Quotes of the Day:
"The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year,
it is that we should have a new soul."
- G.K. Chesterton
"A new year is a clean slate, a chance to suck in your breath,
decide all is not lost and give yourself another chance."
-Sarah Overstreet
Stoic advice for the New Year:
“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”
- Marcus Aurelius
“He robs present ills of their power who has perceived their coming beforehand.”
– Seneca The Younger
“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing.”
– Seneca The Younger
“The uneducated person blames others for their failures; those who have just begun to be instructed blame themselves; those whose learning is complete blame neither others nor themselves.”
– Epictetus
“If it is not right, do not do it, if it is not true, do not say it.”
– Marcus Aurelius
“Our life is what our thoughts make it.”
– Marcus Aurelius
“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.”
– Marcus Aurelius
A useful photo of the faces of KimJong-un over the last decade.. Thanks to Radio Free Asia for publishing this.
1. Let Us Strive for Our Great State's Prosperity and Development and Our People's Wellbeing (north Korean party statement)
2. Kim Jong-un’s New Year Resolution: More Food for North Korea
3. N. Korea focuses on economy in 2022 policy direction, skips messages on S. Korea, U.S.
4. Kim Jong-un: North Korea to focus on economy in 2022
5. Biden Urged to Appoint North Korea Human Rights Envoy
6. Does South Korea Want Greater Military Capability or Foreign Policy Autonomy?
7. Mr. President, don't push South Korea into your China-containment strategy – Responsible Statecraft
8. 2022 look ahead: Mudslinging dominates South Korea's election
9. ‘Beijing likely to retaliate for closer Seoul-Washington ties’
10. New threats emerging to test Korea's crisis management capabilities
11. Defense chief inspects combat readiness aboard Peace Eye aircraft
12. South Korea pulls through, again
13. Koreans pin high hopes on watershed presidential election
14. Japan says it will never accept Korean court’s ruling
1. Let Us Strive for Our Great State's Prosperity and Development and Our People's Wellbeing (north Korean party statement)
As we read all the commentary on the statements coming from the plenary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea it may be useful to review the entire statement and assess the words and meaning.
The key points that will be stressed in the analyses will be that the focus is on economic and economic development and there was no discussion of the "hostile policy" either the regime's or the alliance's. There was no discussion of the military and threats.
We should not interpret this as a major change in policy and strategy and that he is now somehow ready to come to the table and actually denuclearize (and pundits will argue now is the time to give concessions and lift sanctions). We need to interpret this through the lens of north Korean political warfare. He may in fact be trying to send us the message that he is ready to talk and he is describing the conditions that will make us want to talk and most importantly provide concessions.
But I think if we read all the statements that come from this week of meetings the regime continues to emphasize ideology over practicality and that it remains focused on its revolutionary power and goals. By not articulating his hostile policy toward the South and the alliance he may hope that there will be those who pressure the international community ,and in particular the US leadership, to appease the regime. We must not be duped by the words of the party, either those they use or those they did not use.
For New Year's I will reprise my 5 Key Questions and my fundamental assessments for all of us to reflect on:
1. What do we want to achieve in Korea?
2. What is the acceptable durable political arrangement that will protect, serve, and advance US and ROK/US Alliance interests on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia?
3. Who does Kim fear more: The US or the Korean people in the north? (Note it is the Korean people armed with information knowledge of life in South Korea)
4. Do we believe that Kim Jong-un has abandoned the seven decades old strategy of subversion, coercion-extortion (blackmail diplomacy), and use of force to achieve unification dominated by the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State in order to ensure the survival of the mafia like crime family cult known as Kim family regime?
5. In support of that strategy do we believe that Kim Jong-un has abandoned the objective to split the ROK/US Alliance and get US forces off the peninsula? Has KJU given up his divide to conquer strategy - divide the alliance to conquer the ROK?
The answers to these questions should guide us to the strategy to solve the "Korea question" (para 60 of the Armistice) and lead to the only acceptable durable political arrangement: A secure, stable, economically vibrant, non-nuclear Korean peninsula unified under a liberal constitutional form of government with respect for individual liberty, the rule of law, and human rights, determined by the Korean people. In short, a United Republic of Korea (UROK)
The root of all problems in Korea is the existence of the most evil mafia- like crime family cult known as the Kim family regime that has the objective of dominating the Korean Peninsula under the rule of the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State.
Let Us Strive for Our Great State's Prosperity and Development and Our People's Wellbeing
Pyongyang, January 1 (KCNA) -- The 4th Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) was held at the office building of the Party Central Committee on December 27-31, Juche 110(2021) to review a great year of struggle and lay down a new guideline on development amid the great interest and expectation of all the Party members and people across the country.
The plenary meeting was convened in the historic period when the entire Party, the whole country and all the people confidently move toward the next stage struggle for the overall development of socialist construction after adorning the first year of implementing the five-year plan with praiseworthy victory true to the grand strategic idea and practical programme set forth at the 8th Congress of the Party.
The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un , general secretary of the WPK, was present at the plenary meeting.
As Kim Jong Un appeared at the meeting hall to mount the platform, all the participants broke into enthusiastic cheers for the respected General Secretary, the outstanding leader of our Party and people and the symbol of the mightiness of our state who set a new goal for victory of socialism with his extraordinary ideological and theoretical wisdom and laid a firm foundation for prosperity of the country through his energetic leadership activities all the year.
Attending the plenary meeting were members and alternate members of the WPK Central Committee.
And officials of the departments of the Party Central Committee, leading officials of ministries, national institutions, province-level guidance organs, cities, counties and major industrial establishments and officials of relevant major sectors were present as observers.
The meeting presidium was formed with members of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee.
The Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee authorized Kim Jong Un to preside over the plenary meeting.
Kim Jong Un made an analysis and appraisal of the Party Central Committee on the Party and state work for 2021, the first year for implementing the decisions of the historic 8th Congress of the Party, referring to the main purpose of the convocation of the plenary meeting, its significance and importance.
Saying that in fulfilling the five-year plan for development and change set forth at the Party Congress, the work done year after year holds vital and important significance both in the light of the developmental stage of socialist construction and the realistic conditions and situation of our Party and state, the General Secretary noted that through the plenary meeting we all will face heavy yet responsible agony while becoming aware of the strategic importance of the next year's work which will just be as huge and important as this year's.
The General Secretary said that this year's struggle endowed us with more clear predictability about subjective and objective conditions and environment of the revolution at present and in the future, adding that therefore, we came to know what we can do and to have clear vision about our possibility and self-confidence.
He said that only when we correctly understand and judge the present external and internal situation and make a right stride along the correct orientation with accurate fighting policies, can we move to the next stage with a practical change for development.
Noting that at the point of reviewing the year's work with pride, we should first analyze with subtlety what could be lessons, he said that the main purpose of the convocation of the plenary meeting is to make some lessons learned by us an engine further supplementing and completing the revolutionary policies and raise our bigger potentiality for development. He added that herein lies the great practical significance of revolutionary development.
The Party Central Committee admitted that this year's successes and experiences should actively be promoted and amplified as they represent precious lessons and the devoted efforts and as they require full display of unusual responsibility and strenuous efforts, and that the overall development of socialist construction should be hastened with greater successes and victory by discharging heavy responsibility and generating maximum creativity in discussing the plan for the new year.
The plenary meeting dealt with the following agenda items:
1. On the review of the execution of major Party and state policies for 2021 and the work plan for 2022
2. On the implementation of the state budget for 2021 and the draft state budget for 2022
3. On the immediate tasks for the correct solution of the socialist rural question in our country
4. On modifying some articles of the Party rules
5. On the organizational and ideological life of the members of the Party central leadership organ in the second half of year 2021
6. An organizational matter
The plenary meeting unanimously approved the presented agenda items.
It listened to a report made by Kim Tok Hun, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and premier of the Cabinet of the DPRK, and discussions made in the sectional workshops over the first agenda item.
General Secretary Kim Jong Un made an important conclusion "On the Orientation of the Work of the Party and State in 2022" on the first agenda item.
He first analyzed and reviewed the work of the Party and the state in the first year for implementing the decisions made at the Party's Congress.
It is the general assessment of the Party Central Committee that 2021, in which all the Korean people waged tense and worthwhile struggle true to the new practical programme of socialist construction set forth at the Party Congress, is a year of great victory that opened up a prelude to the great change toward the overall development of socialist construction despite severe trials.
It was the general goal and desire of the Party Central Committee in its work for this year to bring about practical changes and substantial achievements waited for and welcomed by the people by fulfilling the tasks set forth at the 2nd Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Party without fail.
When assigning and propelling the work for this year, the Party Central Committee paid special attention to ensuring the purposefulness of development, perseverance and scientific accuracy in working out the plan and establishing the trait of unconditionally, thoroughly and correctly implementing it, and awakened officials to exert themselves and took measures for solving pending problems in developing the economy and improving the people's living standard in time.
Achievements worthy appraisal and evident stride forward hardening self-confidence were made in the agricultural field to which the Party gives top priority.
What is important is that we became confident in doing safe farming under any condition by adopting scientific methods of responsively reacting to disastrous climates and obstacles though they used to decide good or bad crop, and this is the valuable fruition the credit of which is to the rare patriotism and indomitable efforts of our agricultural workers.
Kim Jong Un courteously proposed to the plenary meeting sending thanks in the name of the Party Central Committee to the exemplary agricultural officials, workers, scientists and technologists who greatly contributed to doing farming well despite the unfavorable conditions this year.
The plenary meeting fully supported and approved his proposal.
The main success the Party Central Committee presented to the people this year is that it greatly demonstrated the development and potential power of our style socialism making a leap forward by dynamically pushing ahead with huge construction projects planned by it.
The construction of 10 000 flats in the areas of Songsin and Songhwa nearing completion as another massive residential area is the first eye-opening event that showed in actuality the prospect for the perfect settlement of housing problem in the capital city in the period of five-year plan.
The completion of the third-stage Samjiyon City project produced an ideal and valid experience for confidently pushing ahead with the long-term grand construction to transform local areas across the country.
The construction of 5 000 dwelling houses in the area of Komdok made successfully headway, the rehabilitation from flood damage was satisfactorily conducted in South Hamgyong Province and North Hamgyong Province and new architectural shapes were introduced and new ideas were created in lots of projects including the construction of modern terraced residential district. This indicated that our architecture has leapt one step higher and the era of great prosperity in construction keeps flourishing.
The electric power and coal industrial sectors responsible for supplying power to the national economy conducted an effective production campaign to powerfully haul the overall economy. The building materials industrial field and machine, mining, forestry, land and marine transport and railway transport fields supported the nationwide construction and production surge. All these mean an improvement of one step forward in implementing the plan for this year.
Plan discipline was established in the economic field and leading economic officials have shown obvious improvement in their work style. This becomes a powerful guarantee for further advancing the economy and the state affairs in the future.
The mentality and awareness of all the people desirous of socialist life and development has grown stronger than before, fully displaying the might of collectivism in practice.
The Party Central Committee assessed that the tendency to bring about fresh innovation, bold creation and steady progress was vividly manifested in the work for this year and a turn was effected in establishing the Party traits like strengthening the organizational discipline of the Party and carrying out the Party's decisions.
The economic guidance organs including the Cabinet have become active in the attempts to strengthen the unified guidance and control of the state over economic work and improve the economic management methods. The work for perfecting the socialist legal system was further intensified and the legal order was strengthened to bring substantial progress in guaranteeing the economic development and the stabilization of people's living.
The national defense industrial sector developed one ultra-modern weapon system after another under its correct plan, thus demonstrating the advancement and modernity of our military force. This is one of the very important achievements made this year.
This year when the Party congress was held, many young people volunteered to work in difficult and labor-consuming fields and did good deeds, which moved the people. It is a remarkable political success that the spirit of young people became very high.
