Informal Institute for National Security Thinkers and Practitioners

Quotes of the Day:

4– “Take responsibility for the face of the world. The symbols of today enable the reality of tomorrow. Notice the swastikas and the other signs of hate. Do not look away, and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so.”

– Timothy Snyder

"I could not understand why men who knew all about good and evil could hate and kill each other."

– Mary Shelley

"Perhaps a man's character is like a tree and his reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing."

– Abraham Lincoln

1. South Korean lawmakers seek independent probe as Yoon's lawyers warn detention may spark 'civil war'

2. Trump allies weigh in on South Korea's political unrest, regional impact

3. North Korea’s Position on the Turmoil in South Korea

4. Parliamentary subcommittee passes new special counsel bill against Yoon's martial law bid

5. Acting president says no solution to standoff between gov't agencies over Yoon's arrest

6. Police convene field commanders ahead of 2nd attempt at detaining Yoon

7. Acting president accepts presidential security chief's resignation offer

8. Head of abolished N.K. party organ on inter-Korean affairs appears to retain political status

9. N. Korea includes Russian language in official postal stamp description for 1st time

10. The Pentagon finessed its pivot to Asia. Can it last during Trump?

11. 'Stop the Steal' becomes protest slogan in Seoul

12. Who will represent Korea at Trump's inauguration ceremony?

13. Korean democracy upgrade: Goodbye public sentiment, hello law

14. The true cost: North Korean soldiers' deadly reality in Russia's war

15. N. Korea's digital leap: Examining the 'Mirae' wi-fi network

16. Commentary: South Korea needs to move on from this crisis

17. South Korea presidential security chief warns against violent attempt to arrest Yoon

18. Food shortages and skyrocketing prices… North Korean residents ‘cry out’

19. North Korea remains silent despite casualties among soldiers dispatched to Russia… 70% of South Koreans say “North Korea’s dispatch of troops to Russia threatens the situation on the Korean Peninsula”

20. Trump plans to rebuild the US Navy in Korean shipyards. We already know this works well

1. South Korean lawmakers seek independent probe as Yoon's lawyers warn detention may spark 'civil war'

Leaders and their spokespeople need to be careful of their words.

Everyone needs to take a breath and remember that the enemy is to the north. Do not make your country vulnerable to the real threat by creating a civil war in the South. Ironically this is the outcome that the Kim family regime's political warfare strategy is designed to achieve. Subversion of the South Korean political system.

Excerpts:

At a news conference Thursday, Seok Dong-hyeon, a lawyer on Yoon’s legal team, highlighted the fervent protests by Yoon’s supporters and claimed that the anti-corruption office’s “reckless” attempts to detain Yoon would “provoke a significant backlash from outraged citizens.”

“It would essentially be a civil war situation,” he said, claiming that attempts to detain Yoon are aimed at humiliating him by displaying him in handcuffs.

South Korean lawmakers seek independent probe as Yoon's lawyers warn detention may spark 'civil war'

AP · by KIM TONG-HYUNG · January 9, 2025

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean opposition parties introduced a bill Thursday calling for an independent investigation into impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol’s brief martial law declaration, as thousands of his supporters and critics held tense rallies near his residence ahead of his potential detention.

The bill, jointly submitted by six parties, including the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, proposes that a special prosecutor investigate whether Yoon’s martial law decree on Dec. 3 constituted an attempted rebellion.

The bill also calls for an investigation into opposition claims that Yoon sought to provoke a clash with North Korea by allegedly flying drones over Pyongyang or discussing the possibility of shooting down trash-laden balloons launched from North Korea across the border, to justify a power grab at home. Yoon’s lawyers and the South Korean military have denied the suspicions.

Yoon remained holed up at his official residence in the capital city of Seoul, where the presidential security service has fortified the grounds with barbed wire and rows of vehicles blocking the roads, anticipating another attempt by law enforcement to detain him after last week’s failed effort.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, leading a joint investigation with police and the military, has pledged to work with police to make a more forceful effort to detain Yoon. It has warned that members of the presidential security staff could be arrested if they obstruct attempts to apprehend the embattled president.

Yoon’s lawyers argued against bringing him to custody, claiming he isn’t a threat to flee or destroy evidence. They claimed that images of him being dragged out in handcuffs could spark a “civil war” in the divided country.

At a news conference Thursday, Seok Dong-hyeon, a lawyer on Yoon’s legal team, highlighted the fervent protests by Yoon’s supporters and claimed that the anti-corruption office’s “reckless” attempts to detain Yoon would “provoke a significant backlash from outraged citizens.”

“It would essentially be a civil war situation,” he said, claiming that attempts to detain Yoon are aimed at humiliating him by displaying him in handcuffs.

Separated by police lines and fences, thousands of Yoon’s supporters and critics continued their daily rallies near his residence, shouting passionate slogans either vowing to protect him or calling for his ouster. They occasionally exchanged verbal insults, though there were no immediate reports of major clashes.

The opposition has claimed that an independent investigation is crucial because separate investigations led by the country’s anti-corruption agency and public prosecutors have been hindered by Yoon’s unwillingness to cooperate.

The new bill proposes that the Supreme Court’s chief justice recommend two candidates to Yoon, who would then select one as the special prosecutor. If Yoon refuses to appoint anyone, the elder of the two candidates would automatically assume the role.

The opposition’s earlier bill proposing an independent investigation was rejected by the National Assembly on Wednesday, as members of Yoon’s conservative party opposed a clause allowing only opposition parties to recommend special prosecutor candidates. That bill was voted down by just two votes, and the Democrats were hopeful that the new bill would get through.

Yoon’s lawyers have questioned the legitimacy of a new detention warrant issued Tuesday by the Seoul Western District Court following the failed attempt to bring Yoon to custody. They argued that the agency lacks legal authority to investigate rebellion charges or order police to detain suspects.

They have urged the agency to either indict the president or seek a formal arrest warrant, a process that requires a court hearing. However, the president has stated that he would only comply with an arrest warrant issued by the Seoul Central District Court. His lawyers have accused the agency of deliberately choosing the a court with an allegedly favorable judge.

Hours after Yoon declared martial law and deployed troops to surround the National Assembly on Dec. 3, lawmakers who managed to get through the blockade voted to lift the measure. Yoon’s presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated Assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14, accusing him of rebellion. The Constitutional Court has begun deliberations on whether to formally remove Yoon from office or reinstate him.

AP · by KIM TONG-HYUNG · January 9, 2025

2. Trump allies weigh in on South Korea's political unrest, regional impact

Again let me reiterate:

Leaders and their spokespeople need to be careful of their words.

I do not have any sense of the likelihood of violence but I am concerned about how any violence will support north Korea. We really need the Korean people in the South to understand how their violent actions support Kim Jong Un's political warfare strategy. This is really critical.

Excerpts:

Concerns over South Korea’s political stability intensified last month after the DPK submitted an impeachment motion accusing Yoon of “antagonizing North Korea, China, and Russia” while pursuing “Japan-centric diplomacy.” The motion has drawn scrutiny from U.S. policymakers.

...

During the broadcast, Schlapp referred to her husband’s recent trip to Japan, emphasizing the interconnectedness of Northeast Asian dynamics. She asked Chang, “What’s happening in South Korea, why should Americans care, and what should the U.S. do?”

Chang characterized South Korea’s political crisis as a left-wing push to destabilize the government. He accused the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) of overreaching by attempting to impeach key officials, including Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Acting President Choi Sang-mok, following President Yoon Suk-yeol’s controversial martial law declaration.

Chang also criticized DPK leader Lee Jae-myung, a potential presidential contender, labeling him a “relentless leftist” facing criminal charges. He suggested Lee might be accelerating efforts to impeach Yoon to secure his own political future before a court ruling could disqualify his candidacy.

Trump allies weigh in on South Korea's political unrest, regional impact

https://www.chosun.com/english/people-en/2025/01/10/DJKXBALUJJGWTLBLPSKRWQGPOE/

Schlapp, Chang link South Korea's crisis to regional stability in Northeast Asia

By Kim Eun-joong (Washington),

Park Su-hyeon

Published 2025.01.10. 15:43

Mercedes Schlapp, a prominent conservative commentator and former White House official, voiced concerns on Jan. 7 about the potential geopolitical ramifications of South Korea’s ongoing political crisis. Speaking on her broadcast, she hosted Gordon Chang, a noted China critic, to discuss the situation’s broader impact on Northeast Asia.

Schlapp, married to American Conservative Union (ACU) Chairman Matt Schlapp—a close ally of President-elect Donald Trump—underscored the significance of South Korea’s impeachment proceedings and their implications for regional stability. The ACU, founded in 1964, is the largest conservative grassroots organization in the U.S., and its ties to Trump run deep, with the president-elect having frequently spoken at ACU events.

While Korean American Rep. Young Kim is the only U.S. lawmaker to publicly comment on South Korea’s political unrest, Trump’s MAGA base appears attuned to the developments, including the impeachment efforts and martial law discussions.

Schlapp, a Cuban American born in Florida, previously served as director of strategic communications in Trump’s first-term White House and worked on George W. Bush’s presidential campaign. Alongside her husband, a key Trump confidant, the couple was dubbed Washington’s “It Couple” during the Trump presidency. Their lobbying firm’s first major client was Koch Industries, a longstanding conservative donor powerhouse.

President-elect Donald Trump (center) poses for a photo with Mercedes Schlapp and Matt Schlapp during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February 2024, hosted by the American Conservative Union (ACU)./Mercedes Schlapp’s Instagram account

During the broadcast, Schlapp referred to her husband’s recent trip to Japan, emphasizing the interconnectedness of Northeast Asian dynamics. She asked Chang, “What’s happening in South Korea, why should Americans care, and what should the U.S. do?”

Chang characterized South Korea’s political crisis as a left-wing push to destabilize the government. He accused the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) of overreaching by attempting to impeach key officials, including Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Acting President Choi Sang-mok, following President Yoon Suk-yeol’s controversial martial law declaration.

Chang also criticized DPK leader Lee Jae-myung, a potential presidential contender, labeling him a “relentless leftist” facing criminal charges. He suggested Lee might be accelerating efforts to impeach Yoon to secure his own political future before a court ruling could disqualify his candidacy.

Schlapp referenced photos of pro- and anti-impeachment rallies near South Korea’s presidential residence, observing, “China and North Korea seem to naturally support the left-wing party, while America’s great allies like Japan and Taiwan are watching closely.” She asked Chang how the crisis might reshape regional dynamics.

Chang responded that while the DPK could win the next presidential election, Yoon’s approval ratings have risen from below 20% to around 40%, largely due to public backlash against perceived leftist overreach.

Mercedes Schlapp discusses the political situation in South Korea with attorney Gordon Chang on Jan. 7, 2025, during "America UnCanceled," a broadcast produced by the American Conservative Union (ACU) as part of its annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)./ACU

Concerns over South Korea’s political stability intensified last month after the DPK submitted an impeachment motion accusing Yoon of “antagonizing North Korea, China, and Russia” while pursuing “Japan-centric diplomacy.” The motion has drawn scrutiny from U.S. policymakers.

