Quotes of the Day:

"One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say."

– Bryant H. McGill

"This world of ours... must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect."

– Dwight D. Eisenhower

"We must welcome the future, remembering that soon it will be the past; and we must respect the past, remembering that it was once all that was humanly possible."

– George Santayana

1. Captured North Koreans Describe Fighting for Russia in a War They Didn’t Understand

2. Rubio Can Unhijack ‘Human Rights’

3. Ukraine’s European allies head to Kyiv for tutoring in drone warfare

4. Sisyphus the North Korea Watcher

5. Relearning the Timeless Lessons of Land Operations in Asia

6. Most Troops with Families to Serve 3-Year Tours in South Korea

7. “Kim Jong-un plans US-North Korea negotiations after ‘securing US MD neutralization capability’”

8. U.S. Defense Official: “Currently No Signs of Additional Troop Deployment by North Korea”

9. N. Korea launched strategic cruise missiles this week to prove nuclear deterrence: KCNA

10. Trump continues the American tradition of abandoning allies

11. South Korean government 'alleged agency' North Korea expert: "Indictment should be dismissed... FBI, coercive interrogation"

12. Tens of thousands set to hold rallies for, against Yoon's impeachment

13. N. Korea executes officials after agricultural inspection scandal sparks public outrage

14. North Korea expert Sue Mi Terry files motions to dismiss foreign influence case

1. Captured North Koreans Describe Fighting for Russia in a War They Didn’t Understand

These soldiers provide some insights into north Korea. Their story indicates why the nKPA forces may have suffered such high casualties. (I remain skeptical of all the reporting on north Korean forces in Russia/Ukraine)

Note the final statement from Paek at the end of the excerpt below.

Excerpts:

In interviews, the two North Koreans captured by Ukraine offered the most detailed pictures yet of how young soldiers dispatched by Kim’s regime to aid Russia are experiencing the war. The Wall Street Journal was the first Western outlet to speak with the men, who are being held at a facility in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

Their accounts of the arc of their lives—from leaving home as militarized teenagers steeped in Kim’s personality cult to being flung into the vicious fight for Russian territory—offer a rare insight into the secretive world of North Korea and its armed forces, the regime’s paramount institution. 

...

The soldiers who spoke to the Journal are the only two North Koreans who have been captured alive, according to Ukraine. South Korea has offered to accept the men, one of whom told the Journal he was considering defecting to the South. Officials in Kyiv and Seoul say negotiations are under way.

The two men arrived in Russia last fall together with some 12,000 North Korean troops tasked with helping Moscow retake territory occupied by Ukraine in Russia’s Kursk region.

Used in infantry attacks and largely unsupported by armored vehicles or artillery, hundreds of North Koreans with no combat experience were cut down as they trekked across barren fields on deadly missions set by the Russians.

...

Both Paek and Ri acknowledged that returning to North Korea as former POWs could be dangerous for them. The South Korean government has said it would accept any North Korean soldier who expressed a willingness to defect, saying the men would be persecuted back home.

South Korean lawmakers have called on the government to push ahead with bringing the North Korean POWs to Seoul, with one lawmaker saying they should “come to the embrace of the free South Korean nation.”

Last year, the Kim regime labeled South Korea its principal enemy and declared it would no longer seek reunification. But most North Korean escapees still choose to resettle in the neighboring South, for which their defection is of enormous strategic and symbolic value.

“At the end of the day, we are one nation, one people,” Paek said.

Captured North Koreans Describe Fighting for Russia in a War They Didn’t Understand

The only two North Korean soldiers caught alive by Ukraine said they were encouraged to blow themselves up to evade capture

https://www.wsj.com/world/north-korean-soldier-prisoners-ukraine-0ac12ca2?st=PkiC6u&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

By Matthew Luxmoore

Follow in Kyiv, Ukraine and Dasl Yoon

Follow in Seoul | Photographs by Sasha Maslov for WSJ

Updated Feb. 28, 2025 12:00 am ET

Two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukraine knew nothing about the war they were sent to fight. They were handed Kalashnikov rifles and told they would be facing off against South Koreans who were aiding Ukraine.

Days later, they were fighting Ukrainians on the front lines in Russia’s Kursk region, they said.

They were instructed to evade capture at all costs—by blowing themselves up if they had to. That message was reinforced by North Korean secret police who conducted ideological sessions on the ground in Russia, stressing that surrender was tantamount to treason.

The indoctrination didn’t stop even under Ukrainian artillery fire. Military commanders read a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which some soldiers were told to transcribe by hand. “I really miss you comrades,” Kim said in the New Year’s greeting.

In interviews, the two North Koreans captured by Ukraine offered the most detailed pictures yet of how young soldiers dispatched by Kim’s regime to aid Russia are experiencing the war. The Wall Street Journal was the first Western outlet to speak with the men, who are being held at a facility in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

Their accounts of the arc of their lives—from leaving home as militarized teenagers steeped in Kim’s personality cult to being flung into the vicious fight for Russian territory—offer a rare insight into the secretive world of North Korea and its armed forces, the regime’s paramount institution. 

Twenty-six-year-old Ri was told he would be facing South Korean troops fighting alongside Ukraine’s army.

They also shed light on Russia’s deepening ties with the reclusive dictatorship that has supplied it with missiles and around half the artillery shells Moscow is now using on the front lines, according to Ukraine. The involvement of North Korean soldiers reflects how the war, now entering its fourth year, has taken on a global dimension, even as the Trump administration has moved to end Russia’s isolation and push for a quick peace deal to end it.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that 4,000 North Koreans had been killed or wounded in the war and that Pyongyang had recently dispatched up to 2,000 more troops to make up for the losses. Neither Russia nor North Korea has confirmed these troops’ involvement in the war.

The soldiers who spoke to the Journal are the only two North Koreans who have been captured alive, according to Ukraine. South Korea has offered to accept the men, one of whom told the Journal he was considering defecting to the South. Officials in Kyiv and Seoul say negotiations are under way.

The two men arrived in Russia last fall together with some 12,000 North Korean troops tasked with helping Moscow retake territory occupied by Ukraine in Russia’s Kursk region.

Used in infantry attacks and largely unsupported by armored vehicles or artillery, hundreds of North Koreans with no combat experience were cut down as they trekked across barren fields on deadly missions set by the Russians.

The two captured soldiers—21-year-old Paek and 26-year-old Ri—are now undergoing treatment for injuries and giving testimony to officials. Paek is mostly bedridden, wounded in both legs. Ri is nursing a badly injured arm, and struggled to speak after a Ukrainian bullet tore through his arm and part of his jaw before his capture last month.

Paek was captured after lying wounded for five days. He later had several toes amputated due to gangrene.

Both Paek and Ri have acknowledged that returning to North Korea, where surrender is deemed treason, could be dangerous for them.

Paek’s deployment to Russia came with no warning. He was trained to follow orders without asking questions. He was drafted at the age of 17 into the special forces of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, which trains for raids and sabotage operations in South Korea. North Korea has mandatory military conscription for men, which lasts for a decade.

The armed forces number some 1.2 million active soldiers, but most are ill-equipped and spend the bulk of their time on agricultural or construction sites, where food is scarce. The men undergo daily ideological training sessions in which they memorize Kim’s commands. They are told from a young age that they should be willing to sacrifice everything for the supreme leader.

Paek, a rifleman, recalls regular defense training and deployments to other regions where help with major building projects was needed. The day he went off for military service in May 2021 was the last time he saw or heard from his parents, he said. Come back healthy, his father told him that day.

He had a stable upbringing as the only child of a doctor and a saleswoman, marks of the privileged class in North Korea, which allowed him to attend school. He studied English and played on the school’s soccer team. His teachers taught him that Russia was an ally.

He and his classmates used smartphones to call each other and their parents, but they were connected only to the country’s heavily censored intranet. Paek said he grew up wanting to travel the world but knew it wasn’t an option.

In November of last year, he was taken by train to Russia’s Far East, where he said he was issued a Russian army uniform and a Russian military ID. Unfamiliar with the Cyrillic alphabet, he was unable to recognize the name. “I didn’t know I was going to Russia,” he said. “I realized it only when I arrived.”

He received body armor and an assault rifle and began training. The drills were similar to those he had done in North Korea, but there was one key difference: Drones were involved. The Russian instructors, aided by Korean translators, explained to Paek and his comrades how the killing machines used by Moscow’s forces worked.

You may also like

Embed code copied to clipboard

Copy LinkCopy EmbedFacebookTwitter

1:00

Paused

0:07

/

3:33

Tap For Sound

Ukraine released footage it said shows attack drones chasing North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region. WSJ’s Dasl Yoon explains why Kim Jong Un’s troops are suffering heavy casualties. Photo: 95th Brigade/Storyful

After a multiday journey by plane, train and bus to Kursk, Paek arrived near Russia’s border with Ukraine and was posted immediately to a network of bunkers not far from the front line. It was at this point that it dawned on him that he was at war.

“I had only heard of war before,” he said. “To actually be in one, it felt surreal.” He knew nothing of the war he was about to fight in.

Ri, a sniper in the Reconnaissance Bureau, said he liked to sketch drawings in his free time back in North Korea and also dreamed of traveling. He was motivated to fight by claims from his North Korean superiors that South Korean troops were fighting with the Ukrainians. In October, he boarded a Russian naval vessel for Vladivostok, hoping for a “real battlefield experience,” he said.

Once in Kursk, Ri was told he was taking part in a battle to liberate the Russian region from occupying Ukrainian forces. “I fought as if Russia were my motherland,” he said. “I don’t know why, but I had no fear.” 

In the letter read out by Paek’s commanders on New Year’s Eve, Kim Jong Un praised the North Korean troops serving overseas. He called them heroes and said he prayed for their safe return.

“You have experienced the painful sacrifices and the joyful triumph of costly battle victories,” read a copy of the letter recovered from a dead North Korean soldier by the Ukrainian military and shared with the Journal. “The true camaraderie and the solemn emotion of patriotism.”

A South Korean drama plays on a television in Ri’s cell.

Ri was captured after being shot in the arm and jaw.

Paek heard his commanders read the letter from Kim and dutifully wrote down the words. Several days later, his first actual experience of combat would be very different.

In early January, he was assigned to a 10-man unit of North Koreans sent on an operation to block a strategic road the Ukrainians were using. They advanced on foot toward the road, moving obstacles onto it to prevent vehicles from passing.

