Quotes of the Day:
"Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men, without a consequent loss of liberty?"
- Patrick Henry
“Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.”
- President John F. Kennedy, 1961 address to the United Nations
"Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither…is safe."
- Edmund Burke
1. One Korea Network (OKN) Commends Remarks by Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield at the UN Security Council Stakeout on the Human Rights Situation in DPRK
2. U.N. adopts resolution on N. Korean human rights abuses
3. S.Korea Declines to Sponsor UN's N.Korea Rights Resolution
4. N. Korean leader Kim attends memorial event for his late father: state media
5. Kim Jong Un's influence on S. Korea's presidential campaign
6. Fortress Pyongyang: Kim Seeks To Push Back Outside Influences
7. Kim Jong Un's crackdowns leave North Korea defectors with little hope
8. How Kim Jong Un Became the World’s Most Bloodthirsty Dictator
9. N. Korea urges 'absolute trust' in its leader, marking his father's death anniversary
10. US Ally South Korea Humiliates Biden on World Stage, Would Rather Side with China Than Him
11. Britain names new ambassador to North Korea
12. British helicopter operator pre-orders 'Butterfly' air taxis being co-developed by Hanwha
13. North Korea’s progress on border wall slows with the onset of winter
14. Soon-to-graduate N. Korean university students rush to secure employment certificates
15. Army announces 3 unit rotations to Mideast, Europe and Korea
16. Challenging Moon’s Symbolic End-Of-War Declaration
17. The pandemic forced Kim Jong Un into retreat. The world should brace for his resurgence
18. Kim Jong-un: N Korean defectors reflect on last decade
19. North Korea: Abusive Rule 10 Years after Kim Jong Il
1. One Korea Network (OKN) Commends Remarks by Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield at the UN Security Council Stakeout on the Human Rights Situation in DPRK
The Ambassador set the US human rights policy for north Korea. Now we have to put words into action with a sustained human rights upfront approach.
One Korea Network (OKN) Commends Remarks by Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield at the UN Security Council Stakeout on the Human Rights Situation in DPRK - OKN
(December 16, 2021, Washington, D.C.): One Korea Network (OKN) commends and welcomes remarks by the Representative of the United States to the United Nations, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, made at the UN Security Council meeting held yesterday, with support from Estonia, France, Ireland, Japan, Norway, and the United Kingdom.
In her remarks, the Ambassador brought up the issue of the political prison camps, the lack of freedom of expression and other basic rights, and other acts of repression carried out by the North Korean regime.
“We are grateful to the United States Mission to the UN and Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield for her timely and important remarks made at the Security Council. It is very encouraging for the Ambassador to remind the world, again, that in North Korea the political prison camps continue to exist and that the citizens continue to suffer,” said Grant Newsham, President of KCPAC.
“We are also moved and heartened to read the Ambassador mention Joy, the North Korean defector, in her remarks,” said Arthur Lee, Regional Director of One Korea Network DC Office. “The world needs to be reminded that when it comes to North Korea, the focus needs to be on the people – who are some of the most oppressed people in the world,” continued Lee.
OKN commends the calls by the United States and the supporting countries to urge all the Security Council members to hold an open briefing regarding the human rights situation in North Korea. OKN also supports the Ambassador’s call for the UN General Assembly members to join together and adopt the annual resolution on the human rights situation in North Korea.
OKN also condemns the governments of Russia and China for opposing and blocking the raising of the issue of human rights in the DPRK, thus prompting the members of the Security Council to resort to meeting under the ‘Any Other Business’ (AOB) format.
“OKN stands ready to support and engage the US government and other nations in highlighting the issue of human rights in North Korea, and it is our sincere hope and desire that this encouraging development in the Biden Administration will lead to real outcomes and improvements regarding human rights in North Korea,” said Henry Song, Director of Government Relations at One Korea Network.
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield’s Remarks can be read HERE.
Videos of the Remarks can be viewed HERE and HERE.
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2. U.N. adopts resolution on N. Korean human rights abuses
U.N. adopts resolution on N. Korean human rights abuses | Yonhap News Agency
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 (Yonhap) -- The United Nations on Thursday adopted a resolution on North Korean human rights, condemning systematic and gross human rights violations in the reclusive nation.
It marks the 17th consecutive year the UNSC has adopted a resolution on North Korean human rights.
The latest resolution was adopted by consensus at the U.N. General Assembly. Its passage comes about a month after the U.N. General Assembly Third Committee passed the resolution.
The resolution says the United Nations "condemns in the strongest terms the long-standing and ongoing systematic, widespread and gross violations of human rights in and by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, including those that may amount to crimes against humanity."
It also expresses serious concerns over "the persistence of continuing reports of violations of human rights" that include "torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."
The resolution calls on the North Korean government to immediately halt its "systematic" and "widespread" violations and abuses of human rights and to also shut down its political prison camps.
It also calls on Pyongyang to work with international organizations, including the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX), to ensure the "timely delivery and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines" to its people, noting the North's dire humanitarian situation has been exacerbated by natural disasters and the pandemic.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
3. S.Korea Declines to Sponsor UN's N.Korea Rights Resolution
Disappointing. A mistake.
S.Korea Declines to Sponsor UN's N.Korea Rights Resolution
The UN General Assembly passed its annual resolution condemning North Korea's human rights on Thursday, but South Korea once again refrained from co-sponsoring it.
The resolution has been adopted for the 17th consecutive year, but Seoul did not co-sponsor it for the third year running for fear of agitating Pyongyang.
The resolution "condemns in the strongest terms the long-standing and ongoing systematic, widespread and gross violations of human rights in and by [North Korea], including those that may amount to crimes against humanity."
Noting that its humanitarian situation has worsened in the coronavirus pandemic, it also urged North Korea to cooperate with the international community to "ensure the timely delivery and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines."
4. N. Korean leader Kim attends memorial event for his late father: state media
I guess KJU has adopted the matrix outfit for the cold weather. Note also Kim Yo-jong was seen in public for the first time in two months.
Excerpts:
North Korea has been kicking up a commemorative mood ahead of the anniversary with a series of events touting the late leader and highlighting loyalty to the current leader.
In a front-page editorial, the North's main newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, said the country should push ahead with efforts to accomplish the first-year goals of its five-year development plan unveiled at a January party congress under Kim's leadership.
"All people and soldiers should have absolute trust in the general secretary, have their fate and future completely entrusted to him and guard his safety and authority," the editorial said.
(5th LD) N. Korean leader Kim attends memorial event for his late father: state media | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES with appearance of Kim Yo-jong in paras 4-5)
By Choi Soo-hyang
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended a memorial event for his father Kim Jong-il on the 10th anniversary of his death Friday, Pyongyang's state media reported.
It took place at the square of the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, the mausoleum commemorating the North's former leaders, in Pyongyang, according to the North's state TV.
Dressed in a long black leather coat, Kim was seen accompanied by top party and military officials, including Choe Ryong-hae, chairman of the standing committee, and Jo Yong-won, the leader's close aide and secretary for organizational affairs of the ruling party's Central Committee.
Kim Yo-jong, the leader's powerful sister and a member of the State Affairs Commission, a high-level decision-making body, was spotted standing next to Kim Yong-chol, head of the United Front Department, which handles inter-Korean affairs.
It was her first public appearance in more than two months since she showed up at a defense development exhibition held in Pyongyang on Oct. 11 alongside her brother.
Kim died on Dec. 17, 2011, after having ruled the reclusive regime since the death of his father and national founder, Kim Il-sung, in 1994. Kim Jong-un, the third son of the late leader, took over the helm of the North in another hereditary succession of power.
North Korea has been kicking up a commemorative mood ahead of the anniversary with a series of events touting the late leader and highlighting loyalty to the current leader.
In a front-page editorial, the North's main newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, said the country should push ahead with efforts to accomplish the first-year goals of its five-year development plan unveiled at a January party congress under Kim's leadership.
"All people and soldiers should have absolute trust in the general secretary, have their fate and future completely entrusted to him and guard his safety and authority," the editorial said.
On Thursday, the North Korean Embassy in China held a memorial service to commemorate the late Kim, stressing close ties between the two countries.
Wang Chen, vice chairman of the standing committee of the Chinese National People's Congress, attended the ceremony and asked North Korean Ambassador Ri Ryong-nam to convey Chinese President Xi Jinping's "warm greetings and best wishes" to the North's leader Kim Jong-un, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
"(Wang) said that the traditional China-DPRK friendship serves as precious wealth for both sides, expressing the firm stand of the Chinese side to propel the steady development of the China-DPRK friendly ties," the KCNA said. DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
scaaet@yna.co.kr
(END)
5. Kim Jong Un's influence on S. Korea's presidential campaign
Excerpts:
The presidential campaign in the South is as noisy as ever and the outcome is so far unpredictable.
Kim is tempted to help the leftist candidate collect more votes as he is more likely to follow the footsteps of the Moon administration, but his aides may caution him about overtly supporting that side because it could prove counterproductive.
Except for the oldest generation, each age bracket is known to have mixed sentiments toward the North, so it better wait until the South Koreans make their own decision.
Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk Yeol has openly opposed Moon's "end of war" proposal but both he and Lee Jae Myung have yet to make clear their vision of future relations with North Korea with regard to the crucial goal of denuclearisation.
Now they are reminded that whoever enters Cheong Wa Dae after the March election will inevitably be seized by the North question when the pandemic retreats and the economy rolls along.
