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Quotes of the Day:
“If the literature we read does not wake us, why do we read it? A literary work must be an ice-axe to break the sea frozen inside us.”
- Franz Kafka
“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.”
- Ernest Hemingway
"A country cannot subsist well without liberty, nor liberty without virtue."
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
1. N. Korean propaganda outlets slam S. Korea-U.S. amphibious exercise
2. N. Korea holds general meeting of Olympic Committee
3. Kim Jong-un’s guards ‘face execution’ for letting him go out in stained jacket
4. South Korea speeds up full-fledged deployment of US anti-missile battery
5. Kim Jong Un's diplomats get an unwanted surprise
6. 'Woke' US schools scarier than North Korea, says defector
7. China’s ‘Red Zone’ where women are sold as slaves
8. Why Escaping North Korea Is So Difficult And Dangerous
9. Sohae Satellite Launching Station: Enhancement Efforts Continue and Possible Missile Silo
10. South Korea To Develop Naval VTOL UAV For KDX-II Destroyers
1. N. Korean propaganda outlets slam S. Korea-U.S. amphibious exercise
Remember that the largest amphibious operation in the Korean War was conducted in South Korea as part of a counterattack against the north Korean offensive.
N. Korean propaganda outlets slam S. Korea-U.S. amphibious exercise | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · March 26, 2023
SEOUL, March 26 (Yonhap) -- North Korean propaganda outlets continued their criticism of an ongoing South Korea-U.S. amphibious landing exercise Sunday, blaming the allies for heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Seoul and Washington kicked off their first large-scale Ssangyong (double dragon) exercise in five years last Monday to sharpen deterrence against growing North Korean threats. It runs through April 3.
Uriminjokkiri, a propaganda website, rejected the allies' argument that their combined drills were defensive in nature.
"That the amphibious landing has an offensive nature rather than being defensive is a fact that anybody knows," the website said.
Another propaganda outlet, Meari, claimed that the responsibility for bringing the situation on the peninsula to a "perilous" point that could trigger war lies in the "hostile" forces, including the United States.
"The fact that the Ssangyong exercise is taking place on an expanded division level in this odd-numbered year clearly shows to which point the imprudence and ill-advised bravery of the war mongers has reached," it said.
The North has decried allied exercises as preparations for a war of invasion, raising concerns that it could use those drills as a pretext to engage in provocative acts.
This photo, released by the South Korean Navy on March 22, 2023, shows South Korean and U.S. warships engaging in combined drills in waters off the southern city of Pohang. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · March 26, 2023
2. N. Korea holds general meeting of Olympic Committee
north Korea reinstated. It vows to win more medals.
N. Korea holds general meeting of Olympic Committee | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 정주원 · March 25, 2023
SEOUL, March 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has held a general meeting of its Olympic Committee to discuss plans for this year, vowing to win more medals in international competitions, its state media said Saturday, after the country was reinstated for the Olympic Games.
The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said high-ranking officials attended the meeting on Friday to discuss ways to win more medals in global-scale competitions and to tackle anti-doping issues.
With the turn of the year, the North has become free from the International Olympic Committee's ban for the Olympic Games.
North Korea had been banned from the Olympic Games until the end of 2022 for boycotting the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
Pyongyang may participate in the Asian Games, set to be held in September in Hangzhou, China, as well as the Olympic Games, slated for July 2024 in Paris.
The North also has been stepping up anti-doping discussions, most likely to evade further hurdles in participating in global sports events.
In October 2021, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) penalized Pyongyang for not meeting the global anti-doping standards.
This undated file photo shows North Korea's general assembly meeting of its Olympic Committee in 2022. (Yonhap)
jwc@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 정주원 · March 25, 2023
3. Kim Jong-un’s guards ‘face execution’ for letting him go out in stained jacket
Photos at the link. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/kim-jong-uns-guards-face-29523038
Kim Jong-un’s guards ‘face execution’ for letting him go out in stained jacket
State media images showed the North Korean tyrant Kim Jong-un with a mysterious white stain on the arm of his coat, sparking fears his unlucky staff could be punished for failing to protect his dignity
Mirror · by Ryan Fahey · March 22, 2023
A bodyguard could face slaughter by firing squad for letting dictator Kim Jong-un to leave home with white stains on his coat.
Images shared by state-run media outlet KCNA showed the North Korean tyrant with a mysterious stain on his arm, which sparked fears Kim's staff could be punished for failing to protect his dignity in public.
Michael Madden, who studies developments in the Hermit Kingdom on his website - the North Korea Leadership Watch - said those found responsible could be demoted or sentenced to hard labour in one of Kim's infamous penal colonies.
He added that even the most severe punishment, execution by firing squad, couldn't be ruled out.
"My initial reaction was OMFG," Mr Madden said.
"Personnel who have irritated the supreme leader are usually punished with demotions, hardship assignments or labour education.
On seeing the images, one North Korea expert was shocked and thought someone will definitely be in trouble with the tyrant (
Image:
KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty Image)
"It is unlikely that anyone will get shot over something like this – unless the leader is feeling particularly mercurial.
"But if he got angry about this then a few people will probably get sent to a construction site or a farm for a month or two to think about this minor transgression."
He added: "It is not unheard of to be sent away for execution.
"There are accounts of the leader’s father, Kim Jong-il, having bodyguards and members of his personal staff sent to prisons and in one case to the firing squad for very minor offences.
"One unconfirmed story is that a member of his personal staff sat at his desk and smoked one of his cigarettes. Kim Jong-il discovered this and had the man shot."
The photographs were taken during a missile launch (
Image:
KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty Image)
Mr Madden added that the culprit could excuse the leader's wrath by penning a letter of apology.
He added that Kim could even let it slide because he is "far less prone to mood swings" or issues with "emotional regulation", when compared to his ruthless dad.
Earlier this month, an intelligence agent faced firing squad after being caught using internet privileges to Google the leader.
North Korea strictly curtails internet access to prevent its citizens from learning about the outside world and agents can’t get online without permission from their handlers.
Several agents from the regime’s secretive Bureau 10, which keeps watch on all internal and external electronic communications, were caught browsing the web without authorisation.
Now the one who researched the country's leader faces death by firing squad, a ministry source told Daily NK, a newspaper based in neighbouring South Korea.
