Quotes of the Day:
“The backbone of the army is the noncommissioned man!”
-Rudyard Kipling, “The ‘Eathen”
"The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant."
- Maximilien Robspierre
"People are never so near playing the Fool as when they think themselves wise."
- Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
1. N. Korea marks late founder's birthday with fireworks, large-scale performance
2. South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol unveils foreign policy goals
3.U.S. special envoy for N. Korea to visit Seoul for talks: State Dept.
4. Moon to leave Cheong Wa Dae on May 9, attend Yoon's inauguration ceremony
5. Ahn vows to do best as transition team chief after patching up row with Yoon
6. N. Korean provocations likely to continue for months: Jake Sullivan
7. N. Korean defense minister promoted to vice marshal on late leader's anniv.
8. Only 11 N.K. defectors arrived in S. Korea in Q1
9. Dossier reveals diplomacy behind two Koreas' simultaneous entry into U.N. membership in 1991
10. Penthouses in North Korea are mainly for the unfortunate few
11. FBI says North Korean hackers stole more than $600 million in cryptocurrency in single hack
12. Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site: Work Continues Around South Portal
13. New Seoul Government Turns Sharply to Washington
14. Washington seeks to reduce Pyongyang oil imports by half
15. Kim birthday brings joy to nobody in North Korea
16. Kim Jong-un Gives North Korea’s Most Famous TV Anchor a Luxury Home
17. US Air Force removes stockpile of depleted uranium rounds from South Korea (South Korean munitions)
18. HRNK Quoted 31 Times in the U.S. Department of State's Democratic People's Republic of Korea 2021 Human Rights Report
1. N. Korea marks late founder's birthday with fireworks, large-scale performance
First reports. Nothing earth shattering (yet).
Excerpt:
South Korea's military and intelligence authorities had not predicted a military parade for this year's anniversary, but a government source said the North was likely to hold a mass rally in the evening.
(2nd LD) N. Korea marks late founder's birthday with fireworks, large-scale performance | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with start of anniversary event; CHANGES headline)
By Chae Yun-hwan
SEOUL, April 15 (Yonhap) -- North Korea held celebrations for the 110th birth anniversary of its late founder Kim Il-sung Friday evening with fireworks and a dance performance at its capital, footage from state media showed.
Throngs of masked North Koreans appeared to hold large-scale dance celebrations at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang as colorful fireworks were set off in the background, according to the broadcast claimed to be live from the North's state-run Korean Central Television.
The Korean Central Broadcasting Station earlier reported the country would hold a youth ball at the square at 7 p.m. and a musical performance afterward in commemoration of the Day of the Sun holiday.
Fireworks were scheduled to be set off over the banks of the Taedong River centered on the Tower of the Juche Idea in the capital, it added, with other similar events being staged across the nation.
As the North usually marks every fifth and tenth political anniversaries with major celebrations, Kim Jong-un, the North's leader and grandson of the late founder, was expected to attend the event in a move to rally internal unity.
He previously appeared at military parades that marked the 100th and 105th birth anniversaries of his late grandfather in 2012 and 2017, respectively.
South Korea's military and intelligence authorities had not predicted a military parade for this year's anniversary, but a government source said the North was likely to hold a mass rally in the evening.
Earlier in the day, Cha Duck-chul, the acting spokesperson for Seoul's unification ministry, told reporters in a regular briefing that the government is closely watching for moves related to preparations for a military parade.
"(The North) has yet to mention matters related to the opening of a military parade," he said, adding that the ministry is also considering the possibility of such a parade taking place in time for the founding anniversary of the North Korean People's Revolutionary Army on April 25.
Meanwhile, Pyongyang has revved up a festive mood for the late founder's birthday, kicking off a light festival Thursday.
Various light sculptures of national symbols, including the country's highest peak Mount Paektu, were installed at Kim Il-sung Square for the festival that will run until Sunday, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
The North also held a music concert and a celebratory ball in the capital the previous day to mark the landmark anniversary, and issued commemorative stamps of its late leader, it said.
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
(END)
2. South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol unveils foreign policy goals
I am all for the strongest possible alliance between the ROK and US but I am not sure it is fair to all the Korean and US professionals who have been managing the alliance well to say that it needs rebuilding. Yes, there have been some challenges among the different administrations but the foundation of the alliance remains strong due both the support of the people and the professional diplomats, military personnel, intelligence officials and other government agency personnel (Commerce, Treasury, etc) who manage the alliance.
Perhaps the president-elect's mantra should be to "make the alliance great again." But I think that is already taken as a slogan.
Excerpts:
Central to Yoon’s foreign policy is “rebuilding” South Korea’s alliance with the United States, a nod to Washington’s frustrations with the outgoing government of President Moon Jae-in, whose foreign policy ambition of brokering peace with North Korea made him wary of jeopardizing relations with China and Russia, North Korea’s allies.
Yoon’s promises have been welcomed by Washington, U.S. analysts say, noting that the United States wants a stronger South Korea that is a reliable ally to help bolster democratic unity in the region.
South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol unveils foreign policy goals
Yesterday at 8:54 a.m. EDT|Updated yesterday at 11:17 a.m. EDT
SEOUL — South Korea in recent years has been a passive player on the global stage even as its economic and cultural influence ballooned, remaining wary of aggressive neighbors North Korea and China.
The country’s incoming conservative president vows to change that. South Korea must step up its foreign policy commensurate with its economic and cultural status and become a stronger ally to the United States, he told The Washington Post in his first interview as president-elect.
“We should not only focus on relations with North Korea, but rather expand the breadth of diplomacy in the E.U. and throughout Asia with the South Korea-U.S. relationship as our foundation,” Yoon Suk-yeol said Thursday. “We should take on a greater role in fulfilling our responsibility as one of the top 10 economies in the world.”
Yoon joins a growing cadre of leaders throughout the Asia-Pacific region who are abandoning conciliatory stances in defense of their countries and tightening alliances to counter China. He aspires to make South Korea a critical player in addressing global challenges — including supply chain management, climate change and vaccine production — moving away from a singular focus on North Korea and calibrating policy around it.
The question is how effective he can be in this goal. On May 10, Yoon is set to become the president of the world’s 10th-largest economy, although he has no policy or governing experience and was elected last month with the narrowest margin in the nation’s democratic history. He faces the test of rallying the opposition-controlled parliament and a divided nation weary of income inequality, soaring housing prices and empty promises of hope.
Central to Yoon’s foreign policy is “rebuilding” South Korea’s alliance with the United States, a nod to Washington’s frustrations with the outgoing government of President Moon Jae-in, whose foreign policy ambition of brokering peace with North Korea made him wary of jeopardizing relations with China and Russia, North Korea’s allies.
Yoon’s promises have been welcomed by Washington, U.S. analysts say, noting that the United States wants a stronger South Korea that is a reliable ally to help bolster democratic unity in the region.
