|
Note: I am traveling this week and will be in a different time zone so my daily news distribution will be on a different schedule.
Quotes of the Day:
"This is how it works," he told the court. "They put one man in prison to make millions scared...
"(A)ll of this, the National Guard, this [defendant's] cage. It's a show of weakness, just weakness. ... You can't lock up millions and hundreds of thousands of people. And I very much hope that people will be more and more aware of this. And when they're aware, a moment will come when all this will crumble.
"My life probably isn't worth a penny," Navalny said.
"And I want to say that there are many good things in Russia now, and the best are these very people who are not afraid, who don't cast their eyes down at the table, and who will never give up our country to a bunch of corrupt officials who have traded our motherland for their own palaces, vineyards, and aqua-discos."
– Alexei Navalny (his speech to the court)
"In the darkest of times, it is our unity and resilience that shine the brightest."
– Cho Man-sik (Korea freedom fighter)
"The Special Operations community is rooted in unconventional warfare."
– Brandon Webb (former Navy SEAL)
1. G7 foreign ministers strongly condemn N. Korea's arms transfers to Russia
2. North Korea’s Transformation On Peaceful Reunification Marks Paradigm Shift In Asia
3. 10 Years After the UN Report: The International Community’s Role in Improving Human Rights in North Korea
4. Ukrainian data casts doubt on precision of N.Korea missiles fired by Russia
5. How much is a baby worth? A $75,000 bonus, this South Korean firm says.
6. Kim Jong Un has broken with decades of North Korean policy – does it mean he’s planning for war?
7. Japan steps up lobbying in Washington, hedging for Trump's return
8. Kim Jong Un's Sister Proposes Summit With Fumio Kishida, Potentially Disrupting Japan-US-South Korea Relations
9. S. Korea, US, Japan call for N. Korea to take 'immediate' steps to end 'all' human rights abuses
10. Havana Stuns Kim by Opening Ties with Seoul
11. 'Birth of Korea': Filmmaker's ode to South Korea's first president
12. North Korea mum on establishment of South Korea-Cuba ties
13. Preventing a U.S.-North deal next time
14. South Korea, NASA launch air quality research across Asia
15. S. Korea's top diplomat expected to cement stance with U.S., Japan against N. Korea at G20 meetings
16. N. Koreans ordered to watch conference honoring “Kimilsungism” declaration
17. Alleged prostitution leads to replacement of cameras in Pyongyang’s Taedonggang District
1. G7 foreign ministers strongly condemn N. Korea's arms transfers to Russia
We would not expect otherwise.
G7 foreign ministers strongly condemn N. Korea's arms transfers to Russia | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Woo Jae-yeon · February 18, 2024
BERLIN, Feb. 18 (Yonhap) -- The top diplomats of the Group of Seven (G7) countries have condemned North Korea's arms transfers to Russia, calling it a direct violation of relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions.
The foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and Japan and the High Representative of the European Union issued the statement amid persistent speculation that the Sept. 13 summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Russian spaceport might have led to an arms deal.
The foreign ministers "also expressed their deep concern about the potential for any transfer of nuclear or ballistic missile-related technology to North Korea or any Russian transfers to North Korea of conventional weapons or other dual-use items," according to the statement issued after the G7 foreign ministers' meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
Pyongyang is suspected of having provided artillery and munitions to Russia for use in Moscow's war in Ukraine in exchange for Russia's potential transfer of weapons technology.
In January, the White House said the North had provided Russia with several dozen ballistic missiles, some of which were used against Ukraine on Dec. 30, Jan. 2 and Jan. 6.
The photo captured from the Italian Foreign Ministry's website shows the foreign ministers of the Group of Seven countries and the High Representative of the European Union. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Woo Jae-yeon · February 18, 2024
2. North Korea’s Transformation On Peaceful Reunification Marks Paradigm Shift In Asia
I could not disagree with this conclusion more strongly. There is not real policy shift taking place. The regime's political warfare and blackmail diplomacy strategies combined with the pursuit of advanced military capabilities to dominate the peninsula and ensure the rule of the King family regime has not changed in 70 years.
This so-called policy shift of abandoning peaceful unification is just another part of the regime's political 3warfare strategy. This is not going to open the way for diplomatic relations and any opening. Such opening is a greater threat than any military force.
Yet should North Korea’s policy shift solidify, abandoning reunification“theoretically opens the way to diplomatic relations, mutual recognition, and even the establishment of embassies” between the two Koreas. Pyongyang, Seoul, and outside powers could transform the decision to abandon reunification from a crisis into an opportunity—provided collaboration, a commitment to diplomatic resolution, and an avoidance of escalation are recognized as a collective responsibility.
North Korea’s Transformation On Peaceful Reunification Marks Paradigm Shift In Asia – OpEd
eurasiareview.com · February 16, 2024
Abandoning peaceful reunification could escalate into a major conflict, or signify that the window for reunification is presently closed, prompting Pyongyang to explore alternative approaches.
Late 2023 marked a notable transformation in North Korea’s longstanding pursuit of peaceful reunification with South Korea after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un noted the failure of the policy in his end-of-year speech. This sentiment was reiterated during a January 15 meeting of North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), where the country’s constitution was ordered to be rewritten to label South Korea as its “principal adversary.”
Subsequently, public symbols promoting peaceful reunification in North Korea were dismantled and references to it were deleted on state media outlets. Additionally, three inter-Korean cooperation organizations —the Korean People’s Cooperation Administration, Kumgangsan International Tourism Administration, and the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland—were abolished, accompanied by an increase in North Korean missile tests.
Several North Korea experts, including former State Department official Robert L. Carlin and nuclear scientist Siegfried S. Hecker, have sounded the alarm about the growing potential for conflict. Armed with nuclear weapons and emboldened by challenges to U.S. power in Ukraine and the Middle East, Pyongyang might see this as an opportune moment for large-scale aggression. However, the North Korean leadership may believe that abandoning reunification while avoiding war could bolster its autonomy by freeing it from the democratization constraints linked to the reunification process.
North Korea explored various avenues for peaceful reunification in the decades following the Korean war, including Kim Il Sung’s Three Principles of National Reunification in 1972. The 1980s saw more substantive ideas emerge. North Korea’s “Democratic Confederal Republic of Koryo,” proposed two regional Korean governments under a confederal government. Subsequently, South Korea put forward its “Unification Formula for the Korean National Community,” outlining a three-step model of reconciliation and cooperation, formation of a Korean commonwealth, and establishment of a unitary liberal democracy.
In 1991, North Korea introduced the idea of a “low-stage federation” with regional autonomy, which received a positive reception from South Korea. By 2000, a Joint Declaration acknowledged common elements in both North and South Korea’s proposals that fostered an environment conducive to the pursuit of unification.
However, relations between the Koreas began to break down in the 2000s, particularly after the North conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, and have soured further in recent years. Citing the “vicious cycle of contact and suspension, dialogue, and confrontation” and accusing South Korea of using reunification to collapse the North Korean government, Kim Jong Un’s policy shift threatens to undo decades of work.
Apprehension about South Korea and the U.S. maintaining a firm stance on North Korea without concessions no doubt motivated Pyongyang to discontinue reunification efforts. The Biden Administration reversed Trump’s outreach policies to North Korea, while in 2022 , South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol declared it would designate North Korea as the country’s “main enemy” following North Korean missile tests.
The U.S. and South Korea later launched the U.S.-ROK Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) in 2023 to strengthen deterrence and cooperation on nuclear and contingency planning, while Yoon stated in December 2023 that a “nuclear-based, powerful Korea-U.S. alliance” would be formed to deter Pyongyang. Additionally, greater military cooperation under Biden among South Korea, the U.S., and Japan may have further incentivized North Korea.
Amid worsening relations with its adversaries, North Korea’s foreign policy is increasingly aligned with its major partners. Russia and China, once occasional collaborators with the U.S. on North Korea issues, have hindered U.S. measures against Pyongyang as their own relations with Washington have worsened. Widespread sanctions on China and especially Russia in recent years have prompted them and other countries to work around the sanctions through increased mutual trade and assistance with North Korea.
North Korea came to rely on China after the collapse of the Soviet Union but has strengthened its partnership with Russia since the start of the Ukraine war. South Korea’s support for Ukraine saw Russia include it in its list of “unfriendly countries,” easing Moscow’s limitations on aiding North Korea’s military. In return for receiving energy, food, and space and weapons technology, North Korea has supplied missiles, artillery, and other weapons to Russia.
Military assistance to North Korea meanwhile allows Russia to raise the security costs for the U.S., South Korea, and Japan, which Russia declared in January 2024 were preparing for war with North Korea. Boosting North Korea’s abilities may distract the U.S. from aiding Ukraine and complicate its efforts to deter increasing Chinese activities around Taiwan and the South China Sea.
Washington has also intensified attempts to sanction numerous countries to a level not seen in decades. The increasing number of countries attempting to circumvent traditional networks may have persuaded North Korea that it is no longer as susceptible to isolation from the global economy as it was in decades past. Utilizing Russia as a conduit, North Korea has already increased engagement with other sanctioned states like Iran and Syria.
In recent decades, the waning of the prospect of Korea’s reunification has also paralleled a global trend. Country unification has become increasingly rare compared to state fragmentation. The last two major reunifications, Germany and Yemen, occurred in 1990, with the reunification of East and West Germany often cited as a model for Korea. But the absorption of the far smaller East Germany by the far larger West Germany contrasts to South Korea’s population being only double that of North Korea.
Familial links between North and South Korea have also dwindled significantly since 1953 and income gaps have widened. Bringing East Germany up to West German social standards has meanwhile cost more than $2 trillion, with lingering cultural differences between them—challenges that will be even more pronounced in Korea. And in contrast to Germany’s relative success, Yemen’s reunification attempts since 1990 have been marred by ongoing violence and instability.
Faced with these realities, growing numbers of South Koreans, particularly younger generations , no longer want reunification with the North, trends that may solidify as the population difference between the two countries may reverse by the end of the century.
Concerns remain that though North Korea may not actively pursue forceful unification, there is a potential for an escalation in destabilization tactics. In 2010, a suspected North Korean missile sank the ROKS Cheonan, a South Korean naval vessel, killing 46 servicemen. Months later , North Korean shelling of Yeonpyeong Island left two South Korean servicemen and two South Korean civilians dead. Although full-scale conflict was avoided, South Korea’s government may now not show as much restraint, and North Korea has increased its shelling near Yeonpyeong Island in recent weeks.
