|
Quotes of the Day:
"Terrorism is resorted to for practical reasons because there is no other tool available. And those who use terrorism, and then subsequently become the targets of terrorism, understand its power and how difficult it is to counter it. Not just militarily. But especially in terms of international perception."
– Joe Sestak
"Unconventional warfare needs to remain the heart and soul of U.S. Special Operations Command and component commands."
– Brandon Webb, former US Navy SEAL
"If we were fighting an army, the work would be comparatively easy. We are fighting a secret revolutionary organization."
– Arthur MacArthur
1. North Korea is preparing for war
2. Speech Made by Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un on Congratulatory Visit to Ministry of National Defence
3. David Maxwell on the 10th Anniversary of the UN COI Report on Human Rights in North Korea
4. Unification minister vows to push for reunion of separated families despite NK provocations
5. U.S. envoy for N.K. human rights to visit S. Korea, Japan this month
6. Kim Jong Un threatens attacking, 'occupying' South Korea in event of conflict
7. UN experts investigating 58 suspected North Korean cyberattacks valued at about $3 billion
8. What to Make of North Korea’s Forward-looking Economic Strategy and Prospects
9. North Korea’s Kim says he has no desire for talks and repeats a threat to destroy South Korea if provoked
10. Doohyun Kim (Escapee) Video on Twitter/X
1. North Korea is preparing for war
I spent some time with a very senior former official from north Korea yesterday (an escapee). He offered some very important views on this. We are drafting a paper this weekend.
A couple points he emphasized.
Kim Jong Un lacks strategic vision. He is reckless and thoughtless. Putin's War and US lack of actions and US distraction throughout the world are giving him "ungrounded confidence." But we cannot predict what Kim is going to do.
But the most important point: Kim promised peace and prosperity when he completed sufficient nuclear and missile development. He has completed sufficient development yet he is unable to bring peace and prosperity. This is a failed promise to the elite and the people. It is the biggest policy failure of the Kim family regime. Kim's problem is that he would now have to make major economic reforms to bring prosperity to north Korea, But to do so would be like signing his own death warrant. He would bring an end to his regime by reforming. He just does not know what to do so he is reverting to the 70 year old regime playbook. Can we deter him? Or will he miscalculate and conduct a major provocation or an actual attack?
More to follow in our forthcoming paper.
North Korea is preparing for war
By
Jamie McIntyre
February 8, 2024 8:00 pm
Washington Examiner · February 9, 2024
Mark 2024 as the year North Korean leader Kim Jong Un dropped any pretense of interest in improving relations with South Korea or giving up his growing nuclear arsenal.
Even for a rogue country renowned for its bellicose rhetoric, Kim began the year with a particularly confrontational declaration. That goal of “peaceful reunification” with South Korea, otherwise known as the Republic of Korea, would be excised from the North Korea Constitution.
“We have formulated a new stand on the north-south relations and the policy of reunification, and dismantled all the organizations we established as solidarity bodies for peaceful reunification,” Kim said, according to an English translation posted on the media monitoring site KCNAwatch.org.
The declaration effectively ends years of efforts to find ways for the two Koreas to work together and casts South Korea as North Korea’s permanent, and most hostile, foreign adversary.
“In my opinion, we can specify in our constitution the issue of completely occupying, subjugating and reclaiming the ROK and annex it as a part of the territory of our Republic in case a war breaks out on the Korean peninsula,” Kim vowed. “If the ROK violates even 0.001 mm of our territorial land, air, and waters, it will be considered a war provocation.”
Kim said he was scrapping the long-standing goal of a peaceful reunification because of “heinous and self-destructive confrontational maneuvers,” an apparent reference to the joint U.S.-South Korean military drills, and because of provocations by “a group of outsiders, top-class stooges,” which may refer to the three-way security pact announced in August by President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches what it says Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missiles during a military parade to mark the 75th founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Feb. 8, 2023. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
Since the start of the year, Kim has backed up his threatening rhetoric with a series of aggressive actions while doubling down on expanding his nuclear capabilities.
In recent months, North Korea has tested a nuclear-capable underwater attack drone, a long-range nuclear-capable cruise missile with the range to put U.S. military bases in Japan within reach, and a solid-fuel Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile, which can target the U.S. mainland, all the while firing a steady barrage of cruise missiles into the sea.
“In just the last few months, the country has fired off hundreds of missiles as it has increased its military capabilities,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) observed at this month’s confirmation hearing for Adm. Samuel Paparo to be the next head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. “Reports indicate that North Korea has shifted to a more aggressive posture against American troops and allies in the region.”
“It continues to be tense,” Paparo agreed. “The changing dynamic is continued saber-rattling, continued proliferation, greater volume of testing and weapons demonstrations on the part of the North.”
As Kim pursues his nuclear ambitions, he was quick to seize on the opportunity to rescue Vladimir Putin from disaster in Ukraine, shipping more than a million artillery shells in August to rearm Putin’s depleted army in return for advanced Russian technologies to strengthen Kim’s growing nuclear arsenal.
“I am concerned that North Korea has taken very dangerous steps with respect to Russia, providing military equipment to Russia’s campaign,” Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told Congress at his confirmation hearing in December. “North Korea continues to perfect its long-range missile and nuclear capabilities in ways that are antithetical not only to the region but to the United States as well.”
Campbell, who most recently was coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs at the National Security Council and a veteran of decades of U.S.-Asian engagement and security policy, testified that after then-President Donald Trump’s aborted meeting with Kim in Hanoi in 2019, it’s become clear the North Korean leader has soured on diplomacy.
“The North Koreans have rebuffed every effort that we have utilized to try to reach out to them,” Campbell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “I am worried that North Korea, in the current environment, has decided that they are no longer interested in diplomacy with the United States, and that means that we are going to have to focus even more on deterrence.”
U.S. officials told the New York Times last month that so far, U.S. intelligence has seen no “concrete signs” that North Korea is gearing up for combat or a major war, and Korea experts are divided on what Kim’s recent actions mean.
“The situation on the Korean Peninsula is more dangerous than it has been at any time since early June 1950,” writes Robert Carlin and Siegfried Hecker, Korea-watchers at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. “That may sound overly dramatic, but we believe that, like his grandfather in 1950, Kim Jong Un has made a strategic decision to go to war.”