The men came under heavy artillery and drone fire. Paek felt explosions shake the earth, and he saw a number of his comrades killed. Thrown to the ground and suddenly unable to move his legs, he realized that shrapnel had lodged in them. He thought of committing suicide in line with North Korean military protocol.

“You believe that’s what you’re supposed to do,” he said. “You’re expected to make up your mind on your own.”

He lost consciousness before he had a chance to take his own life. Then he lay on the frigid forest floor for five days, losing blood. The rest had either been killed or retreated. By the time enemy soldiers found him on Jan. 9, he had been on the front lines for only a week.

The men who took him captive weren’t South Koreans, as Paek may have expected, but Ukrainian special forces dispatched with the express purpose of taking him alive. The Ukrainian troops said in an interview that the North Korean brandished a grenade as they approached, threatening to blow himself up.

They calmed Paek down, fed him, and gave him first aid. Gangrene in his feet was so severe that he later had several toes amputated, according to Ukrainian officials. Other than the Russians he saw from afar in Kursk, the Ukrainian special forces were the first foreigners he had met.

“I thought foreigners would be very different from us North Koreans. Maybe even weird,” he said. “Having seen them here, I see there’s nothing different between them and us. They’re all good people.”

The Ukrainian special forces that captured Paek and Ri, seen here in drone footage, were sent out to capture North Korean soldiers alive.

UKRAINIAN SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES

Ri was captured the same day. He said he was the only survivor of a three-man squad sent to assault Ukrainian positions. The bodies of at least five North Koreans lay near him in the forest, he said, where he was found in critical condition after being shot in the arm and jaw.

Both Paek and Ri acknowledged that returning to North Korea as former POWs could be dangerous for them. The South Korean government has said it would accept any North Korean soldier who expressed a willingness to defect, saying the men would be persecuted back home.

South Korean lawmakers have called on the government to push ahead with bringing the North Korean POWs to Seoul, with one lawmaker saying they should “come to the embrace of the free South Korean nation.”

Last year, the Kim regime labeled South Korea its principal enemy and declared it would no longer seek reunification. But most North Korean escapees still choose to resettle in the neighboring South, for which their defection is of enormous strategic and symbolic value.

“At the end of the day, we are one nation, one people,” Paek said.

While in captivity, he was handed a flash drive with South Korean television series, including “Itaewon Class,” which is about an ex-convict who opens a bar in Seoul while seeking revenge on his father’s killers. In the TV series, Paek said he got his first glimpse of a capitalist society, where he said everyone seems to quarrel over cash.

“I don’t know if the Russian military and Ukrainian military are fighting over money. But we don’t get any money for participating in the war,” he said. “There’s nothing we get out of it. But it’s an order, so I fought.”

The captured North Koreans are being held at a facility in Kyiv. South Korea has offered to accept the men, one of whom said he is considering defecting.

Write to Matthew Luxmoore at matthew.luxmoore@wsj.com and Dasl Yoon at dasl.yoon@wsj.com

Appeared in the February 28, 2025, print edition as 'Ill-Prepared North Korean Soldiers Describe Chaos Before Ukraine Capture'.

2. Rubio Can Unhijack ‘Human Rights’

I hope he will put human rights upfront for north Korea (my bias) as Reagan did with the USSR.  

We should reflect deeply on the first paragraph in the excerpt below. It is what makes America great. You either believe in American ideals or you do not.

The ideals expressed in this paragraph along with the 1919 Korean Declaration of Independence as well as the 8.15 Unification Doctrine form the basis for the Korean Dream for unification.

Excerpts:

Human rights have long been a driving moral force in America’s foreign policy. Ronald Reagan made the case against Soviet expansionism and oppression in the language of human rights. The rights to life, religious freedom, freedom of expression, and due process of law are all rooted, as Martin Luther King Jr. observed, in natural law and enshrined in our nation’s founding documents. An understanding of rights as deriving from the inherent and equal dignity of every person echoes the American Founders’ prophetic proclamation “that all men are created equal” and “endowed by their Creator” with “unalienable rights.”

During the Obama and Biden administrations, the State Department reconceived human rights to advance left-wing causes, from castigating countries like Poland for laws that uphold the sanctity of human life in all stages and conditions to funneling foreign aid on behalf of gay rights and transgender ideology.

This reconception of human rights spurred Secretary Mike Pompeo to establish the Commission on Unalienable Rights in 2019, under the chairmanship of Harvard legal scholar Mary Ann Glendon. In its report, the commission outlined the historical Western conception of rights and recommended that the U.S. be “cautious” about “expanding” it.

Rubio Can Unhijack ‘Human Rights’

The Founders’ definition of the term is ripe for revival.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/marco-rubio-can-unhijack-human-rights-reverse-progressive-politicization-b2e2ab5e?mod=hp_opin_pos_4#cxrecs_s

By Robert P. George

Feb. 27, 2025 5:26 pm ET

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a meeting with the Egyptian foreign minister at the State Department in Washington, Feb. 10. Photo: craig hudson/Reuters

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has taken swift action against woke Biden-era policies. Passports now list a holder’s sex, not “gender,” and there’s no “X” option; and U.S. embassies are forbidden to display “pride” flags or any other banners than the Stars and Stripes.

These efforts are important and commendable. But Mr. Rubio can do more. He can reinstitute the State Department’s efforts during the first Trump administration to restore the original understanding of human rights. Over the past 30 years, the definition of human rights has been reworked by progressives to promote socially liberal causes and woke dogma.

Human rights have long been a driving moral force in America’s foreign policy. Ronald Reagan made the case against Soviet expansionism and oppression in the language of human rights. The rights to life, religious freedom, freedom of expression, and due process of law are all rooted, as Martin Luther King Jr. observed, in natural law and enshrined in our nation’s founding documents. An understanding of rights as deriving from the inherent and equal dignity of every person echoes the American Founders’ prophetic proclamation “that all men are created equal” and “endowed by their Creator” with “unalienable rights.”

During the Obama and Biden administrations, the State Department reconceived human rights to advance left-wing causes, from castigating countries like Poland for laws that uphold the sanctity of human life in all stages and conditions to funneling foreign aid on behalf of gay rights and transgender ideology.

This reconception of human rights spurred Secretary Mike Pompeo to establish the Commission on Unalienable Rights in 2019, under the chairmanship of Harvard legal scholar Mary Ann Glendon. In its report, the commission outlined the historical Western conception of rights and recommended that the U.S. be “cautious” about “expanding” it.

The effort to stifle “legitimate debate by recasting contestable policy preferences as fixed and unquestionable human rights imperatives,” the commission’s report noted, “promotes intolerance, impedes reconciliation, devalues core rights, and denies rights in the name of rights.”

In his recent speech at the Munich Security Conference, Vice President JD Vance expressed the U.S. government’s concerns about violations of human rights—especially freedom of speech and religion—not only in Russia and China, but even in democracies like Germany, Sweden and the U.K. In bluntly condemning the policing of speech in Germany and thought in the U.K., where people have been arrested for praying silently, Mr. Vance sent a message that protection and promotion of human rights is in the U.S. national interest.

Mr. Rubio ought to revive the report of the Commission on Unalienable Rights and use it as a guidance document to reform human-rights policy. Americans deserve a State Department that defends rights that accord with the constitutional order that our Founders established.

Mr. George is a professor of jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton.

3. Ukraine’s European allies head to Kyiv for tutoring in drone warfare

Ukraine’s European allies head to Kyiv for tutoring in drone warfare

And North Korea is in Russia for its drone-apprenticeship program.

https://wapo.st/4kjzYVW

February 25, 2025

Ukrainian developers deliver reconnaissance-strike drones to Ukrainian army units at an undisclosed location on Friday. (Mykola Tys/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

KYIV — “Really cheap stuff is killing really expensive stuff,” Deborah Fairlamb tells me. Fairlamb is co-founder of Green Flag Ventures, a venture capital firm based here and in Los Angeles. It invests in early-stage Ukrainian companies pioneering artificial intelligence and cyber products that are dual-use, meaning with both military and civilian applications.

Make sense of the latest news and debates with our daily newsletter

We’re chatting in the lobby of the Intercontinental Kyiv hotel, which is hosting the Defense Tech Innovations Forum, a conference on defense industry technologies. It looks like a Silicon Valley tech-bro gathering, except it’s full of middle-aged Ukrainians in Steve Jobs-style black turtlenecks and men in military fatigues, with a handful of women in attendance, too. The lobby has become an upscale version of Rick’s Café in “Casablanca” — sit there long enough, and you’ll see former CIA director and retired Army Gen. David Petraeus being hailed like a returning hero, or a group of German soldiers headed to a meeting in the restaurant.

The topics discussed at the forum cover a wide array of technology developments, including encryption and electronic countermeasures, but the buzz is focused on drones. A rep from Brave1, the Ukrainian government-run coordinating platform for the rapidly growing drone sector, told me that sometimes a new development goes from a proposal to design to prototype to field-testing to front-line deployment in a matter of weeks. And then, he added, Russian countermeasure efforts begin, and Ukrainian tweaks are made, in an escalating game of cat-and-mouse.

Opinions on the war in Ukraine

Next

Opinion

Jim Geraghty

What injured Russians told me in a Ukrainian hospital

Opinion

Max Boot

Could Ukraine keep fighting even without U.S. support?

Opinion

Fareed Zakaria

Trump is surrendering much more than Ukraine to Putin

Opinion

David Ignatius

A Trump outrage that stands apart

Opinion

Editorial Board

Abandoning Ukraine would damage U.S. credibility

Opinion

David Ignatius

At Munich, Trump’s chaotic approach has allies rattled

Opinion

Vladimir Kara-Murza

In a Russia-Ukraine peace deal, one issue is beyond questioning

Opinion

Lee Hockstader

European boots on the ground in Ukraine might be Trump’s toughest ask

Opinion

David Ignatius

The art of the just Ukraine peace deal

Opinion

Jim Geraghty

America’s Ukraine war envoy is no dove on Russia. Neither is his daughter.

Opinion

Vladimir Kara-Murza, Yulia Navalnaya and Ilya Yashin

We’re Russian. We know what happens when Big Tech coddles dictators.

Opinion

George F. Will

Counting up the costs if the U.S. chooses to lose in Ukraine

Opinion

Jack Keane and Marc Thiessen

America must continue to arm Ukraine — without U.S. taxpayer dollars

Opinion

David Ignatius

How ‘Mild Bill’ Burns led a covert CIA campaign in Ukraine

Opinion

Jim Geraghty

Ukraine needs a new sales rep for Trump and the GOP

Opinion

Marc Thiessen

Does Trump want Putin to get Ukraine’s $26 trillion in gas and minerals?

