Quotes of the Day:
“I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes, too much upon constitutions, upon laws in upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies, in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no, law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it … What is this liberty that must lie in the hearts of men and women? It is not the ruthless, the unbridled will; it is not the freedom to do as one likes. That is the denial of liberty and leads straight to its overthrow. Society in which men recognize no check on their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage view – as we have learned to our sorrow.”
– Learned Hand, “The Spirit of Liberty” speech at “I am an American Day” ceremony, Central Park, New York City, 21, May 1944
“A critic is a man who creates nothing, and thereby, feels qualified to judge the work of creative men. There is logic in this; he is unbiased – he hates all created people equally.”
– Robert a Heinlein.
“The most dangerous person is the one who listens, thinks, and observes”
– Bruce Lee
1. N. Korea stages artillery drills off western coast for 3rd day: S. Korean military
2. North Korea again fires near the sea border with the South, as its leader's sister mocks Seoul
3. Axis of Missiles: Russia Is Using Missiles from North Korea to Attack Ukraine
4. S. Korea, U.S., Japan condemn N.K. nuke program, note China's 'unlawful' South China Sea claims
5. The Woman Shaking Up the $50 Billion Instant-Ramen Industry
6. Caution is needed against N. Korea’s ploy of escalating military conflicts
7. South Korea, U.S., Japan hold first trilateral Indo-Pacific talks
8. N. Korea's sympathy message to Japan meant to weaken trilateral ties: experts
9. South Korea’s inevitable security trade-offs
10. Will ‘Beyond Utopia’ get an Oscar in March?
1. N. Korea stages artillery drills off western coast for 3rd day: S. Korean military
Where is our information campaign?
(3rd LD) N. Korea stages artillery drills off western coast for 3rd day: S. Korean military | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · January 7, 2024
(ATTN: ADDS more details throughout)
SEOUL, Jan. 7 (Yonhap) -- North Korea fired some 90 artillery shots into waters off its western coast Sunday, South Korea's military said, the latest in a series of drills near the tensely guarded western border.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the artillery firings into the maritime buffer zone north of Northern Limit Line, the de-facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea, and South Korea's border island of Yeonpyeong from about 4 p.m. to 5:10 p.m.
The buffer zone was set under a 2018 inter-Korean military accord designed to reduce tensions along the border.
There was no damage to the South Korean military or civilians from the latest firing, a JCS official said, adding that the South Korean military does not plan to hold drills in response.
It marked the third consecutive day of North Korean artillery drills in the area, the South's military said, raising tension near the maritime border.
Earlier in the day, Ongjin County, which has jurisdiction over South Korea's northwestern border islands, issued a warning to the islands as artillery fire was heard from the North Korean side.
The gun ports of the coastal artillery (circled in red) on a North Korean island near the Northern Limit Line, a de facto maritime border, remain open, in this photo taken from South Korea's front-line island of Yeonpyeong on Jan. 7, 2023. (Yonhap)
On Friday, North Korea fired some 200 artillery shells from its southwestern coastal areas, prompting the South Korean troops on the front-line islands of Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong to stage live-fire drills near the buffer zone for the first time since the signing of the 2018 pact.
North Korea's Friday artillery firing marked the 16th one of its kind into the zone, including a missile launch in 2022.
In November, Pyongyang vowed to restore military measures halted under the 2018 agreement, which set up buffer zones in land, sea and air, and banned live-fire drills near the border area to prevent accidental clashes.
On Saturday, the North carried out live-fire drills in the area for the second day to fire around 60 shells into the buffer zone, according to the JCS.
Earlier Sunday, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, claimed the North conducted a "deceptive operation" by detonating explosives simulating the sound of 130 mm coastal artillery the previous day, deriding the South Korean military's detection capabilities.
The JCS dismissed the statement, calling it "comedic low-grade" propaganda attempting to cause division within South Korea and damage trust in the military.
"Kim Yo-jong appears to have announced a false statement as (she) was surprised by our military's detection capabilities," the JCS official said. "North Korea's artillery firing (on Saturday) was also detected by our military's detection assets."
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yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · January 7, 2024
2. North Korea again fires near the sea border with the South, as its leader's sister mocks Seoul
This is in support of its political warfare campaign to subvert the South.
The South needs to respond with its own information campaign as President Yoon said he would do in December 2022.
Excerpts:
Kim Yo Jong said that North Korea on Saturday only detonated blasting powder simulating the sound of its coastal artillery on the seashore, to test the South Korean military’s detection capabilities.
“The result was clear as we expected. They misjudged the blasting sound as the sound of gunfire and conjectured it as a provocation. And they even made a false and impudent statement that the shells dropped north” of the sea boundary, Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media.
“I cannot but say that (South Korean) people are very pitiful as they entrust security to such blind persons and offer huge taxes to them,” she said. “It is better 10 times to entrust security to a dog with a developed sense of hearing and smell.”
Animosities between the two Koreas are running high because North Korea has conducted a barrage of missile tests since 2022 while South Korea has expanded its military training with the United States in a tit-for-tat cycle.
North Korea again fires near the sea border with the South, as its leader's sister mocks Seoul
AP · January 7, 2024
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea again fired artillery shells near its tense sea boundary with the South on Sunday, as the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un mocked the South’s ability to detect its weapons launches.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff dismissed Kim Yo Jong’s statement as “a comedy-like, vulgar propaganda” meant to undermine the South Korean people’s trust in the military and stoke divisions.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired more than more than 90 rounds near the rivals’ disputed western sea boundary on Sunday afternoon. It said South Korea strongly urged North Korea to stop provocative acts immediately.
North Korea’s military later confirmed it used coastal artillery systems to carry out live-firing exercises. It said the drills were part of its military training schedules and the direction of its shells fired didn’t expose any threat to South Korea.
On Friday, North Korea launched about 200 shells. South Korea also claimed that the North fired more than 60 rounds on Saturday, but its rival has denied that.