Praising this year's successes, the Party Central Committee estimated that ways of stabilizing the economy and subsisting by dint of self-reliance defying extremely severe environment have been positively found out and applied and that it is progress made in the economic development and this process precisely means the dynamic advance of the Korean-style socialism towards the comprehensive development of the state.
The General Secretary said that great praiseworthy achievements were made in this year's work as all the people turned out as one with the zeal of loyalty to resolutely defend the authority of the Party congress and dedicated their patriotic sweat to the implementation of the tasks for the first year of the five-year plan, overcoming all the difficulties. He, on behalf of the Party Central Committee, highly praised all the Party members, working people and the service personnel for making indomitable and implacable efforts to glorify 2021 as a year of proud victory to be specially recorded in the history of socialist construction, and sent warm greetings to them.
The conclusion referred in detail to the shortcomings and important lessons revealed in this year's work and the ways for settling them.
Indicating the main orientation of the work of the Party and the state for 2022, the General Secretary clarified the principled issues and the struggle policy for a fresh development of socialist construction.
The main task facing our Party and people next year is to provide a sure guarantee for the implementation of the five-year plan and bring about a remarkable change in the state development and the people's standard of living so as to record a noteworthy page in the history of the country.
The economic sector, the main front of socialist construction, should concentrate all its efforts on putting the country's economy on the growth orbit and providing the stabilized and improved living to the people by reenergizing the production and pushing ahead with the adjustment and improvement.
The conclusion expounded in detail the major policy tasks that should be carried out by the key industrial sectors next year.
The metallurgical industrial sector should technologically refine the Korean-style iron-producing method, produce iron and steel as scheduled by supplying fuel and raw materials in time and, at the same time, push ahead with the expansion of capacity and modernization.
The chemical industrial sector should give full play to the newly-created fertilizer production capacity and boost the production of materials for the light industry and the pharmaceutical industry by reenergizing major chemical factories, while accelerating the project to establish a new structure of the chemical industry.
The power industrial sector should strive to raise the electric-power production to the high level while satisfactorily meeting the immediate demand for the electric power. And it should reduce the loss of power in transmission, step up the building of new power stations and increase the capacity of generating electricity by diverse natural energy.
The coal industrial sector should give precedence to the prospecting and continue waging a high-speed tunneling campaign to find more coalfields. And it should increase the coal production by introducing the advanced mining methods and machines and pay attention to helping the bituminous coal mines increase the production.
The railway transport sector should enhance the security of railway, accelerate its modernization and establish the state's unified system of controlling the overall transport so as to develop the country's transport work by stages.
The machine-building industrial sector should responsibly provide the equipment needed for implementing the adjustment and improvement plans of several economic sectors and units and boost the production of vehicles, electric machines and construction machines and improve their quality.
The conclusion advanced an important task for making radical progress in solving the food, clothing and housing problem for the people.
The entire Party and the whole country should concentrate efforts on the farming and give manpower and material support to the rural communities. And the agricultural sector should increase the grain production by doing all the farm works in a sci-tech way and positively use farming machines now that the area to grow wheat and barley has been expanded.
In the economic work, capital construction should be prioritized and new construction revolution for fundamentally changing the living environments of the people should be made so as to continue to usher in the heyday of the capital city construction including the building of 10 000 flats planned for 2022 and open an era when the local areas will change.
The light industrial sector should set it as an important task to reenergize the production of consumer goods and push ahead with it. And it should put the foodstuff processing technology on a higher scientific basis.
Saying that the supply of school uniforms and things to the students across the country at the state's expense is a consistent policy of the Party and the state, the General Secretary set forth a task for supplying all the students with quality uniforms and bags of new forms without exception and took an important measure of the Party Central Committee for implementing it.
He stressed the need for the fishing industrial sector to conduct a work for catching more fish, do fish breeding and culture well and increase marine resources in an effective way to better the people's diet.
Mentioned in the conclusion were tasks for the mining industry, forestry, IT industry and other sectors to make positive contributions to the national economic development by practically advancing their work.
The land administration and city management sectors should push ahead with afforestation, river improvement and anti-land-sliding projects the year round, aiming at thoroughly protecting lives and properties of the people and the land of the country. They should push forward under plan the work to ensure security and modernity of roads, protect and improve the ecological environment and create green landscape in streets and villages.
The conclusion referred in detail to the tasks for powerfully propelling the work to adjust and reinforce the material and technical foundations of the national economy.
And it underlined the issues of strengthening the function and role of the Cabinet as an economic organizer, intensifying the work to improve the planning method and putting the economic activities on a regular and standardized footing.
It set forth important tasks for promoting the overall development of socialist construction by making innovation in the work of the field of culture including science, education and public health.
At present, a major task facing the field of science is to clearly specify the scientific and technical measure for developing the overall affairs of the country including the economy in a balanced and simultaneous way.
Scientific and research units should select as their main tasks the development and completion of technologies having an urgent significance in enhancing independence of the state economy and improving the standard of people's living, and all the sectors and units should give precedence to the training of their own scientific and technological forces before production and construction.
The educational sector should set it as the main objective of educational revolution in the new century to train all the school children as genuine revolutionary talents, competent and creative talents and reserves of socialism by developing our education into the most advanced and ideal one for the future.
For this, it is necessary to further strengthen the meritocratic educational system and train a large number of good scientific and technological talents who can be core and traction engine in several fields including the economy and the national defence, strengthen the ranks of teachers in local areas and farm villages in a qualitative and quantitative way and push forward the work to modernize the educational conditions and environment so as to put the overall educational level of the country on a higher level.
The main direction of the public health for next year should be set as providing a sure guarantee for further raising the quality of the medical service for the people, and all efforts should be concentrated on further strengthening the material and technical foundations of the public health sector.
The literature and art field should bring about fundamental innovation in the ideological viewpoint, creation attitude and creation method of the creators and artistes, thoroughly maintain the principle of ensuring the political identity and characteristics of the era in the literary and art activities and make an effort to train the new generation reserves of literary persons and artistes to make them play the main role in the creation activities.
The conclusion referred to the principled issues to be maintained in media and sports fields and underlined the need to aspire after bold pursuit and dynamic leap to progress toward the advanced level.
Noting that the noble and highly-civilized life style and moral traits based on collectivism serve as foundation of our style socialism and powerful vitamins for its advance and development, the General Secretary said that the fine virtues and noble traits peculiar to our people being fully displayed day by day should be made social and national customs.
The conclusion stressed once again that the emergency epidemic prevention work should be made a top priority in the state work and it is the most important work to be powerfully conducted with no allowance given to slight slackness, pores and drawback.
The work should be positively pushed forward for reinforcing and completing the means and forces needed for switching our epidemic prevention into advanced and people-oriented one by surely putting the country's foundation of epidemic prevention on a scientific foundation and firmly preparing the material and technological foundation of the epidemic prevention sector.
The conclusion referred to the tasks for further positively conducting the struggle against anti-socialist and non-socialist practices in the entire Party and the whole country and society, thoroughly ensuring the social order and people's safety by raising the role of law enforcement organs, establishing the revolutionary atmosphere of law observance and further strengthening the socialist law system.
The General Secretary set forth militant tasks facing the national defence sector.
The military environment of the Korean peninsula and the trend of the international situation getting instable day after day demand that bolstering the state defence capability be further powerfully propelled without a moment's delay.
The People's Army should steadily intensify the work of modeling the whole army on the revolutionary idea of the Party Central Committee and developing it into the revolutionary army of the Party that remains faithful and obedient to the guidance of the Party Central Committee, and direct all efforts to maintaining the training-first principle and putting weapons and equipment on a regular readiness and establishing the firm military discipline.
The munitions industrial field should dynamically push ahead with the production of the powerful equipment corresponding with the modern warfare while steadily expanding the achievements true to the decisions made at the 8th Party Congress, powerfully fuel the change of quality of the national defence capacity and attain the goal of putting the defence industry on a Juche, modern and scientific basis in a planned way.
It is necessary to take a decisive measure for bolstering the capability of the militia defence force as required by the modern warfare, and increase the military qualifications and commanding capability of the commanding officers of the Worker-Peasant Red Guards and the practical ability of the militia force by effecting drastic turn in the training.
The conclusion set forth principled issues and a series of tactical orientation, all of which should be maintained by the sectors of the north-south relations and external affairs to cope with the rapidly changing international political situation and the circumstances in the surroundings.
It also advanced the tasks for strengthening the Party, the general staff of the revolution, and steadily enhancing its leading role in order to successfully carry out the important tasks for a fresh victory of socialist construction.
The important issue arising at present in improving the leadership and fighting efficiency of the Party in every way is to steadily improve the Party work and make the entire Party a studying one so as to turn it into a living organism sharing the idea, intention and action with the Party Central Committee and decisively raise the level and ability of the Party officials.
The whole party should wage a major ideological battle against formalism in Party work, thoroughly establish the revolutionary discipline within the Party and make the ranks of cadres pure and steadfast.
The Party organizations should direct their efforts to thoroughly implementing the economic policy of the Party and the plans of the national economy, and the leading officials of the Party should set forth the plans to give their units and local areas a complete facelift and purposefully, consciously and steadily push forward with the implementation of the plans.
Saying that the struggle in 2022 is a great life-and-death struggle to be vigorously waged successfully for sure for the overall development of socialist construction, our great people and beloved posterity, the General Secretary affirmed that as there are the great people who are possessed of firm faith and strong power to overcome all difficulties by rallying around the Party in one mind and precious experiences with which great successes were made in the spirit of self-reliance despite such harsh situation as this year, our Party and people will achieve a proud victory once again.
Finishing the concluding speech, he ardently called upon the entire Party and all the people to vigorously accelerate the overall development of the socialist construction by putting spurs to the spirit of courageous advance, and thus make the next year a year of great revolutionary event to be significantly recorded in the history of the country and another watershed in the great struggle advancing toward the bright future.
With thunderous cheers of "Hurrah!" and loud applauses all the participants expressed absolute support and approval for Kim Jong Un 's important concluding speech which will serve as a guiding fighting policy leading Korean-style socialist construction to the next stage of victory and a practical weapon of advance and innovation.
Kim Jong Un 's concluding speech is a precious practical programme and an invincible militant banner encouraging the struggle for 2022 for bringing earlier the overall development of the Korean-style socialism and the happiness of the people as it reviewed with pride the year 2021 in which the Party Congress was held as a year of proud victory to be specially recorded in the history of prosperity of the country and indicated a new guideline for bringing about prosperity of the country.
In discussing the second agenda item, the plenary meeting had final examination of the implementation of the state budget for 2021 and the draft state budget for 2022 which were examined and suggested by a state budget assessment group. And it approved to present it to the 6th Session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) of the DPRK.
The meeting discussed the third agenda item "On the Immediate Tasks for the Correction Solution of the Socialist Rural Question in Our Country".
Kim Jong Un made a historic report "Let us open up a new great era of our style socialist rural development".
Reviewing the policy of our Party that attached importance to the rural question from the first period of its founding and the historic path for its materialization, the General Secretary clarified the importance and significance of the proper solution to the socialist rural question at present.
To make drastic change of the rural communities today when it presents itself as a mature requirement to wage the struggle for the overall development of socialism becomes a very important revolutionary task in turning around the rigorous situation in favor of increasing the driving force of our own and achieving prosperity and development of the country and welfare of the people.
It is for this reason that the 8th Party Congress set forth the strategic policy to arm the agricultural workers with the Party's policies and turn the rural communities into affluent and cultured socialist ones possessed of modern technology and civilization.
The General Secretary clarified the goal of socialist rural construction and the major task at present, calling for putting the country's agriculture on a definite upward stage and opening up a new great era of effecting drastic development of our style socialist countryside by pushing forward the rural development under the uplifted slogan of "For New Victory of Socialist Rural Construction!"
