​Quotes of the Day:

"I have no other view than to promote the public good, and am unambitious of honors not founded in the approbation of my Country."

– George Washington

"It's hard to get people to overcome the thought that they have to take care of themselves first. It's hard to get players to give in to the group and become selfless as opposed to selfish."

–​ Isaiah Thomas

​"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth."

–​ Muhammad Ali

1. [Breaking News] People Power Party 48.5%, Democratic Party 38.8% “2030 and the middle class turn their backs on the Democratic Party”

2. S. Korean FM Cho holds 1st phone call with U.S. top diplomat Rubio; both agree on close cooperation on N.K. nuke

3. Discussions under way to schedule FM meeting of S. Korea, China, Japan: Seoul

4. Lee Jae-Myung quotes Deng Xiaoping

5. Trump must rally international support against the Chinese Communist Party

6. South Korean lawmaker seeks Trump’s support for democracy amid political crisis in Seoul

7. Fighting Alongside Russia, North Koreans Wage Their Own War

8. Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, January 22, 2025

9. Ex-Executive Who Oversaw South Korean Airport Renovations Is Found Dead

10. Constitutional Court rejects impeachment of broadcasting watchdog chief

11. Crimson Moon Rising: A Defiant Spark Ignites in the Shadows

12. North Korea reiterates it has ‘no intention’ of abandoning nuclear program

13. Three North Koreans wanted in Kursk for killing Russian soldiers: report

14. N. Korea executes nuclear power plant researchers over project failures

15. Will Casualties in Ukraine Lead to Change in North Korea?

16. Silk Web of Alliances: Trump’s Legacy and the Indo-Pacific’s Future

1. [Breaking News] People Power Party 48.5%, Democratic Party 38.8% “2030 and the middle class turn their backs on the Democratic Party”

​Some seemingly good news. Common sense (and anti-China and anti-north Korean sentiment) is beginning to prevail in South Korea, I hope.

But polling in Korea is fickle. 

[Breaking News] People Power Party 48.5%, Democratic Party 38.8% “2030 and the middle class turn their backs on the Democratic Party”

https://v.daum.net/v/20250122172406623

Reporter Im Jeong-hwan

2025. 1. 22. 17:24

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Reversal outside the margin of error

The ruling party that can't find its center - the opposition party with falling approval ratings

A poll showed that the People Power Party overtook the Democratic Party of Korea within the margin of error in the party approval rating survey. By age, the People Power Party’s approval rating was higher in all regions except for those in their 40s and 50s, and by region, the People Power Party’s approval rating was higher than the Democratic Party’s in all regions except Gangwon, Jeju, Gwangju, Jeonnam, and Jeonbuk.

Media Research, a public opinion polling agency, commissioned by News Pim, a comprehensive news agency, conducted a survey of 1,012 men and women aged 18 or older nationwide on the 20th and 21st. In response to the question, “Which of the following political parties do you support or have a slightly more favorable view of?” the People Power Party received 48.5% of the votes, followed by the Democratic Party of Korea with 38.8%, the Fatherland Innovation Party with 3.8%, the New Reform Party with 1.3%, the Progressive Party with 0.4%, other political parties with 1.7%, and no party with 5.4% of the votes.

Compared to the previous survey, the Democratic Party (40.4% → 38.8%) fell by 1.6 percentage points, while the People Power Party (40.0% → 48.5%) rose by 8.5 percentage points. Accordingly, the gap between the two parties reversed from the Democratic Party's 0.4 percentage point lead in the previous survey to the People Power Party's 9.7 percentage point lead.

In particular, in this survey, more men and women responded that they supported the People Power Party than the Democratic Party. Among men, 49.2% supported the People Power Party and 37.5% supported the Democratic Party. Among women, 47.8% supported the People Power Party and 40.1% supported the Democratic Party.

By age, the People Power Party’s support rate was high among the young and the elderly. Among those aged 18 to 29, the People Power Party received 48.0%, while the Democratic Party received 37.5%. Among those in their 30s, the People Power Party received 55.1%, while the Democratic Party received 34.5%. Among those in their 40s and 50s, the Democratic Party received a large support base.

By region, in Seoul, the People's Power Party received 50.5%, while the Democratic Party received 40.2%. In Gyeonggi and Incheon, the People's Power Party received 48.6%, while the Democratic Party received 38.2%. The People's Power Party's approval rating was high in all regions except Gangwon, Jeju, Gwangju, Jeonnam, and Jeonbuk.

Kim Dae-eun, head of Media Research, said, “As President Yoon Seok-yeol was arrested and an arrest warrant was issued by the Seoul Western District Court, making him the first sitting president to be arrested in 47 days since martial law was declared, the political repercussions grew, and the approval rating for the People Power Party rose sharply while the approval rating for the Democratic Party continued to fall.” He added, “The controversy over the ‘KakaoTalk censorship’ and the 20-30 age groups and the moderates who are friendly to the Democratic Party turning their backs have affected the rise in the approval rating for the People Power Party.”

This survey was conducted through ARS using wireless RDD (random dialing). The confidence level is 95%, the sampling error is ±3.1% points, and the response rate is 7.8%. For detailed survey overview and content, please refer to the Media Research website and the Central Election Opinion Survey Deliberation Committee website.

Reporter Im Jeong-hwan

Copyright © Munhwa Ilbo. Unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited.

2. S. Korean FM Cho holds 1st phone call with U.S. top diplomat Rubio; both agree on close cooperation on N.K. nuke

​Let Secretary Rubio speak to US Korea policy.

S. Korean FM Cho holds 1st phone call with U.S. top diplomat Rubio; both agree on close cooperation on N.K. nuke | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Park Boram · January 23, 2025

SEOUL, Jan. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul held his first phone call on Thursday with new U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and they agreed to maintain close cooperation on North Korea's nuclear issues, the foreign ministry here said.

The phone conversation took place after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in on Monday (U.S. time) and the top diplomats of the two nations discussed bilateral relations, North Korean nuclear issues as well as trilateral cooperation involving Japan, the foreign ministry said.

At Rubio's invitation of Cho to visit the U.S., the ministers plan to coordinate details to hold in-person talks in Washington at the earliest possible date, it said.

These images from the AFP and the foreign ministry show U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

pbr@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Park Boram · January 23, 2025

3. Discussions under way to schedule FM meeting of S. Korea, China, Japan: Seoul

​But will Korea tell China to stop meddling in Korean politics and to halt its unrestricted warfare and three warfares activities in Korea?

Discussions under way to schedule FM meeting of S. Korea, China, Japan: Seoul | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Park Boram · January 23, 2025

SEOUL, Jan. 23 (Yonhap) -- Discussions are currently under way to schedule a meeting of the foreign ministers from South Korea, China and Japan, the foreign ministry here said Thursday.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong confirmed the process during a regular briefing a day after a Japanese news outlet reported that the Japanese government had launched coordination to schedule a trilateral foreign ministers' meeting involving the three nations in March in Japan, citing multiple government officials.

"Discussions are under way regarding the detailed schedule among the three nations," Lee told reporters.

Also reportedly under coordination is Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's potential visit to South Korea for bilateral talks with the South Korean foreign minister.

Japan is reportedly pushing to hold a three-way summit among the leaders of the three nations in spring, but the timing remains uncertain due to the political turmoil in South Korea caused by President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched martial law bid last month.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong speaks during a press briefing in Seoul on Jan. 16, 2025. (Yonhap)

pbr@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Park Boram · January 23, 2025

4. Lee Jae-Myung quotes Deng Xiaoping

​Just so we know where priorities and allegiances lie in South Korea with the Minjoo/DPK radical leadership.

https://x.com/SungYoonLee1/status/1882250393658577255

Sung-Yoon Lee

@SungYoonLee1

Lee Jae-Myung quotes Deng Xiaoping ("doesn't matter if it's a black or white cat so long as it catches mice") two days in a row to underscore pragmatism.

Often accused pro-CCP, not the best choice.

Why not quote an American, say, Benjamin Franklin?

"Curiosity killed the cat."

​

5. Trump must rally international support against the Chinese Communist Party

As an aside, there is strategic competition between the PRC and the US ​over the soul of democracy in Seoul.

Excerpts:

The United States, despite its historical shortcomings, promotes ideals of freedom, democracy and human rights. In contrast, China’s record is a litany of systemic oppression, from the abuse of Uyghur Muslims to the suppression of free speech and the imposition of authoritarian control over its citizens. Remaining neutral in this ideological struggle is morally indefensible, suggesting indifference to the fundamental values that undergird free societies.

All in all, the world must abandon the illusion of neutrality. As we move forward, the United States, under President Trump’s leadership, must galvanize global support against the Chinese Communist Party, ensuring that we stand with the forces of democracy, liberty and human rights. It’s time to board the Trump train and reject the false promises of alignment with a regime that embodies the very antithesis of those values. Only by doing so can we preserve the democratic legacy passed down by our Founding Fathers and expanded by the likes of Andrew Jackson.

This is my assessment of China's vision (and threat):

China seeks to export its authoritarian political system around the world in order to dominate regions directly and/or indirectly through proxies, co-opt or coerce international organizations, create economic conditions favorable to China alone, while displacing democratic institutions. It takes a long term approach, employing unrestricted warfare and its three warfares to set conditions and achieve objectives.

Trump must rally international support against the Chinese Communist Party

washingtontimes.com · by Miles Yu

By - Tuesday, January 21, 2025

A version of this story appeared in the daily Threat Status newsletter from The Washington Times. Click here to receive Threat Status delivered directly to your inbox each weekday.

OPINION:

As the Biden interregnum concluded, the Trump train roared into Washington this week with the vigor and triumphant vindication unseen since 1829, when Andrew Jackson stormed into the White House after a similarly decisive electoral victory over what he believed to be a stolen election of 1824 by John Quincy Adams.

Mr. Jackson, our seventh president, became a transformative national leader, ushering in the Golden Age of American democracy — aptly known as Jacksonian Democracy — an era that Alexis de Tocqueville, the immortal French observer, admired for its democratic ideals.

Similarly, Donald Trump, our 45th and 47th president, has proved himself a transformative and consequential leader. However, whether his second term will consolidate or undermine his prior legacy depends largely on whether he can defeat the single greatest existential threat to American democracy: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This democracy, inherited from the Founding Fathers and expanded by Andrew Jackson, is under siege, and Mr. Trump’s resolve to confront this threat is a critical challenge ahead.

A crucial aspect of this victory plan over the CCP is ending the world’s misguided illusion of neutrality — particularly the notion that nations can remain impartial between the United States and China. Fortunately, we have already witnessed President Trump’s determination to challenge geopolitical opportunism, as evidenced by his bold demands for Panama to return control of the Panama Canal (now under Chinese interests) and his desire to acquire Greenland, a strategic chokepoint coveted by Beijing. The rationale behind ending global neutrality between the U.S. and China is profound, vital and indispensable for free nations’ future.

First, neutrality is, in essence, a form of complicity. The claim that a nation can remain “neutral” overlooks the fundamental reality that neutrality inherently aligns with one of the competing sides — often the wrong one. In this context, failing to stand with the United States — a nation that, despite its flaws, represents liberal democratic values — only strengthens China’s authoritarian ambitions.

Beijing thrives on ambiguity, exploiting divisions among smaller states to exert influence, particularly in regions like Southeast Asia and Africa. A neutral stance effectively emboldens China, signaling tacit approval for its actions, including human rights abuses, military expansion in the South China Sea and efforts to undermine international norms.

