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Quotes of the Day:
"You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise."
– Maya Anegelo, I Still Rise
"It is the truth I'm after, and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance."
– Marcus Aurelius
"When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear."
– Thomas Sowell
1. N. Korea, China commit to bolster ties in high-level Beijing talks
2. U.S. lawmakers to visit S. Korea this week: sources
3. N. Korean leader sends condolences to Putin over Russian concert hall shooting
4. ROK, U.S. commandos at Freedom Shield 24 prepare for the unexpected
5. It’s in China’s best interest to rein in a nuclearised North Korea
6. Bad News: South Korea Guts KF-21 Fighter Order By Half
7. Denuclearization and humbleness
8. Funding squeeze for Japan’s North Korean schools over propaganda concerns
9. Harrowing film on North Korean escapees, snubbed by Oscars, hits hard in Seoul
10. The dark side of N. Korea’s efforts to speedily complete housing projects
1. N. Korea, China commit to bolster ties in high-level Beijing talks
I was asked a question about Chinese (and Russia) influence over north Korea: While China and Russia have some capabilities to influence nK, they will only use that influence to serve their own interests and we cannot expect them to support our interests except where they align (e.g., right now our interests sort of align with China in that neither want war or regime collapse and instability on the peninsula. The operative words being perhaps”sort of” and “right now.”). But we must never expect that China or Russia will help with our myopic focus on denuclearization of north Korea or any of the other objectives I recommend and wish we would focus on (e.g., solving the “Korea question.”)
N. Korea, China commit to bolster ties in high-level Beijing talks
The Korea Times · March 24, 2024
North Korean and Chinese delegations are in a meeting at the People's Palace of Culture in Pyongyang on Jan. 26. AFP-Yonhap
North Korean and Chinese officials have met in Beijing and committed to further develop bilateral ties, North Korean media said on Sunday, as Pyongyang seeks to expand its diplomatic engagement after COVID-19 lockdowns.
A North Korean delegation led by Kim Song-nam, head of the International Department of the ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, was among groups visiting countries in the region since last week that Pyongyang has maintained closer ties with.
In a meeting on Thursday, Wang Huning, China's fourth-ranked leader, told Kim "no matter how the international situation may change, the China-DPRK friendship, a strategic choice of both sides, will never waver," KCNA said, using North Korea's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Chinese President Xi Jinping exchanged messages early this year and vowed closer ties.
At Thursday's meeting, Wang conveyed Xi's "heartfelt, warm" message to Kim, KCNA said.
North Korea implemented tough border restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, halting the flow of goods with China and Russia, suspending diplomatic exchanges with its main allies and cutting off routes plied by smugglers and defectors.
Some of the restrictions remain, and Pyongyang has only recently allowed more access to foreign diplomats, resumed some diplomatic engagement and increased trade with Russia and China.
On Sunday, KCNA said Kim held talks with Cai Qi, who is the head of the powerful Secretariat of the Communist Party of China on Friday, KCNA reported on Sunday.
Cai said the friendship between the two countries were "formed in blood" and has welcomed "a brighter future under the strategic guidance" of Xi and Kim, KCNA said.
Kim Song-nam, an alternate member of the Political Bureau, also met with Liu Jianchao, who leads the Chinese Communist Party's body in charge of managing ties with foreign political parties. (Reuters)
The Korea Times · March 24, 2024
2. U.S. lawmakers to visit S. Korea this week: sources
U.S. lawmakers to visit S. Korea this week: sources | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Yoo Jee-ho · March 24, 2024
WASHINGTON, March 23 (Yonhap) -- A bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation will visit Seoul this week for talks with South Korean officials, multiple sources said Saturday.
The delegation includes Korean American Rep. Young Kim (R-CA), chair of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific, and Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA).
They are expected to pay a courtesy call on President Yoon Suk Yeol and discuss the strengthening of the South Korea-U.S. alliance in light of North Korean provocations.
The group of U.S. representatives will also meet with Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, Defense Minister Shin Won-sik and Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho during their stay.
However, the U.S. lawmakers have not scheduled any talks with South Korean politicians or a visit to the National Assembly, given that the parliamentary elections are only weeks away.
This Jan. 12, 2024, file photo shows Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) during a reception commemorating Korean American Day in Washington. (Yonhap)
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Yoo Jee-ho · March 24, 2024
3. N. Korean leader sends condolences to Putin over Russian concert hall shooting
Perhaps Kim will offer Putin some advice on further repressing his society using the strict controls the regime imposes on the Korean people in the north.
N. Korean leader sends condolences to Putin over Russian concert hall shooting | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Yoo Jee-ho · March 24, 2024
SEOUL, March 24 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sent a message of condolence to Russian President Vladimir Putin following a deadly shooting at a concert venue in Moscow, Pyongyang's state media said Sunday.
Gunmen opened fire at the venue in the Russian capital Friday, leaving at least 133 dead, with the Islamic State group claiming responsibility.
Kim "expressed deep condolences and sympathy" to Putin and to the bereaved families and victims over the attack, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
In this Russian Emergencies Ministry photo released by EPA on March 23, 2024, rescue workers clear the rubble and extinguish fires in the hall of the Crocus City Hall concert venue following a shooting attack in Moscow. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
"The message said that consistent is the stand of the DPRK government opposing all sorts of terrorism and nothing can justify the heinous terrorism threatening human life," the KCNA said in an English-language report, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"It sincerely hoped that the Russian government and the strong Russian people would eradicate the aftermath of terrorist attack as soon as possible and stability would be brought to the bereaved families and victims," the KCNA said of Kim's message.
