Quotes of the Day:

"I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self." 

– Aristotle

"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root." 

– Henry David Thoreau

"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them." ​

– Ray Bradbury

​1. North Korea: Sealing China Border Worsens Crisis, Says HRW

2, She fled North Korea but was sold to a man in China. Her second escape came nearly 20 years later.

3, Top general visits Air Force missile defense center amid N.K. threats

4, Finance chiefs of S. Korea, U.S., Japan arranging 3-way meeting

5, Ex-defense chief departs for Australia to take office as ambassador

6, N. Korean delegation departs for Mongolia

7. S. Korea to dismantle support foundation for Kaesong complex as early as next week

8. Pyongyang caught off guard by Havana

9. What does Putin owe Kim Jong-un for Ukraine?

10. What’s Korea’s choice for survival?

11. The Power of Capitalism: Kim vs the market only has one winner

12. The IC OSINT Strategy 2024-2026 - The INT of First Resort: Unlocking the Value of OSINT

1. North Korea: Sealing China Border Worsens Crisis, Says HRW

​Despite all the rhetoric and threats we hear from the regime, Kim Jong Un fears the Korean people in the north more than he fears the ROK and US militaries. He must deny their human rights in order to remain in power. And when faced with an internal crisis he must generate the perception of an external threat to justify the suffering and sacrifice of the Korean people in the north.

And the biggest threat of all to the regime is the "example" and ideal of the South. The freedom, prosperity, and happiness that exists in the South is a threat to the regime. This is why he must try to close off all information flow into the north. (but like airpower theory and the bomber - information will always get through - imagine if we really made an effort to get information into the north).

North Korea: Sealing China Border Worsens Crisis, Says HRW

eurasiareview.com · March 9, 2024

North Korea’s government under Kim Jong Un has effectively sealed its northern border with China, worsening an already grave humanitarian and human rights situation in the country, Human Rights Watch said in a new report.

The 148-page report, “‘A Sense of Terror Stronger than a Bullet’: The Closing of North Korea 2018-2023,” documents the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK or North Korea) overbroad, excessive, and unnecessary measures during the Covid-19 pandemic, including quarantines and new restrictions on economic activity and freedom of movement. The government’s new measures have severely affected food security and the availability of products needed by North Koreans to survive that previously entered the country via formal or informal trade routes from China. United Nations Security Council sanctions from 2016 and 2017 limited most exports and some imports, harming the country’s economy as well as people’s ability to make a living and access food and essential goods.

“North Korea’s sealing of its border since 2020 and the unintended effects of UN Security Council sanctions since 2017 have increased hardships on the long-suffering North Korean people,” said Lina Yoon, senior Korea researcher at Human Rights Watch. “North Korean leader Kim Jong Un should end the policies that have essentially made North Korea a giant prison, reopen its borders for trade, relax internal travel restrictions, and allow monitored international emergency assistance.”

Concerned governments should urgently address the impact of North Korea’s increased isolation on the basic rights of North Koreans. Even before new restrictions were put in place, North Korea was among the most isolated and repressive countries in the world.

From 2015 through 2023, Human Rights Watch interviewed almost 150 North Koreans outside the country, including 32 North Korean escapees with knowledge or experience of relevant conditions in recent years. Human Rights Watch also made extensive use of satellite imagery, analysis of open-source videos and photographs, interviews with journalists and activists with contacts inside the country and in China, international trade data, media reports, and academic studies.

Cross-border activities decreased in late 2017 after UN Security Council sanctions in 2016 and 2017 led China to impose strict new trade and travel controls on its side of the border. Cross-border travel and trade decreased further during the Covid-19 pandemic.

After the start of the pandemic in 2020, the North Korean government sealed the country’s borders by constructing new and expanded fences and guard posts and strictly enforcing rules, including a standing order for border guards to “shoot on sight” any person or animal approaching the border without permission. The border crackdown compounded the negative effects of earlier UN Security Council sanctions.

North Korean authorities also clamped down on bribery and various forms of low-level unsanctioned economic activity, which since the 1990s had enabled people to maneuver around overbroad governmental controls. Many families need to engage in these vital activities to obtain money or food to survive. The government also further tightened restrictions on communication with the outside world and access to information, while intensifying other ideological controls to prevent unrest.

The new restrictions enabled the government to strengthen its grip on power and reimpose control where its dominance had weakened over the past 30 years: in particular, over the border, market activity, unsanctioned travel, and access to information.

Satellite images starkly reveal the increased security enforcement on the North Korean side of its northern border after early 2020. An in-depth analysis of six selected border areas, totaling 321 kilometers, shows that North Korean authorities fenced off almost all the analyzed areas by 2022 or 2023, with almost 500 kilometers of new fences.

Most of the areas that Human Rights Watch analyzed now have two, and in one small part three, layers of fences. Images also show upgraded primary fences in several areas, new or improved guard patrol paths, as well as new garrisons, watchtowers, and guard posts. In the areas analyzed, Human Rights Watch found a 20-fold increase in security facilities since 2019. A total of 6,820 facilities have been placed near new or improved fences, an average of one every 110 meters. The government’s expanded internal security at its northern border has made almost all unsanctioned domestic and international travel impossible, whether to conduct informal commercial activities or to escape the country.

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, North Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world. The government has long struggled to ensure food security, adequate childhood nutrition, and access to medicine. For decades, the government has prioritized the development of nuclear weapons and missile programs over basic social services, diverting billions of dollars of revenues that could have been spent on social and public services and infrastructure to spur economic growth and promote economic and social rights.

The UN Security Council should urgently review current sanctions on North Korea, and the measures states take to enforce them, to evaluate their impacts on human rights and delivery of humanitarian aid, Human Rights Watch said. They should also seek more information from UN officials about the connections between North Korea’s weapons programs and its human rights situation.

“North Koreans have lived in deprivation and isolation for decades,” Yoon said. “The UN Security Council and concerned governments should press Kim Jong Un to end the country’s systematic human rights abuses and begin a dialogue to reopen the country to the outside world.”

eurasiareview.com · March 9, 2024

2. She fled North Korea but was sold to a man in China. Her second escape came nearly 20 years later.

We must continue to push for a human rights up front approach and remember those who have suffered and are continuing to suffer under the rule of Kim Jong Un.

The root of all problems in Korea is the existence of the most evil mafia- like crime family cult known as the Kim family regime that has the objective of dominating the Korean Peninsula under the rule of the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State. 

