Quotes of the Day:
“What are the facts? Again and again and again–what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what “the stars foretell,” avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable “verdict of victory” – what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts!”
- Robert A. Heinlein -Time Enough For Love
"Popularity may be united with hostility to the rights of the people, and the secret slave of tyranny may be the professed lover of freedom."
- Alexis de Tocqueville
"I was wise enough to never grow up while fooling most people into believing I had."
- Margaret Mead
1. S. Korea calls N.K. claim of hypersonic missile launch 'exaggerated'
2. N. Korea says it's not joining Beijing Olympics due to 'hostile forces,' pandemic
3. Banned from the Olympics by IOC, NKorea puts blame elsewhere
4. S. Korea disputes North's claim of hypersonic missile test
5. Moon orders helpless ‘peace’ on the day of N. Korea’s provocation
6. Supersonic missile launch: South Korea, US need new strategy to deter North Korea
7. Discharged North Korean soldiers deployed for rural farm labor
8. ＜Inside N. Korea＞ Growing Radicalization of People's Control (3): 14 Year-Old Junior High School Students Taken Out of Class in Handcuffs for Watching a Foreign Film
9. N. Korea’s Central Committee: From Jan. 11, only those who fulfilled “manure quota” will be allowed into markets
10. US experts see little or no chance of US-North Korea dialogue in 2022
11. North Hamgyong Province authorities shut down some facilities for suspected COVID-19 cases
12. [Paek Tae-youl] A view on the end-of-war declaration on Korean Peninsula
13. Why the Status Quo with North Korea Is So Hard to Change
14. N. Korean nuclear, missile programs pose 'ongoing' threat: Blinken
1. S. Korea calls N.K. claim of hypersonic missile launch 'exaggerated'
It should be no surprise that the regime exaggerates.
(LEAD) S. Korea calls N.K. claim of hypersonic missile launch 'exaggerated' | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES with official's remarks in paras 6-9)
By Song Sang-ho and Kang Yoon-seung
SEOUL, Jan. 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's defense ministry said Friday that North Korea's claim that it has successfully test-fired a hypersonic missile this week appears to be "exaggerated," assessing Pyongyang has yet to secure technologies for such an advanced flight vehicle.
Its initial analysis has found that the missile, launched Wednesday, traveled less than 700 kilometers at a top speed of Mach 6 -- six times the speed of sound -- at an altitude of below 50 km, the ministry said.
Its assessment is different from Thursday's report by the North's official Korean Central News Agency that the missile "precisely hit a set target 700 km away" and made a "120 km lateral movement."
"The North's claim about the missile's capabilities, such as its operational range and lateral movement, appears to be exaggerated," the ministry said in a statement.
"Especially, we assess the North has yet to reach the technologies for a hypersonic flight vehicle," it added, saying the South and the United States are still conducting a detailed analysis for additional information.
An official at a ministry-affiliated defense agency said the North's missile in the latest test met the speed criteria of Mach 5, but it does not fit into any of the two widely recognized hypersonic missile categories -- the hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) and the hypersonic cruise missile (HCM).
"Any ballistic missile with a range of longer than 500 km can fly at Mach 5, meaning all ballistic missiles with such an operational range can be classified as hypersonic ones," the official told reporters, requesting anonymity.
"But the general consensus among major countries regarding the definition of hypersonic missiles is that it should be either the HGV or HCM. Given the North's footage, its latest missile was neither," he added.
Moreover, the official noted the missile, which the North claimed to have tested in September, had the appearance of an HGV, while the latest one appears to be just a general ballistic missile.
The ministry also pointed out that the latest missile launch does not represent new technological progress compared with the North's first-known test of a hypersonic missile in September last year.
"We judge the missile was one of the different missiles first unveiled at the Defense Development Exhibition held (in the North) in October 2021," the official said.
The ministry reiterated that the allies believe their combined assets are "capable of detecting and intercepting" the North's latest missile while boasting of the South's "qualitatively superior" missile capabilities.
The remarks came amid growing concerns that the North's push for a hypersonic missile appears aimed at dodging the South Korea-U.S. combined missile defense shield and putting the allies' key bases on the Korean Peninsula and beyond within striking range.
sshluck@yna.co.kr
colin@yna.co.kr
(END)
2. N. Korea says it's not joining Beijing Olympics due to 'hostile forces,' pandemic
Sigh.... Admit nothing, deny everything, and make counter accusations. We should be clear that the IOC suspended north Korea and that it is not allowed to participate. But as some have pointed out on social media this is like the old saying - "you can't fire me, I will quit first."
(2nd LD) N. Korea says it's not joining Beijing Olympics due to 'hostile forces,' pandemic | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with more details, S. Korea's response; CHANGES photo)
By Choi Soo-hyang
SEOUL, Jan. 7 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has told China that it fully supports the upcoming Beijing Olympics though it cannot participate in the event, criticizing the U.S. diplomatic boycott of the Winter Games, state media reported Friday.
The North's Olympic Committee and the Ministry of Physical Culture and Sports delivered the message in a letter to China's Olympic Committee and other organizations earlier this week, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
"We could not take part in the Olympics due to the hostile forces' moves and the worldwide pandemic, but we would fully support the Chinese comrades in all their work to hold splendid and wonderful Olympic festival," the KCNA reported the letter as reading.
It was conveyed by the North's ambassador to China to a "leading official" of the country's sports authorities on Wednesday, when Pyongyang test-fired what it claims to be a hypersonic missile into the East Sea.
The International Olympic Committee earlier decided to suspend the North from the Beijing Olympics set for next month as a punishment for refusing to participate in last year's Tokyo Games over COVID-19 concerns.
North Korea also slammed the U.S. for "getting evermore undisguised in their moves against China aimed at preventing the successful opening of the Olympics," apparently referring to Washington's decision not to send a government delegation to the games over China's controversial human rights record.
"The DPRK Olympic Committee and the DPRK Ministry of Physical Culture and Sports resolutely reject those moves, branding them as an insult to the spirit of the international Olympic Charter and as a base act of attempting to disgrace the international image of China," it added. DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
South Korea had hoped to use the sporting event as a venue to reengage with North Korea and improve chilled inter-Korean relations.