With Washington distracted in Ukraine and the Middle East, it has become harder for it to effectively punish North Korea for missile launches and military posturing. But open conflict or serious escalation might be deemed too risky by Kim Jong Un. While Russia and China may welcome distractions from their own territorial ambitions, a flare-up in the Korean peninsula may be too close to home for Moscow and Beijing.
Recognizing the aversion of major powers to the instability associated with the collapse of a nuclear-armed North Korean government, Kim may choose to test the U.S. and South Korea without the allure of reunification as a bargaining chip. Distracting Washington but steering clear of serious escalation would ensure his long-term rule and is an approach that both Moscow and Beijing could support.
Capitalizing on perceived greater leverage, Pyongyang has reverted to the Cold War-era strategy of playing Moscow and Beijing off one another. Following North Korea’s foreign minister’s visit to Moscow in January 2024, state media invited Putin to Pyongyang, dubbing him “the Korean people’s closest friend,” language usually reserved for China. But in contrast to the later stages of the Cold War, the foreign policy alignment of North Korea, Russia, and China against Washington has made confronting them more formidable.
In 936, the Goryeo dynasty managed to reunify Korea after centuries of division. Today, North Korea’s recent policy shift has halted Korea’s current reunification process, shaping a new chapter in the peninsula’s history. South Korea now faces the crucial decision of upholding its reunification policy and championing pan-Korean nationalism, or abandoning these ideals and more permanently dividing the two countries. Seoul’s decision to downsize and repurpose the Ministry of Unification in mid-2023 offers some insight into the direction it is leaning.
Though the prospect of reunification could return, the joint admission of North and South Korea to the UN in 1991, while still committed to reunification, hints at the early stages of consideration of abandoning reunification as a policy. Committing to the policy reversal will fundamentally alter Asia’s geopolitical landscape and reshape bilateral ties, and already appears to be bringing the threat of conflict closer.
Yet should North Korea’s policy shift solidify, abandoning reunification“theoretically opens the way to diplomatic relations, mutual recognition, and even the establishment of embassies” between the two Koreas. Pyongyang, Seoul, and outside powers could transform the decision to abandon reunification from a crisis into an opportunity—provided collaboration, a commitment to diplomatic resolution, and an avoidance of escalation are recognized as a collective responsibility.
eurasiareview.com · February 16, 2024
3. 10 Years After the UN Report: The International Community’s Role in Improving Human Rights in North Korea
Excerpts:
These defector accounts suggest that sustained international pressure on the regime, backed by specific and accurate information, could lead to better human rights conditions in the North. Above all, we must remember that efforts of the international community for North Korean human rights serve as a ray of hope as well as a reason to survive for many North Koreans who have been deprived of all freedoms and rights while living in oppression and fear.
We hope that the international community will continue to publicly address the North Korean human rights issue for the sake of the freedom and rights of North Korean people. Particularly on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the COI report this year, it is crucial to conduct a progress check on the recommendations made so far for the North Korean regime and add an update on the current status. Most importantly, the issue of holding Kim Jong Un accountable, such as referring him to the ICC as suggested in the report, must be discussed.
The upcoming Universal Periodic Review in November will provide a great opportunity for the international community to scrutinize North Korea’s human rights situation more closely and seek accountability for those responsible. It is our sincere hope that the strengthened cooperation among the United States, South Korea, and Japan will translate into real pressure on the North Korean regime by addressing the human rights issue in the security and military context, especially with South Korea and Japan’s participation in the UNSC as non-permanent members this year.
10 Years After the UN Report: The International Community’s Role in Improving Human Rights in North Korea
thediplomat.com
The Commission of Inquiry Report on North Korea shocked the world with revelations of horrific abuses. It’s time to take stock of what progress has been achieved since then.
By Ilhyeok Kim
February 16, 2024
Credit: Depositphotos
On August 17 of last year, I attended a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) session devoted to discussing human rights in North Korea – the first such meeting since 2017. As a representative of civil society, I testified about the human rights situation in North Korea. The majority of participating countries, excluding China and Russia, acknowledged the dire situation in North Korea and voiced consensus on the need to improve the human rights conditions.
Although the UNSC could not adopt a resolution at the end of the meeting, due to the opposition from China and Russia, the proceedings were spread worldwide. The meeting was so threatening to the North Korean regime that its state media arm, the Korea Central News Agency, went so far as to directly condemn me as “human scum who betrayed and fled his country” only two days after the meeting.
The U.N. has played various roles and been actively involved in addressing the human rights issue of North Korea. Since 2003, the U.N. General Assembly and the Human Rights Council have annually adopted resolutions on North Korean human rights. Particularly, the Human Rights Council meeting held in March 2013 is noteworthy for unanimously passing a resolution to establish the Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Human Rights in North Korea. Thanks to that decision, for the first time in history, a permanent U.N. organization initiated an investigation into the human rights situation in North Korea.
The resulting COI report, which was released in February 2014, formally acknowledged that the North Korean regime has systematically committed widespread heinous crimes against humanity. At that time, North Korea’s National Defense Commission strongly opposed the COI’s argument that top leader Kim Jong Un should be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC), while threatening to strike the U.S. mainland.
However, despite the engagement of the U.N. and the release of the COI report, the international community still faces significant challenges in improving human rights conditions in North Korea. The biggest obstacle lies in the anti-peace and anti-human rights actions of China and Russia, both permanent members of the UNSC, to shield North Korea. Any future attempts to adopt resolutions related to North Korean human rights at the U.N. level, will be impeded by China and Russia’s continuous opposition or abstention, thereby not allowing the international community to implement substantive solutions. Moreover, China not only forcibly repatriates defectors to North Korea, supporting the human rights abuses of the regime, but also criticizes COI reports, which are purely based on factual investigations, for politicizing the human rights issue.
Some argue that despite over two decades of global efforts for better human rights conditions in North Korea, there has been no tangible improvement in the situation. However, it is evident that bringing attention to the human rights situation in North Korea has brought about changes. For instance, ordinary North Koreans who were once unfamiliar with the term “human rights” now use the term “human rights abuses.” According to testimonies from numerous defectors who came to South Korea just before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, international pressure has certainly posed a threat to the Kim Jong Un regime. As a result, instances of beatings within prisons have decreased, and people use the term “human rights abuses” when experiencing unfair treatment.
These defector accounts suggest that sustained international pressure on the regime, backed by specific and accurate information, could lead to better human rights conditions in the North. Above all, we must remember that efforts of the international community for North Korean human rights serve as a ray of hope as well as a reason to survive for many North Koreans who have been deprived of all freedoms and rights while living in oppression and fear.
We hope that the international community will continue to publicly address the North Korean human rights issue for the sake of the freedom and rights of North Korean people. Particularly on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the COI report this year, it is crucial to conduct a progress check on the recommendations made so far for the North Korean regime and add an update on the current status. Most importantly, the issue of holding Kim Jong Un accountable, such as referring him to the ICC as suggested in the report, must be discussed.
The upcoming Universal Periodic Review in November will provide a great opportunity for the international community to scrutinize North Korea’s human rights situation more closely and seek accountability for those responsible. It is our sincere hope that the strengthened cooperation among the United States, South Korea, and Japan will translate into real pressure on the North Korean regime by addressing the human rights issue in the security and military context, especially with South Korea and Japan’s participation in the UNSC as non-permanent members this year.
Authors
Guest Author
Ilhyeok Kim
Ilhyeok Kim is a researcher for Voices of North Korea Youths at the Institute of North Korea Studies. Originally from North Korea, he holds a degree from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies’ Department of Political Science and Diplomacy.
thediplomat.com
4. Ukrainian data casts doubt on precision of N.Korea missiles fired by Russia
Can our PSYOP professionals exploit this?
Ukrainian data casts doubt on precision of N.Korea missiles fired by Russia
By Tom Balmforth and David Gauthier-Villars
February 16, 202411:36 AM ESTUpdated a day ago
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/kyiv-says-russia-has-fired-least-24-north-korean-ballistic-missiles-ukraine-2024-02-16/?utm
KYIV, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Russia hit only two military targets upon firing 24 North Korean ballistic missiles at Ukraine in recent weeks, Ukraine's top prosecutor said on Friday, casting doubt on the reliability of Pyongyang's much-feared, but little-known weaponry.
Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said a preliminary assessment found at least 24 recently fired ballistic missiles were from North Korea, and of the KN-23/24 series, the latest addition to an array of weapons used by Russia for airstrikes.
Speaking to reporters in Kyiv, Kostin said that of the 24 missiles fired, only two, aimed at an oil refinery and an airfield, had been "relatively accurate."
"The accuracy of the missiles is questionable," he said.
In total, the 24 missiles killed at least 14 civilians and injured 70 more, he said.
Beyond the Ukrainian battlefield, the performance of North Korean missiles is of interest to South Korea and Japan, where military experts are eager to understand these systems to hone their own defence capabilities, said Joe Byrne, a North Korea specialist at the Royal United Services Institute defence think tank in London.
Any assessment in actual operations will also be useful for the North Koreans to improve their weapons and make them more accurate, Byrne said.
"North Korean state media always portrays these missiles to be highly sophisticated and accurate, yet this data may tell a different story," he told Reuters.
According to the United States, Russia received ballistic missiles, as well as artillery rounds, from North Korea after the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, met Russian President Vladimir Putin for a rare summit in September.
Ukrainian authorities were able to identify the North Korean origin of the 24 missiles thanks to markings resembling Korean symbols found on debris recovered from impact sites, as well as by analyzing the characteristic flight paths of KN-series missiles, Kostin, the prosecutor said.
The Kremlin has not denied nor confirmed its use of North Korean-made weapons. North Korea's mission to the United Nations did not respond to emailed questions from Reuters.
"In total, between December 30, 2023 and February 7, 2024, the enemy launched at least 12 attacks on seven regions of Ukraine with this type of missile," the prosecutor said.
The targeted areas included three strikes on the capital Kyiv, two on the northeastern city of Kharkiv and others on Zaporizhzhia region, towns and villages in Kirovohrad region, and the regions of Poltava, Donetsk, and Dnipro, he said.
The most lethal use of the ballistic missile was on the city centre of Kharkiv on Jan. 2 when three people were killed and 64 others were injured.
The prosecutor chief confirmed that Ukraine was investigating whether a huge crater blasted in the ground near the town of Bucha near Kyiv during an airstrike on Thursday morning had been caused by the North Korean missile.
