Quotes of the Day:
"I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me. All I ask is that you respect me as a human being."
- Jackie Robinson
"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth."
- Marcus Aurelius
“[Free] government…must act by general and equal laws that are previously known to all…In this sense…liberty is the perfection of civil society.”
- David Hume
1. Interview with South Korea’s next president, Yoon Suk-yeol
2. N.K. leader visits mausoleum to mark birth anniversary of grandfather
3. N. Korea marks late founder's birthday with fireworks, large-scale performance
4. Military veteran groups donate to building Wall of Remembrance in Washington
5. Radio Free Asia Wins Gracie for Korean Defector Project
6. North Koreans pay for sons to spend military service in cushy capital posts
7. Korea, U.S. in talks to hold Yoon-Biden summit around May 21: source
8. South Korean, Ukrainian FMs discuss humanitarian aid plan in phone talks
9. Is Kim Jong-un progressive?
10. North Korea's nuclear annihilation threat and Biden's timely 2022 Nuclear Posture Review
11. S. Korea decides to join CPTPP trade agreement
12. North Korea Marks Key Anniversary But No Word on Military Parade
13. Koreans Who Served Alongside Americans Earn Place of Honor on National Mall Memorial
14. How Global Is the North Korean Economy?
15. North Korea blows up the Diamond Mountain tourist resort that once symbolized peace and cooperation with South Korea, report says
16. DPRK Military Parade Viewbook 2022 | Open Nuclear Network
1. Interview with South Korea’s next president, Yoon Suk-yeol
Korea watchers should read this. There are some important points in this (many with which I strongly agree).
I think one key point that the president-elect Yoon made in his interview is to understand the nature of the Kim family regime. its nature, objectives and strategy. I thinkSouth Korea and the United States are going to align their common assumptions about the nature of the regime which is important in orchestrating combined policies and strategy. Anyone who has read my comments knows I have long advocated for this and I am heartened to see the president-elect recognize the necessity.
The use of the "main enemy" is controversial to many. However, the Kim family regime defines the presence of US forces in Korea as a hostile policy toward them and attacks the US-South Korea alliance, but President-elect Yoon recognizes that North Korea is the one who maintains a hostile policy toward South Korea. This should be part of our strategic influence campaign - we have to call out the regime's real hostile policy while it attacks a non-0existenat alliance hostile policy.
Excerpts:
Q: You have said South Korea’s “main enemy” is North Korea. North Korea is rapidly testing its growing array of weapons and has tested an ICBM for the first time since 2017. How will you deal with the North Korean missile threat?
A: Our North Korea policy needs to take a two-track approach. I called North Korea the main enemy. The concept of the “main enemy” designation emerged during former president Kim Young-sam’s era 30 years ago, amid North Korea’s nuclear weapons development and tensions in inter-Korean relations. And afterward, under the Sunshine Policy in inter-Korean relations, the “enemy” expression was dropped.
There are two reasons I call North Korea the main enemy. North Korea broke its [self-imposed] moratorium [on long-range and nuclear tests], and tested a hypersonic missile, which means that the country’s tests for nuclear weapons delivery has reached a serious level. There is a heightened nuclear threat against South Korea.
Amid all this, we need to establish our defense policy and build operational intelligence and other things. We need to reconfigure North Korea as such to accurately identify the country’s motivations and make preparations.
However, I do not intend to respond to North Korean threats in an excessive and overly sensitive manner. Regarding the nuclear issue, if North Korea abides to international rules — most importantly, if it accepts nuclear inspections and takes irreversible steps for denuclearization — I will start an economic development support program for North Korea.
Regardless of the circumstance, we are the same race. So I will provide humanitarian aid [to North Korea] at any time. We will always keep open the conversation channel that we need to solve problems like the military threats. Even countries at war maintain such channels. While North Korea’s military threat is a serious matter, we always leave the conversation channels open to handle these problems. This is our two-track approach
Q: Now onto foreign policy, you envision South Korea as a “global pivotal state.” What does that phrase mean to you? What do you want your foreign policy legacy to be?
A: The current administration placed too much emphasis on the relationship with North Korea alone, and was rather insufficient in global diplomacy, with some even saying that global diplomacy went missing. South Korea and the United States maintained a relationship in a formal capacity, but substantive and intimate discussions diminished, on issues such as military and intelligence. Therefore, 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.
Key points:
On: North Korea:
-Calling North Korea as enemy/ need to establish our defense policy and build operational intelligence/ to reconfigure North Korea as such to accurately identify the country’s motivations and make preparations.
-Two track approach: While North Korea’s military threat is a serious matter, we always leave the conversation channels open to handle these problems. This is our two-track approach
On US-ROK : “expand the breadth of diplomacy in the E.U. and throughout Asia with the South Korea-U.S. relationship as our foundation.”
Interview with South Korea’s next president, Yoon Suk-yeol
April 14, 2022 at 11:07 a.m. EDT
SEOUL — South Korea’s new president takes office on May 10. In his first interview as president-elect of South Korea, Yoon Suk-yeol spoke with The Washington Post’s Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Min Joo Kim on a range of policy matters, and shared his goals on advancing his country’s foreign policy. The following is a lightly edited transcript, translated from Korean.
Q: You are a first-time politician, and now you are about to become the president of the world’s 10th-largest economy. Tell us about yourself and your leadership style. As a leader, who are your role models? Walk us through your process of making your most difficult decisions.
A: Because I am talking to the U.S. readership, I think the first person who comes to mind is Abraham Lincoln, who was instrumental to the development of the federal system. I have deep admiration for him as a politician. But on a personal level, former president John F. Kennedy is my favorite American politician.
It’s difficult to describe, but he has a certain charm. When I was in high school, I watched a black-and-white documentary about him in the wake of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. He came out in front of the public and explained his mistake in a frank manner. It made a big impression on me. If he had not been assassinated, I believe he would have been able to win a second term. He worked hard to promote human rights in the U.S. As a student of the law, I regard very highly the legacy he left behind through the civil rights and voting rights laws that he worked on while in office and took effect after his death.
To your second question: When I face a difficulty, rather than mulling over it on my own, I discuss it with people who I think would be able to give good advice in those kind of circumstances. In my role as a public servant, I have often consulted my aides, colleagues or those who came before me and listened to their opinions, which naturally results in wiser decisions.
If it’s still hard to find an answer — while that kind of case is rare — I think solely about what is the right thing to do. In hindsight, I find that making a judgment based on what is right, rather than considering my personal interests, was the right call.
Q: When you are going to be in the Blue House, do you plan to keep a go-to group of advisers like those predecessors you consulted, or do you plan to have a rotating cast based on the issue or the timing?
A: There are official advisory groups. I need to consult staff members of the presidential secretary’s office, and my cabinet members, including the prime minister, ministers and vice ministers. As a country’s president, I will have special advisers and form special presidential advisory groups in an official capacity rather than through unofficial, private channels — thereby receiving help in my decision-making in a transparent manner.
Q. Before we get into policy, let’s talk about food and cooking. I watched you cooking on Korean talk shows; you seem really experienced at it and seem to enjoy it. How did you come to appreciate food? And what are your favorite dishes to cook?
A: My mother fed me well, she is good at cooking and made delicious food for me since I was young. Naturally, I grew up thinking that eating is one of the important pleasures in our lives. 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.
Cooking is one of those joys. You can always just go out and buy food instead of cooking. But I spent a lot of earlier years of my career living by myself as I worked up the prosecutor ranks in local and regional offices, so I came to cook a lot for myself and enjoyed it. I think also learned skills naturally by watching my mother in the kitchen when I was young. What was the cooking you saw on the TV show?
Q: I saw you make gyeranmari (rolled omelet) shaped into rectangles. What other dishes are you confident about making?
A: In Korean cuisine, it’s kimchi jjigae (stew) and bulgogi. In Western cuisine, I like and am good at making omelets, spaghetti and mushroom soup.