South Korea's foreign ministry also offered condolences Saturday.
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Yoo Jee-ho · March 24, 2024
4. ROK, U.S. commandos at Freedom Shield 24 prepare for the unexpected
Videos at the link: https://ipdefenseforum.com/2024/03/rok-u-s-commandos-at-freedom-shield-24-prepare-for-the-unexpected/?utm
ROK, U.S. commandos at Freedom Shield 24 prepare for the unexpected
March 22, 2024
A U.S. Special Operations Command paratrooper jumps from an MC-130 airplane during exercise Freedom Shield in Gwangju, South Korea, in March 2024. IMAGE CREDIT: REUTERS
Reuters
Republic of Korea (ROK) and United States troops in South Korea for the recent Freedom Shield exercise trained for unexpected threats as global crises are increasingly interconnected, military leaders said.
The United States Army’s Republic of Korea (ROK)-U.S. Combined Division and the ROK Navy 2nd Fleet conduct maritime operations in South Korea during Freedom Shield 2024.
VIDEO CREDIT: SONGHO YUN/U.S. ARMY
Nuclear-armed North Korea has advanced its illegal weapons programs, touting ballistic missiles that it claims can reach the U.S. mainland and tactical weapons designed to defeat missile defense systems.
For the first time, North Korean missiles have been fired in combat, with Russia wielding them recently in its unprovoked war against Ukraine, according to officials and experts.
The long-divided Korean Peninsula, along with the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, is among the Indo-Pacific’s potential flashpoints.
Given such uncertainty, U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Derek Lipson, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command-Korea, said he is injecting more flexibility and decision-making into training.
During the 10-day Freedom Shield drills in March 2024, a U.S. MC-130 aircraft conducted airdrops with an ROK commando brigade and U.S. troops at the ROK Special Warfare School Training Range near Gwangju.
Republic of Korea and United States personnel rehearse air operations during exercise Freedom Shield in South Korea in March 2024.
VIDEO CREDIT: REUTERS
U.S. special operations forces train to counter weapons of mass destruction, a critical undertaking given North Korea’s growing nuclear arsenal. U.S. intelligence services say Pyongyang also has biological and chemical weapons in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.
The annual Freedom Shield exercise also included personnel from other member states of the U.S.-led U.N. Command, which has overseen the armistice between the two Koreas since the 1950-53 Korean War.
The U.S. has about 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea and operates a combined command with the ROK military.
Lipson said the special operations mission in South Korea includes working with regional partners. “When we talk about [a] Free and Open [Indo-Pacific], that only comes from those relationships, whether they’re bilateral, trilateral … just an understanding that no one is going to do any of it alone,” he said.
“Nothing happens in this theater … or even globally at this point, that doesn’t have an impact somewhere else,” Lipson said.
5. It’s in China’s best interest to rein in a nuclearised North Korea
Not gonna do it. China will not help rein in north Korea. Yes, the author makes a seemingly practical and logical argument but I do not think iti si enough to convince the regime to denuclearize especially if they assess that denuclearization could lead to destabilization of the regime..
It’s in China’s best interest to rein in a nuclearised North Korea
- As North Korea develops tactical nuclear warheads, China must not allow Pyongyang to threaten regional security
- Radioactive leakage could impact communities along the Chinese border in the event of a seventh atomic test
By Lee Min-Yong South China Morning Post3 min
March 23, 2024
View Original
Despite China’s professed commitment to stability on the Korean peninsula, its tolerance of North Korea’s nuclear programme undermines these claims, leading to criticism that China lacks credibility when advocating for strategic cooperation with the US or discussing security concerns in the Asia-Pacific region.
Even when South Korea attempted to attain nuclear weapons back in the 1970s, the US stopped it after forgoing the total withdrawal of American troops from South Korea. While the US focuses on deterring North Korea to maintain stability on the Korean peninsula, China has consistently erred by tacitly allowing North Korea’s destabilising behaviour, which exacerbates regional insecurity.
Considering that India and Pakistan have attained the status of de facto nuclear-armed states with just three and two tests respectively, a seventh North Korean nuclear test would present a challenge that surpasses the capabilities of those two countries.
In particular, China’s security interests are severely challenged by two threats. Firstly, North Korea’s nuclear weapon advancement can cause great environmental damage through a chain of missile launches and nuclear tests. The heightened risk of radiation leaks and earthquakes, particularly in northeastern China, presents a looming threat of devastation.
Secondly, the reinforcement of extended deterrence efforts by US allies, such as Nato, could accelerate the implementation of a blockade in East Asia. As North Korea’s nuclear capabilities advance, there is a greater risk of global nuclear proliferation, which could lead to the establishment of maritime defence lines by the US and its allies.
Some hawkish experts argue that if North Korea’s nuclear arsenal grows rapidly to a point where deterrence is unavoidable, pre-emptive strikes or decapitation operations should not be ruled out.
Concerns have already been raised in China about the risks of radiation leaks and earthquakes being more severe than anticipated should North Korea conduct a seventh nuclear test.