Kim Yo Jong said that North Korea on Saturday only detonated blasting powder simulating the sound of its coastal artillery on the seashore, to test the South Korean military’s detection capabilities.
“The result was clear as we expected. They misjudged the blasting sound as the sound of gunfire and conjectured it as a provocation. And they even made a false and impudent statement that the shells dropped north” of the sea boundary, Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media.
“I cannot but say that (South Korean) people are very pitiful as they entrust security to such blind persons and offer huge taxes to them,” she said. “It is better 10 times to entrust security to a dog with a developed sense of hearing and smell.”
Animosities between the two Koreas are running high because North Korea has conducted a barrage of missile tests since 2022 while South Korea has expanded its military training with the United States in a tit-for-tat cycle.
North Korea’s artillery firings Friday prompted South Korea to have its troops on border islands fire artillery rounds near the sea boundary in response. The shells launched by the two Koreas fell at a maritime buffer zone they had established under a 2018 military agreement on lowering front-line military tensions.
The agreement requires the Koreas to halt live-fire exercises, aerial surveillance and other hostile acts along their border, but the deal is now in danger of collapsing because the two Koreas have taken measures breaching it.
Experts say North Korea is likely to ramp up weapons tests and escalate its trademark fiery rhetoric against its rivals ahead of South Korea’s parliamentary elections in April and the U.S. presidential elections in November. They say Kim Jong Un likely thinks a bolstered weapons arsenal would allow him to wrest greater U.S. concessions if former President Donald Trump returns to the White House.
In her statement Sunday, Kim Yo Jong called South Korea’s military “gangsters” and “clowns in military uniforms.” She also suggested South Korea’s possible future miscalculation of North Korean moves could cause an accidental clash between the rivals, jeopardizing the safety of Seoul, a city of 10 million people which is only an hour’s drive from the land border.
On Tuesday, Kim Yo Jong issued a statement calling South Korean conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol “foolishly brave” but his liberal predecessor Moon Jae-in “very smart.” South Korean analysts say she was attempting to help muster those opposing Yoon’s tougher policy on North Korea ahead of the April elections.
AP · January 7, 2024
3. Axis of Missiles: Russia Is Using Missiles from North Korea to Attack Ukraine
How should we respond? With the action Kim fears the most: a comprehensive information campaign.
but this is a key point. north Korea is trying to assert itself as a leader among the revisionist, rogue, and revolutionary powers to attack the rules based international order.
Excerpt:
North Korea taking a more active role in a larger movement to overthrow US-supported global norms and arrangements is another indication that the cost to Americans of maintaining world leadership is rising. The cost will include not only additional funding for Ukraine but also a significant expansion of the US defense industrial base. Kim and other US adversaries appear ready to play the long game.
Axis of Missiles: Russia Is Using Missiles from North Korea to Attack Ukraine
North Korea’s decision to arm Russia with ballistic missiles should compel a robust response from the United States and its allies.
The National Interest · by Denny Roy · January 6, 2024
The “Axis of Evil” just got more real. US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Jan. 4 that within the previous week, Russia fired into Ukraine “multiple” ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea. Pyongyang was already providing the Russians with arms. In 2022, Washington condemned North Korea for sending Russia artillery ammunition.
North Korea Now Fueling the Ukraine War with Missile
Nevertheless, providing ballistic missiles is a significant escalation.
Since the United Nations Security Council has declared North Korea’s ballistic missile program illegal, this would be a violation of UN sanctions.
Ballistic missiles have a more extended range than artillery, meaning they will help the Russians strike civilian infrastructure far from the front lines.
North Korean military assistance represents another means by which Putin could prolong the Russian invasion. This development occurs at a crucial time when both the Russian and Ukrainian governments need to signal their ability to sustain their forces in what has become a war of attrition.
A Real Axis of Evil...and Missiles
More broadly, this reinforces a consequential trend: a bloc of cold US adversaries are cooperating to oppose the US global agenda—not only by economic and diplomatic means, but also militarily.
China has already been materially assisting Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine and has likely violated its pledge not to provide armaments. Russia reportedly plans to buy ballistic missiles from Iran for use against Ukraine. Now, the DPRK has become part of a coalition fighting what many observers see as a proxy war between the Russia-China Bloc and the West.
Tangible DPRK military assistance to Russia’s war deepens the fear that members of this Bloc could cooperate in other ways. An obvious possibility is North Korea carrying out an aggressive action on the Korean Peninsula in coordination with a Chinese military attack against Taiwan. Beijing and Pyongyang might see mutual benefit in confronting the United States with simultaneous crises that could overwhelm the US' ability to address either effectively.
North Korea Becomes More Dangerous
North Korea’s willingness to supply some of the weapons that Russia is using to kill Ukrainians fits a broader pattern of recent behavior by the Kim regime. Pyongyang has stiffed US government attempts to re-open bilateral dialogue, declared that reunification with South Korea is impossible, and committed itself to never giving up its nuclear arsenal, which it is now busily expanding. Kim has rejected former South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s dream of reconciliation and economic integration between the two Koreas, and also rebuffed former US President Donald Trump’s vision of helping North Korea gain wealth by plugging itself into the world capitalist economy.
Instead, Kim has concluded that his interests are best served by closer association with China and Russia, even if Pyongyang has enough concern for its international reputation to deny it is helping to facilitate Russian aggression.
North Korea’s decision to arm Russia with ballistic missiles should compel a robust response from the United States and its allies.
US ally Seoul, despite being a manufacturing powerhouse and major global arms exporter, has resisted supplying lethal aid to Ukraine directly up to now. South Korean policy proscribes providing weaponry to foreign countries at war. Involvement by North Korea, however, makes the Ukraine war more relevant to the Korean Peninsula, and would be a suitable trigger for the South Korean government to announce an exception to its usual policy.
As for the United States, the usual symbolic additional sanctions against North Korean individuals and entities by Washington would be weak. Nor can Washington depend on meaningful action by the UN Security Council, where North Korea’s fellow Bloc members Russia and China have veto power.