Second, neutrality is often disguised as pragmatism. Advocates argue that nonalignment allows countries to extract benefits from both sides of a geopolitical divide. However, this argument neglects the dangers of overdependence on China. Many countries that once embraced neutrality have now realigned themselves with the United States for their self-interest. Far from remaining indifferent, these nations have recognized the long-term risks of kowtowing to Chinese demands.

Third, neutrality proponents often cite the irresistible allure of Chinese markets for foreign goods and investment. This is a dangerous myth. While China’s market has long been portrayed as an untapped gold mine of opportunity, the reality is far more sobering. The Chinese market is heavily regulated and rife with barriers to entry, such as stringent licensing requirements, forced technology transfers, and opaque legal systems that disadvantage foreign companies.

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Consumer spending in China has significantly decreased, and when Chinese consumers do make purchases, they increasingly favor domestic products, especially technology and consumer goods, thus eroding the competitive edge of foreign firms. Moreover, government policies often favor domestic industries through subsidies and protectionist measures, undermining the profitability of foreign investments. Intellectual property theft continues unabated, further undermining the long-term viability of foreign enterprises. These factors paint a grim picture of China’s market as far less accommodating and profitable than its promoters have claimed.

In stark contrast, the United States economy has experienced a robust rebound, largely because of such institutional strengths as private entrepreneurship, property rights and free market competition. While China grapples with economic setbacks such as colossal real estate collapses, plummeting stock markets and diminishing foreign trade, the U.S. economy has continued to prosper. The U.S. has overtaken China as the top trade partner of several key global players, including Japan, Germany, South Korea, the ASEAN nations and Taiwan, a trend that continues to grow. Blind optimism about China’s future is misguided and ultimately suicidal.

Fourth, neutrality endangers national security and sovereignty. China’s aggressive behavior, including its incursions into the South China Sea and coercive tactics toward Taiwan, highlights its blatant disregard for the sovereignty of other nations. Neutral countries, especially those close to China, such as Southeast Asian ones, risk becoming pawns in Beijing’s expansionist agenda. These nations inadvertently signal vulnerability by failing to choose a side, potentially inviting further aggression or even territorial encroachment.

Finally, there is a moral imperative to choosing sides beyond strategic and economic considerations.

The United States, despite its historical shortcomings, promotes ideals of freedom, democracy and human rights. In contrast, China’s record is a litany of systemic oppression, from the abuse of Uyghur Muslims to the suppression of free speech and the imposition of authoritarian control over its citizens. Remaining neutral in this ideological struggle is morally indefensible, suggesting indifference to the fundamental values that undergird free societies.

All in all, the world must abandon the illusion of neutrality. As we move forward, the United States, under President Trump’s leadership, must galvanize global support against the Chinese Communist Party, ensuring that we stand with the forces of democracy, liberty and human rights. It’s time to board the Trump train and reject the false promises of alignment with a regime that embodies the very antithesis of those values. Only by doing so can we preserve the democratic legacy passed down by our Founding Fathers and expanded by the likes of Andrew Jackson.

• Miles Yu is the director of the China Center at the Hudson Institute and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution.

Copyright © 2025 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

washingtontimes.com · by Miles Yu

6. South Korean lawmaker seeks Trump’s support for democracy amid political crisis in Seoul

​The correct and usually standard response is to support Korea and its people and to not interfere with domestic politics. But the fact is China and north Korea are interfering with South Korean politics and actively working to subvert the South Korean government, society, and democracy.

But this excerpt really illustrates the problem. The South Korean intelligence services cannot investigate foreigners conducting espionage. The Minjoo/DPK prevented legislation to better defend South Korea from hostile foreign actors. The Chinese can act with impunity and conduct its unrestricted warfare and three warfare to subvert South Korea.

So how can President Trump support democracy in Seoul? Fundamentally we must callout PRC and nK malign activities.

Let me reprise my past recommendations with a modification:

It is imperative that the ROK/US alliance recognize their strategy to subvert South Korea to create effects to undermine South Korea to damage and eventually break the ROK/US alliance.

In is crucial to understand the strategy of the Dark Quad and the radical Korean left to create dilemmas for the US and to provide freedom of action for the PRC in Northeast Asia and set the conditions for a north aligned South Korea to eventually domination of the Korean peninsula by the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State to the north.

It is key that the Korea watchers, the pundits, and the press (and allied leaders) EXPOSE these strategies.

And it is critical that policy makers and strategists (and allied leaders) in the ROK US alliance devise policies and strategies to attack these strategies (with a superior political warfare strategy)

Excerpts:

South Korea’s opposition, which holds a legislative majority in South Korea’s parliament, has said in recent days that Mr. Yoon’s arrest will be a “cornerstone” for restoring the country’s collapsed constitutional order.

Ms. Na framed the situation differently, asserting that the opposition — not the PPP — presents a challenge to democracy and freedom in South Korea.

“What we’re concerned about is the paralysis of the politics in South Korea right now because the opposition party has more than 200 seats. They have total control,” she said, adding that prior to Mr. Yoon’s martial law move, the PPP was attempting to introduce an expansion of the country’s espionage act “to include not only Koreans, but also foreigners like Chinese.”

“But the opposition party was against it, so this act could not be passed,” she said.

South Korean lawmaker seeks Trump’s support for democracy amid political crisis in Seoul

washingtontimes.com · by Guy Taylor

Exclusive

By - The Washington Times - Wednesday, January 22, 2025

A key member of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s political party was in Washington this week calling on President Trump to express support for freedom and democracy in Northeast Asia at a moment when China and North Korea may seek to take advantage of the political crisis gripping Seoul.

Na Kyung-won, a member of parliament from Mr. Yoon’s conservative People Power Party (PPP), told The Washington Times in an interview that Mr. Trump could “strengthen the U.S.-South Korea alliance” by backing Mr. Yoon’s party publicly at a moment when she said the liberal opposition in Seoul is on the attack in ways that may benefit China.

“I cannot say foreign forces are in control of the opposition, but I cannot help but think that the opposition is pro-North Korea and pro-China,” said Ms. Na, who told The Times that she met this week with a range of Republican U.S. lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and Reps. Young Kim of California and Jen Kiggans of Virginia.

“President Trump and his administration’s policy is going to be very important,” she said. “If they can emphasize that freedom and democracy are very important, I think that would be helpful for the security alliance and the economic alliance between the U.S. and South Korea.”

“I believe a strong message would be helpful, not only for South Korea’s interests, but also for U.S. interests because this kind of message would be a deterrence toward China,” Ms. Na said.

Mr. Yoon, a hawkish conservative, was impeached last month after a short-lived attempt to impose martial law in South Korea on the claim it was needed to confront domestic political paralysis in the face of rising threats from North Korea, a military treaty ally of nearby communist party-ruled China.

“Dear citizens, I declare emergency martial law to defend the free Republic of Korea from the threats of North Korean communist forces and to eradicate the shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people and to protect the free constitutional order,” Mr. Yoon said in early-December.

The move sparked mass protests and the liberal opposition Democratic Party responded with outrage, moving swiftly to impeach Mr. Yoon.

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Despite public demonstrations by his own supporters, Mr. Yoon has since been arrested and now faces possible long-term imprisonment amid an evolving political crisis in South Korea, a key military ally of the United States on the geographic periphery of both North Korea and China.

South Korea’s opposition, which holds a legislative majority in South Korea’s parliament, has said in recent days that Mr. Yoon’s arrest will be a “cornerstone” for restoring the country’s collapsed constitutional order.

Ms. Na framed the situation differently, asserting that the opposition — not the PPP — presents a challenge to democracy and freedom in South Korea.

“What we’re concerned about is the paralysis of the politics in South Korea right now because the opposition party has more than 200 seats. They have total control,” she said, adding that prior to Mr. Yoon’s martial law move, the PPP was attempting to introduce an expansion of the country’s espionage act “to include not only Koreans, but also foreigners like Chinese.”

“But the opposition party was against it, so this act could not be passed,” she said.

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“The impeachment motion against Mr. Yoon was very dangerous,” Ms. Na said, adding that “whether the martial law declaration was worthy enough to impeach a president, that is something that has to be decided by the constitutional court.”

“Trump thinks free democracy is important, so I hope President Trump supports the Yoon government and our ruling party to strengthen free democracy more in Korea,” she said.

• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.

Copyright © 2025 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

washingtontimes.com · by Guy Taylor

7. Fighting Alongside Russia, North Koreans Wage Their Own War

This is a useful assessment. Hopefully we are going to gain a lot of knowledge about north Korean TTPs and capabilities (and will to fight). The reporting seems to be generally more consistent though that could still be a result of circular reporting based on information Ukraine or others want to provide to the media.

Excerpts:

If they seize a position, they do not try to secure it. They leave that to Russian reinforcements, while they drop back and prepare for another assault.

They have also developed singular tactics and habits. When combating a drone, the North Koreans send out one soldier as a lure so others can shoot it down. If they are gravely wounded, they have been instructed to detonate a grenade to avoid being captured alive, holding it under the neck with one hand on the pin as Ukrainian soldiers approach.

Sent to Russia to join with Moscow’s troops in Kursk, the North Koreans essentially operate as a separate fighting force, the Ukrainian soldiers and American officials said — distinct in language, training and military culture.

“It’s partly two different militaries that have never trained or operated together and partly, I think, Russian military culture, which is, shall we say, not highly respectful of the abilities and norms and operations of partner forces,” said Celeste A. Wallander, who until Inauguration Day was the Pentagon’s assistant secretary for international security affairs.

The North Koreans are largely special operations troops trained for surgical strike missions, she said, but the Russians have basically used them as foot soldiers.

...

In one diary, a North Korean soldier wrote that he was motivated to join Russia’s fight to redeem himself from an unspecified transgression.

“I wear the uniform of the revolution to protect the Supreme Commander,” he wrote. “I betrayed the Party that trusted me and committed ungrateful acts against the Supreme Commander. The sins I have committed are unforgivable, but my homeland has given me a path to redemption, a new start in life.”

He also included practical details, like how to shoot down a drone.

“Simultaneously, the one baiting the drone keeps a distance of 7 meters, while those shooting stay 10-12 meters away. If the bait stands still, the drone will also stop moving. At this moment, the shooter eliminates the drone.”

The North Korean tactics have forced the Ukrainians to adapt.

For instance, drone pilots said they generally did not target individual North Koreans, hunting for groups instead.

And given the density of North Korean assaults, the standard procedure of placing anti-personnel mines about 15 meters apart does not work well. Now, soldiers said, they are trying to leave no more than five meters between mines.

Interestingly, Ukrainian soldiers said, the North Koreans try to remove their dead and wounded from the battlefield, which is different from the Russians.

Andrii shared drone video of the process, with some dead and wounded soldiers being dragged out — pulled by their arms or loaded on sleds — as others moved into the position.

Fighting Alongside Russia, North Koreans Wage Their Own War

Ukrainian forces described a different kind of enemy, fighting with unfamiliar tactics and little option to retreat.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/22/world/europe/north-korea-soldiers-ukraine.html

Russian soldiers at an artillery position in the Kursk region, in December. Even before it sent troops, North Korea was supplying Russia with millions of artillery shells.Credit...Nanna Heitmann for The New York Times

By Marc Santora and Helene Cooper

Marc Santora traveled to the Russian border to meet with Ukrainians fighting North Korean troops in Kursk. Helene Cooper reported from Washington.

