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Quotes of the Day:
“Knowing how something originated often is the best clue to how it works."
Terrence Deacon
“Self control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power.”
- James Allen
“If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools.”
- Plato
1. S. Korea, U.S., Japan to launch N.K. missile data sharing system next month
2. Top generals of S. Korea, U.S. agree to bolster combined defense posture
3. UN urges member states to end forced repatriation in North
4. Will America Be at War with North Korea in 2025?
5. Did China help build Hamas tunnels?
6. Why California and South Korea Need to Build Joint Soft Power Plus
7. Yoon urged to raise N. Korea rights issues in talks with UK, Dutch leaders
8. Why North Korean defectors issue could derail Seoul-Beijing bridge building
9. The K2 Black Panther: How South Korea Engineered A World-Class War Machine
10. South Korea’s Lessons for Ukraine’s Reconstruction
11. Yoon to attend IPEF summit in San Francisco this week
12. N. Korea chides US over relations with Russia
13. Cornerstone of Korea's independence
1. S. Korea, U.S., Japan to launch N.K. missile data sharing system next month
Excellent step forward. These actions are designed to institutionalize agreements from the Camp David Summit. As an example a five year exercise plan will help to sustain trilateral training even when there might be political ups and downs.
S. Korea, U.S., Japan to launch N.K. missile data sharing system next month | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · November 12, 2023
By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, Nov. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea, the United States and Japan agreed Sunday to launch a real-time missile warning data sharing system next month to better detect and assess North Korea's ballistic missile launches, Seoul's defense ministry said.
The defense chiefs of the three nations reached the agreement during their meeting on the occasion of U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's visit to Seoul for annual bilateral security talks with his South Korean counterpart, Shin Won-sik, slated for Monday. Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara joined the trilateral session via a video link.
"The ministers of the three countries evaluated that preparations for the real-time sharing mechanism, which is aimed at enhancing each country's capabilities of detecting and assessing North Korea's missiles, are currently in the final stage. They have agreed to officially activate the mechanism in December," the ministry said in a release.
(L to R) South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik; Lloyd Austin, U.S. Secretary of Defense; and Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara hold trilateral talks on Nov. 12, 2023, in this photo provided by Seoul's defense ministry. Minoru joined the session in Seoul via a video link. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
The three officials also agreed to outline plans for trilateral military drills by the end of this year to conduct joint training "more systematically and efficiently" beginning in January.
"They also agreed to continuously expand trilateral training into various areas in the future," it said.
The latest agreement comes as the U.S. and its two Asian allies have been striving to strengthen trilateral security cooperation as long-frayed relations between Seoul and Tokyo have significantly warmed up.
Last month, the three nations jointly conducted their first aerial drills and a maritime interdiction exercise near the Korean Peninsula, the first of such in seven years.
During the meeting, the ministers condemned Pyongyang's latest missile and nuclear activities, and pledged to closely cooperate for their shared goal of North Korea's "complete denuclearization" in line with U.N. Security Council resolutions, it said.
North Korea conducted two test-firings of Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles earlier this year and is believed to be preparing to launch its first military spy satellite following failed attempts in May and August.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · November 12, 2023
2. Top generals of S. Korea, U.S. agree to bolster combined defense posture
No, no, no. Another major error by the media. The US does not have wartime OPCON of the ROK/US Combined Forces Command. The ROK/US CFC belongs equally to both countries and answers to both countries national command and military arteries through the Military Committee (which is meeting this week as part of the Security Consultative Meetings. This is the problem we have with tose who argue sovereignty issues. The ROK maintains complete command of all of its forces and choses to provide designated forces, just like the US, to the ROK/US Combined Forces Command for the defense of the ROK. The confusing issue for some is that the commander of the ROK/US CFC is an American. But that does not mean the US has OPCON of Korean forces.
Excerpt:
Seoul retook peacetime operational control of its military in 1994, but Washington has kept wartime operational control.
What I am waiting for is the unveiling of the new military vision for the alliance that has been mentioned. Will it describe the acceptable durable political arrangement that the military must contribute to and support achievement? Namely a free and unified Korea. Or will it erroneously and dangerously only focus on denuclearization?
Top generals of S. Korea, U.S. agree to bolster combined defense posture | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · November 12, 2023
SEOUL, Nov. 12 (Yonhap) -- The top generals of South Korea and the United States on Sunday reaffirmed their commitment to bolstering the allies' combined defense posture as they met in Seoul for their annual meeting, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
JCS Chairman Gen. Kim Seung-kyum and his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., held the annual Military Committee Meeting at the South Korean JCS headquarters in central Seoul, as the allies seek to deepen security cooperation against evolving military threats from North Korea.
"The two leaders shared the importance of developing an ever-stronger mutual defense relationship and affirmed in the strongest words possible their commitment to the combined defense posture under the U.S.-ROK Mutual Defense Treaty," the South's JCS said in an English-language release.
ROK stands for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea. The two countries signed the bedrock alliance document in October 1953.
The two sides discussed North Korea's continued provocations, including missile launches and its nuclear threat, as well as security issues that destabilize peace and security in the region, it said without elaborating.
Brown also reaffirmed the U.S. extended deterrence commitment to using the full-range of its military capabilities, including nuclear weapons, to defend its ally.
South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Kim Seung-kyum (R) makes a salute next to his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, ahead of the Military Committee Meeting at the South Korean JCS' headquarters in central Seoul on Nov. 12, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
During the talks, the two sides also acknowledged the "meaningful" progress made in the conditions-based wartime operational control transition plan from Washington to Seoul, such as the completion of this year's annual bilateral evaluations on capabilities and systems, it said.
Seoul retook peacetime operational control of its military in 1994, but Washington has kept wartime operational control.
The allies agreed in 2014 the South will assume wartime operational control when "critical" South Korean and alliance military capabilities are secured, and the security environment on the Korean Peninsula and in the region is conducive to a stable transition.
The latest meeting marked Brown's first visit to Seoul since taking office last month.
It was also joined by Adm. John C. Aquilino, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and Gen. Paul J. LaCamera, commander of the U.S. Forces Korea, the United Nations Command, and the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command.
On Monday, the allies' defense chiefs will hold their annual Security Consultative Meeting in Seoul, which is expected to discuss a range of security issues, including ways to strengthen Washington's extended deterrence commitment against North Korea's missile and nuclear threats.
South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Kim Seung-kyum (R) and his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, attend a welcoming ceremony for Brown at the South Korean JCS' headquarters in central Seoul on Nov. 12, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · November 12, 2023
3. UN urges member states to end forced repatriation in North
There should be consequences for member states who do not adhere to the UN Charter and the UN Universal DEclaration of Human Rights. (Yes, China, I am talking to you).
Sunday
November 12, 2023
dictionary + A - A
Published: 12 Nov. 2023, 18:45
UN urges member states to end forced repatriation in North
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2023-11-12/national/northKorea/UN-urges-member-states-to-end-forced-repatriation-in-North/1911227
The 77th United Nations General Assembly held in September 2022 in New York City. [AFP/YONHAP]
A United Nations (UN) General Assembly committee voiced deep concerns regarding the “grave human rights situation” in North Korea and the punishment of those repatriated from abroad in its recently unveiled draft resolution.
The resolution, shared by the Third Committee of the United Nations responsible for social, humanitarian and cultural issues last week, comes after Beijing forcibly repatriated North Korean defectors early last month.
It urges all member states to respect the fundamental principle of non-refoulement, particularly “in the light of a resumption of cross-border travel.” North Korea officially opened its borders to its citizens staying abroad on Aug. 27, following a three-year pandemic seal.
The international principle of non-refoulment guarantees that no one be returned to a country where they are at risk of being subjected to torture, cruel treatment or punishment and other irreparable harm, according to the UN Human Rights Council.
The resolution additionally “urges State parties to comply with their obligations under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees [...] in relation to refugees from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea who are covered by those instruments, as well as under the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,” although it does not specify China's recent forced repatriation of North Korean defectors. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the North's official name.
The inclusion of the UN’s Convention against Torture holds significant meaning, according to South Korea’s ambassador to the UN Hwang Joon-kook, as reported by Voice of America.
China is one of the countries that have ratified the convention. One of its clauses states, “No State Party shall expel, return, or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.”
People Power Party Rep. Thae Yong-ho, a North Korean defector-turned-lawmaker, speaks during a press conference held to protest forced repatriations of North Korean defectors at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Oct. 31. [YONHAP]
Thae Yong-ho, a North Korean defector-turned-lawmaker, had called for the resolution to include a clause that stipulates China’s responsibility for the forced repatriation earlier last week. However, the European Union (EU), which sponsors the resolution, did not make such a decision, in an apparent move to adopt the resolution by consensus.
The resolution has been passed by the UN General Assembly for 18 consecutive years and adopted by consensus in the last seven years.
The draft resolution came after South Korean human rights advocacy groups said that China forcibly sent back hundreds of North Korean defectors who were imprisoned in the country.