But Seoul's top diplomat, Chung Eui-yong, said last month such chances seem to be "getting slimmer."
The Ministry of Unification, which handles inter-Korean affairs, was cautious about Pyongyang's intention, saying it will not jump to conclusions.
"Our government's stance remains unchanged in that we hope the Beijing Olympics will serve as an event contributing to peace and prosperity of the Northeast Asia region and the world," the ministry's deputy spokesman Cha Duk-chul told a regular press briefing. "We will continue monitoring related moves."
scaaet@yna.co.kr
(END)
3. Banned from the Olympics by IOC, NKorea puts blame elsewhere
Kudos to the headline editor. He or she is spot on.
Banned from the Olympics by IOC, NKorea puts blame elsewhere | AP News
AP · by HYUNG-JIN KIM · January 7, 2022
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Friday said it would skip next month’s Beijing Olympics because of the COVID-19 pandemic and “hostile forces’ moves,” a largely redundant statement since the country has already been banned from the Games by the IOC.
In September, the International Olympic Committee suspended North Korea through 2022 for refusing to send a team to the Tokyo Summer Games, citing the pandemic. IOC President Thomas Bach said at the time that individual athletes from North Korea who qualify to compete in Beijing could still be accepted. There is no word of that happening.
On Friday, North Korea’s state media said its Olympic committee and sports ministry sent a letter to their Chinese counterparts to formally notify its last major ally and economic pipeline that it cannot attend the Olympics. The Games open on Feb. 4.
“We could not take part in the Olympics due to the hostile forces’ moves and the worldwide pandemic,” the letter said, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. “We would fully support the Chinese comrades in all their work to hold splendid and wonderful Olympic festival.”
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The KCNA dispatch didn’t elaborate on what the hostile forces are. But Cheong Seong-Chang, analyst at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea, said they likely refer to the IOC, or the U.S., France and Britain, which North Korea believes is behind the IOC suspension.
Later Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Beijing fully understands the North Korean stance.
“Throughout China’s preparation for the Beijing Games, the DPRK has been providing us positive support. The DPRK reaffirmed its support and solidarity with China in hosting a grand Olympic Games on January 5, and we appreciate that,” Wang said, using the initials for North Korea’s official name.
Despite the IOC decision, there was still hope in Seoul and elsewhere that the Games could serve as a venue for reconciliation between the rival Koreas with the support of the IOC. At the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, athletes from the rival countries marched together in the opening ceremony and fielded a single team in women’s hockey.
Such hopes were set back last week when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to bolster his armed forces and retain the strict virus restrictions, but didn’t disclose any new policies toward Washington and Seoul during a key political conference. On Wednesday, North Korea conducted what it called a hypersonic missile test in its first weapons test in two months.
“There is no reason for Kim Jong Un to take part in the Beijing Olympics and South Korea’s push for a political declaration to end the Korean War on the occasion of the Olympics has fizzed,” Cheong said.
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North Korea has maintained one of the world’s toughest restrictions to guard against COVID-19, including two years of border shutdowns. The country has been skipping major international sports events, including Olympic preliminary events, since the pandemic began.
The North Korean letter also accused the United States and its allies of trying to hamper the successful hosting of the Games.
“The U.S. and its vassal forces are getting more undisguised in their moves against China aimed at preventing the successful opening of the Olympics,” the letter said. “(North Korea) resolutely rejects those moves, branding them as an insult to the spirit of the international Olympic Charter and as a base act of attempting to disgrace the international image of China.”
The letter likely refers a diplomatic boycott of the Games, led by the United States, to protest China’s human rights records. Under the boycott, athletes will compete in the Games but no official delegations will be sent to Beijing. China has called the U.S. action an “outright political provocation.”
___
More AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
AP · by HYUNG-JIN KIM · January 7, 2022
4. S. Korea disputes North's claim of hypersonic missile test
Excerpts:
The South Korean Defense Ministry report said Wednesday’s launch didn’t show evidence of any technological progress since the September test. South Korea’s military earlier said the missile tested in September was at an early stage of development and that the country would need considerable time to deploy it operationally.
The ministry said South Korean missiles are superior to North Korea’s in terms of the destructive power of their warheads and precision guidance.
Photos show that the upper parts of the missiles launched in September and this week have different shapes. That suggests that North Korea might have tested two versions of warheads for a missile still under development or is actually developing two different types of missiles, according to Lee Choon Geun, honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute.
South Korea’s current liberal government has been pushing hard to improve ties with North Korea. But its appeasement policy has made little progress since a broader nuclear diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington collapsed in 2019. South Korea is to elect a new president in March.
S. Korea disputes North's claim of hypersonic missile test | AP News
AP · by HYUNG-JIN KIM · January 7, 2022
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea dismissed North Korea’s claim to have recently launched a hypersonic missile as an exaggeration on Friday, saying it was a normal ballistic missile that could be intercepted.
The assessment is certain to anger North Korea. South Korea has previously avoided publicly disputing North Korea’s weapons tests, apparently so as not to aggravate relations.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it believes North Korea hasn’t acquired the technologies needed to launch a hypersonic weapon.
It said in a report that what North Korea fired on Wednesday was a type of ballistic missile that was displayed in October during a weapons exhibition in Pyongyang, its capital. It said South Korean and U.S. forces could shoot it down.
The ministry said North Korea’s claim that the weapon flew 700 kilometers (435 miles) and maneuvered laterally appeared to be an exaggeration. Ministry officials said the claim was likely aimed at a domestic audience to boost public confidence in its missile program.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been calling for greater unity and improved weapons development in the face of pandemic-related difficulties. He has refused to return to disarmament talks with Washington and Seoul while maintaining tough anti-virus restrictions.
Wednesday’s launch was North Korea’s second claimed hypersonic missile test. Its state media said the missile made a 120-kilometer (75-mile) lateral movement before precisely hitting a target 700 kilometers away, and that the test confirmed the weapon’s flight control and stability.
Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, could pose a crucial challenge to missile defense systems because of their speed and maneuverability. The weapon was on a wish-list of sophisticated military assets that Kim unveiled early last year along with multi-warhead missiles, spy satellites, solid-fueled long-range missiles and underwater-launched nuclear missiles.
