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Quotes of the Day:
“The first principle of grand strategy is that one must understand what is going on in the world. The question “What’s happening?” is more than a cheerful greeting. Policies and decisions will follow from such an assessment, and confrontations may emerge from differing views about what is taking place and why. Yet those who are living through great historical events can rarely even glimpse the significance of what is going on all around them.”
– Grand Strategies: Literature, Statecraft, and World Order by Charles Hill
"You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star."
– Friedrich Nietzsche
"The enemy will never realize how much I thank them for taking everything material away from me and reducing me to he point where I didn't have anything but faith in God. I had a chance to look at myself and realize that you can do things you never realized were possible."
– Nick Rowe
1. The collapse of the Syrian dictatorship (and north Korean connection)
2. The Next Critical Step in South Korea’s Impeachment: The Constitutional Court
3. The free world is the big loser in South Korea’s impeachment crisis
4. Impeached President of South Korea Faces Arrest Along With Top Officers
5. 35th Anniversary of the Fall of the Ceausescu Regime in Romania (link to north Korea)
6. the new multiplayer games? of allies and partners
7. Ukraine says North Koreans took heavy casualties during weekend attack in Kursk region
8. Hanwha adds Coulter as global defense head
9. Impeachment in South Korea Has Cost Washington a Staunch Ally
10. Trump names foreign policy hawk as ‘special missions’ envoy covering North Korea
11. S. Korea sanctions top N.K. military officers, missile developer involved in Russia's war against Ukraine
12. NIS sees N. Korean troops' casualties in combat against Ukraine as likely true
13. U.S. confirms N. Korean fatalities in combat against Ukraine
14. U.S. sanctions N.K. generals accompanying N.K. troops dispatched to Russia
15. Legal defense team for impeached Yoon denies insurrection charges
16. Martial law commander arrested over alleged insurrection
17. Abductee family group vows to go ahead with leaflet campaigns against N. Korea
18. Defying drones, mines and shells, North Korean troops storm village in Russia’s Kursk region
1. The collapse of the Syrian dictatorship (and north Korean connection)
This is a Google translation of an RFA weekly column by Greg Scarlatoiu, President of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. Greg writes his weekly column for RFA in Korean (and has done so for the past 20 years). Greg is uniquely qualified to make these observations not only from his long experience on north Korean human rights and Korean issues in general, but because of his lived experience up to and through the Romanian revolution that ousted the dictator (and friend of Kim Il Sung), Nicolae Ceaușescu.
[Scalatiu] The collapse of the Syrian dictatorship
https://www.rfa.org/korean/commentary/greg/collapse-syrian-dictatorship-12092024131044.html
Greg Scarlatoiu, Chairman, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, USA
12/10/2024
A rebel soldier steps on a broken bust of the late former Syrian President Hafez Assad in Damascus, Syria, on the 8th.
/AP
00:00 / 00:00
Greg Scarlatoiu, Chairman, Committee for Human Rights in North KoreaThe hereditary dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad, the dictator of the Middle Eastern country Syria, has been in a civil war for the past 13 years and was finally overthrown by rebels a few days ago. Al-Assad gave up the presidency and fled to Russia. The Syrian dictator started a civil war to maintain his power, and over 600,000 Syrians were killed. The current population of Syria is 23 million, of which about 6.3 million have become refugees from the war. In addition, about 7.2 million people have been internally displaced in Syria due to the civil war. It is difficult to predict the future of Syria at this time. After the fall of the al-Assad regime, Syria may become a democratic country that tolerates and protects religious and ethnic minorities. Or, if the political arena of Syria is not right, religious fundamentalists may dominate Syria and it may become a different kind of dictatorship. However, one thing is certain: there is no future more tragic than the genocidal regime of the butcher al-Assad regime.
Since the civil war broke out in 2011, the North Korean regime and state-run media have continued to praise and support Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. North Korea's special forces, the Chollima 1st Army and Chollima 7th Army, have fought alongside Assad's forces against rebels for years, and Assad has also received significant support from Russia and Iran. Having received support from North Korea and its allies, Russia and Iran, for 13 years, Assad is known worldwide as the "Butcher of the Middle East."
The Kim Jong-un regime and the Assad regime in Syria have much in common. In February 2013, the 22nd UN Human Rights Council, including 47 member states, passed a resolution proposing the establishment of a commission of inquiry to investigate serious human rights abuses in North Korea. A year later, in February 2014, the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea submitted its report to the UN Human Rights Council. According to the report, inhumane crimes against humanity are being committed by the North Korean regime in North Korea. The establishment of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights is something that North Korea and Syria have in common. On August 22, 2011, when the civil war broke out in Syria, a commission to investigate crimes against humanity by the Bashar al-Assad regime was established.
Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons to massacre many innocent civilians. The relationship between the North Korean regime of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, and Kim Jong-un and the regime of al-Assad is so close that there is even a 'Kim Il-sung Park' in the city of Damascus, the capital of Syria, to worship Kim Il-sung.
North Korea even tried to export nuclear weapons to the Assad regime in Syria. About 20 years ago, North Korea helped build a nuclear power plant in Syria. However, the nuclear power plant, which was intended to create nuclear weapons to threaten its neighbor Israel, was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike on September 6, 2007. The chemical weapons that dictator Bashar al-Assad used to kill innocent Syrian civilians were also imported from North Korea.
General Secretary Kim Jong-un and Syrian dictator Al Assad have many things in common. Kim Jong-un inherited power from his grandfather Kim Il-sung and his father Kim Jong-il. Syrian Bashar Al Assad also inherited power from his father in 2000. In addition, Bashar Al Assad graduated from medical school and studied abroad in the UK, while Kim Jong-un studied abroad in Switzerland as a child, where he was exposed to Western culture and liberal democratic traditions. However, despite studying abroad in the West, the two dictators did not choose the path of reform, openness, and freedom, but the path of inhumanity and crimes against humanity.
The fall of the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad regime proves that the protection of the dictatorial countries of Russia and Iran is useless. The Kim Jong-un regime must also realize that the path to survival is not the protection of Russia, Iran, and China. Al-Assad attempted to develop weapons of mass destruction with the support of North Korea, but failed to maintain his regime. Like the Kim family in North Korea, Syrian dictator Al-Assad tried to rule through coercion, control, surveillance, and punishment, but failed. The lesson of the fall of the Syrian Bashar al-Assad regime is that there is only one way to become a normal country. In order to become a basic country that meets international standards and common sense in the 21st century, North Korea must give up nuclear weapons, short-range missiles, and other weapons of mass destruction, eliminate illegal detention facilities including political prison camps, improve the human rights situation, and lead peaceful political, economic, and social reform policies to emerge in the international community centered on democracy, free economy, and free trade.
Editor Park Jeong-woo, Web Editor Kim Sang-il
2. The Next Critical Step in South Korea’s Impeachment: The Constitutional Court
The Next Critical Step in South Korea’s Impeachment: The Constitutional Court
https://www.csis.org/analysis/next-critical-step-south-koreas-impeachment-constitutional-court
Photo: JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images
Critical Questions by Victor Cha and Ellen Kim
Published December 16, 2024
Remote Visualization
South Korea’s National Assembly impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on December 14, 2024, with a vote of 204 to 85, which included 12 lawmakers from the ruling People’s Power Party (PPP). Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung hailed the passage of Yoon’s impeachment motion, declaring that “the people have proved that they are the owners of this country.” By contrast, Yoon expressed his intent to challenge the motion, vowing that he “will never give up.”
The next critical and decisive step is the deliberations by the Constitutional Court on whether the impeachment motion is constitutional. The court may have up to 180 days to render a judgment. In 2004, the Constitutional Court overturned the National Assembly’s decision to impeach Roh Moo-hyun, sending the president back to office to assume his full powers. In 2017, the Court upheld the impeachment of Park Geun-hye, ousting her from office. The dismissal of Yoon could be confirmed, delayed, or even overturned depending on the composition of the judges on the court and the rules regarding its decision.
Q1: What is required of the Constitutional Court to decide on Yoon’s impeachment case?
A1: The Constitutional Court requires at least six votes to uphold Yoon’s impeachment. The Court consists of nine judges—three appointed by the president, three by the National Assembly, and three by the chief justice. Article 23, Paragraph 1 of the Constitutional Court Act stipulates the attendance of at least seven judges to hear a case, and Article 23, Paragraph 2 of the current Constitutional Court Act requires at least six votes in favor to sustain an impeachment motion. However, only six judges are on the bench right now due to delays in appointing replacements for the three vacant seats by the National Assembly. This situation leaves the court to decide whether it will proceed with Yoon’s impeachment case with only six judges or wait until the vacant seats are filed. If a vote were held today, a single dissenting vote could derail the impeachment and reinstate Yoon in office.
Q2: Who are the six judges?
A2: The six judges currently serving are Moon Hyeong-bae, Lee Mi-seon, Kim Hyeong-du, Jeong Jeong-mi, Jeong Hyeong-sik, and Kim Bok-hyeong (See Table 1 below). Of these, two were directly appointed by former President Moon Jae-in, and the three were nominated by former Supreme Court Chief Justices Kim Myeong-soo and Cho Hee-dae. Jeong Hyeong-sik, who was directly appointed by President Yoon, will preside over the impeachment trial.Image
President, Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department and Korea Chair
Image
Senior Fellow, Korea Chair
Programs & Projects
3. The free world is the big loser in South Korea’s impeachment crisis
The alliance will weather this storm as we have done for 70 years.