Yoon, 61, is a first-time politician and former prosecutor general. The son of academics, Yoon graduated from prestigious Seoul National University and became a prosecutor in 1994 after passing the bar exam on his ninth try. He took on some of South Korea’s most powerful individuals — notably helping convict President Park Geun-hye in her impeachment trial.
Yoon lights up when talking about eating and cooking. On South Korean talk shows, he has showed off his culinary skills, deftly testing the heat of a stainless-steel pan with a drop of water and plating dishes with precision. Among his favorite dishes to cook are kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew), bulgogi (marinated beef), spaghetti and mushroom soup, he said.
“I believe it is very important and meaningful in life to spend quality time over meals with friends, family and other people close to us,” he said.
Yoon married for the first time at 51 and has four dogs and three cats. He has no children.
When asked about his role models as president, he said he admires Abraham Lincoln’s legacy as the defender of federalism and John F. Kennedy’s charm and civil rights legacy. He said footage of Kennedy taking sole responsibility for the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion in a black-and-white documentary he watched in high school left a lasting impression.
Seoul as a ‘global pivotal state’
Yoon envisions South Korea as a “global pivotal state,” his take on a long-held vision among South Korean conservatives to define the country’s foreign policy on its own terms rather than as a response to North Korea.
That means South Korea needs to take on more responsibilities, including providing more developmental aid overseas, he said.
He cited as an example that South Korea has committed $10 million in aid to Ukraine — which equals roughly 20 cents per Ukrainian, an amount he thinks is insufficient. He said he has directed his staff to assess how Seoul can increase aid for Ukraine.
“We should take part in the international pressure campaign on Russia, which the current government is doing to a certain extent,” Yoon said. “When we are asked by the international community to participate more, we need to firmly demonstrate our attitude of respect for the international rules-based order.”
Yoon said that South Korea should lean on its military alliance with the United States to take a stronger political position on China, and that he does not view South Korea’s economic dependence on China as a one-way street. China remains South Korea’s biggest trading partner, but he said Seoul must recognize that Beijing also depends on it.
Before deciding whether to seek entry into the “Quad,” a grouping of the United States, Japan, Australia and India designed to counter China’s rise, Yoon said South Korea will support and cooperate with its working groups in tackling global issues such as vaccine distribution and climate change.
Yoon labeled North Korea as Seoul’s “main enemy,” a stance that marks a departure from that of his predecessor, who leaves a legacy of brokering nuclear negotiations between North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump. Yoon expressed concern about North Korea’s lifting of its self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile and nuclear tests, but he said he would maintain a two-track response to pursue dialogue and offer humanitarian aid.
“Regardless of the circumstance, we are of the same race,” Yoon said.
Cooperation with U.S. and Japan
Relations between Japan and South Korea are once again at one of their lowest points in decades, a concern for the Biden administration as it seeks to work with its two major Asian allies to counter China’s supply chain dominance and North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.
Yoon said South Korea should work to rebuild confidence by having frequent conversations and visits with Japanese officials. Japanese officials have welcomed Yoon’s stance with caution.
“Our weakened relationship with Japan is the Achilles’ heel of South Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation,” he said. “When I am president, South Korea-Japan relations will go well. I am sure of it.”
Closing the gender gap
Yoon has proposed to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, which has become a flash point in the gender war. For now, that decision appears to be on hold, as Yoon has named a new head of the agency.
Yoon acknowledged South Korea’s poor rankings on gender, regularly placing last or second to last among developed countries in an array of metrics on women’s economic and political empowerment, and he said South Korea needs to improve.
But he said there has been progress over the decades. When asked what role his administration will play in closing the gender gap, he said the government must guarantee legal rights for both sexes in unfair and criminal circumstances.
“I have a clear principle that we must conform to global standards for social and government activities,” he said. “Guaranteeing women’s opportunities must also go in line with global standards.”
Min Joo Kim contributed to this report.
3.U.S. special envoy for N. Korea to visit Seoul for talks: State Dept.
Sustained high level engagement by the Biden administration. Alliances matter.
U.S. special envoy for N. Korea to visit Seoul for talks: State Dept. | Yonhap News Agency
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, April 14 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim will visit South Korea next week for talks that will include discussions on a joint response to North Korea's recent missile launches, the state department said Thursday.
The special representative for the DPRK will visit Seoul from Monday through Friday, according to the department.
"During his visit, Special Representative Kim will meet with Republic of Korea (ROK) Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Noh Kyu-duk and other senior ROK officials to discuss the situation on the Korean Peninsula, including the international community's response to the DPRK's recent ICBM launches," it said in a press release.
DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Kim's trip to Seoul comes after the South Korean special envoy visited Washington last week to discuss joint strategy on preventing further escalation by the recalcitrant North that has already staged 12 rounds of missile launches this year, including seven in January that marked the largest number of missile tests Pyongyang has conducted in a single month.
After their Washington meeting, Kim and Noh said they have agreed to push for a new U.N. Security Council resolution on North Korea.
"We also agreed on the importance of a strong UN Security response to these escalatory actions by the DPRK, and I look forward to working with Ambassador Noh and his team and their colleagues in the UN to pursue a new UN Security Council resolution," Kim has said.
The state department said Kim will be accompanied by Deputy Special Representative for the DPRK Jung Pak on his trip to Seoul.
"The Special Representative and Deputy Special Representative's travel to Seoul underscores the U.S. and ROK commitment to ongoing close collaboration on DPRK issues as we seek to advance complete denuclearization and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula," it said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
4. Moon to leave Cheong Wa Dae on May 9, attend Yoon's inauguration ceremony
And he will be the last president to live and work at the Blue House.
I hope the protocol people get the seating right and do not seat President Moon and former President Park too close to each other. (but protocol would seem to dictate they sit next to each other.)
Moon to leave Cheong Wa Dae on May 9, attend Yoon's inauguration ceremony | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, April 15 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in will move out of Cheong Wa Dae on May 9, a day before his successor Yoon Suk-yeol takes office, and will attend Yoon's inauguration ceremony the following day, presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee said Friday.
The decision to leave Cheong Wa Dae on the eve of Yoon's inauguration is in line with Yoon's plan to open the Cheong Wa Dae compound to the public on his first day in office after relocating the presidential office to what is now the defense ministry building.
Meanwhile, Moon and first lady Kim Jung-sook will receive their second COVID-19 booster shots on April 25, Park said.
Earlier this week, the government unveiled its plan to expand the rollout of the second COVID-19 booster shot for people over 60.
kdh@yna.co.kr
(MORE)
5. Ahn vows to do best as transition team chief after patching up row with Yoon
I am glad I do not have to worry too much about Korean domestic politics (except where they affect national security and alliance issues).
