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Quotes of the Day:
"The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invisible battles inside all of us - that's where it's at."
– Jesse Owens
"If you are able to state a problem, it can be solved."
– Edwin H. Land
"Nothing contributes so much to tranquilizing the mind as a steady purpose - a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye."
– Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
1. USFK commander points out S. Korea's defense production capabilities for contingency logistics support
2. U.S. official notes Korean firms' move not to sell used chip equipment to China as 'encouraging'
3. Bolton says Trump wants to be treated like N. Korean leader Kim
4. Yoon warns N. Korea of 'larger price' for 'reckless' provocation
5. 'Beyond Utopia' captures 2 defector families' harrowing odyssey in documentary
6. Korean Air to order 33 Airbus A350 Aircraft
7. 100,000 North Koreans work abroad, earning US$500 million a year: UN
8. ‘In rhythm every day’: Annual review places Camp Humphreys commissary best in class
9. High level North Korean delegation visits China
10. ＜Inside N. Korea＞ Implementation of the large-scale restructuring of trading companies(2) Trading companies criticized for becoming run like "personal property" and for corrupt activities.
11. N. Hamgyong Province’s crackdown on generators causes panic
12. Dedicated Dodgers fans visit Korea and DMZ, hope to score tickets to season opener
13. U.S. and Republic of Korea to Negotiate Cost-Sharing
14. Ohtani Brings Koreans, Japanese Together at MLB Opener in Seoul
1. USFK commander points out S. Korea's defense production capabilities for contingency logistics support
No. No. No. The press continues to get OPCON transition and the command relationships wrong. The US does not have OPCON of Korean forces or the ROK/US Combined Forces Command. The ROK/US CFC belongs equally to both countries and the Military Committee (consisting of representatives from the national command and military authorities of both countries) exercises control over the ROK/US CFC. The ROK/US CFC is not a US command. It is a bilateral command, again, equally controlled by both nations.. When OPCON transition is complete there will be a Korean general in command of CFC and the US general will beht deputy commander. The US general will continue to command the UN Command, USFK and serve on the permanent session of the Military Committee as the senior US military officer in Korea.
Excerpts:
Responding to a question about ongoing efforts to transfer wartime operational control (OPCON) from the U.S. to South Korea, LaCamera said, "We are on the trajectory to complete it."
"But it's standards-based, not-time based," he said. "We are working on it and we are moving forward."
Seoul and Washington have been working on the conditions-based OPCON transition. Conditions include South Korea's capabilities to lead combined forces, its strike and air defense capabilities and the regional security environment conducive to the handover.
The South handed over operational control over its troops to the U.S.-led U.N. Command during the 1950-53 Korean War. It was then transferred to South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) when the command was launched in 1978.
Seoul retook peacetime OPCON in 1994, but Washington maintains wartime OPCON.
Regarding logistics, South Korea is a partner in the Arsenal of Democracy.
Excerpts:
His remarks appeared to indicate that the USFK commander sees the potential strategic value of the Asian ally, South Korea, in terms of logistical support against China's A2/AD shield in the event of contingencies in the Pacific.
South Korea's defense production capabilities have received renewed attention in the wake of Russia's war in Ukraine. Poland and other nations have looked to South Korea to strengthen their military stockpiles as South Korea has maintained defense manufacturing capacity to deal with persistent threats from North Korea.
USFK commander points out S. Korea's defense production capabilities for contingency logistics support | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · March 22, 2024
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, March 21 (Yonhap) -- The commander of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) highlighted South Korea's defense production capabilities on Thursday, as he addressed a complex question of how American forces would overcome logistical challenges in the event of a Pacific contingency far away from the U.S. mainland.
Gen. Paul LaCamera commented on the issue, pointing out challenges from the anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) threat, a term that often refers to China's strategy to leverage its advanced military assets to keep hostile forces, namely U.S. forces, at bay.
Over recent decades, China has been enhancing its A2/AD capabilities with cruise and ballistic missiles, bombers and other advanced weapons systems with longer operational ranges, and greater lethality and accuracy.
"The other part of the fight is the fact that I sit inside the A2/AD bubble and we are actually on the Asian continent in South Korea," he said during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Armed Services in Washington.
"(South Korea) is not a third world country. It's a first world country that has production capabilities ... I think we are looking at all avenues of what we can do to sustain ourselves," he added.
Gen. Paul LaCamera, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, speaks during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Armed Services in Washington on March 21, 2024 in this photo captured from a livestream of the hearing from the committee's website. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
The general went on to say, "We've got to keep there and the sea lines of communications in the fight." He did not elaborate further.
His remarks appeared to indicate that the USFK commander sees the potential strategic value of the Asian ally, South Korea, in terms of logistical support against China's A2/AD shield in the event of contingencies in the Pacific.
South Korea's defense production capabilities have received renewed attention in the wake of Russia's war in Ukraine. Poland and other nations have looked to South Korea to strengthen their military stockpiles as South Korea has maintained defense manufacturing capacity to deal with persistent threats from North Korea.
Responding to a question about ongoing efforts to transfer wartime operational control (OPCON) from the U.S. to South Korea, LaCamera said, "We are on the trajectory to complete it."
"But it's standards-based, not-time based," he said. "We are working on it and we are moving forward."
Seoul and Washington have been working on the conditions-based OPCON transition. Conditions include South Korea's capabilities to lead combined forces, its strike and air defense capabilities and the regional security environment conducive to the handover.
The South handed over operational control over its troops to the U.S.-led U.N. Command during the 1950-53 Korean War. It was then transferred to South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) when the command was launched in 1978.
Seoul retook peacetime OPCON in 1994, but Washington maintains wartime OPCON.
Commenting on security cooperation between South Korea and Japan, LaCamera underlined the need to continue trilateral cooperation between the U.S. and the two allies in the face of regional security challenges.
"The true existential threat to the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan is not World War II imperial Japan. It's the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) with nuclear weapons pointed at both countries, and quite frankly our country," he said. ROK and DPRK stand for the official names of South Korea and North Korea, respectively.
He added, "The Korea theater of operations is pretty tight. We are all inside the A2/AD bubble for both countries, and we've got to continue to work together for the security of all three nations."
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · March 22, 2024
2. U.S. official notes Korean firms' move not to sell used chip equipment to China as 'encouraging'
(LEAD) U.S. official notes Korean firms' move not to sell used chip equipment to China as 'encouraging' | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · March 22, 2024
(ATTN: ADDS more remarks in paras 6-7)
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, March 21 (Yonhap) -- A senior U.S. official on Thursday portrayed South Korean companies' reported move to stop selling used semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China as "encouraging," as Washington has been seeking tighter export controls on key technologies amid an intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry.
Alan Estevez, under secretary of commerce for industry and security, made the remarks in his written statement to a hearing of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, entitled "Countering China on the World Stage: Empowering American Businesses and Denying Chinese Military Our Technology.