Q: Korean food is quite trendy in the United States so our readers will know all those things — kimchi jjigae and bulgogi. Now onto foreign policy, you envision South Korea as a “global pivotal state.” What does that phrase mean to you? What do you want your foreign policy legacy to be?
A: The current administration placed too much emphasis on the relationship with North Korea alone, and was rather insufficient in global diplomacy, with some even saying that global diplomacy went missing. South Korea and the United States maintained a relationship in a formal capacity, but substantive and intimate discussions diminished, on issues such as military and intelligence. Therefore, 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.
Another important thing for South Korea, as one of the top 10 economies in the world, is to have a responsible attitude in international society, for instance, having ODA (Official Development Assistance) programs, which we are not doing enough of. We should take on a greater role in fulfilling our responsibility as one of the top 10 economies in the world.
Q: So when you talk about that added responsibility as this large economy, how does the Russia and Ukraine situation feed into that? What is the responsibility that Korea should be living up to when it comes to both pressuring Moscow and aiding Ukrainians?
A: We should take part in the international pressure campaign on Russia, which the current government is doing to a certain extent. 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.
Countries such as Germany are providing defensive weapons [to Ukraine], but in South Korea, realistically, we face many obstacles to weapons assistance. Therefore, we provided $10 million worth of humanitarian aid under the current administration, and I think we need to provide more such aid.
Q: You want South Korea to join the Quad, which is a grouping to counter China’s rise. But South Korea is still heavily dependent on China economically, and of course it also has North Korea to think about. Given these circumstances, why should Quad members view South Korea as a credible partner and a potential new member? And how can South Korea diversify its economy so that it is less dependent on China?
A: When it comes to economic issues, South Korea and China are important trade partners to each other. Economic issues are important to both countries, and it is not unilateral. It is unquestionable that the two countries cannot neglect or ignore one another. On political and security issues, China has an alliance with North Korea, and we have an alliance with the United States. But there are 40 military divisions deployed along the DMZ [demilitarized zone]. That is our reality on the ground.
For the political issues in South Korea’s relationship with China, we need to consider that our constitutional or political values are completely different. We have to respect those differences. While our political values are different from China, our economic issues are intertwined. So I think South Korea can coexist between these economic and political issues when it comes to China and the United States.
On the issue of Quad membership and the issue of whether the four Quad partners are willing to accept South Korea into the group, rather than thinking about whether to immediately join the Quad, the more important issue for us is first to work together on vaccines, climate change and emerging technologies to create a synergy with Quad countries.
Q. But how can you decouple the economic reality and the political reality when, for example in 2017, South Korea saw significant retaliation from China economically. You can talk about THAAD [a U.S. missile defense system deployed to South Korea] as a security matter, but it carried real economic costs for South Korea. So would you actually separate them? Is it realistic?
A: China’s economic retaliation in response to the THAAD issue was seen as a totally unfair movement by South Korea and the international community. China’s unilateral retaliatory measures could hurt our economy to an extent, but I believe China knows very well that such an unfair action would hardly be beneficial to China either or sustainable for them.
Q: You invoke the Kim-Obuchi era [South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi] and have promised a forward, or future-oriented, relationship with Japan. Relations are so bad right now that it seems there’s nowhere else to go but up. What ideas do you have to build confidence between South Korea and Japan? What is the importance of improved U.S.-South Korea-Japan trilateral relations?
A: The Kim-Obuchi declaration calls for a future-oriented bilateral relationship that is not trapped by the past. The South Korean public has traumatic memories of the Japanese colonial rule, and while most citizens have not experienced the rule firsthand, such memories have widely been inherited from their parents’ generation.
However, the more important thing is that we look toward the future. I firmly believe that South Korea should not seek domestic political gains when looking to engage Japan diplomatically for the future. Our relationship with Japan has hit rock bottom, but that is not what the South Korean public wants.
Before the Democratic Party’s government [2017-2022] started exploiting the South Korea-Japan relationship for domestic politics, many South Koreans traveled to Japan, which is so easy you can take a short trip over the weekend. They appreciated Japanese culture with respect. It was the same in Japan, toward Korea.
However, dragging the decades-old colonial rule back onto the table hurts the bilateral relationship between South Korea and Japan. Our weakened relationship with Japan is the Achilles’ heel of South Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation. South Koreans are averse to inflicting direct damage on South Korea-U.S. relations.
A future-oriented development of South Korea-Japan relations is beneficial to not only Japan but also brings huge benefits to the people and companies in South Korea. So the diplomatic and economic issues in bilateral relations should not be dragged into domestic politics for political exploitation. We should not deal with any country in such a manner.
For instance, even for a country with a different system that holds totally different political and social values from us, we need to properly manage our bilateral relationship with them if we share critical interests in areas such as economics, culture and international cooperation. Rather than handling the Korea-Japan relations like a fragile glass bottle that requires care, the Democratic Party’s leaders who dealt with Japan decided to be tough. I think we need to avoid taking such an attitude in handling diplomatic relations.
When I am president, South Korea-Japan relations will go well. I am sure of it. I will change our attitudes and systems toward a normal diplomatic relationship.
Because the relationship has suffered serious damages, politicians from South Korea and Japan — myself included — could communicate and meet more often, like shuttle diplomacy. Our countries are located so close to each other. And if we do not exploit South Korea-Japan relationship for domestic politics, if the two countries manage things well for both of our national interests, I believe our two countries will benefit greatly.
Q: You have said South Korea’s “main enemy” is North Korea. North Korea is rapidly testing its growing array of weapons and has tested an ICBM for the first time since 2017. How will you deal with the North Korean missile threat?
A: Our North Korea policy needs to take a two-track approach. I called North Korea the main enemy. The concept of the “main enemy” designation emerged during former president Kim Young-sam’s era 30 years ago, amid North Korea’s nuclear weapons development and tensions in inter-Korean relations. And afterward, under the Sunshine Policy in inter-Korean relations, the “enemy” expression was dropped.
There are two reasons I call North Korea the main enemy. North Korea broke its [self-imposed] moratorium [on long-range and nuclear tests], and tested a hypersonic missile, which means that the country’s tests for nuclear weapons delivery has reached a serious level. There is a heightened nuclear threat against South Korea.
Amid all this, we need to establish our defense policy and build operational intelligence and other things. We need to reconfigure North Korea as such to accurately identify the country’s motivations and make preparations.
However, I do not intend to respond to North Korean threats in an excessive and overly sensitive manner. Regarding the nuclear issue, if North Korea abides to international rules — most importantly, if it accepts nuclear inspections and takes irreversible steps for denuclearization — I will start an economic development support program for North Korea.
Regardless of the circumstance, we are the same race. So I will provide humanitarian aid [to North Korea] at any time. We will always keep open the conversation channel that we need to solve problems like the military threats. Even countries at war maintain such channels. While North Korea’s military threat is a serious matter, we always leave the conversation channels open to handle these problems. This is our two-track approach.
Q: Finally, I know gender was a big issue during the campaign. It’s also a global issue. South Korea consistently ranks among the lowest in developed countries in the world when it comes to the gender pay gap, women’s advancement in politics and influence, and economic participation. What is the role that your government can and should have in closing gender gaps in South Korean society?
A: I have a clear principle that we must conform to global standards for social and government activities, and gender issues, and guaranteeing women’s opportunities must also go in line with global standards. Compared with the United States or European countries, South Korea has been rather slow in promoting equal opportunities for women, because of a lag in awareness, social movements and government actions.
If we look at the older generation, there is still a lack of women in high-level positions, but their presence in such positions is growing very fast thanks to our commitment to equal opportunities. While the majority of our ministers are men, for now, women will take over in the near future.
