Quotes of the Day:

"Whatever you want in life, other people are going to want it too. Believe in yourself enough to accept the idea that you have an equal right to it." 

– Diane Sawyer

"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him." 

–​ Niccolo Machiavelli

“No one is an unjust villain in his own mind. Even - perhaps even especially - those who are the worst of us. Some of the cruelest tyrants in history were motivated by noble ideals, or made choices that they would call 'hard but necessary steps' for the good of their nation. We're all the hero of our own story.”

–​ Jim Butcher, Turn Coat

1. U.S. nuclear envoy underlines need for 'interim steps' toward ultimate N. Korea denuclearization

2. Public activities of N. Korean leader, key officials jump 50 pct: report

3. Russia-North Korea 'partnership' could have long-lasting repercussions, NSC official warns

4. On tense Korean peninsula, playing a game of ‘Waiting for Trump’

5. North Korea is arming Russia and threatening war with South Korea

6. FM Cho stresses joint response to N.K. provocations in talks with U.S. think tank experts

7. How 'Titanic' encouraged defections from North Korea

8. S. Korea seeking to establish ground-based military rocket launch site

9. Striking male residents to start military service next year if resignations accepted: official

10. Hardwired for propaganda: North Korean homes inspected for working speakers

11. North Korean political prisoners forced to work at nuke sites: defector

12. ＜Inside N. Korea＞ Fights and even robberies: The authorities troubled by groups of ex-soldiers…Soldiers are placed in construction teams to reintegrate into society… However, men who serve for 8 years miss out on their youth

13. Ex-defense chief banned from travel over Marine's death prior to appointment as ambassador: sources

14. Real or not? What to know about new 'superconductor' claim

15. Experts suggest North Korea's recent silence indicates depleted weapons inventories

16. North Korea cracks down on grain vendors in Hyesan

17. N. Korean official’s death in China leads to increased ideological reviews of workers

1. U.S. nuclear envoy underlines need for 'interim steps' toward ultimate N. Korea denuclearization

It looks like we are seeing a major shift in the Biden Administration's north Korea policy. We are going to shift to arms control negotiations and de facto recognize north Korea as a nuclear state and give it the credibility and legitimacy it has long desired.

Again, I can support this if it is part of a comprehensive political warfare campaign that recognizes the nature, objectives, and strategy of the Kim family regime.

I can be for arms control negotiations if we are going to adopt a "3 plus 2 strategy" –– a sophisticated information campaign based on a human rights upfront approach with a deliberate effort to pursue a free and unified Korea that is built on the two pillars of aggressive sanctions enforcement and the strongest possible ROK/US military alliance defense and deterrence capabilities.

If not, and if we think we can can be successful through arms control negotiations, we are cededing the initiative and victory to Kim Jong Un who will assess his political warfare and blackmail diplomacy strategies a success and he will double down and will never negotiate in good faith when he knows that cheating on every previous agreement has worked out for the regime. And his sole long term objective will remain to dominate the Korean peninsula.

(LEAD) U.S. nuclear envoy underlines need for 'interim steps' toward ultimate N. Korea denuclearization | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · March 6, 2024

(ATTN: ADDS more remarks in last 5 paras)

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, March 5 (Yonhap) -- The top U.S. nuclear envoy pointed out the need Tuesday for "interim steps" to be taken on a path towards North Korea's ultimate denuclearization, which she stressed would not happen "overnight."

U.S. Senior Official for North Korea Jung Pak made the remarks while reiterating Washington's "clear" goal to pursue the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

On Monday, Mira Rapp-Hooper, the U.S. National Security Council senior director for East Asia and Oceania, also said that Washington will consider "interim steps" -- a statement that raised speculation about a potential U.S. policy shift.

"I don't want to prejudge that as a final step," she said at a forum hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "But I think it goes without saying that there would have to be interim steps toward ultimate denuclearization."

This file photo, taken Jan. 18, 2024, shows U.S. Senior Official for North Korea Jung Pak attending a trilateral meeting with her South Korean and Japanese counterparts at the foreign ministry in Seoul. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

Pak was responding to a question of whether interim steps would involve the North's nuclear weapons freeze in return for sanctions relief and how the United States would prevent interim measures from ending up being a final step.

U.S. officials' mention of such steps raised speculation that Washington could exert more flexibility to deliver on its repeated commitment to engaging in "serious and sustained" diplomacy with Pyongyang that has so far rejected talks on its denuclearization.

Pak called attention to the fact that there are "a lot of weapons to be dealt with" in an apparent indication that those weapons should also be addressed alongside or before potential future negotiations over the North's nuclear programs.

"I think it is really important to acknowledge that there is a lot of weapons to be dealt with," she said, noting the North's efforts to develop solid-fuel ballistic missiles, tactical nuclear weapons, hypersonic capabilities and unmanned underwater vehicles.

"Given the scope of the DPRK weapons activities and its proliferation, there is a lot to work with there ... It is not going to happen overnight. That's the reality of it," she added. DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Touching on Pyongyang's foreign policy changes, including its growing alignment with Russia, Pak said that the U.S. assesses North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is taking a "long-term strategic shift" to achieve his "primary" goal: the preservation of the dynastic Kim regime.

"One question many knowledgeable DPRK watchers have asked is whether Kim is truly undertaking a long-term strategic shift or whether these changes are a tactic intended to create or exploit divisions among the DPRK's adversaries," she said. "We believe it's the former."

Pak said that Kim seems to have decided he cannot achieve his primary goal through negotiations with the U.S. and South Korea.

"(Kim) is viewing the world through a new Cold War lens in which the DPRK can benefit from aligning more closely with Russia and the PRC," she noted. PRC stands for China's official name, the People's Republic of China.

The envoy also highlighted the need for China to play a "constructive" role over North Korea issues.

"We encourage the PRC to play a constructive role whether it's full implementation of sanctions as well as to continue to prod the DPRK to come to negotiation dialogue and refrain from these activities that are harmful to regional security," she said.

Pak used the forum to alert the public about the perils of North Korea's cyber activities and their IT workers overseas.

"In 2024, we have a DPRK that has a very sophisticated cyber program. The use of malicious cyber activity for espionage or to simply steal money," she said. "Then, there is also the issue of DPRK IT workers whom they have deployed and who work to generate revenue for the regime."

She warned that North Korean IT workers use various legitimate websites to get jobs and work through back doors to steal technologies and other intellectual property.

Pak, moreover, shared a recent incident where she could have fallen victim to an apparent cyber incursion before she called for public cybersecurity caution.

"Always be on the lookout. No one is immune," she said. "The DPRK does not discriminate on who the targets are. It doesn't matter if you are a friend or a foe."

sshluck@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · March 6, 2024

2. Public activities of N. Korean leader, key officials jump 50 pct: report

I assess this may be because of the internal conditions that Kim fears and that the party is making an effort to tamp down potential internal dissent.

We should remember what these comments mean:

At a year-end party meeting, Kim defined inter-Korean relations as those "between two states hostile to each other" and called for preparations to "suppress" the South Korean territory in the event of war.

It is an ideological battle between north and South. The "idea" of the South, the example of the South with freedom and prosperity, is a direct threat to the regime.

Public activities of N. Korean leader, key officials jump 50 pct: report | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · March 6, 2024

SEOUL, March 6 (Yonhap) -- The number of public activities of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and three key officials soared in recent months following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, a report showed Wednesday.

They participated in 54 public activities in the three-month period ending in February, up 50 percent from an average of 36 recorded for the December-February period from 2020 to 2023, according to the report by the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU).

The three key officials are Premier Kim Tok-hun; Choe Ryong-hae, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly; and Jo Yong-won, secretary for organizational affairs in the ruling Workers' Party.

The report said the sharp rise appears to be largely affected by the situation where the COVID-19 pandemic has been brought under control.

