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Quotes of the Day:
“People who claim to be absolutely convinced that their stand is the only right one are dangerous. Such conviction is the essence not only of dogmatism, but of its more destructive cousin, fanaticism. It blocks off the user from learning truths, and it is a dead giveaway of unconscious doubt.”
- Rollo May
"He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper."
- Edmund Burke
“The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.”
– Marcus Aurelius
1. Six years on and Korean companies are still facing fallout from Thaad
2. North's provocations include planes, missile, artillery barrages
3. Korea grapples with U.S. push against 'made in China'
4. Saudi crown prince unlikely to visit S. Korea this year
5. S. Korea considering reveal of Hyunmoo-5 as ‘warning to N. Korea’
6. Unification minister to meet families of S. Korean detainees in N. Korea
7. South Korea: South Korea kicks off military drills amid talk of North Korean nuclear test
8. South Korea’s military is on high alert for North’s first nuclear test since 2017
9. UN expert group links four Hong Kong firms to reports of illegal oil shipments to North Korea
10. North Korea’s Lazarus behind years of crypto hacks in Japan: Police
11. Denuclearizing North Korea Must Include Uranium
12. ‘Don’t forget the North Korean defectors stuck in China’: Enduring exploitation, they long for freedom
13. Moment terrified North Korean is hugged by Kim Jong Un in school visit
14. South Korea to boost US, Japan defense ties after missiles
15. BTS members to go to military starting with oldest member Jin
16. Why did BTS decide to fulfill military service?
1. Six years on and Korean companies are still facing fallout from Thaad
Effects of Chinese economic warfare.
Sunday
October 16, 2022
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Six years on and Korean companies are still facing fallout from Thaad
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/10/16/business/economy/Korea-China-US/20221016180901474.html
A line for group tourists at a check-in counter for a flight to Beijing is relatively empty in April 2017 as China bans all group travel to Korea. [JANG JIN-YOUNG]
Korea is still suffering from the impact of China's economic retaliation due to its decision to deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) system in 2016.
Among local retailers, Lotte was most affected by China's wrath, as the Thaad battery was temporarily deployed on a golf course owned by Lotte Corporation.
Lotte Shopping had 110 Lotte Mart branches in China in 2016. Seventy-four were slapped with business suspensions for failing to meet local regulations, but forced to stay shut for a year as the Chinese government refused to make re-inspection visits.
With growing anti-Korean sentiment, the company withdrew all Lotte Marts from China in 2018. According to Lotte Shopping, its estimated loss of the Lotte Mart business in 2017 due to Thaad amounted to 1.2 trillion won.
Fallout from the Thaad row continued with Lotte Shopping shutting down its five Lotte Department Store branches in the country one-by-one. The last remaining branch closed in August.
Emart had six branches in China, but shut them all down in 2017.
The cosmetics industry was also devastated, with Amorepacific being hit the hardest. The company's net profit in 2017 fell 39.7 percent on year to 489.5 billion won, with revenue dropping 10 percent on year to 6.03 trillion won.
The Chinese government banned all group travel to Korea through early 2018. Chinese tourists to Korea in 2017 dropped 48.3 percent on year to 4.17 million. Net profit dropped 39.7 percent on year in 2017 to 489.5 billion won and revenue fell 10 percent on year to 6.03 trillion won.
Retailers have mostly recovered, with many of them opening more branches in Southeast Asia rather than China in an attempt to avoid anymore political risks.
However, many still heavily rely on China for exports, which could leave Korean companies caught up in the middle again as tensions between the United States and China escalate due to the Inflation Reduction Act. The act aims to give tax credits for electric vehicle (EV) batteries with components sourced from either the United States or countries it has free trade agreements with.
The change is forcing Korea to make a choice between losing tax credits in a huge market, or cutting ties with Chinese suppliers. Most EV battery materials are imported from China, with some 84 percent of lithium hydroxide imports and 81 percent on cobalt imports coming from China between January and July.
There is also the chance for a recurrence of a dispute over Thaad, as President Yoon Suk-yeol has denied China's request to not make any additional Thaad deployments.
"If the current administration decides to deploy additional units of Thaad, it can increase anti-Korea sentiment in China and there could be additional retaliatory measures like last time, even hindering post-pandemic recoveries of the current duty-free and cosmetics sectors," said Park Jong-dae, an analyst at Hana Investment & Securities. "But things are a bit different now considering a lot of cosmetics sales shifted online, which could allow consumers to make purchases despite the political clashes."
The entertainment industry didn't escape the Thaad backlash unscathed either.
No Korean drama aired in China for six years from 2017 until January this year when SBS’s drama series “Saimdang, the Herstory” (2017) was offered on Chinese IPTV and streaming services. Film “Oh! My Gran” (2020) also became the first Korean film in six years to premier in Chinese theaters last December.
Only four Korean games have received local licenses from Beijing since 2017, a stark contrast compared to 2016, when 28 Korean games were granted licenses.
However, despite getting licenses, game companies have been struggling to get their games released. Nexon has postponed the release of Dungeon Fighter Mobile numerous times to meet “local regulations,” which have not been specified.
“Content started struggling because of the Thaad issue, but game companies took the biggest blow,” said Kim Young-jin, a professor of cultural industries at ChungKang College.
“Games take up the majority of cultural exports in Korea, and of that China was a major market for game companies. Things like government licensing should have been protected by our own government, but it’s been neglected for too long.”
A major issue, according to Kim, is the unbalance in the way Korean and Chinese content is being consumed. While Korean companies have no access to the Chinese market, Chinese companies easily infiltrate the Korean market.
“Many Chinese consumers are enjoying our content through unjust methods, which can bring about copyright and payment issues,” he said. “Game companies have been seeking a new breakthrough in Western markets, but the government still needs to speak out against the Chinese government in order for the local industry to survive.”
BY YOON SO-YEON, LEE TAE-HEE [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]
2. North's provocations include planes, missile, artillery barrages
Sunday
October 16, 2022
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North's provocations include planes, missile, artillery barrages
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/10/16/national/northKorea/North-Korea-South-Korea-comprehensive-military-agreement/20221016173541077.html
North Korea conducts a live-fire training exercise firing dozens of artillery shots with leader Kim Jong-un watching, reported Pyongyang’s official Korean Central Television on March 20, 2020. [YONHAP]
Seoul called Pyongyang's firing of hundreds of artillery shots into maritime buffer zones off its coasts Friday a violation of the inter-Korean military agreement of Sept. 19, 2018.
In the early hours of Friday, the North engaged in a series of simultaneous provocations, flying 10 warplanes close to the inter-Korean border, launching a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) into the East Sea and firing some 170 artillery shots.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that the 10 North Korean warplanes' flights took place from 10:30 p.m. Thursday to 12:20 a.m. Friday, and the South Korean Air Force scrambled F-35A stealth fighters to the scene.
The North Korean aircraft came as close to 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) north of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) and about 12 kilometers north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de-facto inter-Korean maritime border in the Yellow Sea.
It was the first time since October 2012 that North Korean military aircraft crossed the so-called tactical action line about 20 to 50 kilometers north of the NLL and MDL.
The aircraft also flew five kilometers north of a no-fly zone designated under the 2018 inter-Korean comprehensive military agreement.
The JCS said North Korea fired some 130 artillery shots into the Yellow Sea from Majang-dong in Hwanghae Province, between 1:20 a.m. and 1:25 a.m. Friday and another 40 artillery shots into the East Sea from Gueup-ri in Kangwon Province between 2:57 a.m. and 3:07 a.m.
South Korea's military said many artillery shots fell into the so-called maritime buffer zones set under the 2018 inter-Korean comprehensive military agreement signed on the sidelines of President Moon Jae-in's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang in September 2018, which called for the de-escalation of cross-border tensions.
The JCS also said North Korea's latest short-range ballistic missile launch was from the Sunan area in Pyongyang at 1:49 a.m. Friday. It flew some 700 kilometers at an apogee of 50 km and a top speed of about Mach 6.
Later Friday afternoon, North Korea fired another 390 artillery shells into the eastern and western buffer zones north of the NLL. This included some 90 artillery shells into the East Sea from Jangjon in Kangwon Province between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. and another 90 and 210 shells from the Yellow Sea between 5:20 p.m. and 7 p.m.
However, they didn't land in South Korean waters, according to the JCS.
The South Korean military issues several warnings to halt the provocations immediately.
South Korea's Defense Ministry sent North Korea a message through its western military communication line asking it not to violate the inter-Korean military agreement again, while the JCS issued a statement criticizing the artillery firing as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
President Yoon Suk-yeol told reporters Friday that the artillery shots were "a violation of the Sept. 19 military agreement" between the two Koreas and stressed a tight readiness posture against North Korea's provocations.
He hinted that his administration was reviewing the effectiveness of the military agreement and said, "We are reviewing each and every one of them," referring to violations of the 2018 military accord.
"If the enemy strikes first, no country can guarantee 100 percent interception and preemptive response," said Yoon. "However, the massive punishment and retaliation strategy, the final stage of our three-axis strategy, would offer a considerable psychological and social deterrence [for the North] when deciding to advance a war."
He was referring to South Korea's thee-axis system comprised of the Kill Chain pre-emptive strike system; the Korean Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) system; and the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR) program, which would target individuals in North Korea's leadership and military command.
The National Security Council (NSC) held a meeting chaired by Kim Sung-han, director of the National Security Office (NSO), and "strongly condemned" the escalation of military tensions in a statement Friday.
The council said the artillery shots within the maritime buffer zone "were in violation of the Sept. 19 military agreement and threatened flights" in the region and warned the North against "hostile acts using [South Korean] regular artillery drills as a pretext."
The council stressed that North Korea's provocations will have "consequences" and said it will work with the United States, Japan and the international community on a response.
This marks the first instance of a violation of the inter-Korean military agreement in some two and a half years. The last time was when the North fired gunshots at a South Korean guard post in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in Gangwon in May 2020.
Despite continued nuclear and missile threats made by the North, neither Korea has made an explicit declaration to officially abandon the 2018 comprehensive military agreement, and some analysts say that Pyongyang may be intentionally trying to violate the pact to induce the South Korea government to break it first.
