Quotes of the Day:
“A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.”
- Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
“The feeling of being hurried is not usually the result of living a full life and having no time. It is on the contrary born of a vague fear that we are wasting our life. When we do not do the one thing we ought to do, we have no time for anything else--we are the busiest people in the world.”
- Eric Hoffer
“Second we find in our prerevolutionary society definite and indeed very bitter class antagonisms, though these antagonisms seem rather more complicated than the cruder Marxists will allow.”
- Crane Brinton
1. N.K. leader urges improvement in people's living conditions on party's founding anniversary
2. N. Korea quietly marks 76th founding anniversary of ruling party
3. Disagreement on North Korea sanctions feared to weaken Seoul-Washington alliance
4. Drugs, arms, and terror: A high-profile defector on Kim's North Korea
5. S. Korean, US top security advisers to discuss NK
6. North Korean leader calls for improved living conditions
7. Man on FBI's most wanted list pleads guilty in Singapore court to falsifying North Korea-linked invoices
8. 'North Korea hasn't changed': High profile defector on world's most secretive nation
9. A former North Korean spy said the regime planned terrorist activities as a 'gift' to the supreme leader: report
1. N.K. leader urges improvement in people's living conditions on party's founding anniversary
First, Kim needs to get his own house in order. He has the resources to improve the lives of the Korean people living in the north. The suffering is a result of his policy cdecisions, namely to prioritize nuclear and missile development, advanced military capabilities and support to the elite over the welfare of the Korean people.
But no one should be duped by these statements but I am sure we will read commentary from certain pundits who will tell us THIS TIME Kim means it and that he is really changing. This is just another effort in support of his political warfare strategy.
(LEAD) N.K. leader urges improvement in people's living conditions on party's founding anniversary | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: ADDS paras 6-8 with more info; CHANGES headline, photo)
By Yi Won-ju
SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stressed the need to improve people's living conditions, as he held a lecture to mark the 76th founding anniversary of its ruling Workers' Party, state media said Monday.
He delivered the message during his "important" speech, titled, "Let us further improve party work in line with the demands of the period of fresh development of socialist construction," according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Kim said the party has defined "the popular masses' independence" as the essence of the socialist construction and urged officials to serve the people like "God," it added.
He then emphasized that the party remains determined to efficiently push ahead with the five-year national economy plan set forth at the party congress in January and called on officials to solve people's food and housing problems.
Kim also told party officials to "always consider whether their work infringe upon the interests of the people or cause trouble to the people." Kim made no mention of inter-Korean ties and the United States.
This marks the first time Kim has delivered a speech on the party's founding anniversary since he took power in late 2011.
Kim "brought to light the brilliant achievements made in our Party building for the last ten years," the KCNA said.
Observers say the rare speech appears aimed at tightening internal unity in the face of the deepening economic fallout caused by the global coronavirus pandemic.
North Korea marked the 76th founding anniversary of its ruling party Sunday without a military parade or any other provocative show of force.
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
2. N. Korea quietly marks 76th founding anniversary of ruling party
Either resources are really stretched thin or Kim is trying to paint the picture that it cannot afford to conduct a parade or in support of its political warfare strategy it is trying to paint the picture that it is no longer going to prioritize the military (and parades) over the welfare of the people in order to influence the pundits and politicians to see what they want to see - namely that Kim Jong-un is changing and is now willing to negotiate in return for help. I would not bet the farm (or South Korean security and US interests) on that view.
N. Korea quietly marks 76th founding anniversary of ruling party | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, Oct. 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea appears to be marking the 76th founding anniversary of its ruling Workers' Party on Sunday without a military parade or any other provocative show of force.
State media carried several articles stressing the ruling party and leader Kim Jong un's devotion to the country, but no major celebrations or party meetings were reported as of early Sunday morning.
The Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the North's ruling party, rallied support for Kim and highlighted his efforts in helping people recover from economic challenges, such as recent flooding and the border closure due to COVID-19.
No signs of the North preparing for a military parade were detected, according to military sources.
Pyongyang may be skipping the military parade as this year's anniversary does not fall on a fifth or 10th anniversary and as it staged a scaled-down parade last month to mark the country's founding anniversary.
The North tends to mark every fifth and 10th anniversary with larger events, such as military provocations, including missile launches and parades of troops, newly developed strategic weapons and other military hardware.
At the 75th founding anniversary last year, leader Kim vowed to continue to strengthen its self-defense "war deterrent," and showed off a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and other weapons during a massive military parade.