According to the rights group One Korea Network, China repatriated some 600 North Korean defectors imprisoned within its country early last month. These defectors are believed to have been detained in several border regions between North Korea and China, including Dandong in Liaoning Province, and Hunchun, Tumen, Nanping and Changbai in Jilin Province, according to a statement released by Justice for North Korea, an NGO focused on North Korean human rights.
The South Korean government confirmed the repatriation following the reports but did not verify the numbers. Around 2,000 North Korean defectors are believed to be detained in China. Beijing regards North Koreans entering its country as economic migrants rather than refugees.
If verified, these repatriations would account for the largest number of North Koreans forcibly sent back from China to North Korea since Pyongyang closed its borders during the Covid-19 pandemic.
BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]
4. Will America Be at War with North Korea in 2025?
Will America Be at War with North Korea in 2025?
By January 20, 2025, when Donald John Trump or someone else is sworn in, the United States could be in a hot war with North Korea.
The National Interest · by Gordon G. Chang · November 11, 2023
Donald Trump turned America’s North Korea policy upside down. After a period of strict sanctions enforcement and inflammatory words—“fire and fury,” “locked and loaded”—he reached out to Kim Jong Un. He even became the first sitting American president to step into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
If Trump is elected president next November, will he continue his stunning outreach to the North?
In all probability, the answer is no. In all probability, America’s North Korea policy will be the same regardless who is president.
Why?
When Trump was president, the United States was driving events in North Asia—as well as around the world. Today, a coalition of bad actors, led by China, is doing so.
President Biden’s catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan triggered a rapid collapse of the international system. Since August 2021, China and Russia issued a 5,300-word joint statement declaring their “no-limits” partnership in February of last year; Russia invaded Ukraine 20 days later and China has backed the Russian effort; China and Russia then fueled insurgencies in North Africa that resemble wars; and Iran’s proxies, backed by China, attacked Israel on October 7.
U.S. forces have been repeatedly attacked in Iraq and Syria since the assault on Israel. One American contractor has died; dozens of service personnel have been injured.
In addition, China continues to threaten Taiwan. And despite public warnings that the Biden administration is prepared to use force to defend the Philippines, China’s maritime militia and coast guard commit acts of war at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea as well as engage in provocative actions at Scarborough Shoal.
Nothing is inevitable, but the international system is rapidly falling apart and the trend suggests the planet will soon be engulfed by war. Think 1930s. Then, separate wars and conflicts merged into what we now call the Second World War. The same thing can happen today as conflict spreads, especially in the absence of effective American responses.
China has stood behind attackers Russia and Iran, so it’s possible that, should Xi Jinping attack some neighbor, China’s partners will support its war efforts. For instance, Beijing could use all its considerable leverage on Pyongyang to force it to once again cross the Demilitarized Zone in force, launch terrorist attacks in South Korea, or hurl missiles in the direction of Japan.
Xi, should he choose war, will undoubtedly see that as the final struggle with the United States, which he views as the enemy. After all against America in May 2019. He is not about to let Kim Jong Un remain a bystander in such a critical situation.
Image Credit: White House Flickr.
By January 20, 2025, when Donald John Trump or someone else is sworn in, the United States could be in a hot war with North Korea. Then, there will be no more “love letters” between Washington and Pyongyang.
Gordon G. Chang is the author of Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes On the World and the just-released China Is Going to War. Follow him on X @GordonGChang.
Image Credit: Shutterstock.
The National Interest · by Gordon G. Chang · November 11, 2023
5. Did China help build Hamas tunnels?
Huh? Analysis by Chinese film?
Perhaps observers cannot tell the difference between Chinese and north Korean engineers. Perhaps good IO by Taiwan to try to implicate the Chinese when in fact it has been documented that the nKPA engineers have been providing advice and assistance to terrorist groups in the MIddle East (.e.g, Hezbollah and Hamas).
This Taiwan claim has been making the rounds on social media but I have not found any mainstream media reporting on this. But there are certain factions who would really like this to true while ignoring the reality of what the Kim family regime is actually doing around the world in conflict zones to fment chaos and conflict.
Other tweets and videos at this link: https://weehingthong.org/2023/11/11/did-china-help-build-hamas-tunnels/
Did China help build Hamas tunnels?
weehingthong.org · by weehingthong · November 11, 2023
..
Taiwan media broke the news that the CCP sent its corps of engineers from Egypt into Gaza to help Hamas build the tunnel network. After Israel attacked Gaza, Hamas refused to release the CCP engineers. https://t.co/eOAb7Y0He0 pic.twitter.com/ly36LbUQNA
— Xi Van Fleet (@XVanFleet) November 11, 2023
..
See the English and Chinese language explanation of this film. The Chinese version says this movie is a Chinese military instructional film: https://t.co/slxrUWa5mVhttps://t.co/fYf2fLR4u9 https://t.co/nkCpgxfpb8
— Inconvenient Truths by Jennifer Zeng 曾錚真言 (@jenniferzeng97) November 11, 2023
..
..
weehingthong.org · by weehingthong · November 11, 2023
6. Why California and South Korea Need to Build Joint Soft Power Plus
Graphics and images at the link: https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/11/08/why-california-and-south-korea-need-to-build-joint-soft-power-plus-pub-90939
Excerpts:
Lessons from how California is going to tackle a wide spectrum of challenges can also be applied to South Korea. Marina Gorbis, the executive director of the Institute for the Future, noted in 2022, “The stakes have never been higher. . . . Decisions made in California today will have far-reaching implications for the country and the world.”39 A 2020 study published by the Public Policy Institute of California stressed eleven key issues including climate change, the economy, healthcare, safety net, and water, that will all have increasing relevance for South Korea’s sustainable growth goals and strategies. On climate change alone, California offers insights to South Korea on mitigating challenges such as the growing wildfire risks, worsening native biodiversity, public health threats, water management challenges, and agricultural transformations. For example, the draft California 2030 Natural and Working Lands Climate Change Implementation Plan emphasizes multi-agency coordination to enhance higher returns on investments and could be studied in greater detail by organizations in South Korea, including provincial and local government agencies.
Ultimately, California offers South Korea a Blue Ocean test bed for helping to transform South Korea’s economy to offset mounting, nontraditional threats and challenges. California is also a natural conduit for helping to launch K-content that is becoming increasingly global. Conversely, the South Korean economy also offers California a strong gateway hub to the Western Pacific that houses one of the most advanced economies in Asia. But as the broader U.S.-China competition intensifies and deepens across the military, economic, and technological arenas and South Korea faces the rapid convergence of traditional and nontraditional security threats, cementing stronger partnerships with California will provide critical dividends. And California can depend on South Korea as a key Pacific partner in high-tech innovation and manufacturing, a fast-moving digitalized economy, and an increasingly agile soft power enabler.
Why California and South Korea Need to Build Joint Soft Power Plus
In matters ranging from trade, economy, and climate change to entertainment and education, California and South Korea are uniquely situated for strong collaboration to help both partners adapt to the challenges of the twenty-first century.
carnegieendowment.org · by Chung Min Lee
As the United States and South Korea mark the seventieth anniversary of their alliance in 2023, the countries have the opportunity to rethink optimal strategies that will enable the alliance to thrive well into the 2030s and beyond. One way is by strengthening and deepening a range of ties with key U.S. states such as California. Over the past decade, billions of dollars of South Korean investments in automobiles, semiconductors, and batteries have poured into Texas, Georgia, Alabama, and Michigan—but forging much stronger ties between California and South Korea would maximize each player’s competitive advantages.
For South Korea, California is a natural laboratory for AI collaboration, fighting climate change, technology-driven entertainment, and higher education opportunities. Conversely, California can gain increased leverage as a major Pacific economy by enhancing economic ties with South Korea, bolstering AI-based R&D and production with South Korea’s advanced manufacturing capabilities, and providing greater incentives for South Korean students to pursue higher education at major Californian universities. As the number of Chinese students studying in the United States has dropped sharply over the past several years, ensuring that a greater number of South Koreans continue to study in the United States (including California) will form a crucial talent pool. But at the same time, South Korea has to also contend with a growing science and technology brain drain as more South Koreans seek to study and work abroad, especially in the United States. According to data from South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT,1 the number of South Koreans opting to study or work abroad in the high-tech arena (primarily in the United States) numbered 340,000 from 2012 to 2021.2 Simultaneously, the global AI race is spurring all major economies to significantly boost STEM majors. South Korea is hardly an exception. However, if California, including Silicon Valley, provides incentives to South Korean students or tech workers, both the United States and South Korea will benefit from a high-tech virtuous cycle.
California is home to the largest group of overseas Koreans (in greater Los Angeles) whose history goes back a hundred years. Although Korean immigration to the United States has dropped sharply over the past three decades owing to South Korea’s rapid economic growth, California can become a key conduit for the next jump in bilateral cooperation. Building more resilient supply chains, boosting AI-driven semiconductor R&D, enhancing South Korea’s increasingly global entertainment prowess, and working together on key global threats such as accelerating global warming will not be limited to South Korea and California’s deepening ties. But it can become a force multiplier that both sides must maximize. In many ways, Seoul faces problems from all sides, reminiscent of the blockbuster film . Hence, South Korea has to reimagine, reengineer, and reconstitute its longer-term growth blueprint in an era that is going to be dominated by worsening climate change, massive manpower shortages, and unparalleled geopolitical risks. From such a perspective, as Seoul thinks about revamping and modernizing its alliance with the United States, a deepening South Korean partnership with California—not to mention with other key U.S. states—will provide new opportunities for both the United States and Korea.