An appropriate US response would be upgraded assistance to Ukraine to offset the help Russia is getting from North Korea. This escalation of the Ukraine war, represented by North Korean ballistic missiles, further discredits the Biden Administration’s overly cautious policy of denying Ukraine long-range weapons and advanced aircraft out of fear of provoking Russia. Hundreds of ATACMS missiles in US stockpiles are reportedly scheduled for scrapping because they have reached or are nearing their expiration date but are still serviceable. Transferring these weapons to Ukraine should be a no-brainer.
A bigger question is whether the United States will continue paying the costs of sponsoring Pax Americana. Helping Ukraine supports the liberal world order, of which Washington is the chief sponsor and defender. Conversely, failing to help Ukraine, especially as other adversaries are helping Russia, would empower the China-Russia Bloc.
Yet continuing to fund Ukraine is increasingly controversial among Americans. Some Republican members of Congress are blocking $61 billion in new US assistance to Ukraine, mainly because they want to limit US overseas funding commitments (Israel and Taiwan still make the list) and spend more money to solve domestic problems such as managing immigration across the US’s southern border. This sentiment represents a movement from America’s postwar and bipartisan internationalist posture toward a more constrained foreign policy.
North Korea taking a more active role in a larger movement to overthrow US-supported global norms and arrangements is another indication that the cost to Americans of maintaining world leadership is rising. The cost will include not only additional funding for Ukraine but also a significant expansion of the US defense industrial base. Kim and other US adversaries appear ready to play the long game.
About the Author: Denny Roy
Denny Roy's work has focused mostly on Asia Pacific security issues, particularly those involving China. Recently Roy has written on Chinese foreign policy, the North Korea nuclear weapons crisis, China-Japan relations, and China-Taiwan relations. His interests include not only traditional military-strategic matters and foreign policy, but also international relations theory and human rights politics.
Before joining the East-West Center in 2007, Roy worked at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu for seven years, rising to the rank of Professor after starting as a Research Fellow. From 1998 to 2000, Roy was a faculty member in the National Security Affairs Department at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. There he taught courses on China, Asian history, and Southeast Asian politics. He also designed and taught an innovative course titled Human Rights and National Security in Asia. Email the author: [email protected].
Main image is from North Korean State Media. All others are Creative Commons.
The National Interest · by Denny Roy · January 6, 2024
4. S. Korea, U.S., Japan condemn N.K. nuke program, note China's 'unlawful' South China Sea claims
The trilateral JAROKUS (Japan- ROK- US) is looking at north Korea and beyond.
S. Korea, U.S., Japan condemn N.K. nuke program, note China's 'unlawful' South China Sea claims | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · January 7, 2024
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korea, the United States and Japan condemned North Korea's nuclear and missile programs and pointed out China's "unlawful" claims in the South China Sea during the inaugural meeting of their trilateral Indo-Pacific dialogue this week, a joint statement showed Saturday.
The three countries released the statement after the meeting took place in Washington on Friday, in line with an agreement on its launch that President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reached during their landmark Camp David summit in August last year.
The meeting was led by South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Chung Byung-won and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Daniel Kritenbrink and Yasuhiro Kobe, respectively.
"They condemned the DPRK's continued development of its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile programs, growing military cooperation with Russia, and grave human rights violations and abuses," the statement read, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The three also recalled their positions regarding the "recent dangerous and escalatory behavior supporting unlawful maritime claims" by China in the South China Sea, it said.
"They strongly reiterated their firm commitment to international law, including the freedom of navigation and overflight, as reflected in the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, and they opposed any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion anywhere in the waters of the Indo-Pacific," the statement said.
In addition, the representatives underscored their countries' alignment on the Taiwan issue
"They reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as indispensable to security and prosperity in the international community," it said.
Recognizing the increased threat posed by foreign information manipulation, the three sides discussed ways to effectively counter these threats while respecting freedom of expression.
The meeting focused on each country's Indo-Pacific approach and opportunities for cooperation, with an emphasis on partnership with Southeast Asian and Pacific Island countries, according to the statement.
"The trilateral Indo-Pacific Dialogue is a new chapter in our countries' partnership and an important step forward to strengthen and more closely align our policies globally," it said.
The representatives reaffirmed their intent to continue to convene the trilateral dialogue body annually.
(From L to R) South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pose for a photo prior to their trilateral summit meeting at Camp David, Maryland on Aug. 18, 2023, in this file photo. (Yonhap)
sshluck@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · January 7, 2024
5. The Woman Shaking Up the $50 Billion Instant-Ramen Industry
More South Korea soft power.
The Woman Shaking Up the $50 Billion Instant-Ramen Industry
Kim Jung-soo invented a super-spicy brand of noodles currently on the shelves of Walmart, Costco and major U.S. grocers
https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/food-cooking/the-woman-shaking-up-the-50-billion-instant-ramen-industry-506ed3cd?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1
By Jiyoung Sohn
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| Photography by Jun Michael Park for The Wall Street Journal
Jan. 6, 2024 9:00 pm ET
SEOUL—Kim Jung-soo’s life seems torn from the pages of a South Korean drama. She married into the
Samyang conglomerate family and became a stay-at-home mom, then she abruptly joined the instant-noodle company after it declared bankruptcy in the late 1990s. She faced legal woes that necessitated a presidential pardon. Now, she is CEO.
Behind the 59-year-old’s rise is the unlikely success of a brand of instant ramen she created herself. The noodles are so spicy that many people can’t eat them. Today, packages of the company’s “Buldak” noodles—literally “fire chicken” in Korean—have landed on the American shelves of
Costco COST 1.18%increase; green up pointing triangle, Walmart WMT -0.67%decrease; red down pointing triangle and Albertsons ACI 2.22%increase; green up pointing triangle. They will soon arrive in Kroger KR 0.33%increase; green up pointing triangle supermarkets, too.“There is a clear market for instant noodles in the U.S. that’s growing,” said Kim, who was named chief executive of the Samyang Roundsquare conglomerate in September last year, a rare female head of a large South Korean company.