Jan. 22, 2025, 5:01 a.m. ET

Want to stay updated on what’s happening in North Korea, Russia and Ukraine? Sign up for Your Places: Global Update, and we’ll send our latest coverage to your inbox.

The North Korean soldiers fighting for Moscow in Russia’s Kursk region are assigned their own patches of land to assault. Unlike their Russian counterparts, they advance with almost no armored vehicles in support.

When they attack, they do not pause to regroup or retreat, as the Russians often do when they start taking heavy losses, Ukrainian soldiers and American officials say. Instead, they move under heavy fire across fields strewed with mines and will send in a wave of 40 or more troops.

If they seize a position, they do not try to secure it. They leave that to Russian reinforcements, while they drop back and prepare for another assault.

They have also developed singular tactics and habits. When combating a drone, the North Koreans send out one soldier as a lure so others can shoot it down. If they are gravely wounded, they have been instructed to detonate a grenade to avoid being captured alive, holding it under the neck with one hand on the pin as Ukrainian soldiers approach.

Sent to Russia to join with Moscow’s troops in Kursk, the North Koreans essentially operate as a separate fighting force, the Ukrainian soldiers and American officials said — distinct in language, training and military culture.

“It’s partly two different militaries that have never trained or operated together and partly, I think, Russian military culture, which is, shall we say, not highly respectful of the abilities and norms and operations of partner forces,” said Celeste A. Wallander, who until Inauguration Day was the Pentagon’s assistant secretary for international security affairs.

The North Koreans are largely special operations troops trained for surgical strike missions, she said, but the Russians have basically used them as foot soldiers.

Image

This undated handout photograph released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on Jan. 11 shows what they say is a North Korean soldier lying in a cell at an undisclosed location in Ukraine.Credit...Ukrainian Presidential Press Service, via Agence France-Presse

Last fall, North Korea sent about 11,000 soldiers to aid Moscow’s forces in the Kursk region of southern Russia, where the Ukrainians captured territory with a surprise invasion last summer. Since their first combat engagement in early December, roughly one-third of the North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded, Ukrainian and American officials said.

Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine’s top military commander, said this week that North Korean losses continued to climb, estimating that almost half those sent had been either injured or killed, but he warned that they were “highly motivated, well-trained” and “brave.”

Reinforcements are expected “within the next two months,” according to one senior U.S. defense official.

The New York Times spoke to a dozen Ukrainian soldiers and commanders who are engaged in direct combat with North Korean soldiers, as well as four U.S. defense officials and military analysts, to put together a portrait of how the North Koreans operate on the battlefield. The Times also viewed video of North Korean assaults provided by the Ukrainian military.

The American officials requested anonymity to speak frankly about battlefield details. Ukrainian soldiers and their commanders asked to be identified only by their first names in accordance with military protocol.

Image

Ukrainian military vehicles close to the border with Russia’s Kursk region, earlier this month.Credit...Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times

With 1.2 million troops, North Korea’s military ranks among the world’s largest standing armies, and its entry into the war was a profound escalation in a war now approaching its fourth year.

Even before it sent troops to Russia, North Korea was a major supporter of Russia’s war effort. It has sent Moscow millions of artillery shells — which now account for about half of the Russian munitions fired daily — and more than 100 short-range ballistic missiles, according to Western and Ukrainian intelligence officials.

The Kremlin has denied deploying North Korean soldiers to the battlefield and is taking steps to hide their involvement, officials said.

For instance, the North Koreans have been issued what one Pentagon official described as “pocket litter” — documents that register them as being from Russia’s Far East.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that one of the captured soldiers was found to have a military ID in the name of a resident of Tuva, southern Siberia. The fake identity used data from a real Russian citizen, Ukrainian intelligence officials said.

Ukrainian claims about attempts to hide North Korean participation could not be independently verified.

While North Korean soldiers provide additional manpower, the Russians have struggled to integrate them into the battlefield.

The difficulties have ranged from minor issues, like finding uniforms small enough to fit North Korean soldiers, to communication problems that have led at least twice to North Korean and Russian forces clashing directly because of mistaken identity, U.S. officials and Ukrainian soldiers said.

The Russians are taking steps to address the issues, Ukrainian soldiers said, but have yet to form a more cohesive fighting force.

“Now they’ve started composing groups that include a translator or someone who speaks Russian with a radio, but these groups are not very effective,” said Andrii, the Ukrainian commander.

Using video from a drone camera, Andrii described an assault soon after it happened earlier this month, offering a window into North Korean tactics.

Viewed through thermal imaging, the North Korean soldiers stood out as small dark specks on the snow-dusted fields. They walked some five miles — with many killed along the way — and were massing in a tree line for an assault on a Ukrainian trench a short distance away.

“There are about 50 of them here,” Andrii said.

Image

A photograph obtained from the Telegram account of President Volodymyr Zelensky shows a Russian Army ID card. Mr. Zelensky said one captured soldier was found to have ID in the name of a resident of Siberia.Credit...Ukrainian presidency, via Agence France-Presse

Some were wounded, the video showed, but they did not retreat. They waited for reinforcements and then attacked. Assault groups were made up of five to eight soldiers.

The North Koreans take many casualties, Andrii said, but keep sending new units.

“It’s just forward, forward,” he said. “It’s motivation, orders and strict discipline.”

The ”shock brigade” tactic of soldiers advancing with little concern for the mayhem that awaits them is heavily featured in North Korean military training and propaganda. Adopted from the Korean War days, the strategy has caused many casualties in a war fought over open and flat lands with drones, according to South Korean intelligence officials. But they said the North would consider those losses a necessary cost of becoming more skilled in modern warfare.

“It feels like they specifically came here to die, and they know it themselves,” said Oleksii, a platoon commander.

Ukrainian intelligence officials said two North Korean soldiers captured on Jan. 9 were also providing insights into the deployments in Kursk. And Ukrainian Special Operations Forces have released excerpts from a number of diaries and communications collected from the bodies of North Korean soldiers, which American officials said appeared authentic.

In one diary, a North Korean soldier wrote that he was motivated to join Russia’s fight to redeem himself from an unspecified transgression.

“I wear the uniform of the revolution to protect the Supreme Commander,” he wrote. “I betrayed the Party that trusted me and committed ungrateful acts against the Supreme Commander. The sins I have committed are unforgivable, but my homeland has given me a path to redemption, a new start in life.”

He also included practical details, like how to shoot down a drone.

“Simultaneously, the one baiting the drone keeps a distance of 7 meters, while those shooting stay 10-12 meters away. If the bait stands still, the drone will also stop moving. At this moment, the shooter eliminates the drone.”

The North Korean tactics have forced the Ukrainians to adapt.

For instance, drone pilots said they generally did not target individual North Koreans, hunting for groups instead.

And given the density of North Korean assaults, the standard procedure of placing anti-personnel mines about 15 meters apart does not work well. Now, soldiers said, they are trying to leave no more than five meters between mines.

Interestingly, Ukrainian soldiers said, the North Koreans try to remove their dead and wounded from the battlefield, which is different from the Russians.

Andrii shared drone video of the process, with some dead and wounded soldiers being dragged out — pulled by their arms or loaded on sleds — as others moved into the position.

Image

Trenches dug to stop any potential further advance by Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region, last month.Credit...Nanna Heitmann for The New York Times

The North Korean forces deployed to Ukraine included around 500 officers and at least three generals, according to Ukrainian military intelligence.

The generals are posted at Russian command and control headquarters, U.S. defense officials said, and that is where the objectives are decided.

The commanders decide when they need artillery and how long to wait before ground forces maneuver, a senior U.S. defense official said. They synchronize with the troops in the field, so that the troops are not talking to their Russian counterparts, to try to reduce miscommunication.

Ukrainian soldiers fighting in Kursk said the North Korean tactics were costly but effective.

“The Koreans are starting to push the front lines, targeting less defended areas and wearing out our troops that way,” said Oleksii, the platoon commander.

Fighting one of the world’s largest armies was hard enough, he said, but fighting two was “on the edge” of what was possible.

Capturing prisoners has proved challenging because North Koreans have been trained not to be taken alive, soldiers said, and Russian drone operators were always watching.

“If Russians see Koreans being captured, they use drones to finish them off — killing both the Koreans and our soldiers,” Oleksii said, adding that some in his brigade were recently killed this way.

Ukrainian soldiers said the North Koreans should not be underestimated.

“They are being tested, really tested,” said Andrii, the drone commander. They did not have combat experience, he said, but “now they are here, gaining it, and they are becoming very strong.”

Liubov Sholudko contributed reporting from Ukraine and Choe Sang-Hun contributed from Seoul.

Marc Santora has been reporting from Ukraine since the beginning of the war with Russia. He was previously based in London as an international news editor focused on breaking news events and earlier the bureau chief for East and Central Europe, based in Warsaw. He has also reported extensively from Iraq and Africa. More about Marc Santora

Helene Cooper is a Pentagon correspondent. She was previously an editor, diplomatic correspondent and White House correspondent. More about Helene Cooper

See more on: Russia-Ukraine War

8. Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, January 22, 2025

E​xcertps:

North Korea will reportedly deploy new military personnel to Russia by mid-March 2025, likely to maintain the current pace and intensity of attritional, infantry-led assaults in Kursk Oblast.

These fresh North Korean forces are unlikely to decisively improve Russian operations and will likely face the same high casualty rates and complications operating with Russian forces as the current North Korean contingent, provided the Russian command continues to use North Korean forces the same way as it has thus far.

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, January 22, 2025

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-january-22-2025

The Kremlin has launched an information operation that seeks to create the false impression that the Russian economy is performing well despite numerous continued indicators of macroeconomic distress. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed during a meeting on economic issues on January 22 that 2024 was a "strong year" for the Russian economy. Putin claimed that Russia has a manageable budget deficit of 1.7 percent and achieved a 26 percent increase in non-oil-and-gas revenue to 25.6 trillion rubles (approximately $257.9 billion) in 2024 and announced a retroactive 9.5 percent increase in insurance and military pensions to address rising Russian inflation. Bloomberg reported on January 21 that the Russian Finance Ministry released a report projecting economic strength and suggesting that Russian budget revenue in December 2024 reached a record high of over 4 trillion rubles (about $40 billion) — a 28 percent increase compared to December 2023 and the highest level recorded since 2011. The data fails to account for Russia's unsustainable levels of defense spending, rampant inflation, a growing deficit and the erosion of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, however. ISW continues to observe macroeconomic data that directly contradict the Kremlin's claims that the Russian economy is performing well. The Kremlin has recently adopted policies aimed at increasing defense spending all while Russian society faces labor shortages, broader demographic issues, declining savings, and increasing reliance on bailouts as the Russian economy faces rising interest rates, inflated salaries, and deteriorating production capacity. These economic realities suggest that the Kremlin's efforts to posture economic strength are largely an information operation aimed at reassuring domestic audiences and posturing Russian strength abroad while masking the true challenges Russia's economy is facing, particularly heightened due to its war against Ukraine.