But no matter the analysis by some (including those below) and the outcome, the proximate cause of the current crisis is the miscalculation by President Yoon to order martial law and conduct a self-coup or auto-coup.. And regardless of whether an opposition comes to power that you do not like, you do not undermine democracy to protect it. If you think you must suspend democracy to protect it then you are of the Vietnam War school of "you have to burn the village to save it." You do not burn democracy to save it.
That said, I stand by my comments below about the South Korean opposition's policies toward north Korea, China, and Russia. And yes they indicate a different threat to democracy. But it will be up to the Korean people to protect their democracy and make it work.
The free world is the big loser in South Korea’s impeachment crisis
by Gordon G. Chang, opinion contributor - 12/17/24 7:30 AM ET
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/5041989-yoon-impeachment-south-korea/
On Saturday, South Korea’s National Assembly, the country’s unicameral legislature, voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol.
His fate will now be decided by the Constitutional Court. If the court votes to remove Yoon — likely, since his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law has been roundly condemned throughout South Korean society — the country will head to the polls to select the 14th president of the Republic of Korea.
In the meantime, domestic turmoil continues. The impeachment is by no means the end of the crisis, as Leif-Eric Easley of Seoul’s Ewha University said. “It is not even the beginning of the end, which will ultimately involve election of a new president,” he said.
Even if Yoon survives the crisis, the episode is undoubtedly the end of his most important, bravest, and most unpopular accomplishment. Yoon was instrumental in building a security partnership with Japan.
The South Korean leader traveled to Camp David in August of last year to meet President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. There, the three leaders issued “The Spirit of Camp David,” a joint statement to “inaugurate a new era of trilateral partnership.”
“This is a moment that requires unity and coordinated action from true partners, and it is a moment we intend to meet, together,” the statement reads. “Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United States are determined to align our collective efforts because we believe our trilateral partnership advances the security and prosperity of all our people, the region and the world.”
The grouping of the three states is now known by the acronym “JAROKUS.”
Biden in the Camp David statement “commended President Yoon and Prime Minister Kishida” for courageously transforming their relationship. But Yoon, far more than Kishida, was the hero of that moment. There is extreme animosity in Korea toward Japan, due to Japan’s annexation of Korea at the beginning of the 20th century and brutal Japanese rule there through the end of the Second World War.
Today, Japan and the U.S. are treaty allies. So are South Korea and the U.S. But Japan and the South are not allies. Both Tokyo and Seoul — and especially Seoul — have often treated each other as adversaries. It has been a long-standing U.S. policy to get the two capitals to work closely, but it was not until Yoon’s presidency that the prospect of sustained progress emerged.
One of the first casualties of Yoon’s political demise, therefore, will be cooperation with Japan and maybe even the U.S.
“If Yoon is no longer president, then Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the leftist Democratic Party of Korea, is likely to become the next president of South Korea,” Tara O of the East Asia Research Center told me. “Lee is pro-Communist Party of China, pro-North Korea, anti-South Korea, anti-U.S. and anti-Japan. He and his supporters constantly stir up anti-Japan sentiment in South Korea.”
Lee is following in the footsteps of Yoon’s immediate predecessor, Moon Jae-in, also of the Democratic Party of Korea, more commonly called “Minjoo.” Moon during his term did everything to sabotage relations with Tokyo, especially defense ties.
For instance, Moon in 2019 announced he was terminating GSOMIA, the General Security of Military Information Agreement with Japan. He ultimately relented, but only just a few hours before the pact was to expire and under intense pressure from, among others, Washington.
Minjoo’s Lee is bound to take up where Moon Jae-in left off.
“The real issue can be seen in the impeachment motion that complained that the president’s ‘Japan-centered’ policy antagonizes North Korea, China and Russia,” David Maxwell of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Asia Pacific Strategy told me. “This is the problem with the political opposition in South Korea. They view the trilateral [South Korea]-Japan-U.S. cooperation negatively and will likely try to undo it when they come to power, which they are likely to do in the next election.”
“The members of the opposition are under the naïve belief that South Korea can appease North Korea, China and Russia,” Maxwell, who served five tours of duty as a U.S. Army Special Forces officer in Korea, also said.
“They would rather weaken the [South Korea]-U.S. alliance and trilateral cooperation with Japan and the U.S. to send a message that they do not have a hostile policy toward North Korea, China and Russia. The political opposition in the South does not seem to acknowledge that it is North Korea, China and Russia that have hostile policies toward the South.”
Maxwell also says that Pyongyang, Beijing and Moscow might execute those hostile policies more vigorously because of a shift to appeasement in Seoul. In fact, North Korea’s previous leader, Kim Jong Il, responded to South Korean President Kim Dae Jung’s generous Sunshine Policy, which some characterize as appeasement, with outright hostility and belligerent military actions.
In any event, Lee Jae-myung if he in fact becomes president, will change South Korea’s direction, reorienting the country away from its only protectors, the U.S. and Japan, and toward its main enemies, particularly North Korea and China. Unfortunately, “The Spirit of Camp David” has now become a dead letter.
After the impeachment vote, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Philip Goldberg, tweeted that America’s alliance with South Korea “is and will remain ironclad.” America’s commitment is certainly ironclad, but with a leftist in charge, South Korea’s embrace of the alliance will not be.
Gordon G. Chang is the author of “Plan Red: China’s Project to Destroy America” and “The Coming Collapse of China.”
4. Impeached President of South Korea Faces Arrest Along With Top Officers
The future dangers to security, prosperity, and the alliance.
Excerpts:
The fear is that Mr. Lee, if elected, would reverse many of the gains made during Mr. Yoon’s presidency in Korean-American relations. Said Mr. Klingner: “A newly-elected progressive president would resume the party’s conciliatory approach to North Korea, reducing pressure and offering massive economic benefits with few conditions in hopes of moderating Pyongyang’s behavior.”
Any Minju successor, Mr. Klingner warned, “would likely cancel trilateral military exercises, revoke the Camp David agreement on linking the three countries’ missile alert systems, and resist U.S. efforts for a greater South Korean regional security role against the encroaching Chinese threat.”
Impeached President of South Korea Faces Arrest Along With Top Officers
Three government agencies are eager to detain Mr. Yoon on charges ranging from abuse of power to insurrection.
DONALD KIRK
Dec. 15, 2024 12:55 PM ET
nysun.com
South Korea’s impeached president, Yoon Suk-yeol, faces arrest along with top military officers in what is sure to deepen the chasm between Korean conservatives and leftists in an already highly divided society.
Three government agencies are eager to detain Mr. Yoon on charges ranging from abuse of power to insurrection for his abortive martial law decree after he failed to appear Sunday at the prosecutor’s office for questioning.
The three agencies, including the national police and the corruption investigation office as well as the prosecutor’s office, are “engaged in a turf war for investigating Yoon’s coup attempt,” according to an anti-Yoon website named Blue Roof. “All of them have said they will seek to arrest Yoon,” said the website, run by Korean-Americans highly critical of his administration.
Mr. Yoon’s arrest would inevitably heighten pressure on the Constitutional Court to approve the impeachment motion narrowly adopted Saturday by the National Assembly. His case revives bitter memories of the arrest of the former president, Park Geun-hye, also a conservative, who was impeached, ousted and jailed in 2017 after weeks of mass protests.
The overwhelming impression is that Mr. Yoon, if not guilty of an “insurrection” or “coup against the government” as claimed, has shown terrible judgement that may compromise defense against North Korea and also intensify differences on domestic issues, notably the economy.
“President Yoon has done irreparable damage to South Korea’s ability to carry out his foreign and security policies,” said a long-time Korea expert at the Heritage Foundation, Bruce Klingner, years ago with the CIA.
Perhaps the greatest concern, as Mr. Klingner made clear in an email to the Sun, is that Mr. Yoon’s ouster, regardless of whether or not he’s in prison, would undo gains achieved during his presidency in the military alliance with Washington, reconciliation with Japan, and Seoul’s role in defense of the entire Indo-Pacific.
The Minju, or Democratic Party, engineered his impeachment by five votes above the 200 needed in the 300-seat assembly, including a dozen votes from Mr. Yoon’s own People Power Party. The Minju leader, Lee Jae-myung, is already looking ahead to the election that would be held 60 days after approval of the impeachment decree by the constitutional court.
Six of the court’s nine members must approve the decree, but the court now has only six sitting judges. A Korean analyst, talking to the Sun, rated Mr. Yoon’s chances of surviving impeachment at “50-50” regardless of whether he’s in jail.
Having narrowly lost to Mr. Yoon in the 2022 presidential election, Mr. Lee would be almost sure to run in a snap election even though he faces multiple corruption charges in real estate and bribery scandals that have nothing to do with the current crisis.
The fear is that Mr. Lee, if elected, would reverse many of the gains made during Mr. Yoon’s presidency in Korean-American relations. Said Mr. Klingner: “A newly-elected progressive president would resume the party’s conciliatory approach to North Korea, reducing pressure and offering massive economic benefits with few conditions in hopes of moderating Pyongyang’s behavior.”
Any Minju successor, Mr. Klingner warned, “would likely cancel trilateral military exercises, revoke the Camp David agreement on linking the three countries’ missile alert systems, and resist U.S. efforts for a greater South Korean regional security role against the encroaching Chinese threat.”
A retired American army colonel, David Maxwell, veteran of five tours in South Korea in the special forces, agrees — to a point.
The political opposition in Korea believes “weakening” the Korean-American alliance and “undermining trilateral cooperation with Japan and the U.S. would somehow create the conditions” for North Korea and its two huge allies, China and Russia, “to reduce their hostile policies,” he tells the Sun.