Opinion

Marc Thiessen

How Trump can end the war in Ukraine for good

Opinion

Editorial Board

Trump wants a deal on Ukraine. But a bad deal is worse than none.

Opinion

Edward Fishman

Biden’s gloves can finally come off to help Trump end the Ukraine war

“In terms of what this means for America, this doesn’t mean you have to get rid of the old stuff” — meaning heavy-duty traditional military hardware — “although the old stuff, the tanks, there are some huge vulnerabilities in those,” Fairlamb says. “There are all kinds of stories of $500 drones killing $5 million tanks, on a very regular basis.” She adds that these cheap kills are occurring on both sides of the battlefield.

Follow Jim Geraghty

Follow

With the United States’ continued role as the guarantor of European security now in doubt, given recent statements by President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the good news for Ukraine is that defense ministries in Europe — primarily from Nordic countries and the Baltics — are in attendance and absorbing the dizzying pace of change in battlefield technology.

Russia has its own visitor studying new military tech: North Korea. “The Russians aren’t just bringing the North Koreans to the front lines; they’ve got them in a number of the Russian drone production facilities, learning and telling them to go build them at home,” Fairlamb says.

Last November, North Korea’s state-run news agency reported that dictator Kim Jong Un wanted his country to begin mass production of self-detonating explosive drones. Earlier this month, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported that “North Korea is expected to start producing drones this year that will be codeveloped with Russia,” adding that Pyongyang will receive “technical help from Russia to develop multiple types of drones to be mass manufactured.”

Also this month, North Korean government aviation officials toured Russia’s premier drone training facilities and attended a major aviation expo in Moscow. The delegation visited Moscow State Technical University of Civil Aviation’s advanced technology park for drones.

Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, told the South Korean Chosun Daily last week that “the North Korean military of the future will be fundamentally different from its past. … North Korean soldiers are fast learners, adapting to modern combat tactics and strategies in just a few months. Their combat effectiveness has improved dramatically — not only with conventional weapons like tanks but also with advanced systems such as drones.”

And the Russian-Ukrainian war is increasingly a fight of drones. A recent report by Britain’s Royal United Services Institute concluded that tactical unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, as drones are known, “account for 60 to 70 percent of damaged and destroyed Russian systems.” The report cautioned that Ukrainian officers emphasized the need to combine artillery with drone warfare as the most effective tactic, but it is not an overstatement to say that drones are what’s keeping Ukraine in the war. Ukrainian forces almost invariably field a mix of UAVs that includes light and heavy bomber drones and first-person view, or FPV, drones.

Sometimes, that might be all the Ukrainians field. In December, Ukrainian soldiers near Lyptsi, about six miles from the Russian border in the Kharkiv region, launched a successful nothing-but-drones assault on a Russian position. Based on interviews with military officers, the Ukraine-based Counteroffensive news site reported on what it called a “first attack of its kind,” involving “dozens of FPV, recon, turret-mounted, and [self-detonating] drones all working in tandem on the ground and in the air. … No drone swarm technology was used, which meant that each individual drone was piloted by an individual pilot.”

Picture being a Russian soldier, seeing the enemy advancing upon you, and there’s not a single human being among them. It must have felt like some far-off future imagined by James Cameron had arrived early. For Ukraine, the fervent hope is that it hasn’t arrived too late.

What readers are saying

The comments highlight the significant impact of drone technology on modern warfare, particularly in the Ukraine conflict. Drones are seen as a cost-effective and innovative tool that can be mass-produced and deployed effectively, challenging traditional military assets like... Show more

This summary is AI-generated. AI can make mistakes and this summary is not a replacement for reading the comments.

View the conversation 84

By Jim Geraghty

Jim Geraghty is National Review’s senior political correspondent, where he writes the daily “Morning Jolt” newsletter, among other writing duties. He’s the author of the novel "The Weed Agency" (a Washington Post bestseller), the nonfiction "Heavy Lifting" with Cam Edwards and "Voting to Kill," and the Dangerous Clique series of thriller novels.follow on X@JimGeraghty

4. Sisyphus the North Korea Watcher

Not for the faint of heart Korea watcher! Please seek counseling if you have feelings of ....

I give credit to Professor Robertson for writing from this perspective.

Excerpts:

Every North Korea Watcher sooner or later questions what they do.

...

The situation prompts a quiet rebellion: Why am I doing this? What is the purpose of North Korea Watching

...

For the North Korea Watcher, philosophical suicide manifests itself in the adoption of simplistic narratives or unquestioning allegiance to ideologies.

Sisyphus the North Korea Watcher

Is every North Korea Watcher pushing a cursed boulder up a hill for eternity?

https://www.junotane.com/p/is-sisyphus-the-north-korea-watcher-happy?utm

Feb 27, 2025

5

2

1

Share

Every North Korea Watcher sooner or later questions what they do.

There’s the relentless routine of reading write-ups on North Korea, scanning academic dribble for insight, and dissecting the latest KCNA image. They see highly respected and feted North Korea Watchers rehashing the same crap year after year, and they know that their own ideas will never be heard beyond two graduate students and a dyslexic professor who ended up in the wrong room at an academic conference. Then, they see governments follow the same feckless policies that failed the first time, the second time, and more than likely this time too. This inevitably gives way to deeper existential questions.

The situation prompts a quiet rebellion: Why am I doing this? What is the purpose of North Korea Watching?

North Korea Watching is an absurd phenomenon! Luckily enough, philosophy provides some answers to the absurdism of North Korea watching - and there is no better corollary to North Korea watching than the tale of Sisyphus.

Subscribed

Sisyphus, the king of Ephyra (later known as Corinth) tricked Death and outwitted the gods on multiple occasions. When finally caught, he was forced to push a massive boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down just before reaching the top—repeating this futile task for eternity. The 20th century French philosopher Albert Camus explored this tale in The Myth of Sisyphus.

For Camus, the punishment of Sisyphus symbolized the human struggle for meaning in a meaningless universe. Camus argued that when one accepts the clash between our desire for meaning and the universe's indifference - we can take three possible paths. Interestingly, when we accept the absurdity of North Korea watching - we can equally take three possible paths.

The first option is to physically escape - in the plainest term, to commit suicide. In the face of the absurd—the lack of inherent meaning in life—some may feel that life is not worth living. Camus recognizes suicide as a response to the realization that the universe is indifferent and that human existence lacks a higher purpose.

Camus rejects the option as a "false solution." For Camus, suicide is not a legitimate response to the absurd; it only serves to end the very condition that allows for revolt and freedom. It’s a refusal to confront life’s paradox and robs us of the chance to live fully and authentically. For Camus, suicide denies life and cuts off the possibility of finding personal meaning in a meaningless world. Instead of facing the absurd, it tries to escape it altogether.

In The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus considers the first response to the absurd: physical suicide, the ultimate rejection of a world devoid of inherent meaning.

For the North Korea Watcher, leaving the field is its intellectual equivalent—the abandonment of the task, the dissolution of the self into irrelevance. The act is both liberation and negation, a final refusal to engage in the endless, senseless struggle of deciphering the undecipherable. Yet, unlike Camus' condemned man who clings to the fight, the North Korea Watcher accepts a different form of oblivion: to let the field exist without their gaze. It is not triumph, nor even escape, but a quiet vanishing—an acknowledgment that some walls will never be scaled, some truths never grasped, and that stepping beyond the field is the only way to sever the absurd knot.

Many leave the field due to the relentless emotional toll and frustration of deciphering an opaque regime. It must be recognized that many enter the field haphazardly: a government assignment everyone else avoided; the circumstance of being a foreigner in Korea or a Korean in a foreign land; an easy option for overseas work to pay off a student loan; a youthful fascination with ideology, uniforms, and undying commitment; or the recognition that there’s an opportunity in a largely empty space.

There’s a point in time in most North Korea Watchers’ lives when they are presented with an option to leave the field. Most leave just as haphazardly as they entered with an opportunity to pursue broader, more stable roles in government, journalism, or academia. An escape from the repetition. One moment, they’re on social media giving insight into Kim Jong-un’s eating habits and health, the next they’re working on international investment at an intergovernmental organization, reporting local news back home, or teaching in their own field - often as far away from North Korea as their physical location.

Leaving the field is of course a more attractive option than the equivalent put forward by Camus - but its still hard. Most North Korea Watchers step away, but keep one foot in the muddy pool. When the North Korea s*&t hits the fan, they’re more than happy to jump back in. The great bonus - you can be years outside of the field, and not much will have changed.

The second option is philosophical suicide. This form of "suicide" is less literal and more intellectual. It occurs when one abandons rational inquiry and embraces false meaning—whether through religion, ideology, or other systems of belief that offer comforting but ultimately unfounded explanations for existence.

Camus describes this as philosophical suicide because it involves giving up the pursuit of truth and surrendering to a fabricated answer. Examples often given are the turn to religion offering eternal life as a solution to the absurd; or the pursuit of political ideologies that promise utopia and final answers to human struggles.

However, Camus argues this kind of intellectual escape is tempting but dishonest. While it provides temporary comfort, it ultimately sacrifices freedom and the opportunity to live authentically in the face of absurdity.

For the North Korea Watcher, philosophical suicide manifests itself in the adoption of simplistic narratives or unquestioning allegiance to ideologies.

Simplistic narratives can take multiple forms: democracy, human rights, transnational justice, religion, realism, liberalism, commerce, or Marxism. Analysts find comfort in accepting predefined conclusions—whether through political ideologies, propaganda, profit, or overly optimistic projections—rather than confronting the nuanced and uncomfortable complexities of the regime.

An example would be retiring to a think-tank with a pre-defined set of ideological assumptions regarding foreign policy, security, and America’s place in the world. Think Cato Institute’s individual liberty, free markets, and peace manifesto. Using libertarian values sets in place a simple structure with a utopian vision that structures how to think and react, how to criticize and comment, and even how to devise novel and alternative policy solutions. It’s structured, clearly defined, and convincing. It presents a clear solution, and your only task is to convince others to see the light. The challenge, of course, comes in fitting the nuance of North Korea into the ideological frame - the square peg into the round hole.

Embracing such “meaningful explanations” provides a temporary sense of certainty but ultimately stifles the pursuit of truth. Narratives that gloss over North Korea’s absurdities prevent genuine understanding and compromise the intellectual integrity needed to grasp the true nature of the situation. This intellectual abdication mirrors the existential surrender Camus warned against—trading authentic inquiry for a comforting illusion.