The matter of gender became an issue in South Korea during the presidential elections. I am fundamentally a legal professional, so I have a clear philosophy that we need to protect equal rights for women in line with the judicial systems like in the United States and in Europe. The gender issue that emerged during South Korea’s presidential race was a politically framed one that is far from the essence of gender issues.
High-level officials in the Democratic Party government sexually harassed women who worked for them. Women’s rights groups and the Gender Equality Ministry that support such groups mishandled the [harassment] cases and turned a blind eye. The South Korean public was very disappointed. Also, unlike the older generation, the younger generation grew up without facing systemic discriminations collectively as men and women.
Rather than approaching gender equality from a collective perspective, there is widespread demand to handle individual cases of crime or unequal treatment in employment or education, on a case-by-case basis, and making up for the criminal damage. By approaching the issue from the perspective of eliminating the collective gender discrimination, or from the perspective of collective equality, it is hard to solve the problems such as unfair treatment in employment and other opportunities.
Having administered the law for a long time, I hold a firm principle and philosophy that we need to guarantee the rights for men and women, regardless of their gender in such unfair situations and criminal circumstances.
2. N.K. leader visits mausoleum to mark birth anniversary of grandfather
The disappointment - many wanted to see a military parade. But not this time.
N.K. leader visits mausoleum to mark birth anniversary of grandfather | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, April 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited a mausoleum of his late grandfather and national founder Kim Il-sung to mark his birth anniversary, state media reported Saturday.
Kim and his wife, Ri Sol-ju, visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on Friday on the occasion of the 110th birth anniversary, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The mausoleum is where the bodies of his late grandfather and father lie in state.
He was also accompanied by top aides, including Choe Ryong-hae, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly, Jo Yong-won, secretary for organizational affairs of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, and Premier Kim Tok-hun, according to the KCNA.
The birth anniversary, referred to in the North as the Day of the Sun, is the country's biggest national holiday marked by large-scale cultural and sports events.
On the previous day, North Korea held celebrations to mark the anniversary with fireworks and a mass dance performance in its capital, footage from state media showed. The reclusive regime, however, did not stage a military parade.
colin@yna.co.kr
(END)
3. N. Korea marks late founder's birthday with fireworks, large-scale performance
Not the kind of fireworks some had hoped for.
(3r LD) N. Korea marks late founder's birthday with fireworks, large-scale performance | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with broadcast in paras 2-3, 9; ADDS photo)
By Chae Yun-hwan
SEOUL, April 15 (Yonhap) -- North Korea held celebrations for the 110th birth anniversary of its late founder Kim Il-sung on Friday evening with fireworks and a mass dance performance in its capital, footage from state media showed.
Throngs of masked North Koreans staged large-scale dance celebrations at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang to mark the Day of the Sun holiday, according to the 20-minute live broadcast from 7:10 p.m. by the North's state-run Korean Central Television.
Fireworks were 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.
The sources said the North broadcasted the event live in an apparent move to rev up a festive mood. The country prefers broadcasting recorded events.
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)
4. Military veteran groups donate to building Wall of Remembrance in Washington
A great initiative. Those who have served with KATUSAs will appreciate their contributions. It is one of the many unique aspects of the ROK/US alliance. To have the names of some 7,800 KATUSAs who were killed in action side by side with US Army personnel in the same units is historic and a great honor. No other foreign soldiers are on such a memorial on the Mall in Washington.
Military veteran groups donate to building Wall of Remembrance in Washington
KATUSA Veterans Association Chairman Kim Hae-sung, second from right, and Korea Defense Veterans Association Chairman Vincent Brook, second from left, pose at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., Friday (local time) after donating $50,000 to Chairman John Tilelli, third from left, of the Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation, in charge of the establishment of the Wall of Remembrance. Kim Jong-wook, right, the KVA chairman emeritus, and Yoon Yoon-soo, third from right, the chairman of Fila Holdings and a standing adviser to the KVA, also attended the donation ceremony. Courtesy of KATUSA Veterans AssociationBy Kang Seung-woo
The KATUSA Veterans Association (KVA) and the Korea Defense Veterans Association (KDVA) have donated $50,000 (61 million won) to the establishment of a remembrance wall in Washington, D.C. that will feature the names of tens of thousands of American and KATUSA soldiers who lost their lives during the 1950-53 Korean War.
KATUSA stands for Korean Augmentation to the United States Army. Under the program, Korean soldiers are given posts on U.S. military bases in the country. The KDVA is a Virginia-based nonprofit organization that advocates for the Korea-U.S. alliance by supporting former and current military service members.
The Wall of Remembrance, which will be a permanent addition to the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., will contain the names of 36,595 U.S. soldiers and 7,174 KATUSA soldiers, according to the Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation (KWVMF), in charge of the construction.
The donation ceremony was held in the U.S. capital, Friday (local time), with a number of guests from Korea and the United States, including KDVA Chairman and former U.S. Forces Korea Commander Vincent Brooks, former U.S. Ambassador to Korea Kathleen Stephens and senior KVA officials.
"I hope that the Wall of Remembrance can serve as a small token of our deep gratitude to repay the sacrifices of those who gave their lives to protect the freedom and democracy of Korea. We all know that Korea is a prosperous country today, and this proves that their sacrifice has not been in vain," KVA Chairman Kim Hae-sung said during the donation ceremony at the Korean War Veterans Memorial.
A rendering of the Wall of Remembrance at the Korean War Veterans Memorial / Courtesy of Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs"Dispatched in 1950, each of these soldiers opened the way for the freedom and peace in Korea, which was an unknown and distant land far from their own home, with patriotism and love for mankind. I strongly believe that the heroism of these soldiers taken place in a distant foreign country of South Korea long time ago will be remembered forever as one of the greatest stories of history through this Wall of Remembrance," Kim said.
Yoon Yoon-soo, the chairman of Fila Holdings and a standing adviser to the KVA, also said, "The establishment of this wall is not just about the construction of sculptures. It should be a symbol of solidarity and alliance between the Republic of Korea and the U.S.A., and confirm the close cooperation between our two countries going forward."
The construction of the wall was initially proposed by a handful of U.S. Congress members in 2011 and then, the U.S. Congress passed the "Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall of Remembrance Act" in 2016.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the monument, which President Moon Jae-in attended, was held on May 21, 2021, and the dedication ceremony is scheduled for July 22.
According to the KVA, the Korean government has paid 97 percent of the total budget of 24.2 million, and many Korean companies have offered their full support to the monument project.
It also launched a six-month fundraising campaign from September 2021 to March 2022.
5. Radio Free Asia Wins Gracie for Korean Defector Project
A well deserved honor. The work of Radio Free Asia (and Voice of America) too often goes unnoticed and unappreciated. But they play a critical role in support of US foreign policy and national security and operations in the environment.
Radio Free Asia Wins Gracie for Korean Defector Project
“RFA’s Korean Service has the crucial and challenging job of reporting news out of North Korea on a daily basis, while keeping informed a population especially vulnerable to disinformation,” RFA President Bay Fang said. “A compelling story through the years has been that of the defectors – who face incredible odds in their quest to realize the dream of freedom.”
“RFA’s winning piece is another episode in that saga, documenting the journey of two brave women yearning for a better life in neighboring South Korea.”
The winning report, which premiered in December 2021, follows the journey of two North Korean women refugees who fled their repressive homeland to start new lives in South Korea. The report contains testimonies from various age groups of North Korean defectors from their 20s to 50s. It also includes a testimony of a foreigner who lived in Pyongyang for two years as a diplomat's wife. These accounts underscore North Korean women’s lack of human rights and provide insight into a possible feminist movement percolating within the country.
Other winners at this year’s competition include The Washington Post, NPR, CBS News, and VICE Media. They will be honored at the 47th Annual Gracie Awards Gala in Los Angeles on May 24. Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWMF) is a non-profit that creates educational programs and scholarship initiatives to benefit the public and women in the media.