If South Korea decides to scrap the agreement, this could allow Pyongyang to blame the escalation of tensions on Seoul and Washington.
On Saturday, a spokesman for the General Staff of the North Korean People's Army said in a statement that its eastern and western units conducted "warning fires of multiple rocket launchers into the East Sea and West Sea of Korea" as a countermeasure to the "movement of the enemy" on Friday.
In an English-language statement, the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, "The counter-demonstration fire conducted by the frontline units of our forces in the afternoon of October 14 is aimed at sending another clear warning to the deliberate repeated provocation by the enemies in the front areas."
It added that its army "will never allow any provocation by the enemies escalating the military tension on the Korean Peninsula but take thorough and overwhelming military countermeasures" and warned that South Korea's military "would be well advised to stop at once its reckless provocation inciting the military tension" on the borders.
"Whether the [2018 inter-Korean military] agreement is maintained depends entirely on North Korea's attitude," a senior presidential official told reporters Sunday.
Rep. Cho Kyoung-tae of the People Power Party (PPP) held a press conference Sunday calling for South Korea to develop nuclear armaments in response to the North's rising threats.
"To prevent war, we need to prepare for war," said Kim Gi-hyeon, another awmaker from Yoon's PPP who is pushing for the redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons or Seoul's developing of its own nuclear armaments.
Lawmakers from the Democratic Party (DP) have also criticized violations of the military agreement but are more cautious about walking away from the pact.
Separately on Friday, Seoul blacklisted 15 North Korean individuals and 16 institutions involved in the regime's nuclear and missile development programs, the first unilateral sanctions against the regime in five years.
The last sanctions were imposed in December 2017 during the Moon administration following the North's sixth nuclear test.
All 15 North Koreans added to Seoul's blacklist are part of the Second Academy of Natural Sciences Research Institute and trading company Ryonbong, both of which are under UN Security Council sanctions, according to the South's Foreign Ministry.
The blacklisted institutions included various other trading and shipping companies blamed for assisting the North's research and shipping of goods for weapons of mass destruction.
South Korea's military said it will begin on Monday its annual Hoguk field training exercise to hone its operational capabilities against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. The exercise, involving the South Korean Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, will run through Oct. 28 and will also involve some U.S. troops.
BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]
3. Korea grapples with U.S. push against 'made in China'
Excerpts;
This anniversary special will explore the impact of the U.S.-China tech war on Korean business and map out ways to curtail the damage. It is based on interviews with academics and researchers.
Some argue that the dependence on China needs to be reexamined, while others argue that the Yoon Suk-yeol administration should come up with sizable financial incentives and tax cuts to attract manufacturing facilities for chips and high-tech products to Korea.
Sunday
October 16, 2022
dictionary + A - A
Korea grapples with U.S. push against 'made in China'
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/10/16/business/economy/Korea-Samsung-Electronics-Hyundai-Motor/20221016180011925.html
Flags of Korea, the U.S., Taiwan and China are shown on a printed circuit board. High-tech products like semiconductors are a focus for the United States as it seeks to protect its economy from China by shifting the manufacturing of these products to the home market. Companies in Korea are finding that their dependence on China for high-tech manufacturing and materials has become a liability.
Korea Inc. faces an uphill battle as a push in the United States for economic security is taking its toll on companies dependent on China for manufacturing or for the supply of materials and components.
The U.S. is passing laws and enacting executive orders to bring the manufacturing of products important to national interest back to U.S. soil. Chips, batteries, electric vehicles(EV), solar cells and certain biotechnology products are on the list, and China is the main country of concern.
A number of Korean companies have been affected already.
Hyundai Motor’s EV sales in the U.S. have fallen since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), as its EV models won’t be qualified for the subsidies under the act.
Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are having to rethink their use of China as a major manufacturing base for semiconductors as a number of U.S. rules are making it difficult to transfer key technologies to China, which is the second largest source of memory chips for these companies after Korea.
Korea feels betrayed by its ally and is fighting for workarounds that would allow its companies to continue sourcing heavily from China. It is now engaged in an intense lobbying effort to get the rules watered down or waivers for its companies.
This anniversary special will explore the impact of the U.S.-China tech war on Korean business and map out ways to curtail the damage. It is based on interviews with academics and researchers.
Some argue that the dependence on China needs to be reexamined, while others argue that the Yoon Suk-yeol administration should come up with sizable financial incentives and tax cuts to attract manufacturing facilities for chips and high-tech products to Korea.
Electric Vehicles
A Hyundai Motor employee works at the company's assembly plant in Montgomery, Alabama. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]
Korea’s auto manufacturers and battery makers using China as a major supplier are finding it difficult to qualify for U.S. subsidies.
A recently-passed made-in-America EV tax rule offers no subsidies to Hyundai Motor and Kia, at least until 2025, as they are not assembled in the United States and the batteries in their vehicles use Chinese material and components.
Under the terms of the IRA, buyers of EVs assembled in the United States are eligible for a $7,500 tax credit for vehicles purchased after Aug. 16, 2022, extending an existing program that offered a $7,500 tax credit for EV purchases regardless of origin.
After Jan. 1, 2023, content requirements for batteries begin to phase in over a number of years. In 2023, 40 percent of critical-mineral value will have to come from the United States or countries with which the United States has a free trade agreement to qualify for $3,750 of the credit. That number increases 10 percentage points a year to 80 percent in 2027.
Fifty percent of battery-component value will have to come from the United States to qualify for another $3,750 of the tax credit. That number will increase 10 percentage points a year to 100 percent by 2029. To qualify for the subsidy, a vehicle must be completely free of Chinese-made components from 2024 and free of Chinese critical minerals from 2025.
Critical minerals include lithium, cobalt, nickel, tin, tungsten and graphite, while components include cathodes, anodes, electrolytes and separators made with those minerals.
The U.S. government released a list of 21 models that qualify for the credit in the second half, and neither the pure EVs of Hyundai Motor and Kia nor their plug-in hybrids made the list, including the Ioniq 5 and EV6.
German automakers like Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW each have at least one model on the list.
Hyundai Motor and Kia have no EV manufacturing in North America. Hyundai Motor plans to start building an EV factory in Georgia, but mass production will not begin until 2025. Kia has no plans to build an EV plant in the United States.
This means, in effect, customers must pay $7,500 more to buy a Hyundai Motor EV. The sticker price of the Ioniq 5 is normally $4,000 lower than the sticker price of the Ford Mustang Mach-E. But since the Mach-E is qualified for the credit and Ioniq is not, the Ford car is now about $3,500 cheaper than the Ioniq 5.
Hyundai Motor employees work at the company's Ioniq 5 plant in Ulsan. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]
The Ioniq 5 is now about $450 more expensive than Tesla’s Model 3 in the U.S. market.
“Hyundai Motor's Ioniq 5 and Kia’s EV6 were generally about $10,000 cheaper than similar-size EVs from other brands,” said Lee Hang-gu, a senior analyst at the Korea Automotive Technology Institute (KATI). “But without the price advantage, the sales will likely decrease by 1,000 units per week.”
“This is a very serious issue as Hyundai Motor and Kia have been expanding their share very rapidly in the U.S. market as Ioniq 5s and EV6s got good feedback from customers,” Lee added.
Hyundai Motor and Kia were together No. 2 in the U.S. EV market after Tesla, with a combined share of 9.1 percent as of end of July. It was only 4.7 percent in 2021.
Hyundai Motor sold 1,306 Ioniq 5s in the U.S. in September, down 34 percent compared to 1,984 in July, the month before the EV tax credit rule went into effect. Kia sold 1,440 EV6s in September, down 16.1 percent from July.
“A total of 72 EVs are currently sold in the U.S. market, and of them, 70 percent are not eligible for the tax credit,” said Lee Ho-geun, an automotive engineering professor at Daeduk University. “This raises concern that the rule will reduce purchases of EVs, and eventually lead to a decrease in the EV market.”
“Biden emphasized ‘combat the climate crisis’ with the IRA, but this is totally opposite what President Joe Biden intended with the IRA,” Lee said.
A bigger problem awaits Korean battery makers, which are highly dependent on China for critical minerals.
Those minerals can also be mined in many other countries, like Indonesia, Canada and Australia, but they have to be processed in China, as 70 percent of the world's facilities for refining the materials are in China.
Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung shakes hands with U.S. President Joe Biden during his visit to Seoul in May. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]
Sixty-eight percent of lithium used in the global market is being processed in China, according to Samsung Securities. Around 59 percent of lithium and 73 percent of cobalt are processed in China.
“No electric vehicle on the market will qualify for the full tax credit when battery requirements take effect in 2023,” according to a recent report from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation.
China is home to four of the world’s five biggest lithium processing companies, including Ganfeng Lithium in Jiangxi Province. The largest graphite producers are in China.
“Construction of processing facilities is not an easy task. It costs a lot of money, and also faces fierce resistance from environmental associations and nearby residents,” said KATI's Lee.
“Even if other countries, like Canada and Indonesia, can build one, it takes at least three to four years to complete,” Lee added. “Building an eco-friendly facility is even a bigger problem.”
Korea is also highly dependent on China for battery components. Nearly 85 percent of anodes used in Korean batteries last year came from China, according to data from the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET). Around 73 percent of cathodes and 55 percent of separators were from China.
Kim Dong-myung, left, head of advanced automotive battery division at LG Energy Solution, and Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, pose for a photo after signing a deal to build a third battery plant in Lansing, Michigan. [LG ENERGY SOLUTION]
“Supply chain diversification is no longer a matter of choice, it is a matter of survival,” said Hwang Kyung-in, an analyst at the KIET. “Korean battery makers are expanding their partnerships with alternative countries, like Australia and Indonesia, but it will not be enough to qualify the U.S. EV tax rule requirements."
LG Energy Solution acquired a 7.5 percent stake in Queensland Pacific Metals (QPM) to source 7,000 tons of nickel and 700 tons of cobalt annually for 10 years from the end of 2023 from the Australian company.