Chae-ran, who escaped North Korea only to be trafficked in China, prepares food at her new home in South Korea. Yoonjung Seo/CNN

She fled North Korea but was sold to a man in China. Her second escape came nearly 20 years later.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/08/asia/north-korean-refugees-trafficked-china-intl-hnk-dst/index.html?utm

By Jessie Yeung and Yoonjung Seo, CNN

 10 minute read 

Published 7:07 PM EST, Fri March 8, 2024

Seoul, South KoreaCNN — 

Chae-ran sets the plate of sliced oranges and dragon fruit on the floor, a few feet from the pile of bedding where she sleeps.

At 35 years old she is starting over again, alone in a foreign country, without so much as a photograph or letter from her old life – just a sparse room with bare white walls. But it’s home, and the first place she’s had to herself after a life lived in the shadows.

Chae-ran is among a number of women who fled North Korea – only to be trafficked and sexually exploited in China, where a gender imbalance has created a black market for brides.

She managed to stage a second escape nearly two decades later, through Laos and Thailand. But opportunities for others to take the same path have narrowed since the pandemic, experts say – leaving untold numbers of North Korean girls and women trapped in servitude.

CNN is identifying Chae-ran by a pseudonym for the safety of her family back in North Korea – and the son she left behind in China.

Chae-ran's bedroom in her new home, furnished with help from churches and local organizations in South Korea. Yoonjung Seo/CNN

Escape and exploitation

Chae-ran made her first escape after finishing high school. She’d been assigned a job at a coal mine, like her father and most people in their village near the Chinese border – but the teenager didn’t want to spend her life doing hard labor, deep underground.

She’d seen other villagers crossing the river that separates North Korea from China to find work and wanted to help support her family. So, one day, without telling her mother, she and a friend left home with the help of a broker – people who plan and facilitate the journey out of North Korea for a fee. She remembers it was early evening in autumn; the sky was still light when she crossed the river.

But upon reaching the other side, she and her friend were put into cars and driven into northwestern China, where they were given a choice, she said: entertain customers at a bar, or marry a Chinese man.

“I wanted to cry but I knew nothing could change even if I did,” she said, speaking in Korean during a conversation with CNN. “I thought I couldn’t work at a bar so that left me only one option, marrying a Chinese man.”

Shortly afterward, Chae-ran says she was separated from her friend, who she never saw again, and introduced to the man who had bought her, a Chinese farmer eight years her senior.

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“I didn’t like the man because he was short, but I didn’t want to be sold again so I stayed quiet,” she said.

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These North Korean defectors were sold into China as cybersex slaves. Then they escaped

She was brought to the man’s village, in the mountains of northeastern Hebei province, close to the capital Beijing. “Honestly, they seemed poorer than my family,” she said. “The houses in the village were made from mud and stones, and the windows didn’t have glass but thin paper.”

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Since she couldn’t speak Chinese, she couldn’t communicate with the farmer or his family, and felt she couldn’t run away. That was 17 years ago.

Many like Chae-ran leave their isolated home nation hoping to find freedom and opportunity once across the Chinese border, only to be trafficked by the brokers they hired. One 2019 investigation by the London-based Korea Future Initiative (KFI) claimed that tens of thousands of North Korean girls and women were being exploited this way, including some as young as 12.

Men far outnumber women in China, largely due to its former one-child policy and families’ traditional preference for sons. Human traffickers are reportedly attempting to fill that gap by selling North Korean girls and women – some into marriage, while others are enslaved in brothels or made to perform graphic acts on webcams, according to researchers and organizations that help refugees.

Once a victim enters a forced marriage, she is often raped, given no choice but to have children, and compelled into domestic or manual labor, according to the KFI report.

CNN was not able to independently verify claims made in the report. Other reports by the US State Department and rights groups including Human Rights Watch have reached similar conclusions.

Chae-ran said her so-called “husband” didn’t treat her badly, but she was required to obey him, and he presented her as his wife. Within eight weeks of being sold, Chae-ran became pregnant. She said she didn’t want to have a child with him and attempted to induce a miscarriage, but failed and gave birth to a son.

“The baby was so beautiful,” she said. “When I saw my pretty baby, I changed my mind.”

She resigned herself to living in China for the rest of her life.

Living in the shadows

There are few ways out for trafficking victims like Chae-ran.

China considers North Korean refugees to be economic migrants, and forcibly deports them back to North Korea – where, as alleged defectors, they face imprisonment, possible torture or worse, activists say.

That forces refugees to live in the shadows, without legal status or protections, often unable to speak the language and with no way to reach loved ones back home.

Chae-ran and her husband’s family moved to a nearby town a few years later, where she found work washing dishes. Later, when she began learning Chinese, she worked at a supermarket, a tea shop and as a food delivery courier.

RELATED ARTICLE

Inside the school teaching North Korean defectors how to live in the outside world

During that period, she also met other North Korean refugees in the same situation – with their status public knowledge in the village, she said. CNN is not disclosing the location to protect Chae-ran’s identity.

According to the KFI report, the buying of a North Korean wife is “always known to the local community” but rarely reported to authorities. Some locals argue their village would not survive otherwise, given the skewed gender ratio and China’s falling birthrate.

Some refugees in the town, like Chae-ran, had no identification documents and lived under the radar for fear of arrest and deportation back to North Korea – meaning they are often denied job opportunities, access to health care, and the ability to move freely. But, she said, a few others did have documents that gave them better access to resources.

According to researchers and experts, authorities in some parts of China have begun issuing so-called “residence permits” to North Korean women married to Chinese men, for a “considerable financial price.”

These aren’t official state-issued ID cards, but rather a document used by China’s public security forces for surveillance purposes, according to Kim Jeong Ah, a former North Korean refugee who was trafficked in China, and now heads the organization Rights for Female North Koreans (RFNK).

Speaking at the United Nations in September, Kim described how these residence permits allow North Korean refugees to get jobs and use public transport within the region – but not to travel beyond their local area, or to access medical care. She added that many women are coerced or threatened by local authorities into registering for the permit, and face strict government surveillance afterward.

Chae-ran claimed her husband and in-laws refused to pay for the documents, leaving her feeling exposed and fearful of detection by Chinese authorities. She had to be careful not to get into accidents when riding her bicycle; she avoided upsetting local residents who threatened to report her to the police; she felt afraid just seeing a police car.

“I lived in China, but I didn’t exist as a person,” she said.