The third and most courageous option, according to Camus, is to embrace the absurd without seeking escape or false meaning. This response involves full acceptance of life’s absurdity and choosing to live with defiant joy.

Camus describes this as a state of revolt—not a physical rebellion, but a metaphysical one. It is an ongoing refusal to be defeated by the lack of meaning. Rather than surrendering to nihilism or false hope, the absurd hero continues to live passionately, creating meaning through their experiences, actions, and choices. By rejecting external meaning, one gains complete freedom to define their own purpose and values.

For the North Korea Watcher, embracing the absurd without seeking escape or false meaning involves recognizing that what you do may change nothing. The North Korea Watcher remains an impotent onlooker—perhaps unable to affect change or unearth any genuine truth. The constant chase for significance amid a tapestry of curated performances ultimately proves fruitless; each step deeper into the North Korea Watching world emphasizes the opacity and impossibility of securing deeper insight. Think of the North Korea Watchers who when introduced as an “expert” respond by saying that no one is really an expert - they recognize and accept the absurdity.

For Camus, rather than despair, Sisyphus accepts his fate, finds peace in his struggle, and even learns to take joy in it. In The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus reimagined Sisyphus as a hero who found freedom and purpose in the act of endlessly pushing the stone, embracing the struggle without hope for escape. Because happiness is found in the defiance, not in the result, Camus concludes that we must "imagine Sisyphus happy".

Share Junotane

This happiness can be seen in some North Korea Watchers. Look around at long time North Korea Watchers. Few are rich, few are well-known outside their own crowd, and few are successful beyond their niche. A long time ago, they channelled their energies inward - toward forging authentic meaning through their own experiences, actions, and choices. Some turn to cynicism, writing intermittent sarcastic and sometimes caustic diatribes on the field. Some turn to comedy, pulling out laughter in the absurdity of KCNA reporting and imagery. While others turn to creative expression, delving into art, photography, poetry, creative writing, or even cabaret (not always related to North Korea).

Many North Korea Watchers do find peace in their struggle to discern the meaning of what they do, and even take joy in it. If we accept the approach of Camus, happiness is found in that defiance, not necessarily in the result. Just as Camus imagines Sisyphus to be happy, we have to imagine the North Korea Watcher happy.

Bradley Martin

7h

Liked by Junotane

LOL. Unqualified as I was in terms of training, I took up NK watching when hardly anyone else was doing it. Maybe 20 people? The Vietnam-era revisionists had the training but they argued, essentially, that the North should not be subjected to critical analysis: It was the '70s and '80s South, with its American associations, that was evil. As a journalist, I saw the difference between authoritarian and totalitarian, watched the South's democracy movement progress from places such as Gwangju and, finally, in 1991, decided to plow ahead with concentrated reporting and research on NK. I worked on my book for 13 years before I was able to publish it. Since I had to make a living to support a family during that time, it wasn't a full-time commitment; let's say I put six or seven years total into the effort. Revisionists I knew turned against me – although, surprisingly, after it was published I I got a mostly favorable review in the LBR from Bruce Cumings. Now I'm old, and there are plenty of you younger people watching NK. So, although I have not retired from journalism – I still work every day – I've more or less retired from NK watching. You're right, Jeffrey, that it seems almost nothing has changed in North Korea. Meanwhile, everything changes so fast in my own country that I spend an average of four hours perusing the news each morning before starting my editing work. That news addiction is dangerous for my health. What's happening makes me so tense and angry that I must stop frequently to play a game of FreeCell – my calming-down substitute for the cigarettes that I chain-smoked back in my reckless youth. Sometimes, I suspect that I'm missing something important by absenting myself from NK

5. Relearning the Timeless Lessons of Land Operations in Asia

I have to be snarky and remind us of the film of great strategy:

 "You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'never get involved in a land war in Asia'" - from the movie "The Princess Bride."

But on a serious note (and we must be serious about potential war in Asia) there is this conclusion:

Terrain does not change, and its challenges remain evergreen. There is no replicating it fully. It is invaluable to train on the terrain, with your ally, that you may be called to defend. Our Army’s history is one of war in Asia. Once we captured the key lessons of our operation, their historical precedent leaped out at us. It is imperative to pass this along to ensure these lessons remain learned and observed for the next campaign. JPRMC-X is the crucible for land forces that must be prepared to fight and win in Asia. There is no substitute.

And speaking of terrain I am reminded of some slight satire from Korea from climbing the mountains of Korea with my Special Forces brothers. They used to tell us that if you could take a 3D topographical map of the Korean peninsula and spread it flat the territory would be the size of China. Yes, some hyperbolic exaggeration perhaps, but the mountains in north Korea are even larger than in the South.

Relearning the Timeless Lessons of Land Operations in Asia - Modern War Institute

Rick Blank and Tyler Patterson | 02.28.25

mwi.westpoint.edu · by Rick Blank · February 28, 2025

Share on LinkedIn

Send email

In June 2024, our unit—2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment—had a unique opportunity: we were directed to execute the first combat training center rotation forward in the Indo-Pacific. Not long ago, this would have been impossible—the Army’s premier training environments were only found at sprawling, fixed sites in California, Louisiana, and Germany. But the creation of the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center–Exportable, a capability that enables realistic training in theater, opens the door for Army, joint, and partner forces to test themselves against the particular challenges of the Pacific region. Those challenges are manifold, but we discovered important historical continuities.

As we captured our lessons learned it became clear these were the same things battalions learned during key periods of World War II—like the seizure of Luzon in 1945—and even farther back during the Spanish-American War. The experience reinforced the value of this training, not only in the strategic and operational imperatives it achieves, but in the way that it reacquaints our ground troops with the timeless challenges of land war in Asia.

The Tropic Lightning Division is no stranger to fighting on this terrain. The 25th Infantry Division spent twelve continuous years in Asia from World War II, through the occupation of Japan, and to the Korean War. After a short break, it spent seven additional years in Vietnam. The division is no stranger to this terrain. Nor is the 27th Infantry Regiment—the Wolfhounds’ long history in Asia, especially in the Philippines, traces back to 1901. This rotation in support of Operation PATHWAYS is just the latest episode in that long history. But what made it distinct is the training opportunity provided by the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center–Exportable, or JPMRC-X. This is what enabled us to learn from the experience.

United States Army Pacific executes a continual campaign in strategic competition named Operation Pathways, designed to build joint interior lines forward, create interoperability with our allies and partners, and enable US troops to learn the key terrain they may be called to defend alongside those they will be defending it with. The 25th Infantry Division has conducted the Balikatan and Salaknib Exercises in the Philippines since 2016 as a part of Operation Pathways. In 2024, however, Salaknib was conducted under the auspices of JPMRC-X, and executed west of the international date line for the first time. The No Fear Battalion (2-27 Infantry) was the tactical infantry unit assigned to work alongside our Philippine allies at Fort Magsaysay, in Luzon, the Philippines. Here’s what we learned.

The Environment

A high heat index above 110 degrees Fahrenheit paired with daily evening thunderstorms created the largest risk to the mission during the JPMRC-X rotation. The natural terrain and elevation change became the most significant risk during dismounted movements. Our battalion lost a platoon’s worth of combat power over the course of JPMRC-X due to disease and nonbattle injury, as well as heat. The environment created natural movement windows and severe restrictions that had equal effects on 2-27 Infantry, our ally, and the adversary. Adaptation to the environment was required to accomplish the mission.

Disease

Disease and nonbattle injury is historically the number one cause of casualties in this environment. It’s not the first thing that comes to mind in 2024, and we found out the hard way. It is shocking and brutally true how much the environment matters, and it still produces the most casualties. In our battalion, 116 soldiers were treated at our battalion medical station, including seventy-seven infections and sixteen heat injuries. Of the sixteen heat injuries, fifteen soldiers had mild heat exhaustion and one had exertional heat injury (no heat strokes). Additionally, there was a significant number of soldiers that suffered from gastrointestinal issues. Due to the consumption of local food, unpurified water, or other gastrointestinal issues, our battalion consumed 143 percent of its planned stock of antidiarrheals, and 97 percent of gastrointestinal medications. Typically, units preparing to deploy focus on fitness and acclimatization to reduce heat injuries. Rarely do they take active measures to prevent disease and nonbattle injury, our biggest issue. Countless historical examples should have made us think twice. As one historian has written, “The fate of besieged Bataan [during World War II] was determined not by the Japanese arms but by malaria and malnutrition.”

Physical Readiness

We must train differently. Traditional metrics are not the benchmarks for success. Being ready to win is all that matters. The current way we measure readiness drives how we train. The Army Combat Fitness Test and road marches have their place as baselines for general fitness. They do not achieve realistic preparation for this operational environment, however. Our unit went into this operation as the fittest battalion in our division based on ACFT scores, no small achievement. We learned this was not the preparation needed to meet this mission.

What we needed was a time under load for longer durations on tough terrain. There is no replacing it. The only way to be ready to walk all night is to do it. The second factor that is hard to replicate is the heat and humidity. By the time the Wolfhounds executed JPMRC-X, soldiers were in theater for over sixty days. They had acclimatized to executing long days in the heat and returning to an air-conditioned tent at night to rest. Ten days without respite was a shock to the system. Even for the fittest battalion, the environment proved exceedingly challenging.

What will we do next time? First, we will get under our rucks and off the road. We will do this deliberately and build toward tactical endurance. Conquering the hardest terrain we can find at home station will build confidence, if it is done routinely. Also, we will train with heavy rucks, but we will cut the load significantly during JPMRC-X and carry only the essential items—ammo, food, water, etc. Our Filipino partners did this exceptionally well, but we did not. Second, we will lift weights with the mission in mind. We will enable this through mission-specific lifting programs focused on the posterior chain and a deliberate recovery plan to enable the intensity of the training. We will deliberately seek out heat by shifting our workouts to the hottest parts of the day. Finally, we will continue to train deliberately upon arrival because acclimatization upon arrival is not enough. We must invest the time and deliberate planning to ensure we are ready to execute the assigned mission in the operating environment. We must accept that our traditional metrics to measure fitness may suffer.

Power Generation

The next great challenge we faced was power generation. Our battalion tactical action center (TAC) was powered by a three-thousand-watt generator and our subordinate units had thousand-watt generators. We had the requisite number of batteries to power our communications systems, calculated from our Oahu-based training. Our method had always been to recharge systems during halts using the generators: with a few gallons of gas and resupply every few days, there were no issues.