A Pyongyang source said the agents were ratted out by a colleague in the Ministry of State Security, thus prompting an inspection into their activity which found the illicit research.
Mirror · by Ryan Fahey · March 22, 2023
4. South Korea speeds up full-fledged deployment of US anti-missile battery
There is always the Chinese option of economic warfare.
The buried lede: We still do not have a permanent THAAD base in South Korea. The troops continue to live in relative "field conditions."
Excerpt:
The government is anticipated to take steps to turn the THAAD base into a permanent installation as early as July, when the Ministry of Environment is expected to draw conclusions on its ongoing environmental impact assessments.
South Korea speeds up full-fledged deployment of US anti-missile battery
The Korea Times · March 26, 2023
South Korean military and the United States Forces in Korea conduct drills employing the remote launcher of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in this photo provided by the USFK, Friday. Yonhap
Beijing has limited options to retaliate against Seoul's move: experts
By Lee Hyo-jin
The South Korean government is speeding up steps to turn a U.S. anti-missile battery deployed here into a permanent installation.
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, capable of intercepting incoming ballistic missiles, was deployed in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province in 2017, to deter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.
But the anti-missile system remains as a temporary installation due to fierce backlash from China, as well as residents of Seongju. China claims that THAAD's radar can be used to spy on its military maneuvers, while residents of the southeastern town are concerned about environmental impacts.
On Friday, South Korea's Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Forces in Korea (USFK) said they recently held joint drills employing a THAAD remote launcher. It was the first such exercise since the anti-missile battery was deployed here, according to the military, Friday.
"In the face of DPRK's advanced missile threats, the training of our THAAD forces enhanced the units' combat readiness, combined defense posture within the alliance, demonstrates the ironclad commitment to support and defend the ROK, and further strengthens the security and stability on the Korean Peninsula," the USFK said in a statement. ROK stands for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is the official name of North Korea.
The government is anticipated to take steps to turn the THAAD base into a permanent installation as early as July, when the Ministry of Environment is expected to draw conclusions on its ongoing environmental impact assessments.
Once the environment ministry gives the green light, the U.S. army will be allowed to initiate a process of building infrastructure and facilities for the THAAD base.
While concerns are rising that Seoul's moves may draw fierce protests from Beijing, analysts viewed that China now has fewer retaliatory options compared to the ones it had in 2017, considering its economic slowdown and escalating competition with Washington.
"China will increase threats as the [South] Korean government continues to turn the THAAD unit into a permanent base, but it is unlikely to impose stronger sanctions than the ones we've seen in 2017," said Kang Joon-young, a professor of Chinese studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.
"Amid escalating rivalry with the U.S., China seems to be less willing to become enemies with its neighboring countries. And North Korea's evolving nuclear threats justify the South Korean government's rationale for pursuing stronger self-defense," he added.
Lee Dong-gyu, a research fellow at Asan Institute for Policy Studies, echoed the sentiment, saying, "As the U.S. increases its influence in Northeast Asia through trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan, retaliating against Seoul over THAAD could be counterproductive to China's own strategic interests."
"Plus, China's economy is currently experiencing a major crisis, so it would be hesitant to roll out economic sanctions on its neighboring country."
But at the same time, Lee stressed that South Korea should remain vigilant about possible retaliation from China, and thus keep putting more effort into reminding Beijing that the defensive weapon system is neither designed nor capable of threating its security interests.
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (TTHAD battery in Seongju is seen in this Sept. 23, 2022 photo. Korea Times photo by Ryu Su-hyeon
When THAAD was first deployed on Korean soil, Beijing viewed it as a threat to its security and sovereignty, and responded with massive economic sanctions on Seoul, as well as a tacit ban on South Korean entertainment content.
The residents in the southeastern city, for their part, have been strongly opposing the deployment citing possible damage to people's health and the environment.
Against this backdrop, the previous Moon Jae-in administration came up with the so-called "Three Nos" policy to mend ties with China. The policy refers to no additional deployments of THAAD batteries, no South Korean integration into a U.S.-led regional missile defense system and no trilateral alliance with the U.S. and Japan.
The Korea Times · March 26, 2023
5. Kim Jong Un's diplomats get an unwanted surprise
Kim Jong Un's diplomats get an unwanted surprise
foxnews.com · by Eric Shawn | Fox News
Video
North Korean defectors honor Otto Warmbier, Kim Jong Un’s victims
‘The North Korean Freedom Foundation’ chair Suzanne Scholte joins ‘Fox News Live’ to discuss the protests in front of North Korea’s mission to the United Nations.
Flowers declaring freedom and honoring an American victim of Kim Jong Un's barbaric regime were placed by activists in front of the building that houses the North Korean mission to the United Nations, as a reminder of the horrors of Kim's regime and his continued violations of human rights.
"People are dying every day in North Korea in the political prison camps, women are being tortured in the detention centers," says Suzanne Scholte, the chair of the North Korean Freedom Coalition, which sponsored the protest. "We need to put human rights at the forefront, it is the Achilles' heel of the regime."
"All regimes like this eventually come down," she says. "They are brainwashed to hate America and think that we are the enemy."
PUSH TO HONOR OTTO WARMBIER BY RENAMING STREET OUTSIDE NORTH KOREAN UN MISSION GETS BIPARTISAN SUPPORT
A photo showing Otto Warmbier and North Korean victims of the Kim regime outside the North Korean U.N. mission in New York. (Fox News)
The group of North Korean escapees told their stories and gathered on the sidewalk on Manhattan's Second Avenue and 44th Street to show their solidarity and support for the victims of Kim's torture and execution policies, and especially remember the plight of Otto Warmbier.
"They understand what Otto went through because they were tortured, as he was," says Scholte.
"All efforts to stop the brutal Kim regime will be successful in time," Otto’s mother, Cindy Warmbier, told Fox News. She and her husband Fred have been on the forefront of fighting for human rights in North Korea and raising global attention on Kim’s victims, like their son. "Focus on the concentration camps. The truth of the Kim family is ugly and needs to be viewed to the world one day soon," she said.
Otto was a 22-year-old college student from Ohio, attending the University of Virginia. He was about to leave the country after a student tour of North Korea in 2016 when he was falsely arrested, imprisoned and then tortured by the regime. Supporters say he was grabbed for Kim's propaganda purposes solely because he was an American.