The Schlapps’ organization, the ACU, hosts the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), often referred to as the “Super Bowl of conservative politics.” The event gathers Republican lawmakers, think tanks, and students for four days of discussions on conservative priorities. Trump, a CPAC regular, praised the ACU during last year’s event, calling it “a group of people with common sense.” Speculation is growing over whether Trump, now president-elect, will deliver remarks at this year’s conference.

In a 2019 interview with The Chosun Ilbo, Matt Schlapp offered advice to South Korea’s fractured conservative movement in the wake of former President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment. “The moment you moralize politics with, ‘You must think this way if you’re on our side,’ a coalition becomes impossible,” he said. “If you’re in the same conservative room, it doesn’t matter which door you entered from.”

3. North Korea’s Position on the Turmoil in South Korea

Why has Kim been restrained? Because he assesses his political warfare strategy to subvert South Korea government and society.

North Korea’s Position on the Turmoil in South Korea

Pyongyang has been surprisingly restrained.

thediplomat.com

Pyongyang has been surprisingly restrained.

By ISOZAKI Atsuhito

January 10, 2025

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The emergency martial law that South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol announced late at night on December 3 shocked even seasoned Korea experts accustomed to the unpredictability of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. In fact, North Korean media had been reporting on the possibility of Yoon declaring martial law, albeit indirectly.

The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Workers’ Party of Korea, first touched on the possibility of martial law on August 20. While covering anti-Yoon gatherings across South Korea, the newspaper noted that there was a growing sentiment that Yoon was prepared to proclaim martial law. This echoed similar warnings that were being made by the Democratic Party (DP), South Korea’s largest opposition party.

Articles in North Korea continued to report on other voices in South Korea that were expressing similar sentiments: “Impeach Yoon Suk Yeol, the pro-Japanese traitor under wartime martial law!” “Yoon Suk Yeol has fallen into the worst political crisis of his term, and his exit strategy is war and martial law.” “Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law conspiracy.” These pieces were merely covering trends in South Korea and were not accompanied by any North Korean commentary. As such, it is possible that the Kim administration did not believe that Yoon would truly impose martial law.

When Yoon went ahead and actually declared martial law, North Korea kept silent for more than a week. Then, on December 11, it reported on the developments. An article that day began: “The puppet Yoon Seok Yeol, who had already faced a serious crisis of governance and impeachment, declared martial law unexpectedly and unleashed the guns of the fascist dictatorship on the people.”

The following day, it was reported that “Calls for puppet Yoon Suk Yeol to be impeached are growing day after day amid intensifying political turmoil.” On December 14, South Korea’s National Assembly passed the second impeachment bill with 204 votes in favor and 85 against, suspending Yoon’s presidential authority. North Korean media also reported that gatherings to denounce Yoon were taking place across South Korea, the confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties was deepening as more members left the People Power Party, and “the puppet constitutional court will make the final decision on impeachment in the future.” In the 700-word article, the word “puppet” was used 19 times. Even so, “puppet” was the only word to reflect North Korean sentiment, with the article otherwise devoid of original commentary.

Given that North Korean media has been reporting daily on anti-Yoon movements by South Korean citizens, it could be said that the situation has calmed down significantly since the martial law commotion. Normally, Yoon would be severely denounced by Pyongyang for his outrageous actions. However, this could lead to support for conservative forces in South Korea if North Korea is perceived as trying to interfere in South Korea’s domestic affairs. Therefore, it is believed that North Korea is quietly looking at the situation at this stage while also limiting the amount of information that is disclosed to the public.

We cannot overlook the fact that a president of a 37-year-old democracy self-righteously declared martial law. While South Korea is still in turmoil, Yoon’s position of justifying martial law despite internal and international criticism is shocking.

On October 2, during an inspection of military special operations training, Kim criticized a speech that Yoon had given on Armed Forces Day the previous day, saying that “it was a great irony that caused the suspicion of being an abnormal man.” While Kim Yo Jong, vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) and Kim Jong Un’s sister, has become known for leveling criticism of this kind at Yoon, it is quite rare for the Supreme Leader himself to use such strong language. It is evidence of his disdain toward Yoon, although, in retrospect, it is hard to call Kim’s response extreme.

There is no doubt that Yoon fell into the echo chamber phenomenon. By communicating only with supporters, he incorrectly perceived his positions as being universally true and valid. Similarly, in North Korea, after Kim removed his uncle, Jang Song Thaek, who had been vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, 11 years ago, he was left with an inner circle of yes-men, which has led to increased rigidity within the North Korean regime.

Neighboring countries might think they should be grateful that Pyongyang has remained unusually calm in response to Yoon’s outrageous behavior. The upheaval in Seoul should serve as a mirror, one that reaffirms the importance of listening to diverse opinions and showing greater flexibility. That would provide the way forward for the long-term stability that Kim himself seeks.

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ISOZAKI Atsuhito

ISOZAKI Atsuhito is a professor at Keio University.

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4. Parliamentary subcommittee passes new special counsel bill against Yoon's martial law bid

(LEAD) Parliamentary subcommittee passes new special counsel bill against Yoon's martial law bid | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Yi Wonju · January 10, 2025

(ATTN: UPDATES paras 5-9, 11)

SEOUL, Jan. 10 (Yonhap) -- A parliamentary judiciary subcommittee on Friday passed a new opposition-led bill mandating a special counsel probe into impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed martial law bid.

Opposition parties unilaterally passed the bill during a subcommittee meeting of the National Assembly's legislation and judiciary committee. Lawmakers of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) boycotted the vote in protest of the bill.

The new version proposes that the Supreme Court's chief justice recommend a special counsel to look into Yoon's insurrection charges in an apparent effort to secure more defection votes from the PPP.

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) also excludes a clause that allows opposition parties to request a new recommendation in the event the proposed candidate is deemed unfit.

Instead, the revised bill expands the scope of the investigation to include fresh allegations of "treason" committed by Yoon against his own country. The DP claims Yoon attempted to provoke military attacks from North Korea to justify his plans for martial law declaration.

"It is difficult to say that the overall arrangement, plan and implementation process of the insurrection have been fully revealed," DP Rep. Park Beom-kye, the subcommittee chair, said.

Park stressed that the special counsel should investigate the insurrection more broadly than previously investigated by the prosecution, police and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials.

A subcommittee of the legislation and judiciary committee holds a meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul on Jan. 10, 2025. (Yonhap)

To address concerns about the potential leakage of military information, searches and seizures will be allowed but details will be prohibited from being disclosed during press briefings.

The number of prosecutors and investigators dispatched will also be reduced from 205 to 155, and the investigation period has been shortened from 170 days to 150 days.

The previous bill, which proposed special counsel recommendations from the DP and the minor opposition Rebuilding Korea Party, was scrapped Wednesday after being voted down by just two votes.

When the new bill passes the plenary session of the legislation and judiciary committee Monday, it is expected to advance to a full floor vote next week.

julesyi@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Yi Wonju · January 10, 2025

4. Acting president says no solution to standoff between gov't agencies over Yoon's arrest

Acting president says no solution to standoff between gov't agencies over Yoon's arrest | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Han-joo · January 10, 2025

By Kim Han-joo

SEOUL, Jan. 10 (Yonhap) -- Acting President Choi Sang-mok said Friday that there currently exists no legal framework to resolve the ongoing confrontation between investigators and the Presidential Security Service (PSS) regarding the arrest of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who remains inside his fortified compound.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), which is investigating Yoon for alleged insurrection after his failed attempt to impose martial law in December, is set to execute a court-issued warrant for his arrest following an initial attempt last week that resulted in a five-hour standoff with the PSS.

"Unfortunately, under the current legal framework, it is difficult to find a clear resolution to the conflict between the two agencies," Choi said in a statement issued to reporters.

Despite repeated calls from the CIO for the PSS to stand down, Choi has so far refrained from actively using his authority to issue specific guidelines.

Earlier this week, the PSS heightened security at Yoon's residence by installing barbed wire, barricades and buses to block access to the compound in Seoul.

Choi's remarks come after the CIO announced its intention to make a second attempt to execute the arrest warrant, this time in coordination with a large number of police officers. The move is widely expected to occur soon.

Choi also called on the National Assembly to pass a special counsel bill through bipartisan cooperation, expressing confidence that such a measure could resolve the ongoing standoff between the two agencies.

After a failure to pass the initial version of the special counsel bill, which intended to appoint special prosecutors to investigate insurrection charges against Yoon, the main opposition Democratic Party announced plans to introduce a revised version of the bill.

The updated proposal suggests that a third party be tasked with recommending the special counsel candidate, a move seemingly aimed at garnering support from defecting members of the ruling People Power Party.

Acting President Choi Sang-mok (Yonhap)

khj@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Han-joo · January 10, 2025

5. Police convene field commanders ahead of 2nd attempt at detaining Yoon

Police convene field commanders ahead of 2nd attempt at detaining Yoon | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · January 10, 2025

By Lee Haye-ah

SEOUL, Jan. 10 (Yonhap) -- Police on Friday convened a meeting of field commanders ahead of a second attempt at detaining impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his botched imposition of martial law.

The National Office of Investigation (NOI) ordered the leaders of the police investigation teams of Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and other jurisdictions in the capital area to gather at the NOI headquarters to discuss planning for the second detention attempt.

Investigators are believed to be preparing to execute a court-issued warrant to detain Yoon on insurrection and abuse of power charges.

Their first attempt to execute the warrant last Friday failed after Yoon's bodyguards blocked them from entering the official presidential residence in Seoul.

On Thursday, the NOI sent an official note to investigation teams across the capital area requesting they prepare to mobilize around 1,000 investigators for the second attempt.

Investigators from the state anti-corruption agency and police officers leave the premises of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol's official residence in Seoul on Jan. 3, 2025, after failing to execute a warrant to detain Yoon over his failed bid to impose martial law in December. (Yonhap)

hague@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · January 10, 2025

6. Acting president accepts presidential security chief's resignation offer

Acting president accepts presidential security chief's resignation offer | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Han-joo · January 10, 2025

By Kim Han-joo

SEOUL, Jan. 10 (Yonhap) -- Acting President Choi Sang-mok accepted the resignation of the Presidential Security Service (PSS) chief Friday, according to Choi's office, amid growing conflicts over arresting President Yoon Suk-yeol, who remains inside his fortified residence.

Park Chong-jun, head of the PSS, submitted his resignation shortly before appearing for police questioning earlier in the day over allegations that he obstructed the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials from executing a court-issued warrant to arrest Yoon. The investigation concerns Yoon's brief imposition of martial law on Dec. 3.

"Park has submitted his resignation, and it has been accepted," the finance ministry said in a statement.

Park Chong-jun (C), chief of the Presidential Security Service, appears at the Joint Investigation Headquarters in western Seoul on Jan. 10, 2024, for questioning regarding allegations that he blocked investigators' attempt to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

khj@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Han-joo · January 10, 2025

7. Head of abolished N.K. party organ on inter-Korean affairs appears to retain political status

(LEAD) Head of abolished N.K. party organ on inter-Korean affairs appears to retain political status | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Park Boram · January 10, 2025

(ATTN: UPDATES with more info in paras 6-7)

SEOUL, Jan. 10 (Yonhap) -- Ri Son-gwon, director of North Korea's abolished United Front Department (UFD) in charge of affairs with South Korea, appears to have retained his political status even after the department's purported dissolution, according to state media on Friday.

