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Quotes of the Day:
“The enemy will never realize how much I thank them for taking everything material away from me, and reducing me to the point where I didn't have anything but faith in God. I had a chance to look at myself, and realize that you can do things you never realized were possible.”
– Nick Rowe
“Half of the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it."
– Robert Frost
"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do."
– Eleanor Roosevelt
1. Head of South Korean Opposition Party Is Stabbed
2. What Kim Jong Un’s Changing Outfits Reveal About North Korea
3. US Overtakes China as South Korea’s Top Export Market
4. The Politics of North Korea’s ICBM Program
5. S. Korea lodges protest against Japan's claims to Dokdo in tsunami alert
6. Unification minister vows stronger deterrence against N.K. provocations
7. N. Korea apparently aims to use its animosity against S. Korea to boost military capability: Seoul
8. Unification ministry launches early warning system for defectors at risk
9. N. Korea's Kim attends student performance on New Year's Day
10. Attacked opposition leader Lee's surgery completed, progress closely monitored
11. North Korea’s Kim Jong-un is thinking the unthinkable
12. New OS update for N. Korean phones prevents sharing of photos, lengthy videos
13. North Korean-Russian Military Cooperation Could Threaten Global Security
14. North Korea’s Kim vows to sharpen ‘treasured sword’ against US and South, 2024 will be ‘new heyday’ for war preparations
15. 'Beyond Utopia' tracks desperate North Koreans trying to escape to freedom
1. Head of South Korean Opposition Party Is Stabbed
Head of South Korean Opposition Party Is Stabbed
A neck injury sustained by Lee Jae-myung isn’t believed to be life threatening, a male suspect is arrested at the scene
https://www.wsj.com/world/asia/lee-jae-myung-head-of-south-korean-opposition-party-is-stabbed-f9ac661f?mod=hp_lead_pos8
By Timothy W. Martin
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Updated Jan. 2, 2024 2:17 am ET
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The head of South Korea’s opposition Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, was stabbed in the neck during a visit to the port city of Busan on Tuesday. A party spokesman said Lee was flown by helicopter to a Seoul hospital, where he will undergo surgery. Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
SEOUL—The head of South Korea’s opposition party was stabbed in the neck during a Tuesday visit to the port city of Busan.
Lee Jae-myung, the 59-year-old leader of South Korea’s Democratic Party, remained conscious after being attacked by a male assailant, who was arrested at the scene, according to South Korea’s semiofficial Yonhap News Agency. Blood could be seen on his shirt collar. Lee was transported to a hospital in Busan within 20 minutes of the attack, Yonhap reported.
The injury isn’t expected to be life threatening, according to an official at the Busan hospital where Lee first received emergency treatment. Doctors there suspect Lee may have sustained damage to his jugular vein, and are concerned about additional massive bleeding, a party spokesman said. Lee was later flown by helicopter to a Seoul hospital, where he will undergo surgery Tuesday afternoon, the spokesman said.
Before he was stabbed, Lee was answering reporters’ questions at the proposed site of a new international airport in Busan, according to video of the event published by local media.
The male assailant was in his early 60s and wielded a roughly 7-inch knife that he had purchased online, according to local police, who are still seeking to establish a motive. The man will be charged with attempted murder.
The attacker appeared to present himself as a supporter as he approached Lee in a crowd, according to local media reports. The man wore a blue paper hat, matching the Democratic Party’s primary color. He carried a sign that read “200 seats at the National Assembly”—a reference to the coming electoral campaign for the country’s 300-member legislature, according to local media.
The man initially asked for Lee’s autograph, before stabbing him with the knife, according to local media.
Lee is one of South Korea’s most prominent—and controversial—political figures. He lost a close race for the country’s presidency in 2022 to conservative Yoon Suk Yeol. From his time as a city mayor and head of South Korea’s most-populous province, Lee has faced several charges from prosecutors over breach of trust and bribery, relating to a land-development project and cash payments made by a South Korean company to North Korea. Lee has denied wrongdoing.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of South Korea’s opposition Democratic Party, speaks during a party meeting in Seoul last month. PHOTO: YONHAP/SHUTTERSTOCK
One of Yoon’s loudest critics, Lee went on a weekslong hunger strike protesting the current South Korean administration, with his health deteriorating so much that he was hospitalized.
After the stabbing, Yoon’s presidential office expressed deep concern for Lee’s safety and ordered the relevant authorities to investigate. Such acts of violence should never be tolerated in South Korea, a presidential spokesperson said.
The Tuesday attack comes months before April’s national legislative election. Lee’s left-leaning Democratic Party maintains a majority over the conservatives. South Koreans don’t hold a presidential election again until 2027, though Lee retains some backing to run again. He was ranked as the top hypothetical choice to lead the country, garnering support from 27% of respondents, according to a recent poll from South Korean broadcaster MBC.
Prominent government officials in South Korea have been attacked in the past. In 2015, the then-U.S. ambassador to Seoul, Mark Lippert, was slashed in the face and hand by a man protesting joint Washington-Seoul military drills. Ahead of the 2022 presidential election, a top Democratic Party official was attacked with a hammer. The reform czar for Yoon’s ruling People Power Party said he had been punched at a rally last year by protesters critical of the current administration.
Write to Timothy W. Martin at Timothy.Martin@wsj.com
Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Appeared in the January 2, 2024, print edition as 'South Korean Opposition Leader Stabbed in Neck'.
2. What Kim Jong Un’s Changing Outfits Reveal About North Korea
A 6 minute video looking at Kim's attire with commentary and analysis by Jenny Town.
https://www.wsj.com/video/series/wsj-explains/what-kim-jong-uns-changing-outfits-reveal-about-north-korea/563E7288-EBC4-4EBD-A57C-B09B536EBA0A?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1
What Kim Jong Un’s Changing Outfits Reveal About North Korea
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's appearance in public has shifted since he came to power over a decade ago. WSJ analyzes the subtle changes in Kim’s attire and what it signals about the future of his regime. Photo Composite: Emily Siu
By Wall Street Journal
January 1, 2024
6:40
3. US Overtakes China as South Korea’s Top Export Market
US Overtakes China as South Korea’s Top Export Market
South Korean exports to the US exceeded shipments to China for the first time in two decades last month, in a sign of shifting ties amid global tensions over economic security and tech supply chains.
