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Quotes of the Day:
“for PEOPLE to rule themselves in a REPUBLIC, they must have virtue; for a TYRANT to rule in a TYRANNY, he must use FEAR.”
– William J Federer, Change to Chains-The 6,000 Year Quest for Control -Volume I-Rise of the Republic
"Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different. Life would undergo a change of appearance because we ourselves had undergone a change in attitude."
– Katherine Mansfield
"Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny."
– Carl Schurz
1. The Economics of a Korean Unification: Thinking The Unthinkable?
2. As North Korea Escalates Rhetoric, Washington and Seoul Debate Whether the South Should Go Nuclear
3. Defense chief says N. Korea's light-water reactor likely to be in full operation next summer
4. Two abducted Koreans freed in Nigeria
5. Kim accuses U.S. of 'unprecedented' acts against North
6. South Korea’s military has a new enemy: Population math
7. South Korea's so-called artificial sun to burn at 100M degrees Celsius for half a minute
8. Japan protests reported South Korean drill at disputed islets
9. Pro-North Korea videos are spreading on TikTok
10. Remembering Gapyeong's $2 miracle
11. Young N. Koreans flaunt government laws aimed at stamping out foreign culture
12. Call to empathy: exhibition on North Korean refugees
1. The Economics of a Korean Unification: Thinking The Unthinkable?
Thi is arguably one of the most important articles about Korean Unification. I commend this to the Ministry of Unification and to all who think about Korean unification. Please go to the link to view the very important graphics.
I do not know of any scholar (along with Dr. Marcus "Muddle Through 1997" Noland) on Korean issues who possesses the economic and demographic insights on north Korea and Korean unification than the great Dr. Nicholas Eberstadt.
Nick also received the Innovative Scholarship for Peace Award from the Global Peace Foundation. https://globalpeaceconvention.com/2023-awards/
The Economics of a Korean Unification: Thinking The Unthinkable?
https://www.aei.org/research-products/speech/the-economics-of-a-korean-unification-thinking-the-unthinkable/
By Nicholas Eberstadt
December 27, 2023
This is an adapted version of a lecture on the economics of a peaceful reunification of Korea delivered to the International Forum on One Korea at the Global Peace Convention 2023 in Manila on 12/12/2023. Learn more about the event here
I
Ladies and Gentlemen:
A Specter is haunting the Korean Peninsula—the specter of Unification.
At least, that seems to be how many in South Korea nowadays regard the prospect of a free and peaceful unification with their compatriots from the North.
For a generation—ever since the Asian financial crisis of 1997—growing numbers in South Koreans are having doubts about any reunification at all.
They worry about economic costs and burdens of bringing together, as full citizens, the by now impoverished tens of millions of Northerners and their country of Southerners who are, by now, not only comfortably well off, but affluent.
According to public opinion polls, the overwhelming majority of young South Koreans would like to cancel a free and peaceful unification altogether—or in the words of the old song, just “call the whole thing off”.
To an outsider who has been visiting the Peninsula since the 1970s, it seems ironic that the richest, best-educated, most technically dynamic generation in Korean history should lack so much confidence.
Not even to consider the great vision of a free Korean unification, a prospect and challenge their parents and grandparents readily embraced?
The men and women who built the modern Korean economy did not shrink from great challenges—and they would not have been afraid of this one, either.
As a foreign well-wisher of long standing, my message today for my Korean friends is simple: Korean reunification is *not* thinking the unthinkable.
To be clear: Even a free and peaceful reunification of the peninsula promises to be a daunting proposition, fraught with uncertainties, all but certain to require sacrifices from many for some possibly extended period of time.
But the Korean people have done what many abroad thought impossible before. And they can make the economics of a future unification work, too—if only they dare try.
As a foreign well-wisher, I would like to make four points this morning about the economics of reunification:
- The longer reunification is postponed, the wider the gap between North and South, the bigger the task, and the longer it will take;
- North Korea’s present poverty is the entirely predictable consequence of three generations of extraordinary misrule by a worst-in-class dictatorship—not defects of the Koreans trapped under their control;
- The economic reconstruction of Northern Korea will be an immense project—but if the returns on investment in this project are high, the project can basically pay for itself in the long run; and
- Thanks to generation after generation of market-led modern economic development, both South Korea and the world as a whole are richer and more productive than ever before—better poised to mobilize and deploy the immense amounts of capital and knowhow a successful Korean reunification will surely require.
Let’s run through these points now, shall we?
II
Figure 1
First: Having studied the North Korean economy for many, many years, I can tell you that the so-called experts have only vague ideas about the true demographic, social, and economic conditions of life in North Korea today.
Figure 2
The reason, quite simply, is that the DPRK has imposed a statistical blackout over the country for six decades—for so long, in fact, that it is no longer clear whether the masters of Pyongyang themselves actually understand in any accurate detail the workings of their own economy or the plight of their own subjects.
What we do know, however, is that whatever numbers the Kim family regime happens to release to the outside world will be prima facie unreliable—doctored politically under dictates of strategic deception to mislead an international community it regards as irredeemably hostile.
Even the simplest of official demographic numbers from North Korea fail the laugh-out-loud test.
Just after the famine, for example, Pyongyang was claiming its incidence of low birth weight babies was lower than America’s! What do you think: Maybe they should have been sending America food aid?
North Korea’s census counts, for their part, are riddled with so many inconsistencies that they appear to have been subject to wholesale falsification—something neither Mao nor even Stalin dared to attempt with their own population censuses.
The upshot is that we outsiders cannot describe the basic conditions of the North Korean people—health, education, employment, urbanization, productivity and all the rest—with any degree of precision. We are captives instead of what economists call “stylized facts”.
Nevertheless, it is apparent that North Korea is heartbreakingly poor, and possibly getting even poorer. And it is equally apparent that the socioeconomic gap between the two Koreas is vast, and in the process of widening even further.
Figure 3
Maybe the best available statistical indication of the changing fortunes of the two Koreas comes from “mirror statistics”—reports by their trading partners of commercial sales to and purchases from the DPRK and the ROK over time. No other data can offer a more exacting look at the performance of these two economies. And the picture that “mirror statistics” reflect is devastating.
In the early 1960s, despite its smaller population, the North was actually exporting more merchandise than the South. North Korea was more industrialized than South Korea at the end of World War II—a legacy of colonial policy under Japanese Imperialism. But as South Korea boomed, it eclipsed North Korea.
Before the end of the Cold War, the South was reportedly exporting 30 times as much as the North—and things only got worse for Pyongyang from there. As South Korean exports soared, North Korea’s share of global exports, a measure of its capabilities and competitiveness, spun down toward a crash landing.
As we can see in Figure 3, the export gap between North and South Korea has been growing greater and greater over time. The longer the two Koreas are separated, the greater that gap will grow. And the same holds true for all the rest of the social and economic comparisons we might want to make between North and South.
The longer unification is postponed, the bigger the gap between the two is likely to be—and thus the greater the task of truly making the two Koreas one again.
III
Now let’s look at the second point.
Figure 4
There is no doubt that North Korea ranks among the biggest economic losers in the postwar era. We see this in Figure 4, in its faltering long-term share of global merchandise exports. And also by the company it keeps in this “long-term economic losers” club—places like Argentina, which fought its way from the First World back into the Third World; perennially in extremis Haiti; hapless, self-plundered Zimbabwe.
Figure 5
In fact, North Korea has been running a historical race of sorts against Zimbabwe for title of world’s worst economic underperformer, as measured by share of world exports. Ten years ago, the race still looked to be neck and neck—both had lost over 80 percent of their global share during the previous half century. But under the latest phase of the North Korean nuclear drama, North Korean commercial trade has basically fallen off the face of the earth, and the nation now subsists on unreported barter, economic piracy, aid cadging, and illicit Hobbesean entrepreneurship.