Chae-ran prepared dinner at home in South Korea, sitting on the floor as she ate. Yoonjung Seo/CNN

Surveillance under Covid

Life in China only got worse during the pandemic, with the country imposing an unrelenting zero-Covid policy. Residents needed mandatory tests and health QR codes to enter most public places – neither of which Chae-ran could access without identity documents.

When her son’s school asked all parents to submit proof of negative Covid test results, she had to explain to the teacher she was a North Korean refugee. With facial recognition used in parts of China to track individuals’ health status, it felt impossible to hide from the authorities. She confined herself at home, well into the third year of the pandemic.

The pandemic restrictions also made some North Korean trafficking victims more vulnerable to abusive relationships or domestic violence, said Sokeel Park, the South Korea country director for international nonprofit Liberty in North Korea (LINK), which helps North Koreans resettle in the South.

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South Korea jails former hero pastor for sexually abusing North Korean teenage defectors

Chae-ran’s son had been the only thing keeping her in China all these years, but she felt she couldn’t keep living in hiding and isolation. When she floated the idea of fleeing to South Korea to her son, then 16, he said he didn’t want to leave.

The other North Korean refugees she’d met in town had connections to brokers who could help them escape, while church organizations and non-profit groups discreetly helped raise funds for the journey. One day last April, she told her family she was going to work; instead, she and a group of refugees fled, traveling across the country to China’s southern border. She didn’t tell her son she was leaving.

From the southern border, they crossed through several neighboring countries and trekked along the Mekong River to Thailand, where they turned themselves in to local police and were put in a Thai detention center.

“It was so hot in the detention center that I even had heat rashes. People in the cell were fighting over everything,” she said. “The hardest thing for us was not knowing when we’ll be able to leave for South Korea.”

A South Korean embassy official helped organize Chae-ran’s eventual journey to South Korea, visiting her and other North Korean refugees in detention and bringing them food. He was the only warm person she met on her long journey to escape, she said, recounting the experience through tears.

A new life in South Korea

In late May, Chae-ran finally arrived in South Korea. Like all North Koreans who enter the South, she underwent security checks and spent time in a facility that teaches defectors to assimilate into society before finally starting her new life in November, six months later.

With financial support from the government, she rented a studio apartment and bought appliances like a washing machine and a television. Churches and non-profit organizations helped her obtain basic goods like winter blankets, utensils and dishes.

Chae-ran was especially excited to receive her South Korean identification documents. “When I got my ID card for the first time, I felt so happy,” she said. “I came to (South) Korea for this one thing, and I finally have it.”

Chae-ran's kitchen is stocked with newly-bought appliances, pots and pans. Yoonjung Seo/CNN

But even with support, adjusting to life in South Korea can often be difficult for refugees.

Some have described struggling with culture shock, loneliness, unemployment or poor working conditions – and hostility from South Koreans, especially in recent years as North Korea has ratcheted up tensions with its neighbor.

In that time, fewer defectors have crossed the border to start a new life. Just 196 North Koreans entered South Korea last year, according to the Unification Ministry – more than the previous two years during the pandemic, but a steep drop from pre-pandemic levels. And most of those defectors left North Korea long ago, staying in third countries for years before arriving in Seoul, according to the ministry.

“It has become much more difficult to escape from inside North Korea,” said Park, from LINK.

Those stuck in China now have fewer avenues of escape because the network of brokers helping transport North Koreans out of the country collapsed during the pandemic, Park said.

Brokers who remain have raised their prices due to increased risks and surveillance, while newcomers to the business are inexperienced, making it a risky gamble for North Korean refugees. That’s not to mention the tightened border security in China and neighboring countries.

Chae-ran's bathroom in her new home -- the first place she has called her own since fleeing North Korea nearly two decades ago. Yoonjung Seo/CNN

For now, Chae-ran is planning for her future. She hopes to one day visit China as a tourist with her newly obtained passport to see her son, who she was able to contact through her sister-in-law in China. She’s received a barista certificate, is working on her driver’s license, and has applied to take a nail care class at the government training facility.

While it can be overwhelming to start from square one – especially in a country with social stigma against North Korean defectors – she’s determined to make it work.

“I’ll face anything, everything,” she said. “I’m aware of discrimination against people like me in this society, but no matter how bad that is, it will be much better than living in China.”

3. Top general visits Air Force missile defense center amid N.K. threats

Top general visits Air Force missile defense center amid N.K. threats | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · March 10, 2024

SEOUL, March 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top military officer on Sunday called for responding "overwhelmingly" against any enemy provocations as he visited an Air Force missile defense operations center, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

JCS Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo made the call amid concerns of North Korean saber-rattling during the annual Freedom Shield exercise between South Korea and the United States, which began Monday for an 11-day run.

"If the enemy undertakes a provocation, don't look back and respond overwhelmingly without hesitation," Kim was quoted as saying at the second Korea Air and Missile Defense operations center at the Air Combat Command in Daegu, 237 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

The center is tasked with missile defense operations as part of the military's "three axis" deterrence system against the North, which also includes the Kill Chain preemptive strike platform and the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation, an operational plan to incapacitate the North Korean leadership in a major conflict.

Earlier Sunday, Kim visited the Army 2nd Operations Command, also in Daegu, where he called on troops to maintain readiness in counterterrorism and coastline border operations, his office said.

Pyongyang has long denounced the allies' exercises as rehearsals for an invasion against it, although Seoul and Washington have rejected such claims, describing them as defensive in nature.

On Thursday, the North's leader Kim Jong-un oversaw artillery firing drills, capable of striking Seoul, in an apparent response to Freedom Shield.

The JCS also detected multiple attempts believed to be made by the North to jam Global Positioning System signals around the South's northwestern border islands in the Yellow Sea from Tuesday through Thursday, although no damage has been reported.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo talks on the phone, in this undated file photo provided by his office. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · March 10, 2024

4. Finance chiefs of S. Korea, U.S., Japan arranging 3-way meeting

Sustaining trilateral cooperation across. all the elements of national power.

Finance chiefs of S. Korea, U.S., Japan arranging 3-way meeting | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Deok-Hyun Kim · March 10, 2024

SEJONG, March 10 (Yonhap) -- The finance chiefs of South Korea, the United States and Japan have been making arrangements for a three-way meeting, Seoul's finance ministry said Sunday.

"The timing, venue and agenda of the South Korea-U.S.-Japan finance ministers meeting are being discussed by the three countries," the ministry said in a statement.