Behind her company’s success is a boom in instant-noodle sales globally as more consumers seek easy-to-cook, inexpensive meals. The worldwide instant-noodle market hit roughly $50 billion in 2023, a 52% jump from five years ago, according to estimates from Euromonitor International.
One major driver is growth in the relatively untapped U.S. market, where eaters have historically viewed instant ramen more as a cheap snack. The rise of more cautious consumer spending, as well as the popularity of restaurant versions of ramen, have helped elevate interest in making ramen as a meal at home.
Unlike well-known offerings from industry stalwarts like Maruchan or
Nissin, Samyang’s noodles aim for a more adventurous eater and cost roughly three times as much as the established brands in the U.S. The company’s marquee fiery noodles are about twice as spicy as Tabasco sauce. The original Buldak ramen clocks in at 4,404 units on the Scoville scale, which measures the heat of peppers. They are offered in a variety of flavors, such as spicy-cream carbonara or habanero lime.Walmart said Buldak noodles now rank among its top-selling premium ramen. After testing out Buldak’s sales in select West Coast stores, Costco is considering a national rollout in the U.S. starting this year, Samyang said. Jennifer Saenz, chief merchandising officer at Albertsons, lauded Samyang’s bright packaging—from pink to purple to lime green—which helps grab consumers’ attention.
“We were impressed by the flavor and quality of the product and saw it having huge potential to fulfill the increasing demand for ramen,” Saenz said.
U.S. supermarkets have expanded international-food aisles and even become ultra-sellers of ready-made sushi. That has helped create a lane for extra-spicy instant ramen, which in the past might have been relegated to niche Asian-food grocers.
The stock of Samyang’s instant-noodles company rose 70% in 2023 versus a 19% gain in South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index. South Korean ramen exports, to which Samyang is one of the largest contributors, are slated to hit a record high this year, according to government data.
Most of South Korea’s big conglomerates, such as Samsung, LG and Hyundai, are led by male heirs of the founders, so Kim’s success engineering a turnaround as a daughter-in-law is unique, said Kim Kyeong-jun, president of CEO Score, a corporate-research firm in Seoul. “Samyang was a company that had almost failed.”
‘There was only desperation’
Samyang Foods was established in 1961 by a former head of an insurance company who introduced instant ramen to a war-ravaged South Korea. It eventually grew into a group of more than 10 affiliates, including the one that still operates as Samyang Foods and produces Buldak ramen. The conglomerate changed its name to Samyang Roundsquare last July.Samyang’s instant-ramen business thrived at first but soon faced challenges as rivals emerged. The major blow came in January 1998, when the company declared bankruptcy during the Asian financial crisis.
Kim, married with two young children at the time, was pressed to join the company by her father-in-law, the Samyang chairman. The two often talked about the firm’s business, even though she lacked corporate-world experience. It was easy to chat: They lived in the same house.
Kim, who had studied social work at a top South Korean women’s college, joined the company as Samyang’s head of sales. As a member of the family that owns Samyang, she also helped oversee the company’s overall affairs—a task that largely focused on slashing costs to revive the firm financially.
In that role, she remembers getting dispatched to China to find lower-cost green onions and to Malaysia for cheaper palm-oil suppliers.
“There was only desperation,” said Kim, from Samyang’s Seoul office built atop the site of a former company factory. The original headquarters was sold in bankruptcy.
Once Samyang’s finances stabilized, Kim spearheaded a new product committee formed in 2006 that shook up its offerings. Nearly all of South Korea’s soupy instant ramen came with a red broth. She pushed for the industry’s first one with clear soup.
1,200 chickens & two tons of sauces
The idea for her career-defining product invention came in the spring of 2010. Still involved in product development, Kim recalled taking a weekend stroll in central Seoul with her high-school-age daughter. They sought out a nice meal and some shopping.
“It had been a rare day out with my daughter,” Kim said.
They spotted a long queue outside a fried-rice restaurant famous for its fiery flavors. Once indoors, they saw fellow diners scraping their bowls clean. Kim couldn’t believe the passion for ultra-spicy food.
Kim at Samyang’s research-and-development center in Seoul.
The food, it turned out, was too hot for her and her daughter. Kim and her husband’s parents had roots in prewar North Korea, where the cuisine is milder. But Kim left the restaurant with an inspiration: “We have to do a ramen version of this.”
She bolted over to a nearby supermarket, buying three of every spicy sauce and condiment she could find. One batch went to Samyang’s research lab, another to the marketing team and the last set came home with her.
Finding the right flavor took months. Samyang’s food-development team went through 1,200 chickens and two tons of sauce. They studied hot peppers from around the world and visited famous restaurants serving spicy Korean dishes. Employees who boasted of a high spice tolerance became taste testers.
Kim, who sampled the Buldak prototypes throughout, could barely stomach the noodles at first. “But after eating them for a long time, it’s become more and more delicious and familiar,” she said.
What Kim didn’t envision was the fiery noodles going viral after their 2012 debut. Influencers took to YouTube, filming themselves attempting to wolf down the dark-red noodles. The brand’s popularity skyrocketed further as K-pop stars from BTS and Blackpink endorsed the product. Samyang didn’t pay online stars to promote the product. “Creators expressed themselves in an organic and truthful way,” Kim said.
Legal problems, then a return
As Samyang’s global standing rose, Kim and her husband—Samyang’s chairman—were convicted in 2020 of embezzling company funds totaling roughly 5 billion won, or $3.8 million.
Prosecutors said the couple had created a shell company making fake transactions with Samyang affiliates, supplying boxes and ingredients. From 2008 to 2017, Kim’s husband received monthly payments used to finance the couple’s home maintenance, car lease and credit-card bills.
Kim’s husband faced a three-year prison term. Kim got a suspended sentence, and her employment ban was lifted a year after the conviction, allowing her to return to Samyang at the end of 2020. In August last year, Kim was given a presidential pardon, wiping her legal slate clean. She was named CEO of Samyang Roundsquare the following month.