6. North Koreans pay for sons to spend military service in cushy capital posts
There are more similarities between north Korea and other countries than we might think. Everyone wants what is "best" for the children and there are some with the means to give them what what they think is best.
North Koreans pay for sons to spend military service in cushy capital posts
Bribes to officials can be the difference between 7 years at a desk job or hard labor in the countryside.
By Myung Chul Lee
2022.04.15
Military officials in North Korea are taking bribes from the parents of new recruits, promising to assign their children to units in Pyongyang, where they can spend their service in relative comfort, sources in the country told RFA.
Still technically at war with wealthier South Korea, North Korea makes every male serve about seven years in the armed forces, according to South Korean intelligence.
The life of a soldier in the North Korean military is typically one of toil and sweat. The government routinely mobilizes soldiers to exploit their free labor, requiring them to work on farms, factories and construction sites, all while maintaining a modicum of battle readiness.
But certain military assignments can park a soldier behind a desk in Pyongyang, the country’s capital and home of the privileged and elite.
Parents are eager to ensure their sons can spend seven years living in what they would consider luxury, rather than doing hard labor in the rural areas.
“Parents who receive bribe requests give money to the officials to ensure the safety of their children, but the amount they are asking is too large for most to afford,” a resident of the northeastern province of North Hamgyong told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“A resident in the Sunam district of Chongjin city asked an official of the military mobilization office, a longtime acquaintance, to send his son, to a comfortable and safe unit, but the official requested at least U.S. $300,” he said.
The average monthly salary for North Koreans working in government-assigned jobs is around $4, the Seoul-based Korea Joongang Daily reported in 2018.
Paying the exorbitant bribe can even be a point of pride.
“A resident of Chongam district paid a bribe of $500 … to send his son to a military police unit in Pyongyang. The resident proudly boasts that the son has completed his training as a new recruit at the unit in Pyongyang, which is off limits to ordinary folks, and he started his military life in Pyongyang,” the source said.
“North Korea has a declining birth rate, so most families these days have only one child, two at most. So people try to protect their kids from danger by any means necessary. The officials in the military mobilization office can use the psychology of these parents to their advantage,” he said.
But some residents complain that officials are using the new recruits as bait to get bribes, the source said.
The sons of parents who cannot pay the bribe are sent off to more difficult military postings, as happened to one family in the northwestern province of North Pyongan.
“A resident of Tongrim town asked the military mobilization office to have his son sent to a safe and comfortable unit, but the family was unable to pay the $300 bribe, so the son was shipped off to the front line area unit of the 1st Corps,” a resident of the province’s Tongrim county told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
“Our neighborhood is a village with cooperative farms, so most of the new recruits are the children of poor farmers. This is why most of the new recruits have no power or money, and they get sent to the front line units in the rugged mountains of Kangwon province, so there is great concern for parents sending their children to the military,” he said.
The parents who cannot afford the bribe can do nothing but watch as their sons are sent to do hard labor in Kangwon, in the east, along the border with South Korea, the second source said.
“The authorities are aware that bribery is going on, but I don’t know whether there is a way to stop it, or whether they are condoning it. I have never seen any official from the military mobilization office get punished for accepting bribes,” he said.
“In this country, children of powerful and wealthy families can serve in comfortable assignments in the military, but it gets taken for granted that everyone with no money or power will have a difficult military life.”
Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
7. Korea, U.S. in talks to hold Yoon-Biden summit around May 21: source
This would be good. Let's make it happen.
Korea, U.S. in talks to hold Yoon-Biden summit around May 21: source
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at the Alumni-Foundation Event Center of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, April 14. AFP-Yonhap
Korea and the United States have been in talks to hold a summit between President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden around May 21 in Seoul, a source said Friday.
Korea has been pushing to have Biden visit before he travels to Japan to attend a Quadrilateral Security Dialogue meeting set to take place around May 24, the source added.
If realized, the summit would come just days after Yoon takes office, May 10, making it the earliest-ever South Korea-U.S. summit after a Korean president's inauguration.
"Nothing has been confirmed, but I understand the two sides are coordinating schedules," an official on Yoon's transition team told Yonhap News Agency.
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol /Yonhap
"During the recent U.S. visit by Yoon's policy consultation delegation, they expressed their wish for a South Korea-U.S. summit at the earliest possible date as part of President Biden's visit to Asia," the official said.
Japanese private broadcaster JNN reported the same day that talks were in their final stages to schedule a Biden visit to South Korea, May 21, ahead of his trip to Japan.
Won Il-hee, senior deputy spokesperson of the transition team, said he had nothing to confirm regarding a Yoon-Biden summit.
"The date May 21 is also not being discussed or under consideration for now," he said during a press briefing.
Meanwhile, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim is scheduled to visit Seoul next week for meetings with South Korean government officials.
Won said he is not aware of any planned meetings between Kim and transition team members, though the foreign relations subcommittee is looking into the matter. (Yonhap)
8. South Korean, Ukrainian FMs discuss humanitarian aid plan in phone talks
Humanitarian aid is important but South Korea has to step up and provide lethal aid. It may seem counterintuitive but the more lethal aid Ukraine receives the more suffering that can be avoided when Ukraine achieves a decisive victory.
South Korean, Ukrainian FMs discuss humanitarian aid plan in phone talks
This March 15 file photo shows premature babies who were left behind by their parents laying in a bed in Maternity Hospital No.3 in Mariupol, Ukraine. AP-Yonhap
South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong had a phone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Friday to discuss Seoul's plan to provide additional humanitarian and other support for Ukraine, his office said.
During the talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Chung expressed serious concerns over civilian casualties in Ukraine amid Russia's invasion and briefed him on plans to provide $30 million in new aid, the foreign ministry said.
Seoul already delivered $1 million worth of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine last month and vowed to consider more support.
Kuleba thanked South Korea for showing solidarity and lending support, and the two ministers agreed to expand bilateral cooperation after the war ends, the ministry said. (Yonhap)
9. Is Kim Jong-un progressive?
For all my progressive friends. You cannot be progressive and support Kim Jong-un and not support the human rights of the Korean people in the north. Women Across DMZ take heed.
Conclusion:
Perhaps I'm an out-of-touch boomer, but according to how I was raised, you're progressive when you support the people, not the power and hegemony. If we care about the rights and freedoms of the North Korean elite who live in luxury, aren't we sycophants for power? Shouldn't progressive people attend to the rights and freedoms of the everyday citizen instead of the continued affluence of a kleptomanic ruling class? If so, why are the Korean left and their various leaders who meet frequently with the elites and powerful in Pyongyang yet remain deadly silent on the issue of human rights in order to achieve such meetings described as progressive? Answers on a postcard please.
Is Kim Jong-un progressive?
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, attends a parade to celebrate the 110th birth anniversary of its late founder Kim Il-sung, at the Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 15, in this photo provided by the North Korean government. AP-Yonhap
By David A. Tizzard
As someone who grew up in the 80s and 90s, I've generally understood human rights to be a good thing. Freedom of thought, freedom of movement, freedom of religion, and to not discriminate against people on a political, racial, gender, sexual, or class basis are good for us and the people around us. The basic ideology being that everyone's equal and deserves a fair crack of the whip. At the same time, I've been cognizant of the social construction of human rights and how some see them as a political tool.
Nevertheless, when you throw aside all the tankie posturing, I would suggest most of us want to inhabit a society where we can travel freely without government interference. We want to live in a world where our thoughts and speech are not regulated by a Ministry of Ethics. We want to be free to call the god our culture worships a scallywag. When it comes to the freedoms we desire for ourselves, they are countless. Sadly, not everyone has such liberties. Moreover, those that do are often unaware of how and through what sacrifices these freedoms were achieved.