Since the sixth nuclear test in 2017, grave warnings have been given by scientists, including those based on research from the University of Science and Technology of China. There have been repeated warnings about the increased risk of a collapse at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site due to successive nuclear tests, increasing fears of radioactive material leakage.
Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have reportedly expressed these concerns to their North Korean counterparts. Considering that Punggye-ri is situated just 80 kilometres from the Chinese northeast border, where up to 100 million residents live, doubts have emerged that radiation leaks have been absent during the six previous nuclear tests.
Meanwhile, the results of radiation exposure tests conducted by the South Korean government on 10 defectors from Punggye-ri indicate significantly elevated radiation levels, with five of them exhibiting a degree of severity that suggests genetic mutations.
Seismic activity triggered by nuclear tests has surpassed critical levels. Initially recorded at magnitude 4.3 during the first test, it escalated to 6.3 by the sixth, suggesting that a potential seventh test could exceed magnitude 7. This escalation raises concerns about a potential nightmare scenario: the eruption of Mount Paektu.
Since the sixth nuclear test, more than 40 natural earthquakes have occurred in an area previously devoid of seismic activity, heightening the risk of ground collapse. South Korean media has aired geological reports suggesting an imminent eruption of Mount Paektu, intensifying concerns that North Korea’s seventh nuclear test could accelerate volcanic activity.
Mount Paektu is considered to be among the world’s most dangerous volcanoes that could erupt at any moment, with predictions indicating it could surpass the power of the 1815 Tambora eruption in Indonesia.
Given such potential consequences, it is imperative for China to reconsider the rationale and justification for granting North Korea nuclear power status. From a regional security standpoint, China must take action to prevent nuclear proliferation and protect the region’s shared ecology.
Let’s hope that strong pressure from China has influenced North Korea to refrain from conducting a seventh atomic test. Whatever the reasons may be, it is crucial for the Chinese government to recognise the imperative of preventing yet another nuclear test.
Lee Min-Yong is a visiting professor in the School of Global Service at Sookmyung Women’s University, South Korea and a former adviser (foreign affairs and national security to the Presidential Office of the Republic of Korea
6. Bad News: South Korea Guts KF-21 Fighter Order By Half
Bad News: South Korea Guts KF-21 Fighter Order By Half
South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has announced plans to produce 20 KF-21 Boramae fighters this year, a reduction from the initially planned 40 units.
The National Interest · by Peter Suciu · March 23, 2024
Summary: South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has announced plans to produce 20 KF-21 Boramae fighters this year, a reduction from the initially planned 40 units. This decision, part of a 7.92 trillion won ($5.92 billion) production plan, aims to address concerns from a feasibility study last year. The first batch of KF-21s, intended to become the backbone of the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF), is expected in the second half of 2026, with aspirations to deploy over 120 by 2032. Recent tests include a successful aerial refueling, highlighting ongoing developments. The KF-21, a joint project between South Korea and Indonesia, seeks to replace older U.S.-made jets with a 4.5-generation fighter, incorporating stealth-like features without being a true stealth aircraft. Despite its external munitions storage compromising stealth, its design could delay enemy radar detection.
KF-21 Boramae: South Korea's Future Air Force Backbone Enters Next Phase with Reduced Initial Production
South Korea’s arms procurement agency announced March 22 that it would build twenty KF-21 "Boramae" fighters this year, down from the initial planned production volume of 40 units.
Seoul's Defense Project Promotion Committee made the decision as part of a 7.92 trillion won ($5.92 billion) production plan for the jet. A second batch of 20 units would follow next year, after additional performance tests.
According to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, the phased production could address concerns raised by a feasibility study last year.
Defense Acquisition Program Administration officials reaffirmed the agency's commitment to the domestically produced fighter and said the planned production volume of 40 units remains unchanged. The Republic of Korea Air Force could receive its first KF-21 in the second half of 2026. The service wants to operate more than 120 of the advanced aircraft by 2032.
Last month, Seoul allocated 238.7 billion won to build the 40 Boramae jets, which were described as the future backbone of the ROKAF.
KF-21: Tests Continue
This week, a prototype KF-21 took part in a refueling test with a KC-330 multipurpose aerial refueling transport aircraft.
"The KF-21 prototype 5 took off from the runway of the 3rd Air Force Training Wing at 9:45 a.m. today and successfully performed an aerial refueling flight over the South Sea," DAPA said in a statement on March 19.
The KF-21 Fighter in the Crosshairs
South Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) launched the KF-21 fighter development program with Indonesia in 2015, intending to produce an indigenously built supersonic fighter to replace aging fleets of U.S.-made F-4 and F-5 jets.
As previously reported by Alex Hollings, "The KF-21 is a unique aircraft that incorporates a variety of 5th-generation (or stealth) design elements while still carrying munitions externally like older 4th-generation platforms."
Though not actually designated as a stealth fighter – its external stores will significantly compromise low observability – its overall radar-reflective design offers a degree of delayed detection against enemy surface-to-air radar arrays. The Boramae has been further noted for bearing a passing resemblance to the U.S. Air Force's F-22 Raptor, and as Hollings observed, the similarities are likely by design. Lockheed Martin – maker of the Raptor – partnered with KAI to provide technical support during the development of the KF-21.