Vice president of the Center for Asia-Pacific Strategy, Colonel Maxwell remains irrepressibly optimistic.
“The military’s priority is on protecting South Korea, its democracy, and its people,” he said. The alliance “has weathered many storms over the past seven decades,” he went on, but South Korea and America have “the world’s best bilateral combined command “ and can “defend the security interests of both the ROK and US.”
nysun.com
5. 35th Anniversary of the Fall of the Ceausescu Regime in Romania
Words from Greg Scarlatoiu:
The collapse of the Ceausescu regime, which was very similar to North Korea during the Cold War, with its dictatorship, human rights violations, oppression, control, and surveillance, makes me think that dictatorship cannot last forever.
I offer this second column today that was just published on Radio Free Asia (broadcast and print) from Greg Scarlatoiu for three reasons.
This is a potential scenario that could play out in Pyongyang some day. And Greg is informing the Korean people in the north what happened to a close friend of Kim Il Sung (and the Kim family regime very much fears this outcome fro KJU so this an important message to Kim and his elite).
Second, I received some questions yesterday from my Korean friends from the South about both the moral hazard of sending information into the north because it puts the Korean people in harm's way due to the draconian laws (and enforcement methods) about possessing outside information. We should not allow the moral hazard argument to prevent us from getting information inside. Every member of the north Korean diaspora I speak to says all Korean in the north know the risks of accessing foreign information and they do it regardless. They have a choice to access it or not, one of the few choices they have in the north, so if they fear the risks they can choose not to access it. But they do regardless of the risks and threats. It is their choice and they want outside information.
Third, many people ask what can be done. How to get information into the north. Both RFA and VOA are very effective in broadcasting information into the north. The regime expends a lot of energy (electricity) trying to jam signals but the transmitters are stronger than north Korean jamming capabilities so the information gets through. (Like airpower theory and the bomber always gets through, so does information). The fact that the regime wastes resources that the people could benefit from is another message that undermines the legitimacy of the regime. Greg is a private American citizen who writes a weekly column for RFA to help the Korean people in the north. While we all might not have Greg's experience, expertise, and legitimacy, we can all support the activities of RFA and VOA as well as other non-governmental organizations that are sending information into north Korea. (And we can also support Greg's work at the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea).
Again, this is a Google translation of the RFA article. Greg writes his articles in Korean and they are broadcast and transmitted electronically into north Korea in the Korean language.
[Scalatu] 35th Anniversary of the Fall of the Ceausescu Regime in Romania
https://www.rfa.org/korean/commentary/greg/nicolae-ceausescu-12162024103008.html
Greg Scarlatoiu, Chairman, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, USA
12/17/2024
Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu meets with then North Korean President Kim Il-sung (right) in Pyongyang in 1971.
/REUTERS
00:00 /08:35
Greg Scarlatoiu, Chairman, Committee for Human Rights in North KoreaThirty-five years ago, in December 1989, the regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu, who had been a close friend of former President Kim Il-sung, collapsed in Romania. Before the dictator and his wife were sentenced to death and executed, more than a thousand people were killed and thousands more injured due to the bloody repression of the authorities. The revolution was initiated by the people who wanted religious freedom. On December 14, when they learned that the authorities intended to evict the pastor László Tökés, 30-40 parishioners of the Reformed Church held a protest in front of the pastor’s house in Timișoara, a city in western Romania. The head of the local social security (Miliția) decided to stop the evictions to avoid further tensions. However, on December 16, dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu ordered the Ministry of State Security (Departamentul Securitǎții Statului) and the Ministry of Social Security to reestablish order and evict Pastor Tokes. The regime agents were met with resistance by hundreds of protesters who had gathered around Pastor Tokes’ house and chanted anti-Ceaușescu slogans. The intervention of the regime agents led to violent clashes, and unrest escalated as people gathered, tore down portraits of Ceaușescu and red flags, erected barricades, and broke store windows in the city center. As a result, tear gas was used and several protesters were arrested. Pastor Tokes was evicted the next day.
But the protests were not over, as military units that had entered the city for a victory parade to intimidate the protesters were attacked by a crowd of 4,000 people chanting anti-regime slogans. The Social Security Ministry responded with tear gas and water canisters, while the army opened fire with tanks. The clashes continued after Ceaușescu left Romania for an official visit to the Middle Eastern country of Iran. Faced with renewed mobilization of protesters, the communist dictatorship declared a state of emergency. As protests in Timișoara intensified, the army was sent to the city’s largest industrial plant on December 19 to control the situation.
On December 20, Timișoara went on a general strike. On that day, Romanian workers, intellectuals and students organized a revolutionary committee called the Democratic Front (Frontul Democratic Român - FDR). The FDR representatives put forward demands including an investigation into the murders of December 17, the release of those arrested, the resignation of Ceaușescu and his government, the formation of a government of national salvation, a free press and other basic human rights. That evening, Ceaușescu, who had returned from Iran, gave a televised speech denouncing the events in Timișoara and foreign intervention in Romania's internal affairs. However, the anti-communist revolution was already spreading throughout the country.
On December 21, at 12:00 in the Romanian capital Bucharest, Nicolae Ceausescu hosted a mass rally attended by tens of thousands of people in an attempt to garner popular support for his policies and regime. He addressed the crowd, promising increased salaries, pensions, social benefits and child benefits, but the people left the square. The army was mobilized in the city to protect the party's general secretary, Ceausescu, and his wife. In several places in Bucharest, the Ministry of Public Security intervened violently, using tear gas and water cannons to arrest people and even shooting them, in response to anti-Ceausescu slogans. The army was mobilized nationwide to attempt to intervene in the protests.
On December 22, people took to the streets in all the major cities of Romania to protest. The Minister of Defense, General Vasile Milea, refused the dictator's order to shoot demonstrators and committed suicide. Ceaușescu declared a state of emergency throughout the country on state television and radio. The army and the Ministry of Public Security refused to fire on civilians and sided with the revolutionaries. At 12:00 pm on December 22, the revolutionaries took over the state television building. At 12:06, Nicolae and his wife Elena Ceaușescu were taken out of the Central Committee building by helicopter. The revolutionaries soon took control of the building and removed the red flag of the Romanian Communist Party. The army was ordered to support the revolution and prevent further violence. It was announced that the National Salvation Front (Frontul Salvării Naționale), a revolutionary organization that would lead the country and organize free elections in the coming months, would be formed and that all the organizations of the previous regime would be dissolved. This was followed by widespread terrorist attacks by agents of the dictatorship that still supported Ceaușescu, in the capital and throughout the country, especially in strategic areas such as the airport, government ministries, military buildings, and public television and radio.
The Ceausescus were arrested by the Romanian army while trying to escape. On December 25, 1989, the Special Military Court indicted the Ceausescus on charges of mass murder, undermining state power and the national economy, and changing the situation. They were sentenced to death and all their property was confiscated. On Christmas Day, December 25, 1989, at 14:50, the Ceausescus were shot. Romanian television broadcast the news of the Ceausescus’ execution in the evening. At night, Romanian television showed a short video of the trial and execution. After that, the intensity of terrorist attacks throughout Romania decreased and eventually ceased. Most countries, including the United States, Hungary, and the Soviet Union, recognized the new leadership of the Romanians. From then on, the difficult path towards liberal democracy, market economy, and capitalism began. Romania eventually joined the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance of liberal democratic countries in Europe and North America, while respecting human rights and choosing the path of reform and openness. The collapse of the Ceausescu regime, which was very similar to North Korea during the Cold War, with its dictatorship, human rights violations, oppression, control, and surveillance, makes me think that dictatorship cannot last forever.
Editor Park Jeong-woo, Web Editor Lee Gyeong-ha
6. the new multiplayer games? of allies and partners
Some unique analysis of alliance relationships (and their domestic problems that impact all of our national security) that you will not read anywhere else.
South Korea
Germany
Canada
UK
the new multiplayer games?
of allies and partners
https://cynthiawatson.substack.com/p/the-new-multiplayer-games?utm
Cynthia Watson
Dec 18, 2024
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What we figure was the final visiting sailboat for the 2024 season stealthily set sail yesterday. We rue that because we love looking out to feast our eyes on boats replete with visitors but, invariably, the winter draws them elsewhere. Both the last sailboat and the one that shoved off last week moored for extended periods but we understood they were highly likely to go somewhere for the winter. So, the sky cried last night—but we needed the rain.
It’s a busy time of the year, of course, particularly as one administration transitions out for the next to come in. Most people are either wrapping their Chanukkah or Christmas gifts while school kids yearn to sleep in for a week and a half.
A school shooting at a Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin, and a massive cyclone hit the western Indian Ocean yesterday. The Ukrainians, apparently not going down without a fight, killed a prominent Russian general. It’s been a busy day and a half around the world.
Are we paying sufficient attention to the fall of not one but two treaty allied-governments in three days, with another nearby looking considerably less secure today than yesterday morning? It’s easy to miss these events but they strike me as worthy our appreciation got a few minutes.
I observed week before last (has it only been fourteen days since Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in South Korea?) that I did not believe the Korean president could survive following the public’s demand that democracy perpetuate in that East Asian nation. The South Korean leader survived but of two impeachment votes in the parliament, effectively neutering him as president of the country. He isn’t even able to travel on his own as investigations of the coup dynamics continue.