In September, North Korea said it had conducted its first flight test of a hypersonic missile.
The South Korean Defense Ministry report said Wednesday’s launch didn’t show evidence of any technological progress since the September test. South Korea’s military earlier said the missile tested in September was at an early stage of development and that the country would need considerable time to deploy it operationally.
The ministry said South Korean missiles are superior to North Korea’s in terms of the destructive power of their warheads and precision guidance.
Photos show that the upper parts of the missiles launched in September and this week have different shapes. That suggests that North Korea might have tested two versions of warheads for a missile still under development or is actually developing two different types of missiles, according to Lee Choon Geun, honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute.
South Korea’s current liberal government has been pushing hard to improve ties with North Korea. But its appeasement policy has made little progress since a broader nuclear diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington collapsed in 2019. South Korea is to elect a new president in March.
AP · by HYUNG-JIN KIM · January 7, 2022
5. Moon orders helpless ‘peace’ on the day of N. Korea’s provocation
Sadly this excerpt illustrates a lack of understanding of the nature, objectives, and strategy of the Kim family regime by the political appointees in the Moon administration. This is one of the critical problems within the ROK/US alliance - a lack of sufficient alignment of strategic assumptions about north Korea.
Excerpt:
The South Korean government is desperately trying to calm the North as always. The government did not categorize North Korea’s missile launch as ‘provocation’ and nor express any warning or regret. “When both Koreas work together and build trust, peace will be by our side someday,” President Moon repeated his helpless comment. However, it is overlooking the fact that such responses will only make North Korea fall deeper into a misjudgment that its provocations are working. One-sided efforts to soothe the North will only aggravate its impulse to make provocations, rather than managing the political situation.
Moon orders helpless ‘peace’ on the day of N. Korea’s provocation
Posted January. 06, 2022 07:57,
Updated January. 06, 2022 07:57
Moon orders helpless ‘peace’ on the day of N. Korea’s provocation. January. 06, 2022 07:57. .
North Korea launched a projectile estimated to be a ballistic missile to the East Sea on Wednesday morning. The first missile provocation of the new year came after 78 days since the launch of a new submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM) in October last year. The South Korean government announced that a standing committee meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) was held to express concerns and reconfirm the importance of the resumption of dialogue. “We should not let go of the communication line in order to fundamentally overcome the situation,” President Moon Jae-in said at a groundbreaking ceremony for the East Sea railways from Gangneung to Jejin, which ultimately aim to connect the two Koreas.
North Korea’s missile provocation can be interpreted as a low-level armed protest to showcase its presence externally. As the U.S. is focusing its diplomatic power on conflicts with China and Russia and has pushed North Korea aside, the country is trying to get attention to be not forgotten. In particular, it is trying to further develop its nuclear and missile capabilities according to its plan to strengthen national defense power, which was announced at a plenary meeting of the Workers' Party of Korea last year, in order to put pressure on South Korea and the U.S. to make concessions before the upcoming presidential election in South Korea and ROK-US joint military exercise in March.
North Korea has been rejecting South Korea and the U.S.’s continuous gesture for dialogue, demanding the removal of hostile policies. While the North may think time is on their side, it will get more nervous as time passes. The country has been completely isolated due to COVID-19 beyond the level of what any sanctions against North Korea has done. Provocations will bring further pressure from the outside, which in turn will grow internal pressure, such as food shortage.
The South Korean government is desperately trying to calm the North as always. The government did not categorize North Korea’s missile launch as ‘provocation’ and nor express any warning or regret. “When both Koreas work together and build trust, peace will be by our side someday,” President Moon repeated his helpless comment. However, it is overlooking the fact that such responses will only make North Korea fall deeper into a misjudgment that its provocations are working. One-sided efforts to soothe the North will only aggravate its impulse to make provocations, rather than managing the political situation.
6. Supersonic missile launch: South Korea, US need new strategy to deter North Korea
Excerpts:
The Moon Jae-in administration has continued its efforts to build up the nation's military strength. But it has yet to cope with the North's strenuous bids to develop high-tech weapons. Defense chiefs of the South and the U.S. endorsed the strategic planning guidance (SPG) to update Operational Plan (OPLAN) 5015 during the bilateral Security Council Meeting (SCM) late last year.
Usually it takes at least several years for South Korea and the U.S. to map out new operational plans. However, the two allies have no time to waste to effectively tackle the ever-serious moves by North Korea to develop high-tech missiles and other weapons. They need to speed up mutual efforts to complete new operational plans to more efficiently deal with North Korea's weapons development.
Supersonic missile launch
South Korea, US need new strategy to deter North Korea
North Korea has launched its second hypersonic missile successfully into the East Sea, according to its official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Thursday. The KCNA claimed the consecutive successes in the test firing of the supersonic missiles are strategically significant as they will speed up the North's much-touted task of modernizing its strategic armed forces.
The KCNA reported that the Central Committee of the governing Workers' Party expressed "great satisfaction" with the results of the missile test conducted on Wednesday. South Korea's Ministry of National Defense noted the missile launch was detected through various military intelligence assets of South Korea and the United States. Yet it stopped short of confirming whether the missile launch was successful or not.
This shows it is premature to confirm the North's launch of what it claims to be a supersonic missile as a success. Yet it is certain that the North has made considerable progress in improving its technological prowess given that the distance traveled by the missile launched Wednesday increased more than three times compared to the Hwasong-8, another supersonic missile the North launched last September, at a higher speed.
Supersonic missiles are regarded as game changers with their ability to combine multi-step glide jump flight and strong lateral maneuvering. The KCNA asserted the recent missile test demonstrated such capabilities. Pyongyang is highly likely to test-fire more missiles toward completing the development of such state-of-the-art weapons.
North Korea has been pushing for the development of the supersonic missiles as one of its "top five priorities." North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to speed up efforts to develop new tech-savvy weapons such as large-size ballistic missiles, solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) and nuclear submarines during the eighth congress of the North's ruling party last year.