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
3. Disagreement on North Korea sanctions feared to weaken Seoul-Washington alliance
We should not overreact. We have weathered many alliance disagreements over the years/decades due to different views in Seoul and Washington. We will get through this and we will be better for it in the long run. Between now and next May when the new ROK president takes office (and next November for US midterm elections) we should ensure we maintain an even keel. I do see President Moon pushing hard for an end of war declaration to cement his desired legacy as the peace president. I do not think sanctions will be lifted (though there will probably be a compromise a some sanctions waivers may be granted). If it comes down to a choice between end of war dedication and sanctions relief I would rather support the symbolic, non-binding end of war declaration with no legal basis. If we provide sanctions relief Kim will judge his politica warfare strategy and blackmail diplomacy a success and doable down on them and sanctions relief will not lead to substantive good faith negotiations. We can deal with sanctions relief. An end to sanctions will actually have a destabilizing effect. An end of war declaration will have some impact in the information and influence domain but that can be more effectively countered. Sanctions relief will undermine the alliance in the long run and an end of war declaration and not allow it to lead to an end of the alliance and withdrawal of US troops (as Kim intends if he does even agree to it - and if he does not agree to it it means he does not believe it will lead to US troop withdrawal). But if we lift sanctions (even with a "snap back" mechanism but that will never be employed) it will only embolden (and enrich) Kim Jong-un. We need to think this through.
Disagreement on North Korea sanctions feared to weaken Seoul-Washington alliance
Gettyimagesbank
Experts mixed on partial lifting of economic penalties
By Kang Seung-woo
As ever-tightening U.S. sanctions have yet to achieve its policy goals, a discrepancy between South Korea and the United States in their respective views on whether to continue full implementation of economic punishment against North Korea is coming to the fore.
Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong said earlier this month that the time was ripe for the consideration of sanctions relief, the latest move by the Moon Jae-in administration to engage the North on denuclearization.
However, the U.S. State Department stressed the need to fully implement United Nations (U.N.) Security Council sanctions on the "rogue" state a few days later, a sign that the Joe Biden administration will not partially lift sanctions anytime soon in order to restart denuclearization talks that have been deadlocked since the collapse of a Hanoi summit between the U.S. and North Korea in February 2019.
"There has been a rift between Washington and Seoul over sanctions on North Korea for quite some time. But more broadly, the two countries seem to be at odds over policy on North Korea writ large. The South Korean government has been more vocal about the need to relax sanctions on North Korea in recent weeks," said Soo Kim, a former CIA analyst now with the Rand Corp.
U.S. Naval War College Professor Terence Roehrig also said, "There is definitely disagreement in Seoul and Washington over sanctions relief, and I doubt the Biden administration is going to change that position anytime soon."
He added: "The administration's agenda is occupied by many other issues and there is little political incentive to offer a conciliatory proposal to North Korea."
Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong speaks during a National Assembly audit session, Oct. 1. Yonhap
However, even diplomatic observers are mixed on the efficacy of the U.S. sanction-driven policy toward Pyongyang.
"An end-of-war declaration should be the first confidence building initiative with North Korea. Assuming Pyongyang is amenable, which I think they will be, then the U.S. and the ROK, with the DPRK can come together ― possibly also including China ― to announce this decision on, after 68 years, finally declaring an end to the Korean War," said Joseph DeTrani, a former U.S. special envoy to the six-party talks.
President Moon Jae-in proposed declaring a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War in a speech at the U.N. last month and Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, responded positively.
"After that, assuming Pyongyang would agree to resume denuclearization talks with the U.S., the subject of lifting sanctions can be broached, in the context of a willingness to discuss the lifting of post-2016 sanctions in return for a moratorium on missile launches and a halt to the production of fissile material," he noted, adding that once that's established, denuclearization negotiations could be pursued on an action-for-action basis.
Roehrig expressed a similar view, advising that policymakers in both countries must shift their planning to what might actually be achievable goals.
"Despite the recent attention given to a proposal for a peace declaration, I doubt this possibility is as important to North Korea as some measure of sanctions relief," Roehrig said.
"For any type of dialogue to resume, some concessions on sanctions will need to be offered by South Korea and the United States. But this need not be a giveaway and can be part of a careful negotiation strategy that seeks a calibrated, diplomatic approach in a step-by-step manner for policy goals that can actually be achieved."
On the other hand, some analysts believe it is premature to consider sanctions relief amid North Korea's serial hostile behavior.
"All sanctions are not alike. U.N. resolution sanctions are mostly responses to North Korea nuclear and missile violations of U.N. resolutions and can be altered by a vote of the U.N. Security Council. U.S. sanctions cover a wider range of misbehavior, including criminal activity and human rights violations. U.S. sanctions would not be applied if North Korean ended its abhorrent actions," said Bruce Klingner, a former CIA analyst and senior researcher at the Heritage Foundation.
"North Korea has not ceased its violations of U.N. resolutions nor of U.S. laws. Therefore, sanctions relief should only be implemented when Pyongyang has improved its behavior or as part of a negotiated settlement, not as an inducement to merely return to dialogue."
A new type of anti-aircraft missile, developed by North Korea's Academy of Defence Science, is seen in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency, Oct. 1. The North test-fired it the previous day, according to the agency. Korea Times file
Soo Kim said the time seemed far from ripe to relax sanctions on North Korea based on its recent hostile acts, highlighted by its four missile launches in September, and any possible concession may aggravate the situation.
"Sanctions relief may mark a significant step in the wrong direction ― certainly not in the way of sending the North Koreans a clear message about the consequences of their actions ― so we would hope that this measure would not be pursued frivolously," she said.