The South Korean fighter has also been touted as a low-cost alternative to the Lockheed F-35 Lightning II. While not a fifth-generation aircraft, it could be a capable 4.5-generation multirole fighter. The KF-21's stealth capabilities are expected to be superior to the Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon, while not matching the F-35.
Current plans call for 40 Block 1 aircraft to be integrated with Diehl Defense AIM-2000 (IRIS-T), Meteor, JDAM, LJDAM, and locally developed KGGB-guided bombs. In addition, the Block 1 models will have full air-to-air combat capability and limited air-to-ground capability to attain initial operating qualifications.
Already KAI is looking ahead to a Block 2 version that will offer full air-to-ground capability. The ROKAF is expected to receive 80 of these variants, with the delivery of the Block 2 aircraft expected to begin in 2028. The timing would allow for the aircraft to reach full operational capability status.
Author Experience and Expertise: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
Image Credit: ROK Government/Screenshot.
The National Interest · by Peter Suciu · March 23, 2024
7. Denuclearization and humbleness
I am not sure about the author's conclusion. Without any other context I am assuming he is referring to the IMF economic crisis of 1997 as the nightmare.
Conclusion:
I might know a fair share about the region, but every time I am asked to help, I see many attempts for cooperation made by the South Korean side stall due to simple ignorance and arrogance towards others. And that leads me to conclude that we have become insensitive and arrogant. South Korea is doing better these days, but the nightmares of 1997 are still alive in the memories of the older generation. So we should not forget where we were just a few decades ago. In the virtues of good Korean traditions, we must treat other countries and their citizens, not only from Central Asia but also everyone, with humility and respect while building strong relationships. And perhaps, by fostering a culture of understanding and cooperation, even a small nation like Tajikistan could play a crucial role in achieving denuclearization on the Korean peninsula.
Denuclearization and humbleness
The Korea Times · March 24, 2024
By Eugene Lee
Eugene Lee
As "Oppenheimer" swept the Academy Awards recently, I was left with a peculiar chill running down my spine, knowing that we live in the shadow of nuclear weapons, which are but a few hundred miles away from us. What struck me was how quickly we all have become content and complacent in the face of this threat. Over the past couple of years, a torrent of deliberately misleading, scientifically misguided and often politically charged media pieces on nuclear issues in Korea has created a unique side-effect: A psychological numbness, apathy or even cognitive delusion about the dangers of nuclear material.
Last year's public furor against the dumping of cooling water into the ocean at the Fukushima nuclear power plant seems to be so far away that hardly anyone gives a second thought about any side effects of the radiation whenever buying and eating seafood products today.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is entrusted with the oversight of this operation, pledges safety and control of the cooling water from the damaged power plant. However, an immense amount of water is necessary to keep the reactor cool. This highly dangerous water amounts to roughly 500 Olympic-size swimming pools daily. And that is just the beginning. This water has to undergo a decontamination process and is supposed to be tested before being released into the environment.
Even though there are assurances from the IAEA, the world authority on the control of nuclear material, and from the government of Japan stating that the water is not radioactive, many scientists worldwide doubt the safety of such releases. From their point of view, it all comes down to the number of radionuclides. Among those radionuclides is tritium, the active element of hydrogen, whose impact on humans is yet to be fully understood. Due to the lack of such research, there has simply been no level of measure of radionuclides set by any international body to be safe for humans.
Now, take the staggering amount of radioactive water and multiply that by 30 years. That's how long it will take completely to clean up the Fukushima site, and we will end up with what some people are calling a radioactive gamble. Countries do indeed dump nuclear waste into the ocean. In fact, South Korea did too. But the scale is incomparable— South Korea's dump is estimated at 4,000 square meters, versus approximately 600,000 square meters dumped to date by Japan. And how many more to come? So, we are all left to be the lab rats for the long-term effects of those discharges.
Obviously, the current rhetoric between the countries about the use of nuclear weapons has also become belligerent. Big countries, like the United States and Russia, keep mentioning these weapons to reassert their power. The aspirations of North Korea also remind us about the nuclear arms issue almost weekly. Some even question if the whole world has gone mad and forgotten the gravity of those weapons. Some bogus research republished in newspapers and online even postulate that maybe radiation is actually good for you. Whether that is the case or not, I am not the judge because I am simply not an expert. But in my life, I have met people who were affected by radiation, and I know how painful and terrible those effects are. And that's where I stand on the issue of nukes.
My second realization came from elsewhere. Due to the specificity of my research on Central Asia, I get to work with various organizations from the region. While working with five Central Asian countries, I discovered the arrogance with which many in various administrative ranks treat those five countries.
With the need for students and labor here, more people from those countries are coming to Korea. Unfortunately, some administrators and executives even label and treat them as criminals once the name of a country is put forward. And it is true — some, if not all, countries in Central Asia, not doing well economically — and there are historical and geopolitical reasons for that. But calling them third world countries just does not measure well with me. Here I would like to make sure and bring some clarity that some countries in the region do get their fair share of attention. Let me mention a relatively small, but in its own way unique, mountainous country, the Republic of Tajikistan.
The country is recovering and is recovering fast from its past problems. Its growing economy and increasing exports do not tell the whole story. It has what third-world countries do not — its own academy of sciences. And guess what — it even has its own nuclear reactor where it studies all sorts of things, including the use of nuclear materials in health care, namely oncology. In Soviet times, Tajikistan used to be the main supplier of uranium oxide, and efforts today are made to sustain and advance that know-how. Tajikistan may be small and seemingly insignificant, but its leader was very vocal in the face of Russia's powerful leadership, fearlessly demanding respect and fighting disregard and ignorance at big regional leaders' meetings.
