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Quotes of the Day:
“The responsibility of great states is to serve and not to dominate the world.”
-Harry S. Truman, Message to Congress, April 16, 1945
“I was very struck at one point by Michel Crozier’s book—I think called The Bureaucratic Phenomenon—where he showed how different cultures lead to different kinds of organizations and different kinds of relations within organizations of superiors and subordinates. He showed how these things are very related to deeply rooted cultural things that relate, for example, specifically to this whole matter of how—right from childhood—superiors treat subordinates and so on. The whole set of relationships that are inherent in the particular culture get reproduced in many ways in the organizations. This means, among other things, that Soviet command-and control systems are Russian; the relationship of superiors and subordinates is very, very different than in the United States and most other Western countries.”
- Reflections on Net Assessment by Andrew Marshall
"In military operations other than war (MOOTW), legitimacy is a condition based on the perception by a specific audience of the legality, morality, or rightness of a set of actions. This audience may be the US public, foreign nations, the populations in the area of responsibility/joint operations area, or the participating forces. If an operation is perceived as legitimate, there is a strong impulse to support the action. If an operation is not perceived as legitimate, the actions may not be supported and may be actively resisted. In MOOTW, legitimacy is frequently a decisive element. The prudent use of psychological operations and humanitarian and civic assistance programs assists in developing a sense of legitimacy for the supported government.
Legitimacy may depend on adherence to objectives agreed to by the international community, ensuring the action is appropriate to the situation, and fairness in dealing with various factions. It may be reinforced by restraint in the use of force, the type of forces employed, and the disciplined conduct of the forces involved. The perception of legitimacy by the US public is strengthened if there are obvious national or humanitarian interests at stake, and if there is assurance that American lives are not being needlessly or carelessly risked.
Another aspect of this principle is the legitimacy bestowed upon a government through the perception of the populace which it governs. Because the populace perceives that the government has genuine authority to govern and uses proper agencies for valid purposes, they consider that government as legitimate."
- The Joint Doctrine Encyclopedia, 1997
1. Joe Biden's 'Strategic Patience' on North Korea Is a Historic Mistake
2. N. Korea to hold children's union congress for first time in five years
3. [Herald Interview] ‘Success stories of escapees threaten North Korean regime’
4. Stronger, faster, higher: How North Korea built a fearsome missile arsenal
5. Tour of Pyongyang reveals massive wealth gap to North Korean farmers
6. Academic paper proves BTS fandom impact on Korea’s national image
7. S. Korea, U.S. to develop 'realistic' training scenarios on N.K. nuke, missile threats
8. U.S. F-22 fighters return home after allied drills canceled due to bad weather
9. Seoul investigates alleged presence of secret Chinese police station
10. N. Korea’s Forestry Act makes it harder for people to obtain firewood for heating
11. N. Korea demands elementary schools modernize IT-related education
12. Korea to broaden diplomatic horizon through cooperation with Pacific island nations: FM
13. North Korea takes aim at US
1. Joe Biden's 'Strategic Patience' on North Korea Is a Historic Mistake
Ambassador Bolton needs to learn some of the subtleties of unconventional warfare and political warfare. He seems to throw around regime change with seemingly little understanding of how to do it. He comes across simply as a bomb thrower who does not provide any serious or substantive recommendations.
I am sure he agrees with my statements here:
The root of all problems in Korea is the existence of the most evil mafia- like crime family cult known as the Kim family regime that has the objective of dominating the Korean Peninsula under the rule of the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State.
The only way we are going to see an end to the nuclear program and military threats as well as the human rights abuses and crimes against humanity being committed against the Korean people living in the north by the mafia-like crime family cult known as the Kim family regime is through achievement of unification and the establishment of a free and unified Korea that is secure and stable, non-nuclear, economically vibrant, and unified under a liberal constitutional form of government based on individual liberty, rule of law, and human rights as determined by the Korean people. A free and unified Korea or in short, a United Republic of Korea (UROK).
I just wish he would consult with people who know who we might achieve the effects we desire.
Oh by the way, the Biden administration's policy is not one of strategic patience.
First and foremost the Biden and Yoon administration have reinvigorated readiness, and interoperability to support deterrence and defense that was significantly degraded by Trump's unilateral cancelation of exercises in 2018 and then from COVID. Aggressive and sustained training is the new normal. This is in addition to the regular deployment of strategic assets. But as Kim tries to drive a wedge in the ROK/US alliance with this political warfare and blackmail diplomacy strategies the actions of the Yoon and Biden administrations are demonstrating that Kim's strategy is failing. As Kim tries to weaken the alliance he actually drives it to be stronger. As does the US-Japan alliance and we are seeing some improvements in trilateral cooperation among the ROK, Japan, and the US. All of these effects are the opposite of what Kim is trying to achieve.
Here is a summary of the Biden administration policy. Unfortunately not all aspects have been fully implemented.
The policy consists of five parts or lines of effort that are rarely addressed comprehensively:
Principled and practical diplomacy: This is the focus of the press and pundits. What the Biden administration is doing in this line of effort is offering Kim the chance to act as a responsible member of the international community. However, the administration is not banking on that as it is employing the other four lines of effort that are too often overlooked by the press and pundits.
Alliance-based focus for deterrence, defense, and diplomacy: The U.S. also recognizes the importance of trilateral cooperation among both U.S. Northeast Asia alliances with the ROK and Japan.
“Stern deterrence“: This is about revitalizing the ROK/U.S. military alliance and strengthening defense capabilities to include returning exercises to a level that will sustain readiness (and support OPCON transition) and reverse the dangerous trend established by the previous administration that was welcomed by the current Moon administration. The ROK/U.S. alliance cannot back down in the face of North Korean increased tension, threats, and provocations.
A human rights upfront approach: Unfortunately, so far this has only been words with no significant action. The administration has failed to nominate an ambassador for North Korean human rights. Much more work needs to be done on human rights. Kim Jong-un must deny the human rights of the Korean power in the North to remain in power.
Full implementation of all relevant UN Security Council resolutions: This provides the “end state” objectives for an end to the North’s nuclear and missile programs, human rights abuses and crimes against humanity, the proliferation of weapons to conflict areas around the world, cyber-attacks, and global illicit activities. It also underscores one element that the current administration has in common with the previous one and that is sanctions will not be lifted until there is substantive progress toward compliance with the UNSCRs. Both Trump and Biden deserve credit for not giving in to the pressure in Seoul and among some in Washington who believe we need to lift sanctions to bring Kim to the negotiating table.