"Missile testing has resumed, nuclear weapons development is still ongoing, Kim has shown very little indications that he's willing to forgo his hostile behavior and policies to improve relations with the U.S. and South Korea. To yield more concessions at this point would simply aid and abet the regime's provocative proclivities and convey to Kim Jong-un that what he's doing is quite effective, and he should continue on this path."
Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a professor of international relations at King's College London, said South Korea and the U.S. may find an intermediate point over the issue ― although it depends on future actions by the Kim regime.
"I think that full implementation can also involve waivers, for example, for humanitarian reasons. So I think that Seoul and Washington can find a middle ground between waivers that aren't for humanitarian reasons, which could then be removed if necessary, and full application of sanctions," Pacheco Pardo said, adding that the Biden administration may consider waivers and exemptions, especially because they can be removed and sanctions re-imposed.
"But I think that this would be very difficult to do politically as long as North Korea continues to conduct missile tests. So Pyongyang would need to stop its tests, and then the U.S. may consider exemptions."
4. Drugs, arms, and terror: A high-profile defector on Kim's North Korea
A very important article for those who overlook the evil nature of the Kim family regime.
Excerpts:
"In North Korea, terrorism is a political tool that protects the highest dignity of Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un", he says. "It was a gift to demonstrate the successor's loyalty to his great leader."
There was more to come. A year later, in 2010, a South Korean navy ship, the Cheonan, sank after being hit by a torpedo. Forty-six lives were lost. Pyongyang has always denied its involvement.
Then, in November that year, dozens of North Korean artillery shells hit the South Korean island of Yeongpyeong. Two soldiers and two civilians were killed.
There has been much debate over who gave the order for that attack. Mr Kim said he was "not directly involved in the operations on the Cheonan or Yeonpyeong Island", but they "were not a secret to RGB officers, it was treated with pride, something to boast about".
Drugs, arms, and terror: A high-profile defector on Kim's North Korea
By Laura Bicker
BBC News, Seoul
Published
30 minutes ago
Image caption, In a 30-year career, Kim Kuk-song rose to the top ranks of North Korea's powerful spy agencies
The old habits of secrecy haven't left Kim Kuk-song.
It has taken weeks of discussions to get an interview with him, and he's still worried about who might be listening. He wears dark glasses for the camera, and only two of our team know what we think is his real name.
Mr Kim spent 30 years working his way to the top ranks of North Korea's powerful spy agencies. The agencies were the "eyes, ears, and brains of the Supreme Leader", he says.
He claims he kept their secrets, sent assassins to kill their critics, and even built an illegal drugs-lab to help raise "revolutionary" funds.
Now, the former senior colonel has decided to tell his story to the BBC. It's the first time such a senior military officer from Pyongyang has given an interview to a major broadcaster.
Mr Kim was the "reddest of the red", he says in an exclusive interview. A loyal communist servant.
But rank and loyalty do not guarantee your safety in North Korea.
He depicts a North Korean leadership desperate to make cash by any means possible, from drug deals to weapons sales in the Middle East and Africa. He told us about the strategy behind decisions being made in Pyongyang, the regime's attacks on South Korea, and claims that the secretive country's spy and cyber networks can reach around the world.
The BBC cannot independently verify his claims, but we have managed to verify his identity and, where possible, found corroborating evidence for his allegations.
We contacted the North Korean embassy in London and the mission in New York for a statement, but have so far received no response.
A 'terror task force'
Mr Kim's last few years in North Korea's top intelligence unit offer some insight into the early career of the current leader, Kim Jong-un. He paints a picture of a young man eager to prove himself as a "warrior".
North Korea formed a new spy agency called the Reconnaissance General Bureau in 2009, just as Kim Jong-un was being groomed to succeed his father, who had suffered a stroke. Chief of the bureau was Kim Yong-chol, who remains one of the North Korean leader's most trusted aides.
The colonel said that in May 2009, an order came down the chain of command to form a "terror task force" to kill a former North Korean official who had defected to the South.
"For Kim Jong-un, it was an act to satisfy the supreme leader (his father)," Mr Kim says.
"A 'Terror Force' was formed to assassinate Hwang Jang-yop in secret. I personally directed and carried out the work."
Image source, Reuters
Image caption, The former North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il with his son, Kim Jong-un, in the background
Hwang Jang-yop was once one of the country's most powerful officials. He had been a key architect of North Korean policy. His defection to the South in 1997 had never been forgiven. Once in Seoul, he was extremely critical of the regime, and the Kim family wanted revenge.
But the assassination attempt went wrong. Two North Korean army majors are still serving 10 year prison sentences in Seoul for the plot. Pyongyang always denied it was involved and claimed South Korea had staged the attempt.
Mr Kim's testimony would suggest otherwise.
"In North Korea, terrorism is a political tool that protects the highest dignity of Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un", he says. "It was a gift to demonstrate the successor's loyalty to his great leader."