The article, published on the Jan. 11 North Korea monitoring site 38 North, was followed a week later by a rebuttal by Thomas Schafer, the former German ambassador to North Korea and author of a political history of the country, which argued the recent increase in “violent language” and propaganda is a strategy related to the November elections.
“I do not think Pyongyang believes it can influence the outcome of the U.S. presidential elections,” Schafer wrote, “but it surely believes that a Republican victory (preferably with Trump) would give North Korea a second chance to further its objectives.”
“Kim Jong Un — I got along with him, too. Nobody ever got to talk to him except me, and I got, not only talk to him, I got along with him great,” Trump told Sean Hannity at a Fox News town hall last month. “It’s good to get with people that have massive nuclear weapons, and they have massive — they have a large nuclear stockpile.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Kim’s following a tried-and-true North Korean “hide and bide” strategy, argues former Trump national security adviser John Bolton in a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece — “concealing their growing nuclear and ballistic-missile programs and awaiting a docile regime in Washington.”
“Today, the North sees its moment at hand in a weak Joe Biden — or a feckless Donald Trump, who unilaterally canceled joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises in 2018 without receiving anything in return,” Bolton wrote. “With the Biden administration overwhelmed and a presidential election looming, Pyongyang and Beijing may well believe their window of opportunity has arrived. By rallying the North’s people, rewriting its constitution, and abolishing the machinery of reunification diplomacy, Mr. Kim could be preparing to jump through it.”
Washington Examiner · February 9, 2024
2. Speech Made by Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un on Congratulatory Visit to Ministry of National Defence
Here are the key points. South Korea is blamed for standing in the way of peace and prosperity. The ROK is not a military threat. It is the example of the ROK, the idea of the ROK, and information about the proposerity ROK and the Korean people in the South that is a threat to the regime.
Excerpts:
Our Party’s objective in aspiring to a more powerful and prosperous state is to win back and squarely exercise all its rights to independence, and the foremost task here is to obtain the eternal security of the state for sure.
To this end, we must possess absolute might which defies any provocation, might strong enough to control the enemy.
After reviewing the history of division and confrontation of our nation recently, our Party and government designated the puppet Republic of Korea as our most dangerous and first enemy state and invariable archenemy that stands in our way, and decided it as our state policy to occupy and subjugate its territory in time of emergency. This is an absolutely right measure for our state’s eternal security and its peace and stability in the future.
Speech Made by Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un on Congratulatory Visit to Ministry of National Defence
https://kcnawatch.org/newstream/1707487614-772216647/speech-made-by-respected-comrade-kim-jong-un-on-congratulatory-visit-to-ministry-of-national-defence/
Date: 09/02/2024 | Source: KCNA.kp (En) | Read original version at source
Pyongyang, February 9 (KCNA) -- The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un paid a congratulatory visit to the DPRK Ministry of National Defence on the occasion of the 76th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Army (KPA) and made a significant speech to congratulate the officers and men of the heroic KPA.
The full text of the speech is as follows:
Officers of the Ministry of National Defence, the highest command organ of the armed forces of our Republic, and non-commissioned officers and men present here, celebrating in grand style the founding anniversary of our glorious army,
Trustworthy officers and men of the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th corps, who are devoting themselves now to defending the frontline on the border of our country,
Officers and men of the Pyongyang-defending corps, who are reliably performing their honourable mission of defending the capital city,
Officers and men of all the other corps and mechanized infantry, tank and armoured units, who are firmly defending the territory and waters in the eastern and western regions of the country,
Officers and men of the 12th Corps on the northern border and the Border Guards,
Courageous officers and men of our other services,
All other officers and men of the Korean People’s Army,
On the 76th anniversary of the founding of the KPA, a proud holiday of our state and our people, I extend warm congratulations and greetings of encouragement to you.
Availing myself of this meaningful opportunity, I offer my heartfelt tribute to the revolutionary forerunners, the KPA martyrs and the respected war veterans, who glorified the initial days and decades of great victories in the history of building the Juche-oriented army with imperishable feats of meritorious service and miracles.
My warm thanks also go to all the people including soldiers’ families across the country, who are absolutely supporting our Party’s cause of building a powerful army.
As I stand here, I cannot find enough words to express my thanks to the officers and men of our army, who are making more painstaking efforts than anybody else shouldering greater tasks day after day, and to appreciate their outstanding feats.
Whenever I recall the words People’s Army, my heart grows warm and I feel moved as I am reminded of its heroic image.
It has indeed been glorious 76 years for the army, which tell numerous tales and which are filled with victories and feats though there have been manifold trials.
It would be endless to recount the great feats it has performed for the people’s safety and wellbeing while defending the most righteous ideas and cause, faithfully shouldering the sacred mission the times and history entrusted to it from the first days after its founding to this day, and the uncountable feats it has performed in those days.
The most brilliant feat our army has performed in its history of heroic struggle is that it has remained boundlessly faithful to its inherent mission of defending sovereignty and thus reliably safeguarded the right to independence and dignity of the country and the people and ensured their peace and stability in the face of military threats and blackmail by the imperialists and the danger of war.
Our revolution wrote an unheard-of chapter in history, in which the cause of founding an army was accomplished before the founding of a state. This was because sovereignty itself is something that can be defended and exercised only by means of revolutionary violence capable of frustrating imperialist tyranny, in other words, only when one wins the fight against it.
Our People’s Army was a gain our people achieved through their protracted struggle to win back their lost rights to existence and development, freedom and rights, and its most important and sacred mission was to firmly defend sovereignty which had not to be deprived or violated again.
Shouldering the historic duty of safeguarding the national sovereignty, which could never be defended easily, it has undauntedly hewn out for the long 76 years the arduous path of fierce political struggle, class struggle, of deciding who prevails over whom.
While following the untrodden path decade after decade, our People’s Army service personnel have performed countless battle feats and other heroic achievements at the cost of their blood and lives.
As our People’s Army has resolutely foiled all manner of challenges and threats by the hostile forces wherever our national sovereignty is exercised, reliably defending the fences of the country, the security, rights and interests of the country and people and the ideas and cause of the Party could be thoroughly safeguarded. And thanks to its ennobling sacrifice and history of heroic victory, our people, with state power firmly in their hands, could strongly exercise their rights in the political, military, economic, cultural and diplomatic fields and effect a great turn in building a prosperous country with a powerful army.
The absolute might, prestige and dignity our state has won as we see now are based on the valuable feats and victories our People’s Army has achieved at the cost of blood, sweat and sacrifice.