The North has managed to maintain the upper hand over South Korea in terms of "strategic asymmetrical military strength" by developing nuclear weapons. Now the North is also hastening efforts to possess "tactical asymmetrical" superiority over the South by developing diverse weapons aimed to paralyze Seoul's defense posture.
The Moon Jae-in administration has continued its efforts to build up the nation's military strength. But it has yet to cope with the North's strenuous bids to develop high-tech weapons. Defense chiefs of the South and the U.S. endorsed the strategic planning guidance (SPG) to update Operational Plan (OPLAN) 5015 during the bilateral Security Council Meeting (SCM) late last year.
Usually it takes at least several years for South Korea and the U.S. to map out new operational plans. However, the two allies have no time to waste to effectively tackle the ever-serious moves by North Korea to develop high-tech missiles and other weapons. They need to speed up mutual efforts to complete new operational plans to more efficiently deal with North Korea's weapons development.
7. Discharged North Korean soldiers deployed for rural farm labor
Another indicator of the dire situation inside north Korea. But will there be long term effects on the military due to this policy?
Excerpt:
“The vets are really unhappy with the Central Committee’s order to deploy to rural areas. These soldiers left their hometowns as teenagers and devoted ten years to the military, but all they get in the end is another difficult and exhausting assignment to work in the countryside.”
Discharged North Korean soldiers deployed for rural farm labor
Ex-soldiers are angry that the reward for 10 years of service is unpaid work.
By Myung Chul Lee
2022.01.06
Former North Korean soldiers are grumbling as the government is forcing them to provide free farm labor as part of a strategy to increase agricultural production and lend support to rural provinces, sources in the country told RFA.
Every North Korean male must serve in the military seven years after high school, but the soldiers being discharged now enlisted when the minimum service time was 10 years. Many are angry that they are being ordered to get back to work after having already begun preparing for life after the military.
“The authorities made the decision at the 4th Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee of the Korean Workers’ Party at the end of December that they would deploy groups of discharged soldiers to farms,” an official from the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA’s Korean Service Jan. 3.
“These are soldiers who were recently discharged at the end of 2021 or are just about to be discharged. Dissatisfaction is spreading among them,” the source said.
One group of 200 veterans who had been stationed in the city of Chongju on the province’s southern coast had already returned to their hometowns when they got the call, according to the source. Hundreds more in the city who were discharged in November and December are on standby for their own deployment.
“The reason why the authorities are placing veterans in the countryside at such a large scale is that the aging rural workforce is seen as the cause of the decrease in grain production,” the source said.
Most observers have however chalked up the decrease to natural disasters, a lack of fertilizer and modern machinery, and other issues related to the closure of the border with China two years ago due to the coronavirus.
A Dec. 2 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said North Korea now needs external food aid to meet its basic needs. The FAO said North Korea should have imported 1.06 million tons of grain between November 2020 and November 2021 to cover the gap between domestic production and demand, but trade with China has been on hold since January 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As the news of this new policy of mobilizing veterans spread, the source said bribery attempts by veterans trying to remove their names from the list of workers have also.
“In response, the Central Committee has warned against any deliberate act of evasion, … which would be regarded as an anti-party act to be severely punished. Many officials are nervous that they may be caught when they try to receive bribes,” the source said.
Reports are circulating that 140 recently discharged veterans in the northern province of Ryanggang are to be assigned to a potato farm in a rural county, a resident of the province’s largest city Hyesan told RFA.
“The Central Committee has instructed each farm to guarantee the living conditions and environment for the stability of the lives of the veterans, so even the farm owners have been very busy at the beginning of this year,” the second source said.
“The vets are really unhappy with the Central Committee’s order to deploy to rural areas. These soldiers left their hometowns as teenagers and devoted ten years to the military, but all they get in the end is another difficult and exhausting assignment to work in the countryside.”
Translated by Claire Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
8. ＜Inside N. Korea＞ Growing Radicalization of People's Control (3): 14 Year-Old Junior High School Students Taken Out of Class in Handcuffs for Watching a Foreign Film
Control of the people and control of the information they see is the priority for the regime as it fears the Korean people in the north more than it fears the US and ROK/US Alliance.
Excerpts:
One of our reporting partners commented on the shocking punishment as follows:
"I wonder how scared they are of information from the outside world to crack down so severely. I guess they think it will be easier to rule if they close the eyes and ears of the people. A lot of people are questioning why they are cracking down so hard on a movie they watched (about a giant shark) when there is nothing politically wrong with it."
＜Inside N. Korea＞ Growing Radicalization of People's Control (3): 14 Year-Old Junior High School Students Taken Out of Class in Handcuffs for Watching a Foreign Film…More than 20 Arrested So Far
(Photo) Ministry of Security soldiers check luggage and passes at a checkpoint. Photo taken in the northern region on North Korea in October 2013 (ASIAPRESS).
There was an incident in the northern city of Hyesan, Ryanggang Province, where junior high school students were taken away from their classrooms in handcuffs for watching a foreign film. It seems that more than 20 people were detained and sentenced to heavy fines (Kang Ji-won).
◆ "It was an American film about sharks"
The incident occurred in November of 2021. Daily NK, a South Korean media outlet specializing in North Korean issues, first reported of the arrest of a junior high school student. After conducting an additional investigation at ASIAPRESS, it was discovered that the arrested students were 14-year old boys from Hyesan Middle School and that four law enforcement officers had entered their classroom during class, handcuffed them, and took them away.
Three members of the "Coalition Command for Non-Socialist and Anti-Socialist Sweeping Operations" and one social security officer (police officer) went to the school for arrest. As of the end of December, a total of 22 people, including those who distributed and sold the video as well as other middle school students, had been arrested in relation to the incident.
According to the investigation by several reporting partners living in Ryanggang Province, the students watched a "US film about sharks," possibly "The Meg," produced in 2018, or "Jaws," produced in the 1970s. Since the Chinese border has been closed to shut out coronavirus, the influx of new South Korean dramas has been suspended. As such, the students must have had to watch older films that were popular several years ago.
"In Hyesan City, information about this incident spread quickly, and no one is unaware of it. This is because the authorities decided to use the incident to set an example of punishing people for watching illegal videos and held seminars at institutions and companies to publicize the circumstances of the incident and the punishment."