Saying that our Party's goal for the socialist rural construction is to model all the rural communities across the country on the Juche idea and make them materially affluent, he noted that targets to be attained in our style rural development are to enhance level of ideological awareness of agricultural workers, make a rapid development of agricultural workforce and bring about fundamental change in the living environment of the countryside.
The report said that the project for attaining the goal of socialist rural construction is a gigantic and serious revolution and that it is necessary to set stages and goals on a scientific basis and wage purposeful struggle under year-on-year plan to successfully solve the rural problem that assume protracted and multilateral nature. It then set forth mid-term and long-term rural development strategies to be maintained by our Party and the state in the future.
The major task of rural development strategy at present is to transform all the agricultural workers into revolutionary agricultural workers befitting the era of the Workers' Party, completely solve the food problem of the country and dynamically wage the struggle for drastically changing the living environment of rural inhabitants so as to definitely put the countryside on an orbit of sustained development.
Saying that it is the most crucial task in the socialist rural construction and a key factor for its victory to make the agricultural workers main players and maters of the rural revolution, the General Secretary stressed that it is of paramount importance to put priority efforts into transforming the thought of agricultural workers and enhancing their political awareness so as to firmly prepare all of them to be rural revolutionaries upholding the Party's idea of socialist rural construction with loyalty.
He set it as the basic task of rural development strategy to increase the agricultural production and completely solve the food problem of the country, and specified the goals of grain output and production of stockbreeding, fruit, vegetables, industrial crops and sericulture to be attained phase by phase in the coming 10 years.
The report suggested the dynamic struggle of sprucing up farm villages across the country as a task to which special emphasis should be put in rural development strategy.
To build all the farm villages in the country so that they would preserve the characteristics of socialism and the peculiar features of relevant regions is a crucial strategic plan which the Party gives a top priority to and which it is determined to realize under whatever conditions, in order to provide rural inhabitants with wonderful living environment with nothing to envy in the world and to achieve the overall development of the country.
A guarantee for the successful implementation of this plan is powerful state support, activation of a powerful state guidance system and the enhancement of the roles of towns and counties directly responsible for the local construction.
The General Secretary underscored the need to powerfully speed up rural revolution with confidence and optimism, turn all the farms in the country into socialist paradise wonderful enough to be proud of in the world and realize centuries-old desire and ideal of the people as soon as possible, clarifying detailed tasks and ways for doing so.
Powerfully expediting the three revolutions-ideological, technical and cultural- in the countryside is the most important task arising in settling the socialist rural question.
It is proven by the history of socialist rural construction in our country and also the present situation that only when the three revolutions are effectively waged in the countryside, will it be possible to bring about a fundamental change in the aspects of political and ideological awareness, technological knowledge and cultural life of the agricultural workers.
The report set forth the ideological revolution as a priority task in making the three revolutions in the countryside.
The purpose of the ideological revolution in farms is to remove old thought remaining in the heads of agricultural workers, turn them into communists who have been revolutionized and armed with the Juche idea, and consolidate our revolutionary force politically and ideologically and thus powerfully propel socialist construction.
Important here is to educate the agricultural workers to let them work faithfully with high class awareness while firmly arming them with the revolutionary idea and policy of our Party and with the fighting spirit displayed by hero farmers and patriotic farmers in the different annals of the revolution, helping them grasp the greatness and gratitude for the Party, state and the social system and making collectivism dominate their thinking and life.
The report called for conducting dynamic technical revolution in the farms to make the agricultural workers intelligent ones.
When they are prepared politically, ideologically and culturally and also possessed of high science and technology, they can fulfill their roles as masters of the socialist farms and accelerate rural development in the new era, the report said, and continued:
To this end, it is necessary to conduct brisk agricultural sci-tech study and advanced farming technology dissemination to broaden the knowledge of agricultural workers and enhance their technical ability as required by the drive of making all the people well versed in science and technology and developing ours into a talented nation. What is also necessary is to send lots of university graduates to farms, further increase technological ability of farms in reliance on their pivotal role and thoroughly get rid of such incidence as distancing oneself from science and technology and resorting to old experience in farms.
It is also important to establish a revolutionary, healthy and civilized way of life in the farms while raising the cultural awareness level of agricultural workers in order to bring about drastic improvement in accomplishing the cultural revolution in farms.
The agricultural workers should conduct brisk mass-based cultural and art activities and popular sports activities and establish noble and sound moral traits while keeping their native places and villages clean and tidy to make laughter, optimism and feelings of harmony fill the farms.
The nationwide efforts should be directed to raising the level of education and medical service in farms, and the culture of the capital, the culture of working class and the model culture of the times should be steadily expanded to local areas and farms so as to propel the cultural revolution in the countryside.
In the historic report, the General Secretary set forth it as an important task that is urgent in settling the rural problem at present to increase agricultural production of the country in a sustained way.
The report called for consistently maintaining the scientific farming-first principle in successfully implementing this urgent task the solution to which is most waited for by the people.
It is our Party's view on strategic development to convert the agriculture of the country into the advanced one and bring about stable and sustained growth of agricultural production with the science and technology as the major driving force of the agricultural development.
To this end, it is imperative to powerfully spur the revolution in seed selection, establish scientific farming system and method to cope with disastrous abnormal climate and ensure rapidity, scientific accuracy and correctness in agricultural meteorological forecast.
What our Party gives priority in developing the agricultural production at present is to change the grain production structure of the country and powerfully propel rice and wheat farming.
The General Secretary in the report expressed once again the determination and will of our Party to realize the cherished desire of our people in the near future without fail and clarified the methodological issues in orientating the country's agricultural production to shifting the dietary culture of our people to the one with rice and flour food as staple food.
In the agricultural field, the work of expanding the area under cultivation necessary for meeting the nation's demand for rice and wheat should be pushed forward in a planned way, advanced cultivation method should be introduced, mechanical means should be actively introduced to farming work, dehydration facilities should be set up and wheat processing capacity should be expanded by a large margin.
As an immediate task, farms should work out detailed operations for accumulating wheat farming experience and a nationwide system for providing high-yielding seeds and necessary farming materials should be established in an effective way.
The report stressed the need to kindle once again the hot wind for bean and potato farming on a nationwide scale.
Tasks were also given to dynamically wage the struggle for improving low-yielding land and turning it into fertile land without letup and to increase per-hectare yield in most of farms whether they are in flat areas, middle areas and mountainous areas.
The report set forth it as an important task for making the people's life plentiful to increase the production of stock-breeding, fruit, vegetables and industrial crops.
It is necessary to renovate the existing stock-breeding bases, turn the counties with favorable conditions for the development of stock-breeding into stock-breeding counties so as to considerably increase the production of meat, eggs and milk, and widely spread high-yielding fruit species and establish advanced cultivation technology to supply our children and people with fresh fruits and various processed fruits the year round.
It is important to recover vegetable field irrigation system, build modern large-scale vegetable greenhouse farms in different parts of the country and invigorate mushroom production bases to make tables of people loaded with food. It is also necessary to put efforts into the cultivation of industrial crops to satisfactorily solve the issue of raw materials of light industry including raw materials of sweetener and oil.
The report importantly referred to the task of strengthening the scientific and technological force of the agricultural field.
Clarified in detail were the issue for agricultural science and technology institutions and universities in agricultural field to fulfill their roles in putting the agricultural production on a scientific, IT and intensive basis to meet the trend of the worldwide agricultural development, the issue of studying farming technology and methods favorable for relieving farmers of their hard labor and for realizing mechanization as well as increasing productivity, the issue of putting all the agricultural scientific research bases on an ultra-modern basis and training a large number of competent agricultural technical talents and the issue of timely disseminating advanced agricultural science and technology and farming methods to farms, work-teams and farmers.
The report stressed the importance and principled requirement of improving guidance and management in achieving the sustained development of agricultural production in socialist society and advanced realistic ways for strengthening the unified, planned and scientific and technological guidance over the overall agricultural production of the country and displaying the advantages of our style agricultural guidance system centered on the county co-op farm management committees.
The report also stressed the need to raise the level and ability of agricultural guidance officials and those officials of primary organizations in farms and of remove exaggeration deep-seated in the agricultural field.
The General Secretary in his historic report clarified the revolutionary policies and measures for increasing the state investment in agriculture and radically consolidating the material and technological foundation of the rural economy.
Underscoring the need to increase the state investment in agricultural field purposefully, unaffected by the given environment and conditions, the General Secretary called on the Cabinet and other state economic institutions and relevant units to systematically increase the share of investment in agricultural field and set up a strict system and order by which equipment, materials and fund are unconditionally provided as planned.
The report analyzed in detail the state investment in realizing the irrigation, mechanization, chemicalization and electrification of the rural economy and referred to details of basic ways for settlement.
It is imperative to adjust and reinforce the irrigation system of the country in general and further complete it so as to ensure safe farming, despite whatever drought and flood, to sufficiently supply to the countryside nitrogen fertilizer, phosphatic fertilizer and potassic fertilizer and various other fertilizers and efficient chemicals necessary for the growth of crops, send more power equipment and electrical machines to improve the conditions of production and cultural life in the farms and to continuously expand areas under cultivation with nationwide efforts concentrated on the campaign to bring more land under cultivation and on tideland reclamation.
Saying that it is the plan and determination of our Party to create new picture of socialist farm in which modern farm machines made by us cover the farms of the whole country and agricultural workers enjoy farming with the help of machines, the General Secretary noted that to accelerate this process, this issue was deeply studied based on overall analysis of the situation in the existing farm machine factories.
He said that the plan of the Party Central Committee is to concentrate investment in major farm machine factories and farm machine study field while developing the Kumsong Tractor Factory into a general factory capable of producing various efficient farm machines as well as high horsepower tractors so as to completely update the farm machine industry of the country. He took special crucial measure for its realization.
He said that an emphasis should be put on South Hwanghae Province, the biggest agricultural province in the country, underlining the need to put the Party and state efforts on the province in the period of five-year plan so that it would take the lead in agricultural production in the country.
He also set forth the tasks to make it regular and obligatory to mobilize labor and means in a prompt way during cardinal farming period such as rice transplantation, weeding and harvest in a nationwide scale, and for relevant fields including light industrial field and commercial field to regularly supply lots of various daily necessities so as to help the living of agricultural workers and boost their production enthusiasm.
Making a detailed analysis of general financial situation of cooperative farms now under difficult condition, he declared a favored measure to completely release cooperative farms from the arrears of state loans as part of important measures to let the rural communities stand on their own and consolidate their economic foundations.
The General Secretary advanced it as a task of utmost importance in socialist rural construction to drastically transform the appearance and environment of farms.
It is the policy of rural construction of our Party to turn all rural villages in the country into rich and cultured socialist ideal villages at the level similar to those in Samjiyon City in the near future.
To realize this plan and policy are people-oriented work wished for and welcomed by all the people and political work for effecting new socialist rural civilization in our era, the new world where the local areas change, and for effecting change in local areas, the work for the social progress and prosperity and the historic work for achieving the overall development of our Republic.
Calling for changing the living conditions of all the rural villages in the country by actively promoting and expanding advantageous experiences accumulated in the construction of Samjiyon City, and stepping up the construction of civilized society in that course, the General Secretary specified the task for preferentially supplying cement necessary for rural construction to all towns and counties, the task for strengthening designing and construction force and procuring necessary construction equipment, the task of pushing forward rural construction with preference given to dwelling construction, the task of setting up powerful guidance system for guiding the farm construction as Party and state work and the task of ensuring state provision of major materials and finishing building materials and the task of creating building material production bases in local areas.
The General Secretary specially emphasized the need to thoroughly maintain the Party's idea on architectural beauty in local construction, ensuring originality, modernity and cultural refinement and political nature in farm construction.