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/01/how-joe-biden-can-push-back-against-north-koreas-political-warfare-strategy/
Joe Biden's 'Strategic Patience' on North Korea Is a Historic Mistake
19fortyfive.com · by John Bolton · December 20, 2022
North Korea’s Friday announcement that it had successfully tested a “high-thrust, solid-fuel motor” was seriously bad news for the United States and its allies. Pyongyang’s ballistic missile program has long received considerable international attention (although regrettably little effective response), but last week’s test reached a potentially significant milestone. Solid-fuel missiles, unlike their liquid-fueled counterparts, are quickly launchable once deployed from hidden arsenals. They are essential to a nuclear power’s first-strike capability, sent on their way before they can be pre-emptively destroyed on the launching pad, which is a major risk for liquid-fueled missiles. North Korean propaganda always merits independent verification, but this rings depressingly true, following as it does months of extensive, continuing missile testing, nearly 70 launches this year, and increasingly harsh rhetoric by Kim Jong Un’s regime.
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The Biden administration reacted passively, letting the test proceed without significant reaction. Perhaps it was consumed with its rearrangement of the bureaucratic deck chairs on the State Department Titanic to handle its nearly invisible China strategy. There’s nothing like a government reorganization to help divert from a policy vacuum. Unfortunately, North Korea’s quickening menace hasn’t even provoked any visible paper reshuffling.
While Beijing is undoubtedly this century’s existential threat for America, Pyongyang is an immediate danger — to Northeast Asia, the United States, and worldwide. As the North’s capabilities accumulate with increasing speed, it may be difficult to identify the significance of each new piece of bad news. But North Korea remains a desperately impoverished country, once again reportedly enduring significant food shortages and still shrouding its experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic. Indulging in the expenditures necessary for the offensive military systems it is building, its nuclear-weapons program most prominently, underlines just how determined, and likely how close to fruition, Kim’s project is.
Japan and South Korea Getting Serious
North Korea is effectively China’s surrogate in destabilizing Northeast Asia. Although both sides deny that Pyongyang is subordinate to Beijing, it is long past time to appreciate that China’s support for the North is effectively the foundation keeping the Kim dynasty in power. China’s Communist party supports the world’s only hereditary Communist dictatorship because it suits them; if China wanted North Korea’s nuclear program ended, it could terminate its support tomorrow. Kim Jong Un would be unable to hold onto power for long, replaced most likely (and perhaps bloodily) by a general at Beijing’s beck and call. Stripped to its essentials, the Beijing-Pyongyang relationship is not nearly so complicated as the charade we have, in effect, accepted these many years.
The key conclusion is that China and North Korea constitute a joint threat. They are not independent variables, although the nature of their threat manifests itself in many different ways. From that conclusion flows the logic that an opposing strategy must address how to handle this combined threat over time, whatever aspect seems most imminent at any particular point. Indeed, if anything, given the intensifying cooperation between North Korea and Russia regarding Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the global nature of the growing threat is even clearer. Washington may be having trouble understanding this point, but last week, after due deliberation, Tokyo reacted with stunning decisiveness.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged to double Japan’s defense budget in five years (thereby reaching the target of 2% of GDP for military expenditure set eight years ago for NATO members). Fulfilling the pledge would make Japan’s defense outlays the world’s third-largest, behind only the United States and China. Tokyo also published Defense of Japan 2022, a white paper stressing the threat from Beijing and Pyongyang and the continued strengthening of the U.S.-Japan alliance. Moreover, as Japan foreshadowed earlier this year announcing its assistance to Ukraine, the new defense strategy says clearly that “North Korea defends Russia.” The European Union should certainly take note of this resolve emanating from the Far East.
A few days before, Japan announced its purchase of up to 500 Tomahawk cruise missiles, a move the Washington Post characterized as “a stunning break with a long tradition of eschewing offensive weapons.” With a range exceeding 1,000 miles, Tomahawks fired from Japan could easily reach Beijing, and they could hit all of North Korea. Obviously much more remains to be accomplished before Prime Minister Kishida’s objectives, and those of Defense of Japan 2022, can be achieved, but Tokyo’s forward thinking is impressive.
In South Korea, Yoon Suk-yeol, still a relatively new president, has had considerable success in moving away from the “sunshine policy” of his immediate predecessor, notably by restarting joint military exercises with the U.S., which were unwisely curtailed during President Donald Trump’s futile efforts to negotiate with Pyongyang. Yoon has also taken steps to improve relations with Japan, which is critical to more effective collective-defense measures in the Western Pacific. South Korea’s growing appreciation that Chinese threats to Taiwan implicate its own national security marks a critical advance in Seoul’s strategic vision.
Foreign Policy Is a Big Domestic Political Issue
The real problem here, in facing China and North Korea, is the passivity of the United States. President Biden’s seeming resolve to continue for a third term the failed Obama administration policy of “strategic patience” toward North Korea, and its self-imposed imperative of climate-change negotiations with China, have stifled development of an effective U.S. policy response. Once-promising initiatives like the Asian Quad are stalled, and new military initiatives regarding Korea, worthwhile though they may be, are decidedly limited in scope. Around the region, for example, concern for China’s efforts to establish hegemony has motivated Vietnam to consider major increases in weapons purchases from America, but Washington is reacting to these developments, not leading.
The already-underway 2024 U.S. presidential campaign is likely to turn more on foreign policy and defense matters than most other recent elections. A major land war in Europe, the continuing threats of international terrorism and nuclear proliferation, and above all China’s growing menace and that of its North Korean sidekick, are increasingly impossible to avoid. The Biden administration’s quiescence, particularly on Asian threats, jeopardizes U.S. national security. Now that it could jeopardize Biden’s political security, perhaps the White House will awaken.
Ambassador John R. Bolton served as national security adviser under President Donald J. Trump. He is the author of “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir.” You can follow him on Twitter: @AmbJohnBolton.
19fortyfive.com · by John Bolton · December 20, 2022
2. N. Korea to hold children's union congress for first time in five years
So is the regime trying to now present a kinder gentler narrative?
N. Korea to hold children's union congress for first time in five years | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 채윤환 · December 21, 2022
SEOUL, Dec. 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korea will convene a congress of a major youth group in Pyongyang for the first time in five years, according to its state media Wednesday.