This is what one of our reporting partners have informed us.
◆ Life imprisonment for six people following quick sentencing
What was shocking was not only the fact that the junior high school students were taken away in handcuffs from their classroom but also that they were given heavy sentences so soon after their arrest. Another reporting partner informed told us the following:
"In addition to the students who were taken from inside the school, middle school students and adults who had only watched a few minutes were also arrested. According to the authorities, six of the 22 people arrested were sentenced to life imprisonment. Apparently, 'the policy of the crackdown is to arrest anyone who watches even a single scene.'"
It is not clear whether the heavily punished individuals were junior high school students or not. In North Korea, too, crimes committed by junior high school students are generally sent to a "Boy's Education Center" (juvenile training schools), so adults involved in the dissemination and sales of the film were likely the ones given heavy sentences.
The heavy punishment is probably the result of applying the “Law on the Elimination of Reactionary Thought and Culture." According to the law, "Those who directly watch or keep South Korean movies, videos, books, songs, pictures, or photos shall be sentenced to imprisonment for five to fifteen years, and those who cause the influx or dissemination of these materials shall be sentenced to life imprisonment or death." The law was enacted in December 2020.
One of our reporting partners commented on the shocking punishment as follows:
"I wonder how scared they are of information from the outside world to crack down so severely. I guess they think it will be easier to rule if they close the eyes and ears of the people. A lot of people are questioning why they are cracking down so hard on a movie they watched (about a giant shark) when there is nothing politically wrong with it."
※ ASIAPRESS contacts its reporting partners in North Korea through smuggled Chinese mobile phones.
※Correction
The incident in which junior high school students was arrested did not occur in November 2020, but in November 2021.
9. N. Korea’s Central Committee: From Jan. 11, only those who fulfilled “manure quota” will be allowed into markets
Sooo....you must be "full of s**t" to go to the market. (I am sorry for my continued sarcasm and attempts at humor).
But this is actually quite an indicator of how difficult things are in north Korea.
I had some queries about my comments asking if these reports of manure are talking about human waste. The short answer: yes. Of course traditionally human waste has been used for fertilizer in many countries but most countries, including even north Korea, have moved to chemical fertilizers. But the north cannot produce sufficient chemical fertilizer and now must "tax" its people with "waste quotas." The sad paradox is that hungry people do not produce much waste.
This is also recognition of how important the markets are to the survival of the people. So the regime is exploiting the markets to produce manure. And if people cannot produce sufficient manure for access the regime is also pleased with reduced market activity which it believes is a threat to the regime.
N. Korea’s Central Committee: From Jan. 11, only those who fulfilled “manure quota” will be allowed into markets
The move suggests North Korea is doing its utmost to produce manure, a substitute for fertilizer needed for farming
North Korea has announced that only people who have fulfilled their manure quota will be permitted to enter markets, Daily NK has learned.
This comes as the authorities make securing supplies of manure the country’s first “struggle” of 2022.
Much as South Korea has instituted “quarantine passes” to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by verifying residents’ vaccination status, North Korea is essentially pressuring people to fulfill their quota with a sort of “manure pass.”
According to a Daily NK source in Yanggang Province, the Central Committee has ordered that markets in the province shorten their operating time by an hour through Jan. 10. The order aims to give people an extra hour to produce manure. While markets used to operate from 2:00 to 5:00 in the afternoon, they now operate from 3:00 to 5:00.
Moreover, while market operating hours will return to normal from Jan. 11, when the “battle for manure” ends, only people carrying confirmation that they fulfilled their manure quota will be allowed in, as per orders from the authorities.
The move suggests North Korea is doing its utmost to produce manure, a substitute for fertilizer needed for farming, from the start of the year.
This comes after the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee late last year designated solving the nation’s food problem as the “top task” for achieving rural development.
In this undated photograph, North Koreans are seen peddling goods at a street market in Hyesan, Yanggang Province / Image: Daily NK
That is to say, with the border closed due to COVID-19 quarantine efforts, the authorities believe it necessary to substitute wheat for white rice as the people’s staple, and that securing manure supplies is essential to boosting agricultural production by an additional ton per 10 square meters of farmland.
However, local residents find the manure quotas, shortened market hours, and now restricted market access all very burdensome.
In South Korea, debate rages whether quarantine passes violate freedom of choice, a basic right. In North Korea, the perception is spreading that the “manure passes” violate the people’s right to survival.
A resident of Hyesan contacted by Daily NK said she is already unable to engage in much market activity as she is too busy trying to fulfil the manure quota, and it makes her angry to think she will be unable to sit at her stall from Jan. 11.
“Kim” — a merchant selling bean sprouts to make ends meet — finds himself in the same boat. He has been unable to earn a single penny since the New Year due to the manure quota. Unable to earn money, he has been eating bean sprout soup to survive.
Nonetheless, nobody can call for an end to the manure pass scheme. People know that they cannot object to an order from the Central Committee.
However, some locals are setting up shop in areas and alleyways near the markets regardless of the government’s measures, readily engaging in fights with enforcement agents.
The source said the market is a space that determines the people’s survival, and because of this, locals say they cannot tell whether the authorities are telling them to live or to die with their market controls.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
10. US experts see little or no chance of US-North Korea dialogue in 2022
Until Kim feels sufficient pressure from inside the regime he is unlikely to come to the negotiating table. He has to feel the internal pressure against his policy decisions of prioritizing his nuclear and missile programs over the wel fare of the Korean people in the north. Only when he has no other option will he come to the negotiating table. He has to recognize that his political warfare strategy has failed and his blackmail diplomacy no longer works.
However, if we make concessions, and specifically his demand for sanctions relief, Kim may come to the negotiating table but it will not be to negotiate. It will be because he will assess if we provide concessions that his political warfare and blackmail diplomacy strategies are working. He will not come to negotiate in good faith but instead to continue his strategies. He will double down on threats, tension, and provocations and continue to make demands.
In addition at the same time he will continue to develop advanced military capabilities to both support his strategies and to continue to develop the military capabilities that he will employ should he determine the conditions are right for him to use force to dominate the Korean peninsula. And unfortunately if he assesses the threat against being too great he may make the decision to execute his campaign plan. The possibility of regime instability and collapse may lead to conflict and war.