Those crucial measures taken for the rapid development of farms across the country at a time when economic work is being done under difficult conditions and when there present big tasks for socialist construction become an expression of the revolutionary farm construction policy of our Party and the state, and they mean great favor and consideration shown for millions of agricultural workers.
The historic report also set it forth as an important task to strengthen the Party guidance over the socialist rural construction.
The rural ri-Party organizations and provincial, city and county Party committees should correctly carry out the planning and designing for promoting the rural development, local development in accordance with the Party's policy of rural construction, the Party's policy of local construction and should dynamically organize and mobilize officials, Party members and other working people to its implementation.
In particular, the ri-Party committees should become the Party's major combat units, groups of high spirit and fighting efficiency to give correct Party guidance to and lead the implementation of the policy of socialist rural construction, and the secretaries of the ri-Party committees should elevate their level and role.
The report called for establishing throughout the Party the system of regularly reviewing the implementation of the policy of socialist rural construction and taking measures for it so as to make the programme for rural construction bring about great changes year after year.
The General Secretary expressed conviction that sure victory is in store for the historic work to certainly put the country's agriculture on the beam of steady development and bring about great changes of rural communities as long as there are the rightful guidance of the Party, the most correct programme for rural construction and the loyalty and patriotic enthusiasm of Party members and other working people.
The report made by Kim Jong Un , which unfolded a bright prospect and blueprint for the settlement of socialist rural question, comes to be a great fighting programme heralding in a new era of socialist rural development in our country and an expression of the WPK's strong will and determination to build a proud socialist paradise with our own might, wisdom and efforts.
The new programme for socialist rural construction is a further development of the great Theses on the Socialist Rural Question which comes to be a monumental document of important epoch-making significance in accelerating the comprehensive prosperity of socialism by kindling the fierce flames of rural revolution and materializing the century-old desire of our people at early date.
The plenary meeting had a three day-long sectional study and discussion for making detailed plans to carry out the fighting tasks for the new year and carrying out the new programme for rural construction on the basis of the idea and spirit of the important conclusion and the historic report made by Kim Jong Un .
The meeting made a final examination of suggestions brought together by the resolution-drafting team and adopted the resolutions "On thoroughly implementing the tasks for the year 2022 of the five-year plan set forth by the 8th Party Congress" and "On thoroughly implementing the fighting programme for our own-style socialist rural construction" with unanimous approval.
Through the full pre-study of the 4th agenda item by the members of the Party central guidance organ, the meeting acknowledged that the amendments to the Party rules are of practical significance in putting the Party building and its activities on a regular and standardized footing, and unanimously approved the decision on amending relevant clauses of the Party rules.
The plenary meeting discussed the fifth agenda item.
The meeting heard and reviewed data on the organizational and ideological life of the members of the Party central guidance organ in the latter half of the year 2021.
The meeting discussed the organizational matters as its sixth agenda item.
It recalled and by-elected member and alternate member of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee as well as members and alternate members of the Party Central Committee.
The 4th plenary meeting of the 8th WPK Central Committee that lasted five days amid revolutionary enthusiasm finished its work with a solemn pledge of invariable loyalty to the revolutionary idea and cause of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il .
The plenary meeting will be significantly recorded in the history of the Juche revolution as a historic one which declared the start of all-people grand march to glorify the hopeful new year 2022 as a great turning-point of the developing revolution under the invincible guidance of the great Party and advanced strategic policies that will dynamically propel the overall development of our own-style socialist construction. -0-
2. Kim Jong-un’s New Year Resolution: More Food for North Korea
Again we will be parsing his remarks for the next few days. I will say over and over again, we must not be duped by party remarks.
Kim Jong-un’s New Year Resolution: More Food for North Korea
At a party meeting, Mr. Kim made little mention of the United States or South Korea. Instead, he promised to “completely solve the food problem.”
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Kim Jong-un, center, in a photo released on Saturday by North Korean state media. He has now been in power for 10 years.Credit...Korean Central News Agency via KNS, via Associated Press
By
Jan. 1, 2022, 3:33 a.m. ET
SEOUL — Kim Jong-un has begun his second decade as North Korea’s leader with a vow to alleviate the country’s chronic food shortages, state media reported on Saturday — a problem that he inherited from his late father 10 years ago and has yet to fix.
Mr. Kim, 37, presided over a five-day meeting this week of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, which drew more attention than usual because it came at the end of his first decade in power.
On Saturday, New Year’s Day, the North’s state media carried lengthy reports on the meeting. They mentioned no diplomatic overtures from Mr. Kim toward the United States or South Korea, and just a brief reiteration of his frequent promise to increase the North’s military power. But much space was devoted to the subject of food shortages, which many analysts see as the biggest shortcoming of Mr. Kim leadership.
At the party meeting that ended on Friday, Mr. Kim pledged to “increase the agricultural production and completely solve the food problem,” specifying production goals “to be attained phase by phase in the coming 10 years,” the North’s Korean Central News Agency said.
But Mr. Kim did not appear to introduce any significant agricultural measures, except to forgive all cooperative farms’ debts to the government. He mainly repeated the party’s old exhortations to farmers to use more machines, greenhouses, fertilizers and pesticides. He also said they should “grasp the greatness and gratitude for the party, state and the social system” and make “collectivism dominate their thinking and life.”
“Kim Jong-un was never going to be a reformer by Western standards,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. “He prioritizes his family interests above national security, prosperity and the rule of law, to say nothing of human rights.”
When Mr. Kim came to power a decade ago at the age of 27, many outside analysts dismissed him as an inexperienced figurehead, and some predicted that he would not last. But he quickly established his grip on power through what South Korean officials called a “reign of terror,” executing scores of senior officials — including his uncle, Jang Song-thaek — who were seen an obstacles to establishing a monolithic dictatorship.
Under Mr. Kim’s rule, North Korea has become one of the very few countries that can threaten the United States with a nuclear missile. Of the six nuclear tests the North has carried out, four were under his watch.
Mr. Kim’s government has also tested three intercontinental ballistic missiles that it claims could deliver nuclear warheads to part or all of the United States. It was the North’s growing nuclear threat that between 2018 and 2019 compelled President Donald J. Trump to meet three times with Mr. Kim, in the first summit talks between the two nations.
But North Koreans have paid a harsh price for Mr. Kim’s nuclear ambitions.
Residents of Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, on Saturday. The rest of the country is much less affluent.
The United Nations imposed economic sanctions that banned all of the North’s major exports. The country’s economy shrank by 3.5 percent in 2017 and by 4.1 percent in 2018, according to estimates from South Korea’s central bank. It recovered slightly in 2019, but then the pandemic hit, forcing the North deeper into isolation. Its economy shrank again last year, by 4.5 percent.
Mr. Kim’s efforts to get the sanctions lifted collapsed in 2019, when his diplomacy with Mr. Trump ended with no agreement. At a Workers’ Party congress in January, Mr. Kim admitted that his efforts to rebuild the North’s moribund economy had failed.
There are no signs that North Korea is in danger of the kind of devastating famine that it suffered in the late 1990s. But its grain production totaled only 4.69 million tons this year, leaving a shortage of 800,000 tons, according to estimates released this month by South Korea’s Rural Development Administration. In July, the United States Department of Agriculture estimated that 16.3 million people in the North — 63.1 percent of the population — were “food insecure.”
In the past, North Korea has made up for its agricultural shortfalls with foreign aid and imports. But in response to Covid-19, it has rejected outside aid and shut its borders, making it harder to import fertilizers or farm equipment from neighboring China, the North’s only major trading partner and donor. Pandemic restrictions have also hurt the country’s unofficial markets, which helped circulate food.
Mr. Kim’s emphasis on boosting food production indicates that North Korea will stick to his “self-reliant” economic policy while it copes with the pandemic, analysts say. The North has also braced for a prolonged diplomatic confrontation with Washington since Mr. Kim’s diplomacy with Mr. Trump collapsed.
North Korea has claimed that it had no Covid-19 cases, and it has rejected offers of millions of vaccine doses, leaving its population vulnerable to explosive outbreaks should its borders reopen. It has also rejected the Biden administration’s repeated offer to resume dialogue “without preconditions,” insisting that Washington must first end what the North calls its “hostile policy,” including the sanctions and its joint military exercises with South Korea.
At the same time, North Korea has resumed missile tests since 2019, showing that it continues to develop increasingly sophisticated, nuclear-capable weaponry — Mr. Kim’s most valuable leverage against Washington.
During the party meeting this week, Mr. Kim said conditions demanded that “bolstering the state defense capability be further powerfully propelled without a moment’s delay.” He also called it a “top priority” to tighten loopholes in the North’s campaign against the pandemic.
“His extremely cursory mention of inter-Korean relations and foreign policy indicates that North Korea was not ready to come out for contacts with South Korea or the United States in the new year,” said Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute outside Seoul.
“Faced with the pandemic, North Korea is expected to continue to keep its borders shut, focusing on self-reliance and conducting only the minimum of essential trade with China,” Mr. Cheong said.
3. N. Korea focuses on economy in 2022 policy direction, skips messages on S. Korea, U.S.
Is no message a message?
(3rd LD) N. Korea focuses on economy in 2022 policy direction, skips messages on S. Korea, U.S. | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES with S. Korea's response, details; CHANGES quotes with KCNA's English-language report; MODIFIES lead paras)
By Choi Soo-hyang
SEOUL, Jan. 1 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made clear he will place policy priorities in 2022 on developing the national economy and bolstering antivirus efforts, according to Pyongyang's state media Saturday.
He delivered the message during a major Workers' Party plenary held earlier this week to set the policy directions for the new year.
The North, however, stopped short of providing the outside world with fresh clues to its key policies related to inter-Korean ties and denuclearization talks with the United States, which the South Korean government construed as indicating Pyongyang will stick to the "existing policy line" under its five-year national development project.
Some experts here also said the Kim regime does not seem to be ready yet for the resumption of dialogue.
In the five-day 4th Plenary Meeting of the party's 8th Central Committee, which finished the previous day, participants described the continued development of advanced weapons systems as a "very important" achievement for 2021. Kim attended the session.
"The military environment of the Korean peninsula and the trend of the international situation getting instable day after day demand that bolstering the state defense capability be further powerfully propelled without a moment's delay," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a lengthy report.
Among other agenda items were key policy directions for inter-Korean relations and foreign affairs "to cope with the rapidly changing international political situation and the circumstances in the surroundings."
It did not give details on the results of relevant discussions.
South Korea's unification ministry handling inter-Korean affairs noted the North has only mentioned "principled issues" and "tactical orientation" with regard to national security without elaboration.
The North appears to have decided to respond flexibly to different circumstances amid a "fluid international situation" and announce its key position, going forward, when necessary, it said in a press release.
"(North Korea) highlighted the strengthening of national defense capabilities in accordance with its own plan, but we take note of the fact that it did not mention strategic nuclear weapons," the ministry said.
It added, "We will continue efforts to resume inter-Korean dialogue and cooperation at an early date so that we can have discussions on actually fostering peace on the Korean Peninsula."
Beginning a new year, the secretive North has often delivered major messages on inter-Korean ties and relations with the U.S. through state media reports on such a major party meeting or Kim's special speech. It marked the third consecutive year for Kim to have skipped a New Year's Day address.
The KCNA report on the year-end party session, intended to review last year's policy accomplishments and set the direction of 2022 policies, focused instead on discussions on ways to develop the country's economy and improve the people's livelihoods.
The North again picked antivirus efforts as a "top priority" in national business.
"The emergency epidemic prevention work should be made a top priority in the state work and it is the most important work to be powerfully conducted with no allowance given to slight slackness, pores and drawback," the KCNA said.