North Korea will reportedly deploy new military personnel to Russia by mid-March 2025, likely to maintain the current pace and intensity of attritional, infantry-led assaults in Kursk Oblast. The New York Times (NYT) reported on January 22 that a US senior defense official stated that additional North Korean forces will arrive in Russia "within the next two months," (roughly mid-March 2025). The NYT did not specify the number of troops or whether North Korea is rotating forces or increasing the size of its total force grouping in Russia, however. The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff reported on December 23 that North Korea may be preparing to deploy an unspecified number of additional forces to Ukraine and military equipment to Russia, either as a rotation or additional deployment of forces. Western officials told the BBC on January 22 that North Korean forces have suffered roughly 1,000 killed in action and 3,000 missing or wounded in action as of mid-January 2025, roughly 33 to 40 percent of the 11,000 to 12,000 total North Korean personnel already in Russia] ISW recently assessed that the entirety of the North Korean contingent in Russia may be killed or wounded in action by about mid-April 2025 at their current casualty rate, and a new North Korean deployment — whether intended to increase the current grouping or rotate out existing forces — is likely intended to sustain Russia’s tempo of operations despite heavy losses of about 30,000 - 45,000 causalities (combined killed and wounded) per month. North Korean forces reportedly spent at least a month training in eastern Russia before deploying to Kursk Oblast for further training in near rear areas in November 2024 and joining combat operations at least as of early December 2024. This timeline roughly coheres with the possibility that a fresh contingent of North Korean forces could undergo training and replace the shrinking North Korean group in Kursk Oblast by mid-April 2025, assuming the reported next batch of North Korean troops will train for the same duration as their predecessors, and deploy to Russia imminently in late January or early February 2025.

These fresh North Korean forces are unlikely to decisively improve Russian operations and will likely face the same high casualty rates and complications operating with Russian forces as the current North Korean contingent, provided the Russian command continues to use North Korean forces the same way as it has thus far. US officials and Ukrainian soldiers told the NYT that North Korean and Russian forces continue to struggle with communications and cohesion and that Russian and North Korean forces have "clashed" at least twice due to troop identification errors. A Ukrainian commander told the NYT that North Korean assault groups now include a translator who speaks Russian but that these groups are still not very effective. Ukrainian soldiers reported that North Korean forces continue conducting mass infantry assaults and that North Korean soldiers do not retreat even if injured. Ukraine's Special Operations Forces (SSO) published footage on January 22 of North Korean forces massing for an infantry assault and reported that Ukrainian forces killed 21 and wounded 40 North Korean soldiers during the eight-hour long combat engagement. Ukrainian soldiers told the NYT that Russian forces are still attempting to conceal the presence of North Koreans on the battlefield by conducting drone strikes against wounded North Korean troops as Ukrainian forces attempt to take them prisoner. ISW continues to assess that North Korea's high casualty rate and interoperability difficulties with Russian forces will affect the lessons that the North Korean military command will learn from fighting in Russia's war.

Key Takeaways:

• The Kremlin has launched an information operation that seeks to create the false impression that the Russian economy is performing well despite numerous continued indicators of macroeconomic distress.

• Russia continues long-term efforts to build out its manpower reserve with All-Russian Cossack Society organizations and create a willing and well-trained prioritized pool designed to buffer the Kremlin from potential blowback in the event of a possible future partial call up of Russian reservists.

• North Korea will reportedly deploy new military personnel to Russia by mid-March 2025, likely to maintain the current pace and intensity of attritional, infantry-led assaults in Kursk Oblast.

• These fresh North Korean forces are unlikely to decisively improve Russian operations and will likely face the same high casualty rates and complications operating with Russian forces as the current North Korean contingent, provided the Russian command continues to use North Korean forces the same way as it has thus far.

• Russian milbloggers complained and expressed concern over recent claims that the Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS)-led interim government in Syria suspended Russian investment and financial involvement in the port of Tartus as Russia's long-term military presence in Syria remains unclear.

• A Russian state media outlet reported that Russia may resume direct gas deliveries to Transnistria despite recent discussions about sourcing non-Russian gas to the region.

• Ukrainian forces recently recaptured lost positions near Toretsk.

• Russian forces recently advanced near Chasiv Yar, Toretsk, Pokrovsk, Kurakhove, and Velyka Novosilka.

• Russia and Uzbekistan are deepening military cooperation. 

9. Ex-Executive Who Oversaw South Korean Airport Renovations Is Found Dead

Ex-Executive Who Oversaw South Korean Airport Renovations Is Found Dead

Son Chang-wan was in office while works were undertaken at Muan International Airport. Last month, a plane crashed into a concrete barrier there, killing 179 people.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/22/world/asia/south-korea-crash-executive-dead.html

The site of the Jeju Air plane crash last month at Muan International Airport in South Korea.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

By Jin Yu Young and Choe Sang-Hun

Reporting from Seoul

Jan. 22, 2025

Updated 4:28 p.m. ET

The former president of the company that operates the South Korean airport where a Jeju Air jet crash-landed last month has been found dead in his home, the police said on Wednesday.

Son Chang-wan, who was the president of Korea Airports Corporation from 2018 to 2022, was found in his residence in Gunpo, a city about 14 miles south of Seoul, on Tuesday evening. The police said there was no evidence of murder or intrusion into his home and called his death an apparent suicide.

Mr. Son was in office when a renovation of the Muan International Airport, the site of the Dec. 29 Jeju Air disaster in which 179 people were killed, began in 2020. But he was not a subject of an investigation into the crash being conducted by the Jeonnam Provincial Police, according to an agency spokesperson.

Korea Airports Corporation is a government-owned company that operates more than a dozen airports, including Muan. The company said that because Mr. Son’s death was a personal matter, it did not have an official statement on it.

One particular subject of investigations into the crash, which involved a Boeing 737-800, is a concrete wall at the Muan airport that contained an antenna array used to guide planes during landing. Jeju Air’s Flight 7C2216 skidded into the wall at high speed and exploded, killing all but two of the plane’s passenger and crew.

It was the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil and the deadliest worldwide since that of Lion Air Flight 610 in 2018, when all 189 people onboard died.

Korea Airports Corporation’s safety standards have come into question, with critics arguing that if the antenna array had been installed on a more easily breakable mount, as in many other airports, the disaster might have been less severe.

Government officials have said that the structure was built in accordance with safety regulations. But an inspection by the transportation ministry revealed that seven of the nation’s airports, including the one in Muan, did not meet safety standards and needed to upgrade their runway facilities.

On Wednesday, the transportation ministry said it would replace the existing concrete structure in Muan with one that is easier to break. The ministry also said that plans were underway to upgrade localizers at airports to be made of lighter, steel structures and extend safety zones at the end of some runways to a minimum of almost 790 feet. The Muan runway is due to remain closed until mid-April.

A team of aviation officials from South Korea, the United States and Boeing are investigating the accident. Their efforts have already been hindered by the failure of a flight recorder that stopped working minutes before the crash.

The police are conducting a separate investigation and have barred Jeju Air’s chief executive from leaving the country.

Jin Yu Young reports on South Korea, the Asia Pacific region and global breaking news from Seoul. More about Jin Yu Young

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

10. Constitutional Court rejects impeachment of broadcasting watchdog chief

​Is this an early indicator of how the Constitutional Court might rule on president Yoon?

Constitution court baseball - the tie goes to the runner.

Excerpts:

The opposition-led National Assembly voted to impeach Lee on Aug. 2, just two days after she took office, accusing her of making KCC decisions with only two members while leaving the other three of the commission's five-member standing committee vacant.

In a 4-to-4 decision, however, the Constitutional Court ruled against her impeachment. By law, the court requires the consent of at least six justices to endorse the impeachment. Lee, whose duties were suspended following the Aug. 2 impeachment, was immediately put back into office.

Constitutional Court rejects impeachment of broadcasting watchdog chief | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Yoo Cheong-mo · January 23, 2025

SEOUL, Jan. 23 (Yonhap) -- The Constitutional Court on Thursday rejected a National Assembly vote to impeach Korea Communications Commission (KCC) Chairperson Lee Jin-sook over what opposition lawmakers said was a controversial decision-making process at the state broadcasting watchdog.

The opposition-led National Assembly voted to impeach Lee on Aug. 2, just two days after she took office, accusing her of making KCC decisions with only two members while leaving the other three of the commission's five-member standing committee vacant.

In a 4-to-4 decision, however, the Constitutional Court ruled against her impeachment. By law, the court requires the consent of at least six justices to endorse the impeachment. Lee, whose duties were suspended following the Aug. 2 impeachment, was immediately put back into office.

The impeachment motion against Lee was introduced by the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) and five other minor parties in an attempt to block what they call the President Yoon Suk Yeol government's push to control public broadcasting.

The opposition has accused Lee and her predecessors under the Yoon administration of unfairly running the watchdog's decision-making standing committee, making decisions with two members while leaving the other three of the five positions vacant.

Soon after her inauguration, Lee held a meeting with Kim Tae-gyu, a newly appointed member of the KCC's standing committee, and appointed six new directors at the Foundation for Broadcast Culture, the major shareholder of MBC TV, in a move strongly denounced by the DP.

Lee had appeared in Constitutional Court hearings three times, arguing that she had simply performed her duties in accordance with established laws and procedures, and there was no reason for her dismissal.

Lee Jin-sook (R), chairperson of the Korea Communications Commission, attends the Constitutional Court's sentencing hearing in Seoul on her impeachment on Jan. 23, 2025. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

ycm@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Yoo Cheong-mo · January 23, 2025

11. Crimson Moon Rising: A Defiant Spark Ignites in the Shadows

​Fiction is useful, valuable, and can be indispensable for influence.

Although Duc pays homage to "the 1930s and 1940s pulp classics popular in the U.S., such as Doc Savage and The Shadow," I am reminded of John Steinbeck and his The Moon is Down and its effects on motivating the resistance in World War Ii in occupied Europe. I have been trying to motivate members of the north Korean diaspora to develop a north Korean specific version of The Moon is Down.

​Below is the table of contents of the materials I put together for them. Note the link to the history and story of the OSS and John Steinbeck. Below Duc's essay I have provided two outlines for a north Korean "The Moon Is Down."

Table of Contents – written products – English and Korean

1. The history and story behind the OSS and John Steinbeck’s novel

English Page 7; Korean Page 13

https://chronicchronicler.wordpress.com/2014/05/07/the-moon-is-down-precision-propaganda-prose/

2. AI/ChatGPT outlines for a north Korean focused novel

                 English Page 16; Korean Page 21

3. 10 Point Promise to Counter the Ten Points of Monolithic Ideology

                 English Page 25; Korean Page 30

4. A possible north Korean Strategy overview (Korea Talking Points (as of April 2024))

                 English Page 35; Korean Page 39

5. Revitalizing America's North Korea Policy

                 English Page 42; Korean Page 49

6. Unifying Korea: A New Strategy for Dealing with Kim Jong Un

                 English Page 54; Korean Page 59

Electronic files:

1. All of the above.

2. PDF of John Steinbeck’s The Moon is Down (English only)

3. PDF of Gene Sharp’s From Dictatorship to Democracy (English and Korean)

4. OSS Simple Sabotage Manual (English Only)

Crimson Moon Rising

A Defiant Spark Ignites in the Shadows

https://www.strategycentral.io/post/crimson-moon-rising

A STRATEGY CENTRAL ORIGINAL

By Maurice "Duc" DuClos - January 22, 2025

Part 1 of 4: The Ambush

Diesel fumes hung thick in the night air as Kai crouched in the shadows of a rusting shipping container. His fingers traced the crimson scarf at his throat - a splash of defiant color in the darkness, a symbol that had come to haunt the occupation's nightmares. Beyond the dim glow of flickering streetlights, the convoy rumbled forward - three armored vehicles bristling with machine guns. To the untrained eye, it was an impenetrable fortress on wheels.