Kim Jong Un's influence on S. Korea's presidential campaign: Korea Herald columnist
By The Straits Times5 min
SEOUL (THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Today, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un marks 10 full years of ruling the northern half of the Korean Peninsula.
As his father Kim Jong Il died of heart failure on Dec. 17, 2011, Jong Un, the third son, then 29, immediately took over as chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party, DPRK, so as to not leave a power vacuum.
He then added the various titles his father had held one by one: He became the supreme commander of the DPRK Armed Forces at the end of the year, a member of the Politbureau of the Workers' Party Central Committee on April 11, 2012, chairman of the State Council on June 29, 2016, and most recently the general secretary of the Workers' Party on Jan 10 this year.
Kim Jong Un has kept all five hats till today.
The party took constitutional steps to give him these honorable positions, but conspicuously left vacant is the title of president ("suryeong"), which is reserved eternally for his grandfather Kim Il-sung, founder of the communist "republic."
During the past 10 years, twice as long as the presidential tenure in South Korea, Kim Jong Un has done many things.
Most importantly, he consolidated his power base by removing potential obstacles to his rule one after the other.
Stunning the outside world and horrifying the entire people of the North, Kim executed the husband of his father's sister, Jang Song Thaek, who had initially been regarded as a sort of guardian to the young heir.
A second internecine affair took place at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia, in 2017, four years after the killing of Jang.
Kim Jong Nam, Jong Un's half-brother who was wandering around the world after losing his father's favour, was murdered in a poisoning attack by hired hands. Conspirators who had operated from the North Korean Embassy safely returned to Pyongyang but we don't know what rewards they were given.
While Kim Jong Un was tightening his grip on the North's power hierarchy, especially on the military community, as many as 140 ranking officers and partisans were executed, according to a report by the Institute for National Security and Strategy under the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
There were instances of some high-ranking officials resurrecting years after the NIS here listed them as being eliminated.
Kim Jong Un followed up his father's "Military-first Policy" with his own "Party-first Policy," and shifted the focus of military buildup from conventional war capabilities to nuclear arms and long-range missiles. This is seen to have allowed Kim to secure better control of the existing combat lineup of the North's armed forces.
During Kim's reign, North Korea conducted its third to sixth nuclear tests (first in 2006) to store its arsenal of weapons of mass destruction with the ultimate bombs numbering between 15 and 60 in experts' estimates. Through numerous rocket launches, it bolstered its missile power with the Hwasong series, which are capable of reaching the continental US. Cruise missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles are in the final stage of development.
The North's WMD has turned the military confrontation into a precarious asymmetrical pattern, but Seoul's Moon Jae In administration, as if accepting Pyongyang's claim of safeguards against US aggressiveness, has enthusiastically made a reconciliatory approach to the North.
The outcome was three rounds of inter-Korean summit talks during 2018 and a three-way encounter at Panmunjom of the leaders of the two Koreas and US President Trump in 2019. Kim met Trump in Singapore and Hanoi in unsuccessful attempts at easing international sanctions against the regime.
Kim Jong Un also confirmed the traditional friendly ties with China and Russia through meetings with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.
He must by now realise time has flown by fast as he only has less than three months to do business with perhaps the most willing Southern partner in the history of inter-Korean relations.
He should know whoever will succeed Moon will be much harder to deal with.
Recently, Moon has raised the issue of an "end of war" declaration in what could be his final effort for a meaningful end to his presidency.
In his UN General Assembly address last September, he proposed to all parties of the Korean War to jointly declare an end to the state of armistice in a step toward concluding a peace agreement.
However, neither Pyongyang nor Washington showed a positive response while a noted American researcher called it Moon's "hail Mary pass."
No one is running to receive the ball in this kind of stalemate in the North Korean nuclear crisis.
As the Biden administration keeps hardening its stance toward Beijing, Pyongyang looks rather sidelined.
With or without the Covid-19 pandemic, the North Korean economy is shrinking and the pompous parades through the Kim Il-sung Plaza demonstrating colossal rockets on long caterpillar tracks cannot relieve the hunger of the spectator crowds and the soldiers in endless rows would not feel any better.
Kim Jong Un is no longer an item in the Guinness Book of Records as there are other young leaders in the world, who manage national economies and politics with innovations and fair play.
After 10 years, the 39-year-old must feel tired of speaking to thousands of pawns that pack the auditorium, hanging onto his every word.
The presidential campaign in the South is as noisy as ever and the outcome is so far unpredictable.
Kim is tempted to help the leftist candidate collect more votes as he is more likely to follow the footsteps of the Moon administration, but his aides may caution him about overtly supporting that side because it could prove counterproductive.
Except for the oldest generation, each age bracket is known to have mixed sentiments toward the North, so it better wait until the South Koreans make their own decision.
Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk Yeol has openly opposed Moon's "end of war" proposal but both he and Lee Jae Myung have yet to make clear their vision of future relations with North Korea with regard to the crucial goal of denuclearisation.
Now they are reminded that whoever enters Cheong Wa Dae after the March election will inevitably be seized by the North question when the pandemic retreats and the economy rolls along.
The author is a former editorial writer for The Korea Herald. The paper is a member of The Straits Times media partner Asia News Network, an alliance of 23 newspaper titles.
6. Fortress Pyongyang: Kim Seeks To Push Back Outside Influences
Kim most fears the Korean people armed with outside information.
Fortress Pyongyang: Kim Seeks To Push Back Outside Influences
Text size
When he inherited power in North Korea 10 years ago, Swiss-educated basketball fan Kim Jong Un seemed open to foreign ideas and market reforms, but is increasingly shutting down outside influences as he enters his second decade in office.
North Korea has long been one of the world's most isolated countries, with authorities seeking to maintain tight control over what information gets in or out.
These restrictions appeared to ease under Kim, who allowed the market to play a greater role in North Korea's flagging economy, and invited an entourage of K-pop artists to perform in Pyongyang in 2018.
But the country's situation is deteriorating under a self-imposed coronavirus blockade -- a far more comprehensive measure than any of the international sanctions it is under for its nuclear programme.
Strict rules have snapped back into place as Kim looks to reinforce internal solidarity and his grip on society during times of hardship, analysts say.
"The growing censorship suggests that the regime is less confident," said Troy Stangarone, senior director at the Korea Economic Institute.
Kim -- who spent most of his childhood in Switzerland -- had once appeared more flexible towards outside culture.
In 2012, he was shown on state television giving a thumbs up to a girl band in miniskirts playing the theme song of the American movie "Rocky", on a stage shared by a handful of Disney characters.
At the same time, he turned a blind eye to the country's widespread black market, the "jangmadang".
The increasing role of market forces in the economy -- while officially still being decried -- saw it record its fastest expansion in 17 years in 2016, according to the Bank of Korea -- the South's central bank.
But key sectors of the economy were sanctioned by the UN Security Council the following year as North Korea tested missiles that can reach the whole of the US mainland, and carried out its most powerful nuclear test to date.
Analysts say Kim's confidence weakened after his blockbuster diplomacy with then US president Donald Trump stalled in 2019 without sanctions relief.
The pandemic and resulting border closure saw the North record its biggest economic contraction in over two decades in 2020, according to the Bank of Korea, and earlier this year Kim warned the country was facing its "worst ever" situation.
Kim has embraced a return to a centralised economy, with the regime officially reclaiming control over all foreign trade and domestic markets at a five-yearly party congress in January.
And Pyongyang enacted a law punishing those possessing South Korean content with 15 years in jail, reports say, with the North's state media citing Kim urging officials to remove the "vicious cancer that threatens our ideology and social system and hinders single-minded unity".
Stangarone told AFP: "In times of hardship, the regime needs to tighten control to reassert its authority."
North Korea has long clamped down on what it calls "ideological and cultural invasion".
All radios and televisions are preset to only receive state media, while the government blocks ordinary North Koreans from accessing the global internet.
But analysts say such censorship will struggle as foreign material is already widespread within North Korea, especially among the younger generation, distributed on USB drives.
In a study by Seoul National University's Institute for Peace and Unification Studies, nearly half of the 116 people surveyed who fled North Korea in 2018 and 2019 said they had "frequently" watched Southern entertainment in the North.
Cho Han-bum, senior fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said the so-called "Jangmadang Generation" -- those who were born and grew up during and after the famine in the 1990s -- will likely resist the clampdown.
With the state unable to provide rations in their childhood, they grew up fending for themselves, relying on the market for survival -- and with significantly less allegiance towards the leadership, Cho said.
"A clash between Kim's conservative approach and the North's millennials and Generation Z -- who enjoy South Korean dramas and BTS's music -- will be inevitable," he added.
sh/slb/qan
7. Kim Jong Un's crackdowns leave North Korea defectors with little hope
Excerpts:
North Korea has not released the text of its new "anti-reactionary thought law" but according to the Daily NK, a Seoul-based website that reports from sources in the North, it includes long prison sentences or even death for people caught importing or distributing foreign content, depending on how severe.
"There are real fears that these strict measures will far outlast the pandemic," said Sokeel Park, of Liberty in North Korea, which supports defectors.
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said its interviews with North Koreans who left after 2014, or still have contacts there, suggest that while Kim opened up the economy, illegal border crossings became almost impossible, corrupt practices were normalized, and government demands for unpaid labour rose.
"Just like those of his father and grandfather, Kim Jong Un’s rule is based on brutality, fear, and repression, instigating systematic rights violations, economic hardship, and possible famine," HRW senior Korea researcher Lina Yoon said in a statement.