For the sake of argument, let's start from the position that freedom of thought and movement are, if not innate, a generally good thing for our well-being and sense of personal value and integrity. From there, we understand that in North Korea, such values are not provided to the citizens of the country. They have apartments, dreams, toothaches, romance, laughter, and cancer. They are not different from us in the human experience, except in terms of the freedoms denied to them by their ruling elite class. They can't express worries about the state of the nation nor can they take a summer trip to Europe. They can't access the internet and they are required to worship their eternal leader. Fair enough, you might say. The North Korean ruling class are allowed to run their country in the way they best see fit. And, according to the U.N.'s 2005 "Responsibility to Protect" principle, if they are not carrying out genocide or famine, we are not obliged to impinge on their sovereignty.
So while granting the North Korean rulers their autonomy, and being conscious of their history and how they see themselves as the victims of imperialism, colonialism, and continued American barbarism, we can also take umbrage with the fact they deny their citizens basic freedoms and rights today in the 21st century. This act of respecting the freedom of other individuals is, I would argue, a pretty standard value one should hold to be considered decent. To be progressive would require a position many magnitudes beyond this.
So the situation in Korea has often puzzled me. If a South Korean president or high-ranking politician (this situation doesn't apply to the hoi polloi like us, of course) engages with the elite of North Korea and champions interaction with them while purposefully remaining silent on the issue of human rights both domestically and in international forums, we are then expected to call these people progressive. They are championed in the global media as vanguards of peace. A bright light of humanity in an otherwise dark and troubled world. Nobel Peace Prizes and Time Magazine covers abound. Conversely, if a high-ranking South Korean figure decries the North Korean elite for the lack of freedoms it offers and the atrocities carried out against their citizens, they are often portrayed as a hawk or a war-monger. They are the very opposite of what the world has understood to be humane. They are a hardline ideologue intent on malevolence. Doesn't this seem like a contradiction?
If I believe people should be free to think as they wish without government control, and then also have the liberty to express these thoughts without fear of physical violence, it would seem I am obliged to oppose the North Korean "method" of government and the political system that operates in Pyongyang. I would certainly not like to live there myself because I wouldn't be allowed to write these columns nor take the occasional trips to the beach when I feel like it.
Perhaps I'm an out-of-touch boomer, but according to how I was raised, you're progressive when you support the people, not the power and hegemony. If we care about the rights and freedoms of the North Korean elite who live in luxury, aren't we sycophants for power? Shouldn't progressive people attend to the rights and freedoms of the everyday citizen instead of the continued affluence of a kleptomanic ruling class? If so, why are the Korean left and their various leaders who meet frequently with the elites and powerful in Pyongyang yet remain deadly silent on the issue of human rights in order to achieve such meetings described as progressive? Answers on a postcard please.
Dr. David A. Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) has a Ph.D. in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He is a social/cultural commentator and musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He is also the host of the Korea Deconstructed podcast, which can be found online. The views expressed in the article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.
10. North Korea's nuclear annihilation threat and Biden's timely 2022 Nuclear Posture Review
Excerpts:
Thus, North Korea's new nuclear posture increases the likelihood that a conflict on the peninsula could escalate into a nuclear war. Over the last several years, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and his High Representative for Disarmament have warned that the possible use of nuclear weapons, intentionally, by accident or through miscalculation, is all together greater than it has been since the darkest days of the Cold War." What was unthinkable is now becoming thinkable.
This is the hard reality to be faced by the new South Korean administration to be inaugurated next month, making them sleepless. Just as NATO allies rushed to have the nuclear crisis scenarios meeting on Ukraine, nuclear crisis management mechanism should be no less a top priority for South Korea and the U.S. than extended deterrence and nuclear diplomacy in the two allies' overarching nuclear strategy vis-a-vis North Korea.
As such, the unusual hearty welcome to President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's policy consultation delegation by the U.S. administration and the Congress as well as substantive strategy session between the two sides last week are a very good start and groundwork for normalizing and upgrading the alliance.
North Korea's nuclear annihilation threat and Biden's timely 2022 Nuclear Posture Review
By Yun Byung-se
Recently, we had both good news and bad news on the nuclear postures of nuclear-armed states. Good news, the long-awaited Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) of the Biden administration will soon be released as its classified version was sent to Congress last month.
All eyes were drawn to the three-paragraph summary on the Pentagon's factsheet which stated, "The United States would only consider the use of nuclear weapons in extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the United States or its allies and partners." It followed the reference in the 2010 Obama NPR. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Celeste A. Wallander further told the U.S. House Armed Services Committee that "the NPR language does not apply exclusively to nuclear attack but extends to extreme circumstances that would require the United States to defend allies and partners."
Since U.S. President Joe Biden entered office with two objectives for nuclear weapons policy: "the sole purpose of our nuclear arsenal should be to deter ― and, if necessary, retaliate against ― a nuclear attack," the 2022 NPR is interpreted as Biden's retreat from his longtime pursuit of a "no first use" or "sole purpose" policies.
This is a welcome development for U.S. allies in Europe and Asia. Over the last several months, they conveyed strong concern to the Biden administration over the prospect of a departure from a long-standing policy of "flexible deterrence" for several reasons, especially worrisome shifts in nuclear strategies of Russia, China and North Korea ― bad news.
Their concern soon became a reality when Russian President Vladimir Putin "ordered to move Russia's deterrence forces to a special regime of combat duty" on Feb. 27 vis-a-vis Ukraine. Some weeks later, his spokesperson refused to rule out the use of nuclear weapons in an interview with CNN, saying, "if it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be used in accordance with our concept of domestic security."
The nuclear contingency in Ukraine and its potential consequences on NATO members reportedly triggered a team of national security officials of the U.S. and its allies to sketch out gruesome scenarios in case President Putin unleashes his stockpiles of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
Trigger-happy North Korea lost no time in taking advantage of U.S. preoccupations with Russia and China and emulated Moscow in a more direct and harsh form. Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, publicly warned last week that "North Korea opposes war but would use nuclear weapons if South Korea attacked" in an apparent response to South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook's earlier remarks on preemptive capabilities.
But it is probably aimed at the incoming conservative South Korean government as well. The significance of Kim's statement is that this was the first time North Korea made a clear and direct threat to use nuclear weapons "against South Korea" ― its treasured nuclear sword only supposedly targeted the U.S. before then.
North Korea's possible preemptive use of its nuclear weapons drew much attention when Kim Jong-un instructed the Eighth Party Congress in January 2021 to advance DPRK's tactical nuclear weapons, meaning a new focus on smaller and lighter nuclear warheads for actual use and to achieve nuclear "preemptive" and retaliatory attack capability.
A powerful warning came from Major Gen. Ferdinand Stoss, director of Plans and Policy for U.S. Strategic Command, who is in charge of strategic war plans, contingency planning, the integration of strategic deterrence activities with allies and partners. At a virtual conference in March last year, he said, "It's not about the range. It is not about the yield. It's about "first use" of it. I would argue that even if you have a low-yield weapon, it could be used in the theater, it could have a very strategic impact effect… I would determine that if a weapon like that was used with ill will that would be a "strategic attack" and that you would have lost strategic deterrence with that weapon being used."
This analysis is in line with last year's report by the U.N. Security Council's Expert Panel on DPRK sanctions which warned the possibility of DPRK being capable of mounting nuclear warheads on all ranges of ballistic missiles, including miniaturized nuclear warheads. For example, as Russia appears to have integrated its non-strategic nuclear forces into its war-fighting strategy, North Korea is rapidly benchmarking the Russian model by developing the KN-23 missile ― DPRK version of Russia's nuclear-capable Iskander missile.
This is a major reason why the U.S. and South Korean military authorities are expecting a seventh North Korean nuclear test in the near future. With utmost concern, they agreed last month to develop a new operational plan to reflect the new grim reality. Ambassador Sung Kim, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, also told reporters last week that Pyongyang could conduct a missile or nuclear test to mark the anniversary of the birth of its founding leader Kim Il-sung that falls on today, April 15.