To Kai, it was an opportunity.

The convoy inched through a section of the city still bearing the scars of the initial invasion—collapsed buildings and rubble-strewn streets testify to the occupation's brutal arrival. But the area remained vital, its network of access roads feeding the industrial zone, where factories still churned out goods under enemy control. The invaders needed the city's manufacturing capacity intact—they hadn't come to rule over ruins.

From his position on the street's eastern side, Kai could see Liang's shadow waiting in a doorway across the way, while Mei's voice came from somewhere above - the abandoned telecom tower that gave her clear sight lines to both positions. The Crimson Moon could not allow this convoy to pass unchallenged. Rain-slick metal pressed cold against his back as he adjusted his position, the scarf's bold insignia hidden for now but ready to be revealed - let them see who struck this blow.. The weight of his trapo - a crude but effective impact weapon favored by the resistance for its simplicity - rested reassuringly in his jacket pocket. Just a padlock on a loop of cord, but in the right hands, it could shatter bone or kill.

"Ready," Mei said through his earpiece, the faint crackle barely audible over the convoy's approaching thunder. “Scrambling their frequencies... now."

Kai tapped his mic twice, signaling his move. They had to time this perfectly. Their intelligence suggested Colonel Zhan himself had arranged this shipment - the same Colonel Zhan who'd earned his reputation breaking resistance cells across three occupied territories. He never failed to root out dissent, which made tonight's message all the more vital.

Liang emerged from the shadows, moving like oil across water. His hands gripped the straps of a homemade explosive device carried like an oversized messenger bag. Inside, eight pounds of salvaged RDX waited - military-grade plastic explosive that could tear through armor like paper. Liang had a gift for this, turning the occupation's own unexploded ordnance into precisely shaped charges. Weeks of testing had gone into this one. He nodded to Kai, his eyes sharp with focus beneath the grime that streaked his face.

The timing was everything, and Liang never missed.

The first armored vehicle rolled past, its mounted turret swiveling with a hydraulic whine that set Kai's teeth on edge. Then came the second, its metal tracks crunching broken asphalt. Finally, the third--a command vehicle, reinforced and teeming with soldiers. This was the one they had to cripple.

Suddenly, a commotion erupted ahead of the convoy. An old vendor's food cart had lost a wheel, spilling steaming bowls across the street. The convoy ground to a halt, and soldiers shouted at the vendor to clear the road. They didn't know the cart's "accident" was as carefully planned as everything else tonight. Liang's eyes met Kai's--this was their window, but it wouldn't last long.

Liang darted forward, staying low, and attached the device to the vehicle's undercarriage. The magnetic clamps latched with a muffled click that echoed in Kai's ears even from across the street. His fingers tightened around the detonator as he counted down, checking each position. Three... Liang was clear of the kill zone. Two... the food cart vendor safely away. One... spotters all accounted for…. Now.

The explosion tore through the night, a flash of fire and screaming metal lighting up the narrow street like a false dawn. The command vehicle lurched sideways, its rear axle transformed into modern art. The convoy screeched to a halt as shouts erupted, the acrid stench of burning rubber and explosives filling the air. Spotlights swung wildly, carving through the smoke.

Through the chaos, Kai caught glimpses of Liang sprinting through the smoke. Three soldiers broke off from the convoy, giving chase with rifles raised. Gunfire erupted, the sharp crack of automatic weapons echoing off warehouse walls. Liang disappeared down a side street, the soldiers close behind. More shots rang out, followed by the crash of metal trash bins being overturned.

"Mei, you have eyes on Liang?" Kai whispered into his comm.

Static answered. Mei would have already gone dark, vanishing like a ghost into the city's shadows. Her cardinal rule--she never stayed in one place once the operation started. Some resistance members joked that she might not even exist--just a voice in the night that helped them survive.

"Incoming patrol!" Another voice cut through his thoughts - one of their street lookouts. He caught sight of two more soldiers breaking from cover, rifles raised, boots splashing through oily puddles. They moved quickly in his direction, but Kai was quicker. He bolted toward a nearby alley, the wet concrete streaming past beneath his feet.

Suddenly, strong hands seized him from behind. A soldier, moving faster than expected, had circled around. Kai felt the cold press of a rifle barrel against his back, the man's breath hot on his neck. For one terrible moment, death seemed certain.

But Kai had survived this long by using desperate moments to his advantage. Kai twisted hard, using the soldier's momentum against him, slamming him into the alley wall. The man grunted, his rifle falling with a metallic clatter. Kai's hand shot to his pocket, pulling free the trapo – and with a quick circular swing stuck out. The padlock cut through the night air, its steel body catching the soldier across the temple with a dull crack. Blood sprayed the bricks as the man staggered, his hands flailing for balance. Kai struck again, the padlock connecting with his jaw this time, teeth shattering with a sickening crunch. The soldier dropped, his body limp on the ground. Kai stepped over him and looked back to see where the remaining soldiers were now.

Bullets sparked off the bricks as the other soldiers opened fire, but Kai was already moving. He didn't stop to check if his attacker was dead or merely unconscious - hesitation meant death. His boots found the crumbling stairwell, and he took the steps two at a time, his movements practiced and precise. At the top, he reached a tripwire rigged to a cache of smoke grenades. He yanked the wire as he passed, and thick white smoke billowed into the alley below. The chemical haze muffled the soldiers' curses as Kai emerged onto the rooftop. The higher vantage point gave him a clear view of the chaos below, but he couldn't linger here for long.

Kai crouched low on the rooftop, his breath steadying as he scanned the chaos below. Smoke billowed in the alley, shrouding the soldiers as they regrouped. He had seconds—maybe less—before they moved again. The explosion had drawn a crowd--curious onlookers and terrified residents peeking from windows. The soldiers, still coughing from the smoke, were beginning to emerge. Through the haze, he could see them checking on their fallen comrade. The man was moving - wounded but alive. Good. Dead soldiers brought harder crackdowns.

For a moment, Kai considered dropping the crimson scarf. To be caught with it meant certain death. But its weight carried too much meaning—too many promises. Carefully, he stowed it in his backpack. A symbol of defiance, it had served its purpose during the mission, but now it was a liability in his escape. He turned his jacket inside out, flipping it from black to a lighter blue, a subtle but deliberate change, the black jacket common but identifiable by the soldiers. The black baseball cap followed the scarf into his bag, leaving no trace of his earlier persona.

His hands shook slightly as he separated the trapo's padlock and cord into different pockets, adrenaline still coursing through his veins. Kai forced himself to take deep breaths, steadying himself like he'd learned to do in countless similar moments. Later, these pieces would join his phone in various disposal sites across the city.

What emerged onto the street was someone else entirely - just another face in the crowd, a young man drawn by the commotion, shoulders slightly hunched with the same fear that marked all civilians under occupation. His steps were uncertain, his head down, his entire bearing a study in carefully crafted invisibility.

He moved through the growing crowd with practiced ease, his eyes never stopping to scan for threats. Soldiers barked orders at the edge of the blast site, trying to keep onlookers at bay. A flash of movement--a soldier scanning faces in the crowd. Kai shifted course without breaking stride, using a cluster of elderly women as cover, their nervous chatter about rising food prices a perfect shield.

He didn't stop moving. Stopping was dangerous. Stopping invited scrutiny.

The next hour was a careful dance through the city's arteries. He removed the battery from his burner phone and dumped it in a storm drain, the SIM card broken and scattered across multiple trash bins. The padlock wiped clean, went into a construction dumpster, and the cord dropped down a storm drain ten blocks away. As he zigzagged through the streets, he spotted a checkpoint ahead—soldiers already questioning civilians about tonight's ambush.

Kai slipped down a side street, using a route he'd memorized for exactly this scenario.

As Kai approached the checkpoint, he caught a glimpse of a man walking along the opposite side of the street. For a moment, he thought it might be another Crimson Moon member. The build, the stride—familiar enough to make his heart skip.

Kai’s hand twitched toward his side, the coded hand signal, a form of the resistance’s secret sign language, almost muscle memory. His instincts screamed to warn the man about the checkpoint ahead. But doubt crept in like a shadow. What if he wasn’t who Kai thought he was? A misplaced signal could draw the wrong kind of attention—suspicion that would ripple far beyond this moment.

And if he was Crimson Moon? Then he’d already know the risks, the unspoken rules that kept them alive. Kai’s fingers hovered, then relaxed. Doubt, he reminded himself, was both a weapon and a curse.

Head down, the man kept walking, his steps steady and unhurried, giving no indication of recognition. Kai did the same, his stride calm but measured, resisting the urge to glance back.

Twice more, he doubled back, slipping into the shadows of a crumbling archway to watch the street behind him. The faint hum of a drone’s engine passed overhead, its spotlight sweeping the ruined facades. Kai flattened himself against the cold stone, his pulse steady but his mind racing.

The man disappeared into the distance, swallowed by the night. No one followed. But even as he turned away, Kai couldn’t shake the gnawing doubt. Had he just let an ally walk into danger—or passed a stranger without consequence?

This part of the city was a maze of broken streets and abandoned buildings, a patchwork of decay and defiance. Tonight's safe house waited in a basement beneath an old storefront, one of many secrets hidden behind the occupation's blind spots.

Kai knocked three times, paused, then knocked twice more - a simple code that meant everything. He waited, letting the stillness of the alley press in around him, alert for any sound out of place.

A soft knock replied - one, then two, then one. "Who's there?" whispered a voice through the door.

If they had asked, "What do you want?" instead, Kai would have known there was trouble and vanished into the night.

"It's Wong," Kai said, his voice steady. "Here to pick up the food."

The second code, "Wong and food," signaled that he was alone and hadn't been followed. The silence stretched like a drawn wire before the voice replied, "One moment. Let me get the food."

Kai's shoulders relaxed fractionally. The phrase confirmed the room was safe. The door creaked open just enough for a pair of watchful eyes to appear, then wider to admit him into the resistance's embrace.

Inside, Mei and Liang were already waiting, both bearing the grime of the night's work. Liang sat drinking coffee while Mei hunched over her laptop, her fingers never still.

"You're late," Mei said without looking up.

"Had to take the scenic route," Kai replied, dropping his bag onto the floor. "One of them got behind me in the alley. Handled it."

Liang inspected his bruised hands, picking at soot caught beneath his nails. "The fuse was a bit off---didn't fire as clean as I wanted. And... I might've gone a little heavy on the RDX." He sounded more like a critic reviewing his work than someone who'd just blown apart an armored vehicle and escaped with his life. "That rear axle just... disappeared." Almost as an afterthought, he added, "Oh, and I lost those three assholes at the Old Gate Market through the fish seller's tunnel." He grimaced. "Those vendor tunnels are getting way too hot."

Mei's fingers stopped their relentless typing. "It's going to get hotter," she said, spinning the laptop to face them. On the screen, Colonel Zhan's face was sharp with cold fury as he delivered a statement to the press, while behind him, silent footage showed his security units dragging civilians from their homes.

"These terrorists hide behind their crimson symbols, thinking shadows will protect them,” Zhan was saying, his voice clipped and precise. “Make no mistake--the Crimson Moon will burn. And when it does, the people who protect it will burn with it.”

"He's mobilizing his special security units,” Mei continued, tapping another window. “The ones he used in the North. Remember how that ended?”