Kim Jong Un's crackdowns leave North Korea defectors with little hope
By Josh Smith and Sunghyuk An
Senior military officials watch a parade as portraits of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are seen in the background at the main Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang, North Korea, September 9, 2018. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/File Photo
Even before the coronavirus pandemic slowed the number of defectors to a trickle, Kim oversaw increased controls and pressed China to tighten measures on its side of the border as well.
Only two North Korean defectors entered South Korea from April to June this year, the fewest ever in a single quarter, according to the South Korea's unification ministry, which handles relations with the North. Activists say several hundred might arrive in a typical quarter.
"He has unconditionally blocked all North Koreans defecting from the country," said Ha Jin-woo, who worked as a "broker" in North Korea to help defectors leave, before fleeing himself in 2013.
Among those who sought a new life in South Korea after Kim became leader in 2011 upon the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, some say the new leader did little to improve their lives.
"People say living is too difficult these days because the government is taking more and more things from people, and there are more people dying from starvation," Ha said.
But Kim has introduced some changes.
According to a report issued by the unification ministry on Thursday, Kim has allowed the private sector to overtake state-led agents to become North Korea's biggest economic actor over the past decade. read more
An initial rise in gross domestic product and improved livelihoods have been undercut by international sanctions imposed over Kim's pursuit of nuclear weapons, the ministry said, while a U.N. rights investigator says self-imposed anti-pandemic border controls risk causing starvation among vulnerable North Koreans.
Changes in style - such as Kim showing apparent emotion last year during a speech about people's hardships - have not translated into systemic reforms, and Kim has overseen crackdowns in other areas, such as on foreign media.
"(Under Kim Jong Un) I felt more discipline at school," said Park, a 23-year-old defector who left North Korea in 2014 and asked to be identified only by his last name.
"For example, the school cracked down more on school uniforms and hair. They more strictly prohibited South Korean movies or music."
'REAL FEARS'
At least seven people have been put to death under Kim for watching or distributing K-pop videos, according to a report by a Seoul-based human rights group on Wednesday. read more
North Korea has not released the text of its new "anti-reactionary thought law" but according to the Daily NK, a Seoul-based website that reports from sources in the North, it includes long prison sentences or even death for people caught importing or distributing foreign content, depending on how severe.
"There are real fears that these strict measures will far outlast the pandemic," said Sokeel Park, of Liberty in North Korea, which supports defectors.
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said its interviews with North Koreans who left after 2014, or still have contacts there, suggest that while Kim opened up the economy, illegal border crossings became almost impossible, corrupt practices were normalized, and government demands for unpaid labour rose.
"Just like those of his father and grandfather, Kim Jong Un’s rule is based on brutality, fear, and repression, instigating systematic rights violations, economic hardship, and possible famine," HRW senior Korea researcher Lina Yoon said in a statement.
North Korea does not answer questions from foreign reporters but has denied accusations from rights investigators, the United Nations and others who have criticised both the humanitarian situation and rights abuses.
Kim's empathetic style of showing emotion strongly resonates with North Koreans who have been taught to revere their leaders as gods, said Han Ji-yeon, 30, a defector who arrived in South Korea in 2015 and now runs a YouTube channel.
"(But) if the result is always the same, I wonder if North Koreans won't believe it at some point ... even those tears will not be effective," she said.
Additional reporting by Hyunyoung Yi; Editing by Robert Birsel
8. How Kim Jong Un Became the World’s Most Bloodthirsty Dictator
One of the more unique "retrospectives" on the 10th anniversary of KJUs rule.
Excerpts:
He’s now transfixed by economic challenges that have much to do with shifting emphasis from military to party power. In fact, “for a significant period of time, Kim appeared to be losing control of the North Korean economy,” said Bruce Bennett at the RAND Corporation, “North Korean entrepreneurs developed their own form of capitalism that made many individuals wealthy and able to bribe government officials, avoiding Kim's control.”
Most worrisome, though, is mass hunger reminiscent of the famine of the 1990s that cost the lives of as many as 2 million people from hunger and disease.
“North Korea’s difficulty in feeding its people, and especially its elites, has been a major failure for Kim,” Bennett told The Daily Beast. He had “hoped to stimulate patriotic action that would increase crop yields and otherwise meet the food needs, and also increase the productivity of the rest of the North Korean economy. He does not appear to have had much success in doing this—it has been a major failure.”
If the outlook is cloudy, however, there’s no denying Kim has proven his mettle as a dictator. “Skeptics underestimated the degree to which Kim Jong Il had prepared his son for leadership and had chosen his second son to succeed him precisely because of the young man's reputation for cunning and ruthlessness,” said Evans Revere, a retired U.S. diplomat who followed Kim’s rise closely in Seoul and Washington.
After he had “brutally consolidated his rule,” said Revere, he “filled the upper reaches of the Party, security and military bureaucracies with a younger group of loyalists.” By now, “solidly in control, the only real threats to his rule seem to be a dissolute lifestyle and bad genes.”
How Kim Jong Un Became the World’s Most Bloodthirsty Dictator
Kim’s purge began with the murder of his father’s most trusted aides. The killing spree continues to consolidate power, but after 10 years in office his people are starving.
Donald Kirk
Updated Dec. 17, 2021 3:50AM ET / Published Dec. 16, 2021 9:30PM ET
SEOUL—Ten years after the death of North Korea’s long-ruling father, Kim Jong Il, his youngest son Kim Jong Un has ruthlessly tightened one-man rule but failed miserably to meet the basic needs of the vast majority of his poverty-stricken country’s 25.6 million people.
The kid was just 27, with virtually no prior experience, when his father died suddenly at 70 on Dec. 17, 2011. To the shock of skeptics who doubted he was up to the job and would soon fall from grace and power, he swept aside his relatives and his father’s aides in asserting control over the ruling Workers’ Party and the enormous armed forces.
Now 37, maturing into middle age, Kim Jong Un can look back on a decade in which he’s ordered the executions of hundreds of rivals, bureaucrats, and military officers perceived as threatening his unobstructed grip on a dynasty harking back to his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, installed by the Soviet Union in 1945. On the way he’s also ordered four nuclear tests and dozens of missile flights showing North Korea as a threat both to its nearest neighbors, South Korea and Japan, and to targets in the U.S.
“He was good for the first four or five years,” said Choi Jin-wook, president of the Center for Strategic and Cultural Studies in Seoul. “Now he’s trying to get out of economic hardships.” To do that, Choi told The Daily Beast, “He’s trying to please his people,” but “he can’t because of economic difficulties.” Since COVID-19 led Kim early last year to shut down the Yalu and Tumen river borders with China, trade “is 10 percent of previous years,” said. Choi. “Oil and food are almost nothing. He has failed in every sense.”
To guarantee power, however, Kim has wiped out anyone who would question—much less challenge—his authority beginning with two of his father’s highest-level aides.
The chief of staff of the armed forces, Ri Yong Ho, was ousted and reportedly executed in July 2012. In December 2013, Kim’s uncle-in-law, Jang Song Thaek, who was married to Kim Jong Il’s sister, was dragged out of a politburo meeting and beaten before his execution on a wide range of charges, mostly to do with corruption. Both Ri and Jang had walked with Kim Jong Un for three hours on a snowy day in December 2011 beside the hearse bearing Kim Jong Il’s casket and were assumed to be tutoring the young man on the ways of statecraft.
Kim Jong Un salutes as he and his uncle Jang Song-thaek (3rd L) accompany the hearse carrying the coffin of Kim Jong Il during his funeral procession in Pyongyang on Dec. 28, 2011.
Kyodo/Reuters
Then, most dramatically, Kim’s older half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, was murdered in February 2017 in Kuala Lumpur Airport by two young women paid small sums by North Korean agents to smear what they were told was water on his face as a prank. The water turned out to be VX nerve gas.
These three deaths portended the killing of scores of others who might have been close to them. At Kim’s behest, the regime has also sought to annihilate what he has called “the vicious cancer” of popular South Korean culture as exemplified in K-Pop and Squid Game, snuck into the country at grave risk.
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The Seoul-based Transitional Justice Working Group said this week that many of those caught “watching or distributing South Korean video” had been executed. On the basis of interviews with 683 escapees from North Korea, the report lists 27 official burial sites and details 23 executions. “Interviews reported that inhumane treatment of the accused before execution—used as a warning to the public—has persisted under Kim Jong Un” even though “in some cases pardons were issued” to show his “benevolence.”
Executions, often in public, had been routine throughout the reigns of both Kim Il Sung, who died in 1994, and then Kim Jong Il, but “after Kim Jong Un took power it became worse,” according to Ji Seung-ho, who escaped from North Korea in 2006. Ji, now a member of South Korea’s National Assembly, told members of the Seoul Foreign Correspondents Club that the new leader, not yet 30, “started to target the upper class of officials.” The reason, said Ji, was “to showcase his power.”
A North Korean soldier stands before spectators during a mass military parade at Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang on Oct. 10, 2015.
Ed Jones/AFP via Getty
Simultaneously, fearful of unbridled military influence, Kim sought to elevate the party above the armed forces, about 1.2 million troops on active duty, including tens of thousands within a few miles of the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.
Until Kim Jong Un took charge, “it was military first,” said Ji. “He has transitioned to placing more power in the party,” making himself general secretary of the party as well as president of the state affairs commission.