Figure 6
How did North Korea—which at one time reportedly generated more electricity per capita than any other territory in mainland Asia—manage to become that awful dark spot on the map in those famous nighttime satellite images? How did it become the Fourth World country with long-range ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons?
Ladies and Gentleman:
This was not the fault of Kim Jong Un’s subjects!
We should never forget that the population of the North are Korean people—the very same minjok who executed the so-called Miracle on the Han.
They share the Korean-ness of their compatriots in the South—the signature traits of grit; hard work and drive; entrepreneurship and ingenuity.
To be sure: these traits and talents are perverted to ugly and purposes by the rulers of Pyongyang. They are turned to cybercrime and drug running; brinkmanship and shakedown diplomacy; surreptitious nuclear development on the shoestring budget of an impoverished state.
But the very success, after a fashion, of these reprehensible initiatives should only underscore the obvious: those traits and talents remain in the North, just the same. And if only given the chance, the people of the North could flourish and prosper, too.
The Kim family regime (as Col. Ret. David Maxwell terms it) is the architect of the most extraordinary economic failure of modern times.
Not only has this dictatorship spectacularly squandered its initial lead in the economic race between the two Koreas—an edge bestowed upon it by the happenstance of colonial development policy in the Japanese Imperial era. It managed to “achieve” the near impossible—to mastermind the only national famine ever experienced in recorded history for a literate, urban population in peacetime.
As we see in Figure 6, North Korea has long held the “worst in class business climate” award, so to speak, in the rankings of the Index of Economic Freedom. Of course this is just one assessment—but it is hard to imagine what other current standing government would be able to wrest this dubious distinction from Pyongyang in any similar evaluation.
Figure 7
Should we really be surprised that the government with the world’s worst practices and policies also had the world’s worst economic record?
Business climate matters. And it matters ever more over the long run.
I have showed this in some of my studies—I’m not going to go into this work today, but Figure 7 may give a taste of that homework.
Figure 8
That homework also gives a sense of how North Koreans might fare under a better class of dictator.
Even under Mugabe-style misrule, my research suggests, North Korean incomes would have soared! With China-scale corruption and repression, North Korean productivity might nearly triple. And under market-oriented constitutional rule, North Korean income would only be that much higher.
Of course human resources matters in economic potential too. The Kim family regime has taken a cruel toll on the health, nutrition, education, and “knowledge capital” of the North Korean people. It will take time to heal these wounds. And as I have emphasized already, the gap between North and South on this human resource ledger is only set to grow as the division of the peninsula continues.
These findings might occasion some humility, and compassion, on the part of South Korean compatriots.
After all: But for the grace of God—
–but for a different demarcation of the 1953 ceasefire line; or a different particular refugee count from the North during the Korean War; or a different outcome to that same war, as all too easily could have happened—
–but for the grace of God go the wealth and wellbeing of so many in the South today, who might themselves instead have grown up under Pyongyang’s immiserating tyranny.
Had the dice of history rolled just a little differently, many friends in the comfortable, affluent South today might themselves have turned out to be inconvenient cousins under the rule of the North, instead.
IV
My third point is pretty straightforward.
Favorable rates of return make it easier to finance any investment, no matter how large. The trick is generating high rates of return—and keeping them high.
Obviously this is easier said than done. But it is the heart of the matter.
When considering the estimates—guesses really–about how many hundreds of billions of dollars, or perhaps trillions of dollars, in outlays and expenditures an economic reconstruction of the North could require in a free and peaceful Korean reunification, some readers will find such orders of magnitude terrifying in the abstract.
But to a professional economist—or for that matter, a professional investor—the picture looks rather different. To them, the economic reconstruction of the North can be thought of as akin to an investment project.
Economic reconstruction of the North, after all, is intended to raise production and generate income: to bring the North up closer to the economic level of the South. That being the case, the potentially enormous allocations for building up the economy of the North aren’t just helicopter money. They are investments in a vast, complex, heterogeneous long term project, a project with both public and private components. Consequently, rates of return will make the difference between whether or not reunification is “affordable”. With high enough rates of return, even a mega-project can basically pay for itself.
The daunting scale and scope of Project Reunification of course will not be lost on listeners. But a few cautionaries against undue pessimism are also in order here.
Figure 9
First: although North Koreans at Year Zero of Korean reunification may be poorly fed, relatively unhealthy, and deficient in training, history has witnessed populations with analogous handicaps flourish economically in the past.
The famine in Holland at the end of World War II did not prevent the Dutch from building a world-class postwar economy.
And at the start of their economic boom in the 1960s, South Koreans themselves were slight and small compared to today’s population. Their life expectancy then was only around 56 years at birth—markedly lower than sub-Saharan Africa’s today, nearly three decades below the level the ROK has gone on to achieve.
Further, South Korea faced a forbidding Cold War environment, full of risks, that demanded a high and continuing military burden.
Despite all that, South Korea went on to grow its per capita income seven-fold in the last quarter century of the Cold War (see Figure 9).
It turns out that a propitious economic climate can be a wonderful teacher. It can create great incentives and provisions for better health, too.
Figure 10
Furthermore, even successful reunifications still leave significant regional economic differences in their wake. This is true with Germany’s, with Italy’s and with America’s (US reunification commenced after the end of the Civil War).
A successful reunification should not be expected to bring absolute income equality to all regions within a country. Rather, it should beexpected to raise incomes in the poorer region—and to do so much faster than in richer regions—in a process where all gain and regional gaps are mitigated.
V
Finally: we need to recognize how the world economy, and the South Korean economy, have changed in recent decades—and how those changes bear on financing a prospective Korean reunification.
When they discuss the outlook for reunification, South Koreans often talk as if theirs is a poor country. That was true—once upon a time. Not today.
The fantastic success of modern South Korea has created a rich society on the banks of the Han.
Figure 11
National wealth estimation, unlike GNP estimation, is an international research effort still in its infancy. That said, pioneering work under UBS Bank estimates South Korea’s private wealth-holdings last year at nearly ten trillion dollars. That would put the South in the world’s top ten countries for total private wealth—and would mean that wealth per adult is now higher in South Korea than Japan.
Figure 12
If reunification suddenly occurred today, the newly reunified Korean peninsula would count as a fairly affluent country—even if no one in the North today came into it with a penny.
UBS estimates demonstrate this. Even with all those North Koreans, the starting point for overall wealth per adult for this newly reunified entity would be about $150,000—about the same level as in many Southern European countries today, far ahead of recent European successes like Poland and Estonia.
Figure 13
And surprising as this may sound, a sudden “big bang” unification of the Korean peninsula would leave the Peninsula a richer place today, in terms of wealth per adult, than was Germany a decade after its reunification. These estimates are in inflation-adjusted dollars.
Think about that for a minute. Think about all the possibilities for a Korean reunification this implies. South Koreans have rather more economic and financial options in the face of a reunification than they are accustomed to imagining.
Figure 14
And the ROK could mobilize considerable further public resources for Project Unification if that project so warranted. The ROK has one of the lowest ratios of public debt to GDP of any country in the OECD—a tribute to the nation’s admirable budget discipline in public finance.
Borrowing for an emergency, or for infrastructural development, are widely accepted as prudent uses of taxpayer monies. Reunification could qualify for big public borrowing on both counts. Without getting too detailed, basic ratios suggest the ROK might well be able to manage an extra one trillion dollar-equivalents, say, in public debt to help finance Project Reunification.
Figure 15
And don’t forget all the private capital sloshing around the world, looking for attractive situations to invest in!
At the moment, private markets around the world fund over $35 trillion in foreign direct investment.
Figure 16
Private portfolio investment—liquid and easily negotiable cross-border commitments in debt, credits, and securities—amount to another $70 trillion today.
There is plenty of private money out there, Ladies and Gentlemen: for attractive investments.