Kai remembered all too well--a flash of fire screams in the night and the faces of friends who had vanished into Zhan's detention centers. Many never emerged. The Northern Province had taught him the cost of failure.

“We’ve lost people before. It doesn’t stop us.” Kai was resolute, but he felt the hardness creeping in. This was a hard reality; they knew this kind of reaction was likely after the attack. "Mass arrests are incoming," Liang muttered, studying the screen. “He'll round up everyone he can—not just suspects—families, friends, anyone who might know something."

"Our auxiliary networks," Mei said quietly. "Street vendors, shopkeepers, the people who pass messages..."

"The food cart vendor tonight," Kai added. "The one who gave us our opening. How many more like him are already on Zhan's lists?"

"How many can withstand serious interrogation?" Liang asked. The question hung heavy in the air.

Kai had no answer. The resistance's strength lay in its web of ordinary people - each knowing only their small part, but together forming an invisible army. If Zhan's forces began systematically targeting them...

"We need to warn the other cells," he said finally.

“Already trying,” Mei replied, her fingers flying across the keyboard. "But Zhan's patrols are sealing off the market districts, checking IDs, building their database."

“He’s not just arresting people,” Mei said, indicating areas on a map that Zhan’s forces were moving into. “He’s mapping relationships—who buys from who, who talks to who, even family connections. If he finishes this, it won’t just be raids. He’ll dismantle us piece by piece.”

Kai's jaw tightened as he studied Zhan's image. The Crimson Moon had always been more than just a name or a scarf's bold color. To the occupation, it was a menace, a shadow force that defied their control. To the people, it was hope, a reminder that resistance was possible. But now it was also a target, and Colonel Zhan had built his career destroying such symbols of defiance.

"He won't stop with arrests," Kai said. "He'll use them to map our networks, trace our supply lines. Every person he breaks will lead him to three more."

"And for every person who breaks, three more will join us," Liang countered, but his voice lacked conviction.

"If they're alive to join," Mei whispered.

Outside, sirens began to wail. The real war was just beginning, and its first casualties might be the very people they'd sworn to protect. Kai touched the spot where his crimson scarf had been, feeling the weight of what it represented: hope to the people, defiance to the occupation. They’d struck a blow tonight, but Zhan’s retaliation would paint the streets a different kind of red.

And somewhere in the city's shadows, a clock began ticking.

The Crimson Moon Chronicles are purely a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people, organizations, or operations is purely coincidental. The story follows a fictional resistance organization operating under occupation, showcasing various tactics and techniques inspired by current resistance, irregular, and unconventional warfare theories and concepts. Written in the style of short, serialized action fiction, it pays homage to the 1930s and 1940s pulp classics popular in the U.S., such as Doc Savage and The Shadow.

About the author

CW5 Maurice “Duc” DuClos currently serves as a Guest Lecturer at the Naval Post Graduate School (NPS) in Monterey, California. His professional background includes various positions at the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Joint Special Operations University (JSOU), the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (USAJFKSWCS), and 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne).

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the official position of the United States Special Operations Command, Joint Special Operations University, Naval Post Graduate School, or the Irregular Warfare Center.

The Moon is Down – north Korean outlines (English)

1. Title: "The Stars Behind the Curtain"

2. Title: The Darkness at Noon

From Chat GPT:

Title: "The Stars Behind the Curtain"

Chapter 1: Shadows of Freedom

In a small town nestled deep within the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the people live under the watchful eyes of an oppressive regime. The residents of Goyang live in fear, their voices silenced by a government that dictates their every move. But beneath the surface, a spark of resistance begins to flicker.

Chapter 2: Threads of Resistance

Kim Min-ji, a young woman with a fiery spirit, dreams of a life beyond the confines of her town. Inspired by stories of courage and freedom, she starts secretly gathering like-minded individuals who yearn for change. Together, they form a clandestine group, the "Stars of Goyang," dedicated to spreading hope and planting the seeds of self-determination.

Chapter 3: Whispers in the Dark

As the movement gains strength, the Stars of Goyang employ subtle tactics to motivate the people. They distribute leaflets, hiding them in plain sight, challenging the narrative of the regime and highlighting the beauty of freedom. Their words resonate with the oppressed, igniting a hidden desire for self-determination.

Chapter 4: A Tug-of-War for Hearts and Minds

The government, sensing the shift in public sentiment, responds with increased surveillance and propaganda. Kim Min-ji and her comrades face mounting danger as they continue their efforts to awaken their fellow citizens. They organize secret gatherings, where they discuss the history of other nations' struggles for liberation, planting the seeds of change in the minds of their listeners.

Chapter 5: Breaking Barriers

With every passing day, the Stars of Goyang become more adept at evading capture. They utilize technology and underground networks to disseminate information, sharing stories of individuals who have successfully fought for their freedom in other parts of the world. The government's grip on power begins to loosen as the spirit of self-determination spreads like wildfire.

Chapter 6: Unity and Sacrifice

As the movement gains momentum, divisions within the regime emerge. Some officials, disillusioned by the oppression they once served, secretly offer their support to the Stars of Goyang. With newfound allies on the inside, the group gains valuable intelligence, allowing them to strategically expose the regime's weaknesses and foster further dissent.

Chapter 7: The Dawn of a New Day

The journey towards self-determination is fraught with danger and sacrifice. Kim Min-ji and her comrades face imprisonment, torture, and loss, but their spirit remains unbroken. Through resilience and unwavering determination, they push the boundaries of what was once thought possible, ultimately inspiring a nation to rise up and claim their right to choose their own destiny.

"The Stars Behind the Curtain" is a tale of hope, courage, and the power of the human spirit. It shines a light on the desire for self-determination that lies within every individual and celebrates the indomitable nature of the human will.

Title: The Darkness at Noon

Chapter 1: The Invasion

The sun rose over the quiet fishing village of Haeju, nestled on the west coast of North Korea. The people of Haeju were simple, hardworking folk, who lived in harmony with the sea and the land. They were loyal to their leader and their country, but their loyalty was about to be tested in ways they could never have imagined.

At dawn, the tranquility was shattered by the distant rumble of military vehicles. The villagers gathered at the main square, their faces etched with worry and confusion. Mayor Kang, a stout man in his fifties with a kind face and a firm hand, stood on the steps of the town hall, trying to calm the growing crowd.

Suddenly, a convoy of military trucks rolled into the square, led by a stern-faced officer in a crisp uniform. Major Park was a man of few words, but his presence commanded immediate attention. Behind him, soldiers disembarked, their faces impassive, their weapons at the ready.

"Citizens of Haeju," Major Park announced, his voice echoing off the walls of the surrounding buildings, "by order of the Supreme Leader, this village is now under the control of the People's Army. You are to comply with all directives and cooperate fully with our forces."

The crowd murmured in shock and fear. Mayor Kang stepped forward, raising his hands to silence them. "We are loyal citizens of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," he said, his voice steady. "We will do as we are told."

But as the days passed, it became clear that the occupation was not just a matter of following orders. The soldiers began to requisition supplies, leaving the villagers with barely enough to survive. They took over the town hall, the school, and even some of the larger homes, forcing families to crowd into whatever space was left.

Chapter 2: The Resistance

Among the villagers, a quiet resistance began to form. Kim Jae-hyun, a young fisherman with a fiery spirit, was one of the first to speak out. "We cannot let them take everything from us," he said to his friends one night as they gathered in a small, hidden cave by the sea. "We have to fight back."

His words found an eager audience in Park Min-seo, the schoolteacher, and Lee Dae-jung, the blacksmith. Together, they formed a small but determined group, meeting in secret to plan their acts of defiance. They sabotaged the soldiers' vehicles, stole supplies, and spread messages of resistance among the villagers.

Mayor Kang, though aware of the growing resistance, walked a fine line. He knew that outright defiance could bring severe punishment to the entire village, but he also understood the need to maintain the villagers' spirit and dignity. He used his position to subtly aid the resistance, passing information and resources whenever he could.

Chapter 3: The Consequences

As the resistance grew bolder, the occupiers grew more brutal. Major Park, frustrated by the constant disruptions, ordered crackdowns and public punishments. The village square, once a place of communal gathering, became a site of fear and oppression.

One day, Kim Jae-hyun was caught while attempting to sabotage a military truck. He was dragged to the square, beaten, and made an example of. The villagers watched in horror as Major Park delivered his ultimatum: "Any act of resistance will be met with the harshest consequences. You have been warned."

But instead of breaking their spirits, Jae-hyun's bravery inspired the villagers. The resistance grew stronger, their acts of defiance more coordinated. They knew the risks, but they also knew that their freedom and way of life were worth fighting for.

Chapter 4: The Turning Point

The harsh winter set in, and the occupation became even more unbearable. Food was scarce, and the villagers struggled to keep warm. Yet, in the midst of their suffering, their resolve never wavered.

One fateful night, a large shipment of supplies meant for the occupying forces was diverted by the resistance. It was a daring operation, led by Park Min-seo and Lee Dae-jung, and it gave the villagers a much-needed lifeline.

Major Park, now desperate and enraged, ordered a final, brutal crackdown. Homes were raided, suspected resistance members were arrested, and the village was placed under strict curfew. The tension in Haeju reached a boiling point.

Chapter 5: The Liberation

The villagers' plight did not go unnoticed by the outside world. News of their struggle reached the higher echelons of the government, and there was a growing sense of unease about the occupation's impact on the country's image.

One morning, as the villagers braced themselves for another day of hardship, a new convoy of military vehicles rolled into Haeju. But this time, it was not more occupiers. It was a delegation from the central government, led by a high-ranking official.

"Citizens of Haeju," the official announced, "by order of the Supreme Leader, the occupation of your village is to end immediately. Major Park and his forces will be withdrawn, and you will be allowed to return to your normal lives."

The villagers were stunned, their relief mixed with disbelief. As the soldiers packed up and left, there were no cheers, only a quiet, solemn acknowledgment of what they had endured and what they had achieved.

Mayor Kang stood once more on the steps of the town hall, addressing his people. "We have faced great hardship, but we have also shown great courage. Let us rebuild our village, our lives, and our spirits. Let us remember those who fought and those who fell. And let us never forget the strength we found in each other."

The villagers of Haeju had weathered the darkness at noon, and as the sun set on their village, there was a newfound hope in the air—a hope that even in the face of oppression, the human spirit could never be truly conquered.

12. North Korea reiterates it has ‘no intention’ of abandoning nuclear program

​Not surprising to us.

We do need to learn to heed the regime's statements.

This is a Google translation of an RFA report.

North Korea reiterates it has ‘no intention’ of abandoning nuclear program

The return of Donald Trump as US president has raised the possibility of a change in policy on North Korea.

https://www.rfa.org/english/korea/2025/01/22/north-korea-nuclear-program-trump/

By Taejun Kang for RFA

2025.01.21

People watch a TV broadcasting a news report on North Korea firing multiple short-range missiles, in Seoul, South Korea, Jan. 14, 2025. (Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

TAIPEI, Taiwan – North Korea reiterated that it had no intention of giving up its nuclear program, blaming the United States for “creating tension” on the Korean peninsula, after the U.S. President Donald Trump described the country as a “nuclear power.”

Since 2006, North Korea has conducted six nuclear tests and has consistently declared that it will never relinquish its nuclear weapons. It also demands recognition as a nuclear power, which both the U.S. and its ally, South Korea, firmly reject, instead calling for North Korea’s “denuclearization.”

