Informal Institute for National Security Thinkers and Practitioners

Quotes of the Day:

“"To accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream, not only plan but also believe."

– Anatole France

"Continuous effort—not strength or intelligence—is the key to unlocking our potential."

– Winston Churchill

“Do not look for luxury in watches or bracelets, do not look for luxury in forks or sails.

“Luxury is laughter and friends, luxury is rain on your face, luxury is hugs and kisses.

Don't look for luxury in shops, don't look for it in gifts, don't look for it at parties, don't look for it at events.

Luxury is being loved by people, luxury is being respected, luxury is having parents alive,

luxury is being able to play with your grandchildren, luxury is what money can't buy.

– Clint Eastwood

1. International Forum on One Korea 2024 Explores U.S. Support for a Free and Unified Korea

2. John Batchelor Show:1/2: #NORTH KOREA: Putin and Kim mutual defense pact & What is to be done? David Maxwell, Center for Asia Pacific Security

3. DPRK-Russia Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

4. North Korea, Russia agree to offer military assistance if either is attacked

5. Russia and North Korea’s Defense Pact Is a Told-You-So Moment in Asia

6. North Korea’s Kim hails Russia alliance, promises Putin support on Ukraine

7. Another cargo ship seized on suspicion of violating U.N. sanctions on N. Korea

8. S. Korea slams N.K.-Russia treaty; hints at potential arms supply to Ukraine

9. Kim gifts pair of Pungsan dogs to Putin after summit: KCNA

10. S. Korean Golf legend Pak Se-ri selected for this year's Van Fleet Award

11. In Seongju, 'anti-THAAD protests' wane as resident sentiments change

12. The tragic fate of N. Korean workers in Russia's Sakhalin Island

13. Can America Live with a Nuclear North Korea?

14. How U.S. allies and partners see the November election

15. Kim and Vlad

16. Drug-fueled orgy at Hamhung bathhouse leads to widespread shock

1. International Forum on One Korea 2024 Explores U.S. Support for a Free and Unified Korea

Yes this is not Russia-north Korea. Though this could be the answer to the Korea problem if only we (the ROK, US, and international community) would get serious about solving the Korea question, which is the only path to eliminate the nuclear threats and the crimes against humanity being committed in north Korea.

The conference can be viewed on YouTube at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NsnH8LzwGU&t=2s

Unfortunately they could not fix the initial slight microphone glitch at the beginning of the first panel.

International Forum on One Korea 2024 Explores U.S. Support for a Free and Unified Korea - Global Peace Foundation

globalpeace.org · by Robin McDonough · June 14, 2024

A panel discusses Operationalizing Government and Citizen Support for Korean Unification at the International Forum on One Korea held at the U.S. Capitol.

“The Korea question is the unnatural division of the Korean peninsula,” commented David Maxwell, senior fellow of Global Peace Foundation (GPF) and Vice President of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy as he welcomed the distinguished panelists and in-person and virtual attendees to the Capitol Policy Forum: U.S. Support for a Free and Unified Korea. He further noted that political leaders have been struggling for 71 years with how to unify North Korea and South Korea, reiterating that global assistance is required to support the peaceful reunification of Korea.

GPF international president James Flynn delivers remarks.

GPF organized the “International Forum: One Korea 2024” held at the U.S. Capitol on June 6, 2024. In his opening remarks, GPF President James Flynn said, “The power of ideas enables us to look beyond the way things are and to see totally different possibilities.” To this end, thought leaders from the U.S. participated in the discussion to develop a comprehensive U.S. strategy for a free and unified Korea centered on two key topics: the economic benefits of unification and the path forward to support the quest for change and peaceful unification through the lens of human rights and information sharing.

Congressman Rob Wittman, a congressional sponsor for the Capitol Policy Forum, spoke on the importance of providing U.S. support to Korean unification saying, “We have to facilitate a platform for North Korean escapees to tell their stories… it’s only with those stories that we can highlight how important it is to reunify the two nations.”

Congressman Rob Wittman delivers video remarks.

Economic Considerations: Opportunities from Korean Unification

Prominent panelists participated in separate discussions on strategies related to the two topics. Mrs. Hee Eun Kim, President and CEO of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy, moderated the first panel discussion, “Economic Considerations: Opportunities from Korean Unification.” Panelists included Dr. Nicholas Eberstadt, Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute; Dr. Kent Hughes, Public Policy Fellow and former director for the Program on America and the Global Economy at the Woodrow Wilson Center; John Dickson, GPF senior advisor; Professor William Brown, principal, Northeast Asia Economics and Intelligence Advisory LLC and University of Maryland professor; and Dr. George Hutchinson, editor of the International Journal of Korean Studies and member of the board of directors of the International Council on Korean Studies.

Session 1 panel at the Capitol Policy Forum: Economic Considerations: Opportunities from Korean Unification

Dr. Eberstadt presented “The Economics of Korean Unification: Thinking the Unthinkable,” where he discussed four main points related to the economics of Korean unification: delays increase the size of the task and length of time, “three generations of extraordinary misrule” caused North Korea’s poverty—not its people, investments generating high rates of return can pay for the reconstruction, and a resource-rich South Korea and world community can finance it. He emphasized that while it will be a daunting task, the benefits of unification will be global. According to Dr. Eberstadt, the path to achieving a unified Korea is “unthinkable only if we fail to think about it.”

Dr. Kent Hughes speaking at the International Forum on One Korea.

Dr. Hughes reinforced the need to be creative and flexible, look ahead, and be well prepared for unification, as South Korea has the potential to combine with global assistance to achieve this crucial outcome. Mr. John Dickson supported this approach and reinforced the potential role of small and medium-sized enterprises in helping to achieve unification as presented by Dr. Eberstadt. “Isolation is what makes a country dangerous,” said Mr. Dickson. He showcased the idea of eventually building a World Trade Center in Pyongyang. The instant network that the project could provide would open a floodgate of collaboration to invigorate the region and be a model of peace for other tumultuous territories around the world.

Professor William Brown at the Capitol Policy Forum.

Professor Brown took a North Korean slant and cautioned that “Unification, or a combination of the two Koreas into one free nation, is truly a daunting and dangerous proposition.” He agreed that all of Korea would benefit from an economic integration of North and South Korea; however, the challenge lies in how to make it happen. Professor Brown discussed three essentials for reunification, including decentralization by replacing socialism with capitalism, the creation of a decent money and banking system, and the creation of an ownership society. According to him, information must be pushed to North Koreans on the benefits of unification, and North Korean sanctions should be revised to “penalize bad behavior and reward good behavior.”

Dr. George Hutchinson

Like other panelists, Dr. Hutchinson agrees that the economics for Korean unification is strong under a peaceful transition. He noted, though, that this is impossible under North Korea’s recently announced anti-unification policy to be enshrined in its constitution and that a more likely scenario is a spontaneous event causing the collapse of the North Korean government. According to Dr. Hutchinson, the South Korean government remains undaunted and has reaffirmed its commitment to unification, outlining three critical tasks to support its effort: raising awareness of North Korea, inducing change in North Korea, and fostering international support and solidarity. Dr. Hutchinson strongly urges U.S. support in assisting South Korea to “create favorable conditions for a free and unified Korea.”

Audience listens attentively to speakers at the International Forum on One Korea held at the U.S. Capitol.

All five panelists agree that South Korea must be the driving catalyst for unification with support from the international community and institutions. Dr. Eberstadt stated, “A free and unified Korea would offer enormous benefits to the world because the economy of the world is not a zero-sum game.” Professor Brown cautions that if unification is to drive economic development, North Korea must be given the opportunity to develop its own companies rather than having outside companies forced upon it. Dr. Hutchinson concurs that now is the best time for unification, with human rights being put up front.

Operationalizing Government and Citizen Support for Korean Unification

Mr. David Maxwell moderates the session on Operationalizing Government and Citizen Support for Korean Unification.

Transitioning from economic benefits, David Maxwell moderated the second panel discussion “Operationalizing Government and Citizen Support for Korean Unification – Challenges – How to Create Conditions for Change in North Korea.” Esteemed panelists included Ambassador Robert Joseph, senior scholar for the National Institute for Public Policy and former Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security; Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK); Commander Fredrick “Skip” Vincenzo, USN (Ret.) and nonresident senior fellow at the Center for Naval Analyses and the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security; and Dr. Sung Yoon Lee, Wilson Center Fellow.

Mr. Maxwell opened the panel by noting that since 2009, every U.S. President has pledged support for a unified Korea, but ”very little movement has taken place until the current administration.” He also stressed the connection between denuclearization, human rights, and unification. He stated, “The focus on human rights must lead to unification, and only when unification is achieved can there be denuclearization” with information providing connective tissue and the path to one Korea. Agreeing with the panelists from the first discussion, Mr. Maxwell noted that unification is dependent on Koreans solving the “Korea question” which is found in paragraph 60 of the 1953 Armistice which is the unnatural division of the peninsula. This requires support from the rest of the world. He further emphasized that a new strategy depends upon three things: human rights, information, and the pursuit of a free and unified Korea.