Our Party’s objective in aspiring to a more powerful and prosperous state is to win back and squarely exercise all its rights to independence, and the foremost task here is to obtain the eternal security of the state for sure.
To this end, we must possess absolute might which defies any provocation, might strong enough to control the enemy.
After reviewing the history of division and confrontation of our nation recently, our Party and government designated the puppet Republic of Korea as our most dangerous and first enemy state and invariable archenemy that stands in our way, and decided it as our state policy to occupy and subjugate its territory in time of emergency. This is an absolutely right measure for our state’s eternal security and its peace and stability in the future.
By doing so, we have ridden ourselves on our own initiative of the fetters of unrealistic developments, in which we, taken captive by the rhetorical expression fellow compatriots, had to endeavour for dialogue and cooperation, even if they were for form’s sake, with the ROK puppets, who are scheming to bring down the government of our Republic and dreaming of unification through absorption. As we have clearly defined the puppet ROK as a state hostile to us, we are legally entitled to strike and annihilate it at any moment if it dares to provoke us. And now we can defend the prestige of our country as an independent and sovereign state, a socialist state, and deal with our surrounding environment in a more thoroughgoing way to attain our national interest while building up our military strength and maintaining a harder-line stand for response.
This policy switch and our staunch attitude towards the enemy were decisions of weighty importance, which could be made as we have the army fully prepared in terms of both the will to defend the national sovereignty and the military and technical potentials.
It is an everyday occurrence in the present world that national sovereignty and territory are violated ruthlessly and bloodshed takes place owing to the imperialists’ policy of supremacy and violent moves of aggression. In this situation it is our revolutionary armed forces alone led by the Workers’ Party of Korea, which are honourably defending the dignity of the country and the people while achieving undeniable victory at every stage of the anti-imperialist confrontation.
The chapters of the glorious history of the Republic’s armed forces, which have been developed and strengthened into an invincible army and firmly safeguarded the security and sovereignty of our state, have always been written together with the chapters of their gigantic creation and construction for the country and the people.
Our country and people always feel thankful to the army for its painstaking efforts and celebrate the army founding day as their own national holiday. This is because the People’s Army has performed remarkable exploits greater than others could manage to do not only in defending national sovereignty but also in building socialism and promoting the people’s welfare.
The loyal and reliable ranks that share weal and woe with the Party, readily accept its orders and directives whether they are military missions or economic tasks, and always carry them out without any delay and in the most perfect and thoroughgoing way–this is our People’s Army.
Long explanations have never been necessary for our soldiers.
Our army reads by heart the Party’s worries without the help of any explanation and, aware of the arrival of historic moments when it has to come forth, goes without hesitation to the theatres of struggle, where it has to experience greater hardships.
All the colours of our army units have these not so long letters For the Eternal Prosperity of the Country and Safety of the People, but the role and mission entrusted by these letters were weighty, and inscribed on these colours were not only military feats.
In the protracted course from the first days of building the country anew on the ruins after the war until today, socialist construction has been a primary revolutionary task, as important as defending the sovereignty of the country, for the People’s Army, and this task has never been lightened or deferred in any harsh and severe circumstances.
The metallurgical-industry bases and coal and ore mines, which constitute the foundation of the national economy, the railways and roads, which constitute the artery of the country, and the crop fields, irrigation waterways and reclaimed tidelands which serve the promotion of the people’s living–all the development and creative projects conducted throughout the country are associated with the exploits of our army.
The spirits of the times, which would remain in history forever, and the monumental structures set up on the strength of these spirits have all been created by the People’s Army.
Our officers and men have devoted with no regrets all the precious things of their life–dignity, glory, honour and happiness–true to the proud name People’s Army.
Following the genuine and beautiful traces that our army left with revolutionary and steadfast mettle and patriotic enthusiasm, the appearance of our country has been transformed, cradles of people’s life have been created, and a happy laughter of the people has resounded.
Last year alone, our service personnel were forerunners in performing great feats in making breakthroughs on all fronts and in all theatres, ranging from housing construction projects, which were conducted in a three-dimensional manner in the capital city, Komdok area and various other parts of the country, to the construction projects for irrigation and border barricades and the struggle to increase grain production and to recover from natural disasters.
All our generals, officers and their wives, and men took the lead in overcoming the food shortage created on the outset of the year by cutting their rations; they carried out without fail the tasks the Party entrusted to them by waging a more progressive and offensive struggle, thus recording the year as the most glorious one in the history of the army’s development full of legendary feats and miracles.
But for the outstanding role and contribution of the People’s Army, we could not have reviewed the work of last year with pride or created a definitely favourable situation for comprehensive rejuvenation, as full of high spirits and confidence as today.
The year 2023 can be called an epitome and a most brilliant page of the long-standing and glorious history of victory written by our country and people on the strength of the vanguard role of the army, which is elite in ideology and the most powerful in fighting efficiency.
Now our army has launched the unprecedentedly sacred and gigantic struggle of ten-year revolution to radically transform the regional industry in response to the call of the Party, and its honourable colours are fluttering vigorously, calling for a fresh upswing of revolution throughout the country.
These colours, permeated with the red soul and innumerable feats of the People’s Army soldiers, add more brilliance and force to our fluttering national flag and present before our eyes how the future will be transformed.
It is a source of great pride and immense strength for our Party that it has an army in which it can place the greatest trust and to which it can entrust the vanguard role of the revolution in peaceful and good times and in the days when the country goes through harsh trials.
Even though they took greatest pains, with their belts always tightened, on the two fronts of national defence and socialist construction, the faithful officers and men of the People’s Army have exerted themselves single-heartedly and without any vacillation, cherishing the outlook on the revolution and life that they have nothing to desire but a praise from their Supreme Commander and regard the pride of being one mind with him as a source of their greatest happiness. I always gain great strength and courage from them.
The heroic struggle of our army left in history the truth that only the state and people, which advance with their army in the vanguard of the revolution, can achieve steadfast and continuous development and prosperity in the face of every manner of challenges and crises.
Availing myself of this meaningful opportunity, I, on behalf of the Central Committee of our Party and the government of our Republic and along with the hearts of all the people, would like to extend once again congratulations and thanks to all the service personnel of the heroic KPA on the occasion of the army founding day.
Comrades,
Lying above all those feats and achievements associated with your painstaking efforts are the nation’s dignity you have to safeguard with your lives and the people’s ideals you have to attain at any cost.