Pyongyang has imposed a strict border closure since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and claims to be coronavirus-free.
On the economy, the North rolled out a series of measures to develop the country's agricultural sector as part of efforts to tackle chronic food shortages.
The North is estimated to be falling short by around 1 million tons of food every year, with the coronavirus-driven border lockdown believed to have taken a toll on the country's already substandard food situation.
On the second day of the plenary, Kim ordered "important revolutionary measures" to address the "rural questions," suggesting they are among the most pressing tasks facing the country on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Kim's rise to power Thursday.
The leader's influential younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, meanwhile, was not included among newly elected members or alternate members of the ruling party's powerful political bureau.
Speculation had been rampant over a possible change in her stature after she was seen standing alongside members of the politburo during a memorial event last month.
Kim used to play a key role in inter-Korean relations amid a stalemate in the Korea peace process, especially following the no-deal Hanoi summit between the U.S. and North Korea in early 2019.
scaaet@yna.co.kr
(END)
4. Kim Jong-un: North Korea to focus on economy in 2022
Kim and the prty are telling certina political factions in the international community exactly what they want to hear to reinforce their north Korean agenda. We must not allow ourselves to be duped by the regime's political warfare strategy.
That said, if he does prove an opportunity for engagement by all means we should take it - as long as we do not give concessions without substantive action toward denuclearization. We need to execute our superior political warfare strategy when dealing with north Korea.
Kim Jong-un: North Korea to focus on economy in 2022
Published
4 hours ago
This week's party meetings coincided with Mr Kim being in power for 10 years
North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un has said the faltering economy will be the national priority this year as the country faces a "great life-and-death struggle".
He was speaking at the end of a key ruling party meeting, which coincides with him being in power for 10 years.
A self-imposed coronavirus blockade has left North Korea struggling with food shortages.
There was no direct mention of the US or South Korea in his speech.
Mr Kim said increasing development and improving people's living standards was the main task.
He acknowledged the "harsh situation" in 2021 and set "an important task for making radical progress in solving the food, clothing and housing problem for the people", the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
He said battling the pandemic was one of the main goals for the coming year: "Emergency epidemic prevention work should be made a top priority in the state work," he is quoted as saying by KCNA.
But he also said Pyongyang would continue to strengthen its defence capabilities because of an increasingly unstable military environment on the Korean peninsula.
Image source, Reuters
He was speaking on Friday at the end of the 4th Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), which began on Monday.
There were reports earlier this year that people in the country were going hungry, giving rise to concerns as winter approached about a full-blown food crisis.
The border has been closed since January 2020 to prevent the spread of Covid-19 from China.
Analysis by Shreyas Reddy, BBC Monitoring
Following a year in which leader Kim Jong-un repeatedly stressed North Korea's dire economic condition and food shortages, these challenges were once again in the spotlight at the ruling Workers' Party's year-end plenum.
Kim's warning of a "great life-or-death struggle" in 2022 echoes last April's rhetoric urging officials to prepare for another "Arduous March", referencing North Korea's greatest economic crisis and famine in the 1990s.
While such comparisons overexaggerate the situation, North Korea's economic woes have indeed been exacerbated by Covid-19-related border closures, international sanctions and natural disasters.
These have all contributed to what Kim described in June as a "tense" food situation, and international agencies also warn of growing food insecurity and starvation.
Kim's emphasis on implementation of the national economic plan, rural development and advancing "scientific farming" now serves to remind citizens that their leader is prioritising their needs, while setting expectations for another year of economic struggles.
Mr Kim's new year speeches have previously included messages to South Korea and the US, but there were no explicit mentions this time.
"If we consider this report on the plenum as a replacement of Kim Jong-un's annual New Year's speech, it can be said that it's by far the shortest mention of inter-Korean relations and foreign policy ever," Cheong Seong-chang, a senior researcher at Sejong Institute, told NK News.
At the end of last year, North and South Korea, the US, and China agreed in principle to declare a formal end to the Korean War which ended in an armistice.
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5. Biden Urged to Appoint North Korea Human Rights Envoy
I have to take some exception to my friend Harry's view here.
First I do not think the Biden administration is shying away from human rights because it fears the regime "lashing out." I think it is wrong to argue that we should not focus on human rights because we assume it will cause a bad reaction from the north and will hinder progress toward denuclearization.
That said, I agree we need a new Ambassador for north Korean human rights sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, I think the delay is not a function of the focus on the Korean problem but is caused by bureaucratic and political issues.
Harry Kazianis, senior director of Korean studies at the Center for the National Interest, said, "I do think team Biden realizes a North Korean human rights special envoy, while a good idea, could provide [North Korea] an excuse to lash out."
Biden Urged to Appoint North Korea Human Rights Envoy
December 29, 2021 10:25 PM
Christy Lee
Human rights groups are calling on U.S. President Joe Biden to appoint a special envoy for North Korean human rights, a position that has been vacant since January 2017.
The North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 directs the U.S. president to name a person for the role, subject to Senate confirmation. The position, however, remains unfilled, even though Biden has elevated the issue of human rights globally.
His predecessor, Donald Trump, downplayed the issue of North Korea's human rights violations after his first Singapore summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June 2018.
VOA's Korean Service has asked the State Department about the appointment several times, including earlier this month.
"I don't have any administrative announcement or updates at this time,” a State Department spokesperson said via email. “We remain concerned about the human rights situation in the DPRK and the United States is committed to placing human rights at the center of our foreign policy." North Korea is officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia Division, said, "For an administration that claims to care greatly about promoting human rights and democracy in the world," it is critical that it "immediately act to nominate a person well versed in human rights issues in North Korea to take on this important position."
The Biden administration should also prioritize the appointment of a U.S. ambassador to South Korea, a position that also remains vacant, said Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director at the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.
"A strong alliance and bilateral relationship with South Korea is the prerequisite of success on all fronts, including North Korean human rights," Scarlatoiu said.
"It is past time for action from the Biden administration to match their words of wanting to support human rights," said U.S. Representative Young Kim, a California Republican. "I cannot see Kim Jong Un — as well as our allies like South Korea and Japan — taking our word seriously" when the "vital" human rights position remains unfilled.
US actions so far
On international Human Rights Day, December 10, the Biden administration placed its first sanctions designations on North Korea-related entities and individuals for rights violations.
Also this month, Biden hosted a virtual Summit for Democracy to promote the values of liberal democracy, including human rights, among allies and partners.
The Biden administration made a series of statements this year promising to fill the rights position while expressing concern about North Korea's human rights abuses.
In February, the State Department said the position would be filled as part of Biden's North Korea policy review. The administration announced that review had been completed in April, but it did not mention any nomination or appointment.
In March, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the House Foreign Affairs Committee he felt "strongly" about the need to appoint a rights envoy. Blinken repeated the administration's determination to fill the position to the committee in June.
Roberta Cohen, who was the deputy assistant secretary of state for human rights during the Carter administration, said "there's no doubt" that the administration will fill the position.
"But the whole process of nominating and confirming ambassadors and envoys and officials within the government that require confirmation — this has been very slow," she said.
Cohen isn’t the only one who suspects a bureaucratic backlog.
"The real problem is the delay in the Senate in terms of reacting, responding and approving nominees that have been made by the Biden administration for a number of ambassadorial appointments," said Robert King, who served as the special envoy for North Korean human rights issues under the Obama administration.
“While simple bureaucratic neglect may play a role, there is no disguising the fact that this delay shows a lack of political priority being given to North Korean human rights issues,” added Robertson of Human Rights Watch.
At the same time, Scarlatoiu of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea said, the delay is reasonable as “the Biden administration has been dealing with multiple other priorities and emergencies.”
Pressure on North Korea
Some experts think appointing a human rights envoy for North Korea will add pressure on North Korea as the Biden administration remains open to talks with the regime, which have been deadlocked since October 2019.
"Naming a human rights envoy … would signify a return to a much-needed toughening of policy from the post-Singapore summit relaxation during the Trump administration," said Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
Harry Kazianis, senior director of Korean studies at the Center for the National Interest, said, "I do think team Biden realizes a North Korean human rights special envoy, while a good idea, could provide [North Korea] an excuse to lash out."
Sungwon Baik contributed to this report.
6. Does South Korea Want Greater Military Capability or Foreign Policy Autonomy?
Interesting analysis from Professor Kelly. I think the ruling Party's candidate Lee has the same view of "autonomy."
Conclusion:
More defense spending and greater South Korean capabilities within the alliance are widely welcomed in the US. The US has long sought for its allies spend more and be capable of more. South Korea is one of America’s best partners on this issue. But autonomy is different. It means – assuming Moon is serious – breaking with the Americans to pursue a more dovish course on North Korea and China and a more hawkish one on Japan and America. Are South Koreans ready for costs of strategic autonomy?
That said, I think it is a mistake to believe the US really "controls" South Korea military and foreign policies. The recent controversy from retired General Abram's remarks about South Korea not wanting to update the defense plans during his tenure may counterintuitively indicate South Korean "autonomy" and the fact that the alliance is a partnership and each have veto power over alliance decisionmaking.
Does South Korea Want Greater Military Capability or Foreign Policy Autonomy?
South Korean President Moon Jae-in recently spoke of his desire for South Korea to have greater foreign policy “autonomy.” He spoke, correctly, of South Korea’s difficult foreign policy position, “stuck between great powers.” This is the perennial challenge of Korean foreign relations.
More specifically, South Korea is a middle power encircled by three great powers – Russia, China, and Japan. At various points in history, these powers have intervened in Korean history to dominate it in their competition with each other. Korea’s unfortunate buffer position was captured by a nineteenth-century German military advisor to Meiji Japan who famously described Korea as ‘dagger pointed at the heart of Japan.’ South Korea also borders North Korea, a frightening Orwellian tyranny whose internal brutality “does not have any parallel in the contemporary world.” This is, to put it mildly, extraordinarily challenging geopolitics. No other middle-sized state is surrounded by three great powers.
The solution for South Korean foreign policy to this threatening, tightly-packed neighborhood has been an alliance with the United States. America was an ideal choice. It was militarily powerful and could credibly project force into the region. But it was also an outside power with no regional territorial aspirations, so it had no intention to absorb Korea. America’s real interest was, unsurprisingly, anti-communism; the alliance was clinched in the 1950s in the context of North Korea’s invasion. Finally, the US is also a liberal state; it was far less likely to bully or dominate South Korea than its surrounding traditional historical competitors, much less Orwellian North Korea which openly sought to subvert the South for decades.
Still, the US alliance remains popular in South Korea. The basic bargain is that South Korea gets a world-class security guarantee in exchange for South Korea pursuing foreign policy goals broadly consonant with America’s. That is, the tightness of the alliance – the depth of the US commitment – turns on the level of identification between the two partners.
This is core of controversy around Moon’s call for more ‘autonomy.’ Much of the debate on the South Korean military turns on capabilities, and to the extent Moon is calling for South Korea to be able to do more military missions, this is uncontroversial. South Korea is, for example, going to build a light aircraft carrier, which will give it the ability to project force into emerging zones of challenge for the South’s energy imports. South Korean carbon imports come mostly from the Persian Gulf, traversing the South China Sea, where China’s bullying naval presence is expanding. South Korea also needs missile defense against the North’s expanding missile force and a more technologically advanced army to make up for the country’s stagnating population growth and declining conscript cohorts.
Capabilities – the ability for the South Korean military to do more and its consequent budget increases – are not the same as autonomy. Autonomy requires capabilities of course, as Korea’s own history demonstrates, but autonomy itself is about policy choice, specifically greater freedom of action in foreign policy. And the primary crimp-on South Korea’s freedom of action is its alignment with the United States. Loosening that alignment is the implication of Moon’s call for autonomy.