The finance chiefs are expected to take part in annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington in April.

kdh@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Deok-Hyun Kim · March 10, 2024

5. Ex-defense chief departs for Australia to take office as ambassador

(2nd LD) Ex-defense chief departs for Australia to take office as ambassador | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Chang Dong-woo · March 10, 2024

(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; UPDATES throughout; ADDS photo)

SEOUL, March 10 (Yonhap) -- Former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup departed for Australia on Sunday to take office as Seoul's top envoy to Canberra, two days after the justice ministry lifted his travel ban over his alleged involvement in a military probe into a young Marine's death.

In January, the state anti-corruption agency banned Lee from leaving the country over allegations that he exerted influence to hold off the findings of the military probe into the death of the Marine during a search operation for victims of downpours last July.

The exit ban was made public after Lee's appointment to the post last Monday. Lee filed an appeal against the ban the next day, with the justice ministry's travel ban deliberation committee deciding to lift it last Friday.

The committee took into consideration that the exit ban has been extended several times without much inquiry, and Lee recently underwent questioning and promised cooperation with investigators, according to the ministry.

This file photo, taken June 2, 2023, shows former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup (C) preparing to board a plane at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, west of Seoul. (Yonhap)

Lee underwent questioning by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials over the allegations Thursday.

On Sunday, Lee was confirmed to have departed at 7:51 p.m. on board a Korean Air flight headed toward Brisbane at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul.

The Democratic Party (DP) accused Lee's departure as being an "obstruction of investigation." Party members held a protest at Incheon International Airport and criticized the former minister's exit as a "concealment of crime."

"This is clearly obstruction of justice, using national institutions to help the main suspect escape overseas," DP floor leader Rep. Hong Ik-pyo said at the airport.

The ruling People Power Party defended the appointment, arguing that Lee serving in the post would help "deepen and expand cooperation between South Korea and Australia in various fields."

Members of the main opposition Democratic Party hold a protest on March 10, 2024, at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, west of Seoul, to criticize the departure of former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, who has been appointed as Seoul's top envoy to Australia despite his alleged involvement in a military probe into a young Marine's death. (Yonhap)

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Chang Dong-woo · March 10, 2024

6. N. Korean delegation departs for Mongolia

Mongolia. The potential bridge between north and South.

N. Korean delegation departs for Mongolia | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · March 10, 2024

SEOUL, March 10 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean diplomatic delegation led by Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong-ho has departed for Mongolia, the North's state media reported Sunday.

The delegation left from Pyongyang International Airport in the capital Saturday, the Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper, said, without specifying the purpose of the trip.

The diplomatic delegation's visit to Mongolia marks the first of its kind since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. The North last sent a delegation to the country in 2019.

The latest trip is seen as part of the North's diplomatic efforts to strengthen ties with its traditionally friendly countries.

Mongolia is viewed as having close relations with the North, having maintained its diplomatic mission in Pyongyang even during the pandemic despite strict border restrictions.

In January, Mongolia's new top envoy to Pyongyang, Luvsantseren Erdeneddavaa, submitted his letter of credentials to the North.

This file photo, released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 30, 2024, shows a meeting between Mongolia's new Ambassador to North Korea Luvsantseren Erdeneddavaa (2nd from L) and Choe Ryong-hae (2nd from R), chairman of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly's standing committee. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · March 10, 2024

7. S. Korea to dismantle support foundation for Kaesong complex as early as next week

S. Korea to dismantle support foundation for Kaesong complex as early as next week | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · March 10, 2024

SEOUL, March 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is expected to pass a proposal to shut down a support foundation for the now-shuttered inter-Korean industrial complex in the North's border city of Kaesong as early as next week, the unification ministry said Sunday.

The revision to the decree on support for the Kaesong Industrial Complex will be presented at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, which will entrust the foundation's tasks to the civilian sector, according to the ministry.

The foundation -- set up in 2007 to support the operation of the factory park -- has almost ceased to function since Seoul shut down the complex in 2016 in protest of Pyongyang's nuclear test and its long-range missile launch at the time.

If the proposal is passed, it will likely take around one week for it to take effect, with the South-North Korea Exchanges and Cooperation Support Association set to take over the foundation's tasks.

A ministry official said the foundation's dismantling will have no impact on Seoul's planned legal action against the North's unauthorized operation of the complex. The ministry is currently reviewing a damages suit over the North's continued illegal operation of the park.

The factory park, once a symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation, was home to more than 120 small South Korean plants that produced garments and other labor-intensive goods by employing more than 54,300 North Korean workers.

Amid frosty inter-Korean relations, North Korea blew up the joint liaison office in the Kaesong complex in 2020 in anger over Seoul's failure to stop North Korean defectors from sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border.

This file photo, taken May 30, 2023, from South Korea's border city of Paju, 37 kilometers northwest of Seoul, shows buses (circled red), presumed to be used at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, parked at a nearby North Korean border town. (Yonhap)

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · March 10, 2024

8. Pyongyang caught off guard by Havana

The ROK places more stones to influence territory on the Go/Baduk board.

A former senior diplomat, who had participated in diplomatic efforts to establish relations with Cuba during the Park Geun-hye administration, attributed the change in Cuba’s attitude to “economic difficulties caused by the U.S. sanctions.” Indeed, Cuba’s ever-worsening economic conditions situation led to soaring prices and massive anti-government protests after the government’s failed currency reform in 2021.

Another former diplomat said, “Cuba apparently concluded that there is no reason to side with North Korea since Pyongyang recently defined inter-Korean relations as “between two hostile states” and “Cuba used the development as an opportunity to establish diplomatic relations with South Korea.” In other words, the radical shift in the North’s strategy toward the South backfired as he denied the same ethnicity of South and North Korean people and their ultimate unification. North Korea was caught off guard by Cuba.

North Korea will scramble to find a way out for some time, as implied by its sudden outreach to Japan and invitations of German, British, Swedish and Swiss diplomats for the first time since the pandemic. But such a stopgap measure cannot conceal the regime’s repeated failures and isolation. Only when North Korea learns a lesson from the courage and determination of Cuban leaders — who prioritized the people’s economy and embraced the flow of history — can the country find a way to survive.

Sunday

March 10, 2024

 dictionary + A - A 

Published: 10 Mar. 2024, 19:49

Pyongyang caught off guard by Havana

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-03-10/opinion/columns/Pyongyang-caught-off-guard-by-Havana/1998801

Chang Se-jeong

The author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo.

A historic announcement was recently made that South Korea and Cuba have agreed to establish diplomatic relations between the two hostile countries. The diplomatic ties appear more dramatic than the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and China in the 1990s. Some observers say that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un must have been shocked by this news more than his late grandfather Kim Il Sung was when Seoul and Beijing tied the diplomatic knot in 1992. Pyongyang seems to have suffered a serious internal injury given its silence on the development for more than three weeks since the announcement.