Ahn vows to do best as transition team chief after patching up row with Yoon | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, April 15 (Yonhap) -- Ahn Cheol-soo, a coalition partner of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, said Friday he will do his best as chairman of the transition committee, a day after patching up a row over Yoon's choice of Cabinet nominees.
Yoon has announced Cabinet nominations consisting of some of his closest confidants but none close to Ahn. Ahn canceled his public schedule on Thursday in an apparent move to demonstrate his anger at having his recommendations snubbed.
Yoon and Ahn, however, held a dinner meeting on Thursday evening and patched up the row.
"Because the transition committee chairman's work is a serious matter for the future of the nation and people, I intend to do my best for the nation until the end of my term," Ahn told reporters.
Asked about the dinner meeting with Yoon, Ahn said that something had happened that could have harmed their agreement to form a joint government, but the two sides "shared a view that we should not let people down again."
The agreement to form a joint government was part of a broader deal under which Ahn dropped out of the presidential race with just days to go until the March presidential election and declared his support for Yoon.
As part of the deal, the two also agreed to merge Ahn's People's Party with Yoon's People Power Party after the election, but working-level talks are said to have been suspended with only the final decision yet to be made.
kdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
6. N. Korean provocations likely to continue for months: Jake Sullivan
A logical estimate.
Excerpt:
"I think you will hear more out of North Korea in terms of its efforts to advance its nuclear program and its missile program in the weeks and months ahead," he added.
N. Korean provocations likely to continue for months: Jake Sullivan | Yonhap News Agency
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, April 14 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is currently in a provocation cycle that may last for weeks or even months, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Thursday.
Sullivan also said the North will continue efforts to advance its nuclear and missile programs, but that the capability to hit the U.S. mainland has yet to be proven.
"A few weeks ago, they tested an intercontinental ballistic missile, which they had not done previously, they had not done since 2017. So yes, they are in a pattern of provocation, pattern of testing," Sullivan said in a seminar hosted by the Economic Club of Washington D.C., a non-profit organization based in Washington.
"I think you will hear more out of North Korea in terms of its efforts to advance its nuclear program and its missile program in the weeks and months ahead," he added.
The remarks come as North Korea celebrates the birth anniversary of late founding leader Kim Il-sung on Friday (Seoul time), an occasion that has often been marked by a show of military strength.
"What I can say and what we know is that the DPRK in the past has used the occasion of holidays and other notable occasions within the DPRK to engage in provocations," Department of State spokesperson Ned Price said earlier, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
North Korea has so far conducted 12 rounds of missile launches this year, including the firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on March 24 that ended the North's self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile testing after over four years.
Officials in Seoul have also noted ongoing work to repair underground tunnels at North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test site that Pyongyang purportedly dismantled in 2018, suggesting a possible nuclear test down the road. North Korea staged its sixth and last nuclear test in September 2017.
Sullivan said the North Koreans "obviously have nuclear weapons," when asked if Pyongyang currently has a nuclear-tipped ICBM that can reach the U.S.
He, however, added, "The question of whether they can make a nuclear warhead to an intercontinental ballistic missile, fire It and actually have it hit a target as they would want to in the continental United States, that is something that is not yet proven."
The White House official said the U.S. was coordinating closely with South Korea and Japan, as well as China, on the North Korean issue.
"We are coordinating closely with both the outgoing and incoming ROK government, and with Japan. And I was just in Rome a few weeks ago with my Chinese counterpart, so we're talking to Beijing about this as well," he said, referring to South Korea by its official name, the Republic of Korea.
Sullivan met with a special delegation of South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol in Washington last week.
Yoon is set to take office on May 10.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
7. N. Korean defense minister promoted to vice marshal on late leader's anniv.
This cat seems to have 9 lives. Will he someday be the last man standing?
Unlike most armies, in the nKPA you can be rehabilitated though I think the "rehabilitation" is likely pretty brutal.
N. Korean defense minister promoted to vice marshal on late leader's anniv. | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, April 15 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's Defense Minister Ri Yong-gil has been promoted to the country's third-highest military rank of vice marshal in a major reshuffle, its state media said Friday.
The latest shakeup appears intended to boost morale and unity among top-echelon officers as the North marks the 110th birth anniversary of its late national founder Kim Il-sung.
"A relevant decision was issued by the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea on April 14," the official Korean Central News Agency said, referring to the ruling party's top military decision-making body.
Ri, who previously served as minister of social security, was confirmed by state media to have been appointed defense minister in July last year.
He was promoted to three-star colonel general in December 2012. Eight months later, he was elevated to a four-star general to head the general staff of the North's Korean People's Army equivalent to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Ri was abruptly removed from the general staff post in 2016, sparking speculation that he might have been executed for corruption. He returned to the top military post in 2018 but was dismissed again the following year.
Earlier this week, the North also promoted six military officials, including former Defense Minister Kim Jong-gwan, to four-star general.
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
8. Only 11 N.K. defectors arrived in S. Korea in Q1
Crackdown in the north or unwelcome in the South? (or both?)
Escapees (defectors) will be a key resource in the unification process. I hope the new Minister of Unifications will encourage escapes and welcome escapees. I recommend establishing a Korean Defector Information Institute to assist with strategic influence and unification planning Here: max press 2.0 monograph.
Only 11 N.K. defectors arrived in S. Korea in Q1 | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, April 15 (Yonhap) -- The number of North Korean defectors reaching South Korea dropped to 11 in the first quarter of this year, the unification ministry said Friday, amid prolonged border closures due to COVID-19.
During the same period last year, 31 North Koreans crossed into the South, according to the ministry data.
The number of incoming defectors has significantly decreased since the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020 due to restrictions on cross-border movements.
According to the ministry, 1,047 North Koreans sought refuge in the South in 2019, compared with 229 in 2020 and 63 last year. The figure stood at five in the April-June period last year, before increasing slightly to 12 and 15 in the third and fourth quarter, respectively.
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
9. Dossier reveals diplomacy behind two Koreas' simultaneous entry into U.N. membership in 1991
Interesting history.
Dossier reveals diplomacy behind two Koreas' simultaneous entry into U.N. membership in 1991 | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, April 15 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean government made public a dossier Friday offering a glimpse into dramatic Cold-War era diplomacy by the two Koreas in connection with their historic simultaneous entry into full membership in the United Nations.
The set of documents highlights Seoul's brisk efforts in 1991 to court Moscow and Beijing to support its push to join the world body, which played a key role in mobilizing U.S.-led troops to help the South fight against the invading North in their 1950-53 war. It is part of 405,000 pages of diplomatic documents declassified under a rule on government records that become 30 years old.
North Korea initially opposed separate U.N. membership, claiming it is the only legitimate government on the peninsula. Following a number of failed attempts, however, the South opted for a realistic approach to be admitted together with the North.
South Korean diplomats, in particular, focused in the final months on persuading Beijing not to exercise its veto power, as Moscow changed its stance after establishing diplomatic relations with Seoul in September 1990.