Ambassador Robert Joseph discussed the foundational facts that also serve as pillars for the Kim regime: human rights denial, a nuclear program, and unification. To be successful, the three factors must be solved together. He underscored that a fundamental shift in policy is required to create a more comprehensive approach to support a change in the Kim regime.

Greg Scarlatoiu commented that this was in line with the vision of an HRNK founder. He stated, “As a founder of our organization, Dr. Fred Iklè forged a vision to do away with a North Korean nuclear threat by delegitimizing the Kim regime internationally and fostering transformation from within by and through the people of North Korea.” This can be accomplished by telling three fundamental stories: the story of their own human rights, the corruption of the Kim family regime, and the story of the outside world in which both ethnic nationalism and civic nationalism play a vital role.

Commander Fredrick “Skip” Vincenzo on the panel: Operationalizing Government and Citizen Support for Korean Unification.

Commander Vincenzo lamented that our North Korean expertise is limited, which grants Kim Jung Un heightened leverage. Agreeing with other panelists, he reinforced the need to consciously bombard North Koreans with an influx of information, commenting “I do think it’s worth considering that it’s time to take an aggressive stand against North Korea in the information space.” He provided an innovative proposal to offer a 10 Point Promise to the Korean people in the north to counter the Ten Points of Monolithic Ideology that forces the Korean people to be obedient to the Kim family regime.

Dr. Sung Yoon Lee speaks on creating conditions for change that will lead to a free and unified Korea.

Closing out the panelists’ formal presentations, Dr. Sung Yoon Lee remarked that 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the North Korean famine. He noted that he tested and agreed with Dr. Eberstadt’s hypothesis that it is the “first and only instance of an industrialized urbanized literate peacetime economy to suffer a famine.” Dr. Lee articulated that acts of crimes against humanity are foreign to many who live in a democratic society and, therefore, are difficult to empathize with; however, hunger is something to which we can all relate. South Korea must take the lead and tell North Koreans how starvation is a conscious policy of the Kim dynasty.

Human Rights, Information, and a Free Unified Korea

In follow-up remarks, Ambassador Joseph acknowledged that economic, political, military, and diplomatic dimensions are all important and need our attention; however, upfront attention to human rights is the key to unification. According to Greg Scarlatoiu, “Democratic values are at the very core of this civic nationalism that will enable a successful unification. Human rights is at the very core of that set of values.” Commander Vincenzo noted that North Koreans need evidence of a better life through information sharing from North Koreans who escaped, and Dr. Lee cautioned that “We should not underestimate North Korea . . . they have a plan whereas we don’t.”

Mr. Greg Scarlatoiu, Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, speaking with other attendees.

Recognizing the underlying significance of Dr. Lee’s statement, Mr. Maxwell reiterated, “We have to deal with North Korea as it really is, not as we want it to be.” To do so, we must have a deliberate narrative that includes human rights, information, and a free and unified Korea. This includes targeted messages to the North Korean regime elite, second-tier leadership, military leadership, and the general population.

The Capitol Policy Forum: U.S. Support for a Free and Unified Korea highlighted the economic benefits associated with the unification of North Korea and South Korea. While unification will not be an easy task, it can be achieved through preparation, global support, information sharing, and a fervent desire to end human rights abuse in North Korea. As Mr. Maxwell succinctly stated, “We must support the Koreans. The Koreans have to solve the Korea question, but I think we all, as human beings, fellow citizens of the world, have a responsibility to help Koreans help themselves. So, with that, I will say we know one dream and one Korea.”

View the event page Capitol Policy Forum – U.S. Support for a Free and Unified Korea

globalpeace.org · by Robin McDonough · June 14, 2024

2. John Batchelor Show:1/2: #NORTH KOREA: Putin and Kim mutual defense pact & What is to be done? David Maxwell, Center for Asia Pacific Security

My interview with John last evening.

1/2: #NORTH KOREA: Putin and Kim mutual defense pact & What is to be done? David Maxwell, Center for Asia Pacific Security

https://audioboom.com/posts/8527144-1-2-north-korea-putin-andkim-mutual-defense-pact-what-is-to-be-done-david-maxwell-center

2/2:NORTH KOREA: Putin andKim mutual defense pact & What is to be done? David Maxwell, Center for Asia Pacific Security

https://audioboom.com/posts/8527149-2-2-north-korea-putin-andkim-mutual-defense-pact-what-is-to-be-done-david-maxwell-center-for

3. DPRK-Russia Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

This is an English translation from the north Korea KCNA website. It is the closest I have found to describing the agreement with publishing the actual agreement (which I have not yet found.

Like most agreements it is generally vague and with room for fairly wide interpretation.

I think these are the key excerpts:

In case a direct threat of armed invasion is created against any one of the two sides, the two sides shall immediately operate the channel of bilateral negotiations for the purpose of adjusting their stands at the request of any one side and discussing feasible practical measures to ensure mutual assistance for removing the prevailing threat.

In case any one of the two sides is put in a state of war by an armed invasion from an individual state or several states, the other side shall provide military and other assistance with all means in its possession without delay in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter and the laws of the DPRK and the Russian Federation.

Each side is obliged not to conclude with any third country any agreement encroaching upon the other side's sovereignty, security, territorial inviolability, rights to freely opt for and develop political, social, economic and cultural systems and other core interests, nor to take part in such actions.

The two sides, with the aim of maintaining international peace and security, shall discuss and cooperate with each other in the matters concerning the global and regional development that could be a direct or indirect challenge to their common interests and security within the framework of international bodies, including the UN and its specialized organs.

With threats there will be consultation. With attack there will be support.

My interpretation: Russia will not agree in any forum to north Korean denuclearization. It will not reach an agreement with the US or anyone about north Korean decnuclearion or anything else that impacts north Korean security and sovereignty.

Another interpretation: Russia will not support any UN sanctions of north Korea either the current ones or any future proposed ones.

This agreement also covers more than just security.

But again it is necessarily vague and can be broadly interpreted. For comparison and frame of reference, here are the three key articles from the ROK-US Mutual Defense Treaty from 1953 which of course remains in effect today and serves the interests of the ROK and US.

ARTICLE I

The Parties undertake to settle any international disputes in which they may be involved by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered and to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations, or obligations assumed by any Party toward the United Nations.

ARTICLE II

The Parties will consult together whenever, in the opinion of either of them, the political independence or security of either of the Parties is threatened by external armed attack. Separately and jointly, by self help and mutual aid, the Parties will maintain and develop appropriate means to deter armed attack and will take suitable measures in consultation and agreement to implement this Treaty and to further its purposes.

ARTICLE III

Each Party recognizes that an armed attack in the Pacific area on either of the Parties in territories now under their respective administrative control, or hereafter recognized by one of the Parties as lawfully brought under the administrative control of the other, would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common danger in accordance with its constitutional processes.

https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/kor001.asp

I think you can see some similarities. I think Russia and north Korea envy the ROK/US alliance and are trying to emulate it in some ways to demonstrate their strength and hide their weaknesses.

KCNA KCNA.kp (En)

DPRK-Russia Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

https://kcnawatch.org/newstream/1718870859-459880358/dprk-russia-treaty-on-comprehensive-strategic-partnership/

Date: 20/06/2024 | Source: KCNA.kp (En) | Read original version at source

Pyongyang, June 20 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Un , general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, president of the Russian Federation, signed the "Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the DPRK and the Russian Federation" on June 19.

According to the treaty, the two sides, taking into account their national laws and international obligations, shall permanently maintain and develop the comprehensive strategic partnership based on mutual respect for state sovereignty, territorial inviolability, non-interference in internal affairs, principle of equality and other principles of international law concerning friendly relations and cooperation between nations.

The two sides shall exchange views on the issues of bilateral relations and international issues of mutual concern through dialogue and negotiations, including summit talks, and intensify concerted action and cooperation in the international arenas.

The two sides shall aspire to global strategic stability and establishment of a new fair and equal international order, maintain close mutual communication and strengthen strategic and tactical cooperation.

In case a direct threat of armed invasion is created against any one of the two sides, the two sides shall immediately operate the channel of bilateral negotiations for the purpose of adjusting their stands at the request of any one side and discussing feasible practical measures to ensure mutual assistance for removing the prevailing threat.

In case any one of the two sides is put in a state of war by an armed invasion from an individual state or several states, the other side shall provide military and other assistance with all means in its possession without delay in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter and the laws of the DPRK and the Russian Federation.

Each side is obliged not to conclude with any third country any agreement encroaching upon the other side's sovereignty, security, territorial inviolability, rights to freely opt for and develop political, social, economic and cultural systems and other core interests, nor to take part in such actions.

The two sides, with the aim of maintaining international peace and security, shall discuss and cooperate with each other in the matters concerning the global and regional development that could be a direct or indirect challenge to their common interests and security within the framework of international bodies, including the UN and its specialized organs.

The two sides shall provide mechanisms for taking joint measures with the aim of strengthening the defence capabilities for preventing war and ensuring regional and global peace and security.

The two sides shall strive to increase the volume of mutual trade, create conditions favorable for economic cooperation in such fields as customs and financial service, and encourage and protect mutual investment in accordance with the DPRK-Russia intergovernmental agreement on promotion and mutual protection of investment adopted on Nov. 28, 1996.