US experts see little or no chance of US-North Korea dialogue in 2022
This combination of file photos shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Joe Biden. AFP-Yonhap There is little or no chance of talks between the United States and North Korea this year with both sides refusing to make any significant concessions for dialogue, U.S. experts said Thursday.
They also argued that Washington will likely be happy to keep the status quo with Pyongyang despite its recent self-claimed hypersonic missile test, as long as the North does not pose or demonstrate an immediate threat to the U.S.
"The chances of talks with North Korea, sadly, are less than zero," said Harry Kazianis, senior director at the Center for the National Interest, a public policy think tank based in Washington.
"The challenge is that the Biden Administration has no political bandwidth to offer any concessions and North Korea won't want to deal from such a weakened position," he told Yonhap News Agency.
Partly weakening the prospects for the resumption of dialogue with North Korea are the U.S. mid-term elections to be held in November, as well as the South Korean presidential election slated for March, according to the experts.
"I see very little possibility for talks with North Korea and progress toward denuclearization this year unless either the U.S. or North Korea or both sides adopt more flexible approaches to engagement," said Frank Aum, a senior expert on Northeast Asia at the U.S. Institute of Peace, a state-run institution also based in Washington.
The Joe Biden administration has repeatedly offered to meet with North Korea since taking office in January 2021, but Pyongyang has ignored the overtures, citing what it calls U.S. hostility toward the North. North Korea has also stayed away from denuclearization negotiations with the U.S. since late 2019.
Pyongyang instead has staged nearly a dozen missile tests during the first year of Biden's presidency, with the latest missile launch taking place Wednesday (KST) to test what it claimed to be a "newly developed hypersonic missile."
The experts said the missile tests may have been aimed at pressuring the U.S. to make concessions, but that the latest tests may also be understood at face value, given the unlikely chance of any U.S.-North Korea dialogue in the near future.
"We often think every missile test or new weapons rollout is somehow a signal to the U.S. or South Korea for some new demand or tactic. I would have to assume that considering the weakened state North Korea is in now, antagonizing the U.S., the ROK or China is not in the Kim family's best interests," said Kazianis, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.
"Considering that North Korea does not have much interest in talks and raising tensions now, being in such a weakened state thanks to COVID-19 lockdowns, makes zero sense, I think this recent test is what it is ― a military test," he added.
A State Department spokesperson earlier told Yonhap that the U.S. was still assessing the "specific nature" of Wednesday's missile launch when asked if it did in fact have the characteristics of a test for a hypersonic missile, adding that the U.S. takes any new North Korean military capability seriously.
People watch a TV screen showing an image of North Korea's launch of a missile during a news program at Seoul Station, Jan. 5. Yonhap
Aum insisted the U.S. should adopt a more aggressive approach to quickly engage with North Korea regardless of whether or not Pyongyang is developing new weapons systems.
"Limiting our approach to deterrence and pressure is inadequate to reduce tensions, prevent future crises, improve relations with North Korea and improve our understanding of the Kim government," he said.
"If the Biden administration is truly invested in different results and tangible progress on the Korean Peninsula, it needs to take more diplomatic risks to incentivize North Korea back to the negotiating table," he added, noting that such steps may include offering COVID-19 vaccines, loosening restrictions on humanitarian aid and declaring a moratorium on the deployment of U.S. strategic and nuclear assets to the Korean Peninsula.
However, Kazianis argued that the U.S. will likely be unable, if not willing, to take such steps.
"At the moment, the United States is consumed by Omicron and domestic political upheaval," he said, referring to the highly contagious variant of the new coronavirus.
"Unless North Korea does something that directly threatens the U.S. homeland like it did back in 2017 ― test ICBMs or detonate a nuclear weapon ― the U.S. will be happy to offer tough sounding statements but nothing that would constrain North Korea's ability to make more advanced weapons." (Yonhap)
11. North Hamgyong Province authorities shut down some facilities for suspected COVID-19 cases
Is this an indicator? Will there be a widespread outbreak and then what will happen next once there is an outbreak among the people and the military?
North Hamgyong Province authorities shut down some facilities for suspected COVID-19 cases
The reduction in the number of facilities is evidence of increasingly fewer suspected cases of COVID-19, a source told Daily NK
The authorities in North Hamgyong Province are closing some of the facilities where they kept suspected cases of COVID-19 in isolation.
A Daily NK source in North Hamgyong Province said Thursday that provincial emergency quarantine authorities — working with local quarantine stations — have been classifying and transporting people held at the temporary facilities for suspected COVID infections, as well as carrying out full-scale disinfection work.
According to the source, the provincial quarantine authorities and quarantine stations mobilized emergency vehicles and dozens of personnel to carry out seven hours of work at four places, including an inn located in downtown Myonggan County, where suspected COVID-19 cases were being temporarily isolated.
The source explained that as the four places were just temporary facilities rather than specialized quarantine facilities, the province has reduced their number to just two.
In fact, the authorities have discharged some of the people who were in isolation at the four temporary facilities, while gathering together in one place the others who still display symptoms.
This photo of public health officials in Pyongyang disinfecting a public bus was published in a North Korean newspaper after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. / Image: Rodong Sinmun
The source said the reduction in the number of facilities is evidence of increasingly fewer suspected or apparent cases of COVID-19. However, he said more patients at the temporary facilities died than were discharged, also leading to falling numbers, and that the victims likely died alone, unable to meet their loved ones.
The source noted that while the authorities aim to concentrate all remaining patients in one spot as the number of suspected cases fall, as well as to disinfect the former facilities, they also aim to repair and expand the Myonggan County’s inn to mark the new year.
The party committee of North Hamgyong Province reportedly included the repair and expansion of the inn — as well as other local construction plans — in its 2022 construction goals to be reported to the Central Committee.