The WPK, which has assumed an absolute mission for the country and people, will always rely on the bravery and faithfulness of the revolutionary armed forces and hasten the advent of bright future of our Republic with you.
However grave the situation is and however manifold the difficulties are on our way, we feel assured as long as we have the army, and however formidable and gigantic the revolutionary tasks are, we feel confident of the coming victory as long as the army undertakes to perform them–this is the feeling of the people of this country.
You should live up to their trust and, through your strenuous struggle and its perfect result, thoroughly defend their faith that Party policy is immediately a science and reality.
Comrades,
Our army should have greater strength and prevent war and safeguard peace without fail with this invincible strength.
Peace is not something to be begged for or bartered for through negotiations.
Across our border, the mutations, having seized power, are now running amok with war hysteria and threatening the security of our state with their guns levelled at us.
Let us remember once again that war breaks out without advertising in advance.
We should always be ready for war.
If the enemy dares to have recourse to armed force against our state, we will make a bold decision to change history and enlist all the super-powerful means in our hands unhesitatingly so as to annihilate the enemy.
Comrades,
All the service personnel, who have always supported the Party’s ideas and cause in the vanguard, should reliably defend the inviolable sovereignty of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, our glorious motherland, and the honour of the Korean people with staunch revolutionary faith, steadfast patriotism, unparalleled heroism and mettle and devoted service, and demonstrate to the full the spiritual characteristics and stamina of the KPA in the ongoing sacred struggle to hasten the comprehensive development of a prosperous country.
Our Party, state and people with invincible ranks, elite revolutionary armed forces, will always emerge victorious.
For the eternal prosperity of our country and safety of our people, let us fight vigorously with great confidence in and optimism for a great fresh victory, sharing the mind and intention.
Eternal glory to our proud revolutionary armed forces!
Long live the heroic Korean People’s Army! -0-
www.kcna.kp (Juche113.2.9.)
3. David Maxwell on the 10th Anniversary of the UN COI Report on Human Rights in North Korea
Thank you to HRNK for giving me the opportunity to comment on the UN COI for 5 minutes.
At this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyNBam0FgCo
David Maxwell on the 10th Anniversary of the
UN COI Report on Human Rights in North Korea
On February 7, 2014, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea completed its final report.
To mark the 10th anniversary of the COI report, HRNK is sharing remarks and reflections from officials and leading experts, including the members of the COI. You may view all previous videos in this series at this link.
The COI, consisting of Justice Michael Kirby of Australia (Chair), Sonja Biserko of Serbia, and Marzuki Darusman of Indonesia, found that “crimes against humanity have been committed in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, pursuant to policies established at the highest level of the state.”Today, we would like to share remarks by David Maxwell, a Member of HRNK's Board of Directors and Vice President of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy (CAPS).
As we mark this anniversary, he notes, "we must remember that the Korean people in the north still suffer horrendous human rights abuses."
He reminds us that "the Korean people in the north are among the most resilient people in history," as they have endured "[hardships] outsiders can hardly imagine, from humanitarian disasters to starvation...to crimes against humanity."
"The UN Commission of Inquiry has showed us what is happening" in North Korea, he concludes, and "it is up to us to implement its recommendations."Colonel David Maxwell, USA (Ret.) is Vice President of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy (CAPS). He is a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Army, retiring as a Special Forces Colonel. He has worked in Asia for more than over 30 years, primarily in Korea, Japan, and the Philippines.
He served on the United Nations Command / Combined Forces Command / U.S. Forces Korea CJ3 staff, where he was a planner for UNC/CFC OPLAN 5027-98 and co-author of the original ROK JCS-UNC/CFC CONPLAN 5029-99 (north Korean instability and regime collapse). He later served as the Director of Plans, Policy, and Strategy and then Chief of Staff for Special Operations Command Korea. He commanded the Joint Special Operations Task Force Philippines (JSOTF-P), served as the G3 for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, and culminated his service as a member of the military faculty at the National War College.
Following retirement, he served as the Associate Director of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service (2011-2017). Colonel Maxwell is a fellow at the Institute of Corean-American Studies, an advisor to Spirit of America, and on the Board of Directors of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, the International Council of Korean Studies, the Council on Korean-U.S. Security Studies, the Special Operations Research Association, the OSS Society, and the Small Wars Journal.
He earned a B.A. in political science from Miami University, an M.A. in Military Arts and Science from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and from the School of Advanced Military Studies, and an M.S. in National Security Studies from the National War College. Colonel Maxwell teaches “Unconventional Warfare and Special Operations for Policy Makers and Strategists."
4. Unification minister vows to push for reunion of separated families despite NK provocations
South Korea maintains the moral high ground.
Unification minister vows to push for reunion of separated families despite NK provocations
The Korea Times · by 2024-02-10 15:16 | North Korea · February 10, 2024
Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho addresses South Korean families separated from their relatives in North Korea during the Korean War, at their annual Lunar New Year gathering in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Feb. 10. Yonhap
South Korea's point man on North Korea said Saturday the government will keep pushing for reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, saying Pyongyang's provocations will not deter Seoul's drive.
Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho made the remark after attending an annual gathering of separated families and others who were born in North Korea but ended up south of the border following the war. To mark the Lunar New Year, they came to pay their respects to their ancestors and family members in North Korea by taking bows in that direction from the border town of Paju, Gyeonggi Province.
"We will not give up on our pursuit of fundamental solutions to the problems regarding separated families and abductees," Kim said. "The government will not be affected by any type of provocation or action from North Korea."
Kim said Seoul will remain open to dialogue with Pyongyang on humanitarian matters and added, "North Korea must respond seriously without any political considerations whatsoever."
N. Koreans celebrate Lunar New Year with traditional food, folk games: state media
Kim said any effort to address inter-Korean humanitarian issues must begin with the restoration of an inter-Korean liaison communication channel, while also blaming Pyongyang for the strained ties between the Koreas.
"We urge North Korea to normalize that communication channel, which it unilaterally cut off in April last year," Kim said. "To separated families, who suffered through the war and division on the Korean Peninsula, the recent series of actions taken by North Korea is absolutely deplorable. North Korea must halt provocations that threaten the survival of our people and must not ignore the pain of separated f amilies."
In recent years, aging members of separated families in South Korea have died without having a chance to meet with their long-lost relatives in the North amid strained inter-Korean ties.