We learned the incredibly high heat index sapped the batteries of all our systems at a much more rapid rate than we had seen. Battery life was cut in half. Specific issues we discovered were the use of radios mounted in the bags of our dismounted troops, where the increased heat drained batteries rapidly. This meant that radios had to be switched off when not in use. This was a huge change to how we normally operate, with persistent communications. To meet this challenge, we have adopted a methodology based on communications windows. Communications are made during specific windows for short durations. This reduces the power-generation burden but forces a shift in how we operate. Without direct communications, higher headquarters must accept that their subordinate units are executing as tasked. Interestingly, our allies, accustomed to the challenges we were facing for the first time, already utilize this method, and it was the only method available to the generations of soldiers operating in this environment before us.

This constraint was not limited to radios. It also applies to computers and our sUAS (small unmanned aircraft systems) flying in support of operations. Our laptops in the TAC were unable to manage the heat, even in limited use. Any communication linkage that involved computer-based systems was untenable. Our sUAS batteries depleted rapidly during daytime flights and, in two instances, caused the sUAS to lose their links. This is a significant lesson and requires a significant shift in current procedures. One solution is more rugged equipment with a higher heat tolerance. We are working to acquire and test such equipment. Another solution is to abide by communication windows, and rely on systems such as high-frequency and tactical satellite radio communications for brief updates and minimal guidance. These are not new lessons. This, at its core, is what mission command is. How often did troops in the Spanish-American War or World War II receive a change in mission? It is only through technology and becoming accustomed to operating in permissive environments that we have gotten away from this key lesson. We must train how we will be forced to fight.

Communications

Every tactician knows communications only matter if they work when you need them, and JPMRC-X is the best communication exercise a soldier could hope for. We arrived in the Philippines confident in our systems, having tested them all over Oahu, and believed we achieved tactical-level interoperability. At home station and at Fort Magsaysay, we successfully linked our allies’ radio systems into our mesh network utilizing radio over internet protocol, and successfully provided mobile company- and battalion-level command and control from an MRZR tactical vehicle. JPMRC-X, however, challenged our communications architecture. Our allies were no longer embedded in our formations, and as a result, our methods were limited by the Philippine Army’s radios. In this case, our allies’ FM radio was only as good as line of sight. During our train up our communications were good. Now that we were disaggregated, we could not make a connection via radio with our allies beyond a few hundred meters and this did not meet our mission profile. Despite all our equipment and training, the fastest way we adapted to the circumstances was to conduct physical linkups.

If we can talk, we can fight. To do better next time, we must build our communication architecture to have compatibility beyond line-of-sight communications with our allies. The solutions range from low-tech and well established, such as high-frequency radio comms, to high-tech (and more expensive), such as Iridium satellite phones. The good news is that both solutions are available and easy to train.

Additionally, StarLink-enabled communications worked to a limited degree. StarLink creates an internet connection via low-earth orbit satellites. This enabled us to establish internal WiFi networks, connecting our TAC to our voice and data communications. This connection, however, could not extend to our subordinate units or our allies, unless they achieved an internet connection. We normally filled this gap utilizing cell towers, which worked until we moved into challenging terrain and the signal was gone—along with our mesh network.

We took several lessons away from this. First, redundant communications must include redundant transport options (ways to achieve internet signal). Second, we must have low-tech solutions such as high-frequency radio communications. Third, this only works if it can be linked to our allies.

In the end, our most effective method to achieve communications interoperability was the way it has always been done: face to face and through liaison exchanges on the ground. The fact is technology cannot replace this interface. People working shoulder to shoulder can overcome any obstacle. Reflecting on how our predecessors over many generations must have done it, this should have been our starting point, and we would recommend it as the starting point for follow-on units to build from.

Sustainment

Large traditional equipment is of limited use. We quickly discovered our standard equipment would not work in this environment. While our battalion is trained in off-road driving, our vehicles did not fit on the smaller unimproved roads we encountered. We spent significant time conducting route reconnaissance and discovered our MRZRs, Humvees, and local pickup trucks were the only vehicles that would traverse this terrain. This had massive implications for the way we normally do sustainment. Instead of large vehicles dropping resupply in bulk we had to transport lots of small packages much closer to our frontline troops.

The two most effective methods were aerial resupply and leveraging local nationals with their 4×4 vehicles. However, in a contested environment with a near-peer threat, aerial resupply is a high-risk endeavor and will likely be reserved for emergencies. To effectively train and match that risk, one thing we wish we had explored more was living off the economy. While the roads were small, the area was populated, even in the training area, and everywhere we went there were small stores or an enterprising entrepreneur who would have been happy to feed us, give us water, and fuel our machines for pennies on the dollar. Thriving in this environment may require operationalizing the dollar at the lowest level.

Terrain does not change, and its challenges remain evergreen. There is no replicating it fully. It is invaluable to train on the terrain, with your ally, that you may be called to defend. Our Army’s history is one of war in Asia. Once we captured the key lessons of our operation, their historical precedent leaped out at us. It is imperative to pass this along to ensure these lessons remain learned and observed for the next campaign. JPRMC-X is the crucible for land forces that must be prepared to fight and win in Asia. There is no substitute.

Major Rick Blank is the operations officer for 2-27 Infantry and served in this position during the 2024 Operation Pathways exercises. Rick has served as an operational planner at US Army Pacific and is a graduate of the Maritime Warfare School and Naval War College.

Lieutenant Colonel Tyler Patterson is the commander of 2-27 Infantry and served in this position during the 2024 Operation Pathways exercises. Tyler has taught at West Point and served in multiple assignments in the infantry, the interagency, and the special operations community.

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the official position of the United States Military Academy, Department of the Army, or Department of Defense.

Image credit: Spc. Carleeann Smiddy, US Army National Guard

Share on LinkedIn

Send email

mwi.westpoint.edu · by Rick Blank · February 28, 2025

6. Most Troops with Families to Serve 3-Year Tours in South Korea

I know we long ago tried to normalize Korean tours for all but we could not do that because despite the size of Camp Humphreys we do not have sufficient facilities (e.g., schools, medical, family housing) for all assigned personnel to have their families. Thus we will still have unaccompanied tours.

Excerpts:

Many U.S. troops stationed in South Korea with their families—including at Osan Air Base—will begin serving 36-month tours, up from 24 months, starting with service members arriving in October.

Unaccompanied service members will still serve 12-month tours, and more isolated bases like Kunsan Air Base will not be affected

Most Troops with Families to Serve 3-Year Tours in South Korea

airandspaceforces.com · by Unshin Harpley · February 27, 2025

Feb. 27, 2025 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

Share Article

Many U.S. troops stationed in South Korea with their families—including at Osan Air Base—will begin serving 36-month tours, up from 24 months, starting with service members arriving in October.

Unaccompanied service members will still serve 12-month tours, and more isolated bases like Kunsan Air Base will not be affected.

“The reasons for this change are to improve operational continuity, enhance mission readiness and provide greater stability for service members and their families,” a U.S. Forces Korea spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “Longer assignments reduce turnover, allowing for more experienced personnel to remain in critical roles, leading to increased effectiveness in USFK mission.”

The Department of Defense is rolling out the new policy in phases, beginning with the start of fiscal 2026 on Oct. 1, 2025, with full implementation expected by October 2027. Service members already stationed in the country will not be impacted. The change will apply only to command-sponsored, accompanied troops.

“It enhances mission effectiveness by providing greater stability, improving unit cohesion, and strengthening relationships between service members, their families, and the local community,” the spokesperson added. “By fostering a more stable and supportive environment, the extended tour length contributes to overall readiness and operational success.”

Troops who prefer a two-year tour with their families may be able to have their services request waivers for a shorter stay in Korea, according to a memo released earlier this month.

Tour length for troops is typically determined based on guidelines that consider factors such as the assignment location’s quality of life, including weather, family support, isolation, and the country’s economic and security conditions.

A 36-month deployment for accompanied personnel is common for locations where living conditions are comparable to U.S. standards; bases in the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, and Japan all have such tours.

More than 28,500 troops are deployed in South Korea, with a significant portion at Camp Humphreys. The base, which supports nearly 40,000 service members and their families, civilian employees, and contractors, hosts U.S. Forces Korea headquarters and a few Air Force units.

The biggest U.S. Air Force base in the country is Osan Air Base, located 40 miles south of Seoul. Osan has around 3,700 Airmen assigned to the 51st Fighter Wing, along with nearly 2,000 personnel in various tenant units. The base offers command sponsorship, with about 2,000 family members living with stationed Airmen.

Osan, the closest American air base to North Korea, is even busier than normal right now due to a yearlong test of an expanded F-16 fighter presence. Last year, the 36th Fighter Squadron received nine F-16s and around 150 Airmen, including pilots, engineers, and support staff, from Kunsan Air Base, boosting its fleet to create a so-called “Super Squadron.”

Officials are evaluating the impact on sortie generation, maintenance, and manpower to assess enhanced combat effectiveness. It is unclear if the shift could be made permanent.

Kunsan is more isolated than Osan, located more than 120 miles south of Seoul in a rural area. The base does not offer command sponsorship positions, meaning the longer tours will not affect Airmen there. It hosts the 8th Fighter Wing and about 2,800 military and civilian personnel, the typical assignment at Kunsan is a one-year unaccompanied tour, with most Airmen living in barracks.

Personnel

airandspaceforces.com · by Unshin Harpley · February 27, 2025

7.

I think Rep Kim Gun is right. This is an aspect of Kim Jong Un's political warfare strategy. And we must never forget this strategic assumption that we must make:

North Korea will never negotiate away its nuclear capabilities while the Kim family regime remains in power.

This is a Google translation of an RFA report.

“Kim Jong-un plans US-North Korea negotiations after ‘securing US MD neutralization capability’”

https://www.rfa.org/korean/in-focus/2025/02/27/north-missile-defense-neutralization-multiple-warheads/

Seoul-Handohyeong hando@rfa.org

2025.02.27

Kim Gun, a former diplomat and People Power Party lawmaker, is giving a presentation at the People Power Party lawmakers' study group 'Tomorrow' on the 27th. 

(/RFA PHOTO)

Anchor: Rep. Kim Gun, a former South Korean diplomat, analyzed that after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un secured the ability to neutralize the US missile defense system (MD), he is likely planning to conduct US-North Korea negotiations from a more favorable perspective. Reporter Han Do-hyung reports from Seoul.

A meeting of the study group 'Tomorrow' of South Korea's ruling People Power Party members held on the 27th at the National Assembly with the theme, 'At the forefront of North Korean nuclear negotiations: Opportunities and challenges for peace on the Korean Peninsula.'