Members of the Korean Children's Union (KCU) across the country arrived in the capital Tuesday to attend the 9th Congress of the KCU, the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, without specifying when the event will open.
"The Ninth Congress of the Korean Children's Union ... will mark a significant occasion in fully demonstrating the courageous spirit of the KCU members who are growing up to be reserves to shoulder the future of socialist Korea," the KCNA said in an English-language article.
The KCU's 8th Congress took place in June 2017, while the 7th Congress was held in 2013. The North's leader Kim Jong-un took part in both events.
The KCU, formed in 1946, is a youth organization composed of children aged 7 to 13. Its members are known for wearing red neckerchiefs.
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 채윤환 · December 21, 2022
3. [Herald Interview] ‘Success stories of escapees threaten North Korean regime’
Good work by our good friend Ji Seong Ho.
These success stories should be part of a comprehensive and sophisticated influence campaign.
[Herald Interview] ‘Success stories of escapees threaten North Korean regime’
koreaherald.com · by Kim Arin · December 20, 2022
The success stories of North Korea escapees are what will bring down the repressive regime, according to one refugee-turned-assemblyman, Rep. Ji Seong-ho. Helping North Koreans who have fled home to seek a new life and experience the South Korean dream as a reality, he says, is his mission in politics.
“Helping defectors from North Korea find success makes a difference, and it’s in everyone’s best interest. The more successful North Korean defectors there are, the more threatening it will be for the regime. People in North Korea admire the life defectors have in the South,” Ji said in an interview with The Korea Herald.
“North Koreans thriving after leaving their impoverished, repressive home country is what the regime hates most.”
Ji set foot in the National Assembly as a proportional representative in 2020, 14 years after he made the perilous journey out of his home country to the South.
He said his electoral victory put people in North Korea “in shock.” In North Korea, he had been one of the street-wandering children scavenging for food, and was discriminated against as a double amputee.
“It’s an incredible joy for me that for the 25 million people in North Korea, I can be a source of hope,” he said.
In the general election, Ji was one of the first proportional representative candidates to be recruited by the now-ruling People Power Party.
Making him the offer, one of the party leaders told him that to change the world the system has to change. And to change the system, the law has to change -- and Assembly members can make and change laws. “That speech made me want to become one. I wanted to make a real change,” he said.
Ji, who was a longtime activist campaigning for the freedom of North Koreans, said he ached when the Seoul government forcibly repatriated two young North Korean fishermen in 2019 as criminal suspects.
“It’s a decision that told people in North Korea that they will not be able to take refuge here. It destroyed their hopes,” he said. “I would never have dreamed of leaving if I knew I could be sent back.”
The first bill Ji proposed to pass is one that allowed for providing support for North Korean refugees longer, even if they have initially settled in a country other than South Korea. About a dozen other bills he has proposed for better support for refugees and protection of their rights are still pending, some of them for nearly two years.
“The politics of the free Korea not being on the side of the people suffering under one of the world’s most oppressive rule is disheartening. Our inaction will go down in history,” he said.
One of the stalled bills is to allow victims of North Korea’s human rights abuses to seek compensation, he said, “sort of like the legislation named after Otto Warmbier in the US.”
He said that the triumph of the Warmbier family in the US, seizing North Korea’s illicit assets and making them pay, was “cathartic” to him and inspired him to try to find a way for victims here to do the same. Ji hangs the necktie that belonged to Otto Warmbier, gifted to him by the US student’s parents, by his desk at the office. He described the Warmbiers as his “friends and allies in the same fight.”
“I believe that compensation is important not only to restore justice, but also to help victims heal and recover.”
Asked if he, as a victim himself, would try to get the North Korean regime to compensate him one day, he replied, “Someday.”
He said now his responsibility was to the tens of thousands of North Korean defectors in South Korea and other victims of abuses of the North’s regime, here and abroad.
But he said he feels he has already won “in a more meaningful way.”
“South Korean people have chosen me as their representative. I consider it as a win against the North Korean regime. My story directly refutes the regime’s propaganda.”
Ji said that South Korea should not be afraid to confront North Korea about its ongoing human rights violations.
“North Korea hates to be reminded about its human rights problems. Some say that we should avoid bringing up rights issues at the bargaining table with North Korea because that may put the negotiation at risk,” he said.
“But human rights shouldn’t be treated like a bargaining chip. Whether it’s South Korea or the US that’s sitting across the table from North Korea, I don’t think it’s right to turn a blind eye to the sufferings of North Koreans and pretend not to know their realities in the name of peace negotiations.”
He said that without addressing human rights horrors that persist in North Korea, whatever peace results from such a negotiation would be “one-sided.”
“If we get North Korea to refrain from provocations by choosing to remain silent on the abuses that the people in North Korea put up with daily, then that’s only peace for the rest of us,” he said.
“North Korea still has concentration camps. People are being tortured there today as we speak, and North Koreans will continue to live under systematic violence as the regime passes on power from one generation to the next.”
Ji believes that one day, the Koreas will be reunited. It’s only a matter of when.
“No power is forever and dictatorships cannot last. And when that day comes, North Koreans will want to know what we were doing to save them while they were dying.”
When visiting the US in September for a meeting of the International Parliamentarians’ Coalition for North Korean Refugees and Human Rights, he had a “blast from the past” moment standing outside the office of the permanent mission of North Korea to the United Nations in New York.
“Years ago, I was staging a protest there as an activist. This time I was back as a lawmaker of South Korea. There were North Korean guards all around, some of whom followed me for a bit. But I wasn’t afraid.”
Instead the encounter reminded him of how far he’s come.
When he first got to Seoul, all he had in his pocket was some 50,000 won ($38) after he paid the broker commission with subsidy funds from the government.
“My goal then was to get out of living on basic social security. I wanted to be a taxpayer one day.”
Ji lived in a social housing apartment up until he began work at the National Assembly. He turned his office into a counseling center for North Korean defectors. About half of his aides are defectors.
He said he was determined to devote his time in the Assembly to help North Koreans settle into life in South Korea.
“Defectors are people who risked everything to get out of North Korea. I see it as my mission to help them find a new life here. I hope my presence in the Assembly and the work that I do can make them feel I’ve got their back.”
In his 2018 book, written long before he knew he would enter politics, Ji said that South Korea’s liberals tend to avoid discussing North Korea’s human rights issues while conservatives only selectively care.