The number of surviving separated family members came to 39,881 as of the end of November 2023, with 65.6 percent of the total aged 80 and older, government data showed.
The divided Koreas have held 21 rounds of reunions since the landmark summit of their leaders in 2000, bringing together more than 20,000 family members who had not seen each other since the war. The two sides last staged temporary family reunions in 2018.
In 2022, South Korea proposed holding talks with North Korea on family reunions, but the North has yet to respond to the offer. (Yonhap)
The Korea Times · by 2024-02-10 15:16 | North Korea · February 10, 2024
5. U.S. envoy for N.K. human rights to visit S. Korea, Japan this month
Trilateral cooperation for a human rights upfront approach.
U.S. envoy for N.K. human rights to visit S. Korea, Japan this month | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · February 10, 2024
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights will visit South Korea and Japan this month to mark the 10th anniversary of the release of a landmark U.N. report on the North's rights violations, the State Department said Friday.
Ambassador Julie Turner's two-nation trip from Monday through Feb. 22 comes as activists and government officials in Seoul and Washington have paid renewed attention to the 2014 U.N. Commission of Inquiry (COI) report that accused North Korean officials of "systematic, widespread and gross" human rights violations.
In both countries, Turner plans to meet government representatives, civil society activists and North Korean defectors.
This photo, taken on Oct. 18, 2023, shows U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean human rights issues Julie Turner attending a press meeting in Seoul. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
"In the ROK, Special Envoy Turner will discuss efforts to promote accountability for those responsible for North Korea's egregious human rights violations and how best to advance the welfare of the North Korean people," the department said in a press release. ROK stands for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.
"She will also participate in events commemorating the landmark U.N. COI report, engage with aspiring foreign policy leaders, and visit entities providing support and education to recently arrived North Korean escapees," it added.
In Japan, the special envoy plans to highlight the North's practice of what the department called "enforced disappearances," which includes "abductions," and emphasize the need for an immediate resolution to such cases, according to the release.
"Special Envoy Turner's trip will underscore the U.S. commitment to promoting human rights in North Korea, increasing access to uncensored information within the closed country, and empowering survivor voices advocating for concrete change," it said.
On Wednesday, Turner called on the North to launch a "reform" process to enhance its rights situation in line with the recommendations in the COI report, while stressing that promoting respect for human dignity in the reclusive state remains a "top" priority for Washington.
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · February 10, 2024
6. Kim Jong Un threatens attacking, 'occupying' South Korea in event of conflict
The drums of war are beating.
Kim Jong Un threatens attacking, 'occupying' South Korea in event of conflict | Fox News
Kim Jong Un said peace shouldn't be 'begged for or gained in exchange for talks'
By Timothy H.J. Nerozzi Fox News
Published February 10, 2024 7:25am EST
foxnews.com · by Timothy H.J. Nerozzi Fox News
North Korea's supreme leader once again threatened military force against the country's southern counterpart
Kim Jong Un made the comments Thursday during a 76th anniversary celebration of the North's Korean People's Army.
"Defining the South Korean puppets as the most harmful primary foe and invariable principal enemy and deciding it as a national policy to occupy their territory in the event of a contingency is a reasonable measure for the eternal safety of our country and the peace and stability of the future," Kim Jong Un said, according to Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
MOSCOW RELEASES $9M OF FROZEN ASSETS TO NORTH KOREA IN EXCHANGE FOR WEAPONS: REPORT
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during a year-end plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
KCNA is a state-owned news outlet.
The statement from Kim Jong Un is the latest in a series of escalating comments from North Korean leadership threatening to destroy South Korea if prompted with an attack.
"Peace is not something that should be begged for or gained in exchange for talks," the dictator said.
KIM JONG UN ADMITS LACK OF 'BASIC LIVING NECESSITIES' IS 'SERIOUS POLITICAL ISSUE' IN NORTH KOREA
Supreme leader Kim Jong Un, center, visits the navy headquarter in North Korea. ((Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP))
North Korea, a largely impoverished and ill-equipped nation, typically walks a thin line by voicing serious threats of military attack coded in the language of self-defense.
In recent weeks, Kim Jong Un has ordered a complete abandonment of efforts to eventually reunify with South Korea — a long-shot hope of both North and South since the beginning of the Korean War.
Kim has ramped up his country’s industrial efforts in recent months with the goal of building a nuclear-armed navy to counter what he perceives as threats from South Korea, the U.S. and Japan.
The navy "presents itself as the most important issue in reliably defending the maritime sovereignty of the country and stepping up the war preparations," Kim said earlier this month during an inspection of the naval facility.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
A view shows the 19th expanded political bureau meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, which was held from January 23 to 24, in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this image released by the Korean Central News Agency on January 25, 2024. (KCNA via REUTERS )
According to the Korean news agency, the warships being constructed in Nampho are related to a five-year military development plan set during a ruling party congress in early 2021. It did not specify the types of warships being built.
At the shipyard, Kim ordered workers to "unconditionally" complete the efforts within the timeframe of the plan that runs through 2025, KCNA said.
Fox News Digital's Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.
foxnews.com · by Timothy H.J. Nerozzi Fox News
7. UN experts investigating 58 suspected North Korean cyberattacks valued at about $3 billion
The all purpose sword of cyber. In many ways more practical tuna the treasure nuclear sword (which can pretty much only be used once because it is a battery coercive tool).
UN experts investigating 58 suspected North Korean cyberattacks valued at about $3 billion
BY EDITH M. LEDERER
Updated 11:11 PM EST, February 9, 2024
AP · February 10, 2024
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. experts say they are investigating 58 suspected North Korean cyberattacks between 2017 and 2023 valued at approximately $3 billion, with the money reportedly being used to help fund its development of weapons of mass destruction.
And the high volume of cyberattacks by North Korean hacking groups who report to the Reconnaissance General Bureau, North Korea’s primary foreign intelligence organization, is reportedly continuing, the panel of experts said in the executive summary of a new report to the U.N. Security Council obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
The report covering the period from July 2023 to January 2024 and reflecting contributions from unidentified U.N. member nations and other sources, was sent to the 15-member council as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has raised tensions in the region. He is threatening to annihilate South Korea if provoked and escalating weapons demonstrations. In response, the United States, South Korea and Japan have strengthened their combined military exercises.
Amid the increased military and political tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the experts said North Korea “continued to flout (U.N.) sanctions,” further developed its nuclear weapons, and produced nuclear fissile materials – the weapons’ key ingredients.