Robert Collins, author of books and studies on power struggles in North Korea, ranks control of the party’s Organization and Guidance Department as Kim’s “biggest achievement.” Under Kim’s younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, the department’s vice director, that agency is “the control tower of the regime” through which big brother holds sway over “every institution in North Korea, including the military and the security services,” Collins told The Daily Beast. “Such control is critical to his continued rule.”
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It was after Kim had emerged as a powerful ruler in his own right that he reached his highest levels of visibility in the eyes of the world. Donald Trump in 2017, the first year of his presidency, responding to nuclear and missile tests, famously called him “rocket man” and threatened in a UN speech to “totally destroy” him.
Those angry words were the prelude to a melting of hearts when the two met in Singapore in June 2018 for the first ever summit of American and North Korean leaders. Trump, convinced that Kim would begin giving up his nukes after they both signed a joint statement pledging to work for “denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” was later to say they had fallen “in love.”
President Donald Trump shakes hands with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un following a meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi on February 27, 2019.
SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty
The passion faded, though, when Trump walked out of the next Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi in February 2019 with Kim refusing to yield to demands for denuclearization and the U.S. balking at giving up sanctions.
North Korea’s nuclear complex at Yongbyon is humming away, manufacturing warheads and missiles, according to 38 North, a think tank tracking North Korea from Washington.
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Kim this year has ordered tests of a hypersonic missile and a submarine-launched ballistic missile but no nuclear test since September 2017.
He’s now transfixed by economic challenges that have much to do with shifting emphasis from military to party power. In fact, “for a significant period of time, Kim appeared to be losing control of the North Korean economy,” said Bruce Bennett at the RAND Corporation, “North Korean entrepreneurs developed their own form of capitalism that made many individuals wealthy and able to bribe government officials, avoiding Kim's control.”
Most worrisome, though, is mass hunger reminiscent of the famine of the 1990s that cost the lives of as many as 2 million people from hunger and disease.
“North Korea’s difficulty in feeding its people, and especially its elites, has been a major failure for Kim,” Bennett told The Daily Beast. He had “hoped to stimulate patriotic action that would increase crop yields and otherwise meet the food needs, and also increase the productivity of the rest of the North Korean economy. He does not appear to have had much success in doing this—it has been a major failure.”
If the outlook is cloudy, however, there’s no denying Kim has proven his mettle as a dictator. “Skeptics underestimated the degree to which Kim Jong Il had prepared his son for leadership and had chosen his second son to succeed him precisely because of the young man's reputation for cunning and ruthlessness,” said Evans Revere, a retired U.S. diplomat who followed Kim’s rise closely in Seoul and Washington.
After he had “brutally consolidated his rule,” said Revere, he “filled the upper reaches of the Party, security and military bureaucracies with a younger group of loyalists.” By now, “solidly in control, the only real threats to his rule seem to be a dissolute lifestyle and bad genes.”
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North Koreans, though, have had to pay the price. Human Rights Watch, based in New York, charged that Kim has “expanded invasive surveillance and repression of North Koreans, denied people their freedom of movement within the country and across borders, and responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with heightened food insecurity that threatens widespread starvation.” While he “opened up the economy and decreased major crackdowns on traders’ markets,” said HRW, “ illegal border crossings became almost impossible, corrupt practices were normalized, and government ‘requests’ for unpaid labor rose.”
Indeed, Kim’s ascent to absolute power “comes at a great cost to the North Korean people,” said Daniel Pinkston, a long-time analyst of the North at Troy University’s Korea campus. Kim “and his inner circle are ruthless, and they are willing and able to shift the costs of regime survival onto the populace.”
Kim Jong Un in an undated photo released on Dec. 7, 2021.
KCNA via Reuters
Always, however, “the interesting variable is Kim’s health,” Pinkston told The Daily Beast. Kim has shed around 45 pounds recently. He is down to about 265 pounds, judging from photographs distributed from Pyongyang. He looks pretty good but there’s no telling how long he’ll be around.
“If Kim is no longer leader, can someone other than a Kim family member step in and utilize the myths extolling the Kims for more than half a century?” Pinkston asked rhetorically. “I’m doubtful. So was Kim’s recent weight loss due to illness? Or was it deliberate as a choice to improve his health? If the former, and he cannot rule for long, then the likelihood of instability for the party and state is much greater.”
9. N. Korea urges 'absolute trust' in its leader, marking his father's death anniversary
No matter how north Korea and Korean people suffer, the number one priority remains venerating Kim Jong-un and the Kim family regime.
(2nd LD) N. Korea urges 'absolute trust' in its leader, marking his father's death anniversary | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: ADDS unification ministry official's quote in 9th para, photo)
By Choi Soo-hyang
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's state media called for "absolute trust" in leader Kim Jong-un, as the country marked 10 years since the death of former leader Kim Jong-il on Friday.
Kim died on Dec. 17, 2011, after having ruled the reclusive regime since the death of his father and national founder, Kim Il-sung, in 1994. Kim Jong-un, the third son of the late leader, took over the helm of the North in another hereditary succession of power.
In a front-page editorial, the North's main newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, said the country should push ahead with efforts to accomplish the first-year goals of its five-year development plan unveiled at a January party congress under Kim's leadership.
"All people and soldiers should have absolute trust in the general secretary, have their fate and future completely entrusted to him and guard his safety and authority," the editorial said.
North Korea has been kicking up a commemorative mood ahead of the anniversary with a series of events touting the late leader and highlighting loyalty to the current leader.
Kim Jong-un has paid tribute at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the body of the late leader lies in state, every year to mark his father's death. But the North has yet to report if Kim has made such a visit this year.
Officials say North Korea could hold a massive public event for this year's anniversary, as Pyongyang usually marks every fifth and 10th anniversary with larger events.
The North held a large-scale gathering in Pyongyang to commemorate Kim Jong-il's death on the first, second, third and fifth anniversaries.
"We expect (the North) will show a similar tendency this year," said Cha Duck-chul, deputy spokesman for Seoul's unification ministry. "We will continue monitoring related moves as the North has a record of reporting on the events in the afternoon."
On Thursday, the North Korean Embassy in China held a memorial service to commemorate the late Kim, stressing close ties between the two countries.
Wang Chen, vice chairman of the standing committee of the Chinese National People's Congress, attended the ceremony and asked North Korean Ambassador Ri Ryong-nam to convey Chinese President Xi Jinping's "warm greetings and best wishes" to the North's leader Kim Jong-un, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
"(Wang) said that the traditional China-DPRK friendship serves as precious wealth for both sides, expressing the firm stand of the Chinese side to propel the steady development of the China-DPRK friendly ties," the KCNA said. DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
scaaet@yna.co.kr
(END)
10. US Ally South Korea Humiliates Biden on World Stage, Would Rather Side with China Than Him
I think this is more than a little disingenuous. It is only our arrogance that lets us think every ally should act in lock step with us. South Korea is in a difficult position and has to weigh the possible responses that could harm it. It is correct to be worried about CHinese economic warfare in response, especially when none of its allies or the free world came to its economic defense during that THAAD debacle with China.
That said, democracies must consistently focus on human rights and calling out abuses. And the fact is South Korea has been remiss in not calling out either north Korean or Chinese human rights atrocities. That does need to change not because South Korea is a US ally but because it is the right thing to do.
US Ally South Korea Humiliates Biden on World Stage, Would Rather Side with China Than Him
The United State’s place on the world stage has been questioned over the past few weeks as world leaders have been holding meetings and taking sides, particularly in the midst of the growing tensions between China and the U.S.
But now, South Korea, the U.S.’s longtime ally, has deviated from America’s lead and will not be joining the diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Monday that his government was “not considering” the boycott. The country hasn’t “received any requests from any countries, including the U.S., to participate,” he said, Bloomberg reported.
Naturally, China welcomed South Korea’s decision, interpreting it as a move in the spirit of friendship.
Tensions between the U.S. and China have been growing.
Last week, the U.S. announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in China due to gross human rights atrocities that China continues to commit, according to a Reuters report.
The diplomatic boycott has been encouraged by members of Congress and human rights advocacy groups. Unlike the more dramatic and comprehensive boycott of the Games under President Jimmy Carter in 1980, this form of boycott leaves athletes free to compete in Beijing.
China, of course, has heavily criticized this decision by the U.S.
“The US just wants to politicize sports, create divisions and provoke confrontation,” a statement from the spokesperson of the Chinese mission to the UN read, according to a BBC report. “The success of the Games does not rely on the attendance of a handful of countries’ government officials.”
Should South Korea have joined the boycott?
Yes: 63% (24 Votes)
No: 37% (14 Votes)
“No-one would care about whether these people come or not, and it has no impact whatsoever on the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics to be successfully held,” China’s Washington embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said, according to the BBC.
But others joined in condemning China’s human rights abuses.
Though the U.S. initially was alone in declaring the diplomatic boycott, Australia, Canada and the U.K. have since joined.
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But China’s trading role in the Korean peninsula is monumental, which is probably why South Korea does not want to make an enemy out of the larger nation by joining the boycott. According to Bloomberg, China is Seoul’s largest trading partner.
“Clearly, our relations with China have some conflicting and competing aspects,” President Moon said, according to the Bloomberg report.
But then he said that China’s “constructive efforts” are required for the denuclearization of North Korea, and for the “peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.”
But this abandonment from South Korea does not make Biden look good.
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Biden has tried to take a strong stand on the international stage by standing up to China, but when the U.S.’s strongest Asian partner does not join, it’s a bad look.
However, though this diplomatic boycott may have fallen a bit flat without South Korea joining, in principle it’s still the right thing to do.