Otto was put on a show trial and during his 18-month imprisonment, was severely beaten and tortured. He was returned home by the regime unable to speak and hear, suffering severe brain injuries, and died in a Cincinnati hospital in June 2017. He has since become an international symbol for human rights and the struggle against dictatorial regimes like North Korea's.
A campaign is underway to change the street name outside the North Korean U.N. mission in New York City to Otto Warmbier Way. (Fox News)
"Their willingness to fight for the justice of the Otto Warmbier and fighting against the brutal Kim regime, and actually their voice is adding the awareness of the reality of North Korea and the cruelty of Kim regime," said North Korean defector Seohyun Lee. She called the protest and placing of flowers on the regime's doorstep, "a really big support for the whole North Korean people."
MAYOR ERIC ADAMS READY TO BACK NAMING STREET HONORING OTTO WARMBIER
"Don't forget all of the North Korean people who are still suffering in this 21st century… under the like unique, brutal dictatorship," she told Fox News.
One sign declared the spot "Otto Warmbier Way," a reference to the proposal to name the corner after Otto as a reminder to the North Koreans of the brutality of the system that they represent. The idea has garnered the support of two New York City mayors, current Mayor Eric Adams and former Mayor Bill de Blasio, as well as current Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, former borough president and current West Side Councilmember Gail Brewer, the district New York State Assembly Member Harvey Epstein as well as multiple members of the U.S. Senate and Congress. But the elected official who has to approve the measure, City Councilman Keith Powers, has yet to sign on to it.
Pictures of victims of the North Korean regime are placed outside the country's U.N. mission in New York. (Fox News)
The protesters support the re-naming as a symbol of the suffering of their fellow citizens. They also detailed the first-hand horrors that their fellow North Koreans face every day.
"If you go out on the street, especially in wintertime, you can see dead bodies, the corpses. And then people think if people see that dead body and then they say, 'Oh, it's not surprised. Oh, today another person got death,'" said Songmi Han.
NORTH KOREAN HUMAN RIGHTS REMAIN VIRTUALLY NON-EXISTENT, STATE DEPARTMENT FINDS
"I didn't know when I was in North Korea there's human rights or women rights or … basic rights. I never heard of those words. So that's why North Korean people also have to know that outside of North Korea, there is freedom."
The parents of Otto Warmbier, a U.S. student who died after being imprisoned by North Korea and released by the country in a coma in 2017, should receive $240,300 seized from a North Korean bank account, a federal judge ruled last week. (Warmbier family)
The North Korean Freedom Coalition is trying to save hundreds of North Korean escapees who are being held in China and is calling on the Biden administration and Congress to address their plight with Beijing. The group of escapees also met with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield on the issue.
"If they are repatriated, they will be executed and killed," says Scholte.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"We need to pressure China not to force these people back to North Korea, but allow them safe passage to South Korea," she says. "There is nothing to be gained by China forcing them to their death in North Korea."
Fox News' Shelly Xu contributed to this report.
Follow Eric Shawn on Twitter: @EricShawnTV
foxnews.com · by Eric Shawn | Fox News
6. 'Woke' US schools scarier than North Korea, says defector
I am sorry but Ms Park is doing a disservice to all escapees from north Korea by allowing herself to be co-opted for the US culture wars.
'Woke' US schools scarier than North Korea, says defector
Author Yeonmi Park, who fled being a sex slave in North Korea, slams cancel culture at America's Ivy League universities
By
Rozina Sabur,
WASHINGTON EDITOR
26 March 2023 • 12:00am
The Telegraph · by Rozina Sabur,
The curriculum taught in US schools is as frightening as the teachings of North Korea, a defector of the dictatorship has said.
Yeonmi Park, 29, who fled the hermit state as a young teenager in 2007, became a US citizen last year. She said she was "embarrassed" to study human rights in America.
Her memoir, In Order To Live, detailing her perilous journey to freedom, gained her an international platform as a human rights activist.
However, since relocating to America, and earning a degree from Columbia University, she has sounded the alarm over "cancel culture" and political influences on the country's education system.
In her latest book, While Time Remains, she writes that she has discovered some of the same encroachments on freedom in America as in North Korea, from identity politics and authoritarian tendencies to elite hypocrisy.
'Racist' maths
In an interview with The Telegraph, Ms Park said she was shocked by the political ideology promoted by professors and fellow students at the Ivy League university.
She claimed that while studying for a human rights degree, she was taught that Jane Austen "promoted white supremacy", maths was "racist" and debate over trans issues were silenced.
"They were demonising capitalism, free markets and Western civilisation. Anything that was white was bad," she said.
"I couldn't believe it. This is the same thing that I was learning in a North Korean classroom".
Ms Park has faced criticism for her comparisons between life in America and the brutality of life in North Korea, which they argue risks undermining the severity of human rights abuses former compatriots endure.
Discussing it with The Telegraph, she conceded there was "no comparison" between living standards and the level of freedom of people between North Korea and the US.
"But what I am pointing out is the similarities with what is happening in America. And that is scary and that is where Americans are not understanding," she said.
"They don't understand that North Korea did not become that way just one day. It began somewhere, it took a course of many, many bad decisions to make it what it is today."
'Crazier than North Korea'
Ms Park was particularly critical of the way in which discussions around sex and gender were policed on campus, calling it "crazier than North Korea".
She said: "For instance, professors have to say that genders were a social construct made up by white men to oppress minorities.
"In North Korea, we believe that men cannot get pregnant, they cannot breastfeed... In Columbia [if you say that], you are a bigot."
She claimed that when she pushed back on discussions around gender, a professor told her she had been "brainwashed".
"[We have] the best, brightest minds of Ivy League education in Columbia, [but] they will literally say the same things" as you hear in a North Korean classroom, she said.
She ridiculed the promotion of "safe spaces" on campus, comparing students' cosseted existence and reluctance to discuss difficult issues to her own life story, after being sex trafficked from North Korea into China.
Ms Park initially studied economics and then switched to human rights, said she was "embarrassed" by the way it was co-opted by left-wing academics.
"For these people, human rights means free education, free health care, universal income, free housing - which means a socialist state," she said.
"In North Korea, the regime promises the same thing."