This wouldn’t matter as much if it were Malawi or perhaps Burundi, both African states, but the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is menace north of what remains technically an active conflict on the peninsula. Because we have a mutual defense treaty with Seoul, we are committed to fighting along side the South Koreans should anyone attack that country. As proof of our continuing commitment since the 25 June 1950 initiation of the Korean War, we actually still station 24,000 U.S. forces as a “trip wire”, a message to the unpredictable Kim dynasty in Pyongyang, that we are serious should they reinvade the south. In short, the prospect of a weakened Chief Executive in the Blue House in Seoul actually matters to us; it’s not merely an abstract “oh, gee, they impeached a guy”. If the DPRK moved, we would be obligated to move so instability in Seoul is not desirable.
Our interest goes beyond the North Koreans to include our informal security architecture undergirding the Indo-Pacific strategy aimed at preventing China’s intimidation of neighbors across that vast area. South Korea with a competent, active military is key to supporting us whether it’s as a base for our forces or the moral support of a major Asian nation allied with us. And, they are a major trading partner for the United States, despite tensions at times over domestic preferences in either Washington or Seoul. The Republic of Korea ranks sixth in the vast array of states with whom we export and import so much. U.S.-South Korean bilateral trade, always stronger when both countries are relatively stable, constitutes almost $70 billion, is important for many U.S. jobs, although we do have a deficit in that relationship.
South Korea matters to us a great deal as we matter to that nation.
Yesterday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote in Germany, the European Union’s and Europe’s largest economic engine. The country will hold new elections in 2025 but Scholz’s vulnerability raises serious questions the future of Europe with prospects for far less U.S. involvement following Donald Trump’s inauguration 34 days from now. The no-confidence vote wasn’t even close as Scholz has not proven nearly as determinative in his country as his predecessor, though it’s rare that anyone follow the likes of Angela Merkel with any ease. She was truly dominant in Europe for a decade.
But, Europe is in the midst of real prospective upheaval as the Ukraine war with Russia grinds on at the same time as European growth is not matching that of the United States. Europe, including Germany, is aging.
Why does this matter as much as Korea? Simply because, regardless we might seek to withdraw from the world, the past three quarters of a century of peace in Europe rested on a substantial, enduring German commitment to join in partnership with NATO allies rather than pursue nationalist tendencies. To see that role end, the world we would inhabit could be radically different. Russia’s long-feared dominance of Europe would be much closer to reality, if not a certainty. Like it or not, Germany’s centrality geographically and economically for Europe is difficult to dispute.
Maybe we don’t need be the World’s policemen but we do need be on the field with the rest of the team.
Britain is no longer formally part of the European Union, one of the two multinational pillars of the post-1945 continent. Westminster appears hardly willing to lead NATO unilaterally without U.S. support. France is undergoing internal navel-gazing as Immanuel Macron continues fighting the ultra-nationalists of the LePen variety, ideas appearing simultaneously in Italy, Hungary, occasionally in the Netherlands, and elsewhere. Whatever Germany’s problems of not spending to suit us in NATO, its preponderance as a democracy in the EU is essential to preventing a resurrection of the horrors of the 1930s and 40s. Those nationalist tendencies remain under control in the German republic but the Nazi vision for the future reappears on the radar every once in a while in what the world ought see as worrisome blips. Reappearance of long-term disruption or profound hopelessness, far worse (though not impossible) from what we currently see, could invite back simplistic, mindless solutions and racist blame with deadly intentions and consequences.
While we cherish our “special relationship” with Britain, the heart of the European peace has been Washington’s military might in conjunction with Bonn, then Berlin cooperating for the future. An unstable Germany would affect U.S. interests in incalculable ways across this continent as well as in relations with China. So while many Americans don’t think the world matters, the world in fact cares a great deal that we are involved as a bulwark protecting a system we built for our own needs as much as anyone else’s.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seemingly has worn out his welcome with his voters and most definitely his erstwhile Finance Minister who resigned yesterday. Accusing the PM of stunts rather than seeking steps to confront Trump’s announced punitive tariffs, Trudeau’s nearly decade in power seems much closer to its end than its beginning. Most Americans have no idea that the world’s longest unarmed border is actually between our two countries, with our two nations trusting each other through most any and all matters. To see a more nationalist regime in Ottawa would not guarantee things went our way in bilateral affairs but it would certainly indicate that each of the North American countries (and likely Mexico) would pursue their own concerns far above shared approaches to improve conditions for the whole of North America. It’s hard to fathom that leading to armed conflict but many things are hard to grasp of late.
In sum, these three relationships alone are under significant stress; we assume we retain unhampered ability to dictate terms in each case. But, politics is always about satisfying one’s voters rather than partners abroad, regardless of memes to the contrary. Of course power politics (defined as measuring relative power based on economic statistics, military force under arms, population, or some other empirical trait) is one of the oldest stories in the world yet it also characterizes a by-gone era when water wasn’t as scarce, resource imbalances were not as common, and global telecommunications were not instantaneous. Those days of simply exerting our will strike me as fairly quaint in an era of globalization.
So, the old phrase “You may not be interested in world affairs but world affairs are interested in you” seems to apply here. Perhaps not but the evidence of interdependencies strikes me as rather more relevant than even a quarter century ago.
Buckle up, buttercup. We are in for quite a ride.
How would you assess the importance of what’s at play in these three different nations, each of whom is important, if not vital, to us? I genuinely seek to hear your analyses as mine could be completely wrong. Bring it on so we can discuss!
If there is enough interest, I would love to hold a virtual chat the first week in January for subscribers and readers. Let me know, please.
Thank you for your time today. I hope you will provide rebuttals, questions, comments, historic corrections, and anything further. I appreciate your time reading Actions any day but especially in this busy season. I also deeply thank the subscribers who provide help financially for these efforts. A 2025 subscription goes a long way to providing greater discussion of actions, consequences, and differing views.
Be well and be safe. FIN
Christopher F. Schweitzer, “How to Understand the Collapse of Germany’s Government, and What’s Next”, NewYorkTimes.com, 16 December 2024, retrieved at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/16/world/europe/germany-government-collapse-olaf-scholz.html
Marina Stevis-Gridneff and Ian Austen, “Top Canada Minister Resigns, Threatening Trudeau’s Hold on Power” NewYorkTimes.com, 17 December 2024, retrieved at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/16/world/canada/chrystia-freeland-resigns-canada-finance-minister.html
Jim Tankersley, “Behind Germany’s Political Turmoil, a Stagnating Economy”, NewYorkTimes.com, 17 December 2024, retrieved at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/17/world/europe/germany-government-collapse-economy.html
7. Ukraine says North Koreans took heavy casualties during weekend attack in Kursk region
Ukraine says North Koreans took heavy casualties during weekend attack in Kursk region | CNN
CNN · by Gianluca Mezzofiore · December 16, 2024
'This reflects Russian weakness': Ret. Admiral on North Korean troops going to Ukraine
01:12 - Source: CNN
CNN —
Ukraine said on Monday that North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russian troops suffered heavy losses during fighting at the weekend in the Russian region of Kursk.
North Korean units that arrived in Kursk last month were involved in assaults at the weekend near three villages, according to Ukraine’s defense intelligence service.
It added that some 30 North Korean soldiers were killed or wounded in the fighting and three had gone missing during clashes near the villages of Plekhovo, Vorozhba and Martynovka close to the border.
Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder confirmed Monday that North Korean soldiers had suffered casualties in the Kursk region.
“We do assess that North Korean soldiers have engaged in combat in Kursk, with Russia, alongside Russian forces,” Ryder said. “We do have indications that they have suffered casualties, both killed and wounded.”
Ryder declined to provide specifics on the number of casualties, but said they have been integrated into Russian units and are primarily being used “in an infantry role.” They began actively fighting alongside Russia a little over a week ago, he said.
“As we’ve said all along, those forces are legitimate military targets for the Ukrainians given that they are engaged in active combat ops,” he added.
Separately, a Ukrainian frontline drone unit posted video on Sunday purporting to show the bodies of more than 20 North Korean soldiers lined up in an icy field. The quality of the video was not good enough to verify their identity.
Other drone video geolocated by CNN close to Plekhovo showed soldiers appearing to retreat over the weekend, pulling some casualties on sleds, but it was unclear whether they were Russian or Korean.
Ukrainian service members drive an armored military vehicle past a destroyed border crossing point with Russia in the Sumy region on August 14, 2024.
Roman Pilipey/AFP/Getty Images/FILE
Related article Large group of Russian and North Korean forces prepared to retake Russia’s Kursk region from Ukraine
One Ukrainian unit reported that Koreans – wearing different uniforms from the Russians – had launched infantry attacks using the “same tactics as 70 years ago,” in an apparent reference to the Korean War, where waves of infantry were used.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last month that North Korean troops deployed to Kursk had been involved in combat, adding that clashes had resulted in fatalities.
Since the beginning of December, North Korean troops appear to have been playing a more prominent role on the front lines in Kursk, especially as infantry.
Ukraine estimates that about 12,000 North Korean soldiers are in the region trying to assist Russian units in recovering parts of Kursk taken in a Ukrainian offensive in August. The Pentagon also believes there are roughly 12,000 North Korean troops in Russia.
The fighting around Plekhovo began earlier this month as Russian units tried to push Ukrainian forces back toward the border, some four kilometers (2.5 miles) away.
A Ukrainian military blogger, Yuriy Butusov, said on Facebook that a major assault had been repelled on Saturday.
Butusov said that North Korean infantry was backed by “massive fire support” from Russian units, as well as electronic warfare against Ukrainian drones.
“Despite the losses, the enemy assault groups continued to advance, never stopping even under precision fire and shelling.”
