-korea-does-not-need-nuclear-subs/

South Korea is again debating whether to develop and build a nuclear-powered submarine.

During a National Assembly confirmation hearing that took place last week, Admiral Kim Myung-Soo, the nominee for chairman of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, responded positively to a question about the utility of nuclear-powered submarines, stating that “those capabilities are needed.” He noted, however, that the current U.S.-Korean nuclear agreement restricts the use of nuclear materials for military purposes.

Nevertheless, there appears to be a growing sentiment on the part of both of South Korea’s leading parties and the general public in favor of Seoul acquiring nuclear-powered boats. The government should resist the temptation to do so.

In theory, South Korea could avoid America’s restrictions by turning to France to help it develop or acquire a nuclear-powered submarine. France could help South Korea develop its own nuclear-powered sub, much as Paris has assisted Brazil with its own nuclear-powered submarine program.

However, there are many reasons why Seoul should not imitate the Brazilians and forge ahead with its own program. To begin with, it was only in April of this year that President Biden and South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol reached an agreement that not only calls for greater consultation on nuclear matters between the two countries, in the form of a newly created nuclear consultative group, but also provides for an enhanced American nuclear presence around the peninsula to deter North Korean aggression.

In that regard, in mid-July a U.S Navy Ohio-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine made a port visit to Busan, the first such visit in decades. Were South Korea to attempt to evade its long-standing commitment to Washington to concentrate all its nuclear-related efforts solely for civilian purposes, it would undermine the spirit of the Biden-Yoon agreement and create a serious split between the two countries — from which only the North Koreans would benefit.

In any event, it is not clear how Seoul could afford to undertake a nuclear-submarine program unless it were to dramatically increase its defense spending beyond current levels. Indeed, the South is pressing ahead with a new 50,000-ton aircraft carrier that is certain to cost billions more than its 30,000-ton carrier. Seoul has seriously underestimated the cost of the smaller carrier, which it set at approximately $2.1 billion; the larger carrier easily could cost more than $6 billon. Given the government’s commitment to the aircraft carrier, the costs it has already sunk into that program, plus other key elements of its defense budget, it’s hard to see how Seoul would find additional funds to produce a viable nuclear-powered submarine fleet.

If Seoul were to launch a submarine program, it would have to build at least three boats to ensure that one boat operates on station at all times. Three submarines are likely to cost more than $10 billion once logistics support, including special safety provisions for the handling of nuclear materials, is taken into account. Indeed, for South Korea to field a credible fleet it would have to ensure that two subs are always on station, meaning that both the total number of boats to be acquired, and their corresponding costs, would have to double.

It is not at all clear that the government can increase its already significant defense spending levels by additional tens of billions of dollars. Finally, as the extended AUKUS timeline for fielding Australian submarines clearly indicates, more than a decade would pass before a single South Korean nuclear submarine actually took to sea.

Lastly, there are good operational reasons why South Korea should continue to acquire conventionally powered submarines rather than nuclear powered boats. The waters around the Korean peninsula are relatively shallow, which favors the employment of quiet conventional subs. South Korea now operates seven Son–Won II–class diesel-electric submarines, powered by a hybrid diesel‐electric/fuel cell with air-independent propulsion technology. These subs are extremely quiet; they can travel up to 20 knots when submerged and remain under water for seven weeks. They are perfectly suited for operations around the Korean Peninsula.

The South is currently planning both to upgrade the Son-Won II for about $100 million per boat and is proceeding with a new Son-Won III class at about $900 million per submarine. In other words, the country could acquire three state-of-the-art conventional submarines for less than the cost of one nuclear-powered sub.

The costs, the technologies, and operational realities all weigh against South Korea acquiring nuclear-powered submarines. If that were not enough, America’s recent commitment to bolster the nuclear umbrella that it has long provided to South Korea and that is so critical to its deterrent should settle the argument once and for all.

Dov S. Zakheim is a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and vice chairman of the board for the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He was undersecretary of Defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer for the Department of Defense from 2001 to 2004 and a deputy undersecretary of Defense from 1985 to 1987.