Asked if he thinks politics have changed since, he said the fact that two seats of the conservative party are held by North Korean defectors “speaks for something.” Apart from Ji, the other defector-turned-lawmaker in office is Rep. Tae Yong-ho, his colleague in the People Power Party.
koreaherald.com · by Kim Arin · December 20, 2022
4. Stronger, faster, higher: How North Korea built a fearsome missile arsenal
Stronger, faster, higher: How North Korea built a fearsome missile arsenal
Reuters · by Josh Smith, Vijdan Mohammad Kawoosa · December 20, 2022
5 Min Read
(Reuters) - North Korea could hit almost anywhere on earth with a ballistic missile, analysts say, a capability it has honed alongside a wide variety of shorter-range weapons with comprehensive testing that includes a record-setting number of launches in 2022.
FILE PHOTO: A man watches a TV broadcasting a news report on North Korea firing a ballistic missile off its east coast, in Seoul, South Korea, December 18, 2022. REUTERS/Heo Ran/File Photo
In March and November, North Korea sent ballistic missiles soaring more than 6,000 km (3,700 miles) into space. The high-flying trajectories showed a weapon designed to hit another continent, or even deliver multiple warheads.
Pyongyang has also test-fired at least three intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) over Japan, including an Oct. 4 flight where the missile - possibly a variant of the intermediate-range Hwasong-12 - landed about 3,200 km beyond Japan in the Pacific Ocean.
There are many questions over just how reliable and capable the North’s biggest missiles are: it has yet to fully demonstrate some key technologies for ensuring a nuclear warhead survives its fiery decent through the atmosphere and at least some launches appear to have ended in failure.
But analysts say North Korea’s flurry of testing shows it is fine-tuning missiles that could be used in a war, and that it has little interest in giving them up.
North Korea says its ballistic missile development is a legitimate exercise of its right as a sovereign state to defend itself from external threats, including hostile U.S. policy
It has said it rejects U.N. Security Council resolutions banning missile and nuclear programmes as an infringement of its sovereign rights. It has also said it has the right to space exploration as a sovereign country.
Although long-range weapons get more attention, North Korea has been pouring resources into shorter-range systems too, analysts say.
After historic denuclearisation talks between leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump fell apart in 2019, Pyongyang rolled out new and increasingly capable short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs), many of which can manoeuvre to confound missile defences.
Short-range weapons help it prepare for a potential confrontation with its neighbours, especially South Korea, analysts say, which hosts about 28,500 American troops. In North Korea’s testing programme, short-range missiles seem to have been the most successful.
The North has also tested other advanced weapons, including “hypersonic” missiles, SRBMs for “tactical” nuclear attacks and new submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).
South Korea and the United States have warned since early 2022 that North Korea may resume nuclear testing for the first time since 2017. Analysts say that could help it perfect smaller nuclear warheads that can fit on a range of missiles.
“Kim announced plans to develop weapons systems ranging from tactical nuclear weapons to a nuclear-powered submarine and is ticking the boxes on his weapons wishlist through a series of tests,” Hwang Ildo, of Seoul’s Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, said in a recent report.
The warheads of tactical nuclear weapons have less explosive power but are meant for battlefield use, attacking specific targets relatively close to the launch point.
Targeting U.S. bases in South Korea with such weapons makes sense because the North Korean military does not have enough conventional warheads to meaningfully damage such facilities and prevent a conventional U.S. strike on North Korea, said Duyeon Kim, a North Korea expert at the U.S.-based Center for a New American Security.
“It would now be able to do so, while reserving its ICBMs and thermonuclear bombs to deter the United States from retaliatory annihilation of North Korea,” she said.
More mundane technology such as rocket fuel is also undergoing intense testing in North Korea. Solid fuel - which would allow missiles, including ICBMs - to be launched with little warning, is a particular focus.
On Dec. 16, scientists in North Korea tested what they called a “high-thrust” solid-fuel motor that appeared aimed at perfecting a large engine for an ICBM.
“One of Kim Jong Un’s objectives... is to develop an ICBM propelled by solid-fuel engines, and if North Korea succeeds, it will become difficult for the U.S. to defend against Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal, as signs of an ICBM launch using solid-fuel engines are hard to detect early,” Hwang wrote.
Reporting by Josh Smith; Editing by Gerry Doyle and Raju Gopalakrishnan
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Reuters · by Josh Smith, Vijdan Mohammad Kawoosa · December 20, 2022
5. Tour of Pyongyang reveals massive wealth gap to North Korean farmers
It is funny how the Soialist Workers paradise still has "haves" and "have-nots."
Tour of Pyongyang reveals massive wealth gap to North Korean farmers
The country’s best growers were rewarded with a rare visit to the capital, but they complained about inequality.
By Chang Gyu Ahn for RFA Korean
2022.12.20
rfa.org
North Korea rewarded this year’s best farmers with a once-in-a-lifetime tour of Pyongyang, but the farmers returned from their trip incensed at how they are made to live in relative squalor compared to residents of the capital, sources in the country told RFA.
Only the most privileged members of North Korean society are allowed to live in Pyongyang, and most North Koreans can only dream of ever visiting, so being selected for the tour is considered a great honor.
“The farmers who visited Pyongyang said they were envious that Pyongyang residents receive better food rations, live in good houses with bright lights, and ride around on buses and subways wearing fancy clothes, a resident of Unjon county in the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
The farmers were left wondering why they should work so hard to increase output only to give Pyongyangers a better life, the source said.
“Pyongyang residents enjoy all kinds of benefits that rural residents do not receive, just because they are citizens of the capital, so the farmers are angry that the authorities are emphasizing that they must support the country, but the fruits of their labor are only used to take care of Pyongyang residents,” he said.
According to the source, the farmers’ excursion to Pyongyang, hosted by the Union of Agricultural Workers of Korea, has happened every year since 1985 during the agricultural off-season.
The union invites the farmers that achieved the highest yields and exemplary farmers recommended by cooperative farms. They get the honor of seeing the city’s most important museums, the zoo, the circus theater, and the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun – the final resting place of national founder Kim Il Sung – the source said.
“Most of the farmers living in rural areas in the provinces have never been to Pyongyang. Everyone wants to go on a field trip to Pyongyang,” he said.
In years past, the government footed the bill for the tour, but now it is so cash-strapped that each farmer has to shell out 200,000 won (about U.S. $24), so some of the farmers who were selected for the trip refused to go.