The two sides shall provide support to the special or free economic zones of the DPRK and the Russian Federation and to the organizations working in such zones.

The two sides shall develop exchange and cooperation in the fields of science and technology, including space, biology, peaceful atomic energy, artificial intelligence, IT, etc., and proactively facilitate joint research.

Both sides shall support regional or frontier regional cooperation and development in fields of mutual concern, proceeding from the special importance of extending the comprehensive bilateral relations.

The two sides shall create favorable conditions for establishing direct ties between regions of the DPRK and the Russian Federation and promote mutual understanding of the economic and investment potentials of regions by holding such inter-regional joint events as business forum, seminar, exhibition and trade fair.

The two sides shall boost exchange and cooperation in the fields of agriculture, education, public health, sports, culture, tourism, etc., and cooperate with each other in the fields of environmental protection, prevention of natural disasters and eradication of their aftermath.

The two sides shall oppose the application of unilateral compulsory measures including the measures that assume extraterritorial nature, and regard the implementation of such measures as illegal ones running counter to the UN Charter and international law and regulations.

In case any third country takes unilateral compulsory measures against one side, the two sides shall reduce the danger and make practical efforts to eliminate or minimize their direct or indirect impact on the mutual economic ties, natural persons and corporate bodies of the two sides, their properties under the jurisdiction of the two sides, the goods transported from one side to the other, the results of jobs, services, information and intellectual activities provided by payers of the two sides and the monopoly on them.

The two sides shall cooperate with each other in combating such challenges and threats as international terrorism, extremism, multinational organized crime, human traffic, hostage taking, illegal immigration, illegal circulation of money, legalization (laundering) of income obtained in a criminal way, financing of terrorism, financing of WMD proliferation, illegal acts posing threat to the safety of civil aviation and maritime navigation and illegal circulation of goods, funds, means of funds, drug, psychic energizer and their ingredients, weapons, and cultural and historical relics.

The two sides shall cooperate with each other in the field of international information security and aspire to strengthen the bilateral cooperation in the way of developing the relevant legal and normative foundation and deepening dialogue between institutions, etc.

The two sides shall proactively cooperate in concluding and implementing sectional agreements for honouring this treaty and other agreements concerning the fields not specified in this treaty.

This treaty shall be in indefinite effect. -0-

www.kcna.kp (Juche113.6.20.)

4. North Korea, Russia agree to offer military assistance if either is attacked

Invoking the UN Charter is really the height of hypocrisy but it is their attempt to be legitimate. Obviously I think Putin's War in Ukraine is a clear violation of the charter as are all of north Korea's malign activities.

North Korea, Russia agree to offer military assistance if either is attacked

The new partnership treaty will replace bilateral treaties that North Korea and Russia agreed earlier.

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/nk-russia-treaty-06202024005620.html

By Taejun Kang for RFA

2024.06.20

Taipei, Taiwan

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un pose for a photo during a signing ceremony following bilateral talks in Pyongyang, North Korea, June 19, 2024.

Sputnik/Kristina Kormilitsyna/Kremlin via Reuters

North Korea and Russia have agreed to offer military assistance “without delay” if either is attacked under a new partnership treaty signed after a summit between their leaders on Wednesday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Pyongyang for talks aimed at bolstering their economic and security relations and underscoring her defiance of Western sanctions.

North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, reported details of their new pact on Thursday, as Putin was beginning a visit to Vietnam.

“If one of the two sides is placed under war situations due to an armed invasion from an individual country or several nations, the other side provides military and other assistance without delay by mobilizing all means in its possession in line with the Article 51 of the U.N. Charter and the laws of the DPRK and the Russian Federation,” the treaty reads.

DPRK, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is North Korea’s official name.

The Article 51 of the U.N. Charter stipulates that all U.N. member countries have the inherent right of individual and collective self-defense right if an armed attack is staged against them.

The new treaty also requires both sides not to sign treaties with third countries that infringe on the other’s core interests or participate in such acts, KCNA reported.

The mutual defense provision in the new Russia-North Korea treaty recalls the 1961 Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between North Korea and the Soviet Union that became void upon the collapse of the latter in 1991.

The mutual defense clause was notably missing when the two countries signed a Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness, and Cooperation in 2000, at the beginning of Putin’s reign.

The new partnership treaty will replace bilateral treaties that North Korea and Russia agreed earlier, including the 2000 treaty.

After their meeting, Putin said that the treaty provided for mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of the two countries, while Kim declared the bilateral relationship has been upgraded to the level of alliance.

Views are still divided as to whether the treaty can be seen as a mutual defense treaty, but experts believe the agreement is likely to boost cooperation between two nations in weapons production.

“The more likely consequence of the treaty is simply closer cooperation in weapons production, with North Korea manufacturing more munitions for Russia and Russia providing more high-end help for North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, likely including aid in developing submarines capable of launching ballistic nuclear missiles,” Sue Mi Terry, senior fellow for Korea studies, told the American think tank Council on Foreign Relations.

“This will lead Russia to improve North Korean WMD [weapons of mass destruction] capabilities. There is some evidence of this already happening, with Russia possibly providing help to North Korea with its successful satellite launch last November, just two months after the last Putin-Kim meeting,” Terry added.

“This is deeply concerning because of the substantial overlap between the technologies used for space launches and intercontinental ballistic missiles.”

Edited by RFA Staff.

5. Russia and North Korea’s Defense Pact Is a Told-You-So Moment in Asia

A visual depicting the "three powers" and the alignment of those who are opposed to the rules based international order.

Actually it is the authors of the 2017 NSS and 2018 NDS as well as the 2022 NSS and NDS that can say I told you so as they all identified the alignment of these major "powers" and the attacks that would take place on the rules based international order.

Russia and North Korea’s Defense Pact Is a Told-You-So Moment in Asia

By Motoko Rich and Choe Sang-Hun

Motoko Rich reported from Tokyo and Choe Sang-Hun from Seoul

June 20, 2024, 5:59 a.m. ET

The New York Times · by Choe Sang-Hun · June 20, 2024

While the agreement rattled officials in South Korea and Japan, the two U.S. allies in recent years have been expecting growing security challenges from North Korea.

Listen to this article · 7:54 min Learn more

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, played up their growing bond as they agreed to a mutual-defense pledge.

June 20, 2024, 5:59 a.m. ET

With ballistic missiles regularly flying nearby, Japan and South Korea need little reminder of the threat that North Korea and its nuclear arsenal poses to its neighbors. But the stunning revival of a Cold War-era mutual defense agreement during a visit this week by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to Pyongyang, the capital, amped up the pressure on some of the hermit kingdom’s closest neighbors.

Mr. Putin and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, agreed that if one country found itself in a state of war, then the other would provide “military and other assistance with all means in its possession without delay,” according to the text of the agreement released Thursday by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.

Analysts were still sorting through the text of the agreement to understand how far it would extend, either in terms of Mr. Putin’s war in Ukraine or any future conflict on the Korean Peninsula. But the pledge, along with indications that Russia could help bolster North Korea’s continuing quest to build its nuclear capabilities, rattled officials in Tokyo and Seoul.

Mr. Kim has grown increasingly hostile toward South Korea and this year abandoned a longtime goal of reunifying with the South, however unlikely that might have been. Now he describes the South solely as an enemy that must be subjugated, if necessary, through a nuclear war. And he has often tested his ballistic missiles by flying them toward Japan, demonstrating North Korea’s provocative stance toward its former colonizer.

Mr. Kim’s alliance with Mr. Putin, analysts said, would escalate tensions in northeast Asia by sharpening a divide between the democratic partnership among the United States, South Korea and Japan on the one side, and the autocratic camp of Russia, North Korea and China on the other.

“It is bad news for international efforts to prevent North Korea from advancing its nuclear and missile technologies,” said Koh Yu-hwan, former head of the Seoul-based Korea Institute for Unification Studies.

A photograph released by North Korean state media showing what it says is a test fire of tactical ballistic missile at an undisclosed site in North Korea last month.Credit...The Korean Central News Agency, via Associated Press

Mr. Putin’s protracted war in Ukraine has led him to deepen relations with Mr. Kim. U.S. and South Korean officials say he has sought and received Soviet-grade ammunitions from Pyongyang — accusations that both Moscow and Pyongyang deny.

The war in Ukraine has loomed large in the region. “The Ukraine of today may be the East Asia of tomorrow,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan has often said.

Officials in Seoul and Tokyo were quick to point out that if Russia sends any military technology to North Korea, it would violate United Nations Security Council resolutions that it has previously signed.

“We are seriously concerned about the fact that President Putin did not rule out military-technical cooperation with North Korea,” Yoshimasa Hayashi, Mr. Kishida’s chief cabinet secretary, said at a press briefing in Tokyo.

In some respects, the meeting between the two authoritarian leaders, both desperate for outside support, provided a bit of an I-told-you-so moment for the United States and its Asian allies, who have been preparing in recent years for growing security challenges from North Korea as well as China, and sometimes have faced domestic political headwinds for doing so.