They tried to coax China and North Korea via the Soviet Union, according to the dossier, which includes documents on a meeting between a diplomat at the South Korean Embassy in Washington and a State Department official in charge of China affairs on Jan. 15, 1991. China was maintaining its principled position that an inter-Korean agreement should be made first.
During his meeting with Soviet Vice Foreign Minister Igor Rogachev in Seoul in April, then South Korean Foreign Minister Lee Sang-ok asked Moscow to persuade Pyongyang. Rogachev replied that persuading Pyongyang is a "very difficult task" for Moscow as well.
North Korean diplomats did not sit idle either. In February, a senior Norwegian foreign ministry official told South Korea's ambassador in Oslo that he had a briefing from the North's top envoy there on Pyongyang's position.
But Pyongyang reversed its stance and decided to apply for parallel U.N. membership amid the international community's overwhelming support.
It made the announcement in May and submitted an application for U.N. membership in July. The South followed suit the next month. Both Koreas were admitted at the same time to the U.N. on Sept. 19, 1991 during the 46th General Assembly session.
Another newly declassified dossier shed light on the diplomatic challenges that South Korea faced in 1991 in its push to barter 100,000 tons of rice to North Korea in return for 30,000 tons of coal and 11,000 tons of cement as part of efforts improve cross-border relations.
The March barter deal between a South Korean firm and the North emerged as a key diplomatic issue as the U.S. government highlighted the American rice industry's concerns about the possibility of the deal setting an undesirable precedent for the international rice trade, a document showed.
Seoul stressed the significance of the deal in light of cross-border relations, pointing out that the opposition "only from a commercial standpoint" could adversely influence public opinion in the South. But the U.S. continued to take issue with it.
Later, the South Korean firm shipped 5,000 tons of rice to the North by sea in late July 1991. But such trade could not further expand due to tensions in inter-Korean relations and concerns about potential trade friction with the U.S. and other rice exporters.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
10. Penthouses in North Korea are mainly for the unfortunate few
The elevator (and water pressure) may not go to the top floor(s). And they might collapse. But other than that Kim Jong-un is taking care of the "people."
Penthouses in North Korea are mainly for the unfortunate few
- Summary
- Few of North Korea's rich drawn to live in penthouses
- Concerns over power and water supply keep them away
- Uncertain functioning of elevators also deters many
- For leader Kim Jong Un, skyscrapers showcase build quality
SEOUL, April 15 (Reuters) - For people in many countries, living in a penthouse is the dream. In North Korea? Not so much.
Leader Kim Jong Un keeps building outwardly glamorous high-rise apartment buildings in the capital, Pyongyang, with the latest being an 80-storey skyscraper completed this week.
But defectors and other North Koreans say that unreliable elevators and electricity, poor water supply, and concerns about workmanship mean that historically few people have wanted to live near the top of such structures.
"In North Korea, the poor live in penthouses rather than the rich, because lifts are often not working properly, and they cannot pump up water due to the low pressure," said Jung Si-woo, a 31-year-old who defected to neighbouring South Korea in 2017.
In the North, he lived on the third floor of a 13-storey building that lacked an elevator, while a friend who lived on the 28th floor of a 40-storey block had never used the elevator because it was not working, Jung said.
Asked about the new 80-floor skyscraper opened this week, Jung said he thought Kim was just showing off.
"It's to show how much their construction skills have improved, rather than considering residents' preferences," said the university student.
North Korea assigns housing, with buying and selling of homes or apartments technically illegal in the socialist state.
But experts say the practice has become common, dabbled in mostly by those who benefited from the spread of private markets under Kim. He has vowed to improve construction quality and build tens of thousands of new apartments.
Its economy has been hammered by self-imposed border closures against COVID-19, natural disasters, and international sanctions for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, which the United States says draw limited resources away from meeting people's needs.
On Wednesday, state media said the first 10,000 new apartments had been completed in Pyongyang, from a target of 50,000, and touted the speed of their completion, including the 80-floor skyscraper.
Workers "guaranteed the quality of construction" and the new apartments and other buildings meant for use in education, public health and welfare services would further help make the capital a "people first" city, state news agency KCNA said.
1/5
Nighttime view of a terraced residential district on a bank of the Pothong River in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) April 14, 2022. KCNA via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THIS IMAGE. NO THIRD PARTY SALES. SOUTH KOREA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN SOUTH KOREA.
On Thursday state media showed Kim inaugurating another housing cluster, this time for members of the elite, including a famous TV anchor.
They were low-rise buildings, each only a few floors tall.
PROGRESS TO BE MADE
The power supply improved significantly under Kim, spawning some new night life opportunities, but North Korea still grapples with shortages and sometimes shoddy infrastructure.
Many have turned to individual solar panels for the spells without power. That has brought a rash of small items of consumer electronics, but cannot power amenities such as elevators and water supply.
Lee Sang-yong, the editor in chief of Daily NK, a Seoul-based website that reports on North Korea, said his sources reported that the apartments for regular people were not ready to live in.
Windows had only frames and water taps, though installed, were not working, but the recently completed luxury homes come complete with furniture and utensils.
To ensure the new highrise apartments are popular, North Korea will have to further improve electricity and water supplies, and overcome worries about the quality of construction, he added.
Jung said when he lived in Pyongyang, most elevators worked just twice a day, during peak commuting hours from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., and the same timing in the evening.
Low water pressure often forced those living on higher floors to carry water upstairs from the ground level, or install their own special pump machines, he added.
During the last major international media tour arranged by the government, in 2018, the elevators operated at the 47-floor Yanggakdo International Hotel, but there was no electricity on dozens of floors where North Korean staff stayed.
At the time, two North Korean officials acknowledged to Reuters that the upper levels of the highrises in one of Kim's recently opened pet construction projects, on Mirae Scientists Street, had few takers, because of the worries over elevators.
"No one wants to risk having to climb for an hour," one said.
Additional reporting by Minwoo Park; Writing by Josh Smith; Editing by Clarence Fernandez
11. FBI says North Korean hackers stole more than $600 million in cryptocurrency in single hack
The all purpose sword at work. Let's turn USCYBERCOM loose on north Korea.
FBI says North Korean hackers stole more than $600 million in cryptocurrency in single hack
CNN · by Sean Lyngaas, CNN
"Through our investigation we were able to confirm Lazarus Group and APT38, cyber actors associated with the DPRK, are responsible for the theft of $620 million in Ethereum reported on March 29th," the FBI said in a statement. "DPRK" is an abbreviation for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and Ethereum is a technology platform associated with a type of cryptocurrency.
The FBI was referring to the recent hack of a computer network used by Axie Infinity, a video game that allows players to earn cryptocurrency. Sky Mavis, the company that created Axie Infinity, announced on March 29 that unidentified hackers had stolen the equivalent of roughly $600 million -- valued at the time of the hack's discovery -- on March 23 from a "bridge," or network that allows users to send cryptocurrency from one blockchain to another.