China’s abuse and cruel repression of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities living in the Xinjiang province is absolutely unacceptable.
Though the spirit of the boycott is correct, the Biden administration should be doing a lot more to stop China. And finding a way to get South Korea on board in standing against China is going to be crucial.
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Abby Liebing is a Hillsdale College graduate with a degree in history. She has written for various outlets and enjoys covering foreign policy issues and culture.
Abby Liebing is a Hillsdale College graduate with a degree in history. She has written for various outlets and enjoys covering foreign policy issues and culture.
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11. Britain names new ambassador to North Korea
As I have noted before, a diplomat in Pyongyang has a hard time. A former diplomat stopped by Washington, DC and told a group of Korea watchers that Pyongyang is the only city in which you have to leave to find out what is going on inside the city.
Britain names new ambassador to North Korea | Yonhap News Agency
By Choi Soo-hyang
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Yonhap) -- David Ellis, a former British deputy head of mission in Tokyo, has been appointed as the country's new ambassador to North Korea, London's foreign ministry has said.
Effective immediately, Ellis will temporarily work from London to replace Colin Crooks who will serve as the new ambassador to South Korea starting next year.
"I am delighted to have been appointed British Ambassador to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," Ellis wrote on his Twitter account, referring to the North by its official name. "I am working temporarily from London, but plan to return to the British Embassy Pyongyang as soon as circumstances permit."
His predecessor Crooks, who was appointed as Britain's top envoy to the North in December 2018, had also been working from London since May 2020 after its mission in Pyongyang temporarily closed due to COVID-19.
Prior to his new job, Ellis served as Britain's minister and deputy head of mission in Tokyo from 2016 to 2020 and was the minister counselor in Beijing from 2011 to 2015.
scaaet@yna.co.kr
(END)
12. British helicopter operator pre-orders 'Butterfly' air taxis being co-developed by Hanwha
Possible military application?
British helicopter operator pre-orders 'Butterfly' air taxis being co-developed by Hanwha | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Yonhap) -- British helicopter operator Bristow Group Inc. has pre-ordered about 20-50 electric air mobility aircraft being jointly developed by South Korea's Hanwha Systems Co. and U.S. Overair, according to industry sources Friday.
Overair, the California-based air taxi startup, signed a memorandum of understanding with Bristow on Thursday (local time), to collaborate on the development and commercialization plans for "Butterfly," an all-electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, or "flying taxi."
Bristow said in a press release it will work with Overair to "develop an operations development framework focusing on vehicle design considerations and key performance parameters," among others.
Hanwha Systems, the defense and ICT unit of Hanwha Group, invested 30 billion won (US$25.3 million) in Overair in 2020, which made the company its largest shareholder and a co-developer of Butterfly.
Unveiling the mock-up of Butterfly in November last year, Hanwha said it will offer the highest level of safety and efficiency as an urban air mobility (UAM), also known as an "air taxi."
The UAM has also emerged as the next-generation mode of transportation due to its zero carbon emissions.
A Butterfly, if fully charged, can travel at a maximum speed of 320 kilometers per hour, meaning it can carry passengers from Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul to the eastern district of Jamsil in about 10-15 minutes, according to Hanwha.
Hanwha Systems plans to complete the development of the Butterfly aircraft by 2024 and aims to begin the test run of the Seoul-Gimpo route in 2025.
elly@yna.co.kr
(END)
13. North Korea’s progress on border wall slows with the onset of winter
Hard to work in cold conditions, with little food for long hours. And all this to prevent escapes.
North Korea’s progress on border wall slows with the onset of winter
Working-level officials are reportedly losing sleep over how to get high voltage currents to the high voltage wires they are installing along the border
By Ha Yoon Ah - 2021.12.17 3:13pm
With cold weather hindering progress in the construction of a concrete wall along the Sino-North Korean border, North Korean authorities are reportedly hanging empty bottles and cans on a recently erected wire mesh fence as a temporary expediency to prevent defections.
A Daily NK source in Yanggang Province said Thursday that the authorities erected a wire mesh fence along the entire border early last month. By mid-month, they had finished hanging empty bottles and cans on the fence. He said the builders erected the temporary fence since people could try to defect while work on the concrete wall slows as the ground freezes due to the cold.
According to the source, North Korea initially planned to finish construction of the border wall and high voltage wires by the end of this year. That is now impossible with the weather turning cold and the authorities unable to pump resources into construction as they prepare for a sweeping end-of-the-year review this year – the first year of the state’s five-year economic development plan.
The source said Yanggang Province responded by getting approval from the leadership to erect the temporary wire mesh fence with empty bottles and cans along the border and to prepare this winter for restarting construction of the wall from the middle of March 2022.
In fact, the province reportedly erected the wire fence along its section of the border in just three days after approval came down from the leadership. Provincial authorities then collected empty bottles and cans from locals, hanging two each along every meter of the fence.
The source said that each construction unit must prepare to restart construction work in their sections by March – when the frozen land thaws and construction can restart in earnest – by digging out sections 180 centimeters deep and 80 centimeters wide.
He said to dig frozen ground during the winter you need to thaw it little by little, so units are running around preparing firewood and digging as much as they can before it gets even colder.
A sentry post on the Sino-North Korean border in Sakju County, North Pyongan Province. / Image: Daily NK
Meanwhile, the authorities are facing issues keeping the engineering units deployed to the border supplied with necessities given that their deployment to the border has been longer than expected.
The source said the engineering bureau — which reportedly conducted zero preparations for winter — has asked soldiers from rich families to go on leave and come back with coal, firewood, rice and other food. He said the engineering bureau was relying completely on those soldiers for its winter preparations.
Meanwhile, working-level officials are reportedly losing sleep over how to get high voltage currents to the high voltage wires they are installing along the border.
A source in Chagang Province said the province and the military have provided all the transformers, but the concern on the ground is that simply installing transformers will not get electricity into the fence. He said promising to provide electricity to the border is easy, but because this is not really possible, the core problem now is how to provide high voltage juice on a 24-hour basis.
With North Korea facing chronic energy shortages, people on the ground believe there will be woefully insufficient electricity for the fence if Pyongyang and provincial military industries receive priority energy.
The source said the provincial party and people’s committees, border guard and engineering bureau put their heads together and came up with a scheme to divide the border region into different sections and send power to a different section every day. Under this plan, which section is receiving power on a given day would be wrapped under intense secrecy.
The source said officials who came up with the plan think that, due to this secrecy, locals will fear the fence even more since they do not know which section will be electrified.
However, nobody knows whether the Central Committee will approve the plan, he added.
Ha Yoon Ah is one of Daily NK’s full-time journalists. Please direct any questions about her articles to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
14. Soon-to-graduate N. Korean university students rush to secure employment certificates
There is nothing in north Korea that corruption does not touch.
Soon-to-graduate N. Korean university students rush to secure employment certificates
Powerful institutions are even taking bribes to issue fake employment certificates to scheduled graduates
In a telephone conversation with Daily NK yesterday, the source, who is based in North Korea, said that many scheduled graduates have been rushing to secure employment certificates.
Employment certificates show that you have already secured priority employment at a government body or enterprise as a “necessary worker.”
Submitting such a certificate to the university’s deployment department can get you an exemption from the Three Revolution teams.
In principle, government bodies or enterprises should take the initiative in selecting talent, but scheduled graduates are seeking institutions out and even offering them bribes to write certificates so they can get out of serving in the Three Revolution teams.
Because universities also know what is going on, scheduled graduates with employment certificates must offer bribes to cadres in their university deployment department, too.
This method requires connections or bribes, putting it out of reach of scheduled graduates from families without power or money.
The problem is that graduates who get out of serving with the Three Revolution teams by receiving an employment certificate will not actually work at the institutions. Instead, they hope to engage in private business while paying monthly sums to their nominal employer, a scheme North Koreans frequently call “Aug. 3 earnings.”
Students at Kim Il Sung University / Image: Uri Tours, Flickr, Creative Commons
Some scheduled graduates with employment certificates and exemption from the Three Revolution teams are also apparently seeking to take a year off before entering People’s Economy College, Kumsong University of Politics or some other cadre training school for the nation’s bureaucracy or political leadership.
However, most use the time to help their parents’ businesses or by earning money through private economic activity such as running procurement shops.
Many prospective students get employment certificates from powerful institutions such as the People’s Economic Committee, the military or Ministry of State Security so they can run bigger businesses.
To put this another way, powerful institutions are taking bribes to issue fake employment certificates to scheduled graduates.
For government bodies and enterprises, getting money each month to put toward operation costs through the Aug. 3 earnings scheme makes better economic sense than paying monthly wages to real employees.
However, for the authorities — who aim to produce technological innovation by strengthening the ideological education of the youth — this could cause problems in cultivating loyalty toward the regime.
The source said the state has targeted the Aug. 3 earnings for eradication as a “non-socialist phenomenon”; yet, in reality, government bodies or enterprises would not function with it.
He further predicted that the number of scheduled graduates engaging in Aug. 3 earnings may grow this year with the state allotting so many of them to the Three Revolution teams.
Seulkee Jang is one of Daily NK’s full-time journalists. Please direct any questions about her articles to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
15. Army announces 3 unit rotations to Mideast, Europe and Korea
Army announces 3 unit rotations to Mideast, Europe and Korea
The Army has announced three brigade combat team deployments in the coming months as part of a regular rotation of forces around the globe.
Major combat operations ended when ISIS lost its territorial caliphate in 2019, but the group remains active as an insurgency. Tensions between the U.S. and Iran-backed militias in the region also continue to garner headlines.