But Trump’s reference on Monday has raised the possibility of a shift in U.S. policy towards recognizing the country’s nuclear status.

“As a responsible nuclear weapons state, we will continue to make efforts to prevent all forms of war and to protect peace and stability,” said Jo Chol Su, North Korea’s permanent representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva during a U.N. conference on disarmament on Tuesday.

“The United States has been conducting aerial espionage against North Korea since the beginning of the year … U.S. political and military provocations are the root cause of triggering armed conflicts and undermining regional stability.

“The strongest defense is the only way to protect peace. We will strongly deter any attempt by hostile forces to provoke us militarily,” Jo added.

Jo’s remarks were in response to criticism from U.N. member states over the North’s nuclear and missile programs.

In particular, Kim Il-hoon, South Korea’s deputy permanent representative to the U.N. in Geneva, pointed out that North Korea had violated U.N. Security Council resolutions by providing Russia with a large quantity of weapons and ballistic missiles, as well as sending more than 11,000 troops to help Russia in its war against Ukraine.

“The recent capture of two North Korean soldiers is a sign of North Korean troops’ participation in the war,” Kim said.

As many as 12,000 North Korean soldiers are in Russia’s Kursk region, fighting Ukrainian forces there, according to Ukraine and the U.S. – although neither Moscow nor Pyongyang has acknowledged this.

Ukraine said its forces captured two North Korean soldiers in Kursk in January. Both were wounded and are in custody in Kyiv, reportedly receiving medical attention.

“North Korea has redefined inter-Korean relations by framing the South as an enemy state, effectively dismantling the psychological barrier to launching a preemptive nuclear attack on our people – all of whom are Koreans,” Kim said, referring to Pyongyang’s decision to officially abandon its long-standing goal of peaceful reunification with South Korea.

In January 2024, the North declared the South its “primary foe and invariable principal enemy,” closing agencies dedicated to inter-Korean cooperation and enhancing its military capabilities.

“The lowered threshold for North Korea’s nuclear aggression poses a direct threat to peace and stability in the region,” Kim added.

North Korea’s comments followed Trump’s reference to it as a nuclear power, which hinted at a possible softening of the longstanding U.S. demand that the North dismantles its weapons program.

U.S. President Donald Trump takes the oath of office as Barron and Melania Trump look on at the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Japan and South Korea – two important Asian allies of the U.S. – rejected the term.

“North Korea’s nuclear and missile development is a threat to the peace and security of Japan and the international community, and we cannot accept it,” said Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi on Tuesday.

“We will also work with the international community, including the U.S. and South Korea, to demand the complete dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs by promoting the full implementation of the relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions,” he added.

South Korea earlier said the North could never be recognized as a nuclear power because to do so would imply abandoning the goal of denuclearization.

The U.S. had refused to recognize North Korea as a nuclear state to uphold global non-proliferation norms and avoid legitimizing Pyongyang’s defiance of international agreements.

There have been lingering concerns that acknowledging the North’s nuclear status could destabilize regional security, embolden Pyongyang, and encourage South Korea and Japan to pursue their own nuclear programs.

RELATED STORIES

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Trump was inaugurated as the 47th U.S. president on Monday, marking the beginning of his second term. During his first term, he embarked on unprecedented but ultimately unsuccessful engagement with North Korea to try to get it to abandon its nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief.

North Korean state media reported his inauguration without comment.

“Donald Trump was inaugurated as president in the United States, and he was elected as the 47th president of the United States in the election held last November,” the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency reported on Tuesday.

The article was also published in Rodong Sinmun newspaper, which North Koreans can read.

North Korean state media did not report any news related to the U.S. election in November.

Edited by Mike Firn.

13. Three North Koreans wanted in Kursk for killing Russian soldiers: report

​Hmmm...

This is a Google translation of an RFA report.

Excerpts:

Russia’s 810th Separate Marine Brigade has been engaged in intense battles in the Kursk region, with Ukrainian intelligence and media sources reporting the involvement of North Korean soldiers alongside it.

“The criminals are armed and dangerous … if found, observe personal safety measures and report to the Kursk Regional Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” the poster in Russian reads further.

Spy Dossier said the poster came from a “reliable source,” but noted that it needed to be verified. Radio Free Asia has not been able to independently verify it.

Language barrier

No reason was given for the reported killing of the Russians by the North Koreans but some Russian military bloggers suggested the incident was the result of “friendly fire” between North Koreans and Russians due to miscommunication.

Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, or DIU, said in December that the language barrier between two groups remained a problematic obstacle to command and coordination.

“Due to this problem, North Korean soldiers opened friendly fire on the vehicles of the so-called Akhmat battalion. The result was eight dead Kadyrovites,” DIU said.

Three North Koreans wanted in Kursk for killing Russian soldiers: report

North Koreans said to be suffering casualties while struggling with insufficient supplies, language barrier.

https://www.rfa.org/english/korea/2025/01/23/north-korea-soldier-wanted-kursk/

By Taejun Kang for RFA

2025.01.22

A wanted poster of three North Korean soldiers who killed five Russian servicemen in Kursk in January. (Spy Dossier via Telegram)

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Three North Korean soldiers killed five Russian servicemen in Russia’s Kursk region and the “armed and dangerous” Koreans were being hunted, according to a Russian military telegram channel.

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.

“Koreans killed servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces. On Jan. 13, 2025, in the area of the village of Bolshoye Soldatskoye, Kursk region, three DPRK soldiers killed five servicemen of the 810th Separate Marine Brigade, military unit 13140, from Sevastopol,” reads a wanted poster published by a Telegram user Spy Dossier, who posts military content.

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

Russia’s 810th Separate Marine Brigade has been engaged in intense battles in the Kursk region, with Ukrainian intelligence and media sources reporting the involvement of North Korean soldiers alongside it.

“The criminals are armed and dangerous … if found, observe personal safety measures and report to the Kursk Regional Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” the poster in Russian reads further.

Spy Dossier said the poster came from a “reliable source,” but noted that it needed to be verified. Radio Free Asia has not been able to independently verify it.

Language barrier

No reason was given for the reported killing of the Russians by the North Koreans but some Russian military bloggers suggested the incident was the result of “friendly fire” between North Koreans and Russians due to miscommunication.

Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, or DIU, said in December that the language barrier between two groups remained a problematic obstacle to command and coordination.

“Due to this problem, North Korean soldiers opened friendly fire on the vehicles of the so-called Akhmat battalion. The result was eight dead Kadyrovites,” DIU said.

Kadyrovites is a term for Chechen troops loyal to leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

The DIU added that the incident was the result of the language barrier between Russian and North Korean troops, which is a “difficult obstacle” on the battlefield.

Russian soldiers captured by Ukraine also testified that they were kept separately from North Koreans mainly due to the language barrier.

Food shortage

DIU also reported in December that North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia in Kursk had been complaining about insufficient rations.

At that time, DIU said the dissatisfied North Koreans were under Russia’s 810th Separate Marine Brigade.

In order to overcome the problem, DIU said Russian officials sent Major General Mevlyutov, deputy commander for Resource Support of the Leningrad Military District, to the front line in Kursk.

It said he immediately ordered rations to be issued from the supplies of a Russian unit, which it identified as the 11th Air Assault Brigade.

Separately, a Ukrainian official told RFA in December that North Korean soldiers were struggling with poor and insufficient supplies and outdated weapons.

Mykhailo Makaruk of Ukraine’s 8th Special Operations Regiment said that after searching through uniforms of North Korean soldiers killed in Kursk, that they had no military food in their bags, but only some low quality grenades as well as poor military medicine kits.

The wanted poster emerged amid reports about increasing casualties among North Korean troops fighting in Kursk.

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Washington-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, said last week that North Koreans had likely suffered roughly 92 casualties per day since starting to participate in significant fighting in early December.

The think tank added that if the North continued to suffer such a high casualty rate, the entirety of this North Korean contingent in Kursk may be killed or wounded in roughly 12 weeks, or by about mid-April.

Ukraine reported on Jan. 4 an estimated 3,800 casualties among North Korean soldiers, while South Korea estimated on Jan. 13 that more than 300 North Koreans had been killed and about 2,700 wounded.

Edited by Mike Firn.

14. N. Korea executes nuclear power plant researchers over project failures

​Zero defects and extreme accountability.

N. Korea executes nuclear power plant researchers over project failures - Daily NK English

They were branded "anti-party figures" who had "contradicted the party's guidelines for socialist construction"

By Jeong Seo-yeong - January 23, 2025

dailynk.com · by Jeong Seo-yeong · January 23, 2025

North Korea's nuclear facility in Yongbyon County, South Pyongan Province. (Yonhap)

North Korean authorities have executed and imprisoned several key researchers involved in nuclear power plant construction, Daily NK has learned.

According to a Pyongyang source speaking to Daily NK on Tuesday, two senior researchers were executed and four junior researchers were punished for “failing to successfully complete their project and close the gap with international technological standards.”

The executions took place at 4 p.m. on Jan. 10 in an empty lot along Nampo road in Pyongyang’s Mangyongdae District. All staff connected to the nuclear power plant construction project were required to witness the event. While the two senior researchers were executed on site, the four junior researchers were transported to an undisclosed location, believed to be a political prison camp.

The executed senior researchers were officials from the Ministry of Atomic Energy Industry’s technology division, responsible for developing reactor design and operation technology. They were reportedly held accountable for failing to meet technical targets set by the Central Committee.

The issue came to a head during December’s 11th Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, where officials condemned the researchers for “willful neglect” and “defeatism.” They were particularly criticized for claiming certain tasks were “too hard to achieve given our capabilities” – a stance deemed unacceptable given that nuclear power plant construction is central to addressing North Korea’s chronic electricity shortage.

The Cabinet, Central Public Prosecutor’s Office, and Ministry of Social Security branded them “anti-party figures” who had “contradicted the party’s guidelines for socialist construction.”

However, other researchers in the field suggest the punishments were excessive, noting that the failures stemmed from resource shortages and technical limitations rather than lack of commitment. The source indicated that the executed researchers had been dedicated to their work and had openly communicated challenges to the Workers’ Party. Their fate has dampened morale among remaining staff.

In the aftermath, the Ministry of Atomic Energy Industry has appointed a new research team to lead the project, with the Central Committee mandating increased party oversight of technological research and development.

Read in Korean

dailynk.com · by Jeong Seo-yeong · January 23, 2025

​15. Will Casualties in Ukraine Lead to Change in North Korea?

​We must observe for the indicator of breakdown in the nKPA chain of control (three chains of control: traditional military, political, and security).

A breakdown of military discipline can lead to one of the two conditions for regime collapse:

1) the loss of the central governing effectiveness - the inability of the party to govern all of the territory in the north from Pyongyang.

2) the loss of coherency of the military and its support for the regime.

One or both of these conditions could lead to instability and both can lead to regime collapse.

Will Casualties in Ukraine Lead to Change in North Korea?

thediplomat.com

The unprecedented loss of life in a foreign conflict means that the war in Ukraine could be the Kim regime’s most significant test since the 1990s famine.

By Karl Anthony Borg

January 22, 2025

This still image from a video posted on X by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shows what Ukraine says is an injured North Korea soldier capturef on the battlefield in Kursk.

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In early November 2024, rumors of troop deployments to Russia started spreading among the residents of the North Korean city of Hyesan, on the border with China. Families feared that their own sons would have to fight in Ukraine, but without any official news from Pyongyang, they could not verify the claims. In a few days, the rumors spread from Hyesan to other regions through local merchants’ trade networks and border officials.