The history of exchanges between South Korea and Cuba dates back to 1921, when Korea was under the colonial occupation of Japan. In April 1905, 1,033 Koreans left Incheon Harbor to work at henequen haciendas in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Of them, 288 went to Cuba in March 1921 to make more money by working on sugar cane plantations. But after the price of sugar cane plummeted, they had to work at henequen farms to barely survive.

The Korean immigrants’ resilience in the face of hardships helped them take roots in the island nation. Today, about 1,000 Koreans are living in Cuba. Lim Cheon-taek (1903-1985), former head of the Korean residents’ association in Cuba, had once sent funds to the provisional government of Korea in China after collecting money from Korean workers in Cuba.

Even before the recent decision to establish diplomatic relations, the two countries had government-level exchanges. Cuba, which became independent from Spanish rule in 1898, recognized the South Korean government in 1949, but there were no official diplomatic relations. But Cuba was friendly to South Korea. During the 1950-53 Korean War, Cuba provided $270,000 in aid for the South. In 1957, then Cuban president Fulgencio Batista sent a delegation to South Korea and awarded his counterpart Syngman Rhee with a medal.

But the exchanges were severed after Fidel Castro and Che Guevara succeeded in the communist revolution in 1959. After Cuba established diplomatic relations with North Korea in 1960, Cuba has served as one of Pyongyang’s strategic bases of overseas diplomacy after China and Russia. Stressing the common ground of “anti-American socialism,” North Korea even offered 100,000 AK rifles to Cuba, which it called a “brother country.” Castro vowed to defend the socialist revolution with those guns, but the country was swept up in the turbulence of international politics after the collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe and dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The relations between South Korea and Cuba found a breakthrough after the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency opened a trade office in Havana in 2005. Korean products flowed into Cuba, and K-pop music and other cultural products were enthusiastically received by Cubans.

When the United States and Cuba established diplomatic relations in 2015 followed by U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Havana the following year, South Korea had an opportunity to normalize their diplomatic relations.

In 2016, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se became the first South Korean foreign minister to visit Cuba, followed by his successor’s trip two years later, indicating that the timing was ripe for diplomatic relations. But the Trump administration’s economic sanctions on Cuba in 2019 — and its decision to relist the country as a state sponsor of terrorism in January 2021 — threw cold water on South Korea’s relations with Cuba.

Until now, the biggest obstacle to diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba was North Korea. Jolted by Cuba’s decision to tie a diplomatic knot with America, Pyongyang sent a large delegation of top officials to block the possibility of South Korea establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba. After being cautious about North Korea, Cuba suddenly contacted South Korean officials on Feb. 7, and at the United Nations a week later, the two countries announced their agreement to establish ambassador-level diplomatic relations.

A former senior diplomat, who had participated in diplomatic efforts to establish relations with Cuba during the Park Geun-hye administration, attributed the change in Cuba’s attitude to “economic difficulties caused by the U.S. sanctions.” Indeed, Cuba’s ever-worsening economic conditions situation led to soaring prices and massive anti-government protests after the government’s failed currency reform in 2021.

Another former diplomat said, “Cuba apparently concluded that there is no reason to side with North Korea since Pyongyang recently defined inter-Korean relations as “between two hostile states” and “Cuba used the development as an opportunity to establish diplomatic relations with South Korea.” In other words, the radical shift in the North’s strategy toward the South backfired as he denied the same ethnicity of South and North Korean people and their ultimate unification. North Korea was caught off guard by Cuba.

North Korea will scramble to find a way out for some time, as implied by its sudden outreach to Japan and invitations of German, British, Swedish and Swiss diplomats for the first time since the pandemic. But such a stopgap measure cannot conceal the regime’s repeated failures and isolation. Only when North Korea learns a lesson from the courage and determination of Cuban leaders — who prioritized the people’s economy and embraced the flow of history — can the country find a way to survive.

9. What does Putin owe Kim Jong-un for Ukraine?

Excerpts:

And that points to one of Korea’s best cards. Korean support for Ukraine has helped Zelenksy hold fast against Russia’s expanding arsenal and demonstrated to Pyongyang, Beijing, and Moscow that democratic allies on opposite sides of the world will stand by each other when attacked by authoritarian states. The odd reality is that Ukranian and Russian forces are firing artillery rounds at each other that were originally manufactured for two opposing sides to fire at each other across the DMZ. But that strange fact is also a reminder that alliances are implicitly global and that helps to reinforce deterrence since the U.S. network of alliances would be much stronger if fully unified.

Another card Korea can play is to build on the defense industrial collaboration already underway between Korean firms and NATO member states. There are other opportunities for Korea to expand its defense industry cooperation with Australia or India. Where North Korea is becoming the “arsenal for authoritarianism,” South Korea can become the core of a new “arsenal for democracy.”

A third card Korea will need to play is anti-submarine warfare (ASW). Since the Cheonan sinking the ROK Navy has been improving its ASW capabilities. The possibility of Russian enhancement of North Korean SLBMs means that this effort must be redoubled, including greater trilateral cooperation with the U.S. Navy and Japan Maritime Self Defense Forces.

Finally, Korea must build a robust strategy with the United States, NATO, and other allies to impose costs on Russia should it cross redlines with respect to North Korean nuclear capabilities. “Kachi Kapshida” means all allies must now be ready to move together.

Sunday

March 10, 2024

 dictionary + A - A 

Published: 10 Mar. 2024, 19:45

What does Putin owe Kim Jong-un for Ukraine?

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-03-10/opinion/columns/What-does-Putin-owe-Kim-Jongun-for-Ukraine/1998806

Michael Green

The author is CEO of the U.S. Studies Centre at the University of Sydney and Henry A. Kissinger Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

The “Beyond Parallel” website run by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) produced a report on Feb. 28 that merits attention. According to the at CSIS, new satellite photos show that there continues to be heavy traffic of vessels between Najin in North Korea and ports in the Russian Far East. CSIS estimates that North Korea shipped 2.5 million rounds of artillery shells and other ammunition for Russian forces to use in the war against Ukraine.