This photo, captured from the website of North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Feb. 15, 2024, shows the North's leader Kim Jong-un (C) inspecting a munitions factory with key officials. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

In the cited period, Kim Jong-un particiapted in 31 public activities, up 31 percent from the three-year average of 23.7, with most of them focused on the military and economic fields.

The North's leader supervised launches of missiles and visited munitions factories in the December-February period, when the repressive regime ramped up provocative acts, such as the test-firing of cruise missiles from land and sea in January.

At a year-end party meeting, Kim defined inter-Korean relations as those "between two states hostile to each other" and called for preparations to "suppress" the South Korean territory in the event of war.

Meanwhile, the number of public appearances by Premier Kim jumped 77 percent to 13 in the recent three months, as he focused on visiting provincial areas to boost the sagging regional economy, the report said.

Choe carried out eight public activities, mostly related to diplomacy, in the cited period, up 85 percent from the last three years. Jo, viewed as a key aide to the North's leader, made two cases of public activities, compared with the three-year average of 0.7.

"Kim Jong-un is expected to bolster military-related public activities in the March-May period, when military tensions on the Korean Peninsula will likely increase," the report said.

Choe's public activities could also increase, given that foreign diplomats and others are expected to return to North Korea years after they were forced to withdraw from the North due to the North's COVID-19 border shutdown, it noted.

This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Feb. 20, 2024, shows Premier Kim Tok-hun (C) inspecting rural areas as the country aims to build modernized factories in 20 counties over the next decade to raise the "basic material and cultural living standards of the people." (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

sooyeon@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · March 6, 2024

3. Russia-North Korea 'partnership' could have long-lasting repercussions, NSC official warns

But if we offer to conduct arms control negotiations with north Korea we will be rewarding the Kim family regime and Kim Jong Un will assess his political warfare and blackmail diplomacy strategies as successful and we can expect him to double down.

Russia-North Korea 'partnership' could have long-lasting repercussions, NSC official warns - Breaking Defense

Pyongyang seeks "direct military assistance from Russia to include fighter aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, armored vehicles and ballistic missile production equipment," said Mira Rapp Hooper, the White House's top advisor on the Korean peninsula,

breakingdefense.com · by Colin Clark · March 5, 2024

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un visit the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur region on September 13 2023, ahead of planned talks on a weapons deal. (Photo by MIKHAIL METZEL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

SYDNEY — Since September 2023, when North Korea’s leader met with the president of Russia, millions of rounds of ammunition have flowed from Pyongyang to support the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, with Russia supplying desperately needed cash and food in return.

The White House is “very concerned about this burgeoning partnership, which is moving quite rapidly,” Mira Rapp Hooper, the president’s top advisor on the Korean peninsula, said March 4 at the Joong Ang-CSIS Forum. In return for huge quantities of artillery shells and North Korean ballistic missiles, she said North Korea wants advanced tech. Using the intelligence term of art, she said that “we assess that Pyongyang is seeking direct military assistance from Russia to include fighter aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, armored vehicles and ballistic missile production equipment or materials, as well as other advanced technology.”

Since August last year, North Korea has shipped to Russia about 6,700 containers, which could accommodate more than 3 million rounds of 152mm artillery shells or more than 500,000 rounds of 122mm multiple rocket launchers, according to the South Korean Defense ministry. Presumably all of that is destined to be used by Russia to wage war against Ukraine.

On top of the simple provision of weapons, the two sides appear to have developed a feedback loop in which the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea gets “valuable technical and military insights” from Russia’s use of its missiles.

In the longer term, these combat qualified weapons may well open new markets to North Korea, providing another revenue stream for the beleaguered regime, Hooper said.

“And let’s not forget that as Russia continues to use DPRK weapons, the DPRK may become an increasingly attractive source for munitions, arms and missiles to other military regimes throughout the world. So the transfer of sensitive military technology is certainly a concern. And there are also other ways that Russia can provide support to the DPRK that continue to allow Pyongyang to develop its WMD [Weapons of Mass Destruction] and ballistic missile programs,” she added.

In response to all this, and to China’s increasingly belligerent activities in the region, the United States has recently drawn much closer to South Korea and Japan’s militaries, hoping to counterbalance and deter all three competitors.

“We’re now sharing more intelligence, we’re aligning our policies better, and we’re coordinating policy action to try to combat the most problematic dimensions of this cooperation. And that effort is really moving fast and furious,” Hooper said.

“Under the same framework, we’re also engaging closely on DPRK related issues at the highest levels, with countries around the globe trying to mount a multilateral efforts to push back against DPRK-Russia cooperation, and that includes in our diplomacy with the PRC. We will continue to discuss these growing challenges and their troubling implications around a wide variety of international institutions, and in multilateral groupings and with friends, especially in both Europe and the Indo-Pacific.”

One of the other tools the US is using is openness, with the National Security Council expert saying that “we have had a strong and sustained effort to declassify information related to DPRK-Russia ties so that I can share with you today, the types of information that I have just shared. We want to shed light on this cooperation so that we all are better positioned to take action and to coordinate the steps that we might take. And that includes on issues like ballistic missile transfers and munitions transfers. And as new evidence comes to light, we will continue to share it.”

Of course, sanctions will also play a role, though it is hard to see how much more damage can be done against two regimes that are already heavily sanctioned and have proven adept at evading the impacts.

As Russia Increases Ties, China’s Sway Falters

Among the intriguing second order effects of the newly close Russian-DPRK relations is that, according to a former special assistant to the president for the Korean Peninsula at the National Security Council, China is losing influence over arguably its two most important neighbors.

“It’s actually reducing the leverage that China has over North Korea and over Russia,” said Allison Hooker, now a senior vice president at American Global Strategies, a Washington company that specializes in providing defense and national security advice. “This has a number of second tier effects … But it ultimately reduces the efficacy of sanctions on North Korea and Russia because China’s leverage is being reduced by this relationship.”

Matthew Pottinger, a fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, told the conference that the best way to reshape regional and global threats posed by Russia, China, North Korea and Iran is deterrence.

“The cooperation between North Korea and the Russian dictator is emblematic of the new axis that is pulling together to try to see through to completion the wars of aggression they are waging or planning around the world,” Pottinger, a former Trump administration deputy national security adviser, said. “Deterrence is the name of the game because we are confronting wars of aggression, aggression by revanchist totalitarian dictatorships in Moscow and Tehran aided and abetted by revanchist totalitarian dictatorships in Beijing and Pyongyang.”

But the world’s democracies, Pottinger said, seem to be failing at the game.

“Let’s be frank. The record of the past few years is marred with failures and signs of trouble. Vladimir Putin, unfazed by Washington’s threats of sanctions plunged Europe into its most destructive conflict since World War Two,” he said. “The Islamic Republic of Iran equips the terrorist group Hamas to initiate a war with Israel. And once that war had started, Iran mobilized several of its other terrorist proxies to rocket Israel attack commercial and military ships in the Red Sea and strike US troops across the region.”

In the Indo-Pacific, China, faced with increasingly integrated regional allied militaries, has not “backed off,” he argued. “Beijing has also intensified its campaign to impose Chinese control over the South China Sea, home to some of the world’s most important international sea lanes and fisheries. It is doing so in contempt of international norms and court rulings, and in defiance of public opinion across Southeast Asia.”

breakingdefense.com · by Colin Clark · March 5, 2024

4. On tense Korean peninsula, playing a game of ‘Waiting for Trump’

Kim wants to make the stars line up again with Trump and the next ROK PResident to be an acolyte of former President Moon.

This may be why any attempts we might make now for arms control might not pan out. Kim will stiff arm the Biden Administration in the hopes that Trump will elected.