"It has been encouraging to see allies and partners recognizing the threat the PRC and others pose and taking appropriate actions to address security concerns regarding semiconductors and other emerging technologies, through their domestic legal systems," he said in the statement. PRC stands for China's official name, the People's Republic of China.
"It has been reported that key South Korean firms intend to no longer sell used semiconductor manufacturing equipment to the PRC. Also, the governments of the Netherlands and Japan have announced and implemented controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment," he noted.
Last week, the Financial Times reported that Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc. stopped selling their old chip producing equipment as Washington has called on them to come in tune with its semiconductor export controls.
During the hearing, Estevez pointed out that the United States has been seeking controls on the servicing and components of equipment already sent to China before export restrictions went into effect.
"I am racking up frequent flyer miles, talking to our allies about what they are doing, how they are doing it and making sure that we have parity between U.S. companies and the companies in our allied nations so that we are all having similar controls," he said.
At a forum in December, Estevez said that the U.S., South Korea and other allies were in "preliminary" talks over the idea of creating a new export control regime to prevent cutting-edge technologies, including semiconductors and quantum computing, from being transferred to potential adversaries.
This photo, taken on Dec. 12, 2023, shows Alan Estevez, U.S. under secretary of commerce for industry and security, speaking during a forum in Washington. (Yonhap)
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · March 22, 2024
3. Bolton says Trump wants to be treated like N. Korean leader Kim
Bolton says Trump wants to be treated like N. Korean leader Kim | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · March 22, 2024
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, March 21 (Yonhap) -- Former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton has said that former President Donald Trump wants Americans to treat him the way North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is treated in the reclusive country.
Bolton, who served as national security advisor under Trump from 2018-2019, made the remarks against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in a social media post. He is known to have been at odds with Trump over major foreign policy issues while in office.
"Donald Trump wants Americans to treat him like North Koreans treat Kim Jung Un. Get ready," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.
Bolton has voiced sharp criticism of Trump, including through his memoir, "The Room Where It Happened."
In a new edition of the memoir published in January, Bolton warned that Trump, if reelected, could attempt to reach a "reckless" deal on North Korea's nuclear program that would alienate South Korea.
This file photo, taken on April 25, 2023, shows former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton speaking during a forum in Seoul. (Yonhap)
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · March 22, 2024
4. Yoon warns N. Korea of 'larger price' for 'reckless' provocation
Remember that the Kim family regime paid no price for the murder of 46 ROK Sailors in 2010.
We should also note that President Yoon's words illustrate the failure of the Kim family regime strategy. The more that the regime increases tensions and makes threats the stronger trilateral cooperation and alliances become. Also the ROK, US, and Japan are not making political and economic concessions (which of course if they do would cause Kim to assess his political warfare and blackmail diplomacy strategies a success).
Excerpts:
"If North Korea thinks it can bring us to our knees with its provocations and threats, this would be a perfect misjudgment," Yoon said. "Our government and military will never take even a single step backward in the face of any provocation or threat by North Korea."
Yoon vowed to strengthen security cooperation with ally the United States, as well as trilaterally with the U.S. and Japan.
He also renewed his promise to support the nation's veterans and families of fallen service members until the end while making sure they receive the treatment they deserve.
West Sea Defense Day commemorates the 2002 inter-Korean naval skirmish off the border island of Yeonpyeong, the 2010 sinking of the corvette Cheonan blamed on a North Korean torpedo attack, and the North's shelling of Yeonpyeong in 2010.
Yoon called the incidents "brutal provocations that cannot be pardoned under any pretext."
(LEAD) Yoon warns N. Korea of 'larger price' for 'reckless' provocation | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · March 22, 2024
(ATTN: UPDATES with more remarks by Yoon; ADDS photo)
By Lee Haye-ah
SEOUL, March 22 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol warned Friday that North Korea will pay a "larger price" in the event it carries out a "reckless" provocation as tension ran high over the regime's continued weapons tests.
Yoon issued the warning as the nation marked West Sea Defense Day, which commemorates the 55 service members who died in action while defending the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border between South and North Korea, between 2002 and 2010.
"Our military will maintain an ironclad readiness posture and firmly defend the Republic of Korea's freedom and the people's safety by responding immediately and overwhelmingly to any provocation," Yoon said during a memorial ceremony at the Navy's 2nd Fleet Command in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul.
"Should North Korea carry out a reckless provocation, it will pay a larger price for sure."
President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers commemorative remarks during a ceremony marking West Sea Defense Day at the Navy's 2nd Fleet Command in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul, on March 22, 2024. (Yonhap)
North Korea this week fired short-range ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and conducted a ground jet test of what it said was a solid-fuel engine for a new type of intermediate hypersonic missile.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula run high after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un issued a call in January to revise the country's constitution to define South Korea as a "primary foe and invariable principal enemy" and codify its commitment to "completely occupying" the South in the event of war.
"If North Korea thinks it can bring us to our knees with its provocations and threats, this would be a perfect misjudgment," Yoon said. "Our government and military will never take even a single step backward in the face of any provocation or threat by North Korea."
Yoon vowed to strengthen security cooperation with ally the United States, as well as trilaterally with the U.S. and Japan.
He also renewed his promise to support the nation's veterans and families of fallen service members until the end while making sure they receive the treatment they deserve.
West Sea Defense Day commemorates the 2002 inter-Korean naval skirmish off the border island of Yeonpyeong, the 2010 sinking of the corvette Cheonan blamed on a North Korean torpedo attack, and the North's shelling of Yeonpyeong in 2010.
Yoon called the incidents "brutal provocations that cannot be pardoned under any pretext."
President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) sings the national anthem during a memorial ceremony marking West Sea Defense Day at the Navy's 2nd Fleet Command in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul, on March 22, 2024. (Yonhap)
hague@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · March 22, 2024
5. 'Beyond Utopia' captures 2 defector families' harrowing odyssey in documentary
If you have not seen it you can watch it on Hulu, Apple TV, Amazon, YouTube, and Google Play Movie.
I strongly recommend taking 1 hour and 51 minutes to watch it.
'Beyond Utopia' captures 2 defector families' harrowing odyssey in documentary
The Korea Times · March 22, 2024
North Korea refugee activist Hannah Song, right, responds to a question from Namju Cho, director of communications and marketing at Dulwich College Seoul. Courtesy of Sam Wiggington
By Michael Breen
Korean society needs to pay more attention to the plight of North Korean refugees, and warring political parties need to establish some “don’t touch policies” to support them, and remain consistent even as administrations change, according to a leading activist in Seoul.
“North Korea is one of the most intractable problems of our time and it doesn’t get enough attention,” said Hannah Song, the president and CEO of Liberty in North Korea, a non-profit organization that helps North Koreans escape and resettle.
“The few who arrive here are a symptom of this problem. We need to institutionalize some don’t-touch policies to support them,” she said.
Song was addressing an audience of students, teachers and parents Wednesday at Dulwich College Seoul, the British international school that opened in the capital in 2010. Her talk followed a screening of the recently released 2023 defector documentary "Beyond Utopia."