It also signed a deal with Kansas-based Compass Minerals and will source 40 percent of its lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide from it for seven years starting in 2025.
QPM will supply Samsung SDI with 6,000 tons of nickel every year for up to five years. QPM produces about 24,000 tons of nickel every year, 80 percent of which will be supplied to LG Energy Solution and Samsung SDI.
SK Innovation in 2019 signed a six-year deal to buy 30,000 tons of cobalt for its SK On battery subsidiary from Switzerland's Glencore starting from 2020.
“If Korean companies can diversify the supply chain, the IRA could act as an opportunity for them as they have been expanding their partnerships with U.S. automakers like General Motors and Ford while Chinese companies will lose their share in the U.S. market,” Hwang said.
“The U.S. Treasury Department is set to announce specific guidelines before 2023, so the Korean government must have deep negotiations with the U.S. government for the guidelines to maximize benefits for Korean companies.”
Kim Pil-soo, an automotive engineering professor at Daelim University, emphasizes that it is essential for the government to offer additional incentives to Korean major automakers and battery companies. Kim also serves as chairperson of the Korea Electric Vehicle Association.
“Of course, handing out cash to large companies will face opposition from mid- and small-sized firms, but there’s no choice,” Kim said. “If big companies collapse, smaller companies also collapse. Then it will cause a slump in the country’s whole economy.”
Semiconductors
U.S. President Joe Biden, left, visits a Samsung Electronics chip manufacturing factory in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, in May. He pledged cooperation to build a resilient semiconductor supply chain. [YONHAP]
Chipmakers like Samsung Electronics and SK hynix will have to make huge investments to shift chip manufacturing away from China. Korea and the U.S. are often mentioned as alternative sites, but the cost of building and maintaining the plants will be higher, considering a big gap in consumer prices and labor costs compared to China.
For the two Korean producers, China acts as the second largest manufacturing base for memory chips after Korea, with multiple production lines for dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and NAND flash chips and packaging facilities in places like Wuxi and Xi’an.
“There is an urgent need to diversify supply chains that are centered around a certain country,” said Jeong Hyung-gon, senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.
“In the mid-to-long term, the semiconductor industry should reduce reliance on China for packaging given the extremely high dependency,” the researcher noted.
SK hynix has higher exposure to China than Samsung Electronics since it makes half its DRAMs in Wuxi. It also has a packaging facility in Wuxi and another packaging line in Chongqing.
To produce high-performing DRAM chips, the adoption of manufacturing equipment using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) is required.
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, right, visits the Netherlands to meet with the executives at ASML in July this year. [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]
The chipmaker’s attempt to bring the machines into China was blocked by the U.S. as the administration of Donald Trump struck an agreement in 2019 with the Dutch government to prohibit ASML, the world’s sole maker of EUV machines, from selling high-end equipment to entities in China.
Samsung Electronics operates two NAND flash chip factories in Xi’an, producing around 40 percent of its NAND output, according to analysts. Over 30 trillion won has been spent on the site so far.
“The U.S. is well aware of the key chip choke point,” said Yeon Won-ho, head of the economic security team at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.
“It has the key equipment makers — ASML, Applied Materials and Lam Research — on its side, and many of their products are not allowed to be supplied to chip plants operating in China,” he said. “Without them, it is impossible to make advanced chips.”
The latest salvo is the U.S. Commerce Department's export restrictions announced Oct. 7 that widen the range of technologies that must be kept out of China.
The Korean government was quick to respond, saying that the new rules will have just a small impact on Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, citing the U.S. department’s decision to provide a one-year waiver to Korean companies.
The new restrictions concern technologies for DRAM memory chips rated 18 nanometers or less and NAND flash with 128 layers or more.
Waivers from the new rules will not affect existing restrictions.
The U.S. Chips and Science Act, which was passed in July, prohibits companies receiving subsidies under the act from making new investments in China for a decade.
“In the short-run, they could be able to keep the China-based factories operating,” said Chae Min-sook, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities. “But with Washington’s tightened restrictions against China, more investment in China comes with a high level of risk."
A July photo of the site of a Samsung Electronics chip plant being built in Taylor, Texas [CITY OF TAYLOR]
Against this backdrop, the latest investments in new chip factories are directed toward either Korea or the U.S., including a $17 billion project in Taylor, Texas.
“As protectionism runs deep in separate economic blocks, the U.S. has taken the role of blocking the rise of Chinese companies competing with Korean corporations,” said Kim Yang-hee, an economics professor at Daegu University.
Doh Hyun-woo, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities, echoed the view, noting that the U.S. restrictions will prohibit Chinese companies like SMIC, YMTC and CXMT from making advanced chips.
Wuhan's YMTC achieved significant technological milestones recently, including the development of 192-layer NAND flash chips. Apple has reportedly considered sourcing chips from YMTC for new iPhones. But YMTC may not be able to make chips with more than 200 layers as the new rule prohibits the sale of equipment that can make chips with more than 128 layers.
Biopharmaceuticals
U.S. President Joe Biden’s made-in-America program extends to biopharmaceuticals and threatens Korean companies that rely on the exports of products that are made in Korea.
On Sept. 12, the president signed an executive order to introduce a National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative. It calls for over $2 billion of investment, with $1 billion specifically going to manufacturing infrastructure in the U.S. The funds will go toward both private and public initiatives to expand manufacturing capacity and supply chain boosting efforts.
It said the focus of the initiative is to “increase the domestic manufacturing to limit the dependence on foreign suppliers” and create jobs.
Samsung Biologics exported a total of 448.6 billion won ($313 million) of biopharmaceuticals to the U.S. last year, around 29 percent of its sales.
The company currently produces all products at its facilities in Songdo, Incheon. It has three plants, with the fourth beginning partial operations on Oct. 11.
Samsung Biologics is contract manufacturing organization (CMO), a company that provides drug manufacturing services in the pharmaceutical industry on a contract basis.
Samsung said it is considering building a plant in the United States, with no details set yet. CEO John Rim narrowed down the promising candidates to four: North Carolina, California, Washington and Texas.
“This is a U.S. attempt to keep China and India in check, and with their absence, many other countries, like Japan and those in Europe, will try to enter the U.S. market,” said Lee Seung-kyou, vice president of the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization (KoreaBio). “This could be a threat to Korean companies, which have been expanding their business in the U.S. rapidly in the recent years."
Celltrion also produces major biosimilar products at plants in Songdo.
“More Korean companies will choose the U.S. to build their next facilities, which could reduce their investment in Korea,” Lee said. “Other global companies were considering making investments in Songdo, but this could be affected depending on the latest U.S. announcement.”
SK bioscience announced last week it will establish a subsidiary in the United States, SK bioscience USA. It currently produces the Novavax Coivd-19 vaccine in its Andong plant under a CMO deal.
Some analysts argue that the $2 billion-investment is unexpectedly small and that Biden’s order is not targeting Korean companies.
“Given the scale of the recent investment plan, it will be difficult for the U.S. to build high-volume production facilities for biologics drugs any time soon, meaning there will be no significant risks to Korean companies, at least in the short term,” said Im Yoon-jin, an analyst at Daishin Securities.
Im said Biden’s executive order was more to contain China.
“The U.S. investment goes toward the development of manufacturing technology for drugs that are in preclinical trials or in the early stages, which does not apply to Korean companies that run businesses manufacturing large quantities of products.
“Exports to the U.S. by Wuxi Biologics increased 10 percent in two years, and 54.4 percent of its total sales came from its U.S. exports as of the first half of 2022,” Im added. “And around 54.4 percent of its total sales came from drugs in preclinical or Phase 1 and 2 stages, a key area that the U.S. will invest in as part of the latest plan."
'Surviving' the U.S.-China row
To survive as the United States legislates and passed rules to protect itself from China, trade policies in Korea must be reviewed, corporations supported and the U.S. government lobbied.
The U.S. push to isolate China from high technologies prompted China to be self-sufficient in producing computers, chips and other electronic components, which led into reduced imports from Korea.
Against this backdrop, Korea should be swiftly moving to look for new market opportunities in countries like the U.S. and its allies where they try to reduce the portion of made-in-China products.
“The U.S. is replacing many items imported from China with the ones originating from its allies,” said Jung Hye–sun , a researcher at the Korea International Trade Association. “Korean companies also benefit from the change."
Korea’s exports to the U.S. increased by 17.1 percent in the January-to-August period on year to $73.7 billion.
Exports to China dropped 1.9 percentage points in the first half compared to the same period the previous year, according to trade statistics data from the Korea Customs Service. Korea also posted a trade deficit of $1.1 billion with China in May, its first trade deficit with the country in 28 years.
To further increase its presence in the United States, Jung said that the Korean government and the country's companies alike should expand the range of items with a competitive edge over competing exporters, like those in Taiwan.
“Since Korea’s main export items to the U.S. often overlap with those of Taiwan, we need strategies to up technological supremacy and diversify the type of products,” she said.
Choo Kwang-ho, head of the economic policy department at the Korea Economic Research Institute, echoed the need to enhance economic fundamentals.
“We need to enhance competitiveness by increasing exports,” Choo said. “One of the biggest culprits behind the current trade deficit is increased imports of energy, which gets more expensive as the dollar strengthens. In this respect, the government needs to embark on a long-term project to develop energy resources, along with other measures, including a currency swap to stabilize the markets.”
In the short run, the Korean government should make efforts to win waivers for the companies.
The IRA is most urgent.
“We are currently working on three angles — through the U.S. Commerce Department and the White House, outreach to U.S. Congress and through public opinion,” Lee Chang-yang, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, said.
Since the bill was passed into law, top government officials including Lee traveled to the United States to meet with U.S. government officials, including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and legislators, including Senator Tommy Tuberville, while Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun met with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai.
In meeting with Raimondo, "we were able to confirm her will to solve the problem,” Minister Lee said last month.
Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock introduced a bill to delay the EV subsidy rules under the IRA. This would give some time for Korean automakers, particularly Hyundai Motor, to get manufacturing in place.