There was more to come. A year later, in 2010, a South Korean navy ship, the Cheonan, sank after being hit by a torpedo. Forty-six lives were lost. Pyongyang has always denied its involvement.
Then, in November that year, dozens of North Korean artillery shells hit the South Korean island of Yeongpyeong. Two soldiers and two civilians were killed.
There has been much debate over who gave the order for that attack. Mr Kim said he was "not directly involved in the operations on the Cheonan or Yeonpyeong Island", but they "were not a secret to RGB officers, it was treated with pride, something to boast about".
And those operations would not have happened without orders from the top, he says.
"In North Korea, even when a road is built, it cannot be done without the direct approval of the Supreme Leader. The sinking of the Cheonan and the shelling of Yeongpyeong Island are not a thing that could be carried out by subordinates.
"This kind of military work is designed and implemented by Kim Jong-un's special orders. It's an achievement."
'Spy in the Blue House'
Mr Kim says one of his responsibilities in the North was developing strategies to deal with South Korea. The aim was "political subordination".
That involved having eyes and ears on the ground.
"There are many cases where I directed spies to go to South Korea and performed operative missions through them. Many cases", he claims.
He doesn't elaborate, but he does give us one intriguing example.
"There was a case where a North Korean agent was dispatched and worked at the Presidential Office in South Korea and returned to North Korea safely. That was in the early 1990s. After working for the Blue House (South Korea's Presidential Office) for five to six years, he came back safely and worked at the 314 Liaison Office of the Labor Party.
"I can tell you that North Korean operatives are playing an active role in various civil society organisations as well as important institutions in South Korea."
The BBC has no way of verifying this claim.
Image source, Reuters
Image caption, The North Korean supreme leader, Kim Jong-un. "All the money in North Korea belongs to the leader," said Kim Kuk-song.
I have met several convicted North Korean spies in South Korea, and, as NK News founder Chad O'Carroll notes in a recent article, South Korean prisons were once filled with dozens of North Korean spies arrested over the decades for various types of espionage work.
A handful of incidents have continued to occur and at least one involved a spy sent directly from the North. But NK News data suggests that far fewer people have been arrested in South Korea for spy-related offenses since 2017, as the North turns to new technologies, rather than old fashioned spies, for intelligence gathering.
According to Mr Kim, the previous North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, ordered the training of new personnel in the 1980s "to prepare for cyberwarfare".
"The Moranbong University would pick the brightest students from all over the country and put them through six years of special education," he says.
British security officials believe that a North Korean unit known as the Lazarus Group was behind a cyber-attack that crippled parts of the NHS and other organisations around the world in 2017. The same group is believed to have targeted Sony Pictures in a high-profile hack in 2014.
Mr Kim says the office attached to the Reconnaissance General Bureau was known as the 414 Liaison Office.
"Internally, we dubbed it "Kim Jong-il's Information Centre."
He claims it was the only office with a direct telephone line to the North Korean leader.
"People say these agents are in China, Russia, and Southeast Asian countries, but they also operate in North Korea itself. The office also safeguards communication between North Korean spy agents."
Drugs for dollars
Kim Jong-un has recently announced the country is once again facing a "crisis" and in April he called on his people to prepare for another "arduous march" - a phrase that has come to describe a disastrous famine in the 1990s, under Kim Jong-il.
Back then, Mr Kim was in the Operations Department and was ordered to raise "revolutionary funds" for the Supreme Leader. That, he says, meant dealing in illegal drugs.
"The production of drugs in Kim Jong-il's North Korea peaked during the Arduous March," he says. "At that time, the Operational Department ran out of revolutionary funds for the Supreme Leader.
"After being assigned to the task, I brought three foreigners from abroad into North Korea, built a production base in the training centre of the 715 liaison office of the Workers' Party, and produced drugs.
"It was ICE (crystal meth). Then we could cash it to dollars to present to Kim Jong-il."
His account of drug dealing at this time is plausible. North Korea has a long history of drug production - mostly heroin and opium. A former North Korean diplomat to the UK, Thae Yong-ho, who also defected, told the Oslo Freedom Forum in 2019 that the country had engaged in state-sponsored drug trafficking and was trying to fix a widespread domestic drug addiction epidemic.
I ask Mr Kim where the drug money went. Was it converted into cash for the people?
"To help you understand, all the money in North Korea belongs to the North Korean leader," he says. " With that money, he'd build villas, buy cars, buy food, get clothes and enjoy luxuries."
Estimates of the death toll from North Korea's prolonged food shortages in the 1990s range from hundreds of thousands to up to a million people.
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption, A North Korean woman collects grass to eat in a field in North Hamgyong Province, May 2010
Another source of income, according to Mr Kim, came from illegal weapons sales to Iran, managed by the Operations Department.
"There were special midget-submarines, semi-submersibles. North Korea was very good at building cutting edge equipment like this," he says.
This may a bit of North Korean propaganda as the country's submarines have noisy, diesel engines.
But Mr Kim claims that the deals were so successful that North Korea's deputy director in Iran would boast about summoning the Iranians to his swimming pool to do business.