She urged young people to be more involved in the issue.
The movie includes secret film footage from inside North Korea, including a scene of a public execution, which is why it is rated PG-13.
It tells the stories in real-time and in harrowing detail of two families. Lee So-yeon is a defector in South Korea working through brokers in China and North Korea to rescue her 17-year-old son, who she has not seen since her escape ten years earlier. In a heartbreaking outcome, the plan fails. Go-betweens find out her son is caught in China, returned to North Korea, severely tortured and sent to the gulag. Her own mother inside North Korea conveys the message that she wants no more contact with her.
Five members of another family are found hiding in China by someone who calls Kim Seung-eun, a Protestant pastor in Cheonan whose wife is North Korean, to see if he can do anything.
Kim, who has arranged the escape of around 1,000 defectors and who was helping Lee So-yeon, joins the family for a dramatic 12,000-kilometer journey from one safe house to another through China, Vietnam and Laos and across the Mekong River to freedom in Thailand.
In all, the defection involved 50 brokers, some of whom one night appeared to lead Kim and the family around in circles in the Lao jungle as a tactic to extract more money.
Directed by Madeleine Gavin, "Beyond Utopia" came to popular awareness after it won an award at the Sundance Film Festival.
The movie was expected to be nominated for this year’s Academy Awards but failed to make it following criticism by the Women Cross DMZ organization and others that it stereotyped North Koreans and failed to mention the 1950-53 Korean War and sufficiently blame the United States for their plight.
The events in the film took place shortly before the North Korean border was closed due to the pandemic, and were filmed on smuggled mobile phones and handheld cameras.
There are around 34,000 North Koreans in South Korea. They have been coming since the end of the Korean War. In early decades, they tended to be soldiers. It was the famine of the 1990s, when ordinary people, mostly women, crossed illegally into China in search of food and started to make their way south.
These refugees break the law at both ends. Not only do they enter China and other countries illegally. But they leave illegally. North Korea criminalizes even the expression of the desire to emigrate and forbids people from moving abroad except for official purposes. China sends refugees back, where they face brutal interrogations and prison, particularly if suspected of having met South Koreans or religious activists in China.
At one point around 3,000 were arriving here each year, but these numbers dropped dramatically after Kim Jong-un began a crackdown. With COVID-19, they dropped to around 60 over two years. Numbers began to pick up in 2023, when around 200 arrived, most of whom are believed to have already been outside of North Korea.
Once out, North Koreans tend to become extremely bitter at the regime that controls their country. “I run out of words to describe how angry I am,” one man said in the documentary.
Song said that successive governments here tend to change the level of support provided to defectors.
Typically, conservatives are comfortable with the implicit criticism of North Korea and more supportive of refugees while progressives seek to downplay their presence in the interest of improved government-to-government ties.
Song noted that young South Koreans are far less interested in North Korea than the older generation, to the point that they feel North Korea is a foreign country and don’t care about reunification.
“We need to change the narrative on North Korea away from Kim Jong-un and nuclear weapons to focus on the people,” she said. “We all have a role to play in that.”
“I would love to see more young people involved,” she told the students.
Michael Breen, a British columnist residing in Korea, contributed this story.
The Korea Times · March 22, 2024
6. Korean Air to order 33 Airbus A350 Aircraft
Trouble for Boeing?
Korean Air to order 33 Airbus A350 Aircraft
https://www.chosun.com/english/industry-en/2024/03/22/RSWALBHLRBGBVAEJFGBMMI2RTY/
By Ryu Jung,
Woo Ji-won
Published 2024.03.22. 16:06
Updated 2024.03.22. 16:13
Korean Air will sign a contract with French-German aircraft producer Airbus to procure 33 variants of the A350 family.
The order includes 27 A350-1000s and six A350-900s, totaling $13.7 billion (18.17 trillion won).
Airbus A350-1000/ Korean Air
The contract will complement the South Korean flagship carrier’s aim to gradually retire from its older airplanes, the A380. The financial losses caused by the A380′s low energy efficiency and unoccupied seats prompted the company to transition to the eco-friendly A350. The company also views the acquisition of the A350 series as a preparatory step for its merger with Asiana Airlines, which has been operating the A350 since 2017.
Cho Won-tae, CEO of Korean Air
The A350-1000, the largest variant in the A350 family, can carry 350-410 passengers. With the longest flight range among existing passenger aircraft, high-energy efficient aviation can fly up to 16,000 kilometers.
The A350-900 is about seven meters shorter than the A350-1000, with a range of 15,370 kilometers, sufficient to cover the distance from Incheon to New York.
The airline plans to purchase an additional 143 next-generation airplanes in the near future. CEO Cho Won-tae emphasized 2024 as a pivotal year for finalizing the merger with Asiana Airlines and preparing to launch the integrated airline.
7. 100,000 North Koreans work abroad, earning US$500 million a year: UN
Just to note, in 2022 north Korea had a $415 million shortfall in food aid.
100,000 North Koreans work abroad, earning US$500 million a year: UN
Workers were sent to more than 40 countries to earn foreign cash, most of it forwarded to Pyongyang.
By Eugene Whong for RFA
2024.03.21
Washington
rfa.org
Around 100,000 North Koreans worked overseas in 2023, earning about US$500 million for North Korea, indicating that Pyongyang has the means to get around sanctions, a report by the U.N. Security Council’s Panel of experts said.
According to the report, which covers July 2023 to January 2024 and was dated Mar. 7, the workers were sent to around 40 countries to work in construction, hospitality, medicine and information technology.
“These workers are initially dispatched on student or tourist visas; some use false nationalities and identity cards,” the report said. “The vast majority are reportedly working in two countries.”
Though the report did not name those countries, sources have told Radio Free Asia that there are tens of thousands of North Korean workers in Russia and China, with one source saying as recently as December that there were more than 100,000 in China alone.
But the workers can only keep a fraction of their earnings, the report said.
“The remainder is taken by their dispatching agency and in many cases used to purchase items for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” the report said, using North Korea’s official name.
More planned
The report said that North Korea also has contracts to send around 400,000 more workers abroad once the border with China opens further after being closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under U.N. Security Council Resolution 2397, meant to deprive Pyongyang of cash and resources that could be funneled into its nuclear and missile programs, all North Korean workers were supposed to have returned home by the end of 2019, and no new work visas were to be issued to North Korean citizens since then.
According to RFA reports, some of the workers who were abroad prior to the deadline ended up stranded in China or Russia once North Korea closed its borders in January 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Though Pyongyang brought some of them home last year, others who have not seen their homes in more than four years remain abroad.
IT workers
Among the various sectors that dispatched North Korean workers are employed in, about 3,000 IT workers abroad and 1,000 at home generate what the panel estimated amounted to between $250-600 million per year.
A report from South Korean outlet NK News quoted human rights activist Sokeel Park as saying that the sanctions should be revised to protect North Korean workers.