Tailoring Seoul’s Globalization Strategy With California
When South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol visited Washington, DC, in April 2023, the two allies announced a Washington Declaration that laid the foundation for a comprehensive security, economic, and technology alliance.3 For the first time, the United States and South Korea also set up a Nuclear Consultative Group to jointly strengthen extended deterrence as North Korea’s nuclear weapons program accelerates. And on August 18, 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden invited Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio for the first stand-alone trilateral summit at Camp David. The three allies stressed a common front across the political, economic, and technology spheres and highlighted the importance of a joint approach to the Indo-Pacific. Their statement read:
We are now cooperating trilaterally on supply chain resilience, particularly on semiconductors and batteries, as well as on technology security and standards, clean energy and energy security, biotechnology, critical minerals, pharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, and scientific research. . . . We will also launch an annual Trilateral Indo-Pacific Dialogue to coordinate implementation of our Indo-Pacific approaches and to continually identify new areas for common action.4
As much as strengthening deterrence and defense capabilities vis-à-vis North Korea and China remain at the core of U.S., South Korean, and Japanese trilateral security cooperation, ensuring U.S.-led economic and technological supremacy with key allies such as Japan and South Korea is going to become even more important in AI-based economies. And although South Korea is the world’s thirteenth-largest economy,5 its competitiveness is going to become increasingly dependent upon cutting-edge R&D and next-generation innovation platforms.
South Korea is a top export destination for California, and California is home to the largest Korean diaspora in the United States.6 South Korea and California have complementary economies and are major innovation laboratories across the economic, trade, technology, energy, entertainment, and healthcare sectors. How California tackles the accelerating impacts of climate change, develops sustainable farming practices and copes with increasing water insecurity, develops new energy platforms, and governs AI-driven technologies cannot but have major implications for economies such as South Korea’s. For California, a key advantage of partnering with South Korea lies in strengthening crucial economic, technological, educational, and entertainment ties as the most powerful Pacific economy in the United States. And for South Korea, enhancing ties with California could also forge common solutions. South Korea not only has one of the world’s most advanced manufacturing capabilities, but it is also one of the most digitalized economies, and its soft power attributes are becoming increasingly attractive. As K-content—such as Korean movies and dramas—becomes more globally recognized, maximizing cooperative ventures with California’s huge entertainment industry will enable K-content to grow in popularity in the United States and throughout the world.
Chung Min Lee
Chung Min Lee is a senior fellow in Carnegie’s Asia Program. He is an expert on Korean and Northeast Asian security, defense, intelligence, and crisis management.
More >
Since the early 2000s, major South Korean companies have continued to increase their investments in the United States. In Alabama, Georgia, and Texas, South Korean conglomerates such as Samsung, Hyundai, Kia, and SK Hynix have invested billions over the last several years. South Korean foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States jumped from $3.1 billion in 2000 to over $72 billion in 2021.7 Most recently, according to official U.S. data, South Korean investments in the United States reached $74.7 billion in 2022.8 (While this is a significant amount, Japanese FDI in the United States in 2022 was nearly tenfold, at $712 billion.9)
But as the United States and South Korea as well as Japan enhance cooperation across critical technological arenas, new opportunities to revamp South Korea’s ties with the United States lie in California. A major reason is the convergence of five key forces: the accelerating and deepening impacts of climate change; more resilient, secure, and friendly global supply chains (especially in the Indo-Pacific); greater investments and innovations in AI-driven R&D, quantum computing, bioengineering, defense and space, and transportation technologies; higher education reforms in the age of AI; and new opportunities to maximize in technology-driven entertainment.
It would have been unimaginable a decade or two ago for a South Korean president to meet with the CEO of a global entertainment company. But in April 2023, Yoon visited Washington and met with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, who announced that Netflix would invest $2.5 billion in K-content over the next four years.10 Sarandos stressed that “Thanks to the Korean creators, their compelling stories, these stories are now at the heart of the global cultural zestiest,” and, according to the South Korean presidential office, out of some 231 million Netflix subscribers worldwide, more than 60 percent in 190 countries watch Korean content.11 In 2021, Squid Game became the most-watched show on Netflix worldwide, and a growing array of Korean movies and dramas are consistently at the top of Netflix’s global hits.12
Although the Korean American population is much smaller than other Asian-Pacific immigrant populations in the United States, some 2 million Korean Americans live in the United States (see figure 1). Forty percent of Korean Americans live in three metropolitan areas: Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, DC. And as of 2019, well over 200,000 Korean Americans were residing in and around Los Angeles.13 According to the Pew Research Center, the Korean population in the United States rose from about 1.28 million in 2000 to a little over 1.9 million in 2019. (The number of Korean immigrants, however, has declined over the last several years, owing to South Korea’s rising living standard.14 The biggest hike in early immigration occurred in the 1970s to early 1990s.) California’s GDP is the fifth-largest in the world, according to the California governor’s office,15 and the state is in many respects America’s gateway to the Pacific. Korean Americans can play an important role in ensuring closer economic, educational, technological, and educational ties between South Korea and California.
Why California and South Korea Are Important Partners
Despite South Korea’s rise as a tech power, it faces very low growth rates, like other advanced, mature economies do. In 2022, for example, South Korea’s GDP grew by 2.6 percent according to S&P’s analysis, and it is slated to grow by 1.6 percent in 2023.16 Compounding anemic growth are two major structural impediments: First, South Korea has the world’s lowest fertility rate of 0.78, significantly lower than the 2.1 fertility rate a country needs to maintain a stable population (without immigration).17 According to the South Korean Bureau of Statistics, which draws on UN population data, if South Korea’s current fertility rate of 0.78 percent is not reversed (as is likely), its population is likely to fall from 52 million in 2023 to about 49 million by 2040, although estimates can vary widely depending on data projections. Even more worrisome, however, is the share of South Koreans over the age of sixty-five: the figure was 10.8 percent in 2010 but rose to 17.5 percent in 2022. According to Statistics Korea, senior citizens (those over sixty-five) will comprise 30 percent of the population in 2036 and 40 percent by 2051.18
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), South Korea’s social spending as a percentage of GDP was 14.8 percent, compared to the OECD average of 21.1 percent.19 This figure is bound to grow since Korea is going to become the OECD’s most aged society in the 2030s and beyond. According to the Korea Economic Research Institute, South Korea is projected to spend some 20.4 percent of GDP on welfare expenditures by 2040 and 31.4 percent in 2050.20 Given that South Korea continues to face significant military threats from North Korea (and increasingly, from China), Seoul cannot afford to decrease defense spending even as its social welfare spending continues to rise.
Like Japan, South Korea imports nearly 98 percent of its oil and natural gas and is heavily dependent upon a global web of supply chains.21 Moreover, South Korea lies at the epicenter of worsening U.S.-China political, economic, military, and technological competition. One way that South Korea can adroitly navigate growing tensions between the United States and China is by strengthening R&D networks with the United States. South Korea’s economic success was driven in large part by its decision to become a very agile and capable fast follower. South Korea should become a niche leader in the global economy with tailored cooperation with the United States, Japan, and key EU economies. As one of the world’s most advanced digital economies, South Korea is already a laboratory for emerging technologies, as is California as it copes with mounting nontraditional threats such as climate change and water security. In more ways than one, California, like South Korea, is a primary laboratory for the Fourth and emerging Fifth Industrial Revolution.