On tense Korean peninsula, playing a game of ‘Waiting for Trump’

Pyongyang's Kim may see Trump return as chance to reengage

By Ben Wolfgang - The Washington Times - Tuesday, March 5, 2024

washingtontimes.com · by Ben Wolfgang

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right, and U.S. President Donald Trump prepare to shake hands at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea on June 30, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) **FILE** North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right, … more >

By - The Washington Times - Tuesday, March 5, 2024

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un‘s appetite to make a major diplomatic deal with the U.S. seems all but dead.

But could it suddenly spring back to life in January 2025?

Robert Manning, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center’s Reimagining Grand Strategy program, said at an online forum Tuesday that he believes a second Donald Trump term in the White House could deliver a spark to the moribund relationship between Washington and Pyongyang — though he stressed it’s highly unclear whether such a course would lead to the best long-term policy outcome.

“I think in a sense, Kim may be waiting for Trump,” Mr. Manning said at “The Washington Brief,” a monthly forum hosted by The Washington Times Foundation, as the Biden administration’s efforts to revive denuclearization talks with the North have gone nowhere.

“Trump considers himself a dealmaker above all. He still brags in his campaign speeches about his relationship with Kim. And I think he would be tempted to try again,” Mr. Manning said. “I don’t think there’s much potential for it, but I think we could get dragged into a not-defensible deal with Kim, not for total nuclear disarmament, because Kim has taken that off the table with everything he’s done. But an attempt to try a nuclear freeze or something like that, which in theory is not a bad idea.”

“I think we may try, but I think it’s a very problematic situation,” Mr. Manning said, adding that the lack of transparency around North Korea‘s nuclear program makes any type of “freeze” exceedingly difficult to verify.

Olive branches

Mr. Trump, a near-lock to be the Republican nominee for president and poised for a rematch with President Biden in November, could see a second term in the White House as an opportunity to once again offer a diplomatic olive branch to Mr. Kim, as he did when the two men came face to face for a historic 2018 meeting in Singapore.

Mr. Trump went on to hold two more meetings with Mr. Kim in the hopes of securing a deal that would end Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program in exchange for the kind of economic sanctions relief and international investment that Mr. Trump argued would transform North Korean society.

But the two men failed to reach an agreement. In the years since, analysts say the situation on the divided, heavily armed Korean peninsula has only grown more dangerous, with Pyongyang routinely conducting new missile tests and seeking to diversify its platforms of weapons of mass destruction beyond its ground-based missile units.

For Mr. Kim, ending his nuclear program entirely seems highly unlikely. But Mr. Manning said it’s possible that the U.S. could potentially open the door to other arrangements in a potential second Trump administration.

One possible outcome could involve the U.S. and the international community essentially offering to “legitimize” North Korea‘s nuclear program.

“In other words, they want to be like Israel, Pakistan,” Mr. Manning said, referring to nations known to possess nuclear weapons. “If Kim could get that and get sanctions dropped, I think he would be tempted.”

The broad notion of recognizing the nuclear reality on the Korean peninsula has its supporters in some U.S. national security circles.

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper argued recently that America’s best course of action now might be to change course from its demands for “denuclearization” and instead recognize that North Korea is, in fact, a nuclear-capable state.

“I become an advocate for recognizing reality and acknowledging, officially, they have nuclear capabilities,” he said during last month’s “Washington Brief” forum. “Doing so doesn’t raise or lower the intrinsic threat that they pose one bit, and plays to their need for ‘face,’ for respect, and maybe puts them in a better mood to negotiate.”

Next steps

Former CIA official Joseph DeTrani, who moderated Tuesday’s event, said he thinks the door may still be cracked open — albeit slightly — to a future normalization accord between the U.S. and North Korea. But he said Mr. Kim‘s recent embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his support for Mr. Putin’s war in Ukraine have greatly complicated the situation.

Mr. Kim over the past two years has deepened his strategic ties with Russia. North Korea has provided Moscow with arms and ammunition for the Ukraine campaign, in violation of international sanctions. Many suspect the Kremlin is offering Mr. Kim access to more sophisticated Russian weaponry and to Russian markets in exchange for his support.

“I think there’s still that prospect there that Kim Jong-un has not walked away from a normal relationship with the United States and the international community. Unfortunately, now he’s embraced Vladimir Putin,” Mr. DeTrani said.

“That has made it very, very difficult for North Korea to sort of pivot back to a more normal relationship with the international community, the United States,” he said. “However, I think that’s still there. I don’t think we should walk away from that.”

North Korea‘s string of recent missile tests and its embrace of Mr. Putin, along with Mr. Kim’s increasingly hostile rhetoric toward Seoul, have left specialists openly wondering whether the Korean peninsula faces its most dangerous moment since the Korean war of the 1950s. Indeed, the subject of Tuesday’s panel discussion was: “Is Kim Jong-un preparing for war?”

The consensus was that war certainly isn’t imminent. If Mr. Kim was planning to launch a military offensive against South Korea, analysts said, it’s highly unlikely he would be shipping major quantities of arms to Russia for use in Ukraine.

“The types of indicators we would expect to see on the eve of a North Korean attack, simply, we have not observed them,” said Alexandre Mansourov, professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Security Studies, who also spoke at Tuesday’s event.

• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.

Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

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5. North Korea is arming Russia and threatening war with South Korea

What does escalation mean to Kim Jong Un? What would he be trying to achieve if his intent was to escalate?

We know he conducts provocations (it uses increased threats and tension) to attempt to coerce the ROK, US, and international community into providing political and economic concessions. The regime has been relatively careful in its provocations so there is no escalation. Of course it has always counted on the US to restrain the South and prevent escalation (until 2017 and the bloody nose rhetoric from the US when the north, China, and Russia actually believed the US might use preemptive strikes which is probably why China and Russia supported UN security Council resolutions).

But now that we might offer arms control negotiations after the past two months of rather high intensity rhetoric and two years of advanced missile testing Kim will assess that his strategy is working and he has coerced the US to the negotiating table out of fear of Kim's actions. But the ultimate insult will be that Kim will not agree to such negotiations before the election in November and maybe not until the after the ROK presidential election. I would be observing Koreans from the DPRK UN mission in New York reaching out to those who might give a message to the Trump campaign that they will be ready for arms control negotiations if he is elected.

North Korea is arming Russia and threatening war with South Korea

Kim Jong Un likes to provoke. The risks of miscalculation are rising

Mar 5th 2024|seoul

The Economist

If North Korea’s state news agency is to be believed, Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, will soon visit the hermit kingdom for the first time in just over two decades. The two countries are becoming more friendly, which is helping Russia in its war in Ukraine and is emboldening the North Korean regime. It comes at a time when Kim Jong Un, the country’s hereditary dictator, is embarking on a new round of bellicosity towards South Korea. Some serious observers think that Mr Kim means to launch some kind of military provocation against the South soon. Politicians in Seoul, South Korea’s capital, promise a ferocious response. Given the North’s nuclear weapons, any kind of war talk raises jitters throughout the region.

Mr Kim has sabre-rattled before. Shortly after he became the heir-apparent in 2010, North Korea sank a South Korean ship and then shelled an island off the west coast of the peninsula controlled by the South. He has also ramped up North Korea’s military arsenal. In the past decade more than 224 ballistic-missile tests have taken place, compared with 16 between 1997 and 2011. The country now possesses enough fissile material for 35 to 63 nuclear devices, according to the Institute for Science and International Security, an American think-tank, up from five to 13 in 2005. The North currently has almost 1,000 long-range artillery pieces trained on Seoul.

Several trends make Mr Kim’s recent rhetoric worrying. For a start, in a speech on December 31st he renounced the policy, to which North Korea had paid at least lip service for decades, that reunification through co-operation with the South was the regime’s ultimate aim. Henceforth, inter-Korean relations were as “between two hostile states”, he said. Since then Mr Kim has called for the South to be classified as the “permanent enemy”. He warned that a South Korean encroachment into the North’s territory, waters or air space “by even 0.001mm…will be considered a provocation of war”.