The US Treasury Department on Thursday sanctioned Lazarus Group, a wide swath of hackers believed to work on behalf of the North Korean government. Treasury sanctioned the specific "wallet," or cryptocurrency address, that was used to cash out on the Axie Infinity hack.
Cyberattacks have been an important source of revenue for the North Korean regime for years as its leader, Kim Jong Un, has continued to pursue nuclear weapons, according to a United Nations panel and outside cybersecurity experts.
North Korea last month fired what is believed to be its first intercontinental ballistic missile in more than four years.
Lazarus Group has stolen an estimated $1.75 billion worth of cryptocurrency in recent years, according to Chainalysis, a firm that tracks digital currency transactions.
"A hack of a cryptocurrency business, unlike a retailer, for example, is essentially bank robbery at the speed of the internet and funds North Korea's destabilizing activity and weapons proliferation," said Ari Redbord, head of legal affairs at TRM Labs, a firm that investigates financial crime. "As long as they are successful and profitable, they will not stop."
Researchers at Google last month disclosed two different alleged North Korean hacking campaigns targeting US media and IT organizations, and cryptocurrency and financial technology sectors.
Google has a policy of notifying users who are targeted by state-sponsored hackers.
Shane Huntley, who leads Google's Threat Analysis Group, said that if a Google user has "any link to being involved in Bitcoin or cryptocurrency" and they get a warning about state-backed hacking from Google, it almost always ends up being North Korean activity.
"It seems to be an ongoing strategy for them to supplement and make money through this activity," Huntley told CNN.
CNN · by Sean Lyngaas, CNN
12. Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site: Work Continues Around South Portal
Creating conditions for blackmail diplomacy or an actual test (or both).
Satellite image at the link below.
Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site: Work Continues Around South Portal
Recent commercial satellite imagery of North Korea’s Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Sites indicates work to restore Tunnel No. 3 (South Portal) to operational status continues. Two new support buildings have been constructed between April 6 and 14 in the southern support area. A total of four new structures have been added since January, and roof repairs are ongoing at some of the older support buildings, including an old greenhouse, although at a seemingly slower pace than work in the area around the tunnel complex. This investment in support infrastructure suggests long-term plans for site operations, not simply ad hoc actions to support a single test.
The gray-tone spoil pile across the road from the new tunnel entrance continues to expand, albeit gradually and not in the volume expected if new tunneling were ongoing. Southeast of the tunnel entrance, trees have been cleared from a small area, for what purpose is unclear. What appears as black paths near the tunnel entrance may be some kind of water drainage, possibly exiting from the excavated tunnel in combination with recent precipitation. Water drainage from tunneling at Punggye-ri is not an unusual occurrence.
No activity is observed at the North and West Portals or the Command Center.
Figure 1. Activity around the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site on April 14, 2022.
Image Pleiades © CNES 2022, Distribution Airbus DS. For media options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Despite wide speculation that North Korea may be preparing to conduct a nuclear test, there have been no obvious signs of preparation activities observed in available imagery, such as increased vehicle activity, especially around the command center area, or arrival of test support equipment and instrumentation.
13. New Seoul Government Turns Sharply to Washington
While we in the US look at this as a positive we need to understand how this will motivate the political opposition in the South and be used for propaganda in the north. And then there is China.
New Seoul Government Turns Sharply to Washington
Yoon seeks Quad membership, stiffened nuclear defense
9 hr ago
By: Shim Jae Hoon
South Korea’s incoming government, which takes power on May 10, looks set for significant security policy changes, ending five years of risky peace initiatives pursued by outgoing President Moon Jae-in. The country’s hardening posture comes in the wake of a barrage of missile launches by North Korea in January, and Pyongyang’s recent threat to use nuclear weapons in the event of another war on the peninsula.
The tension has turned more pronounced since the change of government in Seoul from the center-left, peace-at-all-cost regime of outgoing President Moon to a conservative, center-right administration of president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, who vows to confront rather than condone North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s continuing test-firing of long- and short-range missiles.
During his election campaign, Yoon proposed building what he called a “Missile Kill Chain,” under which South Korean missiles would simultaneously strike at North Korea’s missile bases if it fires toward the South.
With Seoul and Washington abuzz with speculation that Kim is likely to conduct a seventh underground nuclear test soon on the occasion of his grandfather Kim Il Sung’s 110th birthday on April 15, the US has sent the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to the East Sea (also called the Sea of Japan) near the North’s east coast in a show of force. It was the first such dispatch of US warship to the area in five years.
As the war rages in Ukraine and China refuses to condemn Russia’s invasion, US President Joseph Biden arrives in Tokyo on May 25 for a summit meeting with leaders of Japan, India, and Australia that form the so-called Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, the regional security grouping formed to deal with China’s expansionist threats in the region.
With South Korea starting with a new security concept – eager to join the Quad – Yoon has asked Biden to drop by Seoul before or after the Tokyo Summit for security talks and a visit with the 29,000 American troops who have been based in Korea since the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950.
Yoon is ready to firm up the bilateral alliance, which has wobbled in recent years with Moon, obsessed with his peace deal with the North, having cut down on joint field exercises with US troops and requesting modifying the process for a complete denuclearization of the Kim regime. Biden’s visit, he hopes, will leave no light between the two allies on how toughly to proceed on denuclearization as well as on missile threats.
Even weeks before his inauguration, Yoon dispatched a new policy team to Washington, with the mission of achieving closer policy consultation on North Korea. Yoon’s new cabinet lineup illustrates his intention. It is filled with conservative realists with proven records on security issues. Taking the post of foreign minister is Park Jin, a Harvard-educated five-term legislator of the National Assembly and its foreign affairs subcommittee, well known in Washington’s Korea desk people. Cho Tae Yong, former deputy foreign minister and now a legislator of the National Assembly, will go to Washington as the new ambassador. He has been a prominent critic of Moon’s illusory pursuit of peace with the North. The new defense minister is retired army Lieutenant General Lee Jong Sup, a former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who had served as deputy commander of US-Korea Combined Forces Command. He is on record as saying publicly that an army without regular training exercises “has no reason to exist.”
Foreign Minister Park is expected to start talks soon on Seoul joining the Quad. If not a full membership, Seoul is willing to join in some capacity as a starter. In whatever capacity Seoul joins, it will be necessary to start consultation with Japan, as the two nations have lingering disputes over history questions. Yoon has vowed to remove irritants in relations with Tokyo, saying Seoul should not, as Moon has, use history for domestic political purposes.