I might know a fair share about the region, but every time I am asked to help, I see many attempts for cooperation made by the South Korean side stall due to simple ignorance and arrogance towards others. And that leads me to conclude that we have become insensitive and arrogant. South Korea is doing better these days, but the nightmares of 1997 are still alive in the memories of the older generation. So we should not forget where we were just a few decades ago. In the virtues of good Korean traditions, we must treat other countries and their citizens, not only from Central Asia but also everyone, with humility and respect while building strong relationships. And perhaps, by fostering a culture of understanding and cooperation, even a small nation like Tajikistan could play a crucial role in achieving denuclearization on the Korean peninsula.
Eugene Lee (mreulee@gmail.com) is a lecturing professor at the Graduate School of Governance at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul. Specializing in international relations and governance, his research and teaching focus on national and regional security, international development, government policies and Northeast and Central Asia.
The Korea Times · March 24, 2024
8. Funding squeeze for Japan’s North Korean schools over propaganda concerns
It has always amazed me how much influence north Korea has been able to have in Japan with the diaspora from north Korea.
Funding squeeze for Japan’s North Korean schools over propaganda concerns
- The funding cut for Chongryon facilities is discriminatory and shows Japan does not want any North Korean schools in the country, one academic says
- But conservatives applaud the decision to withdraw support, saying spending money on such schools is ‘tantamount to benefiting a dictatorial regime’
By Julian Ryall South China Morning Post5 min
March 24, 2024
View Original
Members of the North Korean community in Japan say the impact of reduced support is already being widely felt, with a number of schools forced to amalgamate their operations and others closing.
“It is becoming more difficult,” admitted Han Gyon-hui, a professor of library and information studies at Korea University, in the west Tokyo suburb of Kodaira, the only overseas tertiary-level educational institution affiliated with North Korea in the world.
“There are parents here who are Korean and they want their own children to grow up being Korean even though they live in Japan,” she said. “People are worried about the funds, of course, but I believe that even if local governments do cut the support, parents and our compatriots will step in to help the schools.”
Most people of Korean descent living in Japan, referred to as Zainichi Koreans, trace their roots back to the period before and during World War II, when Koreans were brought to Japan as labourers under colonial rule. Many choose not to acquire Japanese citizenship, however, due to a desire to retain their Korean identity and instead hold “special permanent resident status”.
Han said she took part in a 2019 protest in Tokyo against the national government’s decision to cancel subsidies to North Korean kindergartens on the grounds that withdrawing the support was discriminatory, adding that it was yet more evidence that the Japanese government “does not want any North Korean schools here”.
A Chongryon official refused to comment on the issue to This Week in Asia, but it is understood that the association has around 70 educational institutions, from elementary to university level, across Japan today, with a little over 10,000 pupils. That is down sharply from more than 140 schools in the 1970s with over 46,000 students.
Meanwhile, conservatives in Japan have applauded the local governments’ move and say the withdrawal of taxpayers’ money to schools that teach hatred for Japan and deify the Kim family dynasty in North Korea is long overdue.
Policemen stand guard in front of the headquarters of Chongryon, the association of North Korean residents of Japan, in Tokyo. Photo: AFP
Ninety-three local governments across Japan provided financial support of more than 230 million yen (US$1.54 million) to schools operated by Chongryon over the course of the most recent financial year, the Sankei newspaper reported on March 15. The national government halted state-level financial assistance to Chongryon-affiliated schools in 2012 and successfully fended off a number of legal challenges to its decision over the following years.
Citing data released by the Ministry of Education, the newspaper said the number of local authorities spending taxpayers’ money on schools promoting North Korean political ideology had fallen below the 100 threshold for the first time and was fully 40 per cent lower than in financial year 2011.
Yet the newspaper, like many conservatives in Japan, was still outraged that any public funds at all were being used to prop up schools where portraits of the ruling Kim dynasty are in every classroom and children learn a very different interpretation of not only history but social issues. Conservatives point out that several teachers from Chongryon schools are on international wanted lists.
In a strongly worded editorial published on March 15, the Sankei newspaper said the schools did not follow the Japanese state school curriculum but instead “sing the praises of the dictatorial regime in Pyongyang” and had been “plagued by inappropriate management”.
“The time has come to stop turning a blind eye to these abuses and pull the plug on subsidies coming out of Japanese taxes,” it added.
The local governments in Tokyo and Osaka carried out investigations before cancelling their financial support in 2016, the Sankei reported, determining that the schools’ textbooks praised North Korea’s dictatorship and made no mention of the abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korean agents.
“Spending public money in this manner is tantamount to benefiting a dictatorial regime,” the report concluded. “Moreover, it does nothing to further the education of the children concerned.”
Students walk by a classroom where the portraits of the late North Korean leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il hang on the wall at a school in Tokyo. Photo: AP
Yoichi Shimada, a professor of international relations at Fukui Prefectural University and an avowed conservative, agreed that the subsidies should be halted immediately and completely.
“It’s impossible to understand how Japanese taxpayers’ money is being spent to support schools that teach propaganda instead of education, such as blind allegiance to Kim Jong-un – who only earlier this week ordered the launch of more ballistic missiles – as well as his father and grandfather,” he said.
