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Quotes of the Day:
"To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture."
–Thomas Paine
“Everybody, my friend, everybody lives for something better to come. That's why we want to be considerate of every man – Who knows what's in him, why he was born, and what he can do?”
– Maxim Gorky
"It seems, in fact, as the second half of a man's life is usually made up of nothing but the habits accumulated during the first half."
– Fyodor Dostoyevsky
1. YouTube election fraud conspiracy theories fuel impeached South Korean president and his supporters
2. Up to 44,000 rally in support of Yoon outside court
3. Court to decide on Yoon's formal arrest as early as Saturday night
4. New US sanctions target North Korean IT workers in last hurrah under Biden
5. The Case for South Korea Prohibiting Anti-North Korean Leaflet Launches
6. S. Korea opens embassy in Cuba one year after establishing diplomatic relations
7. Yoon's arrest fuels fervent reactions from supporters
8. N. Korea warns of taking action 'more intensively' over S. Korea, U.S., Japan's air drills
9. PPP support rises as partisan gap reverts to pre-martial law state, Gallup poll finds
10. Korea's settlement with Westinghouse paves way for future cooperation, Czech plant deal
11. NATO Takes Stock Of Cooperation With Japan And The Republic Of Korea
12. North Korea expert released after lengthy detainment in Switzerland for spying
13. North Korea smuggled nuclear weapons equipment from Spain: Report
14. Watch: North Korean Troops in Kursk Targeted by Attack Drones
15. US experts: “Kim Jong-un feels betrayed by Putin… will not deploy additional troops”
16. North Koreans show ‘superior combat readiness’ to Russian contractors: official
1. YouTube election fraud conspiracy theories fuel impeached South Korean president and his supporters
So yesterday I participated in a meeting with some highly respected and thoughtful Koreans from the South and Korean-Americans who are deeply knowledgeable about the political situation in South Korea. They were all in Washington DC to participate in the inauguration and celebrations next week.
While this Washington Post article is informative it does not go into the depth that I heard from patriotic Koreans yesterday. And it certainly diminishes the problems by calling actions and activities by the opposition, China, and north Korea as conspiracy theories. In reality this article is very supportive of China and north Korea, whether deliberate or (most likely) inadvertent because there is a knee jerk reaction at the Washington Post to anything labeled converstative. The use of right wing is clearly pejorative.
I will try to do the comments of our Korean friends justice here. This is my interpretation of what they were describing to the US participants in the meeting.
The martial law/impeachment crisis is a fight to save the democratic soul of South Korea and its alignment with the powers of the region and the world. Although this is lost on most of us in the US, the radical left progressive movement is aligned with China and north Korea. They believe cooperation with China and north Korea makes money for them and gives them political influence. They were directly threatened by President Yoon focus on national security and specifically the strengthening of the ROK/US alliance and the sitorica trilateral cooperation among the ROK, Japan, and the US highlighted in the Camp David Summit of 2023. We need to recall the "Three No's" Xi forced upon Moon in 2017 over the THAAD issues: no more THAAD deployment, no integrated missile defense, and no tialter ROK, Japan, US alliance. It is likely the only reason there has been no more THAAD deployment is because the US is out of schlitz with THAAD - there are too many competing demands for this high demand low density system. But President Yoon rejected these "Three No's" and now China is threatened and is using its Unrestricted Warfare/Three warfares to undermine and subvert the South Korean political system. And of course this fully supports north Korea's political warfare strategy against the ROK. Both China and North Korea's United Front Departments (and the north's Cultural Engagement Bureau) have thoroughly infiltrated the South Korean teachers union and the labor unions and some NGOS and human rights organizations and most importantly the radical left political parties. Many Korean businesses are beholden to China (they want to make money and they saw what happened to Lotte in China over the THAAD issue). Interestingly it is only SAMSUNG that is standing up to China's malign influence. And of course like everywhere around the world China is very generous with its money so as to be able to influence, co-opt, and coerce its targets.
At the root of this is that China and north Korea want to drive a wedge in the ROK/US alliance by subverting and undermining the ROK political system. They want to ensure the South adopts pro-China/north Korea policies and anti-US policies. There is evidence of this in the first draft of the impeachment motion in which the radical elements of the opposition included the charge that President Yoon harmed China and north Korean relations due to his support of the ROK/US alliance and establishment of unprecedented ROK/Japan/US trilateral cooperation. This was a strategic political miscalculation on their part because the majority of the Korean people in the South support the ROK/US alliance . Opposition party leader and wannabe president Lee Jae Myung had to backtrack and make a statement in support of the alliance and remove the language from the next draft of the impeachment motion. No Korean from the South cna win an election without stating support for the ROK/US alliance regardless of how deep his anti-American feelings run.
So how is China conducting this subversion of the ROK political system? Incredibly the ROK voting machine infrastructure is built by and bought from China. I think we can all see the effects of that. The logical solution would seem to be to replace this voting infrastructure but the opposition party apparently prevents this - they did after all win the last elections in April.
Perhaps President Yoon was misguided in ordering martial law but he appeared to believe he had no other method to root out the subversion of the ROK election system and the government and society in general that is being conducted by China and north Korea.
The bottom line is South Korea is at the heart of strategic competition between China and the US.
This is a fight between China and the US over South Korea. It is a political warfare fight on the highest scale. China is playing for keeps and the US does not seem to be participating in the competition at all. WIll the US compete in the political warfare with China and north Korea or will it lose a key ally in Northeast Asia? The worst case could be that the US does not overtly lso South Korea as an ally but with an opposition party in power that is under the inclusion of China and north Korea it will act in ways that undermine the values of and the mutual security of the alliance.
The message from our Korea friends is a plea to the US to help South Korea combat China's and north Korea's malign influence over South Korea. They stress that the malign activities are real and not conspiracy theories and more aggressive than ever. Since our friends are attending inauguration events I am sure they will be reaching out to members of the incoming administration to plead their case for US help.
So the question for the incoming administration is do we know that we are in such a competition with China and north Korea over the democratic soul of South Korea? Or are we going to treat South Korea along the lines of the first Trump administration and simply make demands for its money, threaten the reduction of troops and follow Elbridge Colby's desire to cut away South Korea because it is believed to be capable of defending itself, thus allowing the US to focus on the defense of Taiwan. I would ask what good is "having " Taiwan if we lose Korea? I think we need to reexamine in depth what is really happening in South Korea and realize there is another kind of "great game" playing out on the Korean peninsula in Northeast Asia.
YouTube election fraud conspiracy theories fuel impeached South Korean president and his supporters
Thousands have braved the frigid January weather in Seoul protests, waving South Korean and American flags and shouting vows to protect their embattled conservative hero, the impeached South Korean president facing imprisonment over potential rebellion charges
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/01/16/south-korea-yoon-martial-law-conspiracy-theories-youtube-election-fraud/f56c4a5e-d3e4-11ef-9835-51843d9371d6_story.html
January 16, 2025
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FILE- Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stage a rally to oppose his impeachment in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. The letters read, “Impeachment is invalid.” (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)
By Kim Tong-Hyung | AP
SEOUL, South Korea — Thousands have braved the frigid January weather in Seoul protests, waving South Korean and American flags and shouting vows to protect their embattled conservative hero, the impeached South Korean president facing imprisonment over potential rebellion charges.
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The swelling crowds in South Korea’s capital are inspired by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s defiance, but also by the growing power of right-wing YouTubers who portray Yoon as a victim of a leftist, North Korea-sympathizing opposition that has rigged elections to gain a legislative majority and is now plotting to remove a patriotic leader.
“Out with fraudulent elections and a fake National Assembly!” read one sign, brandished by an angry man in a fur hat during a recent protest near Yoon’s presidential residence, the site of a massive law enforcement operation Wednesday that made Yoon the country’s first sitting president to be detained in a criminal investigation.