Making the economic reconstruction of the North an attractive proposition for all involved, consequently, looks to be absolutely central to success for the venture.
Figure 17
Some of the steps that will be required to make Project Reunification more attractive are fairly straightforward.
Fortunately, the most important of them is a win-win for South Korea.
South Korea must enrich itself and reform itself still further to prepare for the day when reunification at last looks to be within grasp. There is still considerable room for improvement in both regards.
Remember that chart on “business climate”? The gap between the score for the world’s top performer—Singapore—and for South Korea is about as wide today as the gap between China and Zimbabwe.
Corruption; weaknesses in rule of law; irrational labor regulations; top-heavy corporate chaebol structure that disadvantages the small businesses who serve as the engine of job creation and growth everywhere; overpromised welfare state commitments that will come due on an aging shrinking society—
All these and more need to be addressed. For the sake of today’s South Koreans, yes: but not them alone.
If the South Korean “business climate” will be called on some day to provide the North with a legal commercial and social framework, Koreans across the peninsula will need a system that can generate the highest possible rates of return for “Project Reunification”.
VI
We cannot know how or when the opportunity for a Korean unification will present itself, whether the free and peaceful scenario will come to pass or whether decidedly less pleasant variants we can imagine may be thrust on us instead.
But I hope I have helped explain why Korean Reunification is “unthinkable” only if we fail to think about it.
Yet there are many in the South—most especially, young South Koreans—who do not want to think about it at all. They find the specter of Korean reunification disturbing, even frightening. But then again, South Korea’s youth seems to harbor a great many other fears about the future, too.
Why is it that the rising generation in South Korea—the most secure, prosperous, and perhaps even pampered cohort in Korea’s long and storied history—paradoxically is seemingly also the most lonely, anxious and fearful of the future?
Could this be because so little has been asked of it?
Could it be because these young men and women have been allowed to, or even encouraged to, “dream small”?
How about dreaming big instead?
Indeed: how about one for the ages?
How about this one: a deliverance of positively Biblical proportions, a deliverance of tens of millions of brother and sister Koreans, from a latter-day Pharonic tyranny?
How about taking part in—and being remembered for—a heroic saga that will be marveled at for generations to come?
Thank you.
Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy
Latest Work
December 15, 2023
Journal Publication
Lessons for an Unserious Superpower: Scoop Jackson on National Security and Human Rights in U.S. Foreign Policy, Part II
December 14, 2023
Speech
Acceptance Remarks, Global Peace Award: Global Peace Convention 2023
December 13, 2023
Multimedia
Discussing Declining Birth Rates on the “3 Takeaways” Podcast
Tags:
economics | Korean peninsula | North Korea | Political economy
2. As North Korea Escalates Rhetoric, Washington and Seoul Debate Whether the South Should Go Nuclear
Comments from two of the three Korean expert "Bruces" (Bechtol and Klingner), Kim Kisam, and me. If I had been thinking when I responded to Don I would have added that South Korea has (until this point) chosen to be a peaceful nuclear power and as Don notes they have brilliant scientists and technicians who I am sure would be able to quickly transition to producing nuclear weapons if the ROK government made the decision to do so.
https://www.nysun.com/article/as-north-korea-escalates-rhetoric-washington-and-seoul-debate-whether-the-south-should-go-nuclear
As North Korea Escalates Rhetoric, Washington and Seoul Debate Whether the South Should Go Nuclear
‘Act first, report later,’ South Korea’s president urges his troops. ‘If provoked, please immediately retaliate, and report afterward.’
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Pyongyang on April 25, 2022. Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, file
DONALD KIRK
Saturday, December 30, 202309:12:45 am
North Korea is raising the stakes and the risks in the nuclear confrontation with Seoul amid debate among Americans and South Koreans over whether the South should go nuclear.
A new light water-nuclear reactor at the North’s main nuclear complex, together with shrill rhetoric from the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, marks the beginning of what looks like a dangerous new era of threats and counter-threats on the Korean peninsula.
Adding to tensions, Russia is providing much needed expertise for the North’s latest model intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong 18, that should be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to targets in North America.
“The game has changed significantly,” according to a former marine intelligence analyst and author of five books on North Korea’s armed forces, Bruce Bechtol. “We are likely to see large-scale technical support and military assistance from the Russians.”
As underlying factors, Mr. Bechtol cites “Russia’s desperation to get large amounts of military equipment and ammunition from the North Koreans, and Kim Jong-un’s insatiable desire to continue to modernize and upgrade his ballistic missile force.”
Add the North’s mounting nuclear power to the prowess of its missiles, including ICBMs and short-to-mid-range models for hitting targets anywhere in South Korea and most of Japan, and you have a combustible mix that could explode as tensions worsen.
For that reason many South Koreans believe the South has no choice but to develop its own nukes — something Washington has always opposed while promising the security of the American “nuclear umbrella.”
“South Korea has no other option than developing its own nuclear capability in the near future,” a one-time official with the South’s National Intelligence Service, now a lawyer in Pennsylvania, Kim Kisam, told the Sun. “No other choice at all,” he added. “Period.”
South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk-yeol, in meetings with President Biden at Washington and then with Mr. Biden and Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, at Camp David, has agreed on frequent consultations while accepting his promise of a firm response.
“The US government does not want South Korea to develop nuclear weapons,” Mr. Bechtol told The Sun. “Recent agreements did not call for rebasing US nuclear weapons in South Korea. The US has already reaffirmed its strong commitment to the nuclear umbrella and extended deterrence.”
Mr. Yoon, however, appears uneasy about such assurances, as was evident when he visited South Korean troops near the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas.
“North Korea is the only country in the world that specifies invasion and preemptive nuclear use in its constitution,” South Korea’s Yonhap News quoted him as saying. “They can initiate provocations at any time.”
Mr. Yoon’s advice to the troops: “Act first, report later. If provoked, please immediately retaliate, and report afterward. I ask you to decisively crush the enemy’s will to provoke on the spot.”
Those words are not mere rhetoric. Just this past week, Mr. Yoon ordered exercises of his military, police and civil defense forces simulating responses to North Korean drone attacks. In recent months, he’s approved numerous exercises with American troops — and with Japanese naval and air forces in displays just short of alliance with Korea’s one-tine colonial ruler.
For now, veteran American analysts doubt if a South Korean nuclear program is in the cards despite the undoubted brilliance of physicists and engineers at the Korea Atomic Energy Institute and the success of 26 reactors that supply one-third of the South’s electricity.
A long-time Korea analyst at the Heritage Foundation, Bruce Klingner, noting that Mr. Yoon a year ago spoke of “potentially going down the nuclear path,” believes Mr. Biden has managed to allay concerns.
“While outside experts may continue to advocate for an indigenous program,” he told the Sun, “the U.S. and South Korea have repeatedly stated there will be no South Korean nuclear program nor redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons into South Korea.”
A retired army colonel now with the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy, David Maxwell, sees no reason for the South to develop its own nuclear weapons.
For one thing, he told the Sun, Mr. Kim “is unlikely to be deterred by anything South Korea does” — and “no one in South Korea can describe with any intellectual rigor what will deter him.”
Colonel Maxwell asked, too, whether “possession of nuclear weapons with no concept for employment. with no deterrent capability” is “worth risking the alliance with the presence of U.S. troops and extended deterrence?”
The news from Pyongyang, though, is disturbing. As a State Department spokesperson told Yonhap, the North has been “characterizing some of its missile launches and other military activities as trial runs for the use of tactical nuclear weapons.”
DONALD KIRK
Mr. Kirk, based in Seoul and Washington, has been covering Asia for decades for newspapers and magazines and is the author of books on Korea, the Vietnam War and the Philippines.