“Authorities expect farmers to energetically innovate in farming next year, motivated by their trip to Pyongyang, but the farmers who went there ended up questioning why they’ve worked so hard all their lives,” the source said.
A resident of Hongwon county in the eastern province of South Hamgyong said that the 50 farmers selected from his county came back angry that the authorities always put Pyongyang first, to the point that the people there are “living in another world.”
“The farmers were surprised to see Pyongyang changing so rapidly with the construction of new streets. They also marveled that the residents there get larger food rations, including bonus rations for holiday celebrations, unlike rural residents,” the second source said. “They said that the sight of Pyongyang residents riding city buses and subways wearing colorful clothes and shiny shoes was very offensive to them since they have to go out to work in the fields wearing shabby clothes all year round.”
He said the farmers work from dawn until dusk in the summer to feed the country, but don’t get enough to eat from the government’s distribution system.
“It’s simply unfair that only Pyongyang residents receive benefits like adequate food rations,” he said.
Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
rfa.org
6. Academic paper proves BTS fandom impact on Korea’s national image
Soft power works for Korea.
Academic paper proves BTS fandom impact on Korea’s national image
donga.com
Posted December. 21, 2022 07:43,
Updated December. 21, 2022 07:43
Academic paper proves BTS fandom impact on Korea’s national image. December. 21, 2022 07:43. choigiza@donga.com.
“The more BTS fans regard BTS as close friends, they feel more familiar with and close to Korea,” claims an empirical study that shows BTS’ positive impact on the national image of Korea. The academic paper titled “K-pop fandom and Korea’s national reputation: Analysis focusing on American BTS fans” was written by Kim Su-jin, an adjunct professor of the Department of Communications and Media at Ewha Womans University. The paper won the most outstanding award at a contest co-hosted by the Korean Association for Public Diplomacy and the Korea Foundation.
“BTS uses social media to interact with fans around, forging a semi-social relationship that creates a long-term bond,” said Professor Kim in a phone interview on Tuesday. “This helps improve Korea’s image in the world.”
Professor Kim and researchers used Amazon’s Mechanical Turk from December 25 to 29, 2020, to conduct an in-depth survey on 195 American BTS fans. Their social media usage and participation were analyzed to understand their semi-social relationship with BTS and Korea’s image improvement based on this relationship.
“Our study confirmed that BTS fandom can be a key resource in Korea’s diplomatic activities,” said Professor Kim. “It has been academically proven that the central and local government’s leveraging of BTS and other K-pop stars can produce good publicity results.”
한국어
donga.com
7. S. Korea, U.S. to develop 'realistic' training scenarios on N.K. nuke, missile threats
Sustained, realistic, interoperability training.
Training and readiness are increasing to a level of a new normal. Kim Jong Un's provocations are not having the desired effect to drive a wedge in the ROK/US alliance.
(2nd LD) S. Korea, U.S. to develop 'realistic' training scenarios on N.K. nuke, missile threats | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · December 21, 2022
(ATTN: UPDATES with more details in paras 15-17)
SEOUL, Dec. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States plan to craft "realistic" training scenarios to handle advancing North Korean nuclear and missile threats while expanding the scale of their field drills next year, the defense ministry said Wednesday.
Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup presided over a meeting of top commanders to discuss the plan and other policy priorities, amid tensions caused by the North's continued missile launches, including that of what Seoul called medium-range ballistic missiles on Sunday.
In the first half of next year, the allies plan to conduct some 20 combined training programs, including the Ssangyong (double dragon) amphibious exercise -- all at the same level of the large-scale Foal Eagle field training officially suspended in 2019 amid diplomacy with the North, according to the ministry.
The plan raised speculation that the allies are poised to effectively revive the Foal Eagle drills as the North is forging ahead with its key weapons projects, including those to develop solid-fuel long-range missiles and tactical nuclear arms.
"(We) decided to expand the scale and types of combined field drills in connection with combined exercises for the first half of next year, while deepening and developing execution procedures for theater-level exercises through the crafting of realistic training scenarios in light of advancing North Korean nuclear and missile threats," the ministry said in a press release.
The ministry did not elaborate on which exercise scenarios could be under consideration. But they are expected to include various stages of nuclear threats, including a phase when signs emerge of an impending nuclear strike.
Lee stressed that the South will cope with the North's nuclear threats based on the U.S.' "extended deterrence" commitment to mobilizing a full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear, to defend its ally.
On the North's non-nuclear threats, the minister stressed the need for the South Korean military to take a "leading" role.
"To ensure that we can respond sternly and perfectly to any North Korean provocations, I particularly emphasize the maintenance of a posture to respond immediately on the ground for a definite win in any combat," Lee was quoted as saying.
Participants at the meeting also discussed the plan to install a new Joint Chiefs of Staff division in charge of responding to threats from the North's nuclear and weapons of mass destruction next month.
The establishment of the division will be part of step-by-step efforts to create the "strategic command" that the military has been pushing for to bolster its overall operational capabilities, according to the ministry.
The meeting agenda included the ministry's push for the Defense Innovation 4.0 initiative aimed at harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) and other latest technologies to address a potential troop shortage as the result of the country's low birthrate, and bolster overall defense capabilities.
The military plans to start a phased transition next year toward an AI-based system employing both manned and unmanned platforms, as part of efforts to build its own force reinforcement process and bolster security capabilities in outer space, cyberspace and other domains.
Top defense officials agreed to start increasing investment next year for the development of cutting-edge technologies to improve "high-power, ultra-precision strike capabilities," the ministry said.
Later in the day, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Kim Seung-kyum presided over an annual meeting of general-grade officers from all armed services, called the Mugunghwa Meeting.
The military has held the meeting since 1973 to discuss national security issues and strengthen interservice cooperation. Mugunghwa, the rose of Sharon in English, is the country's national flower.
The meeting was followed by a session of key military operations commanders.
At the commanders' gathering, Kim called for thorough preparedness and a stern response to any North Korean provocations to ensure successful on-the-ground operations.
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · December 21, 2022
8. U.S. F-22 fighters return home after allied drills canceled due to bad weather
All weather.
But it is best to be prudent in these conditions.
U.S. F-22 fighters return home after allied drills canceled due to bad weather | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · December 21, 2022
SEOUL, Dec. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States canceled a plan to stage combined air drills, involving America's F-22 stealth fighters, this week due to bad weather, the Air Force here said Wednesday.