In October 2022, California was poised to overtake Germany as the world’s fourth-largest economy with an estimated GDP of $3.3 trillion.22 California outperforms the United States and the world in renewable energy. In key areas of future growth such as electric vehicles (EVs), remote healthcare, mitigating climate change, and enhancing food security, California also stands out. For South Korea, California offers a template on maximizing innovation. Bloomberg notes that in California in 2022 there were 379 companies that reached a market value of at least $1 billion and that California is a leader in technology hardware, media, and software—three key areas that are near and dear to South Korea’s own high-tech sectors and growing soft power. At the same time, California took a global lead in controlling greenhouse gas emissions by implementing stringent gas emission standards from the early 1970s. As a result, California’s emissions peaked in 2004 and have been decreasing since. The transportation sector accounted for 40 percent of California’s greenhouse gas emissions.23 While California has been successful in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, growing wildfires could reverse such gains.24
There are, of course, other states where South Korean companies have made huge investments. In July 2022, Samsung floated investing $200 billion to build eleven more chip plants in Texas over the next two decades. This is on top of the $17 billion chip plant it is already building in the state.25 South Korea’s second-largest chipmaking company SK Hynix announced also in July 2022 that it was going to invest an additional $22 billion including in semiconductors, clean energy solutions, and life sciences through the rest of the decade.26 Hyundai Motor Company, South Korea’s largest automobile manufacturer and the world’s third largest, announced in May 2022 that it was going to invest an additional $5 billion to build a new EV plant in Georgia and also provide $3 billion for research and development.27 When the Biden administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August 2022, South Korea was concerned that its companies could face discriminatory actions. However, in October 2023, the New York Times reported that South Korea’s major semiconductor manufacturers such as Samsung and SK Hynix “secured waivers from U.S. government rules that threatened to limit their business in China.”28 Moreover, a July 2023 paper from the Peterson Institute for International Economics noted that South Korean firms were likely to “gain tremendously from the increased take-up of EVs in the US market and the tax credits available in the IRA,” given their early moves to open factories in the United States.29
Table 1: Top California Export Destinations (in $U.S. Billions) Partners 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 World $178.2 $173.8 $155.9 $174.0 $186.2 Mexico $30.8 $27.9 $24.1 $27.2 $30.8 China (including Hong Kong) $26.2 $24.3 $21.3 $23.4 $23.7 Canada $17.7 $16.7 $16.0 $18.1 $20.6 Japan $13.0 $11.9 $10.6 $11.8 $11.6 South Korea $9.9 $9.2 $9.8 $11.6 $11.5 Taiwan $6.8 $7.2 $7.4 $8.9 $10.4 Netherlands $6.4 $6.4 $5.7 $6.1 $6.5 Germany $6.6 $6.4 $6.5 $7.6 $6.3 India $6.1 $5.6 $4.9 $6.7 $6.0
Source: CalChamber Advocacy, "Trading Partner Portal: South Korea," November 6, 2020, https://advocacy.calchamber.com/international/portals/south-korea/
South Korea is California’s fifth-largest export destination with a total of around $11 billion in 2021 (see table 1).30 It is noteworthy that California accounts for nearly 16 percent of total U.S. exports to South Korea. In 2022, California exported more than $11.5 billion to South Korea, while imports from South Korea to California totaled $31 billion, led by computer and consumer electronic and transportation equipment.31
Some 34 percent of California’s global trade was with Indo-Pacific countries (see table 2). While Mexico and Canada are two of California’s top export destinations and China is its largest Asian exporting partner, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan comprised a total of $33.5 billion—a little over half (53 percent) of California’s total exports to Asian economies. Hence, even without China (including Hong Kong), Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan—Asia’s most advanced economies and also leading democracies—assume a significant position in California’s own globalization strategy. Table 2 presents an interesting profile of the California–South Korea relationship according to data compiled by the East-West Center.
Table 2: California and South Korea at a Glance Trade and Investment Jobs Goods Exports Service Exports Directly Supported by Exports Indirectly Supported $11.5 billion $4.3 billion 42,600 35,200 Total Exports Greenfield Investment since 2003 Created by Investment $15.8 billion $3.4 billion 9,300 Educational Exchange People-to-People Connections Number of Students Economic Impact Visitor Spending Population 6,400 $231,900 $436 million $231,900
Source: “Korea Matters for America Matters for Korea: California and Korea at a Glance,” East-West Center, https://asiamattersforamerica.org/korea/data.
Note: Greenfield investment refers to a form of foreign direct investment when a company establishes a subsidiary in another country.
California–South Korea Cooperation in the Age of AI: Building Soft Power Plus
While many factors contributed to South Korea’s economic rise over the past half century, the most important element was the government’s decision for export-driven growth starting in the early 1960s. According to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity, in 2021 South Korea was the world’s fifth-largest exporter ($653 billion) and ninth in imports ($578 billion).32 It also ranks as the world’s fourth most complex economy based on the Economic Complexity Index.
Because of its export-driven growth strategy, South Korea has no choice but to compete with the world’s most innovative and powerful economies. But Seoul’s globalization strategy is affected immensely by key national security threats such as North Korea’s accelerating nuclear weapons capabilities and China’s increasingly aggressive military posture in the Western Pacific region. Seoul lies at the epicenter of worsening and deepening U.S.-China strategic competition. Nearly 25 percent of South Korea’s exports are destined for China, although the number has continued to drop.33 But even as Seoul tries to diversify its export destinations (such as by growing investments in Southeast Asia and India), it is virtually impossible to decouple itself from China. Nevertheless, as China ramps up its own high-tech R&D in the face of growing U.S.-led technology sanctions, South Korea’s own technological R&D ecosystem is going to come under increasing pressure from Chinese products. Unless South Korea moves up the high-tech value chain while also coping with immense challenges such as severe manpower shortages and lower economic growth, South Korea will not be able to boost its global competitiveness. Ensuring that South Korea continues to have an edge in advanced manufacturing capabilities is essential. But so too is Seoul’s ability to become a leading soft power generator and innovator. Measuring power is more art than science, and all power indices are inaccurate and incomplete. None really capture hard, soft, or hybrid power. Yet they do allow some level of comparative assessments. Table 3 provides a bird’s-eye view of South Korea’s overall power rankings in 2021–2023.
Table 3: K-Power Rankings in 2021–2023 GDP Military Strength Trade Soft Power Branding K-pop Economic Impact $1.67 trillion $1.2 trillion 15th in world $1.1 billion 13 in world 6 in world 5th largest
exporter in world Innovation Ranking Granted Patents Global Health Population Ranking 6 in world 156,972 ( 4 in the world) 9 out of 195 51 million
(29 in world)
Sources: Yoon Young-sil, “South Korea Slides by 3 Notches in World GDP Rankings,” Business Korea, July 13, 2023, https://www.businesskorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=118345; “2023 South Korea Military Strength,” Global Firepower, https://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.php?country_id=south-korea; “South Korea,” Observatory of Economic Complexity, https://oec.world/en/profile/country/kor; “Global Soft Power Index 2023,” Brand Finance, https://brandirectory.com/softpower/chart?region=1&x=1&y=2&z=9999, “Behind Talk: K contensooga Saraya hankuk gyeongjaega salananda,” (Behind Talk: South Korea’s Economy Will Thrive if K-Content Thrives,” CJ ENM, August 16, 2023, https://www.cjenm.com/ko/news/behind-talk-k%EC%BD%98%ED%85%90%EC%B8%A0%EA%B0%80-%EC%82%B4%EC%95%84%EC%95%BC-%ED%95%9C%EA%B5%AD-%EA%B2%BD%EC%A0%9C%EA%B0%80-%EC%82%B4%EC%95%84%EB%82%9C%EB%8B%A4, Gilbert Fontana, “Which Countries Are the Most Innovative?,” World Economic Forum, WIPO Global Innovation Index, January 3, 2023, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/01/worlds-most-innovative-countries-economy, Jacqueline Tangorra, “Which Countries Are Granted Most New Patents?,” Visual Capitalist, April 23, 2023, https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/countries-new-patents, “2021 Global Health Security Index,” GHS Index, https://www.ghsindex.org; “Countries in the World by Population (2023),” Worldometer, updated July 16, 2023, https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/population-by-country.
At a glance, South Korea’s “power picture” looks quite positive: it is one of the world’s leading trading powers and has significant military capabilities, growing soft power attractiveness, and one of Asia’s most vibrant liberal democracies. But as noted above, South Korea has the world’s lowest fertility rate and the fastest-aging society. The double-digit economic growth that propelled the South Korean economy from the late 1960s to the early 1990s has been replaced by anemic growth rates of 1–2 percent in the 2020s. Without becoming a niche technology leader, incubating solutions in the rapidly changing global economy of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, building more resilient and risk-mitigating global supply chains, and establishing labor union reforms, South Korean power is likely to peak sooner than later. South Korea needs “innovative disrupters” that emphasize a greater balance between its dominant industrial giants and startups.34 Importantly, as one of the world’s largest and most innovative economies, California can become an innovation stimulus in three main areas: (1) AI-driven networks and platforms across virtually all areas including quantum computing, robotics, mobility, and defense industries; (2) green growth and sustainable energy, food and water security, smart grids, and hydrogen-powered vehicles; and (3) biotechnology and health, with a special emphasis on AI-driven pharmaceutical industries, online and meta-based healthcare, and machine-assisted health care for a rapidly aging society. Beyond these areas, California and South Korea can also collaborate in technology and new content-based entertainment, R&D clusters in Silicon Valley, and reformatting higher education in the age of AI, with key dividends to both economies.