“The U.S. government is working on guidelines for the IRA. Given the process will continue through the end of this year, the government’s priority should be conveying our message in terms of these guidelines,” said Cho Chuel, senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade.
Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have received waivers on the new chip rules. Only SK hynix confirmed. But these temporary exemptions are more about postponing the risk rather than fundamentally resolving the problem.
Lobbyists have called on the government to enact measures to support industry.
“Korean companies are worried about exports, especially for the second half of this year,” said Lee Seong-woo, head of international trade department at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“The companies are in need of long-term supportive measures that could bolster exports and help them weather harsh business conditions."
A set of bills aimed at supporting export-oriented tech companies has been introduced, but none have been passed yet. Among them are the so-called K-Chips acts. One of the bills in the legislative push will increase tax cuts for companies building chip facilities in Korea. It is pending at the National Assembly.
BY PARK EUN-JEE, LEE HO-JEONG, SARAH CHEA [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]
4. Saudi crown prince unlikely to visit S. Korea this year
Saudi crown prince unlikely to visit S. Korea this year
koreaherald.com · by Yonhap · October 17, 2022
By Yonhap
Published : Oct 17, 2022 - 11:34 Updated : Oct 17, 2022 - 11:34
(Yonhap)
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has shelved plans to visit South Korea this year, a presidential official said Monday.
The two countries had been in talks to arrange the visit for next month, but the plan fell through for reasons that were not immediately clear.
"It appears the crown prince's visit to South Korea this year will be difficult," the official told Yonhap News Agency by phone. "We still remain in close consultation over the timing of the visit."
The crown prince is considered the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia and news of his possible visit sparked interest among South Korean businesses eager to win construction projects in Neom, a Saudi smart city project overseen by Mohammed bin Salman.
The two sides are reportedly in talks over a possible meeting between the crown prince and President Yoon Suk-yeol on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, next month. (Yonhap)
5. S. Korea considering reveal of Hyunmoo-5 as ‘warning to N. Korea’
S. Korea considering reveal of Hyunmoo-5 as ‘warning to N. Korea’
donga.com
Posted October. 17, 2022 07:34,
Updated October. 17, 2022 07:34
S. Korea considering reveal of Hyunmoo-5 as ‘warning to N. Korea’. October. 17, 2022 07:34. by Ji-Sun Choi aurinko@donga.com.
As North Korea continues indiscriminate provocations in an obvious violation of the September 19 inter-Korean military agreement, the South Korean military is considering the official reveal of the test launch footage of Hyunmoo-5, a high-power ballistic missile carrying one of the heaviest warheads in the world.
If North Korea’s arms provocations, such as the threat of using tactical nukes, the South Korean military may officially reveal the footage of the ‘monster missile,’ which can annihilate the North Korean leadership with just one missile. Except for a blurred 8-second video revealed on the celebratory event of Armed Forces Day on October 1, there hasn’t been any official footage of Hyunmoo-5.
According to The Dong-A Ilbo’s research as of Sunday, the South Korean military is reviewing the release of official footage of Hyunmoo-5’s test launch if the North’s comprehensive and beyond-the-limit provocations continue.
It is to show the South Korean military’s retaliation capability of destroying the center of the North’s provocations with a comparable ‘bunker buster’ as soon as the North Korean leadership presses a button to launch missiles mounted with tactical nukes targeting the South. Hyunmoo-5, which can carry a warhead weighing up to eight tons, can destroy a target 100 meters or deeper under the ground. Hyunmoo-5 is more accurate than the North’s nuclear missiles, which allows it to destroy the precise source of provocations.
North Korea claimed that 560 artillery fires in the buffer zones in the East Sea and the Yellow Sea on Friday were the countermeasures against South Korea’s artillery fires. “We launched counter artillery fires as the evidence of our enemy’s artillery fires was found in Cheorwon near our Fifth Army on Thursday and Friday,” said the spokesperson of the General Staff Department of the Korean People's Army on Saturday. “We will take rigorous and overwhelming military responses going forward,” said the spokesperson, forewarning follow-up provocations.
한국어
donga.com
6. Unification minister to meet families of S. Korean detainees in N. Korea
Excerpts:
It will be the first time that a unification minister meets with families of such detainees, it added.
Since 2013, six South Koreans, including three pastors, have been detained in North Korea on charges of committing what the North called anti-North Korea crimes.
"The government has maintained the stance that bringing them back to their home country is necessary as its obligation to protect its nationals," Cho Joong-hoon, spokesperson at the ministry, told a regular press briefing.
...
Of the detainees, three South Korean pastors ― Kim Jung-wook, Kim Kuk-gi and Choe Chun-gil ― were sentenced to hard labor for life on charges of spying for South Korea's spy agency. The other three detainees are known to be North Korean defectors.
Unification minister to meet families of S. Korean detainees in N. Korea
The Korea Times · October 17, 2022
Cho Joong-hoon, spokesperson at Seoul's unification ministry, holds a regular press briefing at the government complex building in Seoul, Oct. 17. Yonhap
Unification Minister Kwon Young-se plans to meet with families of South Koreans detained in North Korea this week and explain the government's commitment to resolving the issue, his office said Monday.
Kwon plans to meet with family members of two out of six detainees Friday in a bid to console them and express the government's willingness to win their release, according to Seoul's unification ministry.
It will be the first time that a unification minister meets with families of such detainees, it added.
Since 2013, six South Koreans, including three pastors, have been detained in North Korea on charges of committing what the North called anti-North Korea crimes.
"The government has maintained the stance that bringing them back to their home country is necessary as its obligation to protect its nationals," Cho Joong-hoon, spokesperson at the ministry, told a regular press briefing.
The government will make efforts to fundamentally resolve the matter through various channels, including meetings with their families, inter-Korean talks and cooperation from the international community, he added.
Of the detainees, three South Korean pastors ― Kim Jung-wook, Kim Kuk-gi and Choe Chun-gil ― were sentenced to hard labor for life on charges of spying for South Korea's spy agency. The other three detainees are known to be North Korean defectors. (Yonhap)
The Korea Times · October 17, 2022
7. South Korea: South Korea kicks off military drills amid talk of North Korean nuclear test
South Korea: South Korea kicks off military drills amid talk of North Korean nuclear test
dailymaverick.co.za · by Reuters · October 17, 2022
South Korea
People watch the news at a station in Seoul, South Korea, 14 October 2022. EPA-EFE/JEON HEON-KYUN
SEOUL, Oct 17 (Reuters) - South Korea's troops kicked off their annual Hoguk defence drills on Monday, designed to boost their ability to respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats amid simmering tension over both sides' military activities.
The drills, due to end on Saturday, are the latest in a series of military exercises by South Korea in recent weeks, including joint activities with the United States and Japan.
The latest field training came as North Korea has been carrying out weapons tests at an unprecedented pace this year, firing a short-range ballistic missile and hundreds of artillery rounds near the heavily armed inter-Korean border on Friday.
Pyongyang has angrily reacted to the South Korean and joint military activities, calling them provocations and threatening countermeasures. Seoul says its exercises are regular and defence-oriented.
Joined by some U.S. forces, the South Korean troops will focus on maintaining readiness and improving the troops’ ability to execute joint operations during the Hoguk drills, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
“The forces will conduct real-world day and night manoeuvres simulated to counter North Korea’s nuclear, missile and other various threats, so that they can master wartime and peacetime mission performance capabilities and enhance interoperability with some U.S. forces,” it said in a statement.
Last week, tensions flared after the North fired a missile, shot more than 500 artillery shells and flew a multitude of warplanes near the skirmish-prone sea border.
Seoul condemned Pyongyang and imposed its first unilateral sanctions in nearly five years, describing the moves as a violation of a 2018 bilateral military pact banning “hostile acts” in the border area.
But the North accused the South’s military of escalating tension with its own artillery firing.
South Korean lawmakers have said the North has completed preparations for what would be its first nuclear test since 2017, and might conduct it between China’s key ruling Communist Party congress, which began on Sunday, and the Nov. 7 U.S. midterm elections. But some analysts do not expect any tests before the Chinese congress ends.
(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
8. South Korea’s military is on high alert for North’s first nuclear test since 2017
South Korea’s military is on high alert for North’s first nuclear test since 2017
Stars and Stripes · by David Choi · October 17, 2022
Yoon Seok Youl visits the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, Dec. 20, 2021, before his election as the South’s president. (People Power Party)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — South Korea’s presidential office is on an around-the-clock alert amid expectations that the North may soon conduct its seventh nuclear test, a government official told news agencies on Sunday.
“As North Korea's provocations have become more frequent, we're putting all of our effort into maintaining a readiness posture with a sense of alertness,” an official said, according to Yonhap News.
Pyongyang’s barrage of over 40 missiles in 26 rounds of testing so far this year, along with numerous artillery drills, are believed to be part of preparations for its first nuclear test since 2017, officials have said. North Korea last fired a ballistic missile on Friday, its ninth round of testing in three weeks.
The presidential office’s remarks come after South Korean Vice Defense Minister Shin Beom Chul told Yonhap on Friday that North Korea may conduct not just one nuclear test but “two or three ... in a row.”
State and national security officials from the United States and South Korea have warned for months that the North has prepared to conduct a nuclear test. Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada issued the same warning to the country’s lawmakers Thursday, saying Pyongyang’s weapons technology has developed at a “rapid pace” and it may be “more difficult to intercept” North Korean missiles.
The communist regime claimed its last nuclear test on Sept. 3, 2017, performed underground in the mountainous northeast region of North Korea, was a hydrogen bomb. The U.S. Geological Survey registered the explosion as a 6.3 magnitude earthquake.
A nuclear test now would dramatically raise tensions with North Korea. While Seoul has delivered stern warnings and enacted economic sanctions against Pyongyang over its series of missile and artillery tests this year, U.S. and South Korean leaders also warned of new repercussions should it detonate another nuclear device.
“If North Korea conducts a nuclear test, the level of our response would be entirely different” from previous tests, South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup said during a press conference in August.
Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in June also said the U.S. was prepared for another North Korean nuclear test and that “the entire world will respond in a strong and clear manner.”
The government-funded Korea Institute for Defense Analyses estimated that North Korea is at least four nuclear tests away from constructing a tactical nuclear weapon or pairing nuclear warheads to multiple, independently targetable reentry vehicles, according to a September report from South Korean lawmaker Shin Wonsik.
North Korea codified its preemptive use of nuclear weapons during a parliamentary session in September, eight months after the regime suggested it would “immediately” resume weapons tests that were suspended since the summits between then-Presidents Donald Trump and Moon Jae-in of South Korea, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2018 and 2019.
The North said it would launch a nuclear strike “automatically” should its leaders be threatened or attacked, according to a state-run Korean Central News Agency report on Oct. 8.
North Korea claims through its state media that its missile and nuclear tests were in response to provocations from South Korea and its allies, including the recent joint military drills with the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in waters near the Korean Peninsula.
Stars and Stripes · by David Choi · October 17, 2022
9. UN expert group links four Hong Kong firms to reports of illegal oil shipments to North Korea
UN expert group links four Hong Kong firms to reports of illegal oil shipments to North Korea
- Companies named in report on ships that allegedly helped Pyongyang evade UN sanctions
- Individuals with mainland China connections involved in companies being investigated, Post finds
Seong Hyeon Choi
and Chris Lau
Published: 3:30pm, 16 Oct, 2022
By Seong Hyeon Choi South China Morning Post5 min
View Original
Four Hong Kong-registered companies have appeared in a UN report on alleged illegal transfers of refined petroleum to North Korea. Photo: EPA-EFE
Four companies registered in Hong Kong have turned up in a United Nations Security Council expert group’s report alleging illegal transfers of refined petroleum to North Korea.
They were directly linked to five ships under investigation for helping the isolated country evade international sanctions that forbade the export of more than 500,000 barrels of oil a year, with all shipments reported to the security council.
Checks in Hong Kong showed the companies were headed by mainland Chinese directors or individuals with links to the mainland.
They included two directors who registered their businesses using addresses claiming they were from far-flung, mountainous parts of China. The UN panel suggested that some might be mere figureheads.
The UN experts’ report, aimed at keeping close watch on North Korea’s nuclear capabilities and whether businesses and member states comply with sanctions, was released last month and reported by South Korean media last weekend.
There has been heightened tension in the region, with Pyongyang since January having conducted a record 29 missile tests, 23 of which were ballistic ones, triggering recent joint military drills by the United States and South Korea. In an escalated response, North Korea launched a “simulation” of a nuclear attack on the south over the weekend.
Associate professor James Fry, who specialises in international law at the University of Hong Kong, told the Post that at this stage, neither China nor Hong Kong was obliged to act on the report although they could signal their international commitment by taking pre-emptive action.
The expert panel’s probe would take more time before it passed the case to a sanctions committee to decide on penalties, he said, so it was unlikely that the companies would face immediate penalties for their alleged actions.
But Victor Cha, senior vice-president and Korea chair at the US-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the report showed there had been violations and the companies involved should be shut down.
Pyongyang’s activities to evade sanctions weakened the effectiveness of the security council’s measures and helped it to advance its missile technology, he added.
The four companies named by the UN panel were Hong Yao International Trading and Heng Chen Rong (Hong Kong) Marine in Sheung Wan, Joffa Trade International in Wan Chai, and Nuwanni International Ship Management, which has been dissolved.
They were linked to oil tankers Heng Xing and Joffa, as well as three fishing boats, which were all allegedly involved in supplying oil illegally to North Korea.
01:54
North Korea’s Kim Jong-un converts military base to greenhouse to celebrate founding of ruling party
The first Hong Kong company, Hong Yao International Trading, came up when the UN experts accused a Taiwanese firm, Cheng Chiun Shipping Agency, of using its own vessel Jan Victoria, formerly known as Sky Venus, to supply oil to Pyongyang.
Denying the allegation, the Taiwanese firm said while it was aware that three fishing boats had picked up oil from the Jan Victoria, that the transaction was organised by a Mr Liu, director of Hong Yao International Trading. The UN experts have challenged the Taiwanese firm’s version.
Hong Kong company records show that Hong Yao International Trading is owned by Liu Zebang, from remote Hongxing village in the hilly area of Guizhou, a landlocked province in southwest China.
The second Hong Kong company, Heng Chen Rong (Hong Kong) Marine, was said to own the Heng Xing, which was registered in Sierra Leone until November 2021.
The report said the vessel was spotted in March this year near an oil terminal in Nampo, a port city near Pyongyang, when foreign ships were barred because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Its presence raised suspicions that its registration might have been changed to North Korea.
The third Hong Kong company, Joffa Trade International, owned Joffa, a Sierra Leone-flagged oil tanker that transferred oil from the then Sky Venus to New Konk, a vessel that went to North Korea between December last year and February.
01:45
Kim Jong-un oversees missile launch, one of several recent tests by North Korea
Company records listed Li Xiaoliang, director of Joffa Trade International, as living at an address in the mountainous inland tourist city of Lijiang, in Yunnan province.
Scrapped in April this year, the Joffa’s previous technical manager was the fourth Hong Kong company, Nuwanni International Ship Management.
The Post also found that both Hong Yao International Trading and Heng Chen Rong (Hong Kong) Marine used Galaxy Company Secretarial Services, in Sheung Wan, as their corporate secretary.
The UN panel’s report said Joffa Trade International also had the same company secretary as other overseas entities suspected of illicit activities.
This is not the first time that Hong Kong firms have been implicated in UN investigations, as at least four were put on a UN sanctions list between 2013 and 2018 for helping to supply oil to Pyongyang.
Aaron Arnold, a senior associate fellow at the Britain-based defence and security think tank Royal United Service Institute, said North Korea continued to use Hong Kong as a haven to evade sanctions because of the city’s banking secrecy laws, which protect information regarding the identities of company owners and other types of data.
A former member of the UN Security Council panel of experts on North Korea sanctions, he said: “Hong Kong and the Chinese authorities should work to make their corporate registration process more transparent, including allowing public access to beneficial ownership information.”
A spokesman for Hong Kong’s Commerce and Economic Development Bureau said it would not discuss individual cases, but stressed that the city was serious about implementing UN sanctions and had passed the United Nations Sanctions (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) Regulation for that purpose.
Under the law, those who supply prohibited items to North Korea without a licence granted by the city’s chief executive, may be fined and jailed for up to seven years.
“Our law enforcement agencies follow up on suspected violations vigorously, without fear or favour,” said the bureau spokesman.
Seong Hyeon Choi
Seong Hyeon joined the SCMP in 2022. He is from South Korea and graduated with a bachelor of journalism and master of international and public affairs from the University of Hong Kong. He worked as a research intern for Korea Chair at US foreign policy think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and as a news trainee for NK news.
Chris Lau
Chris Lau is a reporter specialising in court and legal affairs in Hong Kong. From criminal justice to constitutional issues, he brings in the latest updates and in-depth analysis on legal issues that affect all aspects of the city. He also covers human rights issues extensively.
10. North Korea’s Lazarus behind years of crypto hacks in Japan: Police
The all purpose sword.
North Korea’s Lazarus behind years of crypto hacks in Japan: Police
According to the Japan Government, a common mode of attack for the Lazarus Group was phishing, who are believed to have focused more on crypto funds lately because they’re “managed more loosely.”
cointelegraph.com · by Brayden Lindrea
Japan’s national police have pinned North Korean hacking group, Lazarus, as the organization behind several years of crypto-related cyber attacks.
In the public advisory statement sent out on Oct. 14, Japan’s National Police Agency (NPA) and Financial Services Agency (FSA) sent a warning to the country's crypto-asset businesses, asking them to stay vigilant of “phishing” attacks by the hacking groupaimed at stealing crypto assets.
The advisory statement is known as “public attribution,” and according to local reports, is the fifth time in history that the government has issued such a warning.
The statement warns that the hacking group uses social engineering to orchestrate phishing attacks — impersonating executives of a target company to try and bait employees into clicking malicious links or attachments:
“This cyber attack group sends phishing emails to employees impersonating executives of the target company [...] through social networking sites with false accounts, pretending to conduct business transactions [...] The cyber-attack group [then] uses the malware as a foothold to gain access to the victim's network.”
According to the statement, phishing has been a common mode of attack used by North Korean hackers, with the NPA and FSA urging targeted companies to keep their “private keys in an offline environment” and to “not open email attachments or hyperlinks carelessly.”
The statement added that individuals and businesses should “not download files from sources other than those whose authenticity can be verified, especially for applications related to cryptographic assets.”
The NPA also suggested that digital asset holders “install security software,” strengthen identity authentication mechanisms by “implementing multi-factor authentication” and not use the same password for multiple devices or services.
The NPA confirmed that several of these attacks have been successfully carried out against Japanese-based digital asset firms, but didn’t disclose any specific details.
Lazarus Group is allegedly affiliated with North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, a government-run foreign intelligence group.
Katsuyuki Okamoto of multinational IT firm Trend Micro told The Yomiuri Shimbun that “Lazarus initially targeted banks in various countries, but recently it has been aiming at crypto assets that are managed more loosely.”
They have been accused of being the hackers behind the $650 million Ronin Bridge exploit in March, and were identified as suspects in the $100 million attack from layer-1 blockchain Harmony.
cointelegraph.com · by Brayden Lindrea
11. Denuclearizing North Korea Must Include Uranium
Excerpts:
Without transparency over its HEU stockpile, North Korea could abide by its plutonium-related commitments — with the aim of winning concessions from the United States and its allies — only to unleash HEU-based capabilities. Any agreement that does not require the verifiable dismantlement of North Korea’s HEU program will only be partially successful.
North Korea’s persistent denials of an HEU program are a serious impediment to any meaningful progress on arms control or denuclearisation. Given that HEU almost certainly supports North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, and evidence of multiple HEU enrichment sites, a lack of transparency on this issue gives Pyongyang a potential breakout opportunity.