An analysis of the attacks has determined the maximum range of the missiles to be up to 650 km (400 miles), he said, adding that the preliminary assessment was that Russia was launching them from the region of Voronezh.
Reporting by Tom Balmforth and David Gauthier-Villars; Editing by Alison Williams, Hugh Lawson and Jonathan Oatis
5. How much is a baby worth? A $75,000 bonus, this South Korean firm says.
If only the Korean people would put as much national spirit into raising the birth rate as they did contributing to solving the 1997 IMF crisis.
Perhaps these companies will jump start a national patriotic effort to have children. Can corporate Korea help solve the birthrate dilemma?
If you want to have a consumer based economy you had better grow some consumers.
How much is a baby worth? A $75,000 bonus, this South Korean firm says.
By Min Joo Kim
February 16, 2024 at 8:52 a.m. EST
The Washington Post · by Min Joo Kim · February 16, 2024
SEOUL — Successive South Korean governments have tried pretty much everything to try to persuade women to have babies. Among their initiatives: subsidized housing for newlyweds, discounted postpartum care for new mothers, even a “baby payment” of $2,250 for each newborn.
Now corporate South Korea is getting in on the act, trying to stave off a demographic crisis that could see the country’s workforce halve within 50 years. Some are pledging millions of dollars in bonuses for their staff who become parents.
“We will continue to do what we can as a company to solve the low birth issue,” Lee Joong-keun, the chairman of Booyoung Group, a Seoul-based construction company, said last week after awarding a total $5.25 million to his employees for 70 babies born since 2021.
Both male and female employees at Booyoung are eligible for a $75,000 payout each time they have a baby — no strings attached.
Other companies in South Korea are offering payments, too — although none quite as generous as Booyoung’s.
This development has come about as South Korea’s fertility rate — the average number of children a woman has over her lifetime — has plummeted to be the lowest in the world, at 0.78 in 2022.
That means the population is aging rapidly. By 2072, half the population will be over 65 — meaning companies big and small will have trouble finding people of working age to employ.
The decline in South Korea’s working-age population, if it continues at the current pace, will build up to an “existential crisis” for the country, said Lee, Booyoung’s 83-year-old chairman.
The payments are designed to help employees grow families without compromising their careers. “The main reasons behind the falling birthrate are the financial burdens of child care and challenges of balancing work and family lives,” Lee said at a company event.
His company’s offer is far more generous than even South Korea’s biggest carmaker, Hyundai Motor, which last year launched a dedicated task force last year to boost employee birthrates. The company is offering up to $3,750 as a payout for each newborn.
Posco, the country’s top steel producer, also offers $3,750 per child in baby bonuses. Posco chairman Choi Jeong-woo last year visited an employee who is raising quadruplets, hand delivering a cash gift and a stroller for the new parents, according to a company statement.
The companies’ efforts have won praise from South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who this week endorsed company actions like Booyoung’s as “very inspiring.”
Yoon urged officials to come up with a plan “tax benefits and other various support measures to encourage these voluntary actions by companies to boost childbirth,” according to his spokeswoman.
In his 2024 New Year’s address, President Yoon underscored the demographic slump as one of the biggest challenges facing the Asian economic powerhouse.
“At a time when the [country’s] growth potential continues to decline due to the low birthrate, we have to make structural reforms to raise the overall productivity of our society,” he said. “We need a completely different approach as we look for the causes and find solutions to the problem [of low birthrate],”
South Korea’s fertility rate has ticked stubbornly downward for years, getting ever further from the replacement rate of two children per woman required to keep a population stable without migration.
The chronically low birthrates have sparked concerns about aging populations — and the health care and pension costs that come with them — and the resulting increase in the welfare burden.
Despite aggressive government efforts, South Korea’s fertility rate is on course to sink further to 0.65 by 2025, according to official estimates by Statistics Korea.
This is largely due to the stress put on women, who face enormous societal pressure and rampant workplace discrimination if they want to pursue a career while having children, experts say. South Korea ranked 105th out of 146 countries in terms of gender parity last year, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report.
The country’s population, currently 51.6 million, is expected to decline by 30 percent to 36.2 million. But even worse, the composition of the population is expected to become markedly older.
The prospect of a smaller domestic market, shrinking workforce and economic slowdown is “catastrophic for the public as well as the private sector in South Korea,” said Yoon In-jin, a sociology professor at Korea University in Seoul.
Whether financial incentives can have a positive impact on fertility remains an unanswered question. Cash payouts are not affordable nor sustainable options for many South Korean companies, especially small and medium-sized ones, said Yoon, the academic.
More importantly, South Korea’s male-dominated corporate culture has to fundamentally change in favor of working women, he said. “Korean women will start having more babies if they do not have to sacrifice their career for it.”
Nearly half of South Korean companies disadvantaged workers using parental leave when it came to deciding promotions, according to labor ministry statistics released last month.
The Washington Post · by Min Joo Kim · February 16, 2024
6. Kim Jong Un has broken with decades of North Korean policy – does it mean he’s planning for war?
Why do the press and pundits all think the regime has radically changed its policy? It has not given up on the domination of the peninsula which has been the objective for 7 decades. Don't they know the regime is masterful at denial and exception? We must understand how these recent statements fit into its political warfare strategy.
Kim Jong Un has broken with decades of North Korean policy – does it mean he’s planning for war? | CNN
CNN · by Simone McCarthy · February 16, 2024
Kim Jong Un just destroyed part of his father's legacy. Here's how
00:34 - Source: CNN
CNN —
As war in Ukraine grinds toward its third year and fighting in Gaza inflames a broader crisis across the Middle East, global security observers are keeping a close watch on another part of the world – North Korea, where Kim Jong Un’s latest provocations are raising questions about his military intentions.
In recent weeks, the leader has brushed aside decades of his country’s policy toward South Korea – now proclaiming that North Korea would no longer seek reconciliation and reunification with the South and calling for it to be classified as their “permanent enemy.”
North Korea “does not want war, but will not avoid it,” Kim declared at a political gathering last month, according to state outlet KCNA.
If war came, the country’s goal would be “occupying, suppressing and reclaiming the Republic of Korea and subjugating it into the territory of the republic,” he said, referring to South Korea by its official name.
The sweeping policy shift in the nuclear-capable country has come alongside a volley of weapons tests, the shelling of a maritime buffer zone, and calls from Kim for North Korea to accelerate war preparations in response to “confrontation moves” by the US.
Together the developments are drawing international concern – and debate among seasoned observers – about the intentions of the leader at the heart of the country’s secretive regime.
“We do not know when or how Kim plans to pull the trigger, but the danger is already far beyond the routine warnings in Washington, Seoul and Tokyo about Pyongyang’s ‘provocations,’” prominent experts Robert Carlin and Siegfried Hecker wrote in North Korea-focused publication 38 North last month. Kim, they suggest, has “made a strategic decision to go to war.”
Many other observers disagree – arguing that the 40-year-old leader knows well that any major military move against South Korea and its ally the United States could hasten the demise of his own regime.
But those observers too are bracing for a year of ramped up aggression – and express concern about the risk of North Korea’s escalated hostilities leading to some kind of military engagement on the Korean Peninsula, raising the risk, however remote, of nuclear conflict.
This image released by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency this month appears to show an inspection test of a new surface-to-sea missile at an undisclosed location in North Korea.
KCNA/Reuters
“The situation on the Korean Peninsula has entered a very critical phase,” said Eul-Chul Lim, director of the North Korea Research Center at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES) in Seoul.
“Given the high level of mutual tension, there is a possibility of accidental conflict due to misunderstandings, misjudgments, and misperceptions” – even if Kim likely sees “little political or economic benefit” in war, he added.
Kim is known for his provocations and has signaled in recent years a coming policy shift on South Korea.
But experts say the changes now are likely driven by Kim’s mounting concerns as South Korea and the United States ramp up military drills and coordination – and his newfound confidence in a shifting geopolitical climate that has drawn Pyongyang closer to a key partner, Russia.
The changes also coincide with an election year in the US, where President Joe Biden seeks a second term while managing multiple global crises. Kim is likely watching carefully – and may be keen to see him replaced by predecessor and candidate Donald Trump.
Explained: How much damage can North Korea's weapons do?
02:53 - Source: CNN
A major shift
For decades, governments on both sides of the divided Korean Peninsula have maintained they were members of the same family with the ultimate goal of peacefully reunifying. The two sides have been cut off from each other since 1953, when an armistice ended the Korean War, and remain technically at war.
“(Kim Jong Un) is now saying that South Korea is no longer viewed as another Korea. South Korea is viewed as a completely foreign power,” said Edward Howell, a lecturer in politics at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, who focuses on the Korean Peninsula.
Reclassifying South Korea as an enemy state, experts say, allows Kim to justify the continued build-up of his nuclear and missile arsenal – and hold it over Seoul, which has adopted a harder line against Pyongyang under President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Despite heavy international sanctions, Kim has continued to build that arsenal in recent years, focused on developing weapons able to strike not just South Korea and Japan but the US territory of Guam and the American mainland – capabilities he sees as essential to deterring a potential attack and ensuring the survival of his regime.
Alongside his policy shift, Kim ordered the destruction of the Arch of Reunification monument in Pyongyang, pictured above.
Ayse Topbas/Moment Editorial/FlickrVision/Getty Images
Since 2022 Kim has reiterated that the principle point of his nuclear arsenal is “to deter war,” but also raised the potential for nuclear weapons to be used to counter efforts to violate the North’s “fundamental interests.”
He’s also become increasingly alarmed by strengthened ties between the US and South Korea.
Yoon and Biden have sharpened their countries’ deterrence plans and coordination in the face of North Korea’s threats and weapons development. That’s included expanding joint drills in the region and security cooperation, including with Japan – all of which Kim sees as a threat to his regime.
The “progress” by South Korea and the United States on deterrence “is one of the major reasons that Kim Jong Un feels very frustrated,” according to Won Gon Park, a professor in the department of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
North Korean teens sentenced to hard labour for watching South Korean dramas.
SAND INSTITUTE NEWSLETTER/Reuters
Related article Rare footage shows North Korean teens punished for watching South Korean dramas, research group claims
Kim has been explicit about these concerns. Last month he said that “instability of the regional situation is soaring due to the US-led escalation of military tensions,” and that while Pyongyang doesn’t want war the “danger” of its outbreak “has considerably aggravated,” according to KCNA.