In Washington, Park also expressed hope of gaining membership in the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, a regional trade set up to check China’s growing economic muscle in the region. For Seoul, finding new markets has turned imperative as it must avoid overly depending on China, which takes a quarter of Seoul’s entire trade. The Yoon government officials consider reducing dependence on China a top priority as it seeks to counter Beijing’s hegemonic attitude
Relations with China have been a sore spot as Beijing heavily pressures Seoul on basing of US high-altitude interceptor missiles, even as it refuses to restrain North Korea’s missile and nuclear program. Seoul considers Beijing’s hands-off policy on North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction a unilateral and unfriendly act. As Yoon hopes to invite more THAAD missiles and develop an indigenous antimissile program that will match the North’s unremitting missile threats, it finds China’s interferences hard to justify.
Irrespective of China’s position, Seoul is committed to proceed with new cooperative deals with the US on its own missile development.
As Seoul is poised to strengthen security ties with Washington, Yoon has to tread carefully in dealing with domestic critics who dominate the National Assembly now controlled by pro-Moon left-wing Democratic Party. Claiming 172 seats in the 300-member Assembly, the Democrats are led by leaders like Song Young Kilo, a former student radical who insists North Korea has every right to possess nuclear weapons when the US has hundreds of them. He recently created a storm of controversy by claiming the North is too weak to start a war.
In the face of severe internal division between the left and right, Yoon has enough trouble handling nonpolitical agenda. That being the case, he needs to develop wider consensus behind his security agenda so that he can effectively contain the North while pushing through his economic agenda of market deregulation.
Even so, over the longer term, Yoon needs to come to grips with his conservative constituency’s longtime demand for securing “extended nuclear coverage” to checkmate the North’s growing nuclear arsenal. In the coming bilateral talks with Washington, Seoul will be demanding a US commitment for nuclear coverage from the US similar to that covering Japan. All nuclear weapons under US control formerly based in South Korea were withdrawn in the early 1970s under the US-Soviet nuclear disarmament treaty. Instead of cementing peace, that gave the North a chance to start its own nuclearization.
Shim Jae Hoon is a regular contributor to Asia Sentinel. He is a former long-time correspondent for the now-defunct Far Eastern Economic Review.
14. Washington seeks to reduce Pyongyang oil imports by half
Good effort but of course China and Russia will prevent this. So we need an aggressive strategic influence campaign that calls them out and we need secondary sanctions against Chinese and Russian entities (e.g., banks) that are complicit in north Korean sanctions evasion activities.
Washington seeks to reduce Pyongyang oil imports by half
Posted April. 15, 2022 07:59,
Updated April. 15, 2022 07:59
Washington seeks to reduce Pyongyang oil imports by half. April. 15, 2022 07:59. weappon@donga.com.
The Unites States called on the United Nations Security Council to halve a crude oil supply to North Korea and ban its imports of mineral products in a draft resolution, which prohibits not only nuclear and ballistic missile tests but also cruise missiles that are capable of delivering nuclear weapons to reach South Korea and Japan.
Washington circulated a draft resolution against Pyongyang to the 15 UNSC members for the first time in five years following the Security Council Resolution 2397, which was adopted in December 2017, Reuters reported on Wednesday (local time). The draft resolution was written to take action against North Korea’s ICBM launch on March 24, by which it violates a moratorium on nuclear and missile provocations.
The U.S. sought a draft resolution to reduce annual exports of crude oil to North Korea from four million to two million barrels and cut refined petroleum exports in half to 250,000 barrels a year. Cruise missiles were notably put under sanction to make sure that the new resolution extends a ban on any delivery system that can carry nuclear warheads. The UNSC resolution in force stipulates that North Korea shall not launch any ballistic missile nor test nuclear weapons, based on which the Moon Jae-in administration has argued that neither cruise nor short-range ballistic missiles constitute an infringement of the current UNSC resolution.
15. Kim birthday brings joy to nobody in North Korea
There is no joy mudville (er.. Pyongyang) with Kim Il-sung still at the bat. (recall that Kim Il-sung retains his leadership positions even in death).
Kim birthday brings joy to nobody in North Korea
He’d be 110; they’re dying of starvation, again, thanks to the failed system descendants maintain in his name
Here’s Kim Il Sung quoted in my book Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader, as he recalls in his memoirs his days as a 14-year-old boarding student at a Manchuria school founded by nationalists in the Korean independence movement:
Kim noted disapprovingly: “Some young students at the school still believed in dynastic rule.” In his view, Korea’s former royalty had “bled the people white and beheaded or banished loyal subjects who spoke the truth.”
In a student debate, Kim asked what type of society Korea should build after winning its independence. Another student replied: “Our nation lost its country to the Japanese because our feudal rulers idled their time away reciting poems while other countries advanced along the road to capitalism. We should build a capitalist society and thus avoid a repeat of the past.”
Kim recalled delivering a ringing rejection of capitalist and feudal societies, where “people with money lead a luxurious life by exploiting the working people.” The young Kim and his idealistic friends were indignant when nationalist leaders and even fellow cadets at the school behaved just like those earlier feudal rulers, squeezing “contributions” from the local Koreans and then putting the money to personal use.
One commander used such contributions to finance his own wedding. He “spent the money like water in order to treat all his neighbors to food and drink over several days,” Kim said. “In the bright society we have now, the army and the people would have gathered public support and taken him to court or tried the case among themselves to force him to break this bad habit.”
Flash forward 96 years and we see the pathetic North Korea of today, which can be accurately described in precisely the terms Kim himself had used to condemn nationalist leaders and their feudal forebears.
Indeed, by the time he gave those recollections to his court stenographers, the only real success attributable to his nearly half-century rule – the relative prosperity that Kim’s Soviet-sponsored socialist system brought to North Korea after the Korean War – had long since faded and faltered in the face of far more competent South Korean capitalist competition.
The retired memoir-writing old man mercifully would die in 1994 before the full effects of his wrong policies became evident: A famine killed at least 600,000 people.
The dynastic rule that Kim had personally reinstalled – with his downright weird son Kim Jong Il succeeding him as the godlike ruler reinforcing paternal verities – prevented a deputy prime minister named Kim Dal Hyon, North Korea’s best candidate for emergence as a Deng Xiaoping-style reformer, from turning the economy around.
Kim Jong Il, when his time came, turned the throne over to his own son Kim Jong Un. The North Korean system under the third Kim is as committed as ever to state planning and control, as hostile as ever to the private sector, tolerating markets’ existence only to the extent it finds them necessary to keep the whole shebang from tumbling down.
Kim Jong Un, in a costume meant to evoke memories of his revered grandfather Kim Il Sung, inspects the construction preparations for the Onpho greenhouse farm in Kyongsong County in North Hamgyong Province in 2018. Photo: AFP / KCNA VIA KNS
Almost as weird as his late father, Kim Jong Un when the pandemic came seized upon a rogue theory that elevates the importance for Covid’s transmission of human contact with contaminated objects: piles of fertilizer, shipments of iron ore. On that basis, he cut off all foreign trade – except for importing the luxuries he personally needs for his royal lifestyle.