Denuclearizing North Korea Must Include Uranium – Analysis
eurasiareview.com · by East Asia Forum · October 16, 2022
By Davis Florick*
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For nearly four decades the United States has led the global effort to eliminate North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. But North Korea has been unremitting in its efforts to undermine the United States at every turn.
Pyongyang’s ultimate intent became clear in January 2021. At the Workers’ Party Congress, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared his first two national security priorities: to ‘make nuclear weapons smaller and lighter for more tactical uses’ and to ‘continuously push ahead with the production of super-sized nuclear warheads’. Kim Jong-un has reinforced North Korea’s clear intent to acquire a nuclear arsenal — obfuscating every effort to dissuade it from acquiring and maturing its nuclear weapons program.
North Korea’s highly enriched uranium (HEU) program epitomises the seriousness of its intentions to acquire a nuclear weapon as it likely supports multiple warheads for the full complement of planned systems and envisioned yields.
While Pyongyang has allowed the international community access to its plutonium program, it has consistently denied the existence of its HEU program. Instead, it has stated its uranium efforts are for civilian uses only. But without full knowledge of Pyongyang’s HEU program, verifying arms control compliance is meaningless. North Korea’s significant HEU efforts, and attempts to hide the program, make clear its lack of commitment to arms control — and denuclearisation.
North Korea has developed its HEU program over at least three decades. In the late 1990s it received gas centrifuge assistance from Pakistan via the Abdul Qadeer Khan network. The design, known as the P2 centrifuge, is likely the base of the current North Korean program. Open source reporting suggests North Korea is researching more advanced centrifuges.
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One possible pathway would be to develop carbon fibre centrifuges, like what Iran uses, which would greatly increase output.
North Korea is believed to have established at least two HEU facilities, which could house thousands of centrifuge cascades. The expert community has focused much of its attention on the most well-known facility — Yongbyon — with a probable second site at Kangson. There is also growing consensus that a third site may exist but it is unclear where. A joint report by the RAND Corporation and the Asan Institute for Policy Studies from April 2021 postulated a possible site at either Bungang, near Yongbyon, or Sowi-ri.
Yongbyon is often regarded as North Korea’s primary nuclear weapon facility. North Korea brazenly showed the Yongbyon Fuel Fabrication Plant reactor to Stanford University professors in 2010. While North Korea stated that its uranium enrichment supported a civilian light water reactor, experts believe that Yongbyon is intended to support an HEU program with at least 2000–3000 P2-type centrifuges. From publicly available satellite imagery, it appears Yongbyon’s HEU facility was doubled to 4000 centrifuges in 2013.
Kangson has never been acknowledged as an HEU enrichment site. It has likely been operational since 2003 and could have been the template for Yongbyon. There are differing views on Kangson’s potential role in the HEU program, which underscores North Korea’s lack of transparency.
While difficult to verify with certainty, available evidence suggests a number of significant implications of North Korea’s HEU program. By 2017 North Korea probably possessed 8000 centrifuges and could produce 130–150 kilograms of HEU per year. Today that number may be as high as 175 kilograms per year based on improved technology. That means that North Korea may well possesses 600–950 kilograms of HEU. Roughly 25 kilograms of HEU are needed for a nuclear weapon.
North Korea has also likely developed the warheads for its full range of missile systems. Analysts estimate that North Korea could produce approximately six nuclear weapon warheads per year. If one were to include plutonium-based weapons, the possibility of underestimating the amount of HEU produced per year and the conversion of HEU stockpiles to warheads, the RAND Corporation’s estimate of 12–18 warheads per year becomes more plausible.
North Korea has vigorously pursued, and hidden, its HEU program because it has considerable military applications when paired with Pyongyang’s missile options. The joint RAND–Asan report indicated that ‘North Korea has been assessed for many years … to have the designs to build a 500-kilogram HEU warhead capable of being launched on a missile’.
If North Korea intends to make ‘super-sized’ warheads, Pyongyang would presumably pursue thermonuclear weapons, for which HEU is an essential component, and mate them with intercontinental-range ballistic missiles.
Without transparency over its HEU stockpile, North Korea could abide by its plutonium-related commitments — with the aim of winning concessions from the United States and its allies — only to unleash HEU-based capabilities. Any agreement that does not require the verifiable dismantlement of North Korea’s HEU program will only be partially successful.
North Korea’s persistent denials of an HEU program are a serious impediment to any meaningful progress on arms control or denuclearisation. Given that HEU almost certainly supports North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, and evidence of multiple HEU enrichment sites, a lack of transparency on this issue gives Pyongyang a potential breakout opportunity.
*About the author: Davis Florick is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science, Missouri State University. The views expressed are the author’s and do not represent official US Government or Missouri State University positions.
Source: This article was published by East Asia Forum
eurasiareview.com · by East Asia Forum · October 16, 2022
12. ‘Don’t forget the North Korean defectors stuck in China’: Enduring exploitation, they long for freedom
Since the Chinese will not allow the Koreans who have escaped from the north to be treated as refugees they are complicit in north Korean human rights abuses.
‘Don’t forget the North Korean defectors stuck in China’: Enduring exploitation, they long for freedom
christianpost.com · by Arielle Del Turco · October 16, 2022
By , Op-ed Contributor | Sunday, October 16, 2022
A North Korean flag waves at a mast at the Permanent Mission of North Korea in Geneva back in 2014 | REUTERS/ Denis Balibouse
“Don’t forget the North Korean defectors stuck in China.” This was the plea that one North Korean defector wanted to convey to American Christians. Meeting at the offices of a small nonprofit called North Korean Refugees Human Rights (NKRHR), which operates a shelter in China for North Korean defectors, I sat down in September with founder Kim Yong-hwa and several defectors who volunteer their time to aid others who are traveling the same harrowing path they once did.
For most people trying to flee the world’s most isolated regime, crossing the North Korea-China border is the first step. But entering China doesn’t mean freedom. Defectors in China are forced to hide from Chinese police who would forcibly repatriate them back to North Korea. This is an increasingly difficult task as Chinese authorities continue to develop and implement high-tech surveillance tools. Not only does the Chinese government use facial recognition technology, but recent advancements in surveillance technology enables the government to profile North Koreans by the way they walk.
Kim Yong-hwa himself has a harrowing story of escape from North Korea. Kim oversaw Rail Force Two, the second most important mode of transportation in the country — only surpassed by Rail Force One which is used for all of dictator Kim Jong Un’s travel. In a cash-strapped communist regime, maintaining the infrastructure for the train was next to impossible. One day, seven train cars overturned. In an irrational totalitarian regime like North Korea’s, someone must be to blame. That someone was Kim Yong-hwa and the misdeed he was accused of which supposedly caused the derailment was “lack of loyalty to the Party.”
A colleague tipped Kim off that the authorities scheduled his execution, but he didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of killing him. Beyond desperate, he was determined to kill himself first. Yet, the North Korean regime considered suicide to be treason, in retaliation they would punish his extended family. Kim took his pistol and planned to go to a place that no one would find his body in the hopes that his family would escape punishment.
He made it to the border town of Hyesan where he could see into China. Thinking his death would surely go unnoticed there, he swam across the high waters of the Yalu River. Stepping onto Chinese land, he unlocked his safety and prepared to pull it to his head. But he hesitated. Instead of dying, he thought to himself that he may as well live, even homeless in a hostile country.
It was inside of China that he was exposed to international news sources and realized just how much the North Korean regime had been lying to people, even to him who had been given a high level of responsibility by the regime. This gave Kim a new life purpose. He said he wanted to “unveil the truth” about North Korea. Because Chinese authorities were cooperating with North Korean counterparts, he saw that his wanted poster was displayed throughout the Chinese border town he was in. He fled by foot from the Northeast of China to the southern border — it took him almost a year before he reached Vietnam, where he was arrested and escaped back into China. By luck, he ran into a South Korean couple who helped him make it to Seoul, where he now lives.
After making the long and harrowing journey to South Korea in the late 1980s, Kim turned his attention to helping others. Now, he runs the NKRHR to help defectors in China at his shelter. There, defectors find a safe place to rest on their journey to freedom in a third country. Kim has helped thousands of North Koreans reach freedom — work that is incredibly challenging but greatly rewarding.
When I sat down with Kim and several volunteers with his organization at their offices in Seoul last week, their message to American Christians was “don’t forget the North Korean defectors stuck in China.” Several of the female defectors made this point with particular passion.
One female defector stated that North Korean women in China are “treated worse than dogs.” There is ample evidence to support this claim. Most North Korean defectors are women, and a majority of female North Korean defectors are tricked or forced into human trafficking. Many are sold to Chinese men to marry, forced into prostitution, or forced into online sexual exploitation in which people pay to access their live streams.
“Lee,” a female North Korean defector who is remaining anonymous, was promised a job in a restaurant by the broker who helped her escape North Korea into China. When she arrived at her destination in China, she realized there was no restaurant. She was sold for approximately $4,500 USD to someone who ran a cybersex chatroom. She told CNN, “When I found out, I felt so humiliated … I started crying and asked to leave, but the boss said he had paid a lot of money for me, and I now had a debt towards him.”
Sadly, women who are trafficked upon arrival in China often have difficulty escaping the country to safety in South Korea or elsewhere. Some North Korean women married off to Chinese men are kept locked in the house or end up having children and don’t want to leave them. Many women working in brothels or online chat rooms are forced to use drugs so they cannot escape.
Estimates for how many North Korean defectors are still in China vary, but most are upwards of 50,000. At least 1,170 North Koreans are detained by Chinese authorities and awaiting repatriation back to North Korea. The 2014 United Nations’ Commission of Inquiry (COI) report states that when defectors are repatriated, “officials from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea systematically subject them to persecution, torture, prolonged arbitrary detention and, in some cases, sexual violence, including during invasive body searches.”
After defectors are repatriated, it means weeks of interrogations and possibly torture by North Korean authorities. They are then sent to labor camps for several months. Defectors have testified that those discovered to be Christians would be killed by North Korean authorities.