There has long been resentment on the South Korean political left over the basic bargain around the US alliance – a defense guarantee in exchange for reduced foreign policy freedom. South Korean conservatives have made their peace with this because they broadly share the Americans’ threat perception for the region especially regarding China and the North. But the left here takes quite different positions. North Korea is a dictatorship, but also a brother Korean state to be conciliated. Japan, an American ally, is an enduring Korean opponent because of its absorption of Korea in 1910. China is an export market not to be unnecessarily provoked, and Russia is a European problem. The right-left split over foreign policy is deep here, and when a left-wing South Korean president talks about greater ‘autonomy,’ it almost certainly means pursuing a course on North Korea especially which the Americans will reject.
This is South Korea’s sovereign right of course. But Moon would be remiss if he did not admit that the nationalist, psychological desire for ‘autonomy’ comes with the cost of a loosening of American relationship. US President Donald Trump already hinted at this post-alliance future. If South Koreans want that, so be it. But Moon should also admit this trade-off and that it means a huge hike in South Korean defense spending and, possibly, nuclearization as it increasingly stands alone.
More defense spending and greater South Korean capabilities within the alliance are widely welcomed in the US. The US has long sought for its allies spend more and be capable of more. South Korea is one of America’s best partners on this issue. But autonomy is different. It means – assuming Moon is serious – breaking with the Americans to pursue a more dovish course on North Korea and China and a more hawkish one on Japan and America. Are South Koreans ready for costs of strategic autonomy?
Dr. Robert E. Kelly (@Robert_E_Kelly; website) is a professor of international relations in the Department of Political Science at Pusan National University. He is a 1945 Contributing Editor as well.
7. Mr. President, don't push South Korea into your China-containment strategy – Responsible Statecraft
I think the author is reading too much into statements. Although the administration surely wants South Korea to align generally with US policies, what the administration respects is that South Korea will act in its own interests. Administration officials will argue (I believe correctly) that it is in South Korean interests to align with some or most US policies; however the administration respects the South Korean decision making and most importantly, sovereignty. . I don't believe the US administration is conducting coercive diplomacy with the South which I think is what the author is arguing.
Mr. President, don't push South Korea into your China-containment strategy – Responsible Statecraft
Mr. President, don’t push South Korea into your China-containment strategy
Coercive tactics could generate blowback among Asian countries divided on what to do about Beijing’s rise.
December 30, 2021
Stressing that he was speaking in his personal capacity, the General said that focusing on China was a “natural evolution” for the U.S.-South Korea alliance, which for decades has been concerned almost exclusively with the threat posed by North Korea. General Abrams also spoke of the strong resistance from South Korea to updating the war plan (the details of which are classified), before Secretary Austin succeeded in getting South Korea to reverse its opposition this year.
There’s more to the General’s remarks, however, than a freelancer speaking as a private citizen. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl had hinted at something similar when he spoke recently of the U.S.-South Korea alliance going through an “evolution” and turning to “other challenges.” Parallel U.S. diplomatic initiatives in Northeast Asia have also begun to focus on China. In May 2021, the United States got a reference to Taiwan included for the first time in a joint statement from the U.S.-South Korea leaders’ summit, though the language was a bit more muted than from the U.S.-Japan summit the previous month. Specifically, the statement called for “the importance of preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.” This language was repeated in the Joint Communique from the recent 53rd U.S.-South Korea Security Consultative Meeting.
Clearly, Washington is pushing South Korea to pivot its diplomatic and military capabilities to counter China —an attempt that extends to the rest of its Asian allies and partners. However, this attempt is going much more slowly than the United States would like. The Quad was earlier seen in Washington as a lynchpin for a new containment coalition, with the primary initial goal of bringing India into the U.S. security architecture in Asia as a de facto ally. Though notable successes were achieved with India’s signing key foundational agreements that opened the door for deep interoperability with the U.S. and the expansion of the Malabar exercise (which practices China contingencies), India appears to have developed cold feet of late on taking the Quad’s China-containment activities even further.
Enter AUKUS, a much more explicit military pact between Washington, London, and Canberra aimed to arm Australia with long-range nuclear-powered submarines that could presumably be used in offensive operations far from the country’s littorals. The turn to AUKUS may have partly been due to the perceived shortcomings of the Quad. But beyond Australia, and to an extent Japan and India, the United States is struggling to enlist other Asian states such as South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam in its China-containment plans.
Most of Asia generally prefers to remain nonaligned when it comes to the U.S.-China rivalry, especially its military dimensions. There are important constituencies within some such non-aligned states that are supportive of aiding the United States on China containment, but they are largely offset by others who are looking to stay neutral or even bandwagon with Beijing. In the case of South Korea, conservatives are more supportive of the sorts of recipes favored by Washington’s China containment camp, but progressives, currently in power, are clearly opposed.
Though the United States publicly claims it is not forcing countries in the region to take sides in the U.S.-China rivalry, its policies on South Korea indicate a more coercive U.S. strategy in private. China too uses coercive tactics to push for changes in foreign policies in the neighborhood. Those strategies have already led to blowback, such in the case of Australia. Also, China’s turn to such crude and counterproductive tools is typically in service of developments it sees as directly impinging on its sovereignty or security of its homeland.
For its part, the United States, with its homeland (where most Americans live) located an enormous ocean away and safe from any Chinese military action, must adopt a much smarter approach in Asia. Pressuring major states such as South Korea to take a highly consequential pivot toward China-containment will likely fail. If it does succeed in a few cases (for example, conservative candidate Yoon Seok-Youl, who is more hawkish on China, may well come to power in the upcoming South Korean election), major divisions within these states on such a high-risk pivot can lead to either allies and partners not showing up on China when the U.S. wants them to, or future blowback and increased anti-American sentiment in the region. President Biden, with his long foreign policy experience, should keep this in mind and tread very carefully.
Written by
8. 2022 look ahead: Mudslinging dominates South Korea's election
We need to understand the South Korean political situaiton and process and Soo Kim provides us with a useful analysis .
2022 look ahead: Mudslinging dominates South Korea's election
Campaign already branded the most distasteful in the country's history
Soo Kim
December 31, 2021 05:00 JST
People walk in a shopping district in Seoul on Nov. 29: there are signs that the South Korean public may be tired of the negative campaigning. © Reuters
Soo Kim is a policy analyst at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation and doctoral candidate at the Johns Hopkins University SAIS.
On Mar. 9, South Korea will elect a new president to succeed incumbent Moon Jae-in. With just over two months before voters head to the polls, the campaign has focused largely on personal attacks and allegations of corruption with little attention being paid to the pressing issues facing the nation.
The two leading candidates, Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party and Yoon Seok-youl of the opposition People Power Party, are neck-and-neck according to the latest polls and both campaigns have used personal attacks in order seek an electoral advantage.
Lee, the former governor of Gyeonggi Province, faces a slew of corruption allegations and scandals, questioning his fitness to be president.
First, there are the claims that Lee assaulted his wife, Kim Hye-gyeong, breaking a bone that Kim required hospitalization and surgery. Lee's son was also recently accused of habitual gambling and visiting a massage parlor for prostitution.
Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung, the former governor of Gyeonggi Province, pictured in Seoul on Nov. 10. © Reuters
Then there was the time that Lee, a lawyer, served as a defense attorney for a nephew who had brutally murdered his girlfriend and her mother in 2006, stabbing them 18 times and 19 times, respectively. Lee was criticized less for defending his nephew than for grossly downplaying the case as an unfortunate case of "dating violence."
People Power Party candidate Yoon, a former prosecutor-general, and his family members have likewise come under attack.
Most recently, Yoon's wife, Kim Kun-hee, has been accused of falsifying her resume, for which she recently apologized to the South Korean public. Kim was also mired in allegations of stock price rigging related to an imported car dealer. In July, Yoon's mother-in-law was convicted of fraud and medical law violations linked to her hospital business and subsequently sentenced to a three-year prison term.
People Power Party candidate Yoon Seok-youl, a former prosecutor-general, pictured in Seoul on Nov. 12. © AP
With the election already labeled the "most distasteful" in Korean history, there are signs that the South Korean public may be tired of the negative campaigning by both
camps. There have been calls for both campaigns to refrain from character attacks and instead shift their attention to presenting their respective vision for the country.
The tenor of the campaign could be a distraction that makes it more difficult for South Korean voters to focus on the merits, policy platforms and electability of each candidate. In fact, some South Koreans are concerned that the public, rather than voting for their preferred candidate, will be motivated to vote for the "less disliked" candidate.
Given both Lee and Yoon's shortcomings and complicated family affairs, however, and amid growing criticism that neither candidate appears to have a clear and distinctive policy vision for the country, perhaps the candidates themselves might have a real
incentive to maintain negative campaigning in order to keep voters distracted.
This reality could be troubling, not only for a South Korean public grappling with this
important electoral choice but to the countries whose policies and interests will be most affected by the March election outcome.
The United States is focused on an all-encompassing strategic competition with China, which has required the concerted efforts of the toughest minds and resources in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.
Washington and its allies have joined forces through multinational cooperative pacts, such as the QUAD, a four-nation dialogue comprising the U.S., Japan, India and Australia, and more recently, the Australia, United Kingdom and United States security pact known as AUKUS, to counter China's aggression.
Seoul has not signed on to any U.S.-centric collective pacts that are overtly pro- Washington or presumed to stand clearly against China.
Concerned about tipping too conspicuously in favor of the U.S. and consequently facing Beijing's ire, the Moon administration has opted to maintain a vague position on touchy issues that could result in either U.S. disapproval or Chinese coercion.
Rather than helping Seoul maintain equal footing between Washington and Beijing, however, the Moon administration's indecision has led to greater frustrations in Washington and made it an easier target for Beijing's intimidation.
The Biden administration has not overtly pressured Seoul to assume an unequivocal position on U.S.-China issues. However, the division between the allies over long-held common values, most notably dealing with the North Korean nuclear threat, raises concerns about South Korea's alignment on other issues that are of wider strategic consequence not only to U.S. interests but to Seoul's as well.
Candidate Lee is expected to continue the Moon administration's foreign policy and has emphasized a pragmatic approach on diplomacy.
This suggests that Lee, like Moon, may refrain from taking sides between Washington and Beijing. Lee also expressed opposition to joining a three-way alliance with the U.S. and Japan, calling the alliance "dangerous" and questioning Tokyo's trustworthiness.
Candidate Yoon has underscored the importance of the U.S. alliance to Seoul's national security as well as to the broader areas of cooperation, including technology and climate issues.
In a recent meeting with U.S. officials, Yoon expressed hopes that the alliance would be expanded and suggested that Seoul should be an active participant in efforts to build a global coalition of countries sharing the values of democracy, human rights and a rules- based international order.
With the race still too close to call, the absence of meaningful policy debate and clarity on policy deliverables will continue to leave the South Korean electorate largely
uninformed about what may be the most important decision they will make in the New Year.
9. ‘Beijing likely to retaliate for closer Seoul-Washington ties’
Beware Chinese economic warfare. But never sacrifice the security of the ROK.
‘Beijing likely to retaliate for closer Seoul-Washington ties’
Posted January. 01, 2022 07:44,
Updated January. 01, 2022 07:44
‘Beijing likely to retaliate for closer Seoul-Washington ties’. January. 01, 2022 07:44. weappon@donga.com.
John J. Mearsheimer (75), an emeritus professor of the University of Chicago and authority in international politics, had New Year’s interview with The Dong-A Ilbo. “The stronger China becomes, the bigger security threat to Korea will be,” he said, commenting on conflict between Washington and Beijing. “Whoever becomes the next South Korean president, what kind of ties South Korea and the U.S. will forge is the most important matter.”