The F-22 jets from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, returned home earlier in the day. They arrived at Kunsan Air Base in Gunsan, 275 kilometers south of Seoul, earlier this week for the drills initially set for Thursday.
It was their first arrival here for the combined drills in four years.
On Tuesday, the allies conducted air drills, involving America's F-22 jets and B-52H strategic bombers as well as the South's F-35As and F-15Ks, southwest of the southern island of Jeju.
The drills came amid tensions caused by the North's continued missile launches, including that of two medium-range ballistic missiles Sunday.
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · December 21, 2022
9. Seoul investigates alleged presence of secret Chinese police station
Seoul investigates alleged presence of secret Chinese police station
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/12/21/national/diplomacy/korea-china-secret-police/20221221150922831.html
A photo of a Chinese police station used in the report by Safeguard Defenders released on Dec. 5. [SCREEN CAPTURE]
Seoul is looking into the alleged presence of a secret Chinese police station in Korea, the Foreign Ministry confirmed Tuesday.
“We have been communicating with relevant departments on the matter,” a Foreign Ministry official told the press in Seoul on Tuesday. “At this point we do not have anything significant to share.”
The nongovernmental human rights organization Safeguard Defenders announced earlier this month that China’s local-level public security bureau based in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, was running at least one police station in Korea, though it couldn’t confirm its exact location.
These overseas police service stations, according to Safeguard Defenders, are a form of long-arm policing by the Chinese government, to monitor its nationals. They are said to be located in at least 53 countries across five continents.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is investigating ″reports of criminal activity″ related to foreign police stations after Spain-based human rights group Safeguard Defenders reported that China is operating more than 50 overseas stations including three in the Greater Toronto Area. Here, one of the Greater Toronto Area locations noted is a building in a business park in the Markham area of Toronto on Oct. 31. [AP/YONHAP]
The Chinese government has allegedly persuaded 230,000 suspects of fraud from around the globe to return to China to face prosecution from April 2021 to July 2022, and these police stations are suspected to have played a part, according to the rights group.
While these so-called fugitives or targets of the Chinese government could include actual suspects of crime, many others would be dissidents of the Chinese government, according to the group. In any case, running a clandestine police station abroad would violate both domestic and international laws.
“These methods allow the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] and their security organs to circumvent normal bilateral mechanisms of police and judicial cooperation, thereby severely undermining the international rule of law and territorial integrity of the third countries involved,” Safeguard Defenders said in its report released in September.
Screen capture of the locations of Chinese secret police stations released by Safeguard Defenders in their Dec. 5 report. [SCREEN CAPTURE]
China has denied that these stations play a policing role, but said they rather are local centers to help overseas Chinese nationals renew relevant documents.
But even if this were to be true, it would still be enough to sour diplomatic ties if the Chinese government had not first sought the official approval of the host country.
At least 14 governments including those in Austria, Canada, Chile, Nigeria, Spain, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States have begun investigating the alleged secret Chinese police stations in their countries, according to Safeguard Defenders.
Relevant investigative authorities in Korea include the National Intelligence Agency and the police.
The map released by Safeguard Defenders in their recent report released Dec. 5. The colored locations are the countries in which they found clandestine Chinese police stations to be operating. [SCREEN CAPTURE]
BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]
10. N. Korea’s Forestry Act makes it harder for people to obtain firewood for heating
Does it seem like the regime is doing everything it can to make life difficult for the Korean people in the north and to make it difficult to survive? What cruelty.
I just do not think we who are blessed with freedom and prosperity can comprehend the scale of suffering in the north.
N. Korea’s Forestry Act makes it harder for people to obtain firewood for heating
The combination of economic hardship, the food shortage and the difficulty of acquiring fuel for heating in the winter is driving some people to cross the border into China
dailynk.com
A marker delineating the border between China and North Korea (Wikimedia Commons)
At the onset of winter, North Koreans are struggling to buy heating fuel or find firewood because of the country’s economic difficulties. On top of that, thieves have been growing bolder, making matters worse for the public.
“The Forestry Act is making it much harder for people to find firewood. This year, people are collecting dried grass and tree branches to stand in for firewood,” a source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK on Monday.
“Some people are getting frostbite from picking dried grass and branches. This kind of thing wouldn’t happen if they could cut down trees for firewood on the surrounding hills as they used to do. But there’s nobody they can complain to,” the source said.
North Koreans typically heat their houses with coal briquettes and firewood. But this year, more families are reportedly unable to buy briquettes because of the poor economy.
Following last year’s revision of the Forestry Act, law enforcement has been cracking down on illegal logging, with the result that North Koreans can’t even chop firewood as an alternate source of fuel from the hills.
So North Koreans have been forced to collect dead leaves and branches, and exposure to the cold for long periods of time sometimes leads to frostbite, the source said.
“Families that make one meal each day with a fire can deal with [the cold] as long as they wear thick clothing. But some families don’t have a fire, so they have to cover themselves in layers of blankets,” the source said.
“I’m worried that something bad will happen when the serious cold gets here,” he continued, adding, “The pain of enduring a hungry belly in a cold room is something you can’t know unless you’ve experienced it yourself. Quite a few people are just relieved to find out they’re still alive when they wake up in the morning.”
The situation has been made even worse by the rampant thievery.
“In the winter, it’s common for thieves to enter houses even when people are inside. Thieves sometimes rip off fencing, outer gates and even front doors from houses, companies and factories, since they can all be used as firewood,” the source said.
“Life is so tough that people are doing whatever it takes to survive, even if that means stealing from each other. No matter how hard people’s lives become, the government won’t do anything until prodded into action by a spate of deaths,” he added.
The combination of economic hardship, the food shortage and the difficulty of acquiring fuel for heating in the winter is driving some people to cross the border into China, the source said.
“In October, three people illegally crossed the border in Sindok District, Taeyongdan County, Yanggang County, and there are two fugitives whose location is unknown,” the source explained.
“There hadn’t been any fugitives because the national border has been tightly sealed since the breakout of COVID-19. But there have been [defections] recently, perhaps because a lot of people think it’s better to run away than just to die where they are,” the source said.
“The number of runaways will increase when the rivers freeze over,” he predicted.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com
11. N. Korea demands elementary schools modernize IT-related education
A double edged sword. Yes, invest in the human capital to operate the all purpose sword for the regime. However, that investment could also result in support for resistance to the regime someday in the future.