Japan has vowed to increase its defense budget and pushed limits on what it could do under its pacifist Constitution, including purchasing more fighter jets and tomahawk missiles. After years of frosty relations, Mr. Kishida and President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea agreed to strengthen bilateral ties between their two countries and have drawn closer in a three-way partnership with the U.S. to forge mutual security arrangements. Over the last year, the three countries have participated in more than 60 trilateral diplomatic meetings, military exercises and intelligence sharing, according to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.

A military exercise in Tokunoshima, Japan, last year. Japan has vowed to increase its defense budget, despite domestic pushback.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

“I think it shows how prescient President Biden, President Kishida and President Yoon were to spend political capital,” Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, said in an interview. “It was prescient not just from a political standpoint, but from a strategic standpoint because now Russia and North Korea” may be developing weapons together.

The revival of a Cold War-era mutual defense pledge between North Korea and Russia in this fraught global moment spooked other countries in the region.

“What I think is more dangerous is that it shows that the relationship will be more long term than perhaps we initially thought and that it may be more strategic than transactional,” said Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow in Asian studies at the Heritage Foundation in Washington. “We don’t know the parameters of how far each country will go in support of each other.”

At the very least, it shows that Russia is willing to flagrantly dismiss U.N. sanctions.

“It was not that long ago that Russia was backing U.N. sanctions on North Korea,” said James D.J. Brown, a professor of political science at the Tokyo campus of Temple University who specializes in relations between Russia and East Asia. “So it confirms that Russia is not only not implementing sanctions themselves but actively undermining them and will help North Korea to evade sanctions.”

Mr. Putin and Mr. Kim shake hands in a television broadcast showing at a railway station in Seoul on Wednesday.

In Seoul, the meeting between Mr. Putin and Mr. Kim was likely to revive discussion of whether South Korea should consider arming itself with nuclear weapons as well as start anticipating what might happen if Donald Trump is re-elected president of the United States.

“It is time for South Korea to have a fundamental review of its current security policy, which depends almost totally on the U.S. nuclear umbrella to counter the North Korean nuclear threat,” said Cheong Seong-chang, the director of the Center for Korean Peninsula Strategy at the Sejong Institute.

In one respect, the growing bond between Russia and North Korea could help cement the recently revived ties between Tokyo and Seoul as well as their three-way cooperation with the United States. Many analysts have worried that a change of administration in either the United States or South Korea could endanger these relationships. (Japan is considered relatively stable.)

“In some ways it sets up the justification to continue trilateralism after potentially a Trump administration comes in or if progressives come in Korea,” said Jeffrey Hornung, a senior political analyst who specializes in Japan at the RAND Corporation in Washington. “Even though it doesn’t change what Seoul or Tokyo should be doing, it definitely adds a new factor of what they have to consider.”

But an editorial in Hankyoreh, a left-leaning daily newspaper in Seoul, questioned the wisdom of close cooperation among the United States, Japan and South Korea, saying it had put South Korea “consistently in conflict with China and Russia, two countries with a huge influence on the Korean Peninsula’s political situation. It’s time to reflect on whether this skewed approach to diplomacy hasn’t had the effect of contributing to the development of relations between North Korea and Russia.”

Despite the drama in Pyongyang this week, some analysts said that the biggest worry for the region remains the rising military ambitions of China.

“The maritime buildup in the East China Sea or South China Sea or in space and cyber and a multi-domain war capability — they all justify our new policy,” said Kunihiko Miyake, a former Japanese diplomat and a special adviser at the Canon Institute for Global Studies in Tokyo. Mr. Putin’s visit to North Korea, he said , “is just another example, and not the biggest example” of threats in Asia.

Kiuko Notoya contributed reporting from Tokyo.

Motoko Rich is a reporter in Tokyo, leading coverage of Japan for The Times. More about Motoko Rich

Choe Sang-Hun is the lead reporter for The Times in Seoul, covering South and North Korea. More about Choe Sang-Hun

See more on: Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un

The New York Times · by Choe Sang-Hun · June 20, 2024

6. North Korea’s Kim hails Russia alliance, promises Putin support on Ukraine

Putin probably could not handle any more than 2 hours with Kim.

I wonder why they did not go horseback riding together. Kim would probably have been embarrassed when Putin removed his shirt and then offered to wrestle a bear.

North Korea’s Kim hails Russia alliance, promises Putin support on Ukraine

Leaders of the two neighbors concluded one-on-one talks that lasted about two hours, Russian media reported.

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/nk-russia-summit-06192024022944.html

By Taejun Kang for RFA

2024.06.19

Taipei, Taiwan

Portraits of Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are displayed side by side in Pyongyang, June 19, 2024.

KRT via Reuters

Updated June 19, 2024, 6:28 a.m. ET.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hailed a “new, high level of alliance” with Russia on Wednesday as he promised President Vladimir Putin full support for his war in Ukraine, media reported.

Putin, on his first visit to isolated North Korea in 24 years, said after one-on-one talks with Kim that lasted for about two hours that a new comprehensive strategic partnership pact would form the basis of relations for years to come, said a correspondent from Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.

Kim said the pact signed by the two leaders was historic and he reaffirmed “full support and firm solidarity with the Russian government, armed forces and people in their struggle to defend their sovereignty, security interests and territorial integrity in Ukraine,” according to a video of summit remarks released by media outlets.

“In the future, we will continue to strengthen and deepen strategic communication with the Russian leadership and Russia and unconditionally support all of Russia’s policies, regardless of the complex international situation,” Kim said.

Kim said relations were “at an all-time high, unparalleled even in the past relations with the Soviet Union,” adding that he was confident Putin's visit would “further solidify the friendship and people-to-people foundation of the two countries.”

Putin thanked Kim saying he appreciated North Korea’s support.

“We very much appreciate your systematic and permanent support of Russian policy, including on the Ukrainian issue,” Russian media quoted Putin as telling Kim at the start of their meeting, AFP reported.

The United States says that North Korea has supplied Russia with large amounts of weapons for its war in Ukraine, in particular artillery rounds and ballistic missiles, although both Russia and North Korea deny that.

In exchange for its weapons, North Korea is suspected of getting Russian technological assistance for its space program.

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his visit to Pyongyang, North Korea, in this image released by the North Korean government, June 19, 2024. (KCNA via Reuters)

In May, the North’s attempt to launch a military spy satellite ended in failure with the rocket exploding on liftoff. But in November last year, North Korea successfully placed a spy satellite into orbit, and it had planned to launch three more satellites in 2024.

Earlier on Wednesday, the two leaders attended a welcome ceremony at Pyongyang's massive Kim Il Sung Square, complete with an honor guard and rows of North Korean citizens with balloons. Buildings around the square were bedecked with the countries' flags and huge portraits of the two men, pictures in Russian state media showed.

Crowds in red, white and blue shirts waved flowers and flags as the two leaders passed by, standing in an open-top limousine.

‘Solid friendship’

Both Russia and North Korea are facing wide-ranging sanctions, the former for its invasion of Ukraine and the latter for its development of nuclear bombs and the missiles to deliver them around the world.

In an apparent reference to the sanctions, Putin, in a commentary published on the eve of his visit in North Korea’s state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper, called for unity in resisting “illegal and unilateral restrictions”, while vowing to build alternative systems for trade and settlements with North Korea out of the control of the West.

(2nd LD) Another cargo ship seized on suspicion of violating U.N. sanctions on N. Korea | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · June 20, 2024

(ATTN: ADDS foreign ministry's comments in 4th para)

BUSAN, June 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea seized a 2,900-ton cargo ship near the Korea Strait on Thursday on suspicion of violating U.N. Security Council (UNSC) sanctions against North Korea, sources said.

The foreign-flagged freighter, reportedly carrying coal and iron ore with 10 crewmembers, was en route from Russia to China, presumably via North Korea, when it was seized.

The vessel is now anchored at an anchorage in Busan on the country's southeastern coast.

"In relation to the vessel's suspected violation of the UNSC sanctions, relevant government agencies are taking necessary steps in line with the international and domestic laws," the foreign ministry said in response to a Yonhap query about the ship, without providing further details.

In late March, another 3,000-ton cargo ship, DEYI, which was heading to Vladivostok, Russia, was seized in waters off Yeosu, along the southern coast, under similar suspicions.

The ship is also currently anchored at the anchorage at Busan Port, with the captain and other crew onboard.

This file photo shows a cargo ship, DEYI, on March 30, 2024, in waters off Yeosu committing alleged activities in violation of U.N. Security Council sanctions against North Korea. (Yonhap)

pbr@yna.co.kr

elly@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · June 20, 2024

8. S. Korea slams N.K.-Russia treaty; hints at potential arms supply to Ukraine

This is the right response. Russia certainly does not want this to happen.

Now in the words of Nike: "just do it."

(LEAD) S. Korea slams N.K.-Russia treaty; hints at potential arms supply to Ukraine | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · June 20, 2024

(ATTN: CHANGES headline; UPDATES with more details, comments in paras 8, 11-14; ADDS photo)

By Kim Eun-jung

SEOUL, June 20 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean government said Thursday it will reconsider its stance on arms supply to Ukraine after North Korea and Russia signed a treaty that involves a mutual pledge to provide immediate military assistance if one of them is attacked.