California can also benefit by deepening its ties with the South Korean economy. As the number of Chinese students at U.S. universities has dropped dramatically due to the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic and spiraling U.S.-China tensions, California can provide greater incentives to attract South Korean students.35 In 2021–2022, according to the Institute of International Education, 40,755 South Korean students studied in the United States, the third-largest contingent after students from China and India.36And Californian institutions have always been a magnet for South Koreans studying in the United States. California can also benefit by increasing its agricultural exports to South Korea, collaborating on developing the next generation of smart companies, increasing investments in entertainment commensurate with the growing popularity of K-content, and jointly reconfiguring mobility technologies such as hydrogen-powered trucks and cars, as well as greener urban redesign, an area where South Korea is becoming a leader. South Korea is planning to make major investments in the healthcare industry (where California is a leader), particularly in digital healthcare, including the building of eighteen “smart hospitals” by 2025; furthermore, the AI-based healthcare market in South Korea is projected to reach $2.1 billion.37 In November 2022, UC Davis announced a partnership with General Catalyst, which is one of the largest venture capital firms in the United States, and stressed the importance of driving “AI and digital health innovations in . . . health care delivery, research, education and public service,” which also happen to be the same areas that South Korea’s healthcare policy and investments are focusing on.38
Lessons from how California is going to tackle a wide spectrum of challenges can also be applied to South Korea. Marina Gorbis, the executive director of the Institute for the Future, noted in 2022, “The stakes have never been higher. . . . Decisions made in California today will have far-reaching implications for the country and the world.”39 A 2020 study published by the Public Policy Institute of California stressed eleven key issues including climate change, the economy, healthcare, safety net, and water, that will all have increasing relevance for South Korea’s sustainable growth goals and strategies. On climate change alone, California offers insights to South Korea on mitigating challenges such as the growing wildfire risks, worsening native biodiversity, public health threats, water management challenges, and agricultural transformations. For example, the draft California 2030 Natural and Working Lands Climate Change Implementation Plan emphasizes multi-agency coordination to enhance higher returns on investments and could be studied in greater detail by organizations in South Korea, including provincial and local government agencies.
Ultimately, California offers South Korea a Blue Ocean test bed for helping to transform South Korea’s economy to offset mounting, nontraditional threats and challenges. California is also a natural conduit for helping to launch K-content that is becoming increasingly global. Conversely, the South Korean economy also offers California a strong gateway hub to the Western Pacific that houses one of the most advanced economies in Asia. But as the broader U.S.-China competition intensifies and deepens across the military, economic, and technological arenas and South Korea faces the rapid convergence of traditional and nontraditional security threats, cementing stronger partnerships with California will provide critical dividends. And California can depend on South Korea as a key Pacific partner in high-tech innovation and manufacturing, a fast-moving digitalized economy, and an increasingly agile soft power enabler.
Notes
1 ICT refers to information and communications technology.
2 Kim Won-tae, “10nyeon-gan haewae yuchulegognggae injae 34manmyeong (dunweyuchul shimgak), egongge baksa 4myeong joong 1myeong haewaechweeop seonho” (340,000 STEM experts moved overseas over 10 years and a very serious brain drain; one out of four STEM PhDs want to work abroad,” Daehan News, October 24, 2022, http://www.dhns.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=294430.
3 Washington Declaration, The White House, April 26, 2023, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/04/26/washington-declaration-2.
4 “The Spirit of Camp David: Joint Statement of Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United States,” White House, August 18, 2023, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/08/18/the-spirit-of-camp-david-joint-statement-of-japan-the-republic-of-korea-and-the-united-states/
5 “The 20 Countries With the Largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2022,” Statista, accessed October 26, 2023, https://www.statista.com/statistics/268173/countries-with-the-largest-gross-domestic-product-gdp.
6 CalChamber Advocacy, “Trading Partner Portal: South Korea,” November 6, 2020, https://advocacy.calchamber.com/international/portals/south-korea; and “Korean American Population by State,” Korea Matters for America, America Matters for Korea, 2021, https://asiamattersforamerica.org/korea/data/population.
7 “Foreign Direct Investment From South Korea Into the United States From 2000 to 2021,” Statista, July 31, 2023, FDI from South Korea into the U.S. 2021, Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1398765/foreign-direct-investment-south-korea-us.
8 “South Korea, International Trade and Investment Country Facts,” Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce, August 2023, http://apps.bea.gov/international/factsheet/factsheet.html#626.
9 “Japan, International Trade and Investment Country Facts,” Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce, August 2023, https://apps.bea.gov/international/factsheet/factsheet.html#614.
10 “Netflix Announces Plans to Invest $2.5 Billion in K-content in Meeting with Yoon,” Korea JoongAng Daily, April 25, 2023, https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/04/25/national/diplomacy/Korea-Netflix-Kcontent/20230425073902638.html.
11 “Netflix Announces Plans to Invest $2.5 Billion in K-content in Meeting with Yoon,” Korea JoongAng Daily.
12 Paul Tassi, “‘Squid Game’ Is Now Netflix’s Most Popular Show Ever, And It’s Not Even Close,” Forbes, October 13, 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2021/10/13/squid-game-is-now-netflixs-most-popular-show-ever-and-its-not-even-close/?sh=58a366936c42.
13 Cecilia Esterline and Jeanne Batalova, “Korean Immigrants in the United States,” Migration Policy Institute, April 14, 2022, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/korean-immigrants-united-states.
14 Esterline and Batalova, “Korean Immigrants in the United States.”
15 “ICYMI: California Poised to Become World's 4th Biggest Economy,” Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, October 24, 2022, https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/10/24/icymi-california-poised-to-become-worlds-4th-biggest-economy.
16 Rajiv Biswas, “South Korea Resumes Positive GDP Growth in Early 2023,” S&P Global Market Intelligence, May 3, 2023, https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/mi/research-analysis/south-korea-resumes-positive-gdp-growth-in-early-2023-may23.html#:~:text=South%20Korean%20GDP%20growth%20is,by%20S%26P%20Global%20Market%20Intelligence.
17 Ashley Ahn, “South Korea Has the World’s Lowest Fertility Rate, a Struggle With Lessons for Us All,” NPR, March 19, 2023, https://www.npr.org/2023/03/19/1163341684/south-korea-fertility-rate.
18 Troy Stangarone, “South Korea’s Demographic Trends Continue to Decline,” The Diplomat, August 9, 2022, https://thediplomat.com/2022/08/south-koreas-demographic-trends-continue-to-decline.
19 “Social Spending (Korea),” OECD, 2019, https://data.oecd.org/socialexp/social-spending.htm.
20 “South Korea to be Tops in Welfare Spending by 2040,” The Korea Bizwire, September 6, 2017, http://koreabizwire.com/south-korea-to-be-top-welfare-spending-by-2040/94299.
21 “South Korea,” U.S. Energy Information Administration, April 13, 2023, https://www.eia.gov/international/analysis/country/KOR.
22 Matthew A. Winkler, “California Poised to Overtake Germany as World’s No. 4 Economy,” Bloomberg, October 24. 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-10-24/california-poised-to-overtake-germany-as-world-s-no-4-economy.
23Indicators of Climate Change in California, fourth edition, (Sacramento, CA: California Environmental Protection Agency, November 2022), i–4, https://oehha.ca.gov/media/downloads/climate-change/document/2022caindicatorsreport.pdf.
24 Haley Smith, “Climate Change Is Rapidly Accelerating in California, State Report Says,” Los Angeles Times, November 1, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-11-01/climate-change-rapidly-accelerating-in-california.
25 Won Jaeyeon, “Samsung Weights Building 11 More Chip Plants in the U.S. Over Next Two Decades,” Yonhap News Agency, July 22, 2022, https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20220722002900320.
26 “SK Announces $22 Billion in New Investments in the U.S. in Semiconductors, Clean Energy, and Bioscience,” SK Public Policy, July 29, 2022, https://eng.sk.com/news/sk-announces-22-billion-in-new-investments-in-the-u-s-in-semiconductors-clean-energy-and-bioscience.
27 Iulian Dnistran, “Hyundai to Invest $8.5 billion in EV Development, US Factory,” InsideEVs, January 27, 2023, https://insideevs.com/news/633833/hyundai-investment-in-evs-and-american-factory.
28 John Liu, “South Korean Chip Makers Get U.S. Waivers From China Export Rules,” New York Times, October 9, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/09/business/samsung-sk-hynix-us-chip-export-controls.html.
29 Chad P. Brown, “How the United States Solved South Korea’s Problems With Electric Vehicle Subsidies Under the Inflation Reduction Act,” Working Paper 23-6, Peterson Institute for International Economics, July 2023, p. 20., https://www.piie.com/sites/default/files/2023-07/wp23-6.pdf.
30 CalChamber Advocacy, “Trading Partner Portal: South Korea.”.
31 CalChamber Advocacy, “Trading Partner Portal: South Korea.”
32 “South Korea,” Observatory of Economic Complexity, 2021, https://oec.world/en/profile/country/kor.
33 “South Korea,” Observatory of Economic Complexity.
34 Saemoon Yoon, “This Is How South Korea Can Become a Global Innovation Hub,” World Economic Forum, January 21, 2022, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/01/startups-in-south-korea-are-thriving-this-is-why.
35 Minlu Zhang, "Chinese Students Turning Backs on United States," China Daily, July 3, 2023, https://epaper.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202307/03/WS64a1f7d8a3109411cfdc8956.html.
36“2022 Fast Facts,” Open Doors, Institute of International Education, https://opendoorsdata.org/annual-release/international-students/#related-data.
37 Ruslan Tusunov, “South Korea: Big Opportunities for Digital Health Firms,” Intralink, April 5, 2022, http://www.intralinkgroup.com/en-GB/Latest/Blog/April-2022/South-Korea-big-prospects-for-digital-health.