“If there is any interim deal that includes sanctions relief with snapback provisions in return for progress on arms controls, sanctions against North Koreans living and working overseas should be relieved first,” Park, the South Korea director of Liberty in North Korea, told NK News.
“If these sanctions are adjusted, they could work in a broader range of countries, their visa situations could be regularized and there could be a push for better compliance with International Labour Organization standards and improvement in conditions and share of pay,” he said.
Edited by Malcolm Foster.
rfa.org
8. ‘In rhythm every day’: Annual review places Camp Humphreys commissary best in class
Every time I visit camp Humphreys I am amazed at the size and how much of a "Little America" it appears to be. In terms of size its footprint would cover an area in Washington, DC from Georgetown University to Nationals Stadium and from Capitol Hill to the Pentagon.
‘In rhythm every day’: Annual review places Camp Humphreys commissary best in class
Stars and Stripes · by David Choi · March 21, 2024
Last year, the 90,000-square-foot commissary at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, counted over $4.2 million in sales from around 66,500 customers, according to the Defense Commissary Agency. (David Choi/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — The grocery store on the largest U.S. military installation overseas has been named the best overseas large commissary of the year by the Defense Commissary Agency.
The Camp Humphreys commissary learned of the title March 1, according to an email Wednesday from DeCA spokeswoman Tressa Smith.
The grocery store at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, has been named the best overseas large commissary of the year by the Defense Commissary Agency. (David Choi/Stars and Stripes)
Credit for the award goes to the commissary employees, who “work hard and consistently do their jobs well,” commissary officer Myong Brown said Wednesday in a separate email.
“The Camp Humphreys commissary is like a symphony orchestra, in that all the employees and annex stores must play off the same sheet of music to remain in harmony,” she said. “Our zone manager is the conductor, and our working teams and annex stores are the music. Our music is not and never will be perfect; however, we stay in rhythm every day.”
Second place this year went to the commissary at U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria in Grafenwöhr, Germany. Last year’s first-place winner was the commissary at Osan Air Base, just a few miles north of Humphreys.
Each of DeCA’s approximately 235 commissaries in 13 countries were assessed on sales, customer surveys, safety, display contests, special events, cleanliness and organization, the agency said in a news release March 14.
“This year’s winners put a lot of hard work into providing the best benefit for our patrons,” DeCA acting chief operating officer Robert Bunch said in the release. “We have a lot of great employees at store level, and these awards are a testament to their commitment to their patrons.”
Last year, the 90,000-square-foot Humphreys commissary counted over $4.2 million in sales from around 66,500 customers, according to DeCA. Around 10% of sales come from meat and produce.
Lower prices draw Sgt. First Class Charles McCoy, an electromagnetic spectrum manager for Eighth Army, to the commissary.
“The commissary has been beneficial for me due to the meats being at a decent price compared to off post,” he said while shopping there Thursday. “Also, the variety of cereal, rice and vegetables have been something that I find myself coming back to due to pricing.”
McCoy, who’s lived in South Korea six years, said many items were out of stock during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the commissary was “able to bounce back.”
“This place always stays clean; I haven’t seen it not being clean,” he said. “It’s been good, and the staff has always been great.”
Air Force spouse Sarah Prothero said her family can “usually find everything that we need” at the commissary; however, certain items like produce can be “really expensive, even if it’s locally sourced.”
“They always have enough registers open; it’s always really good,” she said. “I don’t have to wait for 10 minutes to check out, so that’s always really nice.”
David Choi
David Choi
David Choi is based in South Korea and reports on the U.S. military and foreign policy. He served in the U.S. Army and California Army National Guard. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Stars and Stripes · by David Choi · March 21, 2024
9. High level North Korean delegation visits China
Kim Jong Un will be like his grandfather and try to play China and Russia for his own ends.
High level North Korean delegation visits China
The two sides discussed ‘external environment,’ situation on Korean Peninsula.
By RFA Staff
2024.03.22
rfa.org
A North Korean diplomatic delegation is in China for talks on strengthening cooperation, marking the highest-ranking official talks between the two nations since Pyongyang lifted COVID-19 lockdown.
The delegation, led by North Korea’s international department director Kim Song Nam, met with Wang Huning, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, according to the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang on Friday.
In a meeting with Kim, Wang voiced China’s willingness to promote bilateral ties with Pyongyang and proposed that the two nations work together to create a “peaceful and stable external environment,” read a statement posted on the embassy’s website.
“The two sides also exchanged views on issues of common interest, including the situation on the Korean Peninsula,” the statement added, without elaborating further.
North Korea last Monday fired ballistic missiles into the sea for the first time in two months as the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Seoul for a democracy conference hosted by President Yoon Suk Yeol.
South Korea’s military said multiple short-range missiles were fired from a region south of the North's capital, Pyongyang, landing east of the Korean Peninsula, adding that it shared information on the launch with the United States and Japan.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned the launches after his country’s coast guard also reported the firing of what it said appeared to be a ballistic missile.
“North Korea’s series of actions threaten the peace and security of our region and the international community, and are absolutely unacceptable,” said Kishida at that time, calling the launch a violation of U.N. resolutions.
The North’s missile launch came just after Seoul and Washington finished 10-day large-scale annual joint military drills.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Pyongyang and Beijing. The North declared 2024 as the year of North Korea-China friendship, a designation first introduced in 2009 to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations.
Kim, who used to work as an interpreter for the North Korean founder Kim Il Sung and the former leader Kim Jong Il, is known to have a deep knowledge of Chinese affairs. Wang, meanwhile, is considered the fourth most powerful voice within the Chinese Communist Party.
It is unclear how long Kim would stay in China, but North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency reported on Friday that the tour will take the North Korean delegation to Vietnam and Laos.
Laos plans to host the ASEAN Regional Forum and other ASEAN-related meetings as this year's chair country. The annual meeting is the sole regional forum joined by North Korea.
Edited by Mike Firn.
rfa.org
10. ＜Inside N. Korea＞ Implementation of the large-scale restructuring of trading companies(2) Trading companies criticized for becoming run like "personal property" and for corrupt activities.
Excerpts:
◆ Trading companies are “engaging in anti-socialism”
◆ Kim Jong-un and leadership are directing the process
◆ Impact on ordinary people... Import businesses have been nearly wiped out
＜Inside N. Korea＞ Implementation of the large-scale restructuring of trading companies(2) Trading companies criticized for becoming run like "personal property" and for corrupt activities.
2024.03.22
asiapress.org
(FILE PHOTO) A woman displays Chinese-made food products on the street. Trading companies have made huge profits by distributing imported goods domestically. Taken by ASIAPRESS in Yanggang Province, October 2013.