11. North Korean spy satellite team attend banquet with Kim Jong-un and daughter Ju Ae | North Korea

It is all about building the image of the Kim family regime.

​Photos the link: https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/24/north-korean-spy-satellite-team-attend-banquet-with-kim-jong-un-and-daughter-ju-ae?utm

North Korean spy satellite team attend banquet with Kim Jong-un and daughter Ju Ae | North Korea | The Guardian

Dictator seen with daughter at celebration for scientists and technicians who finally put Malligyong-1 into space after two failed attempts

Guardian staff and agencies

Fri 24 Nov 2023 00.05 EST

amp.theguardian.com

Show caption

Kim Jong-un and daughter Ju-Ae attend a banquet at the Mulan Pavilion in Pyongyang to celebrate the launch of the Malligyong-1 spy satellite. Photograph: KCNA via KNS/AFP/Getty Images

North Korea

Dictator seen with daughter at celebration for scientists and technicians who finally put Malligyong-1 into space after two failed attempts

Guardian staff and agencies

Fri 24 Nov 2023 00.05 EST

The North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un, has celebrated a “new era of a space power” with his family including daughter Ju Ae and the scientists who put the North’s first spy satellite into orbit.

Pyongyang’s launch of the Malligyong-1 on Tuesday was its third attempt after failures in May and August.

Images released by Pyongyang showed Kim praising scientists and space programme workers at the National Aerospace Technology Administration (Nata) while accompanied by Ju Ae.

Wearing a black leather coat, a grinning Kim was seen waving at the uniformed workers, all of whom appeared to be enthusiastically cheering him and Ju Ae.

North Korea’s spy satellite is a big deal, regardless of how advanced its technology is

State media released images of Kim enjoying a reception with Nata workers, top military and political officials, his daughter, and his wife, Ri Sol-ju.

Kim’s family members and other reception attendees were seen wearing matching T-shirts that said “Nata” in English.

All of the attendees “enthusiastically cheered expressing thanks to the great father who finally ensured the successful launch”, KCNA said.

North Korean space agency workers applaud in the Mulan Pavilion in Pyongyang, decked out to celebrate the launch of North Korea’s first spy satellite. Photograph: KCNA via KNS/AFP/Getty Images

Kim showed “such paternal love for the space scientists”, the state mouthpiece added.

Within hours of the launch, North Korea claimed that its leader was already reviewing images of US military bases in Guam.

No such images have come to light publicly.

The launch was “a full-fledged exercise of the right to self-defence”, Kim said during a visit to the national space agency, according to Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea to restore ‘all military measures’ on South Korea border

The spy satellite would help protect the North from “dangerous and aggressive moves of the hostile forces”, he said, adding that it had pioneered “a new era of a space power”.

South Korea confirmed the launch was successful but said it was too early to determine if the satellite was functioning as claimed by the North.

After Tuesday’s launch, South Korea partially suspended a five-year-old military accord with the North and deployed “surveillance and reconnaissance assets” to the border.

Pyongyang responded by calling Seoul’s moves “reckless” and said it would also suspend the deal in full, adding that it “will never be bound” by the agreement again.

Experts have said putting a working spy satellite into orbit would improve North Korea’s intelligence-gathering capabilities, particularly over South Korea, and provide crucial data in any military conflict.

View on theguardian.com

amp.theguardian.com

12. North Korea’s Kim says spy satellite launch was exercise of right to self-defense

Remember that the Kim family regime must portray the South and the US as a threat to the regime in order to justify the suffering and sacrifice of the Korean people in the north as Kim prioritizes nuclear weapons and missile development over the welfare of the people.

North Korea’s Kim says spy satellite launch was exercise of right to self-defense

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, his daughter and other family members visited the country’s space agency to congratulate the team on an “eye-opening event.”

NBC News · by Reuters

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country’s recent launch of a spy satellite was an exercise of its right to self-defense, as Pyongyang celebrated the event as showing it could strike anywhere in the world, state media reported.

North Korea said Tuesday it had placed its first spy satellite in orbit, drawing international condemnation for violating U.N. resolutions that bar its use of technology applicable to ballistic missile programs.