The Korean Central News Agency reported that Ri attended a banquet held the previous day for a visiting art troupe of Korean schoolchildren from Japan and gave a speech, referring to his official title as department director of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK)'s Central Committee.

The report confirms Ri's retention of directorial status, refuting speculation that he may have been demoted after the UFD was reportedly abolished as part of North Korea's policy shift on the South.

The latest report indicates that he may be heading one of the specialized departments under the WPK, apart from the abolished organization.

North Korea is presumed to have disbanded all of its roughly 10 official organizations responsible for addressing inter-Korean issues, following leader Kim Jong-un's 2023 order to codify South Korea as its primary foe.

As part of the organizational revamp, the UFD was reported to have been downgraded in status and renamed "Bureau 10" of the party's Central Committee.

Kim In-ae, deputy spokesperson of South Korea's unification ministry, said in a briefing that despite the renaming, the entity retains its department status within the party, with its head, Ri, also maintaining his directorial position.

Ri has had a prominent role in North Korea's officialdom, having served as a member of the party's powerful politburo and as foreign minister from 2020-2022.

This image from the Korean Central Television shows Ri Son-gwon while serving as the director of the United Front Department. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

pbr@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Park Boram · January 10, 2025

8. N. Korea includes Russian language in official postal stamp description for 1st time

N. Korea includes Russian language in official postal stamp description for 1st time | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Park Boram · January 10, 2025

SEOUL, Jan. 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has included Russian in the description of its new postal stamps set to be issued in the new year, the website of its stamp agency showed Friday, reflecting the country's growing alignment with Russia.

A stamp release notice uploaded on the Korea Stamp Corp.'s website included images and descriptions of four postal stamps scheduled for issuance on Jan. 20 in four languages -- Korean, English, Chinese and Russian -- along with an order form.

It is believed to be the first time that North Korea's stamp release notice has included Russian. The Russian language was not even included in the notice for the North's stamp issuance celebrating the special year of friendship between Pyongyang and Moscow in 2015.

The new development is widely seen as reflecting accelerating cooperation between the two countries following their leaders' signing of a mutual defense treaty in June.

Since forging the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership treaty, the North has deployed thousands of troops to support Russia's war against Ukraine and has strengthened cooperation in military, economic and other fronts.

In addition, stamp albums, published by North Korea last month on the themes of the country's friendship with China and Russia, were assigned with the code "Ba79" for the Russian version and "Ba80" for the Chinese version, placing the Russian album ahead of the Chinese one.

The phenomenon has sparked speculation that North Korea may now prioritize its relationship with Russia over its ties with China, the North's traditional ally and main economic benefactor.

This image of North Korean stamps set for issuance is captured from the website of the Korea Stamp Corp. on Jan. 10, 2025. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

pbr@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Park Boram · January 10, 2025

10. The Pentagon finessed its pivot to Asia. Can it last during Trump?

Can Pentagon and finesse be used together?

Have we really pivoted to Asia? Some pivoted to Asia decades ago and were ridiculed by those who focused on Europe and the Middle East. Now Asia is cool and everyone has transitioned to be an Asia excerpt.

Excuse my exasperation.

But the real question is whether the Trump administration will accept the gift from the Biden Administration of the silk web of friends, partners, and allies that have aligned their major interests around a free and open INDOPACIFIC which paradoxically began during the first Trump administration. President Trump should draw a through line from his first administration and take credit for much of the work done in Asia and rather than throw the baby out with the bathwater the new Trump Administration should embrace all the positive work that has been done in Asia.

It would be wise for the Trump national security team to go back to the 2017 NSS and review and identify what has been accomplished by the Biden administration that actually supports the 2017 NSS (and the lesson here could also be that it takes a long time to achieve effects desired in an NSS. Rarely can significant effects of an NSS be achieved while a president is in office for one term or two).

Here is a key excerpt from the Indo-Pacific from the 2017 NSS (page 46)

U.S. allies are critical to responding to mutual threats, such as North Korea, and preserving our mutual interests in the Indo-Pacific region. Our alliance and friendship with South Korea, forged by the trials of history, is stronger than ever. We welcome and support the strong leadership role of our critical ally, Japan. Australia has fought alongside us in every significant conflict since World War I, and continues to reinforce economic and security arrangements that support our shared interests and safeguard democratic values across the region. New Zealand is a key U. S. partner contributing to peace and security across the region. We welcome India’s emergence as a leading global power and stronger strategic and defense partner. We will seek to increase quadrilateral cooperation with Japan, Australia, and India.

The Biden Administration executed the Trump Administration NSS and the incoming Trump Administration should rightly take credit for it.

I recommend the press, pundits, policymakers, and public review the 2017 NSS and identify the commonalities that exist today.

https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf

The Pentagon finessed its pivot to Asia. Can it last during Trump?

Defense News · by Noah Robertson · January 9, 2025

MANILA, Philippines — In late July 2021, as Lloyd Austin arrived at Malacañan Palace, the grand presidential estate in the heart of Manila, his team feared a catastrophe.

America’s new defense secretary was here to see Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines’ combative president, famous for once swearing at Barack Obama. Duterte was threatening to end a deal that let the U.S. military access the country, a huge blow to the Pentagon’s effort to recompete with China.

“There was no sense that the secretary was walking into an engagement where there was hope,” said a member of his team, granted anonymity to describe the meeting.

Seated in a large hall that U.S. officials thought resembled a throne room, Duterte began with a lecture rattling off his many gripes about America: its fickleness, its ingratitude, its colonial history.

Austin listened. And when the time came to speak, he didn’t argue. The secretary thanked Duterte for what the Philippines did for America, and brought up his own father’s history fighting there during World War II. “I can’t imagine a world where the United States and the Philippines aren’t friends,” Austin said.

Duterte seemed surprised to avoid an argument, and pleased. The next day, he restored the agreement.

Over the next four years, Austin would make 11 more trips to the region, playing the Pentagon’s part in a competition with China that spanned the entire U.S. government. He would watch leaders change in all of America’s core allies in the Indo-Pacific and split his time supporting Ukraine and Israel. And the entire time, he would contend with a much more powerful and much more restive Chinese military.

In interviews with dozens of officials at the top of the U.S. government and its allies, it became clear this midsummer visit was the start of a much larger strategy to help America keep pace, one reliant on other countries also concerned about China’s rise. But that strategy was always meant to have two parts: countering China abroad while building American strength at home. Four years later, many of the Pentagon’s domestic goals — chief among them a fragile defense industry — remain unsolved.

The result is a steadier competition with China but one that leaves America unusually dependent on other countries. In Washington, Democrats and Republicans alike have supported the Pentagon’s recent work around Asia, but the return of Donald Trump, a president less personally committed to U.S. allies, will test its endurance.

I: ‘Alarm’

“The common theme I hear with regard to China’s actions under Xi Jinping’s leadership is alarm,” said Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, at an Armed Services Committee hearing in March 2021.

He could have been speaking for much of Washington. By early that year, members of the U.S. government were growing more alert to China’s rapid military buildup, the largest in peacetime since World War II. And they were worried.

Donald Trump’s administration had warned of the problem. Thirty years after the Cold War, it argued, America had picked the wrong enemies — too much Baghdad, not enough Beijing.

The incoming Biden team agreed.

Now in March 2021, America’s top military officer in the region appeared before Sullivan’s committee with a fresh piece of intelligence. Xi wanted his military strong enough to invade Taiwan, which China considers an illegal, breakaway part of its own territory, by as early as 2027.

“The threat is manifest during this decade,” said Adm. Phil Davidson, the retiring head of Indo-Pacific Command. “In fact, in the next six years.”

Austin’s team would later consider this comment a sideshow, though it didn’t dispute what Davidson said. Still, few moments better describe the early concern that America was losing ground.

“In my mind, 2021 seems to be the year that the Joint Staff and others really started to go, ‘Oh my God,’” said retired Rear Adm. Mike Studeman, then head of intelligence for INDOPACOM, referring to the nation’s board of top military officers.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at Philippine navy headquarters as part of his visit to Subic Bay, Philippines, July 2024. (DOD)

The concern wasn’t about Taiwan alone. Throughout that year, the Biden administration concluded that China was striving for much more: to push America from its leading place in the world, said Rush Doshi, a top China and Taiwan official on the National Security Council from 2021 to 2024. Beijing’s growing ambitions came from a sense that America was faltering amid the coronavirus pandemic, the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and, later, a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

From the White House, Doshi and his colleagues helped design a strategy across the government meant to help the U.S. compete. The plan was based on a frank assessment of the country’s relative power. China had spent the last 30 years designing a force that could exploit American weaknesses, a point Doshi had forcefully argued in his book, which became part of the government’s yearlong debate. Where the U.S. had large bases and aircraft carriers, China had scores of missiles, mines and submarines. Where America had advantages in precision, China had an edge in mass.

“The challenge was: ‘OK, what are the steps that you’re going to have to take to change that?’” said Ely Ratner, who helped shape the Pentagon’s role in this strategy as its head of policy for the Indo-Pacific.

The Biden team, which was made up largely of academics like Ratner, thought about this like a math problem. If China had solved many of the challenges America’s military once posed, they needed to change the equation.

Many of their priorities had been laid out in a separate report for Congress Ratner had published a year before. America needed to firm up its group of allies, spread its own forces more widely across the region, and develop new ways to fight, enabled in part by a more innovative and more reliable defense industry.

II: Backlash

In its fifth-floor Pentagon corridor, the staff of Indo-Pacific Security Affairs — the office Ratner leads, directing policy for the region — hosts a regular happy hour. Employees unwind and share cocktails, some with themed names like “Whiskey on the ROCs,” a pun on Taiwan’s formal name, the Republic of China.

They call it the “Nine-Dash Lounge.”

The name is a nod to a U-shaped line China’s government claims as a map of its rightful territory. The graph juts off the coast and covers nearly all of the South China Sea, through which almost a third of the world’s maritime trade passes.

By the 2010s, it became clear these weren’t only claims. China had seized disputed reefs in the waterway, dredged up land and then used them to build military outposts. And by 2021 China was pressing further, surrounding more sites — all despite a 2016 ruling from the United Nations declaring the actions illegal.

The behavior infuriated countries in the region, one key reason Duterte listened when Austin visited in the summer. Beijing’s aggression in the South China Sea had become a pattern seen elsewhere in border skirmishes with India and arbitrary tariffs on Australia.

“Were China not acting the way it does, then there would be less of an alliance to speak of” with the U.S., said Gilberto Teodoro, now the Philippines secretary of national defense. “There would be less of a need.”

For decades, America has maintained a set of one-on-one alliances with countries in the region, like friends at a party who know the host but not each other. Their militaries would struggle to work together if a war broke out, and because they could often rely on U.S. protection, many have spent relatively little on defense.