In February Mr Kim described the maritime boundary as a “ghost line”, asserting that North Korea’s territorial waters extend beyond it. He may hope to assert this by force—deadly incidents have taken place there before. Analysts, such as Michishita Narushige of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, think North Korea might do something risky, for example firing on South Korean ships or territory, this year. It could occur either before April 10th, when South Korea holds parliamentary elections, or in the run-up to America’s election.

A megalomaniac with nukes

Mr Kim’s regime is backing up his verbal belligerence by continuing to test and improve its weapons. In November it launched its first military spy satellite. In December it again tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with solid fuel, which allows it to be launched more rapidly than the sort with liquid fuel. Five cruise-missile tests off the west coast followed in January and February.

In January, too, the regime claimed to have tested a solid-fuel manoeuvrable “hypersonic” missile, which would be better at evading American or South Korean air defences. Satellite imagery suggests that North Korea has prepared its nuclear testing site for a seventh test. When it comes, it will probably test a low-yield warhead that could be used on the battlefield.

The second trend is Mr Kim’s deepening bromance with Mr Putin. Russia’s president has turned to North Korea for artillery shells and anything else the North can spare. Last month America said that North Korea had sent some 10,000 containers of “munitions or munitions-related materials” to Russia. North Korea is presumably getting cash, food and oil in return. More worryingly, it may be getting military aid, potentially ranging from spare parts to missile technology. In February a Russian tour group visited North Korea, the first tourists since the start of the pandemic. Mr Putin has given Mr Kim a luxury Russian sedan, an ostentatious sanctions breach.

Mr Kim can now brag that North Korea is part of an anti-imperialist bloc. Once, both Russia and China signed up to UN sanctions on North Korea for pursuing nuclear programmes; today they help it evade them. Despite unease over Mr Kim’s nuclear capabilities, China demurs from criticising recent missile tests and speaks of North Korea’s “reasonable security concerns”. It continues to buy sanctioned coal from North Korea, giving the regime vital economic support, and has even provided it with old boats to smuggle it in.

A third trend is the possible return of Donald Trump to the White House in January. In 2018 Mr Trump became the first sitting American president to meet a North Korean leader, leading to a pause in North Korean belligerence as the peninsula was swept up in a whirlwind of summitry. Those talks broke down in 2019, and Mr Kim returned to weapons testing. Mr Trump appears to harbour no ill-will. In January he boasted about how famously he got on with the dictator. Mr Kim may hope that a second Trump term will allow him to reopen negotiations, in the hope of getting sanctions relief or American recognition of North Korea as a nuclear power.

But despite Mr Kim’s posturing—and the support of his new friends—by nearly every measure North Korea’s armed forces remain vastly inferior to those of South Korea and America. The number of North Korean servicemen and women, at over 1.1m, is huge. But many are employed as labourers rather than combat troops, and recently some have been sent to toil in impoverished parts of the country. Those in active service are not only poorly armed; they are also poorly fed and shod.

South Korea has greatly superior air power, sea power and missile defences. North Korea has nukes, but America has many more, and over the past year has sought to reassure South Korea by making a bigger show of its nuclear forces in the region—last summer an American nuclear-armed submarine turned up in Seoul for the first time in 40 years.

Mr Michishita argues that all the bluster and aggression is tactical cover for the regime’s deep-seated defensiveness, which stems from insecurity. That insecurity must be viewed in the context of strengthening security ties among South Korea, America and Japan. The day after the North tested a solid-fuel ICBM in December the three countries announced that “real-time” military intelligence-sharing had begun. America and South Korea regularly stage joint air, sea and land drills, with the next ones starting on March 4th and stretching over 11 days.

Feeling bound to respond in kind to allied exercises, Mr Michishita points out, could strain the North’s military resources. Meanwhile, shipping ammunition to Russia does not suggest an imminent intent to launch a full-blown attack.

Discounting the odds of an all-out war, however, is not to rule out the possibility of some limited military adventurism by North Korea. With such a move, Mr Kim may hope to drive a wedge between South Korea and America. In January South Korea’s conservative president, Yoon Suk-yeol, said that his country would respond “with a punishment multiple times more severe”.

The two Koreas recently tore up a military agreement intended to tamp down flashpoints, while the hotlines that link their armed forces have fallen silent since last April. With too few guardrails, things could escalate rapidly, warns Andrew Yeo of the Brookings Institution, a think-tank in Washington. That would be bad not just for the region, but for the world. ■

The Economist

6. FM Cho stresses joint response to N.K. provocations in talks with U.S. think tank experts

An alliance response would be best.

FM Cho stresses joint response to N.K. provocations in talks with U.S. think tank experts | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Yi Wonju · March 6, 2024

SEOUL, March 6 (Yonhap) -- Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul met with a group of experts from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and discussed North Korea and the South Korea-U.S. alliance, his office said Wednesday.

Cho stressed the importance of the allies' joint response amid growing concerns over North Korea's possible military provocations in the Yellow Sea during his talks with John Hamre, the president of the U.S. think tank, in Seoul on Tuesday, according to the ministry.

He also expressed South Korea's commitment to ramping up efforts to block the North's "illegal military cooperation" with Russia through a firm South Korea-U.S. alliance and Seoul-Washington-Tokyo security cooperation.

Other participants at the meeting are Victor Cha, Korea Chair at the CSIS, former U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger and Allison Hooker, former senior director for Asian affairs at the White House National Security Council.

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul (R) meets with John Hamre, president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, at the ministry in Seoul on March 5, 2024, in this photo provided by the office the following day. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

julesyi@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Yi Wonju · March 6, 2024

7. How 'Titanic' encouraged defections from North Korea

This is a culture war the ROK and US can win with north Korea. And not just the ROK and US but other nations can contribute as well. (note the different punishments for viewing content from various nations).

How 'Titanic' encouraged defections from North Korea

faroutmagazine.co.uk · by Scott Campbell · March 3, 2024

(Credit: Alamy)

How ‘Titanic’ encouraged defections from North Korea

Sun 3 March 2024 9:00, UK

There’s no denying that James Cameron’s Titanic was a phenomenon the likes of which cinema had never seen before, but its impact stretched well beyond the borders of the film business.

Obviously, the industry was conquered and then some after the romantic epic became the first theatrical release to ever cross the billion-dollar threshold at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time by such a considerable distance that it wouldn’t be usurped until Cameron’s own Avatar came along a dozen years later.

Notching 14 Academy Award nominations, Titanic would tie a record set by Ben-Hur almost 40 years previously by winning 11 trophies on the night, including ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’, to say nothing of its status as Hollywood’s first $200million production, never mind Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On’ selling more than 18 million copies and being a fixture of the charts for months on end.

Titanic shattered box office records in countless countries all over the world, but it ended up having an even more profound effect on a nation where even watching it was illegal. In 2007, Park Yeon-mi and her family fled North Korea in an effort to escape the oppressive regime, with her love of Cameron’s film playing a huge part in the risky decision.

Having witnessed the mother of a school classmate be executed for loaning a South Korean feature to a friend, the punishment associated with external cinema was capital. Undeterred, though, Park viewed mainstream movies as “a window for us to see the outside world.”

“There were different levels of punishment,” she explained to The Guardian. “If you were caught with a Bollywood or Russian movie you were sent to prison for three years, but if it was South Korean or American you were executed.” Despite the inherent dangers, Park and her friends developed a deep-seated love of popular titles.

“My favourite movies were Titanic, James Bond and Pretty Woman – people smuggled in pirate copies from China,” she continued. “Everyone was hungry so they couldn’t afford to buy many DVDs, so if I had Snow White and my friend had James Bond we would swap.”

The prospect of death looming overhead for doing something as innocuous as viewing a film is a spine-chilling prospect, but Park “couldn’t stop watching movies because there was no fun in North Korea.” Due to the mundane nature of her everyday life, “when I watched them, I saw something new and felt hope – fear didn’t stop me, nor will it stop others.”