National Security Advisor Chang Ho-jin also condemned "the comprehensive strategic treaty" signed during the summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang on Wednesday.

"The government expresses grave concern and condemns the signing of the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement between North Korea and Russia, which aims to strengthen mutual military and economic cooperation," Chang said in a press briefing at the presidential office.

South Korean National Security Adviser Chang Ho-jin issues a statement on a treaty signed between North Korea and Russia this week during a press briefing at the presidential office on June 20, 2024. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

Chang said any cooperation that directly or indirectly aids North Korea's military enhancement is a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and will be subject to international scrutiny and sanctions, and vowed to take corresponding measures.

"We plan to reconsider the issue of arms support to Ukraine," Chang also said, suggesting a shift in South Korea's policy of not providing lethal aid to Ukraine.

A presidential official said South Korea will maintain strategic ambiguity regarding the types of weapons that could be supplied to Ukraine.

"Specific measures will be revealed later, and it will be interesting to see how Russia responds, rather than revealing our plans in advance," the official told reporters.

Air defense systems could be on the list as Ukraine is in desperate need of missile shields to counter Russian air strikes, according to government sources.

South Korea will also slap additional sanctions on four Russian ships, five organizations and eight individuals involved in the transfer of weapons and oil between Russia and North Korea, Chang said.

There are 1,159 items subject to export controls to Russia following the Ukraine war, and South Korea will add 243 new items, bringing the total to 1,402 items under sanctions.

Chang said it is "troubling" that North Korea and Russia, with their history of initiating the Korean War and the Ukraine war, respectively, pledged military cooperation based on the hypothetical scenario of a preemptive attack.

"This is a fallacious and irrational argument that disregards international responsibility and norms," he said.

In light of deepening ties between Pyongyang and Moscow, the government vowed to sternly respond to any security threats in coordination with the international community.

"We will further strengthen the extended deterrence of the S. Korea-U.S. alliance and the security cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan to deter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats," Chang said.

ejkim@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · June 20, 2024

9. Kim gifts pair of Pungsan dogs to Putin after summit: KCNA

The same dogs Kim gifted to former President Moon. Is this a war gift for Putin?

Excerpt:

The Pungsan dog was the breed that Kim had given to Moon as a "peace gift" when they had summit talks in Pyongyang in September 2018, a time when nuclear diplomacy was in full swing with Moon's peace drive.

(LEAD) Kim gifts pair of Pungsan dogs to Putin after summit: KCNA | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · June 20, 2024

(ATTN: ADDS details on Kim's awarding of an order of merit to Putin in last 2 paras; UPDATES photos)

SEOUL, June 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gave a pair of Pungsan hunting dogs to Russian President Vladimir Putin as a gift after their summit talks in Pyongyang, the North's state media reported Thursday, the same breed Kim had gifted former President Moon Jae-in with back in 2018.

Kim presented the dogs to Putin while on a stroll in the garden of the Kumsusan Guest House after they signed an agreement on boosting their relations to a "comprehensive strategic partnership" at their summit on Wednesday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The KCNA said that Kim presented the pair of "our national Pungsan dogs" to Kim and Putin expressed thanks in return.

The Pungsan dog was the breed that Kim had given to Moon as a "peace gift" when they had summit talks in Pyongyang in September 2018, a time when nuclear diplomacy was in full swing with Moon's peace drive.

This photo, released by the Korean Central News Agency on June 20, 2024, shows Russian President Vladimir Putin with the pair of Pungsan hunting dogs gifted to him by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R) after their summit talks in Pyongyang the previous day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

Moon had raised the two dogs at the Cheong Wa Dae presidential compound before returning them to the government in November 2022, six months after his term ended, citing legal grounds and a lack of support.

Kim and Putin also rode together the Aurus luxury limousine, a gift from Putin to Kim, around the garden driveway, the KCNA said. Russian media reported Wednesday that another Aurus car was gifted to Kim by Putin, after the first one that he gave to Kim in February.

Giving a vehicle as a gift to Kim constitutes a violation of U.N. Security Council sanctions banning the supply, sale and transfer of luxury items to North Korea, under Resolution 2397 adopted in December 2017.

The KCNA said that Kim and Putin had a "friendly and sincere" conversation while walking along the path in the rose garden, and discussed "important plans to further strengthen the strategic partnership and alliance between the two countries, as well as to safeguard the shared core interests."

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R) awards the Order of Kim Il Sung, the highest order of merit in North Korea, to Russian President Vladimir Putin, during Putin's visit to Pyongyang, on June 19, 2024, in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency the next day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

Putin was also awarded the Order of Kim Il Sung, the highest order of merit in North Korea, for his "great feats in developing the good neighborly relations," the KCNA said.

Kim "personally awarded the order" to Putin, who expressed "deep thanks to Kim, the North Korean government and its people," the state media outlet said.

elly@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · June 20, 2024

10. S. Korean Golf legend Pak Se-ri selected for this year's Van Fleet Award

S. Korean Golf legend Pak Se-ri selected for this year's Van Fleet Award | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · June 20, 2024

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, June 19 (Yonhap) -- Golf legend Pak Se-ri has been chosen as an additional honoree for this year's Van Fleet Award for her contributions to the deepening of relations between South Korea and the United States, a nonprofit organization said Wednesday.

Pak, director of the Seri Pak Hope Foundation, along with Yoon Yoon-soo, the chairman of FILA Holdings Corp. and Acushnet Holdings Corp., will receive the award at a New York hotel on Sept. 30, according to the Korea Society, a U.S-based organization dedicated to promoting Korea-U.S. ties.

Named after Gen. James A. Van Fleet, commander of the U.S. Eighth Army at the height of the Korean War in 1951, the highly acclaimed award has annually been given to those who have made notable contributions to the bilateral relationship.

Former honorees of the award include former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, Korean War hero Gen. Paik Sun-yup, former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former U.S. Presidents George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.

In this file photo from Oct. 7, 2023, South Korean LPGA great Pak Se-ri hits a shot during the Maum Seri Pak World Match, a charity match play event, at Stonegate Country Club in the southeastern city of Busan. (Yonhap)

sshluck@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · June 20, 2024

11. In Seongju, 'anti-THAAD protests' wane as resident sentiments change

Some good news. Perhaps the professional agitators have packed their bags and left.

In Seongju, 'anti-THAAD protests' wane as resident sentiments change

https://www.chosun.com/english/national-en/2024/06/19/WLK5GGBMZJFHTIGSGJUQYXRITI/

By Noh In-ho (Seongju),

Kwon Gwang-soon,

Lee Seung-kyu,

Kim Mi-geon

Published 2024.06.19. 14:53

Protest Site in Front of Soseong-ri Village Hall Cleared of Tents - On the afternoon of June. 18., anti-THAAD groups removed their protest tents in front of the Soseong-ri Village Hall in Chowjeon-myeon, Seongju-gun, Gyeongbuk, after more than seven years. These groups, along with some local residents, had occupied the road next to the village hall since April 2017, attempting to block the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. However, concerns about electromagnetic waves from THAAD were concluded to lack scientific basis. /Lee Seung-kyu

In the afternoon of June. 18., at the Soseong-ri village hall in Chowjeon-myeon, Seongju-gun, Gyeongbuk, an empty podium stood beside the building. This was once the site of the “anti-THAAD rally tent,” erected by residents after the deployment of the US-led Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system in April 2017. The day before, residents had removed the tent, leaving only the podium, marking the end of an era that spanned over seven years.

Since the South Korean government decided to deploy the THAAD system in Seongju in 2016, the village has been a focal point for anti-THAAD protests. Six organizations, including the Seongju Against-THAAD Struggle Committee, hung banners with slogans such as “Absolute opposition to the deployment of THAAD, which threatens life and peace,” “No THAAD, real peace,” and “No US troops, real sovereignty.” They chanted slogans like “THAAD, go away, peace come” and confronted the police when the government replaced some of the THAAD equipment, with hundreds of people gathering to protest.

On June. 18., the village was eerily quiet, with no villagers in sight. A picket sign reading “NO THAAD” lay crumpled and abandoned behind the village hall. “It’s time to stop,” said A, a villager I encountered after walking for an hour. “Last year’s environmental impact assessment showed that THAAD is not harmful to health, and the Constitutional Court’s dismissal of the petition means there’s no point in continuing.”

Since the government’s decision to deploy THAAD here in 2016, the community has not had a peaceful night. The Seongju Against-THAAD Struggle Committee and other groups, including the Gimcheon Citizens’ Task Force Against THAAD Deployment and the Emergency Committee for Defending Sacred Sites of Won Buddhism, have held relentless protests. Even a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea visited, stating, “I feel like my body will be fried by THAAD’s electromagnetic waves.”

The Seongju Against-THAAD Struggle Committee, led by villagers, was the first to disband. A villager in his 80s, who had been active in the protest committee, said, “The rest were from other neighborhoods,” adding, “There were disagreements with the villagers, such as blocking local roads and stopping all vehicles heading to the THAAD base.”