Washington now saw a chance to help change that. In a pattern that would repeat itself for the next four years, it began inviting its allies and partners — what the government calls friendly countries not bound by a treaty — to meet and plan together. Soon after Austin returned from Asia over the summer, the leaders of India, Japan, Australia and America, collectively known as “The Quad,” gathered for the first time.

“It was trying to network our alliances together so that the sum of them was more than the individual parts,” said Siddharth Mohandas, the Pentagon’s head of East Asia policy from 2021 to 2023.

These ad-hoc groupings would later widen and mature. Even historic rivals like Japan and South Korea now regularly meet alongside the U.S. And America’s most powerful allies in the region — Japan and Australia — are hosting more drills together and allow each other’s military to access their land.

“The only way that we are going to remain competitive with the Chinese is to bring our allies and partners into it,” said a former senior U.S. defense official.

III: Promises

In August 2021, around 50 officials from the U.S., Britain and Australia gathered in the Pentagon library for multiple days of meetings. Through masks and over cheap lunches, they discussed a proposal that, earlier that year, had been so secret that only several members of the U.S. government knew it existed.

The question was whether to share the technology that propelled nuclear submarines, something so sensitive the U.S. had only ever given it to Britain before.

By the summer meetings, the plan had advanced enough that the three governments wanted to announce something. But they didn’t know how far to go. As an idea, it made sense. Australia was one of America’s closest allies. Nuclear-powered submarines were one of America’s most powerful weapons. Providing them could help grow a clear U.S. advantage over China, but the U.S., and the Pentagon in particular, was wary of overpromising.

“A lot of folks didn’t want to commit us too early in case we couldn’t deliver,” said Doshi, who was heavily involved in the talks and later an 18-month review meant to address these concerns.

The negotiations eventually led to AUKUS, a deal named after the three countries involved, who pledged to share the submarines and develop advanced technology together.

“There were skeptics, certainly, within the [Defense] Department at first,” said the former defense official. The secretary, though, made clear that once the pact was announced there was no going back.

“We cannot fail. If we fail, China will win,” the official remembers Austin saying.

Through a spokesperson, the secretary declined an interview. His staff confirmed the descriptions of private conversations included in this story.

AUKUS marked a change in how Washington was approaching its allies in the region. It wasn’t enough to have other countries meeting more often together, or even for their militaries to train more often. The U.S. needed to share weapons that were once off limits — a pattern put on trial when Japan asked for Tomahawk cruise missiles before embarking on a massive defense expansion the next year.

A U.S. Marine Corps amphibious combat vehicle plashes off the amphibious dock landing ship Harpers Ferry during Exercise Balikatan 24 in Naval Detachment Oyster Bay, Philippines, on May 4, 2024. (Lance Cpl. Peyton Kahle/Marine Corps)

“They could have done what previous administrations have done, which is to say that we’re not going to stand in the way but we’re also not going to support you,” said Chris Johnstone, a former Pentagon and National Security Council official for East Asia, of the build-up.

Instead, Washington followed Tokyo. The U.S. agreed to sell the missiles and later to restructure its own forces in the country so that, for the first time, they could fight as true military partners.

“The Japan part of this is part of a larger story, but it’s one of the U.S. deciding we need more capable allies,” Johnstone said. “The United States can’t do it alone.”

IV: Posture

In February 2023, Lloyd Austin was back in Manila, this time to meet with a new leader in Malacañan. The year before, Duterte had been replaced with Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of a former president once forced out during pro-democracy protests.

The key “deliverable,” as Washington calls the major announcements it makes on these trips, was a huge expansion in the sites America’s military could access — three in the north, facing Taiwan, and one on an island beside the South China Sea.

“It’s a really big deal,” Austin said at a press conference, announcing the agreement.

For decades, U.S. forces in the region have been packed into a few bases, mostly in Japan, South Korea and Guam. As Austin visited in 2023, that posture was quickly becoming obsolete. For one, these sites were still far from the two places most likely to lead to a conflict: Taiwan and the South China Sea. And China had also built weapons to counter them: hundreds of missiles that could reach American bases, a number that almost doubled from 2022 to 2023, according to Pentagon figures.

“I’m very confident that they can wipe out all the U.S. bases with one strike,” said Tom Shugart, a former Navy officer and Chinese military analyst, who has studied the vulnerability of American bases in the region.

To protect its forces, the U.S. would need to spread them farther apart. But to do that, other countries had to agree, which was no easy task when those same missiles might then target their land.

The careful touch required in these negotiations was on display during Austin’s trip to Manila that February. Other parts of the U.S. government — such as the State Department and National Security Council — would lay the groundwork, at times visiting themselves to negotiate in person. And when Austin would arrive he would use a gentle tone: addressing local concerns, often asking what he could do for his counterparts rather than the other way around.

“The important thing is that the Biden administration and Lloyd Austin have engaged on a basis of equality amongst partners, not [by] stating the relative disparity between power and size,” said Teodoro.

Over the course of 2023, the U.S. negotiated the use of military sites in the Philippines, northern Australia, Papua New Guinea and Japan, where it upgraded a much more powerful and mobile Marine regiment. It’s now discussing another access agreement with Fiji and Japan on its southwestern islands, critical territory in a conflict over Taiwan.

“We finished the promise of the Asia pivot. We really did move along the force structure to the Indo-Pacific in what was envisioned under [Barack Obama’s presidency],” said Ike Harris, a former Navy officer and China adviser in Ratner’s office.

V: Supply and Demand

Thousands of soldiers were pouring into the Philippines in April 2024 ahead of Balikatan, the country’s largest annual military drill. And like many of these exercises in recent years, this one has added more countries and grown far more complex.

But what became the story of the exercise that year wasn’t only what arrived in the Philippines. It’s also what the U.S. left behind. During the drill, it brought a new missile launcher known as Typhon, with a range of 300 miles. It’s the first deployment in what the U.S. hopes will be a series across the region. The next up is Japan, though Tokyo has yet to give its consent, a U.S. official said.

China noticed. Top officials in Beijing have likened the launcher’s deployment to the Cuban Missile Crisis, a claim American officials find rich given the number of similar missiles China has already.

One American missile system compared to hundreds of similar missiles in Chinese stocks — it’s the kind of gap leaving so many officials in Washington still fretting over its military balance. The administration entered office arguing America’s supply of key weapons, such as missiles, ships and drones, needed to expand. It has, but slowly.

In early 2023, a think tank report found that during a war with China the U.S. would likely expend all of its long-range missiles within a week. That wasn’t even a year into the war in Ukraine, much less the war in Gaza — both of which the U.S. has helped support and which have sapped American inventories.

Pentagon officials counter that they’ve spent tens of billions on the U.S. defense industry alone in their last four years in office and that Congress hasn’t passed its defense bills on time. They’ve signed longer-term contracts for six munitions important for a fight against China, and they’ve begun joint ventures with other countries to spread the load.

“We’ve been focused on growing production capacity and maximizing procurement of everything that you could imagine that would be relevant to an Indo-Pacific fight,” said Kathleen Hicks, the deputy secretary of defense, who listed out a host of long-range missiles.

Part of her answer to the problem has been to buy far more drones, the kind of more affordable weapon America could leverage against China’s advantage in numbers. In 2023, Hicks launched Replicator — an initiative named after a gun in Star Trek that can zap anything into existence. Its goal was to send thousands of these drones to American forces in the Pacific within two years, while also teaching the Pentagon to buy such equipment faster.

The program is moving on track, multiple officials said, and it represents the kind of creative approach the U.S. needs to restore a clear military edge.

Others, including some who served in the Biden administration, were far more critical. Replicator aims to deliver 2,500 to 3,000 such systems, over half of which would be a relatively short-range kamikaze drone called the Switchblade 600, according to a congressional aide. The program was never meant to be all the Pentagon was buying in this area, but those numbers would barely matter in Ukraine.

In comparison, over the last four years, China has added hundreds of nuclear warheads and missiles to its arsenal, and reached a shipbuilding industry that’s more than 200 times that of America’s. The U.S. supply of the exact same weapons has been hamstrung by runaway prices and long delays. Multiple other congressional aides referenced this split-screen while raising a familiar critique of the Biden Pentagon: It hasn’t budgeted enough money to buy weapons, build military infrastructure in the region or even train partners, especially Taiwan.

“The U.S. military industrial base, to quote that famous philosopher my father, is fercockt,” said America’s ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, using a Yiddish word that sounds like what it means.

“We have allowed failure to be a business model, and we reward it,” Emanuel said.

VI: Intercepts

Early in the summer of 2024, Austin walked outside his hotel, past the pool and into an ornate room often used as a wedding venue. He was in Singapore for Asia’s largest annual defense summit, and for the first time in almost 18 months, he would meet with a counterpart from China.

Adm. Dong Jun was the third person to hold his role in as many years, due to an anti-corruption purge throughout the Chinese military. This was the first — and only — time he and Austin would meet in person.

In the summer of 2022, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi became the highest-ranking U.S. official in 30 years to visit Taiwan. China was furious, scrambling its military around the island and creating a new normal that continues today. Beijing later cut off all military talks with the U.S., most notably refusing a call from Austin when the military shot down a spy balloon that drifted across the country in 2023.

China's Defence Minister Dong Jun (C) walks out after a meeting with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore, May 2024. (Nhac Nguyen/AFP via Getty Images)

Before a meeting between Xi and Biden in 2023, Chinese ships and jets had been buzzing dangerously close to American and allied forces — including a fighter that flew within 10 feet of a U.S. bomber.

Now in Singapore, Austin and Dong read their prepared statements, which on the Chinese side are highly scripted. Dong brought up a U.S. ship that transited the Taiwan Strait, patrols America conducts as a reminder that it may come to the island’s defense. He continued with a talking point: The U.S. was either insincere or “its front-line forces were out of control.”

Austin cut in. The comment suggested he couldn’t command his own forces.

“Are you insulting me — the leader of the most powerful military in the world?” Austin asked, per multiple people in the room.

“It was a lot of scrambling to get the meeting back on the rails,” said one U.S. official who was present. Dong’s staffers explained they didn’t mean any offense and soon returned to talking points.

And Austin, who was concerned that China’s aggressive behavior could spark an accidental war, confronted Dong about its intercepts of U.S. allies, especially Australia.

“You say you don’t want a war, but you’ve got to act like it,” Austin said.

Just weeks later, Chinese coast guard ships blocked a mission to resupply a Philippine outpost in the South China Sea, seizing vessels and cutting off a Filipino sailor’s thumb. The incident came close to what Marcos said in Singapore would be an act of war, potentially drawing the U.S. into a conflict.

In November, when Austin and Dong attended another conference in Laos, the Chinese admiral refused to meet.

VII: Slideshow

Richard Marles, the deputy prime minister and defense minister of Australia, is an amateur historian — an admirer of Abraham Lincoln and a student of the U.S. Civil War. He speaks of the two countries’ alliance with similar gravitas. Australia and the U.S. bonded during World War II, he said, when Washington had to divide resources between the European and Pacific theaters.