She added: "Human rights doesn't mean these free things... Free [to me] means that you have a right to pursue happiness, the right to start your own business, the right to practice your own religion and freedom of speech."
Woke ideology
Ms Park, who attended Columbia from 2016 to 2020, said her concerns about "woke ideology" in the US were heightened by the national debate on racial equality that erupted following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020.
She argued that discussions around race had come to be the lens through which other victims, like herself, were viewed.
And she argued that the focus on America's legacy of slavery had blinded the country to the plight of modern slavery.
She said: "I realised, somehow in current America, based on your skin colour, they decide who deserves justice and who deserves compassion.
"In America right now, even though I was actually a sex slave, my mother was an actual slave and went through real oppression, they say I'm privileged because I cannot understand oppression because I'm a white passing person."
She added: "I think that's when I realised this ideology was not just on college campus. It had spread to the public."
The Telegraph · by Rozina Sabur,
7. China’s ‘Red Zone’ where women are sold as slaves
More terrible evidence of the suffering of the Korean people in the north (and in China)
China’s ‘Red Zone’ where women are sold as slaves
Daily Telegraph UK
By Nicola Smith
25 Mar, 2023 07:00 PM
4 mins to read
nzherald.co.nz · by Nicola Smith
One woman was allegedly stripped and raped in a police holding camp, another sold to a Chinese farmer who beat her for not bearing a child, and a pregnant woman was repatriated to a North Korean detention centre where she drowned in a river during hard labour.
The chilling accounts offer a snippet of the horrors inflicted on hundreds of thousands of North Korean women and girls who face violent beatings, sexual violence, forced abortions, forced marriages and slavery in the dangerous region along the China-North Korea border, say rights activists.
A new study released today by Global Rights Compliance, an international human rights law firm, reports a rising number of women and girls, some as young as 12, have been forced into a sordid $105-million-a-year sex and bride trafficking industry after escaping North Korea only to become trapped in China.
Dubbing the region China’s “Red Zone”, the firm is calling for a full international investigation to address an urgent and worsening human rights crisis impacting vulnerable female North Korean refugees.
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Sofia Evangelou, North Korea Lead Legal Advisor for Global Rights Compliance, told The Telegraph the situation had intensified during the pandemic as North Koreans were unable to escape beyond China’s locked-down borders and service jobs had stopped, leaving them easy prey for sex traffickers.
Some 70 per cent of defectors from the oppressive North Korean regime are believed to be women. Photo / AP
While exact numbers are impossible to verify, she said evidence analysed by researchers, including information from North Korean diaspora groups in Seoul, suggested the number of refugees at risk in China had more than doubled from previous United Nations estimates of about 100,000.
Evangelou said the pandemic had also helped create a “black hole of information” in the Red Zone which meant “many more North Korean women and girls are falling victim to China’s sex slave industry.”
She added: “The current situation leaves North Korean women and girls exposed to the stark reality of either being sold into a lifetime of sexual and mental abuse, slavery, forced labour, or reaching freedom.”
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Some 70 per cent of defectors from the oppressive North Korean regime are believed to be women, and the perilous journey across the border leaves them at risk of exploitation by trafficking gangs.
Many are forced into at least one form of sexual slavery within a year of leaving their homeland, unable to escape out of fear of being caught by the Chinese authorities and deported back to face torture or death in harsh North Korean prison camps.
One North Korean woman, trafficked to Yanbian, north-east China, told investigators from the Database Centre for North Korean Human Rights, that she was sold to a Chinese man.
”We lived together for one year and we couldn’t have a child, so he beat me. He kicked me. He kicked my head a lot. I have depression now,” she said.
Another woman who was caught told the harrowing story of how she was raped by a camp supervisor in a police holding centre when she was forcibly repatriated to North Korea.
”He ordered me to take off my pants and wash my genitals. He ordered me to lie down naked. When I refused to do so, he took me by force and proceeded with intercourse,” she said. “I was ashamed. Where (and how) could I report this?”
In another tragic account of the dangers of defecting, the report documents how a young woman called Lee Keum-Soon who was sent back to a forced labour camp tried to conceal her pregnancy to avoid a forced abortion.
After weeks of malnutrition and intense labour, she drowned in a river where she had been ordered to gather stones. Guards discovered she was expecting and strip-searched all the female prisoners to forcibly terminate any other pregnancies.
”The international community must take a stand against these atrocities and work together to ensure that the rights of these women are protected,” said Evangelou, urging governments to push China to treat defectors as refugees and not illegal immigrants.
”A full investigation into the human rights abuses suffered by women in and around North Korea is urgently needed,” she said.
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”If nothing is done to address the urgent human rights situation for North Korean women, the situation will only get worse.”
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nzherald.co.nz · by Nicola Smith
8. Why Escaping North Korea Is So Difficult And Dangerous
A fairly comprehensive look at the challenges for escapees.
To summarize:
The DMZ is treacherous
Anyone who is caught faces harsh punishment
Defecting can run up a hefty bill
Female defectors might be trafficked
Defectors may have to navigate harsh terrain
Border guards have allegedly been ordered to shoot on sight
Families of defectors can face serious consequences
Surveillance makes it difficult to defect
Chinese authorities may return defectors
North Koreans may have a hard time acculturating to South Korea
COVID restrictions increased border controls
Life in South Korea can be full of discrimination
Why Escaping North Korea Is So Difficult And Dangerous - Grunge
grunge.com · by Sarah Crocker · March 25, 2023
Why Escaping North Korea Is So Difficult And Dangerous
Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
By /March 25, 2023 7:30 pm EST
When it comes to listing the most closed-off countries in the world, one nation easily tops the list. North Korea, also known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), occupies the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. It more or less officially came into being in 1948, after World War II transitioned into the Cold War. Kim Il-sung, backed by the Soviet Union, emerged as the first leader of the nation and began a powerful cult of personality that grew to include his family. The title of Supreme Leader has since passed onto his son, Kim Jong-il, followed by his grandson and current leader, Kim Jong-un.
In a generations-long effort to hold onto power, the Kim family and their loyalists have constructed one of the most authoritarian governments in modern history. Their hold on the nation and its people means that North Koreans have little to no contact with the outside world and often come up against significant issues like widespread malnutrition and a near-complete lack of freedom of expression.