As Gen. Stoss remarked at the above-mentioned virtual meeting, we have entered a new era when failure in nuclear deterrence is not ruled out. The warheads of North Korea's missiles can now be nuclear or conventional. Such dual capability presents a serious challenge as the U.S. and South Korea will have to determine their response to missile launches within a few seconds.
Thus, North Korea's new nuclear posture increases the likelihood that a conflict on the peninsula could escalate into a nuclear war. Over the last several years, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and his High Representative for Disarmament have warned that the possible use of nuclear weapons, intentionally, by accident or through miscalculation, is all together greater than it has been since the darkest days of the Cold War." What was unthinkable is now becoming thinkable.
This is the hard reality to be faced by the new South Korean administration to be inaugurated next month, making them sleepless. Just as NATO allies rushed to have the nuclear crisis scenarios meeting on Ukraine, nuclear crisis management mechanism should be no less a top priority for South Korea and the U.S. than extended deterrence and nuclear diplomacy in the two allies' overarching nuclear strategy vis-a-vis North Korea.
As such, the unusual hearty welcome to President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's policy consultation delegation by the U.S. administration and the Congress as well as substantive strategy session between the two sides last week are a very good start and groundwork for normalizing and upgrading the alliance.
Yun Byung-se is former foreign minister of South Korea. He is now a board member of Korea Peace Foundation and is a member of several ex-global leaders' forums and task forces, including the Astana Forum and its Consultative Council as well as the Task Force on U.S. Allies and Nuclear Weapons Proliferation sponsored by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
11. S. Korea decides to join CPTPP trade agreement
S. Korea decides to join CPTPP trade agreement
Published : Apr 15, 2022 - 20:18 Updated : Apr 15, 2022 - 20:18
Shipping containers are moved at a port in Busan on April 1. (Yonhap)
South Korea decided Friday to join a mega free trade agreement involving 11 Asia-Pacific nations as the country seeks to diversify its export portfolio amid heightened economic uncertainty.
Late last year, the country launched the process to accede to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The plan to join the CPTPP was approved at an economy-related ministers' meeting Friday, and the government will submit an official application after completing domestic procedures, including a report to the National Assembly, officials said.
The CPTPP is the renegotiated version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership led by the former US President Barack Obama administration. In 2017, then US President Donald Trump withdrew from the TPP, widely seen as a key counterweight to China's growing economic clout.
The CPTPP, launched in December 2018, has been signed by 11 countries, including Japan, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Mexico.
The government has said it plans to submit the CPTPP application before President Moon Jae-in's five-year term ends on May 9. The incoming government of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is expected to take on negotiations for the country's membership, which is expected to take at least one year.
The CPTPP accession would boost trade and investment for South Korea, increasing its gross domestic product by 0.33-0.35 percent, the state-run Korea Institute for International Economic Policy estimated.
Farmers and fishermen have opposed the move, citing its potential damage to the agricultural and fishery sectors.
The government said it will make efforts to reflect calls by the potentially affected sectors as much as possible in its negotiations for the CPTPP accession and draw up measures to support them, when needed. (Yonhap)
12. North Korea Marks Key Anniversary But No Word on Military Parade
Note the estimate below:
South Korea’s military said recently it detected signs that North Korea is rebuilding tunnels at a nuclear testing ground that it partially dismantled before it entered now-dormant nuclear talks with the United States in 2018.
“I think they’ll carry out a nuclear test once it finishes restoring its nuclear testing facility,” said analyst Moon Seong Mook with the Seoul-based Korea Research Institute for National Strategy. “There is no reason for them to bring back its testing ground if they don’t plan to use them for a bomb test.”
Sung Kim, the top U.S. official on North Korea, is to visit South Korea next week for talks on the international community’s response to the North’s recent missile tests.
North Korea has recently resumed its trademark harsh rhetoric against its rivals. One of its international affairs commentators labeled President Joe Biden as “an old man in senility,” while Kim’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, called South Korea’s defense minister “a scum-like guy” and threatened to annihilate South Korea with nuclear strikes.
North Korea Marks Key Anniversary But No Word on Military Parade
Kim Il Sung’s birth anniversary, the most important national holiday in North Korea, passed without the expected military parade or any missile testing.
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North Korea on Friday celebrated the milestone birth anniversary of its late founder with a mass dance, fireworks, and calls for stronger loyalty to his grandson and current leader Kim Jong Un, but there was no word on an expected military parade amid heightened tensions over its nuclear program.
The 110th birthday of Kim Il Sung comes after North Korea conducted a spate of weapons tests in recent months, including its first full-range intercontinental ballistic missile launch since 2017. Experts say North Korea aims to expand its arsenal and ramp up pressure on the United States while nuclear diplomacy is stalled.
“Let’s work harder in devotion to our respected comrade Kim Jong Un and on that path ultimately realize the dreams of our great president (Kim Il Sung) to build a powerful socialist state,” the North’s state-run website Uriminzokkiri said in a commentary.
Kim Il Sung’s birthday is the most important national holiday in North Korea, where the Kim family has ruled under a strong personality cult since the nation’s founding in 1948. Kim Jong Un became a third-generation leader after his father Kim Jong Il died in late 2011.
Kim Jong Un has pushed to advance his nuclear weapons while simultaneously reviving the economy. But a mix of pandemic border closures, U.S.-led sanctions, and his own mismanagement have caused a massive economic blow in what’s become the toughest moment of his decade in power.
On Friday, residents of Pyongyang, the capital, bowed and laid bouquets of flowers near the bronze statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.
State TV later showed thousands of young people — men dressed in Western-style white shirts and women in colorful traditional Korean garb — dancing in a Pyongyang plaza as fireworks launched from a nearby river bank lit up the night sky. The dancers circled a group of performers who held up yellow flowers to form the symbol of the Workers’ Party of Korea -– a hammer, brush, and sickle.
North Korea often marks key state anniversaries with huge military parades featuring newly built missiles, especially during anniversaries that end in zero and five. Commercial satellites earlier indicated an apparent rehearsal for a military parade, such as people assembled in formation at the Pyongyang plaza, where such events were held in the past.
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After North Korea’s ICBM test last month, South Korean and U.S. officials said Pyongyang could soon launch fresh provocations like an additional ICBM test, a rocket to put a spy satellite into orbit, or even a nuclear bomb test that would be the seventh of its kind.
South Korea’s military said recently it detected signs that North Korea is rebuilding tunnels at a nuclear testing ground that it partially dismantled before it entered now-dormant nuclear talks with the United States in 2018.
“I think they’ll carry out a nuclear test once it finishes restoring its nuclear testing facility,” said analyst Moon Seong Mook with the Seoul-based Korea Research Institute for National Strategy. “There is no reason for them to bring back its testing ground if they don’t plan to use them for a bomb test.”
Sung Kim, the top U.S. official on North Korea, is to visit South Korea next week for talks on the international community’s response to the North’s recent missile tests.
North Korea has recently resumed its trademark harsh rhetoric against its rivals. One of its international affairs commentators labeled President Joe Biden as “an old man in senility,” while Kim’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, called South Korea’s defense minister “a scum-like guy” and threatened to annihilate South Korea with nuclear strikes.
13. Koreans Who Served Alongside Americans Earn Place of Honor on National Mall Memorial
Thanks to Donald Kirk for explaining the new memorial wall.
Excerpts:
The most dramatic enhancement is the Wall of Remembrance naming all those who died in American units — as does the Vietnam War Memorial Wall that opened on the mall a few hundred yards away in November 1982.
General Tilelli, who served two tours in Vietnam, wasn’t fazed by a reminder that the Korean War memorial opened 13 years after the Vietnam War memorial even though the Korean War had ended 12 years before the first American combat troops plunged into Vietnam in 1965.