＜Inside N. Korea＞ Implementation of the large-scale restructuring of trading companies(1) Called “anti-socialist hotbeds,” government forces ‘bases’ of trading companies to close down and consolidate
In North Korea, being labeled as someone engaging in “anti-socialist behavior” is an invitation to criticism and punishment. Now, the country’s trading companies are facing a storm of criticism. They are being accused of controlling the distribution of goods and taking advantage and causing harm to the people. In the first installment of this series, ASIAPRESS reported on the circumstances leading up to the massive restructuring and how trading companies in North Hamgyong Province are dealing with the repercussions. The second installment will explore the situation in Yanggang Province. (ISHIMARU Jiro / KANG Ji-won)
◆ Trading companies are “engaging in anti-socialism”
Trading companies in Yanggang Province have also been hit by the crackdown. Subsidiary organizations have been merged and personnel have been assigned to different factories by local government agencies. ASIAPRESS asked a woman in Hyesan who had sold Chinese-made clothing purchased from a trading company at a market about recent trends related to trading companies.
-- In North Hamgyong Province, the crackdown on trading companies is intensifying. What about Yanggang Province?
In Yanggang Province, the government has also been inspecting and investigating trading companies. Someone I know told me that one company, even though it is under the secret police, is subjected to quarterly inspections by the provincial trade bureau and accounting checks by prosecutors.
-- Obviously, there must have been a strong directive from Pyongyang. Do you know what it was?
In December of last year, the central party (of the Workers' Party) delivered a stern criticism that the trading company was engaged in “anti-socialism.” In short, officials were accused of “turning the trading company into private property, enjoying the same luxuries as the exploiting class in the past, having nice cars, admitting young women into the workplace, and giving them food rations and high wages, which is contrary to the principle of the socialist supply system. They are giving the toiling workers a sense of deprivation.”
Gone are the days when you could start a company in China overnight just because you had a trading partner or relative in China. Trading companies are required to disclose all financial flows to the authorities and report all exports and sales to the provincial trade bureau. All sales and distribution of goods in the country must be authorized by the authorities.
(FILE PHOTO) A woman sells Chinese-made sausages at an apartment complex in downtown Pyongyang. Again, a trading company appears to have distributed them for profit. Photographed by Koo Kwang-ho in Pyongyang's Moran district in July 2011 (ASIAPRESS).
◆ Kim Jong-un and leadership are directing the process
-- This crackdown must be occurring on the orders and instructions of Kim Jong-un.
The central government’s orders call for promotion of “state-led trade” in earnest and at the same time that we should improve the status of the country by observing the principle of independent trade based on the unified trade policy of the Ministry of External Economic Relations.
※ State-led trade: A trade system in which the state takes the lead in managing the items and amounts imported and exported. The system began around 2019. Before that, trading companies had a degree of discretion in their economic activities.
◆ Impact on ordinary people... Import businesses have been nearly wiped out
-- How has the stricter control over trading companies affected local people’s businesses?
I have been selling Chinese-made clothing in a market in Hyesan for a long time. I used to go to a trading company to buy imported garments and sell them in the market or wholesale them to local merchants. I used to make a net profit of about 3,000 yuan (about 550,000 U.S. dollars) per month.
It's not the same world now. During COVID, there were no Chinese products coming in at all, but recently there has been a small amount of approved Chinese-made clothing coming in. But trading companies are not allowed to sell it wholesale to individuals. It all has to be wholesaled to state-owned stores and consignment shops. That’s how import payments have to be dealt with, according to the government.
※ Consignment shops: Many government-run shops that lack funds have turned to a system where goods are entrusted to them and then settled when the goods are sold.
Thus, the days of "donju" (wealthy entrepreneurs) exclusively receiving and distributing goods from trading companies are over. Everything imported from China goes into the state-owned commercial network. The vendors in the market asked the state-owned stores to sell some of the goods to them, and they sold them in the market, but most of them stopped doing business in the market because they could only make a small profit. I quit, too.
◆ Large-scale restructuring began in late 2023
-- When did the large-scale restructuring of trading companies begin?
It was only last year that Hyesan started to eliminate or reorganize trading companies. By the end of last year, basically all of the "bases" had been closed. Only companies that can export to China through 'state trade' are left, and the 'bases' that used to collect their own domestic resources and fulfill the plan (state quota) through export are all gone.
*The 'base' is the bottom level of North Korea's foreign currency earning operations and is the center of production and concentration of exports and 'intermediate' goods. Many were created under the umbrella of powerful government organizations or trading companies, giving them privileged access to distribution networks.
--What happened to the employees of the 'bases'?
Someone I know who was managing goods for export at a 'base' was reassigned as a laborer in a beer factory after the company was dissolved. There are many such cases.
--Who will be in charge of acquiring “resources” in the future?
(The authorities) say that efforts to acquire resources (collecting domestic resources and exporting them), which used to be handled by the "bases," will be handled by state-owned stores or state-owned commercial management centers. But I doubt it will work. (To do this), you need to identify local people who will come to collect and sell the resources, and you need to prepare vehicles and fuel. People in the state-owned distribution organizations will not know any of that. I don't think it will work.
* Resources: Most of the foreign currency-earning goods exported to China are primary products such as herbal medicines, wild plants, and seafood. These are called "resources" because they are gathered from the mountains or sea by ordinary people.
The massive restructuring of trading companies that Kim Jong-un's regime began late last year has effectively taken away authority from many powerful institutions. The whole campaign has been driven by strong political will rather than economic motives as part of the regime’s "anti-market" policy, which began around 2019.
ASIAPRESS communicates with reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.
A map of North Korea (ASIAPRESS)
＜Inside N. Korea＞ Implementation of the large-scale restructuring of trading companies(1) Called “anti-socialist hotbeds,” government forces ‘bases’ of trading companies to close down and consolidate
asiapress.org
11. N. Hamgyong Province’s crackdown on generators causes panic
The regime fears this market activity.
We must observe for indications of instability.
N. Hamgyong Province’s crackdown on generators causes panic
'https://www.dailynk.com/english/north-hamgyong-province-crackdown-generators-causes-panic/
"It's like a bolt out of the blue. Just when business was picking up after three terrible years of the pandemic, the government is tightening the screws," one wholesaler complained to Daily NK
By Jong So Yong -
March 22, 2024
dailynk.com
N. Hamgyong Province’s crackdown on generators causes panic - Daily NK English
North Hamgyong Province’s police agency is requiring people to update their power generator registrations, which has caused panic not only among seafood wholesalers, who need generators to keep their products frozen, but also among private fuel vendors.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Thursday that the provincial police bureau began requiring the re-registration of generators on Mar. 16 following a decision by the provincial party committee.
Provincial police are currently conducting random inspections of factories and businesses in Chongjin and Kimchaek to check the number and types of generators, along with their wattage and hours of use, and to identify and confiscate any unregistered generators that may be in use.
“The provincial police say that many organizations have registered only two generators but are actually operating ten or more, and they intend to confiscate all illegal generators,” the source said.
“The police are stressing that no mistakes will be tolerated in checking whether the number of registered generators matches the number actually in use and whether organizations are using more generators than they actually need.”
The provincial police also said they intend to confiscate all generators owned by private individuals.
“This police crackdown is related to the fact that seafood wholesalers in coastal areas such as Chongjin and Kimchaek often use unregistered generators to freeze seafood they intend to sell,” the source said.