People Power Party lawmaker Kim Gun, who served as head of the North Korea Nuclear Diplomacy Planning Team and head of the Korean Peninsula Peace Negotiation Headquarters, said in a statement that day, “The reason why General Secretary Kim Jong-un of the North Korean Workers’ Party is currently not interested in negotiating with U.S. President Trump is because he believes that the conditions for negotiation have not yet been established.”

Rep. Kim analyzed that General Secretary Kim likely concluded that after the breakdown of the second North Korea-US summit in 2019, the so-called “Hanoi no-deal,” future negotiations could only proceed in the desired direction if North Korea demonstrated its ability to neutralize the US missile defense system (MD).

There is an explanation that General Secretary Kim interpreted that President Trump was able to leave Hanoi despite his threat (New Year's address by General Secretary Kim Jong-un on January 1, 2018) that "the nuclear button is on the table" because of his trust in the US missile defense (MD) capabilities.

Rep. Kim said North Korea will work to demonstrate three capabilities that could threaten the United States: intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) atmospheric reentry technology, nuclear warhead miniaturization technology, and multiple warhead technology.

Rep. Kim also speculated that North Korea may have a plan to include a miniaturized hydrogen bomb in its multiple warheads.

[People Power Party Rep. Kim Gun] Since President Trump trusted in the US missile defense system and ignored me, I think he thought that the next time I negotiate, I should show the ability to completely neutralize the US missile defense system and then do it. There are three things. The first is (ICBM) atmospheric reentry technology. The warhead should be a miniaturized hydrogen bomb. The ICBM should be launched far enough to destroy a city to be meaningful.

“Russia’s support of sensitive technologies is the most important factor in North Korea-Russia trade”

Rep. Kim analyzed that in order to prove the reentry technology of an ICBM, a mislaunch is required, and in order to secure the technology to miniaturize a nuclear warhead and a hydrogen bomb, (at least) two nuclear tests are needed, and the reason North Korea has not yet conducted such tests is because it has not reached the necessary technological level.

Rep. Kim said that North Korea is maintaining close relations with Russia, including through the dispatch of troops, in order to quickly reach the level of technology it wants, adding that Russia's support of related technologies is the most important factor in North Korea-Russia transactions.

[People Power Party Rep. Kim Gun] ICBMs need to be launched in a spurious manner, and nuclear tests need to be conducted in two ways. They kept getting blocked, so they went to Russia. That’s why this is the most important factor in trade between Russia and North Korea. In order to quickly reach that level of technology, even sacrificing so many soldiers, you can see that they are maintaining a relationship with Russia.

In addition, Rep. Kim diagnosed the North Korean regime as “a regime that is slowly dying, unable to develop the economy or engage in international exchanges,” and said that the second North Korea-US summit in 2019 was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for General Secretary Kim.

It was also analyzed that the background to US President Trump demanding that General Secretary Kim give up the Kangson Complex along with the dismantlement of the Yongbyon nuclear facility at the 2019 US-North Korea summit was the political consideration that there should be results greater than the Geneva Agreement and the Six-Party Talks, which previously agreed to freeze and dismantle Yongbyon.

Kim Gun, People Power Party lawmaker. 

(/ RFA PHOTO)

Related Articles

“North Korea, ‘Maximizing Military Provocation’ Possibility This Year”

“North Korea to Raise Nuclear Test Threat Level After New U.S. Administration Takes Office Next Year”

Meanwhile, there has been previous expert analysis suggesting that North Korea will increase military tensions before entering into US-North Korea negotiations.

Yang Wook, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, predicted in a report titled “North Korea’s Military Trends in 2024 and Choices in 2025” released on January 21 that if the end of the Ukraine War becomes clear, North Korea will draw maximum benefits from Russia before entering into nuclear negotiations with the United States as a nuclear-armed state, and will seek to create maximum tension prior to the negotiations.

In a report titled “Analysis of the Possibilities and Conditions for US-North Korea Dialogue in the Second Term of the Trump Administration” published on December 24 last year, Sung Ki-young, a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS), stated that “one of the most effective ways for North Korea to attract the attention of the United States is to increase military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.”

The Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS), a research institute under the National Intelligence Service, South Korea's intelligence agency, stated in its report titled "2024 Situation Assessment and 2025 Outlook" released on December 12 last year that North Korea could threaten to conduct a seventh nuclear test in the first half of this year in order to flaunt its nuclear force presence against the United States, and analyzed that there is a possibility that the Trump administration's second-term perception of North Korea could be explored through actions such as the relaunch of a reconnaissance satellite and the disclosure of the construction of a nuclear submarine.

This is Han Do-hyung from RFA Free Asia Broadcasting in Seoul.

Editor Yang Seong-won, Web Editor Lee Gyeong-ha

8. U.S. Defense Official: “Currently No Signs of Additional Troop Deployment by North Korea”

This is a Google translation of an RFA report.

I assume the official is basing this on intelligence while the rest of us are reading news reports and speculating.

U.S. Defense Official: “Currently No Signs of Additional Troop Deployment by North Korea”

https://www.rfa.org/korean/in-focus/2025/02/27/north-korea-additional-troops-russia/

WASHINGTON-Lee Sang-min lees@rfa.org

2025.02.27

Pentagon Building 

(AP)

Anchor: Regarding the South Korean National Intelligence Service's announcement that North Korea has deployed additional troops to Russia, a U.S. defense official has stated that there are currently no signs of additional North Korean troops being deployed. Reporter Lee Sang-min reports.

When asked by Radio Free Asia (RFA) to confirm the National Intelligence Service’s notice to reporters on the 27th stating that North Korea appeared to have sent additional troops to support Russia, a U.S. official said, “We do not comment on assessments by foreign intelligence agencies.”

He went on to say that the U.S. Department of Defense has been saying that there are no signs of additional deployment of North Korean troops, and when asked by RFA if there has been any change in this position, he replied, “As of now, there has been no change.”

The National Intelligence Service previously added that the exact size of the additional North Korean troops being dispatched is currently unknown. However, it is known that the number of troops being dispatched this time is estimated to be over 1,000.

North Korea is believed to have dispatched approximately 11,000 troops to the Kursk region in Russia to support the Russian military fighting in the Ukrainian war.

Among them, there were approximately 4,000 casualties, and the North Korean military retreated from the front line but is observed to have recently returned .

With approximately one-third of all North Korean troops dispatched being killed or injured, attention has been focused on whether additional North Korean troops will be dispatched.

North Korean soldiers march during a large military parade in Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on April 15, 2012. 

(AP)

Related Articles

National Intelligence Service: “North Korea to Deploy Additional Troops to Russia… Re-deployment to Frontline in First Week of February”

US Defense Official: North Korean Troops Return to Front Line in Ukraine

Ukraine: “North Korean troops retreat from front line, causing casualties”

Bruce Bennett, a senior researcher at the RAND Corporation in the United States, told RFA on the 27th that if General Secretary Kim Jong-un sent the North Korean military for the purpose of making money, he would have continued to send an additional 10,000 troops.

However, Senior Researcher Bennett analyzed that the purpose of sending North Korean troops was not money, but rather the agreement in the 'Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership ' signed between North Korea and Russia in June of last year to provide military aid without delay if either side is invaded by force.

He pointed out that the fact that the North Korean troops were dispatched not to Ukrainian territory but to Kursk, Russian territory acquired by Ukraine, is evidence of this.

[Senior Researcher Bennett] Kim Jong-un is trying to set a precedent for President Vladimir Putin that he has kept the treaty. So if there is an armed conflict with South Korea later, he will demand that the Russian military be sent to North Korea, claiming that the South Korean military attacked North Korean territory.

He argued that for this reason North Korea would not send additional troops to Russia.

This is Lee Sang-min from RFA Radio Free Asia.

Editor Park Jeong-woo, Web Editor Lee Gyeong-ha

9. N. Korea launched strategic cruise missiles this week to prove nuclear deterrence: KCNA

Hardly a blip on the radar. The press is not sensationalizing this.

Kim Jong Un is going to be upset that we all have north Korea fatigue.

(2nd LD) N. Korea launched strategic cruise missiles this week to prove nuclear deterrence: KCNA | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · February 28, 2025

(ATTN: REWRITES lead; UPDATES with more details in paras 7-9, 11-12; ADDS byline)

By Kim Soo-yeon and Chae Yun-hwan

SEOUL, Feb. 28 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Friday it launched strategic cruise missiles in waters off its west coast earlier this week, with its leader Kim Jong-un calling for thorough war preparedness with the country's nuclear forces and readiness for their use.

A missile unit of the Korean People's Army (KPA) in western areas conducted the launch drills Wednesday morning, overseen by Kim, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The exercise was aimed at informing the country's enemies of the KPA's counterattack capability in any space, as well as the readiness of its various nuclear operation means, and demonstrating the reliability of the North's nuclear deterrence, according to the report.

The North's leader called for permanently defending the country's sovereign right and security with the "reliable nuclear shield."

"What is guaranteed by powerful striking ability is the most perfect deterrence and defense capacity," Kim said, stressing North Korea should strive for "more thorough battle readiness of nuclear force and full preparedness for their use."

The missiles precisely hit the targets after traveling on a 1,587-kilometer-long oval trajectory for 7,961-7,973 seconds, the KCNA said.

North Korea's reference to "strategic" weapons suggests that they could have nuclear capabilities.

This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Feb. 28, 2025, shows the North's firing of a strategic cruise missile in a launching drill overseen by its leader Kim Jong-un on Feb. 26. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

South Korea's military confirmed the missile firing, noting it had detected the launches of multiple cruise missiles toward the Yellow Sea at about 8 a.m. Wednesday, and they were being analyzed by South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities.

"Our military is closely monitoring various North Korean activities under the firm South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture so that North Korea does not misjudge the current security situation," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message sent to reporters.

The latest launch marked the North's first firing of cruise missiles since Jan. 25. North Korea test-fired what it called sea-to-surface strategic cruise guided missiles at that time, marking its first missile launch since U.S. President Donald Trump took office last month.

It also took place ahead of a major springtime military exercise between South Korea and the United States, named Freedom Shield, set to kick off next month.

Pyongyang has long denounced the allies' joint military drills as a rehearsal for an invasion. Seoul and Washington have said their military exercises are defensive in nature.

This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Feb. 28, 2025, shows the North's leader Kim Jong-un overseeing the launch of strategic cruise missiles Feb. 26. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

sooyeon@yna.co.kr

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr

(END)

10. Trump continues the American tradition of abandoning allies

As usual, Don Kirk pulls no punches. He provides us with a historical reminder and only scratches the surface.