South Korea sold $11.3 billion in goods to the US in December compared with $10.9 billion to China, the trade ministry said Monday. The switch in positions came as South Korea’s overall exports rose 5.1% from a year earlier — a third monthly increase after a yearlong slump.
The change in positions partly reflects China’s economic challenges, which led policymakers to come up with a series of stimulus measures last year. Still, one month’s data doesn’t offer conclusive proof of a conscious or enduring shift in trading patterns.
China remains South Korea’s biggest trading partner by a large margin given the scale of Seoul’s imports from the world’s second-largest economy.
South Korea's Biggest Export Markets
US overtakes China for first time since 2003
Source: Korea Trade Ministry, Statistics Korea
While exports to the US have increased from a year earlier for a fifth month, South Korea said shipments to China also continued to improve. Meanwhile, South Korea’s overall imports declined 10.8% from a year earlier, with a trade surplus widening to $4.5 billion.
Read More: South Korea’s Exports Grow in Sign Momentum to Carry Into 2024
The data come as the US looks to generate support for its agenda to reduce dependence on China in global supply chains and limit the country’s access to advanced semiconductor technology.
That has placed countries like South Korea and Japan in an awkward spot between their two biggest trading partners. Both Seoul and Tokyo are key military allies of Washington, another important dimension given Beijing’s increasing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific and rising tensions in the region.
Under President Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korea has been forging stronger ties to the US. Yoon traveled to Washington last year with a plethora of Korean executives, where he pitched deeper ties with America in meetings with President Joe Biden and Congress.
South Korea and the US have a free-trade agreement which began in 2012, so Seoul benefits from US laws that increasingly restrict the use of batteries and other products made in countries including China.
China is also ramping up domestic production of goods as it moves up the value chain. One key area that China is focusing on is semiconductor and smartphone manufacturing, a development that has contributed to a slump in sales of goods made by Samsung Electronics Co. and other businesses.
4. The Politics of North Korea’s ICBM Program
Some important points from Dr. Bennett.
However we must push back hard on this statement and idea.
Excerpt:
The ROK public is thus asking: Will the United States respond to North Korean nuclear weapon use? By doing so, the United States might suffer North Korean nuclear attacks against Washington DC, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, or any other city. Or will the United States say that short-range missiles that could be used against the ROK are “not a threat to the United States”?
This is exactly what Kim is trying to achieve with his political warfare strategy. Those who question the US commitment and who argue against "trading" a US city for Seoul are actually supporting Kim's political warfare strategy. We must ensure the credibility of our commitment. We also must debunk the idea that by saying we are not willing to trade a US city for Seoul we are somehow protecting the US. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only do we increase the likelihood of conflict on the Korean peninsula we must understand that conflict on the Korean peninsula will have catastrophic effects on the US and the world. We must work hard to ensure we sustain deterrence and prevent war on the peninsula and this requires strategic reassurance and strategic resolve.
The Politics of North Korea’s ICBM Program
It appears that North Korea's Kim Jong-un is now practicing “ICBM politics.” Successful ICBM launches generate internal political support. His successful ICBM tests remind the ROK citizens of reasons to question the reliability of the U.S. nuclear umbrella.
The National Interest · by Bruce W. Bennett · January 1, 2024
In another world, it would be reasonable to expect North Korea to rank among the strongest and wealthiest countries across the dimensions of national power, just like its neighbor, South Korea. After all, the North Korean people are in many ways similar to their South Korean counterparts in terms of talent, capability, determination, resourcefulness, and so forth. It’s hard to believe now, but fifty to sixty years ago, North Korea was the industrial powerhouse of the peninsula. Even today, the North reportedly possesses roughly $8 trillion of untapped mineral deposits.
It is, therefore, one of the world’s serious anomalies that North Korea is, at best, a third-world country. It is unable to provide adequate food and healthcare for its people or reliable electrical power for its economy.
Why? The failure of the Kim regime to provide for its people lies in its insatiable appetite for nuclear arms. The regime does not seek prosperity and a good life for its people, conditions which would allow the North Korean people wide access to outside information and resources to elude regime control. Instead, the regime seeks survival through brutal and pervasive population control and repression. It also seeks dominance over the ROK. Achieving such dominance would not be an easy task for the North as few ROK citizens would want to be immersed in the poverty and misery suffered by the North Korean people.
How does the North Korean regime explain this misery to its people? It claims that it is in part the fault of their inveterately hostile enemy, the United States. The regime even argues that the United States wants to invade North Korea. Therefore, the regime must build a substantial military equipped with defensive nuclear weapons. The acquisition of these weapons and the missiles required to deliver them is meant to demonstrate to the North Korean people that the regime is a powerful player on the world stage. In addition, the regime’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles capable of threatening its enemies are some of the few successes that the regime can claim. This makes it extremely unlikely that the regime would ever commit to giving them up.
North Korea’s ICBMs also play an important role in its objective to dominate the ROK. While for decades, the ROK and the United States have anticipated that North Korea would seek to achieve that goal by repeating its 1950 invasion of the ROK, the North knows that such an effort would be extraordinarily risky. The United States has threatened that the regime will not survive if it uses nuclear weapons. But equally of concern to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is that if his forces invade the ROK, they will be exposed to a mass of outside information that could jeopardize his regime from the inside. Indeed, Kim even labels K-pop a “vicious cancer” that could undermine his regime.
Kim, therefore, appears to have adopted an alternative strategy. He has built nuclear-armed military forces, which have led a plurality of ROK citizens to consider the North militarily superior. Kim, therefore, likely strives to break the ROK-U.S. alliance, hoping that once he has done so, he can force the ROK people to accept North Korean dominance because of its military superiority.
While for decades, the ROK people trusted U.S. extended deterrence and its “nuclear umbrella,” things have changed. In January 2023, ROK President Yoon said, “The strategy of ‘nuclear umbrella’ or ‘extended deterrence’ is no longer reassuring for the [ROK] public now that North Korea has developed nuclear weapons and a range of missiles to deliver them.” Part of the problem is that the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan had an unexpectedly serious impact on the ROK, raising questions about whether the ROK can trust the United States to deter or defeat the existential threat that North Korean nuclear weapons are posing. And now that North Korean ICBMs are demonstrating an ability to attack U.S. cities with nuclear weapons, Kim Jong-un is repeatedly claiming that he is prepared to use nuclear weapons against the United States.
The ROK public is thus asking: Will the United States respond to North Korean nuclear weapon use? By doing so, the United States might suffer North Korean nuclear attacks against Washington DC, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, or any other city. Or will the United States say that short-range missiles that could be used against the ROK are “not a threat to the United States”?