Many at the pro-Yoon rallies, which are separated by police from anti-Yoon counter-protests, are significantly influenced by fictional narratives about election fraud that dominate conservative YouTube channels — claims that Yoon has repeatedly referenced in his attacks on election officials.
A placard hanging from an overpass read: “Martial law was declared to investigate election fraud; lawmakers impeached (Yoon) to stop it.” There were also “Stop the Steal” signs, a slogan associated with the U.S. Capitol attack by a mob of Donald Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, who were angry over false claims that Joe Biden had stolen the election.
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There have long been worries about Yoon’s close ties with right-wing YouTube personalities, some of whom were invited to his inauguration ceremony. One has even boasted that Yoon listens to his show “even while sleeping.”
Those worries, however, have been heightened since Yoon’s shocking martial law declaration on Dec. 3, which led to the dispatch of hundreds of troops to encircle the legislature and the country’s election commission — and which dredged up memories of military-backed dictatorships that ended in the 1980s.
Hundreds of citizens converged on parliament that night to help lawmakers break through the blockade so they could vote to lift martial law, a dramatic display of the country’s democratic resilience.
The opposition-dominated National Assembly voted to impeach Yoon on Dec. 14, suspending his powers and putting his fate with the Constitutional Court, which will decide whether to formally remove him from office or reinstate him.
But the ensuing weeks of political paralysis have laid bare the nation’s stark ideological divide and revealed the growing popularity of bizarre conspiracy theories that are now being amplified by mainstream conservative politicians, starting with the president himself.
In a message posted on his Facebook account following his detainment Wednesday, Yoon claimed that there’s “so much evidence of election fraud in our country.” It’s the latest of his erroneous claims meant to discredit the country’s election process while defending his martial law decree.
Observers worry it might undermine future elections.
Reality shattered by martial law
Lawmakers from Yoon’s People Power Party are frequently seen at pro-Yoon rallies in close contact with far-right YouTube personalities.
Kim Min-jeon, a member of PPP’s leadership council, went on YouTube to defend the president’s decision to send troops to National Election Commission sites, saying that election integrity worries made “war-like emergency” steps necessary.
It’s unclear whether Yoon and his loyalists genuinely believe the claims of rigged elections or are leveraging conspiracy theories to justify his imposition of martial law and rally his support base. It’s also unclear whether those voicing the theories at protests represent mainstream conservative voters.
Conservatives, however, have been emboldened by recent polls, which show that Yoon and his party’s approval ratings have risen since the martial law imposition.
The recent precedent of politicians undermining reality for their own personal gains threatens democracy because it adds false claims to already intense policy disagreements that make compromise unlikely, said Jinman Cho, a politics professor at Duksung Women’s University in Seoul.
“Parties are using conspiracy theories not to attack each other but to destroy each other,” said Cho, who predicts that chaos will persist until Yoon’s political fate is determined in court.
Yoon’s actions could also scar a possible upcoming presidential by-election and legislative elections in 2028 by increasing voters’ unwillingness to accept election results, said Han-Wool Jeong, director of the Korea People Research Institute.
Metal bats, cable ties and ropes
On the night of Dec. 3 , as TV showed heavily armed soldiers backed by Blackhawk helicopters and armored vehicles swarming the National Assembly, a separate military operation, also involving hundreds of troops, was quietly underway at the headquarters of the National Election Commission in Gwacheon and two other NEC facilities.
According to prosecutors’ indictment of Kim Yong Hyun, Yoon’s now-arrested former defense minister, a search-and-seize squad was meant to arrest 30 NEC officials and find evidence of election fraud, a claim that remains unsubstantiated in South Korea. The soldiers were equipped with metal baseball bats, cable ties, ropes, blindfolds and head covers.
Other soldiers were instructed to copy data from NEC’s computer servers and, “if difficult, just remove the servers themselves,” according to the 83-page indictment obtained by The Associated Press. The plans weren’t carried out because lawmakers first forced Yoon to lift martial law.
Kim’s indictment says Yoon began floating the idea of using his emergency powers around late March or early April, shortly before the general elections, in which the liberals won by a landslide to extend their legislative majority.
In a fiery TV speech on Dec. 12, during which he defended his use of martial law against an “anti-state” opposition obstructing his agenda, Yoon said he needed to send troops to the NEC to investigate alleged vulnerabilities to its computer systems.
He referenced a debunked YouTube claim that NEC’s status as an independent electoral body meant it could not be subjected to searches and seizures by law enforcement investigators.
When Seoul’s spy agency examined government networks for possible North Korean cybertheft in 2023, it found no signs of NEC computer breaches. Even if hackers somehow gain access, rigging an election would still be virtually impossible, officials say, as it would require overriding the entire election management system, tampering with physical ballots and collusion among thousands of election workers.
“Every single allegation of election fraud raised during past elections was concluded as groundless in courts,” the NEC said in a statement.
Yoon Kab-keun, one of the president’s lawyers, said Yoon Suk Yeol was determined to “resolve suspicions and inadequacies” linked to the NEC’s operations.
Some PPP lawmakers who met Yoon at his residence before his detention told reporters that the president urged the party to win future elections by embracing the voices of protesters, and to focus on the “well-organized information on YouTube” rather than the “biased” legacy media.
Yoon on Facebook accused the NEC of refusing to take accountability for huge numbers of fake ballots that had been discovered in unspecified past elections and for a network vulnerable to hacking and manipulation. NEC was possibly operating a “comprehensive election fraud system,” he said.
While none of those claims are substantiated, the president maintained that, “We cannot dismiss this as a conspiracy theory.”
2. Up to 44,000 rally in support of Yoon outside court
(LEAD) Up to 44,000 rally in support of Yoon outside court | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · January 18, 2025
(ATTN: UPDATES with rallies after end of hearing; CHANGES headline; ADDS photos)
SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Yonhap) -- Up to 44,000 people gathered outside a court Saturday to support impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol as he underwent a hearing on his potential arrest over his short-lived imposition of martial law, police said.
Yoon was brought to the Seoul Western District Court shortly before the 2 p.m. hearing in a motorcade escorted from a detention center in Uiwang, just south of the capital, where he has been held since Wednesday night.
Supporters of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol cheer for him as he returns to the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, just south of the capital, after attending a hearing on his potential arrest at the Seoul Western District Court on Jan. 18, 2025. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
An estimated 44,000 people rallied outside the court throughout the day, according to police, chanting Yoon's name and waving the South Korean and U.S. flags. Some broke down in tears, while others engaged in minor scuffles with police officers.
The rally became increasingly heated as protesters tried to push past police officers and enter the court grounds, shouting, "Open the court entrance," and "I have to see the president's face."
Police broadcast repeated warnings that their actions could lead to their arrest or trigger a crowd crush.
When Yoon left the court to return to the detention center after the hearing ended, his supporters roared and grabbed vehicles presumably belonging to investigators and called for the dissolution of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, which is leading the probe into the martial law case.
Some broke the cars' door handles and released air from the tires.
Outside the detention center in Uiwang, around 100 of Yoon's supporters cheered for him as his convoy returned, waving their flags and sighing or shedding tears.
Just meters away, members of a progressive civic group held a competing rally calling for his arrest.
Supporters of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol block cars presumably belonging to investigators outside the Seoul Western District Court in the capital on Jan. 18, 2025. (Yonhap)
Supporters of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol rally in front of the Seoul Western District Court in Seoul on Jan. 18, 2025, where a hearing is held to decide whether to formally arrest him over his short-lived martial law imposition. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
hague@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · January 18, 2025
3. Court to decide on Yoon's formal arrest as early as Saturday night
Court to decide on Yoon's formal arrest as early as Saturday night | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Choi Kyong-ae · January 18, 2025
SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul court is set to decide as early as Saturday night whether to formally arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived martial law decree.