The seafood wholesalers were stunned by the sudden crackdown by the provincial police and are unsure what to do with their frozen fish if the police take away their generators.
“It’s like a bolt out of the blue. Just when business was picking up after three terrible years of the pandemic, the government is tightening the screws,” complained one wholesaler.
Private fuel vendors are also in the crosshairs, the source said, with provincial police declaring the private buying and selling of fuel to run generators illegal.
Rise in fuel imports from Russia
What began as a crackdown on unregistered generators is now affecting not only seafood wholesalers, but also private fuel vendors.
“Running a freezer on a generator requires about three kilograms of fuel per day. The police agency is focusing not only on the private purchase of generator fuel, but also on the private sale of such fuel, and intends to stamp out both illegal practices,” the source said.
“While more fuel has been coming into the country from Russia recently, the police are determined to keep diesel and gasoline out of the hands of private vendors,” the source added.
Private fuel vendors are on edge as police are telling seafood wholesalers with unregistered generators that they will be shown leniency if they squeal on their source of fuel.
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources living in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous for security reasons. For more information about Daily NK’s network of reporting partners and information-gathering activities, please visit our FAQ page here.
Please send any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
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Jong So Yong
Jong So Yong is one of Daily NK’s freelance reporters. Questions about her articles can be directed to dailynkenglish(at)uni-media.net.
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12. Dedicated Dodgers fans visit Korea and DMZ, hope to score tickets to season opener
Dedicated Dodgers fans visit Korea and DMZ, hope to score tickets to season opener
Los Angeles Times · by Mark E. Potts · March 20, 2024
DEMILITARIZED ZONE, South Korea —
The baseball fans squeezed onto an early morning bus, bound for a place that some tour companies say is dangerous, some say is somber, and all agree has a surprising amount of gift shops.
They were headed, about 150 of them, for the demilitarized zone: the narrow buffer strip between North and South Korea that is heavily guarded by concertina wire and rifle-toting soldiers.
And they were clad in Dodgers blue.
They were the Dodgers faithful — the team’s most rabid fans, traveling with fan group Pantone 294, named, of course, after the team’s official hue of blue.
They had flown all the way to Seoul to watch the Boys in Blue open their season against the San Diego Padres at Gocheok Sky Dome, the first major league games staged in South Korea, where baseball is beloved.
Most fans did not have tickets to the games. Still they came, knowing they probably would not see any baseball in person — but determined to represent their team in one of the most heavily guarded places in the world. Hopefully without causing any international incidents.
“Unfortunately, we were not able to book any tickets,” said Conrado Guerrero, who travels often with Pantone 294. “But when are you going to get a chance to wear your Dodger gear here in a foreign country?
“The camaraderie that you get — it’s like a baseball family that you meet out here.”
Members of Pantone 294, a Dodgers fan group, pose for a selfie while touring the demilitarized zone in Korea.
(Mark Potts / Los Angeles Times)
Added fan Eddie De Leon: “We are going to try to go stand in front of the stadium, very old-school style, with signs saying, ‘Hey, we need tickets.’”
Others planned to hang out in local bars to watch the games. To this group, fandom isn’t something in which you participate; it’s a way you live. You have to spend some green to prove you bleed Dodger blue.
Alexander Soto, the founder of Pantone 294, said his group, which organizes trips to Dodgers road games wherever they might be, brought about 400 fans to South Korea, and many more flew separately and met up with the group to go sightseeing.
Pantone 294 started in 2009 when Soto rented a bus and hauled 56 people to a San Francisco Giants game.
“It started off as just friends and family,” he says. “And it turned into what it is now.”
They traveled to see the Dodgers play in Mexico. In Australia. And — gasp! — in true enemy territory: San Francisco.
“Rumor is that the Dodgers are going to open up in Japan in 2025,” Soto said. “Dylan [Hernández] from the L.A. Times reported it. So if it’s true, we will for sure be in Japan in 2025.”
On the tour bus to the DMZ — which left just after 6:30 on a chilly Tuesday morning — some fans tried to get extra sleep and others nursed cups of coffee and Red Bull.
The tour guide, Unsuk Jung, who adopted the nickname Oliver because other guides said it would be easier for guests to remember, detailed the schedule for the day. There was a brief mention of beer at lunch, which delighted the Dodgers faithful.
He gave a quick history of the Korean War and told everyone, multiple times, they would be in a heavily militarized zone but, hey, enjoy yourselves.
Outside Imjingak — a former battlefield, where a park was built to comfort refugees whose families were stuck behind the North Korean border — Dodgers fans shopped at souvenir stands selling DMZ shirts, soldier figurines and North Korean “compound alcohol.”
After lunch in the demilitarized zone, a Dodgers fan takes a photo of the beer he and a friend drank.
(Mark Potts/Los Angeles Times)
They stood in line for tornado potatoes, sausages, and — don’t tell the Dodger Dogs back home — a meat dish called “magical hot dog” that was a footlong hot dog spiral-wrapped in bread.
And, of course, there was beer. It was only 8 a.m., but, as Jimmy Buffett and Alan Jackson sang: It’s five o’clock somewhere.
Patricia Rodriguez, who joined the tour in a Dodgers 2020 World Series champions jacket, loves her team — but she had an emotional connection to the trip: Her father, Jose Martin del Campo, fought in the Korean War.
“I wanted to come and see for him,” she said, her voice choking with emotion.
As the group waited for food, a man shouted: “Enemy coming through!”
He was wearing a San Diego Padres jacket.
One surprise on the tour was going down into the Third Tunnel of Aggression, one of four known tunnels under the border between the two countries. The surprise wasn’t going into the tunnel; it was how.
Dodgers hats had to be replaced with hard hats. No photos or video were allowed.
After a steep walk down into the darkness, tourists walk through claustrophobia-inducing tunnels, with rock ceilings less than five feet high, the tunnels barely six feet wide. The sounds of people laughing were interrupted by loud thuds of heads hitting rocks or pipes, followed by more laughing — and words unprintable in a family newspaper.
At the end of the 260-meter walk is a large slab of concrete, and a camera watching tourists look through a glass-covered opening at another concrete slab. These are two of three blockades built by South Korea to prevent the north from using it.
Someone offered to start a “Let’s go, Dodgers” chant. It was quickly shut down.
Once everyone returned from the tunnel and took a few minutes to wipe sweat from their brows, they climbed aboard buses bound for the Dora Observatory, where tourists could see North Korea in person.
Nearly 150 members of Pantone 294, a Dodgers fan group, pose for a photo at the end of their day touring the demilitarized zone in Paju, Korea.
(Mark Potts/Los Angeles Times)
The tour guide pointed out landmarks people could view through binoculars. Undeterred by the cold, biting wind, the Dodgers fans excitedly found the North Korean flag through telescopes.
Inside the observatory, a cafe sold hot sandwiches and other snacks, though one member of the group lamented the lack of great street tacos in Seoul.