38 Sai Balasubramanian, “Venture Capital Firms Are Partnering With Healthcre Organizations to Improve Digital Health,” Forbes, November 28, 2022, https://www.forbes.com/sites/saibala/2022/11/28/venture-capital-firms-are-partnering-with-healthcare-organizations-to-improve-digital-health/?sh=332ec95675e8.
39 Dan Walters, “What Should California’s Future Look Like?,” Cal Matters, July 17, 2022, https://calmatters.org/commentary/2022/07/multiple-scenarios-suggested-for-californias-future.
carnegieendowment.org · by Chung Min Lee
7. Yoon urged to raise N. Korea rights issues in talks with UK, Dutch leaders
The free world must be united against both north Korea and CHinese crimes against humanity.
Yoon urged to raise N. Korea rights issues in talks with UK, Dutch leaders
The Korea Times · November 12, 2023
President Yoon Suk Yeol and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak shake hands during a Group of Seven summit held at Grand Prince Hotel Hiroshima in Hiroshima, Japan, May 20. Newsis
Families of detainees, deportation victims join calls ahead of president’s overseas trip
By Jung Min-ho
The families of the victims of North Korea’s brutal human rights abuses have joined activists to call on President Yoon Suk Yeol to raise rights issues in upcoming summits with his British and Dutch counterparts, saying consistent messaging is important in bringing about actual change.
Ahead of his state visit to London later this month as well as Amsterdam and The Hague next month, Kim Jung-sam, whose brother Kim Jung-wook has been held in North Korea since 2013, and Kim Kyu-li, sister of Kim Cheol-ok who was deported by China to the North last month, sent Yoon a joint letter written with nine rights groups, a participating activist told The Korea Times on Sunday.
“We ask that you (Yoon) publicly urge the resolution of the issues of South Korean prisoners of war (POWs), abductees and detainees in North Korea and reform of China’s policy and practice of forcible repatriation of North Korean refugees in the keynote address during the state visits to the United Kingdom on Nov. 20 to 23 and to the Netherlands on Dec. 12 to 13,” they said in a statement.
Since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, the regime has refused to send back an estimated 50,000 South Korean POWs and 100,000 civilian abductees in apparent violation of the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement as well as the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
Even after the armed conflict, more than 500 South Koreans have been abducted by North Korea, including three Christian missionaries and three North Korean escapees with South Korean citizenship in the past 10 years, according to government data.
Rights groups praised Yoon when the president and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts ― Joe Biden and Fumio Kishida ― declared, for the first time, their shared commitment to resolving the issues of abductees, detainees and POWs in North Korea during a three-way summit at Camp David in August.
“However, it is important to maintain consistent messaging on these issues,” they said.
“We urge you to continue discussing these issues and to lead the international diplomatic efforts afterward to resolve immediately all issues related to all POWs, abductees and detainees, in particular the realization of their immediate return and accountability.”
President Yoon Suk Yeol shakes hands with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at a restaurant in Vilnius, Lithuania, July 11. Newsis
Beijing’s deportation of hundreds of North Korean escapees should also be discussed when Yoon meets with political leaders in Britain and the Netherlands, the groups said.
“It was reported that China repatriated at least 500 North Korean detainees on the night of Oct. 9, the day after the closing of the Hangzhou Asian Games,” they noted.
“We ask you to discuss and condemn China’s forcible repatriation of North Korean escapees, urge China to respect the principle of non-refoulement and establish the refugee status determination system and call upon the international community, including the United Nations, to pay greater attention to the issue.”
Beijing has treated North Koreans crossing the border as illegal migrants, claiming it has the right to send them back. Rights experts say such repatriations of escapees ― for whatever excuse China makes ― are clear violations of multiple U.N. treaties, including the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which China promised to respect as a participating party.
The Korea Times · November 12, 2023
8. Why North Korean defectors issue could derail Seoul-Beijing bridge building
This would be a mistake. Do not sacrifice human rights for the illusion of possibly good relations with China (or anyone). To do so means a victory for China's (or anyone else's) political warfare strategy. Human rights are not only a moral imperative, they are a national security issue as well. No one can get pass for complicity in crimes against humanity. And the sad irony is that by giving them a pass it will only embolden them and will not achieve the effects we desire, namely better relations. We must understand the nature, objectives, and strategies of our adversaries.
Why North Korean defectors issue could derail Seoul-Beijing bridge building
- The South Korean government under Yoon Suk-yeol has zeroed in on the reported forced repatriation of North Korean defectors by China
- The human rights issue could become a roadblock in recent attempts to restore high-level talks between Seoul and Beijing
Seong Hyeon Choi
+ FOLLOWPublished: 10:00am, 12 Nov, 2023
By Seong Hyeon Choi South China Morning Post4 min
November 11, 2023
On Monday, South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho called on China to allow North Korean defectors to choose the country they wish to travel to, and to protect their human rights, during an event co-hosted by the ministry and Washington-based think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
“I strongly urge the Chinese government for its coordination so that North Korean defectors in China can be protected of their human rights based on the international norm and be able to travel to the country that they desire,” Kim said in remarks read out by an aide during the keynote speech of the event.
South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho has called on China to allow North Korean defectors to travel to whatever country they wish to. Photo: NurPhoto via Getty Images
South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin also said after a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday that Seoul and Washington were “deeply concerned” about the forced repatriation of the North Korean defectors and pledged to strengthen international cooperation in a bid to improve human rights in North Korea.
Elizabeth Salmon, UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea, estimated in an October report that more than 2,000 people from North Korea, around 70 per cent of whom were women, were being detained in China as illegal immigrants.
The Ministry of Unification said it could not confirm the exact number of deported North Koreans, but forced repatriation against free will was a breach of the international norm, and it had “sternly raised” the issue with China.
The Chinese foreign ministry, however, rejected Seoul’s accusation of forced repatriation of North Korean civilians, stressing that Beijing had always handled the issue according to law and there were no “so-called defectors”.
Kang Jun-young, professor of Chinese studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, said that while the North Korean defector issue went back 30 years, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration had emphasised it in its approach to China since taking office in 2022, a move that could become a major sticking point in future China-South Korea talks.
He added the defector issue was difficult to resolve because of the difference between the two countries’ positions: while South Korea demands that North Korean defectors be recognised as refugees, China claims that they are illegal immigrants.
“South Korea’s position is that China is a signatory to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and United Nations Convention against Torture, so at least refugee status screening should be conducted first,” Kang said.
It is estimated that around 2,000 people from North Korea are being detained as illegal immigrants in China. Pictured are some North Korean refugees helped by a human rights group in 2019. Photo: Reuters
The row comes as Beijing seeks high-level talks with Seoul. During a meeting on the sidelines of the Asian Games in Hangzhou last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping told South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo that he would “seriously” consider visiting the country for the first time since 2014, according to a Korean statement.
Ramon Pacheco Pardo, an international relations professor specialising in North Korea at King’s College London, said Seoul could be focusing more on North Korean human rights in its relations with Beijing because it was not a priority for the administration of Yoon’s predecessor, Moon Jae-in.
“From the perception of the current government, the previous government focused too much on the engagement component of the policy. I think that drives the [current administration’s] focus on human rights and the perception that this is the right thing to do,” Pacheco Pardo said.
“I think it also has to do with this idea that the government says that global politics should involve values as part of the policy, in general, not only when it comes to North Korea, but also when it comes to China.”
Pacheco Pardo said that while the forced repatriation issue would not be the core problem in the ties between Seoul and Beijing, it would add another layer of uncertainty and disagreement between the two countries that could prevent better bilateral relations.
“I think that’s something that we have to consider that adds to the many issues on which the two countries have disagreements, [such as] the South China Sea and the East China Sea,” he said.
“This prevents better cooperation and better relations between the two of them. So the issues on which both countries have problems keep piling up.”
Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, said he believed the number of North Korean detainees had been increasing due to the border lockdown, and Beijing could be sending then back now to try to improve ties with Pyongyang.
“What is important here is whether or not the repatriation will continue to occur in the future. The Chinese government has been actively adjusting the repatriation depending on the political situation,” Park said.
“Political considerations mean that the Chinese government is considerate of North Korea. Because it is Pyongyang that always wants North Korean defectors back, it can be seen as meeting the North Korean government’s request and need.”
9. The K2 Black Panther: How South Korea Engineered A World-Class War Machine
A key weapons system in the Arsenal of Democracy.
The K2 Black Panther: How South Korea Engineered A World-Class War Machine - SlashGear
slashgear.com · by Garrett Ettinger · November 12, 2023
Technology
The K2 Black Panther: How South Korea Engineered A World-Class War Machine
Bloomberg/Getty
By /Nov. 12, 2023 5:15 am EST
In 1953, after roughly three years of war between North and South Korea, an armistice was finally signed to end hostilities between the two now-separate nations. Establishing a Demilitarized Zone, widely known as the DMZ, this divide on the peninsula of Korea acted as a symbolic and physical border between the countries and their governments. The Korean Armistice Agreement also catalyzed the Republic of Korea (ROK) to begin manufacturing weapons and military vehicles to compete with a vast North Korean military stockpile.