The 1st Armored BCT, 1st Armored Division, stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, will deploy this spring to support the U.S. commitment to South Korea.
Army units regularly rotate to the Korean peninsula, though there are also about 28,500 U.S. troops permanently assigned there. Many of the U.S. forces in the country are located 40 miles south of Seoul at Camp Humphreys.
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Experts told Military Times to expect a "permanently" militarized border between Russia and Ukraine, and an invasion could be triggered if Ukraine attains advanced weapons.
The 3rd Armored BCT, 4th Infantry Division, stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, will deploy to Europe this spring to support “the U.S. commitment to NATO allies and partners,” a unit press release reads.
In recent years, NATO has also helped supply Ukrainian forces with better weaponry, including anti-tank missiles and some drone technology.
16. Challenging Moon’s Symbolic End-Of-War Declaration
I could live with this simple conclusion:
In other words, the declaration should be more than a symbol. To achieve a real result while avoiding the declaration becoming either entirely symbolic or overly regularized, it should be approached from a middle ground perspective. The negotiation for the end-of-war declaration should be combined with practical steps for the peace process and denuclearization efforts.
Challenging Moon’s Symbolic End-Of-War Declaration
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In South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s address to the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in September, he called on the United States, North Korea, and China, alongside South Korea to take steps toward reaching an end-of-war declaration. By renewing his call for ending the Korean War, Moon hoped to reactivate the peace process and make “real progress” before the end of his term next year.
This is not the first time an end-of-war declaration has been brought to the table. South Korea and the U.S.-led U.N. forces are technically still at war with North Korea, since the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice agreement rather than a peace treaty. Attempts to officially declare the war’s end have been made several times, the most recent example being in 2018. During a frenzy of diplomatic negotiations between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, then-U.S. President Donald Trump, and South Korean President Moon, the concept of ending the war resurfaced. As a result, the parties initially agreed to declare an end to the Korean War by the end of 2018. However, due to the lack of practical commitments to the peace process and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, all parties lost enthusiasm for the plan, which came to a standstill along with virtually all talks. In the end, no declaration was ever drafted.
Moon’s renewed appeal comes at a time when negotiations are stalled and North Korea has shut down all borders in response to the pandemic. The difference between the 2018 attempt to declare the war’s end and Moon’s renewed push is that the declaration this time is intended to restart dialogue. The hope is that a symbolic and non-legally binding end-of-war declaration could boost confidence and be a beneficial and non-threatening means to encourage Pyongyang back to talks. It is also a more pressing political goal for Moon now, as it is his final attempt at resuming the denuclearization process on the Korean Peninsula before the end of his tenure in May 2022. However, as if lack of time wasn’t a problem enough, the chances for Washington and Pyongyang sitting down after the no-deal summit in Hanoi are slim.
The fundamental incompatibility inhibiting progress between Washington and Pyongyang remains. It is a problem of what should come first: practical action for denuclearization or reconciliation. Biden has proposed to hold diplomatic dialogues with North Korea without preconditions, “anywhere, anytime.” However, in the near term, he is not inclined to meet the regime’s primary demands, such as providing security guarantees and sanctions relief to the North, unless it takes action toward denuclearization first. Meanwhile, North Korea argues that if the U.S. really intended to solve problems through dialogue, it would refrain from any hostile actions that make Pyongyang feel threatened, and has asserted that it will not return to the negotiating table until Washington withdraws what it calls its “hostile policy.”
As Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong stated in September, “Only when such a precondition is met, would it be possible to sit face to face and declare the significant termination of war” – otherwise an end-of-war declaration would be “just a piece of paper.” In brief, the parties are locked in a who comes first dispute, and contrary to what the Moon administration seems to believe, a declaration with solely symbolic meaning in the present state of distrust between the parties will not be enough to entice Pyongyang back to talks. It is also doubtful that a declaration without practical impact would lead to any real change on the Korean Peninsula. As the U.S. and North Korea’s perceptions of what conditions and steps come next would clash, the countries would be right back where they started, and the blame game would continue.
However, just because the declaration should not be purely symbolic does not mean that it should be too detailed either. Presenting a more legally binding and formal declaration comes with its own negative implications and could also force the countries into a fumbling approach. Both the U.S. and North Korea have very different perceptions of the goals and conditions for the different steps to be taken. On Pyongyang’s part, in the short term, the goal would be to stop the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise next March, which is a precondition for the Kim regime to return to the negotiation table.
Furthermore, it could move another step toward dismantling the U.S.-headed United Nations Command (UNC), which could weaken the legitimacy of U.S. military presence on the peninsula. It’s possible North Korea would then push for the withdrawal of the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. Pyongyang might also claim that Washington would need to honor the end-of-war declaration by giving up attempts to rein in North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. The risk of this negative spiraling may be what prevents Moon from taking on a more detailed and legally binding declaration.
So, what is the solution then? Amid the countries’ perception gaps and differences in approaches and demands, an end-of-war declaration should be proposed with a concession as an entry point. For example, the United States and South Korea could offer a halt of joint military exercises, and in response, Pyongyang could declare a moratorium of all missile tests as an initial step. Such a compromise may constitute a concrete action to narrow down the gaps and already solve two contentious issues: a cessation of the next joint military exercise may then be positively seen by North Korea as a partial lifting of the hostile policy, while a moratorium on all missile tests can convince the U.S. of Pyongyang’s serious intention for long-term denuclearization. Introducing the end-of-war declaration with different levels of reciprocity and sequencing of measures to find a middle ground between the U.S. and North Korea would therefore be much more beneficial and be a catalyst for further discussions on actions for peace process and denuclearization during the negotiation process.
In other words, the declaration should be more than a symbol. To achieve a real result while avoiding the declaration becoming either entirely symbolic or overly regularized, it should be approached from a middle ground perspective. The negotiation for the end-of-war declaration should be combined with practical steps for the peace process and denuclearization efforts.
17. The pandemic forced Kim Jong Un into retreat. The world should brace for his resurgence
The pandemic forced Kim Jong Un into retreat. The world should brace for his resurgence
Updated 4:21 AM ET, Fri December 17, 2021
CNN · by Paula Hancocks and Yoonjung Seo, CNN
Seoul (CNN)Ten years ago, the world watched as a young Kim Jong Un solemnly walked beside his father's hearse on a snowy morning in Pyongyang as distraught North Koreans wailed in grief.
Kim's long black coat and hairstyle, reminiscent of his late grandfather Kim Il Sung, were viewed as a superficial effort to emulate the authority of his forebears.
But the 20-something heir to the North Korean leadership quickly grew into the role, and Korea watchers who were once skeptical of his rule now expect him to remain in power indefinitely -- assuming his health holds.
It's a marked change from the early days, when Joseph Yun, former US special representative for North Korea, remembers Kim as an object of ridicule.
"For a while, there was so much negative caricature of Kim Jong Un in South Korea and in China, almost making fun of him. It was very difficult for the international public -- South Korea and America -- to take him seriously," he recalled.
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That view quickly changed as the young Kim displayed a ruthlessness and decisiveness that belied his age.
Kim Jong Un salutes beside his father's hearse during his funeral procession in Pyongyang on December 28, 2011.
Kim did not hesitate to purge or execute even those closest to him in a bid to tighten his grip on power. His powerful uncle Jang Song Thaek, once presumed to be Kim's mentor, was executed in 2013 for "trying to overthrow the government," according to a state media report.
Now, few question Kim's authority, but some experts worry that his consolidated power could embolden him to take greater risks -- and that, as Covid drives North Korea to become more isolationist, its leader will only become more dangerous.
Kim Jong Il's funeral procession drives through Pyongyang on December 28, 2011.
The making of a leader
Kim Jong Un made his first public speech on the centennial of his grandfather Kim Il Sung's birth in April 2012 -- one of the most important dates in North Korea's calendar.
It was a marked departure from the style of his father Kim Jong Il, whose voice was barely heard in public.
The young leader stood at the podium switching his weight from one foot to another like a schoolboy might do, as he delivered a speech promising to uphold his father's dying wishes to build a strong socialist country.
Less than one year later, in February 2013, Kim Jong Un conducted his first nuclear test -- the third in North Korea's history -- a provocative move interpreted as Kim's message to the world, specifically to the US, that he was to be taken seriously. Around the same time, Kim announced his "Pyongjin" policy to simultaneously develop its nuclear program as well as the economy.
Over the next few years, North Korea dedicated itself to developing its military capabilities, not limited to intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Various short and medium range missiles were also tested, and three more underground nuclear explosions were detonated.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves from a balcony following a military parade in Pyongyang on April 15, 2017.
"The diversification we're seeing in North Korea is puzzling considering the constrained resources in the country," said Ankit Panda, Stanton Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "What we see is really more than 10, around 15, potential nuclear delivery systems under development. It's really remarkable."
Beyond developing the country's military, Kim has also achieved a diplomatic victory that neither his father nor his grandfather could achieve in their much longer rules -- a summit with a sitting American President.
Kim met then US President Donald Trump in Singapore in 2018 in a meeting billed as opportunity to forge new relations between the nations. During his trip, Kim walked freely around downtown Singapore waving at people, something that would have been unthinkable for his father or grandfather whose public appearances were always meticulously managed.
Yun said that Kim's meeting with Trump signified that he was "coming out, establishing himself that he was a regional leader that has a place in this scene."
Kim Jong Un met then US President Trump in Singapore on June 12, 2018.