Despite all that control, some North Koreans still decide it's time to leave. Maybe they watch a South Korean show smuggled into the DPRK on a thumb drive. Maybe, overworked and hungry, they hear that economic opportunity awaits beyond the border. Regardless of why it happens, the journey out of North Korea is not easy. Here's what makes defecting from this nation so difficult and dangerous.
The DMZ is treacherous
Stanislav Varivoda/Shutterstock
Of the North Koreans who defect to the south, only a very few attempt to escape through the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between the two nations. Looking at a satellite image of the DMZ, you may wonder why so few choose to make this particular passage. Though it spans the Korean Peninsula, it's only about 2.4 miles wide, making for a far shorter journey than what faces anyone who leaves through China.
Zoom in, however, and you'll soon notice the heavily armed guards on either side of the border. On the North Korean side, the fence is bristling with barbed wire and is even electrified in some sections. The DMZ is also believed to contain over one million landmines left from the Korean War, making every step a risk even when the razor wire is behind you and bullets aren't whizzing overhead.
Of the small number who have managed the crossing, many report that their journey, though short, was terrifying. Speaking to ABC News, former soldier Kim Kang Yoo recalled that his September 2016 flight across the DMZ took hours of navigating a valley, nearly plummeting off a cliff, digging his way beneath North Korean fences, and clambering over South Korean barriers topped with barbed wire. At one point, he said that he was so depleted and hopeless that he considered eating the rat poison he had brought with him.
Anyone who is caught faces harsh punishment
United Nations/Wikimedia Commons
For potential defectors, the threat of being caught surely looms large in their minds. In 2018, defector Scott Kim told Business Insider that he and his mother were returned to North Korea by China after the pair had been living as undocumented workers for about a year. Kim was transported to a detention center, where he was crammed into a cell with 20 other detainees and a single toilet. They suffered regular beatings and were routinely forced to crawl instead of walk. Yet this turned out to be relatively humane, as Kim convinced guards he was a teenager and gained passage to a medical facility. If they had known he was older, Kim may have been sent to a labor camp — where he eventually went after a second escape attempt.
After he was caught a third time, Kim was sent to a facility for political prisoners. These prison camps are believed to be especially brutal, with interminable sentences that can subject detainees to torture, starvation, sexual assault, and forced labor.
Other attempted escapees may face more final punishment. Speaking to ABC News, defector and former North Korean border guard An Chan-il said that he witnessed a fellow soldier shot to death after an escape attempt. An obtained the man's badge and carried it with him on his own successful escape through the DMZ, saying that he hoped something of the man would still make it to the south.
Defecting can run up a hefty bill
ungvar/Shutterstock
Many defectors rely on middlemen commonly known as brokers, who accept payment to ferry people from North Korea's northern border, through China. Many then travel further south to countries like Vietnam and Cambodia, where they can take a flight to South Korea. As defector Um Yae-run told Al Jazeera in 2018, working with brokers doesn't come cheap. Border guards must be bribed, transportation must be arranged, and all is made easier with deep pockets. Um reported that her crossing in 2009 — which included darting across an iced-over river while guards shot at her — cost about $2,800. Nearly 10 years later, she estimated that people crossing the border would need to pony up more than triple that amount, at about $9,300. Anyone with their sights set on South Korea would need to bump that figure up even higher, to an estimated $14,000.
Since then, COVID lockdowns and increased border security have made the crossing all the more difficult and expensive. Because brokers now reportedly face extended prison sentences if caught, their percentages have risen. Defector Hong Gang-chul, a former border guard, told Voice of America that brokers once took a 30% commission out of money sent from defectors to family members left in North Korea. Now, it's more like 50% or even 70% in some cases. As for the cost of leaving, Hong claimed that the overall price for an escape to South Korea cost about $21,000 in 2021.
Female defectors might be trafficked
HTWE/Shutterstock
With no travel documents and oftentimes little money, female defectors are in an especially vulnerable position. Speaking to the BBC, "Mira" said that, though she came from a well-off family, she didn't have all the money needed to pay a broker up-front. Instead, she agreed to work off her debt, assuming that she would find employment in a restaurant. Instead, she was taken to an apartment and pressured to perform sexual acts in front of a webcam.
Along with eight other women, Mira was locked in the apartment and only allowed out for short, closely-supervised trips. She and another woman, "Jiyun," never saw their earnings and eventually ran away with the help of a sympathetic webcam client and a South Korean pastor known for helping defectors.
North Korea is widely considered to be one of the worst nations in the world for human trafficking, with women and children in particular targeted for sex trafficking within the country. Female students and workers may be pressured to engage in sexual acts with authority figures and, if they seek to leave, could face much the same treatment in China. Other than webcam work, they may be coerced into working at brothels or find themselves sold into marriage with men. Given that these women almost always lack the identification needed to travel officially through China and may be returned to North Korea if caught, they are all the more trapped in exploitative and harmful situations.
Defectors may have to navigate harsh terrain
Farm/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0
While some peple have been able to leave North Korea with relatively little fanfare or physical effort, other defectors have had to contend with seriously difficult environments. For some, it's all about the weather. North Korea can get intensely cold in the winter, with temperatures in the north of the country hitting a mean of -10 degrees Fahrenheit in January. While this means that rivers often freeze over and allow for crossings on foot, it obviously makes other parts of the passage more difficult, especially if defectors have poor cold-weather gear or are suffering from malnutrition. Yet it may not be better to stay put, as defectors may already have been struggling with a harsh existence while still in North Korea, where people in poor rural communities suffer during frigid winters.
Two defectors, "Mira" and "Jiyun," told the BBC that, after escaping a years-long sexually exploitative situation in China, their journey onward to South Korea involved tremendous physical effort. At one point on their long journey, they undertook a five-hour mountain climb that left them exhausted and bloodied by the time they finally reached a South Korean embassy. Other defectors may likewise find that they have to trudge or hike long ways on foot, or endure long journeys by car and bus. Defectors who aren't used to auto travel may find this car sickness-inducing part of their trip especially hard to bear.
Border guards have allegedly been ordered to shoot on sight
Lee von Gynz-Guethle/Shutterstock
While some defectors have been able to make it across the border undetected, increased patrols in recent years have made such a feat more and more difficult. And it's not just that anyone fleeing the DPRK may be caught, handled roughly, and then turned over to a prison camp for back-breaking labor. They may simply be shot with little warning.