On Sep. 7., 2017, transport vehicles carrying four additional THAAD launchers passed in front of the Soseong-ri Village Hall in Seongju-gun, Gyeongbuk. In response, dozens of Seongju residents took to the streets, some even throwing melons and water bottles to obstruct the vehicles transporting the missile defense system. This event was part of ongoing local resistance against the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in their community./Chosun DB

In recent years, the number of people attending the rallies has significantly decreased. Police reports indicate that the number of anti-THAAD protesters dropped from over 6,000 in 2016 to around 50 in 2021, and further to 10-30 this year. A small rally was held that morning, but only about ten people attended. “We have until July to report the rally, but since November last year, few villagers have participated,” said a Seongju police official. Resident C noted, “The THAAD system is already deployed, and the local elderly have lost interest. We are still holding meetings mainly with people from out of town, but I haven’t seen any villagers attending.” Recently, there has been growing sentiment among villagers that the tents should be removed.

Most villagers I spoke to said, “What’s the point of the rally when we’re busy with the summer harvest?” Despite rumors since 2016 that “THAAD electromagnetic waves contaminate Seongju Korean Melon,” sales of the local specialty have continued to grow, reaching their highest ever last year.

12. The tragic fate of N. Korean workers in Russia's Sakhalin Island

An overlooked geo-strategic location left over from WWII - Russia and Japan (and the north Korean workers caught in the middle)

The tragic fate of N. Korean workers in Russia's Sakhalin Island - Daily NK English

"The company was like a vampire, sucking the money out of the workers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic," one person told Daily NK

By Kim Jeong Yoon - June 20, 2024

dailynk.com · by Kim Jeong Yoon · June 20, 2024

North Korean workers wait for a flight to Pyongyang at the airport in Vladivostok, Russia, in December 2019. (Courtesy of Kang Dong Wan, professor at Dong-A University)

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world in 2020, North Korean construction workers on Russia’s Sakhalin Island were forced into endless, precarious efforts to earn foreign currency, unable to return home after North Korean authorities sealed the border. During this time, they suffered extreme hardship and serious threats to their health.

In mid-2020, tragedy struck the North Korean workers in Sakhalin, as several of them died from COVID-19 and other diseases.

Later, the local North Korean construction company ordered the surviving workers to pay USD 10 per person as condolence money to the families of their deceased colleagues. However, the money – which the workers collected penny by penny – was used to fill the construction company’s foreign currency quota.

When one worker complained to his superiors, he was severely beaten and even locked up for a while.

North Korean workers in Sakhalin lived under strict controls, violence, and other atrocities, just as they had before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Things got even worse in 2021. The construction company in Sakhalin asked Pyongyang to lower its cash quota, citing reduced worker attendance and rising medical costs as more workers fell ill with COVID-19. However, North Korean authorities ignored the request and ordered the company to ensure full payment of its quota.

To the North Korean authorities, the workers were little more than tools to earn foreign currency.

The workers worked to ensure payment of the foreign currency quota despite suffering severe violations of their labor and health rights, including long hours in appalling conditions during the pandemic, violations of their freedom of information and travel, wage extortion, and failure to provide proper treatment for illness.

Company showed no compassion toward workers

This company experienced twice as many worker deaths in 2021 than the average of five to ten deaths from accidents or illness per year before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company took up collections after each death, claiming it needed to send condolence money to the bereaved. The surviving workers bore the entire burden.

But even after the COVID-19 pandemic, the families never saw a cent of this condolence money, which was instead used to make up shortfalls in the construction company’s foreign exchange quota.

“The company was like a vampire, sucking the money out of the workers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said a Sakhalin resident familiar with the company’s situation. “The problems facing workers here in Russia have not yet been resolved, and even now workers are forced to make sacrifices to earn foreign currency.”

The tragedy of the North Korean workers in Sakhalin demonstrates the extent to which the North Korean authorities will trample on the human rights of their own people in order to secure foreign currency.

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.

Read in Korean

dailynk.com · by Kim Jeong Yoon · June 20, 2024

13. Can America Live with a Nuclear North Korea?

We already do.

Options?

Somehow I do not think we will go with the Reagan Option.

"We begin bombing in five minutes" is the last sentence of a controversial, off-the-record joke made by U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1984, during the Cold War.

Can America Live with a Nuclear North Korea?

If the United States has decided to live with North Korean nuclear weapons, it should take some actions to reduce the risks of those weapons. In particular, it needs to rein in North Korean nuclear weapon production because the risks grow substantially as the size of the North Korean nuclear arsenal increases.

The National Interest · by Bruce W. Bennett · June 19, 2024

Key Points: If the United States has decided to live with North Korean nuclear weapons, it should take some actions to reduce the risks of those weapons.

-In particular, it needs to rein in North Korean nuclear weapon production because the risks grow substantially as the size of the North Korean nuclear arsenal increases.

While the U.S. government still seeks North Korean denuclearization, senior U.S. personnel have recently argued that the United States is prepared to negotiate interim steps to achieve that objective. Which is to say that the U.S. government believes that it can live with North Korean nuclear weapons for some significant period of time.

And that is very risky for many reasons. If Kim had only five to ten nuclear weapons and a very stable country, that would be one thing. But Kim already likely has fifty to 100 nuclear weapons or so, and he appears to be shooting to produce hundreds at an exponentially increasing rate.

North Korea’s instability and growing nuclear weapon inventory could embolden him to carry out limited conventional force attacks on the South and perhaps even nuclear attacks. That could put the United States in a difficult position because any military response to such provocations could escalate to full nuclear weapon employment by North Korea. Kim might hope that this “nuclear shadow” effect would undercut the South Korea-U.S. alliance, one of his key objectives.

While the South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has been stern in threatening serious retaliation against North Korean attacks, the United States has sought to avoid any kind of military escalation on the Korean Peninsula. The United States clearly worries that Kim has threatened to annihilate South Korea or at the very least conquer and annex it. Once a military conflict begins, the United States may not be able to control the subsequent escalation.

North Korean instability would also factor into Kim’s behavior. This instability might increase Kim’s use of provocations to divert the North Koreans from their miserable living circumstances. And he may hope that South Korea will respond to a limited North Korean conventional attack with an escalation that demonstrates to the North Korean people that the South really is the enemy of the North. Kim could then appear justified in the North for blaming various regime failures on the South as the regime’s main enemy. This also would confirm Kim’s renunciation of negotiated unification because the South is such an enemy.

There is also the danger that as the North’s nuclear inventory increases over time, some rogue element in the North could take possession of a nuclear weapon. And we do not know whether North Korea has protective measures like the United States does designed to prevent the detonation of a nuclear weapon without leader approval.

Accidents with North Korean nuclear weapons are also possible. History tells of Iranians and North Koreans training Syrian personnel on how to load chemical weapons onto a ballistic missile and have the ballistic missile explode. The United States experienced a maintenance accident with an intercontinental ballistic missile in 1980 that ejected the nuclear warhead 100 feet from the silo, but the warhead did not explode because of U.S. safety measures. North Korea may not have provisions to prevent a nuclear weapon from detonating in such a training or maintenance accident.

The North Korean regime would have many reasons for claiming that either a rogue nuclear detonation or a nuclear weapon accident was actually a U.S. nuclear attack on North Korea. The North could then launch a nuclear retaliatory strike on the South and/or the United States. Does the United States have the technology to rapidly (within hours?) prove that a nuclear explosion in North Korea was really a North Korean nuclear weapon and not one from the United States? Are such analytic procedures vetted by the international community to gain international support?

And as the North Korean nuclear inventory grows, Kim may well be tempted to sell some nuclear weapons to third parties. The United States may not be postured to prevent such sales.

The bottom line is that the risks of living with North Korean nuclear weapons, especially as the numbers grow, are high. If the United States has decided to do this, it needs to make every effort to slow or stop the growth of the North Korean nuclear weapon inventory to constrain these risks. It also needs to establish a flexible response strategy with clear declaratory deterrence policies to deal with each of these possibilities.

Many will argue that there is no way to limit the growth of North Korean nuclear weapons. They may believe that the only ways to rein in North Korean nuclear weapon production are diplomacy, which North Korea is refusing, or military attacks on the North Korean nuclear weapon production facilities, which would almost certainly start an unacceptable nuclear war. They would argue that economic sanctions have not significantly impeded the growth of North Korean nuclear weapons.

But such analysis neglects several possible actions by the United States and South Korea. Yoon demonstrated one such possibility by unilaterally offering Kim his “audacious policy” to reward North Korean denuclearization, which Kim’s sister rejected. But other more serious possibilities could be pursued. For example, they could make a unilateral offer to provide North Korea with 50 tons of rice and 10 tons of beef each month if Kangson, a presumed nuclear enrichment plant, were opened for inspections and then shuttered. Kim may quickly reject such a proposal, but as the information about the proposal leaks to the North Korean elites, there may be some pressure among the elites to accept it.

In addition, the United States and South Korea could pursue a much more aggressive information campaign against North Korea. Such a campaign might begin by emphasizing outside news and K-pop, following the example of the propaganda broadcasts recently restarted by South Korea across the DMZ. Kim has called K-pop a vicious cancer that could cause the regime to collapse—a clear opportunity for leverage to support a unilateral proposal to freeze parts of North Korean nuclear weapon production as suggested above.