This is disastrous news for Ukrainians and should be alarming to Koreans. Ukrainians can already feel the results on the front line where their offensive has faltered and Russia has slowly begun pushing further into Ukrainian-held territory. Ukraine is relying on U.S. and NATO production lines that are straining to keep-up with the huge volume of shells being fired (helped at a critical moment by Korea). It feels like a stalemate in Ukraine right now, but the fight may actually be in the balance and artillery is proving a key factor. Defeat for President Zelensky of Ukraine would be tragic for the people of Ukraine and put at risk NATO allies in the Baltic states where Russia also wishes to reassert hegemonic control. The United States would be forced to delay the pivot to Asia to maintain deterrence in Europe. This would be bad for Europe and for Korea and other U.S. allies facing challenges in Asia. Zelensky and the Ukrainian people are tough and motivated, but Kim Jong-un putting his fingers on the scale to help Putin.

Kim Jong-un’s rescue of Putin also has troubling implications for peace and stability on the Korean peninsula. Looking at the large volume of artillery going from the North to Russian forces, one has to ask, “what will Kim ask for in return?” It is safe to bet that his price will be more than food or fuel.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shake hands during their meeting at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East on Sept. 13, 2023. [AP]

One price Pyongyang will demand is already becoming clear. Even before the ammunition transfers to Russia, Moscow was making its veto available to Pyongyang to block UN Security Council action against the North for repeated satellite launches. Did Putin promise unlimited access to the Russian veto to Kim Jong-un in return for the artillery rounds that saved his forces? I suspect there was no blank check since Moscow does have an abiding interest in preventing proliferation of nuclear weapons states on its borders, but Putin may have given permission for further satellite tests if not nuclear tests.

The second thing Putin might have promised Kim is technical assistance with the North Korean submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM) program. Russia still has the second most advanced submarine fleet in the world after the United States. North Korea’s advances in submarine launched missiles surprised analysts. Russian technical assistance could explain why. It is quite possible that we will see further advances if not deployment of these submarines in the coming year.

The third trade might have been for Russian technical assistance with the North’s satellite launches. The North has mastered the launching of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). That may also have come with Russian assistance. The most significant remaining hurdle for the North is to configure a warhead that can withstand re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere without being destroyed. Russian assistance for such a re-entry vehicle would be both unprecedented in Russian history and profoundly dangerous and irresponsible. Yet Putin is now regularly threatening nuclear war against NATO so I would not automatically assume he is abiding by earlier nuclear weapons norms.

The fourth gift Putin can give to Kim Jong-un is to maintain or even increase the Russian Air Force and Navy operations in the Far East. We are already seeing unprecedented joint exercises between China and Russia and U.S. and Japanese fighters are scrambling to intercept Russian bombers at a tempo reminiscent of the Cold War. Stressing U.S. and allied forces to weaken deterrence everywhere is part of Russia’s playbook and something Kim would want.

While all four of these transactions are plausible, it is also important to remember that Russia does not want to risk putting its own security in the decision-making of Kim Jong-un. Nor is Beijing an uninterested party in this Russia-North Korea business partnership. Xi Jinping clearly does not want Russia to lose in Ukraine, but Beijing would be wary of Russian moves that make North Korea more unpredictable or spur cooperation among U.S. allies in Asia or between them and NATO.

And that points to one of Korea’s best cards. Korean support for Ukraine has helped Zelenksy hold fast against Russia’s expanding arsenal and demonstrated to Pyongyang, Beijing, and Moscow that democratic allies on opposite sides of the world will stand by each other when attacked by authoritarian states. The odd reality is that Ukranian and Russian forces are firing artillery rounds at each other that were originally manufactured for two opposing sides to fire at each other across the DMZ. But that strange fact is also a reminder that alliances are implicitly global and that helps to reinforce deterrence since the U.S. network of alliances would be much stronger if fully unified.

Another card Korea can play is to build on the defense industrial collaboration already underway between Korean firms and NATO member states. There are other opportunities for Korea to expand its defense industry cooperation with Australia or India. Where North Korea is becoming the “arsenal for authoritarianism,” South Korea can become the core of a new “arsenal for democracy.”

A third card Korea will need to play is anti-submarine warfare (ASW). Since the Cheonan sinking the ROK Navy has been improving its ASW capabilities. The possibility of Russian enhancement of North Korean SLBMs means that this effort must be redoubled, including greater trilateral cooperation with the U.S. Navy and Japan Maritime Self Defense Forces.

Finally, Korea must build a robust strategy with the United States, NATO, and other allies to impose costs on Russia should it cross redlines with respect to North Korean nuclear capabilities. “Kachi Kapshida” means all allies must now be ready to move together.

10. What’s Korea’s choice for survival?

Excerpts:

If Korea fails to fix the political, economic, social and cultural fault lines across its society, the country can hardly avoid the path to Argentina. If Korea can maintain its global position as a manufacturing hub for a while despite its extreme internal division, it still can follow Italy’s path. But the two paths only point to a gloomy future. What other paths does Korea have now?

...

Korea must follow the innovation-led path of California. Korea is already an innovation-driven country, as implied by its highest density of industrial robots in the world. Korea uses 1,000 robots per 10,000 employees, while Japan uses 399 robots and Germany 397 and China 322, according to a survey by World Robotics 2022. If Korea can establish an attractive innovation habitat for humans and AI across industry and society, it can raise productivity enough to offset the decline in its economically active population.

Korea has memories of catching up and outpacing frontrunners. The country was a late comer in industrialization, but swiftly emerged as an IT powerhouse with the slogan of “Let’s lead information technology this time!” Korea is the country who refused to accept the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and instead commercialized the Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology for the first time in the world. The spirit of chasing developed economies without respite and going beyond was the norm at the time. If we can revive the DNAs for such dramatic transformation, we certainly can dream of a better future.

Sunday

March 10, 2024

 dictionary + A - A 

Published: 10 Mar. 2024, 19:52

Updated: 10 Mar. 2024, 21:26

What’s Korea’s choice for survival?

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-03-10/opinion/columns/Whats-Koreas-choice-forsurvival/1998799

Choi Byung-il

The author, a professor of economics at the Ewha Womans University Graduate School of International Studies, is president of the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies. 

At the end of February, I was startled at two attention-grabbing headlines in the media. The first read “Korea, with the world’s lowest birth rate, breaks the record again” and the second read “Japan completes factory of the world’s largest foundry, TSMC, in Kumamoto.”

As I was familiar with the first news, my attention shifted to why Tokyo brought TSMC’s cutting-edge plant to Japan by offering hefty subsidies. Japan took the action because of its strategic judgment that it must have manufacturing bases in its home turf to survive the U.S.-China rivalry. TSMC’s second plant in the city will also be built soon.