Kim visited the National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA) to applaud space scientists and technicians, and said Tuesday’s launch was an “eye-opening event” in the face of the “dangerous and aggressive” moves of the hostile forces, KCNA news agency reported.

“He said that the possession of reconnaissance satellite is a full-fledged exercise of the right to self-defense the DPRK armed forces can neither concede even a bit nor stop, even a moment,” KCNA said, using the initials of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

North Korea hosted a reception to celebrate the launch on Thursday, where Premier Kim Tok Hun said the satellite would develop the North Korean military into “the world’s best army possessed of capability for striking the whole world.”

State media photographs showed Kim’s family members joining the leader to celebrate the launch.

Kim’s daughter sat next to him at the banquet wearing a T-shirt with NATA’s logo, along with Kim’s wife, his sister, rocket scientists and engineers, state media photographs showed.

Kim and his daughter at a banquet in Pyongyang on Thursday celebrating the satellite launch.KCNA via AFP

This week’s satellite launch was the North’s third attempt this year after two failures and followed Kim’s rare trip to Russia in September, during which President Vladimir Putin vowed to help Pyongyang build satellites.

South Korean officials said the latest launch most likely involved Russian technical assistance under a growing partnership that has seen Pyongyang supply Russia with millions of artillery shells.

Russia and North Korea have denied arms deals but have promised deeper cooperation.

South Korea has said that the North Korean satellite is believed to have entered orbit, but that it would take time to assess whether it was operating normally.

NBC News · by Reuters

13. Korea aims to make deeper foray into global defense market

​A partner in the Arsenal of Democracy. (I know I am a broken record.)

Korea aims to make deeper foray into global defense market

The Korea Times · November 24, 2023

Hanwha Aerospace's Redback armored vehicle is displayed during a defense industry exhibition at Avalon Airport in Australia, March 2. Yonhap

Korea is seeking to expand its foothold in the global arms market following a significant leap last year, capitalizing on increased demand for weapons driven by geopolitical conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, as well as an assertive China.

Korea emerged as one of the most prolific arms exporters last year, achieving record-breaking weapons exports of $17.3 billion, sharply up from $7.25 billion in 2021, according to the defense ministry.

Behind the boom was Poland, which signed $13 billion worth of deals with Korean firms to buy K-2 tanks, K-9 self-propelled howitzers, FA-50 light attack aircraft and K-239 Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers as it looks to bolster its defenses in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Industry watchers say Korea is well poised to tap into the European market beyond its major clients in Southeast Asia and the Middle East with robust production lines of cutting-edge, cost-effective military equipment compatible with the U.S. and NATO system.

"Amid a hike in global arms demand triggered by the prolonged Russia-Ukraine war, emerging players, like Korea, are benefiting from the declining arms industry of Russia, the world's No. 2 exporter," said Shim Soon-hyung, a researcher at the state-run Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade.

Building on the momentum from last year's success, local defense suppliers struck new deals earlier this year or are expected to sign agreements in the near future.

In February, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) clinched a 1.2 trillion-won ($920 million) contract to sell 18 FA-50 light attack aircraft to Malaysia, its fourth overseas sales following deals with Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Pilots and engineers are running toward to a FA-50 jet in Wonju, Gangwon Province, Oct. 26. Courtesy of Republic of Korea Air Force

In July, Hanwha Aerospace's Redback infantry fighting vehicle was chosen as the preferred bidder for Australia's acquisition program worth $12 billion.

If finalized, it would mark Hanwha's second export to Australia following a 2021 deal for K-9 self-propelled howitzers, which are in service in nine countries, including Turkey, Poland and India.

Korea is also reaching out to new customers in the Middle East amid renewed security concerns in the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Following LIG Nex1's sales of surface-to-air missile system, called Cheongung II, to the United Arab Emirates in 2021, the Korean firm has been in the final rounds of negotiations with Saudi Arabia for a big supply deal for the air defense system, according to local reports.

Another promising area is the expanding naval ship market as Korea is one of the few countries capable of building 3,000-ton submarines and Aegis-system equipped destroyers.