She and her husband, who is no longer in prison, remain happily married, Kim said. Their 29-year-old son was recently promoted to Samyang Roundsquare’s chief strategy officer.
During her time away, Kim said she reflected on the direction of her household and company—and her role going forward. “In returning to management, my only thought was that I had to lead the company with the utmost responsibility,” she said.
At the helm, Kim wants to ease the company’s heavy reliance on its hit product line. She wonders if the spicy Buldak sauce—currently sold as its own product lineup in stores and online—might one day make its way onto a menu item at McDonald’s. The original Buldak flavor could expand to even more variations or incorporate healthier ingredients.
“We expect the spicy trend to continue and open the doors to new variations of spicy,” Kim said.
Write to Jiyoung Sohn at jiyoung.sohn@wsj.com
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6. Caution is needed against N. Korea’s ploy of escalating military conflicts
Caution perhaps. But no weakness and inaction. They only invite more provocations.
Caution is needed against N. Korea’s ploy of escalating military conflicts
donga.com
Posted January. 06, 2024 07:45,
Updated January. 06, 2024 07:45
Caution is needed against N. Korea’s ploy of escalating military conflicts. January. 06, 2024 07:45. .
On Friday morning, the North Korean military launched approximately 200 coastal artillery shells in the northern region of Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong islands in the West Sea. The artillery shells fired by North Korea did not cross the Northern Limit Line (NLL) but landed within the maritime buffer zone where artillery fire and maneuver training are explicitly prohibited under the Sept. 19 inter-Korean military agreement. North Korea, having officially renounced the agreement in November, has escalated its provocations by engaging in actual artillery fire. In response to the situation, our military took urgent measures, evacuating residents from Yeonpyeong Island and Baengnyeong Island, and imposing restrictions on the movement of certain ships. Additionally, Marine units on both islands mobilized self-propelled artillery and tank guns to conduct maritime shooting exercises in a calibrated response to the provocations.
The firing of coastal artillery by North Korea in the West Sea appears to be a deliberate provocation aimed at escalating military tensions between North and South Korea right at the beginning of the new year. During last year's plenary meeting of the Workers' Party, Chairman Kim Jong Un characterized inter-Korean relations as a hostile relationship between the two countries and issued directives for a high-pressure and offensive ultra-hardline response. Furthermore, Kim convened his key military commanders to recognize the potential for an armed conflict arising from the enemy's reckless provocations and be fully prepared for military readiness.
There is a significant likelihood that perilous military actions, ranging from displays of force to localized provocations, will become more frequent in the future. Immediately following the nullification of the Sept. 19 Agreement, the North Korean military deployed troops and heavy weaponry into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and initiated the restoration of frontline guard posts. More recently, there has been an intensive placement of land mines along the Gyeongui Line land route, which is a symbol of inter-Korean exchange and cooperation. In addition to land and sea provocations, such as the restoration of guard posts and coastal artillery fire, there is a possibility of aerial provocations. Reports suggest that North Korea is actively employing a substantial number of new drones, such as the ‘Saebyeol-4 Type,’ over Pyongyang, conducting infiltration training against South Korea through the use of drones.
The dangerous provocations by the North Korean military, aligning with Kim Jong Un's strong-versus-strong confrontation and fight against enemy principles, pose a significant threat that could escalate into an imminent crisis on the Korean Peninsula. Particularly noteworthy is Kim’s directive to make the possibility of armed conflict a fait accompli, indicating a clear intention to heighten provocations in the lead-up to the general elections in April. It is imperative for our military and government to be well-prepared. While a firm response to military provocations is essential, it is also crucial to possess flexible response capabilities that can manage crises without succumbing to North Korea’s confrontation drive.
한국어
donga.com
7. South Korea, U.S., Japan hold first trilateral Indo-Pacific talks
Sunday
January 7, 2024
dictionary + A - A
Published: 07 Jan. 2024, 16:01
Updated: 07 Jan. 2024, 16:03
South Korea, U.S., Japan hold first trilateral Indo-Pacific talks
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-01-07/national/diplomacy/South-Korea-US-Japan-hold-first-trilateral-IndoPacific-talks/1952802
From left, Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Chung Byung-won, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink and Japanese Foreign Deputy Minister Kobe Yasuhiro in Washington on Friday. [MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS]
South Korea, the United States and Japan held their first trilateral Indo-Pacific dialogue in Washington on Friday.
According to the South Korean Foreign Ministry on Sunday, the three countries through a joint statement condemned North Korea for its continuing development of “unlawful” nuclear and ballistic missile programs and for its military cooperation with Russia.
Related Article
The three countries also raised concerns of the escalating “dangerous behaviors” of China in the South China Sea while reaffirming the importance of peace and stability on the Taiwan Strait.
On Friday the South Korean Foreign Ministry demanded that Russia stop importing arms from North Korea, which are being used in the war against Ukraine.
The South Korean government stressed that the cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a clear violation of the United Nations Security Council’s sanction, of which Moscow is a member.
On Thursday, the White House accused Russia of using short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) provided by North Korea in attacks against Ukraine.
According to National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications John Kirby, the Russian military is believed to have launched at least one of the North Korean ballistic missiles into Ukraine on Dec. 30.
Kirby also said Russia used multiple North Korean missiles in a heavy airstrike on Tuesday.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry stressed that the dialogue on Friday was the official launching of an agreement that the leaders of the three countries — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida — had agreed upon during the summit at Camp David on Aug. 18 last year.
The dialogue is also the first consultative body since South Korea announced its own Indo-Pacific strategy in December 2022, in which the goal is to shift from a foreign policy that had heavily centered on the inter-Korean relationship to a larger role in bringing peace and prosperity to the Indo-Pacific region.
“The trilateral Indo-Pacific Dialogue is a new chapter in our countries’ partnership and an important step forward to strengthen and more closely align our policies globally,” the joint statement read.