The Seoul Western District Court is scheduled to hold a hearing at 2 p.m. to review a request by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) for an arrest warrant to be issued against Yoon.
If issued, Yoon would become the first sitting president in South Korea's constitutional history to be formally arrested.
Should the request be denied, Yoon is expected to return to the presidential residence and bolster his claims that the ongoing investigations into his martial law decree and impeachment are unfounded.
Yoon's legal team said he will attend the court hearing.
The CIO is leading a joint investigation with the police and the military over whether Yoon's martial law declaration amounted to an attempted insurrection.
Impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol is taken to the Seoul Detention Center after being questioned over his short-lived imposition of martial law at the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul, on Jan. 15, 2025. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
Yoon shocked the nation by briefly imposing martial law on Dec. 3, plunging South Korea into its worst political turmoil in decades.
Yoon's lawyers have said the move is not a crime but an "exercise of presidential authority to overcome a national crisis" caused by the opposition-led impeachments of Cabinet members and its unilateral budget reduction.
His presidential powers were suspended after the National Assembly passed a motion to impeach him on Dec. 14.
The anti-corruption agency said Yoon allegedly issued an illegal martial law bid that bans the National Assembly's political activities and mobilized the martial law command and police to shut down parliament in order to thwart efforts to lift the martial law imposition.
Also among the charges brought against Yoon is allegedly attempting to arrest and detain key politicians and employees of the national election watchdog.
Factors, such as the risk of the suspect fleeing or destroying evidence and whether the suspect has explained his position, will be considered.
Investigators sought an arrest warrant for Yoon on Friday, two days after they apprehended him at his residence and took him to a detention center following questioning.
Since being detained, Yoon has refused to appear for questioning over his martial law bid.
He filed a request with the Seoul Central District Court to review the legality of his detention, but the court dismissed the challenge Thursday night, keeping him in custody.
Yoon's legal team is expected to maintain its argument that the CIO lacks the authority to investigate a case of insurrection and that the Seoul Western District Court does not have proper jurisdiction over the martial law case.
If the court issues a warrant to formally arrest Yoon, the CIO can extend his detention to 20 days, during which the agency will transfer the case to prosecutors for an indictment.
A designated photo area for the press is set up at the Seoul Western District Court in Seoul on Jan. 17, 2025. (Yonhap)
kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Choi Kyong-ae · January 18, 2025
4. New US sanctions target North Korean IT workers in last hurrah under Biden
Just as an aside, the pace and amount of President Biden's actions in the last weeks or so of his administration seems to be far greater than the rest of his administration in so many areas, Korea included. Did someone get control of his autopen? (this last statement was an attempt at humor).
New US sanctions target North Korean IT workers in last hurrah under Biden
Treasury blacklists individuals and entities who allegedly helped workers obtain employment to earn money for Pyongyang
https://www.nknews.org/2025/01/new-us-sanctions-target-north-korean-it-workers-in-last-hurrah-under-biden/
Anton Sokolin January 17, 2025
A North Korean man using a computer at the Korean Art Museum in Pyongyang in April 2018 | Image: NK News
The U.S. blacklisted multiple individuals and entities on Thursday for facilitating the activities of North Korean IT workers who obtain employment with foreign companies to generate illicit revenue for the Kim Jong Un regime.
The sanctions represent a final push by the Biden administration to take action against Pyongyang before Donald Trump’s inauguration next week, as the incoming president signals a greater reluctance to use sanctions as a foreign policy tool.
The new designations target a DPRK weapons-trading government department, two front companies in Laos employing North Korean IT workers, two DPRK managers and a Chinese electronics supplier, the U.S. The Department of the Treasury said Thursday.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Department 53 as an entity subordinate to the DPRK Ministry of National Defense. The organization allegedly sells “advanced conventional weapons and military-grade communications equipment,” according to the statement.
Department 53 also generates revenue through front companies in sectors such as IT and software development, OFAC said, identifying Korea Osong Shipping Co. and Chonsurim Trading Corporation as two entities employing DPRK IT workers in Laos.
Osong “has maintained delegations” of North Korean IT specialists in Laos since at least 2022, according to OFAC. These workers allegedly concealed their identities while raising funds for the DPRK regime by working on projects involving cryptocurrency exchanges, websites and mobile applications.
Chonsurim allegedly directed another group of North Korean cyber specialists since 2021. These workers “falsified identification credentials to undertake software development and other IT work for companies around the world,” according to the press release.
“The DPRK continues to rely on its thousands of overseas IT workers to generate revenue for the regime, to finance its illegal weapons programs and to enable its support of Russia’s war in Ukraine,” said Bradley T. Smith, acting under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.
“The United States remains resolved to disrupt these networks, wherever they operate, that facilitate the regime’s destabilizing activities.”
The sanctions announcement came just days before Donald Trump is set to be sworn in as next U.S. president on Jan. 20.
His Secretary of State pick Marco Rubio recently supported Trump’s engagement-focused North Korea policy, contrasting with the Biden administration’s sanctions-heavy approach.
“No amount of sanctions has deterred him from developing that capability, and in fact, it has provided him with the resources to continue development,” the nominee said about Kim Jong Un at his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Washington also slapped sanctions on the managers of the two front companies, including Jong In Chol, identified as the president of Chonsurim’s IT worker outfit in Laos, and Son Kyong Sik, who acted as the Shenyang-based “chief representative of 53 Department’s Osong.”
The sanctions package additionally targeted Liaoning China Trade Industry for allegedly shipping “notebook and desktop computers, graphics cards, HDMI cables and network equipment” to Department 53, enabling it to “conduct its IT worker activities abroad.”
“As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the designated persons in the U.S. or controlled by U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC,” the Treasury said, adding that entities owned by blacklisted individuals are also subject to sanctions.
The Treasury stressed that thousands of DPRK IT workers are dispatched around the world and obfuscate their identities and whereabouts to “fraudulently obtain freelance employment contracts in software and mobile application development.”
The North Korean government rakes in “hundreds of millions of dollars” in illicit revenues for the “Kim regime’s weapons programs” by keeping up to 90 percent of the wages earned by North Korean IT specialists stationed overseas, according to the Treasury.
The latest sanctions come as U.S. authorities have increasingly focused efforts on clamping down on the DPRK’s overseas workers in recent months. This has included indictments of U.S. who allegedly helped North Koreans obtain remote employment by posing as American citizens.
Edited by Bryan Betts
5. The Case for South Korea Prohibiting Anti-North Korean Leaflet Launches
I could not disagree more with Ms. Kim. Sadly she makes no mention of the suffering in the north and their force isolation as one of the many human rights abuses they must accept. South Korea and the international community have a responsibility to get information to the Korean people in the north. Note the findings of the 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry. Every information vector must be used to get information into the north to include leaflets and loudspeakers. Advocating for a leaflet ban is advocating for the continued suffering of the Korean people in the north.
The Case for South Korea Prohibiting Anti-North Korean Leaflet Launches
thediplomat.com
That the provocations exchanged between the Koreas – leaflets, balloons, and noise – were of relatively low intensity should give no one a sense of security.
By Chaerin Kim
January 17, 2025
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Amid the political pandemonium instigated by President Yoon Suk-yeol’s catastrophic declaration of martial law, there is a corner of Korean society that is conversely experiencing a rare period of peace: border areas adjacent to North Korea.