The provincial party ordered that as soon as the passengers were sorted and transported, checks for fever and other health problems be administered to officials and other personnel mobilized for the effort, and reports filed to ensure the proper execution of disinfection work.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Jong So Yong is one of Daily NK’s freelance reporters. Questions about her articles can be directed to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
12. [Paek Tae-youl] A view on the end-of-war declaration on Korean Peninsula
Conclusion:
A declaration to end the Korean War should be an act that naturally emerges from the establishment of peace over a long period of time, and the declaration itself cannot guarantee peace on the peninsula. It should not be an improvised political gesture or rhetoric. Rather, it should be a framework based on a legal consensus and by which all the parties concerned faithfully comply with their respective obligations and roles.
[Paek Tae-youl] A view on the end-of-war declaration on Korean Peninsula
Published : Jan 6, 2022 - 05:30 Updated : Jan 6, 2022 - 05:30
President Moon Jae-in of South Korea proposed an end-of-war declaration for the first time in April 2018. Since then he has occasionally mentioned the idea and most recently, raised the issue again in his speech at the 76th session of the UN General Assembly on Sept. 21, 2021. A part of his speech regarding the declaration is as follows:
“More than anything, an end-of-war declaration will mark a pivotal point of departure in creating a new order of ‘reconciliation and cooperation’ on the Korean Peninsula. Today, I once again urge the community of nations to mobilize its strengths for the end-of-war declaration on the Korean Peninsula...”
Why, then, does President Moon advocate this declaration so ardently? What is his true intention? He is known as a progressive leader who puts priority on inter-Korean relations. In my opinion, because the end-of-war declaration presupposes the advent of peace on the peninsula, there will be no need for the US-South Korea security treaty and American military presence on South Korean soil.
Given the unfavorable situation, where the issue of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile program still remain unsolved, and the tension between the two Koreas is fairly high, President Moon strongly sticks to an end-of-war declaration, and will continue to do so until the end of his term in May 2022.
From his remarks, a couple of things are worth mentioning. First of all, he stresses too much the importance of a framework where the end-of-war declaration comes first and peace later. But his desire that this declaration will automatically bring peace on the peninsula was overly optimistic and even naive.
Second, it lacks a set of specific actions to make it work. Whatever it is, his goal seems solid and strong. Essentially the end-of-war declaration itself looks plausible at least on the surface, but many issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula need to be settled first.
Eventually, it would be highly likely to create a serious security vacuum in which South Korea is militarily defenseless, or can be easily attacked by North Korea. Furthermore, it is nothing but an intentional attempt to sever US influence over South Korea and the peninsula.
From President Moon’s perspective, the US has always been a major hurdle to the peace and unification of the peninsula, and will be for good. Therefore, he finds it absolutely necessary for Washington not to interfere in any kind of political and military actions and issues in both Koreas.
The end-of-war declaration is simply the first meaningful step to embark on that journey. Perhaps that would be exactly what President Moon wishes to accomplish. In this sense, President Moon’s end-of-war declaration contains very risky, and even dangerous aspects.
Considering that North Korea has cheated or violated a variety of bilateral agreements so many times over the last several decades, I deeply doubt that Pyongyang will faithfully implement an end-of war declaration with interested parties. An end-of-war declaration will bring only “confrontation and crisis,” rather than “reconciliation and cooperation.” Political conditions surrounding the Korean Peninsula are not stable or favorable enough for initiating an end to the Korean War.
To carry out the declaration successfully, there should be some preconditions. First of all, North Korea should sincerely undergo all nuclear-related monitoring and inspections, and other guidelines provided by the IAEA on a regular basis.
Second, both Koreas must build mutual trust by expanding exchange and cooperation in almost every field. I am sure that this effort will eventually pave the way for making peace between the two antagonistic parties and hopefully reunification.
Third, China should faithfully follow all the resolutions adopted by the UN with regard to North Korea’s nuclear programs and continue to strongly persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons. The communist giant should play a meaningful role to thwart the North’s vain dreams. I would like to remind China sincerely and respectfully that it is “a permanent member of UN Security Council.” Obviously, China should do something about tackling the North Korea issue.
Finally, China and the US are now in a volatile state of confrontation, clouding the prospect for a successful end-of-war declaration. So when one considers all these negative currents surrounding the Korean Peninsula, it is too premature to undertake an end-of-war declaration. If these conditions are met, the cornerstone can be laid for such a declaration.
A declaration to end the Korean War should be an act that naturally emerges from the establishment of peace over a long period of time, and the declaration itself cannot guarantee peace on the peninsula. It should not be an improvised political gesture or rhetoric. Rather, it should be a framework based on a legal consensus and by which all the parties concerned faithfully comply with their respective obligations and roles.
Paek Tae-youl
Paek Tae-youl, Ph.D., is a former invited professor of Hongik University based in Seoul. He lives in Seoul. -- Ed.
13. Why the Status Quo with North Korea Is So Hard to Change
Conclusion:
The sanctions too reflect this. They have tightened over the years as the North’s WMD program has expanded. They reflect the consensus of the international community that the North’s weapons are a regional if not a global danger, and that North Korea is not a private issue to be resolved by Koreans alone. Perhaps this was so a generation ago, but North Korea is now too well-armed. The sanctions are intended to blunt, if not reverse, that threat, and future South Korean initiatives toward the North will meet the same international resistance if sanctions are treated as cavalierly as the Moon government viewed them.
2022 will be the year this becomes clear, a year of the re-emergence of the status quo from the last few years’ hype. As Moon leaves the stage and Biden fully engages his successor, Biden will again insist that North Korea meet at least some benchmark of arms control before sanctions relief is forthcoming. In doing so, Biden will reflect the international community’s lengthy record of unanimously sanctioning the North over its nuclear weapons on which the North has not budged at all these past few years. This is pre-Trump/pre-Moon status quo, and the great disappointment of their presidencies is that they did not change this reality at all. We are back where we started.
Why the Status Quo with North Korea Is So Hard to Change
The big change last year in Korean security was the return of the reality of multilateral sanctions as genuine international law constraining South Korea’s interaction with North Korea. In 2022, after March’s South Korean presidential election, the new president, regardless of party, will have to factor in these restrictions if he wants actual progress with the North in the place of the heady, but ultimately empty, talk of the last few years.