Kim’s policy shift on South Korea may also be linked to a view that negotiations with the US are no longer a viable path to meet goals of being recognized as a nuclear state and receiving sanctions relief.
Pyongyang has rebuffed outreach from Washington in the wake of a failed 2019 summit between Kim and then-US President Trump, according to the US.
The North Korean leader may also see scrapping a policy of reunification not as a step toward war but a necessary defense, some say.
Kim has indicated as much in his own public statements, saying last month the country is cultivating its “strength” not for a “preemptive attack” to realize reunification by force, but instead for “legitimate self-defense.”
Kim is “particularly wary of (North Korea’s) absorption by the South (and) believes that it is impossible to establish normal relations with the South without developing the North Korean economy,” according to IFES’s Lim, pointing to the country’s economic weakness relative to the South.
Instead of “empty reunification talk,” Kim wants to focus resources on building his arsenal and economy – and working with new partners for economic benefit, he added.
Five US officials also recently told CNN the US has seen no signs Kim is preparing for a potential attack on South Korea, or a broader provocation involving nuclear weapons.
If anything, some analysts believe, North Korea’s public statements signal that North Korea is abandoning its reunification policy in pursuit of peace on the peninsula.
Kim’s “No. 1 priority is the sustainment of his regime,” a senior defense official said. “That’s not a shift — that’s been a strategic priority of his entire family since the Korean War.”
Kim Jong Un in Russia ahead of meeting with Putin
04:37 - Source: CNN
An ‘emboldened’ Kim
The North Korean leader may also feel more confident about his arsenal and his options as he watches a shifting global landscape.
From his view, experts say, Kim sees a US whose waning influence is being tested in conflicts from Ukraine to the Middle East – and an ascendant China surrounded by a burgeoning coalition of countries, including Russia and Iran, all at odds with the West.
“Kim Jong Un has been emboldened … not simply by the divide between the US and China and the US and Russia, but more importantly, a fragmented world where US leadership has been weakened considerably and there are no meaningful consequences for aggression,” said Rachel Minyoung Lee, a nonresident fellow with the 38 North Program at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington.
His policy shift on South Korea is part of a “broader, fundamental shift in foreign policy, namely giving up normalization of relations with the US through denuclearization and pivoting to China and Russia,” she said.
That pivot got a major boost in September, when Vladimir Putin welcomed the North Korean leader to Russia for a rare overseas trip – a meeting Western officials say was fueled by the Russian President’s need to bolster dwindling munitions in his war on Ukraine.
Russia has since fired North Korean-supplied short-range ballistic missiles in its war, according to the White House, which called it a “concerning escalation” of Pyongyang’s support. Analysts have speculated that Russia has reciprocated with aid for North Korea’s spy satellite program. More cooperation with Moscow could also potentially help Kim address chronic food and fuel shortages and build North Korea’s economy.
China, by far North Korea’s most important economic lifeline, remains wary of any moves from Pyongyang that could destabilize or draw more US forces to the region.
However, amid rising friction with Washington, Beijing has in recent years blocked US-backed efforts in the United Nations Security Council to censure North Korea, and will look to stay engaged with Pyongyang, especially as it draws closer to Moscow.
Kim’s regime may also see the expanding conflict in the Middle East as an opportunity to criticize the West and garner income, according to Howell at Oxford, pointing to how Iran has long played the role of middleman for North Korea to supply weapons to militant groups like Hamas.
“(One) thing that’s changed is North Korea’s ability to exploit the broader global crises to its advantage,” he said.
South Korean, American and Japanese naval vessels sail in formation during a joint exercise in international waters off South Korea's southern island of Jeju last year.
South Korean Defense Ministry/Getty Images
What’s next?
Experts warn that North Korea’s ratcheting up of tensions is likely to continue this year, as Washington continues to boost drills and collaboration with its regional partners to deter Kim.
How to dial down those tensions is open to debate, with some policy experts stressing that this show of strength remains the best deterrence for North Korean aggression.
Others argue that the coalition needs to find ways to minimize the potential for Kim to feel his regime is threatened by their activities – and prevent Pyongyang from drawing closer to Moscow and Beijing as a result.
“Kim Jong Un is wary of a full-scale provocation by the South Korean military disguised as a military exercise and has vowed to occupy South Korean territory without hesitation,” said Lim in Seoul.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, center right, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un shake hands during their meeting in Vladivostok, Russia in April 2019.
Yuri Kadobnov/Pool/AP
Related article US raises concerns about cozying relations between Russia and North Korea
“Therefore, if the US, South Korea, and Japan fail to de-escalate the threat from North Korea during joint military exercises, a military conflict could occur on the Korean Peninsula,” he said.
Lee in Washington agreed “an emboldened Kim Jong Un may be more inclined to take military action against what he perceives to be the slightest threat to North Korea, such as joint US-South Korea military exercises.”
In the months ahead, Kim will also be closely watching the upcoming US presidential elections as Trump seeks to win back office.
It’s unclear whether Kim would engage with the former president again were he to be reelected. But experts say Kim is likely hopeful that a newly elected Trump, who has long been dismissive of overseas alliances, would roll back America’s security cooperation with South Korea and Japan – and the North Korean leader could even seek to impact election dynamics with an aggressive move.
One potential could be for Kim to launch Pyongyang’s seventh nuclear test, in what would be the first since 2017, according to Park of Ewha Womans University.
“If North Korea conducts a seventh nuclear test it means a total failure of the Biden administration and gives a very good attack point for Trump (to call Biden) ineffective in dealing with the North Korean leader,” he said.
Further ahead, despite the sweeping changes Kim has now made to his country’s policy toward South Korea, if the North Korean leader sees an opening to advance his larger goals by sitting back down with the South and the US, he could change tack “anytime” – to reverse these changes, Park added.
“This is the kind of behavior (one can expect from) North Korea,” he said.
CNN’s Yoonjung Seo and Brad Lendon contributed reporting.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the location of Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies.
CNN · by Simone McCarthy · February 16, 2024
7. Japan steps up lobbying in Washington, hedging for Trump's return
Please go to the link below to view all the lobbying forms that work for Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and India. Fascinating.
Excerpt:
Ishii's proposal was to launch a joint, legal influence campaign in Washington with the likes of Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines and Taiwan, "so Trump feels there is a trend for supporting the defense of Taiwan."
U.S. ELECTIONS 2024
Japan steps up lobbying in Washington, hedging for Trump's return
Embassy retains an army of advisers, but weak currency causes headaches
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/U.S.-elections-2024/Japan-steps-up-lobbying-in-Washington-hedging-for-Trump-s-return?utm
KEN MORIYASU, Nikkei Asia diplomatic correspondent
February 18, 2024 00:27 JST
WASHINGTON -- The Japanese government is bolstering lobbying efforts in the U.S., signing up new firms and casting a wider net of advisers to navigate the political landscape, with an eye on the possible return of the unpredictable Donald Trump to the White House.
The Japanese Embassy in Washington added three lobbying or advisory firms to its roster last year, according to information disclosed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
The three firms are Ballard Partners, a Florida-based lobbying firm close to Trump; theGROUP D.C., which is close to the Congressional Black Caucus; and West Wing Writers, a speechwriting firm founded by former President Bill Clinton's speechwriters.
This brings the total active lobby firms retained by the embassy to 20. Japan's government-related lobby spending in the U.S. reached $49.34 million in 2023, according to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan research group that tracks money in U.S. politics. That is a 13.4% increase from the year before and a 28.5% increase compared with 2019. It is an 82.5% increase from 2015, the year before Trump was first elected.
Brian Ballard, president of Ballard Partners, was described by Politico in 2018 as "the most powerful lobbyist in Trump's Washington." Shortly after Trump's inauguration in 2017, Ballard opened an office in Washington and expanded his practice from Florida.
In an interview with Nikkei Asia, Ballard said the firm has advised 20 or so foreign countries over the past seven years and four are current clients: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guatemala, Liberia and Japan.
"President Trump is a known quantity. You know what you're getting with him," he tells his curious clients. "He is 'America First.' If you're an ally of America, and you are America's friend, there's no better friend than President Trump. If you don't pay your bills, you're not America's ally when America needs you, I think you can understand, President Trump is not going to be that supportive of your agenda."
Ballard declined to share details about his relationship with the former president but the two have known each other for nearly 30 years and Ballard has been a top fundraiser in Florida. The embassy initially brought on a team of Ballard lobbyists for assistance with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' trip to Japan in April last year, but the focus has since shifted to Trump.
A diplomat from another embassy in Washington, speaking on background, said the Japanese Embassy's efforts to plan for a possible Trump return has been notable. This month, Reuters reported that Japanese officials have been reaching out to think tanks and former U.S. officials aligned with Trump to try to send a message to the former president not to strike a deal with China. Such a deal could upend years of collective efforts among Group of Seven leaders to rein in Beijing, the thinking goes.
The hiring of speechwriters at West Wing Writers could be part of an effort to tailor Japan's messaging in such a way. The contract with the Japanese Embassy states that the firm will provide speech writing services for the ambassador on six keynote speeches in a year.
This stands in contrast to South Korea, which has maintained a low-key stance on reaching out to Trump. A source said that President Yoon Suk Yeol has personally instructed the embassy in Washington not to engage with the Trump team, so as not to antagonize relations with the Biden White House. OpenSecrets data shows South Korea's government-related lobby spending in the U.S. to have been $12.08 million in 2023, down 55.6% from the year before.
Japan has been reminded about the importance of lobbying in Washington in recent months when the announcement of Nippon Steel's acquisition of U.S. Steel was met with a chorus of opposition from lawmakers and trade unions.
"Neither U.S. Steel nor Nippon reached out to our union regarding the deal," United Steelworkers International President David McCall said in a statement issued Dec. 18, the day the $14 billion deal was announced.
Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, where U.S. Steel is headquartered, called it "absolutely outrageous" that the iconic steelmaker was being sold to a foreign nation.
Following the backlash, Nippon Steel, which does not have a Washington office and had not engaged in lobbying until then, hired K Street heavyweight Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld to work on the deal.
Japan's weak currency is one major headache for the Japanese government. The retainer fee for Ballard is $25,000 per month, as is the fee for theGROUP D.C. The embassy also pays $15,520 per month to Hogan Lovells, a lobby firm it has had relations spanning decades. Fees have risen dramatically in recent years. In 1998, for instance, Hogan's retainer fee (then called Hogan & Hartson) was $40,000 for a full year.