“The enemy managed to reach the Ukrainian positions due to their good physical training, fast movement, and ignorance of their own losses; no evacuation of the wounded and dead was carried out during the assault,” Butusov commented, adding that “our troops launched several successful counterattacks to restore the situation.”
CNN cannot verify his account of the battle but it appears to match video evidence and is consistent with official Ukrainian accounts.
It is unclear which side – if either – now holds the village of Plekhovo.
CNN’s Haley Britzky contributed to this report.
CNN · by Gianluca Mezzofiore · December 16, 2024
8. Hanwha adds Coulter as global defense head
Hanwha adds Coulter as global defense head - Breaking Defense
Hanwha has been making global inroads in recent years, and has been eyeing expansion inside the United States as a priority.
breakingdefense.com · by Aaron Mehta · December 17, 2024
UKRAINE – 2024/05/12: In this photo illustration, Hanwha Group logo is seen on a smartphone and on a pc screen. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — As it works to expand globally, South Korea’s Hanwha is bringing over Michael Coulter from Leonardo DRS to take a newly-created role of Global Defense CEO.
Coulter, in this new role, will “be responsible for overseeing the global defense businesses of Hanwha Aerospace and its subsidiaries such as Hanwha Ocean and Hanwha Systems,” according to a Dec. 15 announcement. Hanwha “aims to strengthen its strategic position by delivering integrated land, sea, and air solutions in key global markets, particularly the United States,” the announcement adds.
Coulter recently was Leonardo DRS’s senior vice president of corporate business development. A Navy reserve officer, Coulter also held several Pentagon and State roles in the 2000s.
“Serving in the industry, I’ve been impressed by Hanwha’s continued growth as a leader in aerospace & defense and the commitment to deliver for its customers,” Coulter said in a statement. “As a combat veteran with a career devoted to security cooperation of allies and partners, I am committed to the mission of this great company to provide global security, industrial capacity, and solutions for the brave men and women who protect our freedoms.”
Hanwha has been making global inroads in recent years, and has been eyeing expansion inside the United States as a priority. That includes buying Philly Shipyard earlier this year, with an eye on Naval contracts in the future.
breakingdefense.com · by Aaron Mehta · December 17, 2024
9. Impeachment in South Korea Has Cost Washington a Staunch Ally
While personal relationships are important for making things work, alliances cannot depend on single individuals. We can, will, and must weather the current storm.
Impeachment in South Korea Has Cost Washington a Staunch Ally
President Yoon Suk Yeol shifted his country closer to Washington and stood up to Beijing. But that foreign policy could be recalibrated in the future.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/16/world/asia/south-korea-us-diplomacy.html?referringSource=articleShare&smid=nytcore-ios-share&utm
President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea with President Biden during a visit to Washington last year.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
By Choe Sang-Hun
Reporting from Seoul
Dec. 16, 2024
阅读简体中文版閱讀繁體中文版
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President Yoon Suk Yeol has changed the course of South Korea’s diplomacy like no leader before him. He put his country in lock step with the United States by countering North Korea with sanctions and joint military drills. He won Washington’s plaudits when he overcame a century of historical grievances Koreans held against Japan and helped lay the ground for trilateral cooperation to deter China.
He sang the praises of Western values such as freedom. He credited the alliance with Washington for making South Korea’s ascent as a global economic and cultural powerhouse possible. He moved South Korea more assertively onto the global stage, criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “a violation of international law” and selling weapons and ammunition to countries that supported Ukraine. And he stood up against China, which South Korea had long feared as a bully but needs as a trading partner, by opposing its “unlawful maritime claims” in the Indo-Pacific region.
Now, as he is locked out of power following his impeachment, his foreign policy — and Washington’s painstaking alliance-building in Northeast Asia — faces the prospect of unraveling. Mr. Yoon was not impeached for his foreign policy. But his diplomatic agenda — his greatest legacy — could be one of the biggest casualties of his downfall.
Mr. Yoon is suspended from office, and the Constitutional Court began preliminary deliberations on Monday as to whether to reinstate him or formally remove him. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, a nonelected official with no popular mandate, has stepped in as an interim leader as stipulated by the Constitution.
Image
Mr. Yoon arriving to address a joint meeting of Congress in Washington last year.Credit...Pete Marovich for The New York Times
“Washington couldn’t have asked for a better ally and partner than the Yoon government,” said Duyeon Kim, a fellow with the Center for a New American Security. “Until we know who South Korea’s president is, the U.S. just lost a key partner at the leader level whose personal conviction aligns with Washington’s values and approach to regional and global issues, particularly when dealing with authoritarian states.”
Mr. Yoon undid his own legacy when he abruptly declared martial law on Dec. 3, placing his country under military rule for the first time in 45 years. Citizens and opposition lawmakers rallied to force him to rescind it in six hours. Then they staged huge evening protests, until the Assembly impeached him on Saturday. Mr. Yoon had not responded to prosecutors’ demand that he present himself by Sunday for questioning over whether he committed insurrection during his short-lived martial law. On Monday, they summoned him again.
Decades ago, martial law in South Korea entailed arrests, torture and bloody crackdowns. This time, in a sign of how far South Korea’s democracy has matured, peaceful crowds achieved their goal without a single life being lost. Still, global powers reacted with shock and disapproval.
“Yoon Suk Yeol’s surreal declaration of martial law laid bare his complete miscalculation of South Korea’s position in the world, let alone as Northeast Asia’s stabilizing force,” said Alexis Dudden, a professor of history at the University of Connecticut.
Editors’ Picks
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin canceled a visit to Seoul in the wake of Mr. Yoon’s martial law decree. News media in Japan reported that Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has also shelved plans for a possible trip to Seoul in January. Mr. Ishiba’s office said the visit had never been confirmed and declined to comment further.
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Mr. Yoon with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba of Japan, right, and other leaders at a summit in Laos in October.Credit...Nhac Nguyen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
“Ironically, Yoon was held up as a paragon of an allied democratic leader, and his ham-handed attempt to impose martial law is an egg in the face” for the outgoing Biden administration, said John Delury, a Korea expert and visiting professor at Luiss University in Rome.
Mr. Yoon’s undoing throws both South Korea and U.S. policy in the region into deep uncertainty, at a time when North Korea is escalating its nuclear threat and the incoming administration of the unpredictable Donald J. Trump is poised to rock the alliance with Seoul.
South Koreans have traditionally been wary of great powers, reflecting their deep grievances over Japanese colonial rule and the division of the Korean Peninsula by Moscow and Washington at the end of World War II. Seoul had kept Japan at arm’s length, even though Washington urged its two key allies to work closely together to deter China and North Korea. It had also sought diplomatic balance between the United States and China. Its more progressive leaders, like Mr. Yoon’s predecessor, Moon Jae-in, doggedly pursued dialogue with North Korea, even causing friction with Washington, which tended to emphasize sanctions.
Mr. Yoon changed all that.
He has said South Korea should no longer be “ambiguous” over whose side it is on in the rivalry between Washington and Beijing. In his single most daring foreign policy initiative, he broke a logjam in relations with Japan by promising that Seoul would no longer seek compensation for victims of forced labor during Japan’s colonial rule. The move was unpopular in South Korea, with angry people pouring onto the streets to denounce him as a traitor.
Image
Mr. Yoon and Xi Jinping, China’s leader, in San Francisco last year.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
“It relied most heavily on his own personal commitment, lacking broader support from the Korean public,” said Daniel Sneider, a lecturer of East Asian studies at Stanford University. Of all of Mr. Yoon’s changes, the progress made in Korea-Japan relations is most endangered, he added.
A progressive leader from the main opposition Democratic Party is likely to win the next election, and the party favors maintaining a more delicate balancing act between Washington and Beijing, as well as dialogue with North Korea.
“If, as seems likely, the Democratic Party regains power, South Korea’s foreign policy seems poised to shift toward appeasement of North Korea, deference to China, hostility toward Japan, and skepticism of the United States,” said Danny Russel, vice president of the New York-based Asia Society Policy Institute.
In an interview with The New York Times last week, Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party leader, tried to assuage such concerns. He called Mr. Yoon “unnecessarily submissive” toward Japan and “too antagonistic” toward China. But he said he supported trilateral cooperation with Washington and Tokyo.
“We fully understand the United States’ stance toward China, and we should conform to it,” Mr. Lee said. “But we need a relationship with China where we can seek practical interests to the extent that we are still in accordance with the U.S. policy on China and we do not harm our relations with Washington.”
Image
Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party leader, in Seoul last week.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
South Korea has long profited both from strong security ties with the United States, its only treaty ally, and from booming economic relations with China, its biggest trade partner. But in recent years, it has found itself increasingly squeezed between the two giants as their rivalry intensified, with Washington pressuring Seoul into joining its policy of denying China advanced semiconductors.
Mr. Sneider said that South Korean progressives “are first and foremost Korean nationalists — and they can be quite skeptical and even hostile regarding China.”
“But they are also not interested in having Korea act as an instrument of American global politics unless it fits Korea’s own national interests,” he said.
In his defiant speeches in the past two weeks, Mr. Yoon described South Korea as under attack by “North Korean followers and anti-state forces” at home and by threats from overseas. He cited two instances of Chinese nationals using drones for possible espionage.
Mr. Yoon’s comments were “deeply upsetting” and his Chinese spy allegations “unfounded,” said Mao Ning, a foreign ministry spokeswoman in Beijing.
South Korea’s interim caretaker government has little mandate or bandwidth for initiatives, pending the decision by the Constitutional Court.