Nor did he seem to mind that sightseers at the Korean War memorial might be tempted to say that it’s imitating the Vietnam memorial, perpetuating the legacy of those who died by engraving their names in stone. “Let them say what they want,” he said.
The real point is that no other memorial for any American war has included the names of the foreign troops who served alongside them in the same units.
The reason is that the Katusas, as they are universally known, occupy a unique place in the annals of American military history. Although members of the Korean armed forces, they were under U.S. command, working with Americans, not Koreans, and were treated as though they were American troops. That places them in an entirely different category from another 100,000 or so South Koreans soldiers who were killed serving in South Korean units.
The 7,600 Korean names on the Wall of Remembrance are right there in alphabetical order with the Americans. The most common Korean surnames are reflected in the dozen columns of soldiers named Kim and the eight of Lee.
Koreans Who Served Alongside Americans Earn Place of Honor on National Mall Memorial
‘This started as a dream of the Korean War veterans,’ General Tilelli said, and the Koreans are paying the entire $22 million cost of rebuilding and greatly enlarging the memorial.
The Korean War Veterans Memorial on the National Mall. AP/Andrew Harnik, file
Saturday, April 16, 2022
10:15:49 am
WASHINGTON – They fought as members of American military units and died with Americans in a war that lasted for more than three years. Now they’re being honored just like the Americans on a “wall of remembrance” of a vicious conflict that surged back and forth before ending in an uneasy armistice on July 27, 1953.
The role of the Korean Augmentation to the United States Army was recognized Friday in a ceremony on the National Mall at Washington in which Kim Hae-sung, chairman of the Katusa Veterans Association of Korea, presented a $50,000 donation for the Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation to General Vincent Brooks, who wound up his career as the military commander in Korea in 2018.
“We served together,” General Brooks said. “We honor the memory of those who served.”
Another retired general, John Tilelli, commander in Korea between 1996 and 1999, talked proudly about the memorial in which the names of more than 7,600 Katusas are etched on the Wall of Remembrance along with those of 36,164 Americans who also died in the war.
“This memorial is a big deal, and the Korean government is paying for it,” General Tilelli said. He visits two or three times a week, often in work clothes, to make sure the entire memorial is gleaming and ready for its official opening on July 27, which will mark 69 years since the truce was signed.
“This started as a dream of the Korean War veterans,” he said, and the Koreans are paying the entire $22 million cost of rebuilding and greatly enlarging the memorial, which opened for the first time on July 27, 1995.
The most dramatic enhancement is the Wall of Remembrance naming all those who died in American units — as does the Vietnam War Memorial Wall that opened on the mall a few hundred yards away in November 1982.
General Tilelli, who served two tours in Vietnam, wasn’t fazed by a reminder that the Korean War memorial opened 13 years after the Vietnam War memorial even though the Korean War had ended 12 years before the first American combat troops plunged into Vietnam in 1965.
Nor did he seem to mind that sightseers at the Korean War memorial might be tempted to say that it’s imitating the Vietnam memorial, perpetuating the legacy of those who died by engraving their names in stone. “Let them say what they want,” he said.
The real point is that no other memorial for any American war has included the names of the foreign troops who served alongside them in the same units.
The reason is that the Katusas, as they are universally known, occupy a unique place in the annals of American military history. Although members of the Korean armed forces, they were under U.S. command, working with Americans, not Koreans, and were treated as though they were American troops. That places them in an entirely different category from another 100,000 or so South Koreans soldiers who were killed serving in South Korean units.
The 7,600 Korean names on the Wall of Remembrance are right there in alphabetical order with the Americans. The most common Korean surnames are reflected in the dozen columns of soldiers named Kim and the eight of Lee.
The occasion provided a tremendous opportunity for Korean military veterans, including about 20 who had flown here from Seoul, to affirm the need to stand up to North Korean threats. All were too young to have served in the Korean War but were heartened by the election of a conservative, Yoon Suk-yeol, as Korea’s president. He’s to be inaugurated May 10 as successor to Moon Jae-in, the liberal president.
Members of the Korean Veterans Association “have great pride and appreciation that the names of the honorable war veterans are getting engraved on the wall,” Kim Hae-sung said. “I am overwhelmed with emotion for standing at this very moment right at this Wall of Remembrance. The names of the 43,760 Americans and Koreans who fought in the same units will now be remembered by all” — proof, he said, that “their sacrifice has not been in vain.”
By curious coincidence, as the ceremony was being held beneath clear blue skies on a pleasant spring day, North Koreans at night in Pyongyang, 13 hours ahead of EDT, were marking the 110th anniversary of the birth of the regime’s founder, Kim Il-sung, grandfather of the current North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.
Kim Jong-un appeared “amid the playing of the welcome music,” said Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency. “All the participants raised stormy cheers of ‘Hurrah!’ for him along with fireworks let off and balloons released. He extended a warm greeting to all the people celebrating the significant Day of the Sun with high political enthusiasm and proud labor successes, warmly waving back to the loudly cheering crowds.”
At the National Mall, Yoon Yoon-Soo, who has served as chairman of Fila, the sportswear manufacturer, since taking it over 25 years ago, said “the establishment of this wall is not just about the construction of sculptures.”
Rather, the adviser to the Katusa Veterans Association said, “It should be a symbol of solidarity and alliance, confirming the close cooperation between our two countries going forward,” and “remembered as a monument for peace.” America and South Korea, he said, should “take the same path together,” showing “why they call it a blood alliance.”
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14. How Global Is the North Korean Economy?
Graphs and data at the link below.
Conclusion:
The North Korean economy may be more internationally disconnected than most, but, as this analysis shows, it is not insulated from global price changes. Through both legal imports and smuggling, price changes on global markets usually find their way to North Korea, too, albeit with some delay. Price fluctuations in North Korea are more volatile than in global markets, which reflects the lack of transparent and easily available information on North Korean markets. Thus, although we cannot specify precisely to what extent, even the supposedly autarkic North Korean economy is solidly connected to the rest of the world.
How Global Is the North Korean Economy?
North Korea may be one of the most autarkic economies in the world, but it is far from isolated from global fluctuations. Market price data suggests that North Korea faces much more volatile fluctuations and often much more extreme price swings than those on international markets. At the same time, market prices in North Korea do tend to move in a relatively similar direction as global price trends most of the time, although sometimes in a delayed fashion. This demonstrates that while the North Korean economy is often guided by factors other than global markets, it is far from insulated and isolated from global economic trends.[1]
Global Food Prices
To understand how domestic food prices are impacted by international market swings, consider the graph below (Graph 1) that shows a comparison of rice prices in North Korea with global markets:
Graph 1. Rice prices, North Korea vs. global markets (USD/kg)
Graph by author. Data sources: Daily NK for North Korean data, St Louis Federal Reserve Bank for global prices.
Rice prices in North Korea tend to move in tandem with global markets, but with some time variation. For example, global rice prices increased from 0.38 USD in April 2016 by 21 percent to 0.46 USD that July. North Korea similarly experienced a price rise of almost 21 percent around the same time but in a delayed manner. Prices began rising from 0.58 USD in June 2016 to 0.66 USD that September and plateaued at a total increase of 20.7 percent in October of that same year at 0.70 USD.
Prices also often fluctuate more strongly in North Korea. For example, global market prices rose from 0.36 USD in November 2016 by 22 percent to 0.44 USD in June 2017. North Korea experienced a similar price rise from 0.52 USD in January 2017 by twice the global increase at 44 percent to 0.75 USD that September.
Despite North Korea’s COVID-19 border closure, domestic rice prices have moved in conjunction with international ones. In July 2020, the global market price for 1 kg of rice was 0.46 USD, and the price in North Korea was very close at 0.50 USD. Until February 2021, prices rose on both global markets and in North Korea, but much more drastically in the latter. The global price increased by 17 percent to 0.54 USD, and North Korean prices went up by 42 percent to 0.71 USD.