The Korea Deputy Foreign Minister Chung Byung-won, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink and Japanese Foreign Deputy Minister Kobe Yasuhiro attended the meeting.
BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]
8. N. Korea's sympathy message to Japan meant to weaken trilateral ties: experts
Of course Kim wants to weaken the trilateral relationship. But he again miscalates – neither action (sympathy for Japan or artillery shelling) are going to weaken trilateral cooperation. In fact every action Kim takes contributes to making the trilateral relationship stronger.
N. Korea's sympathy message to Japan meant to weaken trilateral ties: experts
The Korea Times · January 7, 2024
This photo released on Dec. 17, 2023, by North Korea's state media shows Kim Jong-un, its leader, speaking during a key party meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea, Dec. 16, 2023. Experts said on Sunday that Kim's message of sympathy for the victims of a series of earthquakes in Japan appears to be aimed at undermining South Korea's trilateral security ties with Japan and the U.S. Yonhap
Kim expresses condolences to quake victims, orders artillery drills on same day
By Jung Min-ho
In his first message to Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Friday expressed condolences over the deadly earthquake in western Japan last week in a letter.
According to Saturday’s report from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency, Kim “sincerely hoped that the people in the affected areas would eradicate the aftermath of earthquakes and restore their stable life at the earliest date possible.”
On the same day the letter was sent, North Korea fired more than 200 artillery rounds into waters off its western coast, prompting hundreds of South Korean island residents near the maritime border to evacuate to shelters. The next day, it fired an additional 60 artillery rounds in the same area, further stoking tensions.
Experts told The Korea Times on Sunday that the timing of the two contrasting North Korean messages ― one conveyed by its warm remarks and the other by military action ― was no coincidence. They said the North may be trying to isolate South Korea as part of its effort to sabotage the Seoul-Tokyo-Washington security cooperation by taking a different strategy to each country.
“I think the goal is weakening the trilateral partnership,” said Lee Ki-tae, an expert on North Korea-Japan relationship at the Korea Institute for National Unification, a state-funded think tank. “North Korea shows no interest in resuming talks with the U.S. under Joe Biden, while strengthening its hard-line stance toward the South. It might have thought that it should aim for the Japan link.”
Such a letter from North Korea’s top leader is unprecedented. When major quakes hit Japan in 1995 and 2011, Pyongyang’s diplomatic message of sympathy came from high-ranking officials, not Kim Jong-il, the leader at the time.
As North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens remain a sensitive political issue, leaders in Tokyo have long attempted to find diplomatic resolutions, all to no avail so far. Officially, 17 such abductees are recognized by the Japanese government.
Kang Chae-yeon, a scholar at the National Institute for Unification Education, believes North Korea could step up efforts in the coming months to rebuild diplomatic networks with Japan by taking advantage of that political need.
“But given what North Korea has done and insisted to date, I am skeptical that any progress would be made in resolving the issue,” Kang said. “Also, Japan is expected to tread carefully, as any diplomatic concessions to the regime could draw opposition from the U.S. and South Korea.”
Experts said any significant changes in Japan’s relations with North Korea are unlikely, at least in the short run, as long as Washington maintains its tough stance on Pyongyang.
“So the key would be the outcome of the U.S. presidential election (scheduled for Nov. 5). It is expected to affect not only the U.S.'s future policy on and relationship with North Korea but also those of Japan,” Lee said.
Speaking to journalists, Yoshimasa Hayashi, chief cabinet secretary, said the government in Tokyo “is grateful” for support messages from a number of countries, including North Korea, according to local media reports. But he did not answer if the Kishida administration would respond to the letter from Kim.
The Korea Times · January 7, 2024
9. South Korea’s inevitable security trade-offs
Excerpt:
In this new Cold War era of multipolarity, when accurate predictions of major powers’ moves are difficult to make, the scope of policy must diverge from the past. The year 2024 could be one that heralds the start of an era in which South Korea takes a path that it has never taken before. What does South Korea, whose national survival is at stake, need most? It is to gather national opinion and unite to develop new countermeasures that will allow it to move forward in a secure and orderly manner. Will South Korea be able to overcome this crisis? For South Korea to exist as a country, in the end, it is an inevitable and unavoidable task not only for politicians but also for all citizens to face this challenge. It is not a problem that can be left to the U.S. to resolve. If South Koreans cannot confidently complete this task, they will have no choice but to bear the cold consequences, because everything is a trade-off.
South Korea’s inevitable security trade-offs
The Korea Times · January 4, 2024
By Park Jung-won
Park Jung-won
In 2024, presidential and general elections will be held in 40 countries around the world, including Taiwan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. Of course, elections are mainly a domestic issue for the country concerned, but the results will also have significant impacts on South Korea, due to increasing interlinkages in the global community in areas of international politics, security and the world economy.
The result of Taiwan’s presidential election, to be held in January, will be particularly consequential. The election of a candidate from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which is anti-China, could intensify cross-strait tensions. This has a direct bearing on the security of the Korean Peninsula and the rest of East Asia. The Russia-Ukraine War has also become directly connected to the security of South Korea, as it has led to weapons and technology transactions between Russia and North Korea; Russia reportedly provided technical support for North Korea’s military reconnaissance satellite launched last November. It is a given that Vladimir Putin will be re-elected as Russia’s president in a nominal presidential election in March, while Ukraine faces great difficulties amid waning Western military aid and domestic corruption issues that affect its political cohesion. Growing strains between the U.S. and China over Taiwan and Russia’s dominance on the battlefield in Ukraine are both scenarios that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is hoping for.
The Korean Peninsula will be especially affected by the geopolitical uncertainty of 2024. Following the war in Ukraine and the Hamas-Israel War, a recent poll found that 48 percent of Americans believe President Joe Biden is spending too much money on Ukraine (for Republican supporters the figure was 65 percent). If an armed conflict occurs on the Korean Peninsula, Americans’ war fatigue will only increase, and it may be difficult to count on active U.S. support for South Korea. If North Korea mass-produces solid-fuel ICBMs in earnest and its number of nuclear weapons increases to 200-300, it is obvious that the U.S. will feel even more limited in its ability to defend against the North’s missiles and nuclear weapons. There is already widespread pessimism in Washington leading to the conclusion that the denuclearization of North Korea has become impossible.