But that complaint quickly was followed by a list of Korean foods with which they’ve fallen in love: the bulgogi beef, the ample seafood options and most things found at the night markets.
The tour ended with everyone gathering for lunch. Bulgogi beef. Beer. Lots of beer.
More to Read
Los Angeles Times · by Mark E. Potts · March 20, 2024
13. U.S. and Republic of Korea to Negotiate Cost-Sharing
We are not paying to defend South Korea. We are protecting US interests in Northeast Asia and help to prevent not only an attack on the ROK but a wider regional war that will have global effects. We are not in Korea simply to defend the South.
If you want a conflict on the Korean peninsula then by all means withdraw US troops. If you want to cede influence to China in Northeast Asia, then by all means withdraw US troops.
U.S. and Republic of Korea to Negotiate Cost-Sharing
Why do Americans still pay to defend South Koreans?
The American Conservative · by Doug Bandow · March 21, 2024
The possibility of Donald Trump returning to the Oval Office has set off hysterical wailing across the Atlantic and Pacific. American allies used to cheap-riding on the U.S. for their defense fear a second Trump administration would either demand greater contribution or drop Washington’s defense guarantee entirely.
Although European complaints about the possible loss of American military welfare have received the most public attention in recent weeks, South Korean officials are no less concerned about having to take over responsibility for their nation’s defense. Hence the imminent start of negotiations over the Special Measures Agreement, or “host nation support” for the U.S. garrison in the South.
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The settlement won’t take effect until 2026. The two governments are rushing the talks to lock in a sweet deal for the Republic of Korea in case Trump wins in November. During his administration, he set off a tsunami of South Korean whining and whinging by threatening to withdraw American troops if the ROK didn’t contribute substantially more for Pentagon protection. Negotiations broke off and the newly installed Biden administration immediately took Seoul’s side, preserving the generous U.S. defense subsidy. Undoubtedly, American taxpayers will again get a raw deal.
Unfortunately, the alliance costs more than money, and the risks for America are steadily increasing. The Korean War was a terrible, bloody affair. But at least the battlefield was an ocean away from the U.S. Until recently, a renewed conflict would also have been fought “over there,” limiting Americans’ exposure. Despite the near certainty that the allies would prevail, casualties probably would be very high, much greater than in the Iraq or Afghan campaigns. Nevertheless, the U.S. homeland would remain secure.
No longer. First, diplomacy on the peninsula is dead, having suffered an apparently mortal wound with the failure of the 2019 Trump-Kim summit. Since then, talks between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and both Washington and Seoul have ceased. The Biden administration’s desperate begging for Pyongyang to engage have been contemptuously rebuffed. Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un’s sister referred to a statement of President Joe Biden’s as a “nonsensical remark from the person in his dotage.” (Which, in truth, characterizes most of what the president says these days.)
Even worse has been the DPRK’s treatment of South Korea. Pyongyang long viewed the Koreas as one nation, with the peninsula’s southern lands to be eventually “liberated.” Kim recently abandoned settled policy and proposed revising the North’s constitution to define the ROK as his nation’s “primary foe and invariable principal enemy.” Although Kim disclaimed any intention to initiate hostilities against the South Koreans, he set “national policy to occupy their territory in the event of” an undefined “contingency.”
If the issue was only bluster, no one would take much notice. North Korea has long been the world’s number one in issuing insults against its foes. Yet Pyongyang now can count on Chinese support. Although Beijing long opposed the North’s nuclear ambitions, it evidently sees Washington’s containment policy toward the People’s Republic of China as a greater threat. Thus, the PRC has shown no willingness to back U.S. sanctions or other coercive measures, despite the Biden administration’s pious claims that they are in Beijing’s interest. Indeed, Biden’s repeated statements that he would defend Taiwan has given China a possible reason to back North Korean military action against the South.
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Perhaps even worse, the North has gone all in with Russia, reviving a relationship that was near moribund in recent years. North Korea is thought to have provided substantial shipments of artillery shells for Moscow’s use in Ukraine. In return Pyongyang can expect Russia to shield it from the impact of sanctions and reward it financially. Much more is possible, including technical aid in missile and nuclear development. Such assistance would be highly provocative, but the U.S. and its European allies have provided advanced weapons to Kiev that have caused tens of thousands of Russian deaths. Moscow might believe that turnabout is fair play.
As tensions have risen, so has talk of war. Some Korea scholars fear that Kim might be planning military action of some kind, contending that “the situation on the Korean Peninsula is more dangerous than it has been at any time since early June 1950.” Their fears have gone mainstream. Reported the New York Times: “That new drumbeat of threats, while the United States and its allies have been preoccupied with the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, has set foreign officials and analysts wondering whether the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has moved beyond posturing and is planning to assert more military force.”
Provocations appear on the rise. In February, Pyongyang staged an artillery exercise near disputed islands west of the peninsula, triggering a South Korean drill in response. The actions revived memories of a deadly North Korean assault in 2010 that killed four ROK civilians.
Despite the perhaps predictable fear-mongering, Kim appears to be fully rational, if sadly brutal. The North’s Supreme Leader explained, “As long as nuclear weapons exist on Earth, and imperialism and the anti-North Korean maneuvers of the U.S. and its followers remain, our road to strengthening our nuclear force will never end.”
War would be a wild gamble for his regime and dynasty. China has shown no interest in fomenting armed conflict, Russia wouldn’t benefit from doing so and is busy in Ukraine. The U.S. remains capable of massive retaliation and, as yet the DPRK probably can’t target the American mainland. Most importantly, Kim is unlikely to empty his ammunition stocks for Moscow’s war if he is planning one of his own.
Still, no one should feel comfortable. Kim claimed that he “does not want war, but will not avoid it.” And Kim has set forth a formidable arms development program, topped by plans to deploy tactical nukes, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles (MIRVs). If successful, Kim will possess an arsenal that will allow him to both use nuclear weapons on the battlefield and target the American homeland.
Washington can ill afford to add to its current defense burdens. The U.S. faces manifold social problems, lagging domestic investment, burgeoning entitlement programs, and rising federal deficits. It still possesses the world’s most powerful military but will find the cost of acting as globocop and dispensing defense welfare to populous and prosperous allies around the world ever tougher to bear.
Moreover, in a few years any war would no longer likely remain on the Korean peninsula, or at least in Northeast Asia. Any American president would have to ask whether South Korea was worth risking the American homeland. Of course, Washington retains an overwhelming nuclear deterrent, so a first strike on the U.S. would result in the DPRK’s destruction. However, Pyongyang could threaten to inaugurate Armageddon if Washington entered a Second Korean War and threatened to defeat and occupy the North, overthrowing the Kim regime. The DPRK might even use tactical nukes in battle and dare the U.S. to respond. Would an American president decide that the ROK’s defense was worth the loss of one or more U.S. cities and hundreds of thousands or even millions of Americans?