“That underpins what has been a historic anxiety from the perspective of Australia: Are we getting enough U.S. attention?” Marles said in an interview.

In his opinion, over the last four years that focus has been “excellent.” But Marles, who has become a close friend of Austin’s, has seen it change before. And many of America’s allies in the region worry it won’t last.

Marles last saw the secretary at a meeting with their Japanese counterpart last November. Shortly before, Donald Trump had won reelection and nominated Pete Hegseth, a former Army officer and Fox News host, to replace Austin. Local reporters at almost every stop on the four-country trip asked how the U.S. could reassure its partners it was here to stay.

To this question, officials in the Pentagon and allied governments argue that America has no reason to change its policy, since both parties now urge tough measures on China. Others in the administration note how the first Trump term laid the groundwork for much of Biden’s China strategy.

“I’m optimistic it will endure since some of it builds on past Trump policy,” said Doshi, the National Security Council official. “That said, it could come crashing down if the incoming team takes aim at American allies in Asia.”

The main difference comes down to the leader in charge. In his first term, Trump argued U.S. partners were free-riding on its military bills and threatened to end its defense commitments. He’s now threatening massive tariffs on American allies and adversaries alike.

“Both sides are going to have to start from zero again,” said Chad Sbragia, a top China official in Trump’s Pentagon, of Washington and Beijing. “How do we reach a stable relationship?”

Last December, Austin stopped in Tokyo during his 13th and final trip to the Indo-Pacific. At one point, Japanese officials played him a slideshow with highlights from their alliance over the last four years. It showed Austin with his three previous counterparts, set to “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” the Aerosmith song from the 1998 movie Armageddon in which the U.S. destroys an asteroid threatening to end all human life.

Ratner, present for this last trip, argued that the administration had also accomplished its mission: recovering in a race America once appeared to be falling behind. Since Davidson warned of the chance of war by 2027, China’s economy and corruption problems have both worsened. The Pentagon now assesses Beijing may not meet its military goals by then.

This is little comfort to Ratner. Keeping America’s edge will take more attention and money, he said, increasing a pace this team helped reach.

“That’s the challenge for the next administration,” Ratner said.

About Noah Robertson

Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.

Defense News · by Noah Robertson · January 9, 2025

11. 'Stop the Steal' becomes protest slogan in Seoul

'Stop the Steal' becomes protest slogan in Seoul

donga.com

Posted January. 10, 2025 08:42,

Updated January. 10, 2025 08:42

'Stop the Steal' becomes protest slogan in Seoul. January. 10, 2025 08:42. .

Some argue that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's “MAGA (Make America Great Again)” derived from fascist leader Mussolini in Italy in the Second World War. Although it is commonly accepted that former U.S. President Ronald Reagan devised the MAGA movement in the presidential election in 1980, they claim that Mussolini invented the idea of “MAG.”

In 1927, Mussolini appeared on a Fox Film News show, which is coincidentally the forerunner to Fox News, Trump's favorite news channel. On the show, he made a speech to encourage Italian American immigrants.

In a black-and-white video released by The Washington Post in 2016, Mussolini is shown saying, “I see and recognize among you the salt of your land as well as ours, my fellow citizens, who are working to make America great." It shows him, with a strong Italian-influenced English accent, praising Italian immigrants for helping build America.

Ten years later, German leader Adolf Hitler emerged with a rephrased “MAGA” argument, maintaining that his country should build a new ideology that would make it great again. Although the “MAGA” was not a flagship catchphrase for Mussolini and Hitler, it evokes an uneasy sense of déjà vu that we are witnessing the remarks by these two most infamous fascists spreading across the globe with Trump, who has been dubbed a “fascist” by even his closest aides, standing at the helm.

Korea is no exception to this worrying trend. As of now, the presidential residence in Hannam-dong, central Seoul is surrounded by the shouts of “Stop the steal” and the U.S. national flags, which were used by protesters in denial of the presidential election results four years ago in Washington. British newspaper The Guardian wrote, “Over recent years, these groups, which remain a fringe element of South Korean society, have increasingly adopted rhetoric from the American right, particularly around claims of election fraud.” Likewise, The New York Times portrayed these protesters as a South Korean “MAGA” squad.

A closer look tells you that there are differences, significant and minor, between Trump’s supporters who engaged in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol Attack in 2021 and anti-impeachment protesters in South Korea. While Trump's supporters were personally devoted to him, the South Korean anti-impeachment protesters are more driven by his conservative ideology that portrays pro-North Korean left-wingers as threats to national security, rather than by loyalty to President Yoon Suk Yeol as an individual.

Despite such differences, we must look carefully at what they have in common. Both groups depend excessively on social media and blindly stick to their beliefs. They even use extremist expressions such as “elimination,” “deadly punishment,” and “death penalty.” A return to the past is another link that connects them together based on the belief that authoritarian leaders and their supporters are the greatest.

There is a widespread awareness that the Constitutional Court's impeachment ruling will somehow mitigate the growing tensions amid the chaotic turmoil. However, if the impeachment is affirmed, we cannot exclude the possibility that anti-impeachment groups will cause chaos, which could elevate into a “South Korean version of the Jan. 6 turmoil.” Back in 2020 when Trump was defeated, he instigated violence, saying it “will be wild” on Jan. 6. At this point, this is where President Yoon needs to keep a distance from Trump to take a different path.

한국어

donga.com

12. Who will represent Korea at Trump's inauguration ceremony?

Who will represent Korea at Trump's inauguration ceremony?

The Korea Times · January 10, 2025

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday (local time). AP-Yonhap

By Lee Hyo-jin

As U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony on Jan. 20 approaches, all eyes are on which Korean figures will attend the event amid the ongoing political turmoil at home.

With the fallout from President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law debacle and subsequent impeachment still unfolding, the presence of Korean attendees at Trump’s inauguration is seen as a crucial opportunity to strengthen communication with the incoming U.S. administration.

According to political parties, Friday, seven lawmakers from the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee — four from the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and three from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) — are expected to attend the event.

From the PPP, Reps. Kim Seok-ki, Ihn Yo-han, Yoon Sang-hyun and Kim Gi-hyeon will make the trip, while DPK Reps. Hong Kee-won, Kim Young-bae and Cho Jeong-sik will also attend. The lawmakers are scheduled to travel to the U.S. on Jan. 18 and 20 for the inauguration ceremony and meetings with officials in Washington.

Some other ruling party members have been invited due to personal relationships with Trump's aides.

Rep. Na Kyong-won, who previously chaired the foreign affairs committee, has received an invitation to the ceremony. She has close connections with Senator Bill Hagerty and former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton.

Members of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee attend a meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Dec. 16, 2024. Yonhap

Rep. Kim Dae-sik of the PPP also received an invitation from Senator John Cornyn, according to Kim's office, and is set to meet with Senators Cornyn and Ted Cruz during his visit to Washington. Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo, a former PPP member and seasoned politician, has also been invited, according to Daegu Metropolitan City.

While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has yet to officially confirm details of the government delegation for Trump's swearing-in ceremony, based on past precedents, Korea's Ambassador to the U.S. Cho Hyun-dong and his spouse are likely to attend.

Several figures from the business sector will also attend. This includes Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin, SM Group Chairman Woo Oh-hyun, SPC Group Chairman Hur Young-in and Poongsan Group Chairman Ryu Jin, who is also head of the Federation of Korean Industries.

Trump's second inauguration has drawn heightened attention from allies, as he has broken a long-standing tradition of limiting the presidential swearing-in ceremony to domestic dignitaries by inviting world leaders.

Among the foreign leaders reportedly invited are El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Argentine President Javier Milei.

Notably, Trump extended an invitation to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, an unusual gesture toward a communist leader from an American president-elect. However, recent reports suggest that Xi is unlikely to attend and may instead send a government delegation.

The Korea Times · January 10, 2025

13. Korean democracy upgrade: Goodbye public sentiment, hello law

Korean democracy upgrade: Goodbye public sentiment, hello law

The Korea Times · January 9, 2025

By Michael Breen

Ever since President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived imposition of martial law in early December, we have experienced one surprise after another.

Besides martial law itself and its rapid retraction after the ruling party joined the opposition groups in the Assembly to vote it down, we were surprised to see the ruling party then unite to prevent the actual impeachment of the president, only to shift its stance a week later. Then, as if this were not victory enough, the opposition party impeached the then-acting president, Han Duck-soo, for having the audacity to veto bills that it had passed.

While this was going on, agencies too impatient to wait for the Constitutional Court trial of the president, started various criminal investigations of him and his men. One of them, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, an anti-corruption body, obtained a court-issued warrant and sent officials to detain him. They were blocked from doing so by the Presidential Security Service.

As this real-life K-drama has been playing out, something else has been happening that is perhaps the biggest surprise of all. That is, the failure of the outrage against the president to coalesce into a unified force of “public sentiment.” As counterintuitive as it may seem for me to claim this, it makes me think this whole experience is generating an upgrade of Korea’s democracy.

Called “minshim” in Korean, public sentiment as referred to in this country is more than simple majority opinion. It is a passionate gut-level conviction, shared by all, a visceral force that gains expression through online commentary, street protest and media, and, once it does so, takes on the role as supreme driver of democratic decision-making.

Public opinion is, of course, important in all democracies, but minshim has a particular role in Korea’s. Democracy, properly understood, is about the exercise of the will of the majority while at the same time the rights of the minority, down to the individual, are protected. This process is managed by institutions that are bound by a fair and rational system of law.

In Korea, though, the overriding belief is that democracy is about the “will of the people” as opposed to the will of the political leadership. That is because democracy was delivered, in 1987, by massive nationwide popular protests that put the dictator in his place. But when that battle was over, we kept fighting it, like generals strategizing and deploying our troops for the last war. Ever since, presidents have been considered “imperial” and treated with suspicion and disdain by a system that fears they will be tempted to excess. Of eight democratically elected presidents, all but one has been impeached, jailed, or investigated during or after his or her term. In this era of victimhood, someone should spare a thought for these poor folk.

Ironically, with its focus on the presidency, we have not thought to examine this will of ours, this “will of the people.” Kim Dae-jung once told me he thought the voice of the people was the will of God. In this vein, minshim has remained sacred. That it could be tyrannical is considered blasphemy. When minshim roars, institutions cringe and politicians and bureaucrats bend the law to do its will.

With crowds of several hundred thousand protesting against Yoon in December, minshim appeared ready to rear its fearful head once again, all but ensuring his fate and that of his wife (who his opponents have been targeting from Day One for apparent power abuse). The few die-hards protesting in support of the president would be dismissed as “far-right” crazies and ignored by the media.

However, something unusual has happened. Protests by both sides have actually been covered. You can see headlines in this newspaper like “pro- and anti-Yoon rallies held this weekend.”

But it’s even more interesting. The anti-Yoon rallies have been qualified as “KCTU-organized.” This does more than suggest they are not spontaneous examples of minshim in action. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, or the KCTU, is the umbrella union organization and has been operating street protests demanding impeachment for well over two years. While its previous impeachment demands had little justification, Yoon’s martial law declaration now gives them a good case.