The regime’s reaction to the incidences of starvation reportedly emphasizes ceremonial timing: Don’t ruin the Beloved and Respected Great Leader’s big day. The NK Daily article quotes one North Korean as saying that the public security ministry “has been calling on locals to ensure there are no deaths — particularly of starvation — or disappearances on the 110th birthday of North Korea’s late founder Kim Il Sung.”
The grand occasion is today, April 15. With that prudent precaution in place, Great Leader, have as happy a birthday as you think you can justify, there in whatever corner of Hell you so deservedly inhabit.
Bradley K. Martin’s history, Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty, won an Asia-Pacific Special Book Prize. His novel Nuclear Blues, set in Kim Jong Un’s North Korea, is a Readers’ Favorite Book Awards bronze medalist.
16. Kim Jong-un Gives North Korea’s Most Famous TV Anchor a Luxury Home
No one announces the news the way she does. And she must be in the Guiness book of records as the longest working broadcaster. But I hope they gave her a first floor apartment. Climbing 80 flights of stairs when the electricity goes out can't be good for her.
Kim Jong-un Gives North Korea’s Most Famous TV Anchor a Luxury Home
Ri Chun-hee, who delivers the news with a soaring, bombastic tenor, received a two-story apartment in a riverside complex from the country’s leader, apparently for her loyalty.
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A photograph provided by North Korean state media showed North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and Ri Chun-hee at the new building in Pyongyang this week.
By
April 15, 2022Updated 4:00 a.m. ET
SEOUL — When a brand-new luxury residential district opened in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, this week, the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, said it would be reserved for his most elite supporters, those he called “true patriots.”
Among them was the nation’s top state TV news anchor, Ri Chun-hee.
At a ceremony on Thursday, Mr. Kim not only presented one of the two-story apartments to the legendary anchorwoman. He also gave her a tour of her new home while holding her hand. Naturally, she narrated it all in a state media video.
A mouthpiece of the country’s dictators since 1971, she has guided her countrymen and women through major developments like nuclear and missile tests, as well as the deaths of the country’s past leaders: Kim Il-sung in 1994 and Kim Jong-il in 2011.
A photograph provided by North Korean state media showed Mr. Kim, Ms. Ri and others at the building in Pyongyang this week. He said the apartments were reserved for his most elite supporters.
She could seem to melt with emotion while delivering news about the country’s current leader, who is revered as a god by North Korean citizens. But to South Korean viewers, when she has turned to more alarming announcements, such as the North’s weapons tests, her warlike cries could seem as bloodcurdling as the information itself.
South Korean government and intelligence monitors — as well as South Koreans in general — have braced themselves whenever Ms. Ri appeared on TV and opened what they call a “mouth that fires out cannons.”
“Her steel-grinding voice gives the enemy the shudders,” a 2008 issue of the North Korean magazine Chosun said of Ms. Ri.
In North Korea, she holds the title of “labor hero,” according to Chosun. Abroad, she is known as “the pink lady,” for the color of the traditional Korean attire she wears to deliver news reports.
Ms. Ri disappeared from the airwaves in the 2010s amid reports that she had retired, but she has since resurfaced occasionally to deliver the most important news, including narrating Mr. Kim’s New Year’s address in 2021.
Later, South Korea said elements of the missile launch might have been faked, with Mr. Kim disguising an older missile as a new one to exaggerate his country’s weapons achievements.
In the video of her house tour this week, she was far more operatic than bombastic. She said her new home felt “like a hotel” and was furnished with every amenity she needed.
State media video showed a spacious riverside apartment with shiny wooden floors, a living room furnished with a white five-seat sofa, a spacious bedroom, a kitchen with an L-shaped counter and a six-person dining table. The apartment also has a study, along with a veranda that offered a view of downtown Pyongyang. The images showed no sign of a TV. (The value of the apartment wasn’t immediately clear. The total number of bedrooms and square footage were unknown.)
Mr. Kim said he had spared “nothing” for a national treasure like Ms. Ri.
The ceremony was widely publicized by the North Korean state, which published photographs of Mr. Kim and Ms. Ri taking the tour. Among others rewarded with an apartment at the complex were members of the state media, whose mission is also to spread propaganda.
Such largess for those deemed loyal to the regime is not uncommon in North Korea. Kim Jong-il gave luxury cars, watches, liquor or houses to his close aides. The current leader has given mostly verbal encouragement to officials — or has purged them. But he has recently sought to strengthen his support base by providing luxe apartments to high-ranking officials, even as the country has endured economic travails made worse by pandemic-prompted isolation and a diplomatic stalemate with much of the world.
Part of a five-year project to build 50,000 apartments in the capital to address the country’s housing problems, the opening of the luxury apartments occurred two days after the completion of high-rises intended for 10,000 ordinary residents. They may house Pyongyang’s working population, including a growing white-collar work force, which has faced constant food and electricity shortages.
The gift for Ms. Ri came ahead of the 110th anniversary of the birth of North Korea’s founder, Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of Kim Jong-un, on Friday. The occasion is regarded as one of the most important national holidays in the North, which has in previous years commemorated the birth anniversary with mass rallies or military parades.
Mr. Kim said, according to the state media, “There is nothing to spare for national treasures like Ri Chun-hee, who has led a virtuous life with the revolutionary microphone.” He also asked her to continue vigorously serve as the voice of his ruling Workers’ Party.
As for Ms. Ri, she said that she was “so grateful for the benevolent care of the party” that she and her family were “moved to tears.”
17. US Air Force removes stockpile of depleted uranium rounds from South Korea (South Korean munitions)
Not a good move. These are some of the best tank killing munitions.
Excerpts:
The South Korean 10th Fighter Wing transferred the rounds to the 7th Air Force in March, a wing official told Stars and Stripes by phone on Friday.
Depleted uranium is 1.6 times more dense than lead, making it an ideal material for armor-piercing projectiles, according to the National Library of Medicine.
The U.S. employed depleted-uranium rounds during the Gulf War and as recently in 2015, when A-10s attacked hundreds of Islamic State vehicles in Syria, according to multiple news reports.
Long-term health impacts of exposure to depleted uranium are being studied by international organizations.
The health risks depend on several factors, including particle size and the amount of exposure, to the U.N. Environment Programme. However, “air, soil, water and vegetation can potentially be contaminated and affected” by depleted uranium, according to the U.N. program.
The International Atomic Energy Agency found the radiological risk “was not significant” where depleted uranium in small particles was found in impact areas, according to the U.N. Office for Disarmament Affairs.
US Air Force removes stockpile of depleted uranium rounds from South Korea
A munitions technician with the 1st Special Operations Maintenance Squadron inspects 30mm rounds at Hurlburt Field, Fla., Feb. 6, 2018. (Rachel Yates/U.S. Air Force)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — South Korea recently returned approximately 1.3 million rounds of armor-piercing ammunition made of depleted uranium to the United States, a welcomed departure, according to a South Korean legislator.