Interestingly, North Korea has carried out eleven full or partial ICBM tests over the last two years. And yet, historically, North Korean elite escapees claim that North Korean doctrine holds that missile tests confirm the successful development of new missiles—technically unnecessary tests are just too expensive. With three successful tests of the latest North Korean ICBM already this year, Kim Jong-un has departed from this historical doctrine.
It appears that Kim is now practicing “ICBM politics.” Successful ICBM launches generate internal political support. His successful ICBM tests remind the ROK citizens of reasons to question the reliability of the U.S. nuclear umbrella. Little surprise then that Kim conducted his latest ICBM test immediately after the results of the second ROK-U.S. Nuclear Consultative Group meeting, a meeting designed to strengthen ROK nuclear assurance. Kim apparently concluded that he needed to stimulate ROK doubts, which led to discussions about developing ROK nuclear weapons. This act could undermine the viability of the ROK-US alliance. After all, the United States uses the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as the bulwark of its global nuclear nonproliferation efforts. The ROK’s development of nuclear weapons could jeopardize the future of this treaty.
With major ROK and U.S. elections in 2024, Kim can be expected to further test his ICBMs for primarily political purposes. In June this year, the U.S. published a National Intelligence Estimate extract projecting that the North will use its nuclear weapon program for such coercive purposes. The ROK and U.S. governments need a coherent strategy for countering this coercion.
About the Author
Bruce W. Bennett is a senior international/defense researcher at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. He works primarily on research topics such as strategy, force planning, and counterproliferation within the RAND International Security and Defense Policy Center.
Image Credit: North Korean State Media.
The National Interest · by Bruce W. Bennett · January 1, 2024
5. S. Korea lodges protest against Japan's claims to Dokdo in tsunami alert
Even a natural disaster is politicized.
(LEAD) S. Korea lodges protest against Japan's claims to Dokdo in tsunami alert | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Yi Wonju · January 2, 2024
(ATTN: ADDS more info in paras 4,6-7,9)
SEOUL, Jan. 2 (Yonhap) -- Seoul's foreign ministry expressed a strong protest against Tokyo on Tuesday as Japan's weather agency included South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo in a tsunami advisory issued after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Japan.
In a map showing tsunami alerts on the Japan Meteorological Agency's website, the rocky islets were highlighted in yellow, along with other regions on Japan's west coast, indicating tsunami advisories were issued for the areas.
The powerful quake struck the Noto Peninsula and surrounding areas in Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture on New Year's Day, reportedly killing several people and causing tsunamis on South Korea's east coast.
No South Korean casualties were reported in the tsunami so far, according to the ministry.
"Our government has strongly protested against Japan through a diplomatic channel and demanded corrective measures," foreign ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk said in a briefing.
South Korea will continue to respond sternly to Japan's unreasonable claims, he added, stressing that "no territorial dispute exists" regarding Dokdo.
"Dokdo is an integral part of Korean territory historically, geographically and under international law," he said.
South Korea, however, did not call in any Japanese officials to lodge the protest, a ministry official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.
Dokdo, which lies closer to South Korea in the body of water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, has long been a thorn in relations between the two countries. South Korea keeps a small police detachment on the islets, effectively controlling them.
This map, captured from the Japan Meteorological Agency's website on Jan. 1, 2023, shows the South Korean islets of Dokdo highlighted in yellow (top part) as a tsunami advisory is issued in the area following a 7.6 magnitude earthquake. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Yi Wonju · January 2, 2024
6. Unification minister vows stronger deterrence against N.K. provocations
The ROK and the ROK/US Alliance must conduct a superior form of political warfare against the north.
Excerpt:
Meanwhile, a ranking ministry official said North Korea appears to be staging high-intensity psychological warfare against South Korea by slamming the South's conservative and liberal governments altogether.
Unification minister vows stronger deterrence against N.K. provocations | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · January 2, 2024
SEOUL, Jan. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea plans to bolster its alliance with the United States in a bid to build a stronger deterrence system against North Korea's possible military provocations, Seoul's pointman on the North said Tuesday.
Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho made the remark during a ceremony marking the start of work in the new year, after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un threatened to "suppress the whole territory" of South Korea in a contingency at a year-end key party meeting.
"The government will craft a 'thicker and more elevated' deterrence system through the strengthening of the Seoul-Washington alliance in order to brace for Pyongyang's potential military provocations," the minister said.
He said North Korea would have to give up its nuclear weapons eventually if it bumps against Seoul-Washington's powerful "wall of the deterrence regime."
This file photo, taken Dec. 12, 2023, show Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho moving to attend a Cabinet meeting at the government complex building in Seoul. (Yonhap)
In a New Year's message issued Monday, President Yoon Suk Yeol said South Korea and the U.S. will complete a strengthened "extended deterrence" regime in the first half of 2024 against North Korea.
At last week's party plenary meeting, the North's leader defined inter-Korean ties as relations "between two states hostile to each other" and vowed to "overwhelmingly" bolster war readiness against the U.S.
South Korea's unification ministry said North Korea is expected to stage any form of provocative acts in a bid to fulfill its leader's order to subjugate the South's territory.
Meanwhile, a ranking ministry official said North Korea appears to be staging high-intensity psychological warfare against South Korea by slamming the South's conservative and liberal governments altogether.
At the party meeting, Kim condemned South Korea for seeking to destroy the North's regime, saying there has been no difference in Seoul's policy on North Korea regardless of whether they were conservative or liberal governments.
"North Korea apparently intends to bring confusion to South Koreans over their perception of the government's policy on North Korea," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · January 2, 2024
7. N. Korea apparently aims to use its animosity against S. Korea to boost military capability: Seoul
This may be an indication of Kim's perception of potential internal instability andhe must generate the perception of the hostile threat from the South and the US to justify the suffering and sacrifice of the Korean people in the north.
(LEAD) N. Korea apparently aims to use its animosity against S. Korea to boost military capability: Seoul | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · January 2, 2024
(ATTN: UPDATES with more details in paras 2, 6-8, 10)
SEOUL, Jan. 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has voiced its hostile stance against South Korea on a stronger note during a year-end key party meeting in a bid to use it as an excuse to bolster its military capability and intensify internal solidarity, Seoul's unification ministry said Tuesday.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un defined inter-Korean ties as relations "between two states hostile to each other" and vowed to "overwhelmingly" bolster war readiness against the United States, as he wrapped up the five-day plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea on Saturday.