That leaves it in a weakened position when Mr. Trump takes office, given his threat to withdraw U.S. troops from South Korea unless it pays more for them.
“With the incoming Trump administration’s transactional view of American alliances, Yoon’s temper tantrum may yet prove Pyongyang’s best Christmas present ever,” Ms. Dudden said.
Choe Sang-Hun is the lead reporter for The Times in Seoul, covering South and North Korea. More about Choe Sang-Hun
10. Trump names foreign policy hawk as ‘special missions’ envoy covering North Korea
Rather than waning focus, perhaps the Trump administration is planning a completely different strategy that defies both conventional wisdom and expectations of all Korea watchers?
Trump names foreign policy hawk as ‘special missions’ envoy covering North Korea
Richard Grenell’s appointment to new role responsible for multiple countries may signal waning US focus on DPRK issues
https://www.nknews.org/2024/12/trump-names-foreign-policy-hawk-as-special-missions-envoy-covering-north-korea/?utm
Shreyas Reddy December 16, 2024
Richard Grenell | Image: Richard Grenell via Instagram (Nov. 30, 2022)
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has selected a controversial foreign policy hawk to serve as his “special missions” envoy responsible in part for diplomacy with North Korea, a new role that may signal less focus on Pyongyang than in his first term.
“I am pleased to announce Richard Allen Grenell as our Presidential Envoy for Special Missions. Ric will work in some of the hottest spots around the World, including Venezuela and North Korea,” Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social on Saturday.
“Ric will continue to fight for peace through strength, and always put America first.”
Grenell welcomed his appointment as “an honor of a lifetime” and lauded the incoming president as “a problem solver who keeps Americans safe and prosperous.”
The special missions envoy covering multiple countries is a new position and seemingly represents a step down in Washington’s approach to the DPRK. The U.S. has had a dedicated special representative for North Korea since 2009, mostly recently filled by Jung Pak, and it’s unclear whether Grenell’s position will replace this role.
This appears to reflect a deprioritization of North Korea compared to Trump’s first term, with former U.S. officials previously telling NK News that the president-elect will first focus on trying to resolve more high-profile crises in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The post also appears to be a downgrade for the incoming president’s long-time foreign policy adviser, who had reportedly been angling for the secretary of state job that instead went to Marco Rubio.
Edward Howell, a lecturer in politics at the University of Oxford, told NK News it remains unclear how big a priority the DPRK will be for the Trump administration, but added that recent domestic instability in South Korea could prompt a greater focus on Washington finding a “solution” to the North Korea issue.
He said Trump’s approach toward North Korea will be different now compared to the 2018-19 period that saw multiple summits, but added that Pyongyang’s growing military cooperation with Moscow could still attract Washington’s attention.
“The North Korean issue is now multi-pronged: it is not just limited to North Korea’s ongoing nuclear proliferation and violations of human rights of its people,” he said. “North Korean-Russian security cooperation is another crisis facing regional and global security.”
DIPLOMATIC CONTROVERSIES
During a career spanning over two decades, Grenell has acquired a reputation as an outspoken conservative and has courted controversy for mixing politics with diplomacy.
Grenell was initially critical of the “unserious” Trump before the 2016 election, but he later began echoing the latter’s talking points and was appointed to several senior posts.
As ambassador to Germany between 2017 and 2020, he came under fire for statements criticizing Berlin’s immigration policies and advocating the empowerment of conservatives throughout Europe, which many German politicians viewed as interference in the country’s internal affairs and a diplomatic breach.
Grenell was also linked to the far-right Alternative for Germany Party during his tenure as ambassador, and German media claimed he was politically isolated in Berlin because of his support for extreme conservative views.
He also served as Trump’s special envoy for Serbia and Kosovo peace negotiations from 2019 to 2021 and briefly headed the Office of the Director for National Intelligence in 2020.
Richard Grenell was a strong supporter of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential election campaign. | Image: Richard Grenell via Instagram (June 15, 2023), edited by NK News
After Trump’s first stint as president ended, Grenell entered the private sector, but is now set to return to government in a role that could bring him into contact with North Korea.
Grenell has largely supported Trump’s approach to the DPRK over the years, which has fluctuated from threatening to respond to Pyongyang’s nuclear testing with “fire and fury” to lauding his personal friendship with Kim Jong Un.
During a period of nuclear and missile tests in 2017, Grenell called for “diplomacy with muscle” to deal with Pyongyang’s nuclear threat.
But when Trump changed tack ahead of the first-ever U.S.-DPRK summit the following year, Grenell praised the president’s negotiation skills and said he knew how to use “both the carrot and the stick” to bring Pyongyang back to denuclearization talks.
During this year’s Republican National Convention, the former ambassador defended Trump’s willingness to engage the nuclear-armed “madman” Kim as proof of his willingness to do whatever it takes to protect the U.S.
At the same time, Grenell reiterated the importance of calling out Pyongyang’s human rights abuses, and ahead of this week’s announcement, he hailed Otto Warmbier, a U.S. tourist who died after being detained by North Korea in 2017, as an “American hero.”
Despite Grenell’s support for Trump’s leader-to-leader approach, the prospects for renewed diplomacy appear slim as North Korea “lost all appetite for dialogue” after the failed Hanoi Summit in 2019, according to Howell.
“Even before Trump’s victory, Pyongyang made clear that irrespective of who would emerge victorious in the U.S. presidential election, its fundamental worldview toward Washington would remain unchanged, namely as a ‘hostile’ power,” he said.
“Even if Grenell does support Trump’s summit approach, Kim Jong Un will likely not want to meet Trump without being rewarded with anything significant in return,” he added.
Howell said the two leaders could hammer out a “superficial deal” if they pursue diplomacy for optics, but even if this materializes, Pyongyang will ensure denuclearization remains firmly off the table and is unlikely to follow through on any promises.
“We all know what North Korea does with respect to agreements on paper: It violates them.”
Edited by Alannah Hill
11. S. Korea sanctions top N.K. military officers, missile developer involved in Russia's war against Ukraine
(LEAD) S. Korea sanctions top N.K. military officers, missile developer involved in Russia's war against Ukraine | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · December 17, 2024
(ATTN: RECASTS lead; ADDS details from para 7)
By Kim Seung-yeon
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korea said Tuesday it will impose sanctions on three top North Korean military officers and one missile developer believed to have been deployed to Russia in support of its war against Ukraine, the first such sanctions designation since the North's troop deployment was confirmed.
The announcement came after South Korea, the United States, the European Union and eight other countries issued a statement condemning the deepening military cooperation between North Korea and Russia in the "strongest possible terms."
Kim Yong-bok, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army, and Sin Kum-chol, director of its operations bureau, were among the 11 individuals added to South Korea's independent sanctions list, the foreign ministry said in a release.
This file photo, released by the Korean Central News Agency on Oct. 31, 2024, shows North Korean generals, marked in white circles, who are believed to have been deployed to Russia in support of its war against Ukraine. (From L to R) Shin Geum-cheol, director of the operations bureau of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army; Kim Yong-bok, deputy chief of the same department; and Ri Chang-ho, director of the Reconnaissance General Bureau are pictured. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
The list also includes Ri Pong-chun, an army general who's allegedly heading the "Storm Corps" special troops deployed to Russia's western war front lines, and Ri Song-jin, a missile developer believed to have been sent to the war border regions.
South Korea also imposed sanctions on seven other individuals and 15 entities for their involvement in illegal military cooperation with Russia in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions banning such activities.
They were designated for their roles in procuring funds and materials for the North's development of nuclear and missile programs.
The seven other individuals are all Russians suspected of involvement in arms trades with the North, from financing support and provision of military communication equipment to weapons transportation.
The 15 sanctioned entities are mostly Russian, except for the Storm Corps and a bank based in South Ossetia, a Russia-backed autonomous state in Georgia.
The new sanctions designation will take effect Thursday.
The latest sanctions designation by Seoul followed the U.S. announcement on its own sanctions against North Koreans involved in the Ukraine war. The list also included Kim Yong-bok and Ri Chang-ho, along with 14 other individuals and entities.
elly@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · December 17, 2024
12. NIS sees N. Korean troops' casualties in combat against Ukraine as likely true
NIS sees N. Korean troops' casualties in combat against Ukraine as likely true | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · December 17, 2024
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's spy agency said Tuesday it is verifying intelligence about North Korean troops' fatalities during combat alongside Russian forces against Ukraine, saying it is taking into account the possibility that it could be true.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) made the assessment as the United States said Monday that North Korean troops suffered some "significant losses" during combat alongside Russian forces against Ukraine, marking its first confirmation of North Korean casualties during the war.
"(We've) secured related intelligence from various sources," the NIS said. "We are verifying it while taking into account the possibility that it could be true."
Ukraine's intelligence authorities have said that some 200 Russian and North Korean soldiers were estimated to have been killed while fighting in combined units against Ukrainian forces.
North Korea has sent thousands of troops to support Russia's war against Ukraine, spawning concerns about an escalation of the already protracted conflict.
This Dec. 16, 2024, screenshot shows a photo from the Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda of what it described to be Russian and North Korean soldiers killed in combat. It has been partially blurred. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · December 17, 2024
13. U.S. confirms N. Korean fatalities in combat against Ukraine
(LEAD) U.S. confirms N. Korean fatalities in combat against Ukraine | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · December 17, 2024
(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; UPDATES throughout with State Department's briefing)
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 (Yonhap) -- The United States has seen North Korean troops killed in action during combat alongside Russian forces against Ukraine, a State Department spokesperson confirmed Monday, warning that should they cross the border into Ukraine, it would mark "yet another escalation."