South Korea and the United States could also threaten to bombard North Korea with stories about Kim’s mother and her father if Kim does not shutter the Yongbyon uranium enrichment facility. Kim has recently recalled a 2011 documentary about his mother. Kim is sensitive because his mother was born in Japan and was a dancer and her father was a Japanese collaborator who supported the Japanese World War II war effort—information that would make his mother a member of the lowest caste in the North Korean political caste system and question Kim’s legitimacy as the leader of North Korea.

In short, if the United States has decided to live with North Korean nuclear weapons, it should take some actions to reduce the risks of those weapons. In particular, it needs to rein in North Korean nuclear weapon production because the risks grow substantially as the size of the North Korean nuclear arsenal increases.

About the Author: Dr. Bruce W. Bennett

Bruce W. Bennett is a senior international/defense researcher at RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution. He works primarily on research topics such as strategy, force planning, and counterproliferation within the RAND International Security and Defense Policy Center.

All images are Creative Commons.

The National Interest · by Bruce W. Bennett · June 19, 2024

14. How U.S. allies and partners see the November election

How U.S. allies and partners see the November election

ctpublic.org · by Anthony Kuhn · June 19, 2024

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Polls and NPR's own reporting tell a story of many Americans fatigued by our upcoming presidential election, not satisfied with the choice between two men who have both already held the office of president. But American allies and partners are watching the race intently. Take South Korea, Japan, Ukraine, Israel - the fates of those countries are closely tied to whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden ends up sitting in the White House next year. So we have gathered the NPR correspondents who cover those countries to walk us through how they view the stakes of the U.S. election - Joanna Kakissis in Ukraine, Daniel Estrin in Israel and Anthony Kuhn, who covers both South Korea and Japan from his base in Seoul. Welcome to all three of you.

ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: Thank you, Mary Louise.

JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: Thank you.

DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Hi, Mary Louise.

KELLY: All right. I'm going to start in Asia, since you're well ahead of us on the - in the time zone clock, Anthony. I want to talk through with all of you how a lot of anxiety centers on U.S. financial support and how that may come into play, depending on who wins this next presidential election. How does it look from where you sit?

KUHN: Well, Donald Trump has described the U.S.'s top allies in Asia, Japan and South Korea, basically as wealthy freeloaders. And he said that if they don't pay more for the U.S. to defend them, the U.S. could bring home some of the roughly 78,000 troops based in those two countries. Now, critics point out that U.S. troops are not there just to defend allies. They're also there to defend U.S. interests and maintain U.S. primacy in Asia. But critics say that Trump is more interested in the balance of payments than the balance of power in Asia. For example, in 2019, Trump demanded a 500% increase in South Korea's contribution.

KELLY: Five hundred percent?

KUHN: Yes.

KELLY: OK.

KUHN: And that made some South Koreans feel like he was shaking them down for protection money.

KELLY: Joanna, hop in here. When you hear Anthony talking about Trump throwing around the term wealthy freeloaders, how does that resonate for you sitting in Kyiv, which, of course, is very dependent on the U.S. and its NATO allies for support right now, both military and financial, and where Trump has also threatened NATO allies saying, you need to pay more; you need to up your contributions?

KAKISSIS: Yeah, that's right. I mean, for Ukraine, this election is actually existential. Everyone asks us what's going to happen, and this sort of lack of clarity on Trump's position to some extent and, like, the future is making everybody really nervous. At least with Biden's team, they say, well, this is an administration that's been with us through the worst of it. And Donald Trump has made some pretty strong statements. He has threatened to cut off future support for Ukraine. And he called President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine's president, the greatest salesman, and he didn't mean...

KELLY: The greatest salesman.

KAKISSIS: He did not mean it as a compliment.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DONALD TRUMP: Zelenskyy is maybe the greatest salesman of any politician that's ever lived. Every time he comes to our country, he walks away with $60 billion.

KELLY: I think President Zelenskyy would love if that were true - if every time he visited the U.S., he walked away with $60 billion. Daniel Estrin, jump in here from Israel, also, of course, grappling with its own war and trying to figure out what a Trump or a second Biden presidency would look like.

ESTRIN: That's right. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also grappling with the very question of U.S. defense support, just like we heard in Asia and in Ukraine. I mean, just this week, Netanyahu infuriated the White House. He put out this video accusing the U.S. of holding up weapons and ammunition to Israel, just really making it clear that Netanyahu is publicly standing up to Biden.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: I said it's inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions, too, as well.

ESTRIN: I think it is clear in the background, Mary Louise, that Netanyahu and his circle of advisers much prefer Trump in the White House to Biden. Netanyahu's advisers will walk in the hallways and say things to each other like, well, it's just half a year to go, and then the Biden administration's pressure on Israel will go away. And that pressure is very much on Israel's conduct in the Gaza war. So analysts see here that Netanyahu is perhaps trying to buy time with the war, hoping that Trump wins the election and hoping that eventually that means that Israel will get this pressure from the Biden administration off its back.

KELLY: Anthony Kuhn, what about in South Korea? What about in Japan? Do you hear political leaders there either publicly or kind of under their breath expressing support for one candidate or the other in the American elections?

KUHN: They put a very diplomatic public face on it, saying that no matter who's in the White House, alliances with Washington will remain ironclad. But if you talk to people here, you know that they have serious concerns about abandonment. And this goes not just for South Korea and Japan, but also allies such as the Philippines and partners such as Taiwan. And they fear they could be abandoned for several reasons.

KELLY: Joanna, speak to speak to that in Ukraine. What kind of comments are you hearing from Zelenskyy, from his team in terms of either saying out loud or saying under their breaths the - what they may be doing to prepare for a possible change of administration?

KAKISSIS: He's - Zelenskyy is very much a person who says, come, see what we're experiencing here, and I believe that you will change your mind if you have any reservations. And there are teams. President Zelenskyy's government is reaching out privately to Trump's team. So these efforts at diplomacy are being sped up as the election gets closer and closer.

KELLY: And then - this is a jump-ball question for any of the three of you. We've obviously been focusing these last several minutes on how elected leaders in your patch of the world view the American elections. What about just ordinary people? How closely are they tracking this given everything else going on actually in their daily lives and plenty of politics at home to watch?

ESTRIN: It's not on the front pages of the newspaper here. That's for sure. I mean, the Israelis are preoccupied with so much right now, the Gaza war, a potential Lebanon war. Polls do show that more Israelis would want to see Trump in the White House than Biden. I think there is one thing though that Israelis fear, and it's that the U.S. won't give its full backing at this very precarious time for Israel's security. And really whoever is in the White House, there's a hope that they can help Israel reach a resolution to this mess.

KUHN: Yeah, I was just going to add that a lot of people here in South Korea, I think, think back to the Trump administration as a time of very high tension. People called it the days of fire and fury when there was a sort of nuclear brinksmanship between then-President Trump and Kim Jong Un, and people really felt insecure. And I think in people's memories, that was a very tense time.

KELLY: And Joanna, last word.

KAKISSIS: Well, Mary Louise, it's really amazing how closely people are following this. People all know who Mike Johnson is. They all know who the key players in Congress are. We were just in Western Ukraine on the border with Romania, you know, very - kind of an impoverished part of the country, and everyone there was asking me about it as well. Well, who do you think Trump would select as a Secretary of State? And I was like, wow. You all are really interested in this. So - but it's understandable considering how much of a role the U.S. plays in Ukraine's fate.

KELLY: That is NPR's Joanna Kakissis in Kyiv, Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv and Anthony Kuhn in Seoul. Thanks to all three of you.

KUHN: Thank you, Mary Louise.

KAKISSIS: You're welcome.

ESTRIN: You're welcome.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

ctpublic.org · by Anthony Kuhn · June 19, 2024

15. Kim and Vlad

From one of my many mentors. Note the sober assessment. This is not something to get overly worked up about.

Excerpt:

The mutual defense agreement likely will never come into play as it’s hard to imagine the democracies attacking either of these states directly. But, dictatorships manipulate language so any DPRK or Russian attack on western allies would become a ‘defensive’ action. Americans are split on Russia itself, evidenced by a substantial portion of the nation resisting arms assistance to Kyiv as it fights against Moscow’s war.

Xi Jinping remains vital to both Vlad and Kim as China’s wealth currently supports these recalcitrant players advancing anti-American actions which coincide with Beijing’s aspirations. China provides assistance to the DPRK and Russia yet this ‘axis of odiousness’ could make Beijing uncomfortable because it calls attention to China’s relations with undesirable regimes. This could reduce the respect Beijing craves to justify CCP rule. Time will tell as international politix doesn’t move in a straight line, as we have discussed.