Since June 2024, residents near the border have been afflicted by the North’s “noise bombs,” or an endless barrage of eerie sounds broadcast at unbearable levels to the degree of being deemed as psychological warfare. The North’s provocations were not one-sided, however; ailing locals and political scholars alike point to the intrusion of military drones and dissemination of anti-Kim Jong Un leaflets in North Korean territory as instigators of the low-level provocations from the North, such as noise bombing and trash balloons.
After Yoon’s duties were suspended following his impeachment by the National Assembly, no North-bound materials were found to have originated from the South, and border residents have enjoyed a respite from the blaring noise.
The anti-Kim leaflets that provoked North Korea’s auditory assault were mostly sent by civic groups, often founded by families of North Korean abductees. Activists would routinely gather at the South Korean city of Paju, which borders the military demarcation line that separates the Koreas, to launch balloons that would scatter leaflets over North Korean territory; contents may comprise of physical posters, audio broadcasts through embedded speakers, and flash drives that colorfully defame the Kim regime as well as necessities and dollar bills.
Despite continued protests from residents, the South Korean government refused to prohibit launches or even condemn those responsible in recent years. A decision by the Constitutional Court in September 2023 ruled that governmental obstructions against anti-North Korea leaflet launches were against the “freedom of expression” and therefore unconstitutional. However, it is difficult to excise the possibility that the South Korean government was either covertly involved in, or tacitly condoned, agitating Pyongyang. A lawmaker with the opposition Democratic Party even claimed that the South Korean military staged the dissemination of leaflets by infiltrating the Pyongyang airspace with drones.
That the provocations exchanged between the Koreas were of relatively low intensity should give no one a sense of security. The peninsula is still in a state of unfinished war, and inter-Korean relations are at their worst slump in years, with North Korea recently testing a hypersonic missile. In such a perilous context, that the South Korean government allowed civic organizations to send propaganda leaflets into enemy territory reads as nonsensical. Regardless of the validity of accusations that the South Korean government has been complicit in the leaflet launches, the government should prohibit the transmitting of materials to the North, excluding cases of explicit governmental approval. The most effective way to do so is by classifying the dissemination of leaflets as a violation of national security.
In the mercurial tumults of inter-Korean relations, North Korea has consistently demanded that the South halt leaflet launches, whether through courteous requests during periods of affinity or threats of military action in periods of conflict. Continued negotiations led to the National Assembly passing the Development of the Inter-Korean Relations Act, put into action in March 2021, that prohibited leaflet dissemination. That law found that dropping leaflets across the border would “inflict harm to citizens or cause serious danger,” deeming it as a “violation of inter-Korean agreements.”
The Constitutional Court’s decree two years later effectively nullified the accords by stating the right to expression alone constitutes a legal justification for leaflet launches. Yet this ruling disregards the real harm inflicted to South Korean citizens as a consequence, either through noise bombing or trash balloons that contain, among other things, human excrement. Most importantly, North Korea is technically enemy territory to the South. That alone should elevate the unsolicited transmission of any material to the North into a serious breach of national security that may be prosecuted by law.
The proposed sanctification of leaflet dissemination in the context of human rights defense, as argued by activists, fails to overrule the tangible human harm imposed as both a direct consequence and the potential to escalate into inter-Korean military altercations. A 2021 study by the Korea Institute for National Unification revealed that leaflets are unlikely to penetrate the North Korean populace due to physical limitations and the inefficacy of internal information transmission mechanisms. Moreover, the information revealing the “secrets” of the Kim regime is already widely known among the target audience. The core issue of human rights transgressions in North Korea is less about the literal lack of external information and more about systematic constraints, embedded in the foundational sediments of the Kim regime, that prohibit political congregation. Such a status is unlikely to be significantly impacted by the sporadic release of unsolicited leaflets.
Most critically, the Yoon administration has faced accusations of politically manipulating leaflet delivery, even being implicated in orchestrating it. A drastic tone change in the government’s stance on leaflets after Yoon’s ouster may offer corroborating context. On December 16, after the parliament impeached Yoon, Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho urged leaflet groups to adopt a “prudent” – government lingua for “restricted” – approach in leaflet dispersion while declaring the government would “prioritize” the safety of South Korean citizens. Such shifts, of course, read as if the government is admitting that safety of its residents was not on top of its list when the Yoon presidency allowed the dispersion of an uncounted mass of leaflets over the border while noise bombs and balloons assailed South Koreans.
To this end, it is critical to establish a societal consensus recognizing that leaflet distribution constitutes a security risk, serving as a form of low-intensity provocation. Such activities could be managed by mandating a military-administered permit system or establishing an amendment that clearly states the national security and safety of citizens trump attempts of correspondence with a warring state. The unique security threat posed by North Korea warrants consistent regulation of civic activities directed at the regime, independent of political changes. Regardless of who is selected as South Korea’s next leader should the Constitutional Court confirm Yoon’s impeachment, it is essential that bilateral cooperation fosters a consensus on inter-Korean relations while safeguarding against the politicization of the issue to ensure regional security.
Authors
Guest Author
Chaerin Kim
Chaerin Kim is a student of international peace and security at Korea University. She has served research positions as an intern at the U.S. Embassy Seoul and the Seoul-based think tank East Asia Institute (EAI). Her research interests encompass inter-Korean relations, nuclearization of the Korean peninsula, and the ROK-U.S. alliance.
thediplomat.com
6. S. Korea opens embassy in Cuba one year after establishing diplomatic relations
ROK government institutions continue to function.
S. Korea opens embassy in Cuba one year after establishing diplomatic relations | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · January 18, 2025
By Kim Seung-yeon
SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea opened its embassy in Cuba, the foreign ministry said Saturday, nearly a year after the two countries forged the diplomatic relations that took the world by surprise, including Cuba's Cold War-era ally, North Korea.
An opening ceremony took place at the embassy, located in the Miramar district in Havana, attended by Lee Joo-il, director-general for Central and South American affairs at South Korea's foreign ministry, and Carlos Pereira, director general for bilateral affairs at the Cuban foreign ministry, among other officials, the ministry said.
South Korea is expected to announce its ambassador to Cuba soon, according to a diplomatic source. A career diplomat currently stationed in a Central American country has reportedly been designated for the position after Havana gave consent for the appointment, a diplomatic procedure known as "agrement."
Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul (R) meets Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Eduardo Rodriguez Parrilla for talks on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Sept. 24, 2024, in this file photo provided by Cho's office. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
Cuba has appointed Claudio Monzon Baeza as its top envoy to South Korea. Monzon assumed his post last week.
South Korea and Cuba made the surprise announcement on Feb. 14 last year on the establishment of diplomatic relations, in an apparent heavy blow to North Korea that has touted its "brotherly" ties with Havana since the Cold War era.
Since the announcement, Seoul and Havana have been working to launch diplomatic missions in each other's countries, with South Korea setting up a temporary office in Havana and dispatching diplomats as an interim step.
"We expect the embassy opening will enhance convenience for our nationals residing in or visiting Cuba by providing consular services and protection, and contribute to expanding bilateral exchanges and cooperation," the ministry said.
Around 30 South Korean nationals are living on the Caribbean island nation, according to ministry data.
Cuba is also expected to open its embassy in Seoul in the coming months.
elly@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · January 18, 2025
7. Yoon's arrest fuels fervent reactions from supporters
Yoon's arrest fuels fervent reactions from supporters
donga.com
Posted January. 18, 2025 07:39,
Updated January. 18, 2025 07:39
Yoon's arrest fuels fervent reactions from supporters. January. 18, 2025 07:39. .
Since the arrest of President Yoon Suk Yeol, the actions of his fervent supporters have escalated to extreme levels, raising significant concern. On Thursday, hundreds gathered around the Seoul Western District Court, where an arrest warrant is expected to be filed, forming a human chain to block the court's main entrance and shouting slogans such as "The rule of law is dead." Some lay on the ground or engaged in physical altercations with the police, disregarding current laws that prohibit gatherings within 100 meters of the court. Furthermore, there have even been online threats targeting the Seoul Central District Court judge who rejected President Yoon’s habeas corpus petition. On Wednesday, near the CIO in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, where President Yoon was arrested, a man in his 50s set himself on fire.