The experts said a light-water reactor at North Korea’s main nuclear complex at Yongbyon “appeared to be operational.” South Korea’s defense minister said in late December that the reactor would likely be formally operational by the summer, amid suspicions the North may use it as a new source of fissile materials for nuclear weapons.
North Korea has long produced weapons-grade plutonium from its widely known 5-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon. The light-water reactor would be an additional source of bomb fuels, and observers say its bigger capacity could allow it to produce more plutonium. Yongbyon has a uranium enrichment facility as well.
The panel said activities at North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site “continued.” U.S. and South Korean officials have said North Korea is likely preparing to conduct its seventh nuclear test from the site, which would be the first since 2017.
Outside estimates on the size of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal vary, ranging from 20-60 to more than 100. Experts say North Korea can add six to 18 bombs each year. Since his diplomacy with the U.S. collapsed in 2019, Kim Jong Un has repeatedly vowed to build more nuclear weapons and introduce high-tech weapons to cope with what he calls intensifying U.S. hostility.
The panel said that during the six-month period ending in January, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or DPRK -- the North’s official name -- launched at least seven ballistic missiles — one a three-stage intercontinental ballistic missile, one possibly an intermediate-range missile and five short-range ballistic missiles.
After two failed attempts, the DPRK successfully placed a military observation satellite in orbit, the experts said. And a diesel submarine was retrofitted as a “tactical nuclear attack submarine” and added to the North’s military arsenal.
The panel, which monitors U.N. sanctions against North Korea, said the DPRK continues importing refined petroleum products in violation of Security Council resolutions, using “combinations of obfuscation methods” to evade maritime sanctions.
The DPRK’s recorded trade volume in 2023 surpassed the total for 2022, the experts said, including a large variety of consumer goods, “some of which could be classified as luxury items” that are banned by U.N. sanctions.
The panel said it is also investigating reports from member states about the DPRK supplying arms and ammunition in violation of U.N. sanctions.
The United States, Ukraine and six allies accused Russia last month of using North Korean ballistic missiles and launchers in a series of devastating aerial attacks against Ukraine, in violation of U.N. sanctions.
South Korea’s military said in November that it suspected North Korea had sent an unspecified number of short-range ballistic missiles, anti-tank missiles and portable anti-air missiles to Russia, in addition to rifles, rocket launchers, mortars and shells in violation of U.N. sanctions.
During the six-month period, the experts said, “trends include DPRK targeting of defense companies and supply chains, and increasingly sharing infrastructure and tools.”
The panel said it also investigated reports of numerous DPRK nationals working overseas, including in information technology, restaurants and construction, and earning income in violation of U.N. sanctions.
And in another sanctions violation, they said, “The DPRK continues to access the international financial system and engage in illicit financial operations.”
U.N. sanctions are not supposed to hurt ordinary North Koreans, but the panel said “there can be little doubt that U.N. sanctions and their implementation have unintentionally affected the humanitarian situation and some aspects of aid operations.” But it said “their relative role remains impossible to disaggregate from many other factors.”
AP · February 10, 2024
8. What to Make of North Korea’s Forward-looking Economic Strategy and Prospects
You can't eat nuclear weapons and missiles. Kim's tailed promise is that those were supposed to bring peace and prosperity. They have only caused more suffering.
Excerpts:
Challenges to Come
Kim Jong Un faces several major challenges in achieving his economic development ambitions, which he has been addressing forcefully in the recent meetings. One pressing issue is the apathy and/or incompetence of Party officials to provide the leadership and support for the ambitions regional level development efforts and especially the new regional industry initiative. Part of their challenge is how to mobilize the capital for investments needed in infrastructure and equipment, as well as required raw materials and working capital, for new factories and expanded farming activities. The current system of reliance on sanctions evasion and cryptocurrency theft is ill-suited to meeting the needs of the domestic economy and regional development, even if it is essential for the military weapons programs and consumption needs of the elite in Pyongyang.
Prospects for increased trade with China and Russia also pose challenges for local governments and the regional development agenda. While imports from China increased by 82% in 2023 in relation to pre-COVID 2019, the growth has been modest compared with the period before the sanctions were imposed since 2016, and the value of exports remains a fraction of imports. This means either the Chinese are financing the imports or North Korea’s meager foreign exchange reserves are being depleted. Russia’s emerging economic relationship, based on what has been made public so far, is mainly linked to the military economy and science cooperation and is likely to be affected by future developments in the war with Ukraine.
Kim Jong Un recognizes that the economy needs to be put on a path of long-term sustainability. While aspirational and well-intentioned, Kim’s priorities for the domestic industrial economy and new regional development initiatives seem unlikely to achieve that goal without a significant change in external economic relations with both foreign trade and investment needed for economic stability and growth that is distributed widely in the country. The turn to state-led economic management guided by the Party and relying on mass mobilization programs is also unlikely to fulfill Kim’s needs and ambitions in the medium-to long-term. An important question is whether decentralization for regional development will be accompanied by tolerance for more private initiative as in the pre-2019 era.
While there is uncertainty about how Kim Jong Un’s path for sustainable economic development will progress, it does provide a clear indication of his commitment to widespread regional development and his concrete ideas for how to move forward. If geopolitical conditions evolve to the point where some initial meaningful economic engagement becomes possible for the US and South Korea, Kim’s domestic agenda offers important benchmarks for collaboration and support that should be a starting point for helping him achieve success on improvements in the lives of the North Korean people.
What to Make of North Korea’s Forward-looking Economic Strategy and Prospects
https://www.38north.org/2024/02/what-to-make-of-north-koreas-forward-looking-economic-strategy-and-prospects/
(Source: KCNA)
Kim Jong Un ended 2023 sounding confident, both about his positioning of North Korea’s military security and the prospects for economic recovery after extended border closure period due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the December meeting of the Central Committee, according to KCNA, Kim:
…defined 2023 as a year of great turn and great change, lauding progress in all areas including the military, economy, science and public health despite some deviations, and presented a detailed report involving indices of the overall national economy which is clearly proving that the comprehensive development of socialist construction is being pushed forward in real earnest.