Kim also called for a "great event to suppress the whole territory" of South Korea by mobilizing all physical means and nuclear force, and said he will no longer consider the South as a counterpart for reconciliation and unification.
This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Dec. 31, 2023, shows the North's leader Kim Jong-un attending the plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, as he wrapped up the five-day meeting the previous day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
Assessing the outcome of the party meeting, the ministry said North Korea appears to have shown "jitters" in attaining its 2014 policy goals as it highlighted tensions with Seoul and Washington in order to further elicit people's loyalty to the regime.
"By using a stronger term than (an expression used in 2022), North Korea emphasized its animosity against us in a bid to strengthen its military capabilities and deepen internal solidarity," a ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
He said North Korea is expected to stage any form of provocations in a bid to fulfill Kim's order to "suppress" South Korea's entire territory.
The defense ministry made a similar assessment that Kim's hostile rhetoric appears to be aimed at "solidifying the internal unity and causing conflicts among South Koreans."
"We strongly condemn North Korea's declaration to persist with provocative acts prohibited by the U.N. Security Council," ministry spokesperson Jeon Ha-kyu said in a regular press briefing, referring to North Korea's advancements in nuclear and missile capabilities, along with planned launches of additional spy satellites.
At a year-end party meeting in 2022, Kim called South Korea an "undoubted enemy" and called for an "exponential" increase in the country's nuclear arsenal.
At last week's party meeting, North Korea said it aims to launch three more military spy satellites, boost its nuclear arsenal and produce unmanned combat equipment, such as attack drones, in 2024. He also ordered the dismantling of agencies in charge of inter-Korean affairs.
South Korea's spy agency recently said North Korea is expected to stage provocative acts early this year ahead of the South's parliamentary elections in April and the U.S. presidential election in November.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · January 2, 2024
8. Unification ministry launches early warning system for defectors at risk
Good initiative though I can see questions arising about privacy and personal liberty.
Excerpts:
The system allows officials from relevant organizations, such as the unification and labor ministries, as well as civic support groups, to access data on numerous indicators that signal possible crises in defector households, the ministry said.
(LEAD) Unification ministry launches early warning system for defectors at risk | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · January 2, 2024
(ATTN: ADDS details in paras 6-8)
SEOUL, Jan. 2 (Yonhap) -- The unification ministry said Tuesday it has activated a comprehensive data system to better detect North Korean defectors going through difficulties and better provide necessary support.
The system allows officials from relevant organizations, such as the unification and labor ministries, as well as civic support groups, to access data on numerous indicators that signal possible crises in defector households, the ministry said.
The 39 indicators include overdue national health insurance and pension fees, as well as power and gas outages coming from failure to pay bills on time.
To prevent a potential breach of personal information, the ministry said the system offers varying levels of access to officials from different organizations.
This July 10, 2023, file photo shows a North Korean defector receiving dental treatment at Hana Clinic in Hanawon in Anseong, 64 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the resettlement center for North Korean defectors. This photo is not directly related to the news article. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
The system is part of the government's wider plan to better support North Korean defectors who have settled in South Korea.
By law, North Korean defectors in South Korea are eligible to receive five years of state support upon entry, but there have been cases in which the government has failed to detect those in need after the five-year period.
In 2019, a 42-year-old defector surnamed Han and her 6-year-old son were found dead at their government-leased apartment in southwestern Seoul after apparently starving to death.
In 2022, the skeletal remains of another defector in her 40s was discovered at her government-leased apartment in western Seoul. Police speculated that she may have died months earlier considering she was in her winter clothes at the time of discovery.
South Korea is home to more than 34,000 North Korean defectors, and the flow of defectors continues amid chronic food shortages and harsh political oppression in North Korea.
The number of North Koreans who arrived in South Korea hit a record low of 63 in 2021 as North Korea kept its borders closed to fend off the COVID-19 pandemic. This marks a dramatic decline from a record high of 2,914 in 2009, according to the ministry.
mlee@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · January 2, 2024
9. N. Korea's Kim attends student performance on New Year's Day
N. Korea's Kim attends student performance on New Year's Day | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · January 2, 2024
SEOUL, Jan. 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended a New Year's Day performance by young students and emphasized the importance of education, state media said Tuesday.
Kim made the remarks as he attended the performance at the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren's Palace in Pyongyang the previous day, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
"He called for renovating the contents and methods of education to make sure that schoolchildren acquire practical knowledge for socialist construction," the KCNA said in an English-language report.
Kim's "fatherly" presence was emphasized throughout the report, with the KCNA depicting the North Korean leader as "the tender-hearted father of the large family of the whole country."
The report also stressed the importance of the future generation, noting how the performance "reflected the determination of loyalty of schoolchildren to prepare themselves to be young revolutionaries and patriots upholding a powerful country."
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) takes a photo with students following a New Year's Day performance at the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren's Palace on Jan. 1, 2024, in this photo carried by the Korean Central News Agency the following day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution)
mlee@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · January 2, 2024
10. Attacked opposition leader Lee's surgery completed, progress closely monitored
(7th LD) Attacked opposition leader Lee's surgery completed, progress closely monitored | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Woo Jae-yeon · January 2, 2024
(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; ADDS details in first 4 paras)
By Kim Han-joo and Lee Haye-ah
SEOUL/BUSAN, Jan. 2 (Yonhap) -- Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, who was stabbed in the neck during a visit to the southeastern port city of Busan earlier in the day, had his emergent surgery completed, the Democratic Party (DP) said Tuesday.
"It took longer than expected and we are closely following his progress," the party said at Seoul National University Hospital where the surgery was performed.
"We strongly condemn the act of political terror against Lee," it said, calling for authorities to thoroughly investigate the case to find the truth behind the attack.
The DP chairman was stabbed on the left side of his neck by a paper crown-wearing man in his 60s posing as an autograph-seeker at 10:27 a.m. after touring the construction site of a new airport on Busan's Gadeok Island.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, lies down after he was attacked by an assailant on the left side of his neck during a visit to the construction site of an airport on Gadeok Island off the southeastern port city of Busan on Jan. 2, 2024. (Yonhap)
Lee was promptly transported to Pusan National University Hospital while conscious and underwent emergency treatment for a laceration of approximately 1 centimeter in his neck, according to fire authorities.