Matthew Miller, the spokesperson, made the remarks as Kyiv's intelligence authorities have said that some 200 Russian and North Korean soldiers were estimated to have been killed while fighting in combined units against Ukrainian forces.
"In our view, the North Korean soldiers who were deployed to Kursk are already legitimate targets. They entered a war and they are as such combatants that are legitimate targets for the Ukrainian military," Miller told a press briefing.
"We have seen North Korean soldiers who have been killed in action on the battlefield inside Russia, and if they were to cross the border into Ukraine, that would be yet another escalation by the government of Russia and also an escalation by the government of North Korea to send North Korean troops to prosecute a war of aggression against an independent sovereign nation inside that nation's borders," he added.
Miller also pointed out that there is "certainly more" that China can do to encourage Russia not to take escalatory action and other moves that it has taken.
Earlier in the day, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said that the U.S. assesses that North Korean troops have suffered casualties, including fatalities, during combat against Ukraine, according to Reuters.
"We do assess that North Korean soldiers have engaged in combat in Kursk ... we do have indications that they have suffered casualties, both killed and wounded," Ryder was quoted by Reuters as telling reporters. Kursk is Russia's western front line.
Ryder noted that North Korean troops entered combat last week. He did not elaborate on the number of North Korean casualties.
In a statement published Saturday (local time), Ukraine's Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) said that North Korean soldiers have been mobilized for assault operations as part of combined units of Russian marines and airborne troops.
The DIU claimed that North Korean troops suffered "irreversible losses" from Ukraine's attacks, and noted that the language barrier is an issue for Russian and North Korean combined units in conducting coordinated operations.
The U.S. has said that Pyongyang has sent more than 11,000 troops to support Russia in its war against Ukraine. The troop deployment has fueled concerns that it could further prolong the war and have security implications for both Europe and the Indo-Pacific.
This Dec. 16, 2024, screenshot shows a photo from the Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda of what it described to be Russian and North Korean soldiers killed in combat. It has been partially blurred. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
sshluck@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · December 17, 2024
14. U.S. sanctions N.K. generals accompanying N.K. troops dispatched to Russia
(2nd LD) U.S. sanctions N.K. generals accompanying N.K. troops dispatched to Russia | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · December 17, 2024
(ATTN: ADDS State Department spokesperson's statement in last 5 paras)
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 (Yonhap) -- The United States on Monday sanctioned two North Korean generals known to be accompanying thousands of North Korean troops dispatched to support Russia in its war against Ukraine, as well as other people and entities linked to Pyongyang's military programs and other activities.
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned nine individuals and seven entities that have provided financial and military support to the North, while the State Department sanctioned three targets related to the North's ballistic missile program, according to the Treasury Department.
Among the individuals added to the OFAC's sanctions list are Kim Yong-bok, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army, and Ri Chang-ho, director of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, a key North Korean military intelligence agency.
The department pointed out that Kim and Ri are known to be accompanying North Korean troops that have been deployed to Russia in support of its war in Ukraine.
Since October, Pyongyang has supplied Russia with more than 11,000 troops, which are training for deployment against Ukraine, and sent significant quantities of missiles and ammunition to the Russian military to replenish its dwindling stockpiles, the department said.
Also added to the list was Pak Jong-chon, vice chair of the Workers' Party's Central Military Commission. Park takes part in public events related to the North's ballistic missile program, including a weapons factory tour and submarine launch, according to the department.
The North's Defense Minister Ro Kwang-chol and Kim Geum-cheol, the president of Kim Il Sung Military University, were also put on the list.
"The Kim regime's continued provocative actions—including its most recent ICBM test and its deepening military support to Russia—undermine the stability of the region and sustain Putin's continued aggression in Ukraine," Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley Smith said in a press release. ICBM stands for intercontinental ballistic missile.
"The United States remains committed to disrupting the illicit procurement and facilitation networks that enable these destabilizing activities," the official added.
Among the newly sanctioned are Golden Triangle Bank and Okryu Trading Company.
In a separate statement, Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesperson, said that the department designated two individuals and one entity related to the North's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.
He pointed to the North's launch in October of an ICBM, the first since December last year, and the subsequent launch in November of short-range ballistic missiles.
"These tests reflect the DPRK's increasingly hostile global military posturing and needlessly raise tensions while destabilizing peace and security in the region," he said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"The DPRK has also sent soldiers to Russia, where they have been integrated with Russian forces. The DPRK has provided Russia with military equipment, munitions, ballistic missile launchers and ballistic missiles."
He also underscored that Pyongyang continues to prioritize revenue generation to support the development of its weapons programs, using foreign-based workers, state-owned entities and financial institutions to access the international financial system.
This image, captured from the Treasury Department's website on Dec. 16, 2024, shows a press release on North Korea-related sanctions. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
sshluck@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · December 17, 2024
15. Legal defense team for impeached Yoon denies insurrection charges
It was not an insurrection. It was a self-coup or an autocoup. I provided this information previously.
Why are they calling this a coup and what is an "autocoup?" This debacle does not seem to meet the definition of a coup: "A coup is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership.”
He gave me a very informative reply and I learned something new today:
I can't speak for they. I can speak for myself. Autocoup is a real word - recently coined, I suspect - that I learned recently. Here is the definition: START A self-coup, also called an autocoup (from Spanish autogolpe) or coup from the top, is a form of coup d'état in which a political leader, having come to power through legal means, stays in power through illegal means through the actions of themselves and/or their supporters.[1] The leader may dissolve or render powerless the national legislature and unlawfully assume extraordinary powers. Other measures may include annulling the nation's constitution, suspending civil courts, and having the head of government assume dictatorial powers.[2][3] END
So it turns out that it is not a new word. The OED says it was first used in 1971 (why I never recall it from my political revolutions classes with my political science professor and academic advisor, the late Dr. Mustafa Rejai (from Iran) in the 1970s at Miami University I don't know). And in all my studies of revolution and resistance I do not recall it.
I found a presentation for a lecture from the University of Washington that is instructive: Authoritarianism & coups & autocoups in democracies https://faculty.washington.edu/vmenaldo/Presentations/Authoritarianism%20&%20coups%20&%20autocoups%20in%20democracies.pdf
I went through the Assessing Revolutions and insurgent Strategies project from USASOC (https://www.soc.mil/ARIS/books/arisbooks.html)and I could not find a reference to it. However, in the “Human Factors Considerations of Undergrounds in Insurgencies” https://www.soc.mil/ARIS/books/pdf/HumanFactorsS.pdf I did find a description of the leader who is likely to conduct an autocoup after he or she assumes power. A key point is paranoia. Does this describe Yoon? Was he overly afraid of north Korean sympathizers or communists within the South that he believed he had to do this? Which world leaders does this describe and if we can identify them can we assess they are likely to conduct "autocoups?"
P. 98-99 …. Egocentricity is a normal component in infantile development; however, as a child develops into adolescence he or she is supposed to become less self-absorbed and more cognizant of others. Narcissism is a psychoanalytic theory that holds that primary narcissism (or self-love) in the form of grandiose self does not diminish as the individual develops and expands his or her social network. If this fails to occur, regardless of reason, the grandiose self-image can result in individuals who are sociopathic, arrogant, and devoid of compassion for others. Some leaders demonstrate a marked desire for admiration and attention, a hallmark of narcissism. Their chosen methods of violence are often spectacular and attention grabbing, suggesting a more narcissistic clinical presentation. There are also those who exhibit a narcissistic leadership style although they probably do not meet the clinical criteria for an Axis II disorder. In fact, this leadership style is heavily represented in the military, industry, and academia. Characteristics of the narcissistic leadership style include a vulnerability to biased information processing that results in an overestimation of their own strength and an underestimation of their adversary’s, a grandiose and self-serving disposition, a lack of tolerance for competition, difficulty relying on experts, and a desire for sycophantic subordinates. Often displaying superficial arrogance over profound personal insecurity, they actively seek admiration, are vulnerable to insults, slights, and attacks, and are prone to rage. Key observables that indicate this style are the leader’s sensitivity to criticism, surrounding themselves with sycophants, and overvaluation of his chances of success and an underestimation of the strength of an opponent.
Another manifestation of the theory is the malignant narcissistic style of leadership: a combination of narcissism, paranoia, and sociopathy. These individuals exhibit grandiosity and suffer from poor underlying self-esteem with attendant sensitivity to slights, insults, or threats. They suspect and blame others, have no compunction regarding the use of violence, and lack empathy or concern for the impact of their actions on others. Observable characteristics of the malignant narcissist leader are displays of extreme grandiosity, paranoia, and other antisocial traits, the lack of inhibition in the use of violence, dreams of glory, lack of empathy regarding the impact of his or her actions on others, and the target of anger (subsequent to personal or group setbacks) being an external entity.
(2nd LD) Legal defense team for impeached Yoon denies insurrection charges | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · December 17, 2024
(ATTN: ADDS more details in paras 9-10, 14)
By Lee Haye-ah
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Yonhap) -- A legal defense team for impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday that Yoon's short-lived imposition of martial law did not amount to the charges of insurrection and the president will state his position in court if a public hearing is held in his impeachment trial.
Seok Dong-hyeon, a lawyer on the team, told reporters Yoon denies the charges of insurrection leveled against him for declaring martial law on Dec. 3.
A trial is about to begin at the Constitutional Court to decide whether to reinstate Yoon or remove him from office after the National Assembly voted Saturday to impeach him over his short-lived imposition of martial law. Yoon is currently suspended from his duties.