The issue came to broader international attention after Daily NK posted a photo of a poster that allegedly claimed anyone caught intruding into North Korean territory over its northern border would be shot on sight. The letter raised the concern of watchdogs in many quarters, including the United Nations, though North Korean officials have never made it clear if these are genuine orders.
Yet multiple defectors claim to have been fired upon by guards at either border. In November 2017, video footage of Oh Chong Song's defection across the DMZ shows him running while under fire. Though he was hit five times, Oh survived and even told NBC News that he didn't blame his fellow soldiers. Oh claims that if he was still a guard and facing the sort of pressure they were under, he would have taken up a gun, too.
Families of defectors can face serious consequences
christiantimeless/Shutterstock
With increasingly tight border controls and draconian security measures put in place throughout North Korea, many defectors have come to accept that they may never see or even communicate with their families again. Yet that may seem bearable, so long as their family doesn't suffer the grim fate of other defectors' loved ones.
According to Radio Free Asia, families of defectors have faced harsher punishments in recent years as the North Korean government seeks to quash hopes of leaving the tightly-controlled country. A source told RFA that, in July 2022, families with two or more escapees were rounded up and moved to rural areas with few resources. With defectors now labeled as traitors to the regime, their families' punishments also reportedly include prison time for taking money from escaped family members or even simply saying nice things about them in public.
Some families may even face terms in prison camps for the offense of being related to a defector. A source told Daily NK that one family was caught receiving money from a member in the south. After they were turned in by a broker, security officials arrested them and declared that they were all spies who had been accepting payment from South Korea in exchange for intel.
Surveillance makes it difficult to defect
Mark Scott Johnson/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0
According to the South Korean Ministry of Unification, the number of defectors from North Korea has been plummeting. The highest recorded number of defectors came in 2009 when 2,914 North Koreans sought refuge in South Korea. A mere 229 came to the country in 2020. Only 63 did the same the next year.
One increasingly prominent reason for this fall in defection is surveillance. Many North Koreans are observed via inminban, or "people's groups." Inminban leaders are well-situated to control and observe their neighbors through regular meetings. They report their local goings-on to higher-ups within the government. The Ministry of State Security may also pay others in the community to keep tabs on everyone. Practically anything is subject to observation and suspicion, from travel to financial activity, to what someone reads or watches in the seeming privacy of their own home.
As the DPRK moves into the 21st century, technology has taken on a larger role in controlling North Koreans and discouraging defection. Anyone with a smartphone is now required to install the Kwangmyong app to access the country's intranet or to get quarterly communications licenses, as an in-country source told Radio Free Asia. Yet the app also allows officials to track users' locations and activity. While some have simply refused to install the app or use Chinese phones smuggled across the border, this technological advance still makes it all the more difficult for someone seeking out resources to flee the country.
Chinese authorities may return defectors
Diego Tirira/Wikimedia Commons/
While leaders in the DPRK already make it hard for people to defect, anyone who finds themselves over the border and in China isn't out of danger just yet. In past years, Chinese authorities have turned a bit of a blind eye to North Koreans moving across the border, but more recent reports indicate that those days are over.
In 2021, China began returning North Koreans held during COVID-19 border lockdowns, with Human Rights Watch reporting that a minimum of 1,170 North Korean defectors were detained as of July 2021. Defector Lee Seongmin told New York magazine in 2017 that China had already been pressuring embassies in Beijing to turn away North Koreans for years. Officials reportedly feared raising tensions with the DPRK if they allowed defectors to pass through the country.
While Human Rights Watch and other groups argue that defectors are refugees fleeing an oppressive regime, China doesn't agree. Instead, defectors are deemed "economic migrants" who are to be rounded up and deported to the DPRK. However, as escapees who are sent back to North Korea face sentences in prison camps that could arguably be called torture, China may well be violating the United Nations Convention against Torture and other international refugee agreements.
North Koreans may have a hard time acculturating to South Korea
Chung Sung-jun/Getty Images
Though North and South Korea were once part of a single nation, the effects of Japanese occupation and World War II tore the country apart, leaving it as two proxy states by August 1945. That division has led to serious cultural differences between the two nations. In communist North Korea, media consumption, clothing styles, freedom of expression, and more are all strictly controlled by the government. South Korea, by contrast, is a capitalist nation with open Internet access and a thriving entertainment industry. As a result, defectors can experience significant culture shock upon their arrival.
To alleviate this, many find themselves routed to the Hanawon resettlement center. There, they go through a three-month course meant to acculturate them to South Korean life. For many North Koreans, this may be the first time they are asked to manage a bank account, operate an unhindered cell phone, or log onto the Internet. Other workshops focus on women's rights and mental health, topics rarely discussed in more patriarchal and conservative North Korea.
Even language may present a barrier. While everyone on both sides of the DMZ speaks Korean, the dialect of the DPRK is often immediately noticeable in the south. South Korean words that have been adapted from English don't make crossing this linguistic border any easier, nor do Soviet-inspired ones from the north. A growing body of translation apps and north-south dictionaries can help, but defectors often still need language courses.
COVID restrictions increased border controls
Altoclassic/Getty Images
With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, North Korea quickly moved to close its borders, all in an apparent attempt to keep the virus from burning through its population and stressing the country's poorly-maintained healthcare system. Yet this also provided a convenient excuse to crack down on anyone crossing into China illegally, as well as domestic travel within the DPRK. This followed years of increasing control after current leader Kim Jong-un came to power, increasing the difficulty and danger of defectors' journey with more physical barriers and a tightened surveillance network.
While North Korean leaders claimed that the near-total lockdown of its borders was necessary to contain the spread of COVID-19, others have argued that the measures have gone too far. North Koreans who were thinking of defecting once only had to consider frozen rivers and gun-toting guards, at least at some points along the Chinese-North Korean border. Now, that border is increasingly packed with sturdier fencing, watchtowers, and increased patrols. Besides discouraging defectors, these measures have also hit the black market economy in the nation, which allowed for the smuggling of food, medicine, foreign media, and other goods into the DPRK.