“It is bizarre that they teach this as no sane person could consider Kim’s regime to be anything other than barbaric,” he said, pointing to countless reports of political repression, the use of prison labour and torture against inmates, and a lack of basic human rights in North Korea.
Shimada argued that refusing to support North Korean schools is not discriminatory, as their pupils have exactly the same rights to attend Japanese schools as other children. That parents choose not to send them to such schools because they want to retain their North Korean identity and heritage is irrelevant, he added.
Shimada also pointed out that teachers at Chongryon-affiliated schools have in the past been linked to criminal activity, such as Kim Kil-uk, who was the head of a school in Osaka but was suspected of being involved in the abduction of Japanese nationals in the 1980s. Kim managed to escape Japan and travel to North Korea, although he remains on Interpol’s wanted list.
Similarly, Cho Gyu-son, head of the North Korean school in Shimonoseki, is wanted by Japanese police in connection with the alleged importing of 250kg of amphetamines that were then sold to a Japanese “yakuza” organised crime group.
Shimada said Japanese authorities kept a close eye on Chongryon and its officials for any signs of illegal activity.
Students practice flag cheering routines at a Korean school in Tokyo. Photo: AP
A woman whose two sons graduated from a Korean high school in Tokyo sighs with exasperation over these criticisms.
“This problem has been going on for years and children are the ones who are suffering because the cost of running Chongryon schools is so expensive,” said the woman, who did not want to be named.
“But this is our community and we believe it is important to sustain our education standards and protect our national identity,” she said. “Education is a basic right for our children and we teach them to love their country – and that has nothing to do with outsiders.
“And when we hear of a politician saying that we are teaching the children to be spies, we just think that is ridiculous,” she added.
“We have not been brainwashed. We can think for ourselves. We know about North Korean society. And I do not believe what the children learn in our schools is so different from Japanese schools.”
The woman added that many children who attend North Korean schools in Japan have the sense that they are part of both communities and nations.
“And if we receive some help from the Japanese government, then we would be appreciative and could act as the bridge between the two countries,” she said. “But it makes me sad when I hear that a school that has been teaching children for many years suddenly disappears.”
9. Harrowing film on North Korean escapees, snubbed by Oscars, hits hard in Seoul
The north Korean apologists (or appeasers) were successful in preventing Beyond Utopia from being nominated at the Academy Awards. They conducted a very good influence campaign that must be making the regime's Propaganda and Agitation department smile with pride. I think Christine Ahn must realize she is on the wrong side of this issue
since she would not make a comment. But her organization Women Across DMZ is likely most responsible for preventing the nomination. The following excerpt is very illustrative of the issues/arguments, the divide, and the controversy among the Korea watcher community. The arguments outlined below are all in support of the Kim family regime by the named organizations and individuals.
Although the article notes that the "underground railroad is losing steam," there is one organization that continues to help escapees get to freedom and at much lower cost than most or all others. Helping Hands Korea (https://helpinghandskorea.org/) continues to help escapees and during the Pandemic was the only organization to get Koreans from the north to Freedom (some 67 in 2022 were the only ones who escaped). Please send them donations.
Excerpts:
Film critics also praised the documentary.
The Guardian called the film “nail-bitingly tense,” while roberteber.com found it “frequently jaw-dropping.” Reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, where it has a 100% score, called it “humanitarian journalism in its purest form,” and “one of the most daring works of cinematic journalism in recent memory.”
“Beyond Utopia” bagged awards at multiple film festivals, including Sundance, Sydney and Woodstock, and nominations at many more, including the UK’s BAFTAs. It failed to qualify for the ultimate prize, however. After joining the 15-strong shortlist for best documentary feature, it was not among the five final nominees.
Though award shows are rife with surprises, the lack of a nomination raised eyebrows in the film industry. Hollywood Reporter named “Beyond Utopia” one of the year’s “surprise omissions;” Variety wrote that it “should have been there.”
But in the run-up to Oscar night March 10, the film had gained some enemies. Groups and individuals who oppose Washington’s policies toward the Koreas were vocal critics.
Women Cross DMZ is a civic group that in 2015 visited North Korea and crossed the DMZ into South Korea, with marchers who included feminist icon Gloria Steinem and Hollywood heiress Abigail Disney. The NGO, which lobbies for a formal end to the Korean War and removal of U.S. sanctions, urged members to read and distribute critiques of the film.
A trio of Asian-American filmmakers posted a series of letters online, criticizing “Beyond Utopia,” a film made in 2023, for failing to contextualize the U.S. role in the Korean peninsula’s division in 1945, and for understating American actions in the hideous carnage of the Korean War, which ended via an armistice in 1953.
Calling the film “unbalanced and inaccurate” they blamed U.S. sanctions for exacerbating North Korea’s dire economic conditions, but slammed the documentary’s stress on its poverty. They questioned “unequal power relationships” between Pastor Kim and the Rohs, and accused the film’s producers and talking heads – such as Liberty in North Korea, or LINK, an NGO that assists defectors – of partisanship.
Similar arguments were made by peace activist Iris Kim in the “Daily Beast” in an op-ed entitled, “The Academy was right to snub this dehumanizing documentary.” She concluded: ‘A white filmmaker presented a highly fragmented and incomplete version of Korea’s continued division to a Western audience, who unfortunately fell head over heels for its flattened narrative.”