President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers an address to the nation from the presidential residence in Seoul on Dec. 14, 2024, after the National Assembly voted to impeach him over his failed martial law bid on Dec. 3, in this photo provided by his office. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
"President Yoon will state his position in court confidently and according to his own convictions," Seok said.
"The president is not giving a single thought to the insurrection charges as a legal concept, but realistically, since investigation agencies are acting this way, there will be a response to the investigation," he added.
Yoon faces parallel investigations by the prosecution and a team consisting of the police, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) and the defense ministry's investigation unit.
Seok said the legal defense team plans to divide its work into three areas -- handling investigations, the impeachment trial and other trials.
"The criteria for an insurrection are not met," he said, arguing Yoon's imposition of martial law was not aimed at taking over the government nor were there elements of a riot.
Seok acknowledged that Yoon's martial law declaration came as a "shock" to South Koreans but rejected the accusations of an insurrection, blaming the opposition of "exaggerating" the episode.
"Subjectively, I feel that fanatic investigations are currently taking place," he said, while emphasizing the importance of following due process.
Seok said two separate legal defense teams will be formed to each handle the investigations and the impeachment trial.
Yoon has been summoned to appear for questioning by the CIO on Wednesday and by the prosecution by Saturday.
Seok said Yoon does not plan to appear before the CIO on Wednesday, but declined to say regarding his appearance before the prosecution.
Kim Hong-il, former head of the Korea Communications Commission, and Yun Gap-geun, former chief of the Daegu High Prosecutors Office, are among the members of Yoon's legal team.
Seok Dong-hyeon, a lawyer on President Yoon Suk Yeol's legal defense team (Yonhap)
hague@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · December 17, 2024
16. Martial law commander arrested over alleged insurrection
(LEAD) Martial law commander arrested over alleged insurrection | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Hyun-soo · December 17, 2024
(ATTN: ADDS details in last 2 paras)
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Yonhap) -- Army Chief of Staff Gen. Park An-su, who served as the chief commander during President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived imposition of martial law, was arrested Tuesday, prosecutors said.
Park was arrested with a court-issued warrant on charges of playing a key role in an insurrection and abuse of power.
Park became the fifth key figure who was arrested over Yoon's Dec. 3 failed bid to impose martial law.
So far, former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, Lt. Gen. Yeo In-hyung, head of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-keun, head of the Army Special Warfare Command, and Lt. Gen. Lee Jin-woo, head of the Capital Defense Command, have been arrested.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Park An-su, appointed as martial law commander on the night of Dec. 3, 2024, immediately after President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, answers lawmakers' questions during an emergency session of the defense committee at the National Assembly in Seoul on Dec. 5. (Yonhap)
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Hyun-soo · December 17, 2024
17. Abductee family group vows to go ahead with leaflet campaigns against N. Korea
Abductee family group vows to go ahead with leaflet campaigns against N. Korea | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Hyun-soo · December 17, 2024
GOSEONG, South Korea, Dec. 17 (Yonhap) -- A group representing the families of those abducted by North Korea said Tuesday it would fly leaflets into North Korea "shortly" despite the unification minister's calls for a "prudent" approach to the leaflet campaign.
Choi Seong-ryong, the group's head, announced the plan, while stressing that their acts amounted to sending "newsletters" to the abductee's family members and not "anti-Pyongyang leaflets."
"We just want to hear from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the abductee issue," Choi said during a phone call with Yonhap News Agency. "It's not a political or ideological act."
The group registered for a rally near the Unification Observatory in Goseong County on the east coast until Thursday to fly the leaflets.
Choi said the group had no plans to extend the permission for the rally, adding they would proceed with the event in public.
The group has been preparing to launch 50,000 leaflets and newsletters of abductees' family members in Goseong and the western border city of Paju, respectively.
"We temporarily postponed the flying of the leaflets amidst the impeachment state of President Yoon Suk Yeol, but our plans have not changed," Choi said.
Border residents of Goseong County have formed a task force to prevent the leaflet campaign, while blocking off the area with farm tractors since last month.
Choi's announcement came a day after Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho called for a "prudent" approach to sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border, in sharp contrast to the ministry's earlier stance prioritizing the rights of freedom of expression.
In this file photo, Choi Seong-ryong, head of the group representing the families of those abducted by North Korea, holds up a newly designed anti-Pyongyang leaflet to send off to North Korea on Nov. 19, 2024. (Yonhap)
sookim@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Hyun-soo · December 17, 2024
18. Defying drones, mines and shells, North Korean troops storm village in Russia’s Kursk region
Excerpt:
South Korean military experts have also told The Washington Times that North Koreans have high casualty tolerance, and can maintain their battle cohesion. Pointing to the high prestige awarded to military leaders in North Korea, they cite likely compensation that they and/or their families will receive if killed or wounded fighting for Russia.
Defying drones, mines and shells, North Korean troops storm village in Russia’s Kursk region
Kim's troops appear to have taken objective despite heavy losses in first major action
washingtontimes.com · by Andrew Salmon
By - The Washington Times - Tuesday, December 17, 2024
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean troops have entered the fight alongside Russian troops in the Kursk border region, successfully taking at least one objective against Ukrainian forces despite suffering heavy losses, according to multiple reports from the battlefield.
North Korean troops were first reported in Russia in October, but have not been confirmed to have taken party in major operations with their Russian allies until this weekend. On Monday, the Pentagon stated that North Korean troops had started combat operations and had suffered casualties, while the Kremlin declined to comment.
Indications from Ukraine range from situation reports to oversight drone footage of what are believed to be North Korean assault units in action to gruesome video posted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the combat’s aftermath.
Mr. Zelenskyy has posted a 31-second video montage on his X account, complete with English subtitles, that he claims show North Korean troops.
The sequence starts with an on-ground discussion among troops in a wintry landscape. Some, of Asian ethnicity, are wearing red armbands. A voice speaking Russian suggests that the Asian troops don masks. Another Russian voice replies, “Nobody knows they are here anyway.”
The clip then shows Asian troops, again with red insignia on their uniforms, lying in cover, “after storming Ukrainian positions” according to Mr. Zelenskyy’s video caption. The final part of the clip, again shot from above, shows a Russian soldier apparently setting fire to the head of another soldier’s corpse lying in the snow.
“Russians are trying … to literally burn the faces of North Korean soldiers killed in battle,” Mr. Zelenskyy wrote in his commentary. “This is a demonstration of disrespect, which is currently prevalent in Russia, a disrespect to everything human.”
The Ukrainian leader did not reveal the source of his footage, it has not been geo-located by intelligence specialists, and The Washington Times cannot confirm its veracity.
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Multiple Russians of Asian ethnicity have been identified in battle in Ukraine, including Buryats from the Russian Far East. However, except for Chechens, Moscow is not known to field ethnically segregated units.
It is also unclear why Russia would hide the presence of North Korean troops, but in their first operations, the North Koreans appear to have performed well.
Ukrainian media outlets reported over the weekend that North Korean troops, the first major overseas deployment authorized by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, reportedly capturing the village of Plekhove in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, territory held by Ukrainian forces since they carried out a surprise cross-border incursion this summer.
At a time when Russian troops are grinding forward in agonizingly slow “meat wave” assaults, North Korean troops stormed and took Plekhove in a single assault. Their advance took place over a minefield, and under fire from both drones and artillery. Despite the intense fire, which generated major casualties, reports suggest they took the objective.
A Ukrainian journalist filed a grim report. “It’s clear that the North Koreans will continue to fight in mass waves, disregarding losses. They will be used for large scale attacks and psychological pressure on the battlefield.”
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An unidentified Ukrainian soldier called them “well-trained, motivated and disciplined personnel” who are “proficient with all types of Soviet-era weaponry.” He added, however, they were “demoralized by their losses,” and their coordination with Russian forces had been “horrible.”
Other sources on X show successful suicide drone attacks on troops — identified as North Koreans — maneuvering over snowfields in daylight. The source cites the Telegram channel of Ukraine’s 8th Special Operations Forces, which claims to have killed 50 North Koreans, and wounded 47. Still more drone footage, also unconfirmed, shows a successful strike by cluster munitions on what are said to be North Korean troops.
Andriy Kovalenko, head of Kyiv’s Center for Countering Disinformation, questioned whether the North Korean tactics are sustainable.
“How long North Korea’s 11th Army Corps can sustain a strategy of attrition attacks is unclear,” he told the publication Ukraine Today. “The corps may have buried or hospitalized one out of every 25 soldiers under its command this past weekend alone.”
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The 11th Corps, or “Storm Corps” is the command structure for North Korea’s special forces brigades — light infantry, airborne and amphibious. Kyiv’s Center for Defense Strategies said on Dec. 15 that the units involved in the assault on Plekhove were the North Korean 92nd and 94th Special Force Brigades.
Yang Uk, a security specialist at Seoul’s Asan Institute, questioned whether the 12,000-man, four-brigade expeditionary force Mr. Kim is believed to have sent to Russia consists entirely of these elite troops, or includes regular infantry brigades.
Regardless, the expeditionary force seems sustainable, given the size of North Korea’s armed forces: approximately 1.1 million troops.
South Korean military experts have also told The Washington Times that North Koreans have high casualty tolerance, and can maintain their battle cohesion. Pointing to the high prestige awarded to military leaders in North Korea, they cite likely compensation that they and/or their families will receive if killed or wounded fighting for Russia.
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• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.
Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
washingtontimes.com · by Andrew Salmon
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
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