North Korean women who are repatriated and found to be pregnant with half-Chinese babies endure devastating forced abortions because “mixed-race” children are prohibited by the regime. One Christian North Korean defector, Ji Hyeona shared her story at a Family Research Council event in 2019. She said, “Every night, I heard the screams of women going through forced abortions in the prison camp. I too could not avoid this fate, as I was three months pregnant with a half-Chinese, half-Korean baby in my womb. Where they placed me was not a hospital bed, but it was a desk. And a fearful-looking doctor forcibly pried open my legs and inserted forceps and started killing my baby in my womb by cutting up and shredding my baby. This was all done without any anesthesia used on me, and the physical pain was so hard to endure.”
The fate of repatriated North Korean defectors is dire. North Koreans are rightly considered “refugees sur place,” because they have valid fears of persecution and harsh punishment upon return. Thus, every time that China repatriates a North Korean, it is violating the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention to which it is a signatory. Instead of repatriation, Chinese authorities should cooperate with South Korean counterparts to provide defectors safe passage to South Korea, which provides citizenship for every North Korean who is able to make it to the South.
By handing defectors over to North Korean authorities, the Chinese government is knowingly participating in torture, arbitrary detention, and execution. The United States should demand that China cease forced repatriation of vulnerable North Koreans and develop safe pathways for them to reach freedom in South Korea or a third country.
When North Koreans beg us to not forget the defectors who are left behind in China, it is a plea we must take seriously.
Originally published at The Washington Stand.
Arielle Del Turco is Assistant Director of the Center for Religious Liberty at Family Research Council.
christianpost.com · by Arielle Del Turco · October 16, 2022
13. Moment terrified North Korean is hugged by Kim Jong Un in school visit
Photos at the link: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11322301/Moment-terrified-North-Korean-embraced-Kim-Jong-despots-propaganda-stunt.html
Moment terrified North Korean is hugged by Kim Jong Un in school visit
Moment terrified North Korean looks at the ground while he is embraced by Kim Jong Un as part of despot's propaganda stunt, after launching series of missiles towards Japan amid regional tensions
- The despot was visiting Mangyongdae Revolutionary School in Pyongyang when the photos were taken
- The latest propaganda comes just days after North Korea launched missiles in the direction of Japan
- He was pictured embracing students and possessively gripping their legs during an orchestrated photo shoot
By ELIZABETH HAIGH and MATT POWELL FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 21:19 EDT, 16 October 2022 | UPDATED: 21:29 EDT, 16 October 2022
Daily Mail · by Elizabeth Haigh · October 17, 2022
A terrified North Korean soldier was pictured looking at the floor while leader Kim Jong Un embraced him in his latest propaganda stunt.
The despot was visiting Mangyongdae Revolutionary School in Pyongyang, possibly just days after launching a series of missiles in the direction of Japan, escalating tensions in the region.
Established in 1947, the school is a high-profile institution with access only to the Workers' Party of Korea, Korean People's Army, administrative and high-ranking officials’ families.
It comes after South Korea scrambled fighter jets this week after Kim Jong Un's warplanes flew towards the border and launched a ballistic missile into the ocean.
The leader was pictured grinning as he put his arm round the soldier, and cupped his face with his other hand.
The soldier looks at the ground, clearly uncomfortable with the sudden embrace from one of the world's most infamous dictators.
It was just one of a large number of photos released on Monday, although the exact timing of the leader's visit to the school, which trains North Korean soldiers, is unknown.
He was accompanied by his wife, Ri Sol Ju, during his trip and was seen posing with various pupils and staff.
In one picture a soldier was pictured looking deeply uncomfortable as he was embraced by the North Korean supreme leader
The despot was also seen showing one soldier how to shoot during training exercises at the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School
He met young children at the school over a mealtime,, and appeared to examine their military-style uniform as he spoke to them
Jong Un was seen examining military equipment such as this automatic weapon during his visit to the elite school
Kim Jong Un smiles at something during his visit, on which he was accompanied by his wife, Ri Sol Ju
Other images showed the leader, who was dressed in a pin-striped suit and black hat, teaching soldiers to shoot guns accurately and examining military equipment.
He was also seen meeting with leaders at the school and attending a meal in the canteen, before watching a demonstration by some of the students.
In another uncomfortable photo, he was seen gripping the legs of students possessively as he posed amidst 15 of the cohort.
The latest propaganda appears to be a show of strength from Jong Un following a raft of military drills and missile tests in previous months, which are concerning neighbouring countries including South Korea and Japan.
Around 10 North Korean military aircraft were seen flying near the de-facto border this week, in what it says is a response to 'provocative action' by its southern neighbour.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff says planes were seen flying as close as 12km north of the boundary between the two countries late on Thursday and early on Friday.
In response F-35 jets and other warplanes were scrambled by the South, while there were no reports of clashes in the air.
Shortly afterwards a short-range ballistic missile was fired by Kim's troops towards its eastern waters, the latest in a series of launches that have seen tensions rise in the peninsula.
The JCS said the missile lifted off from the North's capital region at 1.49am and that it had boosted its surveillance posture and maintains military readiness in close coordination with the United States.
It comes a day after the authoritarian country launched two long-range cruise missiles over the Yellow Sea, with Kim saying his nation is 'at full preparedness for actual war'.
During the trip, the dictator watched a demonstration by students in the gym, where they appeared to be practising martial arts
At one point the leader posed for a photograph with 15 students at the school, during which he possesively placed his hands on the legs of those sat either side of him
As well as speaking to students during their mealtime, he also seemed to be commenting on the school to staff, who are seen taking notes
Kim Jong Un observed students while they were at shooting practice, protected by a glass wall, as he chatted with school bosses
The leader is almost completely isolated on the world stage, but this does not stop him from reminding the west of the country's military power
He was also pictured watching students practice swimming and diving alongside his wife and senior officials
Kim Jong Un cups another student's face in a move echoed during his awkward embrace with one terrified young man
School leaders were seen making notes throughout the visit by their supreme leader, who seemed to be issuing orders and comments on students' performance
It was the second time in a week that the South has scrambled jets, after Kim sent 12 warplanes close to the border for bombing drills on October 6.
A total of 30 fighter jets were scrambled by South Korea after eight North Korean fighter jets and four bombers flew in chilling formation towards the boundary between the two countries.
They are thought to have carried out air-to-surface firing exercises, with Yonhap media saying they were flown in 'apparent protest' to recent bombing drills between the US and South Korea.
The North Korean military said it undertook the latest foray and missile test in response to 'provocative action' by Seoul near their common border.
North Korea is all but isolated on the global stage, but continues to intimidate its neighbours and claim to the world that the nation is ready for nuclear war. It is unknown exactly how far the nation has got in its ambition to build its own nuclear weapons.
A North Korean army spokesman said the South Korean army on Thursday had conducted 'artillery fire for about 10 hours near the forward defence area of the KPA Fifth Corps,' according to a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.
The Korean People's Army 'took strong military countermeasures' in response to the 'provocative action,' the statement said.
The KPA 'sends a stern warning to the South Korean military inciting military tension in the frontline area with reckless action,' the agency's report said.
Meanwhile, the JCS said the South Korean air force 'conducted an emergency sortie with its superior air force, including the F-35A, and maintained a response posture, while carrying out a proportional response manoeuvre corresponding to the flight of a North Korean military aircraft'.
A spokesman for South Korea's military said he had no information regarding the South Korean artillery fire reported by the North.
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said it was aware of the latest missile launch and had assessed that 'it does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies.'
'We will continue consulting closely with our allies and partners to monitor the DPRK's destabilising ballistic missile launches,' it said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name.
Japanese defence minister Yasukazu Hamada said the missile flew on an 'irregular' trajectory - a possible reference to describe the North's highly manoeuvrable KN-23 weapon modelled on Russia's Iskander missile.
'Whatever the intentions are, North Korea's repeated ballistic missile launches are absolutely impermissible and we cannot overlook its substantial advancement of missile technology,' Mr Hamada said.
'North Korea's series of actions pose threats to Japan, as well as the region and the international community, and are absolutely intolerable.'
It comes a day after the North tested yet more missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads in the Yellow Sea.
The missiles flew 1,240 miles before moving in oval and figure eight patterns for almost three hours in a display of their apparent manoeuvrability before hitting targets, the Korean Central News Agency said.
Kim personally oversaw the tests as images showed him applauding inside a tunnel with his cronies, a cigarette in his right hand.
He 'highly appreciated' the test, state media said afterwards, which showed North Korea's nuclear forces are at 'full preparedness for actual war' and sent a 'clear warning to the enemies.'
Kim appears to be capitalising on the Ukraine war - which has tied up the UN and its sanctioning body - to carry out tests of weapons that would typically have drawn retaliatory measures.
Though North Korea is not technically forbidden from testing cruise missiles, it has also tested a flurry of ballistic rockets in recent weeks which are forbidden.
Kim is also thought to be gearing up for a banned nuclear test at its underground testing site, which would be its first in five years.
North Korea on Wednesday tested two long-range cruise missiles (left) which Kim Jong Un said demonstrated that his nuclear forces are at 'full preparedness for actual war'
Kim is pictured overseeing the cruise missile test alongside his top officials, applauding with what appears to be a cigarette in his right hand as the weapons hit their targets
Kim said North Korea will 'focus all efforts on the endless and accelerating development of the national nuclear combat armed forces,' KCNA reported Thursday.
Kim made acquiring tactical nukes - smaller, shorter-range weapons designed for battlefield use - a top priority at a key party congress in January 2021.
'The latest test means the North is operating tactical nuclear capability on cruise missiles, which are harder to detect for their low-altitude flight,' Hong Min of the Korea Institute for National Unification told AFP.
'It is a testament to Pyongyang's capability to mount nuclear warheads,' he said, adding that cruise missiles can also have irregular flight paths making them harder to intercept.
Many experts believe Kim's goal is to eventually win US recognition as a legitimate nuclear state and the lifting of said sanctions, though the international community to date has shown no sign of allowing that to happen.
Daily Mail · by Elizabeth Haigh · October 17, 2022
14. South Korea to boost US, Japan defense ties after missiles
The "ties" need to work toward integrated missile defense.