3. Defense chief says N. Korea's light-water reactor likely to be in full operation next summer
(LEAD) Defense chief says N. Korea's light-water reactor likely to be in full operation next summer | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · December 29, 2023
(ATTN: ADDS more remarks in para 12; RECASTS paras 20-21)
By Chae Yun-hwan
SEOUL, Dec. 29 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's experimental light-water nuclear reactor is expected to be in full-fledged operation next summer, South Korea's defense chief has said, although it is unlikely to be used to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons.
Defense Minister Shin Won-sik made the remark to reporters Thursday after International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi renewed concerns last week over signs of activity at the reactor in the North's main Yongbyon nuclear complex.
Grossi said his agency had detected signs of the North commissioning the reactor, such as the strong outflow of water from its cooling system since mid-October, noting the experimental reactor can produce plutonium, a key nuclear weapon fuel, like any other nuclear reactor.
Shin said Seoul has detected signs of cooling water being discharged from the reactor since last summer, estimating that it would likely take the North about a year since then to put the reactor in full operation.
"(The reactor) is currently on a test run for improvements to its equipment and facilities," he said. "It is expected to be in normal operation by next summer."
The North started building the experimental reactor more than a decade ago, which is known to have a bigger capacity than the 5-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon that the regime has used to produce plutonium.
The U.N. Security Council has passed several resolutions sanctioning North Korea for developing nuclear weapons and related activities.
This file photo, taken Nov. 23, 2023, shows Defense Minister Shin Won-sik at the National Assembly in western Seoul. (Yonhap)
Shin, however, expressed doubt over the reactor possibly being used to produce plutonium, noting that light-water reactors are generally used for electricity generation.
"The North could be test-running it to power the Yongbyon area," he said. "If it is for military purposes, the North has tried to make a tactical nuclear (powered) submarine and light-water reactors can be used for tests to develop a small reactor."
He also said it could be used to produce tritium, an ingredient for hydrogen bombs.
A nuclear-powered submarine is one of the five key defense projects the North set forth to develop at a key party meeting in 2021.
The minister said no other country in the world has used a light-water reactor to produce plutonium and make nuclear weapons, but still vowed to keep close tabs on the North possibly utilizing the reactor to do so.
Shin also said the military has decided to respond to increasing Chinese military aircraft entry into its air defense identification zone (ADIZ) without notice by sending its aircraft into China's ADIZ as a corresponding measure.
He noted that Chinese aircraft entered South Korea's ADIZ 133 times this year, compared to an average of some 60 times a year in recent years.
"We had previously only made defensive measures, such as warning the aircraft that enter (the ADIZ)," he said. "Since a few months earlier, our aircraft now enter the Chinese ADIZ at the same distance (as they do)."
An ADIZ is not territorial airspace but is delineated to call on foreign planes to identify themselves so as to prevent accidental clashes.
Shin said that South Korean aircraft notify the Chinese side before their entry in accordance with international norms, unlike the entries made by the Chinese.
"We have continued to raise the issue with the Chinese side," he said. "It is an international norm to notify the aircraft entry and no other country violates this, except China and Russia."
This unrelated file photo, provided by the Air Force on Aug. 24, 2022, shows a South Korean KF-16 fighter jet taking off from an air base in Seosan, 98 kilometers southwest of Seoul. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
Regarding ongoing arms trade between Pyongyang and Moscow, Shin said military authorities have detected signs of the North having shipped about 5,000 containers worth of military equipment or munitions to Russia.
The minister said the volume would amount to over 2 million rounds in 152mm artillery shells or over 400,000 rounds in 122mm rockets.
In November, South Korea's military estimated about 2,000 containers had been shipped from North Korea to Russia amid growing signs of military cooperation after the North's leader Kim Jong-un met Russian President Vladimir Putin for a summit in September.
Shin also said the North is expected to carry out "strategic provocations" in the new year to possibly influence the U.S. presidential election in November, adding that there are signs of activity for launches of solid-fuel intercontinental and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
The North last fired its Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile on Dec. 18.
On the South Korean military's efforts to develop new high-precision and high-power missiles, Shin said it has successfully conducted tests for the missiles, adding that they will be deployed as planned.
As part of the program, the military is developing a new missile called the Hyunmoo-5, which is known to be able to carry a warhead weighing 8-9 tons.
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · December 29, 2023
4. Two abducted Koreans freed in Nigeria
The dangers of the global pivotal state with its citizens having a global presence.
Saturday
December 30, 2023
dictionary + A - A
Published: 30 Dec. 2023, 11:07
Two abducted Koreans freed in Nigeria
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2023-12-30/national/diplomacy/Two-abducted-Koreans-freed-in-Nigeria/1947869
Two Korean workers of Daewoo E&C, center and right, were released on Friday, 17 days after they were kidnapped by an armed group in Nigeria. The photo was provided by Daewoo E&C. [YONHAP]
Two Koreans kidnapped in Nigeria were released on Friday, said the Foreign Ministry in Seoul.
They were construction workers of Daewoo E&C, according to local reports, who were moving between construction sites in southern Nigeria on Dec. 12 when they were ambushed and kidnapped by an armed group.
In the process, four guards and two drivers, all locals, were killed, said the Foreign Ministry.
The two Koreans released on Friday were in good health, and have been relocated to a safer region, according to the ministry. Daewoo was reportedly working on flying the workers home as soon as possible as of Saturday.
Two Koreans released 17 days after their abduction in southern Nigeria. The photo was provided by Daewoo E&C. [JOONGANG ILBO]
The ministry said it worked closely with the authorities in Nigeria immediately after the kidnap for their release.
There were reportedly some 800 cases of kidnapping in Nigeria this year.
The last time a South Korean national was kidnapped in Nigeria was in 2012.
There are around 380 Koreans residing in Nigeria as of 2022.
BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]
5. Kim accuses U.S. of 'unprecedented' acts against North
So if Kim thinks we are conducting these alleged unprecedented acts he also cannot say we are neglecting him.
Thursday
December 28, 2023
dictionary + A - A
Published: 28 Dec. 2023, 19:11
Kim accuses U.S. of 'unprecedented' acts against North
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2023-12-28/national/northKorea/Kim-accuses-US-of-unprecedented-acts-against-North-/1946781
In this footage aired by Pyongyang's state-controlled Korean Central Television on Thursday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks during the second-day session of the ruling Workers' Party meeting the previous day. [YONHAP]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for increased war preparations on the second day of a key Workers’ Party meeting as he accused the United States of engaging in “unprecedented” acts of confrontation against his regime, Pyongyang’s state media reported Thursday.
According to an English-language report released by the state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim also vowed to “expand and develop the relations of strategic cooperation with the anti-imperialist independent countries and dynamically wage the anti-imperialist joint action and struggle on an international scale.”
The KCNA said Kim “set forth the militant tasks for the People's Army and the munitions industry, nuclear weapons and civil defense sectors to further accelerate the war preparations.”
According to the state news agency, Kim described tensions on the Korean Peninsula as having reached an extremely dangerous level, which he blamed on “unprecedented” U.S.-led actions directed against the North.
Kim is expected to use the year-end meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party to lay out the regime’s agenda for the coming year in lieu of his annual New Year’s address.
South Korean intelligence officials on Thursday told reporters that Seoul is preparing for the possibility that Pyongyang might carry out “provocative” acts to influence political developments in South Korea and the United States, both of which are due to hold major elections in 2024.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) noted that the North conducted its sixth nuclear weapons test as well as a drone incursion into the South three months before the general election in 2016 and also fired four short-range ballistic missiles just a month before the 2020 election.
The NIS also believes the regime has been preparing to undertake hostile actions against the South by appointing Kim Yong-chol as an advisor to the Worker’s Party United Front Department in June, as well as Ri Yong-gil and Pak Jong-chon as the chief of the party’s Central Military Commission and the head of the Military Leadership Department, respectively.