One question in the minds of all foreign missions in Washington is what a second Trump term may look like in terms of policy. Would he look to secure his legacy with tangible results, or would he fundamentally change the way Washington is governed by sacking civil servants and replacing them with conservative-leaning personnel, as has been proposed by conservative think tanks?
Ballard tells his clients to look at what Trump did in his first term. "Border security is something he was a huge winner on. Getting inflation eradicated, ending wars, those are the things when he was president, there was no disputing. We were at peace, we had an economy that was roaring and there was no inflation," he said.
But Masafumi Ishii, Japan's former ambassador to Indonesia, said that regardless of his intentions, Trump's indifference to Taiwan alone could lead to dangerous outcomes.
There are two cases where China may start a military operation to take over Taiwan, Ishii told a seminar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Monday.
"First is if Taiwan declares independence. Second, if it becomes clear that the U.S. does not intend to defend Taiwan in a time of crisis, I think the temptation on the part of China is too big to resist," he said. "My feeling is that Trump may make this second case happen even without realizing it."
Ishii's proposal was to launch a joint, legal influence campaign in Washington with the likes of Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines and Taiwan, "so Trump feels there is a trend for supporting the defense of Taiwan."
Trump always "rides on the tide and never goes against the tide because he has no strong principles to do so," Ishii said.
If so, the logical path for Japan and America's allies is "to create a tide justifying the defense of Taiwan," he said.
8. Kim Jong Un's Sister Proposes Summit With Fumio Kishida, Potentially Disrupting Japan-US-South Korea Relations
Of course Kim would like to undermine trilateral cooperation but he will not be successful.
And there is no Japanese Prime Minister who could sru=vive politically by giving up on the abductee issue. So the chances of any significant engagement are probably low.
Kim Jong Un's Sister Proposes Summit With Fumio Kishida, Potentially Disrupting Japan-US-South Korea Relations
benzinga.com · by Rounak Jain
In an unexpected move, Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has proposed a summit with Japan. This proposal could potentially disrupt the tripartite alliance between Japan, the U.S., and South Korea, but it could also pave the way for friendlier relations between Japan and North Korea.
What Happened: Kim Yo Jong issued a statement through state media, urging Japan to let go of “the already settled abduction issue,” as reported by Nikkei Asia on Saturday.
The statement suggests that this move would pave the way for a visit to North Korea by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
However, Japan has expressed its inability to accept such a precondition. The proposed summit and its conditions are widely perceived as an attempt by North Korea to create a rift in the alliance between Japan, the U.S., and South Korea.
Why It Matters: This development comes in the wake of Japanese Prime Minister Kishida’s efforts to arrange a meeting with Kim Jong Un.
Kishida’s push for a summit is seen as a crucial step to salvage his weakening leadership, with his approval rating dipping below 30% due to a domestic political funding scandal.
Meanwhile, North Korea has been escalating tensions in the region, with a series of cruise missile launches, the fifth such incident in recent weeks. This has raised security concerns in the region, with the South Korean military and the U.S. closely monitoring North Korea for any additional signs or activities.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo courtesy: Flickr
9. S. Korea, US, Japan call for N. Korea to take 'immediate' steps to end 'all' human rights abuses
S. Korea, US, Japan call for N. Korea to take 'immediate' steps to end 'all' human rights abuses
The Korea Times · February 18, 2024
Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesperson, speaks during a press briefing at the department in Washington, in this Oct. 30, 2023, file photo. Yonhap
South Korea, the United States and Japan urged North Korea on Saturday to take "immediate" steps to end "all" human rights violations as they marked the 10th anniversary of the release of a landmark U.N. report on the reclusive state's rights abuses.
The three countries' missions to the United Nations released a joint statement commemorating the anniversary of the 2014 U.N. Commission of Inquiry (COI) report that accused the North Korean regime of "systematic, widespread and gross" human rights violations and made related recommendations.
"We urge the DPRK to abide by its obligations under international law, take immediate steps to end all human rights violations and abuses — including the immediate resolution of issues involving abductees, detainees, and unrepatriated prisoners of war — and engage with the U.N.'s human rights experts for that purpose," they said in the statement.
DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The three countries pointed out that the report asserted the North has committed human rights violations that amount to "crimes against humanity," and indicated "the gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world."
"Unfortunately, a decade later, this is still the case. The DPRK remains one of the world's most repressive regimes, imposing severe restrictions on freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, association, religion or belief, and movement," they said.
The countries also noted the "inextricable link" between the North's rights abuses and its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs.
"The DPRK's use of forced and exploited labor — both domestically and overseas — support its unlawful and threatening programs, as do food distribution policies that favor the military, leading to chronic malnourishment among its citizens," they said.
South Korean Ambassador to the U.N. Hwang Joon-kook speaks during a U.N. Security Council session at the U.N. headquarters in New York in this photo captured from the U.N. Web TV, Jan. 10. Yonhap
Separately, Matthew Miller, the spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, reiterated calls for the North to begin a reform process to improve human rights.
"We call on the DPRK to initiate a reform process to implement the recommendations of the 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry and to respect human rights," Miller said. "We also urge the international community to take immediate action to address the egregious human rights situation in the DPRK and for Member States to respect the principle of non-refoulement."
The COI report included recommendations that Pyongyang undertake "profound and institutional reforms without delay" to introduce checks and balances on the powers of the nation's leader and the ruling Workers' Party, including the introduction of an independent and impartial judiciary and a multiparty political system.
The spokesperson stressed that promoting respect for human rights and human dignity in the North remains a "top priority" for the U.S. government.
"We remain committed to shining a spotlight on human rights abuses and violations, promoting accountability for those responsible for them, and increasing access to independent information inside the DPRK," he said. (Yonhap)
The Korea Times · February 18, 2024
10. Havana Stuns Kim by Opening Ties with Seoul
POLITICS
Havana Stuns Kim by Opening Ties with Seoul
Seoul moves to checkmate North’s influence in Latin America
https://www.asiasentinel.com/p/cuba-stun-north-korea-links-south-korea?r=7i07&utm
FEB 18, 2024
∙ PAID
1
Share
By: Shim Jae Hoon
Photo from Yonhap
It amounted to a staggering diplomatic blow. While North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been riding high on global headlines with his multiple missile firings in recent weeks, Cuba – probably his third most important global backer behind China and Russia – announced it was opening full diplomatic relations with South Korea, no longer holding that the Pyongyang regime represented the sole sovereign state on the Korean peninsula. But as do Moscow and Beijing, Havana presumably will continue to keep its embassy open in Pyongyang.
Assuredly, it was not an easy choice for the Cuban regime to make, as it has stood by the North through thick and thin for over the past six decades. And on February 14, as the two sides conducted secret talks in New York outside the United Nations headquarters, Cuban diplomats considered their decision so nerve-wracking and momentous they asked to keep the announcement as low-key as possible.
It was a different story in Seoul, however, as the announcement was triumphantly noted with headlines for two days. In a way, this was a restoration of an old relationship that had been severed during the height of the Cold War. Cuba unilaterally broke off ties in 1960, shortly after Fidel Castro came to power. Among the biggest fans of the Cuban Revolution was North Korea’s state founder Kim Il Sung, the present leader’s grandfather, who falsely identified Fidel’s guerrilla nation-building efforts with his own case. Kim saw Castro’s rise to power through guerrilla warfare as being identical to his own anti-Japanese guerrilla resistance in the 1940s. However, Kim and Castro cases remain far apart as Kim, after a short guerrilla campaign against the Japanese, was placed in power by the Soviet occupation force at the end of World War Two. Castro fought his way to the top.
Kim’s fierce anti-American stand, however, has helped attract a succession of Cuban revolutionaries making pilgrimages to Pyongyang. Che Guevera and then Raul Castro arrived, respectively in 1960 and 1966. In 1986, when Fidel Castro himself arrived in his signature guerilla uniform, hundreds of thousands of people were called out to give him a rousing hero’s welcome. The Kim regime’s fidelity with the Castro fever grew ever more intense after the Cuban Missile Crisis. The spectacle of a small island nation standing up to the big North American power inspired Pyongyang leaders to no limit, as they regarded themselves as being surrounded by the US giant to the south. This comradeship has continued unabated even after Castro’s death, as North Korean leaders celebrate Castro’s birthday each year by officially commemorating August 13 with bouquets of flowers sent to the Cuban embassy in Pyongyang. This warmth has continued as recently as 2018 as new Cuban President Miguel Diaz Carnel landed in Pyongyang on a state visit.
Cuba’s fierce anti-US stand has helped North Korea campaign ceaselessly to expel US troops from the South. In defiance of its own impoverished economy, North Korea hasn’t hesitated to offer whatever material aid it could scrounge for Havana. In close cooperation with the Caribbean nation, Pyongyang has developed its ties with other South American countries. North Korean agents based in Havana have helped to train South American leftwing guerrillas and anti-US radicals. Some Latin American guerrillas have received trainings in North Korea, as have Hamas guerrillas.
For South Korea, this Cuba-North Korea axis had been a source of considerable diplomatic trouble during the period of the Cold War. The Pyongyang regime spared no resources to develop solidarity with the so-called Third World coalition epitomized by the Nonaligned Movement. Until both Seoul and Pyongyang simultaneously gained membership in the UN in 1991, the North had ceaselessly used the Non-Aligned Movement to agitate for the removal of US forces from the South. That campaign withered only after Seoul successfully opened relations with Moscow and Beijing under the so-called Northern Policy. Even as Seoul expanded its diplomatic horizons in Eastern Europe by opening relations with Poland, Hungary, and other Eastern bloc nations, Cuba has remained the last sticking point in Seoul’s expansion into the global community. Cuba remained the last hurdle, as Havana withheld ties due to connection with North Korea. With the Pyongyang regime now tottering on the brink of bankruptcy, the number of its embassies has shrunk to about 50. As for South Korea, with recognition of Cuba, its diplomatic relations now cover the entirety of United Nations member countries.
Thus the impact of new relations with Havana will be mainly political, analysts here agree. The Biden administration has posed no obstacle in Seoul’s pursuit of relations with Havana, although Koreans visiting Washington will face some scrutiny as Cuba is considered a hostile state under sanctions. For Seoul, the main concern is to checkmate whatever influence North Korea will have on its relations with the rest of the South American continent.