The black market in North Korea for Western cinema has been booming for years against the express wishes of the authorities, but Titanic proved so powerful for Park that it served as the catalyst for her family to flee their home country for good.

Related Topics

James CameronTitanic

faroutmagazine.co.uk · by Scott Campbell · March 3, 2024

8. S. Korea seeking to establish ground-based military rocket launch site

Again, South Korea is a global pivotal state that chooses to be a peaceful nuclear power (but has the ability to develop nuclear weapons), a partner in the arsenal of democracy that supports the rule based international order.

S. Korea seeking to establish ground-based military rocket launch site | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · March 6, 2024

SEOUL, March 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's arms procurement agency said Wednesday it is seeking to establish a ground-based military rocket launch site to accommodate future satellite launches.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) unveiled the plan in a policy report to President Yoon Suk Yeol, as the military plans to launch dozens of small-sized reconnaissance satellites by 2030 in addition to its first spy satellite launched last year.

While the military currently operates a maritime launch site, there have been limitations due to weather conditions at sea and other factors, a DAPA official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

"(We) plan to make considerations this year and get started on (the plan) next year," the official said.

South Korea successfully launched its first indigenous military spy satellite from a U.S. military base in California last December as part of a project to put five mid-sized reconnaissance satellites in orbit by 2025.

Meanwhile, the agency said it aims for the country to secure US$20 billion in defense exports this year after exporting about $14 billion worth of arms last year.

In 2022, South Korea unveiled a goal of becoming the world's fourth-largest defense exporter by 2027, after local defense companies clinched a series of major arms deals with Poland. That year, the country exported a record $17 billion worth of defense goods.

A sign for the Defense Acquisition Program Administration is seen at its office in Gwacheon, south of Seoul, in this undated file photo provided by the agency. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · March 6, 2024

9. Striking male residents to start military service next year if resignations accepted: official

Unintended consequences for these medical students?

Striking male residents to start military service next year if resignations accepted: official | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · March 6, 2024

SEOUL, March 6 (Yonhap) -- Male resident doctors, who have walked off their jobs to protest a government medical school plan, will have to start their mandatory military service next year if their resignations are accepted, the head of the military manpower agency said Wednesday.

Last month, thousands of trainee doctors at general hospitals began tendering their resignations in protest of the plan to boost the number of medical school seats next year, although their resignations have yet to be accepted, with the government issuing a return-to-work order.

Lee Ki-sik, commissioner of the Military Manpower Administration, said protesting male resident doctors, who have yet to complete their mandatory military service, will have to begin their duty next year if the resignations are formalized.

South Korea requires all able-bodied men to undergo at least 18 months of military service. Male resident doctors, who do not complete their medical training, have to carry out their service as military or community doctors.

Lee Ki-sik, commissioner of the Military Manpower Administration, speaks at a press conference in central Seoul on March 6, 2024, in this photo provided by his office. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Lee, however, noted that it will not be possible for the trainee doctors to enter service right away if the resignations are formalized en masse as the number of doctors would exceed the military's annual personnel quota.

"As such a situation has never happened before ... (we) are considering making revisions to relevant rules or guidelines," he said in a press conference.

Meanwhile, when asked whether his agency was considering conscripting women or introducing a volunteer military system to address concerns of troop shortages brought on by the country's low birth rate, Lee said such plans are not being reviewed.

Lee also said his agency is pushing to make changes to the current military exemption system for qualified athletes and musicians, pledging to come up with a new plan this year to address concerns over its fairness.

Young men who clinch gold medals from international sports events, including the Olympics and Asian Games, as well as classical musicians who win top prizes from prestigious competitions are given exemptions from conscription.

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · March 6, 2024

10. Hardwired for propaganda: North Korean homes inspected for working speakers

This goes far beyond the old "We interrupt this program for a test of the Emergency Broadcast System."

Hardwired for propaganda: North Korean homes inspected for working speakers

Broadcasts transmit party orders and bad news about South Korea and the US into people’s homes.

By Ahn Chang Gyu for RFA Korean

2024.03.05

rfa.org

North Korean authorities are going door-to-door to ensure that all homes have a working speaker hardwired to receive the government’s propaganda broadcasts, residents told Radio Free Asia.

Three times a day, for an hour or two each time, the speakers broadcast directives from the party and bad news about South Korea and the United States – allowing a way for the government to reach into people’s homes with propaganda, although residents say they are often static-filled and hard to hear.

The broadcasts can include local news, mobilization instructions and even name and shame individuals who have been arrested for crimes, according to interviews with escapees conducted by the Washington-based Stimson Center’s 38 North project.

The so-called “Third Network” system is based on the Soviet “radiotochka” network that hardwired a speaker in every home to a central broadcast location so that messages can be transmitted without sending them over the air.

If during inspections, the home is found to have a faulty speaker, or none at all, residents must pay for repairs or a new speaker – but many resent the whole system because the broadcasts are not relevant to their daily lives, the residents said.

“These days, county authorities are inspecting broadcast cables and forcing any households without speakers to purchase and install them,” a resident of Puryong county in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“An inspector from the post office alongside the head of the neighborhood watch unit went to each home to verify that there was a speaker installed and that it was in working order,” he/she said.

Wires sold for scrap

The closed nature of the Third Network, colloquially called “wired broadcasting,” means that the state can control who is receiving the broadcasts, as they cannot be picked up in neighboring countries or by invading armies over the air.

The state can also limit the access to information within the same country, broadcasting different information to different regions.

According to a report by 38 North, the Third Network was started in the 1950s and was said to have been “completed” in 1982.

But North Korea’s economy collapsed after the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, and from 1994-1998 the country was plunged into a famine that killed hundreds of thousands of people, or as many as 2.2 million by some estimates.

It was during this time that many of the speakers and wires were stripped from homes and sold as scrap as people did anything they could to survive.

North Korea appears to be trying to rebuild the network by forcing residents to pay for new speakers if theirs did not survive to the present day.

“A few days after the inspection, the head of the neighborhood watch unit collected 7,000 won (82 US cents) from households that were identified as being unable to listen to wired broadcasting due to missing or broken speakers,” the resident said. “But these days, most families are having difficulty earning a living.”

Static and interference

He said that they are resentful that the authorities are going around collecting money for speakers just so they can hear “slanderous propaganda” about the United States and South Korea.

“The sound quality is poor and there is a lot of static and interference,” he said. “So it’s often difficult to understand the broadcast content properly.”

A possible reason for poor sound quality is that the Central Broadcasting Committee in each city and county does not use the same wires connected to each home. The network was built over time and never updated, so some wires are as old as the 1950s and the ones in newer homes were installed recently.

Also wires were made mostly of different materials in each era, with some made of iron and others made of aluminum. The cables are also overtapped in some areas and a broken cable in one area could affect an entire part of the city.

Another North Hamgyong resident told RFA that the authorities are telling people that they should listen to the “Third Broadcast” as part of their daily routine.

“The party specifically assigned a task to a munitions factory to produce speakers,” he said. “They especially emphasized that families without speakers must install them as soon as possible.”

The party warned that not having a working speaker could be potentially disastrous, the second resident said.

“Authorities say that you will not be able to receive important messages or instructions from the Central Committee regarding emergency situations without wired broadcasting,” he said. “If one does not know the party’s intentions, one could unknowingly commit an error or fall behind the times.”

Access to reliable electricity has been a constant problem in North Korea these days, with some rural areas going completely without power for long stretches, and others only getting a few hours each day. This means that even if the homes have working speakers they might not receive the broadcasts anyway. But they still have to pay to make sure they work.

“Broadcasts are rarely delivered properly due to frequent power outages,” the second resident said. “Even if the broadcasts are good, no one will listen to a Third Broadcast because it is not helpful for making a living.”

Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

rfa.org

11. North Korean political prisoners forced to work at nuke sites: defector

Human rights are not only a moral imperative but a national security issue.

I would call your attention to this report from HRNK.

Switchback: Evidence of a Connection between Kwan-li-so No. 16 and the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Facility?

Jacob Bogle, Greg Scarlatoiu, Raymond Ha

Oct 17, 2023

https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/PAD_web.pdf

North Korean political prisoners forced to work at nuke sites: defector

It marks the first defector testimony on political prisoners’ forced labor at nuclear sites, says Seoul think tank.

By RFA Staff

2024.03.06

rfa.org

A North Korean defector’s recent account has shed light on Pyongyang’s enforcement of forced labor at nuclear sites.

The comments mark the first instance of an explicit testimony on a practice that puts political prisoners at risk of radiation exposure.

Describing the working conditions at the nuclear facilities as “prison-like,” a 40-year-old defector who escaped the North in 2019 said North Korea requires forced labor from its political prisoners at such sites.

Few ordinary people wish to work there for fear of radiation exposure despite a number of perks offered to workers, said the defector, as cited by the Korea Institute for National Unification.

For instance, the North Korean authorities reduced the mandatory military service from 10 years to five for those who work at the nuclear facilities, while offering benefits of college and the country’s sole ruling party membership, the defector told the institute.

But the woman, interviewed anonymously for security reasons, added she had heard that “those who serve [military service] there die in three years,” as a result of exposure to radioactive materials.

This is the first time a North Korean defector has come forward with concrete testimony that political prisoners are forced to work at a nuclear facility, according to the institute.

In response to the defector’s claim, South Korea’s Ministry of Unification said it “needs to be further verified.”

“There is no information to date on the existence of political prison camps or forced labor at nuclear facilities,” said a ministry official.

The testimony came a week after the Korea Institute of Radiological Medical Sciences, or KIRAMS, released a report on its tests of 80 North Koren defectors who used to live near Punggye-ri where the North’s nuclear test site is located.

The report found 15 out of 17 who were tested for chromosomal aberrations had been exposed to radiation back in the North before they escaped.

KIRAMS indicated that this exposure could be attributed to North Korea’s nuclear tests, although it also clarified that a direct causal relationship cannot be conclusively established.

“Significant additional research is needed to more scientifically assess the impact of North Korea’s nuclear tests on neighboring populations, including more testees and early testing,” said KIRAMS.

Edited by Mike Firn and Elaine Chan.

rfa.org

12. ＜Inside N. Korea＞ Fights and even robberies: The authorities troubled by groups of ex-soldiers…Soldiers are placed in construction teams to reintegrate into society… However, men who serve for 8 years miss out on their youth

Deliberate regime policy decisions lead to systemic problems in society which could lead to internal instability.

＜Inside N. Korea＞ Fights and even robberies: The authorities troubled by groups of ex-soldiers…Soldiers are placed in construction teams to reintegrate into society… However, men who serve for 8 years miss out on their youth

asiapress.org

Young soldiers bathing and washing clothes on the banks of the Yalu River. They all appear very thin. Taken in China across the border from Sakju County, North Pyongan Province, in July 2017. (Jiro Ishimaru)

Crimes committed by veterans after up to eight years of military service has long been a social problem in North Korea. In the past few years, most have been forced to work on understaffed farms and coal mines, leading to desertions, violence, and robberies. Troubled by this situation, the authorities are exploring new ways to deal with the problem, such as grouping the veterans near their hometowns. (Jiwon Kang / Sungjun Jeon)

◆ Veteran soldiers are a nuisance to the government…they have difficulty adapting to society after a long time in the military

In North Korea, a typical adult male is required to join the military at age 17 or 18, when he graduates from upper middle school (the equivalent of high school). Each spring, ASIAPRESS has conducted direct surveys of the North Korean military's recruitment and post-deployment through officials at the Military Mobilization Department, part of the Reserve Forces Division of the Ministry of Defense.

Beginning in 2023, men have been required to serve eight years of compulsory military service. Unlike men whose military service is compulsory, female volunteers just serve for five years. However, from March 2021, the number of years were reduced from 13 to 8 for men and from 8 to 5 for women.

It is not easy for young men to reintegrate into society after being cut off from the outside world during their most impressionable years. They are often unable to adapt to the neighborhoods and workplaces where they are deployed, causing serious social problems such as absenteeism, fights, theft and robbery, which are a nuisance to the authorities.

A major reason for the social maladjustment of veterans is North Korea's military mobilization policy, which imposes a long period of military service, one of the longest in the world. A more direct cause is the policy of reassigning veterans, especially in groups.

Assigning soldiers this way means that discharged soldiers are sent en masse to large construction sites, rural areas, and coal mines, regardless of their desires or where they come from. The practice has been used in the past as a way to fill labor shortages at the national level.

This policy led to growing dissatisfaction among veterans and was a major cause of various incidents and accidents at the sites.

In this sense, this policy change can be seen as a response to mitigate the side effects of mass deployment, which is the main cause of veterans' social maladjustment to society.

◆ What has changed?

North Korean authorities have decided to mobilize veterans for major construction projects in North Hamgyong Province this year by forming shock troop teams by region or class. The authorities have informed veterans of the policy and plan to hold events, including rallies, to implement the policy. On February 7, an ASIAPRESS reporting partner in Musan County, North Hamgyong Province, said

"This year, the discharged soldiers will not be deployed in groups, but will be grouped by province, city and county to form shock troop units and organized into work groups."

* Shock troop units: Specialized civil engineering organizations mobilized for national construction projects. There are two types: "permanent" units, recruited mainly from the Youth League and serving for about three years, and "temporary" units, recruited for projects from workplaces and party members.

Party cells: The lowest level organization of the Workers' Party of Korea where individual party members directly lead, manage and control party life. The cells consist of about 5 to 30 party members and are headed by a party cell secretary.

This is a change from the previous practice of assigning veterans to existing party organizations at their places of deployment, in the sense that veterans can form their own organizations in their hometowns.

However, it would be more accurate to say that this is just an extension of the previous “group deployments”: the state still decides the path of young people while overriding their wishes and desires.

◆ Ordinary people try to find the best way forward despite confusion

The unexpected change in the government’s policy has left parents of military-age children bewildered.

"An acquaintance's son was discharged from the army this year, and he was looking for a job at home, and then he got a phone call...They said they're going to form some groups, some battalions of discharged soldiers in Musan County, or battalions of speed battle youth shock troop units, and send them to their hometowns.”

Meanwhile, some people are finding ways to make the best of their situation. For example, those who have obtained recommendations for university can be removed from the group deployments if they pass the university entrance exam. This has led some parents to go into debt to obtain bribes to get university recommendations for their children.

While not a radical improvement to the existing situation, it will be interesting to see if these recent policy changes can help veterans reintegrate into society.

※ ASIAPRESS communicates with reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.

A map of North Korea (ASIAPRESS)

asiapress.org

13. Ex-defense chief banned from travel over Marine's death prior to appointment as ambassador: sources

Ex-defense chief banned from travel over Marine's death prior to appointment as ambassador: sources | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · March 6, 2024

SEOUL, March 6 (Yonhap) -- The anti-corruption investigation office imposed a travel ban on former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup over an alleged influence-peddling case related to the death of a young Marine, months before he was named the new top envoy to Australia, sources said Wednesday.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) banned Lee from leaving South Korea in January, sources with knowledge of the matter said.

On Monday, the foreign ministry announced Lee's appointment as the new ambassador to Australia, which drew criticism as Lee has been a subject in the CIO probe in connection with the death of Cpl. Chae Su-geun, who died in July last year while on a search mission amid heavy downpours.