N. Korea demands elementary schools modernize IT-related education
Elementary schools in Pyongyang and Haeju, South Hwanghae Province, had the highest computer possession rates at 63%, according to a recent internal report
dailynk.com
An elementary school in North Korea. (DPRK Today)
North Korean educational authorities have begun demanding that elementary schools modernize by acquiring computers and other relevant equipment, emphasizing the importance of IT-related subjects, Daily NK has learned.
A Daily NK source in North Korea said Monday that the State Education Commission put together analysis material by educational inspectors that have visited schools twice a year since the country adopted its 12-year mandatory education system, and sent the results to provincial departments of education early this month.
“Through the materials, [the commission] suggested measures to correct the tendency over the last five years to teach IT subjects, which are taught from the fourth or fifth grade of elementary school, with little substance, and pointed to how schools were lagging behind in modernization.”
North Korea used to have 11 years of mandatory education – one year of kindergarten, four years of elementary school and six years of middle school.
But in September 2012, after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un came to power, the sixth meeting of the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly adopted legislation that mandated 12 years of education by adding another year to elementary school.
This system went into place from the start of the academic year in 2017.
The goal of adopting 12 years of mandatory education was to improve the quality and quantity of IT subjects by adding a year to elementary school, when students learn the basics.
The source said the authorities initially wanted to emphasize education for gifted students, but they found that over the last five years, the classes were being taught in a perfunctory manner.
The commission found that this was due to shortfalls at some schools in “the material and technological base,” which is to say, they lacked sufficient equipment for IT subjects.
In particular, it reportedly focused the spotlight on the chasm in computer facilities between schools in Pyongyang and those in the provinces, schools in the big cities and those in rural communities, and elementary schools attached to so-called No. 1 senior middle schools — which are of particular interest to the state — and ordinary elementary schools.
In fact, elementary schools in Pyongyang and Haeju, South Hwanghae Province, had the highest computer ownership rates at 63%, while only 6% of elementary schools in Kowon County, South Hamgyong Province and Kosan County, Kangwon Province had computers, indicating seriously low levels of facility modernization.
The source said the analysis data including how some schools “have been crying about how acquiring computers and modernizing equipment needed to teach IT subjects have become non-tax burdens on students.”
“It said the biggest problem was the attitude and perspective of elementary schools that simply complain about conditions while carrying out modernization in a half-hearted way instead of following the state’s educational guidance for the project and order for successfully carrying out early computer education,” he added.
The analysis reportedly criticized how due to computer shortages, some schools still teach only theory, while other schools end classes after letting students sit for a few minutes in front of a computer in shifts, their teachers doing little to stop students from studying other subjects or homework as they wait to use the computer.
In sending the analysis material to provincial departments of education, North Korean educational authorities reportedly set a deadline for elementary schools to modernize, warning that academic inspectors will regularly visit to check how well schools are carrying it out.
Moreover, the materials reportedly said that the academic inspectors found unqualified IT teachers while visiting schools nationwide, particularly emphasizing that it would re-evaluate the general ratings and credentials of elementary school IT teachers in each province by the end of the year.
The source said the criticized teachers “are being called to the department of education to write self-criticism letters.”
“The departments of education are pushing schools, telling them that the party said modernizing schools is the priority policy of the general education sector to improve the quality of IT subject classes,” he said.
However, the source said schools that must modernize through “self-reliance” are responding despondently, complaining that “we must empty the pockets of students who can’t even eat breakfast to buy computers.”
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com
12. Korea to broaden diplomatic horizon through cooperation with Pacific island nations: FM
Support for the vision of a free and open INDOPACIFIC.
Korea to broaden diplomatic horizon through cooperation with Pacific island nations: FM
The Korea Times · December 21, 2022
Foreign Minister Park Jin speaks during a meeting of the preparatory committee for the inaugural summit next year between Korea and Pacific island nations at the foreign ministry in Seoul, Dec. 21. Yonhap
Korea aims to broaden its diplomatic horizon by elevating its level of cooperation with Pacific island nations, Seoul's top diplomat said Wednesday, as the country prepares to host an inaugural group summit with the 14 nations next year.
"In the future, we will open a new horizon for our diplomacy by dramatically upgrading cooperation with Pacific island nations," Foreign Minister Park Jin said, chairing the first inter-agency preparatory meeting on the Korea-Pacific island nations summit in 2023.
Korea plans to invite leaders of the Pacific island nations to host its inaugural summit with the region. The country hosted the fifth Korea-Pacific islands foreign ministers' meeting in October in Busan.
Park stressed the significance of partnerships with the nations, calling them "key partners" in Seoul's new Indo-Pacific strategy. (Yonhap)
The Korea Times · December 21, 2022
13.
We need to return to our historic annual theater level exercise schedule.
Ulchi Freedom Shield (Ulchi Freedom Guardian, Ulchi Focus Lens) in August to train all new personnel in the defense plans using computer simulation. Field training exercises routinely take place simultaneously.
Foal Eagle (October/November). A major field exercise to train the rear area defense forces and combined special operations capability.
Ulchi Focus Clear January - continuation of the August computer simulation to advance the level of defense training for the theater and component commanders and staff. Field training exercises tmay ake place simultaneously.
Team Spirit (cancelled in1993) in March (at one time the largest field exercise in the free world) in March held at the time that the nKPA completes its annual winter training cycle when its forces are brought to their highest state of readiness at the optimal time to attack the SOuth (frozen ground and the rice fields have not yet been flooded in the South.
We should return to this annual schedule.
North Korea takes aim at US
The Korea Times · December 21, 2022
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un smiles while watching the ground test of a high-thrust solid-fuel motor at Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in Cholsan, North Pyongan Province in this Dec. 15 photo released by the North's Korean Central News Agency. Yonhap
Seoul, Washington to revive suspended Foal Eagle field drill
By Kang Seung-woo
North Korea praised its achievements in its missile and nuclear programs this year, Wednesday, while strengthening its anti-American sentiment.
According to an article in the Rodong Sinmun, the official media outlet of the ruling Workers' Party, North Korea got off to a strong start in 2022 with the test-firing of a hypersonic missile, followed by months of other shocking developments including the launch of the Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), its strongest strategic weapon.
This year alone, North Korea conducted record-setting ballistic missile tests more than 30 times. In addition, it is believed to have fully prepared for a seventh nuclear test.
In January, North Korea announced it had conducted a hypersonic missile test under the watch of its leader, Kim Jong-un. The hypersonic missile is capable of avoiding detection longer than a ballistic missile as it flies at lower altitudes.