While his statements about redefining the inter-Korean relationship and ending a commitment to peaceful unification caught the attention of the international community, his upbeat assessment of the developments in 2023 in the domestic economy and progress in implementing the current five-year plan received little attention. He noted significantly better agricultural harvest than recent years, progress in housing in Pyongyang and in rural areas, improvements in production of priority sectors, and implementation of economic management improvements which have been focused on Party-led mobilization efforts, all contributing to this positive outlook.
Kim Jong Un’s aspirations for improving the livelihoods of people throughout the country, coupled with his focus on regional development and investments in innovative science and technology for productivity, are commendable. However, realizing these ambitions demands a significant economic transformation in external economic relations. While increased trade with China and the re-establishment of trade with Russia provide Kim with both political wins as the country opens back up, and lay the foundation for increased sanctions evasion and expanded trade, North Korea’s needs for capital investment and trade are much larger than is likely to be satisfied by these developments. Challenges facing both the Chinese and Russian economies and ongoing geopolitical rivalries make overdependence on these economic relationships a risky bet for the medium- and longer-term.
Kim’s Assessment of the Current Economic Situation and Priorities
The Central Committee meeting formed the underlying context for a mid-January meeting of the Supreme People’s Assembly. While Kim Jong Un’s speech on January 15 made international headlines, again, the international press focused primarily on Kim’s comments on upgrading military capabilities for national security, the reconfiguration of inter-Korean relations, and proposals to amend the Constitution and remove the Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification in Pyongyang to reflect the new orientation of reunification policy. Most of his speech, however, focused on the economic realities the country is facing and the strategy to guide economic development going forward.
Kim was blunt in his assessment of the current economic situation and priorities for the Party to follow. While he highlighted an “upturn in the national economy” and work to “put the overall economy of the country on the track of stable and sustainable development,” he also noted several shortcomings related to stabilizing and improving “the people’s living standard” and the necessity of improving “the overall regional economy” to “tackle differences between the capital city and provinces and the imbalance between regions.”:
A substantial portion of Kim’s speech was devoted to detailed comments on high-priority industrial sectors in the state-directed economy, recognizing the reality of incomplete projects and need to foster more enterprise-level independence and modernization. He focused on metallurgical and chemical industries, electricity production, coal and mining, machine-building to support various industrial sectors, housing and infrastructure construction, cement, and upgrading of rail transport. He emphasized the role of continuing innovations in science and technology to support these development goals, and also commented on agricultural development priorities, including expansion of wheat production and processing capacity, tideland reclamation, mechanization, and simultaneous development of vegetable, fruit, stockbreeding, and industrial farming.
However, a hallmark of the speech was his endorsement of an ambitious new strategy for regional industry development in 20 counties over 10 years, now labeled the “regional development 20×10 policy.” This is intended to be implemented in parallel with the ongoing rural housing construction program.
Kim’s Expectations for Regional Development
The endorsement of the new regional development policy was followed by a two-day meeting on January 23 and 24 by the 19th Enlarged Meeting of the Political Bureau of the 8th Central Committee of the WPK to clarify the goals and an action plan for implementation of the policy. Kim Jong Un framed the expectations for this meeting as such:[2]
In consideration of the economic situation of the country and the implementation of this enormous task, some policy leadership departments of the Party and economic bodies were paying lip service while failing to find out realistic and revolutionary possibilities. And even at the recent plenary meeting they took passive attitude by proposing to build regional industry factories in only a few cities and counties where conditions are favorable and to step up preparations for the future construction in the remaining cities and counties…
…At present, it is a very urgent immediate task for leveling up the material and cultural living standards of the regional people to adopt a revolutionary strategy and take all measures to make it possible to develop regional industry in a comprehensive and balanced way by most effectively creating and using the economic resources and raw materials of cities and counties and to promote the peculiar development of each regional economy and expand the scope of investment in it while creating a climate of competition in order to accelerate diversified growth. And this is a very important, responsible and timely option and determination in the future-oriented aspect of our Party’s policy on socialist regional development.
Today, failure to satisfactorily provide the people in local areas with basic living necessities including condiments, foodstuff and consumption goods has arisen as a serious political issue that our Party and government can never sidestep.”
This framing presents a political-economic challenge that Kim acknowledges in relying on Party-led initiative and leadership at both central and local levels to accomplish policy priorities that have consequences not only for achievement of socio-economic objectives, but also the political support of the people for the legitimacy of relying on the Party to meet societal needs and expectations.
To meet these challenges of practical implementation, Kim Jong Un emphasized the responsibility of Party officials at all levels to engage actively in meeting the program’s goals, including Central Committee members taking on responsibility for a city or province in their jurisdiction. He also underlined the need for coordinating the work of planning, construction and implementing units for new factories to ensure all pertinent considerations are taken into account for specific industrial projects. Troops from the Korea People’s Army have been authorized to be mobilized to support the construction activities, and one priority for regional officials is to produce consumer goods needed for the local population and encouragement of the younger generation, such as school uniforms.
Assessing Kim Jong Un’s Economic Confidence and Ambitions
Tightened sanctions imposed on the general economy since 2016, the failure to reach a breakthrough agreement with the United States at the Hanoi Summit in 2019, and the pandemic lockdowns and border closure in 2020, all contributed to a trade shock and sharp decline in production in North Korea, reminiscent of the early 1990s. These developments shaped Kim’s decision to reinforce state-led management of the domestic economy and rely on sanctions evasion and cryptocurrency theft to finance his WMD programs and core economic interests of the state. Both have been implemented without significant benefit for the North Korean people.
The reversion to mass mobilization and reliance on science and technology for productivity improvements in the domestic economy was a step back to former classic socialist policies adopted by his father and grandfather when under duress. Forced isolation and collapse of trade took the oxygen out of a growing market share of the economy and the efficiencies of productivity growth being made through private initiative and tolerance of a rising entrepreneurial class, also referred to as the donju. The people were told that they would have to tighten their belts again and by and large have endured without widespread complaint the hardships induced by the external developments and shifts in the government’s economic management.
Kim Jong Un’s confidence in the economy at the end of 2023 reflects both good luck with the weather for agriculture last year, some progress on the housing construction program, and an undercurrent of popular hope and optimism that the gradual relaxation of border controls will enable more essential imports for the domestic economy to spur domestic economic activity. Nevertheless, he seems acutely aware of the failure to provide even basic needs for the rural population and the risk of growing political disenchantment with the way the Party is managing the economy. His acknowledgement of the gaps between the living standards of Pyongyang and the countryside, and of disparities within and between regions is a sign that he is acutely aware that economic security is as important as military security for sustainable security of the regime and the social contract between the state and the people.