Recognizing that South Koreans are understandably skeptical that the answer is yes, Washington has been desperately trying to convince them that so-called “extended deterrence” remains viable. Last year the two governments issued the so-called Washington Declaration, by which U.S. officials promised to allow the immolation of America’s cities and slaughter of America’s citizens if things go bad on the peninsula. It’s a hard sell because even South Koreans recognize that this is an irrational policy. How many of them would voluntarily risk their territory and population to save the U.S.? The policy makes no more sense for Americans.
Although Trump’s push for a dramatic increase in host nation payments, to some $5 billion annually, was better than the status quo, it wouldn’t justify the current one-sided “Mutual Defense Treaty.” American military personnel shouldn’t be rented out, even to wealthy friends. Washington should put its money and people’s lives on the line only when Americans have something vital at stake. They don’t in Korea. That doesn’t mean a conflict wouldn’t be truly awful, a humanitarian tragedy, economic disaster, and geopolitical challenge. But Americans would remain secure, though unsettled. The impact of the war wouldn’t justify the costs of intervening, especially against a nuclear North Korea.
As unsettling as this conclusion might seem, there is good news: the ROK. It required aid to survive North Korea’s initial invasion and later threats, but took off economically in the 1960s; today it enjoys a GDP more than 50 times that of the DPRK. The South also has a vast technological edge, twice the population, and far greater international support. Obviously, the ROK could defend itself from the North if it chose to do so.
Fear of North Korea, concern about China, and worries over U.S. abandonment have spurred Seoul to spend more on its own defense, even under the previous, liberal Moon administration. Although the North enjoys a quantitative edge, South Korea possesses an increasingly competent and sophisticated military. Today the ROK is among the world’s top ten military spenders. But it could do much more.
The most complicated issue is nuclear deterrence, but there is strong public support in the South for developing its own nuclear weapons. There also is increasing political backing. In fact, last year ROK President Yoon Suk Yeol observed that “if the issue becomes more serious, we could acquire our own nuclear weapons, such as deploying tactical nuclear weapons here in ROK.”
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This possibility triggers hysteria among nonproliferation advocates, but it is more important for America to end extended deterrence, and the resulting nuclear threat to the U.S., than it is to enforce nuclear nonproliferation. Washington has declared failure in the past—regarding India, Israel, and Pakistan, most obviously. Rather than imperil relations in a hopeless quest to reverse the irreversible, the U.S. has accommodated new international powers. North Korea is an acknowledged, if not formally recognized, nuclear power. Why not accept the South into the club? This might not be a good solution, but it increasingly looks like the best available.
Which ties back to the latest SMA negotiation. Instead of forging ahead, as if the alliance is immutable and permanent, the U.S. and ROK should transform it into a cooperative agreement between equals. After which America’s troop presence would be phased out. Host nation support should be adjusted accordingly, starting high and dropping to zero when the last American comes home.
There is much to criticize about Donald Trump’s presidency. Nevertheless, he had a better understanding of the Korean peninsula than did his predecessors or successor. It was stupid not to engage the North for decades. It was equally stupid to subsidize the South for decades. Before the onset of the latest SMA negotiations would be a good time to rethink the alliance’s future. And stop expecting Americans to defend South Koreans.
The American Conservative · by Doug Bandow · March 21, 2024
14. Ohtani Brings Koreans, Japanese Together at MLB Opener in Seoul
Ohtani Brings Koreans, Japanese Together at MLB Opener in Seoul
By Lee Juhyun
William Gallo
voanews.com · March 20, 2024
Seoul —
As a South Korean baseball fan, Shin Jae-woong had many reasons to watch the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres open the Major League Baseball season this week in Seoul.
These are the first ever regular season MLB games in baseball-loving South Korea. And the games feature multiple Korean stars, including Padres infielder Kim Ha-seong.
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‘Ohtani Fever’ Hits Korea as MLB Opens Season in Seoul
But the main draw is obvious for Shin and his two young sons, who traveled from the southeastern city of Gwangju. They came to see Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani.
“I think Ohtani is out of this world. He’s like another level of player,” said Shin as he watched the Dodgers practice ahead of the series opener on Wednesday.
Ohtani, the do-it-all Japanese megastar – who in December signed a record 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers – draws massive crowds wherever he goes these days.
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, top, is forced out at first by San Diego Padres first baseman Jake Cronenworth during the seventh inning of an opening day baseball game at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, March 20, 2024.
Perhaps surprisingly, Ohtani also has throngs of fans in South Korea, which shares a fierce sports rivalry and complicated history with Japan.
“He has a good personality. He’s tall. He’s good-looking,” said Eo Soo-young, a 38-year-old Seoul resident. “And that other stuff, that’s an old story.”
This week, it’s all about positive vibes, as South Korea and Japan come together around an American game, which has also become a showcase for improved ties among the three countries.
“It's almost become a trilateral event,” said Philip Goldberg, the U.S. ambassador to Seoul, who attended the Wednesday game with several senior South Korean and Japanese officials. “In this atmosphere of better relations…it brings even more luster.”
Fans make their way to the stadium prior to the 2024 Seoul Series game between Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres at Gocheok Sky Dom in Seoul, South Korea, March 20, 2024.
Japan-South Korea ties have long been strained, often over issues related to atrocities committed by Japan during its brutal 1910-45 occupation of Korea. When South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol took office in 2022, he instead chose to focus on the future, expanding security cooperation and holding several meetings with his counterpart, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Nonetheless, Japan remains a sensitive issue in South Korea, where many left-leaning politicians accuse Yoon of being too friendly with Japan.
According to Japanese media reports, planning was under way for Kishida to attend Wednesday’s MLB opener in Seoul, perhaps alongside Yoon. Kishida’s visit was called off because it may have been too controversial ahead of next month’s general election in South Korea, the reports suggested.
“Even though the two governments have been able to kind of smooth things over, this historical issue hasn’t been resolved, I think. And that leaves open the possibility of the relationship deteriorating in the future,” said Benjamin Engel, a professor at Seoul National University.
For now, ties are warming, even at the people-to-people level. Recent polls suggest a majority of young Koreans want to improve relations with Japan. And South Korean interest in Japanese cultural productions, such as anime, and commercial products like beer, has surged.
In an interview with VOA, Ambassador Goldberg said he was optimistic that trilateral ties will also remain strong.
“It just makes so much sense. It's in the interests of the three countries,” he told VOA in an interview. “There are going to be moments where we have to manage and go through different periods. But I think there's a logic to all of this that will keep it going.”
And Ohtani – whom Koreans refer to as the “baseball genius” – can't hurt, at least if you ask many Korean baseball fans.
Many were impressed that during his pre-game comments to the media, Ohtani had nothing but warm words for South Korea. That is a contrast to Ichiro Suzuki, another Japanese baseball legend, who stirred resentment among many Koreans by taunting, and sometimes even insulting, their country.
“(Ohtani) just respects Korea…that’s why other people respect him too,” said Seoul resident Ryoo Sung-kyu. “It’s give and take, I think.”
Kim Hyungjin contributed to this story.
voanews.com · March 20, 2024
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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