Lee was then airlifted by helicopter to Seoul National University Hospital for surgery.
Earlier in the day, a hospital official said on the condition of anonymity that it was "fortunate that the damaged area is the jugular vein," adding that Lee could have immediately died at the scene if the wound had occurred on the carotid artery.
Eyewitnesses recount that the male suspect, approached the politician under the guise of a supporter, requesting an autograph amid a crowd of supporters and reporters. The assailant then proceeded to carry out the attack.
The suspect was arrested at the scene and hauled away by police.
Police identified the suspect as a man born in 1957 and surnamed Kim. He used an 18-centimeter-long knife purchased online for the attack, police said.
The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency said it plans to charge Kim with attempted murder, as he has confessed to intending to kill Lee.
"An investigation is under way for matters such as the exact motive," Soh Je-han, an officer at the agency, told a press briefing.
Police said they are currently investigating whether Kim is a member of any political party.
The suspect was also found to have been around the site of an event Lee attended in Busan last month.
Video footage uploaded on YouTube shows the suspect waiting for Lee in the crowd but being unable to make close contact. The suspect was wearing the same paper crown with the words "I'm Lee Jae-myung" as he did Tuesday.
Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung is being treated while waiting for an ambulance after he was stabbed in the neck during a visit to the southeastern port city of Busan on Jan. 2, 2024. (Yonhap)
President Yoon Suk Yeol expressed deep concern over Lee's safety, and ordered the police and relevant authorities to swiftly determine the facts and make every effort to quickly transport Lee to a hospital and provide him with treatment, according to his spokesperson Kim Soo-kyung.
Yoon also stressed that such violence should never be tolerated under any circumstances, Kim said.
The DP condemned the attack on its leader, categorizing it as an act of terror and a threat to democracy.
"This should never have happened under any circumstances," the DP's chief spokesperson, Rep. Kwon Chil-seung, told reporters in front of the hospital.
The country's police chief announced the formation of a special investigation team in Busan to conduct a thorough and swift inquiry into the attack.
"Security protection for key personnel will be strengthened to prevent similar incidents from occurring," Yoon Hee-keun, the commissioner general of the National Police Agency, said in a press release.
Prosecutors also said they have formed a special investigation team to get to the bottom of the attack.
Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung is transferred to a hospital in Seoul after he was stabbed in the neck during a visit to the southeastern port city of Busan on Jan. 2, 2024. (Yonhap)
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Woo Jae-yeon · January 2, 2024
11. North Korea’s Kim Jong-un is thinking the unthinkable
Two points. I do not think Kim is allowing political dissent. It is happening and he fears he will not be able to control and suppress it. Internal instability is an existential threat to the regime and Kim fears the people more than the ROK and the ROK/US alliance.
Second, I do not think Kim is really being restrained by China. Kim is making his own decisions and I do not think we should continue to perpetuate the idea that China can control north Korea.
Excerpts:
He has even tolerated the emergence, in minuscule form, of political dissent. North Korea has long held so-called elections in which members of the Workers’ Party of Korea stand unopposed and are obediently chosen by every single voter. But in polling held in November for local assemblies, the previously unthinkable happened: according to the state media, a small proportion of voters rejected the nominated candidates. To think of this as “reform” would be premature. But it is an indication that Kim is conscious of how his country appears, and seeks to put it in a better light.
That Kim faces constraints is most clear from what he has not done, rather than what he has. Early last year, South Korean and US intelligence agencies began making confident predictions that the North was about to carry out a nuclear test, its seventh. Kim hinted at this too, promising to “vigorously perfect the nuclear war deterrence of the country”.
It has not happened. The assumption, among North Korea watchers, is that this is a result of pressure from the person with the most influence over Kim — the Chinese president, Xi Jinping. The government of Beijing, which has the power to close off the border connecting the North to the rest of the world, has drawn a line that cannot, for the time being, be crossed.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/north-koreas-kim-jong-un-is-thinking-the-unthinkable-b3vvksnps
North Korea’s Kim Jong-un is thinking the unthinkable
The Supreme Leader has stopped engaging with the US and strengthened ties with Russia. But it’s what is happening at home that truly defies his country’s history
Kim Jong-un, and his sister, Kim Yo-jong, the second most powerful person in the country, have been chumming up to President Putin but relations with President Biden have not been so cordial as they were with Trump
Richard Lloyd Parry
, Asia Editor | Tim Hornyak
Thursday December 28 2023, 11.45am GMT, The Times
T
he journey travelled by Kim Jong-un is illustrated by two handshakes, separated by five years. The first, with Donald Trump, took place in a six-star resort hotel in Singapore in June 2018. The second, with Vladimir Putin, was last September at a rocket launch pad in Siberia.
From talking nuclear disarmament engagement with the United States to supplying arms to Russia — the powerful friends may have changed, but the North Korean leader has kept smiling.
At the end of year Workers’ Party meeting on Thursday, Kim told his party to “accelerate war preparations” amid “unprecedented” US-led acts of confrontation. The military situation on the Korean Peninsula has become “extreme”, Kim told the ninth plenary meeting of the eighth Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, adding that the North would strengthen ties with “anti-imperialist” nations.
This year, he said, had been a “year of great turn and great change.”
Donald Trump described letters from Kim as “beautiful” and even said that they “fell in love”. Relations with President Biden have not been so cordial
SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
It is common to think of North Korea as an unchanging place, a bizarre Cold War fossil that has survived into the present day, but the past year has shown Kim’s ability to adjust to changing geopolitical realities and balance aggression with compromise.
In recent months, he has continued along the path of high-speed military development, while chumming up to Russia and remaining on the right side of China. He has even permitted a tiny measure of political dissent in a country notorious for being the most repressive and intolerant in the world.
The biggest challenge has been the change of strategy pursued by the South Korean government since the election last year of its conservative president, Yoon Suk-yeol. Yoon’s predecessor, the liberal Moon Jae-in, had a policy of sanctions, combined with patient engagement with the North.
Yoon, and his allies in the Biden administration, have taken a different view — instead of shrugging off North Korea’s missile tests, they have met them with “shows of strength” of their own, intended to underline Kim’s military inferiority and to illustrate the dire consequences of stepping over the line into outright conflict.
Play Video
South Korean military, police and emergency services have carried out a drill in case of an attack from the North
US aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and long-range bombers (the kind capable of dropping nuclear bombs) have all sailed or flown close to South Korea. The two sides have held large-scale military exercises and carried out weapons tests of their own.