South Korea to boost US, Japan defense ties after missiles
americanmilitarynews.com · by Jon Herskovitz - Bloomberg News · October 16, 2022
South Korea said its military will strengthen security cooperation with the U.S. and Japan, including the deployment of “U.S. strategic assets,” after Kim Jong Un’s North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles Sunday.
The provocations, in violation of United Nations Security Council’s resolutions, will strengthen sanctions against North Korea, worsen public welfare and make the regime “very unstable,” South Korea’s National Security Council said in a statement after an urgent meeting to brief President Yoon Suk Yeol. The missiles were launched from the Munchon area in Kangwon province between 1:48 a.m. and 1:58 a.m., the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in an email.
The missile tests add to 10 launched by North Korea over the past two weeks. The USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier group made a U-turn after one of those missiles flew over Japan. The group returned to waters off the Korean Peninsula and held missile defense exercises with naval forces from Japan and South Korea on Thursday.
The incidents hearken back to the autumn of 2017, when Kim’s regime unleashed its largest barrage of long-range rockets and detonated a nuclear bomb, prompting fresh U.N. sanctions.
The missiles launched Sunday flew about 350 kilometers (217 miles) and reached an altitude of 90 km (56 miles) at top speeds of Mach 5, according to the JCS statement. The South Korean and U.S. military forces will establish a heightened state of readiness, the statement quoted JCS Chairman General Kim Seung-kyum and General Paul LaCamera, commander of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, as saying.
Pyongyang said on Monday that its tactical nuclear unit held training exercises from Sept. 25 to Oct. 9 to verify the country’s deterrence and counterattack capabilities, and to send a severe warning to its enemies.
The North Korean leader presided over the exercises and said that he didn’t see a need to hold talks in the face of military threats, according to the official news agency KCNA.
Kim’s regime on Saturday also criticized the presence of the carrier group as “extremely worrisome,” saying that its armed forces are taking a serious approach toward its deployment.
North Korea has bristled for decades at joint military exercises, calling them a prelude to an invasion. Its latest provocations have been the strongest reaction under Kim to the U.S. bringing nuclear assets into the region.
The carrier group had previously been in the same area in late September at around the time U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited Japan and South Korea. During her visit, which took her to the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas, Harris warned North Korea against raising tensions and called on Kim to return to stalled nuclear disarmament talks.
Unlike with previous launches, his regime has mostly refrained from trumpeting the missiles along with the usual creative vitriol directed at the U.S. and its allies. The North Korean leader himself has been out of the public eye for almost a month, his longest absence in a year.
North Korea on Monday has one of the biggest days on its political calendar when it celebrates the anniversary of the foundation of its ruling Workers’ Party. If Kim doesn’t show up at festivities, speculation is certain to mount about the health of the 38-year-old leader, who’s overweight and a heavy smoker.
The subdued posture suggests North Korea is intent on letting actions speak louder than words as it looks to build a credible nuclear threat. One of the main reasons is that Kim has more reliable partners in China and Russia, which supported sanctions against his regime at the U.N. only five years ago.
Further provocations may be coming with the U.S., Japan and South Korea saying Pyongyang could be ready to conduct its first nuclear test in five years — with the three pledging a stern and united response if there’s a blast.
The tensions will likely add to global anxiety over nuclear saber-rattling as Russian President Vladimir Putin alludes to his atomic arsenal while attempting to bolster his struggling invasion of Ukraine. The U.S.’s push to isolate Russia over the war — coupled with increasing tensions between Washington and Beijing — has allowed Kim to strengthen his nuclear deterrent without fear of new U.N. sanctions.
___
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americanmilitarynews.com · by Jon Herskovitz - Bloomberg News · October 16, 2022
15. BTS members to go to military starting with oldest member Jin
Doing their patriotic duty.
(2nd LD) BTS members to go to military starting with oldest member Jin | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 심선아 · October 17, 2022
(ATTN: UPDATES with possible time of Jin's entry, more details from agency's statement, background info in paras 6-12)
SEOUL, Oct. 17 (Yonhap) -- All members of K-pop supergroup BTS will go to the military to fulfill mandatory service, starting with the oldest member Jin, the band's agency said Monday.
"Jin will revoke his request to delay his conscription at the end of this month and will follow conscription procedures required by the Military Manpower Administration," Big Hit Music said in a public notice to the local bourse. "Other members will fulfill their military duty in turn according to their individual plans."
Jin, born in 1992, had his conscription delayed till the end of this year under the Military Service Act revised in 2020.
In South Korea, all able-bodied men are required to serve in the military for about two years. But the current law allows global award-winning athletes and classical musicians recommended by the minister of culture, sports and tourism to do alternative services in their respective fields instead of serving in active military duty.
Bills that would include globally recognized male pop culture artists, like BTS, in the program are still pending at the National Assembly amid a lingering debate over whether the K-pop giant should get exemptions in recognition of its contribution to improving the country's brand image.
With Monday's decision, the septet will pause working together as a group for the time being.
Jin is expected to enter the military some time after dropping his solo song, as he announced during a concert in the southeastern port city of Busan on Saturday that he will be the second BTS member to make a solo debut, following J-Hope.
But Jin can go within this year at the earliest if he revokes the postponement this month and if there are few people waiting to go to the military, according to officials at the Military Manpower Administration.
"We have so far discussed with the artists about their plans to carry out the military duty," Big Hit Music said. "We have thought a lot about the timing of announcing the decision and judged that now, when the concert to promote Busan's bid to host the 2030 World Expo is over, is the best time," it added.
The agency then expressed hope BTS can be reunited as a full group by 2025, asking for the people's generous understanding of the difficulty in pinpointing the exact time frame.
BTS debuted with the single "2 Cool 4 Skool" in June 2013 and has risen to global fame. It has become the first K-pop act to top the U.S. Billboard's Hot 100 main singles chart and Billboard 200 main albums chart, and now has six songs and albums that hit the top of the charts, respectively.
"BTS will focus on solo projects for a while according to the members' individual plans for fulfilling the military service," the agency said.
sshim@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 심선아 · October 17, 2022
16. Why did BTS decide to fulfill military service?
Excerpts:
During a press conference to mark the release of the group's fourth full-length album in February 2020, Jin said, "I think military service is a duty as a Korean citizen, and I will respond at any time if the country calls."
He made a similar response when asked by a U.S. broadcaster about a year earlier, saying he and his bandmates are ready to run and do their best when are called by the state.
(News Focus) Why did BTS decide to fulfill military service? | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 심선아 · October 17, 2022
SEOUL, Oct. 17 (Yonhap) -- The music industry sees K-pop superstar BTS' abrupt decision Monday to fulfill its members' military duty as being aimed at keeping the group's promise to society and drawing a big picture to become a long-running group.
The band's agency, Big Hit Music, said the septet's oldest member, Jin, will revoke his request to delay his conscription at the end of the month and take required steps to enter the military. The six other members will also join the Army, it added.
Regarding the military service issue, the members of BTS have maintained the position that they will voluntarily go to the military when the time comes.
During a press conference to mark the release of the group's fourth full-length album in February 2020, Jin said, "I think military service is a duty as a Korean citizen, and I will respond at any time if the country calls."
He made a similar response when asked by a U.S. broadcaster about a year earlier, saying he and his bandmates are ready to run and do their best when are called by the state.
Another member, Suga, briefly touched on the topic of the band's military service in "What Do You Think?," a track off his unofficial solo mixtape released in May 2020. The lyrics he wrote for the song go: "Woo woo, we'll be sure to go to the military when it's time, so all the bastards who tried to sell our name to freeload off us, shut up."
The group appears to have suffered from "lack of clarity" over its future path, as the K-pop industry voiced the need to allow globally recognized pop artists to do alternative military service and some lawmakers supported it, regardless of the group's intention to fulfill the duty.
Hybe, the parent company of Big Hit Music, also delivered such an atmosphere among the BTS members during a press conference held in Las Vegas in April this year.
The company urged the National Assembly to come to a decision soon, saying the BTS members are suffering from the lack of clarity, as bills that would grant exemptions from active military duty to globally recognized male pop culture artists, like BTS, were stilling pending at the parliament.
In South Korea, all able-bodied men are required to serve in the military for about two years. But the current law allows global award-winning athletes and classical musicians recommended by the minister of culture, sports and tourism to do alternative services in their respective fields instead of serving in active military duty.
Experts view BTS could have felt much pressure and burden over the situation that their military service became a nationwide issue of debate.
In a public survey of 1,018 adults nationwide by pollster Realmeter, 60.9 percent of the respondents answered that they support the bills calling for including pop artists in the exemption program, whereas 34.3 percent were against them.
Lawmakers remained divided over the issue during a parliamentary audit into government offices dealing with military affairs earlier this month.
However, Jin made the decision to carry out his military duty as he promised, regardless of the ongoing debate. He appears to have judged that the time right after the band's recent concert in the southeastern port city of Busan, which he said was the last BTS concert scheduled for now, would be the best to announce the decision.
Some others say the band has reached the decision as part of its bigger picture to become a long-running group.
During the Busan concert Saturday, Jimin unveiled his desire for making it a long-running group by saying: "There are countless memories that we share with you (Armies). We should go 30 or 40 more years together."
Members probably thought fulfilling military duty as early as possible is the short cut to achieving that goal.
Ranging from Jin, born in 1992, to the youngest member Jungkook, born in 1997, the members of BTS have age gaps of up to five years, so the members can go to the military at all different times and take a while for all members to finish the service.
BTS' decision to fulfill the military service provides its members with a chance to expose their musical talents as solo artists.
The group announced in a YouTube video in June that they will focus on their solo careers rather than formal group activities. The announcement was followed by J-Hope's release of his solo debut album in July.
Jin made a surprise announcement during the Busan concert that he will be the next member to make a solo debut. The remaining members -- RM, Jimin, V, Jungkook and Suga -- are also expected to focus on their individual projects for the time being.
sshim@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 심선아 · October 17, 2022
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Senior Advisor, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
| 