If Donald Trump becomes the next U.S. president, various changes to the South Korea-U.S. alliance may become inevitable. Besides Trump’s demand for a five-fold increase in South Korea’s share of defense costs for the U.S. troop presence, there is also concern that he will accept North Korea’s status as a nuclear power through a summit with Kim Jong-un. The possibility of Trump withdrawing U.S. troops from South Korea cannot be ruled out. In a worst-case scenario, the newly formed trilateral cooperation system between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan through the Nuclear Consultation Group could be dismantled. With the inauguration of a pro-Russian Trump administration, the possibility of an abrupt end to the war in Ukraine on unfavorable terms could also become a reality. If so, the present rules-based international order could be irreparably damaged.
South Korean society, with concerted effort from both the government and private sector, needs to prepare seriously for the unwelcome possibilities that could take shape the year 2024. We should ask South Korea’s so-called experts on North Korea fundamentally: Do you honestly believe there is a way to denuclearize North Korea? Is there any way for the United States to use its military might to carry out this task? It is unlikely. Cooperation between Seoul and Washington on North Korea must be maintained, but it is all too clear that it will not fundamentally eliminate the North’s nuclear threat. If a second Trump administration acquiesces to North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons through negotiations and additionally provides the North economic aid, in return for an unsatisfactory disarmament compromise, his government may be able to tell the American people that it has escaped the North’s nuclear threat, but South Korea will be forced to live with unbearable danger.
Seoul, then, should consider very seriously what it does at this juncture. It would be unwise to leave South Korea’s fate entirely to the U.S., which elects a new president every four or eight years. To prevent nuclear provocation or attack as a result of North Korean misjudgment, it would seem imperative to seek an independent nuclear response strategy that establishes an inter-Korean nuclear balance. Moreover, in the case that Japan moves towards nuclear armament for its own defense, it would be most urgent for South Korea to secure at least a Japanese level of nuclear fuel reprocessing and uranium enrichment capability so that it is not left as the only non-nuclear state in its neighborhood.
In this new Cold War era of multipolarity, when accurate predictions of major powers’ moves are difficult to make, the scope of policy must diverge from the past. The year 2024 could be one that heralds the start of an era in which South Korea takes a path that it has never taken before. What does South Korea, whose national survival is at stake, need most? It is to gather national opinion and unite to develop new countermeasures that will allow it to move forward in a secure and orderly manner. Will South Korea be able to overcome this crisis? For South Korea to exist as a country, in the end, it is an inevitable and unavoidable task not only for politicians but also for all citizens to face this challenge. It is not a problem that can be left to the U.S. to resolve. If South Koreans cannot confidently complete this task, they will have no choice but to bear the cold consequences, because everything is a trade-off.
Park Jung-won (park_jungwon@hotmail.com), Ph.D. in law from the London School of Economics (LSE), is a professor of international law at Dankook University.
The Korea Times · January 4, 2024
10. Will ‘Beyond Utopia’ get an Oscar in March?
I certainly hope so but I am told that they just do not have the network, resources, and "political" apparatus to compete.
Sunday
January 7, 2024
dictionary + A - A
Published: 07 Jan. 2024, 19:43
Updated: 07 Jan. 2024, 23:15
Will ‘Beyond Utopia’ get an Oscar in March?
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-01-07/opinion/columns/Will-Beyond-Utopia-get-an-Oscar-in-March/1953022
Chang Se-jeong
The author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo.
“Beyond Utopia” — a documentary film packed with exigent moments of two North Korean families escaping their fatherland in search of freedom — hit the screen in more than 600 movie theaters last October in the United States. The release of a North Korea-related documentary in America is very rare. The sensational film received the Audience Award for U.S. Documentary at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival for independent films and later the Best Documentary and Best Doc Editing Awards at the Woodstock Film Festival in September last year.
Before the 2024 Academy Awards ceremony on March 10, the Board of Governors included “Beyond Utopia” in its list of 15 preliminary nominees for the Best Documentary category out of 114 entries. Variety, a leading U.S. entertainment news outlet, called the film directed by Madeleine Gavin “a frontrunner to land an Oscar nomination this year for best documentary feature.” The Oscar nomination period will run from Jan. 11 through Jan. 16, and the official nominees will be named on Jan. 23. (Final voting is slated for Feb. 22-27.) “City of Joy,” a 2016 documentary directed by Gavin, made a splash on Netflix. Denis Mukwege — a Congolese gynecologist and human rights activist against wartime sexual violence, who appears in the film — was awarded the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize at age 68.
“Beyond Utopia” received great appreciation for its graphic description of nerve-racking moments. The tickets were fully sold out when it premiered at the Busan International Film Festival last October. Senior officials at the ministries of diplomacy, unification, national defense and the Korea Human Rights Commission also viewed the film.
The documentary is to be released in Japan this Friday and in Korea on Jan. 31. If “Beyond Utopia” is officially nominated for — or wins — an Oscar, President Yoon Suk Yeol will likely go see the film.
Rev. Kim Seong-eun, left, the pastor at Caleb Mission in Cheonan, South Chungcheong, also known as “Korean Schindler” in the U.S. and Europe, and North Korean defector-turned-writer Lee Hyeon-seo — the executive producer of the Sundance award-winning “Beyond Utopia” and the English narrator for the documentary on the nerve-racking journey of two North Korean families from their fatherland to China, Vietnam and Laos to South Korea in search of freedom — pose for a photo before showing the film in the National Assembly in December. [CHANG SE-JEONG]
In a big conference room of the National Assembly last month, Rep. Thae Yong-ho — a North Korean defector-turned-lawmaker in South Korea — held a preview of the movie for foreign diplomats from Sweden, Turkey, Mexico, Latvia, Estonia and the Apostolic Nunciature to Korea. The members of the two North Korean families in the documentary were also there. They promised to participate in campaigns for North Korean human rights and North Korean defectors.