The three are described by South Korean intelligence as the North’s “leading provocateurs,” with Kim believed to be the mastermind behind the sinking of the South Korean corvette ROKS Cheonan in 2010 and the shelling of South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island in 2011.
Ri and Pak are believed to have had a hand in the North’s planting of land mines that exploded on the South Korean side of the border in 2015, which led to two South Korean soldiers losing their legs.
Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of Kim Jong-un, also warned in a Dec. 21 statement that South Korea and the United States “would be wise to consider” how the North will respond to the allies’ military maneuvers.
Kim’s statement came four days after the arrival of the U.S. nuclear-powered submarine USS Missouri in Busan on Dec. 17, which the North’s state media described as an “extremely provocative action” aimed at turning the Korean Peninsula into “an assembly base for all the U.S. nuclear strategic assets.”
The United States has increased the rotation of its strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula to reaffirm its extended deterrence commitment to South Korea.
BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
6. South Korea’s military has a new enemy: Population math
Excerpts:
“With our current birth rate, the future is predetermined. Downsizing of the force will be inevitable,” said Choi Byung-ook, a national security professor at Sangmyung University.
To maintain current troops levels, the South Korean military needs to enlist or conscript 200,000 soldiers a year, he said.
But in 2022, fewer than 250,000 babies were born. Assuming about a 50-50 male-female split, that means in 20 years, when those children are of the age to join the military, only about 125,000 men will be available for the 200,000 spots needed.
Women are not conscripted in South Korea, and volunteer females accounted for only 3.6% of the current Korean military, according to Defense Ministry figures.
And the annual number of newborns is only forecasted to drop further, to 220,000 in 2025 and 160,000 in 2072, according to Statistics Korea.
South Korea’s military has a new enemy: Population math | CNN
CNN · by Gawon Bae · December 30, 2023
South Korean marines take part in the "Ssangyong 2023 Exercise" joint landing operation by US and South Korean Marines in the south-eastern port of Pohang on March 29, 2023.
Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images
Seoul, South Korea CNN —
South Korea, with the world’s lowest birth rate, may soon find itself without enough troops to keep its military fully staffed as it deals with new threats in an increasingly tense Western Pacific region, analysts say.
Always wary of North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, South Korea keeps an active-duty force of about half a million troops. But with a birth rate of only 0.78 children per woman over a lifetime, the math might be South Korea’s biggest enemy at the moment, and experts say it has no choice but to downsize its forces.
FILE PHOTO: A woman holding up her baby is silhouetted against the backdrop of N Seoul Tower, commonly known as Namsan Tower, in Seoul, South Korea, October 2, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo
Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters/File
South Korea to see population plummet to 1970s levels, government says
“With our current birth rate, the future is predetermined. Downsizing of the force will be inevitable,” said Choi Byung-ook, a national security professor at Sangmyung University.
To maintain current troops levels, the South Korean military needs to enlist or conscript 200,000 soldiers a year, he said.
But in 2022, fewer than 250,000 babies were born. Assuming about a 50-50 male-female split, that means in 20 years, when those children are of the age to join the military, only about 125,000 men will be available for the 200,000 spots needed.
Women are not conscripted in South Korea, and volunteer females accounted for only 3.6% of the current Korean military, according to Defense Ministry figures.
And the annual number of newborns is only forecasted to drop further, to 220,000 in 2025 and 160,000 in 2072, according to Statistics Korea.
Preparing for two decades
While South Korea’s declining birth rate has been making headlines in recent years, it’s a trend the military had seen coming and prepared for.
In the early 2000s, Seoul voluntarily decided to reduce the number of active soldiers from 674,000 in 2006 to 500,000 by 2020, based on “the premise that the threat from North Korea would gradually diminish,” and to promote a smaller but more elite military force, according to a
2022 defense white paper.
South Korea’s military has reached that goal, decreasing troop size by 27.6% in two decades, from 2002 to 2022.
But the premise that the threat from North Korea would diminish has proven false.
A North Korean flag flutters at the propaganda village of Gijungdong in North Korea, in this picture taken near the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, South Korea, February 7, 2023. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
North Korea to deploy ‘new’ weapons on border with South Korea
Kim Jong Un, the third consecutive member of his family dynasty to rule, came to power in Pyongyang in 2011. Despite brief lulls while he negotiated with South Korea and the United States to reduce tensions, he has pushed a massive buildup in the North Korean military, especially in its ballistic missile programs.
Following North Korea’s test of its fifth intercontinental ballistic missile this year, Kim warned that his country would not “hesitate” to conduct a nuclear attack when the enemy provokes with its nuclear weapons, referring to the deployment of US nuclear-capable weapons platforms in
and around the Korean Peninsula, state-media KCNA reported earlier this month.
But if Kim were to attack across the 38th parallel, which divided North and South Korea after the 1953 armistice halting the Korean War, it’s the South Korean military that would bear the biggest defense burden.
Turning to tech
Experts say South Korea must look at science to counter that North Korean threat and turn a manpower crisis into a technology transformation.
“Korean defense authorities have had this longstanding policy that we would go from a manpower-centric military to a technology-oriented military,” said Chun In-bum, a former lieutenant general in the South Korean Army.
In 2005, South Korea’s Defense Ministry released a plan to develop its military into a science-technology-centric force by 2020, but progress has been scant.
“Although the military was trying to make the transition, there was no urge, because (with) South Korea’s conscripts … there were plenty of human resources,” Choi said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends what state media report was a launching ceremony for a new tactical nuclear attack submarine in North Korea, in this picture released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on September 8, 2023.
KCNA/Reyters
North Korea amends constitution to bolster nuclear power status, calls US and allies ‘worst threat’
But Russia’s war in Ukraine has shown the world that on the modern battlefield, sheer troop numbers aren’t enough. Of the 360,000 soldiers that made up Russia’s pre-invasion ground force, including contract and conscript personnel, Moscow has lost 315,000 on the battlefield, according to a recent US Defense Department assessment.
Ukraine’s use of drones and high-tech weapons supplied by Western partners have taken a deadly toll on Moscow’s greater force numbers.
South Korea has been putting an emphasis on integrating new technologies into its fighting units.
The Defense Ministry last year said it would make a phased transition to an AI-based manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) combat system, and introduced the Army TIGER brigade — a so-called “future unit” — which utilizes both manpower and unmanned equipment to carry out missions.
South Korea has also been developing unmanned military equipment, including the medium-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (MUAV) and unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV).
Experts say troops are indispensable
But Chun, the former South Korean general, says technology is not a panacea.
For instance, it takes manpower to take and hold territory. And it takes well-trained and educated people to run and oversee artificial intelligence (AI) systems on the battlefield.
“It’s not going to be enough, and no matter how we try,” Chun said of technology. “It’s going to help, but it will not solve the problem that we lack people.”
Both he and Choi have ideas on how to get more out of a smaller military force.
For one, leverage of the conscription system and the reserve component that it yields, Chun said.
“We need to revamp our mobilization system, where we’ll be able to tap into the large number of reserve population that we have,” Chun said.
After South Korean men finish their 18 to 21 months of mandatory military service, they become reservists for eight years. During this time, they get called into assigned units once a year to remind them of their positions and duties. And after that, they are subject to participate in civil defense training every year until the age of 40.
South Korean Marines look inland after a beach landing rehearsal for Exercise Ssang Yong on March 28 in Pohang, South Korea.
Brad Lendon/CNN
The system now gives South Korea 3.1 million reserve troops.
Reservists must attend a two-night, three-day training session every year.
One ongoing pilot system is to have a select number of those reservists train for 180 days a year, to reinforce their skills.
Another option is increasing the number of professional cadres – commissioned, warrant and non-commissioned officers – all of whom are volunteers, serving longer terms, during which they would become well-versed in operating advanced weapons “to prevent a gap in combat capability despite the reduction of standing forces,” according to the 2022 white paper.