The North Korea Sanctions Never Went Away
Elected in 2017, dovish South Korean President Moon Jae-In has proceeded for years in his Northern détente as if UN sanctions were somehow optional or waivable. His administration has never admitted that South Korea, as a UN member-state, is as bound by UN sanctions on North Korea like any other UN member-state, nor does it assist in patrolling for sanctions violations. Moon has proposed one inter-Korean cooperation idea after another which violated sanctions, leading to regular strain with the South’s American ally. Briefly in 2018-19, when former US President Donald Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, US sanctions enforcement was relaxed as a gesture of goodwill. But the nine unanimous UN Security Council resolutions have not been formally reversed. Indeed, since the imposition of ‘sectoral sanctions’ in 2017, which blockade interaction with whole sectors of the North Korean economy, the sanctions have become quite stiff.
Where Trump swung wildly from maximum pressure on North Korea to ‘falling in love’ with Kim, the administration of Joseph Biden brought US policy back to pre-Trumpian stability, particularly regarding sanctions. They are written into US law, and Biden has supported their enforcement. The heady but unfulfilled Trump-Moon talk of the last few years gave way, in the end, to the reality that North Korea has not moved, even a little, on denuclearization or de-missilization and that consequently, the sanctions are here to stay.
The Upcoming South Korean Presidential Election
In March, South Korea will elect a new president. On foreign policy, the differences are stark. The leftist or progressive candidate will likely pursue the détente or engagement of North Korea which Moon Jae-In tried. That North Korea wants a deal has been an article of faith on the South Korean left for decades. The conservative or hawkish candidate has promised a tougher line on North Korea. But both will probably seek dialogue.
This is wise. North Korea is so dangerous that we should always try to talk with it. But the North Koreans will almost certainly seek, as they did during Moon’s presidency, the roll-back of sanctions. It is critical that neither candidate, regardless of party, make such an offer, barring some movement on the North’s weapons of mass destruction. This is ultimately what undid Moon’s détente. Moon made promises he could not keep, as South Korea does not have the ability to alter the UN resolutions. Nor did Moon have the domestic political support to unilaterally abrogate the sanctions and simply engage the North on his own. That would have threatened the South’s relationship with the United States and other democratic partners. Moon’s leftist coalition at home might have supported that risky move, but it does not have the majoritarian backing necessary for a political fight of that magnitude.
Where Trumpian unpredictability and lust for a Nobel Peace Prize created room for Moon to move, the new South Korean president will enjoy no such space. Biden is a fairly traditional hawk on North Korea. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before his vice presidency under President Barack Obama, Biden supported sanctions and a tougher line on North Korea. As vice president under Obama, he did the same. The next South Korean president will need to respond to this fairly establishmentarian approach to North Korea, or risk being frozen out by Biden as Moon was in 2021.
The Enduring Korean Status Quo
The Moon presidency generated a lot of heat and excitement. Moon promised a breakthrough and convinced Trump and Kim to meet each other. For a year or so in 2018-19, it looked as if Moon might be vindicated. But the Korean status quo – the long, grinding stalemate between the Koreas – is deeply set. It reflects ideological and strategic divides which are profound and enduring.
The sanctions too reflect this. They have tightened over the years as the North’s WMD program has expanded. They reflect the consensus of the international community that the North’s weapons are a regional if not a global danger, and that North Korea is not a private issue to be resolved by Koreans alone. Perhaps this was so a generation ago, but North Korea is now too well-armed. The sanctions are intended to blunt, if not reverse, that threat, and future South Korean initiatives toward the North will meet the same international resistance if sanctions are treated as cavalierly as the Moon government viewed them.
2022 will be the year this becomes clear, a year of the re-emergence of the status quo from the last few years’ hype. As Moon leaves the stage and Biden fully engages his successor, Biden will again insist that North Korea meet at least some benchmark of arms control before sanctions relief is forthcoming. In doing so, Biden will reflect the international community’s lengthy record of unanimously sanctioning the North over its nuclear weapons on which the North has not budged at all these past few years. This is pre-Trump/pre-Moon status quo, and the great disappointment of their presidencies is that they did not change this reality at all. We are back where we started.
Dr. Robert E. Kelly (@Robert_E_Kelly; website) is a professor of international relations in the Department of Political Science at Pusan National University. Dr. Kelly is now a 1945 Contributing Editor as well.
14. N. Korean nuclear, missile programs pose 'ongoing' threat: Blinken
And is an indication of KimJong-un's hostile policy.
(LEAD) N. Korean nuclear, missile programs pose 'ongoing' threat: Blinken | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES with additional information, remarks by Defense Secretary Austin from para 7; ADDS photo)
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's nuclear and missile programs pose an ongoing threat to the region and the international community, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday.
The top U.S. diplomat also highlighted the need to strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance to meet such threats.
"Meanwhile, the DPRK's unlawful nuclear, missile programs pose an ongoing threat. And we saw that again this week with the most recent launch," Blinken said, referring to North Korea's test launch of a self-claimed hypersonic missile Wednesday (Seoul time).
Blinken made the remarks at the start of annual security consultative talks with his Japanese counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi, that also involved U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi. DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.
Blinken noted threats facing the allies included what he called China's "provocative actions" in the region and Russia's military buildup along the Ukraine border.
"So, to address these evolving threats, our alliance must not only strengthen the tools we have but also develop new ones," Blinken told the virtual meeting. "And I think that's really the focus of the discussions that are about to happen."
Blinken earlier condemned the North Korean missile test while holding a telephone conversation with his Japanese counterpart.
Austin reiterated challenges posed by North Korea and others in the Indo-Pacific region.
"We're meeting against the backdrop of increased tensions and challenges to the free and stable and secure Indo-Pacific region that we both seek -- challenges posed by North Korea's nuclear ambitions and by the coercive and aggressive behavior of the People's Republic of China," he said at the top of the two-plus-two meeting.
"So together we are taking bold steps to improve our alliances, bolster our readiness and strengthen what I call integrated deterrence," he added.
This week's missile test marked North Korea's first missile launch since October. Pyongyang has claimed to have successfully test launched its first hypersonic missile in September.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
V/R
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Phone: 202-573-8647
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
FDD is a Washington-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