Yoon has warned of pre-emptive strikes on North Korea’s missile sites, if they appeared to be preparing for an attack. He has abandoned an inter-military agreement aimed at reducing the chances of conflict between the two rivals. All of this has added greatly to tension on the peninsula and increased the chances of what is called “miscalculation” — where one side assumes that the other is about to attack, and goes first. But it has had no visible deterrent effect on Kim.
Yoon’s policy, which he calls the “audacious initiative”, promises aid if North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons. However, the overall effect may simply have been to reinforce Kim’s conviction that the stronger his military forces, the safer he is.
The South Korean navy and US navy have participated in joint exercises off the South Korean coast
SOUTH KOREAN NAVY/EPA
Having assembled an arsenal of a few score nuclear warheads, he has spent the past two years testing a range of weapons systems on which they could be launched, including short-range cruise missiles, fast and highly manoeuvrable hypersonic missiles, and missiles that can be launched from trains and submarines.
The Supreme Leader’s speech comes just a week after North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile towards the Sea of Japan. A missile, according to Japanese defence sources, capable of striking anywhere in the US.
In February, according to state media, Kim oversaw the testing of a new “nuclear underwater attack drone” capable of unleashing a “super-scale radioactive tsunami” on naval vessels and coastal ports.
In December the North carried out another test of its most worrisome weapon — the Hwasong-18, an intercontinental ballistic missile with the potential to carry a nuclear warhead to the US mainland. In November, Kim successfully launched a spy satellite, the better to enable him to target his rockets.
Play Video
See North Korea conduct missile tests
Previous satellite launches had failed but this time around Kim and his scientists had help from Russian experts, promised during his September summit meeting with Putin. It is not clear that their help was decisive or that the reciprocal favour — North Korean ammunition provided to Russia — will make much difference to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. But the symbolism is clear and decisive: if there were any doubts left, the era of engagement with the US is over for good.
Domestically, as well as in international relations, Kim has followed a hard line. The authorities have cracked down on the influence of South Korean culture via films and television programmes smuggled into the North in digital devices. South Korean styles of speech or dress are punished — a defector recently described the public execution of a 22-year-old man for listening to South Korean music and sharing it with his friends.
Kim and his scientists had help from Russian experts to launch a spy satellite
KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY/AP
Having closed down its frontiers during the Covid-19 pandemic, the North has continued to crack down on defectors, clamping down on crossings over the long northern border with China and reportedly laying mines to deter escapees. But Kim Jong-un’s North Korea is not that of his father and grandfather — he continues to preside over changes that would once have been unthinkable.
One is the emergence of powerful and prominent women in a society that was formerly deeply patriarchal. Kim’s foreign minister and head of protocol are female. His sister, Kim Yo-jong, is the second most powerful person in the country. His wife, Ri Sol-ju, is frequently seen at his side as is his young daughter, Ju-ae, who is looking more and more like an heir apparent.
Kim with his sister, Kim Yo-jong
PYONGYANG PRESS CORPS/AP
He has even tolerated the emergence, in minuscule form, of political dissent. North Korea has long held so-called elections in which members of the Workers’ Party of Korea stand unopposed and are obediently chosen by every single voter. But in polling held in November for local assemblies, the previously unthinkable happened: according to the state media, a small proportion of voters rejected the nominated candidates. To think of this as “reform” would be premature. But it is an indication that Kim is conscious of how his country appears, and seeks to put it in a better light.
That Kim faces constraints is most clear from what he has not done, rather than what he has. Early last year, South Korean and US intelligence agencies began making confident predictions that the North was about to carry out a nuclear test, its seventh. Kim hinted at this too, promising to “vigorously perfect the nuclear war deterrence of the country”.
It has not happened. The assumption, among North Korea watchers, is that this is a result of pressure from the person with the most influence over Kim — the Chinese president, Xi Jinping. The government of Beijing, which has the power to close off the border connecting the North to the rest of the world, has drawn a line that cannot, for the time being, be crossed.
12. New OS update for N. Korean phones prevents sharing of photos, lengthy videos
Another indicator of the existential threat Kim faces from the Korean people in the north and information from the South. We need to exploit that.
New OS update for N. Korean phones prevents sharing of photos, lengthy videos
In 2024, North Korea plans to roll out an update that eliminates all ways for phone users to install banned apps
By Mun Dong Hui - 2024.01.02 3:40pm
dailynk.com
New OS update for N. Korean phones prevents sharing of photos, lengthy videos | Daily NK English
FILE PHOTO: A North Korean businessperson using a cell phone at a local market. (Daily NK)
North Korea’s government has been forcing people to update the operating systems (OS) of their phones as part of efforts to prevent the spread of external information, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a source in North Korea told Daily NK on Dec. 22 that the government’s efforts to update the OS of the country’s domestically produced smartphones started in June.
“People have had to update their phones at mobile phone service centers or mobile communication centers near their residences or workplaces,” the source said.
“Everyone has to get their phones updated,” she continued, adding: “The government has ordered everyone to update their phones by the end of December [2023].”
The source further explained that “phones with the updated operating system don’t allow users to send photos or lengthy videos by text message. Moreover, the digital signature system has been improved so that it is impossible for users to manipulate the operating system, install other systems, or view external [banned] information.”
Before the update, North Koreans could send photos or videos through text message. The new update, however, appears to completely prevent users from sharing most media files.
“The new operating system allows [government officials] to see all the records on people’s phones, including text messages,” the source said. “They can see whether you’ve uploaded any content or used any programs banned by the state.”
The OS update has also significantly improved the security system on the country’s mobile phones.
Although North Koreans were never allowed access to developer mode or USB debugging functions on their phones, it had been possible to connect phones to computers to exchange files.
Now, however, the digital signature system has been improved so that users now face more challenges in viewing external files, using system tampering programs, or installing and using other programs.
In short, North Korea’s government has placed the traditional strengths of smartphones – openness and scalability – under a total web of surveillance and control.
An even more draconian update planned for 2024
Going forward, North Korean authorities are planning to eliminate any and all ways phone users can install foreign programs on their phones, the source said.
“The recent [updated] operating system hasn’t achieved all of the criteria set out by the government [in terms of surveillance and control],” she said. “The leadership plans to carry out another update of operating systems nationwide by October [2024].”
She added: “The second update will ensure no apps or programs can be installed through any external terminals.”