With the new opening in Havana, Seoul is likely to see its economic profile rise in Cuba as current bilateral trade remained a minuscule US$20 million as of 2022. But Cuba with its tropical location has attracted over 10,000 South Korean tourists a year. Opening of diplomatic ties is expected to increase that figure, especially as Cuba is home to an estimated 10,000 Koreans who got there in the last century as immigrant sugarcane workers.
Meanwhile, the reaction from the North has been quick but indirect. Within hours of the news, top leader Kim Jong Un’s younger sister Kim Yo Jong, who often speaks on behalf of the regime when it is inconvenient for her brother to comment, declared Pyongyang would welcome Japanese premier Fumio Kishida if he didn’t mention the two topics considered taboo by Pyongyang: negotiation for the return of Japanese abductees still believed languishing in the North, and Tokyo’s demand for denuclearization. As the Kim regime appeared unlikely to accept these conditions, there was next to zero chance of Japan achieving a diplomatic rapprochement with Pyongyang. As for Washington, it has served notice that any move on the part of Japan opening talks with the Kim regime for the sake of denuclearization is manifestly welcome.
11. 'Birth of Korea': Filmmaker's ode to South Korea's first president
I doubt many Aermicans know how Rhee was able to effectively influence American political leaders over the years, especially while he was in exile in the US. It is unclear how much of that period will be covered.
Excerpts:
"It was Rhee who championed the enfranchisement of women, leading to Korean women being able to exercise their right to vote as early as 1948, which preceded similar rights granted in countries like Switzerland and France," he said.
"The Birth of Korea" has ignited a culture war, a struggle between right- and left-wing groups vying to impose their respective ideologies and values upon society.
The documentary has been screening concurrently with another film about another former president, titled "Kim Dae-jung on the Road," which debuted in local theaters in January. Despite its left-leaning perspective, the film has attracted only 120,000 viewers.
The release of "The Birth of Korea" followed the phenomenal success of "12.12: The Day," a movie centered around a 1979 military coup that propelled military general-turned-authoritarian leader Chun Doo-hwan to power, which garnered 13 million viewers.
The culture war in South Korea peaked during the previous Moon Jae-in administration (2017-2022). Throughout Moon's five years in office, there was a surge of films portraying pro-democracy activists in the 1980s as heroes, exemplified by movies like “1987: When the Day Comes” (2017). Additionally, films like “The Man Standing Next” (2020) addressed human rights violations under authoritarian governments.
Kim said his documentary couldn’t be as successful as it is today if it had been released when Moon was president.
'Birth of Korea': Filmmaker's ode to South Korea's first president
The Korea Times · February 16, 2024
A still image from the documentary "The Birth of Korea" shows South Korea's first president, Syngman Rhee / Courtesy of Kim Deog-young
Culture war brews as right- and left-wingers try to impose their ideologies on society
By Kang Hyun-kyung
"The Birth of Korea," a documentary depicting the life of South Korea’s first president, Syngman Lee (1875-1965), has quickly become a must-see film for moviegoers across the country since its release on Feb. 1.
As of Thursday, the documentary has attracted 430,000 viewers to theaters, ranking third at the box office, following Paul King’s fantasy musical film "Wonka" and Japanese animation film "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba-To he Hashira Training."
Initially, the documentary's strong sales at the box office were driven by word of mouth among moviegoers. Subsequently, its popularity was further fueled by celebrity endorsements and mentions in campaigns of high-powered conservative politicians aiming to garner support ahead of the April 10 legislative elections.
It’s rare for a politically-themed, low-budget independent documentary film about a late former president, especially one who died almost six decades ago, to achieve box office success.
Kim Deog-young, also known as Young Kim, the director and screenwriter of "The Birth of Korea," suggested that the reason his film has created such a buzz could be attributed to its role in dispelling decades of disinformation about South Korea’s first president. He referred to this phenomenon as "the power of fact."
"The Birth of Korea" is Kim’s ode to Rhee, whom the director believes has long been unfairly accused of being a self-serving, corrupt leader who prioritized the interests of the wealthy and powerful establishments.
"I realized that he was quite a good person," he told The Korea Times. "I was emotional and wiped tears from my face several times while editing the film. I felt sorry for him because his legacy didn’t get due attention for the past decades. Contrary to public perception, Rhee was a patriot and an advocate for the have-nots, the weak and women’s rights."
Kim claimed Rhee's legacy has been distorted and contain a lot of misinformation spread by the North Korean regime and its supporters in the South.
"Rhee became a target of North Korea’s founder Kim Il-sung who tried to discredit Rhee to establish a reputation that he was the only legitimate leader on the Korean Peninsula. Here in South Korea, there were and still are North Korea sympathizers and they cooperated with Kim to paint Rhee as a pro-Japan politician," he said.
Talk of "The Birth of Korea" spread quickly online as those who watched the film shared their favorable reviews. Social media platforms have been inundated with positive reviews. Some viewers said they had complex feelings of sadness and regret because they realized their prior knowledge about the nation’s first president was not fact based.
Director Kim Deog-young / Courtesy of Kim Deog-young
The number of theaters screening the film has increased from dozens to hundreds nationwide as it created a buzz.
"I anticipated that the documentary would have a significant impact on society because it brought to light several new facts about Rhee, some of which are quite shocking," he said. "But I never imagined that people's reactions would be as profound as they have been. This is truly unbelievable."
"The Birth of Korea" is a biopic of the late president, unearthing his legacies and lesser-known stories about his life.
Based on his thorough literary research and interviews with experts both at home and abroad over the past three and a half years, Kim traced the footsteps of the former president. According to the filmmaker, Rhee was not only an educator and humanitarian worker but also a visionary leader who laid the groundwork for South Korea’s meteoric rise as a prosperous, free democracy from the ashes of the Korean War.
"We owe Rhee a lot. He is the man who built the infrastructure of the freedom and democracy that we enjoy today," he said.
"I wonder how many Koreans are aware that he was a leader in women’s rights. He established a school in Hawaii for the many Korean girls who were abandoned or neglected, without receiving proper care from their parents, and some who had become homeless."
They were the children of Korean sugarcane plantation workers who migrated to Hawaii in early 1900s.
"It was Rhee who championed the enfranchisement of women, leading to Korean women being able to exercise their right to vote as early as 1948, which preceded similar rights granted in countries like Switzerland and France," he said.
"The Birth of Korea" has ignited a culture war, a struggle between right- and left-wing groups vying to impose their respective ideologies and values upon society.
The documentary has been screening concurrently with another film about another former president, titled "Kim Dae-jung on the Road," which debuted in local theaters in January. Despite its left-leaning perspective, the film has attracted only 120,000 viewers.
The release of "The Birth of Korea" followed the phenomenal success of "12.12: The Day," a movie centered around a 1979 military coup that propelled military general-turned-authoritarian leader Chun Doo-hwan to power, which garnered 13 million viewers.
The culture war in South Korea peaked during the previous Moon Jae-in administration (2017-2022). Throughout Moon's five years in office, there was a surge of films portraying pro-democracy activists in the 1980s as heroes, exemplified by movies like “1987: When the Day Comes” (2017). Additionally, films like “The Man Standing Next” (2020) addressed human rights violations under authoritarian governments.
Kim said his documentary couldn’t be as successful as it is today if it had been released when Moon was president.
"It wouldn’t have created a buzz," he said.
He claimed that he had a hard time selling his previous documentary, "Kim Il-sung’s Children," a tale of thousands of Korean War orphans who were sent to Europe during and after the war, which was released in 2020, because of what he called various "institutional barriers."
Conservative politicians continue to endorse the documentary on social media.
Han Dong-hoon, interim leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), watched the movie on Feb. 12 in a theater near the National Assembly. Han told reporters that Rhee made several critical decisions which helped South Korea become what it is today.
"Without the Mutual Defense Treaty signed between South Korea and the United States on Oct. 1, 1953 and the land reform policies, the nation would have been very different from what it is today," he said.
South Korea’s Land Reform Act, enacted in 1949, stands as a pivotal measure that facilitated the transition of tenant farmers into landowners. This shift played a significant role in propelling the nation toward double-digit economic growth while maintaining relatively low income inequality during the 1970s. On the security front, the Mutual Defense Treaty has been instrumental in safeguarding South Korea against further invasions from North Korea.
President Yoon Suk Yeol said "The Birth of Korea" provides an opportunity to learn history, according to an official from the presidential office.
The Korea Times · February 16, 2024
12. North Korea mum on establishment of South Korea-Cuba ties
Kim is considering his next move onthe Paduk/Go board.
Sunday
February 18, 2024
dictionary + A - A
Published: 18 Feb. 2024, 18:51
Updated: 18 Feb. 2024, 18:53
North Korea mum on establishment of South Korea-Cuba ties
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-02-18/national/diplomacy/North-Korea-mum-on-establishment-of-CubaSouth-Korea-ties/1983499
Then South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, center let, holds a diplomatic talks with his then Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez, center right, in Havana on June 5, 2016, the first of its kind. [YONHAP]
North Korea has so far remained mum on South Korea's forging of formal diplomatic relations with Cuba, its longtime fraternal partner, and is instead highlighting its recent exchanges with Russia.
Pyongyang's state media reported Sunday that Kim Su-gil, an alternate member of the political bureau of its ruling Workers' Party, met with Dmitri Medvedev, head of the ruling United Russia party, in a visit to Russia last week.
Kim, chief secretary of the Pyongyang Municipal Committee, led a Workers' Party delegation to attend an international forum on the theme of "For Freedom of Nations," held from Thursday to Saturday, reported the North's official KCNA on Sunday. This event was attended by Russia and some 55 friendly countries.
Medvedev, a former Russian prime minister, expressed deep thanks to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for sending a delegation to forum and asked Kim Su-gil to convey the sincerest greetings of Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the KCNA.
It reported that the North Korean delegation met with representatives of countries including China, Laos, Moldova and Myanmar, but didn't mention Cuba.
Kim Su-gil in a speech at the event called Russia "brother," stressing a fraternal relationship with the Russian people and soldiers who are fighting at against U.S.-led hegemony.
This comes as North Korea is likely stunned by what can be perceived as a betrayal by Cuba, a fellow communist country that weathered the Cold War era and shares similar socialist ideologies. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1960 and have touted their "fraternal solidarity" after signing a bilateral friendship and cooperation treaty in March 1986 to mark then-Cuban President Fidel Castro's visit to Pyongyang.