The more drastic price swings are likely, at least in part, caused by a lack of information on North Korean markets. While price changes in North Korea are often more drastic, they tend to move in parallel with global market prices.
Graph 2. Percentage change in rice prices, North Korea vs. global markets.
Graph by author. Data sources: Daily NK for North Korean data, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank for global prices.
Information from the outside world about supply conditions takes longer to reach North Korea than other countries. Furthermore, poor infrastructure and communication inside the country means price information travels more slowly domestically. Thus, rice prices in North Korea may change more drastically to indications of lower supply or increased demand, leading to large temporary price spikes. As Graph 2 shows, for example, in January 2020, global prices increased by 7.94 percent. In the following month, prices in North Korea spiked by 27.74 percent. Global market prices rose again by 0.22 percent in November 2020, while they increased by 15.86 percent in North Korea. As prices are already consistently higher in North Korea, these fluctuations likely caused significant hardships.
This pattern is similar for corn prices, which are almost consistently higher in North Korea and fluctuate more drastically than on global markets.
Graph 3. Corn prices, North Korea vs. global markets (USD/kg).
Graph by author. Data sources: Daily NK for North Korean data, St Louis Federal Reserve Bank for global prices.
Graph 4. Percentage change in corn prices, North Korea vs. gobal markets.
Graph by author. Data sources: Daily NK for North Korean data, St Louis Federal Reserve Bank for global prices.
The data both on rice and corn shows that global price movements generally impact food prices in North Korea. At the same time, they can also significantly differ, highlighting the still relatively closed nature of North Korea’s economy. For example, the drastic price rise from November 2020 most likely stemmed from an increase in domestic demand due to food shortages following the country’s COVID-19 border closure.
Oil and Fuel Prices
Gasoline prices appear to be less influenced by global oil prices.
Graph 5. North Korean gas prices vs. global oil prices (USD/kg).
Graph by author. Data sources: Daily NK for North Korean data, St Louis Federal Reserve Bank for global prices.
As this comparison above clearly demonstrates, the rate of price changes for oil in North Korea appears to be heavily influenced by other factors other than global price trends.
Graph 6. Percentage change in fuel prices, North Korean gas prices vs. global oil prices.
Graph by author. Data sources: Daily NK for North Korean data, St Louis Federal Reserve Bank for global prices.
While there may be occasional periods where the global price and North Korean prices move in tandem, such as in the first few months of 2016, this is not usually the case. North Korean gas prices tend to be strongly impacted by the state of North Korea-China relations, as China supplies the overwhelming majority of oil and fuel to North Korea. It is possible that the impact of global oil prices on gas inside North Korea comes exclusively from the share of oil and fuel imports that are private rather than what North Korea receives from China on a non-commercial basis.
Foreign Exchange Rates
Foreign exchange rates are the market prices in North Korea that move in closest tandem with global markets. This is not surprising since the supply of these currencies is entirely controlled by international governments and markets.
Graph 7. Renminbi-US dollar (RMB-USD) exchange rate, North Korean and international markets.
Graph by author. Data sources: Daily NK for North Korean data, St Louis Federal Reserve Bank for global prices.
However, as made evident in the graph above (Graph 7), conditions specific to North Korea clearly have a strong impact as well. For example, exchange rates have been lower in North Korea than in the rest of the world for most of the COVID-19 period. This is because foreign currency lost much of its economic utility during the border shutdown. The somewhat higher volatility of exchange rates in North Korea can probably be explained, too, by the lack of trustworthy and adequate market information inside the country.
Conclusion
The North Korean economy may be more internationally disconnected than most, but, as this analysis shows, it is not insulated from global price changes. Through both legal imports and smuggling, price changes on global markets usually find their way to North Korea, too, albeit with some delay. Price fluctuations in North Korea are more volatile than in global markets, which reflects the lack of transparent and easily available information on North Korean markets. Thus, although we cannot specify precisely to what extent, even the supposedly autarkic North Korean economy is solidly connected to the rest of the world.
- [1]
When using price data from North Korea to study complex issues, a caveat is necessary. I use data from the Daily NK’s market price index, which uses information from sources inside North Korea that cannot be verified. Moreover, I compare the average of price data observations for each month with monthly global price data. Since data for domestic prices in North Korea and global prices are not reported in the same time format, there may be some irregularities.
15. North Korea blows up the Diamond Mountain tourist resort that once symbolized peace and cooperation with South Korea, report says
Blowing up a golf course is a real crime. :-)
North Korea blows up the Diamond Mountain tourist resort that once symbolized peace and cooperation with South Korea, report says
Visitors tour the South Korean-owned golf course at the Mount Kumgang resort, also known as Diamond Mountain, in North Korea on Sept. 1, 2011
Ng Han Guan/AP Photo
- North Korea's Mount Kumgang – Diamond Mountain – tourist resort once symbolized hope for peace.
- Satellite images show that buildings at the resort were destroyed last weekend, per The Times.
- Many of the destroyed buildings were South Korea-owned.
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North Korea has used explosives to demolish a golf resort that was built for South Koreans and once symbolized hope for peace and cooperation between the two countries, according to The Times.
Satellite images show that buildings in the Mount Kumgang - Diamond Mountain – tourist resort, built by South Korean companies, were partially destroyed last weekend, The Times reported.
This follows reports that the floating Haegumgang Hotel in Mount Kumgang, which South Korean's Hyundai Group owned, was dismantled last month, per local media.
Visitors enjoy the manicured lawn at the South Korean-owned golf course at the Mount Kumgang resort, also known as Diamond Mountain, in North Korea on Sept. 1, 2011.
Ng Han Guan, AP Photo
South Korean government officials attempted to use an intergovernmental hotline to demand an explanation for the destruction of tourist businesses in the mountainous region, per The Times. They were unsuccessful in their efforts to get a response.
"North Korea's unilateral act of dismantling the hotel clearly goes against the purpose of joint inter-Korean efforts based on mutual respect and consultations," Cha Deok-cheol, a spokesman for South Korea's unification ministry, told The Times.
In this Saturday Oct. 8, 2011 photo, a North Korean man records video of the scenery as he and fellow hikers climb to a peak of Mount Kumgang, North Korea.
David Guttenfelder/AP Photo
Mount Kumgang Tourist Region, a special administrative region of North Korea, was established in 2002 to welcome South Korean vacationers.
It was a hallmark of South Korea's "Sunshine Policy" of engagement with North Korea — a foreign policy framework that attempted to bolster cooperation between the two nations via economic interaction.
Map of Mount Kumgang Tourist Region in North Korea.
Insider/Google Maps
South Koreans frequented the resort for several years, contributing foreign currency to the North Korean economy. However, tourism stopped in 2008 when a tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier.
A 53-year-old South Korean woman was killed after walking into an off-limits area, resulting in the South Korean government suspending tours to the resort. The suspension lasted until 2018.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects the Mount Kumgang tourist resort, North Korea on October 23, 2019.
REUTERS
In 2019, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited and criticized the tourist region, describing it as "backward," "hotchpotch," and "shabby," per Australia's ABC News. The media outlet reported that he called for facilities to be rebuilt to meet North Korea's "aesthetic taste," the media outlet reported.
16. DPRK Military Parade Viewbook 2022 | Open Nuclear Network
What an excellent contribution from the Open Nuclear Network. This is a very useful reference.
DPRK Military Parade Viewbook 2022 | Open Nuclear Network
ONN has produced this viewbook in anticipation of a military parade likely to be held on or around 15 April 2022 by the DPRK in celebration of the 110th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung.
A comprehensive viewbook of the DPRK’s ballistic missiles, also including cruise missiles, heavy artillery and air defence systems that are relevant to the DPRK’s conventional and nuclear capabilities.
Article Details
Published
April 14, 2022
Written by
Open Nuclear Network
Topic
Program
Content Type
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.