However, the KCTU’s own credibility has been undermined by the fact that, in November, three of its top officers were sentenced for taking orders from North Korea. A fourth was acquitted.

It’s hard to know what to make of this. To be fair, we shouldn’t assume the KCTU is itself traitorous. But it does seem that its leadership lacks judgment. Even if their case against Yoon has merit and is in the best national interest, it certainly doesn’t amuse South Koreans to know that those making it have been dealing clandestinely with an enemy state.

The effect of all of this is that the minshim beast has been caged. With it gone, we now see a political landscape more clearly as one where a majority is against Yoon and a minority supports him. That is what we expect of a democracy. Now, without the fetid breath of the beast on their necks, the institutions of Korea’s democracy may do their work. How? By interpreting and applying the law.

This we may say, almost 40 years after democracy arrived in this country, is a real upgrade, regardless of whether Yoon stays or goes, is jailed or remains free. For democracy lies not in the outcome but the process.

Michael Breen (mike.breen@insightcomms.com) is the author of "The New Koreans."

The Korea Times · January 9, 2025

14. The true cost: North Korean soldiers' deadly reality in Russia's war

The true cost: North Korean soldiers' deadly reality in Russia's war - Daily NK English

Daily NK asked a senior military official inside North Korea about the government's view of the casualties in Russia, measures taken regarding those casualties and future plans

By Lee Sang Yong - January 9, 2025

dailynk.com · by Lee Sang Yong · January 9, 2025

An image showing suspected North Korean troops deployed to Russia receiving supplies. /Photo=Screenshot from a video released on X (formerly Twitter) by Ukraine's Strategic Communications and Information Security Center (SPRAVDI)

The White House’s disclosure during a briefing late last year that around 1,000 North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia had been killed or wounded shocked the international community. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service likewise determined that around 10,000 North Korean troops had been sent to the front line in Russia’s Kursk region, and approximately 1,000 had been killed or wounded. Concerns that the North Korean troops sent to the Russia-Ukraine war would become cannon fodder seem to be becoming a reality.

Videos and photos appearing on Ukrainian military social media accounts are even more shocking. Experts note scenes of North Korean soldiers coming under drone attack as they cross snow-covered fields and images of dead soldiers with their faces destroyed. They say such footage demonstrates how North Korean soldiers — deployed to the front with little experience in actual combat — are dying in vain, along with North Korean-style barbarity that habitually engages in inhumane behavior in the name of “security.”

In particular, Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces released the diary of a dead North Korean soldier, with many experts noting the North Korean government’s contempt for human life. Given how the soldier talked of his “ingratitude” and “chance for redemption,” it appears the North Korean authorities sent him to the danger zone after promising to pardon him or reduce his prison sentence.

Daily NK asked a senior military official inside North Korea about the government’s view of the casualties in Russia, measures taken regarding those casualties and future plans.

Daily NK: Are the North Korean authorities aware of fatalities suffered by North Korean forces deployed to Russia?

“The state has already received reports of the situation, with information delivered and reported as normal through the military command system. The military manages related information moment to moment, while the Supreme Command and Central Military Commission strictly manage the information regularly once a month through its reporting line.”

Daily NK: Has word of North Korean fatalities spread within the military?

“Indoctrination activities are being planned in the Storm Corps and other units from which combat personnel have been sent to Russia since authorities predict potential individual unrest or rumors.”

Daily NK: It seems there could be unrest within the military if troops learn of battlefield fatalities in Russia. What do the North Korean authorities think about potential unrest? And what measures are they taking?

“There has yet to be an official administrative, political, security or comprehensive report of internal unrest over this issue. There has been no change in our principles and goals, and all measures are being taken to achieve these. To maintain the military’s psychological stability, once the war is over, the authorities plan three or four-stage events for related individuals to evoke patriotism at places designated within the military, by specialized sectors, by their units, and by the state. We will control the situation using political activity plans and propaganda and indoctrination activities.”

Daily NK: How are the fallen being handled?

“In principle, their bodies will never be returned, with a decision made that their cremated remains will come home. However, we may not always be able to process bodies quickly, depending on the state of the war.”

Daily NK: The authorities seem to be using means to render the troops unidentifiable, giving soldiers fake IDs and burning the faces off the dead. Have orders to this effect been issued?

“This is a military strategy to prevent and hinder enemy forces from gathering intelligence, and even combat personnel sent to the enemy line approved of it in oaths taken before the army standard prior to their deployment.”

Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces released on Dec. 28 the diary of a North Korean soldier who was killed in Russia’s Kursk region. (Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces’s Facebook page)

Daily NK: With casualties seemingly mounting, why hasn’t a decision to withdraw been made?

“The decision to deploy troops to the battlefield was made to maintain the international military relationship between North Korea and Russia and to ensure the strategic national interests of the North Korean and Russian peoples, so a withdrawal is not being considered.”

Daily NK: There is talk that North Korea is preparing to send additional forces. How many personnel will be sent from which units and when?

“The dispatch of new personnel has already been decided per military needs and strategic cooperation. I can’t disclose specific information, but we will stand in the same foxhole with our Russian comrades until the end of the war, and I think deploying additional combat forces so they can do their winter training with their unit or in actual combat in a Russian trench would be an import experience for completing our war preparations.”

Daily NK: Isn’t reducing the possibility of fatalities the biggest issue? What preparations is North Korea taking regarding this?

“We are intensifying tactical training, bolstering military equipment and doubling the number of military interpreters compared to the first deployment to maximize communication between Russian and North Korean soldiers while carrying out operations.”

Read in Korean

dailynk.com · by Lee Sang Yong · January 9, 2025

15. N. Korea's digital leap: Examining the 'Mirae' wi-fi network

We must find ways to exploit this.

N. Korea's digital leap: Examining the 'Mirae' wi-fi network - Daily NK English

The discovery that North Korea's Mirae Wi-Fi app provides access to KCNA raises questions about whether the state news agency truly serves exclusively foreign audiences

By Mun Dong Hui - January 10, 2025

dailynk.com · by Mun Dong Hui · January 10, 2025

Inside North Korea’s digital world, a new window has opened: The “Mirae” Wi-Fi app, recently obtained by Daily NK, offers a rare glimpse into the regime’s tightly controlled internet infrastructure. The app’s welcome screen proudly announces itself as a “North Korean-style wireless communication service,” promising speeds between 2 and 33Mbps.

These numbers tell a striking story when compared to its southern neighbor. While North Koreans navigate the digital world at speeds barely sufficient for basic browsing, South Koreans surf the internet at blazing speeds of up to 463.55Mbps on public Wi-Fi networks, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT’s December 2024 report – more than 14 times faster than Mirae’s top speed.

While North Korea’s Wi-Fi network is fast enough for general web surfing and light data transfers, it would run into limitations for high-resolution video streaming or bulk file transfers.

North Korea announced in 2018 that people could access the state network through its “Mirae Public Wireless Communication Network” smartphone app. Since then, there may not have been any improvements to the technology or equipment.

Screenshot from North Korean Wi-Fi app “Mirae.” (Daily NK)

North Koreans can access the state-run news network KCNA (Korean Central News Agency) through the Mirae network.

The app explains that subscribers to the Mirae public wireless communication network “can access the homepages of Kongse, the KCNA, the Sci-Tech Complex, Yolpung and other sites wherever and whenever they wish to peruse the news and scientific materials or download movies, songs and other large-volume multimedia at high speeds.”

Among the websites accessible through the Mirae network, it’s notable that KCNA, known as a foreign-oriented service, is included. This raises the possibility that North Korea either operates a separate domestic version for its citizens to access, or that it was never exclusively meant for foreign audiences in the first place.

The KCNA’s IP addresses are 175.45.177.1 and 175.45.176.71 when accessed outside North Korea and 10.99.0.50 when accessed inside the country.

Mirae also allows access to the website of the Korean Central Broadcasting Committee, the agency responsible for planning and managing North Korean broadcasting.

Article 11 of North Korea’s broadcasting law says that the Korean Central Broadcasting Committee is the central broadcasting agency representing state broadcasting and that the committee directly operates radio broadcasting, cable radio, wireless and wired TV and internet broadcasting and guides the broadcast activities of provincial broadcast agencies.

Daily NK reported in 2022 that Mirae was popular with the North Korean public and that some people even used the app illegally.

Read in Korean

dailynk.com · by Mun Dong Hui · January 10, 2025

16. Commentary: South Korea needs to move on from this crisis

Yes it does. The longer it goes on the more vulnerable it is to north Korean political warfare. I am sorry to beat the horse on this but I am going to hammer home the point about north Korean political warfare and subversion. (and Chinese political warfare as well).

Commentary: South Korea needs to move on from this crisis

South Korea's Yoon Suk Yeol's attempt to hold on to power is a reminder of how much chaos leaders create when they try to thwart democracy, says Karishma Vaswani for Bloomberg Opinion.

Karishma Vaswani

10 Jan 2025 06:00AM

(Updated: 10 Jan 2025 06:05AM)

channelnewsasia.com · by Karishma Vaswani

SINGAPORE: South Korea’s prolonged political crisis appears to have no end in sight.

It’s just over a month since President Yoon Suk Yeol declared, then lifted, martial law and since then, the domestic and regional challenges have been multiplying. To manage the chaos, citizens need to set aside their differences and find a way out of the impasse. That won’t be easy.

Animosity between factions runs deep. Attempts to arrest Yoon, who was impeached on Dec 14, 2024, have so far ended in vain.

His supporters have marched in the streets, calling for authorities to “stop the steal” - a reference to the chant that Donald Trump’s camp echoed against President Joe Biden in the 2020 election, alleging his victory was rigged.

Yoon has remained frustratingly defiant.

He’s also under criminal investigation for insurrection but has vowed to “fight until the end”, hiding out in his Seoul home protected by a blockade of buses, barbed wire, crowds of supporters and his own armed security guards. It’s unclear whether authorities will be able to arrest him without risking a violent confrontation.

His fate has become a lightning rod for South Korea’s growing political divisions.

The gap between loyalists and those who want him out is widening, a worrying development in a relatively young democracy. In an echo of the US election denialism four years ago, a Hankook Research poll showed that 65 per cent of Yoon’s conservative People Power Party members believe April’s parliamentary polls - in which his party suffered a massive loss - were fraudulent. In comparison, only 29 per cent of the general public believe this.

CANNOT GO ON INDEFINITELY

The alternative is further instability. Even if it’s not the Trump administration’s first priority, South Korea needs the US on its side. There are approximately 28,500 American troops in the country, helping to provide a much needed security buffer against the North.

Any drawdown in numbers would leave vulnerable the same political parties and citizens who are putting short-term interests before national ones.

This ongoing constitutional crisis cannot go on indefinitely. Yoon and his supporters should allow the legal process to play out unimpeded.

His opponents, in return, could consider toning down their rhetoric in parliament - their goals won’t be met through a protracted gridlock.

A democracy is only as good as the respect afforded to its institutions, and the value voters give it. Compromise and unity is what is needed now, not division and strife.