This extreme behavior reflects the inability of some ardent supporters to reconcile their high expectations with reality. Adding to the problem are YouTubers who exploit this anger and despair for profit, worsening the situation. They broadcast live from places like Gwanghwamun and the Hannam-dong presidential residence, where hardline supporters gather. Some even incited violence with provocative statements including “The security agency should open fire,” while rally participants responded with small cash donations via YouTube’s super chat feature. This creates a vicious cycle where more extreme rhetoric leads to higher profits, commercially exploiting social conflicts ignited by the impeachment and martial law controversies.
President Yoon himself has seemingly acknowledged these extreme YouTubers, inadvertently boosting their influence. Meanwhile, politicians from the People’s Power Party, likely encouraged by the conservative base's mobilization, have remained silent, failing to counter these isolated and radical voices. In this vacuum, some reckless religious figures and far-right YouTubers have resorted to inflammatory rhetoric, invoking martyrdom and death, which crosses the bounds of common sense.
We are navigating a period of internal division and external challenges—a national crisis. While the sense of loss following the impeachment of a supported president is understandable, extreme actions cannot be justified. This is a time when leaders from both ruling and opposition parties must demonstrate restraint and show leadership rooted in unity. Their words and actions will be recorded with precision and judged with rigor.
한국어
donga.com
8. N. Korea warns of taking action 'more intensively' over S. Korea, U.S., Japan's air drills
Political warfare. Blackmail diplomacy.
This is also in support of those political leaders in the South who seek to undermine the ROK/US alliance and trilateral cooperation with Japan. The north wants to generate faar in the South Korean public.
(LEAD) N. Korea warns of taking action 'more intensively' over S. Korea, U.S., Japan's air drills | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Park Boram · January 17, 2025
(ATTN: UPDATES with more info in last 2 paras)
SEOUL, Jan. 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korea warned Friday it will "more intensively" exercise the right to self-defense, denouncing South Korea, the United States and Japan for staging combined air drills, involving U.S. B-1B bombers.
The North's foreign ministry issued the statement as the three countries held joint trilateral air drills, involving two U.S. B-1B bombers, Wednesday over the Korean Peninsula following North Korea's recent launches of hypersonic and short-range ballistic missiles.
The chief of the ministry's external policy office expressed "serious" concern that "provocations" by the U.S. and its allies were adding security instability to the peninsula, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The ministry "clarifies once again that the DPRK's exercise of the right to self-defense to defend the sovereign rights and security interests of the state will be conducted more intensively," the official said, using the acronym of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The official warned his country will exercise "more thoroughly and perfectly" the right to self-defense in line with its "toughest counteraction strategy" in a bid to strongly deter any military provocations by its enemies.
The latest trilateral exercise was aimed at enhancing joint capabilities among Seoul, Washington and Tokyo over Pyongyang's evolving nuclear and missile threats.
North Korea launched what it claimed to be a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile Jan. 6, followed by the launch of several short-range ballistic missiles Tuesday.
In a separate commentary carried by the KCNA, the North also criticized the U.S. for increasing defense costs, pledging its own defense buildup in response.
"Another increase in (U.S.) defense costs this year may ... escalate the risks of military clashes on the Korean Peninsula and in the surrounding region by another level," the commentary said, adding that the country will focus more on building strong self-defense this year.
This photo, provided by the U.S. 7th Air Force, shows two U.S. B-1B bombers being escorted by two South Korean F-15K and two Japanese F-2 fighter jets, respectively, during combined drills conducted over waters near the Korean Peninsula on Jan. 15, 2025. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Park Boram · January 17, 2025
9. PPP support rises as partisan gap reverts to pre-martial law state, Gallup poll finds
Friday
January 17, 2025
dictionary + A - A
PPP support rises as partisan gap reverts to pre-martial law state, Gallup poll finds
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2025-01-17/national/politics/PPP-support-rises-as-partisan-gap-reverts-to-premartial-law-state-Gallup-poll-finds/2224907
Published: 17 Jan. 2025, 19:32
Updated: 17 Jan. 2025, 20:10
President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, greets Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung at the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on April 29, 2024. [YONHAP]
Support for impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol's People Power Party (PPP) has risen to 39 percent, according to the results of a recent survey released by Gallup Korea on Friday.
The survey, which questioned 1,001 adults over the age of 18 from Tuesday to Thursday, showed a 5 percent increase in support of the PPP, which has resisted attempts by the liberal Democratic Party (DP) to establish a special counsel probe into Yoon’s Dec. 3 declaration of martial law.
The DP, which spearheaded an impeachment motion against Yoon that passed on Dec. 14, received support from 36 percent of respondents, which is the same as Gallup’s survey from the previous week.
The minor liberal Rebuilding Korea Party received support from 4 percent of respondents, while 17 percent reported no preference for any party.
In its analysis, Gallup Korea said that the country’s partisan divide appears to “have reverted to the state it was in before the Dec. 3 declaration of martial law.”
The pollster noted that the DP recorded its highest level of popular support since Yoon took office in the immediate aftermath of his impeachment, but that surge has receded in the new year.
Gallup Korea said it believes Yoon and the PPP managed to claw back and consolidate support from its conservative base “through repeated political messaging.”
Related Article
Altogether, the pollster believes the current political situation is “clearly different” from the 2016 impeachment crisis, when then-President Park Geun-hye and her Saenuri Party bled support after she was suspended from office over allegations that she had allowed her confidant Choi Soon-sil to meddle in state affairs.
Though the Saenuri Party polled between 29 and 34 percent from April to October 2016, support for conservatives crashed after Park was impeached by the National Assembly in December that year.
Just 12 percent of the respondents to the Gallup survey in the third week of January 2017 expressed support for the Saenuri Party compared to 37 percent for the Democratic Party.
However, the recent Gallup survey found that DP leader Lee Jae-myung still leads among all current hypothetical contenders for the presidency.
If the Constitutional Court rules to uphold Yoon’s impeachment, a snap presidential election must be held within 60 days.
According to the survey, 31 percent of respondents said they prefer Lee as Korea’s next president over potential conservative candidates Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo, Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo and former PPP leader Han Dong-hoon, who each received between 6 and 7 percent support.
Among the respondents who identified as DP supporters, 74 percent said they would vote for Lee as president, while 14 percent of PPP supporters said they prefer Kim.
Just 40 percent of respondents said they want to see conservatives stay in power, while 48 percent said they want a candidate from the liberal bloc to take over the reins of government.
Gallup also found support for Yoon’s impeachment fell from 70 percent among respondents between the ages of 20 and 40 to 60 percent, while those aged 60 and over shifted markedly in opposition to his removal from office.
BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
10. Korea's settlement with Westinghouse paves way for future cooperation, Czech plant deal
Friday
January 17, 2025
dictionary + A - A
Korea's settlement with Westinghouse paves way for future cooperation, Czech plant deal
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2025-01-17/business/economy/Koreas-settlement-with-Westinghouse-paves-way-for-future-cooperation-Czech-plant-deal/2224887
Published: 17 Jan. 2025, 18:52
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power employees cheer upon hearing the announcement on July 17, 2024, that the company was selected as the preferred bidder for a nuclear power project in the Czech Republic. [YONHAP]
[NEWS IN FOCUS]
Korea’s settlement with Westinghouse, a major U.S. nuclear power plant supplier, has removed a major hurdle standing in the way of the country’s efforts to boost the export of nuclear reactors as well as finalize a big deal with the Czech Republic.