Hanwha Ocean, whose predecessor Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering first exported submarines to Indonesia in 2011, has been pitching offers to build submarines to Canada, the Philippines and Poland, which are expected to replace their old fleets of submarines.

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries is seeking to leverage its capability to independently design and build Aegis destroyers of over 7,000 tons to expand its export territory beyond Southeast Asia, eyeing markets in North America and Europe.

Industry officials say increased overseas sales could reduce per-unit costs and open up business opportunities in the maintenance, repair and overhaul market in the long term, a boon for Korea's goal of becoming the world's fourth-largest arms exporter by 2027.

But challenges remain as big weapons deals require comprehensive financial packages, sometimes backed by the government, and need to seize the right geopolitical moment.

Korea has been negotiating a second round of contracts estimated to be worth 30 trillion won with Poland to sell additional military equipment, but local suppliers worry a lack of financial support and change of the Polish government following last month's elections could stymie the mega deal.

As the state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea is unable to provide loans and guarantees for the proposed sales after hitting its upper limit from last year's contracts, five Korean banks have been in negotiations to provide a syndicated loan worth $2.7 billion in an initial stage of support, according to industry sources.

"We are closely monitoring the funding plan and political situation in Poland to figure out its implication on our supply deal," a local defense company official said, asking for anonymity. (Yonhap)

The Korea Times · November 24, 2023

14. Russian state TV hints at arming North Korea

This is really nothing new. Russia has been helping north Korea in various ways for decades. Where did north KOrea get its new KN-24 (a Russian Iskander that predated Kim's trip to Vladivostok).

Russian state TV hints at arming North Korea

Newsweek · by Jake Loader · November 24, 2023

Russia will arm North Korea if South Korea sends tanks or heavy weaponry to Ukraine, Russian state TV hosts have said.

In an aid package on August 29, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol pledged $394 million in financial aid to Ukraine. Seoul has also sanctioned Russia over its invasion of Ukraine by blocking the export of strategic items.

Relations between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin have been publicized on Russian state TV and the two had a meeting in Russia's Far East in September, with fears the pair could strike up an arms deal, although the Kremlin denied these claims.

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un shake hands during their meeting at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's Amur region on September 13, 2023. Concerns have been raised over the possibility the two leaders could negotiate an arms deal. Vladimir SMIRNOV / POOL / AFP/Getty Images

An English translation posted to X on November 23 by an adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Anton Gerashchenko, showed Russian state TV hosts pledging support to North Korea.

An unidentified anchor said: "When (South Korean) officials banned the supply of Korean cars here, we kept quiet. They supplied Ukraine with arms. South Korea supplied shells to Ukraine. They stopped supplying chips here that we vitally need...

"Are we supposed to keep quiet? Well, certainly we will help the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. We will help them in every way we can. And if (South Korea) starts supplying tanks, heavy weapons (to Ukraine), we will arm North Korea. It seems to me that this is how a fair world works. A symmetrical response to the South Koreans. They shouldn't be surprised."

Newsweek has contacted the U.S. State Department for comment via the media request form on its website.

Russian state TV has made its hopes for stronger relations between North Korea and Russia clear in the past and political scientist Sergey Mikheyev told the Russia-1 channel in September that the move could damage the U.S. strategically through military and technical cooperation.

He described how North Korean nuclear-powered submarines could patrol the U.S. Pacific Coast and said Kim Jong Un's visit was a "feast for the soul," also mentioning cheap labor the country could offer.

A blossoming relationship between the two countries is a concern for American officials and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a press conference in Seoul on November 9 that the situation is "growing and dangerous."

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un in conversation alongside officials at a meeting in Russia on September 13, 2023. American officials say increased cooperation between Russia and South Korea is a growing threat. Vladimir SMIRNOV / POOL / AFP/Getty Images

After meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin he told media: "This is a matter of deep concern for both of us, as well as for other countries around the world."

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have escalated after North Korea announced on Thursday its decision to abandon a key military agreement with South Korea that was originally intended to reduce hostilities.

North Korea has continued to advance its nuclear program in spite of international sanctions, while South Korea has maintained its mutual defense treaty with the United States.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek · by Jake Loader · November 24, 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