Life in South Korea can be full of discrimination
Moab Republic/Shutterstock
Once North Korean defectors have gone through a resettlement center, they are allowed to begin their lives in South Korea. But while the Hanawon and similar programs may seek to ease the transition, North Koreans can still face significant issues in their new home. Finding employment may be difficult when defectors are pitched against South Korean job applicants who have more standard educational backgrounds and may have already gone through interview processes before. As a result, defectors tend to have lower incomes and higher unemployment rates than those born in-country, though South Korea does provide a free college education for many of them and the income gap is reportedly closing.
They may also face social discrimination. Whenever Kim Jong-un or other North Korean leaders have fired missiles or are engaged in another round of warlike posturing and incendiary rhetoric, defectors may find themselves subject to extra scrutiny from their neighbors. Even North Korean children may face bullying in South Korean schools because of their backgrounds and accents. For some defectors, this is enough to push them beyond South Korea and into settling in other nations. A small number may even feel compelled to do something that sounds truly drastic after everything they've been through — return to North Korea.
grunge.com · by Sarah Crocker · March 25, 2023
9. Sohae Satellite Launching Station: Enhancement Efforts Continue and Possible Missile Silo
Imagery at the link.
Sohae Satellite Launching Station: Enhancement Efforts Continue and Possible Missile Silo
Recent commercial satellite imagery of North Korea’s Sohae Satellite Launching Station indicates that work continues on the main launch pad to accommodate larger satellite launch vehicles. In addition, both the construction and recent test at the new Horizontal Engine Test Stand (HETS) and continued work on other major components of the launch station complex underscore the DPRK’s commitment toward meeting the ambitious goals set by Kim Jong Un a year ago.
Construction in recent months has largely concentrated on building the site’s technical infrastructure, including the addition of a massive roadway tunnel and multi-purpose underground complex, expansion of engine testing capabilities, the creation of a new seaport to service the station and support areas, and the installation of a new road down to the seaport. These efforts, once complete, will prepare the site to accommodate more and larger satellite and missile launches.
In addition to the ongoing construction, North Korean media recently reported a ballistic missile launch took place on March 19 from the Sohae complex. Photos of that launch raised speculation about the possible use of a missile silo. While imagery since early March does show a possible missile silo on the hilltop above the HETS, around the probable location of the missile launch, the speed of the possible silo’s construction and post-launch evidence around the site do not appear consistent with a silo launch.
Figure 1. Overview of Sohae Satellite Launching Station. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Engine Test Stand Area and Possible Missile Silo
At the Vertical Engine Test Stand (VETS), two construction-related vehicles were visible near the dirt piles on the apron, and one cargo truck was seen leaving the area on March 1. The dirt piles have changed in size since January, and there are also dirt piles visible within the environmental shelter.
On imagery from January 18, what appeared to be a short road spur to support the loading of rocket engines into the HETS, was being extended further up the hill. By March 1, the road had reached the summit of the hilltop overlooking both the VETS and HETS, a rectangular area had been cleared, and beginnings of a circular hole were present. Previous
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Figure 2c. Road built to the hilltop overlooking the VETS and HETS and beginnings of a circular hole on imagery from March 20, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 2a. Road built to the hilltop overlooking the VETS and HETS and beginnings of a circular hole on imagery from January 18, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 2b. Road built to the hilltop overlooking the VETS and HETS and beginnings of a circular hole on imagery from March 1, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 2c. Road built to the hilltop overlooking the VETS and HETS and beginnings of a circular hole on imagery from March 20, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 2a. Road built to the hilltop overlooking the VETS and HETS and beginnings of a circular hole on imagery from January 18, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 2b. Road built to the hilltop overlooking the VETS and HETS and beginnings of a circular hole on imagery from March 1, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 2c. Road built to the hilltop overlooking the VETS and HETS and beginnings of a circular hole on imagery from March 20, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com. Next
On March 19, North Korea launched a KN-23 short-range ballistic missile from this area, leading to widespread speculation that it was launched from a silo rather than a mobile launcher.
Ground photos showed a missile launch from a wooded area, with Kim Jong Un, his daughter and several officials observing. The photo angles and smoke from the launch obscured the actual launch site, making it impossible to verify the method of launch.
While a silo launch cannot be ruled out, it seems unlikely. There does appear to be a makeshift missile silo at this location. As noted, a circular hole was first observed on imagery from March 1 that appeared to be about one meter deep, with a square raised cover located next to it. To accommodate the length of a missile or a missile canister, further excavation would have been needed, likely into a rock base, which would have taken some time to complete. Alternatively, since the bottom of the hole appeared smooth and bright, what was visible could have been the top of a missile canister already lowered into the silo.
In imagery from March 23, the hole was covered by the square raised cover. Debris was scattered around the area in a circular pattern, suggesting this was the site of ignition. However, whether it was launched from the “silo” is unclear, as a mobile transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) could have also been positioned near or over the hole, which would have produced the same effects.
Figure 3. Post-launch image of the possible missile silo area. mage Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
In general, missile silos are used to protect and hide large, long-range missiles, not missiles such as a KN-23 SRBM, which are designed to be highly mobile and elusive.
Launching missiles from TELs at Sohae is not unusual. While there is no known designated area for such launches, the large horizontal assembly building located within the complex can easily accommodate the storage of such TELs.
Launch Pad
Imagery from March shows the framing for the mobile transfer structure has increased in height to accommodate larger launch vehicles. The white transfer structure wall sections remain on the pad surface, waiting to be installed, along with the new launch stand ring for the gantry tower.
Modifications to the fuel and oxidizer bunkers continue, with the walls now visible, but the pace toward their completion has been slow, as is the case with the launch support structures on the launch pad.
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Figure 4c. Modifications and construction continue at the launch pad on imagery from March 20, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 4a. Modifications and construction continue at the launch pad on imagery from January 18, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 4b. Modifications and construction continue at the launch pad on imagery from March 1, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 4c. Modifications and construction continue at the launch pad on imagery from March 20, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 4a. Modifications and construction continue at the launch pad on imagery from January 18, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 4b. Modifications and construction continue at the launch pad on imagery from March 1, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 4c. Modifications and construction continue at the launch pad on imagery from March 20, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com. Next
Tunnel Area
Construction at the two tunnel entrances continues at a fast pace. The areas around the concrete roofed entrances have been filled in since January, and what appears to be a second tunnel entrance can be seen, likely to the lower level of the tunnel. There are significant numbers of personnel working at the tunnels—at least some are building up the road surface leading to the tunnels with the dirt taken from the tunnels and underground areas.