It’s a noteworthy agreement but not one likely to change the course of human events; yet it is not mere blather since Russia and the DPRK still have nuclear weapons and delivery systems and their leaders demand international attention. Like so much in the global system, it’s worth us being aware of amid so many other on-going events

Kim and Vlad

https://cynthiawatson.substack.com/p/kim-and-vlad?utm

Actions created consequences

CYNTHIA WATSON

JUN 20, 2024

Photographs of Vlad the Impaler signing a mutual defense treaty with Kim Jong-un appeared yesterday. Thirty-five years ago today, Americans still overwhelmingly viewed the Soviet Union as an existential threat because of its vast nuclear arsenal. We had the bulk of the U.S. Army in Germany, always alert to a Soviet Red Army push across the continent to subjugate western European democracies. Yes, by mid-June of 1989, cracks in the feared Soviet ‘Iron Curtain’ were appearing as individuals were making successful escapes into Austria but those were onsies and twosies rather than the dismantling of the wall five months later. Within three years, the Soviet Union itself no longer existed. Russia struggled for most of the next decade under a drunk, populist president while its satellite republics chose independent paths, including Ukraine becoming a nascent democracy. Vlad emerged the dominant figure, never relinquishing power in the intervening quarter century. The past thirty-five years provide ample evidence that straight-lining outcomes is folly as who would Hanover predicted this state of affairs?

This remnant of a nation we feared had the ideological wherewithal to subjugate the world is at war still against the west but with a declining population, a stagnant economy built almost exclusively on exporting carbon-based economy, and this leader seeking to recreate history to embolden his people. These are hardly indicators of a superpower.

Vlad the Impaler recently won yet another term as head of state but rules as a leader with shallow support in a kleptocratic system. Authoritarians, such as Vlad and the third-generation North Korean dictator Kim, host lavish ceremonies and make sweeping proclamations but these are self-serving moves to project their personal power while erasing their individual failures rather than for the benefit of their citizens.

The crux of Vlad’s visit to Pyongyang is his need for additional sources for weapons to battle Ukraine. As the conflict reaches the 30 month mark next week, Russia depends on China for support but would also like to broaden its sources for arms to prevent a weapons pipeline shutdown. The Wall Street Journal noted that Vlad rebuilt his ‘war machine’ by tapping into U.S. adversaries. Joe Biden’s efforts to sustain a coalition to support Kyiv are proving, thus far, remarkably resilient, to Vlad’s clear frustration. Actions create consequences: allies stuck together but Vlad found alternatives out of desperation. Who really wants a friendship with Kim? Seriously?

Kim, for his part, always need links—to anyone. His pathetic nation operates on personal whims, saddled with his family’s pillaging of what few resources the DPRK has while the population struggles through persistent deprivation of decades’ duration. It’s pathetic that Kim’s greatest export is weapons rather than something more substantive to provide for further economic expansion which might benefit those he rules with an iron fist.

The mutual defense agreement likely will never come into play as it’s hard to imagine the democracies attacking either of these states directly. But, dictatorships manipulate language so any DPRK or Russian attack on western allies would become a ‘defensive’ action. Americans are split on Russia itself, evidenced by a substantial portion of the nation resisting arms assistance to Kyiv as it fights against Moscow’s war.

Xi Jinping remains vital to both Vlad and Kim as China’s wealth currently supports these recalcitrant players advancing anti-American actions which coincide with Beijing’s aspirations. China provides assistance to the DPRK and Russia yet this ‘axis of odiousness’ could make Beijing uncomfortable because it calls attention to China’s relations with undesirable regimes. This could reduce the respect Beijing craves to justify CCP rule. Time will tell as international politix doesn’t move in a straight line, as we have discussed.

It’s a noteworthy agreement but not one likely to change the course of human events; yet it is not mere blather since Russia and the DPRK still have nuclear weapons and delivery systems and their leaders demand international attention. Like so much in the global system, it’s worth us being aware of amid so many other on-going events

Perhaps more relevant today are the soaring global temperatures on this longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere when we shift from spring into summer, as if we needed to hear that. Temperatures in Delhi yesterday were 50 degrees Centrigrade, or 122 degrees Fahrenheit for those of us who don’t do everyone else’s measurements. Delhi is hardly a small town. It’s hard to imagine, if you’ve ever been there, how the ramshackle electrical system can support the power demand this must generate. India is hardly alone, either.

Much more immediate for 70+ million Americans is the current heat dome overlaying so much of the country. Bangor, Maine expects a heat index of 106 today. No, that is not a typo. These are threatening conditions. Fires are beginning out west with perhaps another four months’ duration of heat. We all recall the years when vast swaths of the nation confronted that spread with fire crews depleted day by day.

More people die of dangerous high temperatures than any other climate event in the United States. Hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods are eye-catching but the day-to-day escalating heat afflicts those with respiratory, heart, and other chronic health conditions. (Check on your neighbours, please.) Actions create consequences is clearly at play as we live in a more challenging physical environment than at any point in our lifetimes.

I mourn somewhat the longest day of every year as I detest the shorter light of winter. I know that is months away but also recognize its inevitability. Shortened amounts of light preclude the persistence of beauty in our lives outdoors. This fuschia resides on our balcony, bringing many smiles.

Please check on neighbors who are alone. Stay hydrated and indoors, if possible. If I. Texas and other areas with abundant water, make sure you have the oars for your rowboats. Be safe and be well. FIN

Warren Strobel and Michael Gordon, ‘How Putin Rebuilt Russia’s War Machine with Help from U.S. Adversaries’, WSJ.com, 19 June 2024, retrieved at https://www.wsj.com/world/how-putin-rebuilt-russias-war-machine-with-help-from-u-s-adversaries-1ea6c2d1?mod=world_lead_pos5

16. Drug-fueled orgy at Hamhung bathhouse leads to widespread shock

Bizarre.

Drug-fueled orgy at Hamhung bathhouse leads to widespread shock - Daily NK English

"In North Korea, these things sometimes happen because we don't teach young people properly about sex," a source told Daily NK

By Lee Chae Eun - June 20, 2024

dailynk.com · by Lee Chae Eun · June 20, 2024

Interior of Bathhouse No. 1 in Central District, Pyongyang. (KCNA)

A major controversy has erupted in Hamhung after it was learned that high school sophomores had an orgy at a local bathhouse.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in South Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Monday that people are shocked after learning that three male and three female students from a high school in Hamhung “had sex in a bathhouse earlier this month.”

According to the source, the incident began on June 2. Although the bathhouse did not normally allow men and women to enter together, the students paid the manager an additional USD 70 above the regular entrance fee for exclusive use of the facility for two hours from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM.

The manager, suffering from a recent drop in business, accepted the USD 70 offer and let the students use the bathhouse, even though he knew it was wrong.

Admission to the bathhouse was KPW 15,000 per person, or about one dollar and 20 cents. Since USD 70 equated to the entrance fees for 60 customers, the manager gave in to temptation.

Word of tryst reaches the ears of the local police

Rumors began to circulate that the students used the bathhouse for an orgy after one of the students bragged to his friend. Eventually, a resident of Hamhung informed the city police.

On June 8, Hamhung police officers raided the bathhouse to investigate the matter, including checking its accounting books. The manager of the bathhouse was interrogated in a police cell.

“The manager, who had no idea the police inspection was coming, left the time slot when the students entered empty in the book,” the source said. “He can’t get out of the mess, and money won’t solve anything because rumors have spread too far. He won’t escape criminal punishment.”

The police also questioned the students, who said they had taken methamphetamine and had sex in the bathhouse, swapping partners.

The students’ parents were especially shocked. They feel so guilty and ashamed of their perceived failure to properly raise and control their children that they can barely leave their homes, the source said.

The students’ teacher also faced public shame for the incident.

“The homeroom teacher is called to the city’s education department every day to write self-criticism letters and is being criticized for failing to properly educate her students,” the source said. “In particular, Hamhung’s education department is taking the recent incident very seriously and plans to launch a special inspection of the teacher’s school.”

Bathhouse manager at the center of public criticism

Hamhung residents have criticized the students, but they are particularly angry with the bathhouse manager.

People have heaped criticism on him, asking how he could allow male and female students to enter a bathhouse together, no matter how badly he was struggling financially. They also said that he could have guessed what the students would do in his bathhouse, but money blinded him.

Meanwhile, the six students will attend a public meeting to confess their misdeeds sometime this month, though a date has not yet been set. No firm decision has been made on their punishment.

“In North Korea, these things sometimes happen because we don’t teach young people properly about sex. We just have a saying that boys and girls shouldn’t sit together after the age of seven,” the source said. “Since these incidents have a huge impact on students, [sex] education at home and in schools is urgently needed.”

Please send any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.

Read in Korean

dailynk.com · by Lee Chae Eun · June 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

De Oppresso Liber,

David Maxwell

Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy

Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation

Editor, Small Wars Journal

Twitter: @davidmaxwell161

email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com

If you do not read anything else in the 2017 National Security Strategy read this on page 14:

"A democracy is only as resilient as its people. An informed and engaged citizenry is the fundamental requirement for a free and resilient nation. For generations, our society has protected free press, free speech, and free thought. Today, actors such as Russia are using information tools in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of democracies. Adversaries target media, political processes, financial networks, and personal data. The American public and private sectors must recognize this and work together to defend our way of life. No external threat can be allowed to shake our shared commitment to our values, undermine our system of government, or divide our Nation."

Access NSS HERE

Company Name | Website

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Kim and Vlad

Actions created consequences

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