Otherwise, South Koreans face a future where their country is likely to be paralysed for months, possibly years. It is they who will suffer the most.

channelnewsasia.com · by Karishma Vaswani

17. South Korea presidential security chief warns against violent attempt to arrest Yoon

Violence supports Kim Jong Un (whether it is initiated by either side).

South Korea presidential security chief warns against violent attempt to arrest Yoon

10 Jan 2025 10:36AM

(Updated: 10 Jan 2025 12:31PM)

channelnewsasia.com

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SEOUL: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's security chief said on Friday (Jan 10) the impeached leader, who faces arrest over a criminal probe into his Dec 3 martial law bid, has been unfairly treated for a sitting leader and warned bloodshed must be avoided.

Park Chong-jun, head of the Presidential Security Service (PSS), is himself under investigation for obstructing official duty related to a six-hour standoff last week between PSS agents and investigators trying to execute an arrest warrant for Yoon.

Arriving at police headquarters for questioning, Park, who is a former senior police official, said the current attempt to arrest a sitting president is wrong and Yoon deserved treatment "becoming of" the country's status.

"I believe there should not be any physical clash or bloodshed under any circumstances," Park told reporters, adding acting President Choi Sang-mok has not responded to his request for safety assurances for officials involved.

Security guards stand outside the official residence of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul, South Korea on Jan 10, 2025. (Photo: Reuters/Tyrone Siu)

Supporters of impeached South Korea president Yoon Suk Yeol warm themselves as they sit on a pavement with a long thermal blanket, during a rally near his residence in Seoul on Jan 8, 2025. (Photo: AFP/Anthony Wallace)

Hundreds of PSS agents blockaded the presidential compound and thwarted investigators from trying to arrest Yoon. The investigators were pulled back because of the risk of a clash.

Officials of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), which is leading the investigation, have said PSS agents were carrying firearms during the standoff although no weapons were drawn.

The investigators obtained a new arrest warrant this week after Yoon defied repeated summons to appear for questioning.

On Thursday, lawyers for Yoon said the arrest warrant was illegal and invalid.

Yoon is under a separate Constitutional Court trial reviewing parliament's impeachment of him on Dec 14 to decide whether to remove him from office permanently or reinstate him. His lawyers have said Yoon will accept that verdict.

As Yoon awaits his fate, holed up inside his hillside residence, polls released this week showed a revival of support for his ruling People Power Party (PPP) and calls for his permanent removal slipping.

A Gallup Korea survey published on Friday showed 64 per cent of respondents back Yoon's removal from office, compared to 75 per cent who favoured it soon after the martial law declaration.

The PPP's approval rating rose to 34 per cent, a level similar to the period before Dec 3, in the poll of 1,004 people this week, from 24 per cent about a month ago.

Analysts said the prolonged uncertainty over Yoon's fate has not only emboldened his supporters but softened some critics concerned that the liberal opposition Democratic Party leader, who is himself on trial on allegations of criminal wrongdoings, may become president.

18. Food shortages and skyrocketing prices… North Korean residents ‘cry out’

We cannot ignore what is happening inside north Korea and the potential for instability there. Yes, north Korea has not had significant instability in the worst of times. YET. To ignore this possibility puts the US and the ROK/US alliance at great risk. Most importantly bec cause such instability can lead to war.

This is a Google translation of an RFA report.

Food shortages and skyrocketing prices… North Korean residents ‘cry out’

https://www.rfa.org/korean/news_indepth/north-korea-chronic-food-shortage-struggle-01092025133016.html

Seoul-Cheon So-ram, Kim Ji-eun cheons@rfa.org

2025.01.09

On October 6, 2023, North Korean residents are seen moving to harvest crops in a village in Gaepung County, North Hwanghae Province, as seen from the Ganghwa Peace Observatory in Ganghwa County, Incheon.

/Yonhap News

00:00 / 00:00

Anchor : North Korean authorities have been promoting a " bountiful harvest " last year, saying they achieved 107% of their food production , but it is reported that North Korean residents are still having difficulty securing food . This is because the prices of food such as rice and corn have risen significantly . Residents are increasingly outraged , and they do not trust even the North Korean authorities' claims of a bountiful harvest .

Meanwhile, experts pointed out that the North Korean government's policy of strictly controlling grain trading in the market is driving up food prices, and that the side effects are being passed on to the people . This is reporter Cheon So-ram .

North Korean Residents : “ Isn’t the government’s propaganda about a bumper crop a lie ?”

“ The agricultural sector has actively introduced scientific farming methods, which has once again brought about a good harvest, and the second stage of irrigation construction and restoration work has been completed by April , further strengthening the material foundation of agricultural production .” ( North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun , December 29 , 2024 )

North Korean authorities announced that they had successfully achieved 12 important milestones in the development of the people's economy at the 11th Plenary Session of the 8th Central Committee held in December last year , and that it was a bumper harvest, especially in the agricultural sector, where grain yields exceeded 107% .

But the reactions of North Korean residents and experts are quite different.

“ It is normal for food prices to fall when there is a good harvest , but food prices are not falling .”

“ Food prices are rising and people are crying out .”

“ There will be a lot of people starving to death around March . ”

This is news from inside North Korea, recently relayed to Radio Free Asia (RFA) by sources in Sinuiju, North Pyongan Province, and South Hwanghae Province ( requesting anonymity due to personal safety concerns ) .

According to the source, the autumn harvest was completed in late October last year, and when the milling process is carried out, the harvest of the year's farming is distributed to the residents in late December or early January . Therefore, the period when food prices are usually the cheapest is January or February .

However, the source said , “ Despite the North Korean authorities’ propaganda about a bumper crop, food prices are not falling because there are many people trying to buy food , but the supply is low, which is driving up prices . ” This is why residents believe the North Korean authorities’ propaganda is false .

Another source said, “ If you have trouble getting food , it means you don’t have money , ” adding that while food shortages are a problem , rising food prices are making things even harder for residents ( who don’t have money ) , and that rising food prices are causing outcry .

According to the Rural Development Administration of South Korea, North Korea's food crop production last year was estimated at 4.78 million tons, a decrease of about 40,000 tons or 0.8% from the previous year .

This figure is not much lower than the previous year's production of 4.82 million tons , but residents are facing increasing difficulties due to the steep rise in food prices .

Jiro Ishimaru, head of the Osaka office of Japan's Asia Press , a Japanese media outlet, also recently told RFA that the rapid rise in prices has made life more difficult for North Korean residents .

[ Ishimaru Jiro ] At this point , there is something that needs attention. That is the surge in prices . It has been very serious since late November . White rice has risen 1.65 times since January 2024 , gasoline has risen 2.15 times , and the US dollar has risen 3.4 times . But these are unofficial prices . On top of that, the price of food at grain sales outlets is the official price , and this has also risen a lot . That is why there is chaos now, and people are saying, "Cash income has decreased a lot , so how are we going to live on this? "

According to ' Asia Press ' , as of January 3, 1 kg of rice was being traded for 8,800 North Korean Won , and 1 kg of corn was being traded for 3,900 North Korean Won . This is about 3,000 Won more for rice and about 1,000 Won more for corn than a year ago .

Grain production 107%?... “ A figure far below annual demand ”

North Korea's Korean Central News Agency reported on November 4, 2024 that several farms in North Hamgyong Province had a bumper crop. / Korean Central News Agency

Cho Chung-hee, director of the Good Farmers research institute and North Korean agriculture expert and former defector, told RFA on the 7th that if North Korea had achieved 107% of its grain production, it would have had to produce about 6 million tons, adding , “ Considering last year’s weather conditions, economic situation , and investment in the agricultural sector , it is impossible for the crop to have been better than the previous year . ”

[ Cho Chung-hee ] The heavy rain was like that, and it was very hot even before the heavy rain . It was a hot and dry situation , and North Korea's current investment direction is not investing in agricultural production, but rather in housing construction and the ' local development 20x10 policy ' . They are investing in the military sector and not really investing in rural areas . In this situation, investment in fertilizer is also not appropriate . Since the environmental conditions are not good for farming , it can be said that it is a lie to say that farming was better than the previous year .

Kim Hyuk, a senior researcher at the Korea Rural Community Corporation's Rural Research Institute, also told RFA on the 7th , " If we analyze the various videos released by North Korea during the fall harvest , the condition of the rice, including the tilt of the rice plants, the number of rice grains , and the weight of the rice, was quite good ." He assessed that " it would have had a positive effect on the plant yield , but it would have been far from the annual food requirement . "

He also explained that although North Korea suffered severe flood damage last year due to record-breaking rainfall, this did not have a significant impact on grain production .

[ Kim Hyuk ] The initial rice crop was in very good condition. Localized heavy rains caused flood damage in certain areas . The area south of Sinuiju Hadan-ri is much larger than the farms . The area was not submerged in water for long . I think it was a tolerable period . On the other hand, the Wihwa-do area, which was directly affected by the flood, was submerged in water for a long time because the drainage was not good . If you look at that area, you can see that the crops were practically completely destroyed . However, it is difficult to say that the production in that area affected the overall production .

Director Cho Chung-hee also analyzed, “ The flood-stricken area itself was not a region that accounted for a large proportion of North Korea’s agricultural production ,” and “ The west coast, Hwanghae-do , and South Pyongan-do regions, which are basic grain production areas , did not suffer any climate damage , and rice planting was completed on time, so there was no significant impact on production . ”

Meanwhile, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that North Korea's annual food needs are 5.76 million tons , and last year's harvest (4.78 million tons ) is about 1 million tons short of the amount North Korean residents need annually .

Additionally, the Food and Agriculture Organization classified North Korea as a country in need of external food assistance for the 18th consecutive year , and included it among the 45 countries in need of external food assistance .

[ Agriculture and Livestock , the Field is the Answer ] Agricultural Strategy Tailored to North Korea for the New Year of Eulsa

FAO “Northern August-October rainfall and temperature above average… risk of reduced harvest”

[ Special Discussion : The Path North Korea Is Taking ] ② “Eradicate the Remnants of Capitalism”

Food shortages , rising food prices, ' food shortage ' expected this year

The Korean Central News Agency reported on October 10, 2024 that the settlement distribution was carried out at the Kangan Farm in Eunpa County, North Hwanghae Province, and the Wol-am Farm in Geumcheon County, North Korea. /Yonhap News

Meanwhile, North Korean authorities are implementing the ' New Grain Policy ' , prohibiting grain trading in the market and forcing people to purchase grain only from grain sales outlets .

Experts analyze that this new grain policy is related to rising food prices.

[ Kim Hyuk ] The core of the new grain policy is to prohibit individuals from selling grain and to allow farmers to sell their surplus grain only to the state . This institutional enforcement ultimately leads to higher market grain prices , that is , higher grain prices on the black market .

Lim Song, a researcher at the Bank of Korea’s North Korean Economy Research Center, told RFA on the 9th that rising food prices can be affected by the total supply of grain , demand for grain , and grain policies. “ Given that the total supply of grain has not changed recently , it is possible that increased demand and income , as well as grain policies, have affected the rise in grain prices, ” he explained .