A series of summits with world leaders, including Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and South Korean President Moon Jae-In, produced few tangible outcomes and made little progress on resolving North Korea's nuclear issue, but they raised the global profile of both Kim Jong Un and North Korea.
The creation of Kimjongunism
By the time Kim was endorsed as "General Secretary" at the 8th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea in January, portraits of his father and grandfather had been removed from walls of the venue, according to images of the event published by state media.
Experts and South Korea's Unification Ministry see their removal as a sign that Kim is reaching the level of his predecessors.
South Korea's spy agency briefed the country's lawmakers that North Korea has begun using the neologism "Kimjongunism" internally. Reports about Kim's excellence, even to the level of idolization, have emerged in state media.
This month, the regime's Central News Agency (KCNA) described Kim as "the outstanding teacher brightly indicating the path... with his unique ideological and theoretical wisdom."
Cheong Seong-chang, director of Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute, sees these reports are a deliberate strategy by North Korea to differentiate Kimjongunism from the ideologies of Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung.
He says Kimjongunism prioritizes people, unlike his father who placed military development above all else. Kim's policies also call for patriotism and the building of the North Korean state, a departure from his grandfather's ambitions for a socialist state lifted by a collective desire for self-sufficiency.
Duyeon Kim, Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, says Kim seems to be trying to chart his own path. "He certainly seems to be trying to come out of the shadows of his father and grandfather and bring all the attention on him," she says.
Kim Jong Un has emerged as a leader in his own right.
But this is not a unique move by Kim Jong Un, according to Cheong. He says Kim's grandfather, who had unconditionally accepted Marxism-Leninism early in his rule, moved toward pursuing his own independent line in his 10th year, and Kim Jong Il began promoting his ideology alongside the Juche or self-reliance ideology of Kim Il Sung in 1985, 11 years after he took power.
But unlike his predecessors, who had painted the picture of a paradise on Earth and did not acknowledge any shortcomings, Kim has been willing to admit to areas for improvement such as the nation's "tense" food situation.
The next decade will be crucial for Kimjongunism as Kim seeks to fulfill his promise to improve people's lives despite being constrained by strict international sanctions. Unlike his predecessors, Kim has encouraged a mix of a market economy -- which allows people to make profit -- with a planned economy that caps individual gain.
However, the unexpected global pandemic may be the biggest challenge in the pursuit of Kimjongunism. North Korea's borders have been shut for nearly two years since the beginning of the pandemic, blocking almost all trade and humanitarian aid.
North Korea has a chronic food shortage of about one million tons every year, according to the South Korean government. South Korea's Unification Ministry has said that some food related items are showing "a steep rise" in price and "the volatility of food and daily necessities overall is increasing as the border closure situation prolongs."
"The biggest difficulty North Korea is facing now is that even North Korea does not know how long this isolation will last," said Cheong.
North Korea unveiled what analysts believe to be the world's largest liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile at a parade in Pyongyang on October 10, 2020.
What does this mean for the world?
North Korea hasn't tested any missiles since this October. But this hiatus should not be mistaken for a change of North Korea's strategy -- it may mean the opposite, experts say.
Some experts believe the pause may be linked to China's important agenda next year -- the Beijing Winter Olympics and the 2022 Communist Party Congress.
"China doesn't want any mess before the Beijing Olympics nor an unstable situation on the Korean Peninsula before their own congress, so I think that's a key reason why North Korea has not done any missile testing or nuclear testing because it would tremendously displease China," says Yun, the former US special representative for North Korea.
It's expected North Korea will continue to work on plans laid out by Kim this January, including developing tactical nuclear weapons, hypersonic missiles, a solid-fueled ICBM, a nuclear-powered submarine and underwater-launch nuclear strategic weapons.
And there are signs the country is ramping up its nuclear program while talks with the US remain stalled. Activity appears to have resumed at a reactor at its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon, which appeared to have been shut down since December 2018, according to reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and others.
"Historically, the development of the DPRK's nuclear and ballistic missile programs have accelerated during periods when the country was not bound by any agreement with -- or involving -- the US to constrain the country's WMD programs," says Laura Rockwood, director of Open Nuclear Network, and former section head for Non-Proliferation and Policy Making at the IAEA.
North Korean soldiers ride atop armored vehicles during a military parade in Pyongyang on October 10, 2015.
While Trump agreed to the Singapore summit with few strings attached, US policy towards North Korea has generally insisted on the precondition that North Korea commits to denuclearization.
However, Rockwood adds it would be more productive to engage in negotiations with North Korea with the view to arms control as a first step, before any progression to potential denuclearization.
Unfortunately, North Korea is not at the top of the agenda in Washington at the moment.
The seemingly stable situation of the regime under Kim's strong grip on power could lead the Biden administration to think that it can focus on other, more imminent issues in the region, China and Taiwan.
But experts warn of the consequences of not engaging with the North more actively, as it continues to build its weapons capability.
"The challenge for North Korea is growing month by month, year by year, and the challenge we'll be facing five years down the line is going to be significantly different," says Panda, from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
One thing seems increasingly certain and that is Kim looks set to be around for a while, as a confident leader and as a tougher dictator to deal with for the world.
"As long as his physical health holds up, I think he's in it for the next few decades," says Duyeon Kim, from the Center for a New American Security.
"And so this is where the long game really is important for us to remember -- that even if North Korea does not make big strides in achieving its goals immediately or in the mid-term, North Korea has always been resilient even in the harshest of economic times."
CNN · by Paula Hancocks and Yoonjung Seo, CNN
18. Kim Jong-un: N Korean defectors reflect on last decade
An excellent run down.
Kim Jong-un: N Korean defectors reflect on last decade
By Laura Bicker
BBC News, Seoul
Published
17 hours ago
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It's 10 years since an untested 27-year-old took power in North Korea and in that time few world leaders have generated as many headlines. But what has it been like living under Kim Jong-un?
The sound of wailing filled the streets of Pyongyang.
Students in their school uniforms fell to their knees and appeared inconsolable. Women were pictured clutching their hearts in despair.
The tightly controlled North Korean state media had announced that Kim Jong-il, their "dear leader", had died at the age of 69. It was 19 December 2011.
Around the world, Korean analysts rushed to their desks to pull out their files on one man.
Kim Jong-un.
At the age of just 27 he was the so-called Great Successor. But few thought he would succeed at anything. How could a society which rewards age and experience be ruled by someone who had neither?
Many predicted a military coup, or a takeover by North Korean elites. But the world underestimated the young dictator. Kim Jong-un has not only cemented his position, he has ushered in a new era called "Kim Jong-unism".
He began with a purge of his rivals and hundreds of executions and then turned his attention to foreign affairs. Four nuclear tests, 100 ballistic missiles fired and the international spotlight at talks with the US president.
But his relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons has come at a cost. North Korea is now in crisis, poorer and more isolated than when he took power.
So what has it been like to live under him?
Ten North Korean defectors - including one of his top diplomats - reflect on 10 years of Kim Jong-un.
A new start
Student Kim Geum-hyok did something that could have got him shot the day Kim Jong-un's father died. He threw a party.
"That was so dangerous. But we were so happy at the time," he says.
For him, a young new leader, notably one who loved skiing and basketball, raised the prospect of fresh ideas and of change.
"We had expectations about Kim Jong Un. He had studied abroad in Europe, so maybe he would think in the same way as us," he said.
Geum-hyok was from an elite family and at the time was studying in Beijing, a privilege only a few are afforded in North Korea.
Life in China opened his eyes to a more prosperous world and he searched the internet for news about his home country.
"At first, I couldn't believe it. I believed Western people were lying [about what N Korea was like]. But my heart and my brain were divided. My brain said you don't need to look, but my heart wanted to look even more."
The 25 million people of North Korea are tightly controlled so most have little or no idea of world events, or how their country is thought of by the outside world.
They are also taught that the leader is a uniquely gifted and an accomplished divine being that deserves their ultimate fealty.
For Guem-hyok, the succession to power of this young man represented something that had been in short supply.
Hope.
The doubters
But others were sceptical. In the corridors of power in Pyongyang there were whispers that Kim Jong-un was a privileged child unfit to rule.
Ryu Hyun-woo, the former North Korean ambassador to Kuwait, told the BBC that his colleagues were exasperated by the leadership being passed from father to son.
"My first impression was 'sigh, another succession?' North Koreans were getting tired of hereditary succession. Especially among elites, we wanted something new and novel, 'Shouldn't something different come?' is what we thought."
The Kim family has ruled North Korea since it was formed in 1948. The country's people are taught that the blood line is sacred. It is a way of legitimising the dynasty.
"I heard things like, "so we're gonna serve the dearest forever, right?'
"What would a 27-year-old know in terms of running a country? It's absurd."
A promise
In a speech in 2012, the new leader pledged North Koreans would never have to "tighten their belts again".
For a country that had suffered a deadly famine in the 1990s which cost hundreds of thousands of lives, it seemed that their new leader wanted to end their food shortages and their suffering. It was a huge moment.
Foreign office officials were ordered to facilitate more international investments. And some within the country noticed changes too.
Driver Yoo Seong-ju from a province on the east coast of the country says he started noticing more things in supermarkets that had been made in North Korea.
"To our own surprise and pride, North Korean food products were actually better than Chinese ones in terms of taste, packaging and in supply. It was actually quite an ego boost."
The purge
Kim Jong-un's good wishes for his people did not extend to those he considered a threat.
In particular his uncle Jang Song-thaek had amassed a powerful network of allies.