North Korean weapons deals with Iran have been an open secret since the 1980s and even included ballistic missiles, according to Professor Andrei Lankov, one of the world's leading authorities on North Korea.
North Korea has continued to advance the development of weapons of mass destruction, despite being subject to strict international sanctions. In September, the country tested four new weapons systems including a new long-range cruise missile, a train-launch system for a ballistic missile, a hypersonic missile, and an anti-aircraft missile.
The technology is growing ever more sophisticated.
According to Mr Kim, Pyongyang also sold weapons and technology to countries fighting long civil wars. In recent years, the United Nations has accused North Korea of supplying arms to Syria, Myanmar, Libya and Sudan.
The UN warns that weapons developed in Pyongyang could end up in many troubled corners of the world.
'A loyal servant betrayed'
Mr Kim led a privileged life in North Korea. He claims he was given use of a Mercedes-Benz car by Kim Jong-un's aunt, and allowed to travel abroad freely to raise money for the North Korean leader. He says he sold rare metals and coal to raise millions in cash, which would be brought back into the country in a suitcase.
In an impoverished country where millions of people are struggling with food shortages, this is a life few can imagine, let alone live.
Mr Kim's powerful political connections through marriage allowed him to move between different intelligence agencies, he says. But those same connections also put him and his family in danger.
Not long after ascending to the political throne in 2011, Kim Jong-un decided to purge those he perceived as a threat, including his own uncle, Jang Song-thaek. There had long been suggestions that Mr Jang was the de-facto leader of North Korea, as Kim Jong-il's health faded.
According to Mr Kim, Jang Song-thaek's name had become more widespread than Kim Jong-un's.
"That's when I felt Jang Song-thaek wouldn't last long. I felt he would be banished to the countryside," he says.
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption, People bow at the statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, February 2021
But then North Korean state media announced in December 2013 that Mr Jang had been executed.
"I was more than surprised, it was a fatal blow and I was appalled," Mr Kim says. "I immediately felt a danger to my life. I knew I could no longer exist in North Korea."
Mr Kim was abroad when he read about the execution in a newspaper. He decided to make a plan to flee with his family to South Korea.
"To abandon my country, where my ancestor's grave and family is, and to escape to South Korea, which at the time for me was a foreign land, was the worst grief-stricken decision of emotional distress," he says.
Even behind his dark glasses, I can see that the memory is difficult for him.
The one question I keep asking during our many meetings, over many hours, was why he decided to speak now.
"This is the only duty that I can do," he says. "I'll be more active from now on to free my Northern brethren from the grasps of dictatorship and for them to enjoy true freedom."
There are more than 30,000 defectors in South Korea. Only a few decide to speak to the media. The more high profile you are, the higher the risk to you and your family.
There are also many in South Korea who doubt defectors' accounts of their lives. After all, how can anyone truly verify their stories?
Mr Kim lived a highly unusual life. His account should be read as part of North Korea's story - not the whole. But his story offers us a view inside a regime few are able to escape, and tells us something about what it takes for the regime to survive.
"North Korea's political society, their judgement, their thought processes, they all follow the conviction of ultimate obedience to the Supreme Leader," he says. Over generations, it produces a "loyal heart".
The timing of this interview is also interesting. Kim Jong-un has hinted he may be willing to talk to South Korea in the near future, if certain conditions are met.
But here too, Mr Kim offers a warning.
"It's been years since I came here, but North Korea hasn't changed at all," he says.
"The strategy we set up continues. What you need to know is that North Korea hasn't changed 0.01%."
More on this story
5. S. Korean, US top security advisers to discuss NK
Key point on sanctions.
Excerpts:
While Seoul wants to pick up the momentum for diplomacy by compromising on sanctions, Washington is adamant about enforcing them. The North carried out a series of missile tests in September in what many see as aimed at gaining leverage in talks with the US.
South Korea did not join the US when it called the tests outright violations. Instead, Seoul’s foreign minister has openly backed loosening sanctions to make room for talks where signing an end-of-war declaration could be one of the agendas.
Suh, one of the key architects of that helped to open three summits between President Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in 2018, is also expected to discuss with Sullivan a potential inter-Korean summit before Moon leaves office in May next year.
Moon has met with a North Korean leader more than any other South Korean president and his government has eyes set on another summit to leave Moon’s legacy in inter-Korean ties. The Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs here, said it was making preparations for a virtual summit.
S. Korean, US top security advisers to discuss NK
Published : Oct 11, 2021 - 15:51 Updated : Oct 11, 2021 - 18:18
National Security Adviser Suh Hoon. (Yonhap)
President Moon Jae-in’s top security adviser, Suh Hoon, is expected to meet with his US counterpart and make his case for signing a declaration to end the 1950-53 Korean War armistice as a way to facilitate North Korea’s denuclearization.
“This week, a discussion will take place between Suh and national security adviser Jake Sullivan. The agenda is denuclearization,” a senior Cheong Wa Dae official said Sunday referring to Suh’s trip, without elaborating, though many expect Suh will mainly seek support for the declaration.