The rounds presented a risk to public health and safety, Kim Jin-pyo, a member of the National Defense Committee and the Democratic Party, said in an email to Stars and Stripes on April 5.
“If an explosion accident takes place at the ammunition warehouse, hundreds of thousands of people could be injured,” Kim said. “I actively welcome this depleted uranium ammunition relocation.”
The U.S. Air Force deemed the 30mm rounds “unserviceable due to an expired shelf-life,” a 7th Air Force spokeswoman told Stars and Stripes by email Tuesday. The rounds should arrive in the U.S. sometime this month and will be destroyed according to routine procedures, said spokeswoman Lt. Col. Kelley Jeter.
The rounds were stored at a South Korean ammunition warehouse in Gyeonggi province, she said. The 30mm rounds are typically fired from cannons mounted on A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes.
“The 7th Air Force munitions logistics and safety experts were involved in this decision and have no safety or environmental concerns,” Jeter said.
The South Korean 10th Fighter Wing transferred the rounds to the 7th Air Force in March, a wing official told Stars and Stripes by phone on Friday.
Depleted uranium is 1.6 times more dense than lead, making it an ideal material for armor-piercing projectiles, according to the National Library of Medicine.
The U.S. employed depleted-uranium rounds during the Gulf War and as recently in 2015, when A-10s attacked hundreds of Islamic State vehicles in Syria, according to multiple news reports.
Long-term health impacts of exposure to depleted uranium are being studied by international organizations.
The health risks depend on several factors, including particle size and the amount of exposure, to the U.N. Environment Programme. However, “air, soil, water and vegetation can potentially be contaminated and affected” by depleted uranium, according to the U.N. program.
The International Atomic Energy Agency found the radiological risk “was not significant” where depleted uranium in small particles was found in impact areas, according to the U.N. Office for Disarmament Affairs.
However, there is “a potential risk of radiation effects” for anyone who comes into direct contact with depleted-uranium fragments or ammunition, according to the U.N.
In South Korea, the transferred rounds were part of “an endless debate” over their safety, Kim said. He cited a risk of leaked radiation, a heightened risk of leukemia and other harmful effects.
South Korea needs to update the Munitions Activities Gained by Negotiations Memorandum of Understanding, Kim said in his email. The agreement allows the Air Force to store munitions in South Korean military facilities.
The current agreement leaves South Korea liable for potential health side effects and absolves the U.S. military of any responsibility, even in the event of a problem at the ammunition warehouse, he said.
Under the agreement, the South Korean military was responsible for managing, storing, inspecting and maintaining the munitions.
18. HRNK Quoted 31 Times in the U.S. Department of State's Democratic People's Republic of Korea 2021 Human Rights Report
I am very proud of the team at HRNK and the tremendous work they do to support the Department of State, the US, and the Korean people who are suffering in the north. Human rights is not only a moral imperative it is a antional security issue. We must always take a human rights upfront approach.
Democratic People's Republic of Korea 2021 Human Rights Report
April 13, 2022
Dear Friends of HRNK,
Yesterday, on April 12, 2022, the U.S. Department of State released its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2021, including the country report on North Korea's human rights practices.
Despite challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year, HRNK has steadfastly pursued its mission of advancing the fundamental human rights of the North Korean people. We have continued to research and report on the human rights situation in North Korea and share our findings with key actors in the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations.
This year's U.S. Department of State country report on North Korea quotes HRNK thirty-one times. Eleven HRNK reports, including some of our most recent publications, are referenced. Collectively, these reports encompass a wide range of issues investigated by HRNK: North Korea's detention facilities; the situation of vulnerable groups, including women and children; and the information environment, including the Kim regime's "counter-offensive" against the influx of outside information.
The 2021 North Korea country report highlights a variety of "significant human rights issues," including: unlawful or arbitrary killings by the government; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, including in political prison camps; serious restrictions on free expression and media; lack of investigation of and accountability for gender-based violence; trafficking in persons; and the "worst forms" of child labor.
The report states that the North Korean authorities "took no credible steps to prosecute officials who committed human rights abuses or corruption," noting that "impunity for human rights abuses and corruption continued to be a widespread problem."
In particular, the State Department stressed once again that the Kim regime "still had not accounted for the circumstances that led to the death of Otto Warmbier," who died in 2017 after his "unjust and unwarranted detention by [the] authorities."
The following eleven HRNK publications are referenced in the report:
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North Korea's Long-Term Prison Labor Facility, Kyo-hwa-so No. 1, Kaech'on by Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., Greg Scarlatoiu, Amanda Mortwedt Oh, and Rosa Park (2020)
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North Korea's Long-Term Prison Labor Facility, Kyo-hwa-so No. 12 Jongo-ri - Update 3 by Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., Greg Scarlatoiu, Amanda Mortwedt Oh, and Rosa Park (2020)
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North Korea's Long-Term Prison Labor Facility, Kyo-hwa-so No. 8, Sungho-ri by Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., Greg Scarlatoiu, Amanda Mortwedt Oh, and Rosa Park (2021)
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North Korea's Long-term Prison Labor Facility, Kyo-hwa-so No. 3, T'osong-ni by Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., Greg Scarlatoiu, Amanda Mortwedt Oh, and Rosa Park-Tokola (2021)
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North Korea's Political Prison Camp, Kwan-li-so No. 14, Update 1 by Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., Greg Scarlatoiu, and Amanda Mortwedt Oh (2021)
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The Parallel Gulag: North Korea's "An-jeon-bu" Prison Camps by David Hawk with Amanda Mortwedt Oh (2017)
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Gulag, Inc. by Kim Kwang-Jin (2016)
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North Korea's Long-term Re-education through Labor Camp (Kyo-hwa-so) at Pokchong-ni by Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., Greg Scarlatoiu, Amanda Mortwedt Oh, and Rosa Park (2019)
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Digital Trenches: North Korea's Information Counter-Offensive by Martyn Williams (2019)
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Eroding the Regime's Information Monopoly: Cell Phones in North Korea by Kathryn Wernke (2020)
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The Lost Generation: The Health and Human Rights of North Korea's Children, 1990-2018 by W. Courtland Robinson et al. (2019)
As noted by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken during his remarks at the launch of this year's Country Reports, recent reports of atrocities in Ukraine have "reinvigorated a belief in people worldwide that there are human rights that everyone everywhere should enjoy." In his words, there is a renewed urgency across the world "to shine a spotlight on human rights abuses wherever they're being committed."
For our part, we will endeavor to shine a light on the darkest corners of North Korea. Our work thus far would not have been possible without the steadfast and generous support of our friends and donors, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank you once again for your continued support and attention.
With gratitude and warm regards,
Greg Scarlatoiu
Executive Director
V/R
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Phone: 202-573-8647
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
FDD is a Washington-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