He is also aware that in 2025, the Korean Workers’ Party will hold its 9th Party Congress, where progress made on the economic development strategy adopted at the 8th Party Congress will be assessed and new directions set for the coming period. Demonstrating positive progress on the agenda adopted in the recent Party meetings would help set the stage for the Party Congress and the balance that must be struck to fulfill his economic ambitions.
Challenges to Come
Kim Jong Un faces several major challenges in achieving his economic development ambitions, which he has been addressing forcefully in the recent meetings. One pressing issue is the apathy and/or incompetence of Party officials to provide the leadership and support for the ambitions regional level development efforts and especially the new regional industry initiative. Part of their challenge is how to mobilize the capital for investments needed in infrastructure and equipment, as well as required raw materials and working capital, for new factories and expanded farming activities. The current system of reliance on sanctions evasion and cryptocurrency theft is ill-suited to meeting the needs of the domestic economy and regional development, even if it is essential for the military weapons programs and consumption needs of the elite in Pyongyang.
Prospects for increased trade with China and Russia also pose challenges for local governments and the regional development agenda. While imports from China increased by 82% in 2023 in relation to pre-COVID 2019, the growth has been modest compared with the period before the sanctions were imposed since 2016, and the value of exports remains a fraction of imports. This means either the Chinese are financing the imports or North Korea’s meager foreign exchange reserves are being depleted. Russia’s emerging economic relationship, based on what has been made public so far, is mainly linked to the military economy and science cooperation and is likely to be affected by future developments in the war with Ukraine.
Kim Jong Un recognizes that the economy needs to be put on a path of long-term sustainability. While aspirational and well-intentioned, Kim’s priorities for the domestic industrial economy and new regional development initiatives seem unlikely to achieve that goal without a significant change in external economic relations with both foreign trade and investment needed for economic stability and growth that is distributed widely in the country. The turn to state-led economic management guided by the Party and relying on mass mobilization programs is also unlikely to fulfill Kim’s needs and ambitions in the medium-to long-term. An important question is whether decentralization for regional development will be accompanied by tolerance for more private initiative as in the pre-2019 era.
While there is uncertainty about how Kim Jong Un’s path for sustainable economic development will progress, it does provide a clear indication of his commitment to widespread regional development and his concrete ideas for how to move forward. If geopolitical conditions evolve to the point where some initial meaningful economic engagement becomes possible for the US and South Korea, Kim’s domestic agenda offers important benchmarks for collaboration and support that should be a starting point for helping him achieve success on improvements in the lives of the North Korean people.
- [1]
-
“General Secretary Kim Jong Un makes policy speech at 10th Session of 14th SPA,” Pyongyang Times, January 16, 2024.
- [2]
-
“Report on 19th Enlarged Meeting of the Political Bureau of 8th C.C., WPK,” KCNA, January 25, 2024.
9. North Korea’s Kim says he has no desire for talks and repeats a threat to destroy South Korea if provoked
"If provoked." But what would provolone Kim? We are far too timid in this area and that is what gives Kim confidence.
Kim Ju Ae is returning to near the center of attention (and speculation).
North Korea’s Kim says he has no desire for talks and repeats a threat to destroy South Korea if provoked
Kim visited North Korea’s Defense Ministry on Thursday accompanied by his daughter, thought to be named Kim Ju Ae, who some experts believe is being groomed as a future leader.
NBC News · by The Associated Press
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un restated he has no desire for diplomacy with South Korea and that the North would annihilate its rival if provoked, state media said Friday, in the latest of his belligerent statements that are raising tensions in the region.
During a visit to North Korea’s Defense Ministry on Thursday, Kim said his recent moves to cut ties with South Korea allow his military to take on a more aggressive posture “by securing lawfulness to strike and destroy (the South) whenever triggered.”
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have increased in recent months, with Kim elevating his weapons demonstrations and threats and the United States, South Korea and Japan strengthening their combined military exercises in response.
While most South Korean officials and experts have downplayed the possibility that Kim has real intent to engage in a war, concerns about a direct military provocation have grown as the North may try to ramp up pressure in an election year in South Korea and the United States.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported Kim said he took the initiative to “shake off the unrealistic pretense of dialogue and cooperation with the (South) Korean puppets who sought the collapse of our republic.” The agency said Kim on his visit to the ministry was accompanied by his daughter, thought to be named Kim Ju Ae, who some experts believe is being groomed as a future leader.
Soldiers gather to mark the 76th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Army in Pyongyang on Thursday.KCNA / AFP - Getty Images
Kim Jong Un’s remarks came weeks after he declared to his rubber-stamp parliament that North Korea was abandoning its long-standing objective of a peaceful unification with South Korea and ordered the rewriting of its constitution to cement the South as its most hostile foreign adversary.
The North has since shut down government departments that handled affairs with the South, tore down a major unification monument and abolished laws that had governed past economic projects with the South.
Experts say Kim’s attempts to recalibrate relations with the South, which come amid a testing spree of potentially nuclear-capable weapons targeting neighboring rivals and the United States, are aimed at reducing Seoul’s voice and eventually forcing direct negotiations with Washington over the nuclear standoff. His long-term goal is to force the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and negotiate security and economic concessions from a position of strength.
Other analysts say Kim may want to raise tensions with South Korea to maintain a sense of external threat for his domestic audience. Kim’s government has recently been strengthening campaigns to remove the influence of South Korean pop culture and language amongst his population, which he may see as beneficial to reinforcing the North’s national identity and prolonging his family’s dynastic rule.
In a pre-recorded interview with local television that aired Monday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol described Kim’s government as “irrational” actors who are putting further strain on North Korea’s broken economy by aggressively expanding the country’s collection of nuclear weapons and missiles.
“We need to keep that in mind as we prepare to counter their security threats or provocations, preparing not just for actions based on rational judgments but also actions based on irrational conclusions,” Yoon said.
___
The Associated Press
NBC News · by The Associated Press
10. Doohyun Kim (Escapee) Video on Twitter/X
https://twitter.com/StateDept/status/1755184882060337420
Department of State
@StateDept
Doohyun Kim wants people around the world to look beyond the headlines and hear the story of 25 million North Koreans who are suffering under a brutal regime. He shares why he fled and how the documentary, Beyond Utopia, mirrors his own escape from North Korea.
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
| 