Hyundai Motor’s new EV, the Ioniq 5, is being assembled by robots in a “cell-based” production system at the company’s new EV factory and innovation center in Singapore. [HYUNDAI MOTOR GROUP]

Taipei encourages TSMC to expand its investments to value-sharing countries like Japan, the United States and Europe to protect Taiwan’s economic security from China’s threat. Given the expeditious move by TSMC, what should Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix do? Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, competition between free democracies and authoritarian states is accelerating. Korea is even pressed to redesign its own supply chains after having emerged as a manufacturing powerhouse largely thanks to China’s cheap labor. The repositioning foreshadows short-term losses and cost increases for Korean companies.

If the new Cold War is an external shock, the ever-worsening fertility rate is an internal shock. The pace of Korea’s population decline and aging is as outstanding as the country’s economic rise. Its 50 million population will shrink to 30 million after 50 years, implying an ominous return to the population of the 1970s. The 30 million people 50 years ago showed a pyramid-shaped structure, but the 30 million people after 50 years will show an inverted pyramid structure, making Korea the most super-aged society in the world.

The “population bonus” from baby boomers is being fast replaced by “population onus.” Despite Korea’s uninterrupted population decline in the past, governments, liberal or conservative, couldn’t reverse the trend even after their humongous fiscal spending to encourage childbirths through tax and other benefits over the past 20 years. Without massive immigration, Korea’s population will decrease to 30 million in a half century. If the economically active population drastically falls, Korea cannot remain a manufacturing powerhouse. The increased tax burden on the younger generation for the older generation will spark a sharp generational conflict.

Korea faces a plethora of challenges ahead. Since the time of chasing and overtaking ended, the country must take an uncharted path. But the new path is blocked by new obstacles. The population cliff — and the fragmentation of global supply chains, triggered by the new Cold War — shake the very foundation of Korea’s past success. Its society is sharply divided over ideology. The politics of belittling opponents has supplanted the politics of embracing them as the formula for election victory. Korea is respected for its manufacturing prowess and dynamic democracy by the rest of the world. But its vision for the future is invisible. Does the country have any future visions beyond the advanced ranks?

What country should Korea be in the future? There are several paths ahead. First is the way Argentina followed. In the Age of Exploration, the blessed land was South America rather than North America. In particular, Argentina with its vast prairies and abundant natural resources was a newfound paradise for Europeans. Buenos Aires was once called “The Paris of South America.” As people and money flowed into the cosmopolitan city, festivities were held every evening. But that was it. The following chapter of Argentina’s history in the 20th century explicitly shows its dramatic fall from grace, as seen in its repeated national defaults amid its unfathomable inflation, ever-yawning wealth gap, and political instability. Due to the rampant populism, the economy collapsed, the middle class fell apart, and the country split. But no one takes responsibility. Argentina has become a laughing stock for its habitual requests for a rescue fund from the IMF.

Second is the path Italy took. Putting behind all the wounds from World War II, Italy grew into a strong leader in fashion and car industries. But the fruits of its fast economic growth were only enjoyed by certain regions. Politics was lethargic to ease the deepening wealth gap between the north and the south. No politicians volunteered to fix the high-cost and low-efficiency welfare system the country had built when it became an aging society. Though being a G7 member, Italy’s fiscal health deteriorated to the point of handing over the operation of its major infrastructure to Chinese capital. Ubiquitous corruption weighs over the rule of law. To make matters worse, social conflict is deepening over whether to accept refugees from Africa and Middle East.

The third path for Korea is Japan’s path. In the 1980s, Japan’s economic power was so strong that pundits even said, “If Japan sells Tokyo, it can buy America.” But after the bubble burst from U.S. checks, Japan fell into recession. Japan lost its vitality after its fast pace of ageing and declining population pushed the country into a corner. Now, Tokyo desperately wants to maintain a 100-million population.

The path to Argentina represents doom. Italy’s path exemplifies a fall from grace. But fortunately, Italy has wings even if it falls, mostly thanks to the historic legacies its ancestors left behind. Japan’s path signifies endurance and perseverance, distinctly different from Korea’s ppali-ppali — or “hurry, hurry” in English — culture, which contributed to its swift transition to a digital power in the past.

If Korea fails to fix the political, economic, social and cultural fault lines across its society, the country can hardly avoid the path to Argentina. If Korea can maintain its global position as a manufacturing hub for a while despite its extreme internal division, it still can follow Italy’s path. But the two paths only point to a gloomy future. What other paths does Korea have now?

Some pundits insist Korea move toward a mature society from now. They stress the need for the government to focus on drawing up eco-friendly policies and protecting the socially weak, since the era of growth has ended after the country’s potential growth rate fell below 2 percent. But their argument is only half-right. Undoubtedly, it will be desirable if the government expands the rights of the underprivileged, still stuck in the shadow of their country’s growth, to pursue happiness.

But where does the money come from? A no-growth society will be headed to “a state of war of all against all,” as Thomas Hobbes famously said. The country will be swept in unseen political turmoil over distribution. In a country whose fertility rate declines at the fastest speed and whose aging pace is the fastest, the only way to stop the slowed growth and eventually reverse it is innovation. That is the only way Korea can change the preordained course of the future. Bringing in a number of immigrants over and over can help Korea recover its economic growth, but it will certainly create another fault line in a division-ridden society.

Korea must follow the innovation-led path of California. Korea is already an innovation-driven country, as implied by its highest density of industrial robots in the world. Korea uses 1,000 robots per 10,000 employees, while Japan uses 399 robots and Germany 397 and China 322, according to a survey by World Robotics 2022. If Korea can establish an attractive innovation habitat for humans and AI across industry and society, it can raise productivity enough to offset the decline in its economically active population.

Korea has memories of catching up and outpacing frontrunners. The country was a late comer in industrialization, but swiftly emerged as an IT powerhouse with the slogan of “Let’s lead information technology this time!” Korea is the country who refused to accept the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and instead commercialized the Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology for the first time in the world. The spirit of chasing developed economies without respite and going beyond was the norm at the time. If we can revive the DNAs for such dramatic transformation, we certainly can dream of a better future.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily.

​11, The Power of Capitalism: Kim vs the market only has one winner

Interesting read.

But this excerpt is one reason why I am concerned about the potential for instability in the north. There is no Sunshine Policy to save the regime and the regime is cracking down on the markets which is what saved the Korean people in the north and has been the source of the resilience of the Korean people in the north since the party's public distribution system broke down in the north.