Interestingly, North Korea’s government has made it abundantly clear to phone users that the goal of the update is to prevent non-socialist and anti-socialist activities by monitoring how people use their cell phones.
“The government is telling those who have completed the update that everything they do is being recorded, which enables the state to view their user history at any time,” the source said.
In other words, the government is warning people not to engage in illegal activities such as viewing or distributing foreign videos through their phones.
“From Jan. 1, if you are caught with a phone without the new operating system installed anywhere – including at work, on the subway, or at a bus station – your phone will be confiscated,” the source said. “The authorities have announced through all government, security and law enforcement agencies – along with neighborhood watch units – that you’ll face punishment after having your infraction reported to the political organization you’re affiliated with.”
Daily NK reported in August 2022 that North Korean authorities were planning to update the operating systems of all domestically produced mobile phones.
However, the government failed to make sufficient technical preparations for the update in 2022, so it was postponed until mid-2023. Phone users began to install the update in June 2023.
Since June, government officials made several announcements to phone users that they need to update their systems by the end of the year, warning them of consequences if they did not update their phones. This suggests that North Korea will intensify its surveillance and control over mobile phones in 2024.
Translated by Annie Eunjung Kim. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources who live inside North Korea, China and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
Mun Dong Hui
Mun Dong Hui is one of Daily NK’s full-time journalists. Please direct any questions about his articles to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
dailynk.com
13. North Korean-Russian Military Cooperation Could Threaten Global Security
North Korean-Russian Military Cooperation Could Threaten Global Security
January 01, 2024 6:33 AM
voanews.com · January 1, 2024
WASHINGTON —
The renewed military cooperation between North Korea and Russia in 2023 could increase threats to global security in coming years, analysts said.
As Russia’s Ukraine war approaches the second anniversary of the February 2022 invasion, Moscow has turned to North Korea for help in replenishing its depleted stockpile of arms.
In exchange, Russia has suggested it will help develop weapons that Pyongyang wants, including a spy satellite.
SEE ALSO:
Russia-North Korea Military Cooperation Concerns US
North Korea claimed on November 28 that a satellite it launched into orbit the week before had taken photos of critical U.S. sites, including the Norfolk Naval Station, the Newport News shipyard, the White House and the Pentagon.
The South Korean intelligence agency believes Pyongyang was able to launch the satellite only because of technological assistance from Russia, according to South Korean lawmakers who were briefed by the agency in late November. Previous launch attempts failed in May and August.
Indo-Pacific countries, including Taiwan and Australia, as well as European countries such as the U.K., France and Ukraine, described the satellite launch as a threat to their national security.
“We fear in particular that Russian counterparts [are acting] for the benefit of the North Korean regime,” said French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna following a November 23 meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing. She said these actions are causing “destabilizing activities in the region in defiance of [U.N.] Security Council resolutions.”
China has not condemned Pyongyang’s satellite launch or arms dealings between North Korea and Russia and has not used its leverage to curb North Korea’s threatening behavior despite multiple requests from Washington and Seoul.
Robert Rapson, charge d’affaires and deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul from 2018 to 2021, said Beijing does not feel threatened by these developments. "In fact, it probably views them as useful for its posturing and policies toward the U.S., South Korea and Japan,” he said.
At a U.N. Security Council meeting on November 27, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Pyongyang's satellite launch, which uses prohibited ballistic missile technology, is part of an effort to “advance its nuclear weapons delivery system.”
SEE ALSO:
US: North Korea Trying to Advance Nuclear Program With Satellite Launch
Ken Gause, senior adversary analytics specialist at the Center for Naval Analyses, said Moscow would be “willing to help” Pyongyang enhance its Hwasong-18 ICBMs.
North Korea on Monday conducted its fifth intercontinental ballistic missile test of the year. The missile was a Hwasong-18 ICBM, North Korea's state-run KCNA said Tuesday. It was the third Hwasong-18 ICBM that Pyongyang has tested after launches in April and July.
Other weapons Pyongyang “desperately” wants are modern fighter aircraft and air defense systems, said Gary Samore, former White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction during the Obama administration.
Samore said Pyongyang is looking to update its “very antiquated” air defense capabilities “to protect itself against the air superiority advantage” of the U.S. and South Korea.
The arms dealings between North Korea and Russia seem to have solidified when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Russia and met with its leader, President Vladimir Putin, in September.
Putin appeared to nod to indicate Russia’s willingness to help Kim enhance its satellite technology during the September 13 meeting at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Amur region.
Kim visited a fighter jet plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur on September 16 and the Knevichi Airbase and the Pacific Fleet in Vladivostok the next day.
SEE ALSO:
Russia-North Korea Ties: Will Putin-Kim Bromance Last?
But as early as 2022, Pyongyang had been delivering artillery shells to Russia for its war in Ukraine, according to the White House.
In January, the White House released satellite imagery showing North Korea sending shipments of arms to Russia via railcars the previous November.
The White House released another set of satellite images on October 13 showing more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and ammunition leaving from North Korea's port of Najin.
SEE ALSO:
North Korea Accused of Sending Russia Military Equipment, Munitions
Evans Revere, acting assistant secretary for East Asia and Pacific Affairs during the George W. Bush administration, said arms deals between Moscow and Pyongyang, which violate sanctions, are a "serious matter."
He continued, “The only question is how substantial and how much of an egregious violation of the U.N. Security Council resolutions.”
voanews.com · January 1, 2024
14. North Korea’s Kim vows to sharpen ‘treasured sword’ against US and South, 2024 will be ‘new heyday’ for war preparations
While sharpening the treasured sword Kim will be effectively employing his all purpose sword (cyber).
North Korea’s Kim vows to sharpen ‘treasured sword’ against US and South, 2024 will be ‘new heyday’ for war preparations
By Associated Press South China Morning Post2 min
January 1, 2024
View Original
Kim stressed that “our army should deal a deadly blow to thoroughly annihilate them by mobilising all the toughest means and potentialities without moment’s hesitation” if they opt for military confrontation and provocations against North Korea, KCNA said.
In his New Year’s Day address on Monday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said he will strengthen his military’s pre-emptive strike, missile defence and retaliatory capabilities in response to the North Korean nuclear threat.