Hundreds of miles from Pyongyang in the north of the country near the border with China, trader Choi Na-rae was wondering if Mr Jang could be the new leader of the country.
"Many of us hoped the country would open up with China and that we could travel freely abroad," he remembered.
"We thought if Jang Song-thaek would have succeeded in taking power, he would have brought a lot of economical change to North Korea. Of course we couldn't easily speak this out loud but we did have those expectations."
This kind of rumour had to be quashed.
Jang Song-thaek was labelled "human scum" and "worse than a dog" and then executed for allegedly undermining the "unitary leadership of the party".
The young leader was showing his ruthless streak.
Taking control
Dozens fled across the border to China and eventually to South Korea to try to seek refuge from the purge. Kim Jong-un decided to try to prevent further defections. Border security was tightened like never before. A barbed wire fence went up with traps on the ground underneath.
Ha Jin-woo managed to get around 100 people out of North Korea during his time as a broker.
"The country has a separate border security force. They are told to just shoot and kill anyone that tries to cross the border and they won't be held accountable for it."
"I was very scared when I first started but I had this sense of duty. Since I was young I had a lot of doubts about North Korea. Why am I born here to live like less than an animal with no rights and freedom? I had to risk my life to do this job."
But he was eventually a marked man and had to flee. His mother was locked in a prison camp and the brutal treatment there left her paralysed.
This haunts Jin-woo who barely remembers his mother's voice.
Mr Popular
Despite the crackdown on dissenters and defectors, King Jong-un was trying to appear more accessible, more modern and more friendly than his father.
He married a fashionable young woman, Ri Sol-ju. He was photographed hugging, waving, smiling at visits to various towns and villages. Riding roller coasters, skiing, galloping on horseback.
The couple toured cosmetic factories and showed off luxury goods.
But for ordinary North Koreans, trying to be more "modern" was forbidden.
Yoon Mi-so wanted to follow trends she had seen on smuggled South Korean DVDs. She was desperate to wear earrings, a necklace or even jeans.
"I once was once caught for not abiding by these rules and was put on a public shame stand, where a bunch of people would just verbally criticise me until I cried. They'd say "you are corrupted, how are you not ashamed?'"
Hyun-young was a singer, just like Kim Jong-un's wife. But all her songs had to glorify the North Korean leader. She tried to rebel, but was persecuted.
"I've never once been freely allowed to do what I artistically wanted to do. There was so much regulation and confinement in the music of North Korea that I suffered a lot.
"The government controls this because they are afraid of foreign influence. These tight regulations show they are not confident in their own regime."
At least seven people have been executed in the past decade for watching or distributing K-pop videos from South Korea, according to a recent human rights report.
Kim Jong-un has described these foreign influences as a "vicious cancer".
And trouble was not far away.
Tick tick boom
Each ballistic missile test made headlines globally but inside the country they did not foster national pride in the way intended.
"People would say that they are still building weapons by squeezing blood and sweat from the people," says one defector.
"We didn't consider it a victory. We thought 'Wow, they spent so much money on all those tests. All the money we earn for them is going to that,'" says another.
Around 2016 in the foreign office, Ambassador Ryu was given new orders. The focus was no longer just on business.
"We were to explain why North Korea needs nuclear weapons, the purpose and justification."
The hope was that by diplomats talking about it, the idea would become normalised within the international community.
It didn't work out like that.
Rocket Man's big gamble
Escalating threats between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un ended in the ultimate diplomatic show.
The dictator so often caricatured as a fat spoiled baby in western media was confidently striding alongside the US president, sharing the stage.
North Korean newspapers plastered the handshakes in Singapore on the front page.
But sanctions to curb the country's nuclear programme were beginning to bite. Although awed by the image, the reaction in villages outside the main city of Pyongyang was muted.
"We had no ability to analyse the meaning of it. We just couldn't fathom how that meeting could lead to improvements or something like that," says trader Choi Na-rae.
But there was no deal and ambassador Ryu believes it was all a show to gain some relief from sanctions.
"The North can never give up these weapons because it views them as vital to the survival of the regime."
Covid crisis
Worse was to come for Kim Jong-un.
When the Covid pandemic hit neighbouring China in January 2020, North Korea closed its borders. Not just to people, but also to trade.
Food and vital medicine piled up at the main entry point of Dandong, unable to get through. More than 80% of the country's trade comes from China.
"Since Covid, a lot has changed," says Ju Seong who was a driver in North Korea. He has managed to speak briefly to his mother near the border with China.
"The economy is shrinking, prices have hiked. It has become so much harder to live. My parents seem to find food but the price is just too high. It's very stressful. The situation seems severe."
There are reports that some are starving.
Kim Jong-un himself has described it as a "great crisis' and even shed tears in a speech. Unprecedented for a North Korean leader.
A former doctor there, Kim Sung-hui, says most medicines have to be bought on the black market.
Operating theatres regularly go without electricity and surgeons sometimes work with their bare hands as no gloves are available.
"When I see how different the two countries are on this peninsula, I hope North Korea can arrive at a future where the human rights of both the patients and the doctors are guaranteed."
North Korea is not equipped for a pandemic and the public health toll from Covid is unknown.
But it also cannot survive its current self-imposed isolation without significant harm to its people.
The cult of Kim
Some of our defectors were so emotional about the current situation in North Korea that they predicted a coup. But there are no signs this is even a remote possibility.
The cult of the Kim family has proved to be pervasive and remarkably stable. All predictions of regime collapse have been wrong.
Image caption,
Defectors who spoke to the BBC for this article
After more than 70 years of being closed off to the world, most of my interviewees said their wish was for North Korea to open its borders, to allow its people to move freely. Many simply want to see their families again.
They are now free to raise their voices and tell their stories about life under Kim Jong-un. Those left behind are not.
"Singing for myself is something I have risked my life to do," says singer Hyun-hang. "Those left in North Korea have to bury that in their heart till they die."
On the 10th anniversary of his rule, Kim Jong-un is in charge of a country in crisis. He has dozens of new nuclear weapons but his people are still going hungry.
A huge poster was put in the centre of Seoul in 2018 just after the South Korean president visited Pyongyang. It was a photograph of Kim Jong-un being shown how to put his fingers and thumb together in what has become the K-pop symbol for love.
He could offer them freedom. He has that power.
Instead, the 25 million people of North Korea are more isolated from the world than ever.
All these interviewees risked their lives to leave North Korea and now live in South Korea and the US. Some of their names have been changed to protect their families
Illustrations by Gerry Fletcher
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19. North Korea: Abusive Rule 10 Years after Kim Jong Il
From Human Right Watch. Meet the new guy. Same as the old guy.
North Korea: Abusive Rule 10 Years after Kim Jong Il
Then North Korea leader Kim Jong Il, left, and his son and now leader, Kim Jong Un, attend a military parade marking the 65th anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, in Pyongyang, North Korea, October 10, 2010. © 2010 Kyodo News via AP, File
(Seoul) – The 10th anniversary of the death of North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong Il should focus global attention on the brutal rule of his son Kim Jong Un, Human Rights Watch said today. Kim Jong Il died on December 17, 2011.
During the 10 years since his father’s death, Kim Jong Un has expanded invasive surveillance and repression of North Koreans, denied people their freedom of movement within the country and across borders, and responded to the Covid-19 pandemic with heightened food insecurity that threatens widespread starvation.
“Kim Jong Il’s legacy is the deaths of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of North Koreans in the 1990s,” said Lina Yoon, senior Korea researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Just like those of his father and grandfather, Kim Jong Un’s rule is based on brutality, fear, and repression, instigating systematic rights violations, economic hardship, and possible famine.”
Kim Jong Il took over as leader of North Korea in 1994, after the death of his father, Kim Il Sung, the founder of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea). Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and its support for North Korea in 1991, Kim Jong Il presided over the disastrous “Arduous March.” That episode killed massive numbers of people through mismanagement of an already ill-equipped economy, combined with droughts and floods that severely hurt the harvest, and brutal policies that steered scarce food to the military and government elites. A massive number of people died, with estimates of deaths ranging from hundreds of thousands to more than 2.5 to 3 million between 1994 and 1998.
Kim Jong Il’s abusive legacy also included strictly limiting access to information and restricting freedom of movement during the famine’s deadly onset in the Arduous March period. Despite restrictions, tens of thousands of North Koreans managed to flee the country during Kim Jong Il’s rule.
North Koreans who left the country after 2014, or still have contacts inside, told Human Rights Watch that while Kim Jong Un opened up the economy and decreased major crackdowns on traders’ markets, illegal border crossings became almost impossible, corrupt practices were normalized, and government “requests” for unpaid labor rose. These forced labor demands increased after 2017, following implementation of security related general economic sanctions by the United Nations Security Council.
Under the pretext of protecting the population against Covid-19, Kim Jong Un has isolated the country more than ever. He imposed unnecessary and extreme measures that far exceed the impact of the Security Council sanctions, including blocking almost all unofficial and official trade, increasing surveillance to prevent information or people from entering or leaving the country, using forced labor to build up the economy, and creating an artificial food and humanitarian crisis.
“Like his father, Kim Jong Un is prioritizing tightening his already firm grip on power at the expense of the rights and well-being of the people,” Yoon said. “Governments around the world should convince North Korea to accept closely monitored humanitarian aid, allow international aid workers into the country, and press for justice for victims of the government’s crimes against humanity.”
V/R
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Phone: 202-573-8647
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
FDD is a Washington-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