Excerpt:

The worst of these famines occurred in 1996, when the combined effects of a mismanagement of resources, drought, and flooding left 200,000 North Koreans dead from starvation, according to official figures. The actual death toll is hard to verify – estimates by foreign agencies set the total at up to 3 million, or one in eight North Koreans. Last year, there was once again a severe famine in North Korea, experts believe that the supply situation in North Korea was the worst since the famine in the 1990s.

The Power of Capitalism: Kim vs the market only has one winner - CityAM

cityam.com · by Rainer Zitelmann · March 10, 2024

Track all markets on TradingView

Sunday 10 March 2024 8:17 am

The Power of Capitalism: Kim vs the market only has one winner

Dr Rainer Zitelmann is a German historian, sociologist and author. His latest book is In Defence of Capitalism https://in-defence-of-capitalism.com/

The two Koreas provide a compelling body of evidence whenever one is confronted by the choice of a market, or a planned, economy

Dr Rainer Zitelmann is a German historian, sociologist and author. His latest book is The Power of Capitalism. In our exclusive series, Zitelmann reveals a compelling body of evidence that capitalism and market economies have lifted billions out of poverty. Today he writes on North and South Korea

The contrast between North and South Korea could hardly be starker. According to the 2023 Index of Economic Freedom, the latter ranks as the 15th economically freest country in the world, ahead of the UK (28th) and the United States (25th). North Korea, by comparison, brings up the rear in 176th place.

Prior to its partition into a capitalist south and a communist north in 1948, Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world, on a par with sub-Saharan Africa. In the wake of World War II, South Korea found itself in a difficult starting position with no financial aid coming from the U.S., while North Korea received considerable support from the Soviet Union and China.

South Korea was an agricultural country without any significant mineral deposits – almost all of the Korean peninsula’s reserves of natural resources, which include iron ore, gold, copper, lead, zinc, graphite, molybdenum, limestone and marble, are located in North Korea. South Korea’s population grew very quickly – from 16 million to 21 million between 1945 and 1947 alone – due to the influx of refugees from the communist North. Many people lived at or below subsistence level.

In July 1961, the Japanese government listed seven reasons why economic independence would be impossible for South Korea: over-population, lack of resources, lack of industrialisation, massive military obligations, lack of political skills, lack of capital, and lack of administrative skills. South Korea’s failure to achieve any meaningful economic progress in the 1950s, immediately after the Korean War, initially appeared to confirm this view. At $79 US dollars per annum, South Korea had one of the lowest per-capita incomes in the world.

This only started changing in the early 1960s. Today, capitalist South Korea is the sixth-largest export nation worldwide, whose per-capita GDP of 33,393 US dollars puts it ahead of countries such as Spain (31,223 US dollars) and just behind Japan (35,385 US dollars). Samsung, Hyundai and LG are among the most successful and popular Korean brands.

North Korea’s nominal gross national income in 2022 was estimated to be 1.43 million won (1,116 US dollars) per capita, equivalent to just 3.4 per cent of the South’s 42.49 million won.

In the West, the North Korean leader is the object of fear or ridicule, while North Koreans are convinced that the entire world envies their Supreme Leaders. As the introduction to a biography of Kim Jong-Il has it: “His love is truly great; it cures the sick and brings forth new life, like the spring rain the sacred country drinks … All of this arouses admiration in the peoples of the world, causing them to envy us”.

Dr Rainer Zitelmann is a German historian, sociologist and author. His latest book is The Power of Capitalism. In our exclusive series, Zitelmann reveals a compelling body of evidence that capitalism and market economies have lifted billions out of poverty

The cult surrounding North Korea’s leaders is without precedent anywhere else in the world – even Stalin and Mao did not enjoy this level of devotion among their compatriots. The North Korean calendar counts time from the year of Kim Il-Sung’s birth in 1912. Any items Kim Il-Sung ever laid his hands or eyes on are worshipped as sacred relics, with a red plaque or an inscription in gold commemorating this momentous event and more often than not declaring the sacred site or item off limits for ordinary mortals.

That North Korea has such a low standard of living despite its exceptionally large reserves of mineral deposits is primarily due to the political leadership’s insistence on retaining a socialist economic system. North Korea takes great pride in having stayed true to its socialist principles, with only temporary and rather marginal attempts at reform, while China and other former socialist nations have been lured by the ‘temptations’ of capitalism.

Although North Korea’s agricultural sector employs around six times as many people as its South Korean counterpart, the country’s agricultural production barely meets demand – even in good years. When crops fail because of droughts or other natural disasters, food shortages and frequent famines are the result.

The worst of these famines occurred in 1996, when the combined effects of a mismanagement of resources, drought, and flooding left 200,000 North Koreans dead from starvation, according to official figures. The actual death toll is hard to verify – estimates by foreign agencies set the total at up to 3 million, or one in eight North Koreans. Last year, there was once again a severe famine in North Korea, experts believe that the supply situation in North Korea was the worst since the famine in the 1990s.

Rainer Zitelmann’s book is available on the book’s website. Read Rainer’s previous piece on Germany here

cityam.com · by Rainer Zitelmann · March 10, 2024

12. The IC OSINT Strategy 2024-2026 - The INT of First Resort: Unlocking the Value of OSINT

I am a great believer in OSINT (as you probably can tell by my daily "information arbitrage" (thank you Thomas Friedman from The Lexus and the Olive Tree)).

Excerpt:

OSINT is vital to the Intelligence Community’s Mission. OSINT both enables other intelligence collection disciplines and delivers unique intelligence value of its own, allowing the IC to more efficiently and effectively leverage its exquisite collection capabilities. As the open source environment continues to expand and evolve at breakneck speed, the ability to extract actionable insights from vast amounts of open source data will only increase in importance. 

​Download the 12 page report here: https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/IC_OSINT_Strategy.pdf

The INT of First Resort: Unlocking the Value of OSINT

 Published: 08 March 2024

The IC OSINT Strategy 2024-2026

https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/reports-publications/reports-publications-2024/3785-the-ic-osint-strategy-2024-2026

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) released the Intelligence Community (IC) Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) Strategy for 2024-2026.

OSINT, or intelligence derived exclusively from publicly or commercially available information that addresses specific intelligence priorities, requirements, or gaps, is vital to the IC’s mission, providing unique intelligence value and enabling all other intelligence collection disciplines. Given the expansive and evolving open source environment, the IC has been working to modernize its approach to collecting, creating, and delivering OSINT, and the IC OSINT Strategy outlines the way forward.

View the IC OSINT Strategy here.

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