“The Republic of Korea is building genuine, lasting peace through strength, not a submissive peace that is dependent on the goodwill of the adversary,” Yoon said, using South Korea’s official name.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meets with commanding army officers in Pyongyang on Sunday. Photo: Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP
At the party meeting, Kim called South Korea “a hemiplegic malformation and colonial subordinate state” whose society is “tainted by Yankee culture.” He said his military must use all available means including nuclear weapons to “suppress the whole territory of South Korea” in the event of a conflict.
South Korea’s defence ministry warned in response that if North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, South Korean and US forces will punish it overwhelmingly, resulting in the end of the Kim government.
Experts say small-scale military clashes between North and South Korea could happen this year along their heavily armed border. They say North Korea is also expected to test-launch intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the mainland US and other major new weapons.
In 2018-19, Kim met Trump in three rounds of talks on North Korea’s expanding nuclear arsenal. The diplomacy fell apart after the US rejected Kim’s offer to dismantle his main nuclear complex, a limited step, in exchange for extensive reductions in US-led sanctions.
Since 2022, North Korea has conducted more than 100 missile tests, prompting the US and South Korea to expand their joint military drills. North Korea has also tried to strengthen its relationships with China and Russia, which blocked efforts by the US and its partners in the United Nations Security Council to toughen UN sanctions on North Korea over its weapons tests.
Meanwhile, Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping exchanged New Year messages on Monday, with the two leaders vowing to deepen bilateral ties as this year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, KCNA said.
In his message, the North Korean leader expressed willingness to further promote bilateral exchange and visits “in all fields, including politics, economy and culture,” while Xi said Beijing is willing to open “a new chapter” in the two countries’ friendship, KCNA added.
North Korea faces suspicions that it has supplied conventional arms for Russia’s war in Ukraine in return for sophisticated Russian technologies to enhance the North’s military programmes.
Estimates of the size of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal vary, ranging from about 20 to 30 bombs to more than 100. Many foreign experts say North Korea still has some technological hurdles to overcome to produce functioning nuclear-armed ICBMs, though its shorter-range nuclear-capable missiles can reach South Korea and Japan.
Additional reporting by Kyodo
15. 'Beyond Utopia' tracks desperate North Koreans trying to escape to freedom
I have heard that it is possible this could be nominated for an academy award in the documentary category.
'Beyond Utopia' tracks desperate North Koreans trying to escape to freedom
Los Angeles Times · by Steve Dollar Jan. 1, 2024 5 AM PT · January 1, 2024
“Beyond Utopia,” an eye-opening thriller that captures a family’s desperate and dangerous escape from North Korea, is one of the year’s most acclaimed documentaries, winning an audience prize after its January premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, and recently earning a spot among the 15 shortlisted titles for consideration in the documentary feature Oscar race. Yet, at the beginning, it was a hard sell to its director, Madeleine Gavin.
“My initial feeling was one of great hesitation,” the New York-based filmmaker said. “I didn’t understand why I would be the right person to do this. I said to them, ‘Wouldn’t you want to talk to Korean directors or somebody who has more of a connection to the subject?’” But her producers — Rachel Cohen, Jana Edelbaum and Sue Mi Terry — with whom she had worked previously as an editor, persisted.
“They gave me a huge amount of latitude,” recalled Gavin, whose 2016 film “City of Joy” focused on a women’s refugee center in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. She took her time exploring the subject and source materials. Those included the 2015 memoir “The Girl With Seven Names,” by Hyeonseo Lee, a North Korean defector and activist who appears in the film, which provided an early impetus for the production.
Digging deep into the internet, “almost into the dark web,” Gavin discovered a secret world of hidden camera footage that made graphic the harsh realities of life under the totalitarian regime of Kim Jong Un. “North Koreans themselves have been shooting [this] since the ‘90s, with flip phones,” she said. “Really risking their lives, risking their families’ lives to get the truth of their country out. They’re shooting literally out of holes in paper bags, out of their pockets and sleeves.” The filmmaker recognized a vast disparity between what she saw “and the absence of North Korean people in our media and in our world.”
That’s when she knew. “This film had to be made, and there was no one making it,” she said. “Beyond Utopia” leans into the ragged aesthetic of this guerrilla-style found footage, deftly reassembled by the filmmaker (who also acted as editor) to not only show why North Korean defectors would risk death to escape the country but also how they manage their getaways: utilizing an “underground railroad” of brokers and safe houses to navigate a grueling trek through China and multiple Southeast Asian countries to reach South Korea. “I wanted to do something that was as experiential as possible,” said Gavin, who pointedly avoided one of the most common nonfiction workarounds, the re-creation.
South Korean pastor Seungeun Kim and his Caleb Mission has, since 2000, guided more than 1,000 defectors out of North Korea.
(Roadside Attractions)
Her key was a South Korean pastor named Seungeun Kim, whose Caleb Mission has, since 2000, guided more than 1,000 defectors out of North Korea. Pastor Kim’s mission acts as the heart of the film, and also its pivot, as Gavin tracks two different defection attempts engineered through a multinational network. One is the five-member Roh family, whose number complicates the transit. The other is the teenage son of a successful defector named Soyeon Lee, who longs to reunite with her child.
Both endeavors are tense and torturous, with dramatically opposite outcomes.
Even if someone makes it across the Yalu River, which borders China across 800 miles and is overseen by ramped-up North Korean security forces with “shoot to kill” orders, the risks are intense and forbidding. If caught by Chinese officials, a defector will be returned to North Korea and face torture and imprisonment, possibly death. Brokers, paid to safeguard the defectors but typically with no higher motivation, might instead consign them to the organ trade or sell them to sex traffickers.
Remarkably, Kim himself meets the defectors en route, although he can no longer enter China. “He was warned in 2009 that he could be kidnapped into North Korea,” Gavin said. In the film, Kim confides that although he looks fine on the outside, his body is a wreck from all the injuries he’s sustained. “He prepares himself for death every time he does one of these escapes,” Gavin said. “He always tells himself, this is going to be the last one, and then he finds himself doing it again. He’s in constant pain … and he’s in a lot of fear.” Yet there he is with the Roh family, including two children, and their elderly grandmother, making a rugged marathon trek through a jungle in Thailand.
“The journey through the jungle is so physically and mentally difficult that it is hard to describe in words,” Kim said, via email, citing his faith in God to help him overcome fear. “While I am in the jungle, I try to focus on the freedom that North Korean defectors will find at the end of their journey. That’s how I get through the experience.”
Los Angeles Times · by Steve Dollar Jan. 1, 2024 5 AM PT · January 1, 2024
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
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