The detailed conditions of the settlement remain undisclosed, but two state-run energy companies from Korea and Westinghouse agreed to resolve the intellectual property dispute and vowed further cooperation for the deployment of nuclear power during a ceremony held in the United States on Jan. 16.
Related Article
The involved parties — Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), the Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco) and Westinghouse — announced the decision in a statement released Friday.
Nuclear reactors operate in Dukovany, Czech Republic [YONHAP]
The dispute dates back 2022 when Westinghouse filed an intellectual property complaint against the Korean corporations, claiming that the underlying technologies for KHNP’s nuclear power plant model APR1400 are based on licensed Westinghouse intellectual properties.
The company went on to appeal the Czech Republic’s decision last year to select KHNP as the preferred bidder to construct two nuclear reactors worth around 24 trillion won ($16.4 billion).
The appeal and the ongoing domestic political unrest following President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived martial law decree further clouded the prospects of finalizing the deal in March, but a recent agreement between the Seoul and Washington fostered amicable relations.
Seoul’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced last week that they officially signed the "Inter-Agency MOU on Principles for Korea-U.S. Nuclear Energy Exports and Cooperation" with the U.S. Department of Energy and the State Department in Washington.
The inter-government memorandum of understanding means the allies’ companies could form a team or consortium for overseas projects.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm celebrated the settlement, looking forward to future cooperation.
“Today’s agreement between Westinghouse and the Republic of Korea companies Kepco and KHNP marks an exceptional accomplishment, which could pave the way for hundreds of billions of dollars in cooperative projects moving forward while creating and maintaining hundreds of thousands of jobs in the civil nuclear sector,” the secretary said in a statement.
Kepco CEO Kim Dong-chel echoed the remarks, saying that the decision could “ease uncertainties from legal disputes and actively pursue overseas nuclear power plant projects."
Westinghouse President & CEO Patrick Fragman also noted in a statement, “As the world demands more firm baseload power, we look forward to opportunities for cooperation to deploy nuclear power at even greater scale.”
Still, industry insiders and experts are keeping tabs on the undisclosed conditions. Some suspect that the KHNP could offer a certain amount of royalty fees to Westinghouse while others predict that the two sides could divide their regions of focus.
“It is the right decision for both Korea and the United States to join hands against China and Russia, which are aggressively moving into the nuclear power market,” said a professor who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“But profitability could erode compared to an independent entry if, say, Korea is responsible for the Middle Eastern region and Westinghouse for Europe.”
BY PARK EUN-JEE, KIM KI-HWAN [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]
11. NATO Takes Stock Of Cooperation With Japan And The Republic Of Korea
Excerpts:
NATO is developing its cooperation with the Republic of Korea and Japan through their respective individually tailored partnership programmes (ITPP) and through flagship projects launched at NATO’s Summit in Washington. The four flagship projects are support to Ukraine (military healthcare), cyber defence, countering disinformation, and artificial intelligence, based on cooperation between NATO and its Indo-Pacific partners, i.e. Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea.
NATO Takes Stock Of Cooperation With Japan And The Republic Of Korea
eurasiareview.com · January 17, 2025
NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, Ambassador Boris Ruge, visited the Republic of Korea and Japan, from 14 to 16 January 2025.
Ambassador Ruge met with senior officials in Seoul and Tokyo to discuss security issues of common interest, at a time when security in the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions are more interconnected than at any time in recent history, including as a result of China’s and North Korea’s support to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Ambassador Ruge engaged with members of civil society and academia, at the Chey Institute in Seoul and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation in Tokyo. He also met with the Ambassadors of NATO nations in the two capitals.
As part of the high-level staff talks Ambassador Ruge and his Korean and Japanese counterparts discussed the state of play of NATO’s long-standing relations with both countries and explored options for further strengthening the partnerships. The topics addressed ranged from defence industry cooperation, cyber defence, countering hybrid threats, to disinformation and artificial intelligence.
NATO is developing its cooperation with the Republic of Korea and Japan through their respective individually tailored partnership programmes (ITPP) and through flagship projects launched at NATO’s Summit in Washington. The four flagship projects are support to Ukraine (military healthcare), cyber defence, countering disinformation, and artificial intelligence, based on cooperation between NATO and its Indo-Pacific partners, i.e. Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea.
Earlier this week, Japan opened a dedicated diplomatic mission to NATO. The newly appointed Ambassador Osamu Izawa was received by Secretary General Mark Rutte, on 15 January 2025.
eurasiareview.com · January 17, 2025
12. North Korea expert released after lengthy detainment in Switzerland for spying
A little reported story.
Excerpts:
The North Korea expert’s case first became known after he suddenly disappeared in March 2024. Friends grew concerned when they were unable to get in touch with him, and some feared that he had been detained in China during his regular trips for work as an environmental consultant.
The counterintelligence investigation into his activities points to an effort by Switzerland to root out Chinese espionage operations in Geneva, home to multiple U.N. organizations, and the decision to arrest him was highly unusual in a country that typically asks spies to quietly leave.
North Korea expert released after lengthy detainment in Switzerland for spying
New court records detail sweeping investigation into ex-UN official from Canada, though fate of his case remains unclear
https://www.nknews.org/2025/01/north-korea-expert-released-after-lengthy-detainment-in-switzerland-for-spying/
Ifang Bremer January 17, 2025
A barbed wire wall | Image: Pexels
A North Korea expert and former U.N. official detained for months in Switzerland on suspicions of spying for a foreign government has been released from prison, NK News has confirmed.
The Canadian national named Craig Boljkovac is back home in Geneva and no longer in pre-trial detention, a joint investigation with Swiss media company Tamedia has found, after his mysterious disappearance early last year raised alarm among friends about his whereabouts.
However, it is unclear when exactly the expert was released, what it means for the espionage case against him and whether he is under house arrest. No publicly available ruling or sentencing has been issued in his case.
NK News first reported on Boljkovac’s detention in August following a joint investigation with Tamedia and the German news outlet Der Spiegel, finding that Swiss authorities took the rare move to arrest the 50-something Canadian last spring on suspicions of spying, likely for China.
NK News previously did not publish Boljkovac’s full name because he has not been convicted and authorities have not made public charges against him. Canadian media has since publicly identified him.
According to an intelligence source, the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service first took an interest in Boljkovac while monitoring a Chinese spy posing as a diplomat back in 2021, and court documents appeared to indicate that Swiss authorities opened an investigation into the Canadian in March 2023 over “military, political and economic” intelligence gathering for a “foreign government.”
Newly revealed Federal Criminal Court documents dated Nov. 21 and released on Thursday appear to confirm these findings, while suggesting that Boljkovac engaged in espionage up to a decade earlier than previously known.
The records also reveal the sweeping extent of the Swiss investigation into his activities, encompassing phone surveillance and GPS tracking.
According to the documents, Swiss intelligence witnessed an unnamed individual receive what appeared to be money from an intelligence officer in a restaurant, and the suspect discussed transmitting information about others to the officer.
Swiss intelligence believes that the suspect talked about five individuals from country “Y” during one of the meetings with the officer from country “Z,” according to the court records. “Z [has] a permanent interest in obtaining information regarding Y.”
While the documents do not name the suspect, this account closely matches previous NK News reporting that Boljkovac met a female Chinese national on several occasions in 2021 at upscale Geneva restaurants, allegedly discussing North Korean diplomats based in Switzerland.
Dates and the names of lawyers mentioned in the new documents also line up with details from earlier records linked to Boljkovac’s case.
Notably, the records indicate that the Canadian national’s activities preceded the restaurant meetings, stating that “there are indications that [the suspect] may have already started providing information [to the foreign government] in 2011.”
Boljkovac worked for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) until 2012 and formed closed relationships with North Korean officials during his work for the U.N.