In an effort to win this arms race, the Republic of Korea Armed Forces began developing a new, heavily armored vehicle. With tensions remaining high to this day, this somewhat surprisingly led the relatively small country to eventually develop some of the most sophisticated military technology in the world. This would all culminate when Korea started rolling out the most expensive and arguably the most effective modern military tank in the world, the K2 Black Panther manufactured by Hyundai Rotem.
According to the latest estimates from the Council of Foreign Relations, North Korea, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), possesses over 4,000 tanks and 2,500 armored vehicles, making the K2 Black Panther a critical lynchpin in South Korea's defense. However, the K2 is also making waves globally, as other countries have also placed purchase orders for the highly sophisticated armored vehicle.
The United States Abrams inspired the K2 Black Panther's predecessor
서울신문 TheSeoulShinmun/YouTube
By the 1970s, North Korea had already deployed the T-62, a Soviet tank with a powerful 115-millimeter main cannon. This armored vehicle outclassed South Korea's M-48, which only had a 90-millimeter gun. As a result of this shortcoming, the country began developing the K1 88-Tank in conjunction with General Dynamics Land Systems, which possessed a 105-millimeter gun, the same as the original Abrams. Though formidable in its own right, the tank overall was smaller, leading American troops to nickname it the "baby Abrams."
While the K1 did outclass North Korean tanks in every way, this first iteration wouldn't be perfect, as most of the parts had to be sourced from outside Korea. This reliance on foreign parts led to the desire to create a domestic tank that sourced parts from other Korean factories. This journey would start in 1995, as engineers set out to reverse-engineer the technology from the best tanks worldwide.
The work started with the German Rheinmetall 120-millimeter L55 gun with its innovative firing mechanics and the fire control system from France's Leclerc. Korean engineers would also reverse-engineer Germany's MTU-890 V12 diesel engine.
Research and development enabled South Korea to integrate cutting-edge global military technologies into the K2 Black Panther, and the time spent reverse-engineering erased the country's reliance on imported parts. Research and development for the K2 ended in 2006, with the first tanks being deployed by the ROK in 2014.
The K2 Black Panther is one of the most advanced tanks in the world
7th Corps Military/YouTube
Though other modern tanks, like the German Leopard 2A7+ and American M1A2 SEP Abrams, are also highly advanced with sophisticated onboard technology, the Hyundai Rotem K2 Black Panther is among the most effective and advanced tanks in the world. The K2 has a 120-millimeter L/55 smoothbore gun with an autoloader that enables it to fire 10 rounds per minute.
The tank also comes equipped with secondary fire in the form of 12.7 and 7.62-millimeter machine guns and KSTAM-II smart ammunition that can auto-target vulnerabilities in enemy armor. However, it's not just the tank's armaments that make it so impressive. Notably, to accommodate the swampy marshes of South Korea, the K2 Black Panther is capable of fording up to 13 feet in water. To do this, the K2 comes with a snorkel kit, and its turret creates a water-tight seal.
The K2 Black Panther has other advanced features
Korea Defense Blog/YouTube
The K2 Black Panther is among the fastest tanks in the world, equipped with a Tognum MT 833 diesel engine that can reach maximum speeds of 43 miles per hour on paved streets and a little over 30 miles per hour offroad, comparable to America's Abrams tanks. The K2 also has a hydropneumatic suspension that enables it to raise or lower to accommodate different types of terrain.
The K2 Black Panther is protected by Composite Armor and Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA) and a sophisticated nuclear, biological, and chemical defense system. It also comes equipped with an anti-tank rocket, missile defense, and an identification friend or foe (IFF) system inside the hull. With auto tracking with thermal imaging, GPS, and complete panoramic sight, the features of the advanced tank help keep the three-person crew secure while providing its operators with the latest combat technology.
South Korean manufacturing power makes the K2 a desirable option
Korea Defense Blog/YouTube
Even though the K2 Black Panther is the most expensive tank in the world — costing a staggering $8.5 million per tank — it hasn't stopped other countries from placing large purchase orders for the advanced military vehicle.
At the end of 2022, 180 Hyundai K2 Black Panthers were delivered to Poland, with 820 tanks to be manufactured in Poland starting in 2025 or 2026. This has raised some concerns in European military circles, as the German Leopard 2 has typically been the choice for the country, though it has also purchased American M1 Abrams tanks in the past.
The main advantage that the K2 Black Panther has over other tanks is the rapid pace at which South Korea can manufacture them. Most recently, according to reporting from Reuters, Germany, which once possessed nearly 4,000 Leopard 2s at the height of the Cold War, now only has 350. Worse yet, it would take until 2024 at the earliest to provide retrofit Leopard 2s to aid in the Russo-Ukrainian War.
On the other hand, South Korea has already approved the mass production of $1.46 billion worth of K2 Black Panthers over the next five years while maintaining 260 armored vehicles. Other European countries like Slovakia and Norway are considering purchasing K2s, showing global interest in the formidable tank.
slashgear.com · by Garrett Ettinger · November 12, 2023
10. South Korea’s Lessons for Ukraine’s Reconstruction
South Korea’s Lessons for Ukraine’s Reconstruction
Just as was the case 70 years ago, Western aid will be vital but so too will be trading land for peace.
November 11, 2023 at 12:00 AM EST
By James Stavridis
James Stavridis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a retired US Navy admiral, former supreme allied commander of NATO, and dean emeritus of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-11-11/south-korea-s-lessons-for-ukraine-s-reconstruction?sref=hhjZtX76
Over the past week, I spent several days in Seoul, a pulsating city of more than 10 million, about 20% of South Korea’s overall population. The visit brought to mind the end of the Korean War — and the increasing signs that the end of the war in Ukraine may look similar.
The Korean War is iconic in my family. My father fought there in the early 1950s as a young US Marine officer. He often said to me that what happened in the years immediately after was nothing short of a miracle. My dad, eventually a senior colonel in the Marines, was not given to hyperbole or idealism. He meant the incredible reconstruction of South Korea that took it from a war-devastated land to the 10th-largest economy in the world.
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What can the Western democracies do to enhance the outcome for our partner today, Ukraine, much as we did for the South Koreans 70 years ago?
As I drove around Seoul, above all I was struck by the incredible reconstruction. The city boasts mile after mile of high-rise office buildings, glitzy apartments and marble shopping malls. But none of that arose overnight from the ashes of the war that ended in 1953 with an extremely uneasy armistice. The entire Korean peninsula was largely destroyed by that conflict.
Which leads to the first lesson of the Korean War for Ukraine: Press the West for serious reconstruction aid. South Korea was stagnant in the initial postwar decade. The sheer determination of its people, coupled with gradual economic assistance from the West, allowed them to begin to improve conditions by the end of the 1950s. Then, South Korea began to accelerate significantly, both demographically and economically.
Today, Western firms see similar economic upside in postwar construction activities in Ukraine: Mass communications, electric power facilities, water treatment and new residential development will all be on the Ukrainian shopping list. An added positive for Ukraine reconstruction is the potential availability of hundreds of billions of dollars in Russian funds that are under sanction in the West.
A second critical factor for Ukraine will be obtaining ironclad security guarantees. That means, plain and simple, North Atlantic Treaty Organization membership. This is similar to what South Korea was granted as a full US treaty partner in 1953.
While there are legitimate concerns within the 32-nation alliance about admitting a member in an active conflict and with territory controlled by an enemy, the reality is that any military action by NATO to restore full sovereignty would be a collective decision. So, Ukraine could be brought into the alliance even with 15% of its territory occupied by Russia; the bulk of the country would receive the collective-security guarantees of NATO’s Article V enjoyed by the other member states.
In terms of advantages for the alliance, Ukraine would have the most battle-tested, innovative and motivated forces in Europe. The Ukrainians have earned a spot on the team, and as I look back on my time as NATO’s military commander, I would have been happy to welcome them into alliance.
A third and final lesson from Korea for Ukraine is a harder one to accept: It is probably going to be necessary to acquiesce, at least for a time, in the occupation by Moscow of Crimea and a land bridge between that peninsula and Russia. In a sense, everyone will hate that outcome. Certainly, there will be voices in the West saying, “We can’t give an inch of territory to Russia’s aggression.” And the Ukrainians will say, “We will never surrender a single square mile of sovereign Ukrainian territory.”
But remember that Russian President Vladimir Putin will hate such an outcome as well — it will mean he has obviously and fully failed in his objective of conquering all Ukraine and will have to settle for the battle-damaged and heavily mined portions of the southeast, hardly a fulfilling prize.
Much as South Korea was not in a position to demand a complete territorial victory over the north in the 1950s, Ukraine is not in a position to demand a complete Russian withdrawal from its territory. Kyiv’s spring-summer offensive resulted in gridlock, and even with the addition of F-16 fighter jets next year (something long overdue), it appears unlikely that a real game change will occur. Much like the Korean War, this will probably bog down into a frozen conflict; the sooner large combat operations stop, the sooner the Ukrainians will begin to reconstruct.