"This year is the year in which the world realized what kind of determination the Kim Jong-un regime had when it prevented the United States from abusing its authority and never tolerated any acts aimed at harming its dignity and sovereignty," the newspaper said.
"Taking issue with our self-defense measures, the U.S. held combined military exercises with its followers in the waters of the Korean Peninsula on multiple occasions, threatening the stability and peace of the region," it continued.
The newspaper also said North Korea demonstrated its ability to implement its nuclear weapons policy by legalizing the use of its nuclear weapons preemptively to strike against adversaries that threaten its leadership.
"There has been no single country to declare all-out retaliation and fulfill it in the face of the U.S.," it added.
The article is seen as Pyongyang's move to pass on the responsibility for increasing tensions around the peninsula to the combined military exercises of South Korea and the U.S. and claims that its military provocations are self-defense measures against what it calls Washington's "hostile policy" toward the country.
In June, the North Korean leader reaffirmed the principle of "power for power and a head-on contest" and vowed to accomplish the goal of bolstering its national defense capabilities as soon as possible.
Also, the newspaper accused the U.S. of disregarding North Korea's repeated warnings, denouncing its attempts as "reckless suicide by those who have fallen into anachronism."
Meanwhile, amid North Korea's intensifying threats, South Korea and the U.S. plan to hold some 20 combined exercises in the first half of next year and what is drawing attention is the possible resumption of the Foal Eagle field training.
The Foal Eagle field training had been annually carried out together with the Key Resolve exercise until 2018. Key Resolve is a simulation-driven, combined command-post exercise, while Foal Eagle is a field training drill.
However, the two were suspended under the Moon Jae-in administration in order to engage North Korea diplomatically, as the North sees the exercises as a rehearsal for invasion.
"We have decided to expand the scale and types of combined field exercises in connection with combined exercises in the first half of next year, while deepening and developing execution procedures for theater-level exercises through the crafting of realistic training scenarios in consideration of advancing North Korean nuclear and missile threats," the defense ministry said in a press release after Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup presided over a meeting of top commanders to discuss the plan and other policy priorities.
The Korea Times · December 21, 2022
13. North Korea takes aim at US
We need to return to our historic annual theater level exercise schedule.
Ulchi Freedom Shield (Ulchi Freedom Guardian, Ulchi Focus Lens) in August to train all new personnel in the defense plans using computer simulation. Field training exercises routinely take place simultaneously.
Foal Eagle (October/November). A major field exercise to train the rear area defense forces and combined special operations capability.
Ulchi Focus Clear January - continuation of the August computer simulation to advance the level of defense training for the theater and component commanders and staff. Field training exercises may take place simultaneously.
Team Spirit (cancelled in 1993) in March (at one time the largest field exercise in the free world) in March held at the time that the nKPA completes its annual winter training cycle when its forces are brought to their highest state of readiness at the optimal time to attack the oOuth (frozen ground and the rice fields have not yet been flooded in the South.
We now have two major exercise periods. Ulchi Freedom Shield in August - computer simulation for the high level commands and field training for the lower level tactical commands. In MArch we have Key Resolve (high level computer simulation) and Foal Eagle (field tragin exercise).
We should return to this annual schedule.
North Korea takes aim at US
The Korea Times · December 21, 2022
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un smiles while watching the ground test of a high-thrust solid-fuel motor at Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in Cholsan, North Pyongan Province in this Dec. 15 photo released by the North's Korean Central News Agency. Yonhap
Seoul, Washington to revive suspended Foal Eagle field drill
By Kang Seung-woo
North Korea praised its achievements in its missile and nuclear programs this year, Wednesday, while strengthening its anti-American sentiment.
According to an article in the Rodong Sinmun, the official media outlet of the ruling Workers' Party, North Korea got off to a strong start in 2022 with the test-firing of a hypersonic missile, followed by months of other shocking developments including the launch of the Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), its strongest strategic weapon.
This year alone, North Korea conducted record-setting ballistic missile tests more than 30 times. In addition, it is believed to have fully prepared for a seventh nuclear test.
In January, North Korea announced it had conducted a hypersonic missile test under the watch of its leader, Kim Jong-un. The hypersonic missile is capable of avoiding detection longer than a ballistic missile as it flies at lower altitudes.
"This year is the year in which the world realized what kind of determination the Kim Jong-un regime had when it prevented the United States from abusing its authority and never tolerated any acts aimed at harming its dignity and sovereignty," the newspaper said.
"Taking issue with our self-defense measures, the U.S. held combined military exercises with its followers in the waters of the Korean Peninsula on multiple occasions, threatening the stability and peace of the region," it continued.
The newspaper also said North Korea demonstrated its ability to implement its nuclear weapons policy by legalizing the use of its nuclear weapons preemptively to strike against adversaries that threaten its leadership.
"There has been no single country to declare all-out retaliation and fulfill it in the face of the U.S.," it added.
The article is seen as Pyongyang's move to pass on the responsibility for increasing tensions around the peninsula to the combined military exercises of South Korea and the U.S. and claims that its military provocations are self-defense measures against what it calls Washington's "hostile policy" toward the country.
In June, the North Korean leader reaffirmed the principle of "power for power and a head-on contest" and vowed to accomplish the goal of bolstering its national defense capabilities as soon as possible.
Also, the newspaper accused the U.S. of disregarding North Korea's repeated warnings, denouncing its attempts as "reckless suicide by those who have fallen into anachronism."
Meanwhile, amid North Korea's intensifying threats, South Korea and the U.S. plan to hold some 20 combined exercises in the first half of next year and what is drawing attention is the possible resumption of the Foal Eagle field training.
The Foal Eagle field training had been annually carried out together with the Key Resolve exercise until 2018. Key Resolve is a simulation-driven, combined command-post exercise, while Foal Eagle is a field training drill.
However, the two were suspended under the Moon Jae-in administration in order to engage North Korea diplomatically, as the North sees the exercises as a rehearsal for invasion.
"We have decided to expand the scale and types of combined field exercises in connection with combined exercises in the first half of next year, while deepening and developing execution procedures for theater-level exercises through the crafting of realistic training scenarios in consideration of advancing North Korean nuclear and missile threats," the defense ministry said in a press release after Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup presided over a meeting of top commanders to discuss the plan and other policy priorities.
The Korea Times · December 21, 2022
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Senior Advisor, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
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