Last Wednesday, South Korea and Cuba established diplomatic relations in New York in a surprise move. The two countries' representatives to the United Nations exchanged diplomatic notes to formalize the process after years of secretive negotiations.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel issued a statement on social media recalling the "legacy" of the North's late leader Kim Jong-il as Pyongyang celebrated his 82nd birthday on Saturday, highlighting the two countries' relationship of "friendship, solidarity and brotherhood."
The move seemed mindful of Havana's intent to continue to maintain friendly ties with Pyongyang.
Pyongyang celebrated Kim Jong-il's birthday anniversary with performances and fireworks, though leader Kim Jong-un appears to have skipped a visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a mausoleum for his late father, for the third consecutive year.
In turn, the presidential office in Seoul said Sunday that the establishment of formal bilateral diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba are expected to bring about great potential for economic cooperation, especially in the mineral supply chain sector.
The office in a press release said that Cuba has significant mineral deposits, mainly nickel and cobalt, essential for secondary battery production.
It added that the when U.S. sanctions are lifted, it is possible for Cuba to emerge as an emerging market.
Cuba has the world's fifth-largest reserves of nickel and fourth-largest of cobalt.
The office noted that Cuba is experiencing a shortage of basic necessities due to the U.S. trade embargo and that it would seek the advancement of South Korean companies in fields such as household goods, electronic products and mechanical equipment.
It said that South Korean companies, with strengths in the energy sector, could enter Cuba in the future, especially as Havana has prioritized overcoming a chronic power crisis as it seeks an economic recovery and an expansion into the new and renewable energy sector.
BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]
13. Preventing a U.S.-North deal next time
We should expect to read more of these types of OpEds from South Korea (and probably some other allies) in the run up to the election.
Sunday
February 18, 2024
dictionary + A - A
Published: 18 Feb. 2024, 20:29
Preventing a U.S.-North deal next time
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-02-18/opinion/columns/Preventing-a-USNorth-deal-next-time/1983565
Park Tae-gyun
The author is a professor of Korean studies at the Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul National University.
On January 14 — just a day before the Iowa Republican caucus — former U.S. President Donald Trump attributed his “successful resolution” of the North Korean nuclear issue during his first term to his friendly relations with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. In a rally on the eve of the first vote of the Republicans in the leadoff state, Trump on his campaign for a second term said, “Kim Jong-un [is] very smart, very tough, but he liked me and I got along really well with him and we were safe.”
Earlier, Trump stressed that if he had won the 2020 presidential election, he would have dissuaded North Korea from attempting to wage a nuclear war through a successful negotiation with Kim. In his book “Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict,” Elbridge Colby, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Force Development in the Trump administration, faithfully shared his boss’ position by underscoring the inevitability of negotiations with North Korea.
Considering Trump’s towering performance in the nomination race so far, he will most likely reenter the White House. Despite his judicial risks, Trump is leading the pack with overwhelming margins in the early stage of the nomination contest. In a number of polls, Trump also shows higher approval ratings than current President Joe Biden in all of the seven swing states of North Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona.
One may now wonder if a former U.S. president can run for reelection after losing the previous election. But no Article in the U.S. Constitution bans it. Grover Cleveland was sworn in as the 22nd President in 1885 and lost the following election, yet served as the 24th president from 1893 to 1897.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump, right, poses with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for a photo during their Singapore summit in July 2018. [AFP/YONHAP]
The high possibility of the former president’s reelection compels us to look back on what he did during the first term. The Trump administration’s policy quite resembled the Nixon administration’s in the early 1970s. Both Trump and Richard Nixon took office during tough times for the U.S. economy. While Nixon wrestled with the ramifications of the Vietnam War, Trump struggled with the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic. The two leaders from the Republican Party assumed their presidencies amid harsh fiscal conditions.
To find a breakthrough in the fiscal trouble, Nixon chose a policy of détente with the Eastern Bloc. He sought to ameliorate the mounting fiscal burden by easing tensions around the world, including a clandestine scheme to withdraw or reduce U.S. forces overseas. Nixon put the plan into action, as seen in the pullouts of U.S. forces from Vietnam and Thailand and his downsizing of the troops stationed in South Korea and the Philippines. Nixon met with Chairman Mao and agreed with the Soviet Union on nuclear reduction, not to mention abandoning America’s value-based diplomacy to help restore fiscal health and revitalize the economy.
During the time, inter-Korean dialogue kicked off. In 1972, South Korea announced the July 4 South-North Joint Communiqué aimed at improving inter-Korean relations and made the June 23 Declaration the following year endorsing a joint United Nations membership and opening South Korea to Communist states. South Korea even proposed a mutual non-aggression treaty to North Korea in 1974. Such proposals were in sync with Dr. Kissinger’s proposal of a cross-recognition of the two Koreas with the United States and Japan on one side and by China and Russia on the other. If not for the Watergate scandal, U.S. ground forces might have completely withdrawn by 1975.
During his first term, Trump demanded that all countries pay their fair share of defense costs. He even pressured not only South Korea, but also Japan and NATO — the United States’ most pivotal allies — to pay more in order for America to protect them, pointing to the 2 percent share specified in the agreement with other members of the NATO. Trump even hinted at the possibility of the U.S. seceding from NATO and ordered his country to leave Unesco and the Paris Climate Agreement, citing the former’s stance against Israel and the latter’s incompatibility with U.S. energy policy.
Trump could be the most “candid” president in the history of America. He straightforwardly explained — and executed — the Republican Party’s isolationist policy without any diplomatic rhetoric.
Nixon, by contrast, could be the type who stabs an ally in the back. He promised that the United States would consult with Korea over the withdrawal or reduction of its forces if the South were to send its troops to Vietnam. But he didn’t keep the promise and abruptly withdrew the 7th Division from South Korea in 1971. Nixon also attempted to change the chief representative of the Military Armistice Commission of the United Nations Command (UNC) from an American general to a Korean general the same year and considered returning the wartime operational control (Opcon) to the South Korean military.
If Trump is re-elected president, he will pressure South Korea more bluntly than before, demanding more cost-bearing for the USFK. At the same time, the egomaniac will push for renegotiation with Kim Jong-un. When inter-Korean relations are good, South Korea can participate in the U.S.-led negotiation with North Korea. Otherwise, the South will likely be excluded from U.S.-North talks.
The novel exchange of “love letters” between Trump and Kim Jong-un before and after their 2019 Hanoi meeting strongly suggests such a possibility. In a letter to Trump on Sept. 21, 2018, Kim wrote, “I want to discuss the denuclearization issue directly with Your Excellency from now without South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s participation.” Kim added, “We don’t need President Moon’s excessive interest in our own problems.”
Their special bromance was resilient. After the failed summit in Hanoi, Kim sent a letter to Trump once again to clearly explain the conditions for the resumption of their rendezvous. On Aug. 5, 2019, Kim wrote, “Please call me again when the U.S. forces finish their military game and war exercises with the South’s military. We will discuss the time and place for working-level talks after the drills.”
If Trump Administration 2.0 is launched, we will likely see a repeat of the lead-up to the 1994 Geneva Agreed Framework between the United States and North Korea. Under tense inter-Korean ties over Seoul’s botched sending of a mourning delegation to Pyongyang after Kim Il Sung’s death in July of that year, the United States directly contacted the North to reach a deal to build two light-water reactors in North Korea in exchange for freezing its operation and construction of nuclear reactors suspected of being part of a covert nuclear weapons program. Seoul was methodically alienated from the deal and yet had to bear the biggest cost, among stakeholders, for the reactors. South Korea suffered the same isolation in 1968 when it was forced to simply watch U.S.-North contacts at Panmunjom after North Korean commandos’ failed attempt to assassinate President Park Chung Hee.
Recent remarks from Kim Jong-un and his sister Kim Yo-jong have sounded more alarms than before. On many occasions since December 2023, Kim Jong-un has defined “the puppet regime in South Korea” as “the most harmful country and a permanent archenemy of North Korea.” In a case of emergency, North Korea will occupy South Korea, he proclaimed.
Kim Jong-un’s current rhetoric is tougher than ever. Since the signing of the 1953 Korean War Armistice Agreement, North Korea has never abandoned the grandiose goal of unification, no matter what conflict it faces. The state opposed the June 23 Declaration due to its opposition to the two-Korea status quo. Even after the nations’ simultaneous entry to the UN, North Korea did not scrap its goal of unification.
Kim Yo-jong, the North Korean leader’s younger sister, went a step further in a Jan. 2 New Year’s message to President Yoon Suk Yeol. “We suffered big losses as we wasted much time bolstering our war capabilities even without doing what should due to [former President] Moon Jae-in’s bogus peace initiatives,” Kim said. Her comment reflects the North’ intention not to negotiate with South Korea.
Given the high possibility of Trump’s reelection, our government must prepare for the worst case. Even if Biden succeeds in extending his term, nothing will change, as the peninsula issues are on the back burner due to the wars in Ukraine and Israel. Would Uncle Sam really endorse his ally’s retaliation against the North if it abandons the principle of unification and launches a military provocation against the South?
Considering Trump’s eccentric character and Kim’s aberrant rhetoric, we may see a repeat of the developments in 1968 and 1994. If Trump is reelected, Pyongyang will most likely return to improving its relations with Washington while further isolating Seoul. To proactively deal with such a dangerous turn of events, South Korea must contact the North, and the sooner the better — not because of its fear of Pyongyang, but because of the need to avoid the worst-possible scenario. Seoul must also restore relations with Beijing to further deter North Korea from taking a perilous path.
Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
14. South Korea, NASA launch air quality research across Asia
South Korea, NASA launch air quality research across Asia
koreaherald.com · by Lee Jung-joo · February 18, 2024
By Lee Jung-joo
Published : Feb. 18, 2024 - 17:35
This photo shows the inside of NASA's DC-8 jetliner, an air-quality research aircraft also dubbed as the "flying science laboratory." (Yonhap)
South Korea's National Institute of Environmental Research and NASA will conduct joint research in Korean territory to identify sources behind winter air pollution across Asia, the Ministry of Environment in South Korea announced Sunday.
The joint research is scheduled to commence in South Korea on Monday and will extend to Malaysia and Thailand until Mar. 25.
This year's air quality study, scheduled for February to March, coincides with a period of heightened air pollution levels compared to the previously conducted study in 2016, which took place from May to June. This timing is expected to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the factors contributing to wintertime air pollution.
After the observations have been made, the NIER and NASA will jointly publish their findings as research reports and policy-making reports.
Outside of Korea, Korea’s research team will assist NASA in conducting air quality research in Asia, while the on-ground research team will set up a station in Chiang Mai, Thailand to investigate the causes and impacts behind smog that occurs in winter.