So three lessons of Korea pertain for Ukraine: find the funds for reconstruction as rapidly as possible; construct real and enduring security guarantees; and be willing to negotiate a land-for-peace conclusion to combat. That is a realistic scenario that will set Ukraine up for success over time, although obviously the final decisions are for the Ukrainians themselves to make.
If such a deal is reached, here is my prediction: Despite being far smaller in terms of population and land, Ukraine will overtake Russia in a few decades in terms of gross domestic product, overall agrarian output, and certainly in the sense of being a vital, democratic society in which people want to live. I see nothing in the twisted policies of Czar Putin that will change that depressing outcome for Moscow. Let’s hope a Korean-style miracle of reconstruction is on the horizon for Ukraine.
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James Stavridis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a retired US Navy admiral, former supreme allied commander of NATO, and dean emeritus of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
11. Yoon to attend IPEF summit in San Francisco this week
Yoon to attend IPEF summit in San Francisco this week
The Korea Times · November 12, 2023
President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers a speech to mark the 28th Farmers' Day in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Nov. 10. Yonhap
President Yoon Suk Yeol will attend a summit of the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) in San Francisco this week, his office said Sunday.
The meeting will be held Thursday (local time) on the sidelines of a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, according to the presidential office.
Yoon plans to leave for San Francisco on Wednesday for a three-day visit, during which he will attend the APEC summit and hold bilateral meetings on the fringe.
The IPEF was launched by U.S. President Joe Biden in 2022 in a move seen as being aimed at countering China's growing influence in the region. It involves a total of 14 member nations, including Korea, the United States, Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. (Yonhap)
The Korea Times · November 12, 2023
12. N. Korea chides US over relations with Russia
N. Korea chides US over relations with Russia
koreaherald.com · by Choi Si-young · November 12, 2023
By Choi Si-young
Published : Nov. 12, 2023 - 15:00
Foreign Minister Park Jin (right) and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a press conference following talks at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on Thursday. (Joint Press Corps)
North Korea criticized US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for “irresponsible and provocative” remarks last week about deepening military ties between the North and Russia, saying destabilizing actions by the US and its partners on the Korean Peninsula would be met with strong countermeasure.
The top US diplomat said Pyongyang is providing military equipment to Moscow to use for its war in Ukraine, while the North in return receives technical support to advance its military programs. The North and Russia have denied the accusations.
“No matter what others say, friendly and cooperative relations between the North and Russia for independence, peace and friendship will grow stronger without disruptions,” North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Saturday carried by its official Korean Central News Agency.
“The US should get used to dealing with a new reality of new ties,” the statement added.
Following talks Thursday with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, Blinken said Washington and its partners like Seoul would work to curb such “two-way street” arms transfers actions that not only violate the United Nations Security Council resolutions, but also destabilize global security.
The US top diplomat, wrapping up his two-day visit to Seoul that day, urged China to restrain the North using its influence. Beijing has been the immediate benefactor, wielding UN veto power to defeat sanction proposals while extending an economic lifeline to a regime grappling with perennial food shortages.
Blinken’s trip -- part of a broader Asia tour that saw stops in Japan, South Korea and India after a visit to the Middle East -- is the latest highlight of US commitment to underscoring extended deterrence, a strategy that gives Seoul a say in how Washington manages its nuclear assets to discourage a North Korean strike.
According to a parliamentary briefing two weeks ago by South Korea’s spy agency, Pyongyang is close to launching what it calls a “spy satellite.” The agency did not detail how extensive Moscow’s technical assistance was for what would be the North’s third attempt to put a satellite into orbit. Seoul and Washington suspect the launch, banned under UNSC resolutions, is meant to advance weapons technologies.
In a separate dispatch by the KCNA on Sunday, the North called for disbanding the Group of Seven, following their foreign ministers’ meeting last week in Tokyo. The seven major industrial powers -- which condemned Pyongyang and Moscow for arms transfers and invading Ukraine, respectively -- represent the “old-school aristocrats without a mandate or title,” the commentary said.
koreaherald.com · by Choi Si-young · November 12, 2023
13. Cornerstone of Korea's independence
Cornerstone of Korea's independence
The Korea Times · November 12, 2023
The Independence Arch and clubhouse in the early 1900s / Robert Neff Collection
By Robert Neff
On Nov. 21, 1896, a large crowd gathered to witness the laying of the cornerstone of the Independence Arch, a symbol of Korean independence. According to the English version of The Independent – a newspaper published in Seoul:
“The day was perfect: cloudless, warm and still; a more ideal day for an outdoor function could not be imagined. The road which leads from the city to Independence Park was filled with people at an early hour; and the grounds of the park, long before the hour for the ceremonies arrived, was crowded with spectators, both foreign and Korean.”
The site was decorated with evergreen branches and “the different flags of Korea; conspicuous among which was the new flag of the Independence Club, a pennant decorated with the usual design of the Korean flag, and the name of the club.” Honored guests were provided with chairs and sheltered from the elements by a large awning.
The Independence Arch – a symbol from the past – is surrounded by the prosperity of the present. Robert Neff Collection
Speeches were given by influential members of the community including missionaries, the governor of Seoul, the editor of The Independent and the minister of foreign affairs who strangely compared the United States and Poland. According to the newspaper:
“He made very logical and convincing arguments, that if the people work for the bright future, it will have great influence upon its being bright. He cited the histories of the United States of America and Poland. The greatness of America today is due to a few handfuls of men who worked for the independence of their country, a little over a century ago. The downfall of Poland is due to lack of harmony on the part of the Polish people. Therefore, Koreans can choose to be either an independent and great people like Americans, or become a part of some other nation and lose their sovereignty as well as their equality.”
Elizabeth Greathouse attended the celebration and was very impressed with the speeches and the performance of the Korean schoolboys who sang and did “some very good drilling.” While her description was anemic, The Independent provided much more detail and indicated that the students came from various schools – many of them educated by foreign instructors:
“The Royal English School students gave an exhibition of drilling, and as usual, they showed themselves worthy of being called the ‘crack’ company of Korean schools. More than two thousand school children from the Government and elementary schools sang several patriotic songs and waved their flags and colors, which each school brought with them. The Royal Russian, French and Japanese Schools were, also, ably represented by a large number of bright looking scholars who sang several patriotic songs.”
The Independence Club House is still surrounded by tall highrise apartments. Robert Neff Collection
After the ceremony, selected guests were invited into the Independence Club House for refreshments. Greathouse was especially impressed with the treatment she and her companions received: “[We] all gathered nearby to a large building, where a long table was filled with splendid viands and we were all waited on by the ‘rank’ and they seemed very proud to do it.”
Toasts were made by the various diplomats or their staff. Horace N. Allen assured Korea that the United States would always be one of its best friends. The Russian representative expressed Russia’s desire to always do “her neighborly duty by assisting in the maintenance of order in Korea” and to ensure “the perpetuity of Korea’s independence.” The Japanese representative “hoped that Korea [would] prosper and her independence be strengthened.” The British and German representatives were called upon to offer their own toasts but, disappointingly, they had already left the building. The celebration ended at dusk.
In her diary Greathouse proclaimed, “I am very glad I went, [I] never enjoyed myself more.”
Not everyone enjoyed themselves. John Jordan, the British consul general, was less than impressed with the arch and informed his superior that it was “needless to say, [that he] took no part in the proceedings…” He then, somewhat bitterly, explained:
“The American missionaries, who aspire to play a political role in this country, and who, apparently, guide the policy of their Legation, and a few Coreans in high position who received their education in the United States, are responsible for the folly of this undertaking, which was supported by contributions from the Russian Minister and his wife, who show great tact in humouring and controlling American opinion here.”
The beauty of the Independence Club House / Robert Neff Collection
He caustically noted the “absurdity of an independence symbolized by the presence of the King in a foreign legation.” At the time, King Gojong and the crown prince were temporarily residing in the Russian Legation.
Apparently Jordan was not the only one who found fault with the Korean king’s situation or policies. Shortly after the celebration, the newspaper reported:
“There are various reports in regard to the plot which some of the army officers are said to have planned, but at present the exact truth cannot be learned. Some say they intended to take His Majesty to the Palace when he comes to [Deoksu] Palace to offer sacrifices to the late Queen; others report that they planned to kill the Cabinet officers when they were returning home from the ceremony of the laying of the corner stone of Independence Arch last Saturday; and still another report is that they tried to bury dynamite either in the Russian Legation or [Deoksu] Palace for the purpose of blowing up the buildings and the inmates.”
The accused were quickly rounded up and, in a subsequent trial, it was learned they had planned on kidnapping the Korean monarch from the Russian Legation and moving him to Gyeongbok Palace. According to The Independent, “justice was administered to all parties concerned; the innocents went free and the guilty ones banished for fifteen years after receiving one hundred blows.”
Freedom and independence often comes with a cost, and all too often those who are held as patriots and friends are also seen as villains and profiteers – it is all a matter of perspective.
Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.
The Korea Times · November 12, 2023
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
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