Shaking hands on the declaration, which is a political statement carrying no legal weight, is the cornerstone of the Moon administration’s North Korea policy, which Moon believes will lay the groundwork for negotiations involving North Korea’s denuclearization and an inter-Korean peace treaty.
Neither Washington nor Pyongyang has been receptive to the idea. But North Korea recently reversed the position, saying it was willing to consider it as long as South Korea and the US meet certain conditions, which mainly include easing sanctions placed over its nuclear and missile programs.
While Seoul wants to pick up the momentum for diplomacy by compromising on sanctions, Washington is adamant about enforcing them. The North carried out a series of missile tests in September in what many see as aimed at gaining leverage in talks with the US.
South Korea did not join the US when it called the tests outright violations. Instead, Seoul’s foreign minister has openly backed loosening sanctions to make room for talks where signing an end-of-war declaration could be one of the agendas.
Suh, one of the key architects of that helped to open three summits between President Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in 2018, is also expected to discuss with Sullivan a potential inter-Korean summit before Moon leaves office in May next year.
Moon has met with a North Korean leader more than any other South Korean president and his government has eyes set on another summit to leave Moon’s legacy in inter-Korean ties. The Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs here, said it was making preparations for a virtual summit.
6. North Korean leader calls for improved living conditions
This will cause a lot of optimism among certain Korea watchers and political factions in the ROK and US.
Excerpts:
Kim has so far rejected the Biden administration’s offers to restart dialogue without preconditions, saying that Washington must first abandon its “hostile policy,” a term the North mainly uses to refer to sanctions and U.S.-South Korea military exercises.
But the North in recent weeks have also restored communication lines with the South and said it could take further steps to improve bilateral relations if Seoul abandons its “double-dealing attitude” and “hostile viewpoint.”
Analysts say North Korea is using the South’s desire for inter-Korean engagement to drive a wedge between Washington and Seoul and to pressure the South to extract concessions from the Biden administration on its behalf.
North Korean leader calls for improved living conditions
AP · by KIM TONG-HYUNG · October 11, 2021
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Monday leader Kim Jong Un urged officials to overcome a “grim situation” facing the country and make stronger efforts to improve the food and living conditions of his people.
But state media didn’t mention any specific comments toward Washington and Seoul while reporting on Kim’s speech marking the 76th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party’s founding.
Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled for more than two years over disagreements in exchanging the release of crippling U.S.-led sanctions against North Korea and the North’s denuclearization steps.
The country has ramped up its missile testing activity in recent weeks while making conditional peace offers to Seoul, reviving a pattern of pressuring South Korea to get what it wants from the United States.
Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim during his speech on Sunday said his party is determined to achieve the economic goals set during the party’s congress in January, when he acknowledged his previous economic plans weren’t succeeding and issued new development plans for the next five years.
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The agency said Kim confirmed the determination of the party to efficiently carry out the five-year plan to boost “the national economy and solving the people’s food, clothing and housing problems.”
The KCNA said Kim analyzed the “unprecedented difficulties” facing the North and called for the party’s single-minded unity in developing the state economy in face of the “grim situation.”
Analysts say Kim is facing perhaps the toughest moment of his near decade in power. He failed to win badly needed sanctions relief in his summitry with then-President Donald Trump in 2018 and 2019, then the coronavirus pandemic caused North Korea to close its borders and unleashed further economic shock after decades of mismanagement and sanctions over Kim’s nuclear weapons program.
The World Health Organization said last week some of its COVID-19 medical supplies had arrived at a North Korea port, an indication the North was easing one of the world’s strictest pandemic border closures to receive outside help.
Kim has so far rejected the Biden administration’s offers to restart dialogue without preconditions, saying that Washington must first abandon its “hostile policy,” a term the North mainly uses to refer to sanctions and U.S.-South Korea military exercises.
But the North in recent weeks have also restored communication lines with the South and said it could take further steps to improve bilateral relations if Seoul abandons its “double-dealing attitude” and “hostile viewpoint.”
Analysts say North Korea is using the South’s desire for inter-Korean engagement to drive a wedge between Washington and Seoul and to pressure the South to extract concessions from the Biden administration on its behalf.
AP · by KIM TONG-HYUNG · October 11, 2021
7. Man on FBI's most wanted list pleads guilty in Singapore court to falsifying North Korea-linked invoices
More enforcement please.
Man on FBI's most wanted list pleads guilty in Singapore court to falsifying North Korea-linked invoices
Tan Wee Beng, 44, pleaded guilty to seven charges of falsifying invoices of two companies, with another 13 charges taken into consideration for sentencing.
The court heard that Tan was the managing director and a shareholder of Wee Tiong, a company dealing in commodities trading. He was also the director of Wee Tiong's sister company Morgan Marcos. All the shareholders of both companies were Tan's family members.
At the time of the offences, Wee Tiong maintained bank accounts and credit facilities with UOB. As of November 2016, the credit facilities granted by UOB to companies in the Wee Tiong group totalled about S$125 million.
Tan began trading with Ri Nam Sok from North Korea in 2007 or 2008, and with a second North Korean Jon Chol Ho in 2010.