Women Cross DMZ Founder Christine Ahn, citing a busy schedule, declined to discuss “Beyond Utopia.”
Harrowing film on North Korean escapees, snubbed by Oscars, hits hard in Seoul
Critics attack depiction of North Korea's horrors while ignoring alleged U.S. responsibility
washingtontimes.com · by Andrew Salmon
People of Pyongyang visit the statues of former North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Mansu Hill on the occasion of 82nd birth anniversary of Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. … People of Pyongyang visit the statues … more >
By - The Washington Times - Sunday, March 24, 2024
There were muffled sobs in a Seoul school auditorium Wednesday as children and parents reacted to a powerful but distressing documentary about human tragedies unfolding just 35 miles north of where they sat.
“Beyond Utopia” released last October, was widely considered a contender for Oscar documentary glory, but — to considerable surprise — was not nominated. In the run-up to the awards, controversy erupted as the film divided many Asian Americans, both those who worked on it and those who pilloried it.
If the Oscar snub disappointed the filmmakers, matters are worse for the film’s central subject.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the “Underground Railway” that secretly runs defectors from the North Korea-China border to South Korea is now more tenuous and hazardous to navigate than ever. At great peril to its makers, the film uses predominantly smartphone footage to follow a North Korean family, the Rohs – two parents, two daughters, a grandmother – as they escape their isolated, heavily policed country.
Conveyed by activist South Korean Pastor Kim Seong-eun and “brokers” – people traffickers and smugglers – the family crosses mountainous terrain near North Korea’s border with China and finds temporary refuge in safe houses. Their odyssey carries them down Chinese highways, through Vietnamese back roads and Laotian jungle before they cross the Mekong into democratic Thailand and freedom.
In intimate detail the film captures the family’s astonishment — the grandma thinks a flat-screen TV is a blackboard — and deeply programmed existence, as when the children praise North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. There is humor and fear, hardship and hope.
Alongside the Rohs’ rugged but successful journey, the film charts an even more wrenching parallel story, following Lee So-yeon, a middle-aged defector in Seoul, as she employs brokers to extract her son from North Korea. The effort fails and he is captured and imprisoned.
Cameras capture Ms. Lee’s accelerating anguish as she speaks to brokers in North Korea, who use smuggled cell phones. The son faces severe torture, including multiple fractures. Unable to eat, he shrinks to half his previous size, Ms. Lee learns.
Her mother, in North Korea and terrified of the consequences of her grandson’s imprisonment, tells a weeping Ms. Lee she is severing all contact with her. Desperate, Ms. Lee promises brokers more money to bribe prison guards. Her efforts are useless, and in the film’s most agonizing scene, she learns that her son is trapped in a gulag from which there is no exit.
After a screening at Dulwich College, a private school for well-to-do international students in Seoul’s swanky Gangnam district, students were subdued.
“It made me realize how privileged we are, and sad at what they had to go through to live like us. and we did not have to do anything,” said Aalya, 11. (Dulwich asked to identify pupils by their first names.)
“We are lucky to be born on the right side of the world,” added Rita Andreeti, an Italian parent. ”But that’s no excuse to ignore the other side.”
“It was an incredibly moving story,” added Canadian Ambassador to Korea Tamara Mawhinney.
Absent at the Academy Awards
Film critics also praised the documentary.
The Guardian called the film “nail-bitingly tense,” while roberteber.com found it “frequently jaw-dropping.” Reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, where it has a 100% score, called it “humanitarian journalism in its purest form,” and “one of the most daring works of cinematic journalism in recent memory.”
“Beyond Utopia” bagged awards at multiple film festivals, including Sundance, Sydney and Woodstock, and nominations at many more, including the UK’s BAFTAs. It failed to qualify for the ultimate prize, however. After joining the 15-strong shortlist for best documentary feature, it was not among the five final nominees.
Though award shows are rife with surprises, the lack of a nomination raised eyebrows in the film industry. Hollywood Reporter named “Beyond Utopia” one of the year’s “surprise omissions;” Variety wrote that it “should have been there.”
But in the run-up to Oscar night March 10, the film had gained some enemies. Groups and individuals who oppose Washington’s policies toward the Koreas were vocal critics.
Women Cross DMZ is a civic group that in 2015 visited North Korea and crossed the DMZ into South Korea, with marchers who included feminist icon Gloria Steinem and Hollywood heiress Abigail Disney. The NGO, which lobbies for a formal end to the Korean War and removal of U.S. sanctions, urged members to read and distribute critiques of the film.
A trio of Asian-American filmmakers posted a series of letters online, criticizing “Beyond Utopia,” a film made in 2023, for failing to contextualize the U.S. role in the Korean peninsula’s division in 1945, and for understating American actions in the hideous carnage of the Korean War, which ended via an armistice in 1953.
Calling the film “unbalanced and inaccurate” they blamed U.S. sanctions for exacerbating North Korea’s dire economic conditions, but slammed the documentary’s stress on its poverty. They questioned “unequal power relationships” between Pastor Kim and the Rohs, and accused the film’s producers and talking heads – such as Liberty in North Korea, or LINK, an NGO that assists defectors – of partisanship.