The military has been increasing the ratio of cadres among its total force from 31.6% in 2017 to 40.2% in 2022, according to the Defense Ministry. A further rise to 40.5% by 2027 is planned, it said.
A recruitment problem
One problem with this plan: The population isn’t buying in.
The number of applicants for commissioned officer positions has fallen over the years, from about 30,000 in 2018 to 19,000 in 2022, according to Defense Ministry data.
“The military is having a huge difficulty in securing outstanding entry-level professional cadres who would, in 10, 20 years, form an outstanding officer corps,” Choi said, pointing out that insufficient financial and social benefits for cadres are the main reason behind falling application rates.
And what about turning to women, even in a military with conscription?
Israel has conscription and 40% of its conscripted force is female, according to the Jewish Women’s Archive. In the all-volunteer US and Canadian armed forces, more than 16% of the troops are women.
A photo taken on September 4, 2023 shows a mourner attaching a message on a memorial wall as she visits a memorial altar for an elementary school teacher who died in an apparent suicide in July, at Seoul Seoi Elementary School in Seoul. For weeks, a young South Korean teacher was bombarded with texts and calls from parents irate at how their child had been treated. Then she was found dead in her classroom. The suicide of the 23-year-old woman, in just her second year of teaching, has triggered an outpouring of grief and rage and set off widespread protests, including a rare strike, as teachers push back against what they call untenable working conditions. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP) / TO GO WITH SKorea-teachers-death, FOCUS by Kang Jin-kyu (Photo by JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images)
Jung Yeon-je/AFP/Getty Images
Why teachers in South Korea are scared of their pupils – and their parents
Choi said conscripting women could solve South Korea’s problem, but he said there are too many impediments to it in Korea’s traditionally patriarchal society. And even if those are overcome, it could simply be too expensive.
“There are various complex factors like social costs and women giving birth. So, I think the cost [in need] would be much higher than the actual profit,” he said.
But Chun thinks attracting women volunteers is doable if the pay is attractive enough.
“If a solder is paid $2,000 [per month], that’s a legitimate job. So, a woman would say, well I want to be able to have that job for $2,000. Because for the same job, she’d probably be paid $1,500 in the outside world,” he said.
For its part, the Defense Ministry says increasing the number of women who serve is a possibility among other ideas.
But there are no timelines for changes and time may be something South Korea doesn’t have much of.
Earlier this month, Statistics Korea reported that the record low birth rate is expected to drop even further in the next two years, to 0.65 births per woman in 2025.
CNN’s Brad Lendon contributed to this report.
CNN · by Gawon Bae · December 30, 2023
7. South Korea's so-called artificial sun to burn at 100M degrees Celsius for half a minute
South Korea's so-called artificial sun to burn at 100M degrees Celsius for half a minute - UPI.com
upi.com
Researchers at the Korea Institute of Fusion Energy hope the new tungsten divertor will allow them to run their "artificial sun" KSTAR at 100 million degrees for 300 seconds by 2026. The research could produce vital results for commercializing nuclear fusion energy. Photo courtesy Korea Institute of Fusion Energy
Dec. 29 (UPI) -- South Korea's superconducting fusion device and so-called artificial sun, KSTAR, has received upgrades that will allow it to run for longer periods of time.
The Korea Institute of Fusion Energy said Friday it had successfully installed a new tungsten divertor for its magnetic fusion device, KSTAR, which will allow it to run high-temperature plasma at more than 100 million degrees Celsius for 30 seconds.
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The new capabilities could lead to groundbreaking research results for commercializing nuclear fusion as an energy source, according to KFE. The institute also is leading a joint effort to accelerate the development of nuclear fusion energy with the ITER program.
ITER is a project to construct a much larger magnetic fusion reactor in southern France. KFE President Dr. Suk Jae Yoo said the implementation of a tungsten divertor to operate KSTAR at higher temperatures will produce vital data for the ITER program.
A divertor is a crucial component that manages the exhaust of waste gas and impurities from the reactor and also endures the highest surface heat loads. KSTAR previously had a carbon divertor that was less heat resistant than the tungsten divertor it now uses.
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The development of a tungsten divertor began in 2018. The first prototype was completed in 2021, and installation began in September 2022.
Tungsten has a high melting point and low sputtering characteristics, which means the heat resistance has improved over two-fold, according to KFE.
KFE said that, with the new divertor, it hopes to achieve high performance plasma operation for 300 seconds by the end of 2026.
upi.com
8. Japan protests reported South Korean drill at disputed islets
Japan protests reported South Korean drill at disputed islets
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-lodges-protest-with-skorea-over-reported-disputed-islets-military-drill-2023-12-29/
Reuters
December 29, 20237:32 AM ESTUpdated a day ago
TOKYO, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Japan lodged a stern protest with the South Korean embassy in Tokyo and South Korea's foreign ministry over a military drill reportedly practising the defence of disputed islands, the Japanese government said on Friday.
The two nations have long been at loggerheads over the sovereignty of the group of islets called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in Korea, which lie about halfway between the East Asian neighbours in the Sea of Japan, which South Korea calls the East Sea.
South Korea's defence ministry said in a statement that the country's military has been conducting a routine military drill for the defence of the islands every year.
The islands are controlled by Seoul but also claimed by Tokyo.
This month's drill by South Korea marks the fourth under the administration of President Yoon Suk Yeol, Yonhap news agency reported.
Seoul and Tokyo have sought to improve relations, amid shared concerns about China's growing might, dogged by historical disputes stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. Yoon has made it a priority to mend ties with Tokyo since taking office in 2022.
Last week, South Korea and Japan held high-level economic talks for the first time in eight years.
Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo; Additional reporting by Heekyong Yang in Seoul; Editing by Nick Macfie
9. Pro-North Korea videos are spreading on TikTok
north Korea's Propaganda and Agitation Department is is a learning organization. It recognizes the opportunity to influence.
Pro-North Korea videos are spreading on TikTok
Newsweek · by Benjamin Lynch · December 29, 2023
Videos that are supportive of the oppressive regime in North Korea appear to be gaining traction on TikTok and spreading on wider social media.
"That's an accurate map of Korea... Hopefully they will be united one day," one person on X, formerly Twitter, wrote after showing a map of North and South Korea. The latter was falsely listed as an 'American Occupation Zone.'
U.S. lawmakers have repeatedly raised concerns over TikTok's influence on young Americans and the wider population. Critics accuse TikTok of failing to regulate content putting out both misinformation and disinformation.
North Korea is not a free country. It lives under a volatile dictatorship led by Kim Jong-un and ranks 180th out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index created by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Visitors attend the opening of the 2023-Autumn Garment Exhibition at the Okryu Exhibition House in Pyongyang on November 9, 2023. TikTok logo on smartphone. Pro-North Korea accounts on TikTok have been gaining traction, furthering theories about ties between it and China. KIM WON JIN/AFP/Matt Cardy/Getty Images
The Department of State advises U.S. citizens not to travel to North Korea under any circumstances "due to the critical threat of wrongful detention." Most of the West views North Korea as a pariah due to its awful human rights record, but some social media videos appear to be trying to change the narrative.
The videos come amid accusations that China is influencing TikTok to propagate views it finds favorable. China is an ally of North Korea and the relationship between the two communist countries is strategically important to China in the region.
Accounts like 'movetonorthkorea' have a total of 4.4 million likes and over 146,500 followers purportedly showing life in North Korea, with many of the trappings of normal Western life such as eating ice cream, luxury penthouses and dining at a restaurant.
The account 'northkoreanlife' shows one video that says the country's capital of Pyongyang "has the best nightlife." The video shows a number of people ambling along what appears to be a main road lit at night. 'Northkoreanlife' has over 286,000 followers.