Does it make a difference that Ukraine and Taiwan are not allies but South Korea is?

He provides some ominous foreshadowing.

Excerpts:

For that matter, what about South Korea? Would Trump be likely to wage a second Korean War to protect it again? North Korea’s hereditary dictator, Kim Jong Un, grandson of Kim Il Sung, founder of the regime that’s now a “nuclear power,” as Trump has called it, today threatens our side with much worse devastation. Trump has repeated traditional calls for “Complete, Verifiable, Irreversible Dismantlement” of North Korea’s nuclear program, but he’s been “in love” with Kim ever since their first summit in Singapore in June 2018. Let us not forget that he spoke during his first term of withdrawing most of America’s 28,500 troops from the South, playing into Kim’s strategy for reuniting the Korean peninsula on his own harsh terms. 

Kim’s new relationship with Putin, to whom he is providing arms and troops, may pave the way for another Trump-Kim summit, if Trump forces a deal with Putin on Ukraine while excluding Ukraine’s president from the process. Then look for Trump, after putting on a tough-guy show on slashing China’s enormous trade surplus with the U.S., to kowtow before China’s president, promising they would do “everything possible to make the World more peaceful and safe!” Those words, eerily similar to his praise for Putin, don’t foretell a stout defense of America’s Asian friends against Chinese bullying and worse. 

Trump continues the American tradition of abandoning allies 

by Donald Kirk, opinion contributor - 02/27/25 8:00 AM ET

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5165601-trump-ukraine-lessons-history/?utm

President Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine takes me back to 60 years ago, when I first set foot in Vietnam as a journalist after covering the end of the era of anti-Americanism in Indonesia and the downfall of Sukarno.

In the face of corruption, destructive political rivalries and the failure of U.S.-advised South Vietnamese forces, the Americans were having a deeper impact on the Vietnamese than many realized. It was not that “we are winning,” as U.S. commanders claimed, but that American influence pervaded every corner of the culture of what we then called South Vietnam to differentiate it from the perceived enemy, North Vietnam. 

As I flew in and out of Vietnam on extended visits from Hong Kong and then Tokyo, then spent a couple of years writing a book in the venerable Hotel Majestic overlooking the Saigon River, I came to realize how much the Vietnamese not only counted on their American ally and benefactor but also how they trusted us. Whatever journalists might write on the horrors of the war, the disruption of civilized life and the unlikelihood of a happy ending, millions of South Vietnamese depended on the American forces in their midst. 

That’s why it came as such an incredible shock when the Americans cut and ran 50 years ago, leaving the South Vietnamese to fend for themselves against the North Vietnamese. 

Who would have thought the Americans — big and rich, arrogant and often ignorant as they were — would not come to their rescue as the North Vietnamese poured southward, taking over town after town, base after base, until the fall of the Saigon regime on April 30, 1975? About 3 million people from South Vietnam and neighboring Cambodia and Laos fled over the next two decades — hundreds of thousands on fishing boats. Tens of thousands of them died.  

Likewise, as many as 2.8 million Cambodians were killed during more than three years of Khmer Rouge rule after the U.S. stopped showering the Phnom Penh regime with military aid and stopped the air support that had held the Khmer Rouge at bay.  

It is easy to rationalize all this suffering by saying the Americans should never have plunged into the war there in the first place. A significant number of Americans were anti-war — many sympathetic with the communist government in Hanoi. And the American bug-out ranks as the most humiliating defeat in American history until now. It set the pattern for debacles in which U.S. forces have withdrawn, fled or yielded to the enemy when politicians willing to compromise with foes at home and abroad tired of waging war. 

That’s essentially what Trump has been doing in Ukraine: begging his friend, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, for negotiations that would sanctify Russia’s gains — and set the stage for the next phase of a struggle in which the Russians would fight to take over all Ukraine, as they did during Tsarist rule and again during the communist era, with Joseph Stalin grabbing Ukraine’s rich agricultural products, notably wheat, leaving millions to die. 

Ever since the defeat of the old Saigon regime, we’ve been facing more compromise and more defeat. As the winners of two world wars, having defended the southern “half” of the Korean peninsula against North Korean and Chinese onslaughts, the U.S. has suffered setbacks in just about every significant conflict in which our presidents have invested arms or lives. Vietnam may rank as our worst total defeat, but we can’t say we haven’t lost a few since then. 

We are still living with the aftermath of George W. Bush’s decision to order American forces into Iraq in 2003, overthrowing Saddam Hussein. I arrived in Baghdad in June 2004 on the day Bush transferred “sovereignty” to a Baghdad regime that could hardly survive without the infusion of more than 100,000 American troops plus air support and arms. Now the regime is left with 2,000 or so U.S. military advisers offering clues on how to survive against its Iran-backed foes and remnants of the Islamic State.  

Trump, in a foretaste of what he’s doing to Ukraine, abandoned the Kurds in southern Turkey and Syria to the mercies of the Turks during his first presidency. Next, though he loudly denies it, Trump shares responsibility with his much maligned successor, former President Joe Biden, for abandoning the Afghan regime that the U.S. had been defending for a decade. First, Trump pulled about 10,000 American troops out of Afghanistan and then made a deal with the Taliban to withdraw American support. As with his effort at bullying Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky into compliance, so he overlooked the former Afghan government. Trump loves to blame Biden for the fiasco of the final American pullout in August 2021, but Trump had already decided the war was over for the U.S.

It would be nice to rationalize America’s decisions, from Vietnam onward, to cut and run as necessary or inevitable, but we see the same scenario playing out in Ukraine. The war, as fought with tens of billions of dollars’ worth of American arms and ammunition, is not likely to end well — at least, as far as Trump is concerned — so why not make a deal with Putin? Trump may claim that he’s getting Putin to agree to settle for what the Russians have already carved out in the eastern and southeastern Donbas region, as well as Crimea, but we must assume Putin wants the rest of the country too — and will fight to get it on some spurious pretext.

Or was this all a negotiating strategy, to bring Zelensky to the table? Ukraine and the U.S. will be meeting on Friday in D.C. to discuss a “natural resources deal” as “part of future security guarantees.” Interesting, but with Russia dead-set against “peace-keepers” from European members of NATO in Ukraine guaranteeing the peace, we can be none too sure Putin will go for it.

After Ukraine, Trump will face still more challenges, but it’s questionable if he will reverse the trend. What if President Xi Jinping finally decides to take on the independent island state of Taiwan, 90 miles from Chinese mainland at the closest point? Or, what if Xi wants to attack the Philippines from bases the Chinese have built in the South China Sea, which China says is all theirs? Trump may make a show of challenging the Chinese in a terrible trade war, but we can be pretty sure that he would not order a strong defense of either Taiwan, which Biden assured we’re “committed” to defend, or the Philippines, with which Biden strengthened our alliance. 

For that matter, what about South Korea? Would Trump be likely to wage a second Korean War to protect it again? North Korea’s hereditary dictator, Kim Jong Un, grandson of Kim Il Sung, founder of the regime that’s now a “nuclear power,” as Trump has called it, today threatens our side with much worse devastation. Trump has repeated traditional calls for “Complete, Verifiable, Irreversible Dismantlement” of North Korea’s nuclear program, but he’s been “in love” with Kim ever since their first summit in Singapore in June 2018. Let us not forget that he spoke during his first term of withdrawing most of America’s 28,500 troops from the South, playing into Kim’s strategy for reuniting the Korean peninsula on his own harsh terms. 

Kim’s new relationship with Putin, to whom he is providing arms and troops, may pave the way for another Trump-Kim summit, if Trump forces a deal with Putin on Ukraine while excluding Ukraine’s president from the process. Then look for Trump, after putting on a tough-guy show on slashing China’s enormous trade surplus with the U.S., to kowtow before China’s president, promising they would do “everything possible to make the World more peaceful and safe!” Those words, eerily similar to his praise for Putin, don’t foretell a stout defense of America’s Asian friends against Chinese bullying and worse. 

Donald Kirk has been a journalist for more than 60 years, focusing much of his career on conflict in Asia and the Middle East, including as a correspondent for the Washington Star and Chicago Tribune. He is currently a freelance correspondent covering North and South Korea, and is the author of several books about Asian affairs.    

11. South Korean government 'alleged agency' North Korea expert: "Indictment should be dismissed... FBI, coercive interrogation"

This is a Google translation of a VOA report.

South Korean government 'alleged agency' North Korea expert: "Indictment should be dismissed... FBI, coercive interrogation"

https://www.voakorea.com/a/7990788.html

2025.2.28

Ham Ji-ha

Sue Mi Terry, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). (File photo)

share

 View comments

 Print article body

A former CIA North Korea expert accused of failing to properly report while representing the South Korean government has directly refuted prosecutors’ claims. He has requested the court to dismiss the case, claiming that he is not subject to the controversial Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and that there were coercive interrogations during the investigation. Reporter Ham Ji-ha reports.

Sue Mi Terry, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst and White House National Security Council (NSC) adviser, submitted a document to the court on the 26th officially refuting the prosecution's "indictment."

Sumiteri's side: " Not subject to the Foreign Agent Registration Act "

The document, released on the Public Access Court Electronic Records (PACER) system, contains approximately 70 pages of detailed information pointing out the unfairness of this prosecution.

Last July, the Southern District of New York federal prosecutor arrested and indicted researcher Terry on charges of acting on behalf of the Korean government without reporting it to the relevant authorities.

The indictment released at the time contained the content that Researcher Terry had transmitted certain confidential information to the South Korean National Intelligence Service and connected key figures in the United States, but had not previously complied with his reporting obligations under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

However, Terry's attorney argued that Terry was not subject to the Foreign Agents Registration Act because he did not influence U.S. policy or act on behalf of a foreign government.

In particular, they emphasized the fact that Researcher Terry's actions were carried out "voluntarily" and were merely personal networking activities, not at the direction or request of a foreign government, namely the National Intelligence Service of Korea, and pointed out that he was not given any legal obligation under the "Foreign Agents Registration Act" in the first place.

It also emphasized that the 'Foreign Agent Registration Act' aims to block 'malicious influence' from foreign governments or political groups. In contrast, the explanation is that Researcher Terry's actions were directed at the Korean government, and therefore do not conform to the original purpose of the Foreign Agent Registration Act.

Accordingly, Researcher Terry's side argued that this indictment should be overturned, that is, dismissed.

They also requested that the court order the prosecution to specify the 'details' as the charges stated in the indictment are not specific.