The focus of the November court proceedings detailed in the documents was the legality of various surveillance measures that authorities used to investigate the suspect, including phone surveillance, GPS tracking devices and an IMSI-catcher — a device that can intercept mobile phone traffic.
The Federal Criminal Court found the surveillance justified but did not detail whether the suspect has been found guilty of espionage, or when the case will reach a conclusion.
In response to NK News questions about Boljkovac’s case and the new court documents, Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General said it “cannot currently go beyond what the Federal Criminal Court has communicated.”
Ottawa’s foreign ministry told NK News that “Global Affairs Canada is aware that a Canadian was detained in Switzerland.”
“Consular officials are in contact with local authorities and are providing consular assistance. Due to privacy considerations, no further information can be disclosed.”
Boljkovac did not respond to NK News requests for comment.
The North Korea expert’s case first became known after he suddenly disappeared in March 2024. Friends grew concerned when they were unable to get in touch with him, and some feared that he had been detained in China during his regular trips for work as an environmental consultant.
The counterintelligence investigation into his activities points to an effort by Switzerland to root out Chinese espionage operations in Geneva, home to multiple U.N. organizations, and the decision to arrest him was highly unusual in a country that typically asks spies to quietly leave.
“It is very rare for the Swiss authorities to make arrests on spying charges, let alone bring such a matter eventually to court,” Ralph Weber, an expert on Chinese operations in Switzerland at the University of Basel, previously told NK News.
Andrei Lankov, a professor at Kookmin University and director of Korea Risk Group, previously said it would hardly come as a surprise if Chinese agents sought information about North Korean diplomats in Geneva.
“North Korea is a country which in terms of stability and policy has a massive impact on Chinese decision making,” the expert said, explaining that China’s interest in the DPRK relates to national security.
If Boljkovac shared sensitive information from former U.N. colleagues or North Korea professionals, it could put them in danger when they travel to China or North Korea, both of which have detained foreigners on allegations of espionage, subversion and other trumped-up charges over the years.
A conviction for gathering intelligence for a foreign government is punishable by up to three years in prison under Swiss law.
Edited by Bryan Betts
13. North Korea smuggled nuclear weapons equipment from Spain: Report
North Korea smuggled nuclear weapons equipment from Spain: Report
Falsified customs codes enabled vacuum furnace to be shipped through Mexico, South Africa and China, US think tank says
https://www.nknews.org/2025/01/north-korea-smuggled-nuclear-weapons-equipment-from-spain-report/
Anton Sokolin January 17, 2025
A Hwasong-19 ICBM launch on Oct. 31 | Image: Rodong Sinmun (Nov. 1, 2024)
North Korea acquired a vacuum furnace suitable for nuclear weapons production from Spain by smuggling it across multiple continents, according to a U.S. think tank, raising concerns about Pyongyang’s ability to violate sanctions by misidentifying goods.
In a case dating back to 2022, a dual-purpose vacuum furnace that could be used for uranium melting ended up reaching North Korea from Spain through Mexico, South Africa and China, the Institute for Science and International Security wrote in a report on Wednesday.
David Albright, the think tank’s founder and author of the case study, said this example shows how North Korea “applies tremendous resources and thought to bypassing sanctions to get critical equipment,” resorting to “elaborate schemes to succeed.”
“Our understanding is that Mexico and South Africa were not tipped by Western intelligence agencies in time to stop the shipments to China,” the expert told NK News, explaining that the report aims to “build more awareness in Spain, Mexico and South Africa.”
The convoluted scheme involved falsifying shipping documents at each step to obscure the true nature of the item.
After being sold by an unknown supplier in Spain, the furnace first went to Mexico, and the recipient then re-exported it to South Africa, altering documents to list it under the Harmonized System (HS) code as “machinery,” according to the think tank.
Albright said he was not at liberty to discuss the source for this information but that “it was a government official with deep knowledge about this type of subject.” He also noted this is the first time the case has been publicly reported.
Once in South Africa, the item’s HS code and description were reportedly altered again, labeling it as metal scrap to bypass a customs tax and conceal its true use. It was subsequently shipped to China and eventually smuggled into North Korea.
This type of furnace is “typically controlled under the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) Part 2 list and is banned for export to North Korea under United Security Council resolutions,” the report stated, explaining that the device is “a mainstay of a nuclear weapons program.”
“With North Korea expanding its uranium enrichment program and producing greater quantities of weapon-grade uranium, this new furnace would be especially important,” according to the report.
Albright said the furnace could play a critical role in North Korea’s nuclear weapons program as it is able “to melt weapon-grade uranium metal discs made from uranium tetrafluoride in a reactor.”
“The furnace operation must ensure that during the melting and pouring operation the weapon-grade uranium oxidizes as little as possible, and this type of furnace is designed to do so,” the expert said. “The molten weapon-grade uranium would be poured into suitable molds for nuclear weapon components.”
The think tank previously found that North Korea had been regularly operating its primary nuclear weapons development complex in Yongbyon since 2023, assessing that the site could produce “19.5-22.3 kg weapon-grade plutonium per year” if operated at “70-80 percent capacity.”
The DPRK managed to acquire the furnace despite the fact that Spain, Mexico and South Africa are all members of the NSG, a group of nuclear suppliers seeking to contribute to the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.
The report emphasized the “need for checking the end user and later verifying the end use, at least for critical dual-use goods,” explaining that such checks done by Spain “could have uncovered this scheme and even prevented it.”
While also an NSG member, China has shown “poor record of preventing controlled or UNSC-banned exports from ending up in North Korea, Russia and other sanctioned countries,” the report noted, emphasizing the need for additional scrutiny of exports to China.
“Once in China, it is hopeless given the extreme irresponsibility of Chinese authorities to stop sensitive, controlled goods (even in China) from reaching North Korea,” Albright added.
NK Pro found that China re-exported items worth millions of dollars to North Korea from other countries in 2024, including the U.S. and European countries, demonstrating the far-reaching scale of the DPRK’s acquisition networks.
The revelations about the DPRK’s acquisition of the vacuum furnace comes as the country has continued to make strides in developing nuclear weapons, revealing a second enrichment facility and launching new solid-fuel missiles theoretically capable of striking the U.S. mainland.
Edited by Bryan Betts
14. Watch: North Korean Troops in Kursk Targeted by Attack Drones
Interesting video at the link.
https://www.wsj.com/video/series/on-the-news/watch-north-korean-troops-in-kursk-targeted-by-attack-drones/249754E8-0F53-42D6-AB27-186EE35BB5A6?mod=Searchresults_pos4&page=1
Watch: North Korean Troops in Kursk Targeted by Attack Drones
Ukrainian special forces released footage it said shows attack drones chasing North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region. WSJ’s Dasl Yoon explains why Kim Jong Un’s troops are suffering heavy casualties. Photo: 95th Brigade/Storyful
By Wall Street Journal
23 hours ago
3:33
- About this series
On The News
15. US experts: “Kim Jong-un feels betrayed by Putin… will not deploy additional troops”
This is a Google translation of an RFA report.
US experts: “Kim Jong-un feels betrayed by Putin… will not deploy additional troops”
https://www.rfa.org/korean/in_focus/nk_nuclear_talks/north-korean-troops-losses-russia-betrayal-additional-deployment-01172025135337.html
WASHINGTON-Lee Sang-min lees@rfa.org
2025.01.17
North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin are seen spending time together in the garden area of the Kumsusan State Guest House in June last year, deepening their friendship.