He sold sugar to their companies, receiving payments for the goods into the bank accounts of Wee Tiong and Morgan Marcos.
In November 2016, March 2017 and October 2017, UOB sent queries to Tan about deposits of money into his two company accounts. OCBC also sent a query in September 2017 about deposits into Morgan Marcos' bank accounts.
Tan knew that the deposits were payments for sales of goods by Wee Tiong to Ri and Jon, but was concerned that UOB and OCBC would terminate their banking relationships if they found out that the transactions were with North Korea-linked entities.
Deciding to conceal this fact from UOB and OCBC, Tan prepared false invoices with the help of co-accused Bong Hui Ping, Wee Tiong's shipping manager.
Bong changed the names of the end buyers or destination ports on the invoices to remove references to North Korean companies or ports, and Tan issued the invoices before responding to the banks with the false invoices.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ryan Lim asked for at least two months' jail for what he said was essentially bank fraud. This was not a one-time offence, with a total of 20 invoices falsified, he said.
Defence lawyer Josephine Chee asked for a high fine instead, pointing out that the transactions with North Korea were legal at the time. She said Tan exported sugar and other commodities like soya beans and rice to North Korea for about 10 years, but said his companies stopped such trading after it was made illegal.
For each charge of falsification of invoices with intent to defraud, Tan can be jailed up to 10 years, fined, or both.
He will return to court for mitigation and sentencing next week.
A poster showing Singapore commodities broker Tan Wee Beng is wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. (Image: Federal Bureau of Investigation)
Tan is listed in an FBI notice as being wanted for crimes including bank fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
He allegedly concealed payment origins and structured transactions to avoid regulator scrutiny in his trade with North Korea.
A federal arrest warrant was issued for Tan in August 2018 by the US District Court, Southern District of New York, after charges were filed against him.
8. 'North Korea hasn't changed': High profile defector on world's most secretive nation
Based on the BBC report I previously sent. But this headline is important. There is no indication that the nature of the Kim family regime has changed.
'North Korea hasn't changed': High profile defector on world's most secretive nation
Last Updated: 11th October, 2021 09:35 IST
'North Korea Hasn't Changed': High Profile Defector On World's Most Secretive Nation
From assassinations to illegal drugs-lab, a military officer from North Korea recently opened up about the most secretive nation under Kim Jong-un’s leadership.
Written By
IMAGE: AP
From assassinations to illegal drugs-lab, a senior military officer from North Korea recently opened up about the most secretive nation under Kim Jong-un’s leadership. In an exclusive interview with BBC, Kim Kuk-song said that he spent 30 years working his way to the top ranks of North Korea’s powerful spy agencies, which were the “eyes, ears and brains of the Supreme Leader”. Kuk-song claimed he kept the administration’s secrets, sent assassins to kill their critics and even built an illegal drugs lab to help raise “revolutionary funds”.
Kuk-song had fled North Korea in 2014 and since then he has been living in Seoul and working with South Korean intelligence. While speaking to the British media outlet, he said North Korean leadership is desperate to make cash by any means possible. He even revealed the strategy behind the decision being made in Pyongyang and the regime’s attack on South Korea. He claimed that North Korea’s spy and cyber networks can reach across the globe.
North Korea's 'terror task force'
The former senior official’s last few years in North Korea offer some insight into the early career of Kim Jong-un. Kuk-song painted a picture of a young man who was eager to prove himself as a “warrior”. He revealed that the secretive nation formed a new spy agency called the Reconnaissance General Bureau in 2009 and made Kim Yong-chol, Kim Jong-un’s most trusted aides, the Chief of the bureau. The same year, Kuk-song said that an order came down the chain of command to form a “terror task force” to kill a former North Korean official who had defected to the South.
Kuk-song said that Kim Jong-un had formed the task force to satisfy the then supreme leader (his father). He said that the ‘Terror Force’ was formed to assassinate Hwang Jang-yop in secret. Jang-yop was once one of the country’s most powerful officials and he had been a key architect of North Korean policy. Once he defected to South Korea, he was extremely critical of the regime.
In a revenge move, the Kim family then ordered to assassinate the official. However, the assassination attempt went wrong, said Kuk-song. He said that two North Korean army majors are still serving prison sentences in Seoul for the plot and North Korea, on the other hand, has denied any involvement. Kuk-song said that in North Korea, terrorism is a “political tool” that protects the highest dignity of Kim Jong-un. “It was a gift to demonstrate the successor’s loyalty to his great leader,” he added.
NKorean agents still 'active' in South Korea
Further, Kuk-song said that one of his responsibilities under Kim’s administration was developing strategies to deal with South Korea. He said that the aim was “political subordination”. He also claimed that there were “many cases” where he directed spies to go to the South and perform operative missions through them.
Kuk-song revealed that a North Korean agent worked at the Presidential Office in South Korea and returned to North safely, after which he worked at the 314 Liaison Office of the Labor Party. Kuk-song said that North Korean operatives are still playing an “active role” in the various civil organisations as well as important institutions in South Korea.