Researcher Terry also officially requested that his statement to the FBI at the time be excluded from the trial, claiming that FBI agents visited his home in June 2023 and conducted coercive interrogation procedures without informing him of the Miranda Rights.

Prosecutors expected to submit rebuttal documents

It remains to be seen to what extent the court will accept Researcher Terry's demands.

U.S. prosecutors are expected to soon submit documents to the court refuting Researcher Terry's claims.

In July, Damien Williams, then the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a press release at the time of the indictment of Researcher Terry, “Terry is alleged to have sold her position and influence to the South Korean government in exchange for designer handbags, expensive meals, and thousands of dollars in funding for public policy programs.”

He went on to say that the indictment at the time “should send a clear message to public policymakers who might be tempted to sell their expertise to foreign governments that they should think twice and follow the law.”

Born in Korea, Researcher Terry served as an analyst at the CIA from 2001 to 2008, and later served as Director of the White House National Security Council (NSC) Bureau for Korea, Japan, and Oceania Affairs and the National Intelligence Council (NIC) Bureau Analyst for East Asia.

After working as a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and director of the Wilson Center's Asia Program, he was appointed senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations last year.

This is Ham Ji-ha from VOA News.

12. Tens of thousands set to hold rallies for, against Yoon's impeachment

Note the photo of the protestors. What a difference 2024-2025 compared to 1980 and 1987. The lack of any major political violence is astounding. I hope it stays that way.

Tens of thousands set to hold rallies for, against Yoon's impeachment | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Hyun-soo · February 28, 2025

SEOUL, Feb. 28 (Yonhap) -- Tens of thousands of people are expected to hold large-scale rallies for or against President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment Saturday, police said Friday, as the nation is still reeling from political fallout from Yoon's failed bid to impose martial law Dec. 3.

Rallies are scheduled to take place in central Seoul, including Gwanghwamun, Jongno and Yeouido, prompting police and the Seoul city government to draw up measures for traffic and crowd controls, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

Political polarization has heightened, with hearings of Yoon's impeachment trials completed early this week. The Constitutional Court has started deliberations to decide whether to remove Yoon from office or reinstate him.

Candlelight Action, a progressive civic group, will hold a national "candlelight cultural festival" at an intersection near Anguk Station at 2 p.m.

The main opposition Democratic Party and four other opposition parties will hold a rally calling for Yoon's impeachment at 3:30 p.m. in the same location, and protesters will march together at 5 p.m.

Rallies led by conservative activist pastor Jeon Kwang-hoon will gather near the Gwanghwamun area of central Seoul at 1 p.m. to oppose Yoon's impeachment and march toward the Constitutional Court.

Separately, another conservative Christian group, Save Korea, will hold a prayer meeting near a road linking Yeouido to the Mapo Bridge.

Pro-Yoon protesters hold a rally against President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment near Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, in this file photo taken Feb. 15, 2025. (Yonhap)

sookim@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Hyun-soo · February 28, 2025

13. N. Korea executes officials after agricultural inspection scandal sparks public outrage

Be concerned with indicators of internal instability. Where is the tipping point?

N. Korea executes officials after agricultural inspection scandal sparks public outrage - Daily NK English

Local officials, under pressure to fulfill the party's mandate to "unconditionally ensure" military rice supplies, had demanded that ordinary citizens make up the shortfall in quotas

By Seon Hwa - February 27, 2025

dailynk.com · by Seon Hwa · February 27, 2025

On Oct. 10, the Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported that 'the Kangan Farm in Unpa county and Woram Farm in Kumchon county of North Hwanghae province have completed their harvest distribution,' claiming they 'achieved developments in grain production through patriotic passion and the power of science and technology.' (Rodong Sinmun/News1)

North Korean authorities have carried out public executions of approximately ten officials involved in what the regime termed “mega crimes” in Jagang province’s Usi county.

The executed officials included members of the county’s agricultural inspection organ and the chief of the local Ministry of Social Security branch. The executions took place on Jan. 31, following condemnation of the officials at the recent 30th enlarged meeting of the Secretariat of the Eighth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, where their actions were denounced as “anti-people” crimes.

The swift executions came immediately after the Secretariat meeting, though several other implicated officials remain under investigation. These include the chief secretary of the county party committee and members of the agricultural management committee, who were spared from this round of executions pending further inquiry.

According to Daily NK’s source in Jagang province, the incident began last autumn when local officials, under pressure to fulfill the party’s mandate to “unconditionally ensure” military rice supplies, demanded that ordinary citizens make up the shortfall in quotas. When public compliance proved insufficient, the agricultural inspection organ formed teams to conduct door-to-door searches.

“These home searches weren’t unprecedented, but this time they crossed a line,” the source explained. “The inspectors didn’t just seize grain – they took livestock and household appliances, devastating people’s livelihoods.” The severity of these actions prompted residents to draw stark historical comparisons, with some telling the inspectors that “not even Japanese police during the occupation would have done something like this” and that “times are even harder than during the colonial era.”

The situation worsened when citizens attempted to report the misconduct to the county’s Ministry of Social Security branch. Rather than investigating the complaints, the branch office alerted the agricultural inspection organ about the reports. This collusion ultimately led to the public execution of the branch chief alongside the other officials.

The source noted that such practices extend beyond Usi county: “This abnormal way of doing business is widespread throughout society. Yet as usual, the state addresses these issues by punishing specific individuals rather than addressing the root causes.”

Public reaction to the executions has been mixed. Some people questioned the necessity of such severe punishment for what they viewed as routine practices, while others expressed sympathy for officials who “died a dog’s death trying to carry out the party’s orders.”

“The authorities executed officials for their methods of fulfilling party policy to ‘unconditionally ensure’ military rice stores, calling it an ‘anti-people crime,'” the source said. “But whether this will end the practice of forcing the public to make up military rice shortfalls remains to be seen. The general hope is that the authorities will stop these executions and implement fundamental reforms instead.”

Read in Korean

dailynk.com · by Seon Hwa · February 27, 2025

14. North Korea expert Sue Mi Terry files motions to dismiss foreign influence case

Can we please provide some resources to go after NORTH Korean spies? Sometimes I think we have people who still ask when they hear "Korea:" Is that the good Korea or the bad Korea?

There are people who are doing far worse in support of the north.

North Korea expert Sue Mi Terry files motions to dismiss foreign influence case

Terry’s attorneys argue US allegations that she worked for ROK spies are flawed and based on coerced statements

Ifang Bremer February 28, 2025

https://www.nknews.org/2025/02/north-korea-expert-sue-mi-terry-files-motions-to-dismiss-foreign-influence-case/

Sue Mi Terry speaking at a conference | Image: New America via Flickr (April 9, 2018) (CC BY 2.0)

Attorneys for North Korea expert Sue Mi Terry have filed pretrial motions seeking to dismiss the U.S. government’s case alleging that she worked for South Korean spies, arguing that the prosecution is legally flawed and based on coerced statements obtained through improper interrogation tactics.

The motions, filed in the Southern District of New York, also seek to suppress key evidence and compel the government to disclose classified surveillance materials.

Terry, a former CIA analyst and White House official, was charged in July 2024 with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and acting as an unregistered foreign agent of South Korea. 

The U.S. government alleges that Terry, over the course of a decade, promoted Seoul’s policy positions in publications and media appearances, shared sensitive information with South Korean intelligence officers and facilitated access to U.S. officials. In exchange, she allegedly received designer handbags, dinners at Michelin-starred restaurants and more than $37,000 in covert funding for a Korean affairs public policy program she controlled.

But in a 61-page motion, her legal team contends that the charges misrepresent standard professional conduct for a foreign policy expert, and that the case even “threatens the ways in which all academics, think tankers, and journalists do their work — work that is essential to a healthy democracy.”

Her lawyers claim that prosecutors failed to establish a clear quid pro quo connecting her work to the designer bags and coat that she received from an ROK intelligence agent. However, the motion does not address the reason Terry received the gifts.

The motion also seeks to suppress statements Terry gave to law enforcement, arguing that comments she made to FBI agents on June 5, 2023 were coerced. It includes a detailed nine-page sworn affidavit by Terry in which she describes how FBI agents questioned her without informing her of her right to remain silent or the right to have an attorney present.

Terry recounts that three FBI agents showed up outside her Manhattan apartment at 8:40 a.m. on that day. The agents “did not permit me to change or even put on a bra, even though my bedroom was only a few steps away. Instead, the agents entered my apartment, told me that we needed to talk and ordered me to sit down. I interpreted their words and tone to mean that it was urgent, and that they had authority over me.”

“With three FBI agents in my apartment preventing me from putting on undergarments and changing into proper clothing, and aggressively demanding to speak with me, I did not feel free to refuse them,” she claimed.

In the affidavit, Terry denies that she willingly invited an agent of Seoul’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) to a gathering with congressional staffers. Prosecutors allege that she hosted a happy hour in Washington for congressional staff members in July 2022, which was allegedly paid for by South Korean intelligence officers posing as diplomats.

At the happy hour, Terry’s NIS contact mingled with “congressional staff without disclosing that he was a ROK intelligence officer,” according to prosecutors.

She states in the affidavit that one of the FBI agents “seemed very angry and scolded me for allowing an NIS official to take part in the event.” She said the agent accused her “of facilitating a recruiting opportunity,” and that she was “confused as to why the agents were so concerned by my professional activities — activities that I in no way tried to hide.”

Terry asserts that she was intimidated by the accusations, explaining to the FBI agents that she “set up the ‘happy hour’ for congressional staff simply so that they would leave my ‘masterclass’ on a good note and give the program positive reviews.”

The defense’s motions to dismiss the case come after the Department of Justice announced in January that it would be making major changes to FARA, disbanding a task force that investigated foreign influence operations and focusing more on “alleged conduct similar to more traditional espionage by foreign government actors.” 

But it’s unclear what the implications of this development are for Terry’s case.

Benjamin Engel, an assistant professor at Dankook University who specializes in U.S.-ROK relations, told NK News that the FARA changes by the Trump administration are mainly “geared toward protecting Trump loyalists from prosecution and shielding them as they engage in potentially corrupt behavior moving forward,” following accusations of Russian influence in the 2016 election.

“Terry’s case is neither linked to Russia, nor is she necessarily a Trump loyalist,” the expert explained.

According to prosecutors, Terry never registered as a foreign agent under FARA as required by law while engaging in the alleged activities from 2013 to 2023. If convicted, she could face up to five years in prison.

Following her legal team’s motions, New York’s Southern District court will now need to decide whether to dismiss the charges against Terry, or proceed with the case. 

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