@pixelpaws11 What do you think their life? #adayinthelife #northkoreatiktok #northkorea ♬ original sound - PixelPaws
Pro-North Korea TikToks have been appearing on the app
Another video shows people walking down a street before a narrator says, "Approaching us is a man riding a motorcycle; clear sign of wealth in North Korea." Said motorcycle is riding down a road covered in potholes.
A report by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) at Rutgers University says topics important to the Chinese government are given added or less weight depending on them being favorable.
In its conclusion in the report released this month, the NCRI said: "Whether content is promoted or muted on TikTok appears to depend on whether it is aligned or opposed to the interests of the Chinese Government."
The institute recommended democracies "consider appropriate counter-measures to better protect information integrity."
The NCRI said it used the same methodology put forward by the social media app when it rebuffed accusations of skewed bias towards anti-Jewish accounts. This involved looking at numbers around key hashtags around contentious issues and seeing how they performed.
Newsweek reached out to TikTok for updated comment, but a TikTok spokesperson told Newsweek previously: "The report uses a flawed methodology to reach a predetermined, false conclusion...
"It fails to take into account the basic fact that hashtags are created by users, not by TikTok. Most importantly, anyone familiar with how the platform works can see for themselves the content they refer to is widely available and claims of suppression are baseless."
Much of the scrutiny on TikTok centers alleged close connections between its Chinese owner ByteDance and the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Governments are concerned that ByteDance would be forced to hand over data to the CCP if instructed to do so.
ByteDance denies storing U.S. data in China, but leaked audio released last year showed that U.S. user data was accessed from China.
Previously, FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Select Committee that TikTok could, in theory, be used to put forward favorable narratives.
In May this year, Montana became the first state to ban the app. It was due to take effect on January 1, 2024, but has been halted by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy who said it is likely a violation of the First Amendment.
TikTok remains banned on government devices.
Benjamin Lynch is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is U.S. politics and national affairs and he reports on issues including death penalty executions, U.S. foreign policy, the latest developments in Congress among others. Prior to joining Newsweek in 2023, Benjamin worked as a U.S., world and U.K. reporter for the Daily Mirror and reported extensively on stories including the plight of Afghan refugees and the cases of death row prisoners.
Benjamin had previously worked at the Daily Star and renowned free speech magazine Index on Censorship after graduating from Liverpool John Moores University. You can get in touch with Benjamin by emailing b.lynch@newsweek.com and follow him on X @ben_lynch99.
Languages: English
Benjamin Lynch is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is U.S. politics and national affairs and he ...
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Newsweek · by Benjamin Lynch · December 29, 2023
10. Remembering Gapyeong's $2 miracle
Another anecdote to remind of the breadth and depth of the ROK/US alliance.
Remembering Gapyeong's $2 miracle
The Korea Times · December 28, 2023
By Lee Sun-ho
The 21st Korea-America Friendship Night ceremony was convened on Dec. 5 at Walker Hall in Grand Walkerhill Seoul, and was sponsored by the Korea-America Association (KAA), chaired by Dr. Choi Joong-kyung. The highlight of the annual dinner event was the 21st Korea-America Friendship Awards. The awardees were chosen as the late Major General (MG) Joseph Pringle Cleland of the U.S. Army and his wife, Florence Emily Cadotte Cleland.
MG Cleland (1902-75) was assigned to Korean War duty as commander of the 40th Infantry Division over Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, from June 1952 and led his division in several battles there until April 1953. He also contributed to the enhancement of Korea’s high school education for a long period thereafter. During his tenure, Sergeant First Class (SFC) Kenneth Kaiser was killed in action at the age of 19. Florence Cleland (married in Manila in June 1931) fully supported her husband’s endeavors, even for 30 more years after their separation until her demise in 2004, making the school a fountain of learning in Korea.
Commander Cleland was the very person who initiated what we call a "$2 miracle” on the Korean War battlefield. Wartime school classrooms were constructed with $2 donations from each of the 15,000 division fighters. This raised about $30,000, an idea of the late commander.
With his nickname “Jumping Joe,” the school’s first non-tent structure was designed by Captain Harold Ace, an architecture-major engineering officer belonging to the 40th division. The school’s edifice structure was finally constructed by working with Gapyeong villagers on Oct. 18, 1952. The school has been expanded and enlarged remarkably into a top-class high school, by virtue of the continued fundraising and generous scholarship support of former frontline comrades-in-arms, including the Clelands.
The coed high school is now situated in the center of Gapyeong County. It keeps some facilities called the Cleland Dormitory, the Florence Hall and the Kaiser Gymnasium, further to the Historical Museum and the eagle-top Hope Tower in which the 40th division's insignia and two portraits of MG Cleland and SFC Kaiser are inscribed.
Thanks to their over-seven-decades-long continued devotion to the war-torn field school from its inception, Gapyeong (originally called Kaiser) High School today has become a miraculous educational model as a renowned cradle of teaching in Korea, which has produced 15,968 graduates up until Jan. 6, this year when the 68th graduation ceremony was held with 191 school leavers.
In adherence of the 71-year ties between Gapyeong High School and the 40th Division, now stationed in Los Alamitos, California, perhaps a world first of its kind, communications have continued to be exchanged between the school faculty and the division veterans. During the wartime period in particular, the school was visited by high-profile U.N. and U.S. military officials including Generals Matthew Bunker Ridgway and James Van Fleet.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the historic ROK-U.S. alliance, and the ceremonial day on Dec. 5 was the diamond birthday of the KAA. Such double anniversaries truly made the 21st award event even more significant and rewarding. Here's wishing a peaceful rest for the Clelands! And here's wishing for the prosperity of Gapyeong High School, built on the invaluable “$2 miracle” for decades to come. Finally, Korea and the United States, we go together and stronger! "Kachi kapshida!"
The writer (wkexim@naver.com) is a freelance columnist living in Seoul.
The Korea Times · December 28, 2023
11. Young N. Koreans flaunt government laws aimed at stamping out foreign culture
Live for the resistance.
Information is having an effect. Kim Jong Un cannot prevent it. In fact the harder he tries the more effective it is and the great the resistance grows.
Young N. Koreans flaunt government laws aimed at stamping out foreign culture
The popularity of foreign culture among young North Koreans is impacting the country's dating culture, including an increase in older women dating younger men
By Lee Chae Un - 2023.12.30 10:38pm
dailynk.com
Young N. Koreans flaunt government laws aimed at stamping out foreign culture | Daily NK English
FILE PHOTO: A woman in her twenties who was forcibly filmed by the authorities for wearing foreign styles of clothing. (Daily NK)
North Hamgyong Province’s municipal and county-level party committees are intensifying ideological crackdowns against young people as the end-of-the-year approaches, Daily NK has learned.
“Even if the authorities threaten them with new laws and harsher punishments, young people have an attitude of ‘they’re bound to give up after a while,’ so it doesn’t matter how much the authorities intensify crackdowns,” a source in the province told Daily NK on Dec. 21, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“Despite the implementation of new laws after COVID-19 and witnessing people getting shot for breaking these laws, young people are still saying they want to follow global trends and imitating what they see in South Korean dramas and movies,” she said.
In recent years, the North Korean government has adopted the “Law on the Elimination of Reactionary Thought and Culture” (December 2020), the “Youth Education Guarantee Act” (August 2021), and the “Pyongyang Cultural Language Protection Act” (January 2023). These laws were implemented to intensify punishments aimed at preventing ideological deviance among young people, which the regime believes is caused by the influence of foreign cultural content, including South Korean movies and dramas.
North Korean authorities have placed particular emphasis on encouraging people to snitch on those who use South Korean speech and phrases. In recent years, the increasing popularity of South Korean drams and movies has led many young North Koreans to use phrases such as “oppa” (elder brother), “saranghae” (I love you), and “namchin” (boyfriend).