Pyongyang's 'revolutionary funds'
While speaking about the illegal drugs lab, Kuk-song said that under the former supreme leader Kim Jong-il’s administration, he was placed in the Operations Departments and was ordered to raise “revolutionary funds”, meaning dealing in illegal activities. Kuk-song said that during the assigned task, he brought three foreigners from abroad into North Korea, built a production base in the training centre and produced drugs. He added that the drug money belonged to the North Korean leader, with which he build villas, buy cars, buy food, get clothes and enjoy luxuries.
Another source of income, according to Kuk-song, came from illegal weapons sales to Iran. He revealed that there were special midget-submarines, semi-submersibles involved. He claimed that the deals were so successful that North’s deputy director in Iran would boost about summoning the Iranians to his swimming pool to do business. Moreover, he said that North Korea also sold weapons and technology to countries fighting long civil wars.
Kuk-song lived a privileged life in North Korea. He said that he was allowed to travel abroad freely to raise money for the secretive nation. He revealed that he sold rare metals and coal to raise millions in cash.
North remains unchanged
In 2011, the former North Korean official said that when Kim Jong-un ascended to the political throne, he decided to purge those perceived as a threat. During that time there had long been suggestions that Kim’s uncle Jang Song-thaek was the de-facto leader of North Korea, as Kim Jong-il's health faded. However, in 2013, the North Korean media announced that Jang has been executed.
This is when Kuk-song realised that he can no longer exist in North Korea. He decided to make a plan to flee with his family to South Korea. He said that abandoning his country was the “worst grief-stricken decision of emotional distress”. However, he added that speaking about the secretive nation is the only duty he can do to help free his Northern brethren from the grasps of dictatorship. He concluded the BBC interview by saying that it has been years since he moved to the South, but North Korea still remains unchanged. “The strategy we set up continues. What you need to know is that North Korea hasn't changed 0.01%,” Kuk-song added.
9. A former North Korean spy said the regime planned terrorist activities as a 'gift' to the supreme leader: report
Another report from the report written by Laura Bicker of the BBC. it is good that her work is being republished and hopefully read by many.
Key point in the last line that we should all keep in mind about north Korea, the regime, and Kim Jong-un.
Excerpts:
Still, it is widely believed to have triggered Trump's decision to designate North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Regardless, Colonel Kim Kuk Song told the BBC the supreme leader would have had a hand in any attack carried out by North Korea.
"In North Korea, even when a road is built, it cannot be done without the direct approval of the supreme leader," he said.
A former North Korean spy said the regime planned terrorist activities as a 'gift' to the supreme leader: report
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In North Korea, an act of terrorism is considered a political gift for the supreme leader, said one former top spy in an exclusive BBC interview on Sunday.
- The regime has organized numerous assassination attempts in the past decade, prompting the US to again name it as a state sponsor of terrorism.
- In one particular case, Kim Jong Un allegedly plotted an assassination of a defector to please his father, said the top spy.
10 Things in Politics: The latest in politics & the economy
A North Korean defector who was one of the country's top intelligence officials revealed new details about terror attacks that were carried out as a "gift" to demonstrate loyalty to the supreme leader, according to an exclusive BBC interview.
"In North Korea, terrorism is a political tool that protects the highest dignity of Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un," a former colonel known as Kim Kuk Song told the BBC's Laura Bicker.
Colonel Kim is a 30-year veteran of North Korea's spy agencies who fled to South Korea in 2014.
One of his jobs was to personally orchestrate the ultimately failed assassination of prominent official-turned-defector Hwang Jang Yop. The order came in May 2009, when Kim Jong Il was suffering from a stroke and his son Kim Jong Un looked to prove himself as the country's incoming successor, the colonel told BBC.
Kim Jong Un sought to create a "terror task group" to kill Hwang as an "act to satisfy the supreme leader," he added.
Hwang, the target, had been secretary of the ruling party in North Korea and chairman of the national assembly before he fled to South Korea and began criticizing the regime in 1997. North Korea wanted his throat slit when it ordered the assassination, said South Korean officials.
However, Colonel Kim said the plot was the "kind of military work is designed and implemented by Kim Jong Un's special orders. It's an achievement."
North Korea's recent history with terror
Kim Jong Nam (left) was assassinated in 2017 while his half-brother, Kim Jong Un, started ruling.
In November 1987, two North Korean spies embarked on a special mission to disrupt the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Their task was to blow up a Korean Air flight en route to Seoul, using a bomb hidden in a small Panasonic radio that they left behind in an overhead luggage compartment, according to CNN.
The attack succeeded, killing 115 people.
In recent years, under Kim Jong Un, the country has increasingly used terror to control dissent and stoke fear among its neighbors.
Still, it is widely believed to have triggered Trump's decision to designate North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Regardless, Colonel Kim Kuk Song told the BBC the supreme leader would have had a hand in any attack carried out by North Korea.
"In North Korea, even when a road is built, it cannot be done without the direct approval of the supreme leader," he said.
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.