As Mearsheimer said as Chinese President Xi Jinping consolidated his long-term control of government by securing his three-consecutive terms, and thus Beijing seeks to become a hegemony exceeding Washington’s power and influence, it will increase pressure on South Korea. Mearsheimer, who is the most influential realistic theorist, is considered the expert who has most accurately predicted hegemonic competition between Washington and Beijing.
“The world is entering a second Cold War,” Mearsheimer said. “China will have power on par with the U.S. soon, and if it continues economic growth over the next 30 years, it will become the most powerful country in the world, surpassing the U.S. There is a strong chance that the U.S. and China will stage a war over Taiwan within the next 15 years.”
“Committing on South Korea’s so called ‘diplomacy of security with the U.S. and diplomacy of economy with China,” Mearsheimer said it would be ‘height of foolish’ for “South Korea not to concentrate on the Seoul-Washington alliance.”
As evidenced by the Terminal High-Altitude Missile Defense system (THAAD), the stronger China’s threat becomes, the more South Korea will have to seek its survival through security cooperation with Washington. “If South Korea and Japan closely cooperate with each other, they will be able to better cope with China’s threat,” he advised.
10. New threats emerging to test Korea's crisis management capabilities
north Korea is not the South's only threat. But it had better be careful adn not take its eye off the ball.
New threats emerging to test Korea's crisis management capabilities
Graphic by Cho Sang-wonBy Nam Hyun-woo
After grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic for the past two years, South Korea is increasingly recognizing that North Korea's nuclear program is not the only threat it faces, and that new risks can emerge and test the country's ability to manage new challenges.
The difficulties facing the country _ and the world _ have shown us that threats could come in unexpected forms and at unexpected times. Indeed, the risks could be strong enough to entirely change how people live and how society works. A pandemic, the climate crisis and network outages in hyper-connected Korea are already issues that pose a significant amount of concern.
A small business owner wears a "Younghee" mask, a doll from Netflix's series "Squid Game," during a rally against the government's social distancing rules near the Government Complex Seoul, Dec. 22. Hundreds of small business owners rallied, calling for the withdrawal of curfews and other strict COVID-19 restrictions on restaurants, cafes, gyms and other facilities. AP-Yonhap
1. New epidemic after COVID-19
In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) selected a number of diseases that could pose the greatest public health risk due to their epidemic potential, and came up with the idea of "Disease X," which "represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease."
In a contribution article in The Telegraph on May 18 of that year, Richard Hatchett, CEO of Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, wrote: "It might sound like science fiction, but Disease X is something we must prepare for."
Just two years later, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted living standards across the world, and the WHO is still keeping Disease X on its watch list. This means the organization believes there is a fair chance of another infectious disease becoming a full-blown pandemic thereby posing a serious threat to mankind.
In a study submitted to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S. on Aug. 31, a research team led by Marco Marani of the University of Padua in Italy, asserted that the probability of experiencing a pandemic with similar impact to COVID-19 in one's lifetime is currently at about 38 percent, and this may double in coming decades. The study also warned that the probability of novel disease outbreaks will likely grow threefold in the next few decades.
Against this backdrop, experts say people's reliance on vaccines and treatments will continue to grow, and so will the importance of technological preparedness, in which drug makers can develop vaccines and treatments quickly after an outbreak.
For example, it took a year for drug makers to come up with mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, but this was an outcome of more than 30 years of research on mRNA technologies.
Since South Korea fell short on basic science research on the virus, the country could not take the lead in the global race for so-called vaccine sovereignty. However, a number of domestic drug developers have been working on their own mRNA platform technologies, and on Dec. 24, ST Pharm submitted a phase 1 trial application on Korea's first mRNA-type vaccine candidate for the domestic drug authority.
The Korean government is also bolstering its support and subsidies for drug makers to achieve President Moon Jae-in's initiative of making the country a regional vaccine manufacturing hub, in order to strengthen Korea's presence in the global vaccine supply chain.
However, questions remain as to whether political and economic attention on time and money-consuming research for vaccine technologies will continue as they have done in recent years.
Kenneth V. Iserson, professor emeritus in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Arizona, warned in his article titled "The Next Pandemic: Prepare for 'Disease X'":
"As the COVID-19 threat lessens, politicians will make grand promises to implement plans to stop, or at least to prepare for, the next pandemic. The recovering economy will be too weak at first to support the effort, although more funding will be promised in the future," Iserson wrote. "Politicians will ultimately make changes that are politically expedient and will fail to authorize the changes necessary to produce faster, more flexible responses. The memories of angst and societal disruption during COVID-19 will recede."
Similar scenarios are anticipated in Korea, which is soon to hold its presidential election in March.
Though major candidates are now promising up to 100 trillion won ($84.2 billion) for a public disaster relief fund, which is equivalent to one sixth of the country's total budget for 2022, and enhanced government responsibility on those suffering vaccine side effects, they have yet to come up with ideas on whether they will succeed Moon's vaccine hub initiative or how to prepare the country for Disease X.
A firefighter and citizens push a truck at an underpass in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, as torrential rain floods the city on Aug. 24. Courtesy of Jeonbuk Fire Service
2. Climate change
Unlike some countries which have suffered frequent natural disasters fanned by climate change, Korea has not been quite as affected by large-scale natural disasters that would alarm the public about the issue.
Nonetheless experts say the country is not a safe haven from the climate crisis, citing relatively small but noteworthy changes in the country's climate. They added the country could be shunned from global supply chains if it underestimates the pace of the global energy transition.
"With a record-breaking monsoon season and heat waves in recent years leading to casualties, property damage and rising food prices, Korea is already facing the deadly impacts of the climate crisis. Of course, things are only expected to worsen and accelerate over time," said Park Jee-hye, a lawyer and director of Solutions for Our Climate.
In its 2020 yearbook published in June 2021, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said "the impact of climate change, which had been somewhat vague, has become more visible in recent years," and "climate change will intensify causing unprecedented heat and cold waves, heavy snowfall and torrential rain."
In a separate report, the KMA also noted "the frequency and severity of heat waves on the Korean Peninsula have shown a noticeable uptrend since the 1970s," and "in recent cases of heat waves that have developed strongly on the Korean Peninsula, artificial effects from the increase in greenhouse gases were detected."
As a consequence, flooding is anticipated to be one of the most common natural disasters on the Korean Peninsula brought on by climate change. Greenpeace estimates the number of people affected by flooding in the country will increase to 3.3 million in 2030.
"As our ecosystems change due to temperature increases, the agricultural and fishing industries will inevitably face more damage and adaptation costs," Park said. "And as the habitat areas for pests and wildlife change, there is also an increased risk of infectious disease."
gettyimagesbank
Impacts were also felt in the domestic fast food industry. In autumn last year, a number of fast food chains in Korea failed to serve lettuce in their hamburgers due to supply shortages.
According to fast food industry officials, Korean fast food chains import lettuce from China in summer, and then secure it from Gangwon Province in autumn _ mostly from October. However, an unusually early cold wave struck the province last year, resulting in local farms seeing their harvest fail thereby causing serious supply shortages.
Though the lettuce shortage was alleviated with supplies from other domestic provinces, the case highlighted the growing uncertainty in crop supplies, which will lead to an increase in vegetable prices.
Korean companies' inattention to climate change and belated efforts for decarbonization are also reasons why experts pick climate change as one of the risks the country must face.
"From a short-term perspective, it may seem that decarbonization is inconvenient and costly to industry," Park said. "However, in the long run, deeper emissions cuts and faster energy transition will bring more economic benefits and global competitiveness. Companies in advanced economies such as Apple, Microsoft, and BMW were quick to realize this, and this is why they are much better positioned now. Samsung, on the other hand, faces a roadblock to going 100 percent renewable like Apple due to Korea's current power sector structure which prevents direct sale of clean energy."
Park added that Korea's next administration needs to strengthen the country's climate commitments, and without those changes, Korea and its industries will be left behind.
A customer pays cash at a cafe in Gurye County, South Jeolla Province, Oct. 25, as credit card readers went down nationwide due to a network disruption. Yonhap
3. Perils of a hyperconnected society
In October, Korea suffered a nationwide network outage following a simple routing error at KT, one of the largest internet service providers in Korea. The outage lasted for just 90 minutes, but disrupted credit card payments, online classes, stock trading programs and other internet-linked services, resulting in an estimated 1 trillion won in losses.
Other than direct financial damage, there were more fundamental problems such as people being locked up in offices and parking spaces and errors at medical and emergency response systems, raising attention on the risks of a hyperconnected society.
There was a similar network outage in 2018 when a fire at a KT branch in western Seoul caused network disruptions affecting parts of Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area.
Back then, the government announced a number of preventive measures, including a "disaster roaming service" allowing users to connect to other telecom companies' networks in case of a network outage. This, however, did not work during last year's outage.
Experts said in the era of hyperconnectivity, an error in the central control system may cause temporary disruptions in a small coverage region, but it can trigger larger-scale disturbances across society.
"In a smart city, whose infrastructure is comprised of cutting-edge Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, there are greater risks of a small accident paralyzing key functions of the city," Deloitte said in its 2019 report on smart cities.
"The higher the level of technology required for city infrastructure is, the greater the difficulty will be to restore it given the complexity of causes and damage. If there is a malfunction in smart technology-based infrastructure, it will be more difficult to restore it compared to that of conventional ones."
Though the cases with KT were attributable to accidents, experts agree there are too many contingencies that can trigger large-scale network disruptions and subsequent disturbances, such as natural disasters, power outages and even cyberattacks.
"The disconnection of a network became the biggest risk of a hyperconnected society," professor Kim Sung-wook at Seoul Women's University said in his 2020 paper titled "5G service and universal service."
"We should make greater efforts to keep networks intact, and the efforts should start from recognizing 5G as infrastructure and a public good."
11. Defense chief inspects combat readiness aboard Peace Eye aircraft
Defense chief inspects combat readiness aboard Peace Eye aircraft
Defense Minister Suh Wook, center, inspects South Korea's combat readiness aboard a Peace Eye aircraft during a 140-minute patrol mission, Jan. 1.Yonhap
South Korea's defense chief flew on an airborne early warning and control aircraft, and inspected the country's defense posture on New Year's Day as North Korea noted the "growing instability" of the military situation on the peninsula.
Defense Minister Suh Wook flew over South Korea's territorial waters for about 140 minutes aboard the E-737 Peace Eye aircraft, which took off from Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, just outside the capital, early Saturday.
During the flight, Suh told the aircrew to maintain their military readiness as he held talks with commanders of major Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps combat units.
On Saturday, North Korea called for the bolstering of its defense capabilities as it announced the results of a key meeting of the ruling Workers' Party. (Yonhap)
12. South Korea pulls through, again
A little optimistic on the pandemic "wind-down."
2022 will be different. The pandemic will wane from immunity and continued vaccination. By year’s end, the virus will simply have run out of people to infect, and it will become a treatable endemic disease.
Moon Jae-in will leave office in early May. The election will be held in early March, and polls show a close race between Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party and Yoon Suk-yeol of the People Power Party. Both candidates have their ardent supporters, but much of the public worries that neither man is up to the job. Compared to Moon, they seem unpredictable and terribly small.
How a President Lee or a President Yoon deals the wind-down of the pandemic will affect how well South Korea pulls through 2022. Will they find a sense of balance and offer steady leadership? That is the big question.
[Robert J. Fouser] South Korea pulls through, again
Published : Dec 31, 2021 - 05:30 Updated : Dec 31, 2021 - 05:30
The year 2021 began with great hope that vaccines would end the COVID-19 pandemic; it ends in fear as the omicron variant spreads at a torrid pace. As the world welcomes 2022, leaders are running short of political capital to rally weary citizens to cooperate with burdensome public health measures.