Daily NK reported in July that a man in his thirties surnamed Kim was arrested while watching a South Korean drama with a USB stick plugged into his Notetel. At the time of his arrest, Kim was watching the drama “Strong Girl Bong-soon” by himself at home.
A significant number of people have been sent to reeducation camps or political prison camps following the regime’s intensified crackdowns on the consumption of foreign media in recent years. Yet many young people are flaunting the country’s laws by continuing to watch and imitate what they see in South Korean dramas and movies.
The popularity of foreign culture among young North Koreans has also impacted the country’s dating culture. According to the source, there has been an increase in the number of couples holding hands in public places, and one can often find young couples kissing each other on the streets.
“At first, when I saw couples kissing on the streets, I was so shocked that I blushed bright red,” she said. “Now, I just walk past them thinking that things are very different from when I was young.”
Among the changes in dating culture is an increase in older women dating younger men.
“When you see South Korean or American dramas, people fall in love and get married regardless of age, so I began to think about why we didn’t think of younger men dating older women,” a young man who is currently dating a woman older than himself told Daily NK. “At some point, I began to feel romantically attracted to a woman six years my senior whom I had known since childhood, and we started dating.”
At first, their parents were vehemently against the idea, calling the couple insane and hurling all sorts of insults, but now both sets of parents have come to accept the relationship between the man and his older partner.
As there has been an increasing number of older women dating younger men in recent years, parents seem to be accepting this as a new dating trend.
There is also a growing number of young people who feel that they do not have to get married.
“After going through the challenges of making a living, especially with the difficulties brought on by COVID-19, there has been a noticeable increase in young people who say that they want to earn and spend money independently without getting married,” the source said. “In the past, there were barely any women who had not gotten married by the time they were thirty, but now both women and men have no interest in marriage even in their thirties.”
Translated by Annie Eunjung Kim. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources who live inside North Korea, China and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
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Lee Chae Un
Lee Chae Un is one of Daily NK’s full-time journalists. She can be reached at dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
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12. Call to empathy: exhibition on North Korean refugees
Call to empathy: exhibition on North Korean refugees
The Korea Times · December 30, 2023
Four of the video monitors at the “Their Story That Could Have Been Our Story” video exhibition in New York City that featured North Korean refugees. Courtesy of Casey Lartigue Jr.
By Onyu Chloe Lee
Video narratives of lived experiences in North Korea unfolded against stark white walls. The figures of refugees represented poignant voices sharing stories of dire situations, including starvation, human trafficking, the disabled, and soldiers.
This scene, part of an exhibition I was curating, was deeply rooted in my earlier experiences listening to the compelling stories of North Korean refugees while serving as a volunteer with Freedom Speakers International (FSI), an NGO dedicated to empowering North Korean refugees to share their stories. I was determined to amplify their voices and broaden public awareness. I initially coordinated events in my school club, then later went to curate what would become the video exhibition “Their Story That Could Have Been Our Story.” As the lead curator, I collaborated with my mom to secure a venue in the vibrant Lower East Side of NYC, devised the exhibition layout, and sourced the equipment. FSI facilitated my connection with several North Korean refugees, and I was delighted when they accepted my invitation to share their unique stories. After eight interviews and translations of their Korean scripts, the exhibition was prepared.
Onyu Chloe Lee, FSI executives, and several visitors to the video exhibition “Their Story That Could Have Been Our Story” were interviewed by Radio Free Asia. Courtesy of Casey Lartigue Jr.
On September 26, 2023, the venue became ours, marking the beginning of the exhibition. Yeonmi Park, a renowned author and speaker who escaped North Korea, visited the exhibition at the invitation of FSI co-founder Casey Lartigue Jr. She first studied in FSI in 2013 and has remained friends with the organization since then. I had many thoughts and questions for her as our team had dinner with her that night.
“Technical difficulties” in setting up the venue slightly delayed the exhibition’s public opening. Despite my efforts in promoting the exhibition through a newly created Instagram account, @nk.rights.advocate, and reaching out to news organizations, I harbored doubts about its success. We went into troubleshooting mode as we brainstormed creative ways to invite more attendees. My spirits were lifted as more guests began coming in over the weekend.
North Korean refugee author Park Yeon-mi was the VIP guest at the “Their Story That Could Have Been Our Story” video exhibition in New York City that featured North Korean refugees. FSI executives and supporters are standing with her. Courtesy of Casey Lartigue Jr.
When guests entered, I welcomed them and briefly introduced the exhibit as I directed them to empty seats before monitors. I welcomed them, briefly introduced the exhibit, and directed them to open seats.
“We interviewed North Korean refugees on their experiences with human rights, and these eight monitors document their stories. Please choose whatever video interests you!”
Following the presentation, I inquired if they wished to view additional clips or answer any questions. Before their departure, I created a bookmark in Korean script as a small gesture, with the hope that it would make the stories more memorable.
“We have two designs, both traditionally Korean. Oh, and which color would you like? What’s your name so I could write it for you in Korean?”
As I got more accustomed to the presence of guests, my confidence grew. I posted our activities on Instagram and conversed with and interviewed some visitors. Despite a challenging start, the exhibit was gaining traction. Conversing with guests and documenting their experiences was a novel and captivating experience. When the event ended on the sixth day, I felt it had ended too soon.
One of the visitors who attended the exhibition and agreed to be interviewed for an Instagram post. Courtesy of Casey Lartigue Jr.
During this endeavor, a nonprofit broadcast, Radio Free Asia, visited to support the exhibition. I was handling so many things, I am thankful that FSI invited the media's support. Known for its brave journalism on freedom issues among Asian countries, Radio Free Asia documented this small but heartfelt exhibit. It was nerve-wracking but empowering when they decided to interview me. They also interviewed Mr. Lartigue, who has been in the media very often, but it was my first time to have such an interview. An article and YouTube clip soon followed, becoming a lasting testament to humanity's response.
The exhibition marked a significant departure from my usual efforts in supporting North Korean refugees. While I established a club at BC Collegiate connecting students with refugees to help raise local awareness, the exhibition extended our impact internationally. The 14-hour flight to New York City brought me to a central hub of influence, bustling with a diverse population of various nationalities and beliefs. The fact that the majority of visitors to the exhibition came from outside the city, hailing from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and South America, reflected the city's progressive values and ability to attract and inspire people from diverse backgrounds.
Planning the exhibition was a leap of faith. I was anxious as we waited for attendees, but this emotion became a thrill when they started showing up. Through this experience, I learned to focus on what’s at hand rather than trying to meet certain expectations. I realized the wisdom of something Mr. Lartigue said he learned from one of his mentors: “If you plan a meeting for 100 people, but only three people show up, then you’ve got three people to work with.” I realized it’s the fulfillment from the experience you should seek when planning an event, rather than an idealized version of how things should play out. As time went by, I enjoyed introducing the stories of North Korean refugees.
Onyu Chloe Lee holds a copy of the book “Greenlight to Freedom,” written by North Korean refugee Han Song-mi and Casey Lartigue (standing next to her) outside the video exhibition “Their Story That Could Have Been Our Story” in New York City September 2023.
To my mom, the incredible co-founders and staff of FSI, the brave North Korean refugees who shared their stories, and even the attendees of this event: thank you. Together, you supported me every step of the way, proving that even a teenager can make a difference through the power of teamwork. Now, I know there are minds and hearts in NYC forever changed by these intimate encounters. I hope these intimate stories will blossom into genuine empathy for North Koreans, one conversation at a time.
Chloe Lee is a 12th-grade student at BC Collegiate; a volunteer with the FSI-Global High School Union (FSI-GHSU); and was curator of the “Their Story That Could Have Been Our Story” video exhibition in New York City from Sept 26 to Oct 2.
The Korea Times · December 30, 2023
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
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