Similar arguments were made by peace activist Iris Kim in the “Daily Beast” in an op-ed entitled, “The Academy was right to snub this dehumanizing documentary.” She concluded: ‘A white filmmaker presented a highly fragmented and incomplete version of Korea’s continued division to a Western audience, who unfortunately fell head over heels for its flattened narrative.”
Women Cross DMZ Founder Christine Ahn, citing a busy schedule, declined to discuss “Beyond Utopia.”
Sue Mi Terry, one of the film’s co-producers, a former CIA analyst whose background was lambasted by the documentary’s critics, said she was “perplexed and disappointed” by what she called an “attack” on the film, with “unfair and unfounded assertions.”
“While the critics of our film appear more sympathetic to the North Korean regime, our sympathies lie with the people of North Korea,” Ms. Terry said.
Underground Railway loses steam
The dramas captured in “Beyond Utopia” were filmed before the global pandemic and mass lockdowns.
Defections from North Korea have steadily declined since 2020, but not because human rights are improving in North Korea. Freedom House, in its Freedom in the World 2023 report, put it in joint third place (alongside Eritrea) in the “Worst of the Worst” countries globally.
During the COVID crisis, North Korea massively upgraded border security, including new physical barriers and stationing snipers to shoot those trying to cross the frontier.
“Pyongyang has built hundreds of kilometers of new or upgraded border fences, walls and guard posts, commercial satellite imagery shows, enabling it to tighten the flow of information and goods into the country, keep foreign elements out and its people in,” the Reuters news agency reported, citing satellite data, last year.
Neighboring China also has upgraded its formidable, AI-empowered national surveillance apparatus.
This means the Underground Railroad the Rohs traveled is now “eroded,” said Hannah Song, CEO of LINK, who attended the Dulwich College screening.
Defections were “much more prevalent” before COVID, she said. “Now it is much more difficult to establish those networks.”
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.
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10. The dark side of N. Korea’s efforts to speedily complete housing projects
"Chollima Speed" is dangerous.
The dark side of N. Korea’s efforts to speedily complete housing projects
"Regulations call for safety training once a week, but most of the time it's just a formality," a source told Daily NK
By Mun Dong Hui - March 22, 2024
dailynk.com
The dark side of N. Korea’s efforts to speedily complete housing projects - Daily NK English
Soldiers working on the construction of homes in Hwasong District in May 2022. (Rodong Sinmun - News1)
North Korea is accelerating its housing construction projects by forcing people to work long hours of intensive labor. The emphasis on speed has led to various incidents and accidents in which people assigned to construction sites either abandon their jobs or suffer serious injuries.
“A 19-year-old soldier of a construction unit mobilized to build houses in Pyongyang’s Hwasong area recently deserted for a week and robbed houses in several districts of the city before being caught,” a source in Pyongyang told Daily NK on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The soldier was sent to a military forced labor camp after a public struggle at the construction site on Mar. 16.”
According to the source, the soldier deserted because he was given little food – and poor quality food at that – for the long hours of intensive labor.
Soldiers and civilians working at the Hwasong construction site are supposed to work 10 hours a day, from 7 AM to 6 PM, with a one-hour lunch break. In reality, however, they are forced to work 12 hours a day, often with two hours of overtime after dinner.
They work Monday through Saturday, with Sunday off. However, most work on Sunday under the pretext of engaging in “patriotic struggle,” with small teams going to housing projects to finish unfinished work or make preparations for upcoming work, the source said.
This means that workers toil for over 72 hours in a six-day work week and work on Sunday, their only day off, meaning they essentially work the entire week. Given the poor food provided, soldiers and civilians deployed on the construction side reportedly say they wish the authorities would “at least make sure we have something to eat if we’re going to work like this.”
The International Labor Organization recommends that workers work no more than eight hours a day and an average of 48 hours a week for three weeks, as long hours can cause physical and psychological harm.
Workers are poorly paid and face unsafe work environments
In addition, soldiers and civilians working at the Hwasong construction site are not receiving proper wages.
“Laborers, office workers and soldiers all receive the salaries they received from their existing workplaces or military units,” the source said. “They don’t receive more or different compensation just because they are doing harder work. It all falls under the name of patriotic work for the state.”
The authorities are also failing to provide proper safety training at the Hwasong construction site.
“The regulations call for safety training once a week, but most of the time it’s just a formality,” the source said.
In January, while authorities were rushing housing projects to move up a completion ceremony – to be attended by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un – and another ceremony to mark the start of the next phase of construction, a member of a North Pyongan Province work brigade fell off a building and was paralyzed from the waist down.
“They sent him back to his hometown without hospitalization after four days of emergency care,” the source said. “This became an issue after his wife complained to the North Pyongan Province Party Committee and the committee’s political department of his work brigade when the Central Committee, the province, his original agency and the work brigade to which he was attached ignored his case.”
He added: “There is no separate compensation system for accidents at housing projects. The workplace should pay compensation, but this doesn’t happen.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources living in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous for security reasons. For more information about Daily NK’s network of reporting partners and information-gathering activities, please visit our FAQ page here.
Please send any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
Mun Dong Hui
Mun Dong Hui is one of Daily NK’s full-time reporters and covers North Korean technology and human rights issues, including the country’s political prison camp system. Mun has a M.A. in Sociology from Hanyang University and a B.A. in Mathematics from Jeonbuk National University. He can be reached at dhmun@uni-media.net
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