Amid the dashed hopes of 2021, South Korea pulled through again, much as it did in 2020. The nation did far better than most other advanced democracies in limiting the impact of the pandemic on society. The figures speak for themselves. In 2021 (Jan. 1 to Dec. 27), for example, South Korea had a total of 552,939 cases and 4,404 deaths. Spain, with a population of 47 million, had 4 million cases and 38,302 deaths. Per capita cases and deaths remain low compared to Europe and North America.
Not all has gone smoothly. After a slow start during the first half of the year, South Korea now has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world and is rolling out boosters. The surge in cases at the end of the year after public health measures were relaxed has pressured the health care system, but newly imposed restrictions and booster shots are bringing the number of cases down again. Strong public support for public health measures in 2020 has weakened, but the country has avoided divisive conflicts found in parts of Europe and North America.
The South Korean economy has recovered from a slight dip in 2020. The IMF projects a 4.3 percent growth for 2021, with the economy ranking 10th in the world for the second year in a row. The lengthy pandemic is beginning to wear on the economy, forcing many small businesses to close. Inflation has been creeping up this year and reached a 10-year high in November. Rising inflation and a weakening global economy could dampen economic prospects in the first half of 2022.
In foreign relations, US President Joe Biden kept his promise of bringing stability to US diplomacy. He worked to strengthen relations with long-standing allies South Korea and Japan while opening a dialogue with China. This return to pre-Trump normalcy had a calming effect on the region as nations focused on dealing with the pandemic at home. North Korea was unusually quiet, because of an economic slump resulting from border closures in 2020.
South Korea continued to build on its pop-culture accomplishments from 2020. In April, Youn Yuh-jung won the Academy Award for best supporting actress, becoming the first Korean actor to win an Academy Award and the first Asian actor to do so since 1958. BTS continued to reign supreme, coming in third on Spotify’s list of the most-streamed artists in the world for 2021. The biggest surprise is the popularity of the TV drama “Squid Game,” which debuted on Netflix in September and quickly became the most-watched show in the platform’s history.
President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating has remained in the mid-30 to low 40 percent range for most of the year, which is high compared to previous presidents, all of whom left office under a 30 percent approval. He has also avoided scandals that have damaged his predecessors. Barring any negative shocks, he will leave office next May with the highest approval rating of any leader in South Korean history.
Much of South Korea’s ability to pull through two years of a global pandemic and economic turmoil comes from President Moon’s sense of balance. This helped South Korea to deal successfully with the pandemic while minimizing its effects on the economy. During the chaotic Trump years, it helped to defuse tensions between the US and North Korea that could have led to war.
2022 will be different. The pandemic will wane from immunity and continued vaccination. By year’s end, the virus will simply have run out of people to infect, and it will become a treatable endemic disease.
Moon Jae-in will leave office in early May. The election will be held in early March, and polls show a close race between Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party and Yoon Suk-yeol of the People Power Party. Both candidates have their ardent supporters, but much of the public worries that neither man is up to the job. Compared to Moon, they seem unpredictable and terribly small.
How a President Lee or a President Yoon deals the wind-down of the pandemic will affect how well South Korea pulls through 2022. Will they find a sense of balance and offer steady leadership? That is the big question.
Robert J. Fouser
Robert J. Fouser, a former associate professor of Korean language education at Seoul National University, writes on Korea from Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He can be reached at robertjfouser@gmail.com. -- Ed.
13. Koreans pin high hopes on watershed presidential election
Koreans pin high hopes on watershed presidential election
Graphic by Cho Sang-won
No matter who wins, 2022 will be turning point for Korea
By Jung Da-min
The year 2022 is expected to be a watershed period for Korea, with the major political event of the presidential election slated for March 9.
Frustrated with the deepening polarization and division of the country, most Koreans, regardless of age, social status or political background, expect to see a major turnaround following the upcoming election.
Though the presidential competition is mainly a race between the rival candidates of the country's two-major parties ― Lee Jae-myung of the ruling liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) ― all eyes are on whether the ruling liberal bloc will manage to retain power or if the conservative bloc will succeed in bringing a leadership change.
No matter who wins in the March election, Korea is expected to enter a new era. If elected, Lee is highly likely to expedite reforms that the Moon Jae-in administration has been pushing for and steer the country toward what he calls a "fair society." If Yoon wins, he will try to reshape the Korean political and economic landscape by changing things fundamentally and eventually turning the nation further into a market principle-centered society.
From 1987, when a direct presidential election system went into effect in Korea, until the right-wing Park Geun-hye government (2013-2017), conservative and liberal administrations had taken power in turn in a 10-year cycle. Conservative presidents reigned from Roh Tae-woo (1988-1993) to the Kim Young-sam (1993-1998) period. Next, liberal presidents Kim Dae-jung (1998-2003) and Roh Moo-hyun (2003-2008) were elected. And following them, the conservatives came back into power with Presidents Lee Myung-bak (2008-2013) and Park. After Park was impeached before finishing her five-year term over various charges including corruption, the liberal bloc succeeded in changing the party of the leadership in power with the election of President Moon Jae-in.
The level of attention is particularly high because foreign and economic policies will take different directions depending on which bloc takes the helm. The two candidates are taking contrasting stances on how to distribute wealth and promote economic growth, as well as how to build relations with key allies, including the United States and China.
Bae Jong-chan, an opinion poll expert and head of Insight K, said Lee of the DPK, if elected, will place economic policy priority on resolving polarization and strengthening social welfare systems.
"Lee has consistently called for a universal basic income. He is currently taking a rather soft position on the matter, saying he would not unilaterally push for the basic income policy without social consensus. But it is likely that he would put a stronger drive into introducing a basic income once elected," Bae said.
In contrast, Bae said that Yoon would shift the focus of economic policies to encouraging entrepreneurial growth over wealth distribution, introducing more business-friendly policies by easing regulations and offering tax incentives.
Bae also expected a clear distinction between the rival candidates in their policy directions in diplomatic and security issues.
"If Yoon is elected, he would emphasize the principle that denuclearization should come first before inter-Korean cooperation, whereas Lee would continue the engagement policies pursued by the Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in governments," Bae said.
Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling liberal Democratic Party of Korea, poses at the party headquarters in Seoul's Yeouido, ahead of a joint interview with The Korea Times, Reuters and the South China Morning Post, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
"For other neighboring countries, Lee would try to strike a balance between China and the U.S. amid their growing rivalry, but it would be hard to expect that bilateral relations between South Korea and Japan could improve under Lee's leadership, as he is focused on the historical issues between the countries," Bae said.
Seoul-Tokyo relations have deteriorated over historical issues including wartime sex slavery and forced labor.
"For Yoon, it is obvious that he would be committed to strengthening the South Korea-U.S. alliance and improving relations with Japan, considering the figures selected as members of his election camp," he said.
Cha Jae-won, a professor of special affairs at the Catholic University of Pusan, said conflicts among the different parties in terms of domestic policies and diplomacy with neighboring countries are expected if either Lee or Yoon is elected.
Cha said that Lee's "pragmatic" stance on the government's planned increase of capital gains taxes on multiple home owners, for example, could bring a backlash from supporters of the liberal bloc. Aiming to gain the support of swing voters or centrists, Lee has suggested postponing the timing of the tax increase. But his proposal faced opposition from the incumbent administration, which is focused on stabilizing the country's overheated housing market.
"In addition, if Lee wins the presidential election, it is likely that the DPK could also win the subsequent local elections slated for June 1 to select leaders of local governments across the nation. When the DPK already has a supermajority in the National Assembly, accounting for almost 60 percent of the 300 seats, such a monopoly in politics would threaten the democratic principle of checks and balances. Concerns are that Lee could abandon his pragmatic stance to meet the expectations of the liberal bloc supporters only," Cha said.
Cha also expects that Lee, if elected, could tip the balance of diplomacy in favor of China by engaging North Korea and promoting cooperation with Beijing, while distancing from the U.S.
Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential candidate of the main opposition conservative People Power Party, speaks during an inauguration ceremony of the regional branch of his election camp in Daegu, at the party's regional office in the city, Thursday. Yonhap
Conflict and confusion are also expected if Yoon becomes the next president, Cha said.
"While the DPK takes up 60 percent of the Assembly seats, the government power would belong to the PPP. Though it is hard to expect that there will be cooperation between the rival parties under such a situation, the conservative bloc would need to form a coalition government with other opposition parties. But I doubt if the PPP and other opposition parties are ready to form such a coalition, and if our politics could accept such a system, which it has never experienced before," he said.
Cha also said that Yoon, if elected, could arrest Lee over allegations that he was involved in the highly lucrative and possibly illicit land development project led by a private firm when he was the mayor of Seongnam. But the professor expressed concerns that if Yoon carries out such investigations into cases involving ruling bloc figures, doing so could lead to a vicious cycle of "political retaliation."
While Yoon emphasizes the importance of the South Korea-U.S. alliance, Cha said the PPP candidate should be aware of the fact that South Korea needs to maintain close relations with China especially in terms of trade and the economy.
Neck-and-neck race
Currently, the rival candidates are in a neck-and-neck race as seen in the latest opinion polls.
What stands out in the match between the major blocs this time is that both are more focused on staging smear campaigns against each other. The two have also been unable to find a breakthrough in winning more support from centrists or swing voters, with both Yoon and Lee embroiled in scandals surrounding corruption or illegal activities involving either themselves or their family members.
Political watchers said that more centrists or swing voters could get tired of the mudslinging and become reluctant to cast their votes in the March 9 election. Recent polls also showed that more centrists or swing voters are either delaying their choices or withdrawing their earlier support for a preferred candidate.
Political commentator Lee Jong-hoon said that the smear campaigns are likely to continue, as none of the allegations have been cleared, but they are not good strategies as seen in past elections.
"Those in unfavorable situations more actively engage in smear campaigns, as they are desperate to find a breakthrough. But in recent elections, there has been no case of turning the tables with such a strategy. Staging a smear campaign only brings a negative image to a party," Lee said.
According to a National Barometer Survey conducted of 1,000 adults from Dec. 27 to 29 and released on Dec. 30, Lee had 39 percent of the support rate, exceeding Yoon's 28 percent. It was the first time for Lee to outperform Yoon beyond the margin of error in the weekly survey since the two were named as the candidates of their respective parties.
But Yoon had 39.8 percent and Lee 38.8 percent in another survey conducted of 1,003 adults on Dec. 27 by Korea Information Research, at the request of the online news outlet, Newspim.
Further details are available on the websites of the survey agencies or the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.
14. Japan says it will never accept Korean court’s ruling
I do not think we can expect much improvement in ROK-Japan relations.
Japan says it will never accept Korean court’s ruling
Posted January. 01, 2022 07:43,
Updated January. 01, 2022 07:43
Japan says it will never accept Korean court’s ruling. January. 01, 2022 07:43. abro@donga.com.
As a Korean court ordered Nippon Steel (formerly New Nippon Steel) on Thursday to sell its assets in Korea in connection with a lawsuit seeking compensation for Korean slave laborers during Japan’s colonial rule of Korea, the Japanese government has protested, saying “We cannot accept.”
According to the Daily Yomiuri on Friday, the Japanese foreign ministry lodged a complaint against the Korean government through diplomatic channels, and demanded a proper measure, saying, “We can never accept the order.” A ranking official at the Japanese foreign ministry was quoted by the daily as saying, “The Korean court’s ruling constitutes a violation of the 1965 Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and Korea, and we will continue demanding corrective measures for the illicit decision.”
”We deeply regret the decision. It is our understanding that the issue of forced laborers in the past was completely and irreversibly resolved through the treaty” Nippon Steel also told the media on Thursday. “We will properly cope with the issue in tandem with the situation in diplomatic negotiations between the two governments,”
It is the second time a Korean court has ordered a Japanese company to sell its assets in Korea in connection with slave laborers after Mitsubishi Heavy Industry in September last year.
V/R
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Phone: 202-573-8647
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
FDD is a Washington-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