The CIO has been looking into allegations that Lee exerted influence to hold off the findings of an internal probe by the Marines on Chae's death. Suspicions had it that Chae was forced by his superiors to push ahead with the risky rescue operation without proper safety measures.

The Marines' top investigator in charge of the case has been indicted on charges of insubordination and defamation after he handed over the probe results on Chae to the civilian police in defiance of Lee's orders.

The CIO was widely expected to soon summon Lee for questioning.

Following the announcement on Lee's appointment, the CIO said it was "weighing various options and measures so that the investigation will not be disrupted."

The CIO is likely to either seek to question Lee before his departure for the host country, or lift the travel ban on condition that he will cooperate with the investigation after he leaves, according to the sources.

This undated file photo shows former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup. (Yonhap)

elly@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · March 6, 2024

14. Real or not? What to know about new 'superconductor' claim

Wednesday

March 6, 2024

 dictionary + A - A 

Published: 06 Mar. 2024, 20:02

Updated: 06 Mar. 2024, 20:10

Real or not? What to know about new 'superconductor' claim

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-03-06/business/tech/Real-or-not-What-to-know-about-new-superconductor-claim-/1996267

A superconductor during an experiment at low temperature at the Korea Basic Science Institute in Daejeon. [KIM SUNG-TAE]

The Korean scientists behind the viral, debunked superconductor LK-99 that swept the scientific community last year is going for a second run with PCPOSOS — a new material they insist exhibits superconductivity in room temperature and ambient pressure.

Is the second time the charm? Not according to the scientific community — or the stock market.

Related Article

Korean scientists behind bogus superconductor declare success again

Viral superconductor claim shot down by academics [REWIND 2023]

[NEWS ANALYSIS] Experts scrutinize if LK-99 superconductor claims are valid

The research group asserted in a preprint last July that its newly created LK-99 — a compound of lead, copper, phosphorous and oxygen — was the world's first room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconductor.

The study created a frenzy across the globe. A material capable of conducting electricity with zero resistance in room temperature and ambient pressure has long been considered a holy grail in science and technology circles. If created, such a compound could theoretically conduct power without losing any energy, bringing fundamental changes to every aspect of electricity.

The group's ambitious claims, however, were soon debunked by scientists and scientific societies around the world, including the Korean Society of Superconductivity and Cryogenics, after attempts to replicate the findings were unsuccessful.

Below are some frequently asked questions and answers based on the Korea JoongAng Daily's reporting on the superconductor frenzy and the scientists behind it.

Who are the scientists behind the superconductor claim?

All five them are Korean, and four out of the five are affiliated with a Seoul-based private company called Quantum Energy Research Centre. Although their claims about superconductive materials have been subject to skepticism, the Korea JoongAng Daily found no major forgery in their academic backgrounds.

Kim Hyun-tak, the lead author and presenter of the latest research, serves as a research professor of physics at the College of William & Mary in the United States. Kim is the only member who is not tied to the Quantum Energy Research Centre.

Kim holds a bachelor's degree in physics from Pusan National University and a earned master’s degree from Seoul National University. Kim became established as a researcher in superconductivity while working on his doctoral degree at Japan's University of Tsukuba, where he wrote his dissertation on low-temperature superconductors. Prior to his post at William & Mary, he worked at Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute in Korea.

Lee Suk-bae, the head of the Quantum Energy Research Centre, is the lead author of the LK-99 manuscript and the second author of the latest research. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in chemistry, as well as a doctorate in microelectronics from Korea University, where his dissertation presented a theoretical examination of Gallium-linked polyphosphazene as a potential superconducting material.

Lee and other authors who attended Korea University are largely influenced by Chair Tong-seek, a professor emeritus of chemistry at the institution.

How is PCPOSOS different from LK-99?

The key difference between LK-99’s chemical formula — Pb10−xCux (PO4) 6O — and that of PCPOSOS — Pb10-xCux (P (O1-ySy) 4) 6O1-zSz — is the addition of sulfur, which partially substitutes oxygen atoms.

Academic circles, however, found the data on PCPOSOS provided during Kim's presentation at the American Physical Society on Monday to be largely similar to those which were presented for LK-99.

Kim said on that occasion that the team would publish a manuscript explaining how said material was synthesized to demonstrate the formula in detail on the preprint site arXiv that day, but no manuscript on PCPOSOS submitted by Kim, Lee or any of the team members could be retrieved on the website as of Wednesday.

A slide displaying measurements of the electric resistance of PCPOSOS, which a group of Korean scientists claims is a room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconductor, shown during a presentation by Kim Hyun-tak, a physics professor at the College of William and Mary, at the American Physical Society meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Monday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

What kind of data have been presented by the PCPOSOS team, and what are its shortcomings?

To qualify as a superconductor, a material should exhibit zero electric resistance as well as full levitation on the magnetic field in the superconducting state.

The Korean team claims that PCPOSOS displays characteristics of a Type-II superconductor, including partial levitation when placed on a magnet and near-zero resistance at room temperature. 

The team claims that Jung Dae-chel of the Superconductor Technology Lab has replicated its findings.

Nevertheless, because Kim did not present a physical sample of the material during the APS meeting, several questions remain regarding its scientific validity.

Type I superconductors, which are typically pure metals, exhibit perfect repulsion from magnets and abruptly lose superconductivity when the magnetic field gets too strong. Type II superconductors, on the other hand, may enter a mixed state where the magnetic field starts to partially leak in.

If PCPOSOS is a Type II superconductor, it should exhibit full levitation. Kim did present an image of PCPOSOS fully levitating on a magnet, magnified 1,600 times. But the scale of that levitation is extremely small, and the reproducibility and validity of the experiment remain questionable because a physical sample has not yet been been presented.

Moreover, Kim's a presentation showed electric resistance ranging from 10⁻² to 10⁻⁴ Ω at around 25 degrees Celsius. While measuring the metric at absolute zero can be logistically difficult, this fact is a major confound to the team's data, and means that PCPOSOS has not shown a dramatic drop in resistance near absolute zero.

BY SHIN HA-NEE, PARK EUN-JEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]

15. Experts suggest North Korea's recent silence indicates depleted weapons inventories

We are all just speculating.

Experts suggest North Korea's recent silence indicates depleted weapons inventories

The Korea Times · March 6, 2024

Russia's President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in this September 2023 photo. Tass-Yonhap

By Kwak Yeon-soo

North Korea has notably refrained from military provocations following a string of displays of force in recent weeks, prompting analysts to speculate that this relative silence could be linked to the reclusive nation's prioritization of shipments of weapons and munitions to Russia, potentially leading to shortages domestically.

At the beginning of this year, North Korea's aggressive posturing was evident through a series of provocative actions. These included test-firings of a new solid-fuel intermediate-range missile equipped with a hypersonic warhead, trials of its Haeil-5-23 underwater nuclear weapon system, and multiple rounds of cruise missile launches. The military aggression is in line with leader Kim Jong-un’s declaration that he would abandon the existential goal of reconciling with rival South Korea.

However, the North has suspended military provocations since Feb. 14 when it fired multiple cruise missiles off the eastern coastal city of Wonsan.

Yang Uk, a military expert at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said North Korea may be short of feasible weapons because many of them were sent to Russia.

“North Korea is using all available means to export its weapons and artillery shells because it's beneficial to them,” he said.

North Korea has been focusing on deepening military cooperation with Russia and developing internal solidarity. Kim met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia last September and allegedly discussed the exchanges of weapons — for Moscow— and military technology — for Pyongyang.

Shin Jong-woo, a senior researcher at the Korea Defense and Security Forum, a think tank, said North Korea is looking to benefit both economically and diplomatically by providing weapons to Russia for its fight in Ukraine.

“It’s been reported that North Korea is offering a range of weapons to Russia, including artillery shells, multiple rocket launchers and short-range ballistic missiles. I believe North Korean scientists and engineers have also been dispatched to Russia, collecting operational data,” Shin said.