[ Im Song ] North Korea recently raised workers' wages. Ultimately , it serves to increase overall demand . For example , if someone who previously received 100 won now receives 300 won , they will think, "I have more money , I should buy more ( what I need ) ", and if this type of demand is focused on food, food prices will rise . I think it's possible that the side effects of the grain policy and the increased demand due to the increased wages for workers have caused prices to rise . These two factors may have overlapped .

Regarding this, Director Cho Chung-hee reported that the residents' hardships have increased due to the rise in grain prices, and that since September and October of last year , the phenomenon of ' bartering ', or returning to the initial market state, has appeared in the Pyongan and Yanggang provinces .

[ Cho Chung-hee ] There must be hardships. The people who suffer the most are the poor and powerless who have to starve . People with money don't give up what they have in case they starve , so people without money have to starve even more . So you could say that there are people who are starving to death . As this situation continues, they say that North Korea is holding on by exchanging goods rather than money . Some people think, " I have a warm wool coat . I'd rather sell it and buy rice to eat . " They say that they are enduring it by thinking, " I should sell my leather sofa and trade it for rice . "

Ultimately, the food policy that is not in line with reality is causing harm to ordinary citizens by creating side effects such as ‘ food shortages ’ and ‘ surges in food prices . ’

Experts predict that if North Korea's agricultural policy this year remains the same as last year, crop yields are likely to worsen further .

[ Cho Chung-hee ] North Korea's agricultural development goal should be centered on farm income. Farmers need to increase their income so they can farm diligently in order to properly solve the food problem . Farmers account for about 40% of the North Korean population, so ... In order for the crops to be good, the weather is important , but investment is needed to provide fertilizer, good varieties , and introduce good agricultural technology . If North Korea's agricultural policy continues in the same way as last year, this year's agricultural harvest is likely to be worse than last year's .

[ Kim Hyuk ] In the end, the weather is the key . North Korea is working hard to build an agricultural production base , but there are still many problems when looking at the actual production base system that North Korea is creating . The climate should be most suitable for farming , and if at least the fuel supply is good and more machinery is mobilized , I think ( this year ) we will see results similar to those in 2024 .

Although North Korean authorities announced that they had achieved 107% grain production last year , due to the rapid rise in food prices, North Korean residents are struggling to eat three meals a day .

In particular, without a change in policy to control grain trade in the market and a fundamental improvement in the production base, the food shortage for North Korean people is expected to continue this year.

This is Cheon So-ram from RFA Radio Free Asia .

Editor Noh Jeong-min, Web Editor Lee Gyeong-ha

The Korean peninsula is a complex geopolitical location. Or as the Koreans say, a "shrimp among whales."

This is a Google translation of a VOA report.

North Korea remains silent despite casualties among soldiers dispatched to Russia… 70% of South Koreans say “North Korea’s dispatch of troops to Russia threatens the situation on the Korean Peninsula”

2025.1.10

Kim Hwan-yong

https://www.voakorea.com/a/7931976.html

As news spreads that North Korean troops dispatched to the Ukraine War are suffering casualties, North Korea is still neither confirming nor denying the fact of the dispatch. Meanwhile, an overwhelming majority of South Koreans are aware that North Korea's dispatch of troops to Russia is a threat to the situation on the Korean Peninsula. We will connect with reporter Kim Hwan-yong in Seoul to find out more.

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North Korea remains silent despite casualties among soldiers dispatched to Russia… 70% of South Koreans say “North Korea’s dispatch of troops to Russia threatens the situation on the Korean Peninsula”

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Host) News of casualties among North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia is coming out every day, but North Korea still refuses to acknowledge the fact that troops have been deployed. What is the analysis in South Korea about this?

Reporter) In South Korea, there is speculation that North Korea is suffering from a dilemma as it is thoroughly avoiding mentioning the dispatch of troops to Russia.

In particular, the remarks made by South Korean Ambassador to the UN Hwang Joon-guk and North Korea's response at the UN Security Council meeting held at the UN headquarters in New York on the 8th are attracting attention.

South Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Hwang Joon-kook speaks at a public meeting of the UN Security Council held on the 8th. Source = UN TV

Ambassador Hwang emphasized at the event that “North Korea is sacrificing its own people to satisfy its nuclear ambitions and is further contributing to the death and destruction in Ukraine.”

Ambassador Hwang strongly criticized, citing Bible verses in particular, saying, “The blood of soldiers is crying out from the ground,” and “This must stop immediately.”

North Korea's UN Ambassador Kim Song responded only by objecting to the US and South Korea's condemnation of North Korea's recent test launch of a new medium- to long-range hypersonic missile, and did not respond at all to North Korea's criticism of its dispatch of troops to Russia.

Dr. Doo Jin-ho of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, an affiliate of the South Korean Ministry of National Defense, analyzed that the North Korean military's overseas participation is unprecedented and that if the news of large-scale casualties becomes known to the public, it could potentially affect the durability of the regime, so they are cracking down on it to the extreme.

Host) Isn't this a situation where not only the number of North Korean casualties but also the names of North Korean soldiers who died in battle are being reported?

Reporter) Yes. The US and South Korea have already revealed that they have determined that 10% of the approximately 10,000 North Korean soldiers deployed were killed or injured.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky even claimed on the 9th that the casualties had reached 4,000.

In Ukraine, they are even passing on the remains and names of North Korean soldiers who died in battle.

On the 9th, the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (SOF) posted a photo via their official Telegram account, claiming it was the contents of a notebook that North Korean soldier Jeong Kyung-hong, who was killed in the Kursk region of Russia, had in his possession while alive. (Photo source: t.me/ukr_sof/1367)

On the 9th (local time), the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (SOF) released the contents of a notebook that North Korean soldier 'Jeong Kyung-hong', who was killed in the Kursk region of Russia, had in his possession while alive through his official Telegram.

Prior to this, the pro-Ukrainian volunteer group InformnaFam released photos of the bodies and remains of the dead through its Telegram account on the 7th, saying that Ukrainian special operations forces had killed 13 people in Kursk by shooting and using drones.

The photo also shows a petition for joining the Workers' Party by a soldier with the name 'Jeong Geum-ryong' written on it.

Host) So, are the North Korean people completely unaware of the situation faced by the North Korean soldiers who fought in the Russian-Korean War?

Reporter) It appears that the North Korean authorities are thoroughly controlling information.

The Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the Workers' Party of Korea, reported on the 8th in an article titled, "A despicable scheme to spread false information aimed at maintaining hegemony," that "the U.S. and Western powers' manipulation of public opinion and the spread of false information in order to collapse and destroy anti-imperialist, independent countries are becoming more vicious."

Excerpt from page 6 of the Rodong Sinmun on the 8th. (Image source: Rodong Sinmun homepage)

The article cited an Iranian media outlet as claiming that “the US and the West are waging a public opinion offensive to create instability within Iran through manipulation of public opinion and disinformation.”

There is speculation that this report was made in an attempt to crack down on the spread among local residents of news about the large number of casualties among North Korean troops deployed to Russia, in reference to the situation in Iran.

Dr. Cho Han-beom of the Korea Institute for National Unification, a government-affiliated research institute, said that while North Korean authorities are strengthening internal crackdowns, there is a possibility that related news is being transmitted through trade workers in China.

[Recording: Dr. Cho Han-beom] “In particular, trade representatives in China have to go to and from North Korea once a month because China does not issue long-term visas. So, there is no way the news would not spread. So, the fact of the troop dispatch is gradually becoming known, but the North Korean people do not know the specific details yet, so there has been no major unrest as of now.”

Anchor) Reporter Kim, in a situation where we don’t know whether the Russian-Russian War will end early and there are talks of a high possibility of additional troop deployment, isn’t it difficult for North Korean authorities to control related information?

Reporter) Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University, said that North Korea is also likely considering its own exit strategy.

The explanation is that the fact that they are neither confirming nor denying something means that they are deeply concerned.

Professor Park, however, predicted that rather than acknowledging the dispatch of troops early, the North Korean government will likely decide on its response by observing the progress of the Ukraine armistice negotiations since the inauguration of the Donald Trump administration, especially the intensity of the pressure from the Trump administration demanding the return of North Korean troops.

Park Won-gon, Professor of North Korean Studies at Ewha Womans University

[Recording: Professor Park Won-gon] “As communication channels are restored, the first message Trump will probably deliver to Kim Jong-un will likely be the issue of sending troops to the Russian War. This is because if this is removed, the end of the Russian War will be somewhat easier. North Korea might hold out until then, because if North Korea shows that its sacrifices are increasing, there is a possibility of an internal crisis, so if there is a proper excuse, it should withdraw.”

Dr. Du Jin-ho predicted that North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un is likely to visit Russia in February or May, the anniversary of the outbreak of the Russo-Russian War or the Russian Victory Day, and that he will try to formalize and justify the dispatch of troops by declaring victory over Russia.

Anchor) Meanwhile, there was a public opinion poll in South Korea regarding North Korea's dispatch of troops to Russia.

Reporter) Yes.

The Advisory Council for Democratic Peace and Unification announced on the 9th that in a national unification opinion poll conducted via telephone interviews with 1,000 adult men and women aged 19 and older across the country in late November last year, 34.5% of the public responded that North Korea's dispatch of troops to Russia "poses a serious threat" to the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

The response that it is 'somewhat threatening' also came out at 36.7%, and when the two responses are combined, 71.2% perceive North Korea's deployment of troops as a threat to the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Dr. Doo Jin-ho interpreted that North Korea's participation in the Russo-Russian War based on the new North Korea-Russia treaty formalized Russia's participation in the event of a war on the Korean Peninsula, and thus the South Korean people's perception of the threat also increased.

Doo Jin-ho, Director of the Strategic Research Lab at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.

20. Trump plans to rebuild the US Navy in Korean shipyards. We already know this works well

Graphics at the link.

The US partner in the Arsenal of Democracy: Korea

raise an army and maintain a navy.

Trump plans to rebuild the US Navy in Korean shipyards. We already know this works well

It’s time to give up trying to revive dead builders and just get some ships

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/09/trump-korea-shipyards-us-navy-royal-rfa-tide-class/?utm

Tom Sharpe

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Get to the bottom of the story

(LEAD) Parliamentary subcommittee passes new special counsel bill against Yoon's martial law bid | Yonhap News Agency

Acting president says no solution to standoff between gov't agencies over Yoon's arrest | Yonhap News Agency

Police convene field commanders ahead of 2nd attempt at detaining Yoon | Yonhap News Agency

Acting president accepts presidential security chief's resignation offer | Yonhap News Agency

(LEAD) Head of abolished N.K. party organ on inter-Korean affairs appears to retain political status | Yonhap News Agency

N. Korea includes Russian language in official postal stamp description for 1st time | Yonhap News Agency

The Pentagon finessed its pivot to Asia. Can it last during Trump?

I: ‘Alarm’

II: Backlash

III: Promises

IV: Posture

V: Supply and Demand

VI: Intercepts

VII: Slideshow

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The true cost: North Korean soldiers' deadly reality in Russia's war - Daily NK English

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Commentary: South Korea needs to move on from this crisis

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CANNOT GO ON INDEFINITELY

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Trump plans to rebuild the US Navy in Korean shipyards. We already know this works well