With the expanse and intricacy of the tunnel construction, it is clear that it will provide more than roadway access through the mountains into the complex. It could be a multi-purpose underground facility to accommodate other functions, such as missile storage and site control functions, albeit those are yet to be determined. Previous
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Figure 5c. Close up of the east tunnel entrance area on imagery from March 20, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 5b. Close up of the east tunnel entrance area on imagery from March 1, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 5b. Close up of the east tunnel entrance area on imagery from March 1, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 5c. Close up of the east tunnel entrance area on imagery from March 20, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 5b. Close up of the east tunnel entrance area on imagery from March 1, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 5b. Close up of the east tunnel entrance area on imagery from March 1, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 5c. Close up of the east tunnel entrance area on imagery from March 20, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com. Next Previous
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Figure 6c. Close up of the west tunnel entrance area on March 20, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 6a. Close up of the west tunnel entrance area on January 18, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 6b. Close up of the west tunnel entrance area on March 1, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 6c. Close up of the west tunnel entrance area on March 20, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 6a. Close up of the west tunnel entrance area on January 18, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 6b. Close up of the west tunnel entrance area on March 1, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 6c. Close up of the west tunnel entrance area on March 20, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com. Next
Jetty Construction
Significant additions have been made to the new jetty located at the southeast point of the Sohae peninsula. Jetty construction from January through early March worked to extend it into the sea beyond a point affected by the daily tides. Imagery from March 20 shows a new phase of construction. Concrete blocks, previously observed along the road accessing this area, are now being placed to build up the coastline, likely for placement of a berthing quay.
It is probable a second jetty may be constructed to the east side of the new quay, which will create a small port. A rectangular area can be seen below the water’s surface nearest the new quay wall, indicating the area will be completely dredged to create a small seaport unaffected by tidal fluctuations. Ultimately, this port will eventually allow for the unimpeded shipping and receiving of heavy materials to the area by sea. Previous
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Figure 7b. Work to extend new jetty on imagery from March 1, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 7a. Work to extend new jetty on imagery from January 18, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 7b. Work to extend new jetty on imagery from March 1, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 7a. Work to extend new jetty on imagery from January 18, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Figure 7b. Work to extend new jetty on imagery from March 1, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com. Next
Figure 8. New quay construction on imagery from March 20, 2023. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Other Activity
Construction progress on the large building under construction near the VIP housing area continues but at a slow pace, with little change having occurred between March 1 and 20. This is also true for the two smaller buildings being built near the satellite launch pad.
Figure 9. Little change to new building near VIP housing area. Image Pleiades NEO © Airbus DS 2023. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
10. South Korea To Develop Naval VTOL UAV For KDX-II Destroyers
The Republic of Korea Navy Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin class destroyer Munmu the Great (DDH-976) moves into formation during a trilateral exercise with U.S. Navy and Japan Maritime Self Defense Force ships in the East China Sea (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Paul Kelly/Released)
South Korea To Develop Naval VTOL UAV For KDX-II Destroyers
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2023/03/south-korea-to-develop-naval-vtol-uav-for-kdx-ii-destroyers/
South Korea’s DAPA (Defense Acquisition Program Administration) will soon begin preliminary research works for naval UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) to be deployed aboard KDX Batch II (Yi Sun-Sin Class) destroyers.
Jamie Chang 26 Mar 2023
The program was initially launched in 2021, but only got a formal approval this year. This program aims to develop a UAV with VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) capabilities by 2031, with a total program cost of 550 billion Korean won (around $421 million) according to DAPA’s statement.
The new UAV will be equipped with a advanced aerial reconnaissance capabilities as well as EO/IR (Electro-Optical/Infrared) sensors to allow for better operational flexibility during the day, at night and in low-light or low-visibility conditions.
These capabilities are especially important since most of its operation will be carried in harsh maritime conditions onboard Yi Sun-Sin-class destroyers, as well as highly contested islands near the NLL (Northern Limit Line) that are under the jurisdiction of NIDC (Northwest Islands Defense Command). Notably Yeonpyeong and Baekryeong, with the former having been heavily bombarded by North Korea’s heavy artilleries attack back in November 2010.
VSR 700 / Airbus – Korean Air collaboration
MOA signing ceremony for Vertical UAS Development (Korean Air photo)
While DAPA is yet to officially announce the preferred bidder for this program, it is a possibility that proposed UAV will be jointly developed by Korean Air’s Aerospace Division with technical assistance from France’s Airbus Helicopters. Both parties have signed an MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) in October last year regarding a cooperation on developing a new UAV for the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) and Marine Corps (ROKMC).
Airbus Helicopters is currently working on the VSR 700 VTOL UAV with the DGA (the French equivalent of South Korea’s DAPA) for the French Navy’s SDAM program. As Naval News previously reported, the VSR 700 aced a maritime test phase in December 2022.
Airbus VSR700 UAV – DGA picture
The South Korean program holds significant meaning to ROK Navy and Marine Corps. After the bombing of Yeonpyeong back in 2010, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff raised a formal requirement for the procurement of UAS to be used in the northwest islands area.
Later, DAPA signed a contract in the following year to procure an airship with aerial reconnaissance capabilities, but in 2015 the program itself had to be put off due to increasing budget and multiple crashes of the airship during the test phase.
After the proposed airship program was put in halt, ROK Navy and Marine Corps mostly had to rely on Air Force’s high-altitude reconnaissance capabilities. However, with the development of new UAS, it will effectively boost ROK Navy’s reconnaissance capabilities in its operational areas of concern and detect North Korea’s hostile moves against the South in advance.
DAPA also released in a statement that:
“This program will further strengthen ROK Navy’s ability on monitoring and inspecting its operational areas around Korean Peninsula, as well as promoting the domestic UAV/UAS industry.”
TAGS ROK Navy UAV
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AUTHORS
Posted by : Jamie Chang
Jamie Chang is a motivated researcher in international relations. He currently serves as the Vice Chairman of the Youth Committee at the ROK Forum for Nuclear Strategy (ROKFNS). Chang also is an experienced scholar in many fields. He has had multiple experiences of working with MOFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), PPP (People Power Party) over the years.
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
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