/federation
00:00 /04:28
Anchor : If casualties from the North Korean troops continue at the current rate, an analysis has been released that by mid-April, the entire North Korean army of about 12,000 soldiers will be killed or injured . Reporter Lee Sang-min reports . The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S. research group that has been analyzing the situation on the Ukrainian battlefield, released a report titled “Assessment of the Russian Offensive” on the 16th . The report analyzed that if the North Korean troops deployed in the Kursk region of Russia continue to suffer the current high casualty losses, the entire North Korean army of about 12,000 soldiers will be killed or injured by mid- April this year . The report assessed that the North Korean army has suffered approximately 92 casualties per day since it was deployed to the frontline in early December last year . As its basis, the report cited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s announcement in early January that 3,800 North Korean soldiers had been killed or injured , and South Korea’s National Intelligence Service’s announcement on the 13th that 300 North Korean soldiers had been killed and 2,700 wounded so far . Considering that about 3,000 North Korean casualties occurred in the first month of combat, if casualties continue at this rate, by April, 12 weeks from now, 12,000 North Korean soldiers will be killed or wounded . In relation to this, Rob Bauer, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, stated at a press conference held after the NATO Defense Chiefs of Staff Meeting in Brussels, Belgium on the 17th, " The North Korean military is being used in a way that will result in large numbers of casualties . "
Chairman Bauer specifically mentioned the language barrier, saying, " Coordination between the Russian and North Korean militaries is realistically impossible ," and confirmed that about a third of the approximately 11,000 North Korean troops already deployed to Russia's Kursk region were wounded or killed . [ NATO Military Committee Chairman Rob Bauer ] Because of the language barrier, coordination between the Russian and North Korean militaries is realistically impossible , and because Russia is not necessarily deploying North Korean troops in situations where it is advantageous, heavy troop losses are inevitable .
He pointed out that " it was a strategic mistake to bring North Korea into the war ( in Ukraine ) like this . " However, some say that the North Korean military was unfamiliar with drone attacks immediately after being deployed to the battle and suffered many casualties , but now they are responding to the point where they are surprisingly shooting down drones, so there are observations that there may not be many casualties in the future .
South Korean Ambassador to the UN: “North Korean troops dispatched to Russia are being used like expendables”
“North Korean troops dispatched to Russia are being used as human mine detectors”
A North Korean soldier captured by Ukrainian forces. He appears to have been wounded in both hands. / Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's Telegram (RFA's own mosaic of the face)
Meanwhile, attention is being paid to whether North Korea will deploy additional troops if all of the deployed North Korean troops are killed or injured in mid-April as the report predicts .
Bruce Bennett, a senior researcher at the RAND Corporation in the United States, told Radio Free Asia (RFA) on the 17th that when General Secretary Kim Jong-un deployed the North Korean troops, he hoped they would learn very sophisticated tactics and techniques, but in reality, he must have felt betrayed that the North Korean troops were being used as cannon fodder for the Russian military .
[ Researcher Bennett ] If I were Kim Jong-un, I would feel that Russia has betrayed me . The Russian military has not used the North Korean military in a way that would help them learn how to operate well in modern warfare . In this regard, Seth Jones, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Defense and Security Division, and Benjamin Jensen, a professor at the Marine Corps University, pointed out in an article contributed to the Wall Street Journal on the 14th that the United States could drive a wedge between Russia and North Korea by highlighting the fact that Russia is treating the North Korean military as mere cannon fodder . Bennett also said that General Secretary Kim Jong-un likely sent mainly elite troops this time, and that these were soldiers with good ranks .
However, there is analysis that they may not send additional troops out of concern that there will be internal backlash against this if a large number of these soldiers are killed or wounded. Sydney Seiler
, former director of the National Intelligence Council's (NIC) North Korea coverage team, also told RFA on the 17th that North Korea has achieved its main goal of demonstrating its " blood alliance " with Russia by sending 12,000 troops, so there is no reason to send additional troops . Meanwhile , Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, told RFA on the 13th that there are currently no moves to send additional North Korean troops .
This is Lee Sang-min of RFA Free Asia Broadcasting . Editor Park Jeong-woo , Web Editor Lee Gyeong-ha
16. North Koreans show ‘superior combat readiness’ to Russian contractors: official
Is this useful PSYOP against Russian target audiences? (Not by RFA but from those providing the information to RFA which is simply providing the information as received).
This is a Google translation of an RFA report.
North Koreans show ‘superior combat readiness’ to Russian contractors: official
Captured Russians said North Korean equipment was far better than that of Russian contract soldiers.
By Taejun Kang for RFA
2025.01.16
Troops take part in a military parade to mark the 75th founding anniversary of North Korea’s army, in Pyongyang, North Korea, Feb. 8, 2023.
(KCNA via Reuters)
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Russian soldiers captured by Ukraine “expressed concerns” about the superior combat readiness of allied North Korean troops compared with Russian contract soldiers in the Kursk region, said a senior Ukrainian officer.
As many as 12,000 North Korean soldiers are in Russia to support its war against Ukraine in Russia’s Kursk, according to Ukraine and the United States – although neither Moscow nor Pyongyang has acknowledged this.
Last year, Kyiv said its forces had captured more than 700 Russian troops during operations in Kursk.
“Interestingly, the Russian captives report that the equipment, armament, and training of North Korean soldiers were significantly better than that of the Russian contract soldiers,” said Petro Haidashchuk, a senior sergeant at Ukraine’s 80th Independent Air Assault Brigade, during an interview with Ukrainian broadcaster Espresso TV on Thursday.
Russian contractors typically comprise former military personnel, including retired servicemen aged between 35 and 55, according to media reports. Recruitment efforts have expanded to include various demographics. They operate in a legal gray area, with their numbers and combat readiness varying.
Haidashchuk’s remarks stand in contrast to media reports suggesting that North Korean soldiers were battling with deteriorating supplies and outdated weaponry.
Mykhailo Makaruk of Ukraine’s 8th Special Operations Regiment told Radio Free Asia in December, after searching through uniforms of North Korean soldiers who had been killed in Kursk, that the soldiers had no military food in their bags, but only some low quality grenades as well as poor military medicine kits.
Separately, Haidashchuk explained that the captured Russians said they had no contact with the North Koreans as they were kept separate at training bases.
“Firstly, due to the language barrier. Secondly, the North Koreans live, eat, and conduct their activities completely separately from the Russian occupiers. They have no joint operations, except for combat,” he said.
“The North Koreans’ task, according to the captured occupiers, was exclusively assault operations, while the Russians were meant to secure the positions in case of success,” he added.
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‘Expendables’
South Korea’s top envoy to the United Nations said Thursday that North Korean troops were being treated as “expendables” and as a “cynical” means of sustaining the North Korean regime.
“The testimonies of two North Korean soldiers, recently captured by Ukraine’s military in the Kursk region, clearly demonstrate that the North Korean troops are engaged in combat and being dissipated as expendables,” ambassador Hwang Joon-kook said during a U.N. Security Council meeting.
The Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations, Hwang Joon-kook speaks to delegates during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., Oct. 5, 2022.
(Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)
Citing Seoul’s estimate of 12,000 North Korean troops dispatched to Russia, with more than 300 were killed with about 2,700 injured, Hwang said the large number of North Korean casualties was due to what he called “inhumane” tactics on the front lines.
“According to the reports, they were even crossing land mine fields in a single column, 3 to 4 meters apart, like human mine detectors without cover or mine-clearing vehicles,” Hwang said.
Hwang was referring to a report published by British daily The Times, which cited a Ukrainian military official as saying that North Korean soldiers sent to Russia were being used as “human mine detectors.”
Hwang also said that news of the North’s troop deployment was spreading across North Korea, with families of the dispatched troops having expressed “utmost fear and anxiety of their sons and brothers being used as slave soldiers and mere cannon fodder,” citing South Korea’s intelligence reports.
“This must stop immediately,” Hwang added.
Edited by Mike Firn.
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
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