According to South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik, Pyongyang is estimated to have sent some 6,700 containers to Moscow apparently containing 3 million rounds of 152-millimeter shells.

North Korea has strongly responded to the annual combined military exercise between South Korea and the U.S. by staging military provocations, as it denounces the joint drill as a rehearsal for an invasion. This year's edition began Monday, but the North has yet to react with any military provocation.

Despite North Korea's recent silence lasting for weeks, experts forecast that the country is likely to resume missile tests or take other provocative actions in the near future.

“I believe it will resume military provocation during or at the end of the combined military drills. If the U.S. sends its strategic military assets to the Korean Peninsula, the North Korean regime could use it as a pretext for military provocation,” Yang said.

Shin added, “The intensity of provocative rhetoric has decreased, but North Korea may stage retaliatory actions.”

The Korea Times · March 6, 2024

16. North Korea cracks down on grain vendors in Hyesan

Freedom? There is no freedom in north Korea.

North Korea cracks down on grain vendors in Hyesan

"Consumers are bitter that they have lost the freedom to buy rice as they please," a source told Daily NK

By Lee Chae Un - March 6, 2024

dailynk.com

North Korea cracks down on grain vendors in Hyesan - Daily NK English

FILE PHOTO: This undated photo shows a view of Hyesan, in North Korea’s Yanggang Province. (Daily NK)

North Korean authorities have recently cracked down on rice and corn vendors in Hyesan, Daily NK has learned.

“Individuals selling rice or corn in Hyesan’s marketplaces and streets have recently been stopped by law enforcement officials, who say that staple foods such as rice and corn can only be sold at state-run grain stores and that individuals are only allowed to sell non-staple foods such as soybeans, barley and potatoes,” a source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Vendors have generally been able to sell rice and corn as long as they hid them in sacks and bribed government enforcers with a pack of cigarettes. But law enforcement has cracked down on such behavior in recent months, the source said.

In early February, police officers in Hyesan organized meetings with neighborhood watch units and urged citizens to buy their grain from official stores. During these meetings, police also warned that individuals caught selling rice in secret would face confiscation, fines, and legal consequences.

More recently, the police have enlisted street monitors in their enforcement campaign, which has provoked anger among both grain sellers and buyers, the source said.

“Consumers are bitter that they have lost the freedom to buy rice as they please. Of course, they would buy rice from the government stores if it were in their interest. But they don’t because they can’t buy the exact amount they want at the stores, or they can’t buy on credit because they live hand-to-mouth. That’s why they go to individual vendors,” the source said.

“The government stores are also supposed to sell small amounts of grain, but if people only want to buy a few hundred grams, the clerks get irritated and angry. Besides, people have little reason to buy grain from the state-run stores when their prices aren’t much different from those of individual vendors.”

One person who sells rice for a living told Daily NK: “If the state-run stores functioned normally and sold things for less than the marketplaces, the vendors would have to close up shop even without a crackdown by the authorities. On top of business being bad, the authorities are on my back, so I don’t know how I’m going to make ends meet. I think it would make more sense to just become a beggar.”

The source further reported that “given the crackdown, individual rice vendors may go underground for a while, but they won’t disappear completely because they need to make a living somehow. Enforcers who are on good terms with the vendors tell them to keep their heads down during the current crackdown because the authorities will soon turn their attention elsewhere.

“People talk about how hard it is just to put food on the table and how tired they are of the daily struggle. No wonder people grumble that well-fed officials spend all their time plotting ways to catch people in some sort of wrongdoing.”

Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.

Views expressed in this guest column do not necessarily reflect those of Daily NK. Please send any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.

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Lee Chae Un

Lee Chae Un is one of Daily NK’s full-time journalists. She can be reached at dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.

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17. N. Korean official’s death in China leads to increased ideological reviews of workers

In north Korea ideological training is the solution to every problem.

N. Korean official’s death in China leads to increased ideological reviews of workers

Many North Korean workers are unhappy with their long stays in China and low wages and are concerned about the possibility of not getting paid

By Seulkee Jang - March 6, 2024

dailynk.com

N. Korean official’s death in China leads to increased ideological reviews of workers - Daily NK English

FILE PHOTO: A factory in the Chinese city of Hunchun, Jilin Province, that reportedly employs North Korean workers. (Daily NK)

North Korean workers in China are now subject to much more frequent ideological reviews following the recent death of a North Korean official in the country, Daily NK has learned.

According to a Daily NK source in China on Monday, garment factories, seafood processing plants, and electronics assembly plants in Liaoning and Jilin provinces that employ North Korean workers have been conducting daily ideological reviews since last month. The reviews and ideological lectures were initially held weekly.

The source said the intensified ideological crackdowns were due to the recent death of a North Korean official in Nanping Town, which is in the city of Helong, Jilin Province.

Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun recently reported that 2,000 North Korean workers in China conducted a demonstration after occupying their factory in January over unpaid wages. In the course of the action, they beat to death the North Korean official in charge of managing them.

Before the Yomiuri Shimbun story, Ko Young-hwan, a special adviser to South Korea’s unification minister and a former North Korean diplomat, included allegations of a strike by North Korean workers in China in a report.

A Daily NK investigation through multiple sources found that a male North Korean official in his 50s, who was in charge of managing overseas workers, was indeed killed in January by workers at a Nanping Town garment factory with thousands of North Koreans.

All the sources said that several workers got into a physical altercation with the official when they expressed dissatisfaction over wages and that the official was killed in the process. However, the sources pointed out that the factory was operating as usual on the day of the incident and afterward.

The official’s remains were returned to North Korea immediately after the incident, and many of the workers involved in the attack were quickly repatriated. North Korea appears to have moved quickly to stop rumors of the incident from spreading and to prevent similar unrest elsewhere.

Ideological lectures focus on “loyalty” and plots by “enemy countries” 

In the wake of the incident, North Korean consulates in China have moved to reinforce the ideological vetting of officials tasked with managing trade or overseas workers. They have not mentioned the incident directly, nor have officials seen fit to mention it during ideological reviews of North Korean workers.

The ideological lectures focus mainly on how “the situation around the Korean Peninsula is becoming increasingly tense due to the plans of enemy nations like the United States and South Korea to suffocate North Korea” and how workers must “strengthen their loyalty to the state at such times.”

In particular, officials frequently mention passages from late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung’s memoir, With the Century, during ideological reviews each morning at large garment factories in Liaoning Province.

North Korea’s recent intensification of its ideological indoctrination of workers sent to China appears aimed at preventing the official’s death from sparking ideological unrest among other North Korean workers in China or defections.

Many North Korean workers are unhappy with their long stays in China and low wages and are concerned about the possibility of not getting paid.

“North Korean workers in China typically earn between RMB 1,800 and RMB 2,300 [approximately USD 250-320] per month. Of this, they are forced to pay between USD 130 and up to USD 200 as party funds or dues to the Socialist Women’s Union of Korea or the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions,” said a garment factory worker in China. “They only get about USD 20 a month in pocket money, while North Korean officials say they will give them the remaining USD 100 when they return home. But many workers are worried about whether they’ll ever see that money.

“North Korean company managers who know about the incident [in Nanping Town] have recently been feeding their workers pork, and most of them paid their workers pocket money last month – even though they used to skip every other month – as part of efforts to appease unhappy workers,” she added.

Translated by David Carruth. 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.

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Seulkee Jang

Seulkee Jang is one of Daily NK’s full-time reporters and covers North Korean economic and diplomatic issues, including workers dispatched abroad. Jang has a M.A. in Sociology from University of North Korean Studies and a B.A. in Sociology from Yonsei University. She can be reached at skjang(at)uni-media.net.

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De Oppresso Liber,

David Maxwell

Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy

Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation

Editor, Small Wars Journal

Twitter: @davidmaxwell161

Phone: 202-573-8647

email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com