A remote observatory will also be installed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to validate the performance of the Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer, an environmental satellite launched by Korea in February 2020 to monitor air pollution hourly in 20 Asian countries.
This photo shows the inside of NASA's DC-8 jetliner, an air-quality research aircraft also dubbed as the "flying science laboratory." (Yonhap)
The joint research first commenced in the Philippines on Feb. 6 and ended on Feb. 13. The air quality research in South Korea will run from Monday to Feb. 26, continue in Malaysia from March 1 to March 11, and conclude in Thailand from March 15 to 25.
This year’s joint research follows the first Korea-United States Air Quality study from May to June in 2016. Unlike 2016, this year’s study will expand to other Asian countries including the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand to conduct the Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality test -- also known as ASIA-AQ.
ASIA-AQ will involve more than 500 people from 45 teams from research institutes, including Korea's NIER and NASA, as well as governmental organizations and related experts from the three other Asian countries.
Additionally, four research aircraft from Korea will be mobilized throughout the research, while Korea acts as a partner country to NASA as a representative of Asia.
To conduct air quality research in Korea, Korea’s GEMS, six air quality research aircraft -- including NASA’s DC-8 jetliner and Gulfstream jet, four ground observation stations and air quality modeling will be used simultaneously.
koreaherald.com · by Lee Jung-joo · February 18, 2024
15. S. Korea's top diplomat expected to cement stance with U.S., Japan against N. Korea at G20 meetings
S. Korea's top diplomat expected to cement stance with U.S., Japan against N. Korea at G20 meetings | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Woo Jae-yeon · February 18, 2024
SEOUL, Feb. 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea, the United States and Japan are expected to reiterate their strong stance against North Korea, as the top diplomats of the three nations are likely to meet on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) foreign ministers' meeting in Rio de Janeiro this week.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul is likely to hold separate bilateral talks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa. It will be Cho's first face-to-face talks since taking office last month.
The talks, if they materialize, will come on the heels of a flurry of recent diplomatic and geopolitical events -- the establishment of diplomatic ties between Seoul and Havana, North Korea's statement last week about the possibility of mending ties with Japan and Pyongyang's possible provocation in protest of planned South Korea-U.S. military drills.
Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul speaks during a ceremony to mark his inauguration at the foreign ministry in Seoul in this file photo taken Jan. 12, 2024. (Yonhap)
Last week, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said North Korea and Japan can open up a "new future" together if Tokyo makes a political decision to pave a new path for mending relations through "courteous behavior and trustworthy action."
Seoul is said to believe Pyongyang's sudden change in tone against Tokyo could be designed to try to create fissures in Seoul-Tokyo relations, especially after the establishment of diplomatic relations between Seoul and Havana, which has maintained decadeslong close brotherly ties with Pyongyang.
South Korea's government also is said to feel the need to cement unity among the three countries, especially in the run up to the large-scale, joint exercises next month, which could lead to North Korea's provocations.
The G20 foreign ministers' meeting will take place in the Brazilian city from Wednesday to Thursday to discuss a range of issues like the G20's role amid geopolitical challenges and global governance.
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Woo Jae-yeon · February 18, 2024
16. N. Koreans ordered to watch conference honoring “Kimilsungism” declaration
For the regime there is only one solution to any and all problems in north Korea: more ideological training.
N. Koreans ordered to watch conference honoring “Kimilsungism” declaration
The Central Committee stressed the need to launch a strong ideological campaign to counter young people's recent tendency toward individualism
By Jong So Yong - February 16, 2024
dailynk.com
N. Koreans ordered to watch conference honoring “Kimilsungism” declaration - Daily NK English
A conference was held at the Palace of People’s Culture in Pyongyang on Feb. 18, 2014, to mark the 40th anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s declaration to spread “Kimilsungism Throughout the Whole Society.” (KCNA website)
North Korea will hold a conference to mark the 50th anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s declaration of the doctrine of “society-wide adoption of Kimilsungism.” Officials throughout the country have been ordered to ensure that everyone watches the televised broadcast of the conference.
Kim Jong Il, then heir to Kim Il Sung, called for the adoption of Kimilsungism by the whole of North Korean society on Feb. 19, 1974.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Thursday that the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) has announced that it will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s declaration by holding a central conference on Feb. 19.
For the 40th anniversary of the declaration in 2014, North Korea held a central conference at the People’s Palace of Culture in Pyongyang on Feb. 18, a day before the actual anniversary.
“The Central Committee had the propaganda departments of party committees at all levels issue instructions about the event before the Lunar New Year, and they repeated those instructions after the Lunar New Year. This shows how important they consider this event to be,” the source said.
As part of their instructions for the entire population to watch the conference, the North Korean authorities have ordered the power transmission and distribution departments in each province to make thorough preparations to provide electricity to people with limited mobility so that they can watch the conference at home.
Typically, people gather in their neighborhood office or workplace auditorium to watch the broadcast of the conferences. However, the government has ordered that measures be taken to enable people with limited mobility to watch the broadcast without leaving their homes.
However, each person with limited mobility will be paired with a party member or other trusted person to ensure that they watch the broadcast of the conference when the electricity is turned on, instead of watching a foreign movie or doing something else “inappropriate.”
The WPK Central Committee also instructed organizations to take turns organizing competitions for mastering the “Ten Principles for the Establishment of a Monolithic Ideological System” and to report on their progress by March.
Furthermore, the committee ordered the groups to organize research lectures on “Several Challenges Facing the Party’s Ideological Projects for the Society-Wide Adoption of Kimilsungism” (a text separately published by Kim Jong Il in 1974) and hold contests for memorizing the whole text and answering questions on it.
Government concern over ideological laxity among young people
The Central Committee also ordered the Socialist Patriotic Youth League to step up its ideological and indoctrination programs.
“The Central Committee has given orders to create an atmosphere of ideological struggle and to strengthen self-criticism and mutual criticism because many non-socialist and anti-socialist behaviors have recently been observed among members of the Youth League,” the source said. “Such behaviors run counter to the party’s ideology and its intention to train young people to be core elements loyal to the party.”
The source reported that the Central Committee stressed the need to launch a strong ideological campaign to counter young people’s recent tendency toward individualism, their attempts to escape state control, and their blatant interest in foreign movies, music, and news.
Moreover, the committee ordered the youth league to create the atmosphere for a collective discussion aimed at transforming the organization into a party-loyal one based on the doctrine of the society-wide adoption of Kimilsungism and to adopt a report and a written decision to that effect, the source added.
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Please send any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
Jong So Yong
Jong So Yong is one of Daily NK’s freelance reporters. Questions about her articles can be directed to dailynk@uni-media.net.
dailynk.com
17. Alleged prostitution leads to replacement of cameras in Pyongyang’s Taedonggang District
So there is some "discretionary income" in Pyongyang to spend this way? And were those who were "caught" only caught because they could not pay large enough brides to the security services?
Excerpts:
Specifically, law enforcement officials were instructed to install better surveillance cameras around hotels and embassies, assign workers to monitor camera feeds around the clock, and set up a system to immediately report any suspicious behavior and arrest people loitering in the area, the source said.
“For some time now, there have been powerful cadres in Pyongyang who have enjoyed making concubines out of struggling provincial women studying at party-run universities and giving them pocket money in exchange for adult entertainment. But this directive describes such behavior as a disgrace to both the country and the capital and declares that anyone caught in such behavior, regardless of their status, will face the legal consequences without any leniency,” the source said.
The North Korean authorities also ordered that all Pyongyang officials who frequently use hotels in the Central District, which have been largely empty as fewer foreign tourists and provincial cadres visit the capital, be placed under strict surveillance.
Alleged prostitution leads to replacement of cameras in Pyongyang’s Taedonggang District
"Women of uncertain identity who had been frequenting hotels in Central District and embassies in Taedonggang District around the New Year were caught practicing prostitution," a source told Daily NK
By Jong So Yong - February 16, 2024
dailynk.com
Alleged prostitution leads to replacement of cameras in Pyongyang’s Taedonggang District - Daily NK English
Koryo Hotel, in Pyongyang’s Central District. (Joint Pyongyang Photography Association)
Security cameras around hotels in Pyongyang’s central district and foreign embassies in Taedonggang district were replaced with new equipment just before the Lunar New Year, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in Pyongyang told Daily NK on Wednesday that North Korean authorities issued an emergency directive to replace security cameras within a five kilometer radius of the hotels and embassies before the holiday.
The source explained that the directive was prompted by the arrest of a woman in her early twenties at the Haebangsan Hotel on Jan. 1. Central District police had received a tip that the woman was involved in prostitution.
“Women of uncertain identity who had been frequenting hotels in Central District and embassies in Taedonggang District around the New Year were caught practicing prostitution. Orders were then issued to crack down on such non-socialist behavior to ensure that public discipline is not undermined around the Lunar New Year, and a campaign was organized to carry out the efforts,” the source said.
The authorities ordered the municipal police and the state security bureau in charge of the embassy area to cooperate in stepping up public surveillance because “shameful behavior in the heart of Pyongyang, the capital of the revolution, is a slap in the face of our nation.”
Specifically, law enforcement officials were instructed to install better surveillance cameras around hotels and embassies, assign workers to monitor camera feeds around the clock, and set up a system to immediately report any suspicious behavior and arrest people loitering in the area, the source said.
“For some time now, there have been powerful cadres in Pyongyang who have enjoyed making concubines out of struggling provincial women studying at party-run universities and giving them pocket money in exchange for adult entertainment. But this directive describes such behavior as a disgrace to both the country and the capital and declares that anyone caught in such behavior, regardless of their status, will face the legal consequences without any leniency,” the source said.
The North Korean authorities also ordered that all Pyongyang officials who frequently use hotels in the Central District, which have been largely empty as fewer foreign tourists and provincial cadres visit the capital, be placed under strict surveillance.
The authorities have also ordered all citizens and vehicles that frequently visit the embassy area in Taedonggang District to be thoroughly monitored and searched, and immediately arrested if any suspicious items are found, the source said.
In particular, police have been urged to keep a close watch on the hotel and embassy areas to ensure that not a single incident of non-socialist behavior occurs during the Lunar New Year, the source added.
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Please send any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
Jong So Yong
Jong So Yong is one of Daily NK’s freelance reporters. Questions about her articles can be directed to dailynk@uni-media.net.
dailynk.com
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
| 