The rumors proved to be correct.

An agreement between Russia and North Korea, finalized in November 2024, saw the latter sending a reported 11,000 troops to the frontlines in Ukraine, with Russia providing them with supplies and a generous salary. While attention has been focused on the possibility of the North Korean regime acquiring new military and nuclear technologies, the domestic implications of such a deployment remain largely unexplored.

North Korean forces are suffering severe casualties in Ukraine, specifically around the Kursk region where most of them have been deployed on the frontlines. Ukraine and South Korea both have estimated that as much as 3,000, out of the initial 11,000, have already been reported dead or wounded.

This high level of military casualties is a result of several challenges facing the North Korean forces, including lack of appropriate training, especially on drone warfare, and the North Korean troops being treated as “expendable” by the Russian forces. There have also been reports of suicide among North Korean soldiers, often to avoid capture by Ukrainian soldiers, in a culture that equates surrender to betrayal.

This unprecedented loss of life in a foreign conflict raises the question of whether the regime in North Korea can afford to sustain such casualties while maintaining domestic stability. Historical precedents and the internal dynamics of North Korea suggest that even losses at this scale are unlikely to threaten the regime’s hold on power, but the war in Ukraine could be the most significant test since the 1990s famine.

Since the end of the Korean War in the early 1950s, Pyongyang has from time to time provided support to ideological allies in foreign conflicts such as in Vietnam, Ethiopia, Yemen, Uganda, and Angola. Details of this support were often deliberately kept from public view, mindful of the potential domestic repercussions.

The biggest military commitment for North Korea, since the war on the Korean Peninsula, was its assistance to North Vietnam. At the time, Kim Il Sung authorized the deployment of up to 384 servicemen, comprising air force personnel, engineering experts specializing in cave and tunnel building, and a psychological operations group. This also included an air force regiment composed of pilots and specialists to man two MiG-17 companies and one MiG-21 company.

Vietnamese reports indicate that around 14 air force personnel died during the conflict, while North Korean sources claim 27 deaths. These discrepancies, along with North Korea’s long silence about its involvement in Vietnam, reflect the regime’s tight control over information. The deployment of pilots during the Vietnam War in the 1960s was only made public in 2000, a pattern evident in other North Korean foreign military interventions.

North Korea’s current military involvement in Ukraine, however, presents unprecedented challenges for the regime’s information control. Unlike in Vietnam, and Uganda, where casualties were limited and spread over a number of years, the scale of losses in Ukraine has been both massive and concentrated in time and location. In previous interventions, the regime could have controlled information more easily, by relocating the affected families around the country or to Pyongyang. In Ukraine’s case, moving thousands of families will inevitably reshape North Korean society, but also and more importantly, it will have an outsized impact on the military.

The regime’s ability to manage this unprecedented situation with military casualties is further complicated by Songun, the “military-first” policy that was enacted in the 1990s, and which intertwined ruling party and military interests ever since. Kim Jong Un’s efforts to secure the personal loyalty of the Korean People’s Army further cemented his regime’s control over the domestic situation; however this relationship could be tested by the scale of losses in the Russia-Ukraine War.

This concern is not entirely theoretical. In the 1990s, the VI Corps of the Korean People’s Army were reportedly involved in an attempted coup d’etat against the regime. The coup was discovered and disrupted; the leaders and those involved were quickly executed or arrested, and the Corps dismantled. The case was largely kept secret by the regime, but it shows that even in a controlled system like North Korea, military loyalty cannot be taken for granted.

Aware of these vulnerabilities, Kim Jong Un made sure to keep the public in the dark regarding casualties in Ukraine, with families of the dead only receiving limited details. Even the presence of North Koreans on the battlefield has not been confirmed by Pyongyang. The rumors of troop deployments in November 2024 first travelled to North Korea through China-made cell phones, and then through internal networks. The regime was quick to intensify its surveillance of users using Chinese frequencies along the border, showing how quickly it can work when it recognizes a threat to its control of information that could undermine its propaganda on the war.

A senior military official inside North Korea told Daily NK that the regime has been receiving casualty figures through the military command, with these being tightly controlled by the Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army. When asked how widely these casualty figures were shared within the military ranks, the senior military official revealed that the regime is preparing “indoctrination activities” to be delivered to the units that have been deployed to Russia, “since authorities predict potential individual unrest or rumors.”

Recognizing the potential unrest that could result in disclosing the real number of fatalities, the regime is planning a number of events “to maintain the military’s psychological stability” in a post-war scenario, designed to “evoke patriotism,” according to this senior military official.

The regime’s attempt at controlling information has been further complicated with the capture of two North Korean soldiers by Ukraine’s special operations forces. One of the POWs had a Russian military ID card, a common strategy by North Korea “to prevent and hinder enemy forces from gathering intelligence.” Despite this, the Security Service of Ukraine and South Korean intelligence confirmed that North Korean forces have experienced heavy losses, and possible lack of supplies, with one POW claiming to have gone four or five days without food and water before being captured.

Leveraging the strategic value of these North Korean POWs, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that North Korean soldiers “who express a desire to bring peace closer by spreading the truth about this war in Korean will be given” an opportunity to settle in Ukraine.

As more North Korean POWs are captured and details of Pyongyang’s military strategy in Ukraine become public, this information will likely permeate North Korean society and its military ranks. While the Kim regime seems to be currently adapting to the events in Ukraine and addressing them accordingly, the growing awareness might force it to react to domestic concerns.

North Korea’s current strategy is conditioned on a Russian win in Ukraine, as well as Russia’s own economic wellbeing. If North Korea’s involvement in Ukraine continues to be disastrous, it could undermine any potential benefits from its Russian alliance. The combination of military losses and fighting a foreign war could trigger domestic instability through growing disillusionment in both military ranks and broader society.

​

Authors

Guest Author

Karl Anthony Borg

Karl Anthony Borg is a former diplomat who now works in the tech sector. He holds a Master's degree in International Relations and Diplomacy from Anglo American University in Prague and writes about geopolitics, technology, and entrepreneurship on his personal website karlsnotes.com. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

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16. Silk Web of Alliances: Trump’s Legacy and the Indo-Pacific’s Future

My recommendation to the new Administration. 

Silk Web of Alliances: Trump’s Legacy and the Indo-Pacific’s Future

19fortyfive.com · by David Maxwell · January 22, 2025

The importance of alliances in the Indo-Pacific region has been a consistent theme in US foreign policy, transcending administrations and political divides.

This continuity is evident in the through line from President Trump’s 2017 National Security Strategy (NSS) to President Biden’s Indo-Pacific security strategy. The incoming Trump administration must recognize and build upon this foundation as we look toward the future. An “America First” foreign policy will be most effective if it taps into the silk web of US relationships, and US allies will know and respect this.

It is also necessary to recognize the growing relationship of what has been described variously as the Axis of authoritarianism, dictators, chaos, tyranny, or the “Dark Quad.” This is a result of the recognition by China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea that the US silk web of relationships is immensely powerful.

These Axis players seek to counter and weaken this power while trying to harness their own. But this is a strategic competition that the US can, should, and must win. The US can do so easily when President Trump directs it to happen.

Trump’s 2017 NSS: Laying the Groundwork

The 2017 NSS, crafted during Trump’s first term, emphasized the critical role of US allies in responding to mutual threats and preserving shared interests in the Indo-Pacific region. This document highlighted key partnerships:

– South Korea: Recognizing the alliance’s strength forged through historical trials.

– Japan: Welcomes and supports its strong leadership role.

– Australia: Acknowledging its consistent support in conflicts and shared democratic values.

– New Zealand: Identifying it as a key regional peace and security partner.

– India: Welcoming its emergence as a leading global power and strategic partner.

The NSS also called for increased quadrilateral cooperation with Japan, Australia, and India, known as the Quad.

Biden’s Execution and Expansion

The Biden administration effectively executed and expanded upon the vision outlined in the 2017 NSS. This continuation of policy underscores the bipartisan recognition of the Indo-Pacific’s strategic importance. Biden’s approach has further strengthened the “silk web” of friends, partners, and allies aligned with the US around the concept of a free and open Indo-Pacific.

The Imperative for Trump’s Return

As Trump returns to office, it is crucial to recognize and build upon the progress rather than dismantle it. The incoming Trump administration should:

Acknowledge Continuity: Recognize that the current state of alliances directly results from the vision laid out in the 2017 NSS.

Take Credit and Build: Claim credit for initiating this strategic direction and commit to further strengthening these relationships.

Review and Adapt: Conduct a thorough review of the 2017 NSS, identifying areas where the Biden administration has made progress and where further work is needed.

Emphasize Shared Goals: Continue to stress the national security requirement for a free and open Indo-Pacific, a concept central to both the Trump and Biden administrations.

Leverage Existing Frameworks: Utilize and enhance structures like the Quad, which have grown from the seeds planted in the 2017 NSS.

Acknowledge Allies’ desire to cooperate with the Trump administration to support mutual interests.

Allies understand Trump and know working with the US is in their best interest. Recognize that alliance bashing is no longer necessary to gain US domestic political support. No friends of the US are afraid of “America First” because it is in their interests to support it. Allies embrace it. They fear an “America Only” concept where they are left out.

The Silk Web of Alliances: A Bipartisan Asset

The network of alliances forged by and reinforced by both Trump and Biden’s leadership represents a “silk web of U.S. friends, partners, and allies” in bilateral, multilateral, and multilateral relationships. This web is a gift for the next administration, offering a robust infrastructure for responding to security and economic challenges. Trump’s next term should embrace this bipartisan achievement, enhancing alliances rather than dismantling or reshaping them unnecessarily.

The Strategic Throughline: A Free and Open Indo-Pacific

A throughline from Trump’s NSS to Biden’s initiatives is the enduring emphasis on a free and open Indo-Pacific. Both administrations recognized the necessity of strategic coalitions to address common threats, from winning in strategic competition versus China and countering its threats to Taiwan and the Philippines and its aggression in the South China Sea to North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and its threats to the region and US homeland. Biden’s successes in deepening Quad cooperation and enhancing multilateralism complement Trump’s foundational NSS vision. While each administration had varied tactics and concepts, they have maintained a consistent strategic vision for the Indo-Pacific. Effective national security strategy can rarely be effective in one or even two presidential terms.

Former President of the United States Donald Trump speaking with attendees at the 2023 Turning Point Action Conference at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The longer that there is a sustained, consistent strategy, the more effective it can be. President Trump now has an additional term to focus on implementing his original vision and developing a free and Open Indo-Pacific.

Conclusion

In reclaiming the presidency, Trump should acknowledge and capitalize on the strides made by the Biden administration in the Indo-Pacific that were a result of his vision. By building on the alliance framework and drawing a clear connection to the 2017 NSS, Trump can reinforce the bipartisan commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. This approach not only strengthens US security but also ensures continuity in a region pivotal to global stability.

About the Author: David Maxwell

David Maxwell is a retired US Army Special Forces Colonel who has spent more than 30 years in the Asia Pacific region. He specializes in Northeast Asian Security Affairs and irregular, unconventional, and political warfare. He is Vice President of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy and a Senior Fellow at the Global Peace Foundation. Following retirement, he was Associate Director of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University. He is on the board of directors of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and the OSS Society and is a contributing editor to Small Wars Journal.

19fortyfive.com · by David Maxwell · January 22, 2025

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