The documentary shows all the efforts by Pastor Kim Seong-eun, 58, of Caleb Mission in Cheonan, South Chungcheong, to plan and implement the defection of the two North Korean families headed by a man surnamed Roh, 53, and a woman surnamed Lee, 48. The pastor, known as “Korean Schindler” in the U.S. and Europe, rescued more than 1,000 North Korean defectors over the past ten years. This time, their tense life on the North Korea-China border was secretly recorded by Chinese farmers and so-called “defector helpers” by smartphones — and their next journey from China to Vietnam was taped by former North Korean defectors who flew back to China to help them. Their life in Vietnam, Laos and South Korea was covered by a South Korean team.
After the showing of the documentary in the National Assembly, Jinpyong, 10, the second daughter of Roh, said, “At the time of defection, I didn’t know. But after we arrived in South Korea, the North Korean regime felt like a devil.” Her mother, Lee, said she prayed for having just a plain meal with her son she left behind. “Whenever I think of our families back in North Korea, I feel guilty and suffer from trauma,” she confessed.
I sat with Rev. Kim Seong-eon, who played a pivotal role in turning the taped records into a documentary film. After studying theology at Baekseok University, he served as a pastor at a small church in North Jeolla from 1998. After watching the miserable North Korean children begging for food in Tumen, a border city in China, around 2000, he decided to dedicate his life to helping North Korean defectors.
Movie poster of "Beyond Utopia."
His determination eventually led to his marriage to a North Korean defector he had met at the North-China border. While working hard to help her safe defection to the South, he discovered many defection routes. But after falling on the ground while helping a defector to flee to South Korea, he suffered a serious injury. He even had to extract the gallbladder in 2019 for infections, not to mention losing his own son due to his birth defects. The following are excerpts from the interview.
Q. On what occasion did you participate in the production of the documentary?
A. It all began after a staffer of the documentary director contacted me in 2019 to get help in making a documentary on the tough lives of North Korean people and defectors.
How many North Korean defectors have you rescued?
The first was my wife. I have so far saved more than 1,000 defectors, including about 300 whom I rescued on my own. The three defectors I saved last November include a woman who had been sold to a Chinese man to bear his son.
It reportedly takes at least 2 million won ($1,520) for a North Korean to defect safely. Is that true?
As defectors must give “brokers” some of the settlement money they receive from the South Korean government, people tend to see it as “dirty money.” But brokers are a “necessary evil.” Those who studied theology in China are reliable.
What do you think of China’s forcible repatriation of more than 500 North Korean defectors last October?
I hope the Chinese government at least recognizes North Korean defectors as refugees. Beijing replied to the United Nations that there was no evidence of torture against them in North Korea. However, the existence of 35,000 North Korean defectors in China itself is the proof.
The resolution denouncing China’s forcible repatriation of North Korean defectors was endorsed by 253 out of 260 lawmakers in our National Assembly. Seven others, including Rep. Yoon Mi-hyang and Rep. Back Hye-ryun, abstained from voting. What do you think of that?
I strongly doubt the identity of those lawmakers who abstained from the vote. Before becoming the president, Moon Jae-in as a lawyer in 1996 defended Korean Chinese crew members who murdered the Korean skipper and other fishermen on a deep sea tuna fishing vessel. As the president, Moon’s government forcibly deported two young North Korean fishermen to North Korea on the same murder charge while aboard a fishing boat. Ironically, politicians who fought for democracy and human rights during their college days are keeping silence on human rights of North Korean defectors.
Anything you want from the Yoon Suk Yeol administration?
I thank the government for creating an environment where North Korean defectors can give testimonies on the human rights conditions in North Korea. I hope the conservative government makes more effort to persuade the Chinese government to send the defectors to a third country.
I also interviewed North Korean defector-turned-writer Lee Hyeon-seo, 43, who served as the executive producer of “Beyond Utopia” and also did the English narration for the documentary. Born in Hyesan, Yangkang Province, Lee crossed the Amnok (Yalu) River to flee to China at age 17 and landed in South Korea in 2008. She studied English and Chinese at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. Her TED talk in 2013, for the first time as a North Korean defector, drew keen attention.
The 12-munite speech on YouTube about her witnessing of a public execution at age 7 and the stories about her last-minute rescue of her family from North Korea hit more than 40 million clicks around the world. At the invitation of U.S. President Donald Trump on February 2018, she visited the White House with other eight North Korean defectors to ask the U.S. government to help restrain China from repatriating them against their will. The following are excerpts from the interview.
Q. Why did you flee North Korea?
A. At school, we were taught that North Korea is the paradise on earth. But watching Chinese dramas, I found that I had been brainwashed by the North Korean regime. So I wanted to find the truth with my own eyes.
You became a best-selling author in the U.S. after your speech at TED.
I refused a publication offer for a book at first. But I accepted the publisher’s proposal that I play the role as a bridge to tell the North Korean reality to the rest of the world. The result was “The Girl with Seven Names” published in 2015. The book was translated into Korean and published in Korea last April.
How come the book was made into a documentary?
When I held a book signing event in the U.S., actor Robert De Niro, 80, approached and asked me, “Hyeonseo, what can I do for you?” I asked him to help us to produce a film about North Korean defectors. Then someone in the signing event delivered my book to the production staff of the documentary. Some mysterious power must have been working at the time.
Any words to say to the audience?
This film is not about the conservative or liberal, but about the stories of the people who escaped from the dystopia of North Korea. I hope audiences see the documentary just as a reflection of the people we forgot.
Do you enjoy real freedom now?
It took 10 years for me to accept South Korea as my eternal home. Today, I thank God for giving me small freedom to drink a cup